HiWEB-Interactive Show Log –
023– 080708
-Opening Comments
“Welcome to HiWEB-Interactive, bringing you information from the edge of technology”
*This is a summary
of recent news and technology highlights.
HiWEB-Interactive – Show #23 – From August 7th 2008
Airing weekly Thursdays at 9p (PST) – And available on LIVE.HIWEB.NET as well as archived
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-Hot NewsTopics this week
(*Prepped 24 Hours Prior)
1-Cyber-hacktivism,
botnet effectiveness on the rise
2-E-Passports
Can Be Hacked and Cloned in Minutes
3-AT&T
has head in the clouds with Synaptic Hosting
4-New
3.2Gbps FireWire spec approved, not as fast as USB 3.0
5-Microsoft
misses Windows Mobile goal by 2 million licenses
6-Rumor
mill churns out more Zune Phone rumors
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-Review of Hot Topics
(*Elaborate on Hot Topics)
*SEE PRINTED
NOTES…..
1-Cyber-hacktivism,
botnet effectiveness on the rise -
Secure Computing has released its quarterly
report
(PDF) detailing the ups and downs of security over the past three months and
describing the current trends of the field as we head into the third quarter of
2008. Some of the results won't surprise anyone—unless spam volume being up 280
percent over 2007 sounds shocking, but there are some interesting new
developments in the white-hat/black-hat race.
Spam volume is up year-on-year, but peaked on March 27, at 185 billion messages,
and has dropped some 40 percent since. Botnet growth has similarly dropped from
last year's Storm-fueled peak, but while the number of new zombie-fied systems
appearing per day has fallen from 300,000 to 150,000, the botnets themselves are
pumping out record amounts of spam. The implication, it seems, is that while
botnets are smaller and growing more slowly than they did last year, their
operators are using them more efficiently. Alternatively, the computers
themselves may be staying zombie-fied for a longer period of time.
Zlob seems to be the bug driving this trend, and as Trojans go, it's fairly
well-rounded. Zlob functions as both keylogger and backdoor, and can relay
sensitive data while simultaneously providing full system access to its botnet
masters. SecureComputing notes that these sort of spyware families are
responsible for much of the recent botnet growth, especially when combined with
the increasing prevalence of rootkits as part of a malware package.
The United States continues to be the primary launch pad for all things spammish
at 16.56 percent of the total volume, followed by Russia (6.71 percent), Turkey
(6.51 percent), Brazil (5.29 percent) and Italy (4.32 percent). Spammers
continue to believe that every male on earth suffers from terminally low
self-esteem; advertisements for male enhancement products make up 39.5 percent
of all spam, followed by fake product advertising, prescription drugs, and
gambling. The amount of malware in languages other than English is also growing,
and exceeded 50 percent for the first time this past quarter.Speaking English is
an asset in the malware industry, but being multilingual is increasingly
valued.
Study hard, kids!
The big-picture view of things is that threats are rapidly becoming more
sophisticated as hackers blend threats with multiple characteristics and
approaches, and adapt to new social mediums. We've seen some evidence of this
experimentation in the new Twitter attacks, and in the use of world events as a
phishing lure. The Olympics are the most recent example of this particular
tactic,
but Storm Worm hackers employed it repeatedly on
holidays,
and when Benazir Bhutto was
assassinated
late last year.
SecureComputing also mentions a series of cyber-attacks against Lithuania early
this summer. These slipped under the radar, and weren't covered nearly as widely
as the
Estonia attacks last year,
but involved similar circumstances. According to reports, a pro-Russian group of
hackers attacked Lithuanian websites, disabling up to 300 of them.
Lithuania-Russia relations have been souring for months, and were never
particularly good to begin with. Lithuania fought a seven-year war against the
Soviet Union from 1944-1952, ended up a member of the Eastern Bloc anyway, and
hasn't exactly declared Russia its BFF since declaring independence in March
1990.
This type of activity, referred to as cyber-hacktivism, is potentially more
dangerous than it may first appear. As I noted when we covered the Estonian
incidents,
this marked the first time I was aware of in which a single individual with a
computer was able to notably impact relations between two neighboring nations.
