News Humor Common PC Linux Mac CUCUG
The next CUCUG meeting will be held on our regular third Thursday of themonth: Thursday, February 15th, at 7:00 pm, at the First Baptist Churchof Champaign in Savoy. The Linux SIG convenes, of course, 45 minutesearlier, at 6:15 pm. Directions to the FBC-CS are at the end of thisnewsletter.
The February 15 gathering will be one of our split SIG meetings. The PCSIG is hoping to have a demonstration of the newly released Vistaoperating system from Microsoft. The Macintosh SIG is open for anythinganyone wants to bring in.
ToCWe'd like to welcome back our renewing members Norris Hansell, PhilWall, David Noreen and Emil Cobb.
We welcome any kind of input or feedback from members. Run across aninteresting item or tidbit on the net? Just send the link to the editor.Have an article or review you'd like to submit? Send it in. Have acomment? Email any officer you like. Involvement is the driving force ofany user group. Welcome to the group.
ToCby Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/8839>
TidBITS#865/05-Feb-07
Apple Inc. and Apple Corps today announced a new agreement under whichApple Inc. will own all the trademarks related to "Apple" and willlicense some of those trademarks back to Apple Corps. This agreementreplaces the 1991 agreement in which Apple Corps agreed to let AppleInc. use Apple Corps' trademarks even on items falling within AppleCorps' field of use (entertainment) so long as Apple Inc. didn't sell"physical media delivering pre-recorded content." (For a detailed lookat the history of the companies' relations, see Geoff Duncan's "CarryThat Weight: Apple Versus Apple," 2006-03-27.) The agreement also marksan end to the ongoing trademark infringement case in which Apple Corpssued Apple Inc.; Apple Corps lost the case but immediately appealed thedecision. Both companies will bear their own legal costs, and Apple Inc.will continue using its name and logo on iTunes. (Again, for details,see Geoff's "Not Guilty: Apple Beats Beatles Trademark Dispute,"2006-05-08.) Terms of the new agreement remain confidential.
<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/02/05apple.html>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/8471>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/8518>
Still up in the air is whether the Beatles' music will ever appear forsale in the iTunes Store. A handful of subtle references to the Beatlesin Steve Jobs's keynote at the recent Macworld Expo in January 2007 hadmany thinking such an announcement was forthcoming. However, in wordsthat don't exactly scream "let's make a deal," Neil Aspinall, manager ofApple Corps said in the announcement, "We wish Apple Inc. every successand look forward to many years of peaceful co-operation with them."According to the research firm NPD Group, the Beatles' music is amongthe most frequently downloaded from peer-to-peer file sharing services.
ToCBy Greg Sandoval
Story last modified Thu Jan 18 10:31:35 PST 2007
URL: <http://news.com.com/Skype+founders+name+new+video+start-up+Joost/2100-1026_3-6150225.html>
* Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, the duo that brought the world Skypeand Kazaa, have chosen a name for their new online-video start-up. *
The two want people hungry for Internet entertainment to roost at Joost.
Company executives had referred to the new company for months by thecodename "The Venice Project." They chose Joost because they like thering of it, according to a spokeswoman. The word doesn't have anymeaning in Danish or Swedish--Friis' and Zennstrom's respective nativetongues.
The plan, according to Joost CEO Fredrik de Wahl, is to offer studios,cable stations and anyone else who wants to distribute high-qualityvideo over the Internet, a fast, efficient and cheap distributionmethod. To do this, the company will rely on the peer-to-peer technologythat helped Friis and Zennstrom build Skype and Kazaa.
Their sparkling track record of creating hit companies aside, Friis andZennstrom face a crowded field of competitors, such as YouTube andApple, which are already well on their way to establishingthemselves as video-distribution platforms.
<http://news.com.com/Report+Google%2C+CBS+in+talks+on+ads%2C+content/2100-1024_3-6149699.html>
Most important, Joost has yet to strike any marquee partnerships withtop film or TV producers. Without them, the company's challenge is atough one: convincing studio executives and the like to turn over theircontent to Joost when it has yet to attract a big audience.
BitTorrent, the San Francisco-based distributor of a competingpeer-to-peer company, is also vying to license technology to Internetvideo companies. Another threat could come from the growing number ofsites that offer top cable and movie channels without permission. Onesuch company, TVU Networks, made a splash last summer by offering soccerfans the ability to watch World Cup matches on their PC. For a while,TVU Networks was offering HBO, CNN, the Disney Channel and NBAtv beforemany of those companies forced TVU to cease the practice.
<http://news.com.com//TVUPlayer+Another+Napster/2100-1025_3-6128775.html>
<http://news.com.com//TVU+chief+grapples+with+copyright+questions/2100-1026_3-6132672.html>
What Joost has going for it is that the software replicates the TVviewing experience better than many of the other companies trying to wedTV to the PC. And this is a time when Hollywood is experimenting withthe Internet. During the past year, Warner Bros. cut distribution dealswith Guba, a little-known video-sharing site, and BitTorrent, a companythat many consider to be synonymous with digital piracy.
Joost's nifty technology may be enough to sway the entertainmentindustry to place a bet on proven winners in Friis and Zennstrom.
A menu allows users to switch channels with a click of a link. Userswill also have TiVo-like control of the content and access to any showoffered regardless of time of day. They can also can skip ahead orbackward within a show.
The Luxembourg-based company will support itself with advertising,specifically Internet ads that behave just like TV commercials.
"These are the kind of ads that the TV industry and viewers understand,"de Wahl said.
*Correction:* This story incorrectly reported Niklas Zennstrom'snationality. The Skype co-founder is Swedish.
ToCBy Stephen Foley in New York
Published: 03 February 2007
URL: <http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article2211630.ece>
Michael Dell, who this week returned to day-to-day control of thetroubled computer maker that bears his name, has been slapped with alawsuit alleging he and the company benefited from billions of dollarsin kickbacks from the chip maker Intel.
America's highest-profile class action lawyer, Bill Lerach, filed a suitagainst Dell, its directors and the accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers,alleging that the company used the payments to prop up quarterlyprofits.
The central claim is that Intel gave Dell steep discounts in return forfreezing out rival chip makers, particularly Advanced Micro Devices.Several investors have argued that Dell's refusal - until last year - touse AMD chips was one reason why it has ceded market leadership toHewlett-Packard.
Dell's collapsing market share triggered another profits warning thisweek and led to the ousting of the company's chief executive, KevinRollins. Mr Dell has now added the chief executive role to his job ofchairman.
The suit claims Dell received payments from Intel worth about $1bn(£508m) a year. The payments were spread out unevenly over the fourquarters, the complaint alleges, and Dell became dependent upon themoney. As it was paid at, or near, the end of Dell's quarters, it had a"direct, material impact" on the computer maker's operating profits.
The suit also claims Intel insisted that the computer maker maintainsecrecy about the payments because it feared competition officials wouldtake legal action against it. Dell declined to comment on theallegations.
Intel has denied it paid kickbacks to secure business from Dell. Aspokesman said most of the allegations "rehash" those made in the legalbattle with AMD, while other claims in the lawsuit appear to have been"made up".
ToCFriday, January 19th, 2007
URL: <http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/19/1432220>
Telecom giant AT&T is facing an effort by shareholders to disclose itsrole in domestic spying. The shareholders have put forward a proposalasking AT&T executives to issue a report detailing its cooperation withthe National Security Agency and outlining new steps to protect consumerprivacy. The effort is being led by the investor activist group As YouSow. AT&T has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to excludethe resolution from its proxy statement based partly on so-called "statesecrets privilege."
<http://www.asyousow.org/>
<http://lawfuel.com/show-release.asp?ID=10268>
By TED BRIDIS, Associated Press Writer
URL: <http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2007-02-07-hacker-attack_x.htm?POE=TECISVA>
Hackers briefly overwhelmed at least three of the 13 computers that helpmanage global computer traffic Tuesday in one of the most significantattacks against the Internet since 2002.
Experts said the unusually powerful attacks lasted as long as 12 hoursbut passed largely unnoticed by most computer users, a testament to theresiliency of the Internet. Behind the scenes, computer scientistsworldwide raced to cope with enormous volumes of data that threatened tosaturate some of the Internet's most vital pipelines.
The motive for the attacks was unclear, said Duane Wessels, a researcherat the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis at the SanDiego Supercomputing Center. "Maybe to show off or just be disruptive;it doesn't seem to be extortion or anything like that," Wessels said.
Other experts said the hackers appeared to disguise their origin, butvast amounts of rogue data in the attacks were traced to South Korea.
The attacks appeared to target UltraDNS, the company that operatesservers managing traffic for Web sites ending in "org" and some othersuffixes, experts said. Officials with NeuStar Inc., which ownsUltraDNS, confirmed only that it had observed an unusual increase intraffic.
Among the targeted "root" servers that manage global Internet trafficwere ones operated by the Defense Department and the Internet's primaryoversight body.
"There was what appears to be some form of attack during the night hourshere in California and into the morning," said John Crain, chieftechnical officer for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names andNumbers. He said the attack was continuing and so was the hunt for itsorigin.
"I don't think anybody has the full picture," Crain said. "We're lookingat the data."
Crain said Tuesday's attack was less serious than attacks against thesame 13 "root" servers in October 2002 because technology innovations inrecent years have increasingly distributed their workloads to othercomputers around the globe.
---
AP Internet Writer Anick Jesdanun contributed to this story from New York.
ToCINTERNATIONAL THINKING Question: What is the truest definition ofGlobalization?
Answer: Princess Diana's death.
Question: How come?
Answer: An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend crashesin a French tunnel, driving a German car with a Dutch engine, driven bya Belgian who was drunk on Scottish whisky, (check the bottle before youchange the spelling)followed closely by Italian Paparazzi, on Japanesemotorcycles; treated by an American doctor, using Brazilianmedicines.
This is sent to you by a Canadian, using Bill Gates' Americantechnology, and you're probably reading this on a computer, that usesTaiwanese chips, and a Korean monitor, assembled by Bangladeshi workersin a Singapore plant, transported by Indian lorry-drivers, hijacked byIndonesians, unloaded by Sicilian longshoremen, and trucked to you byMexican illegal's.....
That, my friends, is Globalization.
