Amy Cho : The Blog - News

Google has been saving your searches, YOU may be identified

nospam@example.com (Amy Cho) — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 15:05:53 -0400

EDIT: Another great way to anonymize yourself from Google is CustomizeGoogle, the Firefox extension.
If you're using Internet Explorer (IE), then go download here.
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EDIT: If you don't want to go so far as to download a bunch of software for a proxy, you can set your Firefox browser so that you delete your cookies every time you close your browser and you can even customize the cookie options so that certain sites are NOT allowed to save cookies on your computer. This, of course, is a fairly simple solution. But adding a proxy to that security layer is also good too since you want to send your requests anonymously and not directly through to Google. Because I would think that even though you don't allow cookies to be stored on your computer, Google will still connect your IP address with your inquiry since you are going directly to it. Of course, using a proxy or not accepting cookies can be applied to other sites. But Google and its mail component Gmail should be the sites you should be most concerned if you do A LOT of searches on it because Google is able to amass a large quantity of varied information about you through your inquiries. AOL was able to do it, why not Google, the most popular search engine?
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Google has publicly announced that they save your queries or searches used on their Google search engine by placing a cookie on your computer that will not expire until 2038. You could go through hundreds or even thousands of searches until 2038. Those searches can indicate your identity and destroy your anonymity on the Internet. This is particularly dangerous if a hacker breeches their query databases and retrieve vital information about you or even the government. But Google has said they are not going to stop this absurd practice of saving your queries as well as the origin of those queries, namely your IP address. To prevent any possible dangerous events and to protect your anonymity, go to http://www.freenet.org.nz/misc/google-privacy.html. Make sure to have Mozilla Firefox. Follow the instructions carefully. I WOULD SUGGEST YOU USE THIS PATTERN: "*http://*.google.*" (Exclude the quotations but include the asteriks, they are wildcards) If you have any questions, especially technical, feel free to contact me. Below is the original article from Slashdot.org:

Defeating Google's Perpetual Search Logging

heretic108 writes "Google's policy of storing everyone's search histories forever is causing concern amongst many, especially since Google stores a cookie on everyone's PC expiring in 2038. But at least one user is fighting back. His short and simple guide tells you how to set up any decent web browser so that it routes Google requests through an anonymous proxy, while sending everything else direct to the net for full-speed surfing. Follow these steps and get Google's nose out of your business once and for all."

Spamming Evil Lurks About

nospam@example.com (Amy Cho) — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 21:52:33 -0400

New Kind of Spam 'Un-Training' Filters?

Zaphod2016 writes to tell us the Wall Street Journal is reporting that email in-boxes are under a new kind of spam attack. This new spam has confused many people due to its lack of advertising, viruses, or request for personal information. One popular theory is that these innocuous blocks of text, often drawn from popular literature, are being used to "un-train" spam filters to allow more malicious spam through in the future.

Credits to Slashdot.org.

Firefox Trojan, Crying Games, U.S. relinquishes control of Internet

nospam@example.com (Amy Cho) — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 18:33:53 -0400

Spyware Disguises Itself as Firefox Extension:
Juha-Matti Laurio writes "The antivirus specialists at McAfee have warned of a Trojan that disguises itself as a Firefox extension. The trojan installs itself as a Firefox extension, presenting itself as a legitimate existing extension called numberedlinks. It then begins intercepting passwords and credit card numbers entered into the browser, which it then sends to an external server. The most dangerous part of the issue is that it records itself directly into the Firefox configuration data, avoiding the regular installation and confirmation process."

Can Games Make You Cry?:
Ground Glass writes "'Can games make you cry?' is a ridiculously simple question to ask about a hideously complex issue. Worse, it's possible that the very question itself muddies the answer. Next Generation's approach is a little more thoughtful; by figuring out what questions each medium tries to answer free of the art issue, it cuts to the heart of what games can do. With the tools made clear, it then theorizes what said tools can do emotionally." From the article: "In film, you can show a character staring at a point before him and then change perspective to show what he was staring at; it is the proximity and timing of the imagery that lends significance to the second shot. In painting, you can play with the two-dimensional space and qualities of the material at hand to create similarly suggestive juxtapositions of imagery, color, symbolism, perspective, lending greater insight into the workings of the medium, the subject at hand, the painter herself, and - ultimately - the viewer and his own perspective on the world around him."

