Dimdim is available in 4 unique editions excluding the open source and free hosted version, which gives the user wide array of choices that not only vary in prices but as well features and number of users.

Dimdim Enterprise: As the name suggest, if you are need of large and frequent meetings Dimdim enterprise should be your pick. Unlike most of the popular enterprise class web conferencing solutions, Dimdim Enterprise is available comes in two flavor – hosted and as well as onsite versions. Free upgrade, lifetime technical support, professional integration services and $100 worth pre-purchase evaluation makes it a very juicy offer. The do say Dimdim Enterprise “1/3 the cost of other guys”, so I guess it worth checking out.

Dimdim Webinar : This is completely browser-based; User only needs a simple URL to join in addition to that these guys cooked up something call Webinar Widget which allow host to accept registrations on his/her own web site or facebook . User can host webinars with up to 1000 attendees or maximum 100 person meetings, without any need to download anything. By that means as you can guess it’s a hosted solution. This tier cost $75/month which is $215 lesser than GatherPlace which offer similar kind of package. A full featured free 30-day trial is available, which will just convert to 20-attendee free version of Dimdim after the trial period.

Dimdim Pro: This edition is all about more meeting, more space and lesser cost. User can customize their meeting room with company branding, logos, and start and ending pages to make the meeting as part of corporate identity. Dimdim Pro is 100% hosted edition thus user need not to worry about anything other than their meeting itself. Open APIs allow further customization to Dimdim pro. It supports up to 100 attendees, Meeting Reporting, yearly/monthly billing option, secure screencasting, Advanced Collaboration Tools, unlimited number of meetings, unlimited account sharing etc. All these cost $19/month or $228/Year which is surprisingly almost 1/5 cost of Cisco’s WebEx.

Dimdim Virtual Classroom: This edition is exclusively for education industry people. This cool Dimdim Virtual Classroom Pack empowers ten teachers to host up to fifty students at a time in their own customizable web-based classroom. Dimdim virtual Classroom can facilitate up to 10 teachers their own private room; maximum 50 students can join each room, Enterprise-class online/chat support. Need not to mention each virtual Classroom can be customized for individual faculty members, department or school. This edition cost $2199/year; there is no monthly pricing plan for this edition. Dimdim Virtual Classroom edition is used by leading universities such as Ohio State University and University of Pennsylvania, K-12 districts such as Boone County, KY and educational companies such as Myngle and TutorJam.

All edition of Dimdim allow anyone to deliver synchronized live presentations, whiteboards and web pages and share their voice and video over the Internet – with no download required. Not only is the source code to Dimdim available via GPL, there is a free Dimdim API which just increase the possibility of wild mashup. Due to rich API, Dimdim can be integrated to some popular software such as –Zimbra, SugerCRM, Moodle, Claroline, Docebo etc. There is even a Facebook application built on top of Dimdim.

These guys are not only multiple award winner but as well used by high-profile clients like- US Department of Health, the United Nations, American Cancer Society, and the Internet Governance Forum. Free edition, Low cost professional tier, feature rich and used by respected high profile organizations—what else you need?

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Now through Web conferencing we conduct live meetings, training, or presentations; hack someone told me there is virtual dating via web conferencing . Web conferencing significantly benefiting small businesses but off course when users embrace it effectively the investment in the technology pays off. Technology categorically is a vital component for the success of any sort of business now days. Yet, even after you have spent the time, energy and budget to select the solutions that will most benefit you, there are challenges ahead. Web conferencing changing the way business operates, specifically how business users behave/communicate. As business operations become more and more geographically distributed, Web conferencing shows even more promise as an inexpensive solution for instant online collaboration as well as a highly effective alternative for costly meetings and travel. Question is web conferencing mature enough to use as a tool for improving the overall efficiency of your entire organization. Actually there is another big question- Which solution is right for your business?

Once small business viewed web conferencing as a tool to trim expensive corporate travel, but is it still the same? Defiantly not via web conferencing information can travel faster and efficiently, you can tap into people’s brainpower almost instantly, literally! The ideal web conferencing infrastructure should provide a convenient backbone for easy sharing of all types of data. An ideal Web conference should be where all parties can hear one another, and collaborate on a document at the same time that is visible to all parties.

The Web conference can be either through a hosted service or facilitated through conference client software. There are more than a dozen leading third-party hosted Web conferencing services available, which are quite simple to use, expense varies so does the features. Web conferencing can prove very valuable for business meetings, sales presentations, and training sessions. The meeting is live and in real time, and is designed to create the virtual equivalent of a face-to-face meeting, complete with the ability to share information in real time, and the ability of each participant to edit or mark up a document that is being shared between all participants. In addition to all participants being able to speak to one another, there may also be a message board included in the Web conferencing application.

