ComputorEdge™ Online — 04/29/11

Search Engine Rank Battles

The Fight between Search Companies and Web Ranking Cheaters Rages On

Table of Contents

Digital Dave by Digital Dave

Digital Dave answers your tech questions.

Sudden changes in screen size on a PC; Upgrading a PC and networking computers; Visual Basic found on computer, is it needed?

Search Engine Bias? Or Too Much Intrigue? by Marilyn K. Martin

Relevancy on Search Engines

Google's obscure criteria for ranking of sites leaves room for error as SEOs use "black hat optimization." Google has taken corrective action, but a bias can still be seen whether it is due to the user, search engine or global implications.

Wally Wang's Apple Farm by Wally Wang

The Wonders of Company X

Without the name, how would people view Apple?; mobile failures; surprising sales results for Apple; Crackle on the iOS; Ottawa hospital adopting tablet devices; The U.S. Army developing a smartphone platform; the mythical white iPhone; apps that help find cheap gas.

Linux Lessons: Tips and Tricks from Users by Tony J. Podrasky

A Script for Swapping the Names of Two Linux Files.

Tony shares a script for Linux that swaps the filename of two files, explaining each step and how it works.

Worldwide News & Product Reviews by Charles Carr

The latest in tech news and hot product reviews.

Scammers Have Gone Phishing—How You Can Protect Yourself; They Test So You Can Rest; Sony Vegas Pro Gets an Update; Dock Your iPad.

Editor's Letters: Tips and Thoughts from Readers by ComputorEdge Staff

Computer and Internet tips, plus comments on the articles and columns.

"Tech Support Humor," "Congrats on a Buying an Apple," "Bookmarks in Sync," "What do we all want?" "Why Bookstores are Dead"

Send mail to ceeditor@computoredge.com with questions about editorial content.

Send mail to webmaster@computoredge.com with questions or comments about this Web site.

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Digital Dave

“Digital Dave answers your tech questions.”
by Digital Dave

Sudden changes in screen size on a PC; Upgrading a PC and networking computers; Visual Basic found on computer, is it needed?

I have a computer running Windows XP. Without warning, the screen size will suddenly go to 10% or jump up to 400%. Have tried everything I can think of to fix it. It will be OK for a while and then happen again. Any thoughts on what can be doing this?

Thanks,

Jules Kerns

San Diego

Dear Jules,

I can certainly speculate. When you start to experience these type of problems, it is most likely hardware. In this case I tend to suspect the video card first. Especially if it is happening to the entire screen and not just an effect which can be caused by a key combination or a mouse selection. The reason that it runs for a while before acting up is because faulty chips often need to warm up before they show their problem. If this is the case, the problem will continue to get worse until you replace the video card.

There is also the possibility that the change in the screen is cause by a faulty input device. For example, the font size can be increased with the CTRL+ combination. If those keys happened to be failing, it is possible (although unusual) for the that signal to be executed. More common, the scroll wheel on a mouse may inadvertently send a signal to your computer when you are viewing a page causing it to jump. Very annoying.

The problem is more likely associate with the previously mentioned video card, or possibly the monitor, especially if your monitor is one of the older CRT types.

Digital Dave

Dear Digital Dave,

I have a desktop PC, 1050Mhz CPU, 1GB PC 2700 RAM, one 80GB HD Windows XP NTFS, and one 80GB HD Win 98SE FAT 32. I want to build or buy a Windows 7 Pro desktop, and use the old one as a server by upgrading the hard drives. Would this be faster than a USB backup drive?

My question is the setup: One hard drive partitioned for the three operating systems, or three hard drives with separate operating systems? Is Win 7 Pro necessary with this setup or is Win 7 Home OK?

I now have three computers, the desktop PC, a laptop with Vista home, a laptop with Windows 7 Home, an Ethernet/USB all in one printer, and Ethernet/USB laser printer, that I want networked.

Anything I should look out for?

Jim

El Cajon

Dear Jim,

It sounds like you want to use your old Windows XP computer as a file server and backup for all your other computers. This can be relatively easy to do without too many complications.

First whether your backup would be faster over a network or USB is dependent upon the speed of each. If you have a one gigabit network it will be about twice the speed of USB 2.0. Yet, if you happen to have USB 3.0 backup (both the USB port and the hard drive), then it should easily exceed the speed of that same network. The bottleneck in backing up or sharing is in the connection, whether USB, your network, or (the slowest) the Internet.

While you may want to get a larger hard drive on your XP for sharing with multiple computers, I see no reason to worry about partitioning hard drives or multiple operating systems (all of which appear to be a version of Windows). Unless you plan to run software from the server, using a computer as backup is fairly easy. The primary problem with backing up to a network computer in Windows, is that the Home version on the other computers do not support network backup. However, there are other programs available to do the job.

The only reason for a second drive would be to back up the first in which case you could get a 1.5 terabyte USB drive to add to the XP.

The Home version of Windows should be adequate for the backup server since its primary function is to save and share files. As previously mentioned, the Pro version is more important on the other computers since that version of Windows includes the capability to backup to network drives (the XP computer).

Get a router for your network with at least one gigabit Ethernet (direct connection), and Wi-Fi for extending to remote computers. If possible connect the printers directly into the network (to the router if possible) rather than individual computers. This will make them more accessible to all computers on the networks and not dependent upon a host computer.

Good luck,

Digital Dave

What is this Visual Basic ++ that is on my hard drive and do I need it on my computer or can I delete it? I am running Windows 7 as my OS.

Alex

Chula Vista

Dear Alex,

Visual Basic is a programming language for writing software for Windows computers. The "++" is generally associated with C++ or Visual C++, other programming languages. C++ is a more generic language used for many different types of computers. Visual C++ is again Windows specific.

For your purposes, regardless of which programming software you have on your computer, it is unlikely that you need it—unless you're a programmer—in which case you would already know this. Even if you have software developed with this program, it would no longer need the programming software to run. After a program is written, it is usually compiled into a new file, called an executable (EXE) file, which will operate on its own. This is the application.

