Service Pack 3 Delayed Big Time

If you are wondering when Microsoft will release its next Service Pack for Windows XP, just relax because you have a long wait. Much to the surprise of almost everyone, the whizzes from Redmond announced that Service Pack 3 will not be available until the second half of next year. In other words, your wait time is at least 1 1/2 years. Service Pack 2 was released in August 2004 making it at least three years between fix releases. That's a long time, although Microsoft does release fixes and patches on a monthly basis.

A service patch is a large collection of fixes, patches and updates for a Microsoft operating system. Last year, Microsoft said that it would issue the next XP service pack before its next version of the Windows operating system, to be called "Windows Vista." Its looks like they have changed their minds as Windows Vista is now scheduled for release later this year.

To me, it looks like that Microsoft has already relegated Windows XP to second class status in favor of a new operating system that is not ready for market yet. A very unclassy move, but one designed to help stimulate upgrade demand for Vista. The company also announced that as of December 30, 2008, they will no longer support Windows XP.

Just for Fun:

In these long winter days of extended darkness, I got to wondering about how much difference there is in the number of daylight hours between summer and winter. After a quick Google search, I came across the answer on a web page that is part of the Old Farmer's Almanac web site. It gives you a daily look at sunrise/sunset times in most locations in the US plus the total time of daylight hours.

FYI...for Ephrata we have 8:28 hours of daylight on the shortest day of the year (Dec 22 this year) and 15:58 hours on the longest day of the year (June 21), a difference of almost 7 1/2 hours! In the nearly one month between December 22 and today, we have already increased our daylight time by over 1/2 hour. I dearly love trivia!

More News from the Film Camera Hospice

I should have waited a day before writing yesterday's blog as I could have added this breaking story. Today, Konica Minolta, the third largest manufacturer of cameras, announced it is leaving the camera and film business altogether. It will stop producing both digital and film cameras by March of this year and will stop making photographic film and color paper by March 2007, pulling out of a market in rapid decline due to the spread of digital cameras, which store images digitally.

But wait, there is more. Konica Minolta also said that it will sell a portion of its digital single lens reflex (SLR) camera assets to Sony for an undisclosed sum. Last July, Sony and Konica Minolta formed an agreement to jointly develop digital SLR cameras, which are generally more expensive and offer better performance than point-and-shoot compact models, and typically use interchangeable lenses. The company said it will continue to produce digital SLR camera bodies and lenses for Sony based on its Maxxum/Dynax mount system, meaning that current owners of those lenses will be able to use them on new digital SLR models to be developed by Sony.

Sony already makes several non-SLR digital cameras so there was no need for the company to buy the non-SLR portion of the Konica Minolta business. Currently Konica Minolta only makes one digital SLR camera, but it is a very good one. Sad to say the Konica Minolta brand will disappear, ending a legacy that started when Minolta started producing cameras in 1928.

Regarding the film side of their operation, the company was the world's third-largest maker of camera film after Eastman Kodak and Fuji Photo Film and had said in November that it would significantly downsize its loss-making camera and film operations, but not completely shut them down. Today, they reversed that decision. Immediately following this announcement, Fuji Photo issued a press release saying it will continue making traditional camera film.

Konica Minolta, created in August 2003 through the merger of Konica and Minolta, has a long history in the camera and film markets, producing Japan's first photographic paper in 1903 and the country's first color film in 1940.

What's next, I wonder?

Film Cameras Head for the Hospice

It's no secret that film cameras are a dying breed. With the rapid rise of digital cameras, the death knoll has sounded for a product that's been with us since before the American Civil War. But time and technological innovations marches on.

It reminds me in some ways of the death of LP records. They were with us for years, even though their quality was questionable with all those ticks and pops. But, along came the CD and LP records passed into history rather rapidly. So it will be with film cameras.

I bring this up today because one of the long-time icons of photography, Nikon, announced that it would stop making most of its film cameras and lenses in order to focus on digital cameras. Nikon is the choice of many professional photographers (the other major player being Canon). For years, many photographic devotees dreamed of owning a Nikon film camera. Now, most of those folks dream of owning a Nikon or Canon SLR digital camera. Canon has already cut back on most of its film camera production as has Kodak.

Nikon said it would halt production of all but two of its seven film cameras and would also stop making most lenses for those cameras. The company will halt production of the film camera models "one by one," though it refused to specify when.

A company spokesman said Nikon made the decision because sales of film cameras have plunged. In the most recent fiscal year ended March 2005, Nikon said that film camera bodies accounted for only 3 percent of the $1.5 billion in sales at the company's camera and imaging division. That is down from 16 percent the previous year. By contrast, sales of digital cameras have soared, the company said, jumping to 75 percent of total sales in the year ended March 2005, from 47 percent three years earlier.

As I have written here before, the rapid rise of digital cameras caught everyone off guard. The sales of digital camera exceeded even the wildest expectations of camera manufacturers. The main reason, of course, is the instant gratification offered by digital, not to mention the quality. And with all the options offered on many digital cameras, one can almost be guaranteed a high quality picture nearly every time. And, images are easily stored on tiny computer chips, eliminating the need to carry and develop clunky rolls of film.

As a fairly recent convert to the world of digital photography, I can testify that it is definitely better. I can't image shooting a wedding anymore with a film camera. And, for me, being able to process each image shot in RAW mode before creating the actual photograph is a Godsend for those shots that aren't quite up to my expectations. And except for those art shows that still require slides of my work for jurying, I may never use my excellent SLR film camera again. But, because of my life-long interest and activity in photography and the many hours spent in a real dark room, the passing of film camera does bring with it a touch of nostalgia and sadness.

Sidebar Story

Since we are talking photography here, I thought I would pass along a story that first appeared recently in the New York Times and has been republished by CNET. It is the story of how camera buyers who use the Internet have become enraged by the questionable business practices of several on-line camera resellers. A majority of these firms are located in Brooklyn.

It focuses not only on the many consumer complaints against these firms, but also on the story of one customer who was so outraged by his experiences with one company that he wrote a irate blog, which was eventually picked up by hundreds, if not thousands of web users. They all set out to shut down the company in question and have apparently succeeded.

One of these outraged New York consumers, Don Wiss, used his web site to publish photographs of most every camera company in Brooklyn and New York, using the addresses listed on each web site. His photographs reveal a plethora of shuttered warehouses, mailbox stores and apartment buildings...and a few legitimate businesses. You can see them on his website by clicking here.

A Free Diary (Journal) for You

I love to write and have been doing so since I was a little boy. I was on my high school paper and in college I graduated with a degree in journalism. As a political consultant, I wrote hundreds of speeches, TV and radio commercials, articles, and direct mail pieces. For the last several years, I’ve been writing a technology newsletter, which morphed in 2003 to this blog. I also write for myself, most of which not available for public consumption.

I do sometimes wish that over the years I had maintained a proper diary (these days, diaries are often referred to as journals). The truth is that writing by hand has always been difficult for me. I am left-handed and most binders and notebooks are made for right-handed people. Plus, my hand gets very sore after only a few minutes of writing.

Thus, the widespread availability of computers was a Godsend for me personally as I can type for hours without any difficulties, aw well as make instant corrections. But, having personal documents mixed in with other documents has been difficult for me personally, as I like the idea of keeping related documents all in one place….you know…like a diary or journal.

That’s why I was pleased to find a free diary program that can organize my personal writings in the form of a daily diary. The program is called “iDailyDiary” and is available as free download (no strings attached) from the Download.com website.

This well designed program is very easy to use and has several great features. It is organized by date so that each day you start a new entry. You can have one or several tabbed sheets for each day. It is simple to drop in your own pictures or graphics as well as pictures and graphics from the Internet. You can easily create links to interesting Web pages as well as other documents on your own computer. In addition, it is easy to link current entries to past diary entries for easier reference.

