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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 08 Issue 52
Volume 8, Issue 52 Atari Online News, Etc. December 29, 2006
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2006
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:
Roger Burrows
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0852 12/29/06
~ Happy New Year 2007! ~ People Are Talking! ~ Safe Web Seal Update
~ Anodyne Site Update! ~ Santa's Site Hacked! ~ MySpace Is Targeted!
~ Record Levels of Spam! ~ Bushnell Opens uWink! ~ New Tech Laws Eyed!
~ Wiki Search Is Planned ~ The Top 10 of 2006! ~ Spammers Beat Tools!
-* Apple Has Stock Option Probe *-
-* Better Photo Search Helps Privacy? *-
-* Video Game Console Shortage Lingers Into 07 *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Well, here we are, our last issue for this current year. Another new year
is upon us once again. Amazing how this keeps happening every year! <grin>
There's been a lot that has happened over the past year; I wouldn't even
know where to begin. For me personally, 2006 was a combination of good
and bad. I left a job with an organization I was with for 30 years. Now
that was a tough thing to do, but something I felt (and still do) that had
to be done. But, it happened at a time when I could enjoy myself, as well
as get a lot of work done around my home that I would otherwise not have
the time or energy to do. I was able to really enjoy the simple things in
life for a change. What was that old saying, "All work and no play makes
Jack a dull boy"? No, it makes an unhappy Jack! I always knew that there
had to be a good balance between working and personal life, but these days,
many people focus too much of their energy trying to get ahead, and they
forget to enjoy life - or, don't have the time to do so. And, I was one of
those people - I didn't have the time or energy to really take advantage of
my "down" time. My weekends were spent trying to cram everything that I had
to do over the past week. Too much. It was a lesson that I learned due to
difficult choices, but one I do not regret.
Another "lesson learned" this past year pertains to family. I was never a
big family-type person. I always took family for granted. But, over the
years, I've tried to move away from that attitude. With a number of family
issues this past year, I've got closer to my father and brother, even
though there's a good distance (literally) between us; and, there are a
lot of external problems going on. Not a perfect relationship to be
certain, but an improvement.
So, what will the new year bring for us? Who knows! Like most of us, I'm
hoping that the new year brings happiness and success at whatever I do.
I always hope that a new year brings better things than the previous year,
or years. This year is no different. I try to be a little more realistic
than past years. After all, I stopped wishing for a better Atari computer
years ago, and faced certain facts of life! I moved on, while still
holding on to a little nostalgia with my existing Atari machines. I also
promised myself to do some of the things that I always wanted to do, but
really never had the time. I'll play more golf next year, do more around
the house, continue writing that mystery novel I always wanted to do,
enjoy more quality time with my wife and dogs, and much more, I hope!
I hope that the new year brings new hopes and goals for all of you, and
more successes. And please, start the new year off responsibly. To all of
you, we here at A-ONE wish you a very Happy New Year!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
Anodyne Software Web Site Update
The Anodyne Software web site has been updated, as follows:
ExtenDOS 4 version 4.05 is now available. It fixes problems in CD.BOS,
CDaudio and ExtInfo, and increases compatibility with some drives with
buggy firmware. A patch to update previous versions to version 4.05 is
available from the web page at:
http://www.anodynesoftware.com/e4/updates.htm
A note has been added concerning a minor problem with CDwriter; see the
CD Writer Suite web page at:
http://www.anodynesoftware.com/cdws4/support.htm
If you are in the habit of accessing the alternate web site rather than
the main one, please note that the alternate has been moved to:
http://www.magma.ca/~anodyne
Roger Burrows
Atari Founder Serves Games, Food and Possibly Love
Lovelorn video gamers who are better with consoles than conversation, have
a new venue - a restaurant where each table has touchscreens for ordering
food and for playing a variety of social games.
Entrepreneur Nolan Bushnell, founder of the original Atari game company
and the children's U.S. restaurant franchise Chuck E. Cheese, has set up
uWink in a shopping mall in Woodland Hills, a Los Angeles suburb, to
attract an adult dating set.
"This isn't for 18-year-old testosterone junkies who are into playing
'Halo'," Bushnell said, referring to a Microsoft Corp.'s alien shoot-up
game.
Bushnell, a life-long gamer and uWink's master game designer, cemented his
place in video game history three decades ago when he introduced Atari's
first product - the now legendary table tennis game "Pong" - to the
world. He sold Atari in 1976, four years after its was launched.
Bushnell's new target market is 21 to 35 year old women, although he also
hopes to appeal to school kids and families during the day.
"If you've got a restaurant full of women, you're automatically going to
attract men," he said.
The new restaurant, which Bushnell wants to franchise, is steeped in LA
cool - with dark wood, sleek surfaces, videos projected onto walls, bistro
fare and sophisticated adult cocktails.
It is a far cry from his first restaurant venture, Chuck E. Cheese, where
kids go for pizza, arcade games and birthday cake, although the central
theme - gaming - is the same. Nolan, who took Chuck E. Cheese public and
left the company in 1983, has already established uWink as a public
company that trades under the ticker UWNK.
Each table at uWink has a pair of touchscreens for ordering food and
playing conversation-fueling trivia games covering everything from
entertainment to politics and sports.
The library at uWink, which opened in October this year, already has more
than two years of game content, including more than 45,000 questions that
update weekly.
But Bushnell wants mingling to be the name of the game at uWink, which
hosts "room games" where every table in the restaurant can compete
simultaneously. The next level of play, to be introduced soon, is
table-to-table competition. Players can stand at so-called party tables
and play a fast-paced, six-player game called "Ping" - a tribute to
"Pong."
Bushnell said one of his goals is to take the social risk out of buying
a stranger a drink.
