Using Twitter and Facebook to Find Design Jobs | Notes on Design

Using Twitter and Facebook to Find Design Jobs Notes on Design by Scott Chappell

Another useful tool from Sessions School of Design. http://www.sessions.edu/

http://www.notesondesign.net/resources/using-twitter-and-facebook-to-find-design-jobs/

Using LinkedIn Company Search to Find Design Clients | Notes on Design

Using LinkedIn Company Search to Find Design Clients Notes on Design

“Ok, so now you can search on LinkedIn for companies and industries globally or in your part of the world. But why?

What you are doing is building your database of prospective clients, the ones you should mail with your profile and follow-up with a call if feasible. And many companies list a remarkable level of detail that you won’t find on their website — AND don’t forget that you would never have found their website anyway because LinkedIn is why you even know the company exists.

LinkedIn company profiles often list the principals and management names and links to their LinkedIn profiles. If you see a company that you think is a fit for your design skills then look at the management listed on the company’s linked-in profile. ” Author Scott Chappell

Notes on Design is a free online resource from Sessions.edu

http://www.notesondesign.net/inspiration/design/using-linkedin-to-get-design-jobs/

http://www.notesondesign.net/inspiration/design/using-linkedin-company-search-to-find-design-clients/

23 Must-Have Chrome Extensions for Web Professionals - Website Magazine - Website Magazine

23 Must-Have Chrome Extensions for Web Professionals - Website Magazine - Website Magazine

Don't miss these tools! You could spend a lot of time hunting for them instead of designing

http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2010/02/12/23-must-have-chrome-extensions-for-web-professionals.aspx

Tracking down those XP crashes: Could the cause be malware? | Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report | ZDNet.com

Tracking down those XP crashes: Could the cause be malware? Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report ZDNet.com

"One of Microsoft’s “Patch Tuesday” security fixes is triggering a widespread “Blue Screen of Death” problem. The cause is not the update itself, but an existing infection. So far, reports suggest that this problem affects Windows XP and Windows Vista.

[…]

I have found that the root cause is an infection of %System32\drivers\atapi.sys, and that replacing this file with a clean version will get the system booting normally." Ed Bott

For those who don’t know Windows kernel drivers, Atapi.sys provides access to the system hard drive. If it’s damaged or if it doesn’t match the hardware in your system, the result will be a STOP error, which displays 0×0000007B INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE (or a similar error code) on a blue screen.

The MS10-015 update does not replace the Atapi.sys driver, but it does replace a bunch of kernel files that interact with that driver (the full list is in the KB article, under the File Information heading), so it’s not unexpected that these changes would cause problems on systems that were already infected.

I found an unrelated report with similar details in a thread at bleepingcomputer.com, where a user reported experiencing this issue and provided diagnostic reports showing infections by several rootkits and Trojan-horse programs (Rootkit.Win32.Agent and Backdoor.Tidserv, also known as TDDS), as well as the Koobface worm. One detail that caught my eye in that thread was the name of that Tidserv nasty, which is known to replace Atapi.sys with an infected version. (See this search for a sample of reports.)

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=1764&tag=nl.e589

The top 10 TechRepublic tools and gadgets of 2009 | 10 Things | TechRepublic.com

The top 10 TechRepublic tools and gadgets of 2009 10 Things TechRepublic.com

“1: The XCopy Tool

The XCopy command has risen from the ashes of deprecation to save you time and make your file management tasks easier. This tool automates the process for XP, Vista, and Windows 7.

2: The ARP Gadget

Windows offers a command-line utility that lets you examine or modify the ARP cache. To make the tool easier to use, Greg Shultz has ‘gadgetized’ it for Vista and Windows 7.

3: The Netstat Gadget

The Netstat utility can help solve vexing connectivity issues - but its command-line interface isn’t for everyone. This free Vista / Windows 7 gadget makes the tool much easier to use.

4: The Route Gadget

This handy gadget offers the diagnostic benefits of the Route command without the command-line hassles.

5: The Route Utility

This HTML Application uses the Windows Script Host and VBScript to give the Windows Route command-line tool a more friendly and efficient GUI front end. Use it the next time you need to troubleshoot Windows TCP/IP connectivity problems.

