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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 10 Issue 33
Volume 10, Issue 33 Atari Online News, Etc. August 15, 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:
Djordje Vukovic
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #1033 08/15/08
~ DefCon Hackers Hacked! ~ People Are Talking! ~ Cyberbullying Bill?
~ Gmail Access Is Fixed! ~ US Internet Speeds #15 ~ New PCs Can Wake Up!
~ New Teradesk Released! ~ Fire Eagle Draws Fire! ~ Seeking IE8 Testers
~ Stix: Motion Control! ~ Nintendo Leads Gaming! ~ US Not Prepared!
-* Copyrights for Open-Source! *-
-* Some Sites Still Blocked in Beijing *-
-* US Fails To Prosecute Internet Fraud Cases *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Weather-wise, this has been the worst summer in about 10 years! I
recently saw some graphics on the local news that showed a calendar
of the month of August. On it, there were mostly colored squares that
reflected the days of the month. There were only three squares that
were not colored, reflecting those days in which we've had no rain.
This is August, the down side of the peak of summer! Fortunately, all of
these days were not washouts!
I don't know about you, but there are a lot of the Summer Olympics that I
enjoy watching. Sure, I've seen a little bit of the swimming events, but
mostly to see Michael Phelps shatter Mark Spitz's records. I've seen a
little bit of the women's gymnastics routines, and I'm amazed. And I
really enjoyed the women's beach volleyball matches! Otherwise, I haven't
seen too much else - just not the best time of the day for viewing. And
it was funny to learn of the Chinese's version of the Milli Vanilli
lip-synching scandal! Poor kid...
On a more serious and somber note, I had a phone message early in the week.
Now, most phone messages I get are usually people soliciting money for a
worthwhile organization, but mostly some telemarketing garbage. But this
call had been one of a personal nature.
I've been using Atari computers for over 20 years now, but not so much in
the recent past. I've met a lot of people who have shared my enthusiasm
for Atari computing - through local user groups, bulletin boards, online
services, dealers, and Atari shows. One of my closest Atari friends,
Harry Steele, passed away last week. Now, some of you long-time Atari
users may have known Harry. He ran the Boston Computer Society's Atari
BBS for many years. In fact, Harry was very active in the local Boston
area Atari BBS community. He spent countless hours helping me to set up
my own Atari BBS - Toad Hall EBBS back in the late 80's. He also helped
me a LOT when I had computer problems. And, Harry was the one to convince
me to attend my first Atari fest: WAACE, in 1990. It was that year that
Harry decided to take the lead to bring an Atari fest to the Boston area.
The Boston Computer Society (BCS) was the premier computing organization
around the country, and it had sponsored numerous shows for other
computer platforms over the years. So, why not an Atari show? I joined
that organizing group, and getting that show set up was a lot of fun.
And, we managed to pull it off, scheduled a couple of weeks after that
year's WAACE show - the New England AtariFest '90 was a huge success!
During those years after that show, I had become one of many vocal
people online complaining about Atari's lackluster performance. Most
of my vocalizations were online in the Atari Roundtables on GEnie, in
the Atari SIGs on CompuServe, and in the ST Advantage area of Delphi.
Additionally, I had a lot to say in my columns during my many-year stint
as the Atari editor of STReport. I didn't make a lot of friends at Atari
during those years, and it almost came back to haunt me.
The BCS, staying with the Harry Steele factor, had also played major
roles hosting annual meetings where new top-notch equipment made their
debut. Again, Harry wanted to see the Atari segment of the BCS back in
the forefront with a focus on new Atari technology. By then, I had also
joined the BCS due to years of Harry's prodding. We all knew that Atari
was working on their new power machine, the Atari Falcon! What a better
place to introduce it to the world than at the annual BCS meeting. Harry,
along with a few of us in the BCS Atari group started a campaign to get
Sam Tramiel to come to Boston to introduce the Falcon. With Harry's
lead in this, we pulled it off - the new Atari Falcon was introduced
in the heart of Boston!
While this was a huge success for the New England Atari community, there
was an interesting side note to this event. You see, by that time, my
affiliation with STReport had made me not one of Atari's favorite
people. When Atari's director of communications, Bob Brodie, learned that
I was part of the group helping out with the Falcon meeting, things
started to sour. Under no circumstances, Sam Tramiel, through Brodie,
would allow me to be involved with this showing. But Harry Steele was
a long-time friend, and fellow BCS member. This was a BCS-sponsored
occasion, and Harry let Brodie know, in no certain terms, that I had been
a strong proponent of Atari computing - regardless of my opinions of the
company and some of its staff. Through Harry's insistence, I remained
on the organizing staff, helped with the set-up and breakdown of the
meeting, and even attended the after-show dining festivities (and sat at
Brodie's table!)!
