Google CEO Eric Schmidt's answer to online privacy concerns: change your name

Google's CEO Eric Schmidt Photo: AFP

Eric Schmidt suggested that young people should be entitled to change their identity to escape their misspent youth, which is now recorded in excruciating detail on social networking sites such as Facebook.

"I don't believe society understands what happens when everything is available, knowable and recorded by everyone all the time," Mr Schmidt told the Wall Street Journal.

In an interview Mr Schmidt said he believed that every young person will one day be allowed to change their name to distance themselves from embarrasssing photographs and material stored on their friends' social media sites.

The 55-year-old also predicted that in the future, Google will know so much about its users that the search engine will be able to help them plan their lives.

Using profiles of it customers and tracking their locations through their smart phones, it will be able to provide live updates on their surroundings and inform them of tasks they need to do.

"We're trying to figure out what the future of search is," Mr Schmidt said. “One idea is that more and more searches are done on your behalf without you needing to type.

"I actually think most people don't want Google to answer their questions. They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next."

He suggested, as an example, that because Google would know “roughly who you are, roughly what you care about, roughly who your friends are”, it could remind users what groceries they needed to buy when passing a shop.

The comments are not the first time Mr Schmidt has courted controversy over the wealth of personal information people reveal on the internet. Last year, he notoriously remarked: “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."

Earlier this year, Google was condemned by the privacy watchdogs of 10 countries for showing a “disappointing disregard” for safeguarding private information of its users.

In a letter to Mr Schmidt, Britain's Information Commissioner Chris Graham joined his counterparts in countries including Canada, France, Germany and Italy, in raising concerns over its Street View and Buzz social networking services.

Xbox 360-branded USB drives start at $40 - Retail Radar

courtesy of GameSpot.com

Last week, Microsoft confirmed rumors that the Xbox 360 would start supporting USB flash drives starting April 6. The move came after nearly four and a half years of Microsoft only offering first-party proprietary memory units and hard drives, which were widely criticized for being overpriced. It also came just over four months after Microsoft locked out high-capacity third-party memory units with a fall firmware update.

As part of the USB-support announcement, Microsoft said that it was partnering with SanDisk to release Xbox 360-branded USB flash drives. Now, GameStop is listing the official USB drives, which bear a higher price than un-branded third-party devices, for preorder. The 8GB drive retails for $39.99, while the 16GB model sells for $69.90. By comparison, an unbranded SanDisk 16GB thumb drive is on sale on Amazon for $28.50, or 59 percent cheaper.

According to the GameStop description, the main selling point of the Xbox 360-branded USB flash drives is that they are "preconfigured" for a "seamless experience" and come with a one-month Xbox Live Gold membership, which has a full retail value of $8 but can be acquired for as much as $2.50. However, formatting an unbranded third-party drive is as easy as plugging it into the Xbox 360, going to the system settings area, selecting the USB device, and selecting "configure now."

Swine Flu Outbreak!

I've been busy for the past few days preparing for my Mom's Birthday Party, so I have been unable to post anything. Since then, I've noticed news clippings that appear to look like the End of the World or the beginning of a best-selling help guide titled "How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse". Either way, it's really cool. But all kidding aside, let's look at how we're all going to die.

First a virus is an infectious agent that is (evil and...) not alive, unlike bacteria, which are (also evil and...) basically a microscopic "animal" that is alive. What that means is that viruses are a pain in the ass to health care workers. Think about it. How do you kill something that isn't alive? That is why antibiotics work on bacteria but not viruses.



Typically, you just need to let a virus "run it's course". What that means is that you get really sick, then your body builds up antibodies to fight it off, then you get better unless you are really old or really young. There are anti-viral medications, but these medicines do not actually kill the virus, they just stall the development of the infection. So basically your body is still in charge with developing an immune response and fighting off the infection. The anti-viral medication just gives it some "bonus time" to do so.

Ok. You may be asking, "So what is the big deal anyway? The flu is the flu, right?" Well... just read below.


How to get a Bad-Ass Flu Strain in 3 Easy Steps!

Step 1: First, have a virulent flu strain in a species population. Let's use the aforementioned swine flu as an example.

Step 2: Next, have said flu strain mutate so that it can now spread between swine and humans, instead of the usual same species spreading. Not really a problem for anyone unless they spend a lot of time in close quarters with their livestock.

Step 3: Finally, have said flu strain mutate again so that it can now spread from human to human and voila. Swine Flu Outbreak '09.


