Multiple Vendors Vulnerable to DNS Cache Poisoning Multiple vendor DNS protocol implementations could allow a remote attacker to poison the DNS cache. Patches that resolve the vulnerability on the DNS may be rendered ineffective if the DNS is behind a NAT device that does not randomize ports. Public exploit code was made available on July 24, 2008. At the time of this update, neither X-Force nor IBM MSS has witness any active exploitation nor the integration of this exploit into any exploit toolkits.
The National Broadband Map - Beta [quote]The National Broadband Map exists to comprehensively map New Zealand's Broadband landscape and provide information and tools to aid in demand aggregation and infrastructure planning. The National Broadband Map can be accessed and consumed in... (more in the full post)
Large Hadron Collider - More bust, No Boson.The Big Bang is still holding off its illusive secrets for a while long as it was annouced recently there has been more issues delaying the much anticipated collisions in the collider.
Although it was hoped the problem could be resolved quickly, it turns out that unfortunately, it won't be as quickly as hoped.
whilst the anticipated time to fix the problem is tiny compared to how long its taken to get this far - 2 months at least to fix the problem - but we've been waiting in anticipation for this project to complete for 20 years now,
but two months just seems a very long time to all the people waiting for results.
so what was the issue at hand?
Well the symptom was:
<>They had to shut down the LHC when temperatures rose by rought 100°C
causing around 1000kg of liquid helium to leak into the tunnel.
This sounds like a hell of a lot, but you need to remember, your average room temperature of 23°C is roughly 294°c hotter than the temperature they run the LHC at, so when the temperature rose by 100°C it was still pretty chilly in there (around -171.15 °C)
The LHC runs near absolute zero, absolute Zero is defined as 0 kelvin, with the LHC running at 2 kelvin, which is -273.15 and -271.15 degrees celsius respectively)
The actual problem has not be precisely defined, they anticipate that it was caused by a faulty electrical connection between two magnets that stopped superconducting - then melted, which caused a mechanical failure leading to the helium getting out.
So we'll be waiting a while longer for the really intensive experimentation to begin, that said, if the doomsayers are right, or the scientists get the equivalent of winning (some percentage of all the lottery competitions in the world on the same night that I saw being bandied around as the chances) then we get a couple more months on this Earth.
Although at least if you are in NZ, apparently based on a number of calculations, if the highly unlikely event of a large enough singularity does occur, it'll take a wee while to grow big enough to destroy the planet so we'll get plenty of warning!
Talk About, Slot Music, Talk AboutNew York, Paris, London, Munich
Everyone’s talking about, Slot Music.
At least, it finally hit the NZ Herald today . Beaten by downloads affecting retail store sales, major record companies inlcuindg Sony BMG, Warner and EMI have decided to make their music more accessible by putting it on 1GB Micro SD Cards.
They plan to still put them into CD cases and say that with the extra space, they can include the liner, liner notes and other information. They will be DRM free and you can even play your music on your computer by using the Micro SD Card with a dongle. The music will be in MP3 format at 320kbps they say on the info site, which they say is very high quality music. Really?
The say that hundreds of millions of phones, Personal Computers and in the future lots of car entertainment sytsms will be able to listen to this music.
Well hello! Do you think we consumers are thick? Let’s go back to the future and do a different thing in the same way and charge a premieum for convenience.
So here’s the thing. Back in the day we had audio casettes and vinyl. Audio casettes were cheap because they weren’t going to last long, especially on cheap walkman units that stretched the tape if they got dropped, got hot or for lots of other reasons. Vinyl was great, you got big liner art and photos, quite often big inserts with lyrics, interviews and more photos.
Then came the CD, which they said had far greater sound and extra space to put more information on. In the future, they said, they could include music videos, interviews, games, photos and much more. Of course we had to pay more for this amazing technology but it was going to be worth it. In many cases the quality was superior, even the nice ambience of the needle was no longer there.
But the extras? Well they are the exception rather than the rule. In most cases we got less liner information, because of the size. Inserts happened sometimes but not very often and the additional material? Sometimes there was a hidden track, that was fun. Occassionally someone would add a music video and a few like BB King, put out a CD ROM with interviews, games and lots more. I still have mine, it was cool. Of course I don’t play it any more, but I felt I got my money’s worth and was chuffed that an old timer like The King could do something so modern.
So here’s my take on this. I have large quantities of CD’s and DVD’s pressed, not of my music unfortunately, but for car navigation. I also have large quantities of SD Cards duplicated, also for car navigation. Firstly, even at volume pricing SD Cards are much more expensive than CD’s or DVD’s.
Universal Music is going to release about 30 ‘Slots’ to start with, from their eLabs Digital Music Unit. Sounds more like a test to me, but anyway, I do applaud them for trying new technology. I think it’s a good idea to try new technology, given that CD’s are losing ground rapidly to downloads.
Will they add extra information to the SD Cards? Maybe for some of those first 30, but then it wil be the same old story, new media for a premium price (for the convenience) and nothing more. If they had listened to people like me 10 years ago (Netguide wouldn’t publish my opinion), they could have reinvented a format giving loads of extra value, far more than people could afford to download and created a whole new generation of fans and collectors. But no, they just wanