By now I'm sure you've heard about the Kama Sutra worm (also known as Blackmal and VB.NEI) scheduled to activate on February 3, 2006.
Rest assured that you and your NOD32 customers are proactively protected. However, your non-NOD32 users may have problems and need help. Be prepared to let them know that NOD32 can protect them from current and evolving threats before they occur.
Remember you can buy NOD32 from AlaskaJoe to help support the radio show.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
New worm relies on old trick
February 3, 2006
"That's when the Kama Sutra computer worm will begin destroying critical files on infected computers. And hundreds of thousands of machines may have the worm lurking within their Windows operating system, ready to be unleashed on February 3 and the third of every month thereafter."
This is a very destructive, but very preventible. Take the common sense precautions outlined in the article and you should be okay.
"That's when the Kama Sutra computer worm will begin destroying critical files on infected computers. And hundreds of thousands of machines may have the worm lurking within their Windows operating system, ready to be unleashed on February 3 and the third of every month thereafter."
This is a very destructive, but very preventible. Take the common sense precautions outlined in the article and you should be okay.
Wireless Networking in the Developing World
It's an eBook, available at no charge under a Creative Commons license.
I got the link from Waleed al-Shobbaky, a journalist friend from Egypt. I have read a decent part of it now and think some of you might find it food for thought. Because I have spent long periods in parts of our own nation without even telephone service and am intimately involved with charities attempting to change things like that, I feel a kinship with those in under-developed and/or developing nations.
There is no doubt that wireless technology in the form of cell phones. Now other types of wireless services are starting to make their mark. Large areas, even entire nations, will see their access to information open up to a flood. How they will use this is open to question, of course, but the one thing that cannot be argued is that the status quo will change.
Jack
I got the link from Waleed al-Shobbaky, a journalist friend from Egypt. I have read a decent part of it now and think some of you might find it food for thought. Because I have spent long periods in parts of our own nation without even telephone service and am intimately involved with charities attempting to change things like that, I feel a kinship with those in under-developed and/or developing nations.
There is no doubt that wireless technology in the form of cell phones. Now other types of wireless services are starting to make their mark. Large areas, even entire nations, will see their access to information open up to a flood. How they will use this is open to question, of course, but the one thing that cannot be argued is that the status quo will change.
Jack
Gates Speaks Out Against Net Censorship - Yahoo! News
"'The ability to really withhold information no longer exists,' Gates told a government forum on the Internet."
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Make Your Windows Machine Look and Behave More Like a Mac
I found this from a link at Wired News.
What it does is make your Windows XP machine look and behave more like a Mac. Lots of Mac users have told me that they can function better in the Mac environment because it suits how they work better. If you think you might be one of those or are just curious, download the free trial of TopDesk and give it a whirl. Should you decide to keep it, the price is only $10 (USD). It's definitely worth a whirl. I rather liked the trial.
Jack
What it does is make your Windows XP machine look and behave more like a Mac. Lots of Mac users have told me that they can function better in the Mac environment because it suits how they work better. If you think you might be one of those or are just curious, download the free trial of TopDesk and give it a whirl. Should you decide to keep it, the price is only $10 (USD). It's definitely worth a whirl. I rather liked the trial.
Jack
Are You Ready for Goobuntu?
Google working on a operating system for real. It's not just a rumor. Whether or not this really means anything is unclear and will be until Google clears it up.
So why are they doing this? Mostly because they can and, in my opinion, they'd be negligent if they didn't check out the possibilities. Checking something out, even by developing it to a state of usability, is a long ways from actually letting the beast out into the wild.
Will Google take Microsoft on in their core business, operating systems? I have no idea and I'm betting no decision has been made. They could do it, but be aware that they most likely won't do it, simply because that would be an outright war with MS. I could be wrong. I am not privy to the market data Google has and that is what they will judge whether or not to dive in by.
Stay tuned.
Jack
So why are they doing this? Mostly because they can and, in my opinion, they'd be negligent if they didn't check out the possibilities. Checking something out, even by developing it to a state of usability, is a long ways from actually letting the beast out into the wild.
