The Truth About Finally Fast Blog
Survey Reveals That More Than 8 in 10 U.S. Small Businesses Have No Security Policies
posted by Admin on 12/22/11 · Comments
The majority of small business owners believe Internet security is critical to their success and that their companies are safe from ever increasing cyber security threats even as many fail to take fundamental precautions, according to a new survey of U.S. small businesses sponsored by Symantec and the National Cyber Security Alliance and conducted by Zogby International.
The survey found that two-thirds (67%) of U.S. small businesses have become more dependent on the Internet in the last year and 66% are dependent on the network for their day-to-day operations. What's more, 57% of firms say that a loss of Internet access for 48 hours would be disruptive to their business and 38% said it would be "extremely disruptive" and 76% say that most of their employees use the Internet daily.
The vast majority of small business owners think their company is cyber-secure as 85% of respondents said their company is safe from hackers, viruses, malware or a cyber-security breach and seven in ten (69%) believe Internet security critical to their business's success. Additionally, a majority (57%) of small businesses believe that having a strong cyber security and online safety posture is good for their company's brand.
Yet a closer look reveals that most small businesses lack sufficient cyber security policies and training. Seventy-seven percent said they do not have a formal written Internet security policy for employees and of those, 49% reported that they do not even have an informal policy. More small business owners also said they do not provide Internet safety training to their employees than said they do – to a tune of 45 versus 37%. And a majority of businesses (56%) do not have Internet usage policies that clarify what websites and web services employees can use and only 52% have a plan in place for keeping their business cyber-secure...
YouTube Rolls-out in Browser Video Editing
posted by Admin on 9/16/11 · Comments
On September 9th YouTube rolled out video editing tools that can be used in your browser to tweak various elements of an uploaded video on your channel. The current set of tools includes features that allow you to tweak the brightness, contrast, color temperature, and the start and end points of the video. There are also built-in tools to automatically stabilize shaky footage and an option to rotate footage 90 degrees at a time in any direction.
Beyond just basic editing tools, YouTube, in collaboration with Picnik, also included a selection of various color filters and effects that can be used on your video.
These features are a great addition to YouTube’s already fantastic interface and make it significantly easier for users to tweak their point and shoot videos for optimal format without having to purchase an expensive video editing suite.
You can check out some of the tools in action via YouTube’s preview video below:
The YouTube clip does a pretty good job depicting what exactly you can do with the new editing tools. I recently gave the tools a go myself click read more below to see my thoughts...
How Do I Download Youtube Videos?: Tips for Downloading Streaming Media Safely
posted by Admin on 3/30/11 · Comments
If you're new to YouTube, or streaming media in general, you've no doubt wondered how you can download your favorite videos directly from YouTube to your computer. The concept seems so simple yet YouTube, and nearly all streaming media providers, have somehow neglected to implement this functionality into their interfaces. There is a good reason for this. YouTube's main income is derived from advertising sold on video pages. The more hits their videos get, the more valuable they are to advertisers. By making it difficult for users to access their videos outside of YouTube they ensure that users will come back to the site again and again, further ensuring the company's value to its advertisers.
Fortunately for us, and somewhat unfortunately for YouTube, there are dozens of addons, plugins, and standalone applications meant to enable users to download streaming media from any number of online sources. Though if you're like me, you don't need another unitasker freeware app that you'll use once in a blue moon to download a particularly interesting YouTube video, but will just take up space on your hard drive the rest of time. The only alternative then is a browser plugin or addon. While the browser extentions in question make it undeniably easy to download streaming media, many allow you to do so in one click, I find that most of them are quite clunkly and a major drag on the overall speed of my browser. Unbeknownst to many web surfers, the more addons or plugins you have enabled in your browser the slower that browser will function. So, you may be pulling down videos on your 100mb broadband connection but if you've got 25 clunky FireFox addons running in the background you may still end up waiting for your favorite videos to buffer or load.
So what's the solution?...
