Tech Talk RealAudio Archives June 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. June 30, 2001 show June 23, 2001 show June 16, 2001 show June 9, 2001 show June 2, 2001 show

Show

Selected Topics

June 30, 2001 RealAudio 0:40hr Not archived top

Microsoft Appeals Court Verdict Issued June 28, 2001 Key sections of Appeals Court Decision Full text version of ruling Upheld previous ruling that Microsoft used illegal conduct to retain monopoly Vacated an order calling for the breakup of Microsoft. Penalty remanded to DC Circuit court and Jackson removed from case. Indicated that Judge Jackson's comments to press "seriously tainted" proceedings. Court ask to revisit the software linkage issue (browser and OS linkage) New judge to be selected by random choice from a pool of 14 judges New judge could be on the case as early as next week Microsoft share rose after announcement DOJ and/or States may appeal to US Supreme Court Probable outcomes Unlike that Bush DOJ will appeal Behavioral, not structural, settlement likely. Microsoft is still up to its Old Tricks In the past six month months MS has increased the level of linkage Intertwining of products in the .Net and Hailstorm Initiatives Fully integrated media player into Windows XP Smart Tags in Office XP (with drawn this week) Netscape made its Share of Mistakes CNET Review of Events Lost the portal business by sending traffic to Yahoo, Lycos, and Infoseek Now the search engines/directories are strong and NetCenter is losing ground Initially charged for browser, then gave away the code Netscape 6 Came out late Panned by the community (even with open source) Opera Browser even getting traction MS Internet Explorer now has 85% of the market No entry into the micro-browser market (cell phones, pda’s) AOL may make Netscape its default browser (but IE would still be ahead) Computer Passwords Reveal Secrets Based on Poll of 1,200 British Computer Users Individuals seek passwords to sum up their personalities Family groups – 47% Own name, Nickname Spouse, Children, Pets Fans (sports stars, cartoon characters, pop stars) -- 33% Variations of Homer Simpson popular Madonna popular Self-obsessed --11% Sexy, Stud Slapper, Goddes Cryptics – 9% Upper and lower case Use of symbols Miscellaneous Security and Bug News Buffer Overflow in IIS 4.0 and 5.0 Indexing CERT Advisory CA-2001-13 Patch available New NIPC scanning activity advisory related to computers infected with SubSeven Trojan Scans attempt to locate and transfer a new Trojan W.32-Leaves.worm Netscape 6 does not permit exporting of address book Import permitted No export options Now even Netscape is taking the low road Security Frequently Asked Question Designed to explain to the layman what the security issues are Cert Security FAQ W3C FAQ Ad and Cookie Blocking Software Discussed on Victoria Jones Show Software will block ads, pop up windows, and cookies Selected Software AdSubtract --- SE is free, Pro is $29.95 WebWasher --- Free for home, $29.00 for business. Linux, Mac, and Windows versions GuideScope --- $15.00 for single user, easy to use version based on JunkBuster AdKiller --- Shareware with $15 registration fee JunkBuster --- Free, GNU General Public License (GPL) Stratford News Next Start July 5th 2001 There is still time to enroll Next Open House is Tuesday of July 17, 2001 6:30pm to 8:30pm Seminars and Demonstrations