The long-term impact, in this case, has likely been minimal, but there's no
denying that Estonian accusations against Russia led to a temporary chill
between the two countries. This new round of attacks provoked similar cries of
outrage from Lithuania, and again underscores the need for governments to be
exceptionally careful before fingering targets. Whether these attacks were
backed by Russia or not, tossing accusations around only empowers those who view
such assaults as a legitimate form of political expression, and don't care
overmuch about the consequences.
<Change Slide>
2-E-Passports
Can Be Hacked and Cloned in Minutes
-
Tests conducted for the UK's Times Online have concluded that the new
high-tech e-passports
being distributed around the world can be hacked and cloned within minutes. A
computer researcher proved it by cloning the chips in two British passports and
then implanting digital images of Osama bin Laden and a suicide bomber. Both
passports passed as genuine by UN approved passport reader software. The entire
process took less than an hour.
Initially, the assumption was that cloned chips would be spotted because their
key codes would not match those stored in an international database. However,
only 10 of the 45 countries participating in the e-passport program have signed
up to for the Public Key Directory (PKD) code system, and only five are
currently using it. On top of all that, the research also suggests that
biometric data could also be manipulated and implemented into fake passports.
At this point, there has been no evidence to suggest that an e-passport has been
successfully cloned and passed off as genuine in a real-life situation—but it is
bound to happen unless every country buys into the PKD. Even then, I still have
my doubts about long-term security. We all know that it's only a matter of time
before someone figures out how to manipulate the system.
http://gizmodo.com/5033923/e+passports-can-be-hacked-and-cloned-in-minutes
<Change Slide>
3-AT&T
has head in the clouds with Synaptic Hosting -
AT&T has become the latest company to launch a cloud computing service with its
launch of
Synaptic Hosting.
The service provides pay-as-you-go access to managed hosting, providing
computing, storage, security, and networking on an as-needed basis.
In 2006, AT&T purchased
USinternetworking,
an application service provider offering managed hosting of enterprise
applications like PeopleSoft and SAP. Synaptic Hosting combines this technology
with AT&T's 38 global data centers. The company will upgrade five of its data
centers into "super data centers"—three in the US, one each in Singapore and
Amsterdam—to provide the infrastructure for large-scale computing applications.
Synaptic Hosting builds on virtualization technology. Customers will get a
virtual environment with storage, operating system, network connectivity, a
certain amount of processing power and memory, with management and monitoring
facilities from AT&T. This virtual environment will be burstable so that it can
get access to more resources as required. As well as the basic system
infrastructure, Synaptic Hosting also offers management of applications like web
servers and database servers, including configuration, patching, and other
maintenance. And if customers have specific needs, dedicated hardware is also
available. Synaptic Hosting, therefore, offers the benefits of cloud
computing—ease of scaling, broad application support—with the hands-off
convenience of software-as-a-service.
The target customers are those with variable capacity demands; for example,
online retailers that have a Christmas rush, or the
US Olympic team website
(which uses Synaptic Hosting today). This variable demand is one of the big
motivators behind the idea of cloud/utility computing; it allows businesses to
satisfy their peak demand without having huge amounts of excess capacity during
quiet periods. When a site only sees a lot of traffic for two weeks in every
four years, this is a very valuable feature.
AT&T is describing Synaptic Hosting as enterprise-class; unlike services like
Amazon's EC2 and S3, Synaptic Hosting offers service-level agreements, rapid
support, and management of off-the-shelf applications, and the company believes
that this enterprise-level support sets AT&T's cloud computing capabilities
apart from anything else on the market. AT&T's objective is to provide a cloud
platform suitable for the enterprise, and Synaptic Hosting's combination of the
provision of the full stack (computing, storage, networking, operating system,
and perhaps applications) along with service guarantees is the company's first
step towards that. For customers bitten by
Amazon S3's recent outage,
the greater guarantees of AT&T's system may be very appealing.
