One thing to note is that potential SmugVault users must have both a SmugMug and Amazon account. SmugMug is only serving as the front end to Amazon’s S3, so all of the billing will be done by Amazon. As Allen over at CenterNetworks notes, this is likely going to end up confusing folks who want to keep their paying Web accounts consolidated.

The service is tapping into Amazon.com’s S3 cloud storage to serve up all that space, and offering users an unlimited amount of it as long as they’re willing to pay. There’s a re-occurring $1 charge per month, alongside 22 cents per gigabyte and charges every time you transfer data in and out. In consumer products like Box.net this fee is usually eaten by the start-up or subsidized through a premium plan. Smugmug’s hope is that the a la carte model will appeal to the folks who don’t fit into segmented plans from other providers.

Squirrel away tons of files in different formats with SmugVault.

However, the real appeal of putting all your files in SmugVault may be that it uses the same visual file browser found in SmugMug. This means you can sort through your photos and videos in a familiar interface. There’s also a built-in system to keep you from downloading duplicate files (even if they’re different formats) by putting them together by file type.

SmugMug, a photo host geared toward prosumer and professional photographers, launched a new service Monday called SmugVault.

(Credit:
SmugMug)

(Via FriendFeed)

The only upside I can see is that I’d rather Amazon have my billing information than yet another start-up, even if it is one that’s been profitable since launch.

This is going to be a great move for Meebo. They are expanding their reach and providing their services to new users. A lot of sites can benefit from real-time user interaction like this, and Meebo is right here to fulfill that need.

The Web IM and chat company, Meebo, just rolled out some very interesting new features. First off, they have introduced a developer API for their Meebo Rooms product. This will allow people to integrate a Meebo Room into their own Web site. Meebo has said that this API will “…further accelerate the widespread adoption of Meebo rooms.” Meebo is hoping that Web site owners will take this as an opportunity to build a community around their site.

Meebo also announced a big win for their new Meebo Network chat and advertising platform. They have signed five major partners, including Revision3, Piczo, RockYou, Social Project, and Tagged. Revision3 has a live feed featuring a variety of their shows. Next to the video is a live chat box where people can discuss the shows together. Meebo has said that they will be offering a “hassle-free revenue stream” on their partners’ sites through targeted ad units.

As for XP, Microsoft said it released (get ready for another mouthful) “Windows XP SP3 RC Refresh 2″ to beta testers on Wednesday. Microsoft said it is aiming for a release sometime in the first half of this year, but added: “our timing will always be based on customer feedback as a first priority.”

The company said that the new version, dubbed “Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh 2,” has been released to about 15,000 beta testers. The code is not being made available publicly, Microsoft said.

Microsoft said on Thursday that it has released another updated test version of
Windows Vista Service Pack 1.

The product is still on track to be finalized this quarter, Microsoft said, while offering its standard caveat. “The final release date is based on quality, so we will continue to track customer and partner feedback from the beta program before setting a final date,” the company said.

(Credit:
CNET Networks/Corinne Schulze)

With the increased capacity of today’s computer hard drives and MP3 players, ripping your CDs to a large, lossless audio format such as FLAC or Apple Lossless isn’t such a crazy idea. In fact, some folks are convinced that lossless audio is the wave of the future.

While I personally have a handful of my favorite albums ripped to lossless files on my computer, I’m a little skeptical of the idea of a lossless revolution taking root. For better or worse, the MP3’s popularity will likely remain unshaken for many years to come, for a variety of reasons.

That said, anything’s possible, and there’s a good chance you already own an MP3 player that supports at least one lossless audio format. If the idea of being unprepared of the bloody overthrow of the MP3 by lossless loyalists makes you feel uneasy, however, then here’s a quick roundup of some of our favorite lossless MP3 players.

Check out lossless MP3 players

Google has stated it didn’t help the NSA search your e-mails. More
specifically the company denies participating in the NSA’s Terrorist
Surveillance Program. But the company’s carefully worded denial might not be enough to reassure savvy readers.

The Wall Street Journal recently revealed the true extent of the NSA’s surveillance system:

“According to current and former intelligence
officials, the spy agency now monitors huge volumes of records of
domestic e-mails and Internet searches.”

This builds on what we learned the previous week, when The Washington Post revealed that the primary motivation for the White House’s wiretapping immunity demands is to protect those firms that assisted with illegal, mass-scale surveillance of e-mail traffic.