United States Cedes Control of the Internet:
greenechidna writes "The Register is reporting that the U.S. is relinquishing control of ICANN. The story states: 'In a meeting that will go down in internet history, the United States government last night conceded that it can no longer expect to maintain its position as the ultimate authority over the internet. Having been the internet's instigator and, since 1998, its voluntary taskmaster, the US government finally agreed to transition its control over not-for-profit internet overseeing organization ICANN, making the organization a more international body.'"

Lack of gender equality in Science, women get less respect

nospam@example.com (Amy Cho) — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 18:04:55 -0400

Transgendered Professor Stirs Debate Over Women in Science
07.12.06, 12:00 AM ET

WEDNESDAY, July 12 (HealthDay News) -- When former Harvard University
President Larry Summers voiced the opinion last year that women might be
intellectually inferior to men when it comes to math and science, he touched
off a nationwide firestorm of controversy.

Now, Stanford University professor of neurobiology Dr. Ben Barres is wading
into the fray with an essay in this week's Nature, contending that women are
just as scientifically inclined as men -- if given a level playing field and
the chance to shine.

He should know: Ten years ago, as Barbara Barres, this M.D. and Ph.D. made
the decision to undergo hormone therapy and begin living as a man.

In his provocative essay, Does Gender Matter?, Ben Barres contends that it
does -- that the attitude of others in the sciences changed toward him soon
after he made the switch.

"The main difference that I have noticed is that people who don't know that
I am transgendered treat me with much more respect," he writes. "I can even
complete a whole sentence without being interrupted by a man."

That fundamental lack of respect for women is what Barres, 51, believes
drives the relatively low representation of females in the world of
science -- not any innate genetic inability.

For many girls, these stereotypes and stigmas may keep them from pursuing a
career they might love and excel in, according to Barres. "From an early
age, girls receive the messages that they are not good enough to do science
subjects or will be less liked if they are good at it," he writes. "The
messages come from many sources, including parents, friends, fellow students
and, alas, teachers."

As a young girl, and then as a young female college student and academic,
Barres said he felt the sting of discrimination first hand. While an
undergrad at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the female Barres
was the only person in a class full of men to solve a particularly tough
math problem. The professor remarked that Barbara's "boyfriend must have
solved it for [her]." And as a grad student at Harvard, Barbara Barres was
passed over for a prestigious fellowship in favor of a male applicant who
had published just one-sixth as many scientific papers as she had.

Finally, Barres remembers that, "Shortly after I changed sex, a faculty
member was heard to say, 'Ben Barres gave such a great seminar today, but
then his work is much better than his sister's.' "

The essay resonated with Marianne LaFrance, a Yale professor of psychology
and women's gender and sexuality studies. Her work has long focused on how
being born male or female affects careers.

"The thing that's so terrific about this essay is precisely that he's a
transgendered person," she said. LaFrance pointed out that Barbara and Ben
Barres are exactly the same person -- in terms of their talent, creativity
and intellect -- and yet Ben gets much more immediate respect from his peers
than Barbara ever could.

"It raises lots of questions about just where is gender? It seems to be much
more in the mind of the perceiver than it is in the person who's being
perceived," LaFrance said.

But Larry Summers, too, quickly found allies within academia after his
speech in January 2005. A Harvard colleague, Professor Harvey Mansfield,
published a book titled Manliness, in which he contended that women
naturally shy away from competition and are risk-averse and overly
emotional, compared to men. And British molecular biologist Peter Lawrence
also penned a widely read essay in which he claimed that, even in a perfect
world, women's innate deficiencies in scientific aptitude would leave them
trailing men.

But Barres, who is also professor of developmental biology, neurology and
neurological sciences at Stanford, cited the data on the issue. He noted
that a study of math tests taken by nearly 20,000 American children aged 4
to 18 showed nearly identical scores by gender.

"And despite all the social forces that hold women back from an early age,
still one-third of the winners of the elite Putnam Math Competition last
year were women," Barres said.

LaFrance agreed. "Most of the evidence that we have suggests very strongly
that the differences between men and women in most things are pretty small,
and if you provide men and women with the same educational opportunities, lo
and behold, those differences all but disappear," she said.

She pointed out that these disparities have continued to shrink as society
slowly becomes more open to the idea of female excellence in the sciences.

"Now, if we're seeing real changes like that, that suggests that [the
differences] are not genetic, because we know that genetic changes don't
occur in just a matter of decades," LaFrance said.

"It also suggests," LaFrance added, "that if you provide the opportunities
and the support structure and various other kinds of arrangements that
prohibit discrimination, then you're going to get good scientists who are
men -- and good scientists who are women."

