Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 10 Issue 13
Volume 10, Issue 13 Atari Online News, Etc. March 28, 2008
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2008
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
Fred Horvat
Jo Even Skarstein
To subscribe to A-ONE, change e-mail addresses, or unsubscribe,
log on to our website at: www.atarinews.org
and click on "Subscriptions".
OR subscribe to A-ONE by sending a message to: dpj@atarinews.org
and your address will be added to the distribution list.
To unsubscribe from A-ONE, send the following: Unsubscribe A-ONE
Please make sure that you include the same address that you used to
subscribe from.
To download A-ONE, set your browser bookmarks to one of the
following sites:
http://people.delphiforums.com/dpj/a-one.htm
Now available:
http://www.atarinews.org
Visit the Atari Advantage Forum on Delphi!
http://forums.delphiforums.com/atari/
=~=~=~=
A-ONE #1013 03/28/08
~ CCAG 2008 Approaching! ~ People Are Talking! ~ KeyEdit for FreeMiNT!
~ Gossip Site Denials! ~ Brits Overhaul Ratings ~ 'Dead Space' Cartoon!
~ Mac Gets Hacked First! ~ Vietnam Memorial Wall! ~ ACEC Swap Meet News!
~ Tax Scam Season Here! ~ Xbox Live Cheaters! ~ The Eee PC 900 News!
-* Browser Wars Heating Up Again *-
-* Microsoft Warns of New Word Attack! *-
-* Open Source Benefits from US Unpopularity! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
I know that my calendar is correct! It is spring, right? What's with
all of this cold weather? And, gasp, it snowed here in New England
again today! Enough is enough already!
So, rather than take my frustrations due to this wintry weather out on
you folks, and dive into another despicable topic like spam (the mail
kind, not the stuff from Hormel!), I'm going to retire to a good book
or something - far from the window so I don't have to see that white
stuff outside!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
KeyEdit 1.0 for FreeMiNT
I've just released a small GEM utility for editing keyboard layouts for
FreeMiNT. It allows you to easily edit the keytable.tbl keyboard files
used by FreeMiNT >= 1.16. ARAnyM-users in particular might find this tool
useful due to the amount of different PC keyboards.
It's available on http://atari.nvg.org/download.html
--
/*
** Jo Even Skarstein http://joska.nvg.org/
*/
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE User Group Notes! - Meetings, Shows, and Info!
"""""""""""""""""""""""
The CCAG 2008 Show is Coming!
Buy, sell, trade, play, and see classic video games, computers,
peripherals, memorabilia, and more at the Classic Computing and Gaming
Show (CCAG) on May 24, 2008 at the American Legion Hall - Clifton Post,
22001 Brookpark Rd, Fairview Park, OH from 2:00 PM - 6:00 PM. Vendors,
clubs, and collectors will be displaying and selling their retrogaming
and retrocomputing goods, from Pong and Atari to Nintendo, Apple and IBM
to Commodore and everything in between with many set up for you to play
with and explore. We have 4000+ square feet of space. Help us fill it all
up!
For more information please go to http://www.ccagshow.com/
ACEC Swap Meet!
ACEC Swap Meet September 13, 2008
ATARI COMPUTER ENTHUSIASTS
OF COLUMBUS, OHIO
VINTAGE COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAME SWAP MEET
September 13, 2008
9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. EDT
Oakland Park Community Center
980 Lenore St.
All vintage and classic computers, video games, systems, accessories,
games, and software invited!
Vendor and Flea Marketeer donation: Free!
Shoppers and onlookers donation: Free!
Further info:
chwbrown@ee.net Charles (614) 447-9789
rarenz@columbus.rr.com
http://www.angelfire.com/oh4/acec/acec.html
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Whew! What a week it's been. I, as many
of you know, am still looking for a job, and that search isn't getting
any easier. Each time there's a news story about the economy, about a
bank closing, about the war in Iraq, about commodities or Wall Street,
employers seem to tighten their belts another notch. Too bad for me...
and at least several hundred thousand other people actually trying to
find a job.
On a (more) personal note, I've had a lot of family concerns for the
past few weeks (well, several months, truth be told) which revolve
around my father. He had knee replacement surgery in late November. The
knee replacement went fine, and he's now considered completely
recovered from that ordeal.
While convalescing from the knee surgery, however, he had a problem with
a blood clot blocking off the blood flow to the optic nerve of his
right eye. As a result, the nerve died, and he's now completely blind
in that eye. That would be bad enough, but he has a problem with his
left eye that would cause blindness in it in the 12-to-18 month range.
When I say 'problem', I really should say 'problems', since there are
multiple things that require surgery. According to his ophthalmologist,
any one of the problems would require delicate and intricate surgery.
And because each time you go into an eye surgically (much like any
other way you might decide to go 'into' an eye), the risk of problems
or 'degraded outcomes' increases.
For that reason, the surgeon decided to fix all three problems at once.
