Tech Talk Radio
November 2003
Sponsored by Stratford University
Saturdays at 8 am EST on WJFK FM Radio
Turn the dial to FM106.7
It's everything you always wanted to know about computers
and information technology, but were afraid to ask.

     Cameron Gray 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.

Show Selected Topics
November 29, 2003
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  • Tech Talk News
  • Email Received This Week
    • Pat Neary: How safe is my wireless from war drivers without WEP?
    • Dick St. Clair: Firewall Options for XP
    • Jean Jolkovski Mac Panther Drivers for Farallon (now Proxim) Phoneline sytem
    • Robert Olsen – Voting Machine newsletter article somewhat misleading
    • Jimbo from Missouri
    • Marvin Mejia from Costa Rica
    • Assorted other fans with good wishes
  • Wireless Alphabet Soup
    • 802.11 Standards (a, b, and g)
      • 802.11a (5 Ghz, 54 Mbps)
        • 8 non-overlapping channels
        • 100 foot range, non-uniform coverage
      • 802.11b (2.4 Ghz, 11 Mbps and 22 Mbsp when enhanced)
        • 3 non-over-lapping channels
        • 150 foot range
      • 802.11g (2.4 Ghz, 54 Mbps)
        • 3 non-overlapping channels
        • 150 foot range
        • Backward compatibility with b
        • Will probably prevail in the race for dominance
    • Components
      • Wireless network card
        • Hermes (supported by Netstumbler) Chipsets
        • Prism (not supported by Netsumbler) Chipsets
        • Jack for external antenna is useful (Orinocco/Agere)
      • Access Point/Firewall
        • Firewall, Proxy Server with DHCP
        • WAN Port (10/100) for connection with DSL/Cable Modem
        • Addition Ethernet Ports (10/100)
        • Integrated Print Server very useful
    • Security
      • Wireless Encryption Protocol (WEP)
      • Mac Address Filtering
      • Risk versus Cost Discussion
      • How Safe and at what cost?
  • Internet Plagiarism Is Found At All Levels
    • Students cut and paste, but don’t learn how to write
    • The distinction between copying and creating original content has been blurred
    • Plagiarism is rampant in high school (50%), college, and grad school
    • Teachers are fighting back
    • They are using a tool called Turnitin.com
      • Founded by John Barry in 1990s when he was a PhD grading papers
      • Turns essays into strings of numbers that can be compared with other texts
      • Licensed to schools including 200 in Md, Va, DC
      • Cost is 60 cents per student per year
  • Stupid Idea of the Week -- Master/Slave Computer Labels Banned
    • Los Angeles officials has asked manufacturers to stop using the terms “master” and “slave” on computer equipment
    • Affects all hard drives with where the term applies to primary and secondary hard drives
    • Affects networks that collect information via polling
    • Request made by Joe Sanoval, Division Manager of Purchasing and Contract Services. He directive said, “Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label.”
  • Number Portability – Week One
    • Only 80,000 switched phone number to another carrier
    • TIS Telecomm Services, the firm that processes over 80% of such orders, expected “hundreds of thousands” on the first day
    • Early estimates expected around one million to switch
    • Program has not encountered any reported problems.
  • Buying Songs on the Internet – An Update
    • iTunes is getting some competition
      • Prices are as low as 79 cents per song
      • Expect it to drop to around 50 cents per song so that an album is sold a half price
    • RIAA legal actions against twelve year olds is getting results
      • June (7 million members in Kazaa)
      • September (4.2 million members in Kazaa) after lawsuits were filed
      • November (3.2 million members in Kazaa)
      • If you download, don’t share!!!