It's curious how this software became installed on your computer. Perhaps it's being used by another program in an interpretive mode. Interpretive software interacts with the development platform in real-time rather than being compiled into an independent program. This is how the Java runtime environment can be used. If this is the case, removing it will cause the other program to stop functioning. I'd leave it alone, unless it's actually annoying you in some way. If you do delete it, check to make sure everything you use still works.

If you still feel the need to delete the software (it won't hurt anything by sitting on your computer), then look for an uninstall program in Control Panel => Programs => Programs and Features => Uninstall or change a program. It is better to use an uninstall than to just start deleted files. The uninstall should find all the bits and piece and fix the registry properly. Otherwise, you may miss parts of the software or inadvertently delete the wrong file.

Digital Dave

Search Engine Bias? Or Too Much Intrigue?

“Relevancy on Search Engines”
by Marilyn K. Martin

Google's obscure criteria for ranking of sites leaves room for error as SEOs use "black hat optimization." Google has taken corrective action, but a bias can still be seen whether it is due to the user, search engine or global implications.

Almost everyone who works with a computer uses search engines. We assume that the most well known computer-extension search engines (such as Google or Yahoo) are a little biased, if only because they filter and cull the best search results for us, with their arcane ranking methods. These computer-extension search engines all jockey to be our Default search providers, in those trusty search engine boxes on the toolbar. So right there, we have a certain built-in bias in what information pops up under these search providers, if only because each search engine uses different filtering and ranking methods.

Now, however, come stories that certain "trusted" search engines regularly turn up one company in commercial or product searches. Does this deliberately minimize or manipulate consumer choices via search engines? Does it mean that the days of search engines pulling up all manner of dusty, arcane and cached material are long gone? Probably a little of both.

Take, for example, a surprising February 12, 2011 story in the New York Times by David Segal ("The Dirty Little Secrets of Search" in Business Day). No matter what type of clothing or home items the author was searching for using Google's search engine, J.C. Penney was at the top of every list!

It became a game. No matter how generic or specific the item, the author found J.C. Penney at the top of practically every Google search. According to this article, Penney's even beat out well known manufacturers of specific items that Penney's carries in their stores.

For the record, no one is blaming Google directly—although J.C. Penney is one of their biggest advertisers. (And although Penney's clearly violated Google's stated goal of searching the entire Internet for the most important and relevant sites, it took a long time for Google to do anything drastic.) According to the experts, Penney's "black hat optimization" is to blame, for dubiously raising Penny's profile to the point that Google innocently grabbed it as the top site in millions of searches.

The intrigue starts with Google's secret criteria for choosing "organic" or non-paid sites. One crucial factor Google will discuss, is that they rank sites higher that have lots of links, raising that site's "popularity" and thus their supposed "public approval rating." What Penney's did was buy thousands of links around the Web, that all linked to J.C. Penney. Although Penney's denies involvement, an investigation found several thousand sites (from dentists to snoring) totally unrelated to the searched for items (like dresses) that were mysteriously linked to J. C. Penney. (The fact that Penney's has little or nothing to do with dentists or snoring never seemed to raise any red flags.)

This "links trading" is also a profitable and well known underground tactic for the unrelated sites that "sold" ad space to Penneys. The comment was even made by one shadowy links-trader, that for commercial (versus informational) searches, Google's "results are really polluted."

Google repeatedly took "corrective action" where Penneys was concerned, while avoiding totally removing them from Google searches. After noticing guideline violations last November (2010), Google reduced Penney's search results, but never circled back to see if Penney's was staying compliant. They weren't, and they had a record holiday season through online sales as a result. More solid corrective action by Google in February (2011), resulted in Penney's sinking into double-digit search rankings. At which point Penney's fired their search engine consulting firm.

According to Jeff Ferguson in SearchEngineWatch.com, SEOs (Search Engine Optimizers) are the living heads beneath the Black Hats (being vilified by the media and public), and the White Hats trying to convince everyone that they are not one of "those" SEOs. The Black Hat SEO guys are the cheats who routinely dabble in "keyword stuffing," "paid links" (see above) and "anchor text spam."

The White Hat SEO pros are in the game for the long-run, resisting all the barely legal tricks and short cuts to instantly get their clients more exposure. They recognize all the dastardly tricks, and understand the pressure clients put on their SEOs to quickly get higher rankings and free exposure. The biggest weapon in the White Hats' arsenal? "You do not want to get banned by Google!"

Even back in 2002, there were questions being raised about "bias creep" in search engines. Computer scientists from the City College of New York published the results of their study into search engine bias in the Journal of Information Processing and Management. Their conclusions were that yes, search engines do display bias, but that the bias tends to disappear when more search terms are used in the queries. (In other words, more specifically worded search phrases will yield better results, and will tend to cancel out the search engine's built-in bias.)

Some experts put the "bias" on the user. In other words, if the person using the search engine fails to correctly enter a definitive search phrase, or is unable to distinguish the real from the bogus search results, then the search engine's "bias" is negligible. According to VirtualChase.Justia.com, researchers (which includes all of us using search engines) need to evaluate the searched for material based on five criteria: scope of coverage, authority, objectivity, accuracy and timeliness. But the blame bounces back to the search engine if, as I have found, the first page of results is the same article from a dozen different sources.

A 2006 Position Paper from Yuan Ze University (Taiwan) by Ing-Xiang Chen and Cheng-Zen Yang ("A Study of Web Search Engine Bias and Its Assessment"), describes the three fundamental ways search engines can produce biased results. 1) The engine's business practices and operating policies. 2) The limitations in indexing and ranking algorithms. 3) The political and cultural pressures placed upon the search engines. The first couple of practices are fundamental to all search engines, and most people let small biases slide due to the search engine's arcane methods of filtering and ranking.

But the third consideration has global implications. Even Google in China was forced to remove the term "Falun Gong" from its search database. (Falun Gong is a semi-religious system of meditation, martial arts exercises and spiritual teachings that ran afoul of the Chinese government.)

