Text-messaging privacy is a hot topic once again, thanks to the latest text-messaging sex scandal involving Detroit’s Mayor Kwame Kilpatrik and his chief of staff Christine Beatty. The Detroit Free Press examined over 14,000 text messages obtained from Beatty’s pager, publishing those that confirmed the two were having an affair and lied under oath about it.We’re reminded time and time again to refrain from sending personal emails using the office computer. Maybe they should’ve taken a few precautions with the office pager too. David Chamberlain, a wireless analyst for In-Stat, reminds us that users of any technology issued by an employer shouldn’t expect to have any privacy. It’s obvious the mayor’s mistake was using a city-issued pager to exchange personal messages with his aide, but what about the rest of us? Should we have to worry about old texts resurfacing even when using our private lines?

According to a report by the Associated Press, Beatty’s text messaging service was provided by SkyTel who has contracts exclusively with corporations and government agencies, and not surprisingly, stores all communication for legal reasons. It’s not exactly clear how many years these text messages are archived for, but the Detroit Free Press says the messages obtained cover two months in 2002 and 2003.

As for the rest of us, AT&T says they keep messages for up to 72 hours, Sprint PCS for two weeks, and Verizon says texts don’t stay on the network for a long period, adding “people can feel comfortable we’re not storing information that can later be used against them.” Oh, really? Then how is it that in many cases the police and even hackers have been able to obtain old text messages archived somewhere in a carrier’s server?

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As Salon’s Patrick Smith notes, “Few rules are more confounding to airline passengers than those regarding the use of cellphones and portable electronic devices.” I’d add the quart-sized plastic bag to that list, but I digress: Smith is right. Is it really true that something as innocuous as a Treo left on in row 32 could cause a jumbo jet to go down in flames? Let’s ask Smith himself: He isn’t just a pundit, he’s a commercial pilot as well.

Part of the issue regarding stowing electronics at takeoff and landing, says Smith, has nothing to do with the fabled “interference,” but rather that they can be dangerous as impromptu projectiles in the event of a sudden stop. Just ask the lady who decided to leave her tray table down and a full cup of Coke on it during my recent return flight from Vegas. Amazingly, it didn’t stay where she wanted it to.

That aside, what happens in the cockpit when you forget to shut your phone down during takeoff? Most likely: Nothing. But interference is possible. Smith doesn’t use this analogy, but try putting your cell phone next to a cheap PC speaker and turn up the volume. You will probably note an occasional, rapid, syncopated beeping coming from the computer speaker. If you’ve ever heard this before and wondered what it was, now you know: That’s interference between the two devices.

Now an airplane is considerably more complicated than a $10 speaker, so the stakes are much higher should interference occur. But as Smith notes, airplanes are also designed to take this kind of interference into account. Smith himself says that he’s never noted anything on the flight deck that might have been caused by a cell phone, but how would he know. Airplanes exhibit brief, oddball glitches all the time, and usually no one ever knows what the source was. (All that aside, at least two major incidents, including one crash, have been blamed on cell phones, though neither has been proven.)

The airlines don’t really seem to care too much about the cell phone rule: Smith estimates that about half of all cell phones are left on during flight. My personal experience observing other passengers validates this.

Smith wisely notes that one big reason for the cell phone rules is that the potential for danger of phones ensures that people won’t demand to use them in flight. Most fliers, as we know, despise this idea, but serial chatters are far more, ahem, vocal about the issue. No one wants a war over technology at 35,000 feet. Those days, however, are already arriving in Europe, as onboard cellular systems have already been approved. Will the U.S. see the same? Smith feels it’s inevitable, and he’s probably right.

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Anonymous writes: I am soon to be a single mother. My soon to be ex-husband and I owned a computer store. I only have a working knowledge of computers; he was very good at it. When he left the house, he still was able to enter the PC, and I think he installed a keylogger program on the family computer. I can’t do anything on my computer at home for this reason, and was wondering if you would know how I can check this, or delete it from my computer.

