Palm Beach International Film Festival... wooohoo!!

As the Great Depression of 2009 rolls on, many of us are forced to re-invent ourselves in order to make ends meet. I have been trying to supplement my income taking pictures and trying to sell them on the internet.

Well, I think I have my first break in this new line of work for me. I am going to be photographing the events of the Palm Beach International Film Festival beginning on April 23rd, and running through April 27th.

It is very exciting for me, because up to now I have not had an assignment. I have been shooting what I want and trying to sell them. This will be my first real step into professional photography. I am also working on several other angles in this new profession and will keep you posted if they come through.

I am excited by this new opportunity and hope that it will give me some more options going forward. I hope you all are making it okay, and that the "FUD", (fear, uncertainty and doubt) has not caused you to crawl under a rock to hide. It is a perfect time to set you goal in a different direction and to see what new paths of opportunities will open up for us.

I am continuing my work with Secure Technology Partners, and will keep of any new development on that front as well.

Don't lose faith.... this will pass.

Mac or Windows, do you have an opinion?

I just read an interesting blog on CNET, "Is Apple More Form than Function?" by Brooke Crothers. The article discusses a very interesting position, based on pure technical.
specifications. So they lined the spec's lined out side by side to ask you, which would you go with a new Vista Laptop loaded to the max, or a new Apple Macbook with moderate spec's?

Also, the article tends to suggest the idea that Apple's popularity by PC purchasers is more for astetics than functionality. Yes, those that carry a Mac look cooler, because they are.... and most likely more educated on the true form and function of a "PC".

Technically it is the OS in the Mac that beats Windows boxes hands down, but it is the total package from, ease of use, to the cost of software, reliability........... and of course the perceived coolness.

When Microsoft released Vista, it shot itself in the foot. The newly re-designed interface is nothing more than a nightmare for previous XP and Windows users. So if you have to learn how to operate your computer from start..... AGAIN, why not look to alternative systems that might provide better service and reliability.

In addition to the tremendous faux pas, with Vista, Microsoft is about to get it's clock cleaned by new Linux OS's for NetBooks, which cannot run Vista due to it's massive hardware requirements and its design for full sized laptop monitors.

See if this does not set Microsoft back on its heels. You have to wonder about an OS that costs almost as much as the machine it runs on.

One last comment on the Apple Revolution, for $99/year you can take one, 1-hour class per week on any Apple product, hardware or software. I have done this to learn the Apple Aperture application, and I am very impressed at the quality of the session.

Watch, I think the next 18 months will be interesting.

I Must Be the Luckiest Person on Earth!

This morning I am the winner of not one but two lotteries and a sweepstakes. I won the Netherlands lottery of 1 million Euros, a Hyundai sweepstakes for 500,000 pounds in England, and I won 2,500,000 GPB's in the Canadian Lotto Promotion.

Not bad for a nights sleep. Is it just me.........no, that is getting all these lotto, sweepstakes, and miscellaneous phishing emails? I cannot believe how much more phishing emails I am receiving now over six months ago.

I wonder how successful these scams are. Are people really responding to them and give all their personal info? Well, I am going to turn a positive to a negative, and say that I must be lucky!

So Far So Good...No Virus Here!

It is almost 10:00 PM, I have just turned on the news and..... not one story about the Conficker Virus! What's up with that? I thought that almost 30 percent of the Window's PC that have internet access are affected and the time was today to do the damage.

Oh well, another diaster narrowly missed. Can I say that? I guess it is like when you were a little child and there was a threat of a snowstorm coming. For a couple of days before the ETA we would all get excited about the chance of a natural diaster. Of course the stores would run out of everything consumable and schools would be off the day before so we could get prepared and then the storm would never arrive.

I hope that that is what happens with Conficker. It is fun to think about the diaster. but not much fun if you are in it.

I guess we will have to wait a few more days to find out.

Conficker's ConSmicter, or whatever.......No it is not PCI

Here we go again another virus to be worried about! The "Conficker"! I was listening to the news today and the newscaster said that I would be okay if I just downloaded the latest Windows Patch. Which one would that be??

I don't know how to download Windows patches onto my Mac. Should I be worried? Oh No!

This sounds like an opportunity to sell more AV software and raid the grocery store to clear the shelves of all the bread and milk..... oh yeah, and beer! There must be a disaster coming...

Well, I guess I'd better start trying to figure out how to get the latest Microsoft Patch onto my Mac...

And of course Good Luck with Conflicker!

Well..... One Outa Three... No PCI, No IDS, No Networking!

Okay, I didn't make it to the Radiators Friday night. What can I say Al. I got caught up at the neighbors house. Sorry!!

Anyway, I did make it to the Jupiter Dog beach yesterday to take pictures of the kite boarders. I am starting to meet the key players and now they are starting to know that the pictures I am taking are for sale. We also went to the kite boarding store. Pretty amazing the following that is starting to build with this fairly new sport. I think it is about 12 years old.

Here is a shot at the beach, and of course you can always go to the Palm Beach Post web-site, and go to the "PHOTOS" on the menu bar and then choose "POST PIX" and search on "mancini" you can see the great beach shots here in Florida.

Today I am working on straightening out the photo library in Aperature, Apples' photo editing tool. It is similar to Adobe's Photoshop. It is pretty boring work. It is supposed to rain today so maybe I can stay focused.

Have a great day!

What's Next..... Ransome, What Did you say Ransomeware?

I just finished reading an article in InfomationWeek, "Scareware Morphs Into Ransomware", by Tim Wilson. It never ceases to amaze me what is going on in the dark shadows of computing. Now we have "ransomeware".

I guess I was sleeping last June or thinking about NAC, when the news broke on the new type of malware which encrypts your hard drive and provides you with a pop up letting you know that you can purchase a key that will unlock your data if you want to get it back.

It is quite a ploy. Thank God for TimeMachine! Hopefully, Macs are not possible targets? It seems that this nasty bug is a variant of Gpcode which, I do not have a clue about other than it has been around for a while and the author is getting smarter about how to prevent removal.

I must give kudos..... no way beyond kudos to Kapersky and FireEye who are offering free removal for the poor souls who's computers might become infected with this. According to the information that I have taken a look at, we are are not likely to see this here in the United States, only Eastern Europe and Russia; however, is this what's coming?

Sometimes, I have to wonder where you have to surf to or what you have to do to get some of these incredibly obtrusive bugs. I guess I am fortunate. I have had friends who's computers were locked up with virus's. I hate to talk about it but the closest I have come is a warning that an email had been infected.

That being said, I still try to use every precaution possible to prevent the newest worm from wrecking havoc in my life. But who can be so careful as to never fall for the latest scam. I just finished my taxes a couple of weeks ago and I received a Phishing email disguised as from IRS. I looked at it, and of course my jaw dropped to the floor. However, it said that I was due money, so of course, you immediately let your guard down. Now how many unsuspecting people might follow it through and provide their personal information?

Well, not meaning to be so down on a Friday afternoon, but it did make me scratch my head and think............what's next?

Gotta go. Off to see the Radiators tonight! and it is Pictures of Kite Boarders... AKA: DOG Beach, in the morning and then horses in the afternoon!

Have a good one!