My Archives: November 2001
Monday, November 26, 2001
Google, others dig deep--maybe too deep
Search engines spiders crawling the Web are increasingly
stumbling upon passwords, credit card numbers, classified documents and even computer vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers.
The problem is not new, security analysts say: Ever since search robots
began indexing the Web years ago, Web site administrators have found pages not meant for public consumption exposed in search results.
But a new tool built into the Google search engine to find a variety of file types in addition to traditional Web documents is highlighting and in some cases exacerbating the problem. With Google's new file-type search tool, a wide array of files formerly overlooked by basic search engine queries are now just a few clicks from the average surfer--or the novice hacker.
The files include Adobe PostScript; Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPro; MacWrite; Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Works and Write; and the Rich Text Format.Posted by Elmer @ 09:09 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
Apple's new Mac OS X opens those Windows
Apple's new operating system, Mac OS X, is a work of art.
It's fast, and a Unix base provides stability. But the lack of compatible software long prevented Apple from winning converts from the Windows-based personal-computer world -- and even thwarted Mac users who wanted to upgrade from Mac OS 9.
Now, a new office productivity suite makes the strongest case yet for a switch. And it's from Microsoft Corp.
Making good on a promise that came with a $150 million investment in Apple five years ago, Microsoft has released Office X, the latest version of its ubiquitous office suite.Posted by Elmer @ 09:06 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
Friday, November 23, 2001
Whitebeam - Server-side JavaScript, XML, XPath, Security and Postgres Database via an Apache module.
Whitebeam...
...is an Open Source project that provides a complete rapid development environment for Web applications allowing sophisticated, robust and secure applications to be built using only XML and server-side JavaScript.
Posted by Elmer @ 11:42 PM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
Wednesday, November 21, 2001
Flaw detected in Windows Media Player | Computerworld News & Features Story
A buffer-overflow vulnerability in Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media Player software could let malicious attackers run code of their choice on a victim's system, Microsoft warned in an advisory today.
Microsoft is advising users to immediately apply a patch that takes care of not just the latest threat but also a slew of other vulnerabilties -- some of them still undisclosed -- that cumulatively pose a "critical" security risk for users.
The latest buffer-overrun vulnerability affects Windows Media Player 6.4, 7 and 7.1 and Windows Media Player for Windows XP.Posted by Elmer @ 09:43 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
Gateway bundles goodies for consumers - Tech News - CNET.com
Gateway is launching a deal that lets consumers go from zero to geek for just under $100 a month.
The deal, which takes a cue from the auto industry, offers a laptop PC, a Pentium 4 desktop with flat-screen monitor, wireless network with installation, MP3 player and other goodies for $99 a month as part of a four-year deal.
Gateway has long aimed to get people to buy technology for a monthly fee, a plan first envisioned years ago with its YourWare financing program.Posted by Elmer @ 08:32 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
Settlement terms could bite Apple in schools - Tech News - CNET.com
A proposed settlement agreement in a series of antitrust suits may not only give Microsoft a fairly inexpensive legal resolution, it may also help the company and its PC allies further erode Apple Computer's position in education.
Under a settlement proposal in a series of private antitrust lawsuits announced Tuesday, Microsoft agreed to donate approximately $500 million to help bring technology to some of the nation's most disadvantaged schools. The deal will also allow these schools to obtain a virtually unlimited supply of Microsoft software for the next five years.Posted by Elmer @ 08:30 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
ZDNet |UK| - News - Story - UK hit by nationwide ADSL crash
BT's helpdesk is jammed as a fault on its network brings ADSL to a halt across Britain. Users are left unimpressed by the Colossal inconvenience
Tens of thousands of high-speed Internet users were unable to access the Web on Tuesday morning, because of a serious system failure on BT's network.
