Current Stories
Thursday, 5. April 2007
From the in-boxDear Sir,
You wrote a comment on a 'blog' sometime ago on a vehicle you said ran on chicken quano (supplemented with uranium). I was wondering where you got this information on this car?
Sincerly,
Category: Misc
Technorati: Car Uranium
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Meet StumpyNow we have an answer to the age old question - how do you feed a family of four when everybody wants a drumstick?
Category: Misc
Technorati: Duck Stumpy
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Little DConsole help?How do you permanently edit the list of recent servers in Domino Console? There's an .ini file, named dconsole1.ini, in the Notes program directory and this contains the list of servers, but also a stern warning:
; ; Please do not edit the following lines that start with Server= as they follow certain order. ; If you need to update, use "File->Refresh Server List" next time when you connect to the domain server. ; Server=Server1/Org,server1.domain.example,2050,Windows/2003 5.2 Intel Pentium,63,1175760638786,Server Title,Release 7.0.2,,0,DOMAIN,Username Server=Server2/Org,server2.domain.example,2050,Windows/2003 5.2 Intel Pentium,63,1175760639292,Server Title,Release 7.0.2,,0,DOMAIN,Username Server=Server3/Org,server3.domain.example,2050,Windows/2003 5.2 Intel Pentium,63,1175760639434,Server Title,Release 7.0.2,,0,DOMAIN,Username Server=Server4/Org,server4.domain.example,2050,Windows/2003 5.2 Intel Pentium,63,1175760639576,Server Title,Release 7.0.2,,0,DOMAIN,Username
Say I no longer want to be prompted to connect to Server3/Org every time I start the Domino Console.
The suggested "File->Refresh Server List" has no effect. Neither does selecting the unwanted server in the list presented when Domino Console starts and clicking "Delete".
Any ideas?
Category: Domino 7
Technorati: IBM Lotus Domino Domino+Console
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Wednesday, 4. April 2007
On DRM and lossy compression By now everyone is aware of the move by EMI to offer DRM free music via iTunes.It isn't free, though. DRM free tracks individually cost more than the DRM laden equivalents. Are we to be charged more for less (notwithstanding the fact that the removed feature is one we didn't want in the first place)?
Well, no.
We're to be charged more for more. The DRM free tracks all come at 256kpbs, where the DRM equivalents come at 128kpbs.
I didn't know this until yesterday. People have been paying good money to buy music which is not only crippled with DRM but is rendered in a quality that would make most FM radio stations sound like the hautest of haute fidelit.
It gets better. In the case of albums, as opposed to individual tracks, we are to be charged the same as before for a DRM free, 256kpbs version.
OK, 256kbps using whichever encoding iTunes uses (is it AAC?) is not lossless either, but it's a whole lot better than 128kbps.
Moving onto the vote. That image is a screen shot of a current poll at BBC news on-line. 88.68% of people think there should be less (or no) DRM. Who could have predicted that? I just want to know
- Who are the 7.61% saying "No".
- Why people have been prepared to suffer DRM and severely lossy compression for so long.
Category: Misc
Technorati: Apple drm+is+bad+for+the+customer EMI iTunes
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Tuesday, 3. April 2007
Three security holes in DominoIn case you're all feeling a little too smug about Microsoft's current, self-inflicted trouble with animated cursors, I'll quickly draw to your attention some extracts from the @RISK mailing I received from the SANS Institute this morning:
"A really bad week." That's what the @RISK editor and Tippingpoint vulnerability researcher, Rohit Dhamankar wrote to us this morning. And the director of the Internet Storm Center, Johannes Ullrich readily agreed. Why?
Two zero-day vulnerabilities. Active exploits. No effective defenses. Windows had a zero-day that affects Vista as well as older versions. So important that Microsoft is issuing a special patch tomorrow and leaked it to a few folks today. The other zero-day hit CA's BrightStor. Holes in backup software may be more damaging than holes in operating systems because the vendors of backup software don't have the same level of automating patching that the operating system vendors have, and many users have never patched their backup software. And Lotus Domino users also had multiple vulnerabilities, some critical.
(emphasis added)
See that? Almost as an afterthought, we find that Domino has multiple vulnerabilities. Let's take a look at them:
Category: Domino
Technorati: IBM Lotus Domino
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Monday, 2. April 2007
ANI - from bad to worseOver the weekend that little problem with animated cursors that I pointed out on Friday has grown somewhat.
The SANS ISC raised their INFOCon threat level to yellow on Saturday, an unofficial patch is now available (sound familiar?) and it now transpires that the vulnerability has been known since December - that is, before the consumer release of Vista!
The list of OSes vulnerable continues to rise and still includes Vista although, when exploited, the vulnerability runs with the privileges of the current user, so Vista users may* be presented with a UAC warning dialog before they click "continue" and install the malware anyway.
And, of course, other non-supported OSes may also be vulnerable (that is 95, 98 and ME).
There's also a list of Microsoft MUAs at the SANS ISC along with a summary of how each behaves when an attempt is made to exploit the .ANI vulnerability.
And looky here. Outlook 2007 isn't vulnerable because "the tool uses Word to display HTML messages".
It turns out that was a securitydownupgrade after all.
* I emphasise may as I have seen no third party report which confirms this.