Date and time stamping is easily done so it is clearly identified when you wrote something. You can also changed fonts, sizes and colors, as well as add bold, italics and underline words.

One of the best features of iDailyDiary is the ability so search for specific references from past entries. When you search, the program pulls up complete paragraphs of your search parameters so you can see your search words used in context. It also lists the date of your entry, making it easier to find the entire entry.

So if you want to do your own blog but don’t want to it on the Internet for public consumption, consider downloading iDailyDiary. It is highly recommended.

Although the free version has plenty of good features, which will probably be enough for most folks, there is a professional version available for $30 that adds several nice features like spell check, sticky notes, tables, and templates.

New Version of Thunderbird Available

The Mozilla Foundation has released the next version of it's e-mail software, Thunderbird, Version 1.5. Thunderbird is the e-mail companion program to the Firefox web browser, although it is not necessary to have if you use Firefox.

I am a satisfied user of Thunderbird and am happy to see the upgrade. As you may remember from about one year ago, my new desktop computer had difficulties with both Outlook 2000 and Outlook Express. The difficulty arose when I updated my new computer with Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, before installing Outlook. Doing it this way apparently caused a problem with password retention and, as a result, neither of the two Microsoft e-mail programs would retain my e-mail password. I had to continually enter my password every time I checked my e-mail. Very annoying, to say the least.

I found the problem listed on Microsoft's web site, along with the possible solutions. None of them worked. So rather than spend hours and days continuing to work on the problem, I installed Thunderbird and have been a happy user ever since.

From what I have been able to ascertain, the majority of improvements in Thunderbird V1.5 are behind the scenes. The original versions apparently had several bugs, none of which I ever encountered. All these have been fixed.

There is one nice feature that has been added and that is the detection of possible phishing scams. The software will now detect and notify you of suspicious e-mails that may try to dupe you to give your private information to unsavory characters. I can't vouch that this works as I have not received one since upgrading to the new version.

It also has improved its built-in spam detection filters. The software learns what you consider to be junk mail and does a good job removing them from your in-box to a junk mail box. I have trained my junk filters over the last year and it seems to work quite well.

Another new improvement that mirrors the latest Firefox upgrade is that fixes and upgrades can now be downloaded automatically by the software so you don't have to keep checking the Mozilla web site. And like Firefox, there are several free ad-ons you can download (they are called extensions).

If you would like to learn more about Thunderbird and its extensions...or download the newest version (remember it is free) head over the the Mozilla website.

You can also read a pre-release review by eWeek magazine on their website, although please remember that e-Week reviews products more for enterprises, not for individuals. Still, they found it to be an excellent upgrade.

Symantec Caught Using Rootkit Technology

As we learned from the recent Sony fiasco with their music CD's, rootkits are bad. So why is Symantec, manufacturers of Norton Anti-Virus, Norton Firewall, and Norton Systemworks, and self-pronounced guardians of all that is safe and clean, using rootkit technology?

I don't know and neither do most of the security experts in world. But Symantec has confessed to doing it with the Norton Systemworks software. Symantec said they did it as a way of deliberately hiding a directory from Windows APIs as a feature to stop customers from accidentally deleting files.

Symantec said the feature, called Norton Protected Recycle Bin, was built into Norton SystemWorks with a director called NProtect that is hidden from Windows APIs. Because it is cloaked, files in the NProtect directory might not be scanned during scheduled or manual virus scans. They also said that this could potentially provide a location for an attacker to hide a malicious file on a computer, although they believe that this is a very low risk.

In light of this controversy, Symantec has released an updated version for Norton Systemworks that unhides the NProtect directory. According to Symantec's website, this issue only affects Systemworks 2005 and 2006. Symantec is "strongly" recommending that SystemWorks users update the product immediately to ensure greater protection.

This is an embarrassing turn of events for Symantec, more so because the company, which bills itself as "a world leader in providing solutions to help individuals and enterprises assure the security, availability, and integrity of their information," didn't realize its misstep until Mark Russinovich, the researcher who discovered Sony's controversial DRM rootkit, alerted them to it.

"It's a bad, bad, bad idea to start hiding things in places where it presents a danger. I'm seeing it more and more with commercial vendors," Russinovich said in an interview. "When you use rootkit-type techniques, even if your intentions are good, the user no longer has full control of the machine. It's impossible to manage the security and health of that system if the owner is not in control."

Microsoft to Look for Potential Security Flaws

In a move that is best described as wayyyyyyyyyyy overdue, Microsoft says it plans to scour its code to look for flaws similar to the recent serious Windows bug (see last week's blog) and to update its development practices to prevent similar problems in future products. So why did this move take so long?

According to Microsoft, the flaw in the method that Windows Meta File (WMF) images are handled is different than any security vulnerability the software maker has dealt with in the past. Typical flaws are unforeseen gaps in programs that hackers can take advantage of and run code. By contrast, according to Microsoft, the WMF problem lies in a software feature being used in an unintended way.

In response to the new threat, the software company is pledging to take a look at its programs, old and new, to avoid similar side effects. For a company the size of Microsoft, this new initiative should have been done years ago.

To its credit, Microsoft has been working for four years to improve its security posture, beginning with its Trustworthy Computing Initiative, launched in 2002. But, one analyst said the WMF problem is not a good advertisement for Microsoft's security efforts as the legacy issue seemingly went undetected. Another analyst says, "This should have been caught and eliminated years ago. They overlooked image format files, and that is where this WMF issue came in."

Microsoft now faces a race with cybercriminals, who are likely on the prowl for the same bugs. And guess what? The bad guys are winning.

Just days after rushing out an emergency fix to counter a rash security attacks using the WMF flaw, security researchers claim there are at least two new flaws in the way the Windows graphics rendering engine handles WMF images. The issue can be used to run a denial-of-service attack, but there are fears that other kinds of attacks may be possible if the exploit is modified.

Microsoft says they have already identified the issues as part of its ongoing code maintenance and is evaluating them for inclusion in the next service pack for the affected products. The new flaws affect fully patched versions of Windows 2000, Windows XP (Service Pack 2 included) and Windows Server 2003.

Microsoft is such a huge company in terms of its size, its financial position, and its control of the huge computing market. They were warned many, many years ago that their coding methodology would lead to all kinds of problems in the future, but they chose to proceed irregardless. And it is all of us who suffer. I am frankly sick of it.

Yahoo, Google, and a Freebie

It seems ironic that two of the biggest announcements at last week's Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas came not from traditional electronic companies, but from Yahoo and Google whose products take up absolutely no shelf space at electronic retailers.

Yahoo officially announced its new portable initiative called "Yahoo Go" that extends its already numerous services to televisions and cell phones. Yahoo Go Mobile, for example, brings Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Messenger, photo services, and Web and image search to cell phones. Yahoo Go TV brings video search and movie information to PC-connected TVs. Yahoo's goal is to make their services indispensable, omnipresent fixtures of our so called "digital lifestyle."

Yahoo does have some darn good services including Yahoo 360 (combines your photos and personal blogs) and Flickr (an advanced site for showing off your photos), not to mention their e-mail, instant messaging. You should check out Yahoo Go, if only to see if some of their existing services might be of value to you now.

Meanwhile, Google announced its soon-to-be-open video service, called Google Video Store. When fully operational, people will be able to buy a wide array of sports, entertainment and news programming from partners such as CBS and the NBA. In 2005, Google launched a video search service, and outsiders have long assumed the company and business partners would seek ways to make money from online video. In his Las Vegas speech, company's co-founder and president of products Larry Page said Google would sell some videos for as little as 99 cents.