Keyloggers are a common form of software and hardware that are used to keep track of everything a user does on a PC: Essentially, every button you press is recorded to a file, which the spy can then access at a later time. All your passwords, and everything else you type, is accessible by the perpetrator. Some keylogger programs can even record occasional pictures or video of the screen. Other variants can take a snapshot of you with your webcam. And yes, they can relay those logs over the internet (though this makes them easier to find).

As you can likely tell, keyloggers represent one of the most serious forms of spyware on a PC, but they are hardly unbeatable. First, most spyware detection and antivirus software should be able to uncover their presence and remove them. If you suspect a keylogger is on your PC, update your antivirus software of choice and give it a full run. Also try a sampling of other spyware killers: My current favorites are Ad-Aware and Spyware Doctor. Both are free (the latter if you get it as part of the Google Pack).

Also, and this is critical, check out your computer for any hardware you didn’t connect yourself. Many hardware keyloggers look like thumbdrives and connect to either your USB or keyboard port, often between your computer and your keyboard cable. The device does all the recording and the spy simply collects the device at a later time to access your keystrokes. Spyware detection software may not uncover these devices. See the photo above for an example. They can be very small and hard to detect, so check thoroughly.

If you detect nothing in your spyware hunt but still suspect you have a keylogger (or if you find the keylogger software but are unable to remove it), your best bet is to reformat your hard drive and reinstall Windows from scratch. It’s a pain, I know, but you’re better safe than sorry in a situation like this. Anti-spyware tools are not perfect and can miss infections. I’d rather advise you to spend a weekend reinstalling software on your computer than potentially give up all your secrets to someone who might use them against you.

from :http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/66699;_ylt=AurX_htiQ3nup52X3xzMX22XMJA5

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Reader Mike asks: Is it safe to leave my laptop plugged in for extended periods of time when I am not using it? I am talking 10 or 12 hours at a time. Or should I only plug it in when it needs charging?

There are actually two issues at play in this very common question: It it safe to leave a laptop plugged in all the time, and is it bad for the battery to do so? Let’s look at both.

First, regarding safety, there’s no evidence that shows that leaving your laptop plugged in will cause any sort of danger to the battery. You’re right to worry, considering the battery explosions issue of 2006-07, but many of those laptops weren’t plugged in at all when they went up in flames, and there’s no evidence that those that were plugged in had been left that way for a long time, or that anything other than bad battery design was responsible for their failure.

The truth is that laptops and laptop batteries are designed with the intent that they be plugged in as often as possible. In fact, most manufacturers suggest leaving them plugged in all the time. The heat you feel from the bottom of a laptop that’s been running all day doesn’t really have anything to do with whether it’s plugged in or not. Laptops get hot due to their internal components and the chemical reaction in the battery. The A/C charge has very little to do with it. So, from a pure safety standpoint: Plugged in is just fine.

The other question concerns your battery’s lifespan. Will leaving it plugged in decrease its useful life? The short answer is no, at least not enough that you’re likely to notice. Lithium-ion batteries have no “memory effect” like nickel-based batteries, so there’s no worry about plugging them back in before they’re completely drained. But like all batteries, lithium cells lose capacity over time. The more they are drained and recharged, the more their internal structure warps, and they eventually become unusable. This happens due to heat, and since your battery gets hot even when it isn’t discharging, as long as you have it installed in a running computer, it’s going to be affected to some extent. Now this effect is really pretty minimal compared to constant charge-discharge cycles, but if you turn off your laptop at night and unplug it, or if you run your laptop plugged in, without a battery installed, that battery will last slightly longer when you do eventually start using it (so long as you keep it properly charged most of the time). However, the extra lifespan you gain is not even remotely worth the extra hassle in doing all this work. Bottom line: Leave your notebook’s battery installed, and plug it in as often as you can.