"The only thing we're not going to do is determine who is hot and who's
isn't," he joked, referring to hotornot.com, an online dating site where
people rate each other's looks.
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho, friends and neighbors. Gonna talk about a couple of things
before we get to the messages this week.
First, celebrate responsibly this weekend. Remember: There are plenty of
idiots on the road... they don't need one more.
Second, Gerald R. Ford. Oh, Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. He's one of two
presidents in my lifetime who I feel got a bum wrap for doing what
needed to be done. At the time, I would have liked nothing better than
to see Nixon hung up on the flagpole on the Capitol building. But Ford
knew that we needed to move forward and get on with the business of
being The United States.
Ford was not only a republican, he was a GOLFER! Strike TWO! [grin]
I was a bit annoyed the other night when I heard someone on television
refer to Ford as 'simple'. No, folks, he wasn't simple. He was
straight-forward.... honest, even. He held the reigns of government,
albeit for a short time, during the end (and an unsuccessful end at
that) of a war, the beginning of an energy crisis, and the middle of an
economic crisis. 'Simple' is not a word that I'd use to describe him.
Then came Chevy Chase. The first time he parodied Ford, I thought it was
one of the worst sketched I'd ever seen on SNL... today it'd probably
be about middle-of-the-road... Chase didn't look like Ford, didn't TRY
to look like Ford, and didn't sound anything like Ford. I felt cheated.
He could have just as easily been spoofing Johnny Carson or Ho Chi Min
or Chaka Zulu.
In my eyes, it was a cheap shot... and I'm not one to be above
lampooning public figures. I'm glad that Chevy went on to show some
real talent.
Okay, enough of that. Third thing on my list: Cloned food.
This past week, the FDA decided that cloned food won't need special
labeling. I'm okay with that, I guess. Actually, I'm wondering what the
advantage to cloned food would have. Clones are expensive!
We're not talking about genetically engineered food items here. We're
already eating genetically engineered foods daily. Bigger carrots,
prettier ears of corn, disease-resistant tomatoes, bigger, meatier
cattle, and things like that represent genetic engineering. Clones are
(supposedly) carbon copies. What advantage is there in making one cow
start out exactly like another at this incredible cost? Email the FDA
today (like I did) and ask them what possible advantage there is to
this... and to making this decision now. Perhaps they're thinking about
cloning Gerald Ford in preparation for pardoning our current White
House resident?
I guess my real question would be, "what do those corporate drones have
up their sleeves for a decade from now?"
Well, enough of this. Let's get to the news, hints tips and info from
the UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
Djordje Vukovic asks about displaying directory sizes:
"What would be the politically correct way to treat the sizes
of directory objects that can be retrieved in some filesystems?
Should they be displayed and counted/summed or should they be ignored?
I am not referring to the summary sizes of items -in- a directory,
but to the sizes of the objects with the directory attributes and
information themselves.
Original Atari desktop ignores them but some desktops and iirc some
file-selectors display them. What would be 'proper' ? (I am more
inclined to ignoring them, as I do not see that they are useful
information)."
Karsten Lüdersen tells Djordje:
"I think jinnee does it right: let the user choose, if he wants to see
the sizes or not. Sometimes I need the foldersizes e.g. for burning
CDs. But on big partitions with lots of files it takes much time to add
the sizes of a directory and its children."
Miro Kropacek clarifies:
"I think Djordje means if teradesk should show the size of directory
entries itself -- i.e. not the content of directory but how much space
it takes on filesystem (i.e. 4 KB) if you create new directory. Maybe
I'm wrong :) But in this case I choose ignoring them..."
'Jimmie' asks about the innards of the Atari Megafile:
"What type of hard drive was used in the atari megafile? I know it was
not SCSI or IDE. Please advise."
Robert Schaffner tells Jimmie simply:
"MFM/RLL"
Well folks, that's it for this time around. I know it's short, but there
weren't a lot of messages this week. I guess everyone was out buying
beer and cloned beef for the holiday. [grin]
Tune in again next week, same time, same station, and be ready to listen
to what they are saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Console Shortages Linger Into 2007?
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Video Game Console Shortage Could Linger Into '07
Shoppers are standing in lines to snap up Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 and
Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s Wii video game consoles as they become available, and
some analysts do not expect shortages to ease until March or later.
Shoppers are finding lots of PlayStation 2s and Microsoft Xbox 360s,
expected to do well as substitutes for the newest machines that are in
short supply.
One employee at a Target store said the retailer issues a memo a couple of
days in advance of Wii and PS3 shipments and passes the information on to
shoppers, who sometimes stand in line to secure their booty.
As he spoke, shoppers snapped up PlayStation Portables and Apple Computer
Inc. iPods.
American Technology Research analyst Paul-Jon McNealy said that since Sony
shipment numbers include units in transit or in warehouses, the company's
target of 1 million could translate to 600,000 to 800,000 units at retail
by year end.
McNealy said investors and game makers tempered their forecasts for the
PS3s since initial numbers fell short. He added that the PS3 will likely
remain scarce through the June quarter.
"They have to launch in Europe, and they're stretched," said McNealy. Wii
shortages could ease in the March quarter, he said.
Workers at a dozen Southern California stores, including Best Buy, GameStop
and Target outlets, said PS3 shipments were small and sporadic this
shopping season, ranging from as few as 1 or 2 to 25, and that shoppers
snapped up consoles as they arrived.
"We get 1 or 2 every week to week and a half," said a weary Los Angeles
GameStop employee.
Nintendo's Wii was selling out fast but reaching stores in greater numbers
than the PS3, store clerks said.