ToCBy Declan McCullagh
Story last modified Tue Jan 30 22:07:12 PST 2007
URL: <http://news.com.com/FBI+turns+to+broad+new+wiretap+method/2100-7348_3-6154457.html>
*The FBI appears to have adopted an invasive Internet surveillancetechnique that collects far more data on innocent Americans thanpreviously has been disclosed.*
Instead of recording only what a particular suspect is doing, agentsconducting investigations appear to be assembling the activities ofthousands of Internet users at a time into massive databases, accordingto current and former officials. That database can subsequently bequeried for names, e-mail addresses or keywords.
Such a technique is broader and potentially more intrusive than theFBI's Carnivore surveillance system, later renamed DCS1000. It raisesconcerns similar to those stirred by widespread Internet monitoring thatthe National Security Agency is said to have done, according todocuments that have surfaced in one federal lawsuit, and may stretch thebounds of what's legally permissible.
<http://news.com.com/Carnivore+redux/2010-1071_3-5555323.html>
<http://news.com.com/AT38T+leaks+sensitive+info+in+NSA+suit/2100-1028_3-6077353.html>
Call it the vacuum-cleaner approach. It's employed when police haveobtained a court order and an Internet service provider can't "isolatethe particular person or IP address" because of technical constraints,says Paul Ohm <http://lawweb.colorado.edu/profiles/profile.jsp?id=180>,a former trial attorney at the Justice Department's Computer Crime andIntellectual Property Section. (An Internet Protocol address is a seriesof digits that can identify an individual computer.)
That kind of full-pipe surveillance can record all Internet traffic,including Web browsing--or, optionally, only certain subsets such as alle-mail messages flowing through the network. Interception typicallytakes place inside an Internet provider's network at the junction pointof a router or network switch.
The technique came to light at the Search & Seizure in the DigitalAge <
In a telephone conversation afterward, Ohm said that full-pipe recordinghas become federal agents' default method for Internet surveillance."You collect wherever you can on the (network) segment," he said. "If ithappens to be the segment that has a lot of IP addresses, you don'tthrow away the other IP addresses. You do that after the fact."
"You intercept first and you use whatever filtering, data mining to getat the information about the person you're trying to monitor," he added.
On Monday, a Justice Department representative would not immediatelyanswer questions about this kind of surveillance technique. (LateTuesday, the Justice Department responded with a statement taking issuewith this description of the FBI's surveillance practices.)
<http://news.com.com/2061-10796_3-6154934.html>
"What they're doing is even worse than Carnivore," said KevinBankston, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation <
When the FBI announced two years ago it had abandoned Carnivore, newsreports said that the bureau would increasingly rely on Internet providers to conductthe surveillance and reimburse them for costs. While Carnivore was thesubject of congressional scrutiny and outside audits, the FBI's currentInternet eavesdropping techniques have received little attention.
<http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/surveillance/2005-01-19-carnivore-obsolete_x.htm>
Carnivore apparently did not perform full-pipe recording. A technicalreport (PDF: "Independent Technical Review of the Carnivore System<http://www.epic.org/privacy/carnivore/carniv_final.pdf>") from December2000 prepared for the Justice Department said that Carnivore"accumulates no data other than that which passes its filters" and thatit saves packets "for later analysis only after they are positivelylinked by the filter settings to a target."
One reason why the full-pipe technique raises novel legal questions isthat under federal law, the FBI must perform what's called "minimization."
Federal law says that agents must "minimize the interception of communications nototherwise subject to interception" and keep the supervising judgeinformed of what's happening. Minimization is designed to provide atleast a modicum of privacy by limiting police eavesdropping on innocuousconversations.
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00002518----000-.html>
Prosecutors routinely hold presurveillance "minimization meetings" withinvestigators to discuss ground rules. Common investigatory rules permitagents to listen in on a phone call for two minutes at a time, with atleast one minute elapsing between the spot-monitoring sessions.
That section of federal law mentions only real-time interception--anddoes not explicitly authorize the creation of a database withinformation on thousands of innocent targets.
But a nearby sentence adds: "In the event the intercepted communicationis in a code or foreign language, and an expert in that foreign languageor code is not reasonably available during the interception period,minimization may be accomplished as soon as practicable after suchinterception."
Downing, the assistant deputy chief at the Justice Department's computercrime section, pointed to that language on Friday. Because digitalcommunications amount to a foreign language or code, he said, federalagents are legally permitted to record everything and sort through itlater. (Downing stressed that he was not speaking on behalf of theJustice Department.)
"Take a look at the legislative history from the mid '90s," Downingsaid. "It's pretty clear from that that Congress very much intended itto apply to electronic types of wiretapping."
EFF's Bankston disagrees. He said that the FBI is "collecting andapparently storing indefinitely the communications of thousands--if nothundreds of thousands--of innocent Americans in violation of the WiretapAct and the 4th Amendment to the Constitution."
Marc Rotenberg, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center inWashington, D.C., said a reasonable approach would be to require thatfederal agents only receive information that's explicitly permitted bythe court order. "The obligation should be on both the (Internetprovider) and the government to make sure that only the informationresponsive to the warrant is disclosed to the government," he said.
Courts have been wrestling with minimization requirements for over ageneration. In a 1978 Supreme Court decision, Scott v. United States,the justices upheld police wiretaps of people suspected of sellingillegal drugs.
<http://laws.findlaw.com/us/436/128.html>
But in his majority opinion, Justice William Rehnquist said that broadmonitoring to nab one suspect might go too far. "If the agents arepermitted to tap a public telephone because one individual is thought tobe placing bets over the phone, substantial doubts as to minimizationmay arise if the agents listen to every call which goes out over thatphone regardless of who places the call," he wrote.
Another unanswered question is whether a database of recorded Internetcommunications can legally be mined for information about unrelatedcriminal offenses such as drug use, copyright infringement or taxcrimes. One 1978 case, U.S. v. Pine, said that investigators couldcontinue to listen in on a telephone line when other illegalactivities--not specified in the original wiretap order--were beingdiscussed. Those discussions could then be used against a defendant in acriminal prosecution.
Ohm, the former Justice Department attorney who presented a paper on theFourth Amendment, said he has doubts about the constitutionality offull-pipe recording.
<http://stlr.stanford.edu/2007/01/the_olmsteadian_seizure_clause.html>
"The question that's interesting, although I don't know whether it's soclear, is whether this is illegal, whether it's constitutional," hesaid. "Is Congress even aware they're doing this? I don't know theanswers."
ToCPhil Kerpen, 01.31.07, 6:00 AM ET
URL: <http://www.forbes.com/2007/01/30/info-traffic-jams-oped-cx_pk_0131network.html>
[Submitted by Kevin Hisel.]
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A new assessment from Deloitte & Touche predicts thatglobal traffic will exceed the Internet's capacity as soon as this year.Why? The rapid growth in the number of global Internet users, combinedwith the rise of online video services and the lack of investment in newinfrastructure. If Deloitte's predictions are accurate, the traffic onmany Internet backbones could slow to a crawl this year absentsubstantial new infrastructure investments and deployment.
Uncertainty over potential network neutrality requirements is one of themajor factors delaying necessary network upgrades. The proponents ofsuch regulations are back on the offensive, heartened by sympathetic newDemocratic majorities and the concession made by AT&T (nyse: T - news -people ) in its BellSouth (nyse: BLS - news - people ) acquisition. TheGoogle/MoveOn.org coalition fighting for network neutrality mandatescalls itself "Save the Internet." But the Internet doesn't need to besaved--it needs to be improved, expanded and bulked up. An attempt to"save" the Internet in its current state would be something akin tosaving the telegraph from the telephone.
Robert Kahn and David Farber, the technologists known respectively asthe father and grandfather of the Internet, have both been highlycritical of network neutrality mandates. In a recent speech, Kahnpointed out that to incentivize innovation, network operators must beallowed to develop new technologies within their own networks first,something that network neutrality mandates could prevent. Farber hasurged Congress not to enact network neutrality mandates that wouldprevent significant improvements to the Internet.
Without enormous new investments to upgrade the Internet'sinfrastructure, download speeds could crawl to a standstill. It would beunfortunate if network neutrality proponents successfully saved therapidly aging, straining Internet by freezing out the technologicalinnovations and infrastructure investments that would enable nextgeneration technologies to be developed and deployed.
The video-heavy, much vaunted Web 2.0 advances of the last couple ofyears were made possible at low prices to consumers because thespeculative overbuilding during the bubble era created massiveovercapacity that made bandwidth cheap and abundant. It's now all beingconsumed.
One solution suggested by network operators is to prioritize trafficbased on service tiers and use revenue from content providers in thepremium tiers to subsidize the high costs of infrastructure deployment.The MoveOn.org crowd denounces this solution for creating Internet fastlanes and relegating everything else to the slow lane. But as theDeloitte report shows, the likely alternative is that there will be onlyslow lanes, potentially very slow lanes as soon as later this year. Callit the information super traffic jam.
Advanced networks cost billions of dollars to deploy and need togenerate predictable revenue to make business sense. The infrastructurecompanies are unanimous in their belief that offering premium serviceswith guaranteed bandwidth will be necessary for them to justify theirinvestments. Quality-of-service issues alone are likely to requiretiering, because in a world of finite bandwidth, people won't wanthigh-value services like video and voice if they can be degraded by thepeer-to-peer applications of teenage neighbors.
Craig Moffett of Bernstein Research told the Senate Commerce Committeelast year that any telecom company that made a major infrastructureinvestment under a network neutrality regime would see its stocknosedive. Moffett estimated that the bandwidth for an average TV viewerwould cost carriers $112 per month. A high-definition TV viewer wouldcost $560. Unless the YouTubes and Joosts of the world are willing (andlegally permitted) to pay some of those costs, the investments areunlikely to happen.
If network neutrality proponents have their way the Internet may befrozen in time, an information superhighway with Los Angeles-liketraffic delays. The Internet doesn't need to be saved--it needs to keepgetting better.
--
[Editor's Note: I always find it instructive to look up background onwho's telling me something. Here's what Mr. Kerpen says about himself:
Phil Kerpen
Economic Policy Analysis and Advocacy
About
Phil Kerpen is director of policy for Americans for Prosperity, as wellas a contributing editor for National Review Online as well as a regularcolumnist for the New York Sun.