June 23, 2001 RealAudio 0:43hr Not archived top

New IBM RS/6000 Supercomputer Delivered Sold to National Energy Reserarch Scientific Computing (NERSC), a california research center One of the first projects will be to analyze the California power grid SP (Scalable Parallel) Architecturer Same basic design as IBM Big Blue Defeated chess world champion Kasparov in 1997 Specs 3.8 trillion calculations per second 2,528 processors operated in parallel CIA to Congress: We are Vulnerable to Cyber-Warfare Russia and China “appear” to be developing computer-based tools to damage US Testimony last Thursday by CIA’s Lawrence Gershwin, top advisor on technology US is losing cyber-war battle Government appear to be greatest threat Biggest Information Warfare (IW) threats: China and Russia Other lesser threats: North Korea, Iraq, Libya, Cuba, Britain, France, Isreal Terrorists may move from bombs to viruses Look for attacks on infrastructures, like telecommunications and powergirds US military has 2.5 million computers Terrorists will exploit the separation between government and commercial entities Pentagon Gearing Up for Information Warfare (IW) Pentagon’s Second Quarter Defense Review (QDR) concludes that the military needs to take information operations and information warfare seriously. Wide range of risks from rogue nations and hackers First widespread hacking tools posted to Internet in 1999. (some posted even earlier) New generation of tools are posted every two years Sec of Defense Rums field is particularly concerned with mismanagement of information resources Pentagon hacked 215 times in past year Report by Linton Wells, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense Present to House Armed Sercies Subcommittee Thursday Pentagon says that DOD was reported 23,662 so-called incidents involving unclassified networks last year, up from 22,144 the previous year Hackers successfully penetrated 215 networks within the pentagon last year March 22 DDOS service attack from Russia was most notable Ignorance within the IT community were blamed Accountability needs to be increasd California Power Grid Hack Reported 17-day attack recently reported by California Independent System Operator Random attacks to “practice network” did no damage at this time Sources connected to Honker Union of China (HUC) responsible for defacement of websites Some believe these lead to the penetration of the “practice network” Cal-ISO spokesperson, “The hackers has stumbled upon us. It’s appropriate to take this attack seriously.” California legislator asks for complete report on incidence Impact of AOL and Microsoft Fallout Discussions fell apart June 16th Microsoft wanted AOL to modify Instant Messenger (IM) Microsft wantted AOL to stop using RealAudio and begin using Windows Media Player Microsoft has bundled many AOL-like features on with XP desktop AOL and Microsft breakup could signal the beginning of a standards battle and consumers will be the losers Watch for a flurry of legal action. No holds barrred. Firewalls Revisited Black Ice (Not recommended since it does not detect zombie traffic) Zone Alarm (Highly recommended and free) NetBarreir for Mac (Recommended for Mac) Intelligent Highway may be obsolete Wireless devices may be a low cost alternative Traffic monitoring Cell phone signals Triangulation Fingerprinting (Beltway already has been fingerprinted) E-Z Pass Tags Now used for tolls May be used to monitor traffic flow with additional roadside sensors Smart Car of Tomorrow May Include Night vision Traffic reports GPS and Maps Internet Access (Email) Cell phones Will lead to information overload Look at airplanes cockpits for a look into the future The dark cockpit with only crtical info displayed VC funding still available Money is in the bank VC are very cautious Money is still flowing in Silicon Valley Money is stilll flowing in Washington DC Stratford News Open House Standing Room Only Next Open House is July 17th  (Third Tuesday of July) Next Start is July 5th, 2001 Networking Programming Culinary Arts Hotel and Event Management Business Administration

