Fun Blogging

The Anti-Spyware Coalition (ASC), which is a group of academics, anti-spyware companies, and consumer organizations, defines spyware as: "Spyware is a term for Tracking Software deployed without adequate notice, consent, or control for the user." Spyware programs are installed into your system without your knowledge, in order to show you unwanted advertisements. They can record your personal data and browsing trends for showing better targeted ads. Unlike viruses or Trojans, spyware may not damage your software or operating system. They can, however, slow down your system a lot. How Do Spyware Infect A System? Facetime Communications, an online security company, estimates that almost 80 per cent of the world's computers are affected by spyware. Spyware installation can happen through various means. Most of them rely on the security loopholes in the host system. Here are some of the tactics by which they infect a system: 1. Automatically: Some spyware, such as Claria Corp...

GeoCities, Yahoo's popular free website creation service is coming to an end this year. The free hosting service, which was a hit for Yahoo since the beginning of this generation of the Web was not successful in terms of making money for the Web giant. Yahoo had bought GeoCities in 1999 spending about 3.6 billion dollars. The following is what you will find at the GeoCities home page now. Though the existing accounts will remain live, there is no guarantee that they will remain so in the future. As a measure to monetize GeoCities userbase, Yahoo recommends upgrade to the Yahoo Web Hosting Service as well.

Microsoft will send out a release candidate (test version) of the latest Windows, Windows 7, next week for tests. The test version is available from Thursday for developers, though the public will get it from the fifth of May. The good news is that the system requirements of Windows 7 are almost similar to that of Vista. So, most users won't have to worry about upgrading the hardware in order to run it.

Apple is nearing a landmark as iPhone and iPod Touch apps have been downloaded nearly a billion times from the online Apple store. You can see the live counter at the Apple home page now . And this is a celebration time at Apple as you could win a 10,000 dollar gift card, an iPod Touch , a Time Capsule , or a MacBook Pro , if you get an app. If you wish to enter the contest without purchase, please fill this application form . The iTunes App store seems to be more successful than iTunes Music store, as about 53 apps are downloaded for each device, while only 29 songs are downloaded.

Yesterday, the April fools' Day, Web went crazy with quite a lot of additions to entertain users. Various blogs, social networks, and companies had been part of this enormous scheme. Here are a few highlights I would like to discuss. 1. Google came up with a new tool, codenamed CADIE. Look at their official blog entry , and the CADIE page , which says "Please stand by while order is being restored." Check more on CADIE . Also check out the Google Twitter account, which CADIE used yesterday: @ Google 2. Google Mobile launched Brain Search, based on CADIE. 3. Here is what happened in GMail: The autopilot . Now you don't need to send replies to all messages you get. 4. Google China launched the technology for map imagery collection using 32 million pigeons. Here is the entry translated from Chinese. 5. Youtube is upside down: New viewing experience . 6. Microsoft redesigned the Live home page to display the famous rabbit with three horns: [for image, Thanks to Rustybric...

Today morning, at about 10 AM PST, Google CEO, Eric Schmidt announced at the Palo Alto private residence of Google's founders that in the near future, Microsoft may be acquired by Google. Schmidt said that Google as a company holds more than eighty per cent of MS's shares in the market. And soon enough, all of market shares will be with Google, with a supreme power to do hostile acquisition of Microsoft. Eric Schmidt (Google CEO): "We rule!" With this revelation that could rock all areas of the current Internet and software field, Google could be in the forefront of offline and online software development. Within two hours after this shocking revelation, MS share prices dropped more than a half. Once the acquisition is complete, a lot of changes are expected to happen in the software giant. Here are some of the highlights Schmidt spoke about: MSN will be replaced with a Google social network, currently codenamed GSN. Windows OS will be available as a free web-based op...

The Telegraph reported this story today: After investigating the misconduct of a jail officer in Leicester jail, the residential landing officer, Nathan Singh was relieved of the position for befriending thirteen former convicts through Facebook. Nathan was suspected of giving cell phones and other items to inmates, but the investigation failed to prove it, though it got evidence of Nathan's Facebook contacts. His friends have been jailed for various crimes from murder, fraud, theft, to drug offences. Nathan explained that most of these friends were known to him over many years, either from school or football team. He also defended him saying that he accepted the friend requests from people without looking at their profiles. The operation, codenamed Operation Earlgrey to pin down Nathan was initiated five months after he joined the prison service in January 2008. This story is an indication of how important the social networking and bookmarking sites are becoming in the real world....

A few days ago, while I was checking my Twitter mentors, I found an account that I obviously didn't follow. I stopped following him at that time. Then the next day, when I logged back in, I found the same guy's updates. I was surprised and thought I might not have stopped following anyway, and removed him again. The next day, he reappeared. I didn't give it much thought as I don't use Twitter for any kind of promotion or don't deem it as anything comparable to my email, so as to give a strong password. The guy who continued to reappear is Gary Vaynerchuk, a wine blogger and vendor. He goes by the Twitter user ID @ Garyvee . For all weak services, I use a common password (which is changed now). The same password was used on my Facebook account. A few days ago, I found that I was following a page created by Gary Vaynerchuk in Facebook. I never had any recollection of joining that page. This is possibly a Twitter password hijacking. This person has somehow got my passw...

Happy Valentine's Day for all my readers… Here are some of my beliefs toward love. If you find them interesting, go ahead and post your own views in comment section. Being Late Many people alienate their mates simply by being late. For me, this is completely unacceptable. When you move into a settled life, you may have more responsibilities than just spending time with your lover. You may have unfinished work at the office; you may have a party at your boss's house; or you may just want to spend some more time out. These are perfectly all right as long as you let your lover know of them. On the other hand, being late without telling your partner is really bad. Every partner knows that there are times when you become late, but you should let him/her know the reason well beforehand. Even if she/he doesn't expect you to be on time, let her know you will be late. Broken Promises A Couple: She: "I got a party tomorrow at my aunt's house. Would u like to come?" He: ...

This is our tribute to one of the greatest authors of our time, John Updike, who passed away yesterday. Pulitzer-prize-winning Updike died at the age of 76 of lung cancer. Updike, who frequented the best-seller lists, wrote 23 novels and 15 short fiction collections. His most important works include the Rabbit series ( Rabbit, Run ; Rabbit Redux ; Rabbit Is Rich ; Rabbit At Rest ; and Rabbit Remembered ). Two of this series have also acquired the famed Pulitzer prize. Updike concentrated a lot on the middle-class America's sexuality, marriages, and workplace. Famous for his depiction of sex, he was awarded 2008's lifetime achievement award at Literary Review's annual Bad Sex in Fiction award, which is bestowed upon people writing "crude, tasteless, or ridiculous sexual passages in modern literature". We mourn the death of Mr Updike.

[Special Entry] Aamir Khan's latest film is titled a little weirdly for the taste of Hindi filmgoers. 'Ghajini': They have never heard of such a name, and such a word never existed in Hindi or in any other Indian language. The name Ghajini is the name of the villain of the film. In Tamil version, the name of the villain was Laxman. As a Tamil moviegoer, I have already watched Ghajini and know the story in full. So, What Does the Title Mean? In Tamil, the title of the film is inspired by the story of Mahmud of Ghazni , an ancient invader of India. This person was so persistent in invading India that he continued trying after several failures. In the film too, the protagonist is such persistent in finding out and killing the villain of the film, who had killed his girlfriend, Kalpana (played by Asin). Aamir's Character (named Sanjay Ramaswamy in Tamil), is a short-term amnesiac , who cannot remember anything more than fifteen minutes. You may ask then how the Ghazni becam...