Over the years, even as Atari's existence was fading (okay, dying),
Harry and I would still talk about Atari things. But Harry's enthusiasm
for Atari computing faded, like many before him. We would go golfing
about a half dozen times a year, but that started to decline also. We'd
meet over the years, for a beer and pizza, an occasional round of golf,
or even just to chit-chat and reminisce. We still exchanged cards over
the holidays, but other than that, I haven't seen or talked to Harry in
about 3-4 years. So, when I got the call from his daughter-in-law, I
was surprised. Part of the message stated that Harry had left specific
instructions to call a small list of people to let them know upon his
death. And I appreciate being among those on that list, even if it meant
hearing that Harry was gone.
Harry, you were always a character! Although I've said it many times over
the years, I appreciated all of the help and support you provided me in
all things Atari. And, I'm grateful for the opportunity to be, and have
you as, a friend. RIP.
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
TeraDesk 3.97 Released
Version 3.97 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 brings fixes to some not-very-critical problems that have
been detected, and also a couple of small cosmetic improvements. Work on
some other fixes and improvements is in progress. See the development
history file for details.
Have fun.
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Well, I'm sure your not surprised, but
there aren't enough messages on the UseNet to make up a good column.
I'll put 'em aside to go with next week's.
So I guess you're going to have to put up with my ranting and raving
about whatever comes to mind.
Have you been watching the Olympics? I don't know about you, but I'm
just blown away by some of the people competing this time around. Look
at Michael Phelps. He's a damned machine. He's just going nuts out
there, grabbing up all the medals and most of the limelight. Well, I'll
tell ya what. He deserves it.
I'll let you in on a little secret... Phelps ticks me off. Who the heck
does he think he is, standing there poolside yelling and shouting like
a shirtless fool?
Ha! He's the guy who's won more gold medals at one Olympics than any
other American, that's who. After his years of training and discipline,
he's allowed. [grin]
While it's true that he's trained hard and been smart about everything
that he's done (diet, equipment, etc.), perhaps the biggest asset the
man has is his overall physical attributes: He's 6'4" tall with more
torso than leg, which makes him more 'stable' in the water, he's got
big feet and hands to grab as much water as possible, he's got
double-jointed shoulders and elbows to allow him to hyper-extend to get
those baseball mitts of his as big a stroke as possible, and he's
focused enough and disciplined enough to stick to an exercise regimen
that would cripple most of us. It's because of his training and
particular physical attributes that he can give his all in each and
every race without losing as much of his edge as the rest of us would.
Heck, the kid's body (and he's 23 years old... he IS a kid) is in
perpetual overdrive. He consumes somewhere around 12,000 calories a day
as opposed to the 2,000 calories the rest of us burn. Between that and
the fact that his heart pumps twice as much blood as ours do when he's
pushing his body to the limit, he seems to be able to minimize the
incredible strain on his system. As much as I hate to admit it, the guy
deserves every accolade he's getting.
I've got a couple of other favorites too... of course, being a
red-blooded American male, they're women.
Dara Torres. Now THERE'S a story. When qualifying for the Olympics, she
broke a record that had stood for almost 25 years. Now, there's nothing
so amazing about that, right? I mean, records are meant to be broken.
Well friends and neighbors, what IS amazing is that it's a record that
SHE set. Yeah, she set the record when she was fifteen years old...
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO! I don't know about you, but I find that amazing.
I saw a quick story on her workout regimen and, to be honest, I don't
know if it'd all be worth it to me. The workouts, the grinding
stretches and the electric-shock-type of stimulation that she goes
through before and after the actual exercise must add up to a fairly
painful warmup and cool-down. She's a shining example of what you can
do if you've got the drive, the support and the talent. My hat's off to
her.
There's been a lot said about the physics of the pool (designed to
minimize resistance) and the uniforms (the skin-tight outfits that many
of the swimmers are wearing these days) and how it's changing their
sport. But the fact is that all the little fine-tuning touches to the
pool and swimsuits only add up to fractions of a second difference.
It's not like I can don the new Speedo (oh gawd, even _I'M_ grossed out
by that thought) and jump into the pool in the Water Cube and give any
of these guys a run for their money. But I'm still not at all sure that
the suits don't constitute what some have called "equipment doping",
since the suits are expensive (around $500.00 per), and at this point 9
out of 10 swimming records that have been broken at this Olympics have
been broken by swimmers wearing them. But these people ARE the best of
the best of the best, and I don't know if things would have been any
different without the suits.
There are plenty of other sports that I'll be watching... track and
field, the martial arts-related events (Judo, Taekwondo, Fencing,
Boxing, Wrestling, etc.) and a bunch of others that I can't recall
right at the moment, but I've got to admit that the one that catches my
interest the most is gymnastics.
Now, guys in gymnastics is okay... the strength and agility they display
is awe-inspiring, and the dedication that it takes to be that good at
ANYTHING really blows my mind. But I've got to admit that everything
else is a far-distant second to the women's gymnastics teams. It seems
that all I can ever say while watching them is "wow!"