12/22/10
Finally Fast News: Holiday Malware Attacks on the Rise
In addition to preparing for holiday vacation time, many business leaders are bolstering security in preparation for holiday-themed scams, according to a recent study.
Skybox Security's survey of IT security managers in six countries found an overwhelming majority, 84 percent, expect cyber criminals to "step up their activities" during the holidays, exploiting an influx of online shoppers and less tech-savvy employees looking to procrastinate at work with holiday cheer on the web.
However, nearly as many who expect growth in holiday-themed cyber threats believe they have adequately protected their company's system. Eighty percent of respondents said they felt their organization will not be vulnerable to security threats during the spike in threats associated with the holidays. According to Gidi Cohen, Skybox Security CEO, other companies should follow suit and strengthen their antivirus resources...
5/10/10
BitTorrent CEO weighs in on net neutrality
Internet service providers must regulate their networks on their own in response to consumer demands, according to BitTorrent chief executive officer Eric Klinker. On April 6, the United States Supreme Court ruled that ISPs have the right to block websites from their networks as they please.
Klinker's comments represent his acceptance that net neutrality, a policy adopted by each of the last two FCC chairmen and most internet companies, is a thing of his past.
“There is no ambiguity. There is not going to be, at least in the near term, a strong regulator for broadband,” Klinker said at the eComm conference in Burlingame, California, according to PC World. “The public is our regulator.”...
5/10/10
United Kingdom, France and India boast best mobile broadband prices
ABI Research found in a recently conducted study that the United Kingdom, France and India have the least expensive mobile broadband plans in the world. In India, for example, an unlimited 3G mobile broadband plan costs an average of $17 per month.
The study also suggests that mobile broadband providers are likely to keep prices low or even drop them slightly to maintain or improve their market share.
“ABI Research expects emerging markets with low internet penetration to price mobile broadband aggressively to drive usage,” ABI Research analyst Bhavya Khanna, said. “However, in developed markets the widespread use of data dongles has created strains on mobile networks; and one could see data plans change to throttle data consumption.”
Within the UK, T-Mobile is the best provider of mobile broadband, according to Broadband Genie, which tested different modems as its researchers traveled throughout the country...
05/02/10
Vermont pushes communities to seek broadband funding
In an effort to improve broadband access throughout the state, Vermont's government has encouraged rural communities to apply for funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The state founded the e-Vermont Partnership to help the communities apply for funds under a blanket group that will make their application more appealing.
The program cost roughly $4 million thus far, but the state believes its initial investment will help the communities develop and install broadband plans that will help them improve their schools and economic growth opportunities. Comcast recently announced that it had completed a massive expansion plan throughout the state that helped it reach 85 percent broadband coverage.
The remaining 15 percent may be the most difficult as technological barriers and resistance from some have prevented the message of broadband's benefits from resonating. The partnership has announced it will hold "front-porch forums" and other meetings to discuss the move with townspeople. They will also provide computer equipment for those without...
04/29/10
Minnesota-based broadband provider seeking funding for improvement
HickoryTech, a broadband provider with headquarters in Mankato, Minnesota, recently announced that it has applied for $16.8 million in funding through federal stimulus grants to improve broadband access and reliability in the state. The company plans to use the funding to improve its fiber-optic network, which will benefit key economic, educational and government institutions throughout the state's under-served rural areas.
The company expects that the project will cost more than $24 million and plans to provide the difference between the federal funding and the total cost out of its own budget. It will likely require an investment of more than $7 million from the company. The company, the largest broadband provider in the state, believes expanding its 2,400-mile fiber-optic network will generate more revenue for the state and local companies than it will cost the federal government.
“HickoryTech has invested millions of dollars to extend its statewide broadband network to reach more than 75 percent of the population of Minnesota," Walt Prahl, president of HickoryTech's wholesale solutions and business development division, said. "The federal broadband stimulus grants will allow for cost-effective expansion of broadband services to high-cost and under-served rural areas across Minnesota.”...
