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Baker Capital puts the bad in VC
Showing why you should be very careful in selecting your investors, online retailer Wine.com just got screwed over big time by Baker Capital.
As the name suggests, San Franscico Bay Area based Wine.com sells wine over the internet. Business had been decent, claimed the San Jose Mercury News. But in need of an additional investment, the company started talking to potential suitors that could buy the company. In the end Liberty Media offered $67.5m.
Baker Capital however, which was on the company's board of directors after an investment round last year, blocked the deal and pulled a stunt that is suitable for a summer movie twist.
With cash running out quickly, the VC undertook a much needed financing round. But this time the company was valued at only $35m. By investing $10m, Baker obtained a 65 per cent stake in the e-tailer. Management had no other option but to go along – it was either Baker's investment or bankruptcy.
Corporate raiders will probably applaud the move for its cunningness. Anyone with a conscious should curse Baker.
Baker is growing sour grapes
photo credit: Katia Grimmer
tags: wine.com, baker capital, corporate raider
The patent threat in the web's closet
Putting all the wrong things in the words "corporate turnaround", EpicRealm has gone from a company selling internet acceleration technology to a company that hold the internet hostage, hoping to enforce a dynamic web content patent.
EpicRealm over the course of the past months has filed lawsuits against 13 companies that are allegedly infringing on its patents, demanding damages and a licence fee.
The accused are (spread out over 3 lawsuits):
Speedera (has since been acquired by Akamai)
Autoflex
eHarmony
Friendfinder
Grande Communication Networks
Its Just Lunch (has since started settlement talks)
Transplace
Franklin Covey
Clark Consulting
Macerich
Safelite
Herbalife
Pink Sheets
As it goes with patent cases, it's hard to say how broadly the patent can be applied. It could apply to "most modern e-commerce sites involved in dynamic web page generation and caching", according to Ira Rothken, founder of the Rothken Law Firm that is representing FriendFinder.
EpirRealm's counsel Kevin Meek with Texas law firm Baker Botts downplayed how broadly the patents could be applied.
At the end it depends on the judge to rule on the validity of the patent (EpicRealm didn't exactly invent dynamic webpages) and how broadly they can be applied.
For Friendfinder Rothken is convinced that this all will have a happy end. The company only uses load balancing technology but none of the dynamic web page generation technology that is part of the patent.
But back to EpicRealm. It once used to compete with Akamai but somewhere around 2003 the plug was pulled. Technically the company didn't go bankrupt, but let's just say that there is little going on at its office on Crescent Court in Dallas, that doesn't even list a telephone number.
Click here to download court documents:
Photo credit: Ken Duncan
tags: epicrealm, litigation, patents, patent litigation
No bloody pictures for Germans
Backbone provider Level 3 Communications has cut off German websurfers from the Ogrish.com website.
The site allegedly violates local legislation by failing to do a proper age check. Level 3 didn't wait for a court order, but instead simply cut off access to the service after a German watchdog group called "Jugendschutz" (translated: Youth Protection) contacted the firm.
Ogrish offers rather unpleasant pictures and movies of people dying in accidents, war situations and natural disasters. The site admits that the images are distasteful, but at the same time claims that they are part of everyday life.
Level 3 is a backbone provider, selling access to the internet to internet providers, hosting providers and large enterprises.
The telco feels responsible for the website because it is hosted by a customer of a customer of a customer. As a result it now blocks users of certain German internet providers that buy bandwidth of Level 3's network.
Although I didn't enjoy looking at the pictures and certainly wouldn't want any children to be confronted with them, there is something smelly about the path that Level 3 took. The company is fine hosting the website, but will also block access to it for its network customers.
Level 3 could easily block access to the website from all German IP addresses. Instead it chose to add an IP block for the website's IP on its routers in Germany. This only prevents German customers of its network services from accessing the content, leaving the site open to customers of providers that rely on other backbone providers.
Why take such a lacklustre approach if you want to protect innocent children from viewing disturbing materials? There is only one answer: PR move. Level 3 can now say that it has acted against the site without hurting its business.
Speek no evil
tags: ogrish, level3, censorship
Zotob author: "look at me!"
The 18-year old Farid Essebar who was arrested last Thursday for writing the Zotob, Rbot and Mytob worms, was quite a productive virus writer as it turns out.
The Russia born man had authored around 20 worms, Sophos thinks. His creations currently hold 6 of the top 10 virus positions.
It all goes to support the theory that Farid isn't a very smart virus writer. His creations might have been a success in terms of infections, but failed as a business venture.
Any person that takes the virus charts by storm is going to attract attention. If you want to avoid the flak, you should stay under the radar.
photo credit: Andrew Brigmond
Larry Ellison goes to the races - and shows his team spirit
Larry Ellison was racing in the America's Cup trials at the weekend and managed to win an unexpected victory.
Ellison has been one of the key players in transforming the America's Cup from a four yearly competition to a continuous regatta of competing teams. On Monday the BMW/Oracle racing boat, on which the software company has lavished €100 million, managed to beat the widely favoured New Zealand team thanks to some aggressive tactics and a broken jib sheet which crippled the Kiwis on the final lap.
Larry turned up to the regatta, held in the Baltic off Malmo in Sweden, in his 400+ft yacht. The vessel is the product of a long running feud between him and Jim Clark, formerly of Netscape over who has the biggest toys.
Sadly your correspondent didn't get to see much of the man in person, since the second the race was over he abandoned ship, jumped into a speed boat and was off to his floating gin palace as it's less than affectionately known around the America's Cup paddock.
(brought to you from SV Sleuth's European correspondent)
Oracle (left) jockeys for position
After the race Ellison made a quick escape back to his yacht, leaving his team to clean up the mess he left down under.
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tags: oralce, larry ellison
Newspapers are now officially a niche product
Having been beaten to death by Ebay and Craigslist, the San Diego Tribune has decided to waive advertising fees for classified ads for goods under $5,000.
The drop in advertising coincides with a similar drop in readership of print newspapers.
In a story about its move, the newpaper quotes Gordon Borrell, president of Borrell Associates, a media consulting firm in Virginia:
"Seldom has a new medium come along and completely killed another. But . . . the Internet is squeezing newspapers into a niche product. Classified is being walloped."
In an attempt to save face, the newspaper's director of advertising Scott Whitley however maintained that this wasn't a move out of desperation, but rather "about growing readership with content – and advertising is content."
Classifieds are content, he argues, and will help him regain readers that found out that internet not only gives you access to more ads, it also allows you to search them much better and receive better product information.
Whitley is fighting a rising tide, and showing typical behaviour (AKA: denial) for a company in despair.
outdated
photo credit: Carin Araujo
tags: craigslist, advertising, ebay, classified ads
Judge issues restraining order against AOL
New York's attorney general Eliot Spitzer and America Online have settled a lawsuit, with AOL agreeing to pay a $1.25m fine for making it too hard for customers to cancel their service with the internet provider.
AOL has been living in its private bubble ever since the world discovered broadband internet. The company tried to hold on to its subscribers by making it very hard and in some cases impossible to cancel their accounts.
In one case, the company refused to cancel a account of a deceased person because their relatives couldn't provide their "screen name", reported the New York Times.
The company itself still is wearing its reality distortion glasses, and pretends to be actually grateful for the settlement.
The company told the New York Times that it was "pleased to have reached agreement" and that is would "assist with the verification of certain member intentions online."
Back in the days when I tried to cancel my AOL account, they just kept offering me additional months of free subscriptions. After six months of not paying for dial up, I finally decided to switch to broadband after all.
AOL is your typical example of a company that just doesn't understand how to compete in today's economy. The websites and blog posts about its horrible customer care record will remain online for years to come. Even if they ever succeed at creating a product that people actually want (no the internet on training wheels that they sell now), they'll have a really hard time convincing consumers to pay them for it.
AOL keeps thinking its customers are at this stage, but little girls grow older
photo credit: Charly Empey
Tags: america online, AOL
Apple gets ready for another iPod moment
Rumour mills and websites have gone into overdrive after Apple said that it would make a major new announcement around its iPod music player next week on Wednesday in San Francisco.
The invitation was brief:
"1000 songs in your pocket changed everything. Here we go again.
Please join us at Moscone West in San Francisco on September 7 at 10:00 a.m.
Registration begins at 9:00 a.m. Arrive early for this invitation-only event."
Theoretically Apple could just open a chain of Apple pie stores, but the phrasing of suggests that the announcement is centred around this iPod music player or iTunes music store.