The $250 Wii, known for its motion-sensitive controller that can be swung
like a tennis racquet or a sword, and the high-end $600 PS3 both launched
in the United States in mid-November and take on the year-old Microsoft
Xbox 360 in the new generation video game console battle.
Sony's PS2, which has sold more than 106 million units globally, is
expected to be a top seller this season.
Toys "R" Us said its 587 U.S. stores expected more than 6,000 PS3s,
thousands of Wiis and over 30,000 Microsoft Corp. Xbox 360s in the week
leading up to Christmas.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Santa's Web Site Hacked
With Christmas fast approaching, Santa Claus reached out for a little help
from Stopbadware.org this week.
The consumer advocacy group said it was approached by an Incline Village,
Nevada, man who has legally changed his name to Santa Claus, who asked
them to help figure out why his Web site was being flagged by Google's Web
site filters.
It turned out that Santa's Web site, Santaslink.net had been hacked.
Claus is a children's advocate who has travelled across the U.S. meeting
with legislators, according to his Web site. He also makes seasonal
appearances as Saint Nick.
"He had consulted local experts, which we can only assume were elves, but
they were unable to identify anything wrong with his site," wrote
StopBadware.org Developer Jason Callina, in a Thursday blog posting.
"Nestled all snug in the bottom of his homepage was a nice little bit of
code containing a badware link," he added.
The problem was soon resolved "and the workshop is once again a safe
place," Callina said.
Stopbadware.org was founded earlier this year, with funding from Google,
Lenovo and Sun Microsystems as a community watchdog organization to help
protect consumers from malicious software like spyware and viruses.
Callina said he's learned something from the Santa Claus experience.
"The moral of the story is that the Grinches who are looking to spread
their unsafe software are willing to hack even Santa's Web site."
Wiki Search Planned
The founder of Wikipedia, the user-edited online encyclopedia, is
developing a Wiki-based search engine to compete with established
commercial search engines from Google and Yahoo.
Jimmy Wales announced plans to develop the search engine, to be named
"Wikiasari," or "Wikia," for short, in a December 23 online posting.
The Wikimedia Foundation of St. Petersburg, Florida, which manages the Web
site Wikipedia.com, emphasizes that the search engine project is not
associated with the foundation.
Wales said that current search engine technology, using complex
algorithms to complete searches, is "broken."
"It is broken for the same reason that proprietary software is always
broken: lack of freedom, lack of community, lack of accountability (and)
lack of transparency. Here, we will change all that," wrote at the site,
search.wikia.com.
Wales promotes Wikia as "a new kind of search engine, which relies on
human intelligence to do what algorithms cannot." He invited members of
the Wiki community to help design the Wikia search engine, which he
described as "an open-source alternative for Web search."
He cited open source search projects as Nutch and Lucene as related
efforts that can help in the development of Wikia.
Wikipedia is maintained with donations from users. The foundation filed
its first financial statement November 21, listing just over $1 million
in assets for the year ended June 30.
While Wikipedia began mostly as a resource on technology issues, it has
expanded to cover more general topics. And although its populist mission
is to let users edit content, it has had to correct some embarrassing
inaccuracies.
Most notably, the site let stand for four months in 2005 a posting
identifying newspaper publisher John Seigenthaler Sr. as involved in the
assassinations of President John F. and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in the
1960s. It removed the posting only after Seigenthaler repeatedly
objected.
Apple Probed On Stock Options
Federal prosecutors are probing whether former Apple Computer Inc.
officials forged documents to maximize executives' profits from stock
options, according to a legal publication that also reported CEO Steve
Jobs has hired his own lawyers to represent him in the investigation.
Shares of the iPod and Macintosh computer maker went on a roller-coaster
ride in trading Wednesday, falling almost 5 percent before rebounding by
midday.
In a morning note, UBS Investment Research Analyst Ben Reitzes called
investors' fears "overblown."
The Recorder, a San Francisco-based publication owned by American Lawyer
Media, reported late Tuesday that federal prosecutors are looking into
forged documents at Apple related to administering stock options. The
report cited people with knowledge of the case who requested anonymity
because the case is the subject of criminal and civil government
investigations.
Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said the company is providing the Securities
and Exchange Commission with the results of its internal investigation
into its stock options granting practices, but had no further comment
Wednesday.
The publication also reported that Jobs has hired his own outside counsel
separate from the company's legal team.
"Investors seem to be reacting to the mention of Steve Jobs," Reitzes
said in his note. "We believe it could make sense to obtain counsel given
his immense personal fortune and influence."
Apple is one of nearly 200 companies that have disclosed SEC, DOJ or
internal investigations for potential backdating of stock options.
Backdating refers to retroactively pegging the strike price of an option
to a day when the stock traded cheaply. Options with low strike prices
are more valuable to their owner because they are less expensive to
exercise.
In October, Apple said the internal investigation raised concerns about
how two former officers recorded and accounted for stock options. Citing
people with knowledge of the investigation, The Recorder also reported
those two former officers were General Counsel Nancy Heinen and Chief
Financial Officer Fred Anderson.
On Dec. 15, Apple said it was delaying filing its annual report with the
Securities and Exchange Commission due to its ongoing investigation into
stock option grants. In a filing with the SEC, the company said it needs
to restate historical financial statements to record charges for
compensation related to past grants. As a result, Apple was unable to file
its 10-K Form for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30 by the required filing
date of Dec. 14.
Apple expects to file its annual report and its quarterly report for the
period ending July 1 by Friday.
'Safe' Web Seal Requires Rigorous Checks
Beginning next month, version 7 of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer
browser will start flagging certain e-commerce and banking sites as green
for "safe." The browser will look for an extended-validation certificate
issued by any number of vendors.