6: The PathPing Gadget

This Vista / Windows 7 gadget automates the powerful PathPing utility, making it easier for you to isolate the cause of network problems.

7: Windows Vista IPConfig Gadget

After building his Vista IP Configuration Tool, Greg Shultz responded to member requests and created this Sidebar gadget to make things even easier.

8: Windows Vista Registration Changer tool

When a system changes hands, it’s a good idea to update the registration information to reflect the new user. This simple GUI app lets you quickly knock out the task so you don’t have to wade through the Registry Editor to make the changes.

9: Windows 7 installation flowchart

A successful Windows 7 migration begins with careful planning and decision making. Rick Vanover built a flowchart to guide you through each step.

10: Unemployment Rescue Kit

When IT program manager Andrew Makar found himself the victim of unexpected downsizing, he mapped out a strategy for finding a new job - and it worked. The tips, tactics, and contact matrix tool included in this download will help you build your own plan of action for finding your next career opportunity.”

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=1258&tag=nl.e103

Simplify file management with the XCopy Tool | Microsoft Windows | TechRepublic.com

Simplify file management with the XCopy Tool Microsoft Windows TechRepublic.com

“XCopy is still a viable file management tool, Greg Schultz updated the XCopy Tool, an HTML application he created back in 2002. This updated version, which you can download for free, works in Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.”

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/window-on-windows/?p=1930&tag=nl.e064

reBlog from Chris Gonsalves: Spiceworks Adds Tasty Power Plug-In

Image via Wikipedia

I found this fascinating quote today:

• Remote power consumption management that allows users to track the electricity being used by PCs, laptops, and other networked devices. This includes the ability to use Wake On LAN and Intel’s vPro technologies to power devices on and off.


• A power management dashboard with a map of networked machines and devices along with their on/off status.


• A “Dollar Savings” view that displays estimates of costs per day and month based on current price/kwh and watts used by networked devices.

Chris Gonsalves, Spiceworks Adds Tasty Power Plug-In, Nov 2009

You should read the whole article.

Six Online Resume Tools Reviewed by Webware

Job hunting is a stressfull way of life in the current economy. Cnet's Webware introduces six tools that relieve some of that stress by making it easier to build and make available resumes.

in reference to: Get that job: Six online resume tools | Webware - CNET (view on Google Sidewiki)

Unwanted Software from Apple

For a long time now, I've wasted time unchecking items that are useless to me. I've never owned an ipod or iphone. I don't need mobileme, safari, for most of the time apple has pushed it has been a security problem in Windows, but that hasn't slowed apple down. Not one bit

in reference to: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/ (view on Google Sidewiki)

We're in a service war

This is Bings attempt to differ from other engines by making life easier for the searcher. Booble has already begun to respond. For the casual searcher, Bing might be more useful. Definitely more usable.
in reference to: Bing - Deep Links Makes Life As A New Mom Easier - Search Blog - Bing Community (view on Google Sidewiki)

Deeper Links in the Chain of Competition

Competition is a beautiful thing. Bing uses deep links as a standard feature. Google shows more deep links in varied contexts and formats. May the user win.

in reference to: Yes, Google Is Showing Deeper Sitelinks In Different Formats (view on Google Sidewiki)

Microsoft's Browser Best at Beating Malware - PC World

Microsoft's Browser Best at Beating Malware - PC World:

"While IE8 blocked eight of 10 of the malware-distributing sites that NSS included in its 12-day test, the nearest competitor, Mozilla's Firefox 3.0, caught just 27% of the same sites. Apple's Safari 4.0 and Google's Chrome 2.0, meanwhile, blocked only 21% and 7% of the sites, respectively. Opera Software's browser properly identified only 1%."

“IE8's skills at sniffing out malware sites improved by 17% since March, said Rick Moy, president of NSS Labs, the firm that conducted the benchmarks. The testing was sponsored by Microsoft's security team.

IE8's improvement, and its dominance over competitors, could make some users reconsider their decision to abandon Microsoft's browser for one of its challengers. "Should people rethink that decision?" Moy asked. "By [this] data, absolutely."”
http://www.pcworld.com/article/170260/microsofts_browser_best_at_beating_malware.html?tk=nl_wbx_h_crawl1

Researchers find insecure BIOS 'rootkit' pre-loaded in laptops | Zero Day | ZDNet.com

Researchers find insecure BIOS 'rootkit' pre-loaded in laptops Zero Day ZDNet.com: "“

This is a rootkit. It might be legitimate rootkit, but it’s a dangerous rootkit,” Sacco declared. The research team stumbled upon the rootkit-like technology in the course of their work on BIOS-based malware attacks. At last year’s CanSecWest security conference, the duo demonstrate methods for infecting the BIOS with persistent code that survive reboots and reflashing attempts."

