Ever wondered what it would be like to actually see and talk with folks all around the world?  Want to join a really, really big chat room (a.k.a. the planet Earth) that combines video chatting and texting?  Here is the catch, you won’t know anyone that you are seeing/talking with and they can be doing anything they want.

Well, www.chatroulette.com is all the rage.   Chat Roulette has only been around for approximately 3 months, and reportedly already has 85,000 users.  I jumped on the site on Tuesday with about 20,000 of my closest friends…. just to try it out and got some real surprises!

The site is remarkably simple, one page.   All you need to do it enable your webcam and click “play” and you are all set.  You are now in the queue and Chat Roulette’s servers start to randomly assign you people that are available to video chat and/or text with.   If you don’t like who you have been matched with, then just click “next” or hit F9 and you are randomly assigned to someone else.   Truth be told, you don’t even need a web cam.

Chat Roulette has come under fire for the lack of controls to keep minors from participating.  Additionally, there are reports that some of the video cam shots you will see are of men that are doing inappropriate things. If you aren’t’ sure what I mean, then use your imagination.   So, I tried it to see if these reports are true.   I started using Chat Roulette and purposefully kept track and my experience was that about 10% of the people that I “met”  were female and of the remaining 90% percent, the majority of the men were either holding the camera at a weird angle (not sure what they were planning and I didn’t wait to find out!) or they weren’t wearing any clothing, so the reports appear to be true.

So as a parent, I don’t want my kids anywhere near this site, and as an adult, you have to wonder if anyone will go there more than once.

Video chatting is finally coming in to prime time, even my kid’s video chat with their cousins all over the USA…..and while random chatting could be interesting, not with a bunch of nude middle aged guys that are doing some weird stuff.

This is a great site…very useful…

The big V day is Sunday and some of us may have forgotten to make dinner reservations!  Well, never fear, because there is a solution…check out www.opentable.com and you can have a table waiting for you and your significant other for Saturday night…and for free!

Believe it or not, reports indicate that a full 30% of folks that plan on dining out, are going to make reservations at the last minute.   This is where www.opentable.com comes in.

OpenTable provides access to restaurants and their openings for dinner and thereby saves you a TON of time in finding the perfect spot for you and your significant other.  Check it out.  I like being able to search by location, type of food, price, date, time and party size.  So for example, I searched for a steak dinner in Baltimore at 7pm for 2 people and found 4 restaurants with openings and another 7 with openings that are close to my 7pm time.  Oh, and I did this in about 10 seconds.

Another aspect I like about open table is their ability to help you find a good restaurant and see ratings and reviews of this restaurant.  I frequently run in to the issue of “we want to go out, but don’t know where to go”.  OpenTable solves this issue.  Now you can search for a type of cuisine (e.g., American, French, Fusion and 16 others) and an approximate cost and then read some reviews…pick a place to go and you are all set.  Very cool.  I really like the ability to find new restaurants to explore.

OpenTable has more than 11,000 restaurant customers and, since its inception in 1998, has seated more than 120 million diners around the world.

Check it out to get you out of a bind for V Day and you use this site all year…I know I am.

The worst of the recession looks to be over and companies are starting to hire again.  Great news.  So if you are in the market to find a new job or career – then where do you look?  The same is true if you are just coming out of college and are looking for employment that might not be in your main field of study.   Since I have spent the last 20 years in tech, I may be biased, however I recommend technology.

The demand for tech is continuing to grow with many tech jobs remaining in demand during even the bottom of the recession.    AND…technology jobs are going to be one of the first to return…I have already seen this to be true with IT job demand since the January 1!

So if you aren’t a techie, but want to be…or at least think about it…what positions are the most in demand?

Well, the folks at Network world did some research and came up with the following listing…I am only going to directly discuss the first two and add one that is not on the list.  The entire list can be found at www.networkworld.com.

First on the list is Security specialist/ethical hacker.   Most websites are Swiss cheese and hackers are having a fun time hacking in to everything they can.  There are even websites that list sites that are vulnerable and how to break in.   Want to be surprised…go to YouTube.com and search on “hacking how to” videos…there are plenty of them.  This is going to be a major field, so get in now, with the Wash/Balt region becoming the epicenter for IT security for the world – you can’t go wrong.

