The Tragic Death of the Flip

This is indeed a very sad piece of news - at least to me. The Flip video camera has been a constant companion of mine for several years now, and I love it. It was inexpensive, is small and light, very easy to use, has a direct USB connector built-in for easy downloads to a PC, and it takes extremely high quality videos. See my September 21, 2010 blog post for earlier comments. I will continue to use mine as long as it lasts and then look for an alternative. I imagine there will be scrambling to buy the remaining inventory of Flips online and in stores until they are gone.

The Tragic Death of the Flip by David Pogue of the NY Times

"Day before yesterday, my jaw hit the floor, and I still haven’t managed to get it back up again. 

Cisco is killing the Flip camcorder.

 Let’s see if I can get this straight. Only two years ago, Cisco bought Pure Digital, the company that made the Flip, for $590 million. Then, on Tuesday, Cisco announced that it’s shutting down the whole division and laying off 550 people.

We humans are a rational species. Our instinct is to find reasons, to seek patterns where none may exist. In this case, everybody’s first reaction is: “Oh, it’s because of smartphones. Everybody’s shooting video with iPhones nowadays—nobody’s buying Flip camcorders.”

Or, as Gizmodo puts it, “Cisco just axed Flip, yeah, but the blame should be aimed squarely at the smartphone in your pocket.”"

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Gartner: Tablet Frenzy Cuts into PC Sales

No surprise here, I guess. People I know who have tablets really seem to love them. I would like to try one, but I am not about to shell out $800 for a well-configured model. This comes from Maximum PC.

"The sky isn't falling, the world isn't about to end, and PCs aren't dying. Why, then, is market research firm Gartner bugging out? Call it an overreaction or a temporary blip as tablets settle into the marketplace (or a little of both), but according to Gartner, worldwide PC shipments totaled 84.3 million units in the first quarter of 2011, a 1.1 percent slip from the same period one year ago. Doesn't sound like much, but Gartner says the shipment results are indicative of a potential sluggishness, not just a normal seasonal dip."

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Patch Tuesday

I just finished installing 27 updates to my Windows XP laptop that were downloaded over night! I think that is a record for me. It is very unusual to see so many. I am happy to say that all 27 installed successfully and only needed a system restart to get them all doing what they were meant to do. The number of updates any one user gets will vary depending on your own software environment.

One of these, as expected, was the April 2011 issue of Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool. As always, I recommend that you run a Full Scan of this tool as a little extra insurance that all is well with your system. (START/RUN/MRT/OK) and then select the Full Scan. Let it run while you continue to use your machine for other things.

What is rogue security software?

I have been warning you all about rogue programs for some time now. Here is some basic information about rogues from Lavasoft that you might find helpful.

"Rogue security software is an application that appears to be beneficial from a security perspective but provides little or no security, generates erroneous alerts, or attempts to lure users into participating in fraudulent transactions. Some products defined as "rogue" simply fail to provide the reliable protection that a consumer paid for. Others are far more sinister, masquerading as legitimate security software, and using deceptive tactics to con users into buying the product."

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