Tech Talk RealAudio Archives March 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. March 31, 2001 show March 24, 2001 show March 17, 2001 show March 10, 2001 show March 3, 2001 show

Show

Selected Topics

Mar 31, 2001 RealAudio 0:46hr Not archived top

Special Guest: JD Mankovsky, Senior Systems Engineer, Apple Business Group, Specialist in MacOSX Internet Hoaxes Bill 602B E-mail Tax Hoax is currently circulating. One of us was the target (DB). Five-cent tax on each e-mail This is a perennial Internet hoax that has been circulating around the world since 1999. This is one of many such hoaxes Internet Spring Cleaning is another springtime favorite How to Track Down a Hoax? Best Government Site Funniest Private Site Database of Virus Hoaxes Symantec Virus Hoax Page Summary of Urban Legends Scambusters Urban Legends Page Satire of the Week Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Symantec's Antivirus Research Center today confirmed that foot-and-mouth disease couldn't be spread by Microsoft's Outlook amyl application. This is believed to be the first time the program has ever failed to propagate a major virus. For more details go to SatireWire Stratford News Stratford University was featured in an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education this week The two-page article was very complementary of the school Article appeared in both print and web editions Microsoft is Cracking Down on Licensing Violations To boost cash flow, MS is going after large corporate users and auditing licensing practices Keep all documentation. Paying for the software is not enough Do not let employees install personal software on their machines Watch out for good deals (OEM overage, fire sale, etc.) They may be counterfeit MS offers three types of licensing Open Licensing (5 or more computers, software assigned to specific computers) Select Licensing (500 or more computers, software assigned to specific PCs) Enterprise Licensing (500 or more computers, software can be used anywhere in enterprise) Server side fees can be based on number processors or on the number of users, or on a combination of the two. Netscape 6 Still Buggy Radio Button does not function properly May prevent proper web site navigation That is the final bug in a stream of over 20 documented bug Netscape needs some patching. Tech Talk upgraded to Netscape 6 and then went back to Version 4.76 Tech Talk is quite happy with Netscape 4.76 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 Miscellaneous News of the Week Dot Com Failures reaches furniture resellers Drop in PC sales makes it a buyers market Dell giving away freebies (DVD players, CD players) Gateway not far behind Quantum exits hard drive business Board approves sale of Hard Drive unit to Maxtor Stratford loves the Quantum Fireball (we have hundreds of them) 2001 is the Year of the Worm (and not of the Snake) Worms that infiltrate a computer and take control are winning the security battle Script kiddies are using automated tools to create these attacks First worm created by mistake in 1982 by John Shoch and Jon Hupp of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center CNET Article about worms Apple releases new (and innovative) operating system Special Guest: JD Mankovsky, Senior Systems Engineer, Apple Business Group The New Macintosh Operating System, Version 10, is called MacOS-X. It replaces the current operating system, MacOS9.1 MacOS-X Website MacOS-X is built on the open source Darwin kernel Based on BSD UNIX and Caregie Mellon University Mach 3.0 technology Native support of Java 2 Standard Edition 1.3 Support for dual processors in G4 PowerMacs Includes Apache Web Server and integrated BSD UNIX support Integrated TCP/IP firewall (IPFW) Supports Adobe Portable Document Files (PDF) natively Many Open Source Mac projects are now underway Now Apple has an open source OS and a proprietary box, while Microsoft has a proprietary OS and an open box Is this the beginning of Apple seeing itself as a software company? What about MacOSX running on an Intel machine? This will be appealing to Linux/UNIX users

Mar 24, 2001 RealAudio 0:45hr Not archived top

Special Guest: Dr. Fred Ricci, Wireless Telecommunication Expert and creator of the Stratford Wireless program Virus Talk (Linux has arrived) Linux is now the target of Lion Internet Worm (NIPC Report, SANS Report) using BIND Name Server (CERT Advisory) vulnerability Used to install distributed denial of service (DDOS) tools Error in Reporting Dividends in Quicken 98 (Fixed in Quicken2001) Traffic School Online accepted by area courts (A Tech Talk favorite site) Apple releases Operating System Ten (OS-X) Complete rewrite from the ground up using Open Source Code The OS core, named Darwin, is based on BSD Unix Wireless Home Networking Solutions All operate in 2.45GHz ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) Band (expect interference) HomeRF cheapest home solution 1 to 2 Mbps up to 150 feet 10Mbps to be will be shown this month Bluetooth is coming this year Designed to eliminate the cables (printer, keyboard, mouse, modem) Named after Harald Bluetooth, 10th Century Viking King, united Denmark and Norway Ethernet 802.11b is the dominant business solution (preferred by Tech Talk) Will be the dominant wireless LAN protocol 11 Mbps at 2.4GHz using Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) Apple's 802.11 solution is Airport Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) Encryption Standard 803.15 Interoperability Taskforce seeks to solve 802.11b and Bluetooth interference Wired Home Networking Solutions (listed here for reference and comparison) Cat5 Twisted Pair Wiring (Conventional 802.3 Ethernet) Home Phone Line Networking is an excellent low-cost option Home Power Line Networking is not recommended Wireless Telecommunications (Cell phone technology) 1st Generation Analog (noisy, not secure) 2nd Generation Digital (14.4 kbps data rate) TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) used in US CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) patented by Qualcomm and used in US GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is the dominant European standard 3rd Generation Digital (144Kbps up to 2Mbps, IP, double battery life, double cell density) Will make cellular Laptop connections practical for surfing the web Wideband-CDMA in US and 3rd Gen GSM in Europe FOSE Report (observations with selected vendors) AMD Sledgehammer (64 bit) simulator using Transmeta Code Morphing for code development Sledgehammer will compete with Intel Itanium Verizon Embraced Voice over IP 30% of traffic to Europe is already VoIP to take advantage of voice compression Will not support Ipv6 Next Start is April 23rd Networking, Programming, Wireless Telecommunications Hospitality, Culinary Arts Business Administration