To qualify, vendors such as VeriSign Inc. and Comodo will be required to
make extensive checks before approving such certificates. They also will
have to undergo independent auditing through WebTrust, a service run by
trade groups for certified public accountants.
Under the latest, 65-page draft guidelines, verification requirements
include:
* Legal existence and identity. The certificate vendor must make sure that
the business is legally recognized and that the formal name matches
government records, through databases and other means. The vendor also
must verify any alternative operating names that differ from the legal
name.
* Physical existence. The vendor must check government records to make
sure addresses in those records and in the certificate application match.
When there is no match, a site visit is required, documenting such things
as whether a permanent sign is present and whether the office is more than
a mailbox. Photos are required showing the site's exterior and the
interior reception area or workspace.
* Telephone number. The vendor must verify that the phone number provided
is the primary one for the business, using such techniques as calling it
directly and checking phone directory listings. In some cases, the vendor
must make sure the main phone number is not a mobile phone.
* Domain name. To ensure the business owns and controls the domain name,
the vendor must use techniques such as checking registration records,
known as the Whois database, and asking the company to make an agreed-upon
change to the Web site under that domain name.
* Individual's authorization. The vendor must verify that the individual
requesting the certificate works for the company, for instance, by
contacting its human resources department. The vendor must also verify the
individual's authority to make the request, generally by obtaining written
documentation. For some verifications, exemptions are permitted with a
letter from a lawyer, notary or accountant. The guidelines include
procedures for verifying authenticity.
Businesses in existence for less than three years may be required to also
produce evidence they have a valid bank account. Additional checks are
required for banks and other companies deemed to be high-risk targets for
scams.
Because many of the steps rely upon government filings, general
partnerships, unincorporated associations, sole proprietorships and
individuals are currently barred from getting these certificates.
For that reason, a consortium of certificate vendors and browser makers
rejected the draft in November, although Microsoft and some vendors
believe the standards are good enough to proceed anyhow.
Better Photo Search Could Reduce Privacy
A Swedish startup is combining software and humans to help make photos and
other images more easily searchable online, raising privacy concerns as
the technology eases the tracking of people across Web sites.
Traditionally, search engines analyze text surrounding an image on a Web
site. So a search for "Bill Gates" might produce a photograph captioned
with the name of the Microsoft Corp. chairman. But a search for a
reporter's name might produce that same photograph if it had accompanied
an article he had written.
Polar Rose AB is bringing facial-recognition technology to the mix. Its
software scans everyday images for about 90 different attributes. If the
software finds a match with images in a database, it concludes the two
photos are of the same person.
The company, among many startups seeking to improve image search, believes
its technology is noteworthy because it creates 3-D renditions of faces in
images, allowing the computer to account for slight variations in angles
and lighting. Nikolaj Nyholm, the company's chief executive, said testing
has shown up to 95 percent reliability with sets of 10,000 photos. But he
said that as the collection grows, there are millions, perhaps billions,
of photographs on the Internet, reliability diminishes because, well,
many people simply look alike.
That's where humans come in. In early 2007, the company will distribute
free plug-ins for Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox
browsers.
People who post or view photos could add information such as names; there
might be the occasional error, but enough people filling in the correct
answer would make that rise to the top.
The idea is to label every face, even ones in the background, whether
posted on a Web journal, a photo-sharing site like Yahoo Inc.'s Flickr or
a social-networking hangout like News Corp.'s MySpace. The service won't
index images on personal computers or password-protected sites.
Polar Rose plans to sell ads and premium services but won't charge for the
basic use of its plug-ins or search engine, which is still in a "beta" test
phase. But there's still a cost: privacy.
Imagine yourself minding your own business when a tourist at Times Square
snaps a picture with you walking in the background and posts it on a
public site. Using a search engine like Polar Rose, your boss could easily
find out you were out and about on a day you had called in sick.
Police, stalkers and spouses also could use the technology to track where
people have been, for example, if someone has attended anti-war protests
in multiple cities.
"I don't think we have all the answers quite yet," Nyholm said, adding that
people went though similar debates years ago when search engines began
indexing text.
"A lot of pictures have been published, and privacy has been assumed due
to obscurity," he said. "This will highlight the fact that there is no
such thing as privacy by obscurity."
It's not clear how well the service will work. Facial-recognition
technology isn't error-free, people get tans; some occasionally wear
sunglasses. And the human component will help only if a large number of
people participate; many other human-assisted search engines have
produced lackluster results.
Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, said that regardless of
the service's effectiveness, technologies such as Polar Rose underscore
the need for a global debate on whether to place limits on what search
engines can index and to give individuals greater say.
Without such dialogue, he said, "these technologies will keep drilling
into information to create search dimensions which are infinitely more
powerful than we could ever imagine."
And he rejects Nyholm's contention that just because an image is
accessible, it's fair game.
Whenever information becomes easier to find and access, "a whole raft of
new privacy issues are always created," he said. "When people place their
photographs on the Internet, they do not expect them to be searchable."
MySpace Users Big Targets for ID Thieves
MySpace devotee Kary Rogers was expecting to see a gut-busting video when
a friend from the popular online hangout messaged him a link.
First, though, he was directed to a page where he was supposed to re-enter
his password. Rogers realized that someone was trying to steal his
information, and he didn't take the bait. At best, he would be spammed
with junk e-mails; worse, the Web thief might steal his real-life
identity.
"I immediately went back and changed my password," said Rogers, 29, a
network analyst for Mississippi State University in Starkville, Miss.
MySpace bills itself as a "place for friends." Increasingly, it is also a
place for unfriendly attacks from digital miscreants on the prowl, luring
users to sexually explicit Web sites, clogging mailboxes with spam
messages and playing on the trust users have when speaking to "friends" to
obtain passwords that could lead to identity theft.