In 2010 the U.S., the investigative arm of Homeland Security, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), began shutting down Web sites that facilitated copyright infringement. These were mostly sites that helped users download copyrighted music, as well as bootlegged products, such as fake designer handbags. (The music industry is in the dumps. According to CNN Money, music industry revenue is less than half what it was a decade ago. U.S. music sales and licensing plunged to $6.3 billion in 2009, down from $14.6 billion in 1999.)

Yet a February 2011 search (not using Google) for "bootlegged products," turned up multiple sites where bootlegged-products are still being sold openly. From bootlegged movies and video games (whose original products still have substantial revenue in the U.S.), to Chinese sites selling the iPed, or China's knock-off of Apple's iPad. So clearly, even the U.S. government dabbles in cultural and political bias, when it comes to Internet searches for "copyright infringement" products.

According to one expert, "The question is not if search engine bias exists, but what kind of bias we prefer." Based on my limited research, it looks like "search engine bias" is part of multi-layered intrigue, from arcane algorithms to dubious SEOs to governmental pressures. It's more like the old saying, "Pick your poison."

Marilyn K. Martin is a freelance writer of nonfiction and fiction living in East Texas. She is the author of several published mini-articles and is currently writing a Young Adult Science Fiction series, Chronicles of Mathias, Volume One and Two are available on Amazon.

Wally Wang's Apple Farm

“The Wonders of Company X”
by Wally Wang

Without the name, how would people view Apple?; mobile failures; surprising sales results for Apple; Crackle on the iOS; Ottawa hospital adopting tablet devices; The U.S. Army developing a smartphone platform; the mythical white iPhone; apps that help find cheap gas.

Mention the word "Apple" to many people and you get an immediate negative emotional reaction in much the same way people might respond if you asked them to eat dog meat, guinea pigs, or raw cockroaches (which people in other cultures eat without blinking an eye). Although this may surprise some people, I'm actually not a big fan of Apple as a company but a fan of the products that Apple creates. If Gateway, Dell, Sony, or Motorola sold products that redefined the markets to the point where rivals blatantly copied their designs, I'd be promoting their products instead, since I'm more interested in product excellence than blind allegiance to a brand name or company logo. Yet most of the exciting new products being released today are made by one company, which makes it easy to believe if you promote excellent products made by one company, then you must be a fanatic about that particular company. So to help remove this emotional irrationality from people's thinking, stop calling the company "Apple" and let's call it "Company X."

With this emotional filter eliminated, you can think objectively instead of irrationally. Looking back in time, let's assume that at one time, various companies made mobile phones with wildly varying characteristics that always seemed too confusing and clumsy to actually use beyond making a phone call. Then in 2007, Company X introduced a revolutionary smartphone called the xPhone with a simple touch screen interface that immediately captivated a large percentage of people who appreciated simplicity and usefulness after struggling with complexity and clumsiness.

Initially other mobile phone manufacturers dismissed Company X's xPhone as a "toy." Yet after Company X sold millions of xPhones, other mobile phone manufacturers immediately started designing mobile phones that closely mimicked the features of Company X's xPhone, even though those same companies initially mocked those very features that they were now slavishly imitating.

When Company X made it easy and simple to add and run apps on the xPhone, every other company followed. Whether you buy Company X's mobile phone or not, it's easy to see how Company X's xPhone redefined a smartphone from a clumsy contraption burdened with features that were too hard to use, to a simple device that made it easy to use all of its features right away.

Assume that Company X didn't just redefine the smartphone market but also the personal computer market, the digital music player market, and the tablet market as well as the smartphone market, and each time Company X created a product, rivals immediately tried to copy Company X's designs. If Company X made products that are acknowledged leaders in their respective categories, why would anyone purposely avoid evaluating that company's products just because they don't like Company X?

Also assume that many rivals not only copied Company X's designs, but also made promises to consumers that their products couldn't keep. Suppose Company M created a product that offered feature XYZ that Company X's product did not offer. Now suppose you bought Company M's product just for feature XYZ and to your surprise, it didn't offer feature XYZ after all, instead promising that feature XYZ would be available in the near future if you just wait long enough. Wouldn't being lied to and deceived justify hating Company M? Yet why would so many people choose to deliberately ignore the lies and deceit of other companies while heaping hatred on Company X instead?

The company name is irrelevant. Look for the best technology for your needs and completely ignore the company that makes it. You can either choose a product that works or a product with lots of broken promises. Given this choice, you should just choose the products that meet your needs and save your hatred for the companies that are peddling shoddy products that don't work as advertised.

Mobile Failures

InfoWorld recently published an article analyzing why Nokia, Microsoft and Research in Motion, three companies that had enormous leads in the mobile phone market, suddenly found themselves trailing badly in the smartphone market they once dominated.

Ignoring their competition, all three technology powerhouses simply got complacent and focused on what was making money for them now, rather than look forward to what products or improvements they might need in the future.

Microsoft got fat, dumb and happy with Windows Mobile 6.5, Nokia did the same with Symbian OS, while Research in Motion raked in profits with their Blackberry OS. When the money is coming in easily, most people simply assume that the future will be an exact duplicate of the present, so there's no point in changing.

InfoWorld states that "The answers have to do with an essential flaw found in most companies: They can't easily change gears because doing so means dropping the focus on what has worked and brings in the money now for an unproven, untested, risky shift."

Kodak faced this dilemma when transitioning from their once-lucrative film processing business to digital photography. Borders Bookstores are facing this problem with the transition to e-books while Blockbuster Video is struggling with the transition to video streaming.

In the book The Innovator's Dilemma, author Clayton Christensen claims that companies fail to adopt new technology that will meet their customers' future needs, which Christensen calls "disruptive technology." By simply focusing on the present, companies will always get blind-sided by the future in the same way that driving requires to see where you're going and not just focus on where you're at right now.

InfoWorld describes the source of the problem with the technological decision makers in most corporations. "CIOs and IT managers are generally conservative, risk-averse and traditionalist—especially at large companies and even more so at regulated ones. In their worldview, change is bad, and so is user freedom. These Neanderthal IT leaders are a lagging indicator of what's really going on. They dismissed the PC, the Internet and e-commerce, too."

