Spam: The report of its death was an exaggeration

Some progress has been made in the battle against spam in the past couple of years, but the problem is still very much with us. In January of 2004, Bill Gates said that spam would be eradicated by 2006.

Not quite.

Where does it all come from? Nearly a quarter comes from the United States and just slightly less comes from China. South Korea is a distant third, followed by France, Canada, Brazil, Spain, Austria, Taiwan, Poland, Japan, and Germany.

Anti-spam laws and civil suits are having an impact. For the first time, the United States was the origin for less than 25% of all spam. Half a percentage point under 25% according to Sophos Labs.

The amount of non-English spam continues to increase and most spam now comes from computers that have been hijacked by Trojan horses and are under the control of remote hackers.

You may recall that an Iowa-based Internet service provider was awarded $11.2 billion in a judgment against a Florida-based spammer and a Detroit spammer has been sent to prison. Technology and law are finally making some headway, but predicting the end of spam is probably not something we should do just yet.

By using zombie computers that they've taken over, spammers can avoid country-specific legislation. That's why more than half of all spam originates from zombies.

Questions and answers (or at least equivocations)

The answers might even more or less be in some way related to the questions. We'll talk about some of the questions that we've received lately and then show you the answers we've sent to the hapless questioners.

Firefox is my default Web browser; however, there are a few sites I prefer to view in IE. Besides opening IE and heading to the site, is there a way to assign a specific browser to certain URL's or favorites?

Indeed there is and it's done with a Firefox extension. You might consider installing IE Tab - an extension from Taiwan that allows you to embed Internet Explorer in Firefox tabs.

More people will probably find IE View to be the better solution, though. This extension lets you load pages in IE with a single right-click and to mark certain sites so that they will always load in IE.

Extensions are a big part of Firefox's appeal.

I am looking to purchase a digital camera. I have between $350-$400 to spend. I have been looking at the Kodak Z7590 but am not sure. I know a couple of people with the Kodak Easy Share cameras who seem to be satisfied with them. I like the amount of zoom this camera offers. Do you have any suggestions as to the best camera for that amount of money. I am an amateur photographer hoping for some great pictures in the future.

The Z7590 is certainly a fine camera, but for not a lot more money ($449 list) the P850 gives 12x optical zoom, a hot shoe for an external flash, and more. BH Photo Video (NYC) has it for under $400.

I have Windows XP Home edition on one of my laptops. For the longest time, when I turned it on, it went straight to the desktop. I liked it that way. Now I have to click on an icon to load my desktop. Can you help me eliminate this annoying feature and make my machine go straight to the desktop like it used to?

The easiest way to do this is with a Microsoft utility called TweakUI. If you don't have SP2 installed yet, use this link.

Open TweakUI (Click Start, Programs, Powertoys for Windows XP). Expand the Logon branch, and click Autologon. Turn on the "Log on automatically as..." option, type your username and password, and click OK.

An alternative: Click Start, Run and type "control userpasswords2". Click OK. Select the user account from the list (to which account you want to automatically logon). Uncheck Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer option, and click OK. Type the user account password and complete the process.

NOTE! Because you're using XP Home be sure to create an account separate from the built-in Administrator. Trying to autologon as Admin returns a restrictions error.

I am looking to purchase a digital camera. I am not a photographer. This will just be for family pictures. I am interested in having good quality pictures including when using flash. I am also interested in quick shutter response so the pictures are not blurred. I will be using the pictures to show on my computer or TV and occasionally to have prints made. I would like to spend in the range of $250 - $400. More if necessary. I have been looking at the Cannon SD450. It has some good reviews but a few question marks about durability and quality of flash pictures.

If you want to buy locally, the only place to go is Cord, preferably the one on 5th Ave. If you don't mind on-line, then my suggestion would be to buy from B&H Photo and Video in NYC. B&H has been around for 30+ years and has grown from a tiny shop in Lower Manhattan to a gigantic store and warehouse on 8th (or maybe it's 9th) at 34th Street. It's the largest camera store in the US and they don't play the games some camera stores play.