Managing the risks that come with rapid growth is an enormous challenge
for MySpace, now part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. media conglomerate.
The site can't afford to drive away users, who might defect to one of a
growing number of alternative sites, or advertisers, who pay top dollar to
reach the growing MySpace audience.
Last month, MySpace inched past Yahoo Inc. in U.S. page views, recording
38.7 billion, according to comScore Media Metrix.
A key reason behind the popularity is its ease. Simply by adding a few
lines of computer code, users can create elaborate profiles and
personalize them with photos, music and video. A host of communication
tools makes it easy to send messages to one person or a whole list of
friends, who number into the thousands for some of the more popular
MySpace users.
Those same tools can be used by vandals to make it look like an innocent
user has sent spam to the same long list of "friends."
Programmers are writing scripts that take advantage of specific features
on MySpace, including "friend request," where one user asks to be added to
another user's list of buddies.
One recent scam works this way: A spammer posts a number of phony profiles
featuring pictures of cute women, often promising nude photos. A "friend
request" with the woman's photo is sent to hundreds of users.
Once the fake profile loads, a blue screen descends, saying the profile
is protected by the "MySpace Adult Content Viewer." Unsuspecting users who
try to download the viewer instead get a worm that installs adware on
their computers.
Social-networking sites make good targets because of the implicit level of
trust users have when they're interacting with "friends."
"The ongoing interaction lowers your reservations and security barriers,"
said Marc Gaffan, an expert in online fraud and security at RSA, the
security division of EMC Corp.
MySpace, which News Corp. bought last year for some $580 million, has
recognized the threat and is stepping up security efforts, said Hemanshu
Nigam, its chief security officer.
The company is rapidly expanding its team of software engineers, lawyers
and other experts who look for suspicious activity, educate users on how
to prevent attacks and go after the worst offenders.
Under Nigam's direction, the company recently formed a Content Assurance
Team. Employees post fake profiles on the site, pretending to be vulnerable
teens or clueless adults. The profiles are designed to keep tabs on
everything from sexual predators to spammers.
MySpace also is preparing to launch a more aggressive education campaign,
urging users to take care and use tools that restrict the viewing of their
profiles to only trusted sources.
When all else fails, the company is also files civil suits and is
increasing cooperation with law enforcement officials.
"We're trying to take away the 'cool' factor of trying to attack us,"
Nigam said.
Nigam came to MySpace after stints as a federal prosecutor specializing in
child pornography and computer crime cases. He also led security efforts
at Microsoft Corp. and the Motion Picture Association of America.
MySpace hired him in May to strengthen security and safety efforts at the
site and other Internet properties owned by Fox Interactive media.
"Security is a top priority because it's critical for our community of
users and for our business partners," Nigam said. "If advertisers feel
uncomfortable being on a site that is seen as not as secure, not as safe,
then we lose revenue."
So far, no major damage has been done on the site, although some users,
increasingly annoyed by the fake friends and messages, are seeking other
social networking alternatives.
"I don't have this problem on Facebook," Rogers said, referring to another
popular site.
The Internet has weathered several threats over the years, but as users
move on, so do the attackers.
Writers of malicious software used to count primarily on e-mail recipients
to click on attachments to spread their wares. As e-mail recipients got
more savvy, the writers looked to automate the process by exploiting
vulnerabilities in e-mail programs, browsers and the Windows operating
system from Microsoft Corp.
As those security holes get closed, virus writers are looking elsewhere,
including social-networking sites ? attractive in part because of their
size.
"It's where the activity is and the attackers play the percentages," said
David Cole, director of security response at Symantec Corp. "They go after
the largest market share where there is the most activity."
Anti-spam Tool Ceases As Spammers Evolve
The Open Relay Database, a tool e-mail service providers used for years to
help curb the spread of spam, is ceasing operations, a death partly
attributable to its own success. It was 5.
For years, spammers exploited e-mail servers with open relays, those that
accept mail from anywhere for relaying to anywhere else, to pass along
their junk pitches.
Service providers responded by using lists like the ORDB to block all
mail, including legitimate messages, passing through open-relay servers,
in turn pressuring operators of such relays to accept outbound mail only
from their own customers.
Mail-server software also has been shipping with the relays closed by
default, such that open relays aren't as big of a threat today. These
days, spammers instead use zombie computers, generally home computers
taken over by viruses and other malicious software to relay spam such that
messages appear to come from legitimate customers.
"ORDB was a holdover from the past era when open relays were a major
vector for spam," said John Levine, co-author of "Fighting Spam for
Dummies." "Now the vast majority of spam is sent by virus-controlled
zombie computers. ... There's way more of them (than) there ever were
open relays."
Lists that target zombies as well, such as one from the Spamhaus Project,
have in recent times been more effective, Levine said.
The number of open relays listed at ORDB dropped in late 2004 and has
largely leveled off at about 225,000 servers since then.
The Danish volunteers who ran ORDB ultimately decided to shut down the
project rather than expand it to include zombies, something that would
have taken a lot more work without adding much to resources already
available from Spamhaus and elsewhere, said Andreas Plesner Jacobsen,
one of the database's operators.
The decision was made a year ago, "but nobody got around to executing
it," he said Wednesday.
Jacobsen added that so few rely solely on ORDB to fight spam these days
that people shouldn't suddenly see more junk in their inboxes.
In a Dec. 18 farewell note, the database's operators said open-relay lists
"are no longer the most effective way of preventing spam from entering
your network as spammers have changed tactics in recent years, as have the
anti-spam community."
Operators plan to shut down the Web site on Sunday.
