Full-time freelance writer, researcher and occasional expert witness, I specialize in Windows operating systems, information security, markup languages, and Web development tools and environments. I blog for numerous Websites, still write (or revise) the occasional book, and write lots of articles, white papers, tech briefs, and so forth.
Not since the markets melted down, and the recession sank its icy hooks into the business climate in 2008, has American business faced a threat as serious as the current cybercrime scene. Small to medium enterprises have been hard-hit in particular, amounting to tens of millions of dollars being stolen out of their bank accounts.
This book is meant to educate you about the dangers of conducting business online. In particular, it covers phishing, a particular type of social engineering attack delivered by email or over the Internet.
The indispensable introductory reference guide to HTML, XHTML and CSS
Even though new technologies enable people to do much more with the Web, in the end HTML, XHTML and CSS are still at the root of any Web site. The newest edition of this bestselling guide is fully updated and revised for the latest technology changes to the field, including HTML5 and CSS3. Illustrated in full color, this book provides beginner and advanced coders the tools they need to be proficient at these programming languages.
A couple of months ago, my friends at memory maker SuperTalent Technology sent me several of their super-compact Pico USB Flash drives for review. After finishing a couple of books, and dispatching diverse dragons, I’m finally ready to report on my findings. The quick’n’dirty take on these 8 GB flash drives is: excellent value, nice engineering, ultra-compact form factor, very usable, though a tad slow (but OK) for ReadyBoost.
Let’s start with a list of what SuperTalent sent me:
8GB Pico-D Swivel Flash Drive (STU8GPDS): Pick one up at SuperBiiz.com for $14.99 right now and get free shipping. This design features a center post swivel so that the business end (USB connector) for the device rotates inside a sleeve when not in use. Weighs 8.2 g (0.2892 oz) without the chain, 9.2g 0.3245 oz) with chain. Lack of a standard USB connector means you have to pay attention to where the contacts are, and insert the Flash drive correctly.
The Pico-D features a swivel-mounted Flash module: swivel it in to cover it up; swivel it out to plug it in.
8GB Pico-C Nickel Plated Flash Drive (STU4GPCN): You can buy this puppy at SuperBiiz.com right now for a measley $19.04 (plus S&H). Both versions includes a jewelry grade chain: weights are 4.6 g (0.1623 oz) without, and 6.3 g (0.1975) with. The Pico-C models feature a more obvious USB business end, but provide no cover for the contacts. Some attention to plug-in orientation is still required, but you really can’t put one in upside-down as you can with the Pico-D.
Both nickel and gold models look the same, except for the color of their outside plating.
8GB Pico-C Gold Plated Flash Drive (STU8GPCG): So the gold plate obviously costs a little more, as does the longer, more attractive gold-plated chain that comes with it. The device weighs the same as the nickel-plated model (4.6 g/0.1623 oz), and again, the chain weighs little (1.7g/0.0960 oz). Except for the bling, however, this unit is identical in size, shape, and performance to the nickel-plated model. You’ll pay an extra $8.58 for the gold on this model ($27.62 total) at SuperBiiz.
When you put the Pico-C next to a US Quarter, you can really appreciate its tiny size.
No matter which model you choose, you get a lot of capacity at a very low price–for the preceding units $/GB falls in a range from $1.87 to $3.45. Even at the high end, this is cheaper than 4 GB units cost less than six months ago.
Pros and Cons of the 8GB SuperTalent Models
On the plus side, you get decent read speeds (just under 30 MBps seems like a safe average figure), a low price per GB of storage, compact sizes, light weight, and pretty good looks. All these Flash drives worked well for us in the office and on the road, and were more than tough enough to shrug off the hazards of travel and life on the road, as well as the hazards of a home office with an inquisitive 4-year-old VERY interested in these compact powerhouses.
For a 32 KB file, write (orange) and read (blue) speeds in MBPS (y-axis) versus block sizes in KB (x-axis).
Same axes as above, for 4 MB file.Same axes again, for 512 MB file.
On the minus side, you get fairly slow write speeds. Our HDTune screencaps consistently read under 10 MBps–we measured 9.22 MBps for a 2.6 GB .PST file just to confirm these numbers–in fact, write speeds appear to average in a range from 6 to 9 MBps. By contrast, my trusty old 2 GB Memina Rocket measures out 18-23 MBps on these same tests; newer SATA hard drives routinely measure between 60 and 70 MBps write speeds. Though I used the Pico-D for ReadyBoost on two different Vista systems for a week apiece, and noticed no slowdowns, Overclockers.com currently gives the OCZ Rally the nod for “fastest ReadyBoost Flash Drive” where an 8 GB model will set you back $23 at Newegg. I only observe a 4-5% difference in the PC Doctor memory benchmarks when using faster versus slower ReadyBoost drives, however, so I’m not sure it really makes a big difference.
With Flash drives as small as the Pico units, you also have to be careful when working with them. They’re so small they can disappear far too easily, so it’s best to keep them plugged into a USB port, or clipped onto a key fob (that’s how I manage to hang onto mine, anyway).
[important]Bottom Line: Great Bang for the Buck
If you want stylish, capacious, and affordable USB Flash drives, you could do a lot worse than to pick up one or more of these SuperTalent Pico drives. If you want mine, you’ll have to fight me for it![/important]
If you’re curious, but hesitant, about finding your way around Microsoft’s new Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 For Dummies is the book for you. This friendly reference shows you everything you need to know — from installation and deployment to building and running a Windows Server 2008 network.
All I can say when it comes to finally getting my production Vista desktop working as I think it should be is “It”s about (expletive deleted) time!” After building this system over the summer and dealing with the usual shakedown issues involved in getting all the software and settings installed, I found myself fighting a series of mysterious and frustrating hardware problems that lasted from the end of August through the first week of November, 2008.
The second Tuesday in each month is when Microsoft schedules its patches, fixes, and security updates. Recently, Microsoft has begun to offer Advance Notification for its Security Bulletins, which makes it a lot easier to tell what”s coming down the pike. For December, 8 updates have been pushed to the Windows Update servers
Because of their cramped cases and modest ventilation, most notebook PCs tend to run significantly hotter than desktop PCs. Recently, case and cooling specialist ThermalTake sent us one of their notebook coolers to look at, promising some “interesting results” from its use. With that tantalizing promise to test, we decided to check it out with our trusty Dell D620 Latitude notebook PC.
A rootkit is a particularly stealthy and nasty form of malware designed to take over complete control of a system (root level access in UNIX terms means “access to everything, no holds barred”). Rootkits seek to hide from detection via standard operating system based security mechanisms, and require special tools for detection and cleanup.
As somebody who”s been researching and writing about malware since 2003, I”ve come to recognize Danish information security firm Secunia as a reliable source of good intelligence about what”s happening on the threat landscape. When a malware alert, proof of concept exploit, or news story shows up with their name on it, I will invariably pay attention. That”s why I was very interested to read in a a recent issue of PCWorld (November 11, 2008) about the Secunia PSI vulnerability scanner.
When one member of my mirrored pair of system drives failed earlier this year, I replaced that pair of Seagate 7200.10 320 GB drives with a pair of Samsung SpinPoint HD501LJ SATA II 3.5″ drives with 16MB Cache. I also installed the still-working member of that pair in my system, so as to retain access to all kinds of files and information from that machine.