Google also announced the release of Google Pack, a free downloadable package of Google-branded and third-party software, such as a Web browser and a media player, considered essential for most computer users. The availability of the included software could diminish Microsoft's control of the computer desktop, seen by many as a key tool for driving people to use online services.

The package includes Google Desktop, which searches computer desktop files; Google Earth, a 3D earth browser for looking at close-up satellite imagery of the earth; Picasa a very good photo editor and organizer; Google Screensaver for customizing your own screensaver; and Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer.

Third party software included in Google Pack includes the Firefox web browser complete with Google Toolbar, Norton Anti-Virus with a free six month subscription, Ad-Aware anti-spyware software, and Adobe Reader 7.

Optional software that can be downloaded as part of Google Pack include Google Talk, an instant message and voice chat program, RealPlayer digital media player from Real Networks, Gallery Player HD Images, and Trilian Instant Messenger. You can download some or all of these goodies for free by going to the new Google Pack Web Page. This is a great bargain in free software, now available in one place. Check it out.

A Look at the Consumer Electronic Show

In the past, I have written lots about the new products that emerged from the Consumer Electronics Show, which just concluded its 2006 four day run in Las Vegas. With the emergence of blogs and Internet video, I don't have to write that much about it anymore as you can see it for yourself.

CNET, which has always done a very good job of covering this event in the past (as well as the old Comdex), has outdone itself this year in its coverage with lots of stories and plenty of videos about the show and new products.

I enjoyed the video walking tour of the various event sites and looking at many of the new product videos. They also gave out 14 Best-Of-Show awards for their favorite products, which is no small feat considering the thousands of new products that were introduced.

The first of the dual-processor laptops were introduced at the show, which are interesting, but a little out of my price range right now. New digital cameras were in short supply as most of those new products will be introduced next month at a different show that focuses on photographic products. Other categories covered include cell phones/PDA's, car technology, computers, networking, televisions, home audio, home video, MP3/Portable video, gaming, and more.

So, if you would like to spend a few minutes (or a few hours) looking at many of the new products coming our way, head over to the special section of the CNET web site that covers the show. If you are anything like me, you should really have a good time.

Best of the Free Software

I love freebies!! Especially when the freebies are useful. Over the years, I have downloaded lots of free software, many of which are or were very useful. Right now, on my computer, there are several free software programs that I use continually.

For instance, my e-mail software is Thunderbird and my Web browser is Firefox, both made by Mozilla and both were free. I have another program that reads blank CD's and DVD's and tells me who manufactured them to make sure I don't get stuck with some low grade product. Another program I use is similar to Windows Explorer, but it lets me look at two directories at the same time. Still another program I use does mass updating of file names in one fell swoop (very handy for wedding photo files). All these and more were all free.

As I have mentioned before here, one of the top downloading sites on the net is download.com. They have put together a large list of their best software products that are free and have absolutely no strings attached. The list is in categories including: Audio/Video, Business, Design/Photo, Desktop Enhancements, Developer Tools, Games, Home/Education, Internet, Utilities, and MAC Software.

Head over to their website when you have a chance and check out the list. I would be surprised if you didn't find something that can be useful for you. The link is:

http://www.download.com/1200-20-5154518.html?

Update on Windows Flaw

Two days ago, I told you about the very dangerous Windows Meta File flaw that was being exploited by some of the scum that stalk the Internet on search and destroy missions. After returning from my 2 day wedding shoot in Yakima late last night, I logged onto my desktop computer this morning to discover that Microsoft had automatically installed an urgent fix on my system.

It didn't say what it was, but I suspected that it might be the fix that Microsoft said it was working on to fix the meta file flaw. After doing some research, I found that Microsoft had indeed rushed the patch out for downloading, roughly 10 days ahead of schedule. Good job, Microsoft!

The patches are available for Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP SP1 and SP2, and Windows Server 2003 SP1. There are no fixes for Windows 98 (any version) or Windows ME. According the Microsoft, the security vulnerability does not affect these operating systems. Originally, Microsoft said it did, but now they have backtracked on that statement.

If you have Windows XP, and you are not sure you have received it, you can go to your control panel and access the "Security Center." On the left side of the screen, you will see a menu selection called, "Check for the latest updates from Windows Update." This will take you to a special section of the Microsoft website. Follow the instructions on the screen to see if you already have this latest patch. Microsoft will scan your computer and tell you if you need to download it or if it has already been done. You can also check and see if you computer automatically downloads the latest updates. If it isn't set up that way, you should probably set it so you don't have to worry about getting these patches in the future.

If you have Windows 2000, you may have to manually check on the Microsoft website to see if you can download the patch. Whatever operating system your computer uses, if your computer has not installed this latest patch, do so immediately!! It is a very critical fix.

Again, cudos to Microsoft for fixing this problem so fast.

Windows Flaw Exposes Us All

A newly discovered flaw in Microsoft's Windows Meta File (WMF) has spawned dozens of attacks since its discovery last week. Microsoft has no patch for the problem as of this writing. The attacks so far have been varied and range from an MSN Messenger worm to spam e-mail that attempts to lure people to click on malicious Web sites.

The vulnerability can be easily exploited in Windows XP with Service Pack 1 and 2, as well as Windows Server 2003, according to security experts. Older versions of the operating system, including Windows 2000 and Windows ME, are also at risk, though in those cases the flaw is more difficult to exploit. Security experts say that 99% of the world’s computers are vulnerable to this attack.

The Windows Meta File flaw uses images to execute arbitrary code. It can be exploited just by the user viewing an infected image. Microsoft plans to release a fix for the WMF vulnerability as part of its monthly security update cycle on Jan. 10.

All Internet browser are vulnerable, including IE, Firefox, Opera, Maxthon and others. The reason is the browser is not rendering the infected image. It's rendered by Windows' own Picture and Fax Viewer (Shimgvw.dll), also known as the Shell Image View Control). New versions of Firefox do display an alert when a suspicious image is encountered on a Web page. But since viewing an image is usually harmless, most users will click OK, thereby exposing them to infection.

If your PC catches an infected metafile, the payload can run even if you don't consciously open or view the image. For instance, Google Desktop Search causes the payload to be executed when the metadata of the image is accessed. If the image is an icon, merely displaying a file directory in certain views of Windows Explorer can silently execute the Trojan.

As mentioned above, there are several ways in which this newly found vulnerability could find its way on to your computer. For instance, one exploits image files and tries to get users to click on them. A different one is an MSN Messenger worm that will send the worm to people on your buddy list.

Some of the e-mail spam attacks have been targeted to select groups, such as one that purports to come from the U.S. Department of State. The malicious e-mail tries to lure the user to open a map attachment and will then download a Trojan horse. The exploit will open a backdoor on the user's system and allow sensitive files to be viewed. The WMF flaw has already resulted in attacks such as the Exploit-WMF Trojan, which made the rounds last week.

The only advice I can give you at this time is to be very careful until Microsoft releases its fix, hopefully later this month. Until then, be diligent about which web sites you visit (stick to the ones you normally visit and know are safe), and don’t open strange e-mails with attachments. Also make sure your e-mail program doesn’t automatically display pictures. I use Thunderbird, which does not open any images in e-mail’s unless I give it permission. This is very helpful with all spam e-mail and can prevent infections.

Also, be sure and download the next Microsoft Windows fix as soon as it becomes available.

PS: There will not be any new blogs for a couple of days as I will be out of town photographing a wedding.

Useless Facts to Start Your New Year

Here are some fascinating (but almost useless) facts that I thought you might find interesting.

