Tech Talk RealAudio Archives August 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. August 25, 2001 show August 18, 2001 show August 11, 2001 show August 4, 2001 show

Show

Selected Topics

August 25, 2001 RealAudio 0:45hr Not archived top

Virus’s and Hackers Code Red Worm Update Code Red A, B, and C   DDOS on whitehouse Code Red II installs backdoor for later entry into system Code Red II hits Hong Kong on August 13th Quest refuses to pay Code Red damages for lost DSL services. FBI doubts Code Red the work of amateurs W32/SirCam@MM is still the most dangerous virus Make certain to download AV protection. ZoneAlarm personal firewall is an excellent addition (www.zonelabs.com) You may want to turn off Windows Scripting Host Methods for Disk Backup In Case of Virus Attack Onboard IDE RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Devices) Raid 1 (Makes maintains two disks simultaneously) Removable Hard drive used with Drive Image Pro (PowerQuest) Book Lock and Hard Disk Selection is very convenient for two disk systems CDRW (limited to 630 MB and very slow) Zip (250M) and Jazz (1MB) Removable Harddrives DAT tape backups (expensive and slow, but large capacity) Online Wedding Registries Advantages and disadvantages discussed by bride-to-be, Jessica Jessica's favorite sites Cooking.com Bed, Bath And Beyond Gifts by UCC Microsoft News Windows XP released. Six top OEMs take aluminum briefcases on helicopters. Windows XP will support voice-over-IP and may make net phones popular New judge appointed in anti-trust case (Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, appointed by Clinton in 1997) Microsoft Helps Stop Sophisticated Piracy Operation FBI seized $10.5 million in counterfeit MS products Fake software from Asia Hologram not properly reproduced Dot Com Fun Toilet paper pokes fun at dot-com bottom Let’s Potty Like It’s 1999, Venture Crapital, No Hype!  All Wipe!, New Economy Size, Grossly Overvalued, One “I-Pee-O” After Another, It’s “Flush” with Capital Roll goes for $21.00 on Ebay Webvan, DrKoop stocks winners on eBay Webvan Auction closes at $530. Processor News Intel to slash Pentium 4 Prices to fight AMDs price/performance attacks 1.8 GHz P4 reduced from $562 to $260 Lower end P4s from $193 to $135 Mac vs. PC showdown 733 MHz G4 versus 1.8GHz P4 Virtual dead heat with six benchmarks G4 wins three categories RGB-CMYK color conversion Image Rotation Image Reduction P4 wins three categories Gaussian Blue Unsharp Masking Lighting Effects Secure Digital Music Initiative code crack is published A team from Princeton University, led by Professor Felton, cracked the code in three weeks RIAA, SDMI, Variance sought a court order stopping the publication Felton sent a student to present the paper Linux Clusters for low cost Mission Critical Servers Two companies in this business Mission Critical Linux SteelEye Technology This is a variant of the Beowulf Cluster Technology O’Reilly Peer-to-Peer Conference September 18-21, 2001 Omni Shoreham, Washington Co-sponsored by ISOC/DCISOC Stratford News Next Start, September 10th, 2001 Next Open House Open House, Tuesday, September 18th Dueling Seminar between Dan Traster, Culinary The IT Department Chef Charlie Trotter to be at Stratford Monday and Tuesday of this week Special dinner will be hosted Tuesday night by Chef Trotter at Stratford and the Culinary Honor Society The $100/plate dinner is sold out and wait listed. Name change to Stratford University is approved. Ads will begin appearing after labor day Master’s Degree programs are selling briskly Telecommunication Systems Entrepreneurial Business Enterprise Business Management Those interested in the Master Degree (masters@stratford.edu) Master Degree Open House a big success. Free Saturday Seminars open to Stratford students and the public. September 8th  Cabling, Color Coding, Crossover and Punchblock Demonstrations September 15th NetWork Diagramming using Visio September 29th Windows 2000 Server and Professional Resource Kit topics October 6th IT Technical Writing, including Functional System Design Specification, Site Implementation Plan, System Administration Manual Stratford IT Honor Society to Build a Beowulf Cluster. Free computer clinic each Saturday at Stratford from 10 to 3pm.

