Google flags all websites as harmful

Earlier today all searches on Google produced the “this site may be harmful link” next to every search result. It only lasted an hours and the problem was quickly reversed.

Google issued an apology on its blog and attributed it to a human error.

We periodically update that list and released one such update to the site this morning. Unfortunately (and here’s the human error), the URL of ‘/’ was mistakenly checked in as a value to the file and ‘/’ expands to all URLs. Fortunately, our on-call site reliability team found the problem quickly and reverted the file. Since we push these updates in a staggered and rolling fashion, the errors began appearing between 6:27 a.m. and 6:40 a.m. and began disappearing between 7:10 and 7:25 a.m., so the duration of the problem for any particular user was approximately 40 minutes.

Click the screenshot below to read more at Techcrunch.

Managing programs that automatically start with your computer

my startup items

Have you ever taken a glance by the time in the lower right hand of your computer and notice a number of icons sitting there. When you install most programs, they have a small part of the program running, so when you finally need the program it doesn’t have to start loading from scratch and it starts faster, another use is to automatically check for updates and specific intervals.

These are all legitimate uses, but when you start to install a number of programs and they all do this, it starts to slow the system down and it takes a bit longer to start. AOL, itunes, quicktime, AIM, Google Desktop are all culprits.

There is a quick and easy way to deal with this, if you are comfortable using computers hit start > run and they type msconfig in the dialog box and hit enter, then hit the startup tap. You will see a list of programs and a check box beside it to see which ones start with the computer. I usually remove them all except for my anti-virus and firewall programs. After you it ok it will ask you to restart. On your first restart a dialog box will open telling you that system changes have been made, check the box and hit ok.

If after making any changes, some of your programs don’t work the same or if you need something to start with the computer such as a fax program or Magic Jack phone service, put all the check boxes back and disable them one by one.

Digital TV transition bill fails to pass in the House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives did not pass a bill to delay the Digital TV Transition. It looked like a sure bet to pass. The bill needed two-thirds of the votes of the House under “special rules adopted for the vote,” and reportedly, the vote was just 258 to 168 in favor of changing the date. As it stands, an estimated 6.5 million Americans are not yet prepared for the switch which is now back on track for February 17th. And the government program that issues coupons for the converters has run out of money. I’m not sure delaying it is going to make much of a difference. This has been publicized so much through ads on TV, Radio and the internet. And remember the stations and groups that put time and money into preparing for the switch

Circuit City's going out of business sale

circuit city logo

Yesterday I visited a Circuit City store in the Green Acres mall in Valley Stream, NY. I saw the big signs that said 10 to 30% off. I was disappointing when I went into the store, televisions, receivers and most other big ticket items were only 10% off, the 30% was on cables and accessories. And on top of that, the discount was on the MSRP, prices where cheaper at Costco, Best Buy and some reputable internet dealer such as Onecall and Crutchfield.

I never really liked Circuit City. I thought the stores were kind of dingy and the layouts were a mess. Best Buy stores just seemed to be brighter. Maybe it is better lighting or the fact that the Best Buy colors are brighter.

Jailbreaking/Unlocking my iPhone 3g with 2.2 OS

I always thought that jailbreaking and unlocking the iPhone was one and the same thing. I learned today that they were different. I finally decided to take the leap after seeing my brother use a tethering app that I thought would be useful.

I used PwnageTool_2.2, and followed all the instructions and it jailbroke my iphone 3g with 2.2 software. During the process Cydia, which seems like an application repository/installer was also installed on the phone, I used this to install IphoneModem 2.0, I tried for hours on end but couldn’t get the app to work. I was browsing through the networking applications section on Cydia and found PDAnet. It had a two week trial process and then it goes into reduced functionalitty, this kind of annoyed me since IphoneModem 2.0 was free. After checking some review online I tried PDAnet and it worked perfect on the first try. I don’t know what I’ll be using after 2 weeks because the $30 price tag is pretty steep.

I decided to try the unlocking process on my old iphone 2g and I must have done somethign wrong because the phone is officialy bricked!!

Google's Chrome browser out of beta today.

Google Chrome came out of beta today. Users can now download it at the official Chrome site. Users who are currently running the beta version will be notified of the new update on Friday. I can’t wait to see if all the bug fixed have been ironed out, chrome has been my browser of choice since I started getting those nasty firefox/google ssl errors.