Computrace LoJack for Laptops, which is is pre-installed on about 60 percent of all new laptops, is a software agent that lives in the BIOS and periodically calls home to a central authority for instructions in case a laptop is stolen. The call-home mechanism allows the central authority to instruct the BIOS agent towipe all information as a security measure, or to track the whereabouts ofthe system.

For it to be an effective theft-recover service, Ortega and Sacco explained that it has to be stealthy, must have complete control of the system and must be highly-persistent to survive a hard disk wipe or operating system reinstall.

Computrace LoJack for Laptops a popular laptop theft-recovery service that ships on notebooks made by HP, Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba, Gateway, Asus and Panasonic is actually a dangerous BIOS rootkit that can be hijacked and controlled by malicious hackers.

The service contains design vulnerabilities and a lack of strong authentication that can lead to “a complete and persistent compromise of an affected system,” according to Black Hat conference presentation by researchers Alfredo Ortega and Anibal Sacco from Core Security Technologies.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=3828&tag=nl.e539

Microsoft Outlook 2010

Business Contact Manager for Microsoft Outlook 2010 Technical Preview Released

By bcmteam

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia
“You have probably seen Office 2010 Technical Preview announcements in the press. Microsoft released a preview of Office 2010 yesterday to a limited number of users. Technical Preview is invitation only program. Office 2010 also comes with a brand new version of the Business Contact Manager. If you have received Technical Preview invitation, we highly recommend that you install new version of the Business Contact Manager, try new features, and give us feedback. You can download and install the Business Contact Manager from Microsoft Connect site (it's listed along with Office 2010 Tech Preview download)

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

Here is a list of some of the top features. We will be writing more about these and many other features in the coming weeks.

1. New User Interface: BCM features a completely redesigned user interface. The new UI is task oriented, and features activity dashboards, business metric gadgets, configurable tabbed views, and customizable preview panes. The User Interface is fully customizable and allows end-users to select the view elements that fit their business needs. The new UI also integrates with the Office Ribbon and the BackStage.

2. Dashboard: BCM offers a fully featured dashboard that enables users to manage their entire business and daily activities. The dashboard is fully customizable and can include a large number of sales, marketing, project management and utility gadgets. The dashboard will help users get a high level picture of their business and manage their priorities and tasks.

3. New Form Designer: BCM provides a new visual form designer that allows users to completely modify all BCM forms. Users can add up to 300 custom fields, remove fields (including default form fields) and add pages to forms. Customizations can be exported, imported, and shared across the organization.

4. Custom Entities: With BCM 2010 users can better model their business processes by defining custom “contact” and “account” type entities. For instance, healthcare companies will be able to create “doctors”, “patients”, “practices”, etc. The custom entities benefit from all business functions such as aggregating communication history, reporting, and so forth.

5. Sales Management: Business Contact Manager will allow users to define and track sales processes in an easy and straightforward manner. Users will be able to define multiple sales activities in multiple sales stages. Execution of sales activities is tracked directly on the opportunity and various dashboard gadgets and reports provide comprehensive analysis of sales status.

6. Lead Management: Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2010 helps users track their business leads and the process of converting those leads into contacts and/or business opportunities. Leads in BCM are lightweight (customizable) contacts that also include a lead score which is either manually assigned or calculated based on a set of scoring criteria. Users can set scoring criteria that makes sense in their business, helping track the quality of the lead and optimizing the sales process

7. Call List: With Business Contact Manager 2010, users will be able to manage the process of calling multiple contacts. This feature offers an easy to use user interface that takes the hassle out of tracking the calling process and analyzing its results. Call List will also provide the ability to define a call script that can be used when conducting the call, guiding the caller and providing a template for capturing responses.

8. Improved Reporting: Business Contact Manager will include enhanced business reporting. Reports will offer improved customization, sorting, and filtering, and custom reports can be defined and shared across the organization.