The Motorola iTunes phone would be a good guess. After numerous delays, the device was recently cleared by the FCC. But don't be surprised if Apple goes the extra mile and launches a mobile operator at the same time. The phone so far has failed to charm existing phone companies because it forces them to loosen the grip on their customers (read: fewer ring tones and less data traffic = less revenue).
A video iPod would be another good guess, although analysts have suggested that such a device won't be ready until 2006.
Number three would be the obligatory update of the iPod Shuffle, adding a display and possibly radio tuner to the device.
I'm putting my money on the Motorola phone plus Apple Mobile phone company, but we'll all have to wait until next week until we know for sure.
Steve Jobs earlier this year at MacWorld in San Francisco
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The Windows hole that isn't
For every story that makes it into the media, a dozen is killed before a single word is written about them.
Russian security expert Igor Franchuk discovered a weakness in Windows that could be used to hide certain information.
Without going into too much detail: it could allow an application to go into the Windows registry, add a string and make it invisible. This could for instance be used to make Windows load certain applications when it boots up. A spyware maker would like to be undetectable.
I'm no security expert and nor do I pretend to be one, so the fact-checking began.
Microsoft confirmed the vulnerability, but also pointed out that it occurs in the "Registry Editor", not in Windows itself. For the rest followed the standard statements that the company is looking into the issue.
Microsoft has to be cautious, and I don't blame them for it. They have to take every flaw extremely seriously or risk getting flamed later on.
On to Symantec to see what they made out of this. They actually invested the time and effort to see if they could replicate the flaw, and more importantly, cause any harm.
Symantec's answer was extremely clear:
"While you can create an extra long reg key, it does not look like the information can actually be saved/stored/exported from the key itself. We tried exploiting it and came up with nothing. So while the vulnerability is valid, the ability to exploit it to accomplish any misdeeds is unproven at this point (and presumably unlikely)," director of product management David Cole wrote in an email.
What might have been a story, several hours later turned out to be just a blog posting about a security hole that isn't.
---
update:
litterarly 2 minutes after this post was published, Cnet News.com published a report claiming that this "allows hackers to hide the presence of their applications," according to security vendor StillSecure.
The error in StillSecure's reasoning however is that they mistake an flaw in a Windows tool for a system vulnerability. There are plenty of tools that WILL display the "hidden" registry entries.
tags: symantec, microsoft, windows, security
Evil virus writers busted
Police in Morocco and Turkey have arrested two individuals for their role in the design and releasing of the Rbot, Zotob and Mytob viruses.
The good news is that two delinquents are off the streets, the bad news is that they were stupid enough to get caught.
Let's hope for 21 year old Atilla Ekici that the prisons in Turkey still operate in a similar way to what was shown in the movie Midnight Express, and that 18-year old Farid Essebar is treated in a similar way. They are responsible for knocking down computer systems for many corporations including the New York Times, ABC, American Express and Kraft Foods.
But the duo also represents a bygone era in virus writing: the time of the mega worms. Clever virus writers create worms that infect only a few computers, in an effort to stay under the radar of authorities and anti-virus software.
Creating large scale worms like Zotob makes you an easy target. Microsoft, playing an instrumental role in the capture of Ekici and Essebar, can use the case to show the world its dedication to fighting viruses.
This isn't that much different from the judicial strategies in many countries. They will crack down on highly visible petty crimes that hit civilians, but are less focused on tackling organised crime – as long as it doesn't come out into the open.
It's impossible to stop all crime, so you create the illusion that you do. It also is impossible to stop all virus writers, but at least you want to create the illusion that you have the situation under control.
photo credit: Alvaro Prieto
Meet the Community PC (IDF videoblog)
How does Intel plan to conquer the Indian market? This community PC is a first attempt. Intel chief executive Paul Otellini (left in the video) had Bill Siu, general manager for the Channel Platforms Group, demonstrate the computer on stage at Intel Developer Forum earlier this week.
Intel earlier this month unfolded a new initiative that to allow the chip maker better address local markets in emerging markets through the creation of four new Platform definition Centres.
Watch the video to see Siu demonstrate the dust filter, power backup and image restore option.
Click here to watch the video (6.42Mb .wmv download)
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Tags: IDF, Sun, Sun Microsystems, Intel, AMD, intel developer forum, dual core
Remote desktop management for consumers (IDF Videoblog)
Aming to lower the cost of help desks, Intel demonstrated a new technology that offers consumers the option to have a remote helpdesk worker the access their computer.
The "Fix my PC" feature was demonstrated in Don MacDonald's keynote on Wednesday
Click here to watch the video (2.56Mb .wmv download)
Don MacDonald
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Tags: IDF, Intel, intel developer forum, dual core
Intel re-wires its "unwire" campaign
Having preached the wireless gospel for years now, Intel made a remarkable move on Wednesday at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco by rejoining the Homeplug Powerline Alliance.
The organisation oversees a technology that moves data over the power cords inside your walls and floors, and could even deliver broadband internet through your power plug. Intel had previously been a member of the organisation, but cancelled its membership back in 2000 when it started preaching the WiFi gospel.
Intel now is starting to realise that wireless isn't going to cut it.
"Wireless is great, but it's not always the right tool for the job. We need a good wired solution," Don McDonald, general manager for Intel's digital home group told delegates at the event.
Intel's Homeplug guy Matt Theall and the new chairman of the Alliance provided some additional details about the reasoning behind the decision: consumers today demand more bandwidth than wireless can provide. If Intel is going to allow us to simultaneously watch multiple high definition television streams, we will need a wired solution.
And then HomePlug suddenly isn't so outdated anymore, given that its 200Mbit delivers enough bandwidth to power three HDTV streams.
Don MacDonald
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tags: wireless, homeplug, intel, wifi, IDF, intel developer forum, dual core
Can Google break the IM stalemate?
Ask not what Google can do for instant messaging, ask what you can do for IM.
Google Talk, the new IM client, could break the deadlock in the market for instant messaging clients, analyst firm Gartner noted in a research brief.
The software for now is highly underpowered, offering few desirable features. And like giving me a phone that won't call anyone else, I don't know anybody that is using the client.
Meanwhile the software does offer one nice feature by automatically adding users to my contact list that are already in my Gmail address book.
Garnter has a point: if Google can't break open the IM market, nobody can. Few companies have such a loyal following, and if Google succeeds at gaining a reasonable market share, the pressure will be on Yahoo, MSN and AOL to stop their foolish strategy blocking third party clients.
I would love to get rid of my MSN, Yahoo, AOL and ICQ accounts, and having interoperability would help me achieve that goal.
That's why we all HAVE to start using Google Talk, to send a strong message to the IM monopolists that they should listen to their users, not their pocketbooks.
videochat - another feature that Google Talk should add (no, the dude with the mustache isn't me, nor is the gal)
tags: google, google talk, google
The future of TV
If you think internet will revolutionise television, think again, warns John Stewart, host of the Daily Show on Comedy Central.
"The Internet is just a world passing around notes in a classroom. That's all it is. All those media companies say, 'We're going to make a killing here.' You won't because it's still only as good as the content," Stewart said in an interview with Wired.
Stewart has some first hand experience with that, as a video of him appearing CNN's crossfire has been watched by millions and the today show itself might have more viewers online than through cable.
Read the interview – it's a blast an just like the Daily Show it mixes humor with insight.
tags: media, blog, blogosphere, john stewart
Gates' checklist: First drown kittens… then make Windows Vista less evil?
Microsoft must have heard some of the disapproval that surrounds the trusted platform module (TPM), because the company's forthcoming operating system Windows Vista will disable some of the chips most controversial features.
"There are some operations that use public key information that could potentially be perceived as privacy risk areas," Stephen Heil, technical evangelist for Microsoft's Core OS Division told delegates in a session about Secure Startup at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.
"Things that do quotes and attestations […] are turned off by default."
The TPM is a security chip that could be used to enforce digital rights management technology, track users and fulfil other privacy nightmares. It also happens to allow Microsoft to encrypt your hard drive so a laptop thief won't be able to access your data – that's what a new technology called Secured Startup in Windows Vista uses the technology for.
If you want to be a true cynic, this is the time to start shouting that Microsoft only is playing nice for now, waiting to switch on the chip's evil features at a later stage. Or you can believe that Microsoft has really changes and is ready to be a good corporate citizen.
so the headline is highly politically incorrect, but it did allow me to use this brilliant picture
tags: vista, windows vista, microsoft, NGSCB, secure startup, longhorn
The crack in Intel's digital home record
Hearing Intel talk about the digital home is like hearing a twisted sales pitch for its processors processor.