Computing

• 25% of Internet users are hit with phishing e-mails. Most think they might be from legitimate companies, and 70% were fooled by the e-mails


• 56% of PC users run no antivirus software, or have it, but have not updated it within a week. 44% do not have a firewall properly configured, 38% lack spyware protection


• By 2010, 10% of US ad market will belong to Internet ads


• 35% of the world's software is pirated. That is only a 1% drop over 2004.


• 72% of US small businesses have a Web site


• European computing statistics - 48% of the traffic is Web and e-mail, 19% - Usenet, 14% - streaming multimedia, 13% - peer-to-peer, 4% - online gaming and 3% - VOIP


• 78% of podcast listeners are male


• The Bush administration estimates that 100 million e-mails addressed to President George W Bush will become part of the National Archives after he leaves office. In contrast, President Clinton left only 38 million e-mails to the National Archives


• Consumer electronics sales climbed 10% during the holiday shopping season in 2005 compared with 2004


• By 2008, 100 million Americans will telecommute to work


• More than 500 billion spam e-mails were blocked by AOL filters in 2005. The number of junk e-mails reported by AOL's 26 million members worldwide has declined about 75% since 2003

Shopping and Misc.

• 67% of all credit cardholders have a reward card in their wallets


• UBS Securities estimates that while the annual spending average for a regular Visa card are about $5,200 a year, it jumps to $26,100 for a reward card. 38% of reward cardholders said their cash-back card was their primary card, while only 14% cited their air-miles card


• During the 2005 holiday season, online merchants attracted 27% of all spending


• eBay says 52% of surveyed customers have "re-gifted" in the past, while 49% believe it's socially acceptable


• The average tire in 2005 costs $76


• CD and digital album sales in 2005 are down 8% compared with end of year 2004


• At the end of 2005 Netflix had 4.1 million subscribers (that includes the addition of Walmart.com video rental subscribers), while Blockbuster Online had 1 million


• 51% of US households have cable TV, 26% receive their television via satellite, 1% has both, and 22% have neither


• 88% of Americans have a VCR and a CD player; 82% own a DVD player; 75% - a cell phone and a PC; 39% - a gaming console; 30% - a portable gaming console like Sony PSP or Gameboy; 28% have an HDTV; 25% own a DVD recorder or DVR; 24% have an MP3 player; 14% are owners of a satellite radio


• An estimated 5% of US adults are not literate in English, which means 11 million people lack the skills to perform everyday tasks

Happy New Year!!!

Susan and I wish you all a Happy New Year and welcome to 2006. Let's hope this is a great year for all of us. I look forward to providing you more useful news and information from the ever-changing world of technology.

Take care and enjoy all the football that the sports world will offer us over the next few days.

A Preview of New Things to Come

It's almost that time of year. Its only about a week away.

No, I am not talking about the Rose Bowl, Super Bowl, or any other bowl, for that matter. No, I am talking about the biggest event in consumer technology...the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The 2006 show will be held on January 5-8 in several locations including the huge Las Vegas Convention Center. Over 130,000 people are expected.

As I have written before, the merger of entertainment and consumer devices with the world of computers has made CES the biggest show of its kind, supplanting Comdex, and for that matter, putting the Comdex folks out of business. Over the years, I attended several Comdex shows in Las Vegas and always looked forward to it. But, I have never been to CES and wish I could do so.

We will have more info about the new products that will be shown this year when the show gets underway. But if you would like to have a preview of some of the expected products, head over to the PC Magazine web site and check out some of the neat new products (or as my wife calls it, "boys with their toys"). There are some great new goodies coming our way.

Inside Windows Vista

The latest test version of the next Windows operating system, called "Vista" is now being installed and used by a large group of Windows beta testers around the world. Microsoft's goal is to release the final version of Vista sometime in the second half of 2006.

PC Magazine has put together a visual slide show of some of the software's newest features. If you would like to see some of the new features, head on over to their website. It is worth the trip.

When Must You Buy a Digital TV?

Many thanks to one of my faithful readers for writing me a very timely and pertinent question recently about television. Specifically, he wanted to know how long does he have before he must go out and purchase a digital TV because his old analog set will be rendered obsolete by order of Congress?

A good question, I thought at the time, as the date has been moved back several times. So, I found the answer and shared it with him. But the question and answer are important enough that I thought I would share it with you all. But first, a little background.

In 1997, Congress passed a law that stipulated that analog television signals would have be cut off on Dec. 31, 2006, or when 85 percent of households are capable of receiving digital signals, whichever arrived sooner. Obviously, we are not yet near that figure and will probably not be one year from now. The government wants to deploy part of the band that currently carry analog signals to police, fire and other emergency communications...And also for wireless communications.

Analog TV signals currently use the 700MHz frequency band, meaning that by nature, they travel farther than those on bands used by the wireless and electronics industries today. Reusing that spectrum could mean easier and cheaper deployment of broadband networks, and translate to more affordable, widespread high-speed Internet access for consumers.

Digital transmission of TV signals also means a better quality TV signal, especially when tied in with high definition TV. But, again all of this means purchasing a new digital-ready TV set. But, you ask, what is the current date that we must all have one of the these new-fangled TV's in our homes.

The answer to that question is now February 18, 2009 (or will shortly be, anyway). The new date is part of a larger bill covering Medicaid and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that has been OK'd by the Senate and will move over for President Bush's signature after final approval by the House.

But before you go putting that date on your calendar, you should know that this date only effects people who get their TV signals over the airwaves. It does not affect the majority of us folks who get our TV via cable or satellite. Households that already rely solely on cable or satellite broadcasting should not have to make any changes. Satellite services, such as DirectTV, are already capable of converting signals, and most cable companies intend a seamless transition, such as re-engineering their signals at the source, so that no extra home hardware is necessary.

FCC rules require all television sets and other TV receivers on the market to contain digital tuners by March 1, 2007. Short of buying a new digital-ready television, consumers who get their TV over-the-air can opt for a digital-to-analog converter box, which manufacturers estimate will cost about $50 by 2009.

The approved Senate package would also dispense up to $1.5 billion in government subsidies to households, which may request up to two $40 vouchers to use toward purchasing set-top boxes.

The bottom line is that for most of us, it looks like we don't have to run right out and buy a new TV for quite some time, although it sure is tempting when I see a football game being shown on a high definition TV.

Merry Christmas!!

From our house to yours, Susan and I wish you a very merry Christmas.

France About to Legalize Downloading Copyrighted Materials

Have you ever noticed how the French like to snub their noses at people and things? Usually it is at the United States and Americans, especially those Americans visiting their country. Now, it seems the French are about to snub their collective noses at a new, more specific target...the entertainment world.

France is about to become the first country to pass a law broadly permitting free downloads of copyright content from the Internet for private use. In a move that could thwart the entertainment industry's attempts to seek legal sanctions for copyright violations, French Parliament members voted 30 to 28 this week to accept an amendment proposing such a move.

The amendment is attached to a broader copyright law proposal. It reads, "Authors cannot forbid the reproductions of works that are made on any format from an online communication service when they are intended to be used privately and when they do not imply commercial means directly or indirectly."

In short, that language could open the way to the legalization of “peer-to-peer” downloading of copyright music and movies in the nation of about 8 million Net users. Under French copyright law, there's a concept called private copy, which permits people to make copies of content for themselves or their friends. Lately, there is a huge debate whether or not “private copy” includes downloaded content on the Internet. This new bill and its attached amendment, if passed, will clear this up.

The music and film industries in America and around the world are up in arms about this already and are marshalling all their forces to defeat the bill, and if necessary, tie it up for years in the French legal system.

More when it happens.

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Christmas Brings New Security Threats

If you use instant messaging on your computer, specifically instant messaging from AOL, MSN, Windows Messenger, ICQ or Yahoo, you need to be aware of a new, Christmas-themed worm attack that is now underway. And, as we have been warning, it is in the form of a rootkit attack.

