Tech Talk RealAudio Archives
April 2001
Sponsored by Stratford University
Saturdays at Noon EST on WMAL NewsTalk Radio
Turn the dial to AM630 or listen on the Internet at ListenLive

It's everything you always wanted to know about computers
and information technology, but were afraid to ask.
     David Burd and Dr. Richard Shurtz, President of Stratford University, host Tech Talk, a program about computers and information technology.
     Links to selected programs are below. All programs are archived in RealAudio format. Just click on the RealAudio link below the date to listen. Older shows are archives as transcript summaries. You can listen live over the Internet by clicking ListenLive during show time.
Show Selected Topics
April 28, 2001
RealAudio 0:43hr
Not archived

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  • Hacker Attacks from China (NIPC Advisory 01-009)
    • Web sites and mail servers attacks are  expected
      • Starting April 30 and ending May 7, 2001
      • May 1: May Day Celebration in PRC
      • May 4: Youth Day Celebration in PRC
      • May 7: Anniversary of accidental bombing of Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.
    • Internet worm Lion is being used to install DDOS clients (NIPC Advisory 01-005)
  • “Carko” Distributed Denial-of-Service Tool (CERT Incident IN-2001-04)
  • CERT Statistics show another banner year
    • 1999 — 9,859 incidents
    • 2000 --- 21,756 incidents
    • 2001 --- 28,188 incidents (projected)
  • Search Engine News
  • Microsoft Office XP will offer Integrated Voice Recognition
    • Includes both Voice Command and Data Entry modes
    • Requires a 400MHz Pentium II
  • Wireless Eavesdropping May be a Problem
    • An article in Wall Street Journal
    • Peter Shipley and Matt Peterson drove around silicon valley
    • Found access to up to ten networks in some blocks
    • Used a plastic “boom” antenna in a car
    • In a 90 minute ride they saw a total of 40 networks
    • This is a common problem
      • First garage door openers
      • Baby monitors
      • Wireless telephones in the home
  • Warner Brothers Online Hacked
    • Someone broke into the servers and sent spam to the companies newsletter subscribers
    • Pyramid type investment scheme
  • Article in MacUsers Rates Microsoft Tech Support
    • Compared MS Tech Support with Psychic Friends Network
    • Findings
      • Equal in their ability to provide technical answers
      • PFN  has an edge over MS in the areas of courtesy, response time, and cost of support.
      • MS has a better refund policy if they fail to solve the problem
  • Stratford News
    • Alumni Meeting Last Night
    • I meet many Tech Talk listeners at the Friday night dinners
    • Wireless Telecommunications
    • We have classes starting on May 29th
April 21, 2001
RealAudio 0:43hr
Not archived