First, the lens of his eye was entirely clouded, and enlarged do to the
buildup of enzymes. Then there was the fact that the iris (the colored
part of your eye) was basically 'stuck' to the protective sac that
holds the lens, being attached via the aforementioned enzymes, which
act like mooring lines or tethers between the two structures. Then,
there was the cornea, which had scarring due to continual abrasion by
metal particles/dust from over half a century of tool and die making.
The cornea was also "tight", meaning that instead of raising in a high
arc over the iris ind pupil of the eye, it was more 'flat'.
With the lens being enlarged (in all dimensions) and the cornea sitting
so tight over the surface of everything else, it had the net effect of
squeezing the iris between the two, like of like a pancake between two
dinner plates. It couldn't move they way it was designed... ummm...
excuse me... the way it evolved to move.
I don't know what the exact procedures were, and I don't know that I'd
understand the incredible precision and expertise it takes to carry
them out, but I know that it's not an everyday occurrence, and that the
chances were about even as to whether or not he'd be able to see any
better/at all when the surgery was done.
Well, the surgery was yesterday morning, and I took he and my mother to
the doctor's office this morning for the 'unveiling', and the first
words out of my father's mouth were "dammit, that's bright!". A good
sign, to be sure. He can see well enough to locomote about the house
now, with better site expected over the coming days.
It's amazing to me that things like this can be done, that they can be
done in my home town, and that they're done with regularity. No, this
wasn't a one-in-a-million situation, but it might have been a
one-in-a-couple-thousand situation, and I'm grateful that there was a
surgeon with the talent, tools and experience to secure a successful
outcome.
Oh, and my father's kind of happy with the results too. [grin]
Okay. Even though the above was completely devoid of anything resembling
Atari information, I think we should get to the news and stuff. How's
that?
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
'Redrumola' asks about CP/M on an ST:
"Forgive me if this is a dumb question to long time Atari users. I've
never owned an Atari computer, I'm a C= user. I think I read somewhere
that TOS was based on CP/M-68000. If that's the case, is TOS binary
compatible with CP/M-68000 programs, or at least source code
compatible?
I'm just curious as I like to tinker with CP/M boxes as a hobby. I own
a Commodore 128, Televideo TS-803H and Kaypro 10, all of which run Z80
CP/M."
'MiKRO' replies:
"That's really out of the question. If you want some kind of compare,
try to ask how MSDOS and CP/M are compatible with each other. They are
similar, yes, but source level compatibility, hardly."
Peter West asks for a refresher course on the maximum hard drive size
for the various flavors and incarnations of TOS:
"There has been some discussion in the past here about the maximum
partition size available on Ataris. I seem to remember that Uwe has said
that with TOS 4 or MagiC you cannot exceed 1 GB.
However, a club colleague with a CT60 Falcon has installed several
hard drives in it, and recently added a 15 GB one as a single
partition. He is running HDDRIVER. This seems to work fine under MagiC,
and he has experimentally transferred nearly 3 Gigs to it, all of
which appear to be accessible without problems. The Jinnee desktop
reports for it:
12.044.165.120 bytes free
2.961.072.128 bytes used
15.005.237.248 bytes total
1.831.694 clusters
16 sect/cluster
512 bytes/sector
The disk itself shows:
2.130.024.465 bytes
129.089 files (many of these are quite small)
12.869 folders
23 links
Of course the 16 sect/cluster means that even a 1-byte file takes
up 8kB of disk space, but then there is plenty of room on the drive!
I don't know whether the CT60 or its drivers have changed anything.
Any comments, Uwe? It would be nice to clear this up once and for all!
Specially as it is getting increasingly difficult to buy anything
smaller than 40 GB or so these days!"
Dr. Uwe Seimet, author of HD Driver, tells Peter:
"This has to be a FAT32 partition, but it cannot be FAT16. A 16 bit FAT
does not support more than 65535 clusters. FAT32 partitions are
supported by MagiC and MiNT, but not by plain TOS."
Djordje Vukovic posts this about TeraDesk:
"Version 3.95 of TeraDesk open-source desktop for the 16-bit and 32-bit
lines of Atari computers is available at:
http://solair.eunet.yu/~vdjole/teradesk.htm
This release fixes several bugs related to handling of times and dates.
It also brings an improvement in behaviour related to 'special'
applications. Powering-off of CT60 at shutdown now works correctly,
even in single-TOS.
Beside the changes made to the program itself, a new page was added to
the introductory section of the hypertext manual, highlighting some nice
features specific to TeraDesk which otherwise may pass unnoticed by
users."
Francois Le Coat politely tells Djordje:
"Thanks much for the work on TeraDesk!"
Djordje replies:
"On the matter of shutdown I would like to comment that TeraDesk can
power-down CT60 on its own in single-TOS (and probably in Magic), but
uses power-down code of Mint whenever Mint is running , e.g. in Aranym.
Unfortunately TeraDesk can not shut down (terminate) Aranym when it is
running single-TOS: Aranym uses a rather complicated and illogical
shutdown method (IMO the development concept of Aranym and Mint has
gone astray in some aspects) and too much additional code would have to
be linked into TeraDesk in order to perform a self-contained
termination of Aranym."