The worm, identified as IM.GiftCom.All, attempts to trick users into clicking on a malicious URL. The link lures the target into visiting a harmless Santa Claus Web site, but actually installs a rootkit payload to the victim's machine. The rootkit payload is often named gift.com and when executed, hides itself on the user's system, attempts to shutdown desktop anti-virus software and starts collecting the infected user's information for broadcast over the Internet. Once a machine becomes infected, the worm takes control of the user's buddy list and broadcasts itself to all available recipients.

Using Christmas themes as a lure for scams, worms, viruses and phishing scams is not new. In fact, researchers warn that Christmas 2005 will be the worst year ever. Last year there were 8,829 different phishing campaigns in December. Look for much more this year. The real problem with phishing e-mail is that they look like e-mail that you would expect to receive during this time of year.

In one example this year, scammers crafted an e-mail that looks like it came from eBay. The mail announces, "Christmas is coming!" and encourages recipients to click on a link to "www.ebaychristmas.net" for advice on "seasonal selling." Though they appear legitimate, the e-mail message and the Web site are fraudulent.

Security experts have also warned of malicious software that can pose as an electronic Christmas card, like last year's Zafi pest. They advise consumers not to open e-mail attachments and to send friends Christmas greetings in plain text or via traditional mail.

You have been warned!

Winter and Holiday Photography Tips

I am still suffering with a real nasty winter cold, so again today I am going to let others do most of the talking. I came across a couple of interesting articles on the cameraworld.com web site that may help you take better holiday pictures and tips on handling your camera in cold weather.

The first article is about taking pictures of holiday lights. I found it informative and it may give you some tips for shooting your Christmas tree and the lights on your house (or your neighbors). It is worth a read.

The second article is about the special precautions you should use to handle your camera when shooting outside during winter. The only thing it didn't really cover was photographing snow scenes. Because snow is so bright, it can fool the camera's automatic exposure meter so that snow pictures have a more grayish cast than white. Here are two examples I shot just the other day that exhibit this point.

The first picture shows a winter scene using automatic exposure. The second picture was shot by changing from automatic exposure to a special a special setting on my camera for snow. Neither picture was touched up, except for sharpening.

Many digital cameras have special settings to cover different kinds of photography conditions. You should check and see if your camera has a special setting for snow, then use it when you have to. On my camera, the snow setting increases the exposure by 1/3 of a stop and sets the white balance to 6000K.

As for shooting Christmas lights, my camera also has a special setting for shooting night scenes. But, I also experimented with automatic and manual settings and found that I could pretty much get the same shots without the special setting. If you would like to see a few examples of some of my night Christmas light photos taken around town, check out my web site.

Of course, they were all taken with my camera mounted on a tripod. If you don't have a tripod, you can set your camera on a small bean-bag to give it stability. Low light night time shots always require a shutter speed that is too slow to hand-hold.

More on Rootkits

As I am feeling under the weather this weekend, I am going to let someone else do my talking for me. The subject, which have talked about before here, is rootkits. This type of malicious software designed to run undetected in your computer, is on this rise. In fact, Microsoft says that 20% of all the problems they deal with are caused by rootkits.

Here is the definition of rootkit from Wikepedia:

A rootkit is a type of malicious software that is activated each time your system boots up. Rootkits are difficult to detect because they are activated before your system's Operating System has completely booted up. A rootkit often allows the installation of hidden files, processes, hidden user accounts, and more in the systems.

The use of rootkits by hackers and spyware vendor is only going to get worse. Many of the spyware detector software programs are beginning to add rootkit detection technology to their products.

A well informed technical expert by the name of Suzi Turner has been writing a blog about spyware and rootkits for sometime now. I suggest you read one of her latest blogs entitled "Rootkits Rising," then if you find the subject matter of value, click on some of her latest blog entries. You will find her interesting and passionate about the subject.

Understanding Battery Types

Not to long ago, I did some research into batteries as I was about to purchase a flash unit for my digital camera. My flash unit takes four AA batteries and I was looking to find out whether I should consider buying rechargeable batteries or just use high quality alkaline batteries that are disposed of after use. I thought I would share some of my research with you.

Disposable Batteries

Alkaline - They last the longest and you can usually find them on sale someplace. Personally, I have had the best luck with the Duracell brand as they seem to last much longer than other brands. There is also the Duracell Ultra, which is more expensive, but, in my experience, does last longer than the regular Duracell alkaline. But, if you are using something like a photo flash on a regular basis, using disposable batteries may get too expensive and may not be the best solution (see below).

Lithium - These batteries are the most powerful batteries you can get, but they are expensive, and they are toxic so you can't just throw them in the trash. (You're supposed to take them to your community's hazardous waste facility.) They're great for devices that use the 9Volt size, since they'll last a long time (10 years in smoke detectors). Don't confuse these with Lithium Ion batteries that are used in cell phones and laptops.

Heavy Duty - Also known as General Purpose batteries. These are Carbon Zinc & Zinc Chloride batteries. They're misnamed as they don't last very long and Carbon Zincs are very susceptible to leaking. Avoid these.

Recharageable Batteries

Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) - Bottom line: these are the best all around rechargeable batteries that you can buy today. Don't confuse these batteries with the Nickel-Cadmium (NiCad) type (which I did at first). NiMH replaced NiCad in the rechargeable battery world. NiMH's have much higher capacity than NiCd's and don't suffer from memory effect (see below) . NiMH's are excellent all-around batteries but they have a high self-discharge rate (great for digital cameras, flashes, and portable radios), but they go dead after a few months even if you don't use them, so they're not good for things like emergency flashlights or smoke detectors.

Nickel-Cadmium (NiCad) - As mentioned above, these are now obsolete and suffer from memory loss if you recharge them before fully discharging the battery. Memory loss means that a full charge will not last as long as it once did.

Lithium Ion - As already mentioned, these are excellent, long life batteries that used in cell phones and laptop computers. They do not come in regular sizes such AA, AAA, C, D, and ( Volt radio batteries.

Rechargeable Alkaline - These batteries can't be recharged nearly as many times as NiMH or even NiCad. They also can't be used in high-drain devices like digital cameras, and their capacity drops every time they're charged. But they're fine if you need a rechargeable that puts out more voltage than an NiMH.

Price Considerations

In my case, I chose to go with NiMH rechargeable batteries, based on cost and from reading what other photographers had to say about my particular flash unit. Not only would these batteries last a long time, they will bring my flash unit back to full charge in only one second...Much faster than regular alkaline batteries. When I found out that I could buy 4 rechargeable AA batteries for $2.50 each, that clinched it for me.

After reading other reviews of different batteries brands, I chose the PowerEx 2500 MAh battery made by Maha, the best and longest life battery they make. Of course, I had to buy a charger for the batteries which is a little more expensive. Again, after some research I chose the Powerex C-204W charger. I purchased a package deal with 8 batteries and a charger for $44.95 from Thomas Distributing. The charger not only charges batteries, but reconditions older batteries.

So far, my new batteries are still running strong in my flash unit. With 8 fully charge batteries, I should have no worries about running out of flash power when photographing weddings. I plan to buy more for other appliances that use AA batteries.

I hope my experiences and research can be of some benefit to you.

Update on DHL Blog

Since I told you most of the story about my shipping experiences with DHL, I thought I better finish the story.

My package finally arrived on Monday afternoon, a full seven days after it was shipped. It took four days to get to Washington State (Chehalis) and another three days to get from there to my "local" DHL office in Spokane. From there, DHL gave it to a contract delivery person (a nice guy driving a mini van) on Monday morning and he made it to my house that afternoon.

