Join Dr. Bill as he examines the wild and wacky world of the web, computers, and all things geeky! Hot Tech Tips, Tech News, and Geek Culture are examined… with plenty of good humor as well!
“In response to Flashback malware that’s been in the news lately, Apple on Tuesday revealed that it is developing a tool to detect and remove it.
There is no date that the tool will be released, but considering it is Apple, it should be available on its support Web site or even the built-in software update in Mac OS X. The software is not the only thing that Apple is doing, however.
‘In addition to the Java vulnerability, the Flashback malware relies on computer servers hosted by the malware authors to perform many of its critical functions,’ Apple wrote on its Web site. ‘Apple is working with ISPs worldwide to disable this command and control network.’
Apple updated Java on April 3 to fix the Java security flaw for systems running OS X v10.7 and Mac OS X v10.6.”
I didn’t have a GSotW last week, but this week’s makes up for it BIG TIME! This is the best, most amazing, FREE software I have EVER seen… and as you know… I look at a LOT of software! Seriously, this is super high quality software to virtualize your applications… it is cleaner, better and more amazing than commercial software big enterprise companies pay HUGE bucks for! I was able to virtualize a software package that I could not get to virtualize using a major commercial package… you simply MUST try this!
Build a simple, unpatched, Windows XP image in your favorite hypervisor, then run Cameyo, then install your software package, click the “End Install” option in Cameyo, and you will have one simple executable that you can put on a file share, USB drive, whatever, and run a fully virtualized application session independent of your local Operating System. WOW!
“A virtual app (or portable app) is a single .EXE file that holds an entire application, including files, DLLs and registry. Virtual apps can be copied & moved around like regular files and launched from anywhere without installation: home, office, Dropbox, USB disk-on-key, laptop, network shares. With Cameyo’s app virtualization, you can take your apps and data with you, anywhere.
With Cameyo’s application virtualization, you can package an entire application – including all its files, DLLs, registry – into one single file and take it with you anywhere, along with the app’s settings & data. On your Dropbox drive, on a USB stick, at work, at home, on your laptop – using application virtualization you will no longer have to reinstall your apps again and again everytime you move from one computer to another. Virtual portable apps also keep your computer stable, isolating apps from your system. Whether your are a home user or an IT administrator, Cameyo will save you precious time… and frustration.”
Check out this video! If you are virtualization guy, like me, you will be as jazzed as I am!
By the way, the new (Beta) version is “Cloud Aware” – including full support for DropBox! Think about setting up your apps in the cloud and running them on any computer you have a DropBox share on! Wow, wow, wow!
“It’s hard to say how popular Chrome OS, Google’s browser-centric operating system, really is. There can be little doubt, though, that Google is quite serious about this initiative. Today, Google launched the latest developer version of Chrome OS and this update sports the first major redesign of the operation system’s interface since its launch in late 2010.
In this new version, Chrome OS almost looks like a traditional OS, with a full-blown desktop and window manager instead of just a browser and tabs. Aura, as this hardware-accelerated window manager is known, is Chrome’s next generation user interface framework and it is making its public debut in this new developer version of Chrome OS.
This update is quite a departure from Chrome OS’s origins. Until now, Chrome OS basically just gave users access to a single browser window at a time (you could already have multiple browser windows open on separate virtual screens) and launching new apps meant you first had to open a new tab and then look for the app you wanted to start. Now, Chrome OS features a Launchpad-like app launcher, as well as a Windows-like taskbar (Google calls it a ‘shelf’). Apps, it is worth noting, still start in a browser tab and not as stand-alone windows, though.
In short, Chrome OS now looks and behaves a lot more like the desktop operating systems it set out to challenge.”
“This just in: one chapter of AOL’s patent journey is coming to an end. The company is selling 800 patents to Microsoft for just north of $1 billion: $1.056 billion in cash to be exact.
Tim Armstrong, the CEO of AOL (which owns TechCrunch), says that the company will continue to hold on to about 300 patents and patent applications after the sale. These span ‘core and strategic technologies’ around advertising, search and content generation, he noted in a memo to employees…
The sale to Microsoft came after a ‘competitive auction process’ the company noted in a statement. It also includes the sale of the stock of an AOL subsidiary (unspecified which in the statement) ‘upon which AOL expects to record a capital loss for tax purposes and as a result, cash taxes in connection with the sale should be immaterial.’
AOL also said it ‘expects to utilize approximately $40 million of its existing deferred tax assets, representing approximately 20 percent of its total deferred tax assets, to offset any ordinary income taxes resulting from the license of its remaining patent portfolio.’ We have reached out to try to get more specifics on the subsidiary and so licensee information for the remaining patents.
The sale is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.”
Wow! 1.1 Billion for patents! I have to wonder what M$ has up their sleeve on this one!