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WASHINGTON - The Beatles are about to become radio stars in a whole new way. NASA on Monday will broadcast the Beatles’ song “Across the Universe” across the galaxy to Polaris, the North Star.

This first-ever beaming of a radio song by the space agency directly into deep space is nostalgia-driven. It celebrates the 40th anniversary of the song, the 45th anniversary of NASA’s Deep Space Network, which communicates with its distant probes, and the 50th anniversary of NASA.

“Send my love to the aliens,” Paul McCartney told NASA through a Beatles historian. “All the best, Paul.”

The song, written by McCartney and John Lennon, may have a ticket to ride and will be flying at the speed of light. But it will take 431 years along a long and winding road to reach its final destination. That’s because Polaris is 2.5 quadrillion miles away.

NASA loaded an MP3 of the song, just under four minutes in its original version, and will transmit it digitally at 7 p.m. EST Monday from its giant antenna in Madrid, Spain. But if you wanted to hear it on Polaris, you would need an antenna and a receiver to convert it back to music, the same way people receive satellite television.

The idea came from Martin Lewis, a Los Angeles-based Beatles historian, who then got permission from McCartney, Yoko Ono and the two companies that own the rights to Beatles’ music. One of those companies, Apple, was happy to approve the idea because is “always looking for new markets,” Lewis said.

Perhaps coincidentally, the song’s launching comes a day before the release of the DVD of

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LAS VEGAS - Microsoft Corp. might not be the unbeatable giant it once seemed to be, but Chairman Bill Gates made the case Sunday night that its technologies are becoming even more flexible and powerful as they seep into automobiles, Internet-based TV networks and living rooms.

A few months away from leaving his daily duties at Microsoft to focus on his philanthropy, Gates used his traditional kickoff keynote at the International Consumer Electronics Show to highlight how Microsoft is extending the reach of its software beyond desktops and servers, and incorporating alternative inputs like voice and touch.

“The first digital decade has been a great success,” he said. “This is just the beginning. There’s nothing holding us back from going much faster and much further in the second digital decade.”

Traditional PC programs got less airtime than in previous keynotes. That contrast stood out considering not only the tepid response for Microsoft’s year-old Windows Vista operating system but also the way that Web-based applications are threatening Microsoft’s hold on desktop computing.

Instead Gates bounced from cars — Microsoft’s Sync technology for playing music and making phone calls should be available in all Ford, Mercury and Lincoln vehicles in the 2009 model year — to the living room. Gates and Robbie Bach, who heads Microsoft’s entertainment division, announced an expansion of the high-definition Hollywood movies and TV shows that can be downloaded through the Xbox video game console’s online service.

Those include shows from ABC television and other properties of Walt Disney Co. (which, by the way, counts Microsoft uber-rival and Apple Inc. chief Steve Jobs as its biggest individual shareholder).

Gates also explained how Mediaroom, the Internet-based television platform that Microsoft created for telecommunications companies to sell, will work with TNT and Showtime to let users select their own camera angles when viewing sports. For example, a Nascar fan could maintain a constant view from his favorite driver’s car, or plug into a certain ringside shot in a boxing match. For now, though, Mediaroom is mainly used for TV services in other countries.

Microsoft will have another chance to show its video talents this summer, when it runs NBC’s online Olympics portal, which is designed to let people zero in on specific events that interest them.

“Building great connected TV experiences is not just a hobby for Microsoft,” Bach said.

Gates and Bach talked up improvements in ways for people to interact with software by voice, touch and gesture. In addition to the speech-recognizing functions in Sync-enabled cars, Microsoft plans to soon upgrade the voice-activated information searches available through its subsidiary Tellme. It also will augment the system underlying Surface, Microsoft’s computer in a table that responds to users’ touches and gestures.

Surface is debuting as a virtual concierge in hotels, but Gates hopes it will soon be used in retail stores. For example, Gates showed how an outdoors-shop customer could use a Surface table to customize a snowboard and transfer an image of his creation to a mobile device simply by putting it on the table.

