TechMan

Dell, you lose

2009-11-17T20:44:00Z

Some time ago, TechMan reported that TechMaam had ordered a laptop computer from Dell. Today she canceled the order. The computer was ordered on Oct. 12 with Windows 7 preinstalled. Windows 7 came out Oct. 22. After originally giving us a delivery date of Nov. 3, Dell then changed the delivery date to Nov. 10. At that point we got a notice saying we had the right to withdraw our order, but no explanation of the problem. We let the order ride. The delivery date was then pushed back to Nov. 17 and then Nov.24 without notice or further explanation. From reports on the Web, the same thing has been happening to other customers.

So too bad, Dell. You lose the order and a customer who has been buying Dell computers for 20 years. It's a shame. Dell used to have good customer service. Now it is terrible. Dell better get its act together or they're going to get a lot more orders cancelled.

Be wary at the ATM

2009-11-16T20:53:00Z

In 1997, a father and son from Fayette County had an idea: They would rip off an automated teller machine.

That is exactly what they did. They pulled a stolen, tilt-bed tow truck next to a free-standing ATM in a bank drive-up lane. They put a chain around the machine and pulled it off its moorings, leaving only some wires poking out of the ground. Then they loaded it onto the truck and drove away. Naturally, they were later caught.

Flash forward to last week when authorities in Atlanta announced that a federal grand jury had indicted four people for ripping off almost $10 million within 12 hours from ATMs worldwide.

The accused, three of whom have been identified, are from Estonia, Russia and Moldova. They are charged with breaking into computers at a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland in Georgia that processes payroll debit cards -- cards that allow employees to withdraw their salaries from an ATM.

They were allegedly able to raise the funding limits on certain accounts and had supplied co-conspirators around the world with 44 counterfeit payroll debit cards.

Within a 12-hour span, those "cashers" withdrew $9.4 million from 2,100 ATMs in 280 cities in the United States, Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan and Canada

Obviously, with millions of ATMs around the world, these machines are the target of many criminals.

Although it is not possible to fully guard against a tow truck or computer hackers in Eastern Europe, a great many ATM crimes are aimed at the individual ATM user. And there are things you can do to protect yourself.

First, realize that a criminal does not need your PIN number and your card to steal from your bank account. If he can obtain your personal information by hacking into a store's computer system, where your information is stored when you use your debit card, or obtain your PIN some other way, cheap card burners make it easy to make counterfeit cards.

So always protect your PIN when entering it. Put your body between you and anyone who could "shoulder surf" (peek over your shoulder) to see your number while you are entering it. Or cover the keypad with your other hand.

Be especially careful in a grocery store checkout line or at a gas pump. (TechMan tries to avoid using his debit card in stores, but that's just him.)

If you approach an ATM where someone appears to be hanging around, don't use it.

Don't use a machine that has signs or an instruction screen that asks you to do something out of the ordinary, such as enter your PIN number twice. Also, use the same ATM as much as possible so you will notice any changes. Inform the bank about anything suspicious.

Never enter your PIN number on the Web as a result of an e-mail purported to be from your bank or never even click a link in such an e-mail.

In general, ATMs inside a bank or other building are safer than those on the street.

Carefully examine the slot where you insert your card. A favorite scam is this: A thief will insert a strip of X-ray film bent in half into the slot and glue the ends to the slot rim, a technique known as the Lebanese Loop. Since the film is black, it will be less noticeable against the black rim of the slot. When the film "catches" your card, you will think the machine "ate" it.

Then the thief or an accomplice will appear and helpfully tell you that if you enter your PIN at the same time he presses "cancel" and "enter," your card will be returned.

Of course it doesn't work and he steals your PIN then returns later to remove his "loop," and with it your card.

Report any card that has been "eaten" by the machine to the bank immediately.

Thieves also have been known to put fake keypads on top of the ATM keypad to capture your PIN or even construct entire fake ATM machines.

There also have been cases of putting a trap inside the money slot to capture your withdrawal. The "trap" -- along with your money -- can be retrieved as soon as you go into the bank to complain.