August 18, 2001 RealAudio 0:42hr Not archived top

Mr. Anthony Bailey, Acting Dean, IT Department, Stratford University co-hosts the show with David Burd Dr. Richard Shurtz calls in from Alaska and discusses topics of the week Alaska internet connectivity in remote locations is very limited (frequently as low as 9.6kbps) Beowulf Supercomputer Clusters Clusters permit mulitple Linux computers to operate in parallel Linux computers are connected using fast Ethernet (100Mbps) Some useful links The Beowulf Project Beowulf at NASA Beowulf at CalTech StoneSoup Beowulf Stratford students Dela Jacot and Lisa Travis discuss IT careers and how they got their start Lisa Travis, a current Stratford student, discusses the Association of IT Professionals,Washington DC Chapter Dela Jacot, a recent Stratford grad, discusses computer security, IPSec, and wiring standards Dr. Fred Ricci discusses the Master's Degree open house Many listener questions answered as usual Next Start is September 10th, 2001

August 11, 2001 RealAudio 0:45hr Not archived top

Mr. Anthony Bailey, Acting Dean, IT Department, Stratford University co-hosts the show with David Burd Dr. Richard Shurtz calls in from Alaska and discusses the 20th anniversary of the PC from the original IBM specifications to the Microsoft operating system Stratford student Collin Pace discusses his successful transition into the IT field at Burke & Herbert Bank Dr. Fred Ricci discusses business entrepreneurship topics included in the new Master's Degrees Interested students can contact Dr. Ricci at masters@stratford.edu Chef Daniel Traster, Dean of the Culinary School, discusses the Culinary Arts and Hosptiality programs Chef Traster announces the arrival of Chef Charlie Trotter at Stratford for a two-day special event. Many listener questions answered as usual Next Start is September 10th, 2001

August 4, 2001 RealAudio 0:48hr Not archived top

Virus’s and Hackers Code Red Worm Update Name based on Mountain Dew Code Red, a high caffeine cherry drink Attack this week fizzled because System Admins finally got it right Over 1M patches were downloaded from the Microsoft site Some feel it was hyped by NIPC and CERT (like Y2K) 20,000 NT and 2000 servers infected.  Negligible effect since there are several million of servers on the net. W32/SirCam@MM is still the most dangerous virus Still sending documents that may embarrass Discussed last week, need to review Not an epidemic because corporate virus scanners are in place. Make certain to download AV protection. Norton Antivirus McAfee Antivirus ZoneAlarm personal firewall is an excellent addition You may want to turn off Windows Scripting Host Tauzin-Dingell Internet Access Bill (HR1542) Update Tech Talk has invited Verizon (and they have agreed) to discuss this bill on air prior to the Congressional vote We still question some of the claims made by recent Verizon ads Verizon has installed over 300,000 new DSL connection in 2001 under the current rules Not everyone is happy with Verizon DSL In fact, some are VERY upset. Tech Talk believes that local competition will keep Verizon in line with the delivery of services Methods for Disk Backup Onboard IDE RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Devices) is the best option. Raid 1 (Makes maintains two disks simultaneously) Low cost RAID now available on several IDE motherboards (a great non-SCSI option) Removable Hard drive used with Drive Image to create backup image of drive is second best. Book Lock and Hard Disk Selection is very convenient for two disk systems is third best. CD-RW (limited to 630 MB and very slow) Zip (250M) and Jazz (1MB) Removable Harddrives (low capacity, but affordable ) DAT tape backups (expensive and slow, but large capacity) Microsoft News Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) files Complaint and Request for Injunction against Microsoft Breach of privacy caused by XP .Net Programs Windows XP (with this registration process integrated with Passport) Passport and Kids Passport (a method to collect personal user data to activate .Net programs) Hailstorm (a method to transfer personal data between Business Partners) MSN and HotMail,  (with their collection of personal data linked through Passport and shared through Hailstorm) Covert sharing of data with controlled by vague and misleading privacy policies. Protected data not secure anyway because of security breaches like IIS buffer overruns, Hotmail programming flaws, etc. Request an Investigation of information collection practices Order Microsoft to revise the XP registration process Order Microsoft to block the sharing of information without explicit consent Application blocking added to WindowsXP Morpheus, A Better Napster Morpheus peer-to-peer network Excellent peer-to-peer performance    No index server, fully distributed Much more efficient than Gnutella based technology (BearShare) Not susceptible to the same legal problems as Napster Stratford News Will discuss the three Master’s Programs and the Wireless Conference in Italy Wireless Telecommunications Entrepreneurial Business Enterprise Management Management Those interested in the Master Degree, please e-mail masters@stratford.edu for an appointment with Dr. Ricci. Master Degree Seminar Wednesday, August 22nd  from 6:30 to 8:30PM. Next Start, August 6th, 2001 Next Open House Open House, Tuesday, August 21th Dueling Seminar between Cindy Williams, Hospitality The IT Department

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