I'm not talking about just the Americans here, but every team I've
seen... they're simply amazing. It's one thing to be able to do a
tumble or whatever, but there's so much more than that going on,
whether it's on the mat or parallel bars or pommel horse or rings. What
they do, what the really good ones do, is about as close as you can get
to physical poetry.
I have a niece who was 'into gymnastics' big-time. There was even talk
of a run at the Olympics. She was one of those kids who practiced
because she wanted to, and she was incredibly good at it. But, because
she was my niece, I got very nervous watching her on the parallel bars
or high beam. I just kept thinking, "one wrong step or hand placement,
and she's looking at a cast and lots of therapy".
I just couldn't understand why someone would do the things that I saw
her doing. Things that seemed to defy both gravity and common sense. I
finally asked her about it one day, after watching her do a series of
awe-inspiring moves on the beam. Why? Why would anyone actually want to
jump and spin and twirl and roll on a four inch wide piece of wood four
feet in the air?
"Because" she told me through a huge dreamy smile, "when I'm there, I'm
flying!"
Ah. NOW I understand. I guess the only way to describe it is that
feeling you get when you dream that you can fly... not those annoying
ones where you're suspended in mid-air and are limited to jerky,
uncertain, clumsy moves with the continual feeling that any second
you're going to plummet and hit the ground like a lawn dart, but the
times when you swoop and dive and drift easily and everything seems
right with the world... like there's nothing you can't do and
everything is just perfect. Ahhhh, those times are few and far between,
even in dreams. It's no wonder then that my niece is so 'addicted' to
gymnastics. I can't imagine ANYTHING that I could do while awake that
could give me that feeling. She's blessed enough with talent to be able
to do that when she steps up to the mat or the parallel bars or the
beam and let her talent, practice and concentration take over.
There seem to be painfully few talents that can lead to the type of
rapture you can see on the faces of some of these 'kids'. Most things
that difficult require concentration, and you can see it in the
practitioner's face... The determination, the drive, the concentration
on form and detail.
But when you see a gymnast... a real, honest-to-goodness, natural born
gymnast, there's a different look on their face. Yeah, it's that look
you have in your dreams when you can fly.
Well, up, up and away, folks! That's it for this time around. 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 - Stix: Motion-Control PC Games!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Nintendo Continues To Lead!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Stix Takes A Stab at Motion-Controlled PC Games
Looking at its size, shape, white wrist strap and B-button on the
bottom, it's easy to compare the Stix with the Wiimote, the wireless
controller for the popular Nintendo gaming console. Except the Stix is
for your PC.
The Stix comes from Playhut Inc., a toy company that also makes cute
little indoor tents for kids. The Stix 200 remote, which began selling
for $49.99 at Target, Costco and other retailers this week, promises to
"redefine the PC and online gaming experience" with the motion-sensing
controller.
A stab at some of the 2D casual games available on Sphere, the game
portal of Playhut subsidiary GoLive2, offers a bit of novelty and fun,
though nothing as exciting as scoring that first strike in Wii bowling.
For those who feel constrained by 2D games and want to do more than
shake their Stix left and right, the company plans to release the Stix
400 for $59.99 in October (though it's already on sale on Amazon.com for
a higher price.) The Stix 400 is compatible with 3D games and sounds
more promising.
"Wowbotz Bomb Battle," a "Pong"-like game but with shields and bombs, is
as simple as the 1970s arcade classic, with players moving their Stix up
and down in front of the monitor to hit a bomb back and forth with their
opponent.
"Kuttiez Wishing Well" lets your little witch character move left and
right as well as up and down as you fall down a seemingly endless well.
The object is to light up Jack-o-lanterns as you fall while avoiding
flying ghosts.
Stix can work with any Web-based game, so long as either the player or
the folks at GoLive2 map out the controls to translate them from the
keyboard to the Stix remote. But it doesn't always work the other way
around: To play "Bomb Battle," for example, you'll need Stix.
The Wii it isn't, but for the price of a tank of gas for an SUV it might
give your wrists a welcome break from playing keyboard-and-mouse
computer games.
Of course, if you already have a Wii you can always sync your Wiimote to
your PC through Bluetooth and be done with it.
Nintendo Continues To Lead Game-Console Sales
U.S. sales of video-game consoles and software jumped 28 percent last
month compared to last year, according to market researcher NPD Group.
Nintendo's DS portable and Wii remained the most popular systems.
For hardware, that means nearly $450 million in July purchases, a 17
percent increase compared to the same time last year. The top-selling DS
moved about 608,000 units, with the Wii second at about 555,000.
