Greener Tech

A recent New York Times article reports that faced with a $15 billion budget shortfall and a testy State Legislature, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is dealing with a host of critics, including pro-tax Democrats, tax-averse Republicans and a public increasingly displeased with him.

Now, even the state¹s computers seem to be against him.

Last week, with no budget agreement in sight, the governor issued an executive order terminating thousands of part-time and temporary state employees and slashing the wages of about 170,000 of the state¹s full-time workers to the federal minimum wage.

Continue reading "In California, Retro-Tech Complicates Budget Woes" »

Posted by rip at 12:21 PM | Permalink

Many people can be (and obviously are) lured into phishing schemes by clever scam artists. Do you think you can detect the difference between a legitimate source and a phishing scam?

Carnegie Mellon University had built an interactive game where users learn how to identify phishing URLs, where to look for cues in web browsers, and how to use search engines to find legitimate sites. Try it out! Play Anti-Phishing Phil and see how you do!

Posted by rip at 08:37 AM | Permalink

As part of the Library renovation, power in the Library Building will be turned off for two weeks. The Computer Center will be closed, as will the Library proper, Media Loan, the MML, and everything else in the library for that matter. For more information around this closure, please check in with Facilities as they are the ones who are running the show!

Posted by rip at 08:26 AM | Permalink

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Don't blame the fridge for your steep power bills -- an Australian consumer agency study has found that videogame consoles and plasma flat-screen TVs are major electricity guzzlers, even when left on stand-by.

The recent study by Choice said Sony Corp's Playstation 3, closely followed by Microsoft's Xbox 360 and plasma television sets, consumed the most power out of a list of 16 electronic devices tested, including laptops, stereo systems and DVD players.

"Our tests found that leaving a Playstation 3 on while not in use would cost almost... five times more than it would take to run a refrigerator for the same yearly period," said the study which was published on Choice's website www.choice.com.au.

"The plasma TV set was also a power hungry device, consuming over four times more power than a traditional analogue set. The average desktop computer was third on the list."

The report advised consumers to switch off their electronic devices at the source, rather than just from the remote control, which puts them on power-consuming stand-by mode. "This saves on money, not to mention carbon emissions," it added.

Posted by rip at 08:24 AM | Permalink

The vulnerability affects Windows Server 2003, XP, Vista and Server 2008, according to an advisory issued on Thursday.

If exploited, the bug can allow a user's privilege status to jump from "authenticated user" to "LocalSystem," Bill Sisk, security response communications manager for Microsoft, told SCMagazineUS.com.

Separately, researchers at McAfee Avert Labs said on Thursday they have detected public exploit code taking advantage of a vulnerability in a Microsoft Works.

McAfee analyst Kevin Beets wrote on the company's blog that the flaw is located in the ActiveX control of Microsoft Works' Image Server. Researchers said the code was posted on a number of Chinese blog sites.

Posted by rip at 07:50 AM | Permalink

There's been a lot of hand-wringing lately about how much air traffic contributes to global warming. An even more damaging culprit, however, has recently been found: the Internet. Computer centers consume massive amounts of energy, and their use is growing astronomically. Creative solutions are being sought -- and found (Spiegel Online)

Continue reading "Massive Computer Centers worse than Air Traffic" »

Posted by rip at 09:49 AM | Permalink

The Computer Center, along with the folks in the library and the CAL, are introducing a new printing system that should make life easier and improve our carbon footprint by severely cutting down on printing waste. The systems is called GoPrint and it is a way to confirm that you sent a print job and is shown to drastically cut down on unwanted print jobs.

Posted by rip at 07:56 AM | Permalink