'ggnkua' adds:
That could be overcome if someone wrote an external program that does
that, and that Teradesk could call. Of course the best thing would be
to change aranym's power-off sequence."
'Steve' asks:
"Is anyone selling TOS 2.06 EPROMS anymore??"
Bill Galholt tells Steve:
"Keep watching eBay. I got mine from there. I got 'em for $20 shipped.
(*woot!!*)"
Here's a question from Hallvard Tangeraas about using a Compact Flash
adapter on his Mega STE:
"I've gotten hold of a Minolta CD-10 SCSI PCMCIA card-reader, a PCMCIA
to Compact Flash adapter and a 1GB Compact Flash memory card. I'm
trying to make it work with my Mega STe (TOS 2.06), but it only partly
works. I'm using HDdriver 6.13.
My SCSI setup consists of:
- Mega STe internal SCSI hard drive (via Atari interface, ID 0)
- ICD Link II host adapter connected to DMA port
- Minolta PC-10 PCMCIA card reader (ID 4, terminated)
The device appears to be recognized by the system (it says "Sandisk
DSP" when I boot up and the HDdriver info come up -but only if I turn
its termination off, which doesn't make sense as it's the last and
only external SCSI device).
Still, I'm not able to actually use the card-drive. If I install
desktop icons for the missing device I get several device icons, but
nothing happens if I double-click them.
I've messed around with the format/partition stuff in HDDRUTIL.PRG,
and I suspect I've done something wrong at this stage. From memory I
seem to recall Mr. Seimet saying that there is usually no need to
format any drives (which makes me wonder what the "format" option is
for?), but rather just partition it.
I've tried both, but since formatting seemed to go on forever I reset
the computer.
Partitioning seems to work fine, but I'm not sure what kind of
settings I should use and what I should enter where it says "Type".
And 1 GB is the size limit for TOS, isn't it, so I should probably
split the 1GB CF card into 2 equal partitions. Tried that, but I still
didn't work.
Ultimately I would like to make the CF card compatible with my Mac as
well as the Mega STe so I can easily transfer data between the two. I
suppose that would mean making it MS-DOS compatible, but how?"
Uwe Seimet provides a bunch of answers:
"Formatting is only required if a drive has bad sectors.
Since TOS 1.06 has a maximum partition size of 512 MB you should ensure
that your partitions are definitely smaller than that, e.g. 511 MB when
partitioning.
You can create DOS/Windows compatible partitions, provided that you are
running MagiC or MiNT, since TOS does not support them. Or you can
create a single partition (smaller than 512 MB, of course) which is
both TOS and DOS compatible. The appropriate options are offered in the
Compatibility dialog window.
Since your card reader does not work properly as far as termination is
concerned the problems you are observing are hardware problems, by the
way. Your cables may be too long. Or the card reader requires the Atari
to have its own SCSI ID (initiator identification) which is something
the ICD Link does not support. Some SCSI devices do not work properly
without initiator identification."
Mike Faz asks about surfing the 'net with his ST (I think):
"I need information on how to hook up my Ataris to the net and where I
can find what I need (example. hardware, software etc.)?"
Fred Horvat provides some answers:
"I've only done this via dialup modem. I run MagiC OS and bought CAB
browser and it comes with I-Connect dialer program. Works good I have
gotten on with my TT and STacy2 just fine. A lot of people don't like
MagiC or don't have it so they use STing or STik instead of I-Connect
with Standard TOS with CAB or another browser.
There is also the TAF MINT package that has a dialer and Web Browser in
it. It installs only in Mono and not color. It's old but from what I
heard about it is that it works. I believe it also requires at least 4
Meg of RAM.
I have not tried it recently but the Open Source (I think) browser
High-Wire and STik or STing dialers are your best bet for a stand ST to
get on the Web."
Well folks, that's it for this time around. Tune in again next week,
same time, same station (I hope), and be ready to listen to what they
are saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - "Dead Space" Cartoon Heralds Release!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Brits To Overhaul Ratings System!
Xbox Live Cheaters Get Theirs!
And more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"Dead Space" Cartoon Heralds Video Game Release
Electronic Arts and Starz Media are producing an animated prequel movie
to the upcoming sci-fi horror video game "Dead Space."
The film, being developed by Starz subsidiary Film Roman, will pick up
where the comic book series on which it is based ends and leads to the
beginning of the game.
With the game, set for a Halloween launch, Film Roman president and COO
Scott Greenberg said the company is looking to release the animated film
between mid-September and late October, initially as a TV special in
multiple markets, followed by a home video release through Starz's home
entertainment company, Anchor Bay Entertainment.
"We're really looking for this to be an event," Greenberg said. "We feel
we'll attract the hardcore gamer, but we'll also get sci-fi and animation
fans as well."
Greenberg said there will be two versions of the film - a softer one for
TV and a harder one with more blood and coarser language for the DVD.
Starz also is eyeing Web-based and wireless distribution.
