Technomaly » Software

New Trojan Virus Disguised as Worm Game

markracz — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:37:15 +0000

Giddy up for yet another type of trojan! A Microsoft representative said that this new trojan can nuke the boot process of Windows. Instead of loading the operating system, all you get is a ASCII line in the middle of your monitor (is not even ASCII art, which can be cool). “A recently discovered backdoor sample (detected as Backdoor:Win32/Yonsole.A) can accept and execute a command from a remote server to modify the Master Boot Record (MBR) on the affected machine”, Chun Feng from Microsoft said yesterday.

This virus resembles the modus operandi of a timeless classic named “Stoned” which used to do the same thing on DOS back in the day. This virus can affect almost all types of popular Windows versions(including XP, VISTA and Windows 7) by dropping a DLL into your C:\Windows\System32 (yes, this folder has an important purpose, DO NOT erase it or fill it up with facebook screenshots of girls you don’t know).

But don’t worry too much about it, as the virus is around for almost a month and most antiviruses are able to cope with it. Microsoft claims that the alert status for this virus is “severe” and that you should update all of your software (ehem), stop downloading pirated software (double ehem) and not click unsafe links to web pages (some of the nicest things I’ve seen on the web are on unsafe sites, how can I not click on them?).

Via: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/Backdoor-Trojan-Master-Boot-Record,news-33720.html

PlayStation 3 Losing Linux

J. Matthew Zoss — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:59:28 +0000

One of the PlayStation 3’s bragging points amongst the technorati was the fact that you could install other operating systems on the machine, usually Linux. The redesigned Ps3 Slim removed this ability, and now the original version is losing it as well. On April 1, PlayStation 3 firmware 3.21 will be available, and when installed it will remove the “Install Other OS” option for “security reasons.” Sure, you are free to not install the new firmware, but doing so may interfere with other functions, such as online gaming.

I personally never used the feature in question, but I know several people who did. I’ll be pouring out a 40 for fallen PS3 Linux on April Fool’s Day.

Story and Image Source: Engadget

Add Social Media to Gmail with Rapportive

J. Matthew Zoss — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:06:17 +0000

I can’t say that I really notice the Google ads when I’ve got my Gmail inbox open, but if there was another option I’d certainly get rid of them. But wait! Now there’s a better way! Firefox and Chrome plugin Rapportive replaces those ads with the social media contacts of the person you’re emailing, so rather than looking at a bunch of text links for bondage and domination services or sausage factories, you get a nice picture of your friend and some links to their online presence. You obviously need a Gmail account to make this work, but Rapportive doesn’t record your password or other info, so you can set those privacy concerns aside.

I get a lot of business emails in my Gmail account, which often comes from email addresses tied to no social networking accounts, so in those cases Rapportive tends to come up empty. But even a blank space is nicer to look at than a bunch of ugly text links.

Story and Image via Lifehacker

Email Your Files Into The Cloud With SugarSync

J. Matthew Zoss — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 16:02:36 +0000

The advent of cloud-based file storage is one of my personal favorite technological advances of recent years. I once lost several years of writing when my computer’s hard drive failed because I was bad about backing it up on discs, but now I’ll never have to worry about that again. Every file I save is automatically backed up to a cloud-based folder so it’s accessible from all of my computers or any other machine with an internet connection. Cloud-based storage, how I love thee so!

While I use a program called Dropbox for my cloud storage, its competitor SugarSync just added one hell of a new feature: the ability to email a file to your online storage folder. Just email a file to your personal SugarSync address, and the file will automatically be uploaded to your storage folder. Of course, file size is limited by your email’s outgoing mail size limit, but for most users this will be a super-convenient way to hang onto files they want to keep without using up inbox storage space or carrying a flash drive every time they use a public computer.

Story and Image Via Lifehacker.

PeeWee PC Kid-Proofs Your Computer, Makes Us Giggle Like Children

J. Matthew Zoss — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:34:33 +0000

The press release for PeeWee PC’s new PeeWee Kit just hit my inbox and made me realize that perhaps I’m not mature enough to have a grown-up computer. After all, the name “PeeWee PC” makes me snicker like a child because, well, you know, it’s hilarious. Goofy name aside, PeeWee PC’s new PeeWee Kit is something I’d probably invest in if I had children: a low-cost ($29.99) software suite that adds security controls as well as educational games, the PeeWee Kit helps your kids learn and keeps them away from the cesspool that it the uncensored internet.

The PeeWee Kit can be customized for several different age groups and includes the following games:

Science House
Bailey Book House
Trudy’s Time & Place House
Sammy’s Science House
Millie’s Math House
Thinkin’ Things
Mighty Math Carnival Countdown
Zoombinis Mountain Rescue
Reader Rabbit
Where in the World in Carmen Sandiego?
Oregon Trail

Oregon Trail? Heck yes! That game is awesome! Like I said I don’t have kids, so I may just have to buy this for myself.

20 Years Of Photoshop

Asterios Kokkinos — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:00:37 +0000

Happy birthday, terrible filters! Happy birthday, lens flares, and happy birthday Photoshop. Last friday, Adobe Photoshop turned 20 years old, and to celebrate, several cakes were rasterized (i.e. “eaten”).