This move by AT&T shows that the cloud computing market, although still young,
is maturing fast. Using utility computing to provide IT infrastructure is still
only a small market—some 5 percent of all data center outsourcing, according to
a recent Gartner report—but it's one that's already worth $5 billion. With the
availability of enterprise-ready solutions, this is an area sure to see further
growth.
<Change Slide>
4-New
3.2Gbps FireWire spec approved, not as fast as USB 3.0 -
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1394 working group
behind the development of FireWire in both its 400Mbps and 800Mbps
configurations has formally approved the next-generation S1600 and S3200
standards. These two standards build on the already established FireWire
ecosystem, and will offer speeds of 1.6Gbps and 3.2GBps, respectively. The final
specification itself should be published in October, but there's no word on when
we'll see shipping product, or what the adoption ratio between S1600 and S3200
will be.
Backwards compatibility concerns, thankfully, should be kept to a minimum. The
new S1600/S3200 cables will be fully compatible with both older FireWire 800
cables and FireWire 400/800 devices. S3200, meanwhile, isn't the end of the line
for FireWire technology, as current plans call for the interface to scale up to
at least 6.4Gb/s over time. That's not going to happen any time soon, but
there's obviously still plenty of headroom in the interface itself.
The IEEE 1394 standard will face a new competitor in the form of USB 3.0. USB
3.0's specification is expected to be published by the end of the year, which
may give S3200 a few months' head start. FireWire, however, has never enjoyed
the widespread success of USB 3.0, and as a result, could find itself the first
standard out the door, but the last standard on the shelf. Motherboard
manufacturers will drop USB 3.0 on high-end boards as soon as chipsets are
available (even if devices aren't), but FireWire ports are considerably harder
to come by.
That's not to say they don't exist, but FireWire 400 is easier to find than
FireWire 800 (except on Macs), and the number of available ports is typically
limited to 1-2, even on a high-end motherboard. USB 2.0 ports, on the other
hand, are plentiful, with most boards offering 8-12 in some combination of
included ports and onboard headers. The peripheral interconnect field is also
more crowded now, and S1600/S3200 will have to compete against eSATA, as well.
Daring to mention USB 2.0's dominance over FireWire inevitably brings the
standard's defenders out of the woodwork, and to be fair, FireWire has always
been the more technologically-advanced standard, with its faster transfer
speeds, lower CPU utilization, and the ability to provide more power to attached
devices (devices that can run off a single FireWire port could well require two
USB ports). These advantages, however, have never managed to overcome USB 2.0's
general popularity, and FireWire remains a niche interface outside certain
peripheral markets (i.e., video cameras), where it has always done well, and
Macintosh computers.
Broad market penetration notwithstanding, the appearance of a faster FireWire
standard will be warmly greeted by anyone frustrated by FireWire 800 transfer
speeds who doesn't want to deal with the potential hassles of USB 3.0.
<Change Slide>
5-Microsoft
misses Windows Mobile goal by 2 million licenses -
In an interview with Andy Lees, senior vice president of the Redmond company's
Mobile Communications Business, Todd Bishop managed to grab some interesting
facts about recent Windows Mobile developments.
First, Microsoft sold more than 18 million Windows Mobile software licenses in
the last fiscal year, which ended June 30, 2008. This was about 2 million short
of Microsoft's widely publicized 20 million target. Lees explained that a few
OEMs shipped their devices later than expected, and this was the reason for the
shipment target being missed. He declined, however, to say which ones: "That
would be unfair to the OEMs."
Secondly, Microsoft increased Windows Mobile's share of the worldwide mobile
phone operating system market. According to IDC data, Windows Mobile unit sales
have grown faster than the overall market, expanding from slightly more than 11
percent to just under 13 percent of the worldwide smartphone market.
Two months ago,
Microsoft announced it expected Windows Mobile sales to grow by at least 50
percent in the upcoming fiscal years 2008 and 2009.
Thirdly, Lees claimed the shortfall in Windows Mobile unit sales didn't have a
material impact on revenue in the Entertainment & Devices Division. 2 million
may seem like a large number, but the division has revenue coming in from
various sources that don't depend on Windows Mobile software licenses.