There is something inherently wrong with that approach: the technology shouldn't dictate the application, the application should dictate the technology. Intel probably knows that too: during a keynote at Intel Developer Forum they even brought anthropologist Genevieve Bell on stage to underline the notion that consumers determine which technology succeeds in the market place.
Of course Intel want to put its computer processors in home appliances, but consumer electronics makers know that there are more elegant and cheaper ways to solve the same problem. Having a Pentium in your TV might do the job, but its much like installing a diesel engine in a sports car.
Consumer electronics vendors including Sony and Philips have been developing chips that are extremely good at decoding audio and video, putting a sleek gas engine in your sports car.
Intel also unveiled a new marketing and logo programme that christens entertainment PCs 'Viiv' (pronounced as Vive). The programme hopes to do for the digital entertainment sector what Centrino did for Wifi.
It did work extremely well for Centrino, but the situation if slightly more complicated for entertainment PCs because there are much more factors involved that are outside of Intel's control. Just take the Windows Media Center Edition operating system, which is a piece of software that you wouldn't set loose on the living room of your worse enemy.
Again, makers of consumer electronics devices know how to create a box with only a few buttons that does a few things very well. Computer makers give their customers a box that does everything, making it impossible to manage. Slapping on a Viiv logo isn't going to make that much easier.
Don MacDonald, general manager for Intel's digital home group
Genevieve Bell, an anthropologist working for Intel, explains that if a product is crap, consumers won't buy it
That's Viiv, as in vive, rhymes with five. But really, any product names that comes with pronounciation instructions by definition is flawed.
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Tags: IDF, Intel, intel developer forum, dual core
Intel's Gelsinger touts the management tools
The stars are aligning for Intel's Active Management Technology, Pat Gelsinger claimed in his keynote at Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.
The general manager for Intel's enterprise group unveiled the technology earlier this year. It promises to make it easier for enterprises to manage computers in their networks, but following the initial announcement got only limited support from computer makers.
Today Gelsinger presented several manufacturers, all the major brand names are still missing.
Pat Gelsinger
Jayshree Ullal, senior vice presdient for data cenre, swtiching and security technology group at Cisco systems.
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Tags: IDF, Intel, intel developer forum, dual coreb
Paul Otellini's keynote toys (pics)
Which new goodies did Intel's chief executive unveil during his opening keynote at Intel Devleoper Forum in San Francisco? See it for yourself:
Early version of a chip using Intel's unnamed new, low power micro-architecture. Introduction: second half 2006.
Community PC - a computer developed for the Indian market that offers added features including a filter to keep out dust and bugs (as in: insects, not computer bugs) and a "image reinstall" option to prevent users from being affected by malware that previious users installed. It also offers backup power through... a car battery (the grey box on the left). Introduction by early 2006.
Handtop computers - all day battery life for an oversized PDA. Introduction early 2006.
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Tags: IDF, Sun, Sun Microsystems, Intel, AMD, intel developer forum, dual core
Intel takes on power consumption
kIn his opening keynote at Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco today, Intel chief executive Paul Otellini gave a first public demonstration of Intel's new, low power micro-architecture. He promised that the new technology will cut power consumption tenfold while delivering a tenfold seed jump for all computer processors in the coming years.
The new micro-architecture (meaning that is sits one level under the IA-32 architecture) doesn't have a name. Intel just plans to unveil names for the chips. The codenames of the chips that are scheduled for release in the second half of 20006 are: Merom (mobile); Conroe (desktop); Whitefield (server).
Don't just think laptop computers – low power chips will allow for fanless desktop computers and cooler running servers too.
But low power also will enable that creation of the "handtop" computer, a mobile device that Otellini said will be available early 2006.
Bill Gates already showed off this handtop computer at WinHEC earlier this year.
Otellini shows off the handtop computers
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Tags: IDF, Sun, Sun Microsystems, Intel, AMD, intel developer forum, dual core
AMD and Sun turn the dual core knife at IDF
What was the first thing delegates saw this morning when they arrived at the Moscone convention centre for the opening keynote?
AMD and Sun Microsystems had set up camp across the street, handing out free coffee under a banner that said: Dual core servers available now (not later this year).
The little publicity stunt is a reminder of the fact that AMD beat Intel at delivering the first dual core chip and that Intel has yet to start shipping a dual core version of its Xeon processor for servers while AMD's Opteron has been humming inside servers from Sun and many others for months.
Sun and AMD serve up some java
registration
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Tags: IDF, Sun, Sun Microsystems, Intel, AMD, intel developer forum, dual core
Oops, another data leak
More than 33,000 airmen with the US air force will have to closely watch their credit reports for the coming months if not years, because a database for the Air Force Personnel Centre has been compromised. The airmen were notified last week about the data leak (PDF download of the letter here)
Data thieves used a legitimate login account to pillage the database. Officials finally found out about the hack because this one account showed an unusual level of activity.
Data thieves often share or sell login information for compromised accounts.
Now… maybe its time to talk about those plans for dual factor authentication again, combining "something you have" with "something you know". A chip card or secure USB key could have easily prevented this case of data theft.
Just one more thing to worry about
tags: identity theft, data theft, security
Google's goes on a widget hunt
Google today unveiled beta 2 of Google Desktop. Where the first beta was all about searching for documents and emails your computer, the second beta revolves around a new feature called the "sidebar".
Think of the sidebar as a self-configuring RSS reader, crossed with the tiny JavaScript applications called widgets.
Monitoring which websits a user visits, the software uses that information to automatically subscribe to RSS feeds, filter news stories from mainstream media and build a list of bookmarks.
The auto learning feature could give a major push to the use of RSS – once Google Desktop becomes a final product, because it succeeds in completely hiding the technology from the user. After all, technology should be so easy to use that the user doesn't even need to know it's there, much like the engine in your car.
Google also published a list of application programming interfaces (APIs) to allow external developers to create additional plug-ins.
If the sidebar didn't already remind you the widgets that Yahoo and Apple are offering, the availability of the APIs certainly should.
It's these APIs that can make Google Desktop a true success. Within days, you should expect a host of new plug-ins to be made available by individual programmers, similar to what happened with widgets. You only have to look at the available widgets there to think of possible applications (currency exchange rates, anyone?)
The application has one major disadvantage over the widgets however. It doesn't nearly look as sleek and its size is going to limit the kind of applications that will be made available.
Personally I like Google's the no-nonsense look and feel. All the graphical gimmickry actually made me uninstall Konfabulator after one week. For now it seems like the Sidebar is a keeper.
tags: widget, google desktop, google
Podcasting for oldies
The average podcast user is over 45 years old, a study by CLX has found.
I hope Dave Winer, Adam Curry and other followers of the podcasting hype are paying attention, because this study shows that as a medium, podcasts appeal mostly to the pre-MTV generation.
In today's age of TV and other 'fast' media, podcasts take too much time and offer too little information.
photo credit: Russel Thomas
Tags: podcast, Podcasting, Music, Podcasts, technology, iTunes, mp3, queercast, Blog.
CA tries R&D for a change
Computer Associates has set up CA labs, a research organisation that is set to "support and further establish innovation in CA’s key growth areas."
If the world's number four software company (after Microsoft, IBM and Oracle) only now founds a labs organisation, it makes you wonder how they ever got to the number four spot to begin with.
Any old time CA user can answer that question. By doing acquisitions. Lots of them. CA used to be the vacuum cleaner of the software industry, buying up providers that were past their peak at pennies for the dollar. It's a tricky business model, but works if you're really big – like CA is.
The secret is in cutting back development and support of these products and rely on the installed based to keep paying for upgrades and support - its like licking the frosting of a cake and then selling it for double the original price. The plan worked – especially in the space of software tools for mainframe computers.
But as the growth of mainframe sales came to a standstill, so did CA's business. And then the company was forced to face the horrible reputation that it had built over all those years. Top that off with a financial scandal that cost two successive CEOs their jobs and you enter into the era of current chief executive John Swainson.
Swainson so far has proven to be the fresh wind that can provide the much needed changes. Consider CA Labs part of that understanding. Although CA keeps doing its share of acquisitions, the creatino of CA labs signals an understanding that innovation can't come from acquisitions alone. Engineers and researchers play an important part too.
Swainson
Photo courtesy of CA
tags: CA, computer associates
In case you ever want to get rid of you Google tattoo...
