Useless Computer News

The first dot com is now some kind of on-line museum of useless but still vaguely interesting stuff.

http://symbolics.com/

How far the Interwebs have come since March 15, 1985.

http://www.bitboost.com/pawsense/

PawSense(TM)
catproof your computer

When cats walk or climb on your keyboard, they can enter random commands and data, damage your files, and even crash your computer. This can happen whether you are near the computer or have suddenly been called away from it.

PawSense is a software utility that helps protect your computer from cats. It quickly detects and blocks cat typing, and also helps train your cat to stay off the computer keyboard.

I got my cat his very own mouse. Its a start.

Remember to check computer for malware

By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press
July 08, 2012

WASHINGTON -- Internet users scanning their Twitter feeds or Facebook accounts Sunday might want to add one more quick click to check their computer for malware.

Thousands of people around the country whose computers were infected with malicious software more than a year ago faced the possibility of not being able to get online after midnight EDT.

At 12:01 a.m. EDT, the FBI planned to shut down the Internet servers set up as a temporary safety net to keep infected computers online for the past eight months. The court order the agency obtained to keep the servers running expired, and it was not renewed.

The problem began when international hackers ran an online advertising scam to take control of more than 570,000 infected computers around the world. When the FBI went in to take down the hackers late last year, agents realized that if they turned off the malicious servers being used to control the computers, all the victims would lose their Internet service.
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But we already knew this....

L.A. Animal Shelter Is Selling iPad Art Created by Cats (and People Are Buying It)

So there's this iPad app called "Paint for Cats."

Here's how it works: A little mouse scampers across the screen, prompting your cat (whom you must coerce into sitting still in front of your iPad) to take a whack at it. When paw hits iPad, the mouse makes a little squeak (incentives!) and a splotch of color shows up. And so on and so on, until you have a full screen of cat art.

A non-profit animal shelter in L.A. called the Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles (spcaLA) has taken this tomfoolery to the next level:

They actually had Animal Planet film the paint sesh in progress -- the segment will be aired Saturday night at 8 p.m. -- and are now selling the masterworks as greeting cards.