June 16, 2001 RealAudio 0:44hr Not archived top

UNIVAC celebrates 50th anniversary UNIVAC 1 was launched on June 14th, 1951 14 feet by 8 feet by 8.5 feet high (walk-in computer) 5200 vacuum tubes Weighed 29,000 pounds Consumed 125 kilowatts of electrical power 2.25 MHz clock rate UNIVAC used 100,000 nanaoscecond per cycle 1.7 GHz Pentium 4 uses 0.6 nanoseconds per cycle First one sold to US Census Department for $1M in 1951. Tauzin-Dingell Internet Access Bill (HR1542) Selected Corporate and Organization postions Favored by Baby Bells -- Verizon, SBC Communications, BellSouth, Qwest (Connect USA) Opposed by AT&T, Worldcom, Cable Companies, DSL Providers, Internet Service Providers (Voices for Choices) Opposed by Internet Society (Press Release) Opposed by Tech Talk Removes restictions that encourage competition with other DSL providers like Covad. Allows Baby Bells to end run the restrictions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 using the Internet access excuse. While it may speed the introduction of DSL in the short run, it stifles price competition in the long run. This telecom law shakeup was made possible by the retirement of Thomas Bliley, chairman of the House Commerce Committee. Checkout the polical money trail The Scent of Information Reseach project lead by Chi and Peter Pirolli from Xerox PARC Information gathering is the same as food-gathering techniques Information scene is made of cues that cause people to use a path Modeling cyber cruising Hub and spoke method of searching is commonly employed. Miscellaneous IT News Volkswagen to sell Internet-capable car, called Golf $19,319 total cost Equipped with mini-computer, mobile telephone, and MP3 player House Majority Leader, Dick Armey, seeks to cut funding for Carnivore Question constitutionality of system Ashcroft is also concerned Pop-up Ads Used to Create False Traffice Reports Issue highlighted this week in Jupiter Media Metrix Method used aggressively by Digital Camera maker, X10 Advertisers Beware Microsoft settles Xbox Name Settled with XBOX Technologies over name Settlement not revealed XBOX Technologies seems to be smiling Xbox scheduled for November 8th launch “AOL Virus” Hoax fooling some Top US Virus Threats (old but still in the news) W95.Hybris Wscript.KakWorm Peer-to-peer is alive and well Napster has problems (songs are blocked) Gnutella has problems (slow and unwieldy) Audiogalaxy to the rescue The Audiogalaxy Satellite is a small and simple program that allows you to share your music with friends and other users on Audiogalaxy. Auto-resuming: Never worry about resuming incomplete files. Once somebody comes online with the file you requested your partially downloaded file will automatically resume even if its the original person you downloaded from. Requesting offline files: If nobody is currently sharing the file you want, select it anyway because once somebody comes online with that file you will automatically start downloading it from them. Bandwidth Reductions: Audiogalaxy servers automatically choose the closest person who has the file you want. This makes life easier for network admins at corporations, colleges, and ISPsby reducing external bandwidth usage. Low profile: Downloads for Windows and Linux Firewalls Revisited Will prevent Zombie infiltration Should stop a Zombie once it is in Firewalls usally provide two functions Network address translation (proxy server function) Port Filtering (firewall function) Three popular home firewalls Black Ice (Not Recommended, does not block Zombie traffic) Zonealarm (Highly recommended) NetBarrier for Mac Stratford University News Next Open House, Wednesday, June 20th Dueling Seminars Hospitality with Cindy Williams Certification Maze with Dr. RRS Many demonstrations Next Start is July 5th, 2001

June 9, 2001 RealAudio 0:43hr Not archived top

Earley Returns Donations from Thruport because of porn connection Big deal about nothing. ThruPort provides ad-servers, including those for sex.com (small part of business) ThruPort Started by Bruce Waldack, founder of DigitalNation According to OpenSecrets, Waldack contributed more than $200K to RNC Thruport is severing ad-server ties with porn sites (including sex.com) Sex.com (discussed previously on Tech Talk) is the most valuable domain name. Recent court case awarding $64M in lost revenue and damages Anatomy of a Denial of Service Attack Culture The Inside Information from Steve Gibson Legions of robot zombies (bots) commanded by 13 year olds Back channel communication through IRC Most bots located on Cable Modems or DSL connections ISPs don’t seem to care (this needs to change quickly) Don’t Forget Your Firewall Will prevent Zombie infiltration Will not stop a Zombie once it is in. For detection, you will need to scan for the presence of a Zombie. Firewalls usually provide two functions Network address translation (proxy server function) Port Filtering (firewall function) Three popular home firewalls Black Ice (not recommended, does not protect against zombies) Zone Alarm NetBarrier for Mac Windows XP will be the Denial of Service Exploitation Tool of Choice E-mail scripting was a bad enough idea XP has support for “Raw Sockets.” Now only Unix boxes have full Raw Socket support “Raw Socket” support permits forging of source IP addresses. Web Radio Hits Snag Contract with AFTRA, the union representing actors who voice radio commercials. Award 300% regular fee if aired over the Internet In addition, music royalties are doubled if also broadcast over the Internet Clear Channel has stopped airing Real Audio (WTEM, WASH, WMZQ, WTNT) ABC has stopped (Smooth Jazz 105.9, Mix 107.3, WMAL (AM630) Bonneville owned WTOP has a separate AFTRA agreement. They are still broadcasting. Tech Talk is still available in Real Audio format over the web at www.stratford.edu Organic LED Displays are coming In the research labs now.  Use electroluminescence. Scuba divers see this type of illumination all the time a depth. Limited small screen demos – cells phones, PDAs Widely available in two years Advantages Uses less electricity than LCDs Easer to manufacturer Cheaper to build Brighter display Better color saturation Wider viewing angle Internet Society News Internet Society Website INET2001 Conference held in Stockholm June 5 through June 8th Wireless Interplanetary Regulatory self governance Social impact Standards refinements Jon Postel 2001 Award given to Daniel Karrenberg, a European Internet pioneer. ISOC opposed Tauzin-Dingell Broadband Bill Stratford University News Next Open House, Wednesday, June 20th Dueling Seminars Hospitality with Cindy Williams Certification Maze with Dr. RRS Many demonstrations Call now to reserve a spot Next Start is July 5th, 2001 Networking Programming Culinary Arts Hotel and Event Management Business Administration Our First Tech Talk listener has graduated (Carol Carins)