I don't normally pay much attention to the ads that Google places next to my search results, but this one caught my eye:
looking for Google inside the vnunet.com domain, someone wants the help me get rid of my old tattoos. Surely someone must think that people got Google tattooed on their foreheads and are now starting to get second thoughts...?
Sun blogger waves farewell to Google ads
Sun Microsystems' director of web technologies Tim Bray, who publishes the Ongoing blog, has removed the Google Adsense ads from his webpage.
The blog is one of the better known Sun blogs, but the ads only made Bray $150 to $200 per month.
"I’m not surprised the revenue is low, the ads are lame and uninteresting, I wouldn’t click on ’em either," Bray wrote.
The topic of his posts don't exactly make for great advertising, he notes. In all honesty, only blogs that get huge levels of traffic or report about hot niches like mobile phones are likely to make their authors lots of money.
Bray didn't start writing his blog to compensate for the lacklustre performance of his Sun's stock options and will to post. But let this be a warning to all the bloggers that think that Google adds will pay for their Ferrari and hope that getting Slashdotted or Digged gets them there… it won't happen.
Tags: sun microsystems, google, adsense, blog, blogging, blogosphere
Amazon goes erotic
Amazon has quietly started selling erotic goods including vibrators and condoms.
To celebrate the store's opening, Amazon is offering free standard shipping for orders over $75.
The "Sex & Sensuality" store is part of the online retailer's Health and personal care aile. So shoppers going through the store's best selling items list should expect the occasional vibrator to pop up next to the nose hair trimmers, diapers, shavers and electric tooth brushes.
I… eh… just happened to see the store while shopping for toothpaste. Honestly.
You see $3 rope - Amazon sees Japanese Silk Bondage Love Rope - that'll be $12.30 please.
tags: amazon
Yahoo tackles its employee's lacking parking skills
Yahoo has taken drastic measures to deal with mounting frustrations with its staff over the parking situation at its Sunnyvale headquarters.
The company has grown so large in recent months that parking lots were getting full. Employees last month started the "ycantpark" Flickr stream, exposing cars that were taking up dual parking spaces and hoping that a public humiliation would lead to improved parking skills.
Today Yahoo blogger Jeremy Zawodny reported on his blog that the company started offering employee valet parking. This not only reliefs workers of having to park within the lines (makes you think about their business skills...), it also allows the company to make better use of the available parking spaces by double parking and blocking in cars.
Yahoo will soon be moving some staff to a new office building, Zawodny wrote, which should ease the pain – for now at least.
Inside Google's board room
How exactly did Google decide to offer 14,159,265 shares for sale? I can think of one way:
With Google stock price through the roof, investment bankers were constantly calling senior executives. They finally agreed to meet. As the bankers sat down with CEO Eric Schmidt, CFO George Reyes and the co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, they advised them to sell a few more stock to investors and cash in on the hype that kept surrounding the search engine.
It didn't take long for the managers to see that the deal made sense. I could never hurt to have some additional cash in the bank to allow for future acquisitions. But selling additional shares only a year after the initial offering, that wasn't very Google-like.
Another meeting was scheduled and as the plans progressed, Brin and Page kept thinking of a way to turn an ordinary stock sale into a geek event. As the investment banker showed them a draft of the prospectus, Brin's eye fell on the number of stocks that would be offered: 14.1 million.
He showed the sheet to his buddy Page and nodded. They connected instantly. Page grabbed a pen, crossed out the number of shares and entered: 14,159,265. The investment bankers looked puzzled, Schmidt shrugged his shoulders.
But both Page and Brin knew:
(pi – 3) * 100,000,000 = 14,159,265.
And so it was settled.
unidentified pi-loving foot
tags: google, wall street
EA pushes games into the classroom
Gaming giant EA Games has teamed up with a research firm NESTA Futurelab in an effort to push games into classrooms.
The $540,000 project is set to kick off in the UK and could later expand to other parts of Europe.
The study aims to find out if the game maker can push its existing line of games into classrooms, without letting preconceptions about the value of such software in education get in the way of EA's revenue potential.
"We're very keen to look right across the genres and not rule out the education benefits of any of the different styles out there," researcher Annika Small told Computing.
But as the cheers of the kids looking forward to playing Fifa Football 2005 and Medal of honor fade away, the researchers perhaps first could take a look at the state of the average classroom computer. Then they would realise that those often are underpowered for today's games to begin with.
EA is spending $540,000 to find out if this could be educational (screenshot from Medal of Honor)
Tags: EA, games, electronic arts, school, education
Adware mob war erupts
Adware maker 180solutions maker is going after botnet operators, hackers and script kiddies that abused its affiliate programme.
It's an obvious case of the bad guys going after each other. 180solutions is one of the most notorious adware makers, if only because they keep claiming that their ad producing software isn't adware.
In recent months they have tried to create a more gentle image of themselves. But the window dressing doesn't fool spyware researcher Ben Edelman.
"I don't see them having any business model other than watching what users do online and serving them pop-up ads. Their software shows ads, they are adware," he told vnunet.com.
The adware maker however should be applauded for filing legal charges against its former "distribution partners". The illustrious seven installed the software on computers that they had hacked, taking in anywhere form 7 to 50 dollar cents per installation through 180solutions' affiliate programme.
None of the names of the accused - Eric de Vogt of the Netherlands, Jesse Donohue of Australia, Khalil Halel of Lebanon, Imran Patel of the United Kingdom, Zarox Souchi of Canada, Youri Van Den Berg of the Netherlands and Anton Zagar of Slovenia – rang any bells. Except for the very first.
Eric de Vogt earlier this year served 34 days in jail and was sentenced to 240 hours of community service for his share in a distributed denial of service attack against two Dutch government sites. The now 19 year old hacker had been so brilliant to act as a spokesperson for the hackers group that claimed responsibility for the attacks, and boasted that he had a botnet of 190,000 computers at his disposal.
Just the fact that the adware maker is taking out script kiddies would make you want to install 180solutions' software to support this worthy cause.
adware maker shows its teeth
tags: adware, malware, hacker, script kiddie, spyware
Microsoft updates IE7 icon
Microsoft last week unveiled the new logo for Internet Explorer 7.
The first thing that comes to mind is that it looks like a logo that Apple would use. Lets hope the application itself is just as good.
Tags: microsoft, internet explorer
Apple goofs up on OS X update
In what appears to the case of the missing library, Apple's latest security update has broken support for 64-bit applications.
The problems affect systems that have installed the latest patches that Apple started distributing Monday night.
Apple added support for 64-bit applications to OS X on systems powered by the G5 processor earlier this year with the launch of OS X 10.4 Tiger.
Informatica, a maker of a tool for technical computing (read: really hard calculations) in science, engineering, math and finance, unveiled a version of its software running on the 64-bit software last month. On Tuesday the company sent out an email to customers warning stating that:
"Due to an error on the part of Apple, this update prevents any 64-bit-native application from running. In particular, this means that Mathematica 5.2 will not run on any G5 system if it has installed this Security Update."
Apple wouldn't comment on the issue. But citing sources familiar with the matter, vnunet.com claimed that the problem was caused by a library that was missing from Monday's update.
Wolfram found the bug by testing Apple's update on Tuesday, mere hours after Apple made the patch available. So why didn't Apple test the update? Especially since this problem isn't limited to Wolfram, but affects all native 64-bit applications.
Is poor testing the price that OS X users will have to pay for the limited size of the software maker?
--
UPDATE 8/18 9:13am PDT:
Apple at midnight (PDT) last night released a patch to fix the problem. Called Security update 2005-007 v1.1, it replaces the security update that was released Monday night.
OS X breaks 64 bits applications
Photo credit: Rich Dubose
tags: os x, bug, update, apple
RSS backers get religious
There is a war brewing between the blogger pioneers and Microsoft over the name for RSS.
On the one side you have Dave Winer, creator of RSS, and Robert Scoble, the world's most famous specimen of a corporate blogger who receives a pay check from Microsoft.
On the other side stands Microsoft wanting to abandon the use of the three letter acronym that stands either for real simple syndication or RDF site summary. For now it calls RSS feeds 'web feeds', but the software developer is open to suggestions.
The general public doesn't know RSS, as recent studies have shown. There is no reason why we shouldn't consider changing the name.
And I'd like to argue that we actually should change the name that is used with the general public. Try explaining what RSS does to a person who doesn't know what the technology does, and you'll see that you are up for a challenge.
Winer has a point when he says that we shouldn't let Microsoft single-handedly change the name. That could lead to fragmentation of the technology and could impede its progress.