Mar 17, 2001 RealAudio 0:42hr Not archived top

Guest Bill Howell, VP, Post Newsweek and GM, FOSE FOSE Overview DC Convention Center March 20-22, 20001 FOSE Keynotes Microsoft's .NET initiative Windows vs. Linux versus Sun CIO Survivors Game FOSE Vendor Themes E-Government M-Business IT Solutions for Legacy Systems Guest Lee Holcomb, Chief Information Officer, NASA NASA IT Initiatives Security (safety) e-NASA (integrating the Internet) Other topics Beowolf Linux clusters Network Infrastructure CIO Council Mission Interopability Committee XML (Data exchange standards) PKI (Digital signatures) Knowledge Management (Data categorization standards) Government Job Opportunities at NASA Irish Sites for St. Patty's Day Ireland's Pubs Live Web Cams Irish Government Site Ireland Online Ireland is Europe's Silicon Valley Shannon Area in near Limerick Dublin Area Low tax structure, near European market, low cost labor Stressed infrastructure Napster trying to behave Judge policing site Record industry not satisfied Where is this going to lead? A look at sheet music for lessons from the past Can law suits stop this from occurring? Custom CDs should be the next step

Mar 10, 2001 RealAudio 0:44hr Not archived top

Tightened IT job market values knowledge and capability over certification. See Editorial on Stratford site. Napster in the News Copyright is being enforced for selected artists, like Roy Orbison and Metallica If you download a banned song and don't register, you are banned from Napster Napster program (Beta Release 6) modifies your Registry (without your permission) Programs are available to clear the registry This site has several methods Solution Six seems to work best. Uninstall Napster, run Deban, Install Napster, Register under a different name Deban is a regedit file (de-bug.reg) Just double click this file to modify registry Getting Help From Microsoft Site (a guide to information gathering) Product Support Services, Frequently Asked Questions Knowledge Base Search, Global Web Site Search Download Center, Office Updates, Windows Updates DLL Help Database, Windows Hardware Compatibility Iridium Satellite System Has a Purchaser (Iridium Satellite, LLC) Sold for 1/2 cent on the dollar ($25M sales price for the $5Billion system) Phones will now sell for $1000 and service will cost $1.50 per minute Bandwidth of 2.4kbps will soon increase to 10Kbps soon Government paid $72M for 20,000 phones with unlimited service for a two-year contract Another SatireWire Feature New Jersey Pavement Company Sues to Use Union Labor to Pave Information Superhighway Pave the last mile and take out the speed bumps Should be done by the Union, since Information Superhighway was invented by Gore, a Democrat New Syvania Digital HDTV has Linux Inside National Semiconductors Geode CPU Core (32bit x86 processor, 266Mhz, 64bits SDRAM) Embedded Linux Distribution (cheaper unit cost, multimedia plug-ins) Display (800x600 Resolution) Input (IR Keyboard/Mouse Interface) Cost ($899, available this summer, $8.95 for ISP) Naked Wife Virus National Infrastructure Protection Center (Advisory 01-001) Virus contained in e-mail attachment. E-mail details: Subject: Naked Wife Message: My wife never looked like that! ;-)                 Best Regards, {User Name] Attachment: NakedWife.exe What It Does: After the worm has mass-mailed itself, it deletes all files in the "Windows" and "Windows\System" folders with extensions: ini, log, dll, exe, com, or bmp. Delete this email immediately and also remove it from the "Deleted" Subdirectory. Getting Your Email Through the Browser WebMail is a free service Just provide UserName, Password, and PopServerName Check mail anywhere, even when on travel Start March 19th, 2000 Networking and Programming Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Business Administration

Mar 3, 2001 RealAudio 0:42hr Not archived top

Microsoft back in court DOJ versus Microsoft in Appeals Court Jackson under fire for comments in New Yorker Magazine. Appeals court critical of Jackson's findings Legal experts say Microsoft could win Napster in the News Can the other peer-to-peer programs take the load? Gnutella, AIMster, Bearshare (see February 24, 2001 show) These are all slow, but safe from litigation No centralized directory 10,000 client horizon limited by propagation delay Vulnerable to virus attack Web Accessibility Revisited Bobby is a free accessibility rating service Web Accessibility Initiative will define the technology Heavy Lifting will be done by HTML Layout Programs (Dreamweaver, Front Page) The Federal Government must comply this summer Look for technology to lead and then widespread application Linux is not selling in China Compaq and Chinese Partners co-develop Red Flag Linux Red Flag Linux Homepage (in Chinese and slow) Chinese Government backs Red Flag Linux over MS Windows Chinese government does not trust Microsoft's proprietary code MS Windows reported to be "outselling" Red Flag Linux because consumers love Microsoft's ease of use Vcard E-mail Signature susceptible to to buffer overrun What is a buffer? What is a buffer overrun? What can happen? How to enter the IT job market I get many e-mails relating to this topic The catch-22 Can't get a job without experience Can't get experience without a job? What is wrong with that logic? Start on some technical projects on your own Check the Stratford Website under "IT Spotlight/IT Career Advice" Many calls about operating system problems

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