After acquiring Danger
in February,
Microsoft has now announced that its subsidiary teamed up with T-Mobile USA to
release the new T-Mobile Sidekick. The device features support for video
capture, playback, and sharing; wireless stereo music and media sharing via
Bluetooth; quick friend search and group chats in instant messaging;
customizable Web browsing; universal search across all phone applications and
data; and a
customizable shell.
Collaborations like this one are great for pushing Microsoft services onto new
phones, but they won't help much in revenue or unit sales since the Sidekick
doesn't run Windows Mobile.
<Change Slide>
6-Rumor
mill churns out more Zune Phone rumors -
This past January, Bill Gates himself denied that a Zune-branded iPhone
competitor was in the works. A Zune Phone does not really make sense for
Microsoft: the company has many Windows Mobile phones on the market already, and
it should focus on making the Zune a success before it goes to the drawing board
for a new mobile device. However, Apple's immense success with the iPhone,
coupled with the fact Microsoft did eventually produce the Zune in response to
the iPod, has resulted in rumor after rumor of a Zune Phone being in the works.
Still, no one has managed to come up with any tangible evidence that Microsoft
was up to something, save for a possible connection between
Windows Mobile and the Zune.
Recently, the rumor mill has started up again on this one: I've begun to hear
about the Zune Phone more and more (ever since the release of the iPhone 3G, to
be completely honest). jkOnTheRun has the latest scoop from one of its sources:
We have totally unconfirmed information from a reader who wishes to remain
anonymous that Microsoft is indeed working on a Zune phone. This source had
information about a meeting this week in Redmond that was planning a Zune phone
to compete with the iPhone. According to this information, the Zune phone will
be based on a specialized variant of Windows Mobile 7 and key functionality will
be centered around Windows Live Services. On the hardware side the ZunePhone
would be touch-screen based using multi-touch (surprise) but other than that not
much is known.
Now, I do not doubt that Microsoft could indeed create a Zune Phone and get it
into stores, but the mobile phone market is very, very saturated. I do not
believe that this is a good idea for the software giant, unless the company can
really create something that makes peoples' heads turn.
<Change Slide>
How can I
Convert a Video to an MP3 File?
VidToMP3 is a brand new site that allows you to download the audio from
none-copyrighted video clips on video sites! We support all of your favorites,
Myspace, Youtube, Google video and more. Remember to bookmark our Video to Sound
converter for all your vid to mp3 needs!
How to use:
-Copy the FULL address of the page with the video.
(ex:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7y8GC3DW4Y)
-Paste the address you copied into the text box below.
-Click "Download", and wait. Please be patient.
-When conversion is complete, click on "Download MP3".
-Done!
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“This show is being brought to you by many affiliates including NewEgg for
Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Camaras and much more…
Also
see HiWEB.NET at shop.hiweb.net for great more deals from many show sponsors.”
Type ‘shop newegg’ =
See NewEgg via
http://www.anrdoezrs.net/email-2779780-10440554
-New Technology to keep an
Eye On
(Auto
Tech, Alt. Fuel, Environment, Hacking, High Tech, etc…)
1-Kite
Power Could Generate Energy for 100,000 Homes -
If we told
you that a free-flying kite could provide enough energy to power your house, you
might consider us crazy. How about all the homes on your block, or even an
entire city? Scientists at
Delft University of Technology
in the Netherlands recently tested just such a technology, tethering a 10 square
meter kite to a generator to produce 10 kilowatts of power (enough energy for 10
homes). They are currently planning to scale the experiment with a 50 kilowatt
kite and a 100 megawatt array called the
Laddermill
that could potentially power 100,000 homes! We’ve covered
high-flying
examples of
solar
and
wind power
in the past, and we’re always captivated by such inspired approaches to
alternative energy.
The promise
of kite power lies in its inexpensive materials and its potential to harness
enormous amounts of power, since high altitude winds can carry hundreds of times
more energy than those on the ground. Airborne kites produce power by pulling on
a ground-bound generator, which reels the kites back once they reach their
maximum height. Also, unlike a field-full of wind turbines, kite power requires
a minimal amount of land use.