    • DVD Jon Cracks iTunes DRM encryption
      • Jon, 19 years old, cracked the DVD security codes
      • Posted a new program, QTFairUse, that can crack iTunes encryption
      • His website (http://www.nanocrew.net/software/) is down
      • Program captures unprotected digital data and makes perfect copies to an unlocked file
  • This Christmas It is All About Gadgets that Connect
    • Everything is linked to the PC (USB 2.0, Firewire, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi)
    • Everything will work together because the PCs enforce a set of standards
    • PC has become a gadget supporter
    • MP3 Players
      • Flash memory (256M or 128 M)
      • Mini hard drives (10G to 40 G)
      • USB 2.0 or Firewire
      • Apple iPod (10 to 40G) – FM transmitter, iTunes, Recording
      • Creative Lab Nomad Zen (first HD, 10 to 20G)
      • Archos Multimedia (10 to 20G)
      • Creative Labs Muvo (Flash memory, AAA)
    • Digital Cameras
      • Megapixel (2 to 6 MP)
      • Optical Zoom (3x to 10x)
      • Memory (CompactFlash or SD)
      • Around $100/MPixel
    • Wi-Fi Networking
      • See Above
    • Computer/Laptop
      • Memory (256 MB/5112MB)
      • Video Card Memory(64M/128M)
      • Hard Drive (40G/60G)
      • USB 2.0 or Firewire
      • DVD+RW and DVD-RW
      • Processor Options
      • Intel Celeron/P3/P4/Centrino
      • AMD Athlon
      • Displays (Flat Panel)
    • Game Consoles
      • Sony PlayStation 2 has best game selection and native networking
      • Xbox excellent hardware (HDTV, DVD support) but lack of support from EA
  • Internet Access Tax Moratorium Debated
    • Ron Wyden (D-Ore) and George Allen (R-Va) have sponsored a bill to bar all Internet access taxes permanently
    • Blocked by some states that want to tax DSL, IP-telephony, email
    • Will probably pass with date extension only
  • Virginia Tech Computer 3rd Fasters
    • Fastest computers are now clusters
    • VTech assembled 1,100 Apple Macintosh G5 computers
    • Each G5 has two 64-bit IBM PowerPC9 processors
    • Clocked at 10.3 trillion operations per second
    • Cost $7 million to build and maintain
    • Can’t handle applications yet, need additional software development
  • Stratford News
    • Next Start January
    • Masters Degrees e-Business, Telecommunications
    • Bachelor Degrees in IT, Business Administration, and Hospitality
    • Associated Degrees in Digital Design and Animation, Web Services and e-Business, Networking and Security, Culinary Arts, Hospitality, and Business Administration
    • Website: www.stratford.edu
    • Phone number: 800-444-0804
November 22, 2003
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  • Howard Dean’s Internet Technology
    • Dean’s Website: www.deanforamerica.com
    • Convio Provided Fundraising Technology
      • Convio’s Website: www.convio.com
      • Constituent Relation Management (CRM)
      • Newsletters, Polling, Interaction
      • Raised $3.6M in first 90 days ($25M to date)
      • Over 410,000 online supporters and 1,600 “Dean Team” leaders
      • 110,768 contributions from 84,713 supporters ($61.14 average)
      • Plans to raise $200M
        • $100 from 2 million contributors
        • Will forego Federal matching dollars
        • A real grassroots effort using credit card technology
    • Unofficial Peer-to-peer
    • Others Take Note
      • Non-profits (MADD, ASPCA)
      • Politicians both in US and Abroad
      • Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac, Helmut Kohl
  • Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Grows Up
    • Napster Pioneered file sharing
    • Kazaa picked up the mantle
    • RIAA Began Suing Customers (wrong solution)
      • 12 year old ($2,000 paid by single mom)
      • 15 year old in Seattle, WA
        • Mary Dickenson downloaded 1,100 songs (sharing left on)
        • Asked to pay $3,500 or go to court ($825,000 liability)
      • 50 others have settled
      • 200 others have been sued
    • Steven Jobs Solved the puzzle with iTunes
      • 99 cents per song from iTunes Music store
      • One million songs purchased in first three days
      • Named Invention of Year by Time Magazine
      • Songs must be played on iTunes or iPod
      • iTunes supports both Mac’s and PC’s
      • Restrictions
        • Unlimited number of iPods
        • Up to three PC’s or Mac’s
      • Price still too high (prices should drift to less than 50 cents)
  • Swarming – Latest Peer-to-Peer Activity
