My thoughts exactly. Mozilla and Google are offering about $3,000 for exploits and TippingPoint has got a whole multi-tiered points-scheme for them. Some of the exploits they want modules for look pretty complicated, and worth more than $100. But given that many people would contribute to Metasploit for free, I suppose its still a nice Bug Bounty experiment.
As part of the commentary in the ruling, Justice Breyer offered some advice to courts on how they can use facts in court cases about patent infringement. Some patent lawyers think that this may make it easier for juries to overturn a patent. (More in my article here, if you're interested: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/060911-microsoft-i4i-patent.html) It's not the same as a ruling that would make it easier for companies to defend against patent infringement suits from bad patents, or if the Bilski case had lead to invalidated "business process" patents altogether... Yes, the Supreme Court is making it clear that this is up to Congress to fix... which it really is. But gimme a break... Members of Congress are a little busy right now arguing over gutting Medicare and scandals involving naughty Twitpics.
Microsoft isn't likely to start building a Microsoft-branded tablet... why should it? It has a system in place for that. It drafts hardware the specs and OEMs build the devices. The partnership with Nokia is the closest it will come (or needs to come) to building its own tablet. But it still has the clout to coerce Dell, Acer, HP and others into building tablets, too. There's already grumbling in the OEM community that the early specs for Windows 8 are too restrictive... not leaving room for each vendor to bring special features to compete. They were all hoping that Android tablets would take off enough to give them some leverage against Microsoft, but so far, that hasn't happened. Microsoft still calls the shots with OEMs and has no need to strike out on its own. Intel, with its poor MeeGo project is another story...
It says that RSA isn't really coming clean with the details. Story says, "Coviello defended the company's decision by saying that they didn't want to reveal to the hackers how to mount further attacks." Of course, blackhats already know how to mount the attack... by not coming clean with the details the ones that don't know how this happened and what they could be doing to protect themselves are the users.
Flashlight looks cool. I have a friend with a full machine shop in his garage, so if he ever decides to make a flashlight it's nice to know he can just grab the documents and freely make one like this. I can think of reasons why you might want to program a flashlight... maybe you want a combo flashlight/strobe/disco ball...
Julie
Open Source Subnet
Video is already a big reason people use the Internet and no doubt all forms of Internet traffic will grow. But I'm always struck at how hard Cisco is working to sell the idea of video growth... given that it is trying to convince the world that they need to ditch their current routers and switches and upgrade to its latest, greatest wares. Maybe it's true, but it still feels like a sales pitch.
After all the publicity, the best they come up with is to use a system that still lets you use your old credentials to get new ones? What exactly were they doing when they pulled the system down to fix the hack? If hackers really took everything Sony knows about its users, validating users accounts is going to be tough... but will it be impossible?
Anyone can understand why P.J. would want to move on, but it's a shame! The legal complexities surrounding FOSS and patents and games that Microsoft and Google play seem to be getting more complicated, not less, than the days when SCO made it's bold and ridiculous claims. (At the point that SCO started its anti-Linux campaign, that company was already starting to whither.) There's some good work going on at Silicon Flatirons in Boulder by lawyers interested in tech. Maybe one of them will pick up the hole that Groklaw will be leaving.
Looking to the application/cloud service providers to protect your personal data is like looking to a car dealership to tell you when you *really* need that repair. If they think it's in their best interests to protect their customer's data, they will -- but it's costly for them to do so (even to use encryption for all stored personal data), so what's their motivation? AND do we want other people protecting our data? It's our job to protect our data... what we need are privacy laws/protections/policies that make it easier for us to control what's stored on us, when, where, for how long and how to get rid of it. I smell a booming area for Silicon Valley startups offering tools that hunt out info on you and walk you through the steps to get rid of it.
It makes sense that Internet usage rivals TV watching since most of us are actually watching video (and often TV shows) via the Internet. But I find that I am watching more video overall... DVR'd TV shows, Netflix on Roku, Hulu... than I did a few years ago. All this competition has made it easier to find great stuff to watch. Last weekend, I read a book -- first time in I don't know how long... and I used to be a book-a-week reader. TV has gotten better.
Julie
It is totally fair that if you want the FSF's endorsement you've got to open all the software on the product, and license any software patents. I love how the FSF always defines the outer edge completely in favor of the person that buys the product, rather than the one that creates it. I don't think the typical product creator will be interested in this because it seems like it will create a giant boiling vat of legal implications and who wants to sign up for that? But so what? Eventually a happy middle will be found.