The crash hit ADSL subscribers around 10am this morning. According to one report, over 110,000 users were affected, as well as some narrow-band unmetered customers.Posted by Elmer @ 08:25 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
PCWorld.com - Home Network Choices Grow
Interest in home networks, especially wireless setups, appears to be growing rapidly in the United States, but confusion over standards and a plethora of products may well leave consumers on the sidelines while they wait for clear winners to emerge.
Besides standard Ethernet networks, there are now three competing wireless standards as well as products that work over home wiring and home telephone wires.
Nevertheless, here at Comdex it is clear that manufacturers see home networking as a lucrative market among home users who want to marry PCs, notebooks, printers, stereos, and handheld devices and link them over a network.Posted by Elmer @ 08:22 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
ZDNet: XSLWiz: Transform XML documents into HTML and WML documents. - ZDNet Downloads
Posted by Elmer @ 08:05 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
Tuesday, November 20, 2001
Bar association hears debate over UCITA | Computerworld News & Features Story
In an unusual forum that ended yesterday, a special committee of the American Bar Association (ABA) heard two-and-a-half days of arguments over the proposed software licensing law known as UCITA as part of its attempt to determine whether it should back the measure.
The ABA's position is seen as critical to the law's ultimate fate.
If the Chicago-based ABA supports the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA), "I believe we will see UCITA passing in many states," said Cem Kaner, an attorney and computer science professor at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne. Kaner is a leading critic of the measure.Posted by Elmer @ 08:21 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
In a first, Vatican to deliver papal text over Net | Computerworld News & Features Story
Pope John Paul II is preparing to publish an official document over the Internet for the first time, underlining the Catholic Church's commitment to modern forms of social communication, the Vatican said today.
The pope himself will click the Send button at a ceremony in the Vatican on Thursday, delivering copies of his apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Oceania (The Church in Oceania) by e-mail to far-flung dioceses in that part of the world, a Vatican spokeswoman said.Posted by Elmer @ 08:19 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
"Hitchhiker's Guide" catches final ride - Tech News - CNET.com
An unfinished novel by science fiction writer Douglas Adams will be published next year and released on the anniversary of his death, according to published reports.
"A Salmon of a Doubt," the sixth installment in Adams' cult classic, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," is being edited from files found on the author's computer, the U.K.-based Sunday Telegraph reported. A version of the novel will appear in a collection of Adams' work, the Telegraph said.
The new story builds on Adams' satirical 1979 "Hitchhiker's Guide," which followed the search by alien Ford Prefect and his human companion Arthur Dent for an answer to life, the universe and everything. Adams' other works include "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe," "Life, the Universe and Everything" and "So Long and Thanks For All the Fish."Posted by Elmer @ 08:18 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
GIST - Generic Information Server Toolkit
GIST is a tool kit for the rapid development of interactive web based information servers. GIST removes the technical barriers traditionally associated with creating interactive web sites. It has been specifically designed to allow user communities to share information and communicate more effectively without the need for a full-time technical web master.
Posted by Elmer @ 08:15 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
Net researcher bulks up its library - Tech News - CNET.com
Online research start-up Ebrary, backed by Adobe Systems Chairman John Warnock, on Monday announced partnerships with a trio of major publishers that will expand its virtual library.
As previously reported by CNET News.com, Mountain View, Calif.-based Ebrary has agreed to distribute titles online from academic publisher Greenwood Publishing Group and from John Wiley & Sons, a publisher of scientific, technical and medical books. The company expects to announce a similar agreement with Penguin Putnam in the next few weeks.
Although the market for e-books and other digital publications has been moving at a snail's pace, Ebrary may have an advantage with its focus on "authoritative content." Where consumers are slow to embrace digital versions of novels, analysts have said researchers could benefit from a library of academic information available at the click of a mouse.Posted by Elmer @ 08:14 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
Monday, November 19, 2001
IDX-PKI Official Home Page
IDX-PKI is an Open Source implementation of a Public Key Infrastructure which aims to be IETF compliant for PKIX recommandations. Currently under development, IDX-PKI may already be used and is suitable for commercial use.Posted by Elmer @ 08:57 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
Posted by Elmer @ 08:51 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
Give Us XP Professional for Professionals
The thrilling reign of Windows XP is barely a month old, so why am I spending all my time fiddling with a desktop box running Red Hat 7.2?