04/23/10
Google, Verizon CEOs praise National Broadband Plan
In an editorial published in the Wall Street Journal on March 31, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg praised the Federal Communications Commission for its recently released National Broadband Plan. The FCC's goals of expanding the use of the fastest broadband speed and the availability of high-speed internet access encouraged the CEOs as they view it as a chance for the country to capitalize on technological advances.
The economic implications of improved broadband access and reliability begin at the very base of the U.S. economic system. Providing schools with new tools to educate their students improves the effectiveness of teaching and will more adequately prepare them for life after graduation. Beyond education, they believe the plan will make both job training and healthcare more efficient.
The final part of the plan calls for the elimination of the digital divide that prevents Americans in rural regions and those without the means to purchase broadband from developing fluency with the web...
04/21/10
Lack of competition slows down U.S. broadband
The primary criticism of the Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Plan is that it does not adequately call for an increase in provider competition that countries with faster broadband speeds enjoy, according to CNN.
Fifty percent of Americans that live in rural regions do not have broadband access. Meanwhile 68 percent of the nation does use broadband internet at home. The news provider points to lower education and income levels as one of the driving factors.
South Korea has the fastest broadband of any country, and web users in the nation also pay about $17 less on their monthly bills than Americans. CNN reports that the difference between South Korea and the U.S. is the amount of reliable broadband providers. For Americans, it's either a telephone company or a cable provider. In nations like South Korea, consumers can choose from dozens of providers that have to lower their rates without diminishing their speed to compete in the market...
04/06/10
Broadband crucial to rural development
Many Americans that live in rural regions of the nation do not have access to reliable broadband internet. However, there are many that do not subscribe to available broadband access because they don't believe they need it or don't care to use it According to MinnPost.com, rural Minnesotans have yet to grasp that using broadband will improve the quality of education and overall life in their town.
Fifty percent of Americans that live in rural regions do not have broadband access. Meanwhile 68 percent of the nation does use broadband internet at home. The news provider points to lower education and income levels as one of the driving factors.
Broadband internet access can provide people in rural regions of the country with improved education and emergency services, both of which regions lack considerably compared to suburban and urban regions...
03/25/10
Important source of online info about Islam shaken by workers' protest
Members of the staff at one of the most popular websites in the Muslim world have staged a sit-in protest at their Cairo office over what they see as improper interference by management in the editorial direction of IslamOnline.
The striking employees say that the new ownership – Qatar's Al-Balagh Foundation – is trying to promote a hard-line conservative agenda on IslamOnline, which until recently had the reputation of being “a bastion of liberal and reformist voices within the Islamic world,” according to the UK's Guardian newspaper.
Fathi Abu Hatab told the Guardian that “it's a matter of editorial independence and media ethics, and we are not going to back down. They are trying to hijack IslamOnline, and we are resisting.” According to Agence France-Presse, some reporters said that the Al-Balagh group had tried to close down the Egyptian offices...
Read the Archives:
03/22/10
UK voters launch 38 degrees website to provide for input on Digital Economy Bill
A controversial proposed law in Great Britain will now be subject to comment and debate online as the opponents launch a website to gather voter opinion about the Digital Economy Bill.
03/17/10
Microsoft claims victory in instant message spam case
A nine-month-old legal battle between Microsoft and Hong Kong-based Funmobile has been settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, and the Redmond, Washington-based computing giant appears to be very pleased with the result.
03/10/10
Federal funding to help Massachusetts' South Shore, Cape Cod
The OpenCape Corporation announced earlier this month that it received a $32 million grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to improve broadband speed and access in Massachusetts' Cape Cod.
02/25/10
Fed issues ruling to make internet available at schools after hours
The Federal Communications Commission held a vote recently that will open schools up to the community that will allow access to high-speed internet.
02/23/10
Google donates $2 million to help keep Wikipedia online
The next time a user performs a Wikipedia search for Google they may see an addition to the company's entry highlighting its philanthropic efforts toward Wikipedia.