Google has now taken the interesting step to become the first major Internet company to deny helping the NSA. In an on-the-record e-mail with a company spokesperson on Friday, I was told that:

“Google was not part of the NSA’s Terrorist Surveillance Program.”

Is that enough to reassure you?

If Google was obligated to give up search/e-mail records, it is likely
that this request would be made via a Patriot Act authorized National Security Letter. A recent Journalarticle confirmed as much, stating that
the information gained from National Security letters ended up in the
gigantic NSA databases. But recipients of those letters may not be
allowed to tell anyone about it, and may in fact be forced to lie.

The owner of an ISP who received one of these secret orders explained the significant restrictions placed upon him in a letter to The Washington Post back in 2007.

Under the threat of criminal prosecution, I must hide all aspects of my involvement in the case–including the mere fact that I received an NSL–from my colleagues, my family and my friends. When I meet with my attorneys I cannot tell my girlfriend where I am going or where I have been. I hide any papers related to the case in a place where she will not look. When clients and friends ask me whether I am the one challenging the constitutionality of the NSL statute, I have no choice but to look them in the eye and lie.

If this poor gentleman had to lie to his girlfriend and family, it’s
possible that Google, if it did receive a FBI National Security
Letter, might be placed in a similar position.

Careful wording
My original question to Google was, “Is Google sharing ‘huge volumes’ of
search records with the government?” I never asked about the NSA’s
Terrorist Surveillance Program specifically.

As Salon’s Glenn Greenwald has explained, the Bush administration has been very careful with its use of the term “Terrorist Surveillance Program.” Many snooping activities, some of which were clearly illegal, do not come under this definition. Simply put, Google could have handed over a copy of every search request and every e-mail sent by a Gmail user to the U.S. government and it would still be able to quite correctly deny participating in the Terrorist Surveillance Program.

In any case, on January 17, 2007, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced that the Terrorist Surveillance Program would not be reauthorized by the president, but would be subjected to quasi-judicial oversight. So the Terrorist Surveillance Program, at least by that name, no longer exists, and Google could be actively handing over millions of e-mails, while the statement made by its PR people would be completely true.

Continued concerns

What if Google’s PR people are telling the truth? What if Google really didn’t help the NSA, and that the spooks are collecting millions of search records via wiretaps placed on the Internet backbone?

It’s worth pointing out that Google has stood up to the feds when they
demanded search records a couple years back–but this was the DOJ, not
the NSA.

The problem remains that Google is not doing a single thing to protect its customers from this kind of large-scale surveillance. While the company supports SSL-encrypted Webmail sessions, it does little to advertise it, and has taken no steps to turn it on by default.

However, the biggest problem is search. Google offers no way for its customers to search the Internet without an evil ISP (such as AT&T) from snooping in on the traffic. Google could very easily enable SSL search sessions, but has not taken any steps to do so.

When asked about the webmail security problem, and which steps customers should take to protect their search traffic from snooping Internet service providers, Google’s spokesperson directed me to the company’s much ridiculed YouTube Privacy channel.

I spent a few minutes browsing through the channel, but couldn’t find any specific advice on protecting myself from illegal wiretaps and government surveillance. YouTube seems to be a great place to find videos of skateboarding dogs, but not such a great source of privacy tips.

For those of you who care more about your privacy than cute YouTube videos, I highly recommend the Tor anonymous web proxy, as well as the Customize Google Firefox browser extension.

The account, the largest on Twitter with more than 947,000 followers, had been maintained and nurtured by James Cox. CNN did not disclose financial details of the acquisition, probably because rules at the microblogging site prohibit the selling of Twitter accounts.

The acquisition comes as the race to 1 million Twitter followers heats up. As of Wednesday afternoon, Ashton Kutcher was in second place with 917,000 followers, followed closely by Britney Spears, who has about 913,000 followers.

Kutcher publicly challenged CNN to a race to 1 million users on Tuesday in a video posted to Qik.com.

“I found it astonishing that one person can actually have as big of a voice online as what an entire media company can on Twitter,” Kutcher said. “And so I just thought that was just kind of an amazing comment on the state of our media, and I said that, if I beat CNN to 1 million viewers, then I would ding-dong ditch Ted Turner–because I don’t think it’s gonna happen.”

CNN accepted Kutcher’s challenge Tuesday on the “Larry King Show.”

Kutcher, who is best known as star of TV’s “That ’70s Show” and husband of actress Demi Moore, has said he will donate 10,000 mosquito bed nets to charity for World Malaria Day if he is first to 1 million followers.

Meanwhile, game publisher Electronic Arts is getting in on the action, promising to put Kutcher’s 1 millionth follower in a future EA game and give that person a copy of every game EA produces in 2009–but only if Kutcher beats CNN to the million-follower mark.

Ashton Kutcher campaigns for 1 million followers on his Twitter page.

(Credit:
CNET)

So what are we announcing today? That in addition to acquiring MySQL, Sun will be unveiling new global support offerings into the MySQL marketplace. We’ll be investing in both the community, and the marketplace - to accelerate the industry’s phase change away from proprietary technology to the new world of open web platforms.

Read all about it on Jonathan’s blog.

MySQL’s Kaj Arno gives the community perspective here.

As more of my friends become wealthy, my bitterness and jealousy only grows :> Congrats to Marten and the team!

Yahoo and McAfee announced a partnership Tuesday under which potentially unsafe Web sites appearing in Yahoo search results will be flagged as risky.

The deal, an exclusive for Yahoo, uses McAfee SiteAdvisor technology to label a variety of potentially dangerous Web sites with red warning text and links to McAfee information about what risks the site poses. Among the triggers for a red warning message are sites that host spyware, adware, or virus-infected downloads; sites that have links to other Web sites with dangerous material; and sites that have a track record of harvesting e-mail addresses later used to send spam, the companies said.

The McAfee service flags risky Web sites in Yahoo searches with red warning text.

(Credit:
Yahoo)

The move, along with related technology at Google and protections now built into browsers such as Internet Explorer and
Firefox, spotlights a gradual expansion of the war against computer attacks.

Mainstream computer security efforts began with antivirus software that runs on people’s personal computers, spread to corporations that screen e-mails and other network traffic for dangerous traffic, and now is being built into the online search gateways that most people use to navigate the Web. Think of it as security software as a service.

Priyank Garg, director of Yahoo search product management, has high hopes for the Yahoo service, both for user protection and for hobbling attackers who try to exploit network insecurities.

“We expect users will have more confidence when searching on the Web,” Garg said.

Deal extends beyond search results
And the multiyear partnership means the McAfee technology could be used elsewhere within Yahoo, Garg said.

“We have the ability to use their data throughout Yahoo,” Garg said. “All the teams throughout the company are excited to leverage this information.”

That could mean some changes. Yahoo currently uses Symantec’s Norton Antivirus software to check e-mail attachments sent with its Yahoo Mail service.

Yahoo is trying the move to improve the clout of its search engine. In March, Yahoo was No. 2 in U.S. search results with 20.6 percent of queries, according to research from Hitwise. And it lost share to Google, which had 67.3 percent.

The idea is that people will tilt toward a search engine that will better protect them. Everybody wants more safety in searching, and some folks–parents, and those running schools, Internet cafes, and libraries spring to mind–are more sensitive than usual.

The move, while helpful, isn’t necessarily going to mean a dramatic difference for the company, said Forrester analyst Natalie Lambert.

“I think it’s going to very much help protect Yahoo users,” she said. But when it comes to where people actually choose to search, “Fundamentally it’s going to come down to how good the search is, and I think Google will still lead.”

Google, here too, is a formidable search competitor. It’s got some protections of its own now against sites that try to install malware via browser vulnerabilities. The company uses virtual machines check for Web sites that launch attacks, and those that do are flagged in search results with the warning, “This site may harm your computer.”

Currently,Google doesn’t check for viruses in downloads, e-mail harvesting schemes for spam operations, or outgoing links that could lead to dangerous Web sites, said spokesman Michael Kirkland. However, he wouldn’t rule out that sort of possibility.

“It makes sense to assume Google has a vested interest in keeping its users safe and the Web safe overall,” he said.

Curtailing Web attacks?
The Yahoo service could make life significantly harder for those who would attack people’s computers, however.

“We see millions of clicks on some of these sites through our search engine today,” Garg said. “It is going to have a material impact in distribution of this content.”

The service will start in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and Spain. So it has broad reach.

And the red flag is only the beginning. Through the McAfee technology, Yahoo has already removed an unspecified number of pages from its search results–for example those that attempt to compromise a vulnerable Web browser with a “drive-by download” attack launched simply by visiting a Web site. “We took out the risky sites where we don’t want users to hurt themselves,” Garg said.

But beyond the deleted entries and warning labels, Yahoo decided against altering search results. “There is an element of informed use,” Garg said, likening the move to providing a city map with dangerous neighborhoods labeled as such rather than omitted altogether.