For one thing, the launch of Redmond's newest PC conquistador just happened to coincide with an initiative here at Ziff Davis to provide server-based access to messaging and network resources via a Citrix client. As a result, my key applications now work identically under Windows, Linux%u2014or, for that matter, pretty much any operating system.Posted by Elmer @ 08:49 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
Strong Orders to Keep Peoplesoft on Target
California-based e-business software maker PeopleSoft Inc said a robust order pipeline has put it on target to meet earnings guidance for the fourth quarter and 2001 despite the global economic slowdown.
``As we enter into the fourth quarter, what we've seen is one of the strongest pipelines in the company's history,'' Martin Mackay, PeopleSoft's vice president for international operations, told Reuters in an interview.Posted by Elmer @ 08:44 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
The week in review: An atypical Comdex - Tech News - CNET.com
The technology industry's biggest annual trade show attracted the smallest crowd in a decade, but that didn't mean Comdex Fall 2001 wasn't still packed with plenty of gadgets and competitive jabs.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates kicked off the conference, showing off examples of the Tablet PC, which was unveiled as a concept during last year's conference. The device, which uses a touch screen and a forthcoming version of Windows XP, was shown in prototype form with examples from Compaq Computer, NEC, Toshiba, Intel and others.Posted by Elmer @ 08:40 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
Rising Fears That What We Do Know Can Hurt Us
WASHINGTON -- The document seemed innocuous enough: a survey of government data on reservoirs and dams on CD-ROM. But then came last month's federal directive to U.S. libraries: "Destroy the report."
So a Syracuse University library clerk broke the disc into pieces, saving a single shard to prove that the deed was done.
The unusual order from the Government Printing Office reflects one of the hidden casualties of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks: the public's shrinking access to information that many once took for granted.Posted by Elmer @ 08:37 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
Saturday, November 17, 2001
Lots of xtensions to BB for monitoring all sort s of stuff.
Posted by Elmer @ 07:33 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
gPhoto 2.0beta3 released
gPhoto 2.0beta3 released (hopefully the last beta!)16.11.2001: This should be the last beta for the 2.0 series.
Head to the download page to get it!
Changes include:Fixes to the Polaroid PDC700, Agfa, Canon, JD11, and Kodak DC240 library Support for Audio download from Sierra cameras Support to download images from JamCam MMC card Beginning of PTP library Naming issues (gphoto2, libgphoto2, libgphoto2-port) resolved Updated camera list (http://www.gphoto.net/cameras.html)
With some good testing, we'll be ready to push out the 2.0-final in just a
little bit.
Posted by Elmer @ 07:16 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
GutenMark, A Project Gutenberg markup program
GutenMark is a tool for automatically creating high-quality HTML
markup from Project Gutenberg etexts. In combination with freely-available
HTML-to-Postscript conversion tools, GutenMark can convert Project
Gutenberg etexts into publication-quality Postscript, for print-on-demand
applications. This conversion is completely automatic, without manual
markup or editing.Posted by Elmer @ 07:10 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
Tex2pdf/Lyx2pdf Homepage
The major goal of the tex2pdf script is to help people who do not know a lot
about LaTeX or PDF generation (like me :-) to obtain a useable PDF document
without spending a lot of time on this issue.
Additionally, it might be even a useful tool for someone who knows about all
these tricks, tools and everything, but wants to have it quick!
Anyway, I hope people can make use of it. [more]Posted by Elmer @ 06:56 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
Friday, November 16, 2001
Wireless group tentatively OKs speed boost - Tech News - CNET.com
An industry standards group has tentatively approved new technology that will speed wireless Internet connections in homes, businesses and public places.