If companies followed their IT departments, almost every company would still be running mini and mainframe computers that lack Internet connectivity for "security" reasons.

IT managers simply forget that their primary goal is to help make people in the rest of the company productive. Instead, IT managers too often focus on making their own job easier regardless of the effect on the rest of the company. Given a choice between making other company workers productive or making life easier for the IT department, the IT department chooses the latter path almost every time to the detriment of the rest of the company. Then they use the barrier of complexity to justify why they can't and don't need to change until they can't ignore change any longer.

Companies such as Research in Motion (RIM), Microsoft and Dell rely on selling to these traditional IT departments with their conservative mentality. That's also why these companies are in danger when facing the shift to mobile computing that doesn't need to rely on the draconian dictatorship of an IT department to tell people what technology they can use to be productive.

Perhaps that's why InfoWorld concludes their article by stating that "RIM, Microsoft, Nokia and Dell are all toast in the mobile market—the walking dead who should be looking for burial plots. Mourn them if you must, but it's time to move on. Don't get buried along with them."

Surprising Sales Results for Company X

While practically every company in the mobile phone and personal computer market is blaming the recession for weakening sales of their products, such as Acer which watched their computer sales plunge by 10 percent, another company recently announced that they increased sales of their computers by 28 percent from the previous year and increased sales of their smartphones by 113 percent over the previous year. This increase in smartphone sales now makes this company the largest and most profitable mobile phone manufacturer in the world.

What's even more surprising is that this company had 0 percent of the market in 2007 and in less than four years, it managed to topple the leader, Nokia, in both sales units and revenue.

If one company can continue increasing sales of both personal computers and smartphones while its rivals keep seeing declining sales of their competing products, certainly the company reporting continual increases in sales must be doing something right and their products must be worth considering.

Ignore the company name that makes these products and you can objectively evaluate that company's products without prejudice. Of course, even if people did know the name of this company that keeps reporting increasing sales of personal computers and smartphones, who would willingly admit that an arbitrary company name would be enough to cause them to automatically hate and avoid that company's product? People may act foolishly at times, but certainly nobody can behave that irrationally on a consistent basis to their own detriment by limiting their technology choices.

Crackle on the iOS

Every weekend, Hollywood parades out their latest movies and every weekend, a large majority of these movies aren't even worth watching. If you like watching movies, you can go bankrupt paying the high ticket prices at the theater, or you can choose a less expensive option such as Crackle.

Crackle, run by Sony, offers a variety of movies absolutely free. While most movies are utterly forgettable, there's always a handful of good movies from the past such as "Ghostbusters," "La Femme Nikita," "Easy Rider," "Dr. Strangelove," "El Mariachi," and "The Last Picture Show." (In case you haven't heard of any of these movies, they're all award-winning or popular films that will likely prove more entertaining than the typical movie released every weekend.)

In the past, you needed to use Flash to watch movies on Crackle, but Crackle now offers a free iOS app so you can watch Crackle movies on an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. All you need is an Internet connection and you can watch movies absolutely free.

Figure 1. Crackle is now available as an iOS app.

Crackle keeps changing which movies they offer, so if you see something you like, you should watch it before Crackle temporarily removes it again. Besides movies, Crackle also offers many TV shows such as episodes from "Seinfeld." The next time you want to watch a good movie or TV show at no cost, you can do it in front of a computer or your favorite iOS device such as an iPad.

Ottawa Hospital Adopting Tablet Devices

Ottawa Hospital recently ordered an additional 1,800 tablets made by some company to go along with the previous 500 tablets they were currently using. Using these new tablet devices, hospital staff can store data electronically, allowing doctors to examine X-rays, make notes and prescribe treatments.

Dr. Glen Geiger says that the tablet allows him to show patients their medical results while dramatically reducing time for handling paperwork and making illegible notes a thing of the past. By storing patient information such as medical histories, injury reports and allergies, the tablet lets doctors focus more on delivering timely and efficient care for each patient.

Dale Potter originally proposed issuing tablets at Ottawa Hospital. "Paper orders that are handwritten—15 or 20 percent of those are missing information, or are illegible, and require human intervention," Dale said. The tablets eliminate this problem, increasing the accuracy of medical treatment.

When a major hospital not only tries 500 units of a particular tablet and finds it useful, then orders an additional 1,800 more tablets, they've obviously found a practical use for these tablet devices. Let's just hope these doctors and hospital staff never discover the name of the company that manufactures these tablets or else all the benefits they've gained might retroactively disappear when the hospital realizes what a useless piece of expensive junk these tablets really are just because they have the wrong company name on them.

The U.S. Army Developing a Smartphone Platform

For years, the U.S. Army has been experimenting with issuing soldiers smartphones as a tool for training and communication. After considering both the iOS and Android, the Army decided that Android's ability to run on a variety of different devices was the deciding factor.

Rather than deliberately avoid iOS just because of the company behind it, the U.S. Army, not always known for making rational decisions, objectively evaluated the best technology available and came to a logical conclusion based on their particular needs. If the Army can evaluate the best technology options without worrying who makes it, perhaps there's still hope for others who are unable to think as rationally.

The Army's Android-based prototype will be called the Joint Battle Command-Platform that will run Android either within a custom handset or a ruggedized commercial device. To encourage third-party app development, the Army plans to release a government development kit called the Mobile/Handheld Computing Environment. In the meantime, the Army is working on "Mission Command Apps," which include mapping programs, a tracker for identifying friendlies, and a "critical messaging" tool.

For those who still want to access military information on their iOS devices, browse through this list of ten military apps that include a U.S, Army Survival Guide, an Army Ranger Handbook, and an Army First Aid Handbook. By downloading some of these apps on your iPhone or iPad, you can avoid lugging around bulky paper manuals, which will give you an idea why the Army sees smartphones as an important tool for every soldier.

Figure 2. You can read the official U.S. Army Survival Guide on your iPhone.