When it comes to cameras, more dollars will buy more features and faster operation. You'll get a good camera in the range you specified, but stick toward the high end of the range.

None of these cameras will have the longevity of Nikon, Canon, or Pentax film cameras. Those devices were built to different standards and they still are. Digital cameras will be obsoleted by newer models with more features. In other words, what you save in film costs, you'll pay in updating the camera. The SD450 would be an adequate camera, but the sensor speed's highest ISO is 400. Other models such as the SD700IS and the A700 can be pushed to ISO 800. This might be worth the extra cost.

The A700 also has a 35mm equivalent lens that covers 35-210mm versus the 35-105mm.

All of the cameras in this range will have an on-camera flash that will be sufficient for pictures out to about 10 feet.

Stop by www.bhphotovideo.com and take a look at the camera selector. You're able to tell the website what's important to you and it will make recommendations based on those criteria.

Since you mentioned buying 100 GB hard drive for $40 I've been thinking about adding a new hard drive and/or memory to upgrade my computer to make it faster. It's a Dell computer (1999); 20G hard drive; 256 MB of RAM; 498 MHz; Intel Pentium III processor.
1. Would adding another hard drive increase the speed at which the computer processes? (There are 4.44 GB free.) Where do I find the information about what type of hard drive I need (ATA or SATA)?
2. Would adding more RAM help increase the speed or should I just bite the bullet and get a new computer?

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllll (an old Chickenman line, if I ever heard one) ...

(1) No. Your computer is slow because the CPU is slow. I remember when 10 MHz was astonishingly fast, but today's computers have CPUs that run at 2GHz and above.

(1a) With a 500MHz CPU, a SATA drive will not be any faster than an ATA drive. The CPU is the choke point.

(1b) Adding RAM is always the cheapest way to improve performance, even with a slow processor.

(2) If speed is the primary issue, upgrading to a Pentium IV with a faster processor and more RAM will bring an immediate improvement. Take a look at what TCR has to offer -- go for the largest hard drive and the most memory you can afford.

I installed a Suse Linux 9.1 system on a older computer when the mother board went out, the problem is I can't get connected to the internet. I can't download because I'm not hooked up.

Did the motherboard problem also scramble the hard drive? If not, you should be able to tell the new CMOS on the new motherboard it's there. You might have to reinstall some components, but it should at least boot.

If not, given the situation you've described and assuming the machine that had the problem has a CD and that your current machine has a CD burner, I'd download the installer to the current machine, burn a CD, and use that to reinstall Linux.

On a discussion list for editors, the topic turned to scanners. "A 200 dpi scanner and a 600 dpi printer doesn't result in 200 dpi output; it results in 600 dpi output. So it's a bit misleading to say that the output is the lower of the two numbers."

No, it's not.

If you scan something at 200dpi (which should really be samples per inch -- spi) and print it at 600dpi, the results will be 200dpi (sorta). In fact you can take any printer "dpi" and divide it by 3 or 4 to get an approximation of lines per inch (lpi) which is the important number. Laser printers can't make 256 shades of gray (grayscale) so they have to create a matrix of dots that create the appearance of grayscale. Each grayscale "dot" is a matrix of printer dots.

There's a huge amount of misinformation and misunderstanding about spi, dpi (dots per inch) and lpi (lines per inch).

Keep in mind, too, that pixels (and therefore scanners) have rectangular "dots" and ink printing has round "dots". I believe that laser toner dots are also circular, but it's been a while.

All of this is part of the explanation of why you shouldn't scan at 1200spi to produce output for a printer that prints at 1200dpi. And it doesn't even begin to consider the effect of magnification or reduction of the original scan.

640K of memory should be enough for anybody

You've probably seen that statement attributed to Bill Gates. There's just one problem with the quotation, though: Bill Gates never said it. "I've said some stupid things and some wrong things, but not that," Gates wrote in 1996, but the rumor persists. "No one involved in computers would ever say that a certain amount of memory is enough for all time," said Gates.

