Posts by kc0arf

As of Sunday afternoon, Oct 30, 2005, DaniWeb has taken on a new look! I have been active with DaniWeb since early 2004, and we now have the 3rd revision to our community! I like the new changes, and I am sure that on behalf of the administration, others do too! Welcome Aboard!

Designed to make navigation more easier for the user community, the webmasters installed a new look-and-feel to help users find the answers they are looking for, and also post questions in the proper locations. DaniWeb operates like a library, with different topics in different locations. One would not look for information on cars where all of the baking books are located... likewise here at DaniWeb, programming questions need to be in one location, and operating system discussions in another.

The new interface also returns to the important consideration that all members of our community are not blessed with high-speed internet. The old site was very artistic, and quite elegant, but to a modem user, it took forever for things to load up and display properly. The new design features significantly less graphics, so that our modem folks do not have to wait for the art to load.

I had the chance to ask Dani, our webmaster administrator why she introduced the changes. She commented, "The old one was "pretty" ... but very graphic intensive and a little too flashy for a serious IT professional site. I wanted to go for a much cleaner, more …

Once upon a time, Symantec was a known leader in the computer software industry. They had compilers (Think C/C++), purchased and maintained Peter Norton's DOS / Windows Tools, and developed some products for the Mac. Today, they are well known for their Corporate Antivirus tools, although their reporting and functionality leaves room for improvement. More recently, they have expanded into fighting spyware, and as discovered by Network Computing, the spyware component fails to measure up.

Feel free to go over to Network Computing's site, and read the article for yourself.

To the general public, anything that causes the computer to do something unexpected, aside from an obvious hardware failure (I saw smoke! Seriously!), can be blamed on a virus. The lines among the types of malware are blurred -- viruses are lumped in with worms, spyware, viruses, and macro viruses. Even here at DaniWeb, we do not differentiate among the animals -- we lump them into one forum for innoculation.

So, people expect a product like Norton Internet Security (NIS) to be a one-stop solution for protection on the very vunerable Windows platform. Companies like Symantec should know that the internet is an explosive environment, and that more and more people are attaching their computers to a high-speed network connection (DSL/Cable). I'd have to argue that a malfunctioning product like NIS 2006 is more of a problem than a solution -- people will believe they are protected, while in reality, they are not.

Perhaps it is …

Microsoft this week updated Microsoft Works -- the consumer-level "home" edition of Microsoft Office. Microsoft Works Suite 2006 is now available for SRP $99.95

Microsoft Works is an integrated word processor, spreadsheet, database, calendar, and email client wrapped up into one large program. The programs are sufficient for most home users -- keep a checkbook, write some letters, perhaps sort some recipies and/or keep track of your music media. Works does not easily interact with Microsoft Office, however, especially the database file format. One would think that MS Access could open a works database file, but that is not the case.

Also included in Suite 2006 are Encarta Encyclopedia, Digital Image Standard, Money 2006, Streets & Trips Essentials, and Word 2002 (the word processor program from Office XP).

An interesting paradigm shift came across my eyes today -- I caught an ad that some Adobe Photoshop experts are now doing Podcasts on how to work the state-of-the-art digital photo editing package Photoshop! PhotoshopTV!

Their first podcast aired on October 24, and the show featured techniques on how to do some neat photo sharpening tricks and special effects. Other experts discussed some Photoshop trivia, and Apple's Aperture.

Photoshop TV can be found on iTunes, and there is a web page out there for it: www.photoshopguys.com

I am going to check out an episode, and see what I can learn!

Christian

GIMP -- the GNU Image Manipulation Program -- is about to be upgraded to version 2.4 Presently available as 2.3.4, the program that makes digital image editing easy on a Mac, Windows, and Linux, is about to see major positive enhancements.

GIMP is comparable to Photoshop, the industry standard for digital photo editing. GIMP is freeware, released under the GNU license, whereas Photoshop has a hefty pricetag for a lot of power. Photoshop is the superior product, but people should not discount the power of GIMP.

GIMP 2.4 features three new tools: the Align tool, the Foreground Extraction tool, and a Rectangle Selector. I am very pleased to see the Foreground tool, a method of moving an object out of one picture, and into another, without having to trace around a complex shape (such as a person's body). Such a tool can save lots of time, especially if your hand is not steady on the mouse.

GIMP 2.4 also sports a new interpolation method called Lanczos for scaling operations. Instead of using the old interpolation methods, this new process makes the images more clear and accurate. I did research this new method, but most explinations are large words and math that I am not going to replicate here.

Perhaps the largest enhancement of GIMP 2.4 is the introduction of Color Management. Inside 2.4, you can now define the environment you are working with, such as your color monitor calibration, and settings for your printer. You may …

Studio To Go is a Knoppix-based Linux musical software environment that allows Windows users access to linux-based open-source software tools, without having to install Linux onto the Windows PC.

Knoppix is a Linux that runs completely from a CD-ROM, although it probably takes some RAM and turns it into a ram disk for housekeeping duties and temporary files. Knoppix supports a number of external devices, such as USB thumbdrives, network interface cards, and modems.

According to the FAQ on the Studio to Go website, you can boot into the musical environment, and then create songs, and mix music. It is setup to not write to the hard drive (linux and NTFS can corrupt each other), but will export just fine to other devices.

So, what exactly is Studio to Go? It is a collection of open-source software and a Digital Audio Workstation. It supports lots of soft synths, VST, and VSTi, and other audio editors. Here is a sampling from their website:

Rosegarden 1.2: Audio and MIDI sequencer, score editor
LilyPond: score typesetting and notation output
ALSA Sound drivers
QAMix, HDSPMixer, envy24control
Ardour
LADSPA plugins

Because the package is running Linux, they have also included a web browser, email client, and PDF viewer so that the computer can connect to the internet, and access online materials.