The Mythical White iPhone

A mere ten months after Apple announced that the white iPhone 4 would be available, Apple may finally be delivering on their long-awaited promise. Supposedly, white iPhones have begun appearing in Europe and by the time you read this, the white iPhone may already be on sale (or simply delayed once more for another indeterminate amount of time).

Figure 3. The mythical white iPhone.

The reasons for this repeatedly delayed white iPhone range from color pigmentation issues to light leaking through the white case. Given a choice between a lousy shipping product and a delayed one, it's probably better to wait for a perfected but delayed product, but if a product isn't perfected, then it shouldn't be announced as ready in the first place. This is a lesson that Apple and other companies will hopefully learn from because announcing or shipping half-completed products never seems to work no matter how many times different companies try it, such as Research in Motion's Playbook.

Besides the white iPhone, rumors also point to the iPhone arriving soon on T-Mobile's network. One reason why AT&T wants to buy T-Mobile is for T-Mobile's existing network that can improve AT&T's own feeble coverage, which they finally admitted is lacking and the cause of so many problems with dropped calls and spotty coverage.

*                    *                    *

To beat the high cost of gasoline, grab a free iPhone app that can use your current location to show you both the nearest gas stations and their latest prices. By using a free app such as Gas Buddy or Cheap Gas, you can avoid paying too much to fill up your tank.

Figure 4. GasBuddy helps you find the cheapest gas prices nearby.

In the early days, before Wally became an Internationally renowned comedian, computer book writer, and generally cool guy, Wally Wang used to hang around The Byte Buyer dangling participles with Jack Dunning and go to the gym to pump iron with Dan Gookin.

Wally is responsible for the following books:

My New Mac,

My New iPhone,

My New iPad,

Steal This Computer Book 4.0,

Microsoft Office 2010 for Dummies,

Beginning Programming for Dummies,

Beginning Programming All-in-One Reference for Dummies,

Breaking Into Acting for Dummies with Larry Garrison,

Strategic Entrepreneurism with Jon Fisher and Gerald Fisher,

How to Live With a Cat (When You Really Don't Want To).

Mac Programming For Absolute Beginners

The 15-Minute Movie Method

In his spare time, Wally likes blogging about movies and writing screenplays at his site "The 15 Minute Movie Method" along with blogging about electronic publishing and how authors can take advantage of technology at his site "The Electronic Author." Wally can be reached at wally@computoredge.com.

Linux Lessons: Tips and Tricks from Users

“A Script for Swapping the Names of Two Linux Files.”
by Tony J. Podrasky

Tony shares a script for Linux that swaps the filename of two files, explaining each step and how it works.

Filename: SWAP

Use: To swap the filename of two files. Suppose you're in your "pictures" directory where you have all your JPEG and GIF files. You decide that you'd like to change the order of a couple of the pictures. You can use the SWAP command to do it. Sure, you could do it by hand, but there are two ways of messing things up:

1. You could move (rename) one of the pictures to a name that already exists, thus deleting that picture.

2. You could make a typo with the path name if you're moving across directories and not be able to find it again.

Also, you'd have to move the first file to a temporary filename, rename the second file with the first file's name, then rename the temporary filename with the second file's name. That's only three steps, but we know accidents happen in threes, don't we?

Example: tonyp% <SWAP [first filename] [second filename]>

(Let's list out the directory we're in.)

tony% ls -la

[System's Response]

total 64

drwxrwxrwx   3 ftp      ftp         24576 Apr 17 08:13 .

drwxr-xr-x   3 root     root         4096 Oct 25  1996 ..

-rwxr-xr-x   1 tonyp    users        3198 Apr 17 07:07 SWAP

-rw-r--r--   1 tonyp    users           1 Apr 17 08:12 first

-rw-r--r--   1 tonyp    users           2 Apr 17 08:12 second

Notice the two files called "first" and "second." "First" has a size of one, "second" has a size of two. Now we'll run the SWAP shell file and the two names will be switched:

tonyp% SWAP first second

(Now, we'll list out the directory again.)

tony% ls -la

[System's Response]

total 64

drwxrwxrwx   3 ftp      ftp         24576 Apr 17 08:19 .

drwxr-xr-x   3 root     root         4096 Oct 25  1996 ..

-rwxr-xr-x   1 tonyp    users        3198 Apr 17 07:07 SWAP

-rw-r--r--   1 tonyp    users           2 Apr 17 08:12 first

-rw-r--r--   1 tonyp    users           1 Apr 17 08:12 second

Notice that "first" now has a size of two and "second" has a size of one. The only thing that happened was the names of the two files were swapped.

How it works:

<#!/bin/csh -f> tells the O/S to use the C-shell interpreter.

<if - endif> the "-e" says to check if the first argument ($1) supplied on the command line exists. If there is no such filename, SWAP will respond with the <echo "file: $1 does not exist!"> and exit out of the shell. The next occurrence of the if-endif works the same way but checks for the second argument ($2).

<mv $1 .swap> move (rename) the first filename to ".swap". That will get it out of the way so that we can move (rename) the second file with the first file's name without overwriting the first file.

<mv $2 $1> move (rename) file two with file one's name.

<mv .swap $2> now move (rename) .swap with file two's original name.

—————————-CUT HERE—————————-

#!/bin/csh -f

if ((-e $1) == 0) then

echo " "

echo "file: $1 does not exist!"

echo " "

exit

endif

if ((-e $2) == 0) then

echo " "

echo "file: $2 does not exist!"

echo " "

exit

endif

mv $1 .swap

mv $2 $1

mv .swap $2

—————————-CUT HERE—————————-

Instructions: Save the data between the "CUT HERE" lines in a file called "SWAP". Do a <chmod 755 SWAP> to make it executable.

Tony has been in the computer field since 1976 when he started working for Data General Corp as a field engineer. Later going on to design hardware interfaces, write patches for operating systems, and build networks. It was in 1995 while working with the military on several projects that he ran into a "spook" who showed him a laptop that ran a then-unknown O/S called "Linux." "A laptop running a form of UNIX tony = a marriage made in heaven!" Tony can be reached for questions at Linux Questions for Tony.

