PrinterShare Eases Remote Printing Across Operating Systems

Free peer-to-peer printer-sharing tool PrinterShare cuts out the network fiddling and router tweaking necessary to share a printer from, say, a Mac system at home to your Windows PC at work. The PrinterShare system requires signing up each computer on your network and assigning it a name, but once you're set up, sharing and accessing printers is truly simple. Files you send to be printed remotely are encrypted by default, and free accounts print, unfortunately, with a cover sheet that includes an ad. For those trying to make connections between troublesome systems, PrinterShare might save some frustration. Got another, non-ad-supported GUI tool? Share it in the comments. PrinterShare is a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. Update: Vista systems require a UAC work-around for full two-way printing

source: http://www.lifehacker.com.au/tips/2008/09/29/printershare_eases_remote_printing_across_operating_systems-2.html

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SmarterTools Products Support Google's Chrome Browser

PHOENIX, Sep 09, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- SmarterTools, Inc. announced that the entire suite of SmarterTools' Web-based software products, SmarterMail mail server, SmarterTrack customer service software, and SmarterStats Web log analytics, support and operate within Google's new Chrome browser platform. Future versions of all three products will be optimized to take full advantage of Chrome's unique features.

Customer's Rely on Portability and Cross Browser Compatibility

"More than 15,000,000 end users worldwide count on our software to communicate and collaborate, manage customer interactions, and report on their online marketing performance," said Tim Uzzanti, CEO of SmarterTools. "SmarterTools is committed to fully support Google's Chrome browser because we believe that end users should not have their Web application options limited by their choice of browser platform."

Worldwide Access

SmarterTools products are designed to be accessed by end users anywhere in the world through popular Web browsers. SmarterMail, SmarterTrack, and SmarterStats are already thoroughly tested and optimized for Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Apple's Safari, Firefox, and Opera. Google, with its sizable existing user base in their core offerings, will no doubt be able to bring a large number of users to the Chrome browser platform. SmarterTools' support of the Chrome browser will ensure that these Google users will have equal access to its enterprise-class Web applications.

Choice is Good

"We imagine a technological future not dominated by one or two controlling mega-technology companies. Web 2.0 (and later) is all about empowerment and choice," continued Mr. Uzzanti. "We see a world where consumers will be able to open virtually any browser on any computer in the world to access SmarterMail, and push email and collaboration to their Apple iPhone, BlackBerry, or other mobile device--and we think this is a good thing."

Microsoft Silverlight and Other Technologies

Although there are concerns in the Web application community about Chrome's lack of compatibility with Microsoft's new Silverlight framework, these issues do not apply to SmarterTools' products because they have been designed from the ground up to support multiple technologies--allowing customers to choose the browser, platform, and charting component that best suits their environment.

source: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/smartertools-products-support-googles-chrome/story.aspx?guid={4D08B70F-79F6-4410-BAA8-7387E65A698D}&dist=hppr

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US firms donate $100,000 to help save Bletchley Park

LONDON — The Americans have joined the campaign to save Bletchley Park, the home of code breaking during the Second World War, as well as of Britain's computing heritage, with IBM and computer security specialist PGP already pledging £57,000 (about $100,000) to secure the facility s future.

The donation will help restore exhibits at the National Museum of Computing in Bletchley Park, (Buckinghamshire, England).

The two firms said they hoped the money would kick-start further donations from the technology industry to make up an estimated £7million needed to run the museum.

Exhibits include Colossus, thought by many to be the world's first computer.

Today, Bletchley is home to the National Museum of Computing but a lack of funding has sadly made the facilities fall into a state of decay.

PGP said as an encryption firm, the company has a strong connection to the pioneer work that went on at Bletchley Park. PGP CEO Phillip Dunkelberger said the company also believes the technology industry as a whole owes a huge historical debt to Bletchley Park and has a duty to preserve and protect the site for future generations.

Andy Clark, a director and a trustee at the museum, said he was thrilled by the donation.

"This is a kick-start, these guys are really helping us out by getting us the support of the technology community really for the first time."

He said of the £7 million the museum hoped to raise, about £1million would go towards restoration and curation and the rest would be entrusted to a fund to allow the museum to run without charging an entrance fee.

The British Computer Society had already donated £75,000 and about £50,000 had come through personal donations.

Earlier this year, about 100 academics signed a letter to The Times saying the code-cracking centre, and crucible of the UK computer industry, was being allowed to fall into decay.

Source : http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=210600420

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Students targeted by phishing scams

The "foreign dignitary" contacting students via e-mail may not be who he says he is, and probably does not have millions of dollars to give away.

College campuses are prime targets for phishing e-mails, and Illinois State is no exception.

Carla Birckelbaw, director of Computer Infrastructure and Support Services at Illinois State, explained that many e-mails have been sent out claiming to be from "The ILSTU Team."

These phishing e-mails ask students to supply their password in order to verify their account, letting the hackers into the system.

"These attacks are directed at all of ISU, anyone who has an e-mail account," Birckelbaw explained.

"They are smart and they demonstrate that they know about the university in order to gain your trust."

Though she did not know the exact number of students who had succumbed to these predatory schemes, Birckelbaw commented that enough students were sending in their passwords to warrant a serious response from the school.

"Preventing problems like this is a major focus of [Computer Infrastructure and Support Services] security and education," Birckelbaw said.

"In fact, this is our number one priority right now."

Erin Shaw, a sophomore graphic design major, is glad that there are people on-campus working to prevent "phishers" from being successful.

"I hate getting those e-mails because they look so convincing," Shaw said. "I'm glad that someone at ISU cares to inform us about them so that we don't give in."
Birckelbaw offered a few suggestions to help students recognize when they are being scammed.

"On the iCampus home page is an alert feed that will notify students of any recent suspicious activity. The latest information is posted immediately," Birckelbaw said. "If you do receive something suspicious, report it immediately. We can detect these scammers."

"Never give out your password, not even to large corporations like eBay or PayPal," Birckelbaw said. "They will never ask for your password. Legitimate companies cannot ask for that information.

Source: http://media.www.dailyvidette.com/media/storage/paper420/news/2008/09/08/News/Students.Targeted.By.Phishing.Scams-3418501.shtml

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