Project Green Electronics Recycling Event

Press release from the Keep Norfolk Beautiful website:

Saturday, October 11th, 2008
9am-2pm
All area Grand Furniture Store locations

ACCEPTED ITEMS Personal Computers (PCs), Monitors, LCD Screen / Flat Screen Monitors, VCRs, Radios, Stereos, DVD Players, Microwaves, Power Supplies, Rechargeable Batteries, Vacuums, Banking Equipment, Telephones, Pagers, Networking Equipment, Laptops, Keyboards, Mice, Power Cables, Medical Equipment (Non-Hazardous), Printers, Copy Machines, Fax Machines, Cell Phones, Transformers, Scanners, Portable Electronic Devices, Servers, HUBS, Ink Cartridges, Toner Cartridges, Remotes, Modems, Projectors, Cameras, Televisions (Processing Charge).

FREE TV recycling to first 100 cars!

UNACCEPTED ITEMS Refrigerators, Washer Machines, Clothes Dryers, Dish Washers, Mercury Containing Devices (Thermometers, Fire Alarms), Hazardous Chemicals / Materials, Light Bulbs, Florescent Tubes, Bio-Waste Please Contact CRS About Items Not Listed.

Click here for a Grand Furniture location near you.

Click here or contact Keep Norfolk Beautiful at 441-1347 for details.

iPods and Other Gadgets a Source of Computer Viruses

CNN.com is reporting an AP story of confirmed cases of computer gadgets being purchased from manufacturers and retailers pre-installed with multiple electronic viruses.

Apple has confirmed many video iPods were delivered to your homes with viruses as serious as providing hackers a way to steal passwords from your computer; including your bank account login information stored in your web browsers’ configurations.

Best Buy has pulled many gadgets including electronic photo frames from their shelves blaming their partner manufacturers for the virus issues.

Sam’s Club and Target are performing internal investigations to attempt to validate complaints against their products.

The AP said they’ve contacted some of the world’s largest electronics manufacturers to interview them on protecting their processes from virus insertions but all have declined comment or did not respond. Among them are Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., which is based in Taiwan and has an iPod factory in China; Singapore-based Flextronics International Ltd.; and Taiwan-based Quanta Computer Inc. and Asustek Computer Inc.

The bottom line for each of us as consumers is to be prepared. Be prepared for the worst and protect yourselves and your computers. If you have not already, purchase an anti-virus software application from one of the major manufacturers such as Symantec or McAfee. And be diligent about keeping the anti-virus definitions up-to-date.

If you’re prepared, are smart about your Internet surfing and have taken the proper security steps to protect your computer system(s), you can sleep soundly 95% of the night. Let us worry the other 5% for you.

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PocketCop & BlackBerry – Quick Information in the Hands of Law Enforcement on the Street

BIO-key has announced the release of version 3.5 of PocketCop, which gives law enforcement officers access to state and federal databases, including motor vehicle information. Police officers can quickly and easily check to see if a given person is wanted or if a car was reported stolen.

According to their website, “PocketCop is BIO-key’s industry-leading solution for secure access to federal and state law enforcement and motor vehicles databases from handheld devices.”

“With PocketCop, officers on foot, motorcycle, bike, marine and mounted patrol, as well as investigators and command-level staff, can quickly and easily identify a wanted person or stolen vehicle directly from a BlackBerry smartphone.”

PocketCop also takes advantage of the BlackBerry wireless platform’s built-in web browser to reduce IT administration costs. With real-time deployment, the PocketCop end-user can download and activate the PocketCop thin client application software from any location to make the PocketCop-enabled BlackBerry smartphone fully operational and ready for use in the field.

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iPhone and Exchange Integration

JASE Podcast #9 (0:52 minutes):

This is the first positive step we’ve seen taken by Apple towards making the iPhone a possibility in the secure world of the business enterprise. The rumors have been flying for a while that Apple had licensed Microsoft’s ActiveSync so the iPhone could function on Microsoft Exchange.

The introduction of the iPhone SDK this week verified those rumors. We can’t get too slap happy yet though. Apple has only licensed the protocol. The functionality is not there and won’t be for a couple of versions later in the iPhone. That means at least mid – 2009. But this is a good first step for iPhone enthusiasts.

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