Worldwide News & Product Reviews

“The latest in tech news and hot product reviews.”
by Charles Carr

Scammers Have Gone Phishing—How You Can Protect Yourself; They Test So You Can Rest; Sony Vegas Pro Gets an Update; Dock Your iPad.

Scammers Have Gone Phishing—How You Can Protect Yourself

The online security expert BullGuard writes in this week about the recent attack on marketing e-mail provider Epsilon:

[The Epsilon incident] has resulted in millions of users' contact information being stolen, which has led BullGuard to call for increased awareness of the dangers of unsolicited e-mail and phishing attacks.

The incident is being dubbed as "one of the largest security breaches in US history," and could result in swathes of Spam being sent to unwitting consumers in an attempt to steal personal data such as credit card and bank account details.

Epsilon provides marketing services to around 2,500 companies sending over 40 billion e-mails annually. Contact information from 50 of these was believed to have been stolen in the attack. Its clients include J.P. Morgan and Citigroup, along with commonly used services such as Play.com and TripAdvisor.

While the hope is that the majority of attempts to make use of this information for financial gain by malicious third parties will fail, it comes as a stark warning to those who would freely offer up contact information.

"The scale of the attack is concerning and could lead to a revised set of security measures for dealing with customer data," says Philip Dall, mobile security expert at BullGuard. "But the most immediate concern is to ensure that users are aware of the types of threats posed by unsolicited e-mails, how to recognize them, and how to guard against them."

"Customers should rightly expect to feel safe when giving an e-mail address or contact details to established and trusted companies, but this recent attack goes to show that trading of such data should still be done with caution," he continues.

The reasons for such an attack are not new, and it is likely that the stolen information will be traded on a profitable "black market" of consumer data that is frequented by those looking to exploit the lack of awareness many have over the dangers of Spam e-mails and phishing attacks.

"While security software is commonplace on modern computers, and will likely include a spam filter as standard, awareness is essential and we believe that educating consumers about safe practices is just as important as ensuring that our own software is capable of combating modern threats," says Dall.

In response to the recent attack, BullGuard outlines a number of safeguards consumers should be aware of, as well as ways to detect whether an e-mail is spam or from a legitimate source:

1. Set up an e-mail address specifically for handing out to companies that request these contact details that is separate from the one used to manage bank transactions, purchases and financial information. In doing so users will become instantly suspicious of any requests for information sent to the "wrong" account.

2. Be very wary of any requests for personal information via e-mail, especially if that e-mail asks that you log on to an external Web site (usually via an included link). Hackers take great care to appear legitimate and may copy the typical formatting, including logos and contact data from the actual company in order to make you believe they are genuine.

3. Be particularly careful when opening attachments from e-mails unless you're sure you know who the sender is, and ideally what the file itself contains. This is one of the most common ways in which hackers can install hidden software onto a computer designed for data retrieval and other malicious purposes without your knowledge.

4. Pay attention to the URL of any sites that may be requesting personal information, since "mirror" sites are often set up to appear to be part of an official company, often with very similar addresses. This is known as "spear phishing," which takes place when those sending Spam e-mails are aware of the ties between a consumer and a particular company or service and will look to take advantage of these in order to appear genuine. Any Web page that requests personal information should also be secure, as denoted by a padlock icon in the status bar of a Web browser and the presence of an "S" in "https://", which indicates that the page, and therefore your data, is encrypted.

5. Use Spam protection to ensure that potentially dangerous e-mails are filtered from your Inbox. Most modern security suites should include a good spam filter that can work unobtrusively in the background.

6. If in doubt, call the customer service number of the company in question from the official site or any documents you may have from them, and ask them to confirm the request. This is one area of security where it's most definitely better to be safe than sorry.

They Test So You Can Rest

Software Industry Report describes itself as "a dedicated group of PC technicians all around the world that test and review the latest software. With over 20 years' experience in the computer industry we give you the latest new and reviews." More from SIR:

Software Industry Report (SIR) launches Antispyware Reports. Spyware is a type of malware that can be installed or downloaded onto computers in order to collect small pieces of information about users without their knowledge. Information may include personal information, credit card numbers, personal history and more and pose a serious threat to personal identity security. In order to remove spyware and malware, a spyware remover is required, however the market is flooded with legitimate and illegitimate spyware removal systems. Some spyware removal systems are in fact spyware waiting to further corrupt your computer.

Removing spyware and adware programs from a computer may help increase performance and speed of the computer. SIR offers easy to digest reviews on the most popular anti-spyware software, including Malwarebytes, ErrorFix, AddsAlert, SpywareStop, Spyzooka, Emco Malware Bouncer and more.

"Our reports are designed so that any average PC users can understand them," says Carl D. Haugen III, of SIR. "Computer users can get frustrated with spyware invasions and not know where they came from or how to avoid them in the future. Our articles are constantly being updated with the latest information on the newest spyware programs so any PC user can help remedy a spyware invasion."

Sony Vegas Pro Gets an Update

In the world of video editing Apple's Final Cut Pro gets pretty much all the attention. While Final Cut is undeniably a great tool for the Mac OS world, many PC users have found a program, Sony Vegas Pro, that does pretty much everything Final Cut Studio does. Vegas Pro, originally made by a company called Sonic Foundry, was relabeled with the Sony brand about five years ago.

The latest version of Vegas Pro (10) is getting a new patch (10.0d) right around the time you're reading this. The upgrade, free for version 10 owners, will include the following features:

• GPU Accelerated AVC Encoding Support Expanded to AMD—Adds support for users with AMD ATI graphics chipsets which support OpenCL to use the Sony AVC encoder for faster project rendering

• 3D MVC and MPO File Format Support—Additional native support for emerging MVC and MPO 3D file formats provides continued functionality with cutting edge camera and media technology (Sony cameras that support these formats include: TD10, NX3D1, TD300, and the Alpha and NEX series)

• 3D Blu-ray Disc Timeline Burning—New burning capability allows users to burn full HD 3D Blu-ray Discs onto BD-R/BD-RE media, providing editors with a complete ingest, edit and delivery option for 3D media allowing them to more efficiently produce and quickly prepare content for DVD and 3D Blu-ray titles and deliver compelling content for broadcast and broadband distribution, theatrical releases and YouTube 3D.