Here's the rest of what he wrote about the misquotation.

The need for memory increases as computers get more potent and software gets more powerful. In fact, every couple of years the amount of memory address space needed to run whatever software is mainstream at the time just about doubles. This is well-known.

When IBM introduced its PC in 1981, many people attacked Microsoft for its role. These critics said that 8-bit computers, which had 64K of address space, would last forever. They said we were wastefully throwing out great 8-bit programming by moving the world toward 16-bit computers.

We at Microsoft disagreed. We knew that even 16-bit computers, which had 640K of available address space, would be adequate for only four or five years. (The IBM PC had 1 megabyte of logical address space. But 384K of this was assigned to special purposes, leaving 640K of memory available. That's where the now-infamous "640K barrier" came from.)

A few years later, Microsoft was a big fan of Intel's 386 microprocessor chip, which gave computers a 32-bit address space.

Modern operating systems can now take advantage of that seemingly vast potential memory. But even 32 bits of address space won't prove adequate as time goes on.

Meanwhile, I keep bumping into that silly quotation attributed to me that says 640K of memory is enough. There's never a citation; the quotation just floats like a rumor, repeated again and again.

Thoughts from a "flack"

"Flack" is pejorative that Andy Marken doesn't deserve. He's a public relations professional I've dealt with for the past decade or so. A couple of weeks ago, Andy sent a non-PR piece. At least one that he didn't create on behalf of a client. Because it was long, I filed it away for a couple of days until I finally had time to read it on the weekend. It's worth your time, whether you're a writer or "just" a reader. I present Andy's comments essentially as he wrote them.

"Danger, Will Robinson, danger." -- The Robot in the 1990's TV series Lost in Space

It wasn't much of a TV series and it was a lousy movie. For some reason though we thought of the robot's alert in Lost in Space as we thought about the fact that managers across the board are on the verge of losing one of their most critical assets.writing.

Perhaps rather than writing we should be more succinct and say communicating.

People "write" every day. They email. They IM. They blog.

What are the "words?" LOL. LMAO. WTF!?!

Is it professional communications?

While management talks in terms of strategy, strategic plans and performance success by the pound; when all of the discussion is done someone has to sit down and do the most important task - write.

Or as people have modified Gustave Flaubert's quote puts it . "The Devil is in the details. Whatever one does should be done thoroughly; details are important."

And it is the details that kill most marketing and communications programs because: increasingly we focus on embracing technology crutches rather than our real job we feel that the use of a spell and grammar checker produces effective content we never learned or have long forgotten the discipline required in effective communications

We are long past being a teen or tween. However, we find it difficult to imagine how we did our job before the computer, the Internet or the multi-function cellphone.

We find it efficient and effective to be available and in touch with clients, clients' customers/partners and the media round the clock, round the globe. Increasingly a carefully thought out, rapid response can keep programs and projects on track or keep minor issues from becoming major problems.

As John Robinson said in the movie, "There's a lot of space out there to get lost in."

Monitor, Think

That's why it is important for professionals to monitor as many outlets as possible - print, radio, TV, email, website traffic, use lists and the blogosphere. The danger is an immediate, knee-jerk response that turns a non-issue or minor problem into a major crisis.

Not having a product included in an article is no reason to fire off an email asking the reporter how he/she could possibly overlook one of the most important products in the field. Or responding to a negative article/posting by questioning the motives and professionalism of the writer.

But this is done with alarming regularity.

Disagree?

Ask any journalist with any medium about the volume of positive vs negative and downright vicious responses they get to pieces they byline.

The marketing or communications manager feels he/she has shown management how well he/she is doing in protecting the company's or product's reputation. They also set the reporter/writer straight!

That is a response that should have been written and deleted.

With all of the software tools that are available to us today there is absolutely no excuse for communications of any type going out that have spelling and grammatical errors.

Yet they appear with alarming regularity.

We had some of the toughest and most unrelenting journalism and literature instructors in college. They were absolutely brutal when it came to grading stories, articles, news items and reports on every aspect of our written communications.

