dc0de’s & friends notes…

I just got around to reading this, it’s a great article, well stated. No matter if you love or hate Google, you need to check this out.  The Government is going to throw billions of US Dollars at broadband, and get us to a point where there is no competition in most markets, yet Google is going to drive much faster service to selected areas for a better price.

“…there is simply nowhere near enough competition in almost all of the markets in this country. In fact, under the new plan, some 85% of homes covered would have no choice when it comes to a provider. So while it’s great that just about everyone will potentially have broadband access in 2020, plenty likely won’t be able to afford it…”

“…The U.S. has the highest broadband prices among advanced nations, while countries like Japan and France get faster (and better) services, for a fraction of the price many of us pay. Again, it’s all about competition. So why do we put up with it? Because the U.S. government has no backbone and ruins its own ideas (such as the National Broadband Plan) because they give into corporate lobbyists…”

“As Benkler points out in his piece, Time Warner is quite pleased that it can set higher prices due to a lack of competition. Meanwhile, Comcast is raking in just about a billion dollars in profit each quarter thanks in large part to their pricing bullshit.”

Perhaps our government could take note of how Google is going to accomplish their feat  of providing 1 gigabit-per second connections to homes much sooner than the 100 megabit-per second connections that the National broadband plan promised by 2020.

Is it me, or does our Government have the reverse Midas Touch?

————————————————————-

Help Us Google, You’re Our Only Broadband Hope. (The Government Has No Spine.)

TechCrunch.com
Sunday, March 21, 2010; 6:24 PM

via Help Us Google, You’re Our Only Broadband Hope. The Government Has No Spine. – washingtonpost.com.

Security Fix – Apple issues security updates for Mac OS X.

How can this be?  My father recently went to the Apple Store outside Chattanooga TN, and they told him, “Apple doesn’t need any anti-virus, or other security software.  It’s just secure.”

Apple’s Advertising program makes it out to be impervious to the threats that all of the other computers might also have

Even Brian Krebs (While I like and respect him), stated in his blog a few weeks back that to be secure on the internet, you should do your online transactions on a Mac.

Well… something seems to be amiss.

Let’s be clear here:

All Operating systems:

• Are flawed
• Will be attacked
• Need some sort of Anti-Virus
• Need a client based Firewall
• Need constant care and attention

The major issue with most operating systems is the User.  Most users, of any operating system, fiddle with the configuration.  This is similar to saying that “All drivers of a car, modify their car”.  This is somewhat true.  Let’s explore this for a minute:

Types of modifications drivers do to their cars:

• Seat Covers
• Floor Mats
• Rims / hub caps
• Exterior and Interior Trim
• Stereo System/GPS
• Tires
• Engine Modifications/Upgrades
• Suspension Modifications/Upgrades

Except for the last three items, most of these things, in moderation, are harmless to the driving safety of the vehicle.  However, if you don’t know what you’re doing, and you make some or all of the last three changes, you’re going to fall into one of the following categories:

• Outside your ability to drive the vehicle
• Creating an unsafe engine
• Creating an unstable vehicle to drive

Now, taking this analogy back to computers, if you make modifications on your computer system, like installing software un-proven software, or installing many of the gazillion web toys to play games online (for example, flash-based games), you’re inviting your system to be taken over.  When you add any of the other high risk behaviors that we’ve been asking people not to do for the past 12+ years on the internet, (e.g. surfing porn, downloading music and movies, file sharing, opening un-requested emails, not having a firewall, not having Anti-Virus & Anti-Spyware tools, etc…) you have a recipe for disaster.

I think that it is high time that we hold the software manufacturers accountable.  (Including Apple)  Software manufacturers have to OWN the risk, and share the risk with the general public.  After all, if you purchased an automobile that was prone to blowing up while you used it normally, wouldn’t it be recalled?  Couldn’t you sue the manufacturer?  It’s high time that companies get with the program, and start making software that is SECURE BY DEFAULT, instead of bolting on thousands of “patches”, “fixes”, and even stating, “We rely on third party companies to provide that functionality”.

Apple is the biggest failure in Truth in Advertising, and since there are so many Apple Fan Bois, (sic), it doesn’t seem to be happening.  Sorry, I’m not falling for the smoke screen.  Sadly, many of you are.

How about you “Man Up”, and ask your wonderful Apple manufacturer to be truthful?

That’s my 2¢, YMMV.

-

dc0de.

This month’s dc404 meeting was awesome.  We had ~40 people there and discussed many of the tools that we all use for our computers, and I found quite a few that I think I’m going to have to add to my personal list.

I decided in the first 10 minutes of the meeting that I would put together the list of what was presented, in order for us to have a record of them, and perhaps to even add more comments, and additional tools from some people who weren’t comfortable sharing in a large group.

My thanks to everyone who contributed, I’m always amazed at our groups dynamic, and appreciate everyone’s contributions.

I have uploaded the spreadsheet that I took my notes in here, and also an HTML page here, that you can simply bookmark and refer to…

If you’d like to add more tools, or leave a comment, please do.  (If you want an account to blog here, please simply request one).

–

dc0de.

I’ve seen everyone scrambling now that Dell has pre-announced their new sub/mini notebook. I’ve even seen posts claiming that it’s the EEE killer… I beg to differ.

Looking at the feature comparisons, I’ve created the following table:

*optional upgrades.

So, while the Dell looks nice, I’m not too impressed with it’s short battery life, small SDD, and their minuscule online storage. While the EEE PC is .8 lbs heavier in the bag and $200 more expensive, it seems that the EEE PC is going to be a much better netbook to purchase. (At least for me…)

Well, reading some of the PCI requirements can be quite boring… however, I stumbled across an interesting footnote on a failed scan recently.

Apparently, you will fail a PCI scan if you are using any IPSec VPN connections that allow a 768bit modulus for the Diffie-Hellman key exchange for IPSec tunnels.

The size of the modulus used to calculate the key varies according to the group:

• Group 1: 768-bit modulus (many attacks exist against Group 1 today… not recommended by this author)
• Group 2: 1024-bit modulus (even Group 2 is getting too small for practical security use)
• Group 5: 1536-bit modulus

It is however, VERY interesting, that you can keep your WEP encrypted wireless networks…. until 2010, but can’t deploy any NEW ones after March 31st, 2009!     

“New WEP deployments won’t be allowed after March 31, 2009, and current implementations must stop using WEP after June 30, 2010.”

Gotta love them standards…. So quick on the uptake…

I just got my first real bill from Sprint and it’s just as I expected…

I can’t say how happy I am with the service, I actually have FEWER dropped calls on my Sprint/Blackberry than I did with my ATT Blackberry.

I also love the Bluetooth Tethering, so I can use it as a modem, and the included Navigation (from Telenav) is great!  I can even call in my destination, and it pushes it back down to my phone, so I can navigate completely hands free.

For those of you slaved to some long contract with ATT or Verizon, I would strongly encourage you to look at Sprint.  I call their plan the $99.00 “No Surprise Plan”, and I’m beaming!

By the way, I used 3,271 minutes last month… for $99.00, send I don’t know how many emails, or data, or SMS text messages on top of that.  But it doesn’t matter… it’s all one price.

So long ATT… you had your chance.