• Support for the XDCAM PMW-500 Camera—Supports both optical (XDCAM Optical) and memory (XDCAM EX) formats

• Enhanced Closed Captioning—Improved closed caption integration allows users to read and write closed captioning embedded within MPEG2 streams, enabling a common workflow for CEA-608, CEA-708 and MXF delivery options

• Improved Track Grouping Workflow—Improvements to track grouping include new mute/solo technology to help users isolate and work with specific tracks while mixing

"Sony Creative Software continues to innovate with industry-leading solutions for creative professionals who work with closed captioning and 3D technology," said Dave Chaimson, vice president of global marketing for Sony Creative Software. "The new enhancements in Vegas Pro 10.0d, especially the OpenCL render improvements to support the AMD ATI graphic chipsets, provide cutting edge tools that equip industry professionals with improved capabilities to produce quality work at a greater efficiency." Support for OpenCL enables faster project rendering in many cases when using the Sony AVC encoder for a more efficient workflow.

Vegas Pro 10.0d will be available for download in late April and is free for existing registered Vegas Pro 10 users, or $249.95 for owners of Vegas Pro 9 or prior. Vegas Pro 10.0d is also available for purchase at retailers worldwide for a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $699.95.

Dock Your iPad

Last year's iPad models have dual speakers as standard equipment, but for whatever reason they (unlike iPad's headphone jack) deliver monaural sound rather than stereo. Consequently, the audio experience is only ordinary for two or more users simultaneously listening to a tune track or video clip through iPad's internal speakers. This shortcoming is cleverly addressed by SMK-Link Electronics, Inc.'s PadDock 10 product.

Figure 1. PadDock 10 consists of an L-shaped base (left; side view), plus symbol (+) shaped iPad holder (middle; back view), and bar-shaped speaker unit (right; front view).

PadDock 10 is a docking station for last year's iPad that cleverly incorporates stereo speakers along with several additional useful functions. It consists of an L-shaped base that resembles an iMac's base (Figure 1, left), a plus (+)-shaped unit that includes a 30-pin plug for iPad's dock connector (Figure 1, middle and right), and a bar-shaped unit containing PadDock 10's stereo speakers (Figure 1, right). The product's overall dimensions are roughly 12 inches tall, 6 inches deep, and 10.5 inches wide (with the plus-shape unit in landscape orientation, as shown in Figure 1). It weighs in at about 3 pounds with the bulk of its weight concentrated in the highly stable L-shaped base.

In addition to delivering stereo sound through its twin 40 mm x 55 mm speakers, PadDock 10 also delivers the following functions: charges iPad's battery, syncs iTunes content to iPad, rotates iPad's display between portrait and landscape orientations, tilts iPad's display up and down to a maximum angle of 30º, and supports hands-free iPad usage. This product definitely is more than a one-trick pony.

The price tag for PadDock 10's multiple functions is $99.99. This cost additionally covers a USB to power cable (~5 feet long) for delivering juice to PadDock 10's speakers and iPad's battery, a USB to mini-USB cable (similar length) for connecting PadDock 10 to a computer and syncing iPad with iTunes, and a single, glossy 8.5" x 14" tri-folded paper sheet that includes the English-only user guide and one-year warranty information (also downloadable at http://pdstand.com/highres/PadDock10Manual.pdf). The docking station and above accessories come in a cardboard box that is awkward due to its pyramid-like shape (with a flat surface instead of an apex) and absence of a plastic carrying handle. PadDock 10's box advertises that this product is made in Mexico (rather than China along with almost every other product).

A degree in engineering is overkill for figuring out how to use PadDock 10. Simply insert an iPad into the plus-shaped unit with the former's 30-pin plug aligned with the latter's dock connector, push on the iPad's bezel until the tablet snaps into the plus-shaped unit's retainers, connect the USB-to-power cable to PadDock 10's power port and iPad's charging brick, plug the brick into an electrical outlet, flip PadDock 10's on-off knob (which also controls the volume level and a charging indicator light), and that's it. Alternatively, when the USB to mini-USB cable is plugged into PadDock 10's mini-USB port and a computer's USB port with the former's toggle switch flipped to sync mode, the installed iPad syncs with iTunes. Majorly easy.

Although PadDock 10's versatile functions—delivers stereo audio, recharges iPad's battery, syncs iPad with iTunes, tilts and rotates, supports hands-free iPad usage—are quite handy and a major strength, this product has the following limitations that definitely are worth keeping in consideration during a purchase decision process.

The first and potentially most important limitation is the speakers' audio quality. To my ears, their only advantage over iPad's internal speakers is their stereo output. Otherwise my consistent impression during testing was that the docking station's speakers were about as clear, sharp, bass, etc. as iPad's internal speakers. Audiophiles and fans of third-party earphones or headphones with greater audio fidelity than Apple's signature earbuds could be disappointed in PadDock 10's speakers.

On the subject of audio quality, the speaker's specs were missing from PadDock 10's data sheet and user guide. Customer support responded to my inquiry that the speakers' output is 5W (2x 2.5W) with frequency response "200Hz ~10KHz, avg. SPL -10dB." These quantitative values are in line with my qualitative impressions of the speakers' limited audio range and quality.

One more issue related to quality—the docking station is constructed of plastic that feels ordinary (although adequately sturdy). My vote would be to pay a higher price in exchange for higher quality materials (e.g., aluminum) and speakers.

PadDock 10's battery charging feature is both a strength and weakness. On the plus side, when PadDock 10 is in charge mode and its speakers are turned on, it boosts iPad's battery and essentially precludes running out of juice while watching several flicks in succession. On the flip side, however, PadDock 10 only functions while plugged into an electric outlet and therefore it must always be within reach of an external power source. Thus, PadDock 10 likely will have limited utility for people on the go.

