New Apple MacBook

FASTER, BETTER BATTERY LIFE

Apple just released a small, yet very welcome update to their entry-level MacBook laptop.

The new Macbook offers a faster processor, which gives the new MacBook a very nice speed boost. It has a much better video card from nVidia for dynamic graphics, the same card that is used in some of the MacBook Pros. The new MacBook still comes with 2GB of Memory standard, so I highly recommend spending an extra $100 to bring it to 4GB (you’ll thank us later).

And the crowning glory? It offers a new revamped 10-hour battery, a 3-hour increase over the last model!

The new Macbook is perfect for new Mac converts, want a great little travel computer, and it’s awesome for students and home users with basic needs. It starts at $999, but don’t forget that RAM upgrade!

Facebook Malware

NEW “SEXIEST VIDEO” SCAM

There’s a new scam going around on Facebook to watch for!

If you get a post on your Facebook Wall that tells you “this is without a doubt the sexiest video ever,” that links to a video “Candid Camera Prank” DO NOT CLICK ON THE VIDEO. The link to the video leads to downloading malware by getting you to “update your video software,” which is fake. Once infected, this Facebook scam will replicate itself on ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS’ Facebook Walls, saying YOU POSTED IT! It spreads like a virus.

Currently this particular malware only has one purpose, which is to multiply and possibly collect information about your computer activities, but it could have a more malicious purpose down the road! These tricks rely on people NOT PAYING ATTENTION. So be careful what you click, and also, use a browser such as Firefox or Google Chrome, which can prevent accidental download and installation of these potentially dangerous programs!

If you DO get hit, make sure to run Antivirus and Antimalware scans immediately to clean out the infection! If you don’t have Internet safety software, we recommend ESET NOD32 and Malwarebytes.

Google Docs vs. Office 2010

PRODUCTIVITY UTILITIES FOR YOU

We’re betting most of you out there use Microsoft Office to write documents, make spreadsheets, and create presentations.

Well, Office 2010 will be available to purchase next month for home users, and the cheapest one you can buy is very affordable at $150, designed for Home and Students. This version comes with the essentials: Microsoft’s word processor Word for documents, letters, and school reports, Excel for spreadsheets, graphs, and tables, and Powerpoint for dynamic presentations.

Also, aside from the standard, desktop version of Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft will be releasing a web-based version called “Office Web Apps.” which will give you a FREE word processor, spreadsheet-maker, and presentation designer. It appears it will be ad-supported, but we’ll see what actually happens on June 15 when it comes out.

But for those that want to try something different from what Microsoft offers, there’s Google Docs, which is also FREE.

Google Docs offers the ability to create Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Drawings, and more. Similar to Office Web Apps, Google Docs is cloud-based, meaning you can access your files from any location where you have a computer and an Internet connection, and you don’t have to worry about backing up the files you create, because they’re on Google’s server. Give it a shot, it’s free, and can be accessed on both Mac and PC and different browsers too. It requires a Google or Gmail account and if you don’t have one it takes about a minute to set up.

Microsoft may be late to the game with their cloud-based Office 2010, and Google has been pushing to make more features available in Google Docs, so we think we’ll see two great products that will get better and better.

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