Film Roman has been working for several years with Electronic Arts on
projects tied to EA games. "We felt this one was the best one to launch
with," noted Greenberg, whose animation company is behind "The Simpsons,"
"King of the Hill" and the preschool hit "Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!"
Britain To Overhaul Video Game Ratings System
The British government plans to introduce a new guidance rating system for
video games and a code of practice for social networking Web sites to help
protect children.
The moves follow a six-month review commissioned by Prime Minister Gordon
Brown and conducted by psychologist Dr Tanya Byron.
Her report, "Safer Children in a Digital World," is backed by both the
Children, Schools and Families (CSF) and the Culture, Media and Sport
(CMS) departments.
Byron proposed:
* Video games should have a more "robust" movie-style age classification
with clearer ratings. At the moment, games only get a mandatory review if
they have sexual activity or gross violence.
* An overhaul of the way console games are advertised.
* Making it illegal for retailers to sell any video game to a child
younger than the age rating on the game box.
* Developing a new code of practice aimed at regulating social networking
sites, such as Bebo and Facebook, including introducing standards on
privacy and harmful content;
* Undertaking a new publicity campaign for parents to understand the sort
of digital material their children are accessing on the Internet and how
they can block it.
* Introducing new laws banning Internet-assisted suicide.
* Creating a national UK Council for Child Internet Safety to help
implement the strategy.
Byron said some parents did not understand the risks in the digital world.
Not watching what they see online, she told reporters, was akin to
opening the front door and letting them play unsupervised.
"The digital world risks are similar to real world risks but can be
enhanced by the anonymity and ubiquity that the online space brings,"
she added.
Industry groups and children's charities welcomed the review.
"I think this is a very healthy development," Claude Knights, the director
of children's charity Kidscape, told Reuters. "All of these
(recommendations) may lead to a much more uniform situation and better
child safety.
"The safety of children is paramount but it is now up to the whole
community, all of us, to ensure it happens."
Schools Minister Ed Balls said the government would implement all Byron's
recommendations quickly.
Sony Unveils New Gran Turismo in London "Pit Lane"
A national competition, a selection of real super cars and a mocked up
"pit lane" in London greeted the European preview of Sony PlayStation's
newest version of race driving videogame Gran Turismo this week.
Red Ferraris, a yellow Lotus convertible and the newly unveiled Nissan
GT-R were some of the 17 cars assembled in an underground car park in
central London decorated to look like a pit lane and packed with gamers,
models, a bar with staff dressed as pit crew and a DJ pumping out music.
Guests were invited to test out the latest version of the game in four
arcade-style "cars" at the Thursday evening event.
Any one of 71 cars can be raced virtually in 'Gran Turismo 5 Prologue',
which is, as the title suggests, an introduction to the full game, due
for release at an undisclosed time in the next year or so.
There are six tracks, including a route through central London that would
make most of London's boy racers salivate, and gamers can also challenge
other revheads worldwide thanks to an online function.
Sony is hoping games such as Gran Turismo will help PlayStation 3 claw
back market share lost to cheaper consoles produced by rivals, including
Nintendo's Wii and Microsoft's Xbox. The company says more than 50
million copies of previous versions of Gran Turismo have been sold
worldwide.
"The team reiterate the game every few years," said Simon Roberts, senior
producer for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.
"Every single car has its own sound, its own feel, its own weight, its
own behavior, its own stopping distance, its own turning angle."
A nationwide hunt for the champion GT5 gamer ended with self-confessed
geek Drew Forster walking off with a trophy and two tickets to the Le
Mans 24-hour race in June.
"I've always been a Sony fan boy," the 20 year-old student from
Edinburgh said.
"It was so twitchy. If you lift off the power it will kick out on you
like a real car. That's the main quality of the game, how realistic it
is," he said.
He only had one quibble about the prize.
"I might have exams at the time"
Xbox Live Cheaters Get Their Scores Wiped Out
Microsoft is cracking down on Xbox Live cheaters. Redmond introduced
anti-Gamescore cheating tools and procedures on Xbox Live on Wednesday. If
caught, cheaters will see their Gamescore reset to zero and get a message
explaining that they got their hand caught in the hacker jar.
"Today we took action on some of the accounts we have identified as the
most serious offenders who have violated the Xbox Live Terms of Use by
tampering with their Gamescore and Achievements," Microsoft Xbox Live
administrator Major Nelson wrote on his blog.
Specifically, Microsoft reset the entire Gamescore for cheater accounts
to zero. Those cheaters will be unable to regain their previously
obtained Achievements and Gamescore, but can keep future achievements by
earning them fairly. Finally, the account will be clearly labeled as a
cheater for the community to view on xbox.com and on the personal view of
the gamecard in the dash.
Nelson warned Xbox Live users not to cheat in October. His latest blog
post on the topic had nearly 250 comments by noon Eastern time on
Wednesday. Most of the commenters welcomed the action, but some
criticized Microsoft.
