CogitoVeritas.com

Computer-mediated faxing is a simple as signing up with an online faxing service, whether you need incoming or outgoing service.

The only fully-secured computer is one that is turned off. It is impossible to guarantee total security, especially once a computer is connected to a network, including the Internet. The best for which an IT manager (or an individual user) may hope is that the installed antivirus, antispam, and firewall applications are stronger than the attacks the computer receives.

Listen to the podcast at Internet Archive.

It is a simple matter to secure sensitive data using a freeware application.

A firewall, whether it is hardware or software, controls the flow of network traffic, in both directions. Unlike a hub or switch, which route traffic from one network address* to another.

A student recently commented, “Data can be manipulated, filtered and summed up directly by the person making the requests,” recognizes the effect of the personal computer on business processes. Independent reporting and analysis is a major factor in the affect that the personal computer has had on modern business.

There is a broad and well-developed distribution set of free software of which many applications are superior to similar commercial applications. Here are a few examples.

My wife and I purchased the new Olympus SP-510 UZ digital camera earlier this month, and we learned to use it while on vacation, last week. Although the Olympus digital camera that we have been using since the summer of 2000 still works fine, we wanted more flexibility and a faster-reacting shutter (that darn shutter lag causes us to lose many of our impromptu family snapshots).

Being away does not mean being gone.

When I originally wrote this article, I was visiting one of my favorite vacation spots in the United States: Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. I am shocked that a paucity of public life line networks the coffee shop down the road from our resort offers free wireless Internet service and the sundry store on the other side of the shopping doubles as an Internet café, selling access for $6.00 a day.

Always on is not always good.

Reliance on digital technology creates a sense of emphasis on keeping busy and productive. The internet and the burgeoning world of e-business allow both geographic and chronologic flexibility. Word, both commercial and personal, may be attended with greater individual flexibility than ever before. No longer are many white collar professional—am I am not sure that this term is any longer appropriate, as casual dress is now encouraged during the entire work week—required to complete work at the corporate office.

Skills not practiced are lost.

I am not sure that most retail associates would be able to calculate the correct change for a $37.63 charge if the customer presented a $100 bill. Retail clerks rely on the cash register to calculate the sales tax and change that should be returned to the customer. Some registers even suggest alternative combinations of bills and coins to hand to the customer so that the proper change is delivered.

Listen to the podcast at Internet Archive.

Technorati, the recognized blog tracking service, reported that there are fifty-one million blogs were in publication as of today. This is one hundred times more blogs than were in existence when the tracking service started, three years ago.

Wikipedia, the popular online reference source for undergraduates and consumers, worldwide, has more than 15 times the number of articles than the well-known Encyclopedia Britannica, the self-proclaimed “world’s most indispensable and reliable reference resource.”

McAfee’s antivirus software caused problems for Microsoft Excel users, on Friday. Just as Excel users, around the world, were attempting to complete their day’s work, the virus signatures, pushed to them by McAfee, caused the McAfee software to incorrectly identify the excel.exe file as being infected by the W95/CTX virus.

Google, Inc. seems to hope that thousands, possibly millions, of internet users will trust their digital data to the Mountain View, California company, the same one that sings forth the anthem “Don’t be evil.”

There are no traffic cops on the internet. Until now, that is. If U.S. telecommunication companies have their way, we may have internet traffic cops, patrol cars, and a full police union. The traffic cops will direct the traffic, giving preferential treatment to a select few that are able to pay for the unimpeded toll lane. Those who are able to pay the toll will get faster service.

Podcast
The BBC News reported this week that wi-fi, wireless fidelity, networking is slow to catch on with consumers. Most people do not take advantage of the flexibility that wireless connectivity offers. Why is this? In this podcast, I discuss how I use wireless networking to create flexibility in my work schedule.

University of Michigan researchers have developed the first scalable quantum computer chip using principally the same semiconductor manufacturing process as integrated semiconductor chips. The researchers have been able to trap and control a single atom within a processor chip.

Do you carry a cellphone? Do you know that your cellular service provider knows where your phone is? By extension, if you carry your phone with you, your cellular service provider knows where you are. Cellular phones can be located, accurate to within about 300 yards, whenever they are turned on. Since most cellular phone users keep their phones on and with them most of the time, it is quite probable that their ongoing whereabouts are being automatically tracked.

According to the most recent U.S. Census data, 62 million households in the United States have an Internet-connected computer. That means just over half, 55 percent of homes have relatively easy access to the net, including e-mail and web resources. This data, current as of 2003, shows a five percent increase in connected computers, compared to the 2001 data, and more than triple the 18 percent connectivity rate reported in 1997.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project reported in a paper dated September 24th, but released earlier in the week, that residential broadband adoption grew quickly in recent years; however, the speed of adoption is now slowing.