The next four places showed small differences, with third-place Sony's
PlayStation 3 at 225,000, its PlayStation Portable in fourth with
222,000, and Microsoft's Xbox 360 fifth with 205,000. The PlayStation 2,
now entering late middle age eight years after its release, still sold
about 155,000 for sixth place.
In total sales, the Wii is in first place, with about 13.5 million sold
in North America and about 31 million worldwide. The Xbox 360 is in
second place, with 12 million U.S. sales and 20 million worldwide, and
the PS3 takes third with 5.5 million U.S. and 15 million worldwide.
Game software sales in the U.S. totaled $591 million, an increase of 41
percent over last year. The top two games were Electronic Arts' NCAA
Football 09 for the Xbox, with 397,000 sold, and Nintendo's Wii Fit,
with about 370,000. Guitar Hero: On Tour for the DS sold 309,000 for
third place, and Wii Play was fourth with 284,000.
The remaining games in the top 10 were, in order, NCAA Football for the
PS3, Soulcalibur IV for the Xbox 360, Mario Kart for the Wii, Rock Band
Special Edition Bundle for the Wii, Soulcalibur IV for the PS3, and Sid
Meier's Civilization Revolution for the Xbox 360.
Mike Goodman, an analyst with industry research firm Yankee Group, said
it is "pretty safe to assume that Nintendo will continue to lead the way
for the foreseeable future." The more interesting development, he added,
is the continuing monthly battle between the PS3 and the Xbox 360, which
in the U.S. is "still very close."
In the latest U.S. figures, he noted, "Sony has managed to inch ahead of
Microsoft," but the Xbox 360 still leads in total sales since launch.
"At this pace," Goodman said, "it will take Sony years to catch up with
Microsoft."
Goodman said the PS3's built-in Blu-ray high-definition DVD player is
"nice to have," but probably "not a must-have" that would sway buyers.
The inclusion of Blu-ray in the PS3 delayed the release of the console,
but became a possible asset after the recent Blu-ray triumph in the
high-definition format war with HD DVD.
Goodman noted the monthly competition might be in for a shake-up if a
rumored big price-cut for the Xbox 360 takes place this fall. If, he
said, Microsoft were to drop $100 from the console price, the dynamic of
the monthly sales race could dramatically shift once again.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Some Web Sites Remain Blocked at Beijing Olympics
Some Web sites remained inaccessible to reporters as competition got
under way Saturday at the Beijing Olympics.
China's communist government routinely filters its citizens' access to
the Internet, but in the runup to the Olympics Chinese officials and
officials with the International Olympic Committee vowed there would be
no censorship of the Internet for accredited journalists covering the
games.
Some sites were unblocked 10 days ago after reporters arriving to cover
the games found them blocked and complained to the IOC, but others
remain inaccessible, including sites related to the Tiananmen Square
protests, Tibet, Taiwan and the Dalai Lama.
While searches for these keywords turned up long lists of Web sites,
attempts to open some of them resulted in a message saying the page
could not be displayed.
A search for information about the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual
movement not only drew that error message but froze the search engine
and prohibited further searches for several minutes. Sites that host
thousands of blogs appeared to be open, but specific blogs remained
blocked.
A statement by Chinese officials indicated they had gone as far as they
intend to go.
"Yes, we promised to provide free access to the Internet - except for a
few that would jeopardize our national security and would not be good
for the healthy growth of our young people," said Wang Wei, executive
vice president of BOCOG, the Olympic organizing committee.
"As in any other country, there are some kinds of limitations," Wang
added. "However, I think we are going to provide sufficient access for
the media to cover the games."
IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies suggested reporters should keep pushing
the Chinese.
"Sites that you need to have for your job, it's important that you raise
them for BOCOG's awareness," Davies said. "It's ongoing work."
Rebecca MacKinnon, who studies Internet censorship in mainland China,
said none of the changes have affected Chinese-language sites.
"The censorship situation for those Web sites has not loosened at all,"
said MacKinnon, who teaches journalism at the University of Hong Kong.
"From what I understand they have even tightened."
U.S. Fails To Prosecute Internet Fraud Cases
While Web users drown in spam and fend off scams aimed at stealing their
money, U.S. federal and state law enforcement authorities are doing
little to resolve what has become a multi-billion-dollar problem, a
think tank said on Monday.
In the 20 states that give a number for consumer complaints, there were
roughly 20,000 Internet-related complaints in 2007, said the group,
which surveyed officials in all 50 states but received widely varying
amounts of data.
Eight states put Internet-related complaints among their top-three
consumer headaches in 2007 while 24 states had some form of online fraud
in their top 10 complaints, according to the Center for American
Progress (CAP), which worked with the Center for Democracy and Technology.
And the complaints are not unfounded; spyware, viruses and phishing cost
consumers $7.1 billion in 2007, up from $2 billion the previous year,
the report said.
Phishing is using e-mail to try to fraudulently get information like
passwords or credit card numbers. Spyware is software installed on a
computer without the owner's consent. It can be used to monitor computer
use, or take over the computer.