I am not a musician, and cannot therefore judge the package as an artist. But looking at the features, and the ability to …

Netflix -- those wonderful people who provide a website for you to choose movies from, and then will mail you a DVD that you can view at your leisure and return back to them via the US Mail -- was working on a plan with TiVo to download / stream the movie content to your set over the internet.

According to internet sources, the Netflix deal with TiVo is dead. Well, officially it is "indefinately postponed". To me, that means dead. And what a shame!

Why is it that Copyright holders think they are protected by the plastic disks that they mail out? Is there something magical that prevents a disk from being copied? Nope. Is there something magical that prevents copying to another media? Nope.

Anything that is available out there can be copied. So why be illogical, and make a bonehead decision to limit the delivery of the content?

There are perks out there to renting the specific DVD. Perhaps you want to listen to the commentary audio tracks, or turn on subtitles in a different language, or change the audio presentation.

But if you are going on an impulse to watch a particular kind of movie, then you don't want to wait for it to come in the mail. Especially in today's age where it costs so much in fuel to move physical items. Remember the concept of the paperless office?

iTunes has created downloadable music. The concept is there and …

Apple has had a busy month -- a new iPod, new iTunes, new iMac G5, and now, 3 new ultra-cool Powerbooks! Available in the standard 12, 15, and 17" models, these new laptops have new features and performance levels not seen before in Apple's line, and after taking a look at them, I want one for Christmas!

Let's start with the basics available across all of the models:
-- built in 54 Mbps Airport Extreme: 802.11g
-- built in Bluetooth 2.0
-- built in 56K V.92 modem
-- full-sized keyboard. 15 & 17" midels feature ambient lighting
-- built in 10/100 Ethernet (12") or 10/100/1000 Ethernet (15 & 17")
-- 12" has 1024 x 768 display
-- 15" has 1440 x 960 display, 17" has 1680x105
-- enhanced battery support, offering 5.5 hours of battery life.

The 12" model, being the basic Powerbook, comes with a 1.5 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, and a nVidia GeForce FX Go5200 video card with 64 MB RAM. The laptop features an 80 GB Hard drive (ATA/100), and an 8x SuperDrive (DVD+-RW / CD-RW). Output ports include a Mini-DVI, VGA, and S-video. Audio hookups include line-in, headphone-out, onboard stereo speakers, and onboard microphone. There are also 2 USB 2.0 ports, and one FireWire 400 port. Interestingly, this laptop does not have a PCMCIA slot. The laptop supports 1.25 GB of RAM.

The 15 & 17" models expand the internal components.... faster processors, …

Last week, Apple released a new iMac and a new iPod. I forgot to tell you about the third component released: iTunes 6. Apple has expanded the iTunes functionality to now include Music Videos and TV shows available for downloading. This new functionality supports the new iPod described last week. iTunes also supports purchasing a gift certificate for someone else to download the goods... I did not know that!

Remember when MTV played music videos instead of their current line of programming? I remember watching "Beat It" and some of Madonna's work, along with Weird Al and Van Halen. The video allowed the bands to explore (somtimes they really pushed reality) the music visually. Sometimes they just tried to see how little clothing they could wear, but other times, they were quite creative.

The new video segment of iTunes allows you to download Music videos for $1.99 a clip. When I checked the website on Oct 18, Apple had 200+ music Videos available for download. The videos are ad-free, in MPEG-4 or H.264 formats that may be played over and over again... no limits on how often you show the video. I saw artists like Madonna, U2, and the Beastie Boys. I'll have to fire up iTunes again later and see if some other favorits are out there and available.

The Televison side of iTunes is limited, but should be growing in no-time. Apple has signed deals with ABC Television and Disney to provide episodes just one …

Various internet sources are reporting two Microsoft patch concerns -- a failed "real" patch released by Microsoft, and a third party assembling various hot-fixes, and calling them "Windows XP SP3 Preview Pack".

There is no official "Windows XP SP3"... the third party preparing them clearly mentions that on their website, but it is very tempting for people to go there, and grab the update, and install it. Windows is a flawed operating system that requires local administrator authority to run all of the software, so not even compaines can protect themselves at the local machine level from having users improperly installing these patches, and possibly further corrupting the computer.

Microsoft's Mike Brannigan wrote stating, "The hotfixes are not as rigorously tested at public released ones." "Installing all the 'privates' may make your machine LESS stable and will also put you out of support from Microsoft or an OEM as you are installing incorrectly issued private hotfixes."

But Mike's assertion that released hotfixes are 'rigorously tested' may be a misnomer too: Microsoft for the second time in three months has issued a critical buggy patch. Mike Reavey of Microsoft's Security Response Center wrote "Yes we are aware of some of the information floating around about problems after installing the MS05-051 update on Windows 2000 systems." Reported problems include problems with the Windows Firewall product, users seeing a blank screen after installing the patch, and other strange behaviors, especially on Windows 2000 systems.

This is why companies NEED …

The United States Senate Commerce Committee is considering a motion to force the US Television industry to completely switch from analog to digital transmissions by April 7, 2009. This means that any legacy televisions that have not been upgraded -- especially handheld and portable units, will no longer receive meaningful transmissions from local stations.

Present day television is transmitted using two methods: digital signals, and the traditional analog signals. The digital signals are produced when the source material is converted to 1's and 0's (just like your computer stuff) and transmitted as such onto the airwaves. Traditional analog signals are created when the source material is modulated along a continous wave onto the airwaves -- no conversion exists.

Video and audio purists may argue that the digital conversions degrade or muddy the final image... that is true, if you examine the codecs involved during the translation. Unless you sample the source (convert) at high rates, you will lose material during the conversion. Of course, the higher rates mean more data (larger files) that have to be moved to the reciepient.