Spam Slams Internet at Record Levels
An explosion of spam has security vendors salivating over potential sales
of filtering products this coming year, with levels of the insidious mail
clogging inboxes expected to grow at unprecedented levels.
In the closing months of 2006, the volume of spam jumped enormously,
according to e-mail filtering firm Postini, with an increase of 73 percent
in just the three months leading up to December.
Spam now represents nearly 93 percent of all e-mail throughout the world
- the highest level ever recorded by Postini - further driving the need
for businesses to find solutions.
The type of spam being sent has also changed, said Dan Druker, spokesman
for Postini. In 2004 only a tiny percentage of junk e-mail messages
contained images in them. Now, said Druker, that figure has ballooned to
25 percent.
McAfee Avert Labs says that number is even higher, suggesting that up to
40 percent of all incoming mail is now image spam. A year ago image spam
accounted for less than one percent of the total spam received, the
company reports.
Although many spam filters are deployed by companies, few are able to
successfully defend against spam that is comprised of an image rather
than
text.
"A lot of spam is in the form of images and HTML documents that are
designed to get beyond the filters," said Druker.
"Because spammers are hijacking personal computers and stealing bandwidth
to send an unlimited number of spam messages at virtually no cost,
businesses can face an escalating series of expenses to ensure their email
remains a viable and productive tool," Druker explained.
Although image spam is in the spotlight these days, it is spam coming
through unexpected communications channels that has the potential to
wreak the most havoc.
Postini said there has been a dramatic surge of instant messaging (IM)
attacks in just one month (160 percent), with new IM threats expected to
continue throughout the year.
Postini also saw a significant jump in "directory harvest" attacks, which
attempt to steal e-mail addresses from corporate servers coupled with
increased activity around the world.
Congress Eyes Tech Law
Some technology vendors and advocacy groups see new opportunities in
Congress in 2007, with issues such as patent reform and data protection
getting fresh life under a Democratic-controlled legislature.
Democrats took control of the Senate and the House of Representatives in
November's election, and many technology advocates say they expect
Democrats will focus on some issues on the backburner in the past
Republican Congress.
Some tech vendors praised Republicans for their focus on free trade and
Internet tax moratoriums, but others say the Republican Congress failed to
act on several important issues.
"We're excited about the new Congress," said Jack Krumholtz, managing
director of federal government affairs and associate general counsel at
Microsoft. "We think there's an opportunity to get some things done."
Here's a list of tech-related issues likely to come up in Congress in
2007:
Data Breach Alerts
Advocacy groups such as the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) have
long called for comprehensive legislation to protect personal privacy,
including rules for organizations handling personal data and limits on
government surveillance. In November 2005, after a rash of data breaches,
Microsoft joined privacy advocates in urging legislation, including a
baseline data protection standard and giving individuals control over how
their personal data is used.
Krumholtz and Leslie Harris, CDT's executive director, both said they hope
the Democratic Congress will take a new look at privacy legislation. In
addition, Democrats are likely to investigate the Bush administration's
surveillance programs, such as monitoring phone calls and Internet
conversations, and its use of data mining to assess risks posed by
individual travelers. "There has been basically no oversight," Harris said
of the Republican Congress.
Part of comprehensive privacy legislation would be a data breach
notification provision, Krumholtz added. After a series of high-profile
data breaches in early 2005, members of Congress introduced about a dozen
bills requiring organizations with data breaches to notify affected
customers, but the issue was held up partly because several congressional
committees claimed jurisdiction.
Cybersecurity vendors and many other tech companies will renew the call
for data breach notification legislation in 2007. "Clearly, the data breach
concerns have only gotten more acute over the last year," Krumholtz said.
Patent Reform
Many large tech companies, including Microsoft, Dell, and eBay, have long
sought patent reform. Some of those companies have asked Congress to make
it more difficult for so-called patent "trolls" to win huge patent awards
or get injunctions, forcing large companies to shut down entire product
lines because of one infringing component.
Tech companies complain about people who buy up patents just to collect
license fees, but many small inventors own patents and don't have the means
to bring the patented products to market.
But the Supreme Court may have pre-empted Congress on the issue of patent
injunctions. In a May ruling, the court set aside a lower court decision to
stop eBay from using the "buy it now" feature on its Web site because of a
patent dispute. The Supreme Court ruled that a lower court must weigh
several factors before granting a patent junction, instead of granting
near-automatic injunctions as in recent years.
After the Supreme Court action, Congress is likely to focus its attention
on the quality of patents granted, an issue that has wide industry support.
Tech groups have pushed for more money for the Patent and Trademark Office
and a post-patent review process as a way to challenge patents.
Best Protecting Property?
Some small inventors agree that better patent examinations are needed, but
have objected to other proposals pushed by tech groups, including changing
the way patents are awarded.
Many companies pushing for patent reform "are doing their best to
eviscerate America's patent system to avoid the consequences of their
politely put unauthorized use of inventors' property," said Ronald Riley,
president of the Professional Inventors Alliance.
Large pharmaceutical firms also have fought patent reform, but Christopher
Hankin, senior director of federal affairs at Sun Microsystems, said he
expects the Democratic Congress will be less cozy with the pharmaceutical
industry than many Republicans are.
"We could work these issues out," he said of the patent debates.
"Unfortunately, we never got to the situation where the other side felt the
need to negotiate."
Broadband Reform, Net Neutrality
Two committees spent many hours in 2006 working on broadband bills with
the goal of encouraging broadband adoption and improving services offered.
But Congress failed to agree on a final bill before adjourning in December,
partly because of a contentious debate about net neutrality provisions that
would prohibit broadband providers from giving preferential treatment to
their own Web content and blocking or slowing competitors' content.