What was also interesting that this same person, who also contracts out to other shippers, also delivered another package that was shipped via Airborne Standard Service that was shipped from Georgia two days later than the DHL package which was sent via DHL Two Day Express .

The company that shipped my product via DHL has now refunded my credit card the amount between standard shipping and two day express. They handled the matter quickly and efficiently after I reported that the DHL package had finally arrived.

There you have it...The rest of the story. (Apologies to Paul Harvey)

Firefox News and Updates

On 11/30/05, I wrote a blog about the new version Firefox, Ver. 1.5; and a few days later, I wrote another blog about some of the dangers in using Internet Explorer and why we should all think about permanently changing our browsers.

Well, I took my advise to heart and have changed my browser-of-choice over to the new Firefox. I did this at first to force myself to use it full time for a few weeks to see if I liked it and could get used to it. While I won't say this is a permanent switch just yet, it is getting awfully close because I do really like this browser...much more than I did when I first wrote about it on 11/30. Maybe I have just gotten used to it, but I think it is more than that.

First and foremost it is having no problems displaying web pages. So many web pages only work well in IE because they were written using Microsoft Front Page and use Microsoft extensions. And, as we all know, Microsoft loves making things proprietary so only their products work well. But so far, I am having no problems reading all the web pages I have tried, including those that don't do well in other browsers. Perhaps because Firefox is gaining so much marketshare, web designers have stopped using Microsoft extensions in favor of less proprietary solutions.

I once wrote that I had trouble writing this blog in anything but IE. Now, I am writing it flawlessly in Firefox, and it actually works better than IE. When I do a spell check, Firefox actually shows me the word in context with its sentence. IE doesn't do that.

I am still learning more and more about setting up my preferences in Firefox, but I am really liking this software a great deal. I thought for sure when I installed it that I would dump it and go back to Maxthon. But that may not happen. I only wish Maxthon wasn't vulnerable to some of Microsoft's security issues.

Recently there has been news about security vulnerabilities in Firefox. These are old vulnerabilities from the days of Version 1. They were fixed in Version 1.0.5, so if you are running Firefox, make sure it is Version 1.0.5 or Version 1.5 as they are not vulnerable. If you do have an older version, I would definitely upgrade to 1.5.

Another thing to remember about Version 1.5 is that the older Firefox extensions (enhancements from third party developers) that you may have downloaded in Version 1, do not work in Version 1.5. You will have to reinstall new extensions when you upgrade, which is extremely simple in Version 1.5.

With that in mind, CNet recently came out with a list of their favorite 10 extensions on their website. There are some really good ones listed here, some of which I have tried.

Some of my favorites include "Google Preview," which shows you a preview of each web page listed in the Google search results; "Dictionary Tooltip," that lets you double click on any word on a web page and then immediately pulls up its definition and thesaurus suggestions; "Session Saver," that will bring up the exact same web pages that were on your screen when you closed Firefox (very handy when doing research); "Forecast Fox," which gives you a local weather toolbar at the bottom of your Firefox browser (it also pops up severe weather warnings automatically); and "Tabbrowser Preferences," that gives you additional options for your tabbed webpages.

Remember, these extensions are only for Version 1.5 of Firefox. Anyway, consider giving the new Firefox a look and please let me know what you think.

Download New Windows Fixes Now!

If you run Windows XP and have it set for automatic updates from Microsoft, you may have noticed the little symbol that appeared yesterday on your screen down by the clock. It is a small yellow shield with an exclamation point on it. That means Microsoft has some new Windows fixes ready for downloading and installation.

If you don't have automatic updates enabled, I strongly suggest you hop on over to the Microsoft website and check for critical updates. It will tell you what you need to download, then do it for you.

This newest monthly update from Microsoft fixes four critical flaws for Internet Explorer that I described in my blog on 12/3/05. If you use IE as your web browser of choice, it is very important that you download these updates ASAP! If not, you are vulnerable to someone planting malicious code on your computer to take it over and download personal information from your system and even use it as part of a denial-of-service attack. They will have complete control of your computer without you knowing it.

Microsoft has warned that the hole is actively being exploited to download malicious code to vulnerable systems. Security-monitoring company Secunia deems the problem "extremely critical," its rarely given highest rating.

The browser security update also tackles part of the fallout from Sony BMG Music Entertainment's rootkit debacle (see my blogs of 11/4/05 and 4/11/05). The browser security update will make it impossible to run older versions of an ActiveX control released by the record label. The software was designed to defuse the issues with an antipiracy tool, but was found to have security problems of its own.

So, even if you use some other browser besides IE, such as Firefox, Maxthon or Opera, you still need to get these updates because all of us still have to use IE sometimes. For Maxthon users it is even more critical as Maxthon uses the IE engine to operate. Firefox and Opera are not vulnerable to the IE flaws described here, but all of us, no matter what computer we use, are vulnerable to the Sony Rootkit attack.

If you use an older Microsoft Windows system, such as Windows 2000 or Windows 3.1, you need to check if you can get updates for your browser. I doubt that there are fixes as Microsoft no longer supports these operating systems. In that case, I suggest you get Firefox or Opera immediately.

New CNN Service

The uncrowned leader of the news reporting world, CNN, has finally recognized that a great many of its users (and readers) have abandoned dial-up Internet connections in favor of broadband connections such as DSL, cable, and fiber optics. So they created a new premium service that makes use of these broadband connections.

Called "CNN Pipeline," the new service has actually been in development for over a year. It went on-line last week and has signed up plenty of subscribers, at least according to their own press release. The technology for Pipeline is four live video streams, which offer mostly unedited looks at news events throughout the world. These streams, or "pipes," can be played in a special video player and chosen by Pipeline's editors in Atlanta.

Last Thursday night, Pipeline offered video streams from CNN International, a memorial service for slain Beatle John Lennon in Central Park, the House of Representatives and a traffic cam on a snowy Chicago night. When news broke out from Chicago's Midway Airport that a Southwest Airlines jet slid off a runway, the third stream became live video from the scene at the airport.

Live coverage isn't the only aspect of CNN Pipeline. The video player offers users the ability to see the top stories in video, get other news on demand and even browse CNN's vast archives. But what you won't see is whole programs. CNN doesn't believe it is a good thing, despite what others in the news industry are doing on their web sites.

Pipeline costs $2.95 per month or $24.95 for a year's subscription. You can also sign up for a 14 day free trial. You can read more about it on CNN's web site and even see a demo of how it works.

Never, Ever Ship Anything via DHL

Right now, I am so angry that it is hard for me to even contain myself, so I thought I would write about it. Last weekend, I ordered an expensive accessory item for my digital camera from a reputable on-line firm in Brooklyn, NY. I did my homework and found this company to have the best price, and having purchased from them in the past and read what other users had to say about them, I knew they were a trusted source.

In order to expedite the delivery, I paid extra for two day express delivery. The company now uses DHL as their delivery company of choice. On Monday, the 5th of December, I was notified that DHL had picked up my package in Brooklyn and it was on its way. They gave me a tracking number, which I duly used. Tracking showed that it was picked up in the afternoon and departed DHL's facility late in the evening. It also said that I was scheduled for delivery on the Thursday, the 8th. Now, my math says this is three days, not two, but I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Thursday comes and goes and no package is delivered. As I am required by the company I bought it from to sign for the package, I had to stay home all day so not to miss the DHL driver. At the end of the day, I scan the tracking info on their website and found no new information. So I called their customer service number and was told that they don't guarantee two day delivery in my area (we are a so-called "rural area"), but that I would get the package on Friday.