June 2 , 2001 RealAudio 0:46hr Not archived top

Backup Strategy Read Write CDs (RW-CD) ZIP Drives (100MB and 250 MB) Jazz Drives (1 GB) Tape Drives Second Hard Drive Make disk image using Drive Image from PowerQuest Use Drawer to make it removable. CRU Dataport is a good choice for drawer. PC Buying Strategy Don’t get the fastest Consider used equipment for second or third PC Get the largest monitor you can afford. It will outlast your computer. Consider 17", 19", or 21" screen sizes. Certification Maze Value of Certification Limitations of Certification Diversification is Good (MCSE, Cisco, Linux, etc.) DDOS Attacks on the rise according to CERT 4,000 DDOS attacks occur each week Gibson is frequent target of such attacks (The attack summary is excellent) Microsoft site has been cut off for more than a day two DDOS attacks Gibson blames lack of initiative on the part of Internet service providers Email Roundup Hooking iMac to PC Ethernet Network (Jean Jolkovski) Use built in Ethernet connection RJ-45 Use Airport with its RJ-45 Trouble with ME, can I downgrade to 98 (Paul Shugrue) Where is your son buying computer parts (Mary Ann Young) How can I get rid of auto-complete drop down menus (Don Haworth) Email corruption problem with Outlook Express (Tony Cotter) Interview with Steve Balmer, Microsoft CEO A big dream about XML ("central to our .NET platform.") Bundling is great, except for Netscape ("great for progess" Licensing is changing ("to simplify, some may pay more") New software limited to two installs ("Need to keep customers honet.") What about the open source movement? ("Linux is like a Cancer.") What is new about your current job? ("Creating managing team that could replace BG.") Linux OS for PlayStation Czech company Blockman Trading has released a test version of Linux 2.4 kernel for the original Playstation console—not dubbed Psone. Sony will software to permit Playstation 2 to function as a computer with DVD software, a 40GB harddrive, a keyboard a mouse. But only with the Japenese version of the equipment This Czech OS is designed to compete with Sony’s limited release of a Linux OS for Playstation II. Other News Business Software Alliance has crowned Vietnam as Top Software Pirate Nation, followed closely by China and Indonesia Iran is cracking down on Internet Café’s. 400 closed during the past month Fear loss of business to private sector because of free internet calls Stratford News Open House at Stratford Wednesday, June 20th Seminars and Demonstrations Masters Degreee Program to start in September Wireless Telecommunications IT Management Entrepreneurial Business 3-Hours Computer Workshops for Seniors Windows Operating System (mouse skills and accessibility aids) Using MS Office Applications for simple tasks Using the Internet Effectively Communicating with email. Buying your first computer

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