Mr. Kerpen's columns run in newspapers across the country, and he is afrequent radio and television commentator on economic growth issues. Heis also the publisher of Cross-X.com, the leading web site for highschool policy debaters.
Prior to joining AFP, Mr. Kerpen served as the policy director andacting executive director for the Free Enterprise Fund, an organizationhe founded with Stephen Moore in January of 2005. Mr. Kerpen has alsopreviously worked as an analyst and researcher for the Club for Growth,the Woodhill Foundation, and the Cato Institute.
A native of Brooklyn, NY, Mr. Kerpen currently resides at the Chastletonin Washington, D.C.
His web site is at <
By Andrew Orlowski
Published Thursday 18th January 2007 21:19 GMT
URL: <http://www.theregister.com/2007/01/18/kahn_net_neutrality_warning/>
[Submitted by Kevin Hisel.]
Robert Kahn, the most senior figure in the development of the internet,has delivered a strong warning against "Net Neutrality" legislation.
Speaking to an audience at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View,California at an event held in his honour, Kahn warned againstlegislation that inhibited experimentation and innovation where it wasneeded.
Kahn rejected the term "Net Neutrality", calling it "a slogan". Hecautioned against dogmatic views of network architecture, saying theneed for experimentation at the edges shouldn't come at the expense ofimprovements elsewhere in the network.
(Kahn gently reminded his audience that the internet was really aboutinterconnecting networks, a point often lost today).
"If the goal is to encourage people to build new capabilities, then theparty that takes the lead is probably only going to have it on their netto start with and it's not going to be on anyone else's net. You want toincentivize people to innovate, and they're going to innovate on theirown nets or a few other nets,"
"I am totally opposed to mandating that nothing interesting can happeninside the net," he said.
So called "Neutrality" legislation posed more of a danger thanfragmentation, he concluded.
With the exception of Google's man in Washington DC, Vint Cerf (withwhom Kahn developed TCP/IP), most of the senior engineers responsiblefor developing the packet switched internetworking of today oppose"Neutrality" legislation. Dave Farber, often called the grandfather ofthe internet, has been the most prominent critic.
Engineers fear rash legislation would inhibit the ability of systemsengineers to improve latency and jitter issues needed to move data atspeed.
"The internet is still pretty fragile today," said Kahn.
Life of Kahn
Kahn's history as protocol designer is a minor note, compared to hisrole as a politically astute manager and advocate at key moments in thedevelopment of the technologies responsible for the internet.
When he embarked on a career in networking, peers and seniors tried totalk him out of what was then considered a crazy choice.
"People thought I was throwing my career away. People thought timesharing wouldn't take off and if it did it would only be in a few places,so wouldn't have commercial values," he said. "If I had listened to manypeople in the field I would not have gone into networking."
Working on colour TV, automatic game control loops, information theory,and even microwaves were all considered "cooler" than networking.
Later, he found DARPA was a reluctant sponsor. The US Department ofDefense's research agency didn't have many computers when Kahn arrivedin 1972 and couldn't see much of a use for them.
Technical history is often seen as an inevitable progression, punctuatedby moments of individual genius, but the gentle backroom cajoling rarelygets mentioned.
It was certainly needed. Ironically, when Kahn arrived at DARPA it wasto take a break from networks, and work on factory automation research.But the hype du jour, Artificial Intelligence, was sweeping the land andCongress cut the budget for his project. Kahn began to reassemble a teamof packet switching veterans.
In the early 80s he managed the gradual, and awkward transition fromprivate defense project to public network, fighting off the cumbersome,bureaucratically-devised OSI model of internetworking.
"I fought a ten year battle to protect the name 'Internet'", he says."It cost a million dollars and eventually the name prevailed - but wecould have lost the internet."
The CRNI (Corporation for National Research Initiatives) was reallyessential to winning that one, he said.
Kahn urged today's engineers to "Think Big... we are at the very earlystage of a revolution that's going to take most of the 21st century". Herejects any labelling as the "father of the internet", saying credit forits growth can be shared by the entire industry.
You can find a video of his talk here <
--
[Editor's Note: Again, I do like to look up background on who'spresenting information. More on Andrew Orlowski can be found at
by Kevin Hopkins
No, this is not about Anna Nicole Smith's five month old daughter,Dannielynn Hope. It's about the parentage of the "Internet" and thecachet of being it's "father." As noted in the article above Robert E.Kahn, (born December 23, 1938), along with Vinton G. Cerf, (born June23, 1943), invented the TCP/IP protocol, the technology used to transmitinformation on the modern Internet. What seems odd is that one would betermed "the father of the Internet" while the other would be deemed"Google's man in Washington DC."
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Kahn>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinton_G._Cerf>
But then, others have placed a differing emphasis on the paternalmonicker. As reported in the August, 2006 issue of this newsletter, itwas Cerf who was draped with the mantle of Daddy-dom.
<http://www.cucug.org/sr/sr0608.html#COMMON.5>
Also mentioned in that August piece, "Structuring the Internet," was"Dave Farber, often called the grandfather of the internet, [who] hasbeen the most prominent critic." Well, maybe not so much.
On July 17th, the so-called "father" and "grandfather" of the Internet squared off in a debate over the principle of network neutrality. Vint Cerf - who developed the network protocols on which the Internet functions and is now Chief Internet Evangelist for Google - and Dave Farber - former FCC Chief Technologist and professor of Computer Science and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University - held forth in front of an audience at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C.
...
In fact, both Cerf and Farber recognized a need for some sort of legal guarantee that phone and cable companies would not use their duopoly over broadband connectivity to restrict access to information online. And although the phone and cable companies that have used Farber as a foil to fight network neutrality don't like the idea of any government involvement in the issue, Farber does not agree.
Dave Farber: "The focus of this should not be, in my opinion, protecting companies against companies. It should be protecting the users against companies in general."
It should be reiterated that the "So called "Neutrality" legislation" ismerely an attempt to reinstitute the ground rules upon which theInternet has operated all along, up to about a year ago. Perhaps not all"Engineers fear rash legislation would inhibit the ability of systemsengineers to improve latency and jitter issues needed to move data atspeed."
<http://freepress.net/mediaminutes/transcripts/mm021006.pdf>Doing away with network neutrality will also diminish the robustness of the Internet itself. Gary Bachula spoke at the hearing as a representative of a consortium of universities and corporations that are developing what's called "Internet2," the next generation of broadband connectivity, which offers speeds at least 100 times faster than current broadband connections. Bachula told Senators that data discrimination does nothing but complicate network design and increase the cost of network construction.
Gary Bachula: "All of our research and practical experience supported the conclusion that it was far more cost-effective to simply provide more bandwidth. With enough bandwidth there is no congestion."
Therefore, so long as adequate broadband capacity exists there is no need to abandon the principle of network neutrality. However, instead of providing that capacity, phone and cable companies would rather skimp on the growth and maintenance of their network infrastructures in order to squeeze every penny possible out of all network users. In other words, the corporate drive to abandon network neutrality stems primarily from claims that broadband bandwidth is in scarce supply.
Vinton Cerf argued that such a rationale is disingenuous. He should know: commonly called a "father of the Internet," now a vice president at Google, Cerf co-developed the core protocols that make Internet-based communication possible. And he says until there is true nationwide availability of broadband - something major phone companies in particular pledged to do several years ago - any claim that a viable bandwidth marketplace exists in the U.S. rings hollow.
Vinton Cerf: "According to the statistics from the FCC in 2004, only 53% of Americans had a choice at broadband access, either from cable companies or from the telcos with their DSL service....28% have only once choice - either cable or DSL. And 19% don't have any choice at all: there is no broadband."
Those who represented the big phone and cable companies at the hearing seemed to be on the defensive from the public backlash that has developed over the last month over this issue. Kyle McCormick, president of the United States Telecom Association - a trade group that lobbies in D.C. for the likes of AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon, among many others - made what appeared to be a solemn and significant pledge.
Kyle McCormick: "Our commitment to you is this: We will not block, impair, or degrade content, applications, or services."
This was from February of last year. There has been a rather tectonicshift since then.
From my examination of the topic, I've come away with a few observation.Others may disagree with this analysis - that's what makes for a livelydebate - but here goes.
No business exists in a regulatory vacuum, nor do they want to exist insuch an anarchy. That's why they are lobbying so ferociously - tochange the rules of the game to their advantage, not that of the public.Most of these companies were spawned from regulatory monopolies in thefirst place.
They have already received billions of dollars in tax incentives andpublic investment for infrastructure which they pocketed and, whilelobbying for more, the U.S. has fallen precipitously in world ranking ofconnect speeds. It appears to be easier to work to achieve a captivemarket than it is to do their real job.
Their quest to charge both consumers and content providers for the sametraffic above and beyond connection fees is nothing more than a grandscheme of double dipping.
In the end, this is a contest over huge sums of money in which thecombatants are out for blood. The ultimate question is how much is goingto be shed and who's going to pay with it. How the public protectsitself in this clash of titans is ultimately a political decision. Itdoesn't take much to see that the sidelines of history are littered withthose who have been crushed. You can raise your voice or pay in silence.
By way of footnote:
Gary Bachula is the Vice President for External Relations for Internet2.
<https://wiki.internet2.edu/confluence/dashboard.action>
<https://wiki.internet2.edu/confluence/display/~gbachula>
More can be found on David J. Farber at <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Farber>.
Also of interest might be the article "Al Gore's support of theInternet," by V. Cerf and B. Kahn in which Mr. Cerf writes "As you know,there have been a seemingly unending series of jokes chiding the vicepresident for his assertion that he 'took the initiative in creating theInternet.' Bob and I believe that the vice president deservessignificant credit for his early recognition of the importance of whathas become the Internet."
<http://www.politechbot.com/p-01394.html>
By the way, the "series of jokes" was a deliberate smear champaign.
<http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp>
Why? An excellent piece on the history and motivation of "Did Gore invent theInternet?" can be found here
<http://archive.salon.com/tech/col/rose/2000/10/05/gore_internet/>
which ends
ToCBut the defense of Gore currently underway feels to me less like a party-line effort than like the repayment of a debt of gratitude by Internet pioneers who feel that Gore is being unfairly smeared.