I think it's reasonable to say to people, hey, your ISP isn't responsible for data on your computer particularly if you don't even have basic protection on it. But it's another thing altogether to say, "you can't use the the Internet if you don't use anti-malware." That gets into all sorts of enforcement issues, what constitutes appropriate anti-malware, what happens if you don't comply... can the ISP still bill you that month? What if you completely rolled your own, and there's no appropriate anti-virus software out there for your operating system. If ISPs must act as the enforcement gates, it's going to make a whole bunch of "network access protection" vendors quite happy. They'll get to sell a lot of complicated NAC gear to these ISPs.
Interesting. That site says, "New Zealand’s censorship laws forbid viewing or owning certain types of material (e.g. depictions of bestiality or sex with children) and this applies to material accessed over the internet too. A number of people have been convicted for possessing material they have downloaded over the internet."...
Now I'm torn. Censorship is evil. But it does make sense to make it illegal to view or own materials which harm others, like children.
The bigger concern is that the Scoop story says that the NZ government is keeping the list of stuff they are censoring a secret. If they are censoring for pedophiles -- they should be forthright about it, after all, isn't the idea to let them know its not ok? But if they are spying on their citizens, that's completely awful.
Julie
I'm extremely concerned at the amount of power Google is gathering, its data collection, its lack of privacy protection. BUT in this case, Google is the good guy. The FCC forced this whole database option upon the white spaces industry and then said white spaces database admins can charge fees for the service. The company with the most experience (and in Microsoft's camp) was actually partially funded by an FCC commissioner... so the FCC could be granting a profit-making contract to "one of its own." Now the FCC can't say that it doesn't have another option. Google is big enough -- and its proposal not only says it wants to offer this service for free (possibly), but it includes a method for multiple providers, keeping competition in the game.
(My full views here if you are interested: http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/49544).
Julie
--
Network World's Google Subnet
I agree. Hard to see the average person buying a tablet for $500, when you can add a digital pen/tablet input device, like from Wacom, for about $99. I guess there is the lug-it-around factor... if you need to do a lot of drawing out in the field. But that's a niche.
I'm a keyboard kind-a-girl myself.
--
Julie
This reminds me of the old story... when I was a kid I used to walk five miles to school, uphill, both ways!
Anyone can fire up a blog and "be a journalist" which adds a lot of noise to the conversation -- but people have hated/blamed the media since forever. All of these types of journalists have always existed, but there are plenty of hard-working ethical journalists today, too. Want someone to blame? Blame the reader, who is more interested in reading/supporting stories about Tiger Woods love life than an in-depth analysis of the Afghanistan war.
Julie
Some say that the freebie version will end, too
on
Google Apps Leave Beta
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Seeking Alpha says that Google may be killing off the free "Standard" edition now that Apps is no longer beta. "The current sign up page makes no mention of the previously free Standard edition." That would leave only the Education version as the freebie.
Julie
--
Take a gander at Network World's Google Subnet
Google news for the enterprise.
When my youngest was born, we were asked to partake in a study about childhood diabetes by giving a blood sample. Lots of diabetes in my family and she turned up to have a marker for it so she was asked to be part of the study. She never got diabetes but she did wind up having Celiac, a somewhat related issue. We ONLY found out about the Celiac because she was in the study... she was diagnosed via a blood test when she was (we thought) asymptomatic at the time. Celiac screening isn't (though should be) a routine screening process for kids. It could be good for modern medicine if each person had personal sets of screening tests that are done each year rather than some standards based on the statistical likelihood of the entire population.
Julie
--
Take a gander at Network World's Google Subnet
Google news for the enterprise.
So, are you saying that all the chips that Intel makes, like IXP4XX family (for network processors), are all based on the X86? Seems as if they already work at it. And if they are smart (and they are smart), they would see that in the next few years the PC becomes the netbook and the netbook merges with the smartphone. Some company or another is going to make a lot of money from those new devices.
I keep thinking of the guy that is drawing objects in the air that become "real"... doors and hair dryers and such.
OK, this is akin to writing long-hand with the phone (which is so wonderfully efficient that the world invented keyboards), but still...
... because stealing a car and burning down a house are equivalent to buying a PC months before new software was available for it and then discovering that the sucky much-promised software doesn't work well on your PC (well, it didn't work well on pretty much anyone's PC). As I said, Microsoft will lose this as they seemed to have lied, and they should, but the courts suck as a mechanism for software competition.