"CheaterMcCheat from Cheatville who's a dirty cheater? What's wrong with
just the official 'find out more' subtitle? Wow, Microsoft has released
a new low of immaturity," wrote a commenter called netgem21. The
commenter was referring to the example page Microsoft offered to
demonstrate the new tools and the "cheater branding."
An anonymous commenter wrote, "Why does everyone care so much about
people boosting their gamescores? It doesn't hurt anyone or affect
anything. This is really petty, poor show."
Mike Goodman, an analyst at Yankee Group, answered the question: "In
general, gamers don't like gamers who cheat. Furthermore, besides the
integrity of the game, it disrupts the rankings. The rankings were
designed so that you could find comparable players."
One of the most popular aspects of the Xbox Live community is the concept
of achieving a Gamescore, Goodman said. Gamescores represent your
accomplishments as a player in the community, he said, so hacking and
bloating the scores compromises the integrity of the community.
"I have a certain score that I have achieved through my game play and it
is representative of what I've done. Those achievements, to a certain
extent, are something to brag about," Goodman said. "So if you've been
cheating and your score is reset to zero, then tough noogies. Don't cheat
next time."
Goodman's bottom line is the same take many others in the Xbox Live
community have: If you want a high score, earn it.
"For 99.99 percent of the Xbox Live population out there, their scores
are earned," Goodman said. "For the very small minority of people who
are cheating, if you cheat and get caught, you will be punished. The
bottom line is there is no shortcut in life."
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
IRS Warns of New Online Tax Scams: Protect Yourself
Scam artists exploiting tax season have devised a range of new online
cons: fake tax documents that contain malicious surprises; mass
distribution of keyloggers aimed at snatching the identity of PC-based
tax filers; and e-mail messages containing links to Web sites that
promise new tax code information but instead push malware onto your PC.
That's not all, according to the Internal Revenue Service. This year,
identity thieves are not just trying to gain access to your bank account
or to open lines of credit in your name. Scammers are on the prowl for
ordinary citizens' identities that they can they can use in filing phony
tax returns and fraudulently claiming refunds, as well as to swipe
rebates associated with the 2008 federal economic stimulus package.
Security experts at Webroot Software& report seeing a new wave of
keyloggers (programs that secretly record every character you type),
system monitors, and viruses leading up to prime tax filing season.
Webroot's Threat Research Team says that more than 1200 new key-logging
programs and 336 versions of system monitoring spyware have been found
and defined in the past month alone.
Why the increase? Fewer taxpayers are using old-fashioned paper forms
for preparing and submitting their taxes. According to Webroot's
figures, a record 22 million taxpayers filed their taxes from a home
computer last year, up 11 percent from the previous year. Scammers know
this and figure that your identity is especially vulnerable to theft when
you're filling out your tax documents with a software program or filing
them over the Internet.
Several states warn that con artists have already begun the highly
publicized rebate checks associated as a ploy to get you to divulge
personal financial information.
Massachusetts attorney general Martha Coakley says that some state
residents have received bogus e-mail messages that purport to be from a
government agency such as the IRS or Social Security Administration. The
messages request personal information that supposedly would expedite the
turnaround time of either a tax refund or a stimulus rebate check.
For the record, the federal government expects to issue economic
stimulus rebate checks sometime in May or June. IRS refund checks
typically arrive within three weeks of the date when you e-file your
return.
Coakley warns that some fraudulent e-mail messages contain links to fake
government Web sites that request your Social Security number and bank
account numbers so that the IRS can process a rebate check. If you resist
disclosing the information, the site informs you that you won't be able
to receive your rebate.
Another tax scam involves e-mail messages that target accountants,
businesses, and individuals, notifying them of supposed changes in tax
laws. These phishing messages direct the recipient to download "updated"
tax documents that reflect the new tax laws.
The IRS reports having received numerous complaints from people who have
downloaded bogus documents to their computer - only to discover that the
documents contained malicious code designed to transfer control over the
PC to a third party.
Similarly, according to complaints fielded by the IRS, a growing number
of tax-themed e-mail messages contain links to Web sites (not files for
download) that attempt to install malware on the visitor's PC.
One variation on this gambit informs non-U.S. citizens who reside in the
United States that they must either visit a Web site or fill out an
enclosed W-8BEN tax form to establish appropriate tax withholding.
Recipients are asked to fill out the form (which is bogus) and to supply
account numbers, personal identification numbers, their mother's maiden
name, and their passport number.
Identity thieves can be remarkably brazen.
WXYZ, the ABC television affiliate in Detroit, reported that a Michigan
woman, Maria Mendoza, lost $4000 when a crook stole her identity and then
visited a local H & R Block office to file a tax return, posing as
Mendoza. After submitting the return, the scammer asked to receive her
$4000 tax refund on the spot, using a Block service called a Rapid Refund
debit card.
