Ken Garen, CPA, Co-Founder and President, UBCC

Samsung Chromebox Series 3  a $329 PC review ·          CNET Editors' Rating 3.0 stars  Good The good:   The   Samsung Chromebox   offers an attractive, low-risk entry point to the experimental world of Google's Chrome OS. The bad:   Absent features and occasional software and hardware incompatibilities mar a supposedly simple user experience. The bottom line:   The attractive, fairly priced Samsung Chromebox desktop turns Google's Web-based Chrome OS into a not entirely unreasonable option for certain low-cost PC shoppers. MSRP: $329.00 I can think of a few customers who might consider the attractive, Google Chrome OS-powered Samsung Chromebox desktop. Schools, libraries, Internet cafes, even a parent shopping for a child's first computer might reasonably look into this $329 PC and its locked-down, almost entirely Web-dependent operating system. I would not recommend the Chromebox for general-...

'Likejacking': Spammers Hit Social Media By Olga Kharif on May 24, 2012  Michelle Espinoza thought a single photo was going to ruin her business. It was an image of one of the pearl cuff bracelets she designs that showed up on Pinterest, a site where users create virtual bulletin boards, grouping images in categories—whether it be chocolate desserts or bohemian jewelry. For 10 days in April, anybody who clicked on the photo ended up watching pornography or unwittingly downloading a virus. “I can’t gauge how many customers I lost,” says Espinoza, a resident of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. “But I did have people messaging me asking, ‘Are you linked to spam?’ I was just distraught.” When Pinterest debuted two years ago, e-mail was the format of choice for spam peddling diets, sexual enhancement, and get-rich scams. Better filters have since banished many of the unwanted missives from in-boxes. Instead, scammers are turning to social media sites that are often poorly equipped...

Crackdown on Chinese Bloggers Who Fight the Censors With Puns By MICHAEL WINES Published: May 28, 2012 BEIJING — One of China’s largest hosts of Twitter-like microblogs decreed new punishments on Monday for users who post comments that its editors — and by extension, China’s government censors — deem inappropriate. The service, Sina Weibo, imposed “user contracts” that award each of its 300 million microbloggers a starting score of 80 points. Points can be deducted for online comments that are judged to be offensive. When a blogger reaches zero, the service stated, a user’s account will be canceled. Users who suffer lesser penalties can restore their 80 points by avoiding violations for two months. Deductions will cover a wide range of sins, including spreading rumors, calling for protests, promoting cults or superstitions and impugning China’s honor, the service stated. Most notably, the contracts also will punish time-honored tactics that bloggers have used ...

House to examine plan for United Nations to regulate the Internet By Brendan Sasso  - 05/26/12 08:10 AM ET House lawmakers will consider an international proposal next week to give the United Nations more control over the Internet. The proposal is backed by China, Russia, Brazil, India and other UN members, and would give the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) more control over the governance of the Internet. It’s an unpopular idea with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Congress, and officials with the Obama administration have also criticized it. “We're quite concerned,” Larry Strickling, the head of the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said in an interview with The Hill earlier this year. He said the measure would expose the Internet to “top-down regulation where it's really the governments that are at the table, but the rest of the stakeholders aren't.” At a hearing earl...

Google alert claims users' Internet may shut down July 9 Google is spreading information about the DNSChanger malware, but for some the warnings may persist even after removing the malware. by   Topher Kessler     May 24, 2012 9:21 PM PDT If you have been browsing the Web lately and have used Google's search services, you may find the search results page show a warning at the top that states "Your computer appears to be infected" along with a small description about systems not being able to connect to the Internet in the future. The message also includes a link to an information page that generally describes what malware is and how to detect it. This alert has had a few people concerned about their abilities to stay online. MacFixIt reader Naomi writes: "I noticed the google message saying my computer is infected and I have clicked on the links to clean up the malware/spyware/ whatever it is -- but the message is still there. Then I read that my ...

Students will be tracked via chips in IDs By Francisco Vara-Orta Updated 11:44 p.m., Thursday, May 24, 2012 Northside Independent School District plans to track students next year on two of its campuses using technology implanted in their student identification cards in a trial that could eventually include all 112 of its schools and all of its nearly 100,000 students. District officials said the Radio Frequency Identification System (RFID) tags would improve safety by allowing them to locate students — and count them more accurately at the beginning of the school day to help offset cuts in state funding, which is partly based on attendance. Northside, the largest school district in Bexar County, plans to modify the ID cards next year for all students attending John Jay High School, Anson Jones Middle School and all special education students who ride district buses. That will add up to about 6,290 students. The school board unanimously approved the program late T...

'We face a fight for the future of the web,' says Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt JEROME TAYLOR    WEDNESDAY 23 MAY 2012   One of Google’s most senior executives issued a stark warning tonight that the power of the internet to free some of the world’s most oppressed people risks being overturned by autocratic governments who seek to “Balkanise” the web by controlling what can be accessed. Eric Schmidt, the current executive chairman of the Silicon Valley internet giant, said technology had the potential to be a “great leveller” which would empower the poor like never before. But he added that dictatorial regimes were increasingly looking to control who has access to the web by “filtering information they fear or prohibit.” The 57-year-old software engineer, who stepped down as Google’s CEO last year after more than a decade in the driving seat, called on the international community to “fight for the future of the web” stating that at least ...

Judge Rejects RIAA Claim Of 'Trillions' Against Limewire May 24, 2012 at 5:36 AM (PT) Off The Hook For $72 Trillion The RIAA's contention that LIMEWIRE owes it trillions of dollars in damages is "absurd," a federal judge has ruled. COMPUTERWORLD.COM reports, "In a scathing ruling filed earlier this month, Judge KIMBA WOOD of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of NEW YORK flatly rejected the industry's claims that LIMEWIRE should pay up to $150,000 for each download of some 11,000 songs included in the RIAA lawsuit." That would have added up to over $72 trillion dollars in damages. The RIAA had argued that the file-sharing site LIMEWIRE allowed thousands or even millions of people to illegally download one or more of 11,000 songs. The association contends its members are entitled to statutory damages for every single illegal download. But the Judge disagreed, ruling the RIAA's position "offends the canon...