Sunday, June 3, 2007

Show #32 - 06.03.2007



[Download Show #32 as MP3]

News
  • Google Doubles Attachment Size
    • You can now send 20MB attachments through Gmail.
  • Google Lets you Look Around New York
  • Engadget - Linux fans didn't exactly get the publicity they were hoping for at the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, when the so-called "Linux car" they had sponsored proved to be the first in the race to crash, ultimately causing it to finish dead last. The car was the result of the Tux 500 campaign, which raised enough money to put the familiar Tux mascot front and center on Chastain Motorsports' #77 car in the hope that it'd raise the profile of the OS. Faring considerably better in the publicity department was Joost, which sponsored the car that wound up finishing a respectable seventh. Maybe next time the Linux folks should work on making the whole car open source.

Software / Hardware / Power Web Picks
  • Fastest Motorcycles in the World
    • BMW K1200S 167 mh
    • Ducati 1098s 169 mph
    • Aprilia RSV 1000R Mille 175mph
    • Yamaha YZF R1 176mph
    • Honda CBR 1100XX Super Blackbird 178mph
    • MV Agusta F4 1000 R 185 mph
    • Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 (ZZR1400) 186 mph
    • Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa 190 mph
    • MTT Turbine Superbike Y2K 227 mph
  • 10 Ways to Get a Grip on Email
    • Send less email
    • Try scheduling "In Person Conversation"
    • Structure Matters
      • Greeting <>
      • Action/Backgroud/Close
        • Action (State Purpose)
        • Background (Present Key Points)
        • Close (Clarify Next Steps)
    • Save purposefully
      • Don't save every piece of email, instead only save what you might need.
      • Sometimes you might not know what you will need later, so organize well or...

Penny Pinchers
  • The Pessimist's Mug
    • $9.95
  • Microsoft to acquire Yahoo!?
    • Software maker Microsoft Corp. asked search engine operator Yahoo Inc. to re-enter formal negotiations for an acquisition that could be worth $50 billion, the New York Post reported on Friday.

    • Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) is feeling increasing pressure to compete with Google Inc. (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ), which plans to beef up its portfolio with a $3.1 billion buy of online advertising company DoubleClick Inc. Earlier this week, Yahoo (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) said it would buy 80 percent of advertising exchange Right Media for $680 million, increasing its stake in that company to full control.

    • Microsoft currently trails both Yahoo and Google in the lucrative and growing business of Web search.

      Google won a search advertising deal with AOL in 2005 that the Post said Microsoft wanted. In addition, Google is developing Web-based software that directly competes with Microsoft Office.

    • Unnamed sources in the Post story said Microsoft's latest approach to Yahoo, one of many it has reportedly made over the years, signals increased urgency.

      Yahoo shares surged to $32.35 in premarket electronic trading from a $28.18 close on Thursday, while shares of Microsoft fell to $30.70 in premarket activity from a $30.97 Thursday close.

    • -Forbes
  • Turning Over the Airwaves
    • The federal government is on the verge of turning over a huge portion of our public airwaves to companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast--who will use them for private enrichment instead of the public good.

    • These newly available airwaves are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to revolutionize Internet access -- beaming high-speed signals to every park bench, coffee shop, workplace, and home in America at more affordable prices than current Internet service. Phone and cable companies don't want this competition to their Internet service--they'd rather purchase the airwaves at auction and sit on them.

    • In June, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will make a major decision: Use the public airwaves for the public good, or turn them over to big companies who will stifle competition, innovation, and the wireless Internet revolution. We're urging the FCC to mandate that whoever wins the auction cannot stifle competition and innovation.


Security & Privacy
  • Phishing
    • What is it?
      • Phishing is a criminal activity using social engineering techniques. Phishers attempt to fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. eBay and PayPal are two of the most targeted companies, and online banks are also common targets.
    • What are some techniques of phishing?
      • Link Manipulation - Most methods of phishing use some form of technical deception designed to make a link in an email (and the spoofed website it leads to) appear to belong to the spoofed organization. Misspelled URLs or the use of subdomains are common tricks used by phishers, such as this example URL, http://www.yourbank.com.example.com/. Another common trick is to make the anchor text for a link appear to be a valid URL when the link actually goes to the phishers' site.
      • Website Forgery - Once the victim visits the website the deception is not over. Some phishing scams use JavaScript commands in order to alter the address bar. This is done either by placing a picture of the legitimate entity's URL over the address bar, or by closing the original address bar and opening a new one containing the legitimate URL.
      • Phone Phishing - Not all phishing attacks require a fake website. In an incident in 2006, messages that claimed to be from a bank told users to dial a phone number regarding problems with their bank accounts. Once the phone number (owned by the phisher, and provided by a Voice over IP provider) was dialed, prompts told users to enter their account numbers and PIN. Voice phishing sometimes uses fake caller-ID data to give the appearance that the calls come from a trusted organization.
    • How do I protect myself against it?
  • Windows vs. Linux Security Report
    • Mythbusting
      • Linux isn't as popular so it is attacked less
        • [Netcraft] 56% websites running on Apache, including several websites in the Top 50
      • Open Source means attackers can look at the code to find exploit
        • Again, Apache used as the leading example here
        • IIS attacked more than Apache, though Apache is Open Sourced while IIS proprietary.
      • Linux patch turn around is is longer than Microsoft
        • This is a myth that is based on a single metric or more specifically the few times that it did happen.
        • The truth of the matter is, they both excel and do not excel in this area
        • Some open source patches took longer than some Microsoft patches ever did while the opposite has happened just as frequently
    • Design
      • Windows just recently (within the last 7 years) went from being single user to multi-user
      • Linux has always been multi-user by design
      • Windows is Monolithic by Design
      • Linux is Modular
    • To read more click the link on our show notes

Gamer's Corner
Editorial ("Power Up")
  • Super Hi-Vision - Think your HDTV is impressive? I certainly thought mine was. Well, it sucks! You heard me. Mine sucks, yours sucks. Hey, I don't mean to be a jerk, but it's no longer cutting edge. 1920x1080? Please. Japanese broadcaster NHK has come up with what they call Super Hi-Vision, and it puts HD to shame with an insane resolution of 7680 by 4320. That's the equivalent of 16 HDTVs crammed into one. Like I said, your HDTV sucks. Fortunately, you won't need to toss your HDTV for a SHV set anytime soon. That humungous resolution requires an insane 24Gbps stream for broadcast, which is nowhere near what we're currently capable of. Furthermore, they just developed the first sensor for cameras so they can actually, you know, shoot video at that resolution, but there's still a lot of work to be done. Seeing that NHK are the people who developed HDTV in 1969, it might be a while before these things start ending up in living rooms. -Adam Frucci
  • igital Cinema is likely the next step after HD and its already a reality, in the industry it's called 4K, and it is what most films are scanned at already for editing, and many theaters, as recently as this past week's latest Pirates of the Carribean release were already showing DLP (or Digital Light Projection) versions of the movie at 4K. For comparison full HD is 1920 x 1080 and 4K is 4096 x 2160 -- the issue is, as the screens get larger (and our eyes get worse), the need for the resolution to increase will be ever more present the good thing is, the cost of technology, including processors, sensors for cameras, and the transmission lines (aka the Internet) will become faster. Right now we have 1024 x 768 or more crammed into 19" screens, thats 54 pixels per inch, magazines are around 150 pixels per inch, to match that on a 60" screen in your living room 3240 to 9000 pixels (or that "Digital Cinema") is what we're going to need.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)