Feb 25 2009

Terry Childs Case Puts All Admins In Danger

snydeq writes “Paul Venezia analyzes the four counts San Francisco has levied against Terry Childs, a case that curiously omits the charge of computer tampering, the very allegation that has kept Childs in jail for seven months and now appears too weak to present in court. Count 1 — ‘disrupting or denying computer services’ — is moot, according to Venezia, as the city’s FiberWAN did not go down due to Childs’ actions. Venezia writes, ‘Childs’ refusal to give up the passwords for several days in no way caused a disruption of the normal operation of the FiberWAN. In fact, it could be argued that his refusal actually prevented the disruption of normal network operation.’ Counts 2 through 4 pertain to modems Childs had under his control, ‘providing a means of accessing a computer, computer system, or computer network in violation of section 502,’ according to case documents. As Venezia sees it, these counts too are spurious, as such devices are essential to the fulfillment of admin job requirements. ‘If Childs is convicted on the modem charges, then just about every network administrator in the world could be charged with the same “crime,”‘ Venezia writes. All the authorities would have to do is ‘point out that you have a modem or two, and suddenly you’re wearing pinstripes of the jailhouse variety.'”

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Feb 24 2009

The Beginner’s Guide to Linux, Part 1: Finding the Right…

We are certain that many of you want to try Linux to see what it is like, but have no idea where to start or how to get into it. This article is the first installment in a four-part guide that will gradually introduce you to the Linux environment and how to adjust to it if you are a new user.

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Feb 24 2009

Amazon.com Kindle 2

The most notable feature of the Kindle 2 (Amazon.com’s long-awaited update to its groundbreaking but somewhat flawed electronic reading device) is that it’s possible to pick it up and not turn the page. This sounds like faint praise, but anyone using the original Kindle quickly found the oversized buttons covering both sides of the device made …

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Feb 24 2009

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About LCD Monitors

The next time you buy a monitor, will you have a clue what you’re buying? Or will you be winging it based on little more than size, price and maybe the number of input options? Fear not – we’re going to give you all the information you need to sort the good panels from the bad.

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Feb 24 2009

Court Upholds AP "Quasi-Property" Rights On Hot News

I Don’t Believe in Imaginary Property writes “A federal court ruled that the AP can sue competitors for ‘quasi-property’ rights on hot news, as well as for copyright infringement and several other claims. The so-called ‘hot news’ doctrine was created by a judge 90 years ago in another case, where the AP sued a competitor for copying wartime reporting and bribing its employees to send them a copy of unreleased news. The courts’ solution was to make hot news a form of ‘quasi-property’ distinct from copyright, in part because facts cannot be copyrighted. But now the AP is making use of the precedent again, going after AHN which competes with the AP, alleging that they’re somehow copying the AP’s news. The AP has been rather busy with lawsuits lately, so even though the AP has a story about their own lawsuit, we won’t link to it.”

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Feb 24 2009

The Hard Upgrade Path From XP To Vista To Win 7

An anonymous reader writes “Microsoft executives have been telling the tech industry that if hardware supports Windows Vista, it will support Windows 7, but it now looks like that may not entirely be the case. According to CRN: ‘But after a series of tests on older and newer hardware, a number of noteworthy issues emerged: Microsoft’s statement that if hardware works with Windows Vista it will work with Windows 7 appears to be, at best, misleading; hardware that is older, but not near the end of most business life cycles, could be impossible to upgrade; and the addition of an extra step in the upgrade process does add complexity and more time not needed in previous upgrade cycles.’ And here is CRN’s overview of the difficulties Microsoft faces in asking enterprise users to walk this upgrade path: ‘Across the XP-Vista-Windows 7 landscape, Microsoft has fostered an ecosystem that now holds out the prospect of a mind-numbing number of incompatible drivers, unsupported devices, unsupported applications, unsupported data, patches, updates, upgrades, ‘known issues’ and unknown issues. Sound familiar? That’s what people used to say about Linux.'”

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Feb 24 2009

VeriSign Will Support DNSSEC In .com By 2011

alphadogg writes “VeriSign has promised to deploy DNS Security Extensions, known as DNSSEC, across all of its top-level domains within two years. DNSSEC is viewed as the best way to bolster the DNS against vulnerabilities such as the Kaminsky bug discovered last year. (Yesterday we discussed the workarounds coming into place until the US government signs the Internet’s root zone.) DNSSEC has been deployed on top-level domains operated by Sweden, Puerto Rico, Bulgaria, Brazil, and the Czech Republic. Two larger domains — .org operated by the Public Interest Registry and .gov operated by the US government — are deploying DNSSEC this year.”

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Feb 24 2009

Safari 4 a big step up, but not as far as rivals – CNET News


guardian.co.uk

Safari 4 a big step up, but not as far as rivals
CNET News
by Stephen Shankland With Safari 3, I admired Apple's chutzpah for bringing its browser to Windows. With the new Safari 4 beta, I'm actually starting to admire the browser, too.
Hands on: Safari 4 beta fast, mixes polish, rough UI edges Ars Technica
Apple Lifts The Curtain On Safari 4 Beta ChannelWeb
Macworld – PC World – guardian.co.uk – Wired News
all 102 news articles  Langue : Français
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Feb 24 2009

Botched launch ends US satellite's mission – Reuters


guardian.co.uk

Botched launch ends US satellite's mission
Reuters
By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – The US government's first attempt to map carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere from space ended early on Tuesday after a botched satellite launch from California, officials said.
NASA Satellite Crashes Before Reaching Orbit Washington Post
NASA global warming satellite lands in ocean after launch CBC.ca
New York Times – Telegraph.co.uk – Computerworld – Times Online
all 903 news articles
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Feb 24 2009

'Error' exposes sensitive information – Globe and Mail


CityNews

'Error' exposes sensitive information
Globe and Mail
TORONTO – Hundreds of Toronto university students may be at risk of identity theft after their sensitive personal information was recently exposed online.
Glitch bares Ryerson students' information Toronto Star
Privacy glitch 'strange,' Rye says The Eyeopener
Digital Home – Canada.com – p2pnet.net – The Canadian Press
all 41 news articles
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