What is pushing this conversion? Two things: technological advancement and money. Yes, digital programming can send along subchannels of data that can be used by the viewer, and that is a neat and useful tool. Some of you may have used this technology when watching a DVD at home, and instead of hearing the full audio track, you selected a different language, or chose to listen to …

Apple's new iPod is just simply awesome. Announced today (Oct 12, 2005), Apple's new iPod has new video capability, along with other featurs that turns the music box into a sophisticated piece of equipment. With all this functionality, my Palm PDA might be forced into retirement!

We all know that Apple's iPod is the standard in personal MP3 players out there -- the ability of iTunes to download legal music and manage the rights is well known. Where the new iPod takes the cake is the added functionality -- it can now play videos, and it will sync with business applications to keep appointments and contact information. Cool!

The iPod comes with either a 30 or 60 GB hard disk, and it is rated to operate for up to 20 hours of use before recharging. Note that with all electronic devices, the battery life will vary depending on how you use the device. 30 GB will store roughly 7,500 songs; 60 GB handles 15,000 songs. The screen is 2.5" on the diagonal LCD, with a LED backlight, so you can see it well at night.

Some other specifications:

Audio --> handles AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible 2,3,4, Apple Lossless, WAV, and AIFF files

Photos --> JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PSD, PNG

Video --> H.264 video: up to 768 Kbps, 320 x 240, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio …

Sleek. Powerful. Graphic. Capable. Stable. Portable. Clean-design. This new iMac G5 Rocks. At a special event today (Oct 12, 2005), Apple Computer released two new awesome pieces of hardware -- an iPod that can play video, and a new awesome iMac G5. Let's talk about this new G5 and why I want one on my desk.

The new iMac G5 an all-in-one computer that features an LCD on the front, and houses the computer on the back. The keyboard and mouse plug right into the display -- the computer uses almost no deskspace, aside from the keyboard and the mouse. It reminds me of a laptop computer that doesn't open (no hinge) and the display facing outward instead of inside. Wow. The computer is available with a 17" or a 20" LCD monitor, and all of the components are inside.

While this system is not designed for internal expandability, it comes with many neat features:

* 3 USB 2.0 ports
* 2 Firewire 400 ports
* Composite and S video outputs (meaning 2 displays possible!)
* Audio in and out
* Built-in Gigabit ethernet
* Built-in Airport Extreme (802.11g)
* Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
* 8x Super Drive to burn CD and DVD's (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
* Built-in iSight camera for video conference
* 2 Models: 1.9 GHz 17", and a 2.1 GHz 20"
* 160 GB (17") or 250 GB (20") SATA Hard drive (can upgrade to …

Last week, Griffin Technology announced a new product -- iFill -- that will capture audio from free radio stations on the internet, and fill your iPod with several hours worth of music from the internet.

iFill allows you to select from several stations, and several musical styles. According to the company's website, the software allows you to select these stations, and then record the music, and the information will transfer right from the internet to the iPod, syncing the device in real time. The software allows you to set aside iPod space, so that your music doesn't fill the whole storage space when recording.

iFill works with Mac OS X 10.3 or 10.4. For Windows, it likes Windows XP SP2. You will also need an internet connection, and an iPod: either the iPod, the iPod nano, the iPod mini, or iPod shuffle.

Interestingly, Griffin Technology's website on the product includes several statements about copying music, and respecting copyrights on the music. They do not encourage downloading and playing in public, along with other practices to comply with fair-use principles.

If I had an iPod, I would be looking at this software. Grab the tunes, and run, and change them in for some new ones and new exposure. Sounds neat!

At the US Association of National Advertiser's annual conference in Phoenix, Arizona, Google's Eric Schmidt said that "We did a math exercise and the answer was 300 years". "The answer is it's going to be a very long time".

Google right now claims they have 170 terabytes indexed so far, and did not discuss how they came up with the 300 year number. One can only speculate what their goal of indexing is: are they trying to index all the information available today in 2005, or are they including information to index today in addition to what will be added tomorrow.

One has to wonder, however, if all this indexing is good. I have mentioned in columns past about "Googlebombing" where people plant false information into the database to direct people in false directions to make a political statement (remember searching for "miserable failure" and being sent to George Bush's website, where the words do not exist). Google has professed a policy to NOT correct these obvious re-directions, so I would have to conclude that the database has integrity issues.

We have also seen Google Earth, and all those nice pictures from space. Current pictures of defense installations and other sensitive areas can be inviting to terrorist threats. It also could cause a privacy issue for private property. As resolution technology increases, are we going to reach a point that we can Google a picture of someone's house overhead, and see them sunbathing?

When I think …

Akronix, a company that provides IM security and management tools, reports that Q3 2005 attacks on IM networks averaged more than one per day.

The report mentions that IM borne viruses were "often mutations of other varients, however in September, we had seven new viruses." The report did not mention which IM networks were under attack, such as AIM, Yahoo!, or MSN. The report suggests that organizations examine the use of IM on their networks, and prepare to defend their systems from attacks.

According to Akonix, August's Kelvir.hi worm was the first to ask the client software the local language settings, and sent a text message based on the language settings. Again, it was not reported on which clients were affected by this attack.

It is not known about how many of the millions of IM users are aware that most of their communications are not encrypted when using IM, and that sending of files through them, along with other automated features could introduce attacks onto a computer system.

Launched September 5, 1977, the Voyager 1 spacecraft has crossed the Termination Shock* of our solar system, and has entered a new region of space at extreme distances from our sun.

According to researchers at the University of Maryland, Voyager made this transition December 16, 2004, and it took researchers several months to track the latest data and confirm that the explorer made the transition. Voyager will need to travel through the Heliosheath*, pass through the Heliopause*, and then it will be in pure interstellar space, and completely out of the solar system.