More information

To learn more, visit the Association for Women in Science.Archives

Take care of your batteries

nospam@example.com (Amy Cho) — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 04:40:00 -0400

Four battery tips for your mobile gadgets

By Christopher Elliott, Microsoft Small Business Center

Mention the words "battery life and the first gadget that comes to mind is probably the energy-consuming laptop computer particularly if you're on the go a lot. If not, it should be. There never seems to be enough juice to run your portable PC. Ah, but if laptop PCs were the extent of your battery blues, you might not feel so, well, powerless. But power problems plague other mobile devices. For example, a 2003 In-Stat/MDR survey found that long battery life ranked as the most important feature to business users when selecting a wireless handset. Users of personal digital assistants (PDAs) are just as concerned about a possible energy crisis. I know because I am one and I never seem to stop worrying about running dry. So, what about mobile gadgets?

How do you make sure your batteries last as long as possible? Here are four tips.

1. Follow instructions and use them right right from the start: "All batteries should be properly conditioned prior to first use," says Larry O'Connor, chief executive of Other World Computing, a Woodstock, Ill., developer of battery solutions and computer enhancement products. "You must properly prepare the battery by following the first charge and use instructions." And what if you don't? O'Connor warns that failure to follow can shorten the life or runtime of your battery. "Follow the instructions to the letter and that battery will give you a lot more," he says.

2. Don't overcharge them. When it comes to batteries for small devices such as PDAs, cell phones or Tablet PCs, the single biggest mistake users make is leaving them plugged in to the charger for lengthy periods after they've been fully recharged. "Leaving the batteries, at least those types associated with these devices, on charge for endless periods will reduce the overall life of the battery," warns Paul Klatt, a quality assurance engineer for Batteries Plus, a Hartland, Wis., commercial-battery distributor. He says battery chargers normally taper down when the battery is fully charged. "However, enduring weeks of even a 'trickle charge' creates heat buildup and will eventually cause premature battery failure," Klatt says. How do you avoid overcharging? Remove the charger right after the battery is fully charged.

3. Use them at regular intervals. This is a problem that affects spare batteries, but it can also be a factor on a backup unit, such as a second cell phone. O'Connor says batteries have to be used in order to get the most out of them. "If you have spares, cycle them at least once every six months or even better, every three months," he says. "This will go a long way in keeping your batteries maintained to properly perform."

4. Stay away from cheap-o replacements. "Quality is very important when it comes to replacement batteries," says Stefan Betesh, vice president of product development for Sakar International, an Edison, N.J., consumer electronic products manufacturer. Many lesser-known but cheaper brands cut corners when they make their batteries. That can affect the overall life expectancy and performance of the battery. Worse, the batteries may be defective because "most low-end batteries are refurbished or just not working with quality control," he says. His recommendation? Go with a recognized brand and buy from a reputable source.
But let's be honest: Keeping your batteries at peak performance is a lot like taking care of an infant. Lots of "dos" and "don'ts" to remember change this, stay away from that, follow the directions, etc. Does anyone expect you to do all of this? Well, not really. I leave my cell phone charger plugged in overnight from time to time (OK, more than that) and I've never cycled my batteries. Is there a solution for those of us who really couldn't be bothered? I spoke with Bill Acker, president and CEO of MTI Micro Fuel Cells, an Albany, N.Y., battery manufacturer. He tells me that fuel cells will soon become alternatives to today's high-maintenance lithium-ion batteries. The new technology can hold up to 10 times more of a charge than conventional batteries. "For the first time," he says, "wireless and other electronic hand held devices will be truly wireless." But fuel cell technology and other innovations like it are still a few years away from being widely available. Until then, these four tips can help you stretch your power supply to the limit.

8 big mortgage mistakes and how to avoid them

nospam@example.com (Amy Cho) — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 04:37:10 -0400

8 big mortgage mistakes and how to avoid them

Just posted this for those who might find it useful.

You can borrow too much or prepare too little. You can misjudge terms or overestimate your credit. With so much at stake, its no wonder so much can go wrong.

By Liz Pulliam Weston

Applying for a mortgage can be a daunting experience.

It's not enough that you're agreeing to take on the biggest debt of your life, one that represents two to three times your annual income. You're also confronted with piles of paperwork, flurries of fees and a tidal wave of terms, from amortization to title insurance, whose meaning is fuzzy at best.

"Whether it's a professor at Stanford or a ditch digger," said San Francisco mortgage broker Leon Huntting, "most people don't understand the loan process."

In this confusing and pressure-filled atmosphere, it's easy to make some mistakes. Here are some common ones that lenders and mortgage brokers see, and what you can do to prevent them.
Not fixing your credit
Mortgage brokers say they're confounded at the number of buyers who apply for a mortgage with their fingers crossed, hoping their credit will allow them to qualify for a loan.

