Friday Follies

News time...

1. It's only a matter of time now. A security expert released example code Wednesday that showed how to use the GDI+ hole in the Windows OS and other Windows programs to plant a malicious program on a computer using a JPEG file. Most anti-virus companies have updated their definitions to detect infected JPEG files - make sure you update your AV.
2. Meanwhile Microsoft has announced it won't update Internet Explorer unless you're using Windows XP. The company said in a statement, "We do not have plans to deliver Windows XP SP2 enhancements for Windows 2000 or other older versions of Windows. The most secure version of Windows today is Windows XP with SP2. We recommend that customers upgrade to XP and SP2 as quickly as possible." I guess Redmond is feeling the pinch.
3. Sony has succumbed. In addition to supporting its proprietary ATRAC audio compression, new Sony music players will finally support MP3 files. I guess they realized you can't have an iPod killer without it.
4. Nokia has announced a new security camera that uses GSM, a cell phone technology, to phone home. When motion is detected the camera will send still images or video to any email address or cell phone.
5. A recent survey of web users says nearly half couldn't go two days without the net without suffering withdrawal symptoms. The "Internet Deprivation Study" from Yahoo and media group OMD said that respondents felt that they couldn't function without the net. Participants in the study "experienced withdrawal and feelings of loss, frustration and disconnectedness when cut off from the online world." They felt helpless, too, apparently having lost the ability to use the phonebook and newspapers to fetch information. They had to pay people $950 just to participate in the study.

Listen in Friday morning at 8:35a Pacific for my weekly news commentary on KFI 640 AM in Los Angeles. Tune in tomorrow at 7:40a Eastern for my weekly visit with John Donabie on 1010 CFRB Toronto. And, of course, listen to my show every Saturday and Sunday, noon to 3p Pacific on KFI, Los Angeles. I'll be making an appearance at Notebookshop.com in Cerritos Saturday after the show from 4-7p. Please stop by and say hello!

Tuesday's Title Bout

Early morning news... Cartoonist Thomas Nast, creater of Uncle Sam, was born on this day in 1840. Meatloaf is 57. So is supermodel Cheryl Tiegs.

1. The first JPEG virus has been discovered in the wild. The virus, which takes advantage of a serious hole in Microsoft's GDI+, infects your computer when you view a specially crafted JPEG image. The image installs winvnc and radmin and logs your machine into an IRC server to await orders. The virus was found Sunday on the newsgroups. Meanwhile security expert Tom Liston says Microsoft's scanner is worse than useless. He offers his own here.
2. Virgin is getting into the download music business - choose from any of one million songs for 99¢ - monthly subscriptions are $7.99. Virgin Digital is based on MusicNet but offers a completely rewritten jukebox program. Files are encoded in protected Windows media format. Branson has been busy - he also announced plans to offer zero-gravity flights for £100,000 .
3. Microsoft announced Monday that it's going to start charging if you want to use Outlook or Outlook Express to access your Hotmail account. If you've ever used Outlook to get your mail you'll have until spring 2005 to get over it. The rest of you will have to start paying $19.95/year right now. The company says it's to thwart spammers.
4. Russians are pirating so many copies of Windows that Microsoft has decided to offer a low cost version to Russians to keep them from piracy, or worse, Linux. Russia is the fifth country to be offered Windows XP Starter Edition, a stripped down version of the operating system. It costs about $36 but the Russkies have to buy it with a new PC - standalone versions are not available. The Business Software Alliance and IDC reported that 97% of all software in the former USSR was stolen.
5. According to USA Today, a little known branch of the Department of Defense is pointing spy satellites at the US. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is paying particular attention to big events and public gatherings. Privacy rights activists ask who's watching the watchers.
6. Want to run a green website? Use Solar Data Centers for your host - they run their network centers entirely on renewable power.

Listen in tomorrow at 6:45a Pacific for my weekly news commentary on KGO 810 AM in San Francisco.

Wednesday's Wocket Waunch

News is next... Good luck to the team from Scaled Composites, based in Mojave, California, who will attempt to win the X-Prize with its second manned private space flight in two weeks this morning at 7:50a Pacific.

