Miles Associates LLC

SharePoint Bible: Your Complete Guide to Microsoft’s Collaboration Software

via SharePoint Bible: Your Complete Guide to Microsoft’s Collaboration Software.

I found this article very interesting in spite of the fact that I am a strictly Windows Mobile guy; my current phone is a Palm Treo Pro.  I have never used either a Blackberry OR an iPhone.  (My day-job company recently forbade users to use Blackberry for email access, citing the privacy dangers of the intermediate mail server).

…in light of a recent study that found that two out of five BlackBerry users are eager to switch from their Research In Motion (RIM) devices to shiny new Apple smartphones, I decided to revisit the iPhone v. BlackBerry war…

The people I hand-selected to appear in this story aren’t smartphone “newbies,” by any means. In fact, most of them have used not only one or two smartphones or BlackBerrys before making the iPhone switch; the majority of these gadgets geeks have employed handfuls of smartphones in the past, making them ideal subjects for this account…

And their experiences can serve to inform others curious about what a switch from BlackBerry to iPhone would mean to them–or vice versa. In addition to the six BlackBerry-to-iPhone converts profiled in this piece, I’ve included the accounts of two gadget-lovers who first swapped their BlackBerrys for iPhones, only to switch back to BlackBerry shortly thereafter.

via CIO Magazine: The BlackBerry-to-iPhone Switch: Converts Speak.

Adobe Admits Users Are Vulnerable After Downloading Reader.  From CIO Magazine.

Adobe leaves vulnerable versions of Reader (For example version 9.1) for download on its web site, and the user can only update (to, say 9.1.2) by patching.  But the automatic patching mechanism, for many users, does not run at first execution and may not update Adobe Reader for days or weeks, leaving those users unknowingly vulnerable.  Meanwhile, “Hackers continue to hammer Reader. According to New York-based CA today, there are “a vast number of malicious PDF files in circulation on the Internet,” many of them pitching multiple exploits at Windows users”.

Adobe is reevaluating its practices for updating Reader.

I have concerns about touch-screen keyboards (but then, I am such a poor typist I wonder why I care? )

The rules of notebook design and the components that go inside are being rewritten to make the road a better place to work and play.

“Between now and 2015, we expect to see a series of big changes that will redefine what a notebook is and what it looks like” — Intel

via Meet the Laptop You’ll Use in 2015.

Microsoft has taken aim at a rogue antivirus program called Internet Antivirus Pro.

The company’s latest update to its Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, MSRT released Tuesday, adds detection for this dubious program, which masquerades as security software.

via Microsoft Update Removes Rogue Antivirus Program.

Watch out for “TwitterCut”…

Twitter users have been tricked into divulging their login and password details to a Web site that then spammed their contacts.

via Twitter Gets Targeted Again By Worm-Like Phishing Attack – CIO.com.

May 15, 2009:

A new round of Web sites hijacks is attempting to install malicious, Google-focused software on unpatched PCs, …cementing the drive-by-download approach as a bad-guy tactic of choice.

The attack, dubbed “Gumblar” by ScanSafe, starts by hijacking legitimate sites and inserting attack code. The more than 1,500 hacked sites, including Tennis.com and Variety.com, don’t represent an especially huge number, but its growing rapidly. Since last week, the attack has grown by 80 percent, according to the company, and has spiked 188 percent since yesterday.

The attack code has largely gone after PDF and Flash flaws discovered in the last year … these particular assaults can be largely neutered by making sure you have the latest versions of the Adobe software.

… The PDF attack approach is more bad news for Adobe, whose programs have become a favorite target of late.

via Gumblar Hacked Sites Install Google-Targeting Malware.  (CIO Magazine)