Microsoft Demos XBox 360 HD DVD

Work is done. Time to relax with a cold beer and a movie.

Microsoft demonstrated its new HD DVD player for the XBox 360. They showed off some of the GUI and even gave a price range…somewhere under $500.

 

Wat Lit Frm Yondr Wndw Brks…

Romancing the Screen

It’s official, according to the BBC. Women prefer a love letter to a romantic text or email.

I gotta say, I was much more successful over the years sending letters than emailing. Women, at least the type I was attracted to, didn’t find much in a text message, either. Ok. I don’t think I ever texted much. I’m a little older than that.

And I’ve had a hard time believing that anyone could be romanced by a 1 1/2″ screen that reads

“Wat Lit Frm Yondr Wndw Brks… “

Ahh. Romance in a digital age.

 

WWDC 2006 Opens Today; Live Coverage

Ok. Ok.

Let’s see what the Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference is all about. It begins today.

Live coverage at MacRumors.
Many of you are ready for a .Mac update. We’ll see what happens shortly.

 

What’s New in Hacker Publications?

2600’s summer 2006 edition contains these highlights:

1. An interesting article on account security on T-mobile and Cingular phones;
2. Ways to get downloads from Warner Brothers Records, legally;
3. Facebook hacking;
4. How to get around GPOs on Windows machines;
5. How to bypass the program security (i.e., MCX) in Mac OS X.

 

Dan Kaminsky’s Net Neutrality Test

Black Hat has wrapped up and Def Con is underway.

Wednesday Dan Kaminsky, a researcher in Seattle, presented a tool to test ISPs for Net Neutrality. Kaminsky plans to post the tool for free on his website. Hopefully, it’ll be out soon since Comcast has already shown it’s not net neutral. Bless their souls.

 

Wireless Insecurity Effects Macs, Too.

At Black Hat 2006, David Maynor and John Ellch showed off wireless hacking of a MacBook. Windows and Linux also show vulnerabilities, of course, but attacking a Mac was just too tempting, apparently.

There’s a video of the demo on the washingtonpost.com site. And a follow up post.

 

Dear Steve Jobs … Got Digged!!

Thanks! This is new Web 2.0 stuff is fun!

Best thing is people, on aggregate, make their own news.  And they get to understand that they aren’t alone in their aggravation.

Now, if only Steve Jobs will listen. . ..

 

It’s Karma Time for Rambus, Says The FTC

It’s not exactly a dharmic teaching, but the belief in “what goes around, comes around” has certainly visited Rambus today.

Back in the day, Rambus, helped set the industry standards for RAM. When it did so, it had patents out for some of the technologies that were included in the standard. Everyone knew this in one way or another, but an FTC Administrative law judge in 2004 said it wasn’t the case, for whatever reason. Now the FTC has overturned that decision and Rambus faces penalties.

End of story? Well, no. You may have heard about Rambus filing suits against memory chipmakers for, coincidently, using Rambus patents to meet the industry standards.

Let’s take for example:

Naneon and Infineon
Micron, Hynix and Siemens
Samsung

And the lawsuits go on and on and on. Sounds like an SCO business plan!

 

Dear Steve Jobs: .Mac Mail is Getting Old

I’m massively disappointed in .Mac Mail’s lack of anti-spam tools. I primarily utilize the website and over the last few months I have seen a huge increase in the amount of spam in the account I use. I’ve noticed on your .Mac discussion boards there are numerous and voiciferous complaints regarding the increased rate of spam in .Mac accounts.

As a systems administrator, I am very mindful of avoiding spam and know how best to avoid spam. I have been a .Mac member since it was free. Now, I understand that it is foolish to pay $99 for the right to have a year’s worth of email, a website, and an iDisk account, when I could get more robust versions of most of this stuff for free somewhere else. It is particularly for me to pay for this since I don’t use a Mac much anymore. I support Macs some, but they’re no longer my bread and butter. Still, I have been a long-time user of your products and I enjoy having the same address and being associated with Apple in some way.
If there is not some work done to address this, I will think twice before renewing my subscription. I think there are others out there who would agree, after some of these complaints on your discussion boards are the kinds of things one has been able to find on Dell customer service discussion boards for some time now. And that part of their business isn’t going so well, now, is it?

I recognize that .Mac represents these days just a tiny portion of your overall revenue stream. It’s not sexy like iTunes or the iPod. Or at least it isn’t anymore. .Mac is becoming more and more like my old ‘93 Honda Accord. Useful, but definitely showing its age.

Of course, .Mac isn’t a ‘93 Honda Accord, it was, at least, an initial cornerstone to the whole Mac lifestyle idea you had envisioned. Now, Mr. Jobs, might I respectfully suggest, some upkeep be performed on .Mac.

Thank you for your time.

Yours, for now,

Jon Strand

 

Black Hat 2006 USA Begins Wednesday August 2nd

Black Hat 2006 USA starts tomorrow in Los Vegas and has an interesting schedule, with sponsors including Microsoft and Cisco. Apparently, Microsoft is showing off the security of Internet Explorer 7 and Vista at the show.

I would love to go to the conference. Perhaps next year…

If you’re interested in a taste, there are copies of the Power Point presentations from Black Hat 2006 Europe and Fed available, with audio archives forthcoming.

If you for some reason think that this is only for illegitimate root kiddies, think again. It can become an important part of your skillset, if you take the time.