Paula Selis, senior counsel for the office of Washington state's
attorney general, warned that crime associated with the Internet could
damage online commerce. "There must be a recognition that online fraud
is a huge threat," she told reporters.
Despite the large number of complaints, the group found few prosecutions
of online fraud.
"It's clear ... that state attorneys general are not doing a whole lot
about Internet consumer protection," Reece Rushing, CAP's director of
regulatory and information policy, said at a news conference. "They
haven't made it a priority. In the states that have made it a priority
they've been able to win settlements."
The National Association of Attorneys General's bimonthly Cybercrime
Newsletter for 2006 and 2007 mentioned just 55 prosecutions of Internet
fraud, 26 related to online sales or services, 15 related to data
security or identity theft and 14 involving spyware, spam or phishing.
In 2007, Washington state sued Consumer Digital Services, accusing it of
promising free goods in exchange for personal information. As a result,
more than 13,000 Washington state consumers were charged $14.95 on their
phone bills for Internet services they did not want. Under the
settlement, the money is to be refunded and the company to pay penalties
and fees that could total $1 million, the report said.
U.S. Not Ready for Georgia-Style Computer Attacks
While Internet attacks continue in Georgia, security experts say the
U.S. is not prepared for similar attacks that could steal confidential
data and wreak havoc on U.S. computer systems.
National intelligence officials earlier this year told a Senate
committee that unlike the U.S. military, the federal government and
private sector are not prepared for cyber attacks and pointed to China
and Russia as threats to consider. It wasn't the first time government
officials cited China as a threat.
A 2007 Department of Defense report said the Chinese government sees
cyber war as part of its first strike. Also last year, General James
Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said China is
carrying out widespread reconnaissance of America's networks. Earlier
this year, Chinese hackers attempted to take out CNN's Web site,
according to CNN.
Scott Borg, director of the independent U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit,
has blamed Russia for taking down about 20 Georgian government, banking
and media sites. Borg said the U.S. is ready for physical attacks, but
not from computer systems.
China and Russia "are the biggest single countries that provide a
challenge to the U.S.," said Jose Nezario, a senior security researcher
with Arbor Networks. "I would say they are closely matched in terms of
capability and programming to be able to induce an attack against the
U.S. through the Internet."
Russia is well equipped, according to Nezario. Arbor Networks has
tracked Russian criminal groups attacking Web sites, files and other
groups, netting millions of dollars. And there have been Web posts
teaching residents of Russia ways to support the cause by initiating
their own attacks.
In fact, Nezario watched the attack of a media outlet in Georgia during
our interview from his office in Michigan. Nezario said no one is immune
to these types of attacks.
Nezario and his colleagues began tracking a series of attacks in Georgia
going back to mid-July, before military attacks began. Nezario said he
noticed a stream of data directed at Georgian government sites
containing the message win+love+in+Russia last month.
Georgia's presidential Web site is still inaccessible, possibly
firewalled to thwart attacks or possibly still under attack by
additional botnets, Nezario recently wrote in his blog. Botnets are
compromised computers running software usually installed using worms,
Trojan Horses, or backdoors. Nezario has been trying to discover who the
attacker is.
"This has been a very, very powerful insight and we are learning who the
botnets are and who are being told to attack and where those servers are
and who is behind it," he said.
It's likely that Georgia, which has only 4.7 million people, does not
have the hardware, tools or staff to defend against such attacks.
"I think because we have more people who are able to utilize more
equipment, more operations, more connectivity, we are less vulnerable to
this kind of attack - but we are not immune," Nezario said.
Both the frequency and size of the attacks has grown substantially. The
largest attacks are between 20GB and 40GB per second, enough to disrupt
any Internet service provider, according to Arbor Networks.
Google Resolves Gmail Access Problems
Google Inc said on Monday it has resolved an issue with its contacts
system that caused many users of its Gmail service to have trouble
accessing their online e-mail.
The problems began at about 5 p.m. EDT and an announcement on the
company's Gmail "Help Center" site said the issue is now resolved.
Google said an outage in the contacts system used by Gmail prevented the
e-mail system from loading properly. The company also said that there
may be minor delays in deliveries even though all mail is safe.
Users across the United States, Canada and India reported problems with
Gmail and a Google employee also reported that the company's own
corporate e-mail account was down.
Microsoft Calls for More IE8 Beta Testers
As Microsoft readies another beta release of Internet Explorer (IE) 8,
the company has made a call for more beta testers via a company blog.
On the IEBlog this week, Microsoft Program Manager Allison Burnett said
the company is expanding the IE 8 beta-testing program.