Researchers
at
Delft University of Technology
plan to follow up on their successful test with the
Laddermill,
an array of kites that will soar up to 30,000 feet, generating around 100
megawatts of electricity. Check out
guardian.co.uk’s
video of the test flight below!
http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/08/05/kite-power-delft-univerity-of-technology/
<Change Slide>
2 -iPhone 3G Goes Solar Powered with New
Case -
For those of you with the 3G, you may have noticed an issue with a rather short
battery life. Well,
Mobilefun
has a solar powered case that will help you with that problem. The solar case
can provide enough charge for functional use in less than 3 hours, but it will
take a full 10 hours to fill the battery. Maybe the thing to do is leave the
case on the dashboard or window sill all day, then charge your phone up at
night.
The case uses a solar panel to soak up sun, holds generated energy in a 1500 mAh
battery, and then charges up your phone when you insert it. If there isn’t
enough sunlight for a good charge, you can also use a mini USB; but if that’s
the case you might as well charge your phone the “regular” way. The solar case
is compatible with all iPhones, so if you have an older phone, you can still get
your time in the sun.
Perhaps this is coming out a little late for
Matthew Sparkes to test out,
so we don’t know how well it will work…yet. I’m sure there will be reports on
its effectiveness after it comes out in mid-August. But every little way to
utilize renewable energy is a step forward. And this way, you don’t have to wait
for the price to drop on
the solar cell phone.
http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1964/83/
<Change Slide>
3-EarthDrive
Claims World’s First Earth-Friendly USB Drive
- In a hunt for a new USB drive with more storage space than my sad little 256
MB that I bought for a whopping $56 in 2003 (yikes!), I ran across the
ATP 8GB EarthDrive,
which touts itself as the world’s first earth-friendly USB drive. The drive has
some great features, such as it is shock proof, water proof and dust proof, has
built in security software, drive partitioning, password protection and is nice
and big with 8 GB of storage. But what makes it so hot as a world’s first for
eco-friendliness?
This claim to fame comes the fact that it is made from bio-recycled plastics and
is fully recyclable at the end of its life. Taking it a tree-hugging step
further, a portion of all EarthDrive product sales goes towards the planting of
trees through their partnership with American Forests. For $48, I think I can
make a pretty guilt-free upgrade.
http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1965/71/
<Change Slide>
-Weekly Picture
<Change Slide>
-Tech Tip / Demo
Use GMail filters to keep your inbox organized.
1) At the top of your gmail page, click on Settings.
2) Choose Filters.
3) Click on “Create a new filter”. Filter by email address, subject or phrase.
If you don’t want to read email from bacon haters, for example, you send email
that says, “I hate bacon” straight to the trash!
4) Click “Next” and choose your settings. I have most of my filters set up to
“Skip the inbox” and “Apply the label”.
5) Choose “Create Filter”
See
http://www.gmail.com
to setup filter or create a GMail account for yourself
http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6579&topic=13285
-General Talk/Discussions
1-Viewers see giveaway link on HiWEB.NET for more details. Next Giveaway Tonight– Remember the eligibility requirements. Subscribe to Youtube, Register and Comment on Blog –*Andthen stay Tuned for Hot Giveaways
2- Future segments will include music production segments, hardware reviews and demos
3- We are currently engaging SME to produce custom segments away from live show –
4- Viewers can send show Tips / Recommendations to live@hiweb.net
5-HiWEB-Interactive Past Shows on http://www.hiweb.net/pastshows.html (past shows)
6- Talkshoe at
Phone Number:
(724) 444-7444
@
Call ID:
13364
-Closing Comments
Thiswas HiWEB-Interactive – Show #23
Remember tune in anytime at live.hiweb.net and Thursdays at 9p (PST) *Summer Hours -for the HiWEB-Interactive Tech Show
“Thank You for participating in HiWEB-Interactive, we look forward to bringing you more information from the edge of technology” Until next time have Fun with your technology – GottaJiboo!
-----Outro w/ Music,
Next Show Notice, Credits, Creative Commons
