Justin Watt discovers that his website disappeared from Google search results. He investigates, discovers that he was hacked by a Russian SEO hacker scumbag, then he TRACKS THE GUY DOWN. Vadim Smelyansky, you have been p0wned.

This is just too great… This is the perfect treatment each hacker deserves. Great work Justin…

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There are tons of advertisements shot everyday. According to me, it is not the famous people you place in the ads but it is the smartness of an ad that makes the product special. I watched this amazing video shot with an Indian theme and it kept me interested till the last second and only then did I find out what they were trying to sell. It is these kind of ads that actually sells the product.

I told my mom that homework is making me wanna quit school but she never listened. My parents always insisted that I get done with my homework as soon as I get back from school. I did not get a whole lot of free time to do anything apart from homework. But now it’s too late for any kind of realizations. I am 26. I am out of school. I am in the IT industry. I would like to put all that behind.

But, Time has come out with an article where they have cited instances where kids have fared better with no homework as compared to kids who do their homewok. This is valid topic to teachers who don the kids with tons of homework. I don’t believe that this article applies to parents as they do just what they have been asked to do.

As I am job hunting in the field of IT, I found this article on the web which has the typical questions intereviewers would ask candidates during their interview. It looks pretty good. I can recollect couple questions that was posed to me during my interview with HP.

This happens only in America…

Remember the last time when I talked about happening in America on my personal blog?

Remember the incidents that took place few months back when a Dell laptop caught on fire due to overheating. Dell reports that there has been six such incidents of fire with a particular kind of Sony branded lithium ion batteries. There has been no reported damages to property or to anybody through these fires. These fires have happened in different locations like an airplane, conference room etc, so Dell cannot blame the temperature in its defense. Dell has decided to recall 4.1 million laptop batteries and this is the biggest recall in the electronic consumer industry.

International Herald Tribune reports that this recall is not unique to Dell but to all the computers that were sold with a Sony battery. The recalled batteries were used in 2.7 million Dell computers sold in the United States and 1.4 million sold overseas. The total is about 18 percent of Dell’s notebook production during the period in question.

Depending on how many of the batteries are still in use, the cost of the recall could exceed $300 million. Dell refused to estimate the cost, but said the recall would not materially affect its profits. Sony, which affirmed yesterday that its batteries were responsible, said it was “financially supporting” Dell in the recall.

So, if you have a laptop, check the battery thats in your laptop and make sure that it isn’t the one that catches on fire. The first thing to see is whether it is a Sony battery or not. If it’s not a Sony battery, then no worries. If it’s a Sony battery, see the manufacture date to see if it falls some time in mid 2004. If you feel that your battery has been manufactured / bought sometime in 2004, make sure you contact your computer manufacturer or dealer for an exchange of your battery. If your dealer tells you that he doesn’t have a spare battery, you are due for a laptop exchange. It is your right to get a new laptop. I am saying all this because I used to work for Dell and I know the policies. If you have any other questions, contact me.

If you walk in the computer aisle at Best Buy, you will find at least 40 different types of computers from different brands. The editors of PC World got wild and they compiled the best 25 PCs not just for this month or year but for all time. There is no question of every model getting a fair amount of weightage as the rating is purely subjective. There are some surprises in this list.

There are some that are my favorites in the list. The Apple eMate 300 which was released in the year 1997. It was created for the movie Batman and Robin as Batgirl’s PC. But this one was released to the public. It looks batty and different from anything else you might have seen in the computerdom.

The second generation of Apple iMacs which released in 2002 is a great design. The whole CPU fitted inside a semi-circular LCD monitor stand is a great innovation. Although I am not a big fan of Macs, I love their design in terms of looks and logistics. This iMac certainly caught my eye just by the sheer imagination.

Still going with the concept of minimizing the size of the computer, Shuttle SV24 Barebone System which released in 2001 is an innovation in itself. From PC World - Shuttle came up with a toaster-size design for do-it-yourselfers that would push the limits of how much you could pack into a tight space. And it was tight: The case measured just 10.6 by 7.5 by 6.7 inches, and its components were so crammed in that airflow seemed to be an afterthought.

Read the whole mega article on the Top 25 PCs on PC World website.

Pictures Courtesy : PC World and their affiliates

With all the rumors floating around about Apple and Nintendo possibly merging, it’s about time for a Mac style ad for Nintendo. If Nintendo ever ran this ad, Sony and Microsoft would be doomed.

Microsoft is gearing up to make Vista the most secure OS ever. The process has taken a lot of support from one section of the techies where as third party vendors are complaining on the lack of integrability with Vista.

Symantec, World’s leading anti-virus software company doubts if they would be able to integrate with a lot of degrees of freedom into the new Windows. Symantec quotes - Symantec’s analysts have been led to believe that Microsoft’s work to better protect the product may impede innovation by other security applications vendors.

eWeek reports - At least one other company, consumer firewall software maker Agnitum, has also complained publicly that Vista won’t allow the same level of kernel-access as earlier iterations of Windows.

If the assertion, which is based on assessments of beta versions of Vista, proves true in the final product, Cupertino, Calif.-based Symantec and other aftermarket Windows software makers could be challenged to advance their products as quickly as they have in years passed, researchers said.

So, the question is : What is the balancing point which satisfies the users as well as the third party companies along with keeping the hackers as far away as possible? There might not be a balancing point if we look at it closely. Any freedom given to third party companies could be exploited by hackers to integrate their own malwares. This assignment of balance seems tricky and it would seem that Microsoft might not have all the answers after all.

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