Here are some safeguards to help you steer clear of tax scams:
Ensure that your Windows desktop protection is current by going to
Windows Update. Confirm that you have an updated antivirus software
program running on your PC. When real IRS employees have questions or
concerns about a tax return, they typically contact the consumer by
telephone, not via e-mail.If you receive a dubious e-mail message that
claims to have been sent by the IRS, report it to the tax agency at
phishing@irs.gov. To check the legitimacy of any e-mail communication or
phone call from a person who claims to be an IRS agent, call the IRS
(1-800-829-1040). Don't click links or call telephone
numbers included in suspect messages. Instead, contact the bank or the
IRS directly by using phone numbers or addresses listed in published
directories. Double-check the URLs you type into your Web browser.
Mistyping a URL can transport you to a rogue site instead of to the one
you want. Don't open e-mail attachments. In particular, e-mail
attachments with ".scr," ".com," and ".exe" file extensions are likely
malicious.
Browser Wars Heat Up, Again
Browsers were all the buzz over the weekend, beginning with the news that
the developers of Mozilla Firefox feel their latest build is ready for
widespread general use, despite technically being still only a beta. I'm
not ready to make the leap full-time yet myself, but I'll definitely be
looking at Firefox's new features in the coming weeks.
Firefox has long been my browser of choice; and judging from my own,
completely unscientific study, I'm not alone. Access logs for my own
sites show some 33 percent of visitors now use the open source browser -
an impressive market share for any software.
Apple's Safari browser, on the other hand, accounts for less than 5
percent of the hits. Apple appears determined to up this statistic, but
the tactics it has chosen really get my goat - and here again I'm not
alone.
Mozilla CEO John Lilly was the first to point out that Apple has now
begun offering Safari as an optional download whenever you receive an
update to its Quicktime or iTunes software on Windows. It's "optional" in
the sense that you don't have to install it, but the installer assumes
that you do want it, by default. If you don't want to download and
install 50MB of Safari, you need to uncheck the box manually.
This really bugs me. I'm perfectly happy with Firefox, and I see no
reason why I should have Apple twisting my arm to load up my system with
another browser every time it issues a security update to Quicktime.
And I should point out that it's not just Safari. I made a point to
install Quicktime without iTunes on my business PC, and yet I'm still
offered "Quicktime + iTunes" every time Apple releases a new update. This
is annoying and coercive at best, and at worst it resembles the practices
of malware makers.
The shame of it is that Safari is actually a fine browser. Apple should
be able to increase its market share on its merits alone, without
getting pushy about it.
One final note, though: My unscientific poll shows that around half my
hits still come from Internet Explorer, proving that for many of you,
these alternative browsers are a non-issue. How about it - with all the
reports of security problems and poor standards compliance with IE, what
keeps you sticking with it? And what would it take for you to switch?
VeriSign Says Registry Fees for Internet Domain Names To Rise
Internet services company VeriSign Inc said registry fees for .com and
.net domain names would increase as per its agreements with the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), effective October 1.
VeriSign said the registry fees for .com and .net domain names will
increase to $6.86 and $4.23 from $6.42 and $3.85, respectively.
Microsoft Warns of New Attack on Word
Be extra careful when opening documents in Windows, especially if they
are Word files.
Microsoft on Friday warned that cyber criminals may be taking advantage
of an unpatched flaw in the Windows operating system to install
malicious software on a victim's PC.
The reported attack, now under investigation by Microsoft, involves a
malicious Word document, but there may be other ways of exploiting the
flaw, Microsoft said.
"Do not open or save Word files that you receive from untrusted sources
or that you receive unexpectedly from trusted sources," Microsoft said
in a security advisory posted to its Web site late in the day.
The flaw lies in the Jet Database Engine that is used by a number of
products including Microsoft Access. Microsoft is investigating whether
other programs may also be exploited in this type of attack.
Although this kind of unpatched, "zero day" attack is always cause for
concern, Microsoft downplayed the risk.
"At this time, we are aware only of targeted attacks that attempt to use
this vulnerability," the company said. "Current attacks require
customers to take multiple steps in order to be successful; we believe
the risk to be limited."
Following its usual policy, Microsoft didn't say when - or if - it
planned to patch the bug. But in a statement sent to the press, the
company did not rule out the possibility of an emergency patch,
released ahead of its next set of security updates, which are expected
on April 8.
Users of many versions of Word, including Word 2007, 2003, 2002 and
2000 are at risk, unless they are running Windows Vista or Windows
Server 2003, Service Pack 2. Those two operating systems include a newer
version of the Jet Database Engine that does not have the bug, Microsoft
said.
For the technically savvy: this means that PCs with a version of the
Msjet40.dll that is lower than 4.0.9505.0 are vulnerable.
There have been other reports of attacks targeting this database
software recently. In December, the US-CERT (United States Computer
Emergency Readiness Team) warned that attackers were sending out
malicious Microsoft Access Database (.mdb) files in a similar type of
attack. Security experts speculated that this exploit could have been
based on a publicly reported flaw in the Jet Database Engine.
Newest Eee PC Has Multi-Touch Trackpad
The next generation Eee PC laptop by Asustek Computer will come with a
multi-touch trackpad in addition to the larger screen, better Web cam
and increased data storage, a company representative said Thursday.