Next on the list is Virtual Systems Manager.  If you aren’t familiar with the concepts of Software as a Service (Saas) and Cloud technologies, take a few minutes and read up on these topics.  Predictions are that more than 50% of all software will be purchased using a Saas model – meaning that you will pay as you go.    Cloud technology and virtualization allow for companies to significantly reduce their risk and costs by using technology computing resources that are “in the cloud”..you no longer need to know where your servers are…let someone else worry about it and cut your costs by 50%.  Amazing.

Other positions on the list include Capacity Manager, Network Engineer, Open Source Specialist, Service Assurance Manager, Electronic Health Records Manager, Sourcing Specialist, Service Catalog Manager and Business Process Engineer.  All good jobs and worthy of some research should you be interested in choosing a new career.

Also give some thought to a Social Media Analyst.  These folks are very much in demand as everyone works to grapple with the best way to utilize Facebook, Twitter and FourSquare to create and maintain communities of friends, clients, customers, prospects, vendors…Being able to do a little HTML will dramatically raise your price tag for this position.

So the good news is that companies are starting to hire and tech positions are one of the first to gain momentum.    Do some research and jump in…a bright future awaits.  If you want more information on what the Baltimore business community is looking for in IT positions, feel free to visit www.g1440.com and check our list of positions that businesses are looking for.

Imagine watching a Ravens game in 3D… pretty cool, huh?  How much fun would it be to see Tom Brady get sacked and feel like you are right there…well, 3D TV is right around the corner.

In case you missed it, last week was the CES or Consumer Electronics Show…this is the show where really cool stuff usually shows up before hitting the mass markets.

3D Television was one of the hot technologies on display this year.  While 3D television has been discussed by many folks over the years, the big news is that manufacturers are signing up to start delivering 3D sets this year for about the price of an HD set.   Manufacturers like Sony, Samsung, LG and Panasonic have either rolled out 3-D products or are expected to in the near future.

To make the picture complete (sorry for the pun, but couldn’t resist), several studios are also on board to provide content…which is nice, because we will actually have something to watch if we were to buy a 3D set.  Content providers like ESPN, DreamWorks, Direct TV and Discovery have said they are planning to produce 3D shows in 2010.  ESPN is clearly out in front, because…well, who buys a lot of TVs…um, men.  And who watches a lot of sports…um, that would be men too!

My research shows that some TVs currently available are 3D ready and/or can be upgraded when the 3D content is broadcast.  So, if you are in the market for a TV, be sure to check on whether or not your TV is 3D ready.   Also be sure to check on how 3D will be provided as some TVs will require glasses and some will not.

I checked with some folks in the “biz” and they tell me that this technology is likely to go through a number of early stage changes and enhancements, so if you buy early, you may be left with some obsolete technology pretty quickly.  They recommend waiting for the first few generations to come out before jumping in and slapping down your $8,000 to $10,000.

Personally, I can’t wait.  Anybody seen Avatar in 3D or Up?  3D technology has come a long way in the last couple of years and I believe will become the standard for viewing pretty quickly.

Goodbye Windows Vista and hello Windows 7. Last week, Microsoft released a new version of their operating system. It is called Windows 7 and is being marketed as a fast, agile, easy to use improvement from their last operating system release called Windows Vista.

Some of the “new” features aren’t really new, but improved.  Here are the top 4 in my opinion…first off is the Pin feature…this is not new, but is still helpful as it provides the ability to control where your programs appear on your taskbar. All you need to do is drag the icon to where you want it and it stays there until you move it. You can even pin specific documents and web sites to Jump Lists on your task bar.

Next up is Snap…this feature provides a quick way to resize open windows by dragging them to the edges of your screen…when you drag the window to the edge of the screen, Windows will resize it to 50% of your monitor size. This is helpful if you are trying to compare two windows side by side.

Homegroup is a new feature that focuses on sharing of files and music within your home…Homegroup will make it easier for you to print to a printer on the home network or send/play music on another PC that is in your home.

Lastly is Windows Touch…the touch screen functionality has been around for some time, however Microsoft has extended it to every part of the pc with this release…for example, now the start menu and taskbar have larger icons for those of us with fat fingers. This feature also supports something known as “multi-touch gestures” such as moving your fingers apart to zoom in on an image…something that the iPhone does very well.

So what are people saying? Well, I did a little market research and talked some techies that I know and the feedback was pretty positive. None of them reported any installation issues, although, there have been issues reported on the some blogs and support groups. Most of the issues that are reported seem to be focused on upgrading…with the clean install appearing to work pretty well.