That's what you'll hear from Phillip Hallam-Baker, a former member of the CERN Web development team that created the basic structure of the World Wide Web. Hallam-Baker calls the campaign to tar Gore as a delusional Internet inventor "a calculated piece of political propaganda to deny Gore credit for what is probably his biggest achievement."
"In the early days of the Web," says Hallam-Baker, who was there, "he was a believer, not after the fact when our success was already established -- he gave us help when it counted. He got us the funding to set up at MIT after we got kicked out of CERN for being too successful. He also personally saw to it that the entire federal government set up Web sites. Before the White House site went online, he would show the prototype to each agency director who came into his office. At the end he would click on the link to their agency site. If it returned 'Not Found' the said director got a powerful message that he better have a Web site before he next saw the veep."
That sounds like a pretty good description of the kind of "initiative" Gore claimed credit for in the first place. So the next time you hear an "Al Gore, Internet inventor" joke, think about the strange twisted path a politician's words can take in other people's hands -- and be glad we can use the Internet to try to straighten it out."
Paul Thurrott
URL: <http://www.wininformant.com/>
Microsoft--and, let's face it, most of the PC industry--had hoped thatthe release of its long-awaited Windows Vista OS would trigger a PCbuying spree and it looks like that's exactly what happened. Analysts atCurrent Analysis report that PC sales jumped 67 percent in January whencompared with the same time period a year earlier. And they jumped 173percent in the first week of February. Current Analysis says it wassurprised by the "aggressive growth" and noted that it "bodes well forVista." As predicted, most PC buyers are opting for Vista Home Premiumand not the low-rent Vista Home Basic, which lacks the Aero UI andvarious premium media features: 70 percent bought Vista HomePremium-based PCs while only 22 percent of PC buyers in January choseVista Home Basic. And at retail, Hewlett-Packard (HP) is doing the bestjob of moving Vista-compatible product: Over half of all Vista PCs soldin January were made by HP.
One final thought about Vista's torrid start: While Vista Home Premiumdominated retail PC sales as expected, one might wonder how theexpensive Vista Ultimate fared. It turns out that only 1.2 percent of PCbuyers went with a Vista Ultimate-based machine in January. But don't beconfused by that low figure: Few retail PCs include Microsoft's mostexpensive offering, because doing so would jack up the price. Over time,Vista Ultimate will no doubt come close to matching Vista Home Basicsales, especially as users begin upgrading to the more expensive systemelectronically.
Microsoft this week issued a patch for Internet Explorer (IE) 7 thatspeeds up the performance of the browser's anti-phishing feature. Thisis interesting because the company is set to issue its regularlyscheduled security patches next week, and Microsoft decided instead toship the IE 7 patch by itself a week earlier. Apparently, Microsoft'sphishing filter was slowed down by pages that use complicated HTMLframes, and the patch addresses that problem. A version for WindowsVista is out now, and versions for XP and 2003 will ship later thismonth.
And speaking of Microsoft security, it looks like Windows Vista isholding up pretty well so far. Despite widespread fears that WindowsVista would face withering electronic attacks in the days following itsconsumer launch, nothing major has happened. There are criticisms, ofcourse. People are still in a tizzy over the (necessary) annoyance thatis User Account Control (UAC), and there are some reports aboutBitLocker (a full drive encryption solution) being cracked. Ultimately,however, these stories are just manufactured by people looking for scaryheadlines. From what I can tell, Vista's launch hasn't been accompaniedby any major security problems, at least not yet.
ToCBy DWIGHT SILVERMAN
The Houston Chronicle
URL: <http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/silverman/4528838.html>
Last week's review of Windows Vista brought a slew of e-mail fromreaders with questions about the new operating system.
Conventional wisdom said there wasn't much interest in Vista, but youwouldn't have known that from my e-mail inbox or our Web site traffic.Thanks largely to hits from Google News, it was the No. 1 story onchron.com the day it ran.
With that in mind, here are the most common questions I was asked aboutVista from last week, and the answers:
"If I am upgrading a home PC, which version of Windows Vista should I buy?"
This will largely depend on the hardware in your computer. If yoursystem has the graphics-card muscle to handle Vista's new Aero Glasslook (see last week's column for the minimum requirements atwww.chron.com/vistareview), then start with Home Premium. If it has aTV-tuner card in it that Vista supports, you'll also want Home Premium,as it has the Media Center components in it.
If your PC doesn't have what it takes and can't be upgraded, then startwith Home Basic. You can always bump up to a version with more featuresusing Anytime Upgrade, which lets you unlock more features. You pay forthe difference between versions at one of several sites and are issued anew product key. Pop in your original Vista DVD, type in the key andyour operating system is upgraded without you having to buy a new discor download anything.
Also look at the recommendations in the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor.You can find out more about it in my story on getting ready for Vista atwww.chron.com/vistaready.
"I hear Vista comes with antispwyare, but no antivirus, and my currentantivirus software isn't compatible with it. What is?"
Vista comes with Windows Defender, the same antispyware programavailable for free for Windows XP. But you're right, you still needantivirus software. If you install Windows Vista as an upgrade on a PCwith antivirus software that's not compatible, Vista will warn you toremove it, or may simply disable it. If you do a clean install, ofcourse, that's not an issue. But either way, Vista will squawk when itfirst boots up that you need an antivirus program. A link will directyou to www.microsoft.com/athome/security/update/windowsvistaav.mspx.From there you can buy and download Vista-compatible antivirus programs.
Missing from it, though, is an excellent free one that I've mentionedbefore. Grisoft's AVG Free 7.5, available at free.grisoft.com, worksquite nicely with Vista.
"I am not interested in a fancy interface - I turned off the Playskoolcolors in Windows XP. Besides, it just slows down your computer.Can I just turn that junk off?"
Yes you can. In fact, you can drop all the way back to the Windows 2000interface in Vista, if you like.
But the notion that Aero Glass slows down your computer is based on theway Windows used to handle the display of the interface. In previousversions of Windows, the CPU or main processor was very involved increating some of the effects seen in Windows XP.
But in Vista, Aero Glass' 3-D look is rendered largely by the processorin the PC's graphics card. In some ways, such as dragging open windowsacross the desktop, Vista's display feels more responsive. Even ifyou're into minimalist computing, and your PC can handle Aero, tryleaving it on for a few days before reverting to an earlier interfaceera.
"I have a relatively new PC, and Dell is sending me an upgrade disk ofHome Premium. I can't decide whether to do the clean install or theupgrade option. Can you make a suggestion?"
With previous versions of Windows, I would have recommended the cleaninstall. But Vista handles what Microsoft calls an "in-place upgrade"differently. In a nutshell, it essentially "scoops out" yourapplications and settings from your old Windows setup, sets them aside,then places on your hard drive what's essentially a clean install ofVista. It then goes back and returns your settings and applications.
What I've been suggesting for those who can't decide is to first try thein-place upgrade. If you're not happy, blow it away by doing the cleaninstall and start over. As I wrote in the getting-ready story, anupgrade installation can take several hours, depending on your setup. Aclean install takes only 20 to 30 minutes, so you won't be losing thatmuch time if you need to start over.
"Should I wait until the first Vista service pack to upgrade?"
That's certainly the advice you hear from a lot of techies, and it's theconventional wisdom dispensed for any new Microsoft operating system.And, if you're happy with Windows XP, you're not going to lose anythingby waiting.
Microsoft expects to get Service Pack 1 for Vista out the door byyear-end - about the same period of time it took for the first XPservice pack.
But here's something to keep in mind: With Windows Update, Microsoftpushes out patches and fixes each month. On Vista's consumer launch day,Jan. 30, there were a bunch of bug-fix patches already awaiting thoseearly adopters who'd bought it.
By the time Service Pack 1 rolls around, most users will already haveits fixes on their systems.
dwight.silverman@chron.com / <http://blogs.chron.com/techblog>
Dwight Silverman is co-writing a book about Windows Vista with LarryMagid for Peachpit Press.
ToCPosted by Nick White on Saturday, January 20, 2007
Tags: Windows Vista, Featured News, Digital Rights Management
URL: <http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2007/01/20/windows-vista-content-protection-twenty-questions-and-answers.aspx>
A conversation has cropped up since the recent publication of a paperscrutinizing how Windows handles digital rights management, especiallyfor HD video. I've since looped back with Dave Marsh, a Lead ProgramManager responsible for Windows' handling of video, to learn from himthe implications involved and to learn to what extent the paper'sassertions are accurate. The following is an article Dave has puttogether to address the misconceptions in the paper, followed by answersto what we expect will be the most frequent questions in the minds ofour customers. Leave us a comment to let us know what you think. --Nick
Over the holidays, a paper was distributed that raised questions aboutthe content protection features in Windows Vista. The paper draws sharpconclusions about the implications of those features for our customers.As one of the Lead Program Managers for the technologies in question, Iwould like to share our views on these questions.
Windows Vista includes content protection infrastructure specificallydesigned to help ensure that protected commercial audiovisual content,such as newly released HD-DVD or Blu-Ray discs, can be enjoyed onWindows Vista PCs. In many cases this content has policies associatedwith its use that must be enforced by playback devices. The policiesassociated with such content are applicable to all types of devicesincluding Windows Vista PCs, computers running non-Windows operatingsystems, and standalone consumer electronics devices such as DVDplayers. If the policies required protections that Windows Vistacouldn't support, then the content would not be able to play at all onWindows Vista PCs. Clearly that isn't a good scenario for consumers whoare looking to enjoy great next generation content experiences on theirPCs.
Associating usage policies with commercial content is not new to WindowsVista, or to the industry. In fact, much of the functionality discussedin the paper has been part of previous versions of Windows, and hasn'tresulted in significant consumer problems – as evidenced by thewidespread consumer use of digital media in Windows XP. For example:
- Standard definition DVD playback has required selective use ofMacrovision ACP on analog television outputs since it was introduced inthe 1990s. DVD playback on and in Windows has always supported this.
- The ability to restrict audio outputs (e.g., S/PDIF) for certain typesof content has been available since Windows Millennium Edition (ME) andhas been available in all subsequent versions of Windows.
