You heard it here first (Aunty sure appreciates her little birdies!) U.S.-based ISP giant Earthlink and Korean-based SK Telecom have just this morning announced that they have joined forces to form a national wireless provider here in the United States. What does this mean to consumers? Well, SK Telecom has…

Microsoft announced today that it is about to start offering a stand-alone version of Outlook, separate from Office, which includes both a copy of Outlook and a subscription to either a Hotmail or MSN email account. In September Microsoft discontinued its service which had allowed users to connect to their…

Are you worried about your neighbors tapping in to and using your home wireless computer network? Or, worse, about wardrivers hijacking your wifi and using it to send a run of spam? Well, a Sunnyvale, California company has a suggestion for you: paint your house. “But,” you whine, “my problem…

Consider it an act of contrition, largesse, or just good business sense, but Microsoft is making available its new anti-spyware software free to Windows users. Having acquired anti-spyware maker Giant Company last month, it was anticipated that Microsoft would enfold a spyware fighting product into its offerings, but that it…

Wondering about the perfect gift for the iPodite in your life? Well, look no further. How about their own personal iPod ad – you know, those trendy dark silhouettes on a vibrant background, with a standout white iPod and headset prominently featured? Well, that’s just what IPodMyPhoto.com will give you,…

The United States Air Force has announced that it has gotten with the times. No longer prohibiting its members from using an instant messenger client to chat with people outside the company, such as loved ones back home, the Air Force has taken the bold step of embracing the technoloogy,…

Internet giant America Online (AOL) has said that they are in beta testing with a new free webmail service, along the lines of Hotmail, Yahoo, and Gmail. Dubbed “AOL Mail on the Web” (AMW? AOLMW?), it is already available to existing AOL members who registered to beta-test the product, and…

SpamItBack is a software which you can download, and which claims to allow you to create a message which you’d like to get across to those who spam you, and to “target the spammers websites, online ordering forms, or any personal spam e-mail addresses that have been discovered, with your…

Information Security Magazine, following extensive review, has published its list of the top security products for 2004. Evaluating products in a baker’s dozen of categories, and with a first, second, and third place in each (gold, silver, and bronze, respectively), this is one extensive and thorough cross-product comparison! Aunty particularly…

Network World Fusion has just released the results of its test of forty-one spam filters! Apparently when they put out the word that they would be reviewing spam filters, they had anticipated that maybe ten or so would show up to the party. Instead they were astonished to find forty-one…

Anyone who is even remotely interested in the spam issue, how spammers work, why spammers spam, and, perhaps most importantly, how the rest of us are contributing to the problem, and what we can do about it, should run, not walk, to their closest bookstore or online bookseller to pick up a copy of Danny Goodman’s outstanding Spam Wars.

Lycos Europe is offering a controversial new screen saver to Windows users (and Mac, as well). Marketing it under the “Make Love, Not Spam” banner, the screensaver is designed to send requests to view a known spam source’s website. The idea is that when a large number of users are…

Now here’s a cool little gadget for the privacy freak who has everything. Lexar has announced that beginning next week they will be selling a USB drive which reads your fingerprint, and converts the reading off the ridges into a password. For subsequent use, if the fingerprint doesn’t fit, it…

Lx_CATS is a Lexmark printer file, installed by Lexmark, which spies on your printer usage and reports back to the Lexmark mother ship.

Wow, talk about reinventing the square wheel! Startup Affini, Inc., of Saratoga, California, has launched a new email system with an integrated “pay to send to our users” feature.