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10 Free Ways to Make Your Windows Computer Safer

These utilities can help put your mind at ease

(Newser) - The tech wizards at ZDNet offer their picks for security-conscious PC users on a budget:
  1. Secunia Personal Software Inspector (psi.secunia.com)
  2. OpenDNS (www.opendns.com)
  3. Active Virus Shield (www.activevirusshield.com/antivirus/freeav/index.adp?)
  4. Haute Secure (www.hautesecure.com)
  5. GMER anti-rootkit (www.gmer.net/index.php)

Humans Ace Computer in Poker Match
Humans Ace Computer in Poker Match
Jul 25, 2007 5:03 PM CDT

Humans Ace Computer in Poker Match

AI edged out, but programmers plan to up the ante

(Newser) - Two top-rated professional poker players defeated the world's top poker computer after a tense John Henry-like showdown yesterday at an Artificial Intelligence Conference, CBC reports. The victory was determined by a tie-breaking round after both man and machine took one each; over 500 hands were ultimately dealt.

Vista Proves Profitable, Problematic

Microsoft's new OS leaving many users nostalgic for XP

(Newser) - Microsoft has reported quarterly revenues of $13.4 billion, crediting strong sales of its new Vista operating system, which offers new networking and security features as well as an overhauled interface. But many users are still reluctant to switch after tepid reviews and anecdotal complaints, instead seeking out the 6-year-old...

Computers Master Checkers
Computers Master Checkers
Jul 19, 2007 6:25 PM CDT

Computers Master Checkers

The best outcome human players can hope for against program is a draw

(Newser) - After 18 years of number-crunching, a checkers-playing computer program has conquered the game. Checkers is the most complicated game computers have mastered, Scientific American reports, beating Connect Four by a factor of a million. "I was a bit obsessed," says the lead researcher. "My wife would say...

Intel, Third World Laptop Initiative Join Forces

Chip giant makes peace with One Laptop Per Child

(Newser) - Intel and the One Laptop per Child initiative are making peace and embracing the notion of synergy. The chip maker and the pioneer of the $100 laptop concept will stop competing for deals with governments in the developing world and team up, the AP reports. The partnership is a big...

How to Survive the Email Onslaught
How to Survive the Email Onslaught
Jul 13, 2007 5:30 PM CDT

How to Survive the Email Onslaught

Salon surveys advice for those losing the battle with their deluged inboxes

(Newser) - A spate of new survival manuals is addressing the problem of swamped inboxes, writes Salon's Scott Rosenberg. But how does one navigate through the sea of attachments, spam, and forwarded off-color jokes? Most experts agree on striving for emptiness: delete ruthlessly.

iPhone Set For Awesome Profits
iPhone Set For Awesome Profits
Jul 3, 2007 3:14 PM CDT

iPhone Set For Awesome Profits

Supercool new gadget sells for double manufacturing costs

(Newser) - The 8GB model of the must-have iPhone retails for $600, but the parts cost Apple only $265.83—a 55% profit margin that helps account for the company's $186.1 million gross during the gadget's opening weekend, Bloomberg reports. A research firm took apart an iPhone to break down the...

Google Complaint Spurs Vista Revision

Microsoft responds to antitrust action with change to desktop search feature

(Newser) - Microsoft has caved in to Google's antitrust complaints and agreed to alter the search tools in its new Vista operating system by the end of the year. The move is a victory for Google, which complained to antitrust regulators that Vista's hard-drive indexing was difficult to switch off and made...

Space Station Computers Fail, Air Supply Threatened

Crew not in immediate danger; shuttle may have to head home early

(Newser) - The Russian computers that control the international space station's air supply, water and orientation are down, the AP reports. The unprecedented failure could lengthen the current shuttle mission, or, at worst, force the crew to come home early, but there is no immediate danger. "We have plenty of resources,...

Apple Wants to Send Windows Users on Safari

Jobs sees chance to grab larger share of browser market

(Newser) - Apple will venture into Microsoft's turf again, this time making a version of its web browser Safari compatible with Windows. Microsoft's Internet Explorer commands 78% of the browser market compared to Safari's 5%, reports the Wall Street Journal, but Apple's interest in expanding its share is only part of the...

Strife Centers on Laptops for Third World

Intel cranks up competition to provide poor kids with cheap computers

(Newser) - The race to provide cheap laptops to the developing world is heating up, with Intel working on a second computer priced under $200 and the One Laptop per Child foundation accusing the chipmaker of undermining its efforts. The individual machines aren't expensive, but because governments will buy them in volume...

Wal-Mart, You're Getting a Dell
Wal-Mart, You're Getting a Dell
May 24, 2007 1:10 PM CDT

Wal-Mart, You're Getting a Dell

Direct-to-consumer giant will get in-store presence at big-box superstar

(Newser) - Dell is about to expand beyond its traditional direct-to-consumer sales channels in a big way: by making a deal with Wal-Mart. The struggling computer maker and the world's largest retailer announced today that Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores will start carrying Dell Dimensions next month. The two exclusive models will...

Web Mogul Controls $300 Million in URLs

Meet Kevin Ham, the Donald Trump of virtual real estate

(Newser) - Kevin Ham rules the shadowy Internet domain name market, having amassed an online real estate empire worth over $300 million, Business 2.0 reports. The doctor-turned-tech tycoon began buying and selling URLs in the nascent days of the web; today he trades hundreds of addresses a day, sometimes for as...

First Computer May Be 2100 Years Old

Scholars may have finally figured out what the Antikythera Mechanism is

(Newser) - An unknown scientist in the first century B.C. may have invented the world’s first computer. Discovered by Greek divers in 1900 on the bottom of the Aegean Sea near the island of Antikythera, the so called Antikythera Mechanism lay in the National Museum in Athens mistaken for an...

MIT Makes Programming Child's Play
MIT Makes Programming Child's Play
May 15, 2007 5:36 PM CDT

MIT Makes Programming Child's Play

Computer science goes kid-friendly with a new language, Scratch

(Newser) - The latest programming language to come out of MIT's cutting-edge labs has an unusual audience: sixth-graders. “Scratch” replaces the technobabble of Java and C++ with simplified, jigsaw-shaped pieces of code, which budding programmers can arrange into customized sequences. A test group of 12-year-olds in Massachusetts is already at work...

Baiters Turn Tables On Scammers
Baiters Turn Tables On
Scammers
May 2, 2007 10:39 AM CDT

Baiters Turn Tables On Scammers

Ron Rosenbaum reports on vigilantes patrolling the "scamosphere"

(Newser) - Revenge is a dish best served electronically, Ron Rosenbaum reports in an Atlantic expose on scam-baiting. A community of e-vigilantes has developed elaborate schemes to thwart the ruses of fake Nigerian princes with equally creative faux dupes. Scammers are punished by coaxing them into laborious and embarrassing tasks, like holding...

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