- The Certified Output Protection Protocol (COPP) was released over 2years ago for Windows XP, and provides applications with the ability todetect output types and enable certain protections on video outputs suchas HDCP, CGMS-A, and Macrovision ACP.
It's important to emphasize that while Windows Vista has the necessaryinfrastructure to support commercial content scenarios, thisinfrastructure is designed to minimize impact on other types of contentand other activities on the same PC. For example, if a user wereviewing medical imagery concurrently with playback of video whichrequired image constraint, only the commercial video would beconstrained -- not the medical image or other things on the user'sdesktop. Similarly, if someone was listening to commercial audiocontent while viewing medical imagery, none of the video protectionmechanisms would be activated and the displayed images would again beunaffected.
Contrary to claims made in the paper, the content protection mechanismsdo not make Windows Vista PCs less reliable than they would be otherwise-- if anything they will have the opposite effect, for example becausethey will lead to better driver quality control.
The paper implies that Microsoft decides which protections should beactive at any given time. This is not the case. The content protectioninfrastructure in Windows Vista provides a range of à la carte optionsthat allows applications playing back protected content to properlyenable the protections required by the policies established for suchcontent by the content owner or service provider. In this way, the PCfunctions the same as any other consumer electronics device.
With that introduction, here are the top twenty questions, and answers,that aim to address some of the other points raised in the paper.
Dave Marsh - Lead Program Manager for Video
Twenty Questions and Answers
Do these content protection requirements apply equally to the ConsumerElectronics industry supplied player devices such as an HD-DVD orBlu-Ray player?/
Generally the requirements are equivalent for all devices. For example,an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disc always requires HDCP protection for DVI/HDMIoutputs regardless of the type of device playing the disc. There aresome cases, such as DVD-Video, where PCs have slightly differentprotection requirements than CE devices, but these differences aremainly historical and as dictated by the licenses associated with thesystems providing access to the content (e.g., CSS for DVD).
When are Windows Vista's content protection features actually used?
Windows Vista's content protection mechanisms are only used whenrequired by the policy associated with the content being played. ForWindows Vista experiences, if the content does not require a particularprotection, then that protection mechanism is not used.
Will the playback quality be reduced on some video output types?
Image quality constraints are only active when required by the policyassociated with the content being played, and then only apply to thatspecific content -- not to any other content on the user's desktop. Asa practical matter, image constraint will typically result in contentbeing played at no worse than standard definition television resolution.
In the case of HD optical media formats such as HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, theconstraint requirement is 520K pixels per frame (i.e., roughly 960x540),which is still higher than the native resolution of content distributedin the DVD-Video format. We feel that this is still yields a great userexperience, even when using a high definition screen.
Will this affect things like medical imagery applications?
Image constraints only apply to protected content being played and notto the desktop as a whole; therefore, the resolution of othernon-protected media, such as medical images, is not affected.
Do things such as HFS (Hardware Functionality Scan) affect the abilityof the open-source community to write a driver?
No. HFS uses additional chip characteristics other than those needed towrite a driver. HFS requirements should not prevent the disclosure ofall the information needed to write drivers.
Will the Windows Vista content protection board robustnessrecommendations increase the cost of graphics cards and reduce thenumber of build options?
Everything was moving to be integrated on the one chip anyway and thisis independent of content protection recommendations. Given that cost(particularly chip cost) is most heavily influenced by volume, it isactually better to avoid making things optional through the use ofexternal chips. It is a happy side effect that this technology trendalso reduces the number of vulnerable tracks on the board.
Will Windows Vista content protection features increase CPU resourceconsumption?
Yes. However, the use of additional CPU cycles is inevitable, as the PCprovides consumers with additional functionality. Windows Vista'scontent protection features were developed to carefully balance the needto provide robust protection from commercial content while stillenabling great new experiences such as HD-DVD or Blu-Ray playback.
Aren't there already output content protection features in Windows XP?
Yes. Output content protections are not new requirements for commercialcontent. The CSS content protection system for DVD-video discs requiresoutput protections such as Macrovision ACP and limiting the resolutionon component video outputs to standard definition. Windows XP hassupported these requirements for some time.
Is content protection something that is tied to High Definition video?
While HD content has some unique content protection requirements, manyof the requirements apply to commercial content generally, independentof resolution.
What about S/PDIF audio connections?
Windows Vista does not require S/PDIF to be turned off, but WindowsVista continues to support the ability to turn it off for certaincontent -- a capability that has been present on the Windows platformfor many years. Additionally, in order to support the requirements ofsome types of content, Windows Vista supports the ability to constrainthe quality of the audio component of that content. Similar to imageconstraint for video, this quality constraint only applies to the audiofrom content whose policy requires the constraint, not to any otheraudio being played concurrently on the system. As a practical matter,these audio restrictions are not widely used today.
Will Component (YPbPr) video outputs be disabled by Windows Vista'scontent protection?
Similar to S/PDIF, Windows Vista does not require component videooutputs to be disabled, but rather enables the enforcement of the usagepolicy set by content owners or service providers, including withrespect to output restrictions and image constraint.
Will echo cancellation work less well for premium content?
We believe that Windows Vista provides applications with access tosufficient information to successfully build high quality echocancellation functionality.
Will it mean that there will no longer be unified graphics drivers?
The Windows Vista content protection requirements for graphics driverswill not lead to movement away from unified drivers. In fact, allgraphics drivers shipped with Windows Vista are unified drivers.
Will Windows Vista audio content protection mean that HDMI outputscan't be shown as S/PDIF outputs?
It is better if they show as different codec types, as it allows thedifference to be reflected in the UI, thus providing the user help withtheir configuration and creating a better user experience. The userwants to know the difference between HDMI and S/PDIF, as they aredifferent physical connectors.
What is revocation and where is it used?
Renewal and revocation mechanisms are an important part of providingrobust protection for commercial audiovisual content. In the rare eventthat a revocation is required, Microsoft will work with the affected IHVto ensure that a new driver is made available, ideally in advance of theactual revocation. Revocation only impacts a graphics driver's abilityto receive certain commercial audiovisual content; otherwise, therevoked driver will continue to function normally.
Does this complicate the process of writing graphics drivers?
Adding new functionality usually introduces new complexity. In thiscase, additional complexity is added to the graphics driver, but thatcomplexity comes with the direct consumer benefit of new scenarios suchas HD-DVD or Blu-Ray playback.
Will the 'tilt bit' mechanism cause problems even when the driver isnot under attack from a hacker, e.g., when there are voltage spikes?
It is pure speculation to say that things like voltage fluctuationsmight cause a driver to think it is under attack from a hacker. It isup to a graphics IHV to determine what they regard as an attack. Evenif such an event did cause playback to stop, the user could just press'play' again and carry on watching the movie (after the driver hasre-initialized, which takes about a second). Again, it is important tonote that this could only occur in the case of watching thehighest-grade premium content, such as HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. In practice Idoubt it would ever actually happen.
Does Windows Vista's use of OMAC-authenticated communication impactgraphics driver performance?
The authenticated communication mechanisms used for Protected Video Pathin Windows Vista are only actively used while commercial content isplaying. This means that while there is a performance impact, it islimited to the scenarios where it is required to provide robustprotection for commercial content.
Do content protection requirements mean that graphics chips have toprovide hardware acceleration for video decode?
No. The Windows Vista content protection requirements do not requirethat graphics hardware include hardware acceleration for decode for manyyears, but such support is highly recommended to improve the userexperience for HD content.
Will the video and audio content protection mechanisms affect gaming onthe PC?
The Windows Vista content protection features were design for commercialaudiovisual content and are typically not used in game applications. Agame author would have to specifically request these features for themto impact game performance.
ToC**Updated for Firefox 2.0!**
by John T. Haller
URL: <http://johnhaller.com/jh/mozilla/firefox%5Finternet%5Fexplorer/>
Yes, it's true. There are some people that prefer the look of InternetExplorer to the way Firefox looks (though I've never met one). So, I'vecreated this simple How To guide that shows you just what needs to bedone to get Firefox looking just like IE. The goal of this project ismainly to demonstrate the power of Firefox's themes and extensions inmaking the browser work the way you want it to. There's even a pre-builtprofile for Firefox Portable.
Why? In the name of all that is good and righteous... WHY?? Since a couple people seem to think I must be going over to the darkside, let me give a few reasons: So, for anyone who asks... NO, I am not suggesting anyone do this totrick someone into thinking they are still using IE. No, I don't usethis myself. No, I don't really think it's a good idea to have Firefoxlooking like IE as I personally find Firefox' default toolbar layout farmore user-friendly (and screen real estate-friendly). And, YES, I stillthink Internet Explorer should be removed, placed in the corner and seton fire. Thanks for reading. :-) [Detailed instructions at the link given above.] [Editor's Note: My thanks to Kevin Hisel for the contributions to thissection of the newsletter. Thanks to my mail list mates for the "headsup" on the last selection.] from Allen D. Byrne I intend to start collecting Live version of Linux distros for people totry out during the Linux meeting section. Live versions run withoutwriting to a harddrive, sort of like a demo with full access.
The Linux Section:
Linux Bits
The Macintosh Section:
Apple Posts $1 Billion Profit for Q1 2007
by Jeff Carlson jeffc@tidbits.com
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/8816>
TidBITS#863/22-Jan-07
Apple set a new quarterly earnings record last week with a $1 billionprofit on revenue of $7.1 billion for the quarter ending 30-Dec-06, thefirst quarter of their 2007 fiscal year. Yes, that's "billion" with a B,and represents a significant increase over the $565 million profitnetted in the first quarter of 2006. It also eclipses the $546 millionprofit from the last quarter. Of that revenue, Apple noted thatinternational sales make up 42 percent.
<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/01/17results.html>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/8398>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/8713>
As expected, iPod sales were particularly strong, with 21 million iPodsmoved during the quarter, compared to 14 million sold in the year-agoquarter and 8.7 million sold in the last quarter. However, Mac salesremained strong as well, with Apple shipping 1.6 million computers. Thatcompares to 1.2 million sold in last year's quarter and 1.61 million inthe Q4 2006 time period. While laptops outsold desktops, Adobe'sCreative Suite 3 hasn't shipped, and that's expected to be a largedriver of Mac Pro system sales.
Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer estimated revenue of $4.8 to $4.9 billionfor the second quarter of fiscal 2007.
ToCApple last week announced that the diminutive iPod shuffle is nowavailable in five colors: pink, orange, green, blue, and the originalsilver. The configuration remains the same at 1 GB of memory for $80.This news report was brought to you by the color violet, which isjealous.
<http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/>
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/tidbits/resources/865/0701shuffle_fam.jpg>
Apple last week released AirPort Extreme Update 2007-001, fixing aproblem on Core Duo-based Mac minis, MacBooks, and MacBook Pros thatcould cause crashes or worse. The fix is related to a number of otherrepairs to low-level wireless hardware drivers that Apple made last yearin response to a proof-of-concept exploit that could - theoretically -have enabled a nearby attacker to hijack a Mac via its wirelessconnection (see the series "To the Maynor Born: Cache and Crash").
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305031>
<http://db.tidbits.com/series/1268>
If Software Update offers you the AirPort Extreme Update 2007-001, youshould install it for safety's sake, and because it may fix some otherbugs, but the likelihood of the security hole being exploited is nil. Ifyou see any new problems after updating (we've heard a few anecdotalreports), check out MacFixIt's wireless troubleshooting tutorial. Theupdate is a 7.4 MB download available via Software Update or as astandalone download.
<http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=2005093011343164>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/airportextremeupdate2007001.html>
Apple also released Security Update 2007-001, which resolves a possibleexploit related to how QuickTime 7.1.3 handles RTSP URLs. The bug wasidentified by Kevin Finisterre and the pseudonymous "LMH" of the Monthof Apple Bugs project. It's a 5.9 MB download available via SoftwareUpdate or as separate downloads for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and Mac OS X10.3.9 Panther.
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304989>
<http://projects.info-pull.com/moab/MOAB-01-01-2007.html>
<http://projects.info-pull.com/moab/>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/securityupdate2007001universal.html>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/securityupdate2007001panther.html>
Meanwhile, the Month of Apple Bugs project has found another bug thathas captured the interest of people in the security community whoseopinions I value. It turns out that Mac OS X's Software Update, when feda file with a sufficiently malformed name, can be caused to crash or -in theory - to execute that bugaboo of the security crowd, "arbitrarycode." (In other words, Software Update could be caused to run code thatcould replicate itself, delete data, or have other harmful effects. Isay "in theory" because there's no known way yet to make that happen,but it's possible.)
Although the demonstration of the bug on the Month of Apple Bugs pagedoesn't work in my testing, a source showed me a variant that diddemonstrate that Software Update improperly handles malformed filenames. If a bad guy could figure out how to embed dangerous code in amalformed file name, that file could be fed to Software Update via alink you clicked in a Web browser or through an email attachment youopened. Turning off Software Update won't make any difference, and infact, there's nothing users can do to eliminate the risk of beingexploited. Luckily, that risk is very low.
<http://projects.info-pull.com/moab/MOAB-24-01-2007.html>
Apple should fix the bug, as it did with the QuickTime bug, and Macusers should continue to be careful about clicking links on dodgy Websites, avoid opening email attachments from unknown senders, and installsecurity updates when released by Apple. As is usually the case, therevelation of this bug changes nothing for the Macintosh community;basic safe computing provides all the security necessary to render thispotential exploit moot.
ToCOur second MacNotables presentation of Macworld Expo is now available,and I strongly encourage everyone to listen to this one. It was big fun,with the panel giving host Chuck Joiner a hard time about hisrecommendation of Adobe Soundbooth, which as he so obligingly told us,helped him "clean up dirty audio." Talk about being given a line! I alsomoderated a panel of Take Control authors talking about what they'd seenat the show in relation to their Take Control titles. Lastly, sometimesit helps to put a face with a name. If you've been wondering what I looklike, at least at the end of a grueling day of presentations andinterviews, check out this picture, taken and annotated by our buddyAndy Ihnatko.
<http://www.macnotables.com/wordpress/macnotables-703-macnotables-on-stage-at-macworld-expo-2/>
<http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/mwpodcast/2007/01/mwpodcast73/>
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyi/367732692/>
We got ahead of ourselves last week in "iPhone Seeks to Redefine theMobile Phone" (2007-01-15) when we said that the iPhone contained thein-progress 802.11n flavor of wireless networking. In fact, it's merely802.11g, the same as in the original AirPort Extreme.
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/8810>
<http://www.apple.com/iphone/technology/specs.html>
What can we say? All the hype about 802.11n at Macworld Expo, with theApple TV and new AirPort Extreme Base Station must have gotten to us.The iPhone should be capable of nearly 25 Mbps of real throughput in thebest circumstances, versus the 100 Mbps from 802.11n.
And, while we had heard that no Intel processor was inside, it turns outthat that's a very fine point indeed. Multiple sources, including Intel,stated that Apple is using an XScale processor from Marvell, a chipmakerthat bought its embedded processor division mere months ago from...Intel. (The source is in Italian, but the Intel exec said, roughly:"It's not ours, but Marvell's, the company to which we sold the businessthat included the XScale architecture.")
ToCLast week we tried to include everything that was known about the iPhonein "iPhone Seeks to Redefine the Mobile Phone" (2007-01-15) and"iTouched an iPhone" (2007-01-15). But what we held for this week is alook at all the questions that Apple has yet to answer satisfactorily.We shouldn't be too hard on Apple here; the iPhone isn't scheduled toship until June 2007, and there's plenty of time for features to beadded or changed. In fact, given that Glenn cast some significant doubton Apple's claim that the pre-release announcement was necessary due toprevent the news from escaping from the FCC, we're thinking that Applemay have scheduled the iPhone announcement early both to collectfeedback and because there wasn't much else to announce. Apple TV, thenew AirPort Extreme Base Station, and a Leopard preview wouldn't havemade for a rollicking keynote.
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/8810>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/8811>
Without further ado, then, let's starting asking the tough questions.Apple PR wasn't forthcoming, but on a hunch, we called the iPhone thatSteve Jobs was using in the keynote, and with some wild pressing of the# and * keys, we discovered a prototype voice recognition and responsesystem. Remember how the original Mac talked back to Jobs when he pulledit out of the bag back in 1984? Thanks to its Mac OS X underpinnings,the iPhone was far more loquacious.
ToCTidBITS: When Microsoft released the Zune, much was made of the fact that even though it has Wi-Fi, Zune owners cannot sync their music via Wi-Fi. Will you be able to sync via Wi-Fi?
iPhone: Much as it pains me to be lumped in with the Zune (that brown is awful!), my syncing works only over USB as well. I'm hoping Apple enables me to sync via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth soon. But I should point out that my battery life is short enough that you'll want to dock regularly, and syncing can happen while I charge.
TidBITS: Another criticism leveled at the Zune is that users cannot purchase music from Microsoft's online store via the Zune itself, but must rely on a PC. Will your users be able to purchase music while connected via Wi-Fi or EDGE?
iPhone: You've done your homework, right? You really want to download multi-megabyte files over EDGE? No way, man. As for Wi-Fi, you've got me there. Maybe in the future.
TidBITS: We understand that you're available only with a two-year service plan from Cingular. How much will your iPhone plan cost per month?
iPhone: I'm sorry, but I can't reveal that information yet. I believe Cingular's unlimited SmartPhone Connection Unlimited with Xpress Mail plan costs $20 per month and the unlimited Laptop Connect with Wi-Fi plan costs $100 per month. Expect to see my plan somewhere between those. Hopefully with a shorter name.
TidBITS: We understand that T-Mobile offers unlimited EDGE data on its not-yet-3G data network for $20 per month to voice subscribers. They offer unlimited Wi-Fi usage at their hotspot network in the United States, plus unlimited EDGE for $30 per month. Cingular's unlimited data plan costs $60 to $80 per month, including its fastest networking flavors, depending on commitment term and whether you're a voice customer. AT&T, Cingular's owner, has its own hotspot network called AT&T FreedomLink on which it offers unlimited access to its DSL subscribers for $2 per month, and to others for $20 per month.
iPhone: That's, uh, "fascinating." I'm certain that Apple and Cingular will make sure that iPhone service plans are competitively priced with other smartphone data plans. I can't believe I sound like a corporate spokesperson.
TidBITS: Speaking of which, Cingular is about to change its name to AT&T, and your name is entering litigation. Will you and Cingular both end up with new monikers?
iPhone: Listen, I support Cingular in its decision, as it grows up, to choose a name that suits it. AT&T is its step-parent's name and its grandmother's name, and even its great-grandmother's name, for crying out loud. As for me, I'm sticking with iPhone. Those late-trademark-filing, sticker-attaching crybabies at Cisco can cry me an iRiver.
TidBITS: The U.S. Library of Congress has granted an exception to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that allows consumers to reverse-engineer the locks on phones that prevent switching carriers. Will we be able to unlock you and use you with other carriers?
iPhone: Have fun trying, bub! I'm not saying you can and I'm not saying you can't.
TidBITS: In Europe, many more phones are sold unlocked and without subsidies from carriers. However, a colleague at a European publication told us that the trend has switched and about 50 percent of European mobile phone subscribers now accept contracts and phone subsidies.
iPhone: See, even Europeans are coming around. I'm looking forward to being sold in Europe by the end of the year. And I can hardly wait until I can go head-to-head with all those Asian phones in 2008. I'll show them a thing or two!
TidBITS: What about using a SIM card from another cellular carrier in an iPhone?
iPhone: Yuck! That's just icky. No.
TidBITS: Speaking of other countries, will you work with 3G cellular networks?
iPhone: I'd love to talk about that, since GSM-based 3G networks are so much more widely deployed across Europe and chunks of Asia, but you'll just have to wait and see.
TidBITS: Many cell phones can be used via Bluetooth or a USB cable as a cellular-data modem for a computer. In fact, Cingular sells some phones and service plans designed for that purpose, as do other carriers. Can you be used as a modem?
iPhone: I'm insulted! Use me as a modem? What do you think I am, a Telebit Trailblazer? I am a state of the art mobile phone and Internet communications device. A modem, really.
TidBITS: Can you answer the question, please?
iPhone: I'd rather not.
