Insert Special Characters in Documents, E-Mails, and Web Pages

Earlier today I needed to use the word cliché in a blog post. (Well, two posts, if you count this one.) Just one problem: my keyboard doesn't have an "accented-e" key. How could I insert that special character at the end of the word?

Most word processors offer an "insert symbol" feature, but if you're working elsewhere--text editor, e-mail client, Web form, etc.--you probably won't find such a tool.

Thankfully, Windows makes it pretty easy to insert all kinds of special characters, including symbols, accented letters, and so on.

One option is to use the Character Map utility, which has been bundled into Windows for as long as I can remember.

To run the program in Windows Vista or 7, click Start, type character, then click Character Map. In XP, I believe you can find it in the Start menu under Accessories.

Within the utility, click the font that most closely matches the one you're using (Arial is the default choice, and usually suitable for most applications), then scroll through the symbol list until you find the one you want. Click it, then click Select, and then Copy. Now just paste it in (by pressing Ctrl-V) wherever you need it.

Of course, that's a bit overcomplicated if all you need is, say, an accented e. By holding down the Alt key and pressing 1, 3, 0 on my numeric keypad, Windows instantly inserts the desired é. For an em-dash (—), it's Alt-0151. (Note that if you're a laptop user, and your numeric keypad is overlaid on the main keyboard, you may need to hold down the Fn key as well.)

Here's a more complete list of these Alt codes. Personally, i find committing a few frequently used codes to memory easier than slogging through Character Map.

Amazon: The Company Shoppers Love the Most

What's your favorite company? Or if you don't have a favorite, which one annoys you the least? It turns out that Americans prefer Amazon by a significant margin. According to a new survey by consulting firm Reputation Institute, U.S. consumers find the online retailing giant to be the "most reputable" business, Forbes reports.

Reputation Institute conducted an online survey of nearly 33,000 U.S. consumers in the first quarter of 2011. It measured customer perceptions of many of the 150 largest businesses in the U.S., those that people were either "somewhat" or "very" familiar with, Forbes writes.

Each company earned a "pulse" score of 0 to 100 that placed a numerical value on people's feelings toward the firm. Reputation Institute also factored in other elements of a company's credibility, including citizenship, leadership, innovation, products, and financial performance.

Amazon's pulse score was 82.70, which was 1.30 points higher than second-place Kraft Foods. Google came in ninth with 79.25.

So what makes Amazon so special? The online retailer is innovative, responds quickly and responsibly to potential scandals, and stays ahead of the technological curve, the survey reveals. Consumers trust Amazon and its third-party vendors, and value the firm's product-recommendation system. They also admire Amazon for its inventive projects, including the Kindle e-reader, Android app store, and movie-streaming service.

Here are America's 10 most reputable companies (via Forbes):

* Amazon (82.70)
* Kraft Foods (81.40)
* Johnson & Johnson (81.32)
* 3M (81.00)
* Kellogg's (80.87)
* UPS (80.46)
* FedEx (79.63)
* Sara Lee (79.53)
* Google (79.25)
* Walt Disney (79.02)

I'm also a fan of Amazon's online shop, which has very competitive prices and has yet to screw up one of my many orders. The company is very well-managed, and it's poised to become an even bigger player in consumer technology in the not-to-distant future.

Google, Apple, and Microsoft, you better watch out.

Seagate Shipping World's Slimmest Portable External Hard Drive

Seagate has started shipping its super-slim GoFlex Slim external hard-drive. Originally announced at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Seagate' claims that its latest is the World's thinnest portable drive, which, at 9mm thick, is around the same thickness as a regular number two pencil.

The portable drive, which measures in at 124mm by 78mm by 9mm, is both USB 2.0- and USB 3.0-friendly, and comes with a default 320GB capacity. Seagate were also keen to stress the drives interoperability with both Mac and PC's.

The Go Flex Slim is shipping now for just under $100 and comes with a 3-year limited warranty.

Seven Free Security Tools for Linux

One of the big advantages of using Linux is that its security tends to be so much better than that of the competing alternatives. That's due in large part to the way Linux assigns permissions, but it's also certainly true that the open source operating system is targeted by malware writers far less frequently than Windows is, in particular, simply because it's less widely used and so much more diverse.

The fact remains, however, that no operating system is perfectly secure. For business users, in particular, a little extra security assurance is always a good idea, at the very least for your own peace of mind.

Here, then, are a few of the best free tools you can use to help keep your Linux systems secure.

1. ClamAV

My favorite antivirus software for Linux is Sourcefire's ClamAV, a free, open source package designed to detect Trojans, viruses, malware and other malicious threats. Included in the software, which now comes preinstalled in several Linux distributions, are a multithreaded scanning daemon, command line utilities for on-demand file scanning, and an intelligent tool for automatic signature updates. Of particular note for past or current Windows users is that the core ClamAV library is also used in Immunet 3.0, a sister solution for Microsoft's operating system.