As of mid-July, Voyager 1 was 8.9 billion miles from our Sun. Travelling at 38,406 miles/hr (640 miles a minute 4 1/2 minutes from New York City to Los Angeles), the ship is expected to survive the transition of the Heliosheath* (where it is now) by 2020, when the power levels are expected to be too low for any instruments to operate. A more critical "deadline" is 2011, when the gyro operations will need to be turned off. The gyros are most important, as they are used in calibration functions, along with pointing the spacecraft at earth for communications.

Voyager is so far away from the earth that it takes a signal 26 1/2 hours to travel from earth to the ship, and then back to earth. Think of it this way: over 13 hours to send anything electronic to the ship. Imagine the download times -- you would need to wait 26 1/2 …

Microsoft's new Digital Locker system allows users of Windows computers to download computer software from a variety of vendors. A number of software vendors already provide this functionality -- Microsoft's system brings those vendors under "one roof", manages the financial transactions, and then stores the license information for later use if your installation croaks.

Using the familiar shopping-card functionality, users can browse the software listings, and pick out what software they would like to download, and then purchase the items. Once the finances are arranged, a separate program called the Digital Locker Assistant will manage the downloads, and allow you to burn the images to CD / DVD media for offline storage.

I like this idea, and can see it being useful for the consumer market -- the Corporate people with their bulk licensing agreements at discount will probably not use this system much, but for the consumer market, I can see great value in this functionality.

I have made online purchases in the past from Adobe and Macromedia for my Macintosh, and found that I like the idea of getting the software when I need it without having to go and get it at some store somewhere. I can start the download, walk away, install, and backup all while doing other things. But I do have to keep a separate database for my serial numbers, and do keep them printed out and in a file cabinet for easy retrieval.

In order to use the Windows …

Hello,

The Mac Mini accepts any USB keyboard and mouse, so you can go down to your local computer store and grab a keyboard and mouse, if you do not like the included one.

The computer also ships with Digital video, and an adapter, to work with standard VGA systems if you would like.

So, you could take your older hardware and work with the computer if you so desired.

It also advertises with a 40 GB hard drive, and with the Apple Store, you can increase it to 80 GB. The hard drives are Ultra ATA, so you could go in there (voiding the warrenty, but you could) go in there and install a larger one if you so desired.

My powerbook has a 20 GB hard drive in it, and it is not full. I do not see how your claim of low hard disk space is valid. Perhaps if you were digitizing a boatload of video, it could seem cramped, but this machine is not designed with that intention at all.

Christian

Apple has upgraded the adorable Mac Mini. Reports on the internet reveal that the advertised 1.42 GHz computer was actually shipped at 1.5 GHz, and sported some other features.

The new Mac Mini reportably has the following new features:

* New 8x Dual-layer Super Drive, model UJ-845. This media device supports 5x DVD-RAM, 8x DVD+/-R, 4x DVD+/-RW, and 24x CD R.

* The computer's video card is upgraded to the ATI Radeon 9200 with 64 MB of VRAM, up from 32 MB.

* Bluetooth 2.0+EDR support for mobile device integration.

Personally, I got a chance to work with the older Mac Mini at an Apple Store here in Wisconsin, and the computer is a sweet device. Hardly any noise from fans, the computer wisked away on various tests that I did on it, and reminded me that my old Powerbook G3 is woefully outdated.

Enjoy the new Mac!

According to some online blogs, TiVo is employing a new scheme of digital rights management (DRM) which allows program sponsors (the people who provide the show, such as the network, or perhaps the syndication agency) to define when a show may be watched, and if it may be stored for later re-runs.

TiVo quietly upgraded their "EULA" or End User's License Agreement" inside of an OS update that allows program suppliers to restrict how long the DVR may save recordings, or prevent the device from recording them alltogether. Of course, this was a quiet modification... I am certain that they did not advertise this new policy on their devices, or it would have certainly made news.

Called the "Red Flag" problem, the device shows a red flag on shows, such as "The Simpsons" or "King of the Hill", and the device prevents certain actions to be taken on the stored programs. There are also reports that digital corruption can trip this flag accidentially, causing a slew of un-intended problems.

Has anyone over at TiVo ever head of Error Correction???

Perhaps it was the local TV station that tripped the flag on, instead of the source material having it encoded in the signal. Well, accidents can happen, but if this flexibility was DESIGNED into the system, that means that a local TV station can trip the flag at will, and influence their audience. Remember, not all of TiVo programming is ficticious... if a TV station had a …

Hello,

I am much more of a geek than a marketing person, so I may have the wrong vision here, but here is my opinion:

* I think that Apple will gain some market share, but not a universal overthrow. There is still an annoyingly large percentage of colleges preparing IT people who do not understand the elegance of the architecture, and develop an Anti-Mac bigotry.

* I think that if Apple were to release OS X to the Wintel community, and let it run on any clone, I think a number of people would convert easier. Especially if the viruses can be managed -- OS X is very safe to many modern viruses / attacks, but it can be argued that with most of the world running Windoze, there isn't enough population out there to form proper statistics. What would be really cool is to have the Apple presence on the computer market blossom, and prove the truth that OS X is much more hardened from attacks.

* I think that Linux is the largest threat to Microsoft, with it's open-source architecture, and environment that continues to live today. Linux gets closer and closer to the point of being functional as a daily desktop. I think it has a little bit more to go, but so far, I am doing nearly everything on Linux that I did on my Mac.

Good questions.

Christian

According to Steve Jobs, Apple Computer is ontrack to ship Intel based Macintosh computers by June 2006. Jobs said at the recent Apple Expo (Paris) that "We said we'd be shipping by next June, and we are on track to have that be a true statement."

