LeanPrint Reduces Ink Use by 40 Percent

On Monday, March 5 Adobe announced a new service that is designed to reduce the amount of ink used when printing. It is being called LeanPrint.

According to Adobe, LeanPrint will save up to 40 percent of the toner that would normally be used when printing something. It is able to do this in certain modes like “SuperSaver” and “TonerSaver.” The basic idea of LeanPrint is that it will work to squeeze more onto a page and reduce the amount of toner used on prints that use a lot of ink. This will help to not only save on ink but paper as well.

Now, when you think about it, this new software seems like it would be undermining printer company’s plans to sell you a cheap printer that must be replaced with expensive toner when the ink runs out; however, Toshiba America Business Solutions (TABS) is the first printer maker to endorse and promote the new LeanPrint software. According to Adobe, Toshiba will be available to distribute LeanPrint to its customers across the continent.

Adobe said that LeanPrint is targeting both large companies as well as individuals. Those who are interested must purchase a license from a company that is partnering with Adobe, like Toshiba. Customers can either sign up for a 30-day free trial or pay $99 for a one-year subscription.

"Adobe has always prided itself on environmentally conscious behavior, from its LEED Platinum certified buildings to its carbon offsets," said Raman Nagpal, the senior director and general manager of Adobe Print and Scan Business. "With LeanPrint, we are bringing together our commitment to the environment and a deep understanding of the print industry to further drive down printing costs. Adobe is excited to launch LeanPrint with a like-minded company like Toshiba, who will help distribute this technology throughout North America."

All of this news is not good for printer companies like HP. During a second quarter conference call, the chief executive of HP, Meg Whitman, discussed the current shift of corporations and individual consumers towards printing less.

"We faced a number of challenges and the printing market is more mature and more mature markets tend to be governed more by macroeconomic forces," Whitman said. "I am convinced that a number of our challenges do relate to the macroeconomic challenges, weak consumer demand, weak small office, home office demand. The sell-through of ink in particular is at pretty low levels and it's not just our ink, it's industry ink."

This really could pose an issue to printer companies in the near future; however, it also might help to reduce the inflated pricing of toner. It will be interesting to see how printer companies react.

Sources: PCMag - Adobe 'LeanPrint' Claims to Cut Ink Use by 40 Percent and Tom's Guide - Adobe Releases LeanPrint Software to Save on Ink, Paper

Power Point Projectors
Most business class projectors will do a good job displaying your PowerPoint presentation. If you have a small presentation group, a 2000 lumen LCD projector will be able to produce a nice and clear picture. For larger audiences you should consider a 5000 lumen LCD projector.

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McAfee's Predicted Security Threats for 2010

McAfee recently released a report that predicts potential online security threats for 2010. To summarize, the anti-virus and computer security company, which is based out of Santa Clara, California, sees an increase in threats from social networking sites, banking security, and bot nets. In addition, they see increases in attacks targeting users, businesses, and applications. However, the findings weren't all negative. McAfee says they expect an increase in law enforcement and its effectiveness in fighting cybercrime.

As social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, become increasingly popular, they'll most likely become a breeding ground for cyber attacks. On top of the increased number, the attacks will be more sophisticated. Facebook users are particularly vulnerable due to the number of third party applications used. Games and other applications are popular and most people will trust an invitation from their friends without using caution. But that invitation could easily be malware or something else designed to harm your computer. There's really no way to protect yourself other than avoiding the third party apps such as quizzes and games.

URL shorteners such as bit.ly and tinyurl.com are also expected to become a target of cybercrime. These tie-in to social networking because most people use them to post links to their profiles. The websites shorten a normal URL into a smaller one that will fit in almost any space and is especially popular on Twitter, where you only have 140 characters to gets your message across. One major problem with these smaller URLs is that they can't be previewed, so clicking on one at random could lead you to somewhere you don't want to be. This makes it a very easy target for crooks.

Due to the popularity of Microsoft products, cyber criminals have been taking advantage of them for years. However, as programs such as Adobe Reader and Flash become more popular, McAfee expects they will become a bigger target, taking over the top "honor" from Microsoft. In 2009, Adobe Reader saw an increase of problems due to security holes, leading the company to take a more proactive approach to patching up problems.

Email attachments have always been a problem when it comes to spreading malware and that threat is expected to continue and even get bigger. The company expects an increase in specific targets when it comes to email, and those include journalists, corporations, and individual users who could easily be convinced to download an attachment that is hiding a Trojan or other bit of malware.

Other projected problems include banking Trojans. Normally used to get your financial information, McAfee expects them to become so advanced that they will start interrupting transactions and even withdrawing money from your accounts. 2009 already saw an increase in banking cybercrime, with many Trojans making their way past strong bank security. Botnets are also expected to be a threat. McAfee calls them a "leading infrastructure for cybercriminals" and says they are "used for actions from spamming to identity theft." While they are harder to track down due to their ability to move from computer to computer without a central base of operation, there has been some recent success in shutting them down.

Despite all the many threats, McAfee does project an increase in law enforcement's ability to track down cybercriminals. Even so, there are steps you should take to protect yourself. Purchasing security software and keeping it updated is very important and something everyone should do. Keeping your PC up-to-date with Microsoft patches that protect your operating system, office suite, and browser is also important. You should also be sure that you are aware of all the latest threats and realize what's at risk. Exercise caution when opening files or downloading applications.

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Adobe Flash potentially puts most computers and users at risk

According to researchers there is a flaw within Flash that allows hackers to launch silent attacks on websites and users. Adobe hasn't tried to hide the fact that it is true and has suggested that its up to site designers to make sure they design their sites in such a way to prevent the attacks.

"The magnitude of this is huge," said Mike Murray, the chief information security officer at Orlando, Fla.-based Foreground Security. "Any site that allows user-uploadable content is vulnerable, and most are not configured to prevent this."

The problem lies in the Flash ActionScript same-origin policy which is designed to limit a Flash object's access to other content only from the domain it originated from, added Mike Bailey, a senior security researcher at Foreground. Unfortunately, said Bailey, if an attacker can deposit a malicious Flash object on a Web site -- through its user-generated content capabilities, which typically allow people to upload files to the site or service -- they can execute malicious scripts in the context of that domain.

"This is a frighteningly bad thing," Bailey said. "How many Web sites allow users to upload files of some sort? How many of those sites serve files back to users from the same domain as the rest of the application? Nearly every one of them is vulnerable."

The problem is that Adobe and security companies are trying to get the word out, but web application designers and programmers aren't listening. A few of the major sites that have actually locked down their servers to protect their users include Microsoft's Windows Live Hotmail and Google's YouTube, but sites like Google's Gmail and even some Adobe sites, still remain vulnerable. The researchers say the likelihood of an attack on Gmail is still very small, its also a very real possibility.

The only current defense users can employ against such attacks is to stop using Flash, or failing that, restrict its use to sites known to be safe with tools such as the NoScript add-on for Mozilla's Firefox, or ToggleFlash for Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

"The best mitigation is to not use Flash," argued Murray, "but we know that that's impossible for most users, since Flash is so widely used on the Web."

"Almost everyone using the Internet is vulnerable to a Web site that allows content to be updated inappropriately," said Murray. "That's not hyperbole, it's just fact. This has the potential to affect any social media site, any career site, any dating site, many retail sites and many cloud applications. That's why this attack is so serious. End users would never know they got exploited."

The best suggestion would be to get the news out about the vulnerability and hope that Adobe gets a patch to fix the problem before the slight flaw turns into a major headache for everyone.

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