2. Snort

Also offered by Sourcefire is Snort, an open source network intrusion prevention and detection system that combines the benefits of signature, protocol and anomaly-based inspection. With millions of downloads and more than 300,000 registered users to its credit, Snort is the most widely deployed such technology worldwide, Sourcefire says.

3. Wireshark

Wireshark is a network protocol analyzer that lets you capture and interactively browse the traffic running on a computer network. The software runs not just on Linux but on Windows, OS X, Solaris, FreeBSD and NetBSD, as well. Captured network data can be browsed via GUI or via the TTY-mode TShark utility.

4. John the Ripper

John the Ripper is a free and open source password cracker that can help you detect weak passwords. It's distributed primarily in source code form, but native "pro" versions are available for both Linux and Macs as well; the prepackaged Linux version is priced starting at $39.95. Another similar tool, incidentally, is THC Hydra.

5. Nmap

Short for "Network Mapper," Nmap is a free and open source utility for network exploration or security auditing, but it can also be useful for network inventory, managing service upgrade schedules, and monitoring host or service uptime. Nmap runs on all major computer operating systems. Oddly, it has even been featured in movies including The Matrix Reloaded, The Bourne Ultimatum and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

6. Chkrootkit

Chkrootkit is a free tool designed to check locally for signs of a rootkit infection on your Linux machine. The free software is a very popular choice, but Rootkit Hunter is another, like-minded alternative.

7. Nessus

With more than five million downloads to date, Nessus is one of the most popular vulnerability scanners in the world, its makers say. The proprietary software features high-speed discovery, configuration auditing, asset profiling, sensitive data discovery and vulnerability analysis of your security posture. Personal use of Nessus is free, but enterprises must purchase a subscription costing $1,200 per year per Nessus scanner.

Toshiba's New Self-Erasing Hard Drives: The Ultimate in Data Security

Toshiba joins the self-encrypting hard drive march forward with its new Toshiba Self-Encrypting Drives series (models MKxx61GSYG). These SED drives won't quite self-destruct like in "Mission: Impossible," but when one of these intelligent hard disk drives (HDD) is connected to an unknown host, it can erase itself, or a variety of other protective functions.

The 2.5-inch, 7,200 rpm SEDs have been built for PC, copier and multifunction printers, and also point-of-sale systems used in government, financial, medical, or similar high-profile institutions and organizations. The drives range in capacity from 160GB to 640GB, and have 16MB of buffer memory. Pricing details on the five different models were unavailable at launch.

The Toshiba SED has a bunch of data-securing tricks up its sleeve. When powered on, the host and the Toshiba SED start an authentication process. From there, it can simply restrict access, wipe the entire drive, or wipe only certain blocks of information on the drive. Aside from eliminating data, the Toshiba SED can also do a cryptographic erase, which deletes the keys that allow a system to decrypt data; this approach renders the data unreadable, unless you can reinstate the original keys. All of these powerhouse methods can be jumpstarted by command, on power cycle, or on host authentication error -- which Toshiba says is an industry first.

This kind of high-caliber security ought to give bumbling agencies with the habit of losing government-issued PCs a breather. With Toshiba SEDs, they can waste with impunity.

Apple: White iPhone 4 is Real

Ten months after the iPhone 4 was announced, Apple is still reassuring us that the white model is on its way-possibly. After Bloomberg reported the white iPhone 4 should be on sale by the end of the month, Apple apparently reassured The Wall Street Journal that it's coming this spring. But after ten months on sale, the iPhone 4 is reaching the end of the product cycle -- so is there any point in having a white one now?

We still don't know what's holding up the white iPhone 4. Rumor has it the delay is due to Apple having trouble manufacturing white iPhone that don't leak light from the edges of their glass cases. Others say it's because the white paint causes transparency on the back panel, resulting in washed-out photos when using the flash. Nevertheless, Apple is mum on what's causing the delay.

So where is the white iPhone 4 Steve Jobs held in his hand when introducing the new model last June? Well, Apple didn't tackle the delay graciously, either: initially the phone was expected in July 2010; then, in the second half of July, news broke that the white iPhone 4 was delayed again, with a release slated for later in the year; only to get delayed again until spring 2011. Apple even went through lengths to remove all traces and imagery of the white iPhone 4 from its website. Not classy.

If Apple keeps to the historical iPhone release schedule, a new iPhone 5 should be arriving in June (some say it's not happening until September, or even next year). So if the white iPhone 4 arrives at the end of this month, there will be just over a month between the release of the white, older model and the introduction of a brand-new iPhone. If this proves to be true, it makes more sense for Apple to release a new iPhone 5 in both black and white from launch day (like with the iPad 2) and send this whole white iPhone 4 fiasco to the annals of tech history.