The Next big Wave of Layoffs is Sony. (9,000 workers)

Paul

In a report from Engadget, there seems to be more Layoffs going on.   One such one is Sony.  Here is what Engadget said:

[ad#ad2-right]

The bad news from the Japanese consumer electronics industry continues. Sony just announced plans to cut about 8,000 global jobs from its beleaguered electronics business while making unspecified reductions to its seasonal and temporary workforce. The move, as Sony explains it, comes “in response to the sudden and rapid changes in the global economic environment.” Ominously, it looks like Sony will also be raising prices in the countries where “Sony makes significant sales” (read: US and Europe) if we’re reading this statement correctly:

[Via Engadget]

[ad#ad2-left]In Today’s economy, you need to be prepared.  So I thought I bring back some old Favorites of mine and talk about them.  To see the other layoffs that I’ve talked about CLICK HERE.   If you wanted to know what you can do to be prepared here are some great resources for people who are worried about there jobs:

If you have any others you would like to suggest please leave a comment and let everyone know.   These are hard economic times and we all could use the help.

Rumor is that Itunes will Remove DRM!

Paul

[ad#ad2-right]A report from last week brought to AppleInsider‘s attention by French technology site ElectronLibre asserts that it’s now “clear” Apple will spark new interest in its music store by removing DRM from tracks published by Sony, Universal and Warner on December 9th.

[Via Apple Insider]

Although, this is somewhat unlikely I’ve got my own theories on this.  You see If Apple did this tomorrow that would be a BIG deal, due to the fact that Microsoft will be releasing there patches on the same day.  I find it would be a momentous occasion.

[ad#ad2-left]I can only guess why and the guess is just a guess.  If Itune’s did remove there DRM the same time as Microsoft Patch Tuesday, I’d have to guess they will co-inside because of the difficulty of using the DRM, Digital Rights Management, on other products.  For example, Windows Media Player .  If Apple decided to approach Microsoft and come up with a way to make sure all DRM is stripped this would be the ideal situation.   Although this is highly unlikely, I’d have to think Apple wouldn’t wait till tomorrow to strip the DRM.  They know Microsoft schedule.  We will have to find out in the coming days.

Facebook: Virus Variant comes back from the dead!

Paul

In my recent post, I talked about a Virus that is circulating around on Facebook.  It is know as the Koobface virus and has been changed a little by the programers.   So I what is Techworld saying, just this:

[ad#ad2-right]

In fact, Koobface is now using one of Facebook’s own features against it, Lovet said. The latest variant uses Facebook’s ability to redirect web links to drive users to malicious websites, often hosted on Geocities.com, Lovet said.

[Via Techworld]

If you have been victim to this little virus, you should check out my Virus removal page and download the programs that should fix this little virus for good on your system.  You should also check out my Previous post I also have some good tips and tricks to prevent the user(YOU) from getting hit by this virus in the first place. This virus is a Good social engineered virus, so please be careful.

Upcoming Patch Tuesday

Paul1 Reply

[ad#ad2-right]I wanted to get prepared for the updates for this Tuesday and I thought I’d go through them and list what Microsoft said about each.   These are what’s been said on Technet and I am sure there will be more.   Each one of these don’t look to serious but I will post Tuesday if there is anything I’ve missed on this post.   As you might know this is not set in stone but just the direction of Microsoft for this Months Release.

KB955839

Update for Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP

Install this update to resolve an issue that is caused by revised daylight saving time laws in many countries. This update enables your computer to automatically adjust the computer clock on the correct date in 2008. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer. This update is provided to you and licensed under the Windows Server 2008 License Terms.

[ad#ad2-left]KB957388

Update for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista

Install this update to resolve a set of known application compatibility issues with Windows Server 2008. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

KB890830

Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool

Microsoft released the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool to help remove specific prevalent malicious software from computers that are running Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, or Windows 2000. After you download the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool, it runs one time to check your computer for inflection by specific prevalent malicious software (including Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom) and helps remove any infection it finds. Microsoft releases a new version of the tool every month.

[ad#ad2-right]KB905866

Update for Windows Mail Junk E-mail Filter [November 2008] (KB905866)

Install this update for Windows Mail to revise the definition files that are used to detect e-mail messages that should be considered junk e-mail or that may contain phishing content. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer. This update is provided to you and licensed under the Windows Vista License Terms.

I am sure there are going to be others but right now this looks like the normal things Microsoft sends out.  I am sure they are keeping a tight lid on the really serious stuff until last second so I’ll have to report the really important stuff Tuesday.

Facebook : Beware Spam for breakfast. (Virus)

Paul

In today’s society, we’ve been to complacent with people with people clicking links for the social group. In one such article on Channel Web, a nice little blog, says this:

[ad#ad2-right]

The worm was discovered by IT security provider Kaspersky Lab, which said the threat, Net-Worm.Win32.Koobface.b, is targeting Facebook users by creating spam messages and sending them to the infected user’s friends via the site.

“Unfortunately, users are very trusting of messages left by ‘friends’ on social networking sites,” said Alexander Gostev, senior virus analyst at Kaspersky Lab, in a statement. “So, the likelihood of a user clicking on a link like this is very high.”


[Via Channel Web]

This seems to be a problem people thinking that a link someone sends them is a real good link but actually is a link to a video site. According to this article the links people are sending are actually a fake video link, telling you have to download some update to flash player, by downloading this program. The user gets involved with the virus and the fun begins. So how can you prevent this from happening, two ways one is a very good group of software to make sure you have the latest and greatest video codecs. That too can be something they’ll say you need and if you’ve already installed this list of codecs then you know they’ll not telling the truth and you can quickly get away from the site laughing.

[ad#ad2-left]What’s this program name, it is call the K-lite Mega Codec pack. In this Pack you will be able to play almost everything without having to go download another program. This is done by people who want you to have all the latest codecs installed so you don’t have to go by a program you’ll only going to use once a month.

Once you’ve done that, you’ll no longer have to worry for the most part about codecs. There will be times when you might have to visit that site and update them but that will be far less.

The other thing you must remember is if it says you must update your player. That should be a sign that there is something. I’ll always go to the site and check for example Adobe. If it says I need to update my flash I’ll manually type it into my browser. This way you will know you have the latest updates, if you need to update the flash player by all means go to here and update.

If you got the virus I’d check out my Anti-virus and Anti-Spyware page and that should show you will you need to get rid of the Virus. This virus is very easy to get rid of, just download any one of the anti-virus software and install it. Don’t forget to update the virus database while your at it. That should fix the problem pretty fast. Remember the only way to prevent from getting the virus is YOU.