Category: Viruses and Worms
Technorati: ANI Microsoft Outlook Outlook+Express Vulnerability Windows Windows+Mail
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The SANS ISC raised their INFOCon threat level to yellow on Saturday, an unofficial patch is now available (sound familiar?) and it now transpires that the vulnerability has been known since December - that is, before the consumer release of Vista!
The list of OSes vulnerable continues to rise and still includes Vista although, when exploited, the vulnerability runs with the privileges of the current user, so Vista users may* be presented with a UAC warning dialog before they click "continue" and install the malware anyway.
And, of course, other non-supported OSes may also be vulnerable (that is 95, 98 and ME).
There's also a list of Microsoft MUAs at the SANS ISC along with a summary of how each behaves when an attempt is made to exploit the .ANI vulnerability.
And looky here. Outlook 2007 isn't vulnerable because "the tool uses Word to display HTML messages".
It turns out that was a security
* I emphasise may as I have seen no third party report which confirms this.
Category: Viruses and Worms
Technorati: ANI Microsoft Outlook Outlook+Express Vulnerability Windows Windows+Mail
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Sunday, 1. April 2007
But is it art? An exhibition of art by Fuji Finepix, a Japanese conceptual artist, opens at the National Gallery in London today.Drawing his inspriration from a combination of pointillism, developed by George Seurat in the 1880s, and the rather more contemporary concept of the ink jet printer, Finepix has developed micro-pointillism, a technique for creating very large, very high resolution, photo-real images entirely by hand.
Finepix uses a larger colour pallette than the traditional 4 colours (CMYK) found in an inkjet printer and, using a very fine brush, builds up his images using trillions of tiny pinpoints of pigment.
Each picture is the equivalent of several gigapixels and takes him several months to complete.
The viewer can choose to stand back and take in the whole scene or to move in to see the finest detail of leaves, insects and so on.
The example seen here being admired at yesterday's preview at the National Gallery is entitled "Style".
Visitors to yesterday's preview were heard to say "Are they kidding?" and "My eyes! My eyes!"
The well know art critic, Brian Sewell was not heard to say "I don't know much about art, but I know what I like."
More examples of micro-pointillism may be found at Dumpr.
Category: Flickr
Technorati: Dumpr
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Saturday, 31. March 2007
Microsoft, from the horse's mouthVia Guardian Unlimited, we learn of an interview on Shacknews with Alex St John, the former Microsoft guy who helped transform Windows' printing architecture, and fathered the DirectX system. On page three of that interview we find a couple of paragraphs that tell us all we'll ever need to know about Microsoft.
Category: Misc
Technorati: Microsoft Alex+St+John
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Category: Misc
Technorati: Microsoft Alex+St+John
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Friday, 30. March 2007
Everybody walk the dinosaur I remember when I first saw Windows NT (was it version 3.11 or version 3.5?).It was a revelation. There was the familiar Windows 3.11 user interface in all its glory, but the cursors moved! And there was a choice of lovely new cursors too, to make the experience of animated cursors fun.
I've always had a bit of a soft spot for the strolling dinosaur.
Category: Software
Technorati: Animated Cursor Microsoft Vista Vulnerability Windows
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Thursday, 29. March 2007
Hellish dark and smells of cheese! Again!Now you too can watch cheddar cheese maturing in real time.
See also: Hellish dark and smells of cheese!
Category: Misc
Technorati: Cheddar Cheese Cheddarvision
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The Linux Genuine AdvantageThis can only be a good thing.
Computer giant Dell will start to sell PCs preinstalled with open source Linux operating systems, the firm has said.
The second largest computer maker in the world said it had chosen to offer Linux in response to customer demand.
Earlier this year, 100,000 people took part in a Dell survey. More than 70% of respondents said they would use Linux.
Now. Is anyone taking bets on which distribution they will choose?
Category: Software
Technorati: Dell Linux
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Wednesday, 28. March 2007
Spring is in the air?Not here, Volker
Category: Flickr
Technorati: Penguins
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Tuesday, 27. March 2007
Declined Memo to Microsoft: This is a Dell laptop with an OEM Windows license supplied pre-installed. I didn't steal that Windows license and feel no obligation to offer you any further reassurance to that effect.
Please do not offer me that "critical" download again.
Category: Software
Technorati: Microsoft WGA Windows
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This is what YouTube is forSee also: YouTube Video Awards
Category: Misc
Technorati: OK+Go YouTube+Awards Stephen+Fry Moonwalk
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UnacceptableYou all know about this by now
Death threats against bloggers are NOT "protected speech" (why I cancelled my ETech presentations)
As I type this, I am supposed to be in San Diego, delivering a workshop at the ETech conference. But I'm not. I'm at home, with the doors locked, terrified. For the last four weeks, I've been getting death threat comments on this blog. But that's not what pushed me over the edge. What finally did it was some disturbing threats of violence and sex posted on two other blogs... blogs authored and/or owned by a group that includes prominent bloggers. People you've probably heard of...
-- Kathy Sierra
I'm just showing solidarity by saying here that this is completely unacceptable. If the people responsible really are A-list bloggers then that's a club of which I am very glad not to be a member.
Category: Blogs and blogging
Technorati: Blogs Kathy+Sierra
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