Microsoft does get some bad press for releasing buggy code; however in my experience it is common for early users to experience some issues. Even Apple users encountered issues when installing Mac OS 10.6, also known as Snow Leopard earlier this year.  Most new software glitches work themselves out over time, either with a fix from the vendor or solutions posted by the user community and this is precisely why I will wait a little while before installing 7 on my computers…

The full version of Windows 7 Professional is $299, with upgrades going for $199 with an upgrade from Vista or XP costing $119.

Have fun with this and send me an email to let me know how it goes!

Governor O’Malley has declared October to be cyber security awareness month.  The Federal Government has as well. What does that mean? Well, according to the Governor, it’s necessary to remind all Americans that we need to protect the security of cyberspace from the viruses, theft, hacking and loss of sensitive information that has become a daily occurrence.

So, how serious is the cyber security issue? Well… bad and getting worse. The main reason is that businesses that are running .com websites are not focused on securing them. Reports indicate that 91% of websites are vulnerable. If you think this is too high, then consider that G.1440’s experience is that 86% are vulnerable…meaning that basically 9 out of 10 are Swiss cheese.

Making matters even worse is that hacking has changed to be a stealth crime… business owners believe that they are safe as long as they aren’t aware of anything bad happening…this is very, very wrong…according to Verizon data breach report, 63% of business owners don’t know for months that they have been hacked. Hackers infect your site and then plot their next steps…even if your site is simple and just an online brochure, you can still be implicated in a crime where your business is used as a front for a hacker…and all without you knowing it. Sound crazy? Unfortunately, it isn’t farfetched at all and is happening today.

One last myth that must be exposed is that firewalls will prevent your website from being hacked…this is simply not true.

Basically, the .coms are not paying attention to this critical issue and need to start. The US Govt is spending 100 million on protecting government sites only to have them attacked by their own citizen’s computers and websites. Several officials that I have spoken to have predicted that scanning of .com websites will be mandatory – this will happen due to the need for all sites to be protected.

The Federal Government is clearly stepping things up and has just announced that the Department of Homeland Security is going to be hiring over 1000 security specialists.

What can you do to protect yourself?  For starters, ask the business owners you know if they are aware that October is Cyber security Awareness month and if they have had their website scanned for hacking vulnerabilities.

Next, only visit sites you trust – especially true for downloads as hacked websites will give you more than you asked for when you click a link to download…a click is just an opening for a hacker to send you whatever they want.

Remember to keep your browser security as up to date as possible as your computer can be infected just by visiting a website that has been compromised.   Keep your virus protection; spyware; id protection software up to date and consider the use of a link scanner… www.avg.com has a good one that is free. Lastly, back up your critical key files just in case.

It is a crazy world wide web right now and you need to take steps to keep yourself safe. Unfortunately, actually fixing the problem will require businesses to start scanning and repairing their websites. Hang in there… this situation will improve as more and more people become aware of it.

Starting this week, speed cameras will be in effect in Baltimore City and Montgomery County. These locations are joining a growing list of jurisdictions across the country that are using speed and red light cameras to control what happens on the roadway when police officers cannot be around. The State Highway Administration is reported to be putting cameras in to operation as well.

Drivers are looking for control too…they want to know where these cameras are before they head out to a meeting or get together with friends…luckily, there are websites that will help you stay out of trouble.

There is a debate going on about these cameras that is hotly contested…on one side, you have the folks that say that the government is overstepping its bounds and on the other side, you have the folks that say…”if you aren’t speeding, then you have nothing to worry about”. I tend to be a pragmatist and the bottom line is that the cameras are coming for many, many reasons, so we all should just deal with it. Baltimore City has $7,100,000 reasons why…as that is the amount of revenue they expect to collect in the first year…that works out to roughly, $140,000 per each of the 51 cameras and that is just in the first year.

Tickets will be $40 and will not include points as the cameras cannot tell who is driving. Many of the cameras will be set up around school zones, where speeding is definitely not a good idea. And the cameras are reported to be effective at getting people to slow down. A 2007 study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that the number of vehicles going 10 mph or more over the speed limit in active camera zones decreased by 70 percent. Interestingly enough, just the signs (without the cameras) reduce speeding by 40%.