Apple made announcements several months ago that the company was changing CPU suppliers from IBM to Intel because IBM could not deliver faster processors that the marketplace demands. To properly compete, Apple needs to have a computer available that is at least 3 GHz, something that IBM has not been able to deliver with the Power line of processors.

Apple presently uses the PowerPC 970FX processor (G5), that is a single-core chip. IBM has recently upgraded that chip to the 970MP whose dual-core technologies could deliver a preformance increase of 50-80 percent. Apple could debut this new processor in late September, with CPU speeds of 1.4 to 2.5 GHz.

Also this week, I found out that Apple updated OS X 10.4, and shipped this code to developers, along with 10.4 for the Intel platform. It is good to know that Apple is encouraging the development of the OS, and preparing vendors for the switch, so that vendor's will write code for the new platform. I am still looking for information to see if Apple is developing a Virtual Machine for running the older code on the new hardware. They did a splendid job with the VM when the platform migrated from …

OpenOffice.Org, the creaters and maintainers of the open-sourced OpenOffice, have just released version 1.1.5 of their office software suite. The update addresses a security problem concerning a buffer overflow; there are other issues that are repaired since version 1.1.4, such as porting updates (OpenOffice was developed for Linux first, and from there ported to other OS's), document translation issues, new currency formats, and some compiling problems.

The other neat thing about OO 1.1.5 is that the software will now read in the new OpenDocument format introduced with OpenOffice 2.0 beta. Presently in Beta2, OO 2.0 greatly enhances the suite by providing more translation tools, new symbol shapes, new PDF export options (very cool!), a Mail Merge wizard, and integration enhancements to iron out "look and feel" issues with the parent OS. Under Windows, OO 2.0 looks like a Windows application; Linux users will experience a Linux feel to the program.

I am glad that OO 1.1.5 will read in OO 2.0 files, because in my home, I have seen some problems having both of the programs in my environment. My Fedora Core 4 desktop computer has OO 2.0 installed, whereas the Fedora Core 3 laptop has OO 1.1.4 installed. I had a bit of a document conversion issue... now with 1.1.5, I can use the same file formats on both machines.

OpenOffice 1.1.5 is available for the Windows and Linux platforms. On Macintosh OS X, the software is still held in beta status "release canidate", and from …

Security researchers announced a new vulnerability for users of the Firefox 1.0.6 browsers on a Unix or Linux platform. The problem revolves around a security bug that could allow hackers to execute arbitrary shell commands if they can trick the user into accepting a malicious link on a website.

The problem has been confirmed with RedHat Linux / Fedora Core 4, and Mozilla Firefox version 1.0.6. Users of Firefox on these systems are encouraged to upgrade to Firefox 1.0.7

Christian

Symantec released a report comparing Mozilla Firefox vs. Windows Explorer, and found that Firefox had more security flaws, but Explorer's were more severe. The report also disclosed statistics on a number of other concerns involving Internet Security.

Using data collected between January and June 2005, Mozilla's browsers suffered 25 vendor-confirmed bugs, and Internet Explorer had 13. 72 percent of Mozilla's bugs (18) were tagged as "high severity", and 8 of IE's bugs were tagged as high.

Symantec's report also mentions:

* Bot activity continues to rise, to an average level of 10,352 bots per day
* Malicious code for mobile devies made headway. The first MMS worm was discovered
* Phishing and spam continued to grow. 90 % more messages blocked. Spam made up over 61 percent of all email traffic
* TCP Port 445, the common port for Microsoft file and print sharing, was the most frequently target port. Port 135, a port for Microsoft Windows communication, came in second place. Port 1026 UDP was listed in third place.
* 10,866 new Win32 viruses were detected, a 48% increase over the second half of 2004.
* Adware made up 8% of the top 50 reported programs
* Eight of 10 adware programs were installed through web browsers.
* 51% of all spam received worldwide originated in the US

Symantec's report also shows that malicious code designed to generate profit is on the rise. The report also commented that …

What does Googlebombing mean? How does it affect IT? Can it affect the integrity of website searches? Should search engines have the ethical responsibility to restore / correct the rubble the Googlebomb causes? Let's look into this facinating new word I learned today.

According to Wikipedia, Googlebombing is "the attempt to influence the ranking of a given sites returned by the Google search engine.... a website will be ranked higher if the sites that link to that page all use consistant anchor text". To me, in layman's terms, it means that people have a process put together to change the order of listings that the search engine displays, even if the listings do not contain the text of the search strings. Google does not suffer from these misrepresentations alone: Yahoo and Ask Jeeves also are exposed to these attacks.

I stumbled across Googlebombing when I saw an article about searching on the text "miserable failure" and it brought up George Bush's biography from the official White House website. My political views aside, I did not find the expression "miserable failure" in his webpage, yet Google things that the expression is there.

Doing some other reasearch, I have found other examples: "litigious bastards" gives the website of SCO Group, the people who have caused ripples in the Linux community trying to copyright parts of the Linux Kernel. A humorous example was "International Sign for Choking" which brought up the images of the Philadelphia Eagles football team. There were …

Microsoft messed up Update Rollup 1, that caused compatability problems with several vendor applications such as Citrix, Sophos, and some parts of Microsoft Office. Programs were unable to access floppy disks, or even crashed more often, or simply didn't work. Microsoft earlier remarked that only a handful of applications failed after Update Rollout 1 was installed, but was later forced to acknowledge more incompatabilities

Microsoft has patched the Update Rollout 1, now at version 2, and has posted the repair on their websites.

Microsoft has removed Windows 2000 from active mainstream support on June 30.

Hello,

To be honest, I don't know. Again, nothing prevents an export to .pdf for crossplatform viewing. And nothing prevents going with one package across an office. If everyone decides to use AbiWord, then there is no problem.

Christian

Hello,

Well, you also have K office out there, and I think there is AbiWord, and a few other things. I do not believe OpenOffice is the only one out there. I have worked with OpenOffice and do like it, but I am sure there are others.