Julie
-- Microsoft Subnet the independent voice of Microsoft customers
Microsoft will likely lose this lawsuit (and it should) but really, it's time for the tech industry to stop suing over software. Compare someone who bought a new PC with a promise it would work with Vista (which everyone hated anyway) with someone who went to a doctor and was irreparably harmed. The latter is worth suing for, the former, was the PC harmed? The PC owner? At the time s/he bought her/his PC everything ran better on XP anyway.
Julie
-- Microsoft Subnet the independent voice of Microsoft customers
Slashdot Mirror
My thoughts exactly. Mozilla and Google are offering about $3,000 for exploits and TippingPoint has got a whole multi-tiered points-scheme for them. Some of the exploits they want modules for look pretty complicated, and worth more than $100. But given that many people would contribute to Metasploit for free, I suppose its still a nice Bug Bounty experiment.
Julie
As part of the commentary in the ruling, Justice Breyer offered some advice to courts on how they can use facts in court cases about patent infringement. Some patent lawyers think that this may make it easier for juries to overturn a patent. (More in my article here, if you're interested: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/060911-microsoft-i4i-patent.html) It's not the same as a ruling that would make it easier for companies to defend against patent infringement suits from bad patents, or if the Bilski case had lead to invalidated "business process" patents altogether ... Yes, the Supreme Court is making it clear that this is up to Congress to fix ... which it really is. But gimme a break ... Members of Congress are a little busy right now arguing over gutting Medicare and scandals involving naughty Twitpics.
Julie
Microsoft isn't likely to start building a Microsoft-branded tablet ... why should it? It has a system in place for that. It drafts hardware the specs and OEMs build the devices. The partnership with Nokia is the closest it will come (or needs to come) to building its own tablet. But it still has the clout to coerce Dell, Acer, HP and others into building tablets, too. There's already grumbling in the OEM community that the early specs for Windows 8 are too restrictive ... not leaving room for each vendor to bring special features to compete. They were all hoping that Android tablets would take off enough to give them some leverage against Microsoft, but so far, that hasn't happened. Microsoft still calls the shots with OEMs and has no need to strike out on its own. Intel, with its poor MeeGo project is another story ...
Julie
It says that RSA isn't really coming clean with the details. Story says, "Coviello defended the company's decision by saying that they didn't want to reveal to the hackers how to mount further attacks." Of course, blackhats already know how to mount the attack ... by not coming clean with the details the ones that don't know how this happened and what they could be doing to protect themselves are the users.
Julie
Open Source Subnet
Flashlight looks cool. I have a friend with a full machine shop in his garage, so if he ever decides to make a flashlight it's nice to know he can just grab the documents and freely make one like this. I can think of reasons why you might want to program a flashlight ... maybe you want a combo flashlight/strobe/disco ball ...
Julie
Open Source Subnet
Video is already a big reason people use the Internet and no doubt all forms of Internet traffic will grow. But I'm always struck at how hard Cisco is working to sell the idea of video growth ... given that it is trying to convince the world that they need to ditch their current routers and switches and upgrade to its latest, greatest wares. Maybe it's true, but it still feels like a sales pitch.
Julie
After all the publicity, the best they come up with is to use a system that still lets you use your old credentials to get new ones? What exactly were they doing when they pulled the system down to fix the hack? If hackers really took everything Sony knows about its users, validating users accounts is going to be tough ... but will it be impossible?
Julie
Anyone can understand why P.J. would want to move on, but it's a shame! The legal complexities surrounding FOSS and patents and games that Microsoft and Google play seem to be getting more complicated, not less, than the days when SCO made it's bold and ridiculous claims. (At the point that SCO started its anti-Linux campaign, that company was already starting to whither.) There's some good work going on at Silicon Flatirons in Boulder by lawyers interested in tech. Maybe one of them will pick up the hole that Groklaw will be leaving.
Julie Bort
Open Source Subnet
Looking to the application/cloud service providers to protect your personal data is like looking to a car dealership to tell you when you *really* need that repair. If they think it's in their best interests to protect their customer's data, they will -- but it's costly for them to do so (even to use encryption for all stored personal data), so what's their motivation? AND do we want other people protecting our data? It's our job to protect our data ... what we need are privacy laws/protections/policies that make it easier for us to control what's stored on us, when, where, for how long and how to get rid of it. I smell a booming area for Silicon Valley startups offering tools that hunt out info on you and walk you through the steps to get rid of it.