TidBITS: Why not?
iPhone: I don't know the answer. But let me find out and get back to you on that. In June.
TidBITS: Your Google Maps widget appears to lack driving directions. Will that be rectified by June?
iPhone: My Web site says it will, and I certainly hope so. I'm pretty good at knowing where I am, but I have a terrible sense of direction.
TidBITS: Can we infer from that comment that you have GPS capabilities?
iPhone: Well... no, not really. Like all cell phones in the United States, I support wireless Enhanced 911, so my location can be determined roughly by triangulation from cell towers. But I'd really like full-fledged GPS capabilities because then I could use my speakerphone to give you voice navigation directions while you're driving. Perhaps in the future.
TidBITS: Let's talk about ringtones.
iPhone: Yes, let's! I have some, and you can buy more. Cool, eh?
TidBITS: Can we create our own ringtones?
iPhone: Why would you want to do that when you can buy more from Cingular?
TidBITS: Because I already own the music I want to use?
iPhone: Oh. Maybe. But you'd probably pick something tacky.
TidBITS: How about a vibrate mode?
iPhone: Please! You can get your jollies with some other phone. Leave me out of your sordid little fantasies.
TidBITS: What about deaf folks or just those who prefer not to advertise to the world that they're receiving a call?
iPhone: You have a point. I have a Ringer On/Off switch on my side, but my accelerometer isn't sensitive enough to tell me if I'm vibrating or not when it's off. Check back in June.
TidBITS: You're supposedly running a full version of Mac OS X.
iPhone: Yes! Isn't that cool?
TidBITS: Does that mean we'll be able to install Mac OS X applications on you?
iPhone: Ooo, I hope not. Not everyone has as much taste as Steve. And I wouldn't want to be exposed to nasty code with viruses or other hacks. But I'm sure Apple will provide new capabilities for me. And Apple might allow some third-party developers to write applications or widgets for me. They haven't decided yet.
TidBITS: How would a user install a new widget that was approved?
iPhone: Beats me. Perhaps you could buy it through the iTunes Store and sync it to me that way. After all, that way Apple gets a cut of the sale too.
TidBITS: What about games? The iPod has games.
iPhone: A waste of time. You should be buying video from the iTunes Store if you want to waste time. OK, I'll admit it, I don't know the answer.
TidBITS: Can you display Word or Excel documents?
iPhone: Certainly! Just convert them to HTML or PDF and put them up on a Web site.
TidBITS: How about running iChat?
iPhone: Isn't SMS text messaging enough for you? It looks like iChat.
TidBITS: Wouldn't iChat AV be cool? Or Skype?
iPhone: Cingular wouldn't like that.
TidBITS: Does your copy of Safari support JavaScript, Java, Flash, and PDF viewing?
iPhone: Yes, no, maybe, and yes.
TidBITS: Let's say I wanted to start a secure shell (ssh) session on you to connect to a remote computer. If you're really running full Mac OS X, shouldn't ssh be there somewhere?
iPhone: Now you're getting personal. A phone is entitled to its secrets.
TidBITS: Will you offer voice recognition for commands in Mac OS X, voice dialing, or voice memos, like other cell phones?
iPhone: I'm not saying. I might in June.
TidBITS: Speed dialing?
iPhone: Let's just say that I hope Apple has something up their sleeve for me.
TidBITS: Can you be synced with Outlook in Windows for contacts and calendar events?
iPhone: It doesn't give me warm fuzzy feelings inside, but yes, just like on the iPod. And you can sync contacts with Outlook Express in Windows, along with Web bookmarks. But I'd really prefer that everyone used a Mac.
TidBITS: Can you enter new contacts and calendar entries, or is that data read-only, as on the iPod?
iPhone: You can. My goal is to outdo the iPod in every way.
TidBITS: Will your technology be used in stand-alone iPods or Internet communicators?
iPhone: I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. Good thing I'll have a death ray in June too!
TidBITS: What about disk mode, then? Can you be used to store data files, like the iPod?
iPhone: I certainly hope so, but I'm not sure right now.
TidBITS: Can you use accessories designed for the iPod's dock connector?
iPhone: Yes!
TidBITS: Including the Nike+iPod transmitter?
iPhone: Don't you dare expose me to all that bouncing!
TidBITS: Can you sync photos from a Mac, like an iPod?
iPhone: Absolutely. And I can take photos too. Try that with an iPod.
TidBITS: At 2 megapixels.
iPhone: Well, yes. My camera doesn't have the highest resolution around.
TidBITS: Can it do video?
iPhone: Not yet. But why do I have a sense this is circling back to your sordid little fantasies again?
TidBITS: Anything else you'd like to share with us?
iPhone: Not until June.
Adobe announced that its digital photo management tool, PhotoshopLightroom, has finished its beta phase and will begin shipping inmid-February. Version 1.0 costs $300, but Adobe is offering it at anintroductory price of $200 through 30-Apr-07, no doubt to win overphotographers trying to decide between it and Apple's Aperture.
<http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/>
<http://www.apple.com/aperture/>
In addition to becoming a full release, Photoshop Lightroom 1.0incorporates advanced keywording tools in the Library module, animproved import dialog, and a Key Metadata Browser for locating imageseasily. The Develop model introduces Virtual Copies and Snapshot toolsfor working on multiple versions of a photo without saving multiplecopies on disk. Adobe also added tools for cloning and healing images atthe pixel level, in addition to a Hue, Saturation, and Luminance toolfor tweaking colors.
Photoshop Lightroom requires Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later, a 1 GHz PowerPCG4 processor or faster (including Intel-based Macs, since the program isa universal binary), at least 768 MB of RAM, and a minimum screenresolution of 1024 by 768. The beta 4.1 version of Lightroom is stillavailable for download, and expires on 28-Feb-07.
<http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom/>
ToCBeginning this year, Daylight Saving Time in the United States beginsearlier and runs later than in prior years. Under the new rules,Daylight Saving Time begins on the second Sunday in March and ends onthe first Sunday in November. Previously, it began on the first Sundayin April and ended on the last Sunday in October. This change was signedinto law as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Policy_Act_of_2005>
This change means that any device which automatically changes its clockto match Daylight Saving Time, such as a VCR, either needs to be updatedwith new rules, or must have its clock changed manually on the affecteddates. Apple included the new rules for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger in the10.4.6 update. (The 10.4.5 update also updated the Daylight Saving Timerules for changes in Australia and other locations.) Currently Apple hasonly released updates for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger.
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303411>
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303179>
Turning the Hands
Unless updates are issued for prior releases of Mac OS X, the clocks oncomputers running 10.3 or earlier will not show the correct time forthree weeks in March and one week in November, in perpetuity. Duringthose weeks, a number of things might go wrong. Messages created inApple's Mail client (and probably others) will have the wrong timestamp,possibly resulting in users' messages being missed by their recipients.Events in iCal will display incorrectly, possibly causing people to missappointments. Similarly, anyone collaborating on documents, andresolving changes based on timestamp, will be thrown askew.Authentication to network-based services (email, file servers, etc)might fail, as servers may refuse connection attempts if they appear tobe too far outside the norm. (Kerberos servers, such as those availablein Mac OS X Server, behave in this manner.)
In order to avoid these problems, folks using older releases will haveto change their computers' clocks manually to the new "correct" timewhen Daylight Saving Time takes effect on 11-Mar-07, and then again on01-Apr-07 (when those earlier versions of Mac OS X try to change itbased on the old rules). Users will similarly have to adjust theircomputers' clocks on 28-Oct-07 and 04-Nov-07.
There are two options for updating clocks. If your computer uses a timeserver to set the date and time automatically, you can simply adjust thetime zone (in the Time Zone pane of the Date & Time system preferences)to a zone that is an hour earlier or later, as appropriate. If yourcomputer does not use a time server, you can simply adjust the time inthe Date & Time pane of the Date & Time system preference. Either way,there may be problems with software that calculates time internallyusing Coordinated Universal Time (UT, also known as Greenwich Mean Timeor GMT).
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordinated_Universal_Time>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_Mean_Time>
Apple's Responsibility
We hope Apple will issue updates for Mac OS X 10.3 Panther and 10.2Jaguar, else users will have to adjust their computers' clocks everyyear, twice on every Daylight Saving Time start and end date, for atotal of four manual adjustments per year. An Apple representativedeclined to comment on "future plans or possible future softwareupdates."
Unlike other operating system vendors, including Microsoft, Red Hat, andSun, Apple has not posted sufficient information regarding how thechange in Daylight Saving Time affects their products, nor whichproducts are patched or unpatched. This situation is sadly familiar, forthey likewise do not post life cycle support schedules for Mac OS X(again in contrast with Microsoft, Red Hat, and Sun), leaving customersto guess whether they can expect patches for security vulnerabilities.In this case, it's a simple matter of making sure the clock is right,and Apple's silent, de facto message of "upgrade to Tiger" is woefullyinappropriate.
<http://www.microsoft.com/windows/timezone/dst2007.mspx>Other Software
Some calendaring software may also require an update, as did MicrosoftEntourage. The recent Microsoft Office for Mac 11.3.3 update fixedEntourage 2004's Daylight Saving Time rules. Microsoft told TidBITS thatEntourage X would not be updated for the new Daylight Saving Time rules.In other words, if you use Entourage X for calendaring, you're reallygoing to want to upgrade to Entourage 2004. (If you use Entourage with aMicrosoft Exchange server, you should coordinate updates with yourExchange administrator, as Exchange must also be updated with the newrules.)
Happily, a fix for Mac OS X 10.3 Panther (both the desktop and serverversions) has appeared in the form of an unofficial installer from IanWard Comfort of Stanford University that updates the necessary zoneinfofiles and the ICU data archive to enable Cocoa applications like iCal tofunction correctly. You can also see Ian's shell script if you'reconcerned about running the installer. Finally, a Web site -DSTPatch.com - has sprung up to track available vendor patches; anysystem administrator or network administrator would do well to check itout.
<http://www.stanford.edu/~icomfort/panthertz/Panther-TZ-2007a.dmg>If you're wondering why we bother with Daylight Saving Time at all (anddifferent parts of the United States, along with various othercountries, do not), you're not alone. The main rationale in the UnitedStates is energy conservation, but other stated benefits includeincreased opportunities for outdoor activities and fewer trafficinjuries.