Nah, those are all jokes, here’s some actual information: Photoshop’s long history started in 1987, when Thomas Knoll created some pixel-imaging software called “Display.” What did it do? Displayed stuff, specifically grayscale images on black & white monitors. Then Knoll and his brother John added “processing capabilities” to Display, Adobe licensed the thing in 1988, called it “Photoshop,” and sold the first version at retail stores on February 19, 1990.

Some cool facts:

Layers weren’t introduced until version 3.0, which is kinda like saying “Word introduced delete in version 5″
The healing brush, which is the best brush out there for ugly people, was introduced in version 7.0.
According to Adobe, Photoshop’s got over 10 million users online. 9.9 million of them do not have girlfriends.
The original sales projection for Photoshop was “500 copies a month,” which has held up to today.

Once again – happy birthday, Photoshop!

Source: PC Magazine

Photo Source:

PMSBuddy Tracks Girlfriend’s Periods, You Jerk

Asterios Kokkinos — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:00:55 +0000

TechCrunch just turned me on to an iPhone app that’s as unnecessary as it is hilarious. It’s called PMSBuddy, and is designed to tell you, a frightened male who’s uncomfortable with how the female body works, when he should hide in his room playing Fallout 3.

As someone who’s actually dated girls, let me tell you – PMS isn’t actually that big of a deal. It’s not a Jeckyl/Hyde transformation from reasonable intelligent partner to savage, chocolate popping monster. Girls are always crazy, regardless of what time of the month it happens to be.

That being said, if you really need an application to tell you when your girlfriend’s period is, well, here you go. It’s available as an iPhone app, a website and a facebook widget, and is used by approximately 100,000 terrified adult males worldwide.

Coming soon: FertilityBuddy, an app that allows you to determine when your significant other is ovulating. I’m not kidding. I wish I was kidding. I’m not kidding.

Source & Photo Source: TechCrunch

ShrinkIt: The Free PDF Shrinker

Asterios Kokkinos — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:00:53 +0000

If you’re anything like me, you’ve got some pretty gigantic PDFs lying around your hard drive. For some reason, even my 3 page text PDFs often top pretty big, which makes them hard to send to people on legacy email accounts (I can’t believe everyone’s not on gmail either.) The other situation I often run into is replying to something on raigslist with a PDF – Craigslist has a 150k cap, which my PDFs overrun pretty often.

A new app just hit the freeware marketplace that aims to fix this common problem – it’s called ShrinkIt, and it uses OS X’s built in PDF capabilities to shrink PDFs faster than George Costanza in a pool. You just drag and drop your PDFs onto the program icon or into the program window, and in seconds you get smaller versions of the files, in the same location as the original files, next to newly saved copies of the original.

This program’s perfect for graphic heavy or particularly long PDFs. Give it a shot, and make your PC counterparts even more jealous of how easily Mac handles PDFs.

Darpa Looks To Build Real Life C3PO

Nick Upton — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:20:03 +0000

The military is looking for a better way to cut through the challenges of listening to radio chatter in several dialects when every word and second counts.

Currently, the military passes around the radio to interpreters who piece it together but lose a lot in the translation.

Darpa’s is experimenting with a system dubbed Robust Automatic Translation of Speech, or RATS.

Darpa wants RATS to pull speech out of “noisy or degraded signals,” with 99 percent accuracy at distinguishing spoken words from background noise. The system should also be able to identify, with 98 percent accuracy, the language spoken — with special emphasis on Arabic, Farsi, Pashto, Dari and Urdu.

The RATS software will be programmed with voice-recognition technology, to identify people on a military most-wanted list. It’ll also be able to automatically detect specific, preselected “key words or phases.”

They want the program to translate 15 languages among 1,000 different speakers with the ability to identify 100 words in three Middle Eastern languages.
Darpa wants the whole program on a PDA device (I want it on my phone) and wants it ready in 6 months.

That’s some app, but if it works it could take interpreters out of danger and out of the messy equation that the current method of spying creates.

[Via Wired]

Skype HD Allows Long Distance Girlfriend To See All Your Flaws

Asterios Kokkinos — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:32:03 +0000

Take a deep breath, because Skype’s gone hi-def! The venerated VOIP software announced today that version 4.2′ll allow for communication via HD webcam. You can download a beta version of Skype 4.2 here. Also, the Skype Shop will soon be selling three Skype-certified HD cameras, to make it easier for mom and dad to find an HD webcam they know’ll work.

As usual, though, this raises the question: do we really want to be seen in hi-def?

Look at the two models they got for this photo. Of course they look good in HD, they’d look good anywhere!

Personally, I have a hard enough time communicating with people in lo-def. Fixing my hair, washing my face…what a hassle. For hi-def I guess I’m gonna have to buy a makeup kit or something. Or maybe just grow a huge beard. Do beards look good in hi-def?

Source: Skype.com

Photosynth In Action At CES 2010

Nick Upton — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:35:33 +0000

Say what, Microsoft is giving something away for free, and it doesn’t suck?!? I got a chance to see the Photosynth in action at the

Consumer Electronics Show, and I must say I was quite impressed.

This could be a great alternative to a slideshow of 50 images on Facebook. Just link the image and all your photos are together, it also gives a sense of where you are, instead of those 50 random images. By putting the whole bar, dance, wedding, etc. together in one spot, viewers can instantly see what the event is, where it is and who was involved. And moving around they can see each individual picture.

It was the first thing I saw when I walked into the CES floor, I can’t wait to see what else is here.