The only thing I have not found a solid solution for is Access.

Christian

Massachusetts has a new state policy that requires state agencies to use an "Open Document" format in their business applications. Not surprisingly, propriety software giant Microsoft has filed complaints with the state concerning the policy.

Back in 2003, the Massachusetts Office of Administration and Finance directed the state agencies to look at open source and open document applications instead of relying on a single software vendor to supply office software. Microsoft issued a 15 page memo, and in it Microsoft's general manager Alan Yates lamented, "Were this proposal to be adopted, the significant costs incurred by the Commonwealth, its citizens, and the private sector would be matched only by the levels of confusion and incompatability that would result from the fact that the OpenDocument format is such a nascent and immature format." Wow, what a mouthful!

I personally have made the switch from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice, a product developed by OpenOffice.org. I can read in the Microsoft materials just fine, and save to them if necessary. Matter of fact, I find that most people prefer that I send them attachments as a PDF document, something that OpenOffice does automagically without the separate Acrobat publisher. Granted, I cannot optimize to the levels of Adobe's product, I can get a PDF off quickly and accurately with one mouse click.

I plan on installing OpenOffice for my Grandma soon, and as wonderful as her cookies and needlepoint work are, she is the pinnicle of computer confusion. We'll see about …

Early in September, NASA implemented new software controls on the Hubble Space Telescope, allowing it to shut down one of the three remaining gyroscopes, reserving the third gyroscope for later use. By doing this, scientists hope to extend the Hubble's mission through mid-2008.

Gyroscopes are rotating mechanisms that remain fixated on a point in space. In space, scientists and Hubble operators need to maintain three dimensions -- up / down, left / right, and in / out. Thus, mission rules require the use of three units pointing at different locations to know where the telescope "is", and which direction it is facing. Also note that your typical picture in space requires anywhere from several minutes to several hours to properly expose, and the system needs gyroscope data to precisely look at the object being photographed.

NASA Engineers found a way to use other instrumentation aboard the Hubble to replace the data that the third gyroscope would otherwise provide.

In order to return to full functionality, however, NASA needs to send a space shuttle to the Hubble, and replace the gyros with new units to extend the lifetime of the Hubble. NASA would also replace batteries, upgrade science instruments, and repair a heat shield on the telescope. The former NASA Administrator a year or so ruled out future shuttle missions to the Hubble, but a public outcry forced NASA to re-visit this decision. NASA's current policy is to consider a Hubble mission after 2 successful return-to-flight missions. NASA …

Apple Computer, announced on Wednesday a new cell phone that serves as an iTunes player. The phone, available only through Cingular Wireless holds about 100 songs that are downloaded from a Windows PC or Macintosh, and the songs are managed just like an iPod.

According to the FAQ, the phone will play MP3 files, along with AAC format podcasts. Users are given an option to answer an incoming phone call, or continue listening to your music. The FAQ also says that 512 MB flash cards will hold around 100 songs, the 128 MB flash card will store 25 average songs, and the 256 MB card will hold around 50.

The phone will allow you to listen to music via stereo headphones, or using the internal speaker.

For more information, visit Apple's website: http://www.apple.com/itunes/mobile/

FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Association committed acts of browser discrimination by only allowing people with Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer 6.0 to file electronic claims in response to Hurricane Katrina. This means that if I was an affected citizen of the US, and had my Mac laptop with me and a valid internet connection, I could not file a claim. Nor could my friend running Linux who uses Firefox, or perhaps Konquerer.

According to FEMA's website, at http://www.fema.gov/help/registration_faq.shtm the minimum computer is a Windows unit with IE 6. No other OS / browser combination will be supported / available. If you try to register with different combination, you are directed to either download the combination, or dial a telephone number to complete the transaction.

This is completely unacceptable! I can understand not supporting *every* browser on the planet, but insisting on Microsoft as the sole monopoly is a huge mistake, and this blatant discrimination against modern operating systems such as Macintosh and Linux, and the variety of common browsers Netscape, Mozilla, Opera, really points a finger at design stupidity.

In a day and age where job postings are in multiple languages, and we have bi-lingual police officers, you would think that the US Federal Government would be forced by law to use open standards for maximum exposure.

Guess not.

WinFS is Microsoft's new Relational File System, and the company released a Beta 1 edition of the software to members of the Microsoft Developer Network. Originally planned for a Windows Vista release, the software runs on Windows XP. A forthcomming Beta 2 release should work on the beta releases of Vista.

The driving goal behind WinFS is a new filing system paridgm: allow a single file system to store documents such as email messages, your scanned photos, music, and databases in a common file format that other programs could access more quickly without a conversion utility. Applications coded to work with WinFS would feel like a database access: type in a key (a common search string, or someone's name), and all of the documents associated with that key will be called up for your selection.

Apple Computer tried to do something like this ten years ago with a project called OpenDoc. The document type would be the same, and programmers were encouraged to develop applets to work with that document's data, allowing programmer flexibility on how they wanted the user to interact with the data. OpenDoc never took off -- in it's day it was a lot of code on computers that were not fast enough to handle it. A beautiful concept, but I think it failed due to performance fallbacks.

Looking at the new format, I am not certain that I like it. While it may make for easier data access, it also could be a …

GAP, Inc. the owners of Gap.com and OldNavy.com closed down their websites last week to prepare them for the upcoming holiday season. Instead of developing a test-beta site, they opted to close the websites completely, and complete the overhaul before releasing it to the public. The company is collecting email addresses from visitors, so that they may be contacted when the site is opened.

Has anyone ever heard of such a thing in today's day and age?

Being a small-time web developer myself, I work with the concept of developing a test site in-house, and migrating it to the public sphere when completed. I cannot imagine what the people would say if I proposed to shut down the website for a week. Just doesn't seem right.