02/19/10
Iran reportedly shuts down Gmail
Iran's telecommunications agency has reportedly suspended Google's Gmail service in its country as it readies a national email service for Iranian citizens.
02/11/10
Microsoft patch leads to computer troubles
Just two days after Microsoft released security updates on February 9, some Windows users reported that they were unable to reboot their systems after installing the updates, getting only a blue screen, according to posts on a Windows forum.
02/05/10
Student hackers may be trying to earn an 'A' by breaching security to change grades
Even as cyber attacks become more the territory of organized crime and nation-states, there is still a chance that today's hackers can still just be a bunch of kids with some technical know-how and a motive.
01/27/10
Phishing for personal info on Social Media sites keeps users on guard
The proliferation of phishing attacks and other online security threats have users worried about sharing information when visiting social networking sites, according to a recent survey.
01/22/10
Report confirms kids spend a lot of time connected to the internet
If parents think that kids today are spending more time today connected to electronics be it online, in front of a TV or holding an iPod, it's because they probably are.
01/18/10
Mobile apps downloads to skyrocket in 2010
As smartphones continue to take over a significant share of the mobile phone market, consumers will continue to look for apps.
01/12/10
New processor to boost laptop performance
AMD will reportedly put triple-core processors into laptops to fill a power and performance gap, according to PC Magazine.
01/07/10
Microsoft, security firms warn PC users to protect their passwords online
A recent article from TechTarget revealed that Microsoft and several security firms are warning users about protecting their account credentials from hackers during the holiday shopping season in the wake of an increasing number of people shopping for gifts online.
12/28/09
Bogus Pharmacy sites finding new ways around spam and search engine filters
For years, email inboxes – and hopefully spam folders – have been barraged by offers for performance enhancing drugs, Viagra alternatives and other offers from bogus pharmacy sites.
12/17/09
Cold-calling scam mimics online rogue anti-virus software
PPerhaps trying to bypass malware and anti-virus protection, some scammers are taking their computer phishing scam low tech.
12/15/09
Official Ascentive Press Release on Recent Renewal Email
During the weekend of Dec 11th to Dec 13th, a subscription auto-renewal email was accidentally sent to everyone in the Ascentive email database.
12/14/09
The Skype's the limit for VoIP
Skype VoIP, the popular technology that allows users to make voice and video calls over broadband internet connections is still in development, announcing two new beta versions.
12/08/09
Google readies beta version of Chrome web browser for Mac OS X
More than a year after its initial release – and several trips in and out of beta versions – Google has set a deadline to release a Mac OS X-compatible version of the Chrome web browser by the end of 2009.
12/06/09
Facebook forms Facebook Safety Advisory Board to keep kids safe
Facebook has teamed up with five leading internet groups in its continuing efforts to help protect kids, the social-networking site said.
12/01/09
Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 promises faster web surfing
Microsoft's next browser, Internet Explorer 9 (IE9), will offload image and text rendering chores to the PC's graphic processor, one way the company plans to increase the browser's overall performance, according to Microsoft, which introduced the web browser at its Product Developers Conference (PDC09).
11/27/09
'Godfather of Spam,' sentenced to 51 months in prison
Alan Ralsky, the man the Feds nicknamed the “Godfather of Spam,” was sentence to prison for his part in a stock fraud and spamming scheme, which he pleaded guilty to in June.
11/05/09
Microsoft: Scareware is fastest-growing malware type
Numbers from the Microsoft Malware Protection Center indicate that rogue anti-viruses and related products are the dominant type of malware attacking U.S. users, while other types of malicious programs target users abroad.
11/05/09
Facebook wins big in lawsuit against king of spam
Social networking site Facebook last week won a decisive victory against a man some referred to as the “spam king,” Sanford Wallace.
11/05/09
Microsoft: Windows Vista safer than Windows XP
Microsoft's Security Intelligence Report, released earlier this week, says that users of the company's Windows Vista operating system were less likely to be affected by cyber security threats than users of the older Windows XP.