Technology companies, through an industry standards group called the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), on Thursday tentatively approved a new standard called 802.11g that reaches data transfer rates of 54 megabits per second (mbps). The new standard is five times faster and compatible with wireless networking kits that use the popular 802.11b standard that is in use today.Posted by Elmer @ 07:40 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
Yahoo to clip divisions, lay off 400 - Tech News - CNET.com
Yahoo offered details of its long-awaited turnaround strategy Thursday, hinging its future on advertising, exclusive paid content and revenue-sharing deals with Internet access providers.
Yahoo executives gave some specifics regarding a long-expected corporate restructuring, saying that they will whittle down Yahoo's 44 business units to six: listings, commerce, communications, media, access and enterprise. In addition, the company will lay off 400 employees, or 13 percent of its work force. The layoffs were announced at Yahoo's third-quarter earnings call last month, but the exact number has not been made public until now.Posted by Elmer @ 07:38 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
Senate extends Internet tax ban for two years (11/15/2001)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Thursday voted to renew a ban on Internet taxes, ensuring that the country's 130 million Internet users will not face new taxes for another two years.
By a voice vote, the Senate renewed a ban on Internet taxes that expired last month when lawmakers could not agree whether to include a provision that would encourage states in their quest to tax online sales.Posted by Elmer @ 07:36 AM EST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
Thursday, November 15, 2001
Posted by Elmer @ 08:08 AM EST [Link]
The Daily Californian - New Portal To Unify University Web Services
New facets of e-Berkeley may act as a lightning rod as part of a new online university experience%u2014harnessing various Web sites in a single location.
e-Berkeley, a recent initiative by the chancellor, uses Internet technology in an attempt to improve administrative efficiency and educational convenience.Posted by Elmer @ 07:57 AM EST [Link]
XML.com: XML in Electronic Court Filing [Nov. 14, 2001]
With over 90 million cases filed each year in the United States, electronic filing is emerging as a proven alternative to conventional case filing for courts and litigants alike. Increasingly, court clerks, judges, and attorneys are trying out the services in a growing number of pilot programs which courts are offering their constituents.
Electronic filing works by replacing the traditional method of filing, serving, storing, and retrieving court documents with a more efficient electronic process. Instead of duplicating, packaging, and manually delivering copies of documents to the court and service parties, you send them electronically over the Internet.Posted by Elmer @ 07:50 AM EST [Link]
Speedier wireless: The battle's on - Tech News - CNET.com
While consumers and businesses are just beginning to adopt the first wireless networking technology, tech companies are already fighting over its successor.
At issue is the billion-dollar market for networking kits that connect laptops today, and printers or stereos tomorrow, and wirelessly link them to the Internet.
The wireless connections, first introduced to corporations and schools, have begun to take off in the past few years, spreading to coffee shops, airports and hotels across the country. With prices having dropped in the past year, wireless connections have begun to catch on in homes as well, which could lead to much wider adoption and greater profits for technology makers.Posted by Elmer @ 07:44 AM EST [Link]
Thursday, November 1, 2001
Microsoft's XP copy-protection not foolproof | Computerworld News & Features Story
A controversial antipiracy technology built into Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP operating system has been cracked, a U.K. security firm has reported.
Within hours of the operating system's glitzy launch on Oct. 25 (see story), malicious coders in Asia began distributing a software program over the Internet that allows users to bypass Microsoft's Product Activation technology, which is designed to prevent users from installing a copy of Windows XP on multiple computers, according to BitArts Lab, a U.K.-based digital rights management firm.Posted by Elmer @ 03:18 PM EST [Link]
Protecting your network with Snort - Oct 31, 2001
In our most recent SysAdmin article I promised an overview of Snort, the open source network intrusion detection system. I considered not writing the article after seeing the volume of options available to users of Snort, but decided that since I have received International Fame and Recognition from my security series, that I would go ahead with the article.
The following article does not cover Snort in great detail. Snort is a large program in terms of its available options, and would take several articles to cover comprehensively. Instead, here is a brief overview of the program, and some of its options.