Then, in mid-December, the Federal Communications Commission voted to
streamline the franchising process that broadband providers must go through
to offer television over Internet Protocol, in competition with cable TV
providers.
Franchising reform was one of the major drivers of the 2006 broadband
bills, and after the FCC action, lawmakers may have less enthusiasm to
tackle a wide-ranging broadband bill.
Officials from Verizon Communications, a major backer of franchise reform,
say they will drop the issue in 2007, focusing instead on state legislation
and on rule-making at the FCC.
But individual pieces of the broadband bills may still move forward. Net
neutrality ended up as a largely partisan issue, with Democrats generally
supporting a law, and some on their side will likely push the issue again.
But it's still hotly debated, and Republicans in the Senate could use
parliamentary rules to hold up a Net neutrality bill, just as Democrats
held up the broadband bill in 2006, warned one Senate Republican staffer,
speaking on background.
Tech Subsidies
Rules that make it easier for municipal governments to offer wireless
broadband will be on the agenda. Representative Rick Boucher, a Virginia
Democrat, said he will push for a law similar to municipal broadband
proposals in the last broadband bill. Some broadband carriers have pushed
state legislatures to pass laws prohibiting municipal broadband services,
but Boucher noted that many residents of his rural Virginia district have
no access to cable or DSL service.
Municipal wireless has a "role to play where commercial operators don't
see an opportunity," Boucher said.
Also likely will be attempts to revamp the Universal Service Fund (USF), a
federal program that subsidizes telecom and Internet services in rural and
poor areas. Part of the USF money goes to the E-Rate program, which helps
wire schools and libraries, but has been marred by fraud and rigged bidding
in recent years.
USF, which raises about $7 billion a year, collects a tax on interstate
telephone calls and cellular service, but as more phone traffic moves away
from traditional long-distance plans, critics say a new source is needed.
Most groups involved with USF agree the funding system is broken, but some
lawmakers have called for the program to be abolished altogether.
Boucher in March cosponsored a bill that would include services such as
Voice over IP (VoIP) as USF funding sources and allowing recipients of
USF money to deploy broadband services. The measure went nowhere, partly
because of Republican calls to abolish USF. Boucher said he's optimistic
USF reform will get another look in the next Congress.
The Innovation Agenda
Many tech companies will continue to push for an increase in the cap on
H-1B visas for high-skilled immigrant workers. Microsoft and other tech
companies have asked for an increase in the cap from 65,000 workers a year
to 115,000.
The 2007 cap was reached two months before the fiscal year started in
October. A Senate bill introduced in March sought to raise the cap, but
the H-1B proposal was stalled when a larger debate about legal and illegal
immigration grew contentious. Microsoft has "thousands" of open technical
positions, and a higher cap is needed, Krumholtz said.
Many tech companies include the H-1B program as part of a larger push
often called the "innovation agenda." Leaders of both parties have talked
up proposals to promote U.S. innovation, including more money for math and
science education, more money for tech training programs and broadband
availability for all U.S. residents.
But Republicans failed to act on many of those proposals, and new House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from San Francisco, didn't include the
innovation agenda in her "first 100 hours" plan, even though she repeatedly
called on Republicans to pass innovation items during the last two years.
"I'm not sure how much of a priority it will really be," Harrison said.
"Plus, some of the Democrats seem to be sincerely interested in controlling
spending. I suspect new programs... will be hard to pass next year for lack
of money."
The Top 10 Tech Stories of 2006
Megadeals signaled realignment in the IT industry and foreshadowed the
Internet's multimedia future. A much-delayed Vista debuted amid speculation
that it would be the last of the old-school, big-bang product launches. As
software giants announced support for Linux, and manufacturers switched
chip allegiances, the open-source and chip industries were thrown into
turmoil. 2006 was a transition year, as IT giants positioned themselves
for a new era of global competition in the post-PC era. Here, not
necessarily in order of importance, are the IDG News Service's top news
stories of the year.
HP Spy Scandal: Board, and Broad, Implications
A board feud at Hewlett-Packard hit the newspapers in September, leading to
the resignation of Chairman Patricia Dunn. The board spat erupted over an
investigation to see which board members leaked information - including
arguments about the ouster of former Chief Executive Officer Carly Fiorina
- to the press.
The company used "pretexting," where investigators pretend to be the people
being investigated in order to access private information.
Criminal charges were filed against Dunn, legal counsel Kevin Hunsaker, and
outside investigators. Users are unfazed: Under Mark Hurd, CEO and newly
appointed chairman, HP has overtaken Dell as the leading PC maker and IBM
as the biggest IT company in revenue terms. However, the scandal has broad
implications. Congress may make pretexting a federal crime. Oversight of
corporate governance is a rallying cry.
Microsoft Cuts a Deal With Novell: Embrace and Devour?
Microsoft's November deal with Linux distributor Novell created turmoil in
the open-source world. Microsoft will offer sales and support for Novell's
Suse Linux, work on interoperability, and indemnify Suse users and
developers from potential Microsoft lawsuits against copyright
infringement.
Industry insiders say that Microsoft is driving wedges into the open-source
community, protecting only some users from legal reprisals. The open-source
world had already been rocked in October, when Oracle's move to offer full
support for Red Hat Linux had industry insiders worrying Red Hat's business
model would suffer. Ultimately though, the software giants' embrace of
Linux is a sign that no one can ignore open source. Microsoft CEO Steve
Ballmer said the impetus for the agreement came from customers. Though
that's an old line, there's no doubt that open source has truly come of
age.
Alcatel-Lucent: M&A Mania Grows
The merger of Alcatel and Lucent Technologies, announced in April, formed
a $24 billion networking giant and signaled trends in global mergers and
acquisitions.