Augmented reality based conferencing still on the research and development (R&D) phase, which off course won’t be the same in recent years. Until the technology becomes widely accepted, available, and explained –this will not be ready for business users so let’s just put that on the shelf.

So finally that’s where we are with our web conferencing, which is developing and improving every day and will go a long way. Quite frankly Web conferencing is mature enough to be an essential tool for any business. It’s now not a question whether business needs web conferencing, rather it’s time to find suitable web conferencing solution or software for your business. I will feature one web conferencing solution or software each Monday throughout this and next month to give a better perspective on the market.

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There is a sneaky new spyware initially pretends to be an Adobe Flash Player update and, when executed on a user’s computer, creates a Firefox add-on called ‘Adobe Flash Player 0.2’. You might think no harm done with that but hey you are just half way through to a grave mistake that you will regret seriously.

So what it does? The add-on replaces traditional ads on Google search pages with its own ads (Very business minded malware right?), and wait that’s not all, the spyware has the ability to track what pages you browse and what you search. So the bottom line is you lose all privacy. So all those switching browser to get away from privacy killing malware; just gone up in smoke. According to Trend Micro malware appears to be spreading via forum posts.

The attack of Mozilla product shows that it can no longer be considered as a safe alternative to Microsoft IE which has been experiencing numerous exploits of its un-patched vulnerabilities. So what will be the counter action from the good folks at Mozilla?

This proves the mighty Firefox isn’t invincible, hack I would say no browser can be 100% secure unless users become more responsible and a bit paranoid as well. Download add-ons or whatever only from authorize site (only from main Firefox add-on repository). Don’t update any add-ons unless you are notified by proper notification built onto browser. Just keep your itchy finger off the mouse button, will ya!

Reference source: Trend Micro

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Security software suite are today’s hot business, reason- 75% risk increase on online identity safety and the percentage just keeps going up. Check Point’s Zone Alarm division is refreshing its Zone Alarm Extreme Security Suite. The suite has more than a dozen segments aimed at protecting users from viruses, identity theft, spyware and all sorts of evil (online/offline) things you can think of. ZoneAlarm Extreme Security 2010 comes with 256-bit AES hard-drive encryption as an additional protection in addition to other security modules you are familiar with. This time around firewall module offers fewer alerts, meaning to say lesser false alarms. And there is noticeable increase in performance and speed.

This new suite will cost $69.95 for a 3-user license, unfortunately which doesn’t cover hard-drive encryption option. Users have to spend another $29.95 for a 3-user license just to get that encryption option. As you can guess Check Point also released new versions of ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite, ZoneAlarm Pro and ZoneAlarm Antivirus with this. The hard-drive encryption technology is based on Check Point Endpoint Security Full Disk Encryption, and encrypts all file and passwords, even the Windows Recycle Bin. If you forget your password for your encrypted drive, ZoneAlarm has a service you can call to retrieve the password, after you pass authentication tests.

With the release of this new suite ZoneAlarm will be the only one with features such as keystroke encryption, hard drive encryption, and encryption password recovery.

Other features of the new suite include Advanced Download Protection functionality which automatically checks and analyses any programs being downloaded by the user to see if they are malicious or not. ZoneAlarm also includes an operating system firewall and virtual browsing – a feature which allows users to surf the web without exposing themselves to attack via browser exploits or drive-by-downloads.

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First we have to install Trac dependencies, some/most may or may not be already installed on your web server’s root but we will need our own editions to make all the things work together.

Installing Dependencies
a. Python (=>v 2.3 and <v3.0)
According to Trac documentation the recommended version of Python for Trac is above v2.3 and Bellow v3.0. So for example let’s go for version 2.5.

IMPORTANT: Considering you are using bash, set in .bashrc as follows (without this step the Python installation wont be complete):

b. Clearsilver (0.10.5)-it’s optional, some major plug-in requires it

c. eGenix extensions for python (3.1.2)

d. Swig (version 1.3.24)

I am skipping the Database installation (since SQlite 3.3.4 is preinstalled at Python 2.5.2) as well as subversion installation since it’s not mandatory for Trac (but you have to apply following commands if you want to use subversion with Trac).

Installing Trac itself
Now that all required dependencies installed, now let’s get down to the real deal that is the Trac installation itself.

Now just provide the details asked in response to above command. If you are using subversion please pay close attention to the location of your svn repository.

Now that your Trac installation is done, we need to prepare it to access this through a browser. In public_html or httpdocs or similar directory:

# create a projects.cgi with the following content:

# create a .htaccess file:

#on command line

# edit $HOME/trac-projects/conf/trac.ini and add the following under [trac]

That should be enough to have your Trac up, running and accessible through web browser. Lost? You can get preety good basic idea on platform specific installation guide over Trac Docs.