But his all-out refusal to even look at alternatives shows religiousness.
Scoble compares apples with oranges when he argues that the public over time will learn what RSS stands for, much like they learnt about DVDs and CDs. At least those acronyms make sense on a certain level. The average web user can't do anything with the term "syndication" in real simple syndication, let alone the geeky RDF site summary.
RSS deserves a better name. And we need Scoble and Winer to participate in the discussion to pick that name. Otherwise the risk of fragmentation just increase.
Feed makes for better illustrations too ;-)
photo credit: Helmut Gevert
tags: rss, scoble, winer, microsoft, internet explorer 7
Google listens to the beat of blogs
To open with a huge cliché: blogs are changing the world. They give customers a way to rant and rave (but mostly rant). Even if you never knew that Dell had problems with its image, it only takes one blog post and its comments to expose their arrogance.
Google is leading the way in listening to the blogosphere, as the case of Jupiter CEO Alan Meckler points out.
The chief of the media company on his blog complained about Google Desktop Search, the application that lets you search your computer. Every time Meckler updated files on his machine, Google would start crawling like crazy, taking up precious computing time. It was enough for Meckler to switch to Windows Desktop Search. And he wrote about his trouble on his blog.
Somehow his blog posting ended up with a Google customer support agent who contacted Meckler to ask him for further details.
The search engine not only impressed a dissatisfied user, Meckler's trouble will also allow the organisation to improve its software.
To end with another cliché: those who listen to what the blogosphere has to say will beat those companies that prefer to put their heads in the sand.
Tags: dell, blog, blogosphere, google, customer service
Microsoft uses Vista beta testers as network guinea pigs
Windows Vista new peer-to-peer networking PNRP protocol has some security experts up in arms.
The technology can be used to create networks between computers and could result in faster online gaming.
That's a nice feature to have because peer to peer networks relief the burden from centralised servers and generally makes for faster networks .The network is no longer build hierarchically with each client sending data to a server and the server telling the clients what to do next. Instead the clients talk directly to each other. Think of it as the difference between a classic monarchy and democracy, if not anarchy – a pyramid vs. a spider web model.
But users of the recently release Windows Vista Beta 1 are automatically turned into guinea pigs for the new service, the SANS Internet Storm Center found out. The feature by default is turned on to see how the technology behaves in a mass deployment.
That not only triggers alerts from several anomaly based intrusion detection systems, such as ZoneAlarm, it also violates one of the base rules of both the security industry and Microsoft: you don't open up a door (network port) in a computer unless you want someone to come in.
"It is just a beta," you argue? Then some of those beta testers would have liked to know that the software had this feature, argued Senior security expert George Bakos from the Institute for Security Technology Studies at Dartmouth College. He made the initial report on SANS' website.
"This could be used to identify an individual user and IP address. It may aid an attacker in gathering information about an individual. And if you are a privacy advocate and you don't want information about your system to be available to others, you may frown upon this," Bakos told vnunet.com.
tags: windows vista
Dilbert in a box
For all the office workers who are stuck in today's cubicle hell, Accoutrements has the answer.
It's cubefigures line of toys for the office drone gives power to the powerless, control to those who are controlled.
Yes, they are dolls for grownups. For a mere $12.95 you get a doll compete with desk, computer, chair and cubicle walls including motivational posters. As your collection grows, don't forget to pick up the four figure expansion set – which also allows you to create a more ethnically diverse workforce and gets you nice accessories including a laptop and folder.
The link with Dilbert, the hero of corporate logics and destroyer of management books, is rather obvious.
This makes a great gift for that manager that keeps walking around referring to the likes of Gary Hamel, C.K. Prahalad or Michael Porter. Provided he has his head up his boss' behind so deep that he doesn't see the sarcasm.
Tags: dilbert, cubicle, Comics, Humor, category, Work, Fun, pearsbeforeswine, h2g2.
Scam the Powerbook scammer
As anyone who has ever tried to buy or sell a computer on Ebay knows by know, the place is a popular hangout for scammers.
When "Jeff" wanted to unload an Apple Powerbook, he was contacted by London based "Giancarlo" who tried to rob him of his priced possession who proposed using a fake escrow service. Unfortunately for the scammer, Jeff took the time and effort to scam the scammer.
He did send a "powerbook" to the London barbershop/internet café from which the fraud operated. I'd have paid a fortune to see the expression on his face after he paid the $550 customs fee and opened op the package only to find this:
This is an old story and hasn't been verified, but having given those disclaimers: You can read a somewhat lengthy, yet highly amusing, report at Newssocket.com.
Tags: fraud, apple, powerbook, scam, ebay
If even Scoble says your podcast sucks…
Adam Curry might have landed $8.85m in venture funding for his Podshow company, the show that the former MTV VJ does on Sirius Radio sucks, says blogging oracle Robert Scoble.
"I bought a Sirius radio specifically to listen to your show. After six weeks of listening I gotta say your show sucks. I'm not listening anymore. Here's why: you're competing with Bloomberg and all the other channels. They have better content," Scoble wrote in posting.
The show doesn't feature Curry talking about what's cool, but instead contains clips from random podcasters, Scoble complains.
I've never heard Curry's show on Sirius, but have listened to his Daily Source Code once or twice. Scoble's description of the Sirius show fits the Daily Source Code too: it sucked.
Curry did well at MTV, but as an podcasting pundit he has failed miserably. I belief there is an expression for this: one trick pony.
Curry in better times
Tags: podcast, Podcasting, Podcast, PODSHOW, iTunes, iPod, yeast.
Technorati sale rumoured to be pending
Rumours are flying around that Technorati will be sold next week. No word as to who will be the lucky new owner, but naturally Google and Yahoo are named as potential buyers.
Technorati is a search engine for blogs. And while it’s useful, it's far from perfect.
The service among things works with tags (as the ones below this post) that allow the blogger to tell Technorati which keywords are used in each posting. But big surprise – webspammers too have found out about this and are abusing the system to attract visitors to their Rolex and v!agra selling websites.
Besides, not all blogs use Technorati tags (putting them in there is a pain) so the search engine will never find all websites.
At the same time I am a great fan of Technorati's RSS powered watchlists that allow me to track blogs that use certain keywords or link to urls (eg: this blog's).
We might not know who, but someone is going to spend a lot of money
photo credit: Perttu Lämsä
Tags: technorati, acquisition
Digg the Slashdot killer
Traffic to this website saw a nice jump earlier this week, and as it turns out, a website called Digg had a lot to do with it.
Digg fixes what is wrong with Slashdot – humans still make the often trivial selections there - and is in my humble opinion is what is needed to push blog reporting further forward, narrowing the gap between them and professional news websites.
The website allows readers to endorse stories (an endorsement is called a "digg"), the more digs the more relevant the story. Stories with enough diggs will get promoted to the homepage.
A natural setback with this kind of service is that stories with many diggs will automatically get more. But it will push hot blog postings forward, even if that story originated from a blog that only gets a few dozen pageviews per day.
I'd love to see the site offer a slew of RSS feeds, allowing the user to create custom alerts much like the way Technorati does: give me a way to see all items with more than 10 diggs that were posted in the past 24 hours in the technology section.
Apart from some of those tweaks, Digg has a lot going for it and could grow out to become a very relevant news filtering service.
---
Update 3:10 PM
Been toying with the site most of the day - this stuff is addictive. Another nice to have feature would be a "mover and shaker" list that shows you which items have gotten a lot of diggs in the past hours:
diggs/time=hype factor (what about digg score?)
(btw, by now this posting has made it to Digg's front page)
Tags: Digg, News, Tags, technology, Tech, Del.icio.us, Blogging, tagging.
Stress relief online
The problem with security chips
Forget about the official polished up PR version of why computers are adopting the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) security chip. The real reason is because the copyright holders are out to limit what you can do with technology.
Sure you've heard it all before, but the devious plans of Holywood and the record industry go much further than just digital rights management for your iTunes music store content, according to open source activist Bruce Perens.
"Open source browsers like Firefox won't be allowed to access sites that require the security platform," Perens predicted today at LinuxWorld in San Francisco. It will charge the user for printing webpages and prevent them to save or archive content. The chip is an "embedded police officer that determiners what you do at any moment."
The result is the un-democratisation of the web, as Perens calls it.
Perens
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Tags: DRM, TPM, Linux, linuxworld
Monad brings Linux to Windows (Linuxworld videoblog)
Thanks to F-Secure and their false report about a Windows Vista virus, half the world now has heard about Monad. But other than that it is a shell script technology and that a beta has been released in June, we know very little about what it does.
