WordPress 3.0 has just released, now with several built-in features that make this new version a more powerful content management system, such as custom background support, custom menu support, custom content types, and custom taxonomies (ways to organize content).

CNET Loaded: 06/30/2010
Hulu launches a paid subscription service, Sony laptops are overheating, and new rumors surface about the iPhone coming to Verizon. Strangely familiar, we know.

An Apple a day… the design and progression of Apple computers from the Apple II to the current models. A little over 30 years in just over 2 minutes. Sadly, not many iconic Apple products, just those owned or acquired by Gary Katz of Mac M.D. Inc over the years.

CNET Loaded: 06/29/2010
Google tries a new tactic in its battle with Beijing, Yahoo launches a style guide for the Web, and MapQuest gets a new look.

Super-fast and great-looking, Ubuntu is a secure, intuitive operating system that powers desktops, servers, netbooks and laptops. Ubuntu is, and always will be, absolutely free.

In the Ukraine, selling fake anti-virus software via scare tactics (scareware) is big business estimated to be reach over $300 million in 2010. 

These scareware programs, coupled with flashy websites, offer to run free anti-virus scans on users’ computers, then claim they found a number of viruses — viruses that can only be removed by purchasing their unique anti-virus software, costing anywhere between $30 and $70.  The problem is: the viruses don’t exist, and the software either does nothing, or worse, actually infects the computer with it’s own viruses and trojans. 

The owners of Innovative Marketing, a company purported as one of the leaders in this scam, are now facing criminal charges in a Chicago court.  Just two months prior to being charged with computer and wire fraud in Chicago, they were ordered to pay $163 million by a Maryland court for civil suit brought against them by the FTC.

Although it seems Innovative Marketing may have closed their doors last year, the Ukraine’s Interior Ministry says they could be operating from a different location.  Researchers point out that many of the company’s scareware scams are still running.

For more information, read the detailed article at Time.com:
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1998055,00.html.

This is definitely a mouse designed for a Power User!  With a half-Meg of memory, this $79.99 mouse is now one of the most advanced mice in existence.  Each of its 18 buttons, and their double-click functions, can be configured for different applications — even it’s analog joystick can be customized for up to eight commands.  I’m happy with the standard 3-button mouse with a scroll-wheel, but the extra 16 buttons will probably appeal to certain power users and geek-gurus.

To find out more about it, check out warmouse.com or the review on engadget.