Consumers Struggle With Microsoft Vista, Malware and Network Setups, According to support.com's First Annual Call Center Review
http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/technology/article/consumers-struggle-microsoft-vista-malware-network-setups-according_423130_12.html

support.com, a remote tech support service, found the majority of consumer tech issues in 2007 fell into three categories: virus and spyware issues (27 percent), tune-ups (31 percent) and simple quick fixes (32 percent), according to its first annual call center issues review. In its inaugural year, support.com found that consumers struggled with Microsoft Vista, accounting for 10 percent of calls. The review findings also indicate an increased consumer demand for tech support in dealing with social networking and virtual game play.

Even with advances in and awareness of computer security, viruses and spyware continue to infiltrate computers, leaving consumers frustrated and unable to protect their computers properly. In 2007, support.com technicians removed an average of 36 viruses per computer. Technicians reported this is due to exposed vulnerabilities once the computer is infected, leaving other viruses to be downloaded without detection.

It is worth pointing out, as Techdirt does, that information you put online is effectively public, and it is unwise to assume any different. The tools that Scoble used are available to others--there's nothing secret about the techniques they use. So to believe your information is "safe" just because collecting it is contrary to a public website's terms of use is somewhat naive.

If someone has your name, e-mail address, and birthday, they pretty much have your identity�not just your online identity, but your real-world identity." Carr is absolutely right.

If Scoble has my Facebook data he only has my online identity. That and my "offline" identity are separate most everywhere (including Facebook).

Just because Facebook says you have to use you real name doesn't mean everyone does...

Warner goes Blu-ray exclusively, delivering crushing blow to HD DVD
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9840585-1.html?tag=nefd.only

The big buzz today around CNET offices in New York is the news that Warner Bros. Entertainment has decided to stop making HD DVD discs and will become a Blu-ray-only studio at the end of May. Needless to say, this is a major blow to the HD DVD camp, which earlier this year struck a deal with Paramount to go HD DVD exclusive. You could say this is a tit-for-tat move by Sony and the Blu-ray camp, but it's actually more of a clubbing because Warner has a much bigger library of movies than Paramount.

While rumors of Warner potentially dumping HD DVD have been circulating for the past few months, the timing of the announcement right before the start of the Consumer Electronics Show seems designed to inflict maximum damage to Toshiba's planned HD DVD push at the show. With lower prices on its standalone players and the Paramount deal, Toshiba and HD DVD backers such as Microsoft appeared to be gaining some momentum in the format war. But now the company is faced with a PR nightmare. (An HD DVD event is scheduled for Sunday in Las Vegas; it should be interesting). No one knows at this point what it took for Warner to say sayonara to HD DVD, but you can bet it involved a truckload of something.

Joe, I applaud you for this post and 100 percent agree with everything you say here. Its obvious there is some big deals going on behind the scenes with Scoble and Plaxo.

I have discovered what Scoble is all about, he is nothing but a tech social climer, looking to belong in a world where so many celebrities exist and he is just known for blogging - a lot.

I think Scoble jumped Company's so much its beginning to look disgusting. He was at Microsoft as a tech evangelist hoping his association with Windows Vista (Longhorn at the time) would go down in history as some triumphant success. The main reason Scoble wanted to work at Microsoft during the Longhorn era was simply because Microsoft was the it thing during the 2003 to 2004 era. Everybody wanted to know whats going on with Longhorn, Microsoft was at the tip of everybody's tongue and he (Scoble) was at the center of it.

But when good times became bad times during the Longhorn development, he split. Next time I heard him, he's the biggest Apple propaganda machine talking about how much that platform is better, running out of an Apple store with an iPhone screaming like some weirdo. Its all about attention from him and frankly, I don't like people like that, they are really known as hypocrites who genuinely degenerate technology and are only in it for the publicity and attention it gets them.

Scoble's involvement in the Plaxo/Facebook fiasco is now his latest venture. Scoble is just looking for a way to make his mark in history, the first guy running out of an Apple store screaming with an iPhone didn't work, so trying to steal peoples data on Facebook and trying to create his own non-existent social network might?

If I were Scoble, I would realize that he is walking on chalk line and the next stupidity he tries to play might well end up getting him a big fat lawsuit he deserves and the attention he craves.

The bottom line is if people want their personal contact information to remain private, then don't give it out. The problem with most social networks is that people sign up to be friends without considering what the other person will do with the information. But the same is true int he real world. People hand out business card and other contact information all the time. People tell me their birthdays and other personal information regularly. How is that different.

If I enter the information by hand into my contact information manager (on-line or not) how is that different then collecting that information via a program when people willing shared the information with me?

Your scenario is different DB, Scoble is doing it for ulterior motives. I am on Facebook and I always wondered why I would want to add Scoble as a friend, I don't know him personally, I have never met him. Maybe he knows all those 5000 people and he really wanted to get them into his Outlook contacts, but the Plaxo connection just made it seem suspicious and all the more clear.

Scoble simply wants to start something that will be a hit, he didn't have a successful search engine like Sergey and Larry, a successful Company like Bill, a successful MP3 player like Steve, a successful social social network like Zucker. So he is trying a last attempt to make an impact in the world of technology, certainly he didn't invent blogging either and cannot capitalize on it because thats all he does.

Anyway, birthdays, names, religion, sexual orientation, education, political persuasion are all things revealed in a Facebook profile. You don't need nothing more than that to cause some trouble.

ADC, I agree that he may have ulterior motives, but does that really matter. I don't trust most people with my full name let alone my phone number or email address. I assume they will use it for their own purposes without regard to the reason I gave them the information. People regularly give out contact and other personal information about other people without asking.

What's interesting is that he could indeed very well get sued for a lot of money... Putting out your information has DOESN'T mean others may use it. For personal info it goes much further than copyright: people have absolute rights to their image, their likeness (pics) and how, when and where they are used. It's particularly true in Europe where bothe the EU and the countries themselves have strict, stringent laws about that. This guy is a sitting duck for a big fat lawsuit.

I guess I should have my lawyer draw up a release for folks to sign before I add them to my address book or my phone.

Hardcore, I guess you give out your phone number to every stranger who ask you for it? Don't be naive.

Andre, The fact that I don't give out my phone number to ANY stranger that asks for it is exactly the point. Scoble "scraped" HIS contact list. The fact that someone was in his contact list means that they had given approval(either explicitly or implied) in their own profile. Naive is anyone who puts personal information into a social network and then whines about privacy.

Your scenario is different DB, Scoble is doing it for ulterior motives. I am on Facebook and I always wondered why I would want to add Scoble as a friend, I don't know him personally, I have never met him. Maybe he knows all those 5000 people and he really wanted to get them into his Outlook contacts, but the Plaxo connection just made it seem suspicious and all the more clear.

If I were Scoble, I would realize that he is walking on chalk line and the next stupidity he tries to play might well end up getting him a big fat lawsuit he deserves and the attention he craves.

The bottom line is if people want their personal contact information to remain private, then don't give it out. The problem with most social networks is that people sign up to be friends without considering what the other person will do with the information. But the same is true int he real world. People hand out business card and other contact information all the time. People tell me their birthdays and other personal information regularly. How is that different.