Friday comes and goes, and guess what? No package. Early on Friday, I see on their web site that my package has passed through their facility in Chehalis, WA early in the morning, so I figured I had a good chance to get it. No such luck and another day stuck around the house. My math shows that the package took four days just to get to Washington State. So I have to guess that all of Washington State must be a "rural area" to DHL.

I didn't call them again on Friday night, but decided to call on Saturday morning. In the meantime, I checked their web site for a definition of "rural area", and could not find a thing. Here is what I did find:

DHL Second Day: Guaranteed delivery by 5:00 pm on the second business day throughout the US.

No mention of "rural areas." But that is almost beside the point as it took four days just to get to my state.

So, on Saturday morning, I called again and was told all about the "rural area." When I mentioned what their web site said, I was met with silence. The agent suggested I could go to my local station and pick up the package, instead of waiting for delivery. When I asked where it was, I was told Spokane. The agent then checked and said my package had not yet made it to Spokane from Chehalis.

What??? This means that I will not see my package until Monday at the earliest, maybe even Tuesday. When I voiced my concerns, I was met by silence. Talk about bad service...

The tracking on their web site clearly indicates that it was two day service and that I was scheduled for delivery on Thursday. Apparently all their guarantees mean nothing to them.

I would suggest that you never use DHL and if you are buying something on the web and the company wants to ship it to you via DHL, that you go somewhere else to buy it. It has been a long time since I have run into any service that it so bad as DHL's. Remember this when you see their ads on TV.

Next time I am using the pony express.

The Power of Four

A few days ago, I wrote a blog about the new dual core processors from Intel and AMD. Specifically I described the new chips as being two processors built into one shell (and how the AMD and Intel matched up against each other in a head-to-head performance contest).

But of course, processor manufacturers are not standing still with their new triumphs. They are moving ahead with even bolder and faster chips for our computing future. Now, both companies are working on quad-core chips...that is, four processors housed inside of one. AMD is discussing plans to begin offering a family of four-core chips early in 2007, while Intel, so far, has only broadly hinted about offering a four- core server chip the same year.

And while the chip makers once battled over clock speed, in one form or another, the coming years will bring a new battleground. Intel and AMD will trade barbs over who can offer chips with more processor cores sooner with better performance per watt, or how much power each chip consumes versus the amount of performance it offers customers. AMD is already bragging about how its dual-core processor uses less power that its Intel rival thus running cooler and saving more money on electricity.

With a new awareness in the cost of electricity in computers (see my blog of 11/24/05), this may prove to be an interesting story sooner than later. For instance, in a recent press release, AMD says that a company running 500 servers could save over $50,000 per year in electrical costs by using their dual-core processors over Intel's. That's a lot of bucks!

In a related story, Intel appears headed toward offering the first dual-core notebook chip in Yonah, a new version of its Pentium M that is expected in January.

TV A-La-Carte

The times are a-changinÂ’ for television. Recent news shows that the way we receive our television programming may be changing for the better. And, no, I am not talking about Sony Tivo or other Tivo-like products now available. That has changed the way many people watch TV. But the recent news is more about how TV programs are delivered to us.

First, the FCC is about to recommend that people be allowed to get only the TV channels they want rather than having to subscribe to whole packages of TV and cable channels that they never watch. In other words, TV a la carte.

For a long time, consumers have been complaining there still isn't enough flexibility in the programming packages offered by cable and satellite providers. Last week, FCC chairman Kevin Martin told a forum sponsored by the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, that consumers could have more choice in what they view for cheaper prices if operators would sell content a la carte. According to a new report from the FCC that has yet to be made public, a la carte pricing could actually reduce monthly cable bills for many consumers while also providing more control over what channels they watch at home.

News of the FCC report comes just as many large cable operators across the country announced that they are raising rates again for their service. At the same time, according to the FCC, consumers, especially those with children, are becoming increasingly agitated by the amount of violence and sexual content that comes into their homes on channels they'd rather not receive as part of their subscription package.

But content providers and most of the cable industry say that offering programming piecemeal will result in even higher prices and less choice for consumers. They also claim that an a la carte pricing model would increase overall subscription rates and reduce diversity of programming, because many of the niche or special interest channels today are bundled with more popular channels. If these less-popular channels are sold independently, they will become too expensive to offer and may disappear altogether.

Having put together cable programming for a living, I know that what the industry saying may be true. But, the way they structure their contracts to cable companies make it impossible to offer any sort of a-la-carte programming today. But, the fact that the FCC is now starting to put pressure on the cable industry means things may slowly start to change.

If you would like to read an in-depth article on the subject, please head over to the news.com website to read more.

Meanwhile, Apple iTunes is now offering individual TV programs themselves on an a-la-carte basis. The iTunes store will offer 11 shows from NBC, USA Network and the Sci Fi Channel that range from oldies such as the 1950s cop show "Dragnet" to current shows such as "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." Apple is charging $1.99 per episode for the television downloads, as well as for music videos and short films. The newly produced shows will be available for download a day after they air on TV.

In October, the Walt Disney Company's television network, ABC, and Disney's cable network began offering five television shows for download via iTunes. Apple said this week that it has now sold more than 3 million videos from its iTunes store since launching the feature in early October, indicating that customer demand extended beyond simple one-time curiosity.

If Apple continues to sell video at this rate, other TV and cable companies will take notice and begin making their programs available for download. The changes we talked about here are only a trickle now, but the floodgates may begin to open soon.

Three New Sketches

I thought I would take a day off from technology (well partly anyway) and share with you three new artworks I recently completed.

I have had a life-long love of sketches and have built up a small collection of them over the years. It is only natural, then, that I should do a few sketches of my own now and then. Sketches come in various forms...pen and ink, pencil, colored pencils, chalk, and pastel chalk, just to name a few. My sketches, done digitally from my original photographs, combine some of these media (digitized) together to form a new style of sketch.

The three images presented here can be classified as sketches because of their appearance. The first one is of a small office located in Cannon Beach Oregon. The colors of all the pictures elements make this a rich image, and the US flag brings all the elements together. Here is the link:

http://www.corkrum.com/jim/office_cannon_beach.htm

The second image is of an outdoor stairway going up a hill to a small hotel overlooking the beach. Like the first image, it is located in Cannon Beach. The light and shadows give this image a sense of line and depth. Your eye naturally follows the stairway up towards the sky. The image is located at:

http://www.corkrum.com/jim/stairway.htm

The final picture is of St. Marks Church in Venice. It is one of the most famous churches in the western world and contains some of the worlds most magnificent treasures. But, the outside is less than colorful, especially on a rainy day when I took the original photograph. So, I left it mostly in black and white, with only a hint of color to give it a sense of greater depth. I like this image a lot. To see it, go to:

http://www.corkrum.com/jim/san_marco_sketch.htm

I hope you enjoy these sketches. I will have more for you in the near future.

VoIP Phone Companies in a State of Confusion

The world of VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) telephony is in a bit of a muddle right now, thanks to a federal government mandate regarding E911 service. You see, a little over 4 months ago, the FCC told VoIP providers that they had 120 days to connect all their users to E911 emergency services or face a shutdown of their telephone services. And those 120 days are now up!

A little background before we go any further. For those who don’t know, VoIP telephone services use the Internet to connect phone-to-phone rather than regular phone wires, thereby passing up regular phone companies like Qwest and Verizon. It requires that the user have a high speed Internet connection (like fiber, cable modem, or DSL). It works just like a regular phone as each VoIP user has a regular phone number and uses the regular telephones in your home. No special equipment is required, except for a small router that is added to your Internet wires inside the house.