Will Google take Microsoft on in their core business, operating systems? I have no idea and I'm betting no decision has been made. They could do it, but be aware that they most likely won't do it, simply because that would be an outright war with MS. I could be wrong. I am not privy to the market data Google has and that is what they will judge whether or not to dive in by.
Stay tuned.
Jack
Politicians deface Wikipedia
You gotta love this one!
It seems Wikipedia's problems with rogue edits are being taken advantage of by pols. The kids just won't play fair.
Jack
It seems Wikipedia's problems with rogue edits are being taken advantage of by pols. The kids just won't play fair.
Jack
Sunday, January 29, 2006
OnComputers Radio show Podcast 01-29-06
This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 01-29-06. If you prefer, you can download the same file here via ftp.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
HEY JOE! A message for you
Hey guys, it appears your link to the podcast is:
http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en-us
Can you fix that so my itunes can pick it up?
Thanks,
ksn
TEST? TEST?
note to ksn: I did forward your comment to Joe in email, and that didn't work, so I'm trying a different option.
We want to make sure nobody misses a single episode of On Computers.
--MissM
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Chip maker is setting up an innovation center in India
From Infoworld. For some reason this caught my eye.
Taiwanese chip maker Via Technologies announced Monday that it is setting up an innovation center in Mumbai, India, that is focused on developing computing and communications appliances designed for rural markets in India and other countries
Taiwanese chip maker Via Technologies announced Monday that it is setting up an innovation center in Mumbai, India, that is focused on developing computing and communications appliances designed for rural markets in India and other countries
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Sunbelt BLOG: Google helps to fund an antispyware site
Alex Eckelberry says the following:
He has links to all the articles, so go check it out. It will be interesting to see how this all pans out in practice, my first impressions are good, but I'm posting this before reading all the links, myself [full disclosure, eh? ;) ]
--MissM
[for RSS readers]Sunbelt BLOG: Google helps to fund an antispyware site
According to an article by Ryan Naraine in eWeek, “Web search powerhouse Google has joined with Sun Microsystems to fund a new anti-spyware coalition that is on tap to launch on Jan. 24…”. It will be operated by the Berkman Center at Harvard and the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University.
Apparently, the site is going to be an information clearinghouse and help center for consumers. In an article in the Christian Science Monitor, the group’s co-director was quoted as saying “the coalition will act like a "neighborhood watch" for the Internet, relying on citizens to report problems.”
The new site, “StopBadware.org” will be up tomorrow. The domain is owned by Google.
He has links to all the articles, so go check it out. It will be interesting to see how this all pans out in practice, my first impressions are good, but I'm posting this before reading all the links, myself [full disclosure, eh? ;) ]
--MissM
[for RSS readers]Sunbelt BLOG: Google helps to fund an antispyware site
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
EFF: DeepLinks
You say you want the power to time-shift and space-shift TV and radio? You say you want tomorrow's innovators to invent new TV and radio gizmos you haven't thought of yet, the same way the pioneers behind the VCR, TiVo, and the iPod did?
Well, that's not what the entertainment industry has in mind. According to them, here's all tomorrow's innovators should be allowed to offer you:
"customary historic use of broadcast content by consumers to the extent such use is consistent with applicable law."
PDF of the Draft Legislation
--MissM
Thanks Joanne for the link to Big Content would like to outlaw things no one has even thought of yet
EFF: DeepLinks
Monday, January 23, 2006
Supreme Court rejects BlackBerry patent appeal
The high court’s refusal to hear Canada-based Research In Motion Ltd.’s appeal means that a trial judge in Richmond, Va., could impose an injunction against the company and block BlackBerry use among many of its owners in the United States.
Technorati link, cause I know there will be a great deal of discussion about this, since so many in government rely on this.
--MissM
Supreme Court rejects BlackBerry patent appeal
The Coming Tug of War Over the Internet
If you don't have a log on for wapo use bugmenot because this article is a must read, for anybody on the internet. Which includes you! :)
ISPs are trying to get content providers to subsidize the bandwidth, and Congress is considering overhauling the Telecommunications act of 1996. An example is a nickel PER iTunes download from Apple. Another potential example, yahoo pays the pipe owner, to "optimize" the connection from the ISP customers, and then google loads slowly. This is something that definitely needs to be kept an eye on.