Currently, the only way to directly file a bug with the IE team is if
someone is a part of the IE 8 technical beta program on Microsoft
Connect. Now, if people want to contribute IE8 bug reports, they can
e-mail Microsoft at IESO@microsoft.com, Burnett wrote. She also
requested that people sending e-mails explain why they would be a "great
beta tester."
Microsoft is expected to release another beta of IE8, the next version
of its browser software, this month.
Microsoft released the first beta of IE8 in March at its MIX 08
conference. The company plans to add more support for industry standard
protocols, such as CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), in the browser and has
responded to developer feedback that it needs to bring them in to test
IE8 as much as possible so they can prepare Web sites for these changes.
Microsoft made IE 7, the current version of its browser, more standards
compliant when it was released in October 2006. However, many Web sites
that had been developed to work with older versions of IE that did not
support open standards did not work on IE7 and had to be recoded.
Microsoft hopes to avoid a similar problem with IE8.
Microsoft plans to release the final code for IE8 before the end of the
year.
Hackers Hacked at Infamous DefCon Gathering
In the end, it was hackers at DefCon that got hacked.
After three days of software cracking duels and hacking seminars,
self-described computer ninjas at the infamous gathering in Las Vegas
found out Sunday that their online activities were hijacked without them
catching on.
A standing-room crowd cheered admiringly as Tony Kapela and Alex Pilosov
showed them how they were "pwned" by a simple technique that could be
used to "steal the Internet."
"Pwned" is popular computer and video game culture slang playing off the
word "owned" and is used to describe someone being totally dominated or
humiliated online or in-game.
"It's a nearly invisible exploitation," Kapela said while revealing a
hack that exploits fundamental Internet routing procedure to hijack
online traffic unnoticed. "A level of invisibility that is unparalled."
The beauty of the technique presented by Alex Pilosov and Kapela is that
hackers don't need to break into websites or plant malicious computer
code to control and tamper with data travelling the Internet, the
presentation showed.
Instead, the Internet is duped into sending people's data to hackers.
"Someone can passively intercept traffic," Kapela explained. "We can
store, drop, filter, mutilate, grope, or modify data heading to you."
The tens of thousands of networks handling traffic on the Internet are
programmed to trust each other for the best routes for data.
The choice of optimal routes is made instantly; decided by a network
claiming the longest numerical Internet addresses for data destination.
A hacker can hijack traffic to and from websites of choice by adding
enough numbers to computer addresses to have his or her network
automatically deemed the best path for the data.
"We construct the man-in-the-middle attack on the Internet," Kapela
said, referring to a classic hack in which someone gets between a
computer user and their online destination.
"Internet routing is inherently trust based. We told the route that we
know the best way to an address. A hacker could blast a lot of spam or
launch a lot of phishing attacks."
Kapela and Pilosov proved their point by displaying for the rapt
audience email, online searches and other online activity conducted that
afternoon on the Internet connection used by DefCon attendees.
Hackers could use the attack to block access to websites or send traffic
to bogus Web pages crafted to look like legitimate websites such as
Twitter or Google, according to Kapela.
"Imagine all the wonderful stuff you could insert," Kapela said. "You
can hijack stuff from China or the opposite. It may already be
happening. Who could tell?"
The presentation capped a DefCon gathering attended by more than 8,000
people.
Hackers shared ways to crack everything from mobile telephones, computer
games and social networking websites to electronic hospital records and
high security locks used at the White House.
One seminar included a way to remotely turn off pacemakers regulating
people's heartbeats.
A cavernous room was devoted to a non-stop "capture the flag" contest in
which players hunched over laptop computers battled to seize and keep
control of a network set up for the game.
Nightly "Hacker Jeopardy" drinking games required teams of players to
correctly answer geeky computer questions with those giving wrong
responses punished by having to guzzle beer.
Another contest challenged hackers to slip malicious software code past
increasingly sophisticated anti-virus programs.
Hackers also faced off in lock picking contests; Guitar Hero video game
competitions, and computer simulated shooting used by police for
firearms training.
Hackers also competed in making spy balloons that floated above the
casinos.
Court Says Copyrights Apply Even for Free Software
In a crucial win for the free software movement, a federal appeals court
has ruled that even software developers who give away the programming
code for their works can sue for copyright infringement if someone
misappropriates that material.
The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in
Washington, D.C., helps clarify a murky area of the law concerning how
much control programmers can exert over their intellectual property once
it's been released for free into the so-called "open source" software
community.
People are free to use that material in their own products, but they
must credit the original authors of the programming code and release
their modifications into the wild as well, a cycle that's critical for
free software to continue improving.
Because the code was given away for free, thorny questions emerge when a
violation has been discovered and someone is found to have shoved the
code into their own for-profit products without giving anything back, in
the form of attribution and disclosure of the alterations they made.
In the latest case, which involved a computer application that
model-train enthusiasts use to program the chips that control their
trains, the U.S. District Court in San Francisco ruled that the
plaintiff could sue for breach of contract but not copyright infringement.
