Category: Computers, Science & Technology

OK, I am a HUGE Open Source supporter… and I would recommend “playing” with MythTV to do a totally free open Source Digital Video Recorder… BUT, this actual “buy-it-and-pay-for-it” product looks interesting if you want a “polished” product and don’t want to spend an “arm and a leg” on it! In fact, the bundles with the hardware are about as cheap as the hardware alone!

Beyond TV from Snapstream

Hummm… a “bundle” of the TV tuner card and this software… a Father’s Day present for the man who has everything, but is a die-hard geek? I can dig it!

Sign me up for the Snapstream Beyond TV dual tuner model… dewd!

Dual Tuner Bundle for Beyond TV

And, not for the better! Talk about an appropriate post for “06/06/06!” Evil!!!

“Congress goes into summer recess Friday, but not before considering the Section 115 Reform Act of 2006 (SIRA). Never heard of SIRA? That’s the way ‘Big Copyright’ and their lackey’s want it, and it’s bad news for you. Simply put, SIRA fundamentally redefines copyright and fair use in the digital world. It would require all incidental copies of music to be licensed separately from the originating copy. Even copies of songs that are cached in your computer’s memory or buffered over a network would need yet another license. Once again, Big Copyright is looking for a way to double-dip into your wallet, extracting payment for the same content at multiple levels. Today, so-called ‘incidental’ copies don’t need to be licensed; they’re made in the process of doing *other* things, like listening to your MP3 library or plugging into a Net radio station. If you paid for the MP3 and the radio station is up-to-date with its bookkeeping, nobody should have to pay again, right? Not if SIRA becomes law. Out of the blue, copyright holders would have created an entire new market to charge for — and sue over. Good for them. Bad for us.”

The Worse Bill That You Have Never Heard Of

Let your congress-critters know how you feel about this one!

OK, “notebook” is stretching it! It has a 20” screen after all! And, it weighs in at 20 lbs.! Zowie! But what a geek machine!

Slide Show of the Dell XPS M2010

“The M2010 will be configurable with mobile Intel Core Duo processors, all the way up to a T2600 (2.16Ghz) CPU. The minimum RAM available will be 1GB, and an ATI Mobility Radeon X1800 graphics board will also come standard. Outfitted with a big 12-cell battery, according to Dell the machine should last about 3 hours on a single charge. Prices will start at $3,500.”

Wow.

So… does this mean that OpenOffice and StarOffice are getting enough “market penetration” to be targeted by virus writers? Well, maybe. But, it IS interesting to note that this is the FIRST virus that attacks OpenOffice. Can we say the same of Microsoft Office?

First Virus that Attacks OpenOffice and StarOffice Found

“Labeled ‘Stardust’ by Kaspersky, based in Woburn, Mass., the virus exists only as a proof-of-concept attack at this point, according to the company, which said it has not had any reports of security exploits related to the threat, or of versions of the program that have been launched into the wild with malicious intent.”

So, it is not “in the wild” yet… but let’s be careful out there anyway!

I am a firm Level 5. What level are YOU at? This is a cute, and yet, thought provoking essay on levels of HTML savvy!

HTML Levels of Knowledge

The author says, “It spans all the way from people who know next to nothing about it to those who know it well enough to write the actual HTML specifications. I thought I’d describe a few different levels of HTML knowledge. For some people, these levels are stages that they pass while learning more and more about HTML, gradually understanding concepts such as web standards, semantics, and accessibility. Others are at a certain level because it matches their attitude towards HTML and coding in general. Many people never advance beyond the first few levels. For some that is just fine, while for others it is not. This is all written in a tongue-in-cheek way and is just my personal opinion. Please don’t over-react if you don’t agree or think some of the descriptions are a bit harsh. Try laughing instead.”

For an interesting “side-bar” thought to this post, the link below to an article that says that 50 MILLION people in the U.S. actually have posted content to the web in some form or fashion! Interesting!

50 Million Web Creators

After month’s of beta testing, Microsoft has announced official availability of it’s “Live OneCare” program of data security. You can protect three PCs for $49.95 per year.

Microsoft Live OneCare Launch

“The move pits the world’s largest software maker head-to-head with longtime business partners Symantec Corp., McAfee Inc. and others. Windows Live OneCare, which will protect up to three computers for $49.95 per year, marks the latest step in Microsoft’s effort over the years to make its operating system less vulnerable to crippling Internet attacks.”

Microsoft’s Live OneCare Website

DEWD! We think we have a “hot” connection to the Internet when we have a full 1 megabit line (nearly T1 speeds.) But, imagine a connection that offers 800 Gbps (Yes, that is GIGAbits per second!) Internet2 (which is mostly academic and research institutions already have 10 gigabits per second on average… which is already awesome… but they are getting an upgrade… and WHAT an upgrade! Wow! When can I have it!??!

Speed Boost for Internet2

“The upgrade will use 80 different wavelengths to send the traffic that could make it possible for uncompressed hi-def video and video conferencing, over the net collaboration and even give a massive boost to grid computing. Internet2, a consortium of 201 academic institutions plans to phase out its Abilene network, which has been in service for seven years. The consortium will not renew its fiber contract with Qwest Communications. The Abilene Network used 10,000 route-miles of Qwest’s 10-Gigabit-per-second optical network.”

eWeek has an article that I thought I would never see in a “standard” IT newsmag… a “smackdown” comparison between Microsoft Vista and OpenSUSE 10.1 (Linux!) Now, I have no illusions here, obviously due to prior market penatration, Microsoft has the overwhelming advantage, but who would have thought that the day would come that anyone would dare compare a new version of Windows to a new version of Linux? Interesting days are ahead!

Vista/SUSE Smackdown

“In one corner, we have the champ—Windows. Come January, it will come out swinging with what Microsoft tells us is the latest and greatest version ever—Vista. In the other corner, we have the challenger—OpenSUSE 10.1, the latest shipping version of Novell/SUSE’s community Linux. Sometime this summer, its commercial version, SUSE Linux Enterprise 10, will come out looking to KO the champ.”

This is a neat tutorial on how to use Rsync to make disk to disk backups for Linux.

Linux Backups with Rsync

“This document describes a method for generating automatic rotating ‘snapshot’-style backups on a Unix-based system, with specific examples drawn from the author’s GNU/Linux experience. Snapshot backups are a feature of some high-end industrial file servers; they create the illusion of multiple, full backups per day without the space or processing overhead. All of the snapshots are read-only, and are accessible directly by users as special system directories. It is often possible to store several hours, days, and even weeks’ worth of snapshots with slightly more than 2x storage. This method, while not as space-efficient as some of the proprietary technologies (which, using special copy-on-write filesystems, can operate on slightly more than 1x storage), makes use of only standard file utilities and the common rsync program, which is installed by default on most Linux distributions. Properly configured, the method can also protect against hard disk failure, root compromises, or even back up a network of heterogeneous desktops automatically.”

Because if you use it, somebody could take over your system. Yeah, well, there is that!

Norton Antivirus Security Hole!

“A gaping security flaw in the latest versions of Symantec’s anti-virus software suite could put millions of users at risk of a debilitating worm attack, Internet security experts warned May 25. Researchers at eEye Digital Security, the company that discovered the flaw, said it could be exploited by remote hackers to take complete control of the target machine ‘without any user action.'”