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Not sure if it’s heat from competitor Apple’s $29 price point for OS X Snow Leopard (coming in September, 2009) or the vista damage control initiative force Microsoft to slash the price of its most popular Home Premium to $119.99 (both upgrades and full copies). Vista premium original pricing were around $40 higher. Same slashed priced applied for Windows 7 ultimate edition as well, though business edition pricing still hanging onto same line like vista.

From June 26, 2009 to July 11, 2009 while supplies last Microsoft will offer special preorder pricing.  It will be offering in the U.S. Windows 7 Home Premium for $49.99 and Windows 7 Professional for $99.99, a savings of $70 and $100 respectively (In the U.S. preorders are for upgrade versions).  Canada and Japan enjoy similar deals.  Microsoft showing some real love for EU buyers- Germany and France consumer will receive Windows 7 Home Premium (€49.99) and Windows 7 Professional (€109.99) preorder prices.  The UK will get Windows 7 Home Premium (£49.99) and Windows 7 Professional (£99.99) preorder prices.  The EU preorders will be for full versions, and will likely be the cheapest available route to purchase a full retail version.

Now a year or two ago this pricing would have looked impressive juicy deal, but now as world recession beating consumers wallet run dry certainly pose a different scenario. $119 for an OS upgrade will not only look outlandish at this moment but as well as heart breaking, since consumers of Vista were certainly expecting certain sort of consideration. Another ugly scar I can see is the huge difference between 2 weeks preorder and original pricing. The biggest blow is it seems Microsoft’s adversary Apple well understand current economic timeline and set Snow Leopard pricing model ($29 for a one user license and $49 for a five user license)which is much more appropriate.

Now question whether that pricing really justified, despite the fact that Microsoft’s last Major OS Vista user deserving some kind of compensation/at least some sympathy from MS.

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We all have to agree the case is pretty damn code red plus situation when our antispyware goes rogue. So let’s first define what the hack is those thing? In simple word those are just a type of computer malware that deceives or misleads us (the users) into paying for the fake or simulated removal of malware.

How they disguise?

• Mostly these stuffs are Trojan which mislead us into installing, the most common disguise for these rogue spywares are:
• Browser’s plug-in or extension (mostly media codec type)
• Image, screensaver or archive file attached to an e-mail message
• Multimedia codec required to play a certain video clip, very commonly seen in video files downloaded in torrent sites.
• Free online malware scanning service (Most common—and a lot of people really fall for it)

What they do?

Most common symptom of rogue spywares are usually directing the users to some cheap porno site or Viagra stores in addition to that they may also:

• Displays fake screen of system crash, malware detection and performance issues etc.
• Disable parts of system to prevent authentic anti-malware software to perform.
• Offer urgent fix to computer yet prevent user to ignore the fix.

• Provides authentic-looking pop-up warnings and security alerts, mimicking actual system notices. But the notice keep coming back even after user cancel it.

Who they are?

This is the million dollar question, which is very difficult to answer. Why? Every day hundreds of new malware vendor turned to the simpler, more profitable business model of rogue security software, which is targeted directly at users of desktop computers. There are even functionally-identical versions of the same program repackaged as successive new products by the same vendor. According to Finjan’s latest Cybercrime Intelligence Report, there were 1.8 million unique users redirected to the rogue antivirus software during 16 consecutive days. According to the report between 7 percent and 12 percent of people end up installing the rogue antivirus software and 1.79 percent of them paid $50 for it.

There are couples of organizations who are dedicated to list down rogue spywares. Since the list change so frequently, it’s advisable to keep an eye on them at regular interval.

• Spyware warrior’s rogue anti spyware
• Secureworks rogue antivirus
• Symantic’s list
• Microsoft

What you should do?

Since most of the attack is targeted to PC (MAC version of rogue spywares are also beginning to spread), you can use MS Malicious Software Removal Tool, which updates every month. If you hate downloading and want to scan your PC online, you can use Windows Live safety scanner .

Install only trustworthy anti-spyware, research and consult with your friends, co-workers before you install any unknown/new anti-spywares. Only use which are proven to be trustworthy, ex-

• Ad-aware
• AVG anti-spyware
• MacScan (Mac)
• McAfee AntiSpyware
• Pest Patrol
• Spyware Doctor
• Spyware Fighter
• Sunbelt CounterSpy
• Spybot search and destroy
• Windows Defender

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Now like its predecessor WordPress 2.7 got all the cool permalink features to make posting URI the way you like (well almost all logical variant). Example:-

• Ugly/Default: http://bloggism.net/?p=123
• Day and name: http://bloggism.net/2009/04/09/sample-post/
• Month and name: http://bloggism.net/2009/04/sample-post/

Or if you don’t like anyone of those you can build your own custom URI structure using the fifth option, i.e. Custom, in that case you will need to use a number of tags specified by WordPress documentation.Apart from default permalink, all permalink settings will require following:

• Apache web server with the mod_rewrite module installed
• In WordPress’s home directory,
  • The FollowSymLinks option enabled
  • FileInfo directives allowed (e.g. AllowOverride FileInfo, AllowOverride All)
  • An .htaccess file (if this file is missing, WordPress will try to create it when you activate "pretty" permalinks)
  • If you want WordPress to update the .htaccess file automatically, WordPress will need write access to the file.