Just looking at who's on which side, leads me to believe this is a classic David and Goliath (except we have google, and Apple maybe? on David's side). The ONLY way I'd consider this, is if it reduced my cable bill, SERIOUSLY. But, I have to wonder how bittorrents would be affected. By the way, I was getting over 800KB downloaded with 2 twit video feeds!!! Nice!
--MissM
article link here (for RSS ;) )
Update: I was reminded of Doc Searle's essay about keeping the internet pipes consumer friendly and the perils of not, its long, but important. Saving the Net: How to Keep the Carriers from Flushing the Net Down the Tubes | Linux Journal
ISPs are trying to get content providers to subsidize the bandwidth, and Congress is considering overhauling the Telecommunications act of 1996. An example is a nickel PER iTunes download from Apple. Another potential example, yahoo pays the pipe owner, to "optimize" the connection from the ISP customers, and then google loads slowly. This is something that definitely needs to be kept an eye on.
Just looking at who's on which side, leads me to believe this is a classic David and Goliath (except we have google, and Apple maybe? on David's side). The ONLY way I'd consider this, is if it reduced my cable bill, SERIOUSLY. But, I have to wonder how bittorrents would be affected. By the way, I was getting over 800KB downloaded with 2 twit video feeds!!! Nice!
--MissM
article link here (for RSS ;) )
Update: I was reminded of Doc Searle's essay about keeping the internet pipes consumer friendly and the perils of not, its long, but important. Saving the Net: How to Keep the Carriers from Flushing the Net Down the Tubes | Linux Journal
Sunday, January 22, 2006
OnComputers Radio show Podcast 01-22-06
This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 01-22-06. If you prefer, you can download the same file here via ftp.
-- Edited on 1/28/06 by Aaron to correct link.
-- Edited on 1/28/06 by Aaron to correct link.
Confirmed: Gmail dot bug sends your email to other users!
Gmail doesn't recognize dots in usernames, so to Gmail, digg.user@gmail.com and digguser@gmail.com are the same. So while you can create a Gmail username with a dot, if an identical name exists without the dot, he'll get your email! Users have reported this weirdness for many months already, now it's confirmed by Google, albeit, not yet fixed.
I've run into this myself. I got user.name@gmail.com when I've registered username@gmail.com
Have you?
--MissM
read more | digg story
A 3fer day for google. Feel the luv????!?!?!!?!!?!? ;)
Google Word Verification Accessibility Petition
To: Google Inc.
We, the undersigned, ask Google Inc. to "do no evil" and follow their mission statement to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful" by promptly adding accessibility to their visual word verification scheme so that the blind and visually impaired are allowed to fully participate in all products and services offered by the company on terms of equality with our sighted peers.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
Go, sign it! And don't forget to hit approve at the end, or your signature won't count. As I mentioned here, paypal.com does have a system that works for visually impaired.
--MissM
kudos go to Mike @ MikeTechShow for making me aware of the petition.
Experiment: I'm trying to make this rss friendly by including a direct link to the petition, hopefully, it'll be clickable in my reader.
Google Word Verification Accessibility Petition
We, the undersigned, ask Google Inc. to "do no evil" and follow their mission statement to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful" by promptly adding accessibility to their visual word verification scheme so that the blind and visually impaired are allowed to fully participate in all products and services offered by the company on terms of equality with our sighted peers.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
Go, sign it! And don't forget to hit approve at the end, or your signature won't count. As I mentioned here, paypal.com does have a system that works for visually impaired.
--MissM
kudos go to Mike @ MikeTechShow for making me aware of the petition.
Experiment: I'm trying to make this rss friendly by including a direct link to the petition, hopefully, it'll be clickable in my reader.
