| Home • Previous page | Do you use a pop-up blocker? If so, please read this. |
March 20, 2005 |
WTVN Radio • Columbus, Ohio Sunday morning from 8 until 9 |
| Important disclaimer: | |
Adobe Acrobat 7 learns some new tricksAdobe Systems began shipping Acrobat 7 in January. The downloadable version has been available since late 2004. As with version 6 of Acrobat, the software is available in standard and professional versions -- the professional version including features that are essential for professional printing. The professional version also includes features for those who use computer-aided design (CAD) systems. Before we get started, I have this public service announcement ...
Those who need only the free Adobe Reader should download version 7 from Adobe's website because some new functions are available. Perhaps the most important new feature is the ability for users for Acrobat Professional to create a PDF document that enables some of the commenting tools for users of the free reader. Because PDFs are often used for document review, this is a welcome feature. In the past, only uses of the professional or standard versions of Acrobat could add comments. Overall, the product line structure remains about the same as it has been for several versions. The professional product offers the widest range of features. The standard version is targeted at business professionals who need to create PDFs but don't need the high-end features. And Acrobat Elements is available to companies that need to provide a way for all computer users to be able to create PDFs. What's new?Lots. Distiller is the key tool that people in publishing will use in their pre-press workflow (but programs such as Adobe InDesign CS already have the native capability to produce PDF output) but Adobe has improved support for Microsoft Office applications. Within Word, Excel, and now Outlook, users have the ability to directly make PDFs.
The ability to enable users of the version 7 reader to enter comments is particularly useful for companies that use Acrobat documents to distribute documents for internal review. Previously, only those who had the full version of the program could add comments. Now the creator of the document can use Acrobat 7 Professional to turn on commenting ability for that specific document in the reader. Those are just a couple of the features that I find worthwhile. We don't have enough air-time to talk about everything that's new or improved in Acrobat 7. The professional and standard versions are available in versions for Windows 2000 (SP2 and above), Windows XP, and Mac OS X (10.2.8 and above). The professional version sells for $450 and registered users of Acrobat 4 through 6 may upgrade for $160. The standard version sells for $300 and users of versions 4 through 6 may upgrade for $100.
Why you need more than Microsoft's firewallI received a question this week after I said something critical of Microsoft's half-a-firewall that comes with SP2 for Windows XP: "Could you elaborate on the deficiencies of the XP SP2 firewall, Bill?" Yes. Oh ... you wanted me to. OK, then. The MS firewall watches for nasties that try to gain access to your computer from elsewhere. It does nothing to watch outbound traffic. So let's say that somebody manages to slip your computer a mickey by one of several possible means -- one that, for whatever reason, isn't caught by any of the other protective measures you have in place. And let's say that this particular mickey is one that causes your computer to "phone home" for instructions. When the application becomes active, it connects to a server in Czechoslovakia, downloads an application, installs it on your computer, and adds it to the Start section of the Registry. Your computer now can be controlled by the person who wrote the application that your computer downloaded and installed. This application could use your computer to send spam. It could use your computer to send phishing messages. It could use your computer to be the host for a phishing website. You might see a little additional activity on your modem and the computer might be a bit slower; except for that, you'd probably notice nothing. If you have a real firewall (example: Zone Alarm from ZoneLabs), the instant a new application tries to make an Internet connection from your computer, ZA will show you the name of the application and ask if you want it to have access to the Internet. As firewalls go, the MS version is a fine Maginot Line. I'm not knocking Microsoft. The company does a lot of things well, but this isn't one of them. Fortunately, the security system that's installed with SP2 is smart enough to get out of the way if you have a real firewall. Oh ... and it doesn't hurt to have a hardware firewall in addition to the software version. Decent hardware firewalls are available now for $100 or so. Poking through NAT is not something I can do, but I haven't spent any time learning how. I understand that it's a relatively trivial thing to do. One key phrase to look for in buying a firewall is "stateful packet inspection". SPI (also called dynamic packet filtering) is the name of a technique that provides enhanced security by keeping track of communications packets over time. Incoming and outgoing packets are examined. Outgoing packets that request specific types of incoming packets are tracked and the firewall allows only appropriate responses to pass. Static packet filtering, the older method, looks only at the headers, assuming that what information the headers provide is truthful. I recently purchased a Netgear FR114p firewall/router combo. It was less than $100. From the product description: "Has everything you want for maximum security coverage: True Firewall using Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) and Intrusion Detection features, Denial of Service (DoS) attack protection and, for extra safeguarding, VPN pass-through." For more information, see Netgear's website. A software firewall is, IMO, no longer optional. A hardware firewall is highly recommended. Within just the past couple of weeks, new threats have begun to develop that are far more serious than anything we've seen so far. ACISPTMNBN* promises more than it can deliver*"A certain Internet service provider that must not be named." I was excited when I received a message from a certain Internet service provider that must not be named (ACISPTMNBN), my Internet service provider, in the second week of March: "To help you get the most out of the Internet, we're accelerating your Internet speed. Beginning March 11, 2005, we're increasing your Internet speed from 2Mbps to 4Mbps - at no additional charge! Now you'll be able to surf the Internet even faster than before, download pictures and streaming video more quickly, and even play online games like a pro!
