Miles Associates LLC

Maintaining Edmunds’ Edge
Edmunds started in 1966 as a publisher of the printed booklets packed with automotive specifications intended to help car shoppers make buying decisions. But since 1995, when its Web site launched, it has become the go-to online resource for car buyers and enthusiasts.
That success led Edmunds to cut ties with print altogether last year, to focus exclusively on its stable of automotive Web sites.

Six Techniques to Get More from the Web than Google Will Tell You
The Internet has changed research dramatically. Now, it’s hard to resist defaulting to search engines, especially Google, as its capabilities grow. But you miss opportunities to get valuable insights into IT topics if you rely only on search engines.

Professional librarians and researchers will tell you that the Web has many unexplored opportunities for finding more information on business topics. Pursue these six techniques to improve your research results…

Security Watch: Killing botnets – CNET reviews
Botnets, networks of compromised computers, are here to stay. …  While a majority of these are short lived, lasting only a few hours, some continue for days and even weeks. The problem doesn’t appear to be going away, and there are reasons why it probably won’t any time soon. That said, is there any hope we might someday kill off botnets entirely?

Google to Gobble Sprint? Say it Ain’t So!
News Analysis: How do you know when greed is not good? When the latest rumors say Google wants to buy Sprint.When Sprint Nextel and Clearwire announced Nov. 9 that they were abandoning their WiMax partnership, many people speculated that Clearwire might pick up with Google. After all, the search vendor has demonstrated quite the wireless itch of late, with its mobile social networking purchases and Android platform.

But by the time the weekend rolled around, the rumors bubbled over, the blogosphere lost its head and some industry watchers claimed Google could go for Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. wireless network carrier with a $45 billion market capitalization.

A Google acquisition of Sprint could be disastrous for a company that has worked so hard to build up its search and online advertising business, according to analysts…

View it here…

Modern-Day Tech Startups Tread Carefully: Financial News – Yahoo! Finance

There are a few hurdles between Landy Ung and her dream of growing her startup into a household name. One is the fact that her only outside funding comes from her mom’s fried chicken restaurant, another is that her only full-time programmer is her boyfriend, who has a day job.

She and her boyfriend, Wan Hsi Yuan, 27, run the business, 8coupons.com, from their 500-square-foot studio apartment, meaning headquarters is, effectively, their couch. The business, which text messages discounts to users’ mobile phones, keeps Yuan and Ung, who is 28, up until 3 a.m. most nights. Then, Ung said, she sometimes finds herself lying awake, worrying.

Microsoft Security Advisory 944653: Vulnerability in Macrovision SECDRV.SYS Driver on Windows Could Allow Elevation of Privilege
Vulnerability in Macrovision SECDRV.SYS Driver on Windows Could Allow Elevation of Privilege
Published: November 5, 2007

Microsoft is working with Macrovision, investigating new public reports of a vulnerability in the Macrovision secdrv.sys driver on supported editions of Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP. This vulnerability does not affect Windows Vista. We are aware of limited attacks that try to use the reported vulnerability. Microsoft is actively monitoring this situation to keep customers informed and to provide customer guidance as necessary.

The attacker has to have logon rights to the system, but then could obtain admin rights.