Free Republic

<p>Orange County's new $11 million computer system to track Medi-Cal bills doesn't work.</p> <p>Instead, tens of thousands of bills are being processed partially by hand and by an old computer system once labeled by county officials as "obsolete with major deficiencies."</p>

<p>Facing a drop in funding and a tough job market for technology professionals, the Department of Labor is poised to kill a program that trains Americans to fill positions held by foreign guest workers.</p> <p>The department created the H-1B Training Program in the late 1990s as a way for Americans to learn skills in high demand by employers. The funding came from fees employers of foreign workers paid to get H-1B visas, which allowed the foreigners to take technical jobs that went unfilled during the dot-com boom. The Labor Department used those fees and other funding to pay $328 million in scholarships and grants to community groups to develop training programs for U.S. citizens and permanent residents.</p>

<p>Think technology is just applied science? You're wrong. It's the other way around.</p> <p>In November 1944, as the Allies were moving toward victory, President Franklin Roosevelt asked Vannevar Bush, his director of US wartime research and development, to outline a program for the role of government in postwar science and technology. World War II had led to radar, sonar, and the atomic bomb, all of which would play a major role in the eventual Allied victory. But Roosevelt was concerned about how the nation's newly science-dependent economy would fare once the conflict ended. War-ravaged Europe could no longer be counted on to provide fresh scientific knowledge.</p>

<p>Getting transferred from one automated message to another while stuck in a company's convoluted telephone system is enough to make even the most unflappable individual's blood boil.</p> <p>A solution that may prevent violence against handsets comes in the form of a new software program designed to detect callers' frustration and transfer them to a human operator.</p>

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — That computer on your desk is just your helper. But soon it may become a very close friend. Now it sends your e-mails, links you to the Web, does your computations, and pays your bills. Soon it could warn you when you’re talking too much at a meeting, if scientists at Sandia National Laboratories’ Advanced Concepts Group have their way. Or it could alert others in your group to be attentive when you have something important to say. Aided by tiny sensors and transmitters called a PAL (Personal Assistance Link) your machine (with your permission) will become...

This is another neat toy. Create imaginary landscapes with this program. Below are a few I made in just a few minutes with Tarragen and PhotoShop Elements Sunset In Tiu Vallis, Mars Mars Another Addy for a guy who does neat Mars pics.. http://home-1.worldonline.nl/~veenen/terragen/mars/mars.html Just cut and paste the addy.

The first copycat of the widespread Mydoom worm appeared Wednesday on the Internet, and some analysts are warning it may be even more dangerous than the original. Dubbed Mydoom.b by most security firms, the variant strongly resembles the Mydoom, now tagged as Mydoom.a, but adds some new disturbing traits. Some of the subject lines used by Mydoom.b depart from the original, including new headings of 'Delivery error' and 'Returned mail,' both which try to trick users into believing that the message is legit and can safely be opened. Another change in Mydoom.b is the addition of microsoft.com as a target...

<p>Technically, Stephen Thaler has written more music than any composer in the world. He also invented the Oral-B CrossAction toothbrush and devices that search the Internet for messages from terrorists. He has discovered substances harder than diamonds, coined 1.5 million new English words, and trained robotic cockroaches. Technically.</p>

Democrats say their computers were infiltrated by GOP staffers WASHINGTON - Federal investigators reportedly have seized a staff computer in Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's office in a probe to find Republican aides who improperly accessed Democrats' memos on opposing judicial nominees. Nick Smith, a spokesman for Frist, R-Tenn., would not confirm or deny Friday if an office computer or hard drive was taken by investigators representing the office of the Senate Sergeant-At-Arms. "We're not commenting on the issue while it's under investigation," Smith said. The Boston Globe reported Thursday that federal experts studying any improper access of Democratic senators'...

German police are investigating after an angry man returned a computer he had just bought saying it was packed with small potatoes instead of computer parts. The store replaced the computer free of charge but became suspicious when he returned a short time later with another potato-filled computer casing, police in the western city of Kaiserslautern said Monday. "The second time he said he didn't need a computer any more and asked for his money back in cash," a police spokesman said. Police are now investigating the man for fraud.

Cupertino’s 64-bit desktop system and Panther OS mix beauty and exceptional performance Companies large and small routinely set their expectations of computer systems according the capabilities of Intel-based x86 computers and 32-bit Windows. We’re due for a shift in standards. Enter Apple, which got the bright idea of taking a pair of 64-bit IBM PowerPC CPUs, jacking them into server-class internal buses, and squeezing the whole thing into a desk-side tower chassis. The result, the Power Mac G5, delivers on the present need for rapid computing, deep multitasking, and responsive user interfaces — as well as the future need (current...

