Our latest edition of WIG is filled with news link goodness covering topics such as Canonical’s ending of support for Kubuntu after the 12.04 release, the time of day when e-mail viruses are most likely to appear, the arrival of Chrome on Android, and more.
Note: The wallpaper for the image shown above can be found here.
Weekly News Links
Photo from the How-To Geek Windows 8 Screenshot Tour.
- Windows 8 Consumer Preview coming February 29th
The Windows 8 Consumer Preview—notably it’s not being called a “beta”—will be launched on February 29th. Microsoft will launch it at an event it’s hosting in Barcelona to coincide with Mobile World Congress. - Windows 8 Start button removed by Microsoft in ‘Consumer Preview’
Microsoft has taken the bold step of removing the traditional Windows Start button from its Windows 8 “Consumer Preview”. - Canonical ending support for Kubuntu, reassigning lead developer
Jonathan Riddell, the lead developer of the Kubuntu project, announced this past Monday that his work on the KDE-based Ubuntu variant will no longer be funded by Canonical after the upcoming 12.04 release. Kubuntu will be developed entirely by volunteers, much like other community-maintained variants of Ubuntu. - Canonical aims for enterprise desktop with Ubuntu business remix
Canonical has announced the availability of the Ubuntu Business Desktop Remix, a new variant of the popular Linux distribution that has been customized for use in enterprise environments. It is based on Ubuntu 11.10, the current stable version of the distro, but it offers a slightly different set of packages in the default installation. - Firefox finally enriches New Tab page
Chrome’s got it. Internet Explorer’s got it. Safari’s got it. And Opera was the first to debut it. Finally, and currently available in the developer’s Aurora build, Firefox users will be able to get a personalized New Tab experience. - Firefox 11 Gets SPDY
Mozilla is taking a page from Google’s Chrome development and is gearing up to implement a new protocol to help accelerate the Firefox web browser. - Chrome 17 tweaks speed, download security
Safer downloads and a cautious expansion of site pre-caching landed in Chrome 17 this past Wednesday, continuing Google’s two-tiered approach to browser speed and user safety. - More hardware acceleration in Chrome beta, dev gets latest JS
The newly-minted Chrome 18 beta expands the scope of hardware acceleration in the browser to older computers, but it’s still not available to all. Meanwhile, Chrome 19 dev goes bleeding edge with JavaScript. - Google (finally) brings Chrome to Android
Google is finally bringing Chrome to the Android platform. A beta release of the increasingly popular Web browser was published this past Tuesday morning in the Android Market and is available to users who are running Android 4. - Mozilla considers removing Trustwave CA
Scandalised by the snooping certificate issued by Trustwave, a heise Security reader, Sebastian Wiesinger, has submitted a report to Mozilla’s bug database in which he requests that Trustwave’s root certificates be removed from all Mozilla products. - Google wants to do away with online certificate checks
Google plans to turn off online checks for SSL certificate validity in its Chrome browser soon, according to a blog post by Adam Langley, the developer in charge of that element of the browser. Instead, the browser will use the update mechanism to receive lists of revoked certificates. - Forcing Flash to Play in the Sandbox
Adobe has released a public beta version of its Flash Player software for Firefox that forces the program to run in a heightened security mode or “sandbox” designed to block attacks that target vulnerabilities in the software. - W3C co-chair: Apple, Google power causing Open Web crisis
The dominance of Apple and Google mobile browsers is leading to a situation that’s even worse for Web programming than the former dominance of Internet Explorer, a standards group leader warned this past Thursday. - Google expands its security rewards programmes
Google has announced that it plans to expand its vulnerability reporting programmes, which pay security researchers for discovering and reporting holes in the company’s web applications and browsers. - Group sues FTC over Google’s planned privacy update
The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a lawsuit this past Wednesday against the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in an attempt to force it to prevent Google from implementing planned changes to the company’s privacy policy. - Iran cuts off Internet access
Iran has cut off access to the Internet, leaving millions of people without access to e-mail and social networks. - E-mail viruses most likely to appear in the morning
The number of viruses sent out each day peaks between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. EST, according to the Global Security Report released by security research firm Trustwave this week. - Google Wallet PIN can be cracked…on a rooted Android device
Researchers at security firm zvelo have discovered that they can crack a Google Wallet PIN using a brute force attack on a device that is “rooted”–i.e., freed of security restrictions imposed by wireless carriers. - Trustwave issued a man-in-the-middle certificate
Certificate authority Trustwave issued a certificate to a company allowing it to issue valid certificates for any server. This enabled the company to listen in on encrypted traffic sent and received by its staff using services such as Google and Hotmail. - Videoconferencing security boils down to users
How susceptible videoconferencing systems are to hacking is dependent on how users configure and install their video systems, security observers note, adding that breaches can be avoided with the appropriate settings.
