Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Eh? What do I mean?

I’m talking about clickjacking, a nasty little browser expolit that, according to Jeremiah Grossman, of WhiteHat Security, “…gives an attacker the ability to trick a user into clicking on something only barely or momentarily noticeable. Therefore, if a user clicks on a Web page, they may actually be clicking on content from another page.”

And, no, Firefox and Mac users are NOT safe from this one, it apparently affects ALL browsers. Read more at the Linux Journal blog.

Microsoft confirmed on Friday that they will continue shipping Windows XP media through July 2009. Read all about it in this ComputerWorld article.

Yea, Vista is a BIG hit…lol.

Time for some ~real~ fun stuff!

Check out CNN’s list of 10 nifty apps for your phone here.

Even more interesting are reports of a shortage of developers for phone applications. So, if you know how to write software for smartphones, even this economy could be good for you. Especially you open source folks

Yep, times are hard.

Gerry and Cindy Mann of Michigan were having such a hard time selling their home they decided to try a brand new gimmick. When their children were young, Cindy’s father created a scale replica of the family home, to scale (1ft to 1in) and all handmade. The dollhouse is worth a couple thousand dollars, but if you pay $169k for it you can have the full-size version, too.

This story broke about a month ago and I haven’t been able to find an update anywhere on the web, including in the local Michigan paper. If you know anything about this, please let us know in the comments and we’ll do a follow-up.

It’s coming…

IVAA’s 3rd Annual Online VA Summit is only a little over a month away. IVAA members’ early registration discount–a chance to save 20% off Summit registration–ends at midnight Central time on Wednesday, September 24, 2008.

We are virtual assistants, and, for many of us who started our business to be home with children and family, traveling to the in-person summit is difficult, if not impossible. Enter the online summit. A full day of networking, great seminars, and lots of take-homes in the form of full recordings of sessions that you can go over later at your leisure. Heck, if you can’t attend the summit, you can still register and get the recordings–how many professional conferences can you say that about?

Look at the definition of “Summit” in the title bar and you’ll see why we call it a summit and not a conference. The purpose of the IVAA Summits, both in-person and online, is to help VAs reach the “topmost level attainable” in their chosen profession.

FYI, Candy will be presenting a discussion on the personal and professional benefits of volunteering at the online summit this year. You don’t want to miss that, do you?

Hurry up and register today!

…you have clean, natural power that looks good from all angles.

According to The Times (of London) via CNN, Google has applied for a patent to build data centers (server farms if you’re old school) off the British coast. The data centers would be built on boats and designed to use the water’s natural motion to power the servers and/or cool them.

Aside from the whole risking life and limb in the not-known-for-its-friendly-nature North Atlantic thing, the idea looks good on paper.

• Clean energy source? Check.
• Lower costs? (No rent on the open ocean.) Check.
• A new revenue stream for the struggling maritime industry? Check.
• Smaller aesthetic impact? (Have you SEEN a data center? The building are ugly and have enough lines and cables running to them to audition for the part of Frankenstein’s lab.) Check.
• A whole bunch of seasick computer guys? Check.

That last was just to see if you were paying attention. It sounds good, but we’ll have to wait for more details before we can judge the actual feasibility of floating data centers.

I am not Candy, she who is CRESS designated. That means when she asked me to blog the whole Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac thing I smiled and nodded and like I always do…Glad she couldn’t see over IM how cross-eyed and teeth-gritting I was.

The sum total of my knowledge of mortgage finance is where to mail my mortgage check, and that I have to look up every month. So, I’ve been learning this week. And, honestly, I still don’t get it.

But these folks do, so I’m going to send you on a link tour to people who can talk about the bailout knowledgeably–unlike me.

Under New Management: Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae
What rescue means for mortgage rates
Dollar climbs after mortgage bailout
Fannie and Freddie 101
Fannie & Freddie: Buying Friends in D.C.
Fannie, Freddie storm wallops insurers, too
Dems: Departing mortgage execs pay ‘too high’
Fannie’s borrowing costs plunge
Mortgage rates drop after Freddie, Fannie bailout
Treasury offers mortgage takeover FAQ
Greenspan: Government Faces Tough Decisions in Lehman Case

Residents and business owners in areas affected by Hurricane Gustav now have until January 5, 2009 to pay taxes due between September 1, 2008 & January 5, 2009. These include things like quarterly estimated taxes, extended tax returns, and more.

For full details, there’s a pretty good article at CNNMoney.com.

Oh, and yes, we are as flummoxed as the rest of the world by the Fannie/Freddie bailout. We’ll be posting on it later this week, we just want time do a little research.

Americans are pretty much always disgruntled with the state of our ridiculously overcomplicated tax system and the agency that administers collection of it. Add a declining economy and, well, it’s getting ugly out there.

The latest? A Center Point, Alabama man tries to kill himself (?? the article is a little unclear on this point) by ramming his car into the Birmingham, Alabama IRS office.