Well, not anymore. Today at LinuxWorld in San Francisco Bill Hilf, director of Platform technology strategy for Microsoft demonstrated the technology.
Click here to watch a video of the demonstration monad.wmv (7.8Mb)
(btw – I had to blur out one section to protect Hilf's privacy)
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Tags: Microsoft, Linux, linuxworld, windows, windows vista, microsoft, virus, security, f-secure, videoblog
Microsoft explains it one more time: Vista virus is no virus (Linuxworld Videoblog)
I've written about the alleged Windows Vista virus that F-Secure dropped on the world last week, but today at LinuxWorld Microsoft director Bill Hilf happened to talk about the Monad technology that the Danom virus "exploits".
Please see the next posting for a video of the demonstration of the technology. The video here shows you what he has to say about the "virus".
Click here to watch the movie (1.35 Mb)
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Tags: Microsoft, Linux, linuxworld, windows, windows vista, microsoft, virus, security, f-secure, videoblog
Microsoft turns on the charm at LinuxWorld
Microsoft is showing itself from its best side at the LinuxWorld conference in San Francisco today. In a session called "Managing Linux in a mixed environment at… Microsoft? A look inside the Linux/Open source software lab at Microsoft", director Bill Hilf not only spoke about his work in testing and using dozens of Linux Systems, attendees also left the room loaded with goodies.
Each received a free fully licensed copy of Virtual Server 2003, a product that IT administrators to create virtual systems inside Windows Server 2003 - for instance to run or test Linux. For those that didn't have the operating system, a 180-day evaluation copy of Windows Server 2003 was available too.
And to top all that off, 100 randomly picked delegates (and there were more than 100 people attending the session) received a free copy of Halo 2.
I could have helped in creating an open discussion without any comments such as this one that was posted on Slashdot:
"I'd like to step aside from all the hardware and software questions people are going to throw at you and focus on a more tangible topic: footware. When someone like yourselves accept a job stomping on baby ducks all day, do you invest in new boots, or do you just come to work in whatever old shoes you have in your closet?"
Having a good sense of humor, Hilf ended the session saying: "Thank you for not throwing anything at me"
Bill Hilf
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Tags: Microsoft, Linux, linuxworld
The case against software patents
In one graph, Red Hat's deputy general counsel Mark Webbink made it very clear what the relation is between innovation and software patents, this morning in a presentation at LinuxWorld in San Francisco:
The right part of the chart isn't even that relevant, the left really matters. It shows the number of patents that Microsoft filed, R&D spending and revenues.
The point is: Microsoft hardly filed any patents leading up to the launch of Windows 95. The company become a dominant power in the software industry without using any patents.
Please note that the y-axis isn't linear, instead being multiplied by ten per unit, which makes the effect seem more dramatic than it really is.
Mark Webbink
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Tags: Linux, linuxworld , patent, red hat
OSDL issues a subtle warning to Microsoft
OSDL's chief executive Stuart Cohen today unveiled its patent commons project. It all seemed very harmless, but between the lines insiders read an extremely serious warning for Microsoft. The Open Source Development Lab (OSDL) is the non-profit that has made it its life goal to support Linux.
The patent commons for now only aims to build a library of patents that have been pledged for open source. IBM last January took the lead and published a list of 500 patents that it said it wouldn't use against open source. Sun Microsystems and Nokia followed suit.
(Funny by the way that the GPL-loving HP hasn't yet given as much as a wink).
Each provider however pledged the patents under different terms. IBM reserves the right to take the patents back if it feels a need to do so. Sun's patents only protect those who adhere to its CDDL licence and Nokia doesn’t go beyond the Linux kernel.
The OSDL library has to make it easy for developers to see if they are covered by a patent.
But industry insiders warn that you should ready between the lines. OSDL isn't just building a library, but is also lining up resources. It first needs the patent holders to submit all the information in its database. Once it gains the insight into all these patents, the library also acts as a bargaining chip: as soon as a patent holder threatens a developer, the latter can access the library and look for any patents that the claimant is infringing upon.
Follows a cross licensing deal and the threat is gone.
Take it yet one step further and you can see OSDL or some other organisation proactively going out and enforce these open source patents as a determent: "Back off or we'll come after you."
You don't have to look very far to think who this plan could be targeting: only one company recently has become very active in building a patent portfolio while hiring an army of patent lawyers: Microsoft.
It's just a bit too early to go out and say that now, but OSDL today started building a nuclear shield that is intended as a response to the threat from Microsoft's. The cold war has entered a new stage.
Stuart Cohen puts his cards on the table
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Tags: HP, Linux, linuxworld, IBM, sun, sun microsystems, nokia, patent
HP becomes a GPL fundamentalist
Trying to create news where there isn't any, HP's Linux executive Martin Fink took up one of his pet projects: the proliferation of open source licences.
Fink previously has urged the OSI to tackle the abundance of open source licences. The OSI does the certification of licences, giving them the official label of being 'open source'.
The OSI has responded and is working on a solution.
But whatever happens, existing licences will remain to be used unless the owner decides to retract it. That is easier said then done. Once software developers have started making contributions to an open source project, the owner of the project requires their permission before he can change the licence that governs the project.
Intel earlier this year did exactly that: abandon its open source licence. That wasn't a big deal however - apparently it wasn't being used for any software.
Out to score some easy PR points, Fink today in his keynote at Linuxworld in San Francisco called upon IBM and Sun Microsystems to abandon their open source licences.
"I'm asking IBM to follow Intel's lead to deprecate the IBM open source licence," Fink told delegates at the event. The audience hardly responded, until he said that: " I also want to ask Scott Mcnealy and Jonathah Schwarz to deprecate the CDDL and release Solaris under the GPL."
Sun has gone through enough in defending its OSI approved CDDL. The vendor is unlikely to now turn around and say: "Why of course, now that you ask politely." Especially because the company feels that the GPL doesn't work.
IBM is in a similar situation, and has even more projects that are governed by their open source licence.
Surely it would be nice if these parties all gathered behind a single licence - but if that happens it won't be under the GPL (more about that tomorrow by the way).
Fink might have scored points in the popularity contest with the hard core, GPL loving part of the open source community. But his realism radar needs calibration.
Martin Fink
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Tags: HP, Linux, linuxworld
Oracle bores LinuxWorld to death
Back in 2003, Oracle launched the Oracle Grid. Tie a bunch of computers together, put their resources in a single pool and you get a super stable and scalable system. By the way, run it on Linux and you'll save money on your software licences too.
That was 2003. So what does Oracle co-president Charles Philips tell delegates at the 2005 LinuxWorld conference in San Francisco?
Surely he wouldn't bore them to sleep with a shameless pitch for the Oracle Grid, would he? He wouldn't put up a slide with market share figures, showing that the Oracle database is bigger than IBM's DB2?
Oracle would never act so thankless as to use the opening keynote of such a major industry event for a 20 minute sales pitch, leaving half of the 45 minute slot unused.
But yes, they did.
"Oracle is 100 per cent behind Linux," Philips said this morning at the event. Good for you, mate. Now if only if you could get behind the people that you address as well, that would be even better.
Philips persues a second carreer as hypnotist. Lesson 1: put an audience to sleep. Mission: accomplished.
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Tags: Oracle, Linux, open source, linuxworld
Is the SCO chief opening the door for compromise?
SCO chief executive Darl McBride isn't slinging his mud as enthusiastically as he used to. In an interview with vnunet.com at SCO forum in Las Vegas, he said that he wanted to come to a resolution in the ongoing litigation of his company against IBM and several other companies over SCO's claims of ownership of the Unix operating system.
But McBride might be willing to start talking, he doesn't seem to be bringing much to the bargaining table. At least yet.
McBride seems to have realised that there isn't much of a life beyond the litigation, regardless of who wins.
"If all we are doing is sitting here waiting around for a lottery ticket to come in, then what's the point? Life's too short."
SCO last month unveiled a new version of its OpenServer Unix operating system. Believe it or not, the software has been hailed by many as a great improvement over the previous version. It could even attract new users and let SCO build a viable business selling software instead of buying lottery tickets.
Darl McBride
McBride with fake Tina Turner and dancers... that is if McBride isn't fake too
SCO's engineers - they are real!
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Tags: SCO, Linux, News, IBM, Unix, Open Source, Solaris, SUN, Novell.