But don't be too paranoid because it is estimated that fewer than two-thousandths of a percent of ATM transactions worldwide are affected by fraud or crime.

But that's a lot of transactions.

Free WiFi at Pittsburgh airport

2009-11-11T17:05:00Z

Google is sponsoring free WiFi at 47 ariports across the nation until mid-January.

Below is an excerpt from the Google news release:

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (November 10, 2009) – Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced that it is working with airports across the country as well as Boingo Wireless, Advanced Wireless Group, Airport Marketing Income and others to provide free Wi-Fi as a holiday gift now through January 15, 2010. The gift currently includes 47 airports, including Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, San Jose, Boston, Baltimore, Burbank, Houston, Indianapolis, Seattle, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, St. Louis and Charlotte. Additionally, as a result of this project, Burbank and Seattle airports will begin offering airport-wide free Wi-Fi indefinitely.

"We're very happy to extend our Holiday Wi-Fi gift to the millions of people who will spend time in airports over the next few months," said Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Products and User Experience at Google. "We know that this is a very hectic travel season for people, and we hope that free Wi-Fi will make both traveling and connecting with friends and family a little bit easier."

Trouble with Dell

2009-11-10T15:28:00Z

Back on Oct. 12, TechMaam ordered a new laptop from Dell. Because she wanted Windows 7 pre-installed, their ship date of Nov. 3 seemed reasonable since they couldn't ship before Windows 7 was released on Oct. 22. But then we got an email saying the ship date had been delayed until Nov. 10. Okay, they're busy, that's good for the economy. Until we got another email delaying the ship date until Nov. 17.

A call to Dell brought a recorded message saying they were having delays from their suppliers and a conversation with a Dell rep confirmed that there were cetrain parts they could not get on time.

What makes this surprising is my past experience with Dell. I once ordered a TV from them and got it the next day. On computer orders, they have usually shipped before their stated ship date. So we are left waiting and wondering what is going on with Dell.

Red light cameras - how they work

2009-11-10T15:07:00Z

In an interesting article in last Sunday's Post-Gazette, Harrisburg Bureau Chief Tom Barnes wrote that, based on a trial in Philadelphia, red-light cameras soon could come to the city of Pittsburgh.

The cameras, which photograph the license plate of a car that runs a red light, are seen as promoting traffic safety.

Reducing such violations is important. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 22 percent of traffic accidents in the United States are caused by drivers running red lights. These accidents kill some 800 people a year and rack up an estimated $7 billion dollars in property damage, medical bills, lost productivity and insurance increases.

The cameras also raise money from traffic fines as the photos, along with a ticket, are mailed to the owner of the vehicle. If you are caught on camera running a red light, you will get an unwelcome surprise in the mail, probably amounting to more than $100.

When TechMan hears about plans like this, he always has two questions: What about privacy? And how do these systems work?

Privacy is not as big a concern as it might be because in Pennsylvania the owner of the car can be held responsible for the violation. Cameras will take a photo of only license plates.

Some other states specify that the driver is responsible, and so a photo is taken of the driver. That is much more of a privacy concern.

But even if a photo is taken of the license plate, it is time stamped. It provides another entry in a database of where your car was at a specific time and likely where you were -- just like the E-ZPass system used on the Turnpike.

This data should be used only for what it is intended. But E-ZPass information has been sought in other legal cases, and presumably, so could red-light camera information.

As to how these systems work, the theory is simple, but the technology is complicated.

A red-light camera system has three parts -- one or more digital cameras, a computer and one or more triggers.

The cameras take the pictures, obviously. They are mounted high over the intersection to get the needed angle.

The triggers tell the computer when a car enters the intersection while the light is red -- a violation has occurred. The trigger will not go off if the car is already in the intersection when the light turns red.

But some argue that red-light cameras cause more rear-end collisions because people unexpectedly stop on a yellow light for fear of getting a ticket.

The computer receives the signal from the trigger, directs the cameras to take the pictures and stores the pictures after stamping with date, time, intersection location, speed of the car and elapsed time between when the light turned red and the car entered the intersection.