Blacksburg, VA — Dr. Srinidhi Varadarajan knew that he wanted to build a world-class supercomputer. Also, he wanted to solidify the position of Virginia Tech’s world-class computer science program. But with only a fraction of most supercomputing budgets to spend, it seemed like a hopeless dream. He crunched numbers, solicited every likely vendor, examined and ultimately discarded all possible options using other platforms and chips. Then in June of 2003, news of Apple’s Power Mac G5 hit the airwaves. At last, Varadarajan realized, he’d have as much 64-bit processing as he needed to power his dream, without overtaxing his budget....

InformationWeek Danish information security consulting firm Secunia is warning Microsoft Internet Explorer users of a vulnerability that could enable Internet fraudsters to create more-realistic and authentic-looking fake Web sites. Secunia says it has found an "input validation" error in Internet Explorer. By exploiting this vulnerability, known as a URL-spoofing vulnerability, attackers can display any URL name they wish in the address and status bars of IE. This flaw would make it appear to Internet users that they're visiting a banking Web site, for example, when that site is actually a front for fraudsters attempting to collect sensitive financial information. Secunia...

A newly discovered vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser could be a powerful new tool for scammers, allowing them to convincingly mask the real origin of Web pages used to trick targets into revealing sensitive information. Attackers could use a specially crafted URL to display a different domain name in the address bar than the Web page's actual location. This practice is known as "spoofing." Full article HERE

U.S. federal departments and agencies are showing some improvement in protecting their computer networks, but many--including the Department of Homeland Security--are failing, according to a government report released Tuesday. The report, prepared for the House of Representatives' Committee on Government Reform, found that almost all agencies improved their computer-security grade since last year. However, several key federal departments continued to fail to adequately protect their networks and earned an "F.""For too long now information security has taken a back seat in the collective conscience (sic) of our nation," said a statement from Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., the committee chairman. "We...

<p>Experts say home users with broadband services could be sending out 'spam' e-mails without knowing.</p> <p>LONDON (Reuters) - Security experts have identified what they suspect to be the biggest culprit behind that seemingly unceasing torrent of e-mail spam messages and computer virus outbreaks.</p>

Other Computer Terms Banned by Los Angeles County Los Angeles County recently asked vendors to stop using the term master/slave in product descriptions and labelling. Here are some other terms that they wanted changed and their alternatives. 11. SCSI - Cleanliness impaired 10. Killer App - Socially Maladjusted App 9. USB - USA 8. Floppy Drive - Erectile Dysfunction Drive 7. DIP Switches - Mentally Challenged Switches 6. HyperThreading - Attention Deficit Disability Threading 5. Heat Sink - He/Sheat Sink 4. Winmodem - Funmodem 3. ATAPI Device - Native American Device 2. Motherboard - Non-gender Specific Parentboard 1. Cancel/Retry/Abort -...

Important Mac OS X Security Advisory Mac OS X Security Advisory Vulnerability: Malicious DHCP response can grant root access Affected Software Mac OS X 10.3 (all versions through at least 26-Nov-2003) Mac OS X Server 10.3 (all versions through at least 26-Nov-2003) Mac OS X 10.2 (all versions through at least 26-Nov-2003) Mac OS X Server 10.2 (all versions through at least 26-Nov-2003) Probably earlier versions of Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server Possibly developer seeded copies of future versions of Mac OS X Abstract A series of seemingly innocuous default settings can cause an affected Mac OS...

Vanity alert... I use Windows XP Home. This annoyance began last week: When I click on the scrollbar with the mouse, the display drops down two screens instead of one. If I hit the "page down" key instead, it behaves normally, dropping down one screen. My wife, at her workplace, uses Windows XP Professional and has the same problem. I read on a tech thread that perhaps a Windows Critical Update that was uploaded last week might be the cause of this? Wonder if anyone else noticed a problem or has a cure?

The Feds Love Linux Erika Brown, 06.20.03, 8:20 AM ET NEW YORK - Three weeks ago, John P. Stenbit, chief information officer of the U.S. Department of Defense, issued an agencywide memo that has Linux lovers rejoicing. The brief outlined the DOD's policy on acquiring, using and developing open-source software, including the Linux operating system. By creating an official policy, the DOD is "outing" open source, a technology that was stuck in government limbo, neither condoned nor outlawed. "People used to think they'd get fired if they talked about it. It was 'Don't ask, don't tell,'" says Tony M. Stanco,...