In 2005, a trojan was e-mailed around with the subject: “Suicide attempt.”  The body of the e-mail started “Last night, while in his Neverland Ranch, Michael Jackson has made a suicide attempt.”  How ironic is this eerie warning since the King of Pop has now mysteriously died at the young age of 50?

This trojan was sent out during Michael’s molestation case in the hopes e-mail users would open up the e-mail to read more info, and voila…instant virus infection!  Unfortunately, this suicide might have been the cause of Michael’s heart attack, and, in turn, sad turn of events.

We learned of this saddening news hours before the US news broadcasted it.  How?  Our multi-cultural staff often checks out international news sites, and we learned from Ynet, an Israeli site, hours before the US news sites caught onto the story.  Ynet said that Michael Jackson died from a heart attack.  As Ynet discussed the end result, the US sites only reported that Jackson was rushed to the hospital. 

It seems like an international website does not hold the same responsibility of news as would a domestic site.   Why should non-US sites not be held to same standard of diplomacy, allowing family and close friends attain the info first?  Or allowing family to have a buffer of time before the public pounces on them.  We were shocked and almost thought this early news was a joke, or deja vu of the suicide trojan hoax.  Unfortunately, the news is true and whether received before the US public or after, the greatest Pop Star of all time, Michael Jackson, will always have a special place in our hearts for his craft, talent, voice, dance, and pop icon that he was.

Facebook is a highly used medium for social networks.  You don’t have to be a computer expert to work it and it’s great for staying in touch or networking with new folks.  How does it differ than Twitter? 

Facebook allows you share info with your friends via “The wall.”  You can log into Facebook with any Internet browser and post a message for all your buddies to check out.  With Twitter, in contrast, you don’t have to specify who can see your comments.  Instead, it is posted for public viewing and you may even text it.  So, if you are going about your normal daily routine and have something burning to share, you don’t have wait until getting back to a computer to post it.  You can text it, or SMS it, on the fly with your phone.

This texting mechanism in Twitter is a huge plus over Facebook.  It is easy to forget a thought if you have to wait until you reach a computer with a working Internet connection.  Rather than wait, you can relay your info right away by texting it.  The stream of consciousness is a way that Twitter members can really share segments of thoughts in real time.  Further, this way of sharing such thoughts makes the communication as close as talking on the phone as possible.  It almost gives the impression that you are in the same room as your Twitter friend due to the real-time thought process.

For this quick way of sharing info, Twitter is our favorite over Facebook.  Oh yeah - did we mention, that each Twit can be no more than 140 characters?  This allows you to get to the meat of the matter and not waste time. 

How can Microsoft be like Apple?  It can level the playing field by offering free anti-virus software to Windows users.  Most people think Macs don’t get viruses.  So, if Windows users don’t have to worry about viruses by having free anti-virus software, then the virus issue wouldn’t be an issue at all.

Morro will soon be released by Microsoft as a free anti-virus software.  It will not be bundled into the Windows software so that will allow third-party software, such as Norton and McAfee, to still make their money on security software.  Microsoft’s Live One Care did not do a good job as security software.  Why?  It was slow and weighed down the computer’s resources.  We have found many of our clients having computer problems due to the Live One Care taking over.  So, Morro will improve upon this by being a slimmed down software that doesn’t take a lot of processing power.

No actual release date has been mentioned.  But, the Microsoft team is currently testing the beta version and should have more info soon.  We think having Microsoft create its own anti-virus software is a great combination.  After all, now Microsoft will take responsibility in securing its own vulnerabilities.  And maybe, there will be less Windows updates to run after if Microsoft can update its anti-virus software efficiently.

Skype has been very busy lately.  It recently programmed the software so it may be used in iPhones.  Now, a new version has been released, although still at the beta level, that allows you to share your screen.  Specifically, you may share your whole screen or part of it to your Skype contacts.  All you have to do is initiate a phone call with your contact and then authorize your screen to be shared.

The downfall with the screen sharing is that you cannot share your screen by an instant message.  Also, you cannot collaborate by sharing with more than one contact.  The good part about this is that this sharing is pretty much allowing someone who is tech savvy to come onto your screen to provide tech support for viruses, spyware, or other computer issues.  So, you can turn this sharing aspect of Skype into a remote tech support function which would be a free way to have someone help you out with tech problems.

How many times are you searching for where you lost your clunky remote control?  Or maybe you called it a clicker, kvetcher, or another funny nickname.  Well, soon you won’t have to search for your lost remote.  It will be your hand!

With the bleeding technology of infrared and motion, your hand will be able to direct the channels and volume of your television.  Has anyone seen Tome Cruise in Minority Report?  Incremental movements have been used by the Wii-mote to create this cultural phenomenon.  Hitachi has set up the process where a camera is set up below the TV screen.  Then, you can program, similar to audio commands on a computer, but with hand movements how to change channels and the volume.  It will recognize only horizontal, vertical, and toward & away gestures.  So, other extraneous movements will be ignored.