The hookup was necessary to face down competition in growth areas of the
mature enterprise market - such as Voice over IP - while Chinese
manufacturers put pressure on the West on the low end.
2006 is expected to yield 3945 M&A deals, up from 3455 in 2005 and the
highest number ever, according to investment firm Innovation Advisors.
Globalization and changing demand are fueling M&A in networking, the
Internet, the chip industry and enterprise software. 2006 examples include
Advanced Micro Devices and ATI Technologies, Red Hat and JBoss, and EMC
and RSA Security.
Google-YouTube: Convergence 2.0
Google's ability to afford the $1.65 billion price tag for its acquisition
of YouTube, announced in October, underscored its status as the Internet's
superstar revenue generator. The deal itself confirmed video's importance
in the evolution of Web 2.0: the mashing together of user-generated
content and multimedia applications.
"Anybody who wasn't interested in YouTube was either asleep or not being
honest," said Jonathan Miller, who was deposed as AOL chairman after the
Google-YouTube deal.
Competitors scrambled. Lycos launched a movie-streaming service mixing
elements of social networking and online video, while movie studios and TV
networks rushed to put video online. Legal issues between Internet sites
and content producers need to be worked out, but one thing is for sure:
Convergence of video and the Net has hit prime time.
AOL Search Data Release Fans Privacy Debate
AOL's July release of search log data on 658,000 subscribers, meant for
research use, became a cause celebre in the privacy-rights debate. Coming
amid reports of corporate data leaks and phishing scams, it was yet
another reminder of the general insecurity of data. The AOL records
contained sensitive information like Social Security numbers.
In September three people sued the company in what their lawyers claimed
was the first such lawsuit seeking national class-action status. They asked
the court to instruct AOL not to store users' Web search records. But the
request is not likely to be granted. Law enforcement officials want service
providers to retain user logs to aid investigations, and new data retention
rules may be proposed. The ability of technology to store an
ever-increasing amount of data will ensure continuing debate.
Jurisdictional issues also come into play as the U.S. and Europe clash
over different privacy standards.
When Batteries Attack: The Great Battery Recall of 2006
It was the biggest recall in the history of IT and consumer electronics.
Sparked by reports that lithium-ion batteries could short circuit and catch
fire, Dell in August recalled more than 4 million laptop batteries. The
move was soon followed by manufacturers around the world including Apple
Computer, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Lenovo, and Toshiba. More than 8 million
batteries were recalled, leading to yet another black eye in an annus
horribilis for Sony, the manufacturer of the faulty cells. The recall,
startup costs for the delayed PlayStation 3 game console, and poor
PlayStation Portable sales pushed Sony's operations into the red.
Mac on Intel: Chip Industry Realigns
Apple's January launch of the first Mac PCs running on Intel chips was
historic.
For decades, Apple's insistence on going its own way has been its
strength, and also its weakness: the company has traded seamlessly designed
products for market share... at least, until the iPod came along. But
Intel chips have breathed new life into the Mac line. A 30 percent jump in
fiscal fourth-quarter Mac sales helped the company generate $546 million
in profit and blow away analyst expectations. The company's profit margin
is great: in their last reported quarters, Dell had more than 300 percent
greater revenue than Apple, but only 24 percent greater profit.
Meanwhile, in a blow to Intel, Dell announced in May that it would for the
first time use chips from Intel archival Advanced Micro Devices, in
multiprocessor servers by the end of the year.
Patent Wars Singe BlackBerry
After the U.S. Supreme Court declined in January to hear Research In
Motion's appeal in its patent battle with NTP, industry watchers started
sounding the death knell for RIM's BlackBerry. A $612.5 million March
agreement between the companies, however, ensures that RIM will never have
to worry about NTP patent claims again.
The case is emblematic of the disruptions caused by patent disputes, which
often lead to near-automatic injunctions that prevent companies from
selling products that allegedly infringe on patents--even before final
patent rulings have been made. Many industry insiders found wisdom in the
U.S. Supreme Court's May ruling that courts need to look at multiple
factors instead of immediately awarding injunctions. The court sided with
eBay in a patent infringement case brought by online auction company
MercExchange. But patent wars continue: NTP sued Palm in November.
Vista Launches
After numerous delays, Microsoft in November launched Vista, along with
Office 2007 and Exchange 2007.
Though Microsoft CEO Ballmer called it "the biggest launch in our
company's history," it didn't have that feel. Consumer versions of Vista
and Office won't be available until the New Year, thus missing the holiday
buying season. The products are important: among many other things, the
level of interoperability among them is greater than ever before. But the
launch may go down in history for another reason: it could be the last of
the traditional big products launches. With more people tapping into
hosted applications, Google experimenting with Internet-based productivity
applications, and users receiving a steady stream of product updates over
the Web, big-bang launches may fade into the past.
Gates Steps Back... to Plunge Into Philanthropy
Bill Gates' June announcement that he will step out of his daily role at
Microsoft in July 2008 was a milestone that comes at a transition time.
While he will remain chairman, Gates will focus on philanthropy.
Microsoft was rarely if ever a first mover, as for example Apple has been.
But by combining technical acumen and business brilliance, Gates embodied
the quintessentially American entrepreneurial knack of seizing a great
idea and commercializing it beyond people's wildest dreams. His deal to
provide the operating system for the IBM PC in 1981 fueled the personal
computing revolution. Over the next 25 years Gates led Microsoft to
embrace the graphical interface and bring it to the masses, conquer the
desktop market, and ultimately navigate the shoals of the Internet era.
Microsoft faces further battles in the Internet age, against Google and
other companies that will spring up.
Meanwhile the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has assets of about $30
billion. The world watches to see if Gates can revitalize philanthropy,
as he did computing.
=~=~=~=
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