Usually two pictures are taken -- one when the car enters the intersection and one when the car is in the middle of the intersection. The spacing of the pictures is determined by the speed of the car reported by the triggers.

The type of trigger that has been most commonly used is an induction loop. It consists of looped wires buried under the intersection and attached to a source of electricity and an electric meter.

This creates an electromagnetic field. When a big hunk of conducting material, such as your car, goes through the field, the meter measures that there have been changes in the field -- a car has gone through. Most systems have two of these loops, so by timing the interval between the changes in the loops, the vehicle's speed can be determined.

Systems use other types of triggers also, such as radar, laser or air tube. Currently emerging is video loop technology. In this trigger, a computer analyzes video of the intersection frame-by-frame. The computer has been programmed to recognize changes that indicate a car passing. Video loops have the advantage of not having to dig up the intersection to install them.

So here is the scenario: You decide you are in too much of a hurry to wait until the light turns green. Because the light is red, the system is on.

As you pull out, the sensor loop tells the computer your car has begun to pull into the intersection. The second sensor loop confirms that you have not stopped and helps calculate your speed.

Bingo, the camera goes off, ticket through the mail.

So remember, in the future, if you are tempted to run a red light, Big Camera may be watching.

AVG turns off Defender

2009-10-29T14:01:00Z

TechMaam was using the XP machine last night and noticed that Windows Defender had been turned off. A little Net research turned up a number of complaints about the new AVG antivirus version 9, which we recently downloaded, turning off Windows Defender. It's easy to turn it back on, but be aware. You would think that Microsoft is breathing down AVG's neck to put out a fix for this one.

New Apple PCs

2009-10-20T17:18:00Z

Apple has announced upgrades to its laptops and desktops and a new mouse.

Data exchange with your computer getting faster

2009-10-12T01:45:00Z

Three speedier new ways to exchange data with your computer have been in the news lately.

One is here already, another is just emerging and the third is in the future: A new, faster WiFi standard was approved in September. The first USB 3.0 certified devices have begun to emerge. And Intel announced this month that it is working on a new connection scheme that could download a Blu-Ray movie in 30 seconds.

First, the present.

The new 802.11n WiFi standard, now available on routers and other wireless devices, is designed to make data move faster and give networks more reach.

How much?

Although both range and speed involve a number of variables, a real-world estimate would be up to five times as fast and twice as far or more than before. Actual mileage may vary.

The new standard also should be better able to deal with interference since it can send and receive on at least two different spots on the radio spectrum. You'll need a dual-band router to take advantage of this.

By the way, 802.11n may sound familiar -- you have been able to buy 802.11 draft n routers for quite a while, waiting final approval by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Board. N and draft n are compatible with the older a, b and g standards, although a slower component can put a drag on the whole network and defeat some of the purpose of an n router. Prices of n routers range from $50 to $250.

If the device you are communicating with is not n compatible, you will need a receiver card, which is an additional $50 to $100. Apple laptops have been n-friendly for a while.

So is switching to n worth it? Yes, if you have a big house and your current WiFi doesn't cover the whole area, or if you want to transfer large files faster.

No, if you are happy with the range and speed of your current network or if you think you will get faster Internet speeds. The bottleneck is your Internet connection, not your WiFi network.

You are no doubt familiar with the term USB (Universal Serial Bus). It is that squarish connector that hooks your computer up to a growing number of devices, including cameras, external hard drives and music players.

USB also hews to a standard, a blueprint for how these connectors function. And a new standard, USB 3.0, is emerging.

Although the standard has been out for almost a year, devices capable of using it are just now appearing. Several companies have announced hard drives using 3.0, and more products, probably hard drives, video cameras and flash drives at first, will be appearing.

Again, speed is the difference. USB 3.0 is capable of data transfer 10 times as fast as its predecessor. It is compatible with USB 2.0 but at the slower speed. So if you buy a USB 3.0 device and plug it into a USB 2.0 port, you are wasting your time and money.