The Yahoo service isn’t likely to directly address phishing, in which users are steered toward entering usernames, passwords, or other sensitive information into fake Web sites. “Phishing is less of a concern for the search experience,” Garg said. “The Web sites that come up with phishing aren’t usually around long enough” to make it into search results, he said.

While the service could improve security for searchers, it will also lead to a new phase in the constant battle between attackers and computer security firms, Forrester’s Lambert predicted.

“At the end of the day, people are going to beat the technology,” Lambert said. “You can only get so far ahead with security.”

Until you add a new account, you zip right to the desktop when you boot the OS, with no stop at the Welcome screen. Once you set up one or more new accounts, the default administrator disappears, though you can bring it back in both XP Home and Pro. (More on this below.)

Vista ships with this account disabled, which is not such a bad thing because every user on the PC should have his or her own custom account, even if “every” translates to “one.”

Still, this back-up administrator account can come in handy if you encounter some problems logging into or otherwise using Vista. To enable it, right-click the Command Prompt on the Start menu (it is likely listed under Accessories), choose Run as administrator, type net user administrator /active:yes, and press Enter. You should see a message stating that the command completed successfully. Type exit and press Enter again to close the Command Prompt window.

Enable Windows Vista's backup administrator account from the Command Prompt.

When you restart Windows, you’ll see a new account labeled simply “Administrator.” The first time you log into this account, Windows will tell you that it’s preparing the desktop before the system’s default desktop appears. Click Start > Control Panel > User Accounts and Family Controls > Change your Windows password > Create a password for your account, enter your password twice, add a hint (if you wish), and click Create password. (If you use Control Panel’s classic view, the settings to create a password are in the User Accounts applet.)

To disable this administrator account, follow the steps above to return to the Command Prompt in administrator mode, type net user administrator /active:no, press Enter, type exit, and press Enter again.

Give XP’s hidden administrator account a password
This administrator account is a well-documented security risk in Windows XP because by default it doesn’t have a password, which means anyone can log into your system via this account, change the passwords for all the other accounts, and perform other mischief. To give the account a password in XP Home, restart the PC, press F8 before Windows loads, select Safe Mode, and press Enter.

The only selection will likely be Microsoft Windows XP. With this option highlighted, press Enter again. You’ll see a Welcome screen with an account labeled Administrator. Click this account, choose Yes at the warning, open the User Accounts applet in Control Panel, click the Administrator account again, choose Create a password, enter the new password twice, enter a hint (if you wish), and click Create Password. You may also be asked if you wish to make this account’s files private. Make your selection and click Finish.

There’s a much simpler way to make this administrator account visible on the Welcome screen in XP Pro: Open the Tweak UI Powertoy, click Logon in the left pane, check Show “Administrator” on Welcome screen in the Settings window on the right, and click OK. Note that you’ll still have to log into this account and follow the steps above to add a password for it.

Select the Logon option and check this option to add the hidden Administrator account to the Welcome screen in XP Pro.

Tomorrow: Your options for moving Excel data to a Word document.

(Credit:
OWC)

Having a second monitor doesn’t just make your office space look more serious, it also helps you boost your productivity. Unfortunately, most computers don’t come with a video card that can handle more than one display at a time. This is when you need to resort to one of the USB ports for the second display.

Other World Computing announced on Tuesday its USB 2.0 display adapter that helps you easily add additional monitors to your computer. The adapter is basically a bus-powered USB external video card. All you need to do is plug it into an available USB 2.0 port and then plug a monitor (not included) to it, just like you would to the regular built-in display output of the computer.

The adapter comes with software drivers for both Windows and
Mac computers. You can add up to six additional monitors to a Windows machine and up to four to a Mac. Once done, you can use all these displays, plus the main one simultaneously.

The OWC USB 2.0 display adapter supports all HDMI-, DVI-, and VGA-equipped displays, be them LCDs, plasmas, projectors, or legacy CRTs. It can display full 32-bit color at the max resolution of 1,600×1,200. It’s unclear but you probably won’t be able to play 3D games with it.

The device comes with all you need out of the box, including: USB to DVI adapter, DVI to VGA adapter, DVI to HDMI swivel adapter, a 4-foot USB 2.0 cable, and a software CD.

It also comes with a one-year warranty and a reasonable price tag of $99. Unfortunately, it doesn’t ship with any LCDs. If you want something like that, look for the Mimo 740, which is a lot more expensive and only works with Windows.