On March 12, I did some testing. What I found wasn't exactly 4Mbps. In fact, it wasn't even close.
And, yes, those numbers are after unplugging the modem, waiting a minute, and plugging it in again. It's true that all of these are outside the ACISPTMNBN network and are, therefore, subject to network speeds not under ACISPTMNBN's control. But ACISPTMNBN provides its own speed test, which reported "true ACISPTMNBN! network speed, unaffected by external Internet traffic" is 2366 Kbps. That 2.4Mbps, rounded up in ACISPTMNBN's favor -- 40% less than what the service is promising. Truth in advertising? Not exactly. The first rule of customer satisfaction is "Do what you said you will do." In other words, if you tell me you're going to do something on March 11, do it on March 11. Don't tell me, as ACISPTMNBN did after I asked what was going on, that they only started the process on March 11 and that it will be a while before everyone sees the increased speed. A week after the promised upgrade (March 18), ACISPTMNBN's test reports 1729 Kbps downstream and 281 Kbps upstream. Nerdly NewsA phone with a camera or a camera with a phone?
The phone looks more like a digital camera, but it is a phone and it includes an MP3 music player. The 2-inch display on the back shows images 320 pixels by 240 pixels. How much? We don't know yet. When? We also don't know. The good news for those in the US (and the bad news for the rest of the world) is that this as a CDMA phone that will work here, in Korea, and elsewhere in Asia. Much of the rest of the world uses GSM. GSM means Global System for Mobile Communications and CDMA means Code Division Multiple Access. Samsung is fighting Motorola for second place in the world cell phone market and the Korean electronics manufacturer has been producing highly innovative phones. No, we're not getting a kickback from SamsungRemember when Sony was king and Samsung was a little Korean company with products of questionable quality and not a lot of market share? That's changing. In the past couple of years, I've seen some innovative products from the South Korean company. That continues today (above). And now Samsung Electronics has announced the launch some new MP3 players and says that it will reach the top of this fast-growing market by 2007. This year we'll see ...
Samsung Electronics sold 1.7 million MP3 players last year, ranking first in China and raising its stature in other major markets. At the same time, the company has expressed its intentions for expanding its influence in the MP3 player industry . To expand its position, the company plans to enhance its product line-up by focusing on segments beyond just flash and hard disk drive categories. The marketing strategy will include the launch of products that target different needs through a diverse array of devices for the premium, fashion, and video-enhanced segments. Let us know what you think. Write to:
|
 |
Have a question? Ask it and you might pick up a prize for stumping the chump. Send your question to . And ... good luck! |
Privacy Guarantee:I HATE SPAM and will not sell, rent, loan, auction, trade, or do anything else with your e-mail address. Period. |
Is this information useful? |
|
Joe(Photo by Sally) |
Bill(Photo by Scampi) |
|
As if you didn't already get enough weather on the radio! This is the only ad you'll ever see on this site. It's for my website host, BlueHost in Orem, Utah. Over the past several years, they have proven to be honest, reliable, and progressive. If you need to host a website, please click the banner below to see what BlueHost has to offer. Annoying legal disclaimer [an error occurred while processing this directive] |
||
I don't use Outlook for e-mail, but the new feature will be helpful for anyone who does. You can select one or many messages -- even entire folders -- and write them to a secure PDF archive. Acrobat automatically adds bookmarks to help you navigate the messages by date, sender, and subject. And that archive includes any attachments that came with the messages.
NINE CATS: Acrobat is the best application available to create design-rich documents that can be shared with those who don't own the application that created the initial file. A single PDF document can contain components prepared in a word processor, a vector design program, a spreadsheet, a CAD application, a publishing program and more. The new features and capabilities Adobe added to version 7 make the upgrade well worthwhile.
Samsung this week put a 7 Megapixel camera-phone on display at Cebit in Germany. The SCH-V770 phone comes with a 3x optical zoom and measures 12.7cm by 5.2cm and is about 2.7cm thick. It weighs in at 180 grams. For those in less civilized parts of the world, that's 5 inches by 2, 1 inch thick, weighing a little over 6 ounces.
YP-T8 - a multimedia device with support for video, audio and test playback that is one-third the size of conventional portable music players.