I checked the gap.com website today before writing this article to see if it was working. The website had a pop-up window telling me I was one of the few to see the newly designed website. I have to complement them on the design, and the ease of the interface, and that it flows really nice with Firefox on Linux.

There is also a nice touch with the Hurricane Relief, along with a link for employees who are displaced to contact them.

The case between Google and Microsoft over executive Kal-Fu Lee began this week in court. According to reports, the case already has both sides trowing mud at each other.

Some of you may recall that Kal-Fu Lee, a former executive of Microsoft, recently left the company and joined Google in a role that would help Google interact with the Chinese language and technology. Microsoft sued both Lee and Google because of a non-compete clause in Lee's contract. Lee and Google feel that Lee's hiring is legal and appropariate.

Reports from people observing the case show that Lee was embarassed by Microsoft's business processes, such as inappropariate language inside of high-level meetings, accusations that Microsoft failed to fulfill outsourcing work to the Chinese people, and violent tirades from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer that included physical demonstrations of anger.

Lee has countered that he has worked for various companies, including Apple Computer, on projects concerning the Chinese market, such as developing business relationships in China, and developing business opportunities there.

Clearly, there are a lot of things yet to be resolved in this case. Stay tuned.

What is a Wiki?

I have seen the word before when installing eGroupware, a web-based emailing and calendar program that could give Microsoft Exchange a real run for the money. But I haven't had the chance to really think about what a Wiki was until I used Wikipedia, and looked at the technology. Wiki's are cool!

According to Wikipedia, a Wiki "... enables documents to be written collectively (co-authoring) in a simple markup using a web browser. A single page in a wiki is referred to as a "wiki page", while the entire body of pages, which are usually highly interconnected via hyperlinks, is called "the doodle"; in effect, a very simple database."

This sounds very cool! I can think of a number of uses:

* College academic groups using one to write a report. No longer do you need to email the attachment from person to person, and keep track of everyone's little change.
* Business groups using the Wiki to write and store business documents, such as marketing materials, technical specification sheets, and parts lists. Again, no need to keep track of potentially hundreds of email attachments and other materials.
* IT departments for documentation purposes. Keep track of deployed assets, as they can be easily edited when an asset moves or is retired.

But I also see some problems:
* Anyone can edit the Wiki, meaning the information could be under attack. Nothing seems to be in place to …

Last week, Intel announced a new chip design that promises less power use per unit time, along with embedded security and management functions. The goal is to provide a 3.5 times performance-per-watt improvement over today's single-core Xeon based server CPU. Intel's CEO Paul Otellini said that this new design goal would be implemented across all design lines.

Anyone who has taken the lid off their computer can easily see the large heat sink atop of a CPU -- some video cards even have heat sinks on the graphics card processors. Heat is a killer of an electronic system -- heat is generated when electricity passes through electrical components, and is a wasteful by-product of the electronic component. All of the fans inside your computer are trying to push heat outside of the box -- at the expense of a higher power bill. Some chips get so hot that they can stop working if the heat sink is removed for even a few minutes. All of this heat costs money to remove -- from the power to run the fans inside the computer, to the large air conditioners that remove heat from the computer room. And this cost increases when one considers that backup power requirements that all these computers, along with the air conditioners require when the main power is cut off.

Laptop computers face even greater heat challenges -- the compact design that laptops feature leave little space for large heatsinks. Some laptops have the keyboard serve …

Hello,

I am a firm believer in spelling, punctuation, and complete composure of thought. You can tell who has English as a Second Language (ESL), and I will work with those folks to help them along... they usually get the verb tenses wrong, or miss some words or get a wrong meaning.

But for the lazy folk who load it up with the omission of thought, I fly right by those posts, even if I know the answer. I feel that the requestor who used such goofy language fails to communicate his/her question effectively, thus why should I answer it.

Christian

Creative Technology, the makers of the Soundblaster cards, and more recently, the Zen Neon portable music players, confirmed this week that 4,000 of it's shipped Neon music players shipped with the Wullik.b worm that affects Windows computers.

Wullik.b came to the world in 2003 and it attacks all flavors of Windows (except 3.1). It is a worm that copies itself to random locations, and can spread to floppy disks and shared network drives. It was written in Visual Basic. The worm uses the Outlook address book to send itself to others.

Creative posted on their Japanese website the serial number ranges of the devices infected: 1230528000001 through 1230533001680.

Creative apologized for this incident on their Japanese written website.

The Mozilla Foundation (www.mozilla.org) has announced that Firefox 1.5 Beta 1 is due on September 8.

Firefox is an alternative web browser to IE developed by the Mozilla foundation, the group of people who brought us Netscape and other fine utilities.

Firefox is available for Windows, Macintosh (both OS 9 and OS X), and a variety of linux / unix solutions. Firefox does support RSS feeds, and features controls to block pop-up windows, and other security items.

Christian

Mr. Wenting,

There is no fear concerning the situation. Where BPL was tested in the United States, there are documented cases of interference rising through the roof. A number of the test sites were shut off after measured increase of interference. We call this the "noise floor".

Also remember that this is not a local situation -- the radiations are below 30 MHz which propogate throught the atmosphere, and bounce off the ionosphere mean that if the power goes out in one particular area, interference can still be received that was generated in another area.

Amateur Radio can contact and communicate point to point for hundreds of miles due to propogation rules. Amateur radio transmissions are only several kilohertz wide, meaning they are tuned, and not a large spectrum killing signal. BPL is such a large spectrum killing signal.

Perhaps you would like to read the NTIA report -- National Telecommunications and Information Administration. In that report, it talks about interference to airplanes, shortwave radio, and mobile users. It is highly technical.