It was that kind of demonstration that inspired thousands of techies to begin lining up for the speech more than four hours before it started.

What they might not have expected — and what they clearly relished — was a self-deprecating farewell video in which Gates mocked the idea that he would desperately cast about for things to do after retiring as Microsoft’s chief software architect this July.

It showed a giddy Gates rapping, trying to lift weights, pleading for a spot in U2 and lobbying for a place on a presidential ticket. The video’s cameo appearances from the likes of Brian Williams, Jay-Z, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Jon Stewart, Steven Spielberg and George Clooney provoked uproarious laughter — not a common occurence at a tech conference.

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Pen spinning is being elevated to an art form in Japan.

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It is a time-honored tradition to make resolutions at this time of year. If your resolution is to lose weight - and keep it off, then keep reading! Here are six simple tips that will have you losing weight in a balanced and healthy way. 

1. Lose weight with water.
Water is essential for everybody - it is also the key to losing weight. If you haven’t been drinking enough water, your body has developed a pattern of storing water. This water retention equals extra unwanted weight.

By drinking more water, you are not only flushing out toxins, you are also teaching your body that it no longer needs to store water. Drink at least 60 ounces of water (about 8 glasses) a day. Boil water and sliced lemons, and drink this throughout the day to help with fluid retention. If you are still not sold on the merits of water, try this on for size: water is a natural appetite suppressant.

2. Soup up your weight loss program.
A simple dietary change will have you shedding pounds: eat a bowl of soup at least once a day. Nutritious, low-salt soups will nourish you as they flush waste from your body. People who eat a serving of soup daily lose more weight than those who eat the same amount of calories but don’t eat soup. Go for homemade soup whenever possible, as canned soups are loaded with salt and chemicals.

3. Eat early to keep weight off.
The human body follows a circadian rhythm, which means that the same foods eaten at breakfast and lunch are processed differently than when eaten at dinner. Studies show that when you eat your daily protein and fat at breakfast you tend to lose weight and have more energy; however, eating the same things at dinner tend to increase tendencies toward weight gain. I suggest that you eat your last meal of the day by 7 p.m. 

4. Eat smaller meals, more frequently.
Follow an eating schedule with five little meals every day. Eating steadily through the day keeps you from becoming famished and overeating at your next meal. Make a low-fat trail mix from raw almonds, pumpkin seeds, dried plum, and apples and have it available at all times to avoid the tempting lure of high-calorie snacks. 

5. Adopt a balanced approach to your diet.
Most of the fad diet programs out there nowadays are extreme in a few recommended foods, or else deprive the body of food altogether. This works in opposition to our metabolism and the results usually don’t last, producing a yoyo effect that depresses your metabolic function - not to mention your self-esteem. We are natural beings that need a balance of nutrition from all sources. 

Your diet should consist of a balance of organic sources of lean protein, complex carbohydrates, whole grains, legumes, nuts, fruits, and vegetables. Instead of white rice and pasta, opt for brown rice, bulgur, millet, or buckwheat.

Eat more green, chlorophyll-rich foods such as broccoli, kale, spinach, and asparagus. Eliminate candy, sugar, soda, and all simple sugars from your diet. Excess sugar ends up being stored as fat in your body, which results in weight gain. Also, keep dairy to a minimum because most dairy products are high in saturated fat. Avoid fatty foods, processed or fried foods.

6. Walk off the weight.
The No. 1 cause of weight gain is inactivity. Physical activity is the key to speeding up your metabolism and burning excess calories. The best way to be physically active is to use your legs! Walk as often and as long as you can. Always take the stairs instead of the elevator.

Step outside during your break at work and take a walk around your building. Consider joining a local hiking club. Try taking a walk 30 minutes in the morning or 30 minutes in the early evening.

I hope this article helps you shed some pounds and add on the years! I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me. 

May you live long, live strong, and live happy!

-Dr. Mao

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