Free download of USB partitioning and encryption software

Starting at midnight tonight, NewTech Infosystems (NTI) will be making its new Ninja software - a USB data storage and protection software -- available free on their web site. NTI says Ninja, unlike most fixed partition USB software, allows users to adjust the size of their publicand private partitions on portable storage devices. The software also offers anti-tamper encryption and password protection.According to NTI, Ninja complies with the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). The 128-bit AES encryption algorithm prevents brute force password protection of the user's private storage areas while providing free, easy access to the public storage space on the USB device. The software can be used on USB flash and hard drives as well as SD cards, cell and smartphones, iPods and MP3 Players.

Free download of USB partitioning and encryption software

Starting at midnight tonight, NewTech Infosystems (NTI) will be making its new Ninja software - a USB data storage and protection software -- available free on their web site. NTI says Ninja, unlike most fixed partition USB software, allows users to adjust the size of their public and private partitions on portable storage devices. The software also offers anti-tamper encryption and password protection.According to NTI, Ninja complies with the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). The 128-bit AES encryption algorithm prevents brute force attacks of user's private storage areas while providing free access to the public storage space on the USB device. The software can be used on USB flash and hard drives as well as SD cards, cell and smartphones, iPods and MP3 Players.

Greatest GUI Gaffes

What are your least favorite user interfaces? What "helpful" features end up driving you up a tree?In GUI Gaffs, "winners" include Microsoft's Clippie ("it gets in your face," says Don Norman with Nielsen Norman Group) and the Apple Newton's primitive handwriting recognition. Any others?(As for UI in general, we'd vote for "press 1 for...." automated customer service...)

Greatest GUI Gaffes

What are your least favorite user interfaces? What "helpful" features end up driving you up a tree?In GUI Gaffes, "winners" include Microsoft's Clippie ("it gets in your face," says Don Norman with Nielsen Norman Group) and the Apple Newton's primitive handwriting recognition. Any others?(As for UI in general, we'd vote for "press 1 for...." automated customer service...)

Beware! "Trusted" sites often host spyware and scams

TRUSTe, which promises to help consumers by certifying only "trustworthy" Web sites as being safe, in fact certifies many sites that "that seek to scam users -- whether through spyware infections, spam, or other unsavory practices," according to well-known spyware researcher Ben Edelman. More frightening still, TRUSTe-certified sites are twice as likely as non-TRUSTe-certified sites to host spyware or scams, Edelman found. Edelman examined more than 500,000 Web sites, and checked their safety using SiteAdvisor, whose robots check Web sites for spyware, and which uses other methods and test to check sites for spamming and other scams.

Beware! "Trusted" sites often host spyware and scams

TRUSTe, which promises to help consumers by certifying only "trustworthy" Web sites as being safe, in fact certifies many sites that "that seek to scam users -- whether through spyware infections, spam, or other unsavory practices," according to well-known spyware researcher Ben Edelman. More frightening still, TRUSTe-certified sites are twice as likely as non-TRUSTe-certified sites to host spyware or scams, Edelman found. Edelman examined more than 500,000 Web sites, and checked their safety using SiteAdvisor, whose robots check Web sites for spyware, and which uses other methods and test to check sites for spamming and other scams.

Shark Tank: It's All About U, Isn't It?

Manager pages pilot fish before he even gets to his desk: There's an important meeting in the conference room, and the PC there isn't working. As fish arrives, manager jumps up, keyboard in hand, punching the Enter key to show that the screen isn't responding. Fish sees the keyboard's dangling cable and -- painfully aware of the roomful of bigwigs present -- tries to quietly point out that the keyboard works better when plugged in to the machine. Manager's loud response: "I disconnected it to plug in my thumb drive, but that shouldn't matter because the keyboard is USB, and the PC should always know how to run it. The 'u' stands for universal!"

Shark Tank: It's All About U, Isn't It?

Manager pages pilot fish before he even gets to his desk: There's an important meeting in the conference room, and the PC there isn't working. As fish arrives, manager jumps up, keyboard in hand, punching the Enter key to show that the screen isn't responding. Fish sees the keyboard's dangling cable and -- painfully aware of the roomful of bigwigs present -- tries to quietly point out that the keyboard works better when plugged in to the machine. Manager's loud response: "I disconnected it to plug in my thumb drive, but that shouldn't matter because the keyboard is USB, and the PC should always know how to run it. The 'u' stands for universal!"

New Sun CIO Readies Massive ERP Consolidation

Q&A: New Sun CIO Bob Worrall discusses the company's massive ERP project and his organization's role as a broad user of Sun's open-source Solaris Express technology.

Global Dispatches

Global Dispatches: Munich’s municipal government has begun a migration to desktop Linux, a year later than planned and nearly three years after the city announced that it would move to the open-source software.

Judge Rules Accessibility Suit Against Target Can Proceed

A federal judge denied Target's motion to dismiss a lawsuit charging that the company's Web site is not accessible to blind people.

GUI Gaffs

A recap of evolutionary dead ends for the GUI.

Getting Personal

Individualizing the GUI may even mean looking at a user’s brainwave activity.

Point-and-Wave Computing

A researcher advocates multiple points of contact for users.

MySQL drops support for BerkeleyDB

MySQL AB has dropped support for BerkeleyDB, which Oracle Corp. acquired when it bought SleepyCat Software Inc. in mid-February.

HP wrapup, new Vista build (and travels with a gun)

Morning. It's IT Blogwatch, in which HP (mumble mumble snore) and Microsoft quietly releases another Vista build. Not to mention an unorthodox way to secure your checked baggage...Fed up of reading about the HP board yet? Me too, so let's quickly wrap up the state of play:It seems that HP moved deeper into damage-control mode over its probe of leaks ... as we hear CEO Mark Hurd will testify at a Congressional hearing about the tactics used ... and so perhaps the top executives could grab a stylebook and consider a change in occupation ... well Dunn resigned and who didn’t see this coming? ... but one could argue that when the corruption starts at the top, you have to clean house with a firehose ... although don't worry, 'cos Hurd is wearing his "Dad will make it all okay" glasses. MEANWHILE, Microsoft has snuck out an interim Vista build, as Preston Gralla reports

HP wrapup, new Vista build (and travels with a gun)

Morning. It's IT Blogwatch, in which HP (mumble mumble snore) and Microsoft quietly releases another Vista build. Not to mention an unorthodox way to secure your checked baggage...Fed up of reading about the HP board yet? Me too, so let's quickly wrap up the state of play:It seems that HP moved deeper into damage-control mode over its probe of leaks ... as we hear CEO Mark Hurd will testify at a Congressional hearing about the tactics used ... and so perhaps the top executives could grab a stylebook and consider a change in occupation ... well Dunn resigned and who didn’t see this coming? ... but one could argue that when the corruption starts at the top, you have to clean house with a firehose ... although don't worry, 'cos Hurd is wearing his "Dad will make it all okay" glasses. MEANWHILE, Microsoft has snuck out an interim Vista build, as Preston Gralla reports