For Windows IIS server, consult to this article please.

Another cool stuff that was added back to WordPress 2.7 is usage of Post/Page slug to customize permalink. WordPress 2.5, 2.6 removed the post slug button from weblog interface. As a replacement, the “edit” link of Permalink was used for the purpose.

But WordPress 2.7 doesn’t show Post Slug interface by default. In order to display Post Slug text box, click the “Screen Option” on upper-right corner, go on and select “Post Slug” you will find the Post Slug input box at bellow the editor.

Problem 404!

Unfortunately recently I came across a mysterious permalink issue with WordPress 2.7 new installation, while working for a client. When I said mysterious, it really did gave me a hard time for an hour. After a bit googling I realized I wasn’t forgetting something at all, it’s a bug. For some weird reason kept getting 404 pages when I switched to pretty permalink after I install WordPress. To my surprise none of the permalink was working except only the default one, even after WordPress automatically generate and Write on .htaccess. I did all sorts of contingency procedures but hack result is always 404.

Solution

Some WordPress experts suggested this problem was caused by PHP ‘magic_quotes_sybase’, but unfortunately even after turning it off- most cases problem still remains same (since most cases it’s already turned off), 404! So I have to dig out for alternative solution that works every single time, not just once or twice. Here is the solution that working for me ever since I solved the issue:

1. Delete the existing .htaccess if you have any from the server (Please do back it up).
2. Change Back the blog/site’s Permalink to default through http://yoursite.com/wp-admin/options-permalink.php
3. On a notepad file create a new .htaccess file with just one single line

   1	RewriteEngine on

4. Upload the .htaccess file on the server blog/site’s root directory and set the file permission to 777.
5. Wait at least 2-3 minutes.
6. Now change the permalink to whatever form you like using http://yoursite.com/wp-admin/options-permalink.php
7. Wait another 2-3 minutes before you reload the blog pages/posts.
8. Now all should be working. Change back the file permission of your .htaccess to 644.

Remember to replace http://yoursite.com with your blog/site url.

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1. Ensure your blog doesn’t have password protected posts, otherwise Talkr won’t work.
2. Open up a free account with Talkr.
3. After completing the registration process, log into Talkr and go to My Feed section – Talkr Podcast (keep this window open until the last process)
4. Open another browser window or tab and go to feedburner and burn a new feed (even if you already have a feed burned in feedburner), using your blog’s source feed (Atom or RSS not RDF).
5. Then login to feedburner and browse to “Content-Type Burner” under optimize tab.
6. Select “Use this Content-Type:” as text/plain, which will be last in the options. After that just activate and Save.
7. Before you logout of feedburner sure “Browser Friendly” and “SmartFeed” options are activated. Leave everything else alone.
8. Now that you have burned a feed exclusively for Talkr, in Talkr window/Tab (see step 2) use newly burned feedburner feed address in “Add RSS feed”.
9. Once the new feed is added you will notice a blue background Tab entitled “Promote this feed”, with few options. At the top of that Tab you will find Source feed and
10. Talkr feed URL. The Talkr feed URL is just like this –

http://www.talkr.com/app/cast_pods.app?feed_id=12345 Note the 4 digit feed id.

• Now go to your WP-admin-> theme editor, and open up post.php and put this code somewhere in between the <?php the_content and above the comment template call.

<img style="border:none;" xsrc="http://images.talkr.com/images/speaker_20.gif" mce_src="http://images.talkr.com/images/speaker_20.gif" alt="Listen to this article" border="0" /> <a xhref="http://www.talkr.com/app/fetch.app?feed_id=4 digit feed id&perma_link=<?php the_permalink() ?>">Listen to this article</a>

That’s it; you can do customization, or even call the same code within a single post.

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So this much awaited Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) release candidate will have these changes/upgrades:

• Some of the changes include more non-Microsoft applications compatibility with Windows Vista after this Service Pack 2 update.
• The Vista SP 2 RC will include improved Windows Search 4.0 with better indexing and search relevance.
  Windows Media Center will have a better content protection for TV.
• Application compatibility can be increased through a registry key change that will allow increasing the maximum number of TCP connections.
• SP2 RC adds Blu-ray media writing ability.
• The new Feature Pack for Wireless brings support for recent Bluetooth v2.1 and improved Wi-Fi connection performance.

Release-to-manufacturing (RTM) version of Vista SP2 will be probably available sometime in the first half of the second quarter.

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