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  • Selecting a computer (a continuing saga)
    • Last week the CPU
      • Intel’s Pentium IV, Pentium III, and Celeron
      • AMD’s Athlon and Duron
    • Intel Chip Set Run Down
    • Via Chip Set Technology
      • Apollo KT266 for AMD Athlon
      • Apollo Pro266 for Intel Pentium III and Celeron
      • Double Data Rate (DDR) 266MHz memory access technology is superior to Intel's Rambus
      • Apollo chip sets are an excellent choice for the power PC user who wants to avoid the high cost Rambus trap
    • AMD Chip Set Technology
      • AMD750 and AMD760 chip sets for Athlon
      • Both use Via's proven 266MHz DDR technology and affordable SDRAM.
    • RAM Technologies
      • SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM) is the current Industry Standard
      • RDRAM (Rambus) is strongly pushed by Intel. Intel is a major Rambus investor
      • DDR (Double Data Rate) is supported by AMD and Via. Doubles effective speed of SDRAM
      • Tech Talk prefers the lower cost SDRAM alternative using DDR. Rambus success in up in the air.
    • Motherboard Form Factor (babyAT, ATX, miniATX, microATX). Tech Talk prefers the ATX form factor. More expandability.
  • Firewalls
  • Georgio Guninski finds more MS Vulnerabilities
  • NASA Movies from Space
    • Zoom from space into Cities like Washington, DC
    • Urban Growth Las Vegas (Desert Blooming)
    • Disappear Water (Aral Sea over Time)
    • Lake Chad Disappearing
    • St. Helens over Time
    • Antarctic Glacier Cracks over time
    • Losing Forests in Bolivia
    • Deforestation in Brazil
  • Turbo Tax reveals your brokerage account information
    • Turbo Taxes import 1099 import feature has a glitch
    • Users passwords, user Ids sent to Intuit and stored on local hard drive
    • Check with Turbo Tax and your broker if you suspect a problem
  • Next Start is Monday.  Still time to enroll
April 14, 2001
RealAudio 0:47hr
Not archived
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  • Buying a new computer
    • Pentium IV versus Pentium III (www.intel.com)
    • AMD Athlon versus Pentium (www.amd.com)
    • Integrated Video chip sets
    • Integrated Networking chip sets
    • ATX versus Micro ATX motherboards
  • Power Dressing for wearable solar power
    • Silicon sandwich fibers
    • Can make fabric
    • Connectors are the problem
    • Now even geeks will get some sum
  • Am I Hot or Not? -- a hot new web site with high traffic volume
    • Post your picture and collect votes
    • Open source code selected
    • 1.8 Million hits per day in first 8 days
    • Peak load 14.5 Million hits per day
  • Yahoo in Trouble
    • To porn or not to porn
    • Still loosing money
    • Satirewire is having a field day with Yahooters.com
  • New bankruptcy chapter
    • Bankruptcy Chapter 51 has been created
    • Used for Internet companies
    • Used when executives are one card short of a full deck
    • Check out full story on Satirewire
  • World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
    • Issued Second WIPO Internet Domain Name Process Report
    • Trying to tame the wilderness
    • Some may lose their domains if the recommendations are followed
  • Many good deals on eBay as the dot coms perish
    • Make certain to escrow your payments
    • Look up an online escrow company using Google. InsureDeal is an example..
  • How do networking technologies fit together
    • Local Area Networks (Ethernet, 802.11b Wireless)
    • Internetworking Devices (Cisco Routers)
    • Wide Area Telco Services (X.25, Frame Relay, ATM)
    • Wide Area Network Protocols (TCP/IP is king)
    • Sever Technology (Novell, Windows NT, Windows2000)
    • What are the trends
      • High bandwidth connectivity
      • Increased centralization
      • Move to higher levels of abstraction
      • Standards will dominate, making equipment a commodity
April 7, 2001
RealAudio 0:47hr
Not archived
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  • Napster Converges on Congress
  • Sex.com Domain Name Dispute Ruling for $65M dollars
    • Judge James Ware found Stephen Cohon liable for fraud and forgery in the five-year battle over sex.com
    • $40M in compensation for lost profits and an additional $25M in punitive damages
    • Gary Kremen from San Francisco registered sex.com in 1994
    • The site gets 25 million hits per day
  •  Patron Saint of the Internet ("When the saints go logging on")
  • Religion on the Net (helps to counter proliferation of porn)
    • Religious sites have proliferated
    • Most religious texts are available online in full text form
  • Search engines technology
    • Google is the leader (official Tech Talk search engine)
    • Conducting an effective Internet Search on Google
      • To get exact phrase, use quotation marks (i.e., “stratford college” )
      • To get all the words, just list them (i.e., stratford college)
      • To get any of the words, use OR (i.e., stratford OR college)
      • To exclude words, use minus sign (i.e., "stratford college" -avon -dublin)
      • Or just use the Advanced Search page
    • Selecting Google Display Preferences
      • Enable translation of search results (now in Beta testing)
      • Filter pornographic sites using SafeSearch
  • Other free machine translation services
  • MacOS X missing critical drivers
  • Torvalds trashes Apple's new operating system (MacOS X)
    • Just for Fun, Torvalds upcoming autobiography, casts a shadow on Mac OS X
    • Torvalds is highly critical of the Mach microkernel, created at Canegie Mellon University
    • Torvalds felt that the Mach microkernel would not be backward compatible with legacy software due to a lack of memory protection.
  • Getting a job in this tough job market
    • First understand where the field is going by reading industry magazines or "rags."
    • Second, get the competencies demanded by the industry, either through self-study or through an educational institution, like Stratford University.
    • Third, learn the standards and procedures that support your industry to be in a position to make valid technical decisions.
    • Fourth, package yourself with a well written resume that emphasizes where you are going rather than where you have been.
    • Fifth, network by joining user groups and trade associations (and don't make the mistake of asking for a job at these meetings!).
    • Finally, survey employers to find out where they are going.
  • Don't forget that Stratford University specializes in corporate training during the day
  • Next class start date is April 23, 2001
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