9. Performance & Reliability: Business Contact Manager comes with significant performance improvements.

You can also follow the Office 2010 buzz @ the social community of your choice:

• Facebook: www.facebook.com/microsoftoffice

• Twitter: www.twitter.com/office

• YouTube: www.youtube.com/officevideos

• LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=1913738&trk=anet_ug_grppro ”

Courtesy of Microsoft via Bloglines
http://blogs.msdn.com/bcm/archive/2009/07/14/business-contact-manager-for-microsoft-outlook-2010-technical-preview-released.aspx

Inside AdSense: Now offering AdSense in Google Sites

Inside AdSense: Now offering AdSense in Google Sites:

"Google Sites is a free product that simplifies the process of creating secure group websites, whether you're building a family website or a company intranet. You can publish pages with the click of a button, edit web pages like documents, and add videos, presentations, and calendars to your pages. Information is stored securely online, and you decide who can edit or view the site."

Basically these sites are somewhere in between intranets and extranets. They are not thw public web.

So, does it make sense to put ads on these in order to make a few cents off of family members, or co-workers and employees? Google thinks s, but I don't.

http://adsense.blogspot.com/2009/07/now-offering-adsense-in-google-sites.html

» Google Video search results poisoned to serve malware | Zero Day | ZDNet.com

» Google Video search results poisoned to serve malware Zero Day ZDNet.com:

"From the real-time syndication of hot Google Trends keywords, maintaining AdWords campaigns, to the plain simple blackhat search engine optimization tactics, cybercriminals are constantly looking for new ways to acquire traffic by enjoying the clean reputation of each and every Web 2.0 property. From LinkedIn, Bebo, Picasa and ImageShack, to Twitter, everyone’s targeted efficiently using automated account registration tools.

During the last couple of days, a single group involved in a countless number of blackhat SEO campaigns across the Web, started massively targeting Google Video with a campaign that has already managed to hijack approximately 400,000 search queries in order to trick users into visiting a bogus and malware serving (W32/AutoTDSS.BNA!worm) adult web site.

What’s particularly interesting about this campaign relying entirely on Google Video traffic to flourish, is that instead of sticking to the adult content in their keywords inventory, the cybercriminals have been in fact syndicating legitimate YouTube video titles from a variety of topics. Therefore, the number of legitimate videos used is proportional to the comprehensiveness of the campaign, in this case, over 400,000 search queries, a number that is increasing in real-time since they keep having their bogus content crawled by Google Video.

…Moreover, based on the fact that they maintain a portfolio of 21 publisher domains with bogus and non-existent video content currently crawled, a simple tactic that they’re using could entirely hijack a search query at Google Video. How come? By simply duplicating the content on their publisher domains, the top 5 search results for a particular video can be easily served from any of the 21 publisher domains, making it look like different sites have the same content.

The search engine results poisoning works as follows. Upon clicking, a Google Video user coming across to any content from any of their 21 publisher domains, is taken to a single redirection point (porncowboys .net/continue.php), then to the well known adult site template abused by cybercriminals (xfucked .org/video.php?genre=babes&id=7375), where the user is told that “Your Flash Version is too old. Your browser cannot play this file. Click “OK” to download and install update for Flash Video Player” and the malware is served if he’s tricked into it (trackgame .net/download/FlashPlayer.v3.181.exe)."…

http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=2433&tag=nl.e539

Ten things to know about Microsoft’s Live Mesh | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com

Ten things to know about Microsoft’s Live Mesh All about Microsoft ZDNet.com: by Mary Jo Foley

"Microsoft took the wraps off Live Mesh at 9 p.m. PDT on April 22, just ahead of the service’s official debut at the Web 2.0 Expo this week.

(Here’s a bunch of screen shots of what testers can expect to see when Microsoft kicks off its Live Mesh tech preview later this week)

Live Mesh is an ambitious initiative — a combination of a platform and a service — and one that’s been more than two years in the making, according to company officials with whom I spoke earlier this week. I’d go so far as to say Live Mesh will be Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie’s “make it or break it” project, given Ozzie has been setting the stage for Live Mesh since October 2005, when he outlined his pie-in-the-sky goals for it (without calling it Live Mesh) in his “Internet Services Disruption” memo to the troops.