Google Word Verification Accessibility Petition
Feds want Google search records
The Bush administration on Wednesday asked a federal judge to order Google Inc. to turn over a broad range of material from its closely guarded databases...Nicole Wong, an associate general counsel for Google, said the company will fight the government's effort "vigorously.''
Gonzales v. Google, Inc. The U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion in federal court seeking a court order that would compel search engine company Google, Inc. to turn over “a multi-stage random sample of one million URL’s” from Google’s database, and a computer file with “the text of each search string entered onto Google’s search engine over a one-week period (absent any information identifying the person who entered such query.”
If that paragraph above does not raise the hairs on your neck, I suggest you re-read the first amendment to the Constitution. What are they thinking? This is no way to survey porn use.[Peter S. Kastner]
Go Google Go!
But, this is one of the reasons I don't have google desktop installed, if its not available, there's nothing to search....
--MissM
Update: Yahoo caved in to the record request.
America, United States, Sunday Times Yahoo has admitted that it granted the US Government access to its search engine's databases this summer, as a battle develops over the right to privacy in cyberspace.
Update2: The reason for the request was :
It occurs to me (and I apologize if its not techie enough for you) that they aren't even trying to prosecute anybody, just eliminate the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Gonzales v. Google, Inc. The U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion in federal court seeking a court order that would compel search engine company Google, Inc. to turn over “a multi-stage random sample of one million URL’s” from Google’s database, and a computer file with “the text of each search string entered onto Google’s search engine over a one-week period (absent any information identifying the person who entered such query.”
If that paragraph above does not raise the hairs on your neck, I suggest you re-read the first amendment to the Constitution. What are they thinking? This is no way to survey porn use.[Peter S. Kastner]
Go Google Go!
But, this is one of the reasons I don't have google desktop installed, if its not available, there's nothing to search....
--MissM
Update: Yahoo caved in to the record request.
America, United States, Sunday Times Yahoo has admitted that it granted the US Government access to its search engine's databases this summer, as a battle develops over the right to privacy in cyberspace.
Update2: The reason for the request was :
The lawsuit is the government's attempt to revive the 1998 Child Online Protection Act (COPA) which was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court on grounds it violated the First Amendment. COPA was enacted by Congress with the aim of protecting minors from potentially harmful effects of sexually explicit material on the Internet. (Courtesy of CNN.com
It occurs to me (and I apologize if its not techie enough for you) that they aren't even trying to prosecute anybody, just eliminate the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
FBI: Most Companies Get Hacked
If this one doesn't give you pause about the businesses you deal with, nothing will.
Some security researchers take issue with the study, saying the numbers are simply wrong. No one disagrees with the basic conclusion, though. Major security incidents are the norm, not the exception.
The survey really is a little goofy. It equates spyware infections with genuine intrusions and several other assumptions are equally strange. I suspect this was done to simplify the form in order to not burden those responding unduly.
The point is that there is a lot more of this sort of thing going on than was generally acknowledged.
Jack
Some security researchers take issue with the study, saying the numbers are simply wrong. No one disagrees with the basic conclusion, though. Major security incidents are the norm, not the exception.
The survey really is a little goofy. It equates spyware infections with genuine intrusions and several other assumptions are equally strange. I suspect this was done to simplify the form in order to not burden those responding unduly.
The point is that there is a lot more of this sort of thing going on than was generally acknowledged.
Jack
Friday, January 20, 2006
Update: Inside the WMF Backdoor [Mark's Systinternals Blog]
Some of the latest info:
Mark received several requests to look into the WMF vulnerability and he believes it is merely bad design, not a deliberate backdoor. Steve Gibson has released another security now podcast which apparently "close[s] the backdoor" on the WMF vulnerability, but I haven't listened yet, so go check it out, there are a variety of ways to access the podcast listed, from audio to text to PDF.
--MissM
Mark received several requests to look into the WMF vulnerability and he believes it is merely bad design, not a deliberate backdoor. Steve Gibson has released another security now podcast which apparently "close[s] the backdoor" on the WMF vulnerability, but I haven't listened yet, so go check it out, there are a variety of ways to access the podcast listed, from audio to text to PDF.
--MissM
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