The distinction is important because it's easier to recover monetary
damages in a copyright-infringement case.
Robert Jacobsen, who manages an open source software group that created
an application he claims was infringed, sought an injunction against KAM
Industries, which makes a competing product. The lower court denied
Jacobsen's motion. The appeals court vacated that ruling Wednesday and
returned the case to the district court.
"Traditionally, copyright owners sold their copyrighted material in
exchange for money," the court said. "The lack of money changing hands
in open source licensing should not be presumed to mean that there is no
economic consideration, however."
Yahoo's Fire Eagle Draws Fire From Privacy Advocates
Yahoo's recently launched Fire Eagle has privacy advocates burning up
about the new open platform that allows users to show their location on
the Web and also allows developers access to users' locations.
Yahoo officials insisted control is in the hands of the users. Users may
decide how much they want to expose about their location, including the
country, state, city and even street address.
"Location presents some unique challenges, and people inherently feel
creepy when content is targeted to where they are and your actual
physical location is being tracked," said Alison Cooper, chief computer
scientist at the Center for Democracy and Technology. "If people know
this is being shared, then people will react more strongly and protect
themselves."
While Fire Eagle users control information about their location, privacy
advocates say privacy policies for third-party developers may differ
from Yahoo's, leaving users confused and open to privacy breeches.
Ted Morgan, founder and CEO of Skyhook Wireless and the brain behind
Loki, one of the 50 third-party developers using Fire Eagle, agrees that
there is room for user confusion. But he said companies are adopting a
general approach to privacy and offer similar policies.
If users opt out of Fire Eagle, previously collected information can be
kept by the developers offering the service through their applications.
Morgan said Loki offers users a delete-history option and Fire Eagle
users also have the option to hide their location and delete all their
data from the databases.
"It's great that application providers are informing people and have
robust controls, but its important for people to realize if they turn it
off for one application, they are not turning off their whole device,"
Cooper said.
Companies, especially those that have spent decades building their
brand, are not going to risk losing the trust of customers and risk
hurting their brand, Morgan said.
"Everyone has a vested interest in protecting privacy because the second
consumers have any negative concerns about this, they'll shut all of
this off," Morgan said. "I would argue that the industry is going over
the top in privacy and in offering controls because everyone is so
concerned that if someone's location is used against them in a bad way,
they'll lose people's trust."
Yahoo officials say third-party developers must disclose to users how
they will use the location data, and Yahoo has the ability to shut down
applications misusing the service.
"Yahoo has always taken the security and privacy of our users as a
paramount concern," said Andrew Schmitt, a Yahoo spokesperson. "In this
regard, Fire Eagle is revolutionary in its treatment of user data,
hoping to extend and lead industry standards regarding the users'
control of their information ... should a user report a problem with a
particular application, we reserve the right to alert our users and
disable the application across our user base."
Cooper said users signing on to location social-network sites need to be
aware and do some digging. The devices we carry around with us can
easily be used to find us because of GPS, Wi-Fi and cell phones that can
be triangulated, she said.
"With the proliferation of these services, it is good for people to look
at what carriers offer and devices offer," Cooper added.
Although the first generation of applications focused on social
networking or the family location space, as more people view more
content on mobile phones and other devices, interest in location-based
advertising is expected to grow.
Morgan said Loki and Fire Eagle will help provide more targeted choices
for individuals. "If you are doing a search for something, it can show
you ads from destinations around you rather than retailers in other
parts of the country," he said. "Knowing someone's location also tells
you a bit abut their demographics, income levels, and books they may be
interested in."
"It's certainly viewed as a treasure trove for the market, and marketers
are already looking at that, but the value has not yet been proven,"
Cooper said.
California Lawmakers Consider Cyberbullying Bill
School bullies who use the Internet or text messaging to harass fellow
students could be kicked out of school under a bill being considered by
the California Legislature.
Assembly Bill 86, introduced by Assemblyman Ted Lieu of Torrance, passed
the Senate on Monday by a 21-11 vote and now heads back to the Assembly
for consideration of Senate amendments, according to an Associated Press
report. If the Assembly approves the Senate amendments, the bill will be
sent to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Lieu's bill would allow students to be suspended or expelled from school
for bullying that occurs via electronic communication, including cell
phones, computers, or pagers.
Experts say the biggest obstacle to combating cyberbullying is that
children are unlikely to report it. Unlike real-life bullying, there is
often no witness or physical scar to alert parents or teachers to a
cyberbullying situation.
The issue came to national focus last year when a newspaper reported the
details a cyberbullying incident in which a teenage girl committed
suicide. Megan Meier, who had a history of depression, hanged herself in
2006 after a falling out with someone named "Josh" whom she thought was
a 16-year-old boy on MySpace. As it turns out, "Josh" didn't exist; the
persona was allegedly created by a woman named Lori Drew, the mother of
one of Meier's former friends, to harass the girl.