Julie
www.opensourcesubnet.com
It makes sense that Internet usage rivals TV watching since most of us are actually watching video (and often TV shows) via the Internet. But I find that I am watching more video overall ... DVR'd TV shows, Netflix on Roku, Hulu ... than I did a few years ago. All this competition has made it easier to find great stuff to watch. Last weekend, I read a book -- first time in I don't know how long ... and I used to be a book-a-week reader. TV has gotten better.
Julie
It is totally fair that if you want the FSF's endorsement you've got to open all the software on the product, and license any software patents. I love how the FSF always defines the outer edge completely in favor of the person that buys the product, rather than the one that creates it. I don't think the typical product creator will be interested in this because it seems like it will create a giant boiling vat of legal implications and who wants to sign up for that? But so what? Eventually a happy middle will be found.
Julie
www.opensourcesubnet.com
Instead of patent trolls, we'll send them patent Rambos. Julie188
We don't need no copyright education.
I think it's reasonable to say to people, hey, your ISP isn't responsible for data on your computer particularly if you don't even have basic protection on it. But it's another thing altogether to say, "you can't use the the Internet if you don't use anti-malware." That gets into all sorts of enforcement issues, what constitutes appropriate anti-malware, what happens if you don't comply ... can the ISP still bill you that month? What if you completely rolled your own, and there's no appropriate anti-virus software out there for your operating system. If ISPs must act as the enforcement gates, it's going to make a whole bunch of "network access protection" vendors quite happy. They'll get to sell a lot of complicated NAC gear to these ISPs.
Interesting. That site says, "New Zealand’s censorship laws forbid viewing or owning certain types of material (e.g. depictions of bestiality or sex with children) and this applies to material accessed over the internet too. A number of people have been convicted for possessing material they have downloaded over the internet." ...
Now I'm torn. Censorship is evil. But it does make sense to make it illegal to view or own materials which harm others, like children.
The bigger concern is that the Scoop story says that the NZ government is keeping the list of stuff they are censoring a secret. If they are censoring for pedophiles -- they should be forthright about it, after all, isn't the idea to let them know its not ok? But if they are spying on their citizens, that's completely awful.
Julie
I'm extremely concerned at the amount of power Google is gathering, its data collection, its lack of privacy protection. BUT in this case, Google is the good guy. The FCC forced this whole database option upon the white spaces industry and then said white spaces database admins can charge fees for the service. The company with the most experience (and in Microsoft's camp) was actually partially funded by an FCC commissioner ... so the FCC could be granting a profit-making contract to "one of its own." Now the FCC can't say that it doesn't have another option. Google is big enough -- and its proposal not only says it wants to offer this service for free (possibly), but it includes a method for multiple providers, keeping competition in the game.
(My full views here if you are interested: http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/49544).
Julie
--
Network World's Google Subnet
I agree. Hard to see the average person buying a tablet for $500, when you can add a digital pen/tablet input device, like from Wacom, for about $99. I guess there is the lug-it-around factor ... if you need to do a lot of drawing out in the field. But that's a niche.
I'm a keyboard kind-a-girl myself.
--
Julie
This reminds me of the old story ... when I was a kid I used to walk five miles to school, uphill, both ways!
Anyone can fire up a blog and "be a journalist" which adds a lot of noise to the conversation -- but people have hated/blamed the media since forever. All of these types of journalists have always existed, but there are plenty of hard-working ethical journalists today, too. Want someone to blame? Blame the reader, who is more interested in reading/supporting stories about Tiger Woods love life than an in-depth analysis of the Afghanistan war.
Julie
Julie
--
Take a gander at Network World's Google Subnet
Google news for the enterprise.
Julie
--
Take a gander at Network World's Google Subnet
Google news for the enterprise.
So, are you saying that all the chips that Intel makes, like IXP4XX family (for network processors), are all based on the X86? Seems as if they already work at it. And if they are smart (and they are smart), they would see that in the next few years the PC becomes the netbook and the netbook merges with the smartphone. Some company or another is going to make a lot of money from those new devices.
I keep thinking of the guy that is drawing objects in the air that become "real" ... doors and hair dryers and such.
OK, this is akin to writing long-hand with the phone (which is so wonderfully efficient that the world invented keyboards), but still ...
Looking at the ocean of limping or necro-corps, there seemeth to be only one company that has the pocket to stomach carte blanche...
Not sure if Redmond is smart enough to make the offer ... but Mozilla really got stabbed in the back by Chrome. Google is just as evil as any monopoly.
Julie
--
Microsoft Subnet the independent voice of Microsoft customers
Julie
--
Microsoft Subnet the independent voice of Microsoft customers