They made us understand that quality writing is both an art and a science.

They made us realize that it wasn't important what we were communicating but how the reader received and interpreted/understood our communications.

With management and marketing communications becoming so critical in today's global organizations and markets it is now it's own discipline of study. It is not simply a sub-set of journalism schools. There has been an increased focus on research, behavioral analysis, business management, crisis management and other equally important disciplines.

But if our communications people can't write so that others will read, use, interpret and pass along their message; what is the value of their work?

The Art, The Science

Where does good business and marketing writing start? Ask all of the right questions before you begin writing. Understand your corporate and product strategy thoroughly. Understand your competition. Understand the issues and the answers. Understand what you want to accomplish. Understand your target audience and their wants/needs. Distill and understand your information and your goals. You have an advantage over a journalist because you have (or should have) a goal before you at the outset.

From all of the information you have accumulated, you are able to determine what is important and not important to the piece you are writing. Whether it is a news release, a speech, a technical/application article or a report; you know what you action you want the recipient to take. Do your best to deal in strong, informative, persuasive writing rather than platitudes and throwaway phrases.

What do we mean?

How often have you written ...

• XYZ, the world's leading....
• ABC, the industry's largest....
• "We are delighted to be working with XYZ," Bill said....

Have you ever seen the statement or quote used by a journalist? Have you ever seen a company proclaim they were number three in a three-company industry? How often do you use technobabble that even you don't understand or load your writing with acronyms that only technical insiders understand?

Write for your target audience, not management. Management is certainly your first audience because if they don't sign off on the work then it will never see the light of day. But don't use "what management will approve" as a crutch for poor writing that never gets used by the media or is never read by your electronic target market. Those are the same rationalizations that the CEOs and CFOs used in justifying the "adjustments" they made in the company books.

At some point you will be judged on results!

Writing for print journalist is different from writing for TV or radio journalists. It is different than writing for web editors. It is different than writing for uselists and blogs. It is different from writing speeches and presentations. It is different for data sheets, brochures, ads. One style doesn't fit all. Study the differences. Practice the art of writing for the various audiences.

The results will amaze you.

Driving Home the Message

Despite all of our technical advances and tools, Mark Twain in the 1880s best described the art of writing for us - "I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English - it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don't let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them - then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice."

• That's good writing!
• That's great communications.
• That's good advice for any marketing and communications professional.

In the vast reaches of the Internet and the world of digital content we would love to think that our words, our ideas could survive the test of time.

If we can't focus on and tap into the information needs of our various audiences we have only ourselves to blame.

Or as Penny Robinson said, "We're lost, aren't we?"

Nerdly News

Normally I wouldn't make a fuss about an 8GB hard drive

But this one is in a telephone. Samsung's SGH-i310 will include 8GB of memory on a hard disk. Earlier Samsung phones had 1.5GB and 3GB hard drives.

Besides the hard disk for storage, a digital camera, and an MP3 player, the SGH-i310 also functions as a phone. The device comes with Windows Mobile 5.0, which allows users to view files and play music. It interfaces with the user's personal computer via USB.

Now that you want one, I have to say that the phone won't be available until the second half of 2006 and then only in Europe.

Google's checkbook was out again this week

The company bought Upstartle, the California business that developed "Writely", an Internet-based word processing application that allows users compose documents on the Web and share them.

Upstartle had released a beta version of Writely last August.

In buying the company Google seems to be signaling more clearly its intent to compete directly with Microsoft. Microsoft is already testing some Internet-based small-business software, but Word is not one of the applications being offered as a service.

Annoying legal disclaimer

My attorney says I really need to say this: The Technology Corner website is for informational purposes only. Neither Joe nor I assume any responsibility for its accuracy, although we do our best. The information is subject to change without notice. Any actions you take based on information from the radio program or from this website are entirely at your own risk. Products and services are mentioned for informational purposes only and their various trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners. Technology Corner cannot provide technical support for products or services mentioned on the air or on the website.