<http://www.energy.ca.gov/daylightsaving.html>
ToC[Tristan, age 8, wrote this piece the weekend after returning from SanFrancisco, where he attended Macworld Expo with me for a morning (see"Take Your Child to Work Day, Macworld Expo Style," 2007-01-22). It's byno means the first time he has been mentioned in TidBITS, but it is hisfirst byline! -Tonya]
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/8820>
<http://db.tidbits.com/search/Tristan>
In Google Earth, you can fly from San Diego (in the United States) toPortsmouth (in the United Kingdom) in two seconds! In fact, you can flyto anywhere on the globe that Google Earth knows about. If you want tosee the Great Wall of China, you can! Google Earth works on newerMacintoshes and Windows computers, and the Google Earth Downloads pagegives the details for what you need.
<http://earth.google.com/>
<http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html>
Once you download, install, and run Google Earth, type a place where youwant to go in the Search box. Spell it correctly and hit Return. Onceyou're at your destination, to navigate, notice the controls at theupper right. The vertical bar with the plus and the minus is where youclick to zoom in and out. The circle with the N on it is a compass:click one of its four arrows to move in a direction. I suppose you knowyour directions, but if not, the arrow pointing towards the N is north.The one pointing at the plus and minus is east. The one pointing awayfrom the N is south. And the fourth arrow is west.
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/863/google-earth-controls.jpg>
I like Google Earth for looking at special landmarks like the USSConstitution in Boston, but I don't think it is reliable, because itoften doesn't understand my spelling, and I had trouble finding the HMSVictory because Google Earth doesn't have a way for me to say that I amlooking for a ship.
<http://www.ussconstitution.navy.mil/>
<http://www.hms-victory.com/>
[Submitted by Emil Cobb.]
Tip of the Week
The Secret Screen Capture Shortcut
<http://www.apple.com/pro/tips/secretcapture.html>
Okay, you probably already know the ol' Command-Shift-3 shortcut fortaking a screen capture of your entire screen, and you may know aboutCommand-Shift-4, which gives you a crosshair cursor so you can choosewhich area of the screen you want to capture. But perhaps the coolest,most secret hidden capture shortcut is Control-Command-Shift-3 (or 4),which, instead of creating a file on your desktop, copies the captureinto your Clipboard memory, so you can paste it where you want. (I usethis to paste screen captures right into Photoshop.)
Tip of the week
Creating Aliases Whithout the Word "Alias"
Do you find it as annoying as I do that Mac OS X adds the word "alias"every time you create an alias? (I know, previous versions of the Mac OSdid that as well, and it annoyed me there too.) Well, you can bypass the"adding-the-word-alias" uglies altogether by holding the Option andCommand keys and clicking-and-dragging the original file outside theFinder window it's currently in (I usually just drag mine to thedesktop).
This creates an alias without the word "alias" attached. (Note: Don'tworry, you'll still know it's an alias, because its icon will have atiny arrow at the bottom left-hand corner.)
Tip of the Week
Super-Fast Way to Email a URL
If you run across a cool website and want to email that site to afriend, probably the fastest way is to press Command-Shift-I. This opensMail, and inserts the Web URL into the body of your email. Now all youhave to do is type the recipient's name, enter "Check this site out" inthe Subject line, and click Send.
Then all you have to worry about is their spam blocker stopping youremail from getting through with such a generic subject in the title.(Note: If you want a super-slow way, highlight the website's name, gounder the Safari menu, under Services, under Mail, and choose SendSelection - it basically does the same thing.)
ToCreported by Kevin Hopkins (kh2@uiuc.edu)
General Meeting - January 18, 2007 - 15 members in attendance
President Richard Rollins opened the meeting at 7:15PM. He askedTreasurer Rich Hall how he liked Australia. Rich related some of hisexperiences on his recent vacation. Richard Rollins responded by sayingLas Vegas still takes your money. He saw Cirque De Soliel there. Hehighly recommended it.
Moving to the Question and Answer session:
Phil Wall talked about Google Personalized Home Page. Richard Rollinssaid he's been using it for about a year: "Good stuff." Richard alsothanked Quentin Barnes for the Gmail account trick -rrollins.amazon@gmail.com - he brought to us recently. Kevin Hisel typedit out and launched into a tirade about Word correcting sloppy writing.Sometimes you mean what you type just that way. There was a discussionabout writing and programming. Norris Hansell lauded OS X's dictionary,not the Oxford English Dictionary, but you seldom need that many words.Word is tyrannical.
There was a discussion about the Kums VS Microsoft - Iowa / Microsofttrial. Iowa didn't sign on the consent decree.
A 103" plasma TV, weighing 460 pounds, was shown at CES. Cost - $70,000.Plasma is an energy hog, burn in problems, Kevin Hisel said. The iPhonewas announced at Macworld. There was discussion of the trademark warbetween Apple and Cisco over the iPhone name.
Norris Hansell discussed technology, government, and fiber versuswireless. This led into a discussion of Net Neutrality.
Norris asked about OpenOffice and translators and are they in Leopard?He is dealing with some XML documents.
The newly renamed Apple, Inc. will now have four divisions - Computers,iPods, iPhones, and Miscellanous (or something like that). Kevin Hiselshowed Jim Huls post on the conference about Apple news. On furtherexamination those divisions appear to be Mac Business, Music Business,Retail, and Other Apple business and segments. Jim's message was arepost from AppleInsider.
<http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2412>Next, George Krumins talked about IPTV.
Vista is being released on January 30. Norris asked if PC people areexcited about Vista. In a word, "No." XP serves most people's needs. ButXP is going away. Kevin Hisel says there are only a couple of compellingissues FOR Vista - security and eye candy.
David Noreen talked about desktop replicater.
Next month we will have raffle prizes, compliments of Symantec.
President Rollins closed the meeting by noting, "Anyone who uses WindowsDefender and AVG, you've probably noticed that your licenses haveexpired. Just download the new versions and install them. Those alreadyusing AVG should do a 'repair' not a reinstall."
ToCreported by Kevin Hopkins (kh2@uiuc.edu)
The January meeting of the CUCUG executive board took place on Tuesday,January 23, 2007, at 7PM, at Kevin Hisel's house. (For anyone wishing toattend - which is encouraged, by the way - the address and phone numberare both in the book). Present at the meeting were: Richard Rollins,Kevin Hisel, Emil Cobb, Rich Hall, and Kevin Hopkins.
Richard Rollins: President Rollins began the meeting by stating weneed someone to show off Vista. Names of possible "victims" werediscussed and contact information will be passed to Richard. Mr. Presidentthen stated he thought we had an exceptionally good Question and AnswerSession this last meeting. The pros and cons of "network neutrality"were the principle topic of discussion and Richard said he wasconcerned things might be getting out of hand, but everyone assured himthat reasoned and respectful debate is perfectly fine and to beexpected on topics of great import. The consensus was that thediscussion had been "spirited." Thanks to all who joined in.
Kevin Hisel: Kevin conducted a review of the contents of a box of"stuff" from Microsoft and discussed what should be done with it. Severalraffle prizes seem to be in the offing.
Emil Cobb: Emil reported that attendance at the January Generalmeeting was 15 members.
Rich Hall: Rich reported that we had four membership renewals thislast month. As if reminded, Emil renewed his membership, boosting thattotal to five. Treasurer Hall then reported that the club had justpassed a significant milestone on our account totals. He lead adiscussion of the terms of rolling over some of our assets for a betterreturn. All this lead into Rich telling a joke he heard on his recenttrip "down under" about a multi-billionaire Australian threatening toflip an obnoxious American for his entire $20 million dollar fortune.The moral of the story: being wealthy is all relative.
Kevin Hopkins: Kevin reported that at the present moment ourmembership for 2007 stands at 31. Kevin said he would provide KevinHisel with a list of those that have yet to renew so that he can sendout the reminders. Emil Cobb requested a list of those members who haverenewed so that he can prepare the ID badges for the meeting. Kevin Hiselposted a general membership renewal notice on the forums. The cut-offdate for club privileges for those that haven't renewed will be the dateof the next meeting, February 15.
ToCThe CUCUG is a not-for-profit corporation, originally organized in 1983to support and advance the knowledge of area Commodore computer users.We've grown since then, now supporting PC, Macintosh and Linux platforms.
Meetings are held the third Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m. at theFirst Baptist Church of Champaign in Savoy. The FBC-CS is located at1602 N. Prospect Avenue in Savoy, on the NE corner of Burwash andProspect. To get to the the First Baptist Church from Champaign orUrbana, take Prospect Avenue south. Setting the trip meter in your carto zero at the corner of Kirby/Florida and Prospect in Champaign(Marathon station on the SW corner), you only go 1.6 miles south.Windsor will be at the one mile mark. The Savoy village sign (on theright) will be at the 1.4 mile mark. Burwash is at the 1.6 mile mark.The Windsor of Savoy retirement community is just to the south; BurwashPark is to the east. Turn east (left) on Burwash. The FBC-CS parking lotentrance is on the north (left) side of Burwash. Enter by the doubledoors at the eastern end of the building's south side. A map can befound on the CUCUG website at <http://www.cucug.org/meeting.html>. TheFirst Baptist Church of Champaign is also on the web at <http://www.fbc-cs.org>.
Membership dues for individuals are $20 annually; prorated to $10 at midyear.
Our monthly newsletter, the Status Register, is delivered by email. Allrecent editions are available on our WWW site. To initiate a user groupexchange, just send us your newsletter or contact our editor via email. Asa matter of CUCUG policy, an exchange partner will be dropped after threemonths of no contact.
For further information, please attend the next meeting as our guest, orcontact one of our officers (all at area code 217):
President/WinSIG: Richard Rollins 469-2616 Vice-Pres/MacSIG: Emil Cobb 398-0149 Secretary/Editor: Kevin Hopkins 356-5026 Treasurer: Richard Hall 344-8687 Corp.Agent/Web: Kevin Hisel 352-1002 Linux SIG: Allen Byrne 344-5311
Email us at <
CUCUG
912 Stratford Drive
Champaign, IL
61821-4137