As I have written before here, we have VoIP services in our home using a company called Packet8. We no longer use a regular phone company. We pay a flat fee of $20 per month for unlimited phone calls throughout the US and Canada, so it is obviously much cheaper than regular phone service. And it works just fine. We chose Packet8 over the better-known VoIP phone company Vonage as Packet8 could provide a local phone number for our area, something Vonage still can’t do.

The big fuss over E911 comes from the fact that most VoIP companies didn’t offer it at first, so users didn’t have a way of calling 9-1-1 in case of emergency. Packet8 quietly began offering genuine E911 service for $2.00 a month extra as an option. But the real problem came when Vonage began advertising that they had E911 service. In fact, they didn’t have true emergency service. If a Vonage customer called 9-1-1, the phone call was directed to the business office of the local emergency services instead of the emergency desk, which could be a major problem if someone called with an emergency after business hours.

This happened in Texas several months ago when a young girl called 9-1-1 to report that her parents had been shot by an intruder. The home was equipped with Vonage service and the call came in the evening when the 9-1-1-business office was closed. Both parents died. The story garnered national media attention and eventually the federal government became involved. Hence, the recent FCC mandates.

The problem is, of course, implementing such a major technological change in such a short time. None of the VoIP phone companies have completely finished the project. Vonage and Packet8 are well along the way (we have been notified that we are now connected), but not yet complete. Vonage says they won’t have complete E911 service to all their customers until mid-2006. Packet8 says that all their users should be connected soon, but they have set up interim measures to insure that all users will have some sort of 911 by using a national call desk. How will the FCC react?

At this point no one really knows. Officials at the FCC say they're still reviewing documents that were filed by VoIP providers before the deadline. That means it's impossible to say for certain how many VoIP companies are in compliance with the mandate. Some experts believe that the FCC will not strictly enforce the mandate, so long as VoIP companies are making progress.

The FCC did modify their original mandate to say the if a company does not comply, they don’t have to shut down their services, but they cannot offer any services to new customers.

Both Vonage and Packet8 say they plan to continue marketing to prospective customers and signing them up for their service, but in doing so the companies risk racking up heavy fines.

"I don't know what the next step is," said Bryan Martin, president and CEO of Packet8. "This is the final filing since the FCC issued its mandate 120 days ago. We had a collective sigh of relief the other day after we filed, but now we don't know what comes next or how the FCC will react to our filing."

Other companies have done next-to-nothing about compliance. There have been complaints that some tradition local phone companies are dragging their feet to help VoIP companies connect to E911, as their help is necessary. Some companies also complain that their industry is being singled out by this mandate by pointing out that cell phone companies have not been forced to connect and that only half of all cell phone users nationwide have E911 connections.

It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks.

Security Flaws In Internet Explorer Raising Alarms

This week, there has been a deluge of security warnings concerning the use of Microsoft's built-in web browser, Internet Explorer (IE). Not that this is anything new. Every week, there is at least one new vulnerability discovered. It has become so commonplace that I don't even write about them anymore. Its just a daily fact-of-life. But, enough new issues were raised this week that I thought I had better revisit the subject again.

One of the new flaws discovered involves the use of the Google Tool Bar with Internet Explorer. It seems there is a vulnerability that would allow a hacker to get inside someone's computer at will and steal all their information. According to security researchers, the fault is not with the Google software, but with IE. To exploit the flaw, an attacker has to lure a victim to a malicious Web page that contains the hidden attack code.

Other similar vulnerabilities were also discovered in the last few days that are in a Javascript component of IE used for loading Web pages onto a computer. Again, if a user visits an infected web site, the code is loaded into a users computer and they are wide open for some very malicious attacks.

Microsoft has not released a patch for the hole exploited by the code. People can attempt to work around the problem by either shutting off Javascript or using another type of browser, security companies advise. Sources say the MSRC (Microsoft Security Response Center) is aggressively aiming to release an emergency IE fix ahead of the scheduled December 13 Patch release.

The situation has become bad enough that one credit union has issued a security alert to its customers on their login page. L&N Federal Credit Union has placed the following on their home page:

"A new flaw was discovered in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, and this flaw can have serious ramifications for all Internet users who use this browser. The flaw allows the owner of a website to create a page that will download and run programs on the user's computer. The user does not have to do anything but visit the website and unknowingly view the malicious page.

This means the owner of the website could install malicious software that would take control of the user's computer and steal personal information that could lead to identity theft. Microsoft does not have a fix or patch to correct this flaw.

We recommend that all concerned individuals ensure that they have up-to-date anti-virus and anti-spyware installed on their computers for personal protection. Currently, the only work-around is to temporarily discontinue the use of Microsoft Internet Explorer and use another browser, such as Firefox (www.mozilla.com) until Microsoft can issue a patch." (Emphasis mine)

According to Sunbelt Software (makers of Counterspy), Microsoft admitted on their own web site that they have known about some of these issues since March, but have yet to fix them. According to Microsoft, "There are many factors that impact the length of time between the discovery of a vulnerability and the release of a security update, and every vulnerability presents its own unique challenges."

Maybe it is time we all strongly consider moving to a non-Microsoft browser such as Opera or Firefox for our own protection. They apparently are not vulnerable to any of the issues listed here.

I have been using the new Firefox for the last few days and am getting used to it. It is a much better product than Version 1. But I also continue to use Opera and like it also. In case you are wondering about my favorite browser, Maxthon, that I have mentioned here in the past, its biggest problem is that is uses the IE engine for its operation, thus making it vulnerable to some of the issues listed here.

Head-to-Head Comparison - Dual Core Processors

As was mentioned some time ago in one of these blogs, processor manufacturers Intel and AMD have pretty much reached the limits of speed and performance in current processor design. For most of us, the speed of the current processors are just fine...at least for now. Of course that will change over time as has already happened so many times.

As new high speed processors are built, folks like Microsoft create software to take advantage of the new chips, so that eventually the new fast chips don't seem so fast after a while. That's the way it has been and the way it will always be.

But, how will processor manufacturers keep pushing the edge of faster and better performance? The answer is by creating chips that are actually two processors built inside one body, otherwise known as dual-core processors. By dividing the workload using two processors instead of one, it actually appears as if you are running faster, especially if you are doing a lot of multi-tasking.

Dual processors are not new. For a few years now, they have been building computers that use two separate processors. For the most part, these dual chips have been used in large network servers. But these required special motherboards that supported two processors actually affixed to the motherboard plus other chips that divided the workload between the two chips.

Several months ago, both AMD and Intel announced that they were making a single chip that was actually two processors in one and also included the hardware to divide the workload. Those chips are now out in the marketplace and for sale as part of computers systems. As you may have guessed, these new computers are fairly expensive, but history also shows that they will eventually drop drastically in price. In the not-to-distant future, dual processor will become the norm rather than the exception.

That means most of us will eventually buy one of these processors as part of a new computer system. Because of all the reasons mentioned so far, CNET decided to run a head-to-head contest between the two manufacturers to see whose chip(s) might be best.

Instead of just running tests to see who was the fastest, they ran a series of everyday simulations using six different criteria that an actual computer user might use, plus a seventh category that compares price to performance. Here are the seven criteria used in the test:

1. Day-to-day computing
2. Gaming
3. Multitasking
4. Photo Editing
5. MP3 Encoding
6. Video Encoding
7. Price vs Performance

You can read examine the results of each of the tests and the conclusions by going to the CNET web site. If you don't want to read it, here is the bottom line:

The AMD dual processors blew the doors off of the Intel processors! AMD won in all seven categories. In fact, it really wasn't close. And, for the most part, the AMD chips are cheaper.

I personally have always preferred AMD over Intel. In fact, the computer that I am using to write this blog is running on an AMD chip. Looks like my beliefs have been validated again. Such a relief.

Anyway, keep these new test results in mind when you are looking for your next computer.