Before you even think about applying for a mortgage, obtain copies of your credit report and your FICO credit score. Your FICO score is the three-digit number that's used in 75% of mortgage-lending decisions. You can order your FICO score on the Web for a fee of $12.95, which includes a copy of your credit report. (See link at left.)

Doing this at least six months in advance should give you plenty of time to challenge any errors on your report and ensure that they're removed by the time you're ready to apply for a loan. You can also see the legitimate factors that are hurting your score and do something about them, such as paying off an overdue bill or paying down credit card debt.

Not looking for first-time home buyers' programs
These programs, typically sponsored by state, county or city governments, often offer better interest rates and terms than you'll find among private lenders, said mortgage consultant Diane St. James. Some are tailored for people with damaged credit, while most can help people with little saved for a down payment.

Some of these resources are listed on St. James' educational Web site, ABC Mortgage Consulting (see link at left). You can also call the housing agencies for your state, county and city to see what they offer.
Not getting pre-approved for a loan
Many first-time borrowers confuse being "pre-qualified" with being "pre-approved." Pre-qualification is a pretty casual process, where a lender tells you how much money you probably can borrow based on how much money you make, how much debt you already have and how much cash you have for the down payment.

Getting pre-approval, by contrast, is a much more rigorous process and involves actually applying for a loan. You typically submit tax returns, pay stubs and other information. The lender verifies the information and checks your credit. If all goes well, the lender agrees in writing to make the loan.

In a hot or even warm real estate market, the house hunter who is only pre-qualified is a cooked goose. Home sellers and their agents give much more weight to offers being made by buyers who already have a loan lined up.
Borrowing too much money
Many people take out the biggest loan they possibly can, figuring that their incomes will eventually increase enough to make the payments comfortable. But few first-time buyers have any clear idea of how expensive homeownership can be. Not only will you shell out more for mortgage payments than you probably did for rent, but you'll also need to cover property taxes and homeowners insurance, as well as higher bills for utilities, maintenance and repairs than you faced as a renter.

Lenders are perfectly willing to let you overextend, knowing that you'll probably forgo vacations, retirement savings and new clothes for the kids rather than default on your mortgage.

"Mortgage money is way too easy to get," said Ted Grose, president of the California Association of Mortgage Brokers. "People tend to overbuy and that can really stress family life. It's also a formula for foreclosure."

Instead of going to the edge of affordability, consider limiting your housing costs -- mortgage payments, property taxes and homeowners insurance -- to 25% or so of your gross income. That's a much more sustainable level for most people, financial planners say, than the 33% lenders are typically willing to give you.
Not shopping around for rates and terms
Mortgage broker Allen Jackson of Bristol Home Loans in Bellflower, Calif., sees too many borrowers with decent credit getting stuck with loans meant for people with poor credit. So-called "subprime" loans are often more profitable, so less ethical mortgage brokers may push them.

If the borrower doesn't know what the prevailing interest rates are for someone with their credit standing, Jackson said, they can easily pay thousands of dollars more than they need to. You can see a listing of loan rates by credit score at MyFico.com, and a comprehensive listing of prevailing rates and fees can be found in MSN Money's Banking area.

Even people with a few dings on their credit can often qualify for better loans than they're typically offered, said Grose of 1st Mortgage Advisors in Los Angeles. He believes most of the people being shunted into government loan programs, such as Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans, would pay less if they used mortgages now being offered by private-sector lenders.
Paying junk fees
Lenders can boost their profits by adding on a variety of fees. Some may be legitimate, some may be inflated and others may be pure fluff. Lenders may charge for "document preparation," for example, when all that involves typically is having a computer spit out a form. Or they may charge $150 for a credit check that cost them $15.

The time to challenge junk fees is not when you're about to sign the loan papers. Use a mortgage broker or call a number of lenders to compare their loans. Ask about the interest rate, the "points" charged to get that rate (each point is 1% of the total loan amount) and any other fees the lender charges. Then you can compare terms.

Once you've selected a lender, you'll be given a good-faith estimate of closing costs, which should include any fees being charged. Ask about each fee, and try to negotiate down the ones that seem excessive.

If the lender won't negotiate, "take that estimate to someone else," St. James said. "I'll bet they can beat it."