The Eee PC 900 boasts an 8.9-inch screen, larger than the 7-inch display
on the original Eee PC 701 model, along with a 1.3-megapixel camera and
12G-byte solid-state disk drive (SSD). The Web cam on the Eee PC 701 is
only 0.3-megapixels and the largest SSD is 8G-bytes.
The Eee PC 900's oversized touchpad works similar to the Macbook Air.
Using two fingers, a person can zoom in and out of documents and photos,
scroll up and down, and more, an Asustek representative said.
A picture of the Eee PC 900 can be found on the Federal Communications
Commission's Web site, where details were submitted for approval by the
U.S. government regulator.
A few things the Eee PC 900 will not have include a touchscreen and GPS
(global positioning system), the Asustek representative said, despite
some news reports to the contrary.
The Eee PC 900 will come pre-loaded with either Microsoft Windows XP or
Linux OSs, the representative said.
The first devices will likely hit some markets by June this year. Pricing
will vary by country, but in Europe, the new Eee PC will cost around
US$626.
Red Hat: Open Source Benefits from U.S. Unpopularity
The unpopularity of the United States has IT users in foreign countries
happy to use open-source software, Red Hat President/CEO Jim Whitehurst
said at the InfoWorld Open Source Business Conference in San Francisco on
Tuesday.
This way, they do not have to pay "intellectual property taxes" to
American companies, he said. Outside the United States, open source is
seen from a public policy perspective as a fundamental good, Whitehurst
said.
"I never thought I would say this but actually, being very unpopular in
the world, as frankly the U.S. is these days, is a huge benefit to open
source," because people are resentful of sending billions of dollars back
to the U.S. in IP taxes, Whitehurst said. They also do not want to pay it
to Western Europe, he said.
Whitehurst said he has met with government officials in countries like
Russia and China. Moving to a model not shackled by U.S. IP laws is
extraordinary, he said.
But an audience member asked if Red Hat, when meeting with officials in
countries not wanting to pay American companies, urges them to follow the
GNU GPL (General Public License) and share code. "There is a ton of GPL
violations going on," the audience member said.
Whitehurst responded he did not see some deep conspiracy over this issue
but stressed the relative newness of the problem. "Absolutely it's an
issue we need to watch and to manage," he said.
Whitehurst also discussed Red Hat's business model, which relies on
subscriptions and support. "Fundamentally, our business model is to
create enterprise editions of open source projects," he said. "We have
created an enterprise version of Linux that you can sleep on [at] night
knowing that it does not go down," he said. Open source also means having
to work every day to keep customers happy, Whitehurst said.
More needs to be done to get enterprises involved in the open-source
community, Whitehurst said. "We do a lousy job of getting enterprises
involved in the community," he said.
Whitehurst said Red Hat has an 80-plus percent share in Linux with a
little more than $500 million in revenues. "The dollars in open source
relative to what we do are relatively small," he said.
Also at the conference Tuesday, officials from several open-source
ventures, serving on a panel about the future of open source, contended
that a turbulent economy was good for open source.
"I do think it's going to be good," said Roger Burkhardt, president and
CEO of Ingres. "The question is when will the benefits come."
But resulting IT staff layoffs during economic downtimes means fewer
people are able to start an incremental project, he said. MySQL's Zack
Urlocker, vice president of products, countered that project teams
without a budget will just find open-source software to get their
projects going. "Sometimes the CIOs or CEOs just aren't even aware of
it," he said.
Belt-tightening will be good for innovation and particularly for open
source, said Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu. "I think the absence
of money is the biggest spur to innovation than the presence of money,"
he said.
Open-source attributes were pointed out, such as lower acquisition and
maintenance costs, freedom from vendor lock-in, and access to community
developed customizations. The use of open source is becoming a first
option, according to Shuttleworth. "I think we're pretty close to the
point where proprietary software has to be justified instead of the other
way around," he said.
During an introduction to the conference, Matt Asay, vice president of
development at at Alfresco, pointed out that roughly $2 billion has been
invested in open-source software since 2000 and in one year, it has all
been given back through acquisitions like Sun's $1 billion acquisition
of MySQL.
Open source has moved beyond CRM and content management systems, Assay
said. "Can open source innovate? I think the answer is demonstrably
yes," he said.
At another panel session the future of the operating system, Google's
computing model, in which everything is hosted on the Internet and
accessed via a thin-client browser, was questioned by an Intel official
"The Google model really scares me," said Dirk Hohndel, chief Linux and
open-source technologist at Intel. The model gives a third party control
of data, which cannot be accessed on an airplane, he noted.
Sun's James Hughes, chief technologist for Solaris, said very large
companies are looking at outsourcing their applications to Google but
he has not seen it actually happen. "I don???t see anybody doing it, but
maybe they will," he said.
Hughes also pointed out differences between Solaris and Linux, which are
vying in the open source OS space. "There's than one OS out there, and
if Solaris strives to be Linux, why bother," Hughes said. Solaris is
differentiated by features like DTrace, for dynamic tracing, he said.