Random TinyHacker Links
- Want to give Windows 8 a try?
Do you want to test the Windows 8 Consumer Preview later this month? Or you simply want to go ahead and test the Developer Preview until then? Check this book before you do that, for complete details on how to install it, useful tips and a good overview of what is changed. - What version does this application have?
If you need to know the exact version of any application you might be using, check this guide for help. - Internet Explorer Features Worthy of Being Copied
Here is a list of 5 great features Internet Explorer has and other browser do not. - Windows 8 Teaser from Bing
With the Windows 8 beta approaching, Bing has a special webpage dedicated to it. - Infographic about The History of Mobile App Stores
A timeline infographic about the various app stores. - What Happens Online When You Die
Policies of various websites in the event of the inevitable.
Super User Questions
- Download all mail messages from Gmail including Sent folder items
- How to send myself an email every 30 min as a reminder?
- Why can’t my computer speed up again after closing large applications?
- How should I choose my DNS?
- How do I tell Google Chrome to read a different hosts file?
- Can drive encryption cause faster drive failure?
- What is more effective for reviving performance – Utilities or reinstalling the OS?
- What is the maximum number of activations Microsoft allows for an OEM Windows 7 license?
- Can I Install original copy of widows (OEM) on more than one Partition within the same computer?
- Can a user use any software be it Legal/Pirated with windows xp/7 Legal Version (OEM)?
How-To Geek Weekly Article Recap
- 100+ Wallpaper Collections to Spice Up Your Desktop
- How To Use DOSBox To Run DOS Games and Old Apps
- How To Transfer Files, Web Sites, Comics, and RSS Feeds to Your Amazon Kindle
- Desktop Fun: Simplicity Wallpaper Collection Series 2
- How To Remove JPG Artifacts and Ugly Image Distortion From Photographs
- How to Make LastPass Even More Secure with Google Authenticator
- Find Hidden Features On Chrome’s Internal Chrome:// Pages
- Analyze & Optimize Your Wireless Network with Wi-Fi Analyzer for Android
- Ask HTG: Finding The Right Wireless Channel, Transferring PS3 Content, and Mapping SkyDrive to Your PC
- How to Secure Your Google Account with Google Authenticator
Geeky Goodness from the ETC Side
- Turn an Old Laptop into a Windows 8 Tablet
- Upgrade Your Outlets for Adapter Free USB Charging
- See What the Web’s Largest Websites Looked Like When Launched [Images]
- Microsoft Removes Start Button in Windows 8 “Consumer Preview”, Adds Hot Corner [Poll]
- HDD Price Watch: The Impact of Thailand’s Floods
- Alien Travel Reviews for Planet Earth [Humorous Image]
- The Time Spectrum [Wallpaper]
- Internet Usage Predictions for 2012 [Infographic]
- Hide Your Printer In a Dresser Drawer
- Social Media Websites Explained using Donuts [Humorous Image]
One Year Ago on How-To Geek
Photo by Laihiu.
- How to Transfer Files Between Your PC and Android Phone Wirelessly
- How to Change the Default Application for Android Tasks
- How to Remote View and Control Your Android Phone
- How to Get AirVideo Features in Android for Free
- How to Create Geo-Reminders in Android with GeoNote
How-To Geek Comics Weekly Roundup
- An Effective Removal Tool
- Embracing Social Media
- Scroll is Better
- Twitter vs. In-Person
- A Very Complete Manual
- Unwanted Feedback
- Fighting Technology
How-To Geek Weekly Trivia Roundup
- What Is The Most Expensive Video Game Inspired Film Ever Made?
- What Was The Transporter Effect Created With On Star Trek: The Original Series?
- Dungeons & Dragons Was Originally Known By What Name?
- What Widely Used Insulating Enclosure Is Named After a 19th Century Scientist?
- Where Is The World’s Largest LAN Party Held?