Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Verizon Wireless has suspended several employees it says accessed call records belonging to a now inactive phone owned by President-Elect Barack Obama.  The employees will not be paid during their suspension and are under investigation.

“We apologize to President-elect Obama and will work to keep the trust our customers place in us every day,“ according to a statement attributed to Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam. “Those who have accessed the account improperly and without legitimate business justification will face appropriate disciplinary action.“

Sources say the phone in question has been inactive for several months.  More after the break.

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Just about all of us have probably been hit at one time or another by a virus, trojan, or ended up with that dreaded blue screen of death.  It’s certainly not fun when it happens.  These days, simply running Norton in the background often just isn’t enough.  Thankfully, there are several really good programs out there to download (free!) that help us to protect our computer from any nasties trying to worm their way in.

Keep reading for some favorites that are really worth a try.

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Sections: Computers, Security, Software / Applications, Originals, Web, Downloads, Features

In what promises to be waay worse than the whole Y2K thingy, hackers have officially notified us that they are planning a massive attack to take over your machine.  Confirmed by privacy and security company, PC Tools (no jokes, please), the threat comes after analyzing more than 500,000 machines this year.  Computer users are warned not to fall trap the basic snares: fraudulent websites, emails from unknown peoples, or the infamous banana in a tailpipe.  (Beverly Hills Cop, anyone?)

Read on to find why Monday, Nov 24 is targeted as “Hacker Day”

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Sections: Computers, Security, Web, Websites

Many users of AVG 7.5 and AVG 8 were stuck with Windows systems that didn’t operate after the AVG security scanner software mistakenly identified a necessary Windows component as a Trojan virus. 

The file user32.dll was tagged incorrectly as a banking Trojan after a signature update on Sunday.  The AVG scanner then advised users to delete the “harmful file.“  So, of course…many listened.  And when they did, they were stuck with a system that either would not boot or else was knocked into a continuous reboot cycle.  Continued after the break.

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Sections: Computers, Security, Software / Applications, Web, Downloads, Web Apps, Websites

If Santa is looking for stocking stuffers, or if you are just looking for some portable storage at a good price, you may want to check out one of Newegg’s latest “Special Buys.“

Right now, they are offering the Kingston DataTravelor 100 4GB flash drive for just $7.99 complete with free shipping.

I’ve compare shopped the item at some other sites.  Overstock is actually asking $21.99 for the same item. (Which is just ridiculous, even Newegg doesn’t list that as the regular price). . . .

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Sections: Computers, Gadgets / Other, Household, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Peripherals, Storage, Web, Websites

So, the elections are over and Obama has won, but what does this mean for the world of tech?  In the run up to the election, Obama set out his priorities for what he will do in regards to technology if he got into the white house, but how will this affect the average American? 

This is the first of a three part series about how the election of Obama will affect the tech world, which fit in to three categories: open Internet, connected democracy and infrastructure, and teaching children and adults. 

This year saw technology take a very important place in elections with texts, YouTube and television playing massive parts.  But it was also present in the policies that the two candidates put forward and due to the nature of the massive industry it was a big part.  So what are his policies?  Keep reading.

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The latest data released by Microsoft has revealed some interesting truths regarding Vista, XP and security.  Nearly every possible aspect of Vista has been attacked, and it’s been labeled as a failure by many who continue to use XP and campaign for continued support.  However, data released in the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report shows that Vista is in fact less vulnerable to exploits than XP.

The data, which was collected from January to June this year, shows a decline of vulnerabilities from 116 to 77 in a downward trend that mirrors the industry, which, in turn, has a 19% decrease.  Regarding XP and Vista Microsoft found that in computers running XP, Microsoft’s own software contained 42% of the vulnerabilities attacked with third party software making up the other 58%.  However in Vista PCs, only 6% of vulnerabilities were in Microsoft software, and this is due to (according to Vinny Gullotto general manager of Microsoft’s malware protection center) new security technologies.  More after the break.

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Today we’ve got a guest post by Scott McGrath.  Scott has worked in the IT industry as a consultant and Sysadmin for 12 years, and has enjoyed communications gadgets since he got his Fisher Price telephone at 2 years of age.  Like what he said?  Hate what he said?  Go over to Scott’s blog at http://www.scamwagon.com and let him know.

Believe it or not, I’m in the market for a cordless phone.  Before you laugh, there’s actually plenty of reasons I maintain a land line, not the least of which is the fact that I have poor cell coverage at my home, and not the most of which is the fact that cellular usually can not hold a candle to the real deal PSTN or good VoIP line, in terms of quality.  Cordless phones still have life since some can pair to your cell phone so you don’t have to rush to find that tiny handheld when it rings.  If you’re a Skype user, you can be untethered with some cordless phones.

Continued after the break.

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A new service focused around the use of cell phones has been announced, it’s called “My Mobile Witness.“  Upon first seeing the name, I immediately felt like I wanted to bash it for being some sort of invasion of privacy-enabling service.  Turns out that isn’t the case.  My Mobile Witness is actually what it calls “a personal security device.“  It actually sounds a bit useful if not hard to anticipate when to use it.

The service works by the user taking a picture of the area they are in, a license plate, a suspicious person, or something similar.  The picture (or text message) is uploaded to a server that is apparently only viewable by police.  The situations the press release describe would prove the service to be useful: taking a picture of a street sign in an unfamiliar area, taking a picture of a marker on an unfamiliar hiking path during a storm, among others.  The information, if used for a crime, can apparently be used in court as well.

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Twice thieves have stolen this guy’s motorbike on the tough streets of New York.  Twice, this guy has led police to his bike to recover it.  Smooth.  It makes the $300 investment in GPS Snitch and the $14.99 per month charges seem pretty small.

The GPS Snitch works with both GPS and cell tower tech to deliver text messages alerting you to movement beyond a perimeter you set up.  The GPS data can be viewed online or even via a cool BlackBerry blip application that guides you to your property.  The tracking updates every 5 seconds or so and can port the data to Google Earth.

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