The Spanish Flu which spread across the world in the late 1910's is an example of a virus that made it to step 3. Even though viruses don't normally make it that far, when they do (like the Spanish Flu) weird shit starts happening that isn't suppose to. Just look at the headlines of newspapers from the time of that era and you will see what I mean. "Up to 100 million people dead from the flu!" - "20 - 40 year old adults are the bulk of the deaths from the flu!" - "Women now have the right to vote!" It's horrifying. I personally remember hearing the CDC (Center for Disease Control) state a few years back during the SARS scare that as long as a flu strain doesn't make it to Step 3, we'll be ok. Well, what now? Guess I will have to go to Hatley's and bunker down for the next decade or so. As least I'll be safe from the zombies.



Ok. So far the Zombie fl... I'm sorry... the Swine Flu could possibly kick our ass. You may think there is still hope? "Can't we just pass out vaccines to make us all immune?", you may ask. Well not exactly. Yes, every year there is a flu vaccine available for the upcoming flu season. That is only because it is harvested months in advance from chicken eggs. This particular strain appeared out of nowhere (nowhere meaning Mexico City) and even if we could cultivate some strains of it for vaccines, it would still take several weeks if not months to synthesize vaccines and even then the supplies would be severely limited (This is my own professional opinion - and by professional, I mean fuck off!). *UPDATE* I'm guessing that there is really nothing we can do except hope that this turns out to be a "scare" and not a Pandemic. Other than that, it will be zombie hunting season. YEE-HAW!

Conficker Eye Chart

Conficker's April 1 update has come and gone. Since then it has updated via P2P software but still hasn't caused any problems (at least nothing noticeable). Still, better safe than sorry. In case you may not know, here is a Conficker "eye chart" you use to see if your computer is infected with the Conficker worm. Click the link and look at the eye chart. If you see all the icons, you're safe. If not, then there is a list of what is possibly wrong with your computer below the picture.

Chinese Spying Discovered by Google Search

The New York Times reports there is a gigantic spy system that has targeted and exploited computers in government agencies around the world. The spy system was discovered when the esteemed Dalai Lama asked Canadian firm Munk Center for International Studies to do a some anti-virus work on his computer.

Evidence proves that China is the country of origin. Whether or not it is the Chinese Government or Chinese "patriot hackers" is to be determined, but more than 1,295 computers in 103 countries were affected in some way by the spynet.

The most amusing part is that it is reported the researchers discovered the spynet using, of all things, a Google search.

Conficker Worm's Fury unleashes on April 1, 2009

The Conficker Worm has been harassing computer network security administrator's for months since it climbed out of the internet underground sometime in 2008. It is about to get a fresh update on April 1, 2009 and security officials are bracing for the impact that the upgrade might have.

Before we get too far you should know what a worm is. Here are some definitions to put it into perspective.

Virus - a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without the permission or knowledge of the owner.

Trojan Horse - a computer program that may be legitimate but has secondary illegitimate objectives. For instance, a computer program that lets you burn DVD's but also opens a backdoor in your computer to let a hacker get in and control the computer of the user.

Worm - a self-replicating computer program. Unlike a virus, it does not need to attach itself to an existing program.

Though they sound similar, they are considerably different. Right now the Conficker worm is tearing through the internet and business computers like the sands of the desert planet Arrakis (Dune). It has infected as many as 10 million business computers with many high profile computers noted such as French Air Force, Royal Navy Warships and Submarines, Sheffield Hospital network, UK Ministry of Defence, and Norwegian Police. It has also infected scores of individual users alike. A simple action such as using a USB drive on an infected computer and then using that same USB drive on another computer will be enough to spread the infection.

The problem with the Conficker Worm is that it is ever evolving, meaning that it gets updates from it's creator(s) periodically so it's always one step ahead of the security "police". For instance, at one point (when the worm was first detected) Microsoft (MS) released a patch to fix the hole the worm was using to wreak havoc. Then shortly after, the worm updated and found a new hole to use to infect systems. What's worst is the worm uses a different site to update out of a list of 50,000. To say the least, security experts are impressed with the Conficker worm's ability to adapt and lead experts on wild goose chases.

What's interesting about this story now, is that the worm has stopped spreading. It is becoming more defensive in nature. Instead of finding ways to infect more computers, the creator(s) are taking measures to ensure that the computers that are infected with the Conficker Worm, stay infected. For instance, an infected computer may not be able to install any anti-virus programs or go to any anti-virus program web sites. It's as if the creator(s) want to protect the worm's install base by removing the worm's ability to replicate itself, which would suggest they believe they already have enough infected computers to accomplish whatever they are planning to do.

Though the worm is believed to have originated in the Ukraine, no one knows for certain. MS is concerned enough about the damages that may ensue (or have been caused), they have put a $250,000 bounty on any information leading to the creator(s) of the worm. I have never heard of a bounty (or such a large one) being put out for the creator(s) of malware. It's interesting to see where this will go.

The bottom line... IT security experts are reluctant to say "the end of the world is at hand", but the worm is set to update on April 1st, 2009, with unknown consequences.