In November, Meier's hometown of Dardenne Prairie, Mo., passed a law
banning online harassment. Offenders can face up to 90 days in jail, a
$500 fine, or both.
U.S. Internet Speeds Drop to 15th Worldwide
The U.S. may be winning world speed records in swimming at the Olympics,
but not in average Internet speeds. According to a new report, the
country that invented the Internet has now sunk to 15th worldwide in the
percentage of the population subscribing to broadband.
According to the recently released Second Annual Speed Matters report
from the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the U.S. has "not made
significant improvements in the speeds at which residents connect to the
Internet" over the past year, and continues to fall behind other
countries.
The report said about 230,000 people in all 50 states, plus the District
of Columbia and Puerto Rico, went to the speedmatters.org site to take
an Internet speed test, and those results were used to determine the
average speeds overall. The results indicated that the median download
speed in the U.S. was 2.3 megabits per second. Japan was 30 times
faster, with a median download speed of 63 Mpbs.
Other countries ahead of the U.S. include South Korea at 49 Mbps,
Finland at 21 Mbps, France at 17 Mbps, and Canada at 7.6 Mbps. The
reports notes that the average Japanese can download an entire movie in
about two minutes, but it can take two hours or more here. The access
cost in both countries, according to the Speed Matters report, is the
same.
But the speed issue affects more than just how fast you can download
movies, the report says. Innovations in telemedicine, education, public
safety, and home-based businesses can be hindered by the lack of
widespread high-speed connections.
The U.S. median upload speed was only 435 kilobits per second, the CWA
said, "far too slow for patient monitoring or to transmit large files
such as medical records."
The growth rate of average download speeds is slow, the report said. The
increase beween the 2007 report and this year's was only four-tenths of
a megabit per second, from 1.9 Mbps average to 2.3. "At this rate," the
report said, "it will take the United States more than 100 years to
catch up with current Internet speeds in Japan."
If anything, the CWA said, the report overestimated the average U.S.
speed. Most of the survey takers, it said, used DSL, a cable modem, or a
fiber connection, since it would take too long for dial-up users to take
the test, so the results may have been skewed upward.
A key bottleneck is the geographical distribution of high-speed
connections. The report found that 57 percent of urban households and 60
percent of suburban households subscribe to broadband, but only 38
percent of rural households.
The division is also economic, with 85 percent of American families
earning $100,000 or more having broadband access and 49 percent of
families earning $30,000 to $40,000. But only 25 percent of households
making less than $20,000 annually have high-speed connections.
The CWA, noting that the U.S. is the only industrialized country without
a national policy to promote high-speed access, suggests eight steps.
These include establishing a national policy goal for enough capacity to
handle 10 Mbps down and one Mbps up by 2010, developing state and
national maps of broadband infrastructure, creating public-private
partnerships, reforming universal phone service subsidies to include the
Internet, and preserving an open Internet.
New PCs Can Wake Up When They Get Phone Calls
Intel Corp. is unveiling new technology that will let computers wake up
from their power-saving sleep state when they receive a phone call over
the Internet.
Current computers have to be fully on to receive a call, making them
impractical and energy-wasters as replacements for the telephone.
The new component Intel is announcing Thursday will let computers
automatically return to a normal, full-powered state when a call comes
in. The computer can activate its microphone and loudspeaker to alert
the user, then connect the call.
"This certainly helps the PC become a much better center of
communications in the home," said Trevor Healy, chief executive of
Jajah, which will be the first Internet telephone company to utilize the
feature.
The first Intel motherboards with the Remote Wake capability will be
shipping in the next month, said Joe Van De Water, director of consumer
product marketing for Intel.
These components, which are at the heart of every computer, will most
likely be used by smaller computer manufacturers. Bigger names like Dell
Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. use their own motherboard solutions, but
Intel is working to supply them with the technology as well.
The four initial Remote Wake motherboards will be for desktop computers
and will need an Internet connection via Ethernet cable, as Wi-Fi
doesn't work in sleep mode.
Van De Water said the computer will know to wake up only for calls from
services to which the user has subscribed, so computer-waking prank
calls should be impossible.
Mountain View, Calif.-based Jajah is setting itself up as a link between
Web companies and the phone system. In April, it signed a deal to become
the phone service provider for Yahoo Inc.'s Messenger. Jajah intends to
offer the ability to wake up computers to other instant-messaging and
Internet voice services, like Google Inc.'s Talk and Microsoft Corp.'s
Windows Live Messenger, Healy said. It will be able to wake up
subscriber computers both for calls dialed with a number and for those
that are directed at a user name.
A fully on desktop PC usually consumes more than 60 watts of power, with
many models ranging into the hundreds of watts. In the so-called S3
sleep state, they consume around 10 watts.
=~=~=~=
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