So where can you go to find out where the cameras are? There are quite a few sites out there – here are just a few:

http://www.photoenforced.com/

http://speedcamerapoi.com/

http://www.redlightcameradetectors.com/Patriot-Camera-Database_ep_66.html

These sites provide easy look up for where cameras are and find them based on type (speeding, red light), state, city and/or street name.  They also sell downloads for GPS units and maps of where the cameras are.

I know that no one reading this article would ever actually speed, so check these sites out just for fun.

Great news! G.1440 partnered up with The Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA) to deliver web security solutions that current standards such as firewalls and anti-viruses cannot deliver.

Chris Howe, Director of Systems & Technology, states “Too many companies believe that their firewall, hosting company or even anti-virus software will protect them, but these vulnerabilities exist in the site code that is displayed on the web, and are not protected by network security measures.”

Over 90% of websites have Security Threats. Only 1% have a threat prevention plan. A clear solution that won’t interfere with your site, network, or operations, and security starts at around $1 a day.

Check out this article to learn more about the partnership.

In my opinion, music players are expensive enough. However, some of our friends to the North disagree with me. Canada is considering whether to enact a tax on music players to compensate artists for illegal downloading activity, and understandably, some folks are concerned that the US may consider a similar strategy. So…even if your music is completely legit, you could wind up paying as much as $75 as a penalty or tax on top of the current price tag.

Has this idea been discussed before? Yes…under the legal term…”collective licensing”…meaning that everyone pays a flat fee or tax instead of anyone trying to figure how to tax based on usage, or song library size. Basically, it is going to be impossible to figure out who has downloaded which song and whether it was legal or not. This “flat tax” strategy tries to make things simple. Just pay a fee, and download as much as you want. The artist is compensated and we don’t have to worry about how many copies have been made and what library is syncing with which iPod. Although, I hear that Apple has fixed this issue. Another concept that is floating around on the web is for people to pay a monthly fee of $5 to $10 for the right to download and play music…sort of a monthly access charge. While similar in concept, this strategy seems to be full of issues regarding enforcement.  For more information regarding collective licensing, check out the Electronic Frontier Foundation. They currently support a US based, voluntary collection licensing agreement. The EFF is a member funded consumer watchdog organization.

In 2005, Wisconsin considered a similar tax; however it was not passed in to law. Could it happen again? Well, the current economic situation isn’t helping matters. Legislators across the country are facing unprecedented budget shortfalls and this type of tax is an easy target, so it does seem likely that it would come under consideration.

The Canadians have already been taxing blank cassettes and CDs to compensate Canadian artists…so has this paid off for them? Not really…while it has generated approximately 160 million dollars, the payments to the 100,000 rights holders are made over a 10 year period. Doing the math shows that this is approximately $160 per year -to each artist…not exactly enough to allow anyone to retire.

So, let’s pray for the best and hope that this tax stays north of the border…eh?

Suppose a few guests drop in unexpectedly to your house… you, being a wonderful host/hostess need to whip up something to serve, but don’t have time to get to the store. Well, there is no need to panic…a new website will give you tons of recipe ideas all based on the ingredients you already have in your kitchen. The site is called www.supercook.com and it just might make you a “super cook” in less than 5 minutes and all for free.

Supercook works by providing you instant access to over 300,000 recipes.  These recipes are stored so that as you start typing what you have in the kitchen, supercook.com simultaneously provides you with recipes that contain those ingredients. Supercook will also tell you what is needed that you don’t have to prepare the recipe of your choice…pretty amazing. You get a quick idea of what recipes work best for you. Suggestions from Supercook come sorted by starters/appetizers, entrees and desserts or you can simply view them all at once if that strikes your fancy.

To me, Supercook seems just as helpful in helping with grocery shopping and meal planning. Let’s say that you really like chicken and oranges…simply type these ingredients in  to supercook and get back a bunch of recipes…pick one, print it out and take it to the store.

Supercook can also make you a better cook, by suggesting ingredients that will go well with your selections…ingredients that have complementary tastes…I know folks (hope my wife doesn’t see this) that have very plain tastes and this feature will definitely help them expand their culinary horizons.

Supercook is free and also offers you the ability to create your own cookbook.  Simply sign up for an account (takes 2 minutes) and you can then start saving favorite recipes in your own cookbook.

Supercook also allows for excluding items such as nuts or shellfish for those folks with allergies.

The old days of flipping through recipe books to do meal planning are over…supercook takes the work and stress out of the event and lets you focus on having fun!

Have fun with this site…..it is worth visiting.