  • Blogging –- Peer-to-peer idea sharing
  • Friendster – Peer-to-peer networking
    • Website: www.friendster.com
    • Just secured $13M in VC
    • Online community that connects people through networks
      • Can only talk to your friends and their friends and their friends
      • Challenge is to grow your own network
      • Largest network is 525,000 people
    • Large networks are even for sale on eBay
      • Coolest Guy Association ($12.04)
      • Hipster, Musicians ($4.00)
  • Text Messaging – Peer-to-peer phone communication
    • Uses SMS Protocol
    • Short Message Service
    • Up to 160 characters
    • Very popular in Europe and US with teenagers
    • Cheap way to communicate
    • Three ways to send message
      • Use email client
      • Use messaging gateway
      • Use cell phone
  • Microsoft Rigs MSN Search
    • Check out key words – “linux windows”
    • Google hits = 10 M
    • MSN hits = 16
    • That’s no way to build credibility
    • Google has refused to sell out to MS (hooray)
  • Electronic Voting Machine Report Card
    • Diebold Scandal
      • Johns Hopkins Security Institute analyzed code
      • Found to be susceptible to smart card hacking
      • Used by MD for all voting precincts
      • Suing to stop all Internet discussion
      • Internal Memos Posted on Net (chroot.net/s/lists)
    • Fairfax County, Virginia
      • Several voting machines malfunctioned
      • Some votes may have been lost
    • Boone County, Indiana vote count errors
      • Voting machines registered 144,000 votes from 5,352 ballots
      • Only 19,000 registered voters in town
      • Software glitch was fixed during the day
      • MicroVote Machines
    • Other developments
  • Operation Cyber Sweep
    • Investigation started on October 1st
    • Uncovered 125,000 victims with losses topping $100 million
    • Seventy indictments have led to arrest or conviction of 125
    • Stolen credit card numbers, software piracy, sale of stolen goods
  • Fake requests for information (phishing)
  • Identity Theft
    • 27 million cases in last five years
      • Loss of $5 billion to individuals
      • Loss of $48 billion to financial institutions and businesses
    • 9.9 million cases in last year alone
    • Data gathered by dumpster diving, phishing, purse snatching
    • FTC Identity Theft Website: www.consumer.gov/idtheft/
    • FTC Identity Theft Phone Number: 1-877-IDTHEFT
  • Wordspy for Newly Coined Words
    • Butt Call -- An unintended phone call placed by sitting on one's cell phone.
    • Flash mob -- A large group of people who gather in a usually predetermined location, perform some brief action, and then quickly disperse
    • Google -- To search for information on the Web, particularly by using the Google search engine
    • War Driving -- A computer cracking technique that involves driving through a neighborhood with a wireless-enabled notebook computer and wireless access points.
    • Phishing.-- Creating a replica of an existing Web page to fool a user into submitting personal, financial, or password data. —adj.
    • Himbo -- A man who is good-looking, but unintelligent or superficial.
    • Brain on a stick -- An intelligent person who lacks emotion or social skills
    • Brain Fart -- Quick-and-dirty creative output
  • Novell Buys Suse Linux
    • Good for Novell and for Linux
    • Linux is getting broad based support from IBM
    • If only SCO would drop their attack on IBM
    • Bill Gates would love to kill the open source movement
  • Wireless Alphabet Soup
    • 802.11 Standards (a, b, and g)
    • Components
      • Wireless network card
      • Access Point/Firewall
    • Security
      • Wireless Encryption Protocol (WEP)
      • Mac Address Filtering
  • Stratford News
    • Next Start January
    • Masters Degrees e-Business, Telecommunications
    • Bachelor Degrees in IT, Business Administration, and Hospitality
    • Associated Degrees in Digital Design and Animation, Web Services and e-Business, Networking and Security, Culinary Arts, Hospitality, and Business Administration
    • Website: www.stratford.edu
    • Phone number: 800-444-0804
November 15, 2003
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  • No Show Scheduled
November 8, 2003
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  • No Show Scheduled
November 1, 2003
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  • No Show Scheduled
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