But back here on earth, what, exactly, is Live Mesh and what do developers, customers and partners need to know about it? Here are 10 things that grabbed me about Live Mesh, after distilling my notes from chatting with some of the Softies involved in bringing Live Mesh to fruition."

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1355&tag=nl.e539

Microsoft Issues Warning On Home Server - Software - IT Channel News by CRN and VARBusiness

Microsoft Issues Warning On Home Server - Software - IT Channel News by CRN and VARBusiness:

"In December Microsoft warned customers and partners that using certain applications to save files to Home Server could result in their files being corrupted. At that time, Microsoft said it the glitch affected Vista Photo Gallery, Windows Live Photo Gallery, Office OneNote 2007, Office OneNote 2003, Office Outlook 2007, Money 2007, and SyncToy 2.0 Beta.

In an updated Knowledge Base article posted Thursday, Microsoft revealed that 14 additional applications could trigger the bug, including its own Excel, Windows Media Player 11, and Zune Software, as well as Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Lightroom, Apple iTunes, Mozilla Thunderbird, and WinAmp.

In the article, Microsoft said it's still trying to confirm that these apps trigger the glitch, and noted that the issue only affects Windows Home Server systems with more than one hard drive added to the server. However, until an update is available, Microsoft is recommending that users refrain from using these applications to save or to edit program-specific files that are stored on a Windows Home Server-based system."

http://www.crn.com/software/206801170

"Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?"

ICANN to Probe Network Solutions` Domain Registration Policies:

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? is a Latin phrase from the Roman poet Juvenal, variously translated as "Who will guard the guards? ...

"Questions remain.

ICANN will investigate Network Solutions’ domain registering policy in the wake of reports that the company was automatically registering domains based on user searches.

ICANN’s decision to investigate comes just as Network Solutions reportedly is changing the policy.
In a brief note to eWEEK, ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the international body in charge of TLDs (top-level domain name registrants) and Internet addressing, stated that it will be looking into Network Solutions’ new policy of registering any domain name that is searched for on its site.

However, Network Solutions told ICANN about this policy change before it implemented them.

'Network Solutions informed us when they launched this process,' said Jason Keenan, ICANN's media adviser. It was only after Network Solutions quietly implemented this policy and users noticed the change and protested about it online that ICANN took note of it. Now, 'ICANN has begun looking into the matter to see if it is in compliance with the Registrar Accreditation Agreement,' said Keenan."

Who will investigate ICANN?

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/ICANN-to-Probe-Network-Solutions-Domain-Registration-Policies/?kc=EWKNLENT011108STR1

eventdv.net: NewTek Offers More than 10 Hours of Free LightWave Training

eventdv.net: NewTek Offers More than 10 Hours of Free LightWave Training:

"NewTek Offers More than 10 Hours of Free LightWave Training

NewTek, Inc., manufacturer of industry-leading 3D animation and video products, today announced the availability of over 10 hours of free online training. These tutorial videos provide practical steps to accomplish a broad range of 3D projects including: general modeling, hard surface modeling, organic modeling, surfacing, texturing, animation, particles, dynamics, lighting, rendering and compositing. The tutorials created by William Vaughan, DAVE School instructor and LightWave® evangelist are freely available at: www.newtek.com/3dtutorials.

These tutorials represent the first 10 hours of an extensive series. Throughout 2008 additional tutorials will be added that cover other aspects of 3D artistry and will include tutorials specifically requested by users. "The goal is to make 3D accessible to everyone," comments William Vaughan. "There are so many amazing things you can do with LightWave, but the learning process can be a bit daunting. With these tutorials we keep it simple, direct and you can always return to them for reference."

"Truly these are all outstanding techniques. I just watched the cloth video with the shirt and the buttons and tried a few things and had great results... but all the others I've watched have been tremendously helpful as well," said Michael James, LightWave user and NewTek forum member. "And I love the way you've kept them straight to the point, my knowledge of LightWave has more than doubled since watching the tutorials. And each one of those videos has opened a world of possibilities I really never knew could be so straightforward and simple."

At $895.00 US Lightwave hardly wualifies as a tool everyone should own, but it has becaome one of the standards in professional 3D. The tutorials are worth a first second and third look.

http://www.eventdv.net/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=40499