F-Secure seeing Windows Vista virus ghosts
Microsoft took a very sophisticated swing at security company F-Secure today over what turns out to be a poorly researched report about a proof of concept virus that F-Secure described as the "First Vista virus".
As I wrote yesterday, the virus doesn’t affect Windows Vista, but a technology called MSH, codenamed Monad.
Monad originally was scheduled to be part of Windows Vista, but last June Microsoft started saying that it wouldn't include the technology with Vista but ship it with Exchange 12 instead.
Today Microsoft further clarified its plans: Monad definitely won't ship as part of Windows Vista.
"The next version of Exchange will leverage some of the technology developed as a result of our investment in “Monad”. It is a possibility that Monad’s timing could align with the update release to Longhorn Server, but it is too early to confirm that this will be the case," a spokeswoman for Microsoft told vnunet.com.
That takes care of the headline that F-Secure used in its report/blog posting, describing the flaw as the "first Vista virus". MSH has as much in to do with Vista as Apple has with SCO.
Furthermore, F-Secure saying that the virus exploits MSH by itself is wrong. Instead, the attack methodology is a common approach with any shell, be it in Windows, Unix or OS X.
"The viruses do not attempt to exploit a software vulnerability and do not encompass a new method of attack," the spokeswoman said.
She says it politely, but it comes down to this: F-Secure claims that it has found a way to break into Mercedes cars by smashing the side window. But in fact you can use the same approach to steal any car without bullet proof windows.
F-Secure couldn't be reached for comment.
Saying this is a Microsoft flaw shows poor judgement. This is what makes and breaks reputations.
Next time we'll take away the puppy!
Tags: windows, windows vista, microsoft, virus, security, f-secure
Voip providers compared
Not all VoIP providers are created equally, and it IS possible for a former monopolist to create the best offering in the industry. That's what PC World's comparison of VoIP providers proves.
Check out the full report here.
The top 7:
1. AT&T Callvantage
2. Packet 8
3. Comcast
4. Vonage
5. Verizon
6. AOL
7. Lingo
Must say that I have no complaints about Vonage, even if it came in only fourth, but at least I didn't fall for Lingo which is the only US based provider to include unlimited calls to Europe.
From what I understand btw, Vonage is by far the market share leader.
Tags: VoIP, Telephony, OSX, vonage, packet 8, comcast, lingo, aol, verizon
The world's first Windows Vista virus… isn't a Vista virus
Security researchers should stick to what they are good at: talk about security. But when it comes to features for upcoming operating systems, they have just proven that they don't know what they are talking about.
F-Secure earlier today posted on its blog that the first 'viruses' for Windows Vista had surfaced. Minor detail: the virus exploits a technology that isn't even part of Vista.
The virus exploits Microsoft Command Shell (MSH) technology, codenamed Monad.
I'll assume that F-Secure is right about the proof of concept viruses. But they mess up when it comes to MSH.
MSH is a scripting technology that is similar to the command shell in Unix-like operating systems. It gives administrators a way to manage a system without using any third party tools. It also allows Microsoft to get rid of the last remnants of the DOS prompt in Windows such as the command.com.
Although MSH was originally scheduled to ship as part Windows Vista, Microsoft has since decided to have its release coincide with the launch of Exchange 12. It won't ship as part of Vista, although both applications have a projected release date in the second half of 2006. And MSH isn't limited to Vista, but supports Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 too.
F-Secure however doesn't know about the release plans for MSH. That's OK for a security company, but the company then shouldn't have said that "rumours" suggest that the application won't ship as part of Vista.
All this is important because now suddenly F-Secure's "Vista" virus is nothing more than a MSH-virus. That doesn’t make for sexy headlines, but it would be factually correct.
The story gets worse. Based on F-Secure's misinformation, and attracted by a catchy headline, several technology websites copied the misinformation in the blog posting.
And so another myth was born.
UPDATE 8/5/05 9:37 AM:
As expected, the misinformation is spreading. At least Microsoft watch's Mary Jo Foley has it right.
In this case, misinformation is the true virus.
Tags: windows, windows vista, microsoft, virus, security, f-secure
Google: "Really, we are different"
Google isn't just looking for a new chef for its cafeteria, it is even organising a worldwide search.
If you're into management books (which I don't recommend – even Harry Potter generally makes for much better bedtime reading), you've probably heard of Geoffrey Moore. He is a big supporter of the notion of 'core versus context'. If an activity is context, you shouldn't be doing it. Period.
Doing things in house allows you to pursue the best possible quality in the world. The trick it to find the areas where you need to excel in quality (the core), and those where perfection is a secondary need (the context).
Take the internal copy room. Whoever wastes his days in the basement room stapling and copying documents is unlikely to be a happy worker bee. He or she has zero career opportunities, and for the company profits it really doesn't matter if he is doing an excellent or mediocre job. It are just copies, you know.
The answer is called outsourcing. Get Kinko's to run your copy room, or abolish the room altogether and have the work done at an offsite location. Kinko's has a reason to hire the best copy makers in the world, train them and have them deliver brilliantly clear copies: they want to retain your business.
Back to Google. By launching a search for the best cafeteria chef in the world, the search provider is saying that it considers cafeteria food core business. But is its top quality food helping the search provider to sell more advertising and create better search algorithms? Or wouldn't it hurt to take one step back?
Even if you argue that the quality of the food has to be excellent beyond a level that any caterer can provide, there is no reason why Google needs an in house catering division. It can't possibly offer the chef the career path to stay with the search provider long term. After all that's how Google lost its last chef. Sure, there are Google stock options, but even money gets boring over time.
The quest for a new chef – and the fact the company is sending out a press release - does help it to establish itself as highly different. But at this rate, we could see a quest for the world's best security guard next week. After all, Google's corporate secrets need a level of protection that no security company can provide.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin is looking to save Google's secret sauce
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tags: google
The Wal-Mart school of management
Wal-Mart may be known for its low prices, lousy job benefits for rank and file employees, limited carreer opportunities for women and its ability to drive local 'main street shops' into bankruptcy. Its management is also rapidly becoming a recruitment pool for technology companies.
Microsoft today disclosed that it has hired Kevin Turner as its new chief operating officer. Turner formerly headed up Sam's Club, a warehouse club operation with $37b in annual sales and a Wal-Mart subsidiary.
The announcement came only weeks after HP disclosed that it had hired Randall Mott, another former Wal-Mart veteran, as its new chief information officer.
The pillaging of Wal-Mart's executive ranks by head hunters isn't just a tribute to the company's management skills. It is also further proof that high tech no longer is in a league of its own in the world's economy.
In fact, it proofs that its products have become commodities much like the detergents and toothpaste that Wal-Mart sells.
Kevin Turner. Ok, so you're getting bold. Now could you sit up straight please?
Photo courtesy of Microsoft
Dumpster diving at Apple
While on our weekly dumpster dive at Apple in Cupertino this week, I stumbled upon an audio tape from the company's marketing department.
Sources close the company say that Apple plans to use it for its upcoming TV commercials for the new mighty mouse – now with double the buttons!
Click here to listen to or download the file: Mighty_Mouse.ra (real audio, 84Kb)
Photo courtesy of Apple
tags: Apple, mouse, Hardware, technology, Mac, Tiger, Tech, OS X, device, mighty mouse
(OK - its a joke. But Apple did in fact purchase a licence to use the name from Viacom, the owner of the one true Mighty Mouse cartoon character)
The iPod meets its match
Provided that the $399 price tag doesn't scare you away, Creative's new Zen Vista media player could be the device that dethrones the iPod.
Offering video playback, it delivers what users shouldn't expect from Apple until at least 2006. Creative even came out with a black and white model to cater to users who expect their portable devices to be white.
The device might have to compete with Sony's PSP to keep the kids quiet during long trips, it has great potential with the crowd of heavy travellers who waste away their lives in airplanes and are fed up with those awful Adam Sandler movies.
Throw in an address book, calendar and to-do list that synchronise with Outlook, and I know it offers 99 per cent of the features that I use in a PDA today.
I'll wait until the reviews come in, but the Zen Vista could very well replace the iPod under this year's Christmas tree as the "must have" device.
Photo courtesy of Creative
tags: ipod, creative, zen vista
EFF exposes Rackspace's real customer commitment
When hosting provider Rackspace sent a complete copy of the hard drive of Indymedia's website to the FBI, the company did so without any legal basis or obligation. This is, according to the EFF, what is shown by recently unsealed court documents (PDF download here).
The quick facts (read the full story here)
- Italy in October 2004 wants to see log files for Indymedia.org and files an official request with the FBI.