It will take awhile for USB 3.0 to become mainstream. At this point none of the major operating systems support it, although Windows 7 plans to add support in a future service pack. So hold on to your USB 2.0 devices. They will be good for quite awhile.

Now for the future.

Monster chipmaker Intel recently announced that it is working on a technology that would use fiber optic cable to move data between your computer and other devices. This is the same stuff that brings high-speed Internet and TV into your home and carries phone calls under the ocean.

Called Light Peak, Intel's technology will have speeds of about 20 times current USB 2.0. Intel estimates that, in the next decade, Light Peak speeds will increase by a factor of 10.

But the biggest advantage may not be the speed. If everyone would switch to Light Speed, all devices could have the same cables and connectors. Just think, one cable to rule them all.

But don't hold your breath. Hardware manufacturers cooperating for the good of the consumer? Right.

CMU graduate called father of computer graphics

2009-10-09T19:47:00Z

A slide shown at last week's dedication of CMU's Gates computer science school and Hillman future technology building caught TechMan's eye.

The slide said that eight past or present members of CMU's faculty and two alumni have received the A.M. Turing Award, often called the Nobel Prize of computer science.

The award's namesake, the late Alan M. Turing, was in the news recently when British Prime Minister Gordon Brown formally apologized on behalf of his country for Mr. Turing's treatment.

Mr. Turing, a computer pioneer who helped win WWII with his work on cracking the Nazis' Enigma code, was sentenced to chemical castration in 1952 after being convicted of a charge of gross indecency for being an admitted homosexual. Mr. Turing committed suicide two years later. I'd say it's a bit late for an apology.

Looking at the CMU list, TechMan noted the name of Ivan Sutherland, who received his undergraduate degree from CMU and undoubtedly qualifies for TechMan's infrequent series, "Giants of Technology You've Probably Never Heard Of."

Mr. Sutherland often is called the father of computer graphics.

Back in the early '60s, before personal computers, the only way you could communicate with computers was with numbers or arcane commands on punch cards.

Mr. Sutherland believed there were other ways, so he devised a computer program called SketchPad. It was the first crude computer drawing program and an important precursor of the graphical user interface that debuted to the world in the Apple Macintosh.

But Mr. Sutherland's interest in how we communicate with computers didn't stop there. He spent some time running ARPA, the military agency that is widely credited with devising the Internet. There he explored how we could communicate with computers using other computers.

At Harvard University in 1968, he created the first virtual reality head-mounted display system. The head-mounted display, worn by the user, was so heavy it had to be suspended from the ceiling. Because of its formidable appearance, it was named The Sword of Damocles.

From 1968 to 1974, Mr. Sutherland was a professor at the University of Utah, where he shepherded a number of students who would become influential in the field of computers.

In 1968, he and colleague David Evans co-founded Evans and Sutherland, a company that did pioneering work in accelerated three-dimensional computer graphics and printer languages.

At Evans and Sutherland, he employed John Warnock, future founder of Adobe Inc., and Jim Clark, who founded Silicon Graphics and later a little company called Netscape.

In the 1970s, Mr. Sutherland taught at the California Institute of Technology where he founded the computer science department. He formed another company that was bought by Sun Microsystems, where he is now.

Always on the cutting edge, he now is working on asynchronous systems -- systems that do not have a central clock.

Your favorite sites

A few readers took TechMan's suggestion and sent me their favorite Web sites. John recommended aldaily.com -- news and links about the arts and letters.

Mike recommended khanacademy.org. A site I had never heard of, it is a vast catalogue of short, educational YouTube videos. Mike said he and his kids are on this site all the time.

And another Mike plugged TED.com, videos of short lectures by all kinds of distinguished thinkers. TechMan had written a column about TED a while ago, but it is well worth another mention.

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll

A workstation to die for

2009-09-22T20:15:00Z

I used to run two monitors on my desk before we invested in a 24" LCD. Just when I thought I was done with monitor envy, this comes along:

This is six Dell 30" LCD displays, all connected to the same computer, running at 7680x3200. Go check out the article over on Hack A Day.