Jason Fried: How to Get Good at Making Money

A very insightful article by Jason Fried, founder of 37signals ( whose products include Basecamp - a web based project management tool ) about some of the things that he learned on how to get good at making money.

Read article.

Godzilla and Japan

On the wake of the 8.9 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan, another disaster that is this time man-made is looming.  As Japan is trying to stop a nuclear meltdown in its Fukishima Nuclear Power Plant, concerns about Nuclear Energy and the threats that it entails is being raised globally.  This article from New York Times goes into this topic with a twist on how the current events in Japan is like a "A Long Nuclear Disaster Film".

Read the article.

Tutorial: Vintage Badge in Illustrator and Photoshop

Great tutorial again from Abduzeedo.  Uses both Illustrator and Photoshop to create a great looking vintage badge.

View the tutorial - Vintage Badge in Illustrator and Photoshop.

That's a lovely box!

As consumers, we are attracted to the visual representation of a product - from ads down to the box where our new iPad lies in wait.  Lovely Package is a site that showcases good looking packaging designs with categories ranging from Alcohol to Vintage.

Visit Lovely Package.

Analog Rituals and Productivity

If you are still using pen and paper for your to-do lists, then this article by Scott Belsky titled "How Analog Rituals Can Amp Your Productivity" ( from the Behance blog ) should be a validation of your own analog productivity methods. For others like me who use digital tools for managing time and tasks, it's a great time to step back and look at reviving some old analog rituals we decided to replace with the ever present "new".

From: How Analog Rituals Can Amp Your Productivity, Behance blog

Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Motivation is something that individuals and organizations strive for, whether for personal growth or for profitability. But motivation is stranger than we think. In this RSA Animate talk, Dan Pink tackles a very significant question that all of us "must" ask: what motivates us?

From RSA, RSA Animate - Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Sweet Upgrades: The Best, Cheapest Ways to Upgrade Your PC

If you have a 2 or 3 year old PC, buying a new one surely would have crossed your mind. If you are on a budget, and feel that an upgrade is all that is needed to get more performance and better experience from your current rig, then this article from Maximum PC may help you make decisions on what parts to upgrade, and what is currently out there that will make the effort worth it.

From Maximum PC, The Best, Cheapest Ways to Upgrade Your PC.

What's inside your Apple iPod's earbuds

Ever wondered what's inside those earbuds you've been using so much on your beloved iPod? iLounge editor Jeremy Horwitz disects the iPod earbuds here.

The 5-in-1 network admin's cable

A how to on making your own 5-in-1 cable for network maintenance...or just in case you one.

Link : http://www.ossmann.com/5-in-1.html

Apple releases BootCamp: Windows XP installation software for Mac

Apple released a beta version of Boot Camp, a software that enables a Mac to load Windows XP. Unlike the Mac Hack, this beta is supported by Apple and will be included in the upcoming "Leopard ". This, according to Apple, is in response to requests for Windows XP support on Intel powered Macs. I see John C. Dvorak laughing.......

Updates on the $100 Laptop

The $100 laptop, if realized will definitely have an effect on education, as the One Laptop Per Child organization headed by Nicholas Negroponte, envisions it to be available by 2007.

The specs? Linux as the OS of choice, 500 mhz processor from AMD, 128 MB of memory, 512 MB of Flash memory for storage (no hdd) and a dual-adaptive screen. It will be using a mesh network to connect to other units and to a $100 server. By the way, no more rotating crank to provide power!

Article from CNET "Negroponte: Slimmer Linux needed for $100 laptop"
Article from E-Week " The Lessons of the $100 Laptop"

Quote of the week

"Social engineering is a very, very effective technique. We have statistics that show significant infection rates for the social engineering malware. Phishing is a major problem because there really is no patch for human stupidity"

---Mike Danseglio, Security Solutions Group ,Microsoft
from Microsoft Says Recovery from Malware Becoming Impossible

Adding your most used folders to the Send To menu

Here's a quick guide to adding items to your Send To menu.

McAfee Total Protection : Security Bundle for Businesses

McAfee has bundled its security software like antivirus, antispyware, firewall and e-mail spam protection into one integrated product. It is the first to repackage but the industry is expecting all the others to follow. Read more from CNET (McAfee repackages security products).

"10 best Internet Spoofs" from Wired Magazine

Spoofs and pranks have circulated in cyberspace since the beginning, and here is a "best of" from Wired Magazine.

Im familiar with some (most of them that were spread via e-mail), and for others Im just left wondering how people fell for the prank, but all of them are just hilarious!

Happy Anniversary to Apple Computers!

On April 1, 1976, Apple Computers became an entity, founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Take a walk down memory lane with Larry Magid's CBS news article "Apple turns 30". Also one of IT Conversations most downloaded podcast is a Steve Wozniak talk at Gnomedex 4.0, where Woz narrates how he managed playing pranks and learning along the way vital skills and knowledge that eventually led him to designing Apple I and Apple II.

Starting out with Linux : "An Overview of Ten Major Distributions"

"An Overview of Ten Major Distributions" is a nice article that outlines 10 of the most known distros of Linux. If you have an extra computer or enough space on your HDD you could try and install a particular Linux distro, if not then you could still play around with Live-CDs.

No iPod and Google for Steve Ballmer and his family

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in an interview by Fortune magazine answered to the question, Do you have an iPod?

"No, I do not. Nor do my children. My children--in many dimensions they're as poorly behaved as many other children, but at least on this dimension I've got my kids brainwashed: You don't use Google, and you don't use an iPod."



Well, you can't have everything.

"BBC stories used as bait for IE exploit" (from CNET)

CNET's article "BBC stories used as bait for IE exploit" outlines how spammers are using the flaw to gain access to systems and infect them with keystroke loggers to capture information like passwords. How to protect yourself? Disable Active scripting or use another browser.

Apple versus Apple : a continuing legal battle

An article in LegalZoom discusses the ongoing battle between Apple Corps, a recording company founded by the Beatles in 1968, and Apple Computers, founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and introduced Apple I in 1976. The issue? Trademark violations, and Apple Corps has sued Apple Computers 3 times since 1981. The score so far is 2-0 in favor of Apple Corps.

Read more....