- A Texas assistant US attorney hands a subpoena to Rackspace, that hosts the websites from its London location.
- Rackspace takes the websites offline
- Rackspace makes a copy of the server's hard disk, not just the requested log files, and sends it to the FBI
The subpoena now shows that the full copy was never requested, and therefore should never have been surrendered.
"When Rackspace received a government demand to examine logs that didn't exist, it had a responsibility to the customer and to the principles of freedom of the press to fight the order and resolve this without taking more than 20 news sites off the Internet," said Kurt Opsahl, EFF staff attorney.
Rackspace's response?
"Rackspace employees searched for the specific information requested in the subpoena but were unable to locate this information prior to the strict delivery deadline imposed by the FBI. In order to comply with the mandated deadline, Rackspace delivered copied drives to the FBI," spokeswoman Annalie Drusch told vnunet.com.
Never mind due process, the freedom of speech or the freedom that protects individuals against unauthorized searches by authorities. Rackspace obviously didn't want any trouble with the FBI and decided to suck up.
If Rackspace were your landlord, they would let in the police without even asking for a search warrant - they would even do the search for them.
That's a great signal to send to your customers: "If you ever have any run-in with the authorities, we'll turn our back you – our paying customer. No questions asked. Because customer commitment and pleasing uncle Sam don't mix."
Tags: eff, indymedia, Privacy, Copyright, technology, Politics, Internet.
Internet Explorer 7 gives standards the finger
If Internet Explorer 7 is Microsoft's attempt to gain back market share from Firefox, the developers are doing a very poor job so far.
Testers of the first beta that was released last week report a slew of problems with applications. And proving that the old monopolistic Microsoft still hasn't completely faded away, the company won't fully support today's open web standards.
Third party toolbars like Google's and Yahoo's stopped working in some cases.
Applications that seemingly have nothing to do with the browser came to a screeching halt, including the Trillian unified instant messaging client and Microsoft Money.
It just shows you how deeply Internet Explorer is embedded into the Windows operating system that i
Far more serious however is Microsoft's decision to deviate from the CSS standard (cascading style sheets). The current version of the brower wasn't very friendly for the standard either, but Microsoft had promised to better its life. Not so in the first beta, notes Paul Thurrott.
Microsoft has every (legal) right design Internet Explorer as it pleases. But the company has a poor track record in following and adopting open standards.
As users we have a very clear way to tell Microsoft how we feel about its refusal to truly support open standards and lock us in to a proprietary technology: use software that does adhere to open standards instead. Perhaps Microsoft will start listening when Firefox reaches 30 per cent market share.
Or as Thurrott puts it: "Boycott IE".
Speak out.
(photo taken at anti war protest in San Francisco on the first day of the US's search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq on 20 March 2003)
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tags: internet explorer, ie7, microsoft, monopoly
Is Dell's poor customer service worse because of blogs?
Dell is getting arrogant in its customer service. Enough so to persuade blogger Shel Israel, who has never had a problem with his Dell laptop, to start telling friends and family not to get one.
What's more important, Israel bases his opinion on what he read on other blogs, from bloggers that he trusts.
In a world of full disclosure and where angry customers are only one step away from venting their frustration online, Dell had better pay attention, Israel argues.
There is one problem however. The blogger might base his opinion on blogs, other will look at friends they met at parties or comments they heard at conferences. Few people today read blogs and of the blog readers only a small group will base their opinion on what other bloggers think of a brand or product.
Surely Dell needs to improve its customer service. But not because of the power of blogs, but because bad service catches up with you over time anyway. Blogs are just thrown into the mix.
Image courtesy of ihatedell.net
tags: dell, blogosphere, blogs
Apple sees double
Apple decided to copy a feature from the PC world and unveiled a mouse with multiple buttons and a scroll wheel… pardon me: scroll ball.
Since the introduction of the first Macintosh in 1984 Apple has been using single button computer mice. This is nothing short of a revolution.
The new Mighty Mouse now also offers shortcut buttons on the left and right side of the device: press the button together with the scroll ball and OS X Tiger will start up an application - the users picks which one.
The Apple mouse still looks a lot prettier than your average ergonomic Microsoft model. You can't even see that it has a left and right click option.
But looks aren't everything. In today's age of carpal tunnel syndrome, users suffering from this handicap have cursed Apple's mouse design for being unpractical.
I personally used to have a Microsoft Natural keyboard with my iMac. It worked fined until an Apple update broke the multimedia keys. Apple had never heard of the problem before, and even though their software update caused the problem, they didn't consider it their problem. When I called the support line, the amazed helpdesk technician could only stutter: "But… why would you want to use a Microsoft keyboard?"
Ergonomics, buddy. The Microsoft model might not look as nice, it doesn't make my fingers hurt after a day's work.
On to call Microsoft. They didn't whine about why I used a Mac (winning them a lot of sympathy points), understood my problem and promised to call me back within 5 days.
Three days later Apple issued patch that fixed the problem and as promised Microsoft called to check in on the problem. I'll vow for my Microsoft keyboard and mouse any time.
Photo courtesy of Apple
Tags: apple, mouse, mighty mouse
Non-profit has a good Windows Vista laugh
UPDATE 3/8/05: OK - I was WRONG. The Organisaiton really is upset with Microsoft. It just took me two days to get someone on the phone there. The original posting assumed this was a hoax... please read on for an updated version.
Two non-profits are outraged over the name of Windows Vista.
The Vista Software Alliance and WorldVista promote the use of the VistA software suite, an application for electronic health records developed by the Veterans Administration. The two provide services to hospitals, medical practices and other organisations that use the software.
On Monday they issued a press release claiming that they "denounce" the name of Microsoft's new operating system.
The phrasing is off for such a press release (enough so to convince me that the it was a hoax), using harsh language and, failing to make a single demand. They are upset, but what do they want from Microsoft?
"The confusion created by Microsoft and its choice of the word 'Vista' is an affront to the people who take care of our nation's veterans," said Barbara Boykin, Chairman of the VistA Software Alliance, claiming that Microsoft is "demeaning" the passion of doctors and health care workers by "expropriating" the name Vista.
Photo credit: Nora Pacher
Tags; hoax, Windows vista, microsoft
Ringtones lose their groove
If you're mobile phone still notifies you of incoming calls with a 10 second snippet of Willey Nelson or Outcast, you are soooooo 2004.
Ringtones are out, reports analyst firm Canalys and the years that mobile operators would reap the profit by charging $2.50 per download are ending too.
Flat rate monthly plans are attracting more customers, but consumers really want true digital music, not the 10 second version for which they pay a 150% premium over an iTunes download.
Criminals and unscrupulous entrepreneurs put the final nail in the annoying industry's coffin by selling fake subscriptions and signing unknowing users up for subscription text message services.
I knew it all along. My phone has been ringing a very clear, obnoxious and efficient Desk Tone Low for years now, and I know that some day it will be hip again.
If that doesn't happen, give me half an hour while I go look to find out how to change the settings.
Tags: ringtones, cellphone, mobile phone
IBM rapes open source
After users reminded IBM of its open source commitment, the company suddenly seems to have back peddled on its promises.
That is at least what happened with the company's Cgidev2 tool, a development tool for its iSeries server line that allows developers to web-enable applications that are written in COBOL or RPG.
Although IBM's website claims that the software is open source, the company now seems to be a saying that it really isn't.
Users actually are never presented with any licence agreement. The IBM website certainly doesn't say which open source licence governs the code, and users who download the free tools don't get to see one either.
So when Giovanni Perotti asked IBM if he could host the Cigdev2 application on his website, the answer was simple: "No way!"
But Big Blue never realised that Perotti retired from IBM only months ago, or that he was the last developer to work on the application. Following its flat out denial, the next logical step was that Cgidev2 would be mothballed, frozen in time.
Users cried foul, IBM was embarrassed, emails clogged IBM inboxes, and before you knew it, IBM decided to assign developers to keep the project up and running. But be that inside IBM's website.
The continuing support for the software is great for Cgidev2 users, but the larger issue is still that IBM abused open source. The software vendor attracted users and developers by claiming that the code was open source, and now gets away with back peddling on a legal technicality: there is no open source licence to back up the claim.
The whole thing leaves a large dent in IBM's reputation as open source advocate.
But at least the company knows how to cut its losses. IBM now is considering releasing the source code after all, a company spokeswoman told vnunet.com. Better late than never.
IBM makes Tux meet Pinocchio
Tags: open source, linux, OSI, IBM, iseries
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