Lastly, the majority of iPad sleeves and cases are incompatible with PadDock 10. Users who strongly prefer to keep their tablet covered for protection potentially will be in a quandary with PadDock 10.

Despite these limitations, PadDock 10 is a solid and versatile solution for listening to stereo (instead of monaural) audio while playing tunes or videos on an iPad. Perhaps PadDock 10's next version will address some or all of these shortcomings in addition to supporting iPad 2.

Review contributed by Barry Fass-Holmes

In addition to being an editor and columnist for ComputorEdge and ComputerScene Magazines, where he has written hundreds of feature articles and cover stories over the past decade, Charles Carr has also penned well over 1,000 non-tech newspaper and magazine articles and columns for various publications, including two widely-read columns each week for San Diego's North County Times newspaper.

Carr has covered such diverse topics as pesticide use in area schools, invasive background checks for county volunteers, asthma awareness, the debate over standards-based grading, potential vulnerabilities in electronic voting machines, and Southern California's devastating 2003 and 2007 wildfires. He has also written many humorous pieces.

Carr has also edited dozens of stories and articles written by others which have appeared in major publications and web sites across the country.

He has been a contributor and technical advisor to L.A. and San Diego Parent magazines and receives dozens of requests a year to appear on Southern California television and radio stations to talk about important events in the tech world.

Carr has judged many writing competitions including San Diego Press Club and Time-Warner Communications contests and was sole judge for the national NAPPA Tech Toys awards for five years (which his kids really appreciated). He was recently a judge for the national "Poetry Out Loud" competition.

He has won many writing accolades, including Press Club awards for Best Column Writing, Consumer Writing and Best Arts and Entertainment, and has repeatedly taken top honors in San Diego Songwriter's Guild competitions for his original musical compositions.

Carr will soon publish his first book, What a World, a collection of his best writings.

Learn more at www.charlescarr.com.

Editor's Letters: Tips and Thoughts from Readers

“Computer and Internet tips, plus comments on the articles and columns.”
by ComputorEdge Staff

"Tech Support Humor," "Congrats on a Buying an Apple," "Bookmarks in Sync," "What do we all want?" "Why Bookstores are Dead"

Tech Support Humor

[Regarding the April 8 Beyond Personal Computing column:]

Many trouble tickets get the:

"ID10T Problem "

" Problem is between the keyboard and the chair "

"(L)user didn't RTFM "

"Power User wasn't "

Solution....

HR used to screen for computer familiar people. It must be PC that made the HR Drones stop doing it.

Your overworked and Underpaid Help Desk Staff

-Art, Evergreen, CO

Congrats on a Buying an Apple

[Regarding Jack Dunning's April 8 article, "The Beginning of a Programming Climb":]

Congrats on getting a MacBook Pro!

I was surprised to read that you purchased a MacBook Pro rather than a Mac Mini, which is priced closer to what you'd expect to pay for a Windows PC (less "sticker shock"). The Mini could use your existing keyboard, mouse and monitor with a smaller footprint, and lacking a battery you wouldn't have the concern of its non-replaceability by the user.

Speaking of sticker shock, suppose you decide to replace or ditch your MacBook Pro in two years. You probably will be able to sell it for $400–600 (I've sold each of my past three two-years old 15.4" MacBook Pros for at least $800), thereby recouping some of your original investment. Try doing that with a $400 Windows notebook computer!

One more thing…have you considered partitioning the MacBook Pro's hard drive and installing your preferred flavor of Windows under Boot Camp (or installing Windows under freebie Virtual Box)? Then you could take advantage of both operating systems on a single hardware platform. Try doing that with a $400 Windows notebook computer!

Cheers,

-Barry

I looked at the Mac Mini, but I didn't have any spare monitors or keyboards lying around. The cost would have been right back up there once I had purchased them, but without the portability. The price as the Mac Mini for a Windows PC would included the monitor, keyboard and possibly a printer/scanner.

Why would I want to partition the Mac hard drive when I have Windows machines all over the place? I bought the Mac to be a Mac. If I wanted to do Windows (or Linux) on the Mac, I would probably use Virtual Machine software as recommended by Wally.

The Mac is a decent machine, but so are my other computers. I'm sure the Mac could do everything that I need if I were forced to use only one computer.

-Jack

Bookmarks in Sync

[Regarding the April 8 Digital Dave column:]

One solution (caveat, it's also free) I use is to not sync the bookmarks to multiple machines, but instead use www.only2clicks.com to hold my bookmarks for me. I only need to log onto their page (which is set as my default start-up page for all my browsers). I then have a tabbed collection of shortcuts/bookmarks to sites I routinely access. I have it all configured to open a new tab when I click the link, always leaving the thumbnail bookmarks on the first tab of the browser.

-Stephen, San Diego, CA

What do we all want?

i#More!#

[Regarding the April 8 Digital Dave column:]

Yes, longtime reader, and all the rest of the lovey dovey touchy stuff. How can we get Digital Dave expanded? Really, only three letters a week? Now that you're only digital (Boo!) isn't there plenty of room to give Dave space for two or three more letters? His informative column is followed by a multitude of readers for a wide variety of reasons. As a tech, I'm always ready to learn a new tip or trick, or even how to polish up on customer service skills.

So, if we're not paying for ink or extra drivers because of the popular growth of your magazine, how about a little more DD?

Thanks,

-Bob Gish, Imperial Beach

Alas, it is not the fault of ComputorEdge and limited space, but of my lack of time.

-Digital Dave

Why Bookstores are Dead

[Regarding the April 8 Wally Wangs Apple Farm column:]

Wally, my boy, you have some good ideas about the coming marketing of printed books, albeit lacking in publishing industry research and looking through a half-empty glass!

-Lynn Manning Ross, San Diego, CA

ComputorEdge always wants to hear from you, our readers. If you have specific comments about one of our articles, please click the "Tell us what you think about this article!" link at the top or bottom of the article/column. Your comments will be attached to the column and may appear at a later time in the "Editor's Letters" section.

If you want to submit a short "ComputorQuick Review", or yell at us, please e-mail us at ceeditor@computoredge.com.