1. PalmSource will unveil the new Cobalt OS, designed for smart phones, today. The new Palm OS supports telephony, of course, plus, push e-mail, a Web browser, integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and the ability to run more than one program at a time. Expect Cobalt phones in the first half of 2005.
2. Governer Scharzenegger signed California's anti-spyware bill into law yesterday. Critics say the law lacks teeth. Mostly it bans keystroke loggers and programs that send email or viruses - features not of spyware but trojan horses. Perhaps that's because Utah's more restrictive anti-spyware law is on hold pending a court review of its constitutionality.
3. The city of Munich is moving forward to make Linux its desktop OS of choice, despite concerns over software patent issues in the EU. According to one expert, Linux violates 238 different US patents. Software patents are still not allowed by the EC but that may change soon. The city council makes its final vote today.

Friday's Phishing Expedition

It's news time...

1. An AIM message is spreading pointing people to a web site that displays JPEG images with embedded viruses. When viewed with an unpatched version of Windows, the JPEG embeds a program on the user's system that spreads the virus and puts a backdoor on the system. Anti-viruses will not detect the infection.
2. Wednesday's SpaceshipOne flight was a success. The Scaled Composites team will attempt a second flight on Monday - the 47th anniversary of the Sputnik launch - to clinch the X Prize.
3. The Senate has delayed the Induce Act due to strong opposition. The bill would make it a Federal offense to "induce" others to reproduce copyrighted material. It ain't over yet, though. Senator Orrin Hatchet-job has promised to take up the bill again next week.
4. Undeterred by reports that CD sales are up this year, the RIAA is suing another 762 John Doe file swappers. They're also suing 68 defendants whose identities had been discovered and who had declined offers to settle.
5. Hey, maybe the US Patent and Trademark Office isn't completely off base. The USPTO has overturned Microsoft's 1996 patent for the file allocation table, FAT, on the grounds that the technology was obvious and there was prior art. Microsoft was making money on the patent because FAT is still used on flash memory cards. The company will appeal.
6. A study from the Anti-Phising Working Group says 70% of consumers have been duped by phony emails to the tune of $500 million.
7. The University of Maryland is setting up an archive of busted dot-com business plans. The archive of over 2,000 Internet based business plans from 1996 to 2002 is available online at businessplanarchive.org .

Listen in Friday morning at 8:35a Pacific for my weekly news commentary on KFI 640 AM in Los Angeles. And tune in Saturday at 7:40a Eastern for my weekly visit with John Donabie on 1010 CFRB Toronto. And, of course, listen to my show every Saturday and Sunday, noon to 3p Pacific on KFI, Los Angeles.

Monday's X-Prize

They did it! SpaceshipOne successfully reached 100km above the earth for the second time in two weeks, winning the $10 million Ansari X-Prize and beginning a new era in civilian space exploration. Brian Binnie piloted this time. This on the 47th anniversary of Sputnik's launch.

1. Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, says Microsoft is about to win the digital media war. "There's no way you get there with Apple," he said, "the critical mass has to come from the PC, or a next-generation video device," presumably from Microsoft. He also accused about 5 million people of being thieves saying, "The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'." Is this the guy you want in charge of digital media devices?
2. Meanwhile NASA is having trouble getting the space shuttle back off the ground. The series of hurricanes that has pummeled the Florida coast this season will force a delay in the shuttle's return to space. Expect the next launch sometime between mid-May and July.
3. Kodak has won a patent lawsuit against Sun and plans to seek damages of one billion dollars. Kodak claimed Sun's Java breached patents Kodak bought from Wang in 1997, several years after Java was released. Groklaw's Pamela Jones says the decision is a perfect example of why software patents don't work.
4. Online payment system Worldpay has been under a massive DDoS attack all weekend. 30,000 merchants, including Sony Music. have been unable to take online payments.
5. Guess I'll have to return my personalized postage stamps. The USPS has cancelled a trial program with Stamps.com. Probably thanks to the Smoking Gun's successful attempts to create stamps honoring the Unabomber, Milosevic, and Monica Lewinsky.

I'll be on KGO this morning from 11a-noon as a guest on the Ronn Owens show. And listen in tomorrow at 6:45a Pacific for my weekly news commentary on KGO 810 AM in San Francisco.