Unfortunately, this doesn't absolutely guarantee you won't face junk fees when it comes time to sign the loan. Many borrowers complain that they still face higher costs than were originally estimated, and so far the federal government has done little to prevent the practice. You can try challenging junk fees at this point, but most likely you'll have to bite the bullet and pay the fees to get your loan.
Not planning for closing costs
The day you're scheduled to get your loan, known as closing, you'll also be expected to write a check for a number of expenses, which typically include attorney's fees, taxes, title insurance, prepaid homeowners insurance, points and other lenders' fees. Together, these are known as closing costs, and the total can be eye-popping: somewhere between 2% to 7% of the selling price of the house. "Usually, when people see the closing costs, they're like a deer in the headlights," said mortgage broker Huntting, who works for Pacific Guarantee Mortgage. "It's much more than they ever think it's going to be."

Plan for closing costs by getting a good-faith estimate from your lender as early in the loan process as possible. Make sure you have the cash on hand (or rather, in your checking account) and that it doesn't "disappear" before closing because of sloppy bookkeeping or a last-minute emergency.
Not having enough cash on hand after closing
After borrowing too much, and scraping together every last dime for closing costs, many home buyers have nothing left in the bank to pay for anything unforeseen happening --and something unforeseen always happens.

"It costs so much just to move in," Grose said. "Then the water heater breaks."

Some people are so tapped out by the process, Jackson said, that they're not able to make their first mortgage payment on time. That's why "more and more lenders are requiring [borrowers have] three months' reserves after closing," Jackson said.

That's a smart idea for borrowers, anyway. Having three months' reserves, which means a fund equal to three months' worth of expenses, will help you handle the added costs of homeownership with much less stress.

The penny can't pay for itself

nospam@example.com (Amy Cho) — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 16:32:48 -0400

Time to kill off the penny?

Now that the coins cost more to make than theyre worth, efforts have begun anew to kill off the cent -- and to save it, too.

By BusinessWeek

In May, the U.S. Mint informed Congress that the cost of making a penny and a nickel will soon exceed the actual value of each coin. Thanks to the high cost of materials that go into the making of the coins -- zinc, copper and nickel -- the Mint estimates that by the end of the fiscal year, the cost of producing one penny will come to around 1.23 cents, and the cost of making a nickel will be 5.73 cents.

The news revived efforts to take the penny out of circulation. Rep. Jim Kolbe, R- Ariz., has begun drafting a bill to modernize America's currency system. According to Kolbe's press secretary, Korenna Cline, the bill would most likely include a slow phasing out of the penny, create a reasonable rounding system, increase the production and circulation of the $2 bill as well as the Sacajawea (often called the golden) dollar, and possibly change the composition of coins to include less-expensive metals.

In 2001, a similar bill that called for the abolishment of the penny, also drafted by Kolbe, never made it out of committee. (Do you think it's time to kill the penny? Vote here)
Honestly, Abe
The penny does have its supporters. Mark Weller is executive director of Americans for Common Cents, a nonprofit organization that was founded in the '90s when similar moves to abolish the penny were launched. His organization's goal is to keep Congress and the public updated on news and information about the penny. Weller says that polls conducted by ABCNews, USA Today/Gallup and Coinstar all show that the majority of Americans want to keep the penny around.

Weller's outfit has joined with Virgin Mobile USA to start a "Save the Penny" campaign that is meant to show Congress the worth of a penny. As part of a promotion for their 1-cent text messages, Virgin Mobile is sending trucks around the United States this summer to collect pennies to benefit youth charities. The tour also is picking up signatures for their save-the-penny petition along the way.

The penny may have time on its side. In December 2005, President Bush signed into law a bill that mandated that the penny commemorate Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday with a redesign. The date of the penny's redesign: 2009.

3-D Flexible Computer Chip and Online Operating Systems

nospam@example.com (Amy Cho) — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 01:01:19 -0400

This is some very exciting stuff....

http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/06/07/24/0242232.shtml:
Roland Piquepaille writes "Engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have isolated a single-crystal film of semiconductor from the substrate on which it is built. Then they transferred this very thin film -- 200 nanometers thick -- on plastic. Both sides of the film can host active components and several layers can be stacked, opening the way to very powerful 3-D flexible computer chips. Besides computer chips, this technique could be used for solar cells, smart cards, RFID tags or active-matrix flat panel displays."

http://developers.slashdot.org/developers/06/07/23/1231217.shtml
Juergen writes "You OS comes from the MIT Labs and contains an email client, Chat Function, RSS Reader, and Text Editor. YouOS is a web operating system that lets you run diverse applications within a web browser. Small applications like sticky notes or clocks. Large applications like word processing, mp3 players, and instant messaging. Even better, it's very easy to tweak an existing application or write your own. "