Weekly Wrap-up - 8.22.08 Edition
Here are some loose ends that somehow manage to keep falling through the cracks (probably because I haven’t made the time to expand upon them:
$10,000 Safari flaw fixed. A recent security conference offered a $10,000 prize for an immediate successful hack. It was won by a hack of Safari using a MacBook Air by means of a Java script error. Apple sent out a fix that also covered a few other flaws. If you use the Net, you should check the Apple site regularly for fixes just to be safe. Hackers do, looking for open “doors” they can exploit before you close them…
House of Hackers is the name of a new “ethical” hacker association that attracted 1,100 new members within a week of its formation. They assume that “…all express admiration for the work of the most skilled, clever, unique, provocative, intelligent, intense, intriguing and interesting people in the human society.” They left out “modest”, “humble” and “egotistical”. Theoretically, they cooperate with security to ensure that “open doors” are discovered and closed before “evil” hackers discover and exploit them. Working so far…
In case you care, Vista, Microsoft’s lumbering new OS, is effectively dead. It’s so big that few existing platforms can add enough RAM to install it. It’s now lost the KEY vote; developers have given up and are concentrating on old standby Windows XP which, now completely debugged, works fine on millions of existing computers…
A reminder: Be careful how you type in your passwords. Make sure you know the password before you type it. After three failed tries, many systems assume you don’t belong there (like an evil hacker) and will lock you out…
After years of trying, we all realize that the “paperless office” will arrive about the same time as the “paperless toilet.” But the Feds have taken a meaningful step in the right direction: their current budget proposal was released electronically (in February) saving about 50 tons of paper. That’s about 500 trees! Anyone can search and download it, so the paper savings will increase with time…
Zonbu is selling a $99 PC. How? It uses freeware, has no hard disk (uses a 4-gig memory card for its software and your temporary documents), and you have to sign up for an automatic $12.95 monthly deduction from your checking account for 25 gigs of storage (More available at additional cost.) As sold, it recognizes many pronters and cameras, but reviewers complain it’s VERY slow and crash-prone…
There. I’ve cleaned off my desktop and will be taking the rest of the week off!
Doug
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Reader Comments (6)
I read that Consumer Reports warned people away from Safari to Firefox or Explorer. With the history of Explorer exploits, how can they possibly suggest anyone use it?
I heard about zonbu's little pc being slow and quirky. The cloud software that can be used by any computer seems cool though, at least worth a try.
I am surprised it took this long for Vista to "die" although MS is still trying to force people to use it. Only a matter of time.
History says the feds may have digitized the budget, but you can bet they required a paper copy as well, so no trees were really saved. It is govmint, remember? And they probably paid a contractor a gazillion dollars to produce both of them.
I luv the picture of the vista tombstone! Haven't seen that one b4!
I actually made the tombstone in an online app called (I think) "Tombstone Maker". They provide the graphic, you type whatever you want on it and then download it.
Doug