No date has been set for the release.  But, expect tech issues or shall we say motion issues with the new device.  The remote-less device will be packaged with premium TV sets, and is still a prototype at this point.

iPhone 2.0 was a big improvement and boom for the mobile phone industry.  iPhone 3.0 will be a little bang in terms of its software upgrade.  It will help the iPhone evolve and compete with other handhelds, but it won’t make such a dent like it’s software update predecessor. 

The biggest update has been the introduction to copy and paste, landscape keyboard, advanced searching, and cool multimedia text messaging.  Finally, Apple allows users to copy and paste text from e-mail or the Internet and paste them to e-mails or IMs.  A very nice feature to save time.  For the landscape keyboard, this allows your fingers to breathe, especially for all of you big thumbed-typers.  For searching, you can search by many different topics, allowing your results to be filtered and spot on. 

The cool factor is being able to take pictures and video and copy/paste them into MMS, multimedia messaging service.  MMS is just like a text message, but includes images, audio, or video.  This will truly allow iPhone users to quickly send across pictures.  Essentially, you can take a picture from your iPhone, copy it, and paste it in a text, or MMS message.  You no longer have to insert or find your attachment.  Just copy and paste the picture right after you take it.  This is very easy in terms of tech support and usage.

It was just reported that 8,000 passwords of Comcast users have been compromised.  Specifically, someone took these passwords and posted them on a document-sharing website, Scribd.  The document of the passwords has soon disappeared as of 1:45PM today, but that doesn’t mean millions of users haven’t downloaded or access the Comcast accounts.

Comcast responded by saying they are contacting the victims here as well as freezing their e-mail accounts until a new password has been set up.  They also noted that the user list is more like 4,000 since there were duplicates on the list.  Further, they are recommending the tainted users to download the McAfee Security Suite, which is a free anti-virus software available to Comcast users.

The scary factor here is that it is suspected that the password list was retrieved by a phishing tactic, where one e-mails a Comcast user for account info.  In return, the person is able to have access to the Comcast account as well as e-mail and credit card info.  We recommend that if you’re a Comcast user to reset your password as well as your other critical passwords.  Although you may have not had your username and password posted on the Internet, it doesn’t mean that your account was not compromised.

The iPhone has had applications to download from its iPhone apps store for a while.  Now, its Blackberry’s turn to get into the app mix.  Research in Motion will not sell the apps directly, but will provide links of sites that do provide blackberry applications.

Previously, Blackberry worked with Handango as its sole app store.  No comment has been made by Blackberry regarding their future relationship with Handango nor has any info been revealed about pricing and specs.

What does this mean for Blackberry users?  Having an open App Store will make the BB more social, more personable, and less work-rigid.  The Blackberry is still the best e-mailing handheld out there, and works flawlessly with Blackberry Enterprise Server as well as personal e-mail accounts.  Now, users will be able to perform personal tasks, such as budgeting, organizing shopping lists, planning trips, and take advantage of other personal apps that will become available.  This app store sharing now makes the Blackberry an all-around type of handheld where business and personal are co-joined.  We will update you further as more technical information becomes available.

Microsoft is further taking a page out of the Apple handbook by opening retail stores.  Is this a good move?  Well, it’s a different move without a doubt.  IBM tried this move decades ago and failed.  Apple, of course, it thriving with its retail locations.

Microsoft may do well, but they’ll need an edge like Apple’s Genius bar or Apple’s cool design.  Several questions arise, such as: When? Will they just sell software? Where?

Top execs have confirmed that Microsoft has hired a top Walmart marketing rep for this avenue.  However, this could just be rumor and something to stir the pot with Apple.  This might be a good move to promote Microsoft new flagship, Windows 7 especially after Windows Vista early bust.  Will Windows support and bluescreen errors decrease with Microsoft’s retail tech support shops, or will they just cause lag times like Apple.  Time will tell how this all pans out.

Google Latitude is the latest installment of a beta program from Google.  It is used as a tracking device to find your friends through Gmail, Gtalk, or text.  By enlisting in this free program, your e-mail recipient or fellow Gtalker will know where you are.  Pretty spooky, eh?  One of the software programmers for Google thought this would be a cool feature to have especially since as an avid traveler, he’d rather have folks know where he is instead of having to waste an e-mail to discuss it.  And by the time he answered, he was already in a different place.

The good.  You’ll get to know where your friends and family members are right away.  If your parents are travelling cross country, you’ll be able to easily keep track of them.

The bad.  Can you say “stalkers?”  Or ex-boy/girl-friend?  This is not a good feature for those you are not in contact with any more.  But, you can turn of the feature.

This Google feature has already sparked some debate on the classic privacy laws among computer consultants.  One side argues that it invades privacy and the other side contends that the Internet is still a free realm for those to do as they choose on it.  Feel free to comment on your thoughts if you feel Google Latitude should be allowed especially in this time of identity theft and spyware provokers.