"In general, I don't see it as Unix versus Linux versus whatever. We've
gone to a model of open source," Hughes said. Solaris, though, has had a
challenge because it underwent 20 years of closed-source development
before going the open-source route, he said.
Gone in 2 Minutes: Mac Gets Hacked First in Contest
It may be the quickest $10,000 Charlie Miller ever earned.
He took the first of three laptop computers - and a $10,000 cash prize
- Thursday after breaking into a MacBook Air at the CanSecWest security
conference's PWN 2 OWN hacking contest.
Show organizers offered a Sony Vaio, Fujitsu U810 and the MacBook as
prizes, saying that they could be won by anybody at the show who could
find a way to hack into each of them and read the contents of a file on
the system, using a previously undisclosed "0day" attack.
Nobody was able to hack into the systems on the first day of the contest
when contestants were only allowed to attack the computers over the
network, but on Thursday the rules were relaxed so that attackers could
direct contest organizers using the computers to do things like visit
Web sites or open e-mail messages.
Miller, best known as one of the researchers who first hacked Apple's
iPhone last year, didn't take much time. Within 2 minutes, he directed
the contest's organizers to visit a Web site that contained his exploit
code, which then allowed him to seize control of the computer, as about
20 onlookers cheered him on.
He was the first contestant to attempt an attack on any of the systems.
Miller was quickly given a nondisclosure agreement to sign and he's not
allowed to discuss particulars of his bug until the contest's sponsor,
TippingPoint, can notify the vendor.
Contest rules state that Miller could only take advantage of software
that was preinstalled on the Mac, so the flaw he exploited must have
been accessible, or possibly inside, Apple's Safari browser.
Last year's contest winner, Dino Dai Zovi, exploited a vulnerability in
QuickTime to take home the prize.
Dai Zovi, who congratulated Miller after his hack, didn't participate in
this year's contest, saying it was time for someone else to win.
Gossip Web Site Denies Wrongdoing
The college gossip Web site JuicyCampus.com has criticized a consumer
fraud investigation launched by the New Jersey attorney general.
"JuicyCampus has not violated any laws," reads an unsigned statement
posted on the Web site earlier this week. The statement also accuses the
attorney general of interfering with users' free speech.
JuicyCampus publishes anonymous, often malicious gossip about college
students, with language ranging from catty to hateful and potentially
offensive.
Last week the New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram subpoenaed the
company as part of a fraud investigation. She said JuicyCampus may be
violating the state's Consumer Fraud Act by suggesting that it doesn't
allow offensive material but not enforcing that policy.
Since then, the Connecticut attorney general has also launched a fraud
investigation of the company and its Nevada-based owner, and a California
lawmaker has urged his state attorney general to do the same.
Users at the site have turned their ire on Milgram, posting defamatory
suggestions about her sexual activities. The Attorney General's Office
had no comment Thursday on the attacks or on the JuicyCampus statement.
"The only response from JuicyCampus that we're interested in seeing is
their response to our subpoena," said Attorney General spokesman Jeff
Lamm.
Vietnam Memorial Wall Now Online
Family and friends of servicemen and women who died or vanished in the
Vietnam War no longer have to travel to Washington to pay their respects
at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
An interactive version debuts online this week, a project of historical
document archive site Footnote.com in conjunction with the National
Archives and Records Administration.
The virtual version of the famous memorial - which is a pair of 246-foot
black granite walls inscribed with the names of more than 58,000
American military casualties - is searchable.
Every name etched onto the real-world wall is viewable online and linked
to the veteran's service record. Online visitors can add photos and
describe their memories of the servicemen and women who died in the war.
Footnote.com Chief Executive Russ Wilding hopes the site will develop
into an online community for veterans, family and friends to pay tribute
and share their thoughts.
"The memorial is a historical document that obviously is very
emotional," he says. "We want the site to help people come together to
remember the veterans who were lost."
More than 2,000 photos were taken of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall
to create the online version, Wilding said. He said the resulting image
is the equivalent of 460 feet wide and the largest of its kind on the
Web.
Wednesday was the 26th anniversary of the groundbreaking for
construction of the wall, which was completed in November 1982 and
officially became a National Monument two years later.
=~=~=~=
Atari Online News, Etc. is a weekly publication covering the entire
Atari community. Reprint permission is granted, unless otherwise noted
at the beginning of any article, to Atari user groups and not for
profit publications only under the following terms: articles must
remain unedited and include the issue number and author at the top of
each article reprinted. Other reprints granted upon approval of
request. Send requests to: dpj@atarinews.org
No issue of Atari Online News, Etc. may be included on any commercial
media, nor uploaded or transmitted to any commercial online service or
internet site, in whole or in part, by any agent or means, without
the expressed consent or permission from the Publisher or Editor of
Atari Online News, Etc.
Opinions presented herein are those of the individual authors and do
not necessarily reflect those of the staff, or of the publishers. All
material herein is believed to be accurate at the time of publishing.