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fccfilings/2004/bpl/

Powerlines are not insulated due to weight and cost. And they were designed to carry alternating current @ 60 Hz, and nothing more. They were not designed, nor constructed, to carry information on them. There is nothing preventing a transmitter from zapping out BPL either... as the strongest emission "wins". A radio station could prevent BPL from working properly.

Christian

Imagine turning on your radio, and instead of hearing music or your sports program, you hear a buzzing noise that is more annoying than static. You try to tune in your favorite station, but you cannot hear it anymore until you drive out of town, or perhaps you need to turn your radio different directions in order to minimize the noise.

So you turn on your television. Your cable system might have little distortions in it, the traditional TV signal may too.

What's going on? Electro-Magnetic interference generated by Broadband over Powerline (BPL).

BPL is a communication nightmare that the Bush administration seems to be pushing through the FCC. It is the technology that can supply medium or high-speed internet to electrical customers using the power lines for distribution. And due to the design of today's power grid, if implemented on a wide scale, common radio services are at risk for significant interferance radiated by these BPL systems.

Before we get into the politics of the system, let's talk physics. How does the electrical system work? (I will taylor this to the United States) Electricity is generated by spinning magnets around each other at high speeds (3600 RPMs or higher, divisible by 60 -- this is the AC cycle, or Hz (hertz)). This energy is sent through some transformers that step the voltage up at the expense of amperage, and distributed over long un-insulated, non-shielded wires to substations, where the energy is transformed to reduce the …

Hello,

Desktop computers typically use 3.5" hard drives. Less cost, and the cases usually have the room to spare.

Christian

Toshiba announced last week that they are producing a 1.8" hard drive using perpendicular recording to allow hard drive storage capabilities to 40 GB on a single platter. These types of drives are found in small hand-held devices such as Apple's iPod MP3 player. Computers typically use 2.5" hard drives.

These drives are special because they feature perpendicular recording technology. Typically, data is stored on a hard drive in using small magnetic charges on a metal disk that record the data. These charges are typically stored in a horizontal pattern along the disk. To compare, if you were building a house, this house would be a single story, ranch house design.

Toshiba's technology differs using techniques to store data perpendicular to the disk, or "vertically". To compare, think of this as a 2 story home, or a 3 story apartment building. Magnetic charges, representing the data, are stacked vertically.

This is a very interesting concept, something that I am having trouble visualizing in my mind on how it would work. It certainly makes sense -- having the data stored above the disk greatly increases the data density, and the capabilities of the drive. I am curious on how the heads read and write the data, and if the drives will still be able to hold their data in the event of a physical shock, such as dropping it. The equivalent of a cyber-earthquake, if you extend my analogy above.

Christian

Mid last week, Intel and Matsushita announced that they are working on an 8 hour notebook battery solution featuring Intel's low-power consumption technology powered by Matsushita's lithium-ion battery solutions.

Currently, (pardon the pun) laptops range anywhere from 3 - 6 hours, depending on what the users's power settings are. Users can try to extend battery life of a laptop computer by controlling hardware settings, such as how bright the display is, perhaps slowing down the CPU so that it uses less power, and powering down the hard drives so that they are not spinning needlessly. Others might remove their CD-ROM drive and replace it with a second battery. Battery life times are often given in ranges, because what software a person uses will directly affect how long the battery will last.

The operating system also affects how long a battery will survive over the long haul. If the OS insists on writing data here and there to the hard drive, or needs to run the drive to swap memory (virtual memory), the battery will drain all the more quickly.

Personally, to extend the battery life in my machines, I always turn down the display brightness, Open all of my applications once and leave them open, and try to use a RAM disk whenever possible to keep the drive off as long as I can. I also shut down any ethernet ports, and do not use my external mouse to save power.

I'd love to have an …

Hello,

No problem on the radio information. If you have a shortwave receiver, you might be able to tune in 14.325 MHz USB and listen to other traffic there. I have heard exchanges from various authorities and weather offices this morning, as the hurricane is knocking out a lot of the communications infrostructure.

Christian

Hello,

I am a ham radio operator, and during times of weather emergencies, a number of us use our radios to communicate information to civil authorities, such as the National Weather Service, the Red Cross, or FEMA.

One of the methods of communication involves a "voice over IP" or using our radios with the internet to converse with other stations.

If you would like to listen in on our conversations concerning the hurricane, you can listen in here:

http://www.irlp.net/

And look at the instructions on how to listen directly from your computer. Bear in mind that these communications are not like a newscast: there will be pauses when no one is talking. The system is meant to be inbound and outbound... reports will come in from the field, such as "there is a powerline down", and official statements will come out from the weather service, such as "a tornado warning has been issued for Hanson county".

Christian

Webroot, the makers of Spy Sweeper, are claiming that 8 out of 10 corporate PCs are infected with Spyware. Wow! That's a significant amount of computers. Looking at my personal experience troubleshooting and repairing computers, I have to agree with them.

Before we go to deeply, let's define Spyware. According to Spyware Guide, Spyware is: "Spyware covertly gathers user information and activity without the user's knowledge. Spy software can record your keystrokes as you type them, passwords, credit card numbers, sensitive information, where you surf, chat logs, and can even take random screenshots of your activity. Basically whatever you do on the computer is completely viewable by the spy. You do not have to be connected to the Internet to be spied upon."

So, spyware are little programs that run behind the scenes, and are able to record my keystrokes, or possibly take screenshots of what I am doing, and log them somewhere on the hard drive. Then, when I connect to the internet, it will quietly transmit the data to someone out there in the wild.

That bothers me.

How do people get spyware? Off of websites mainly, when they download various programs to see what they do, or perhaps a utility that has a hidden payload (often called a trojan horse). It is also possible to get Spyware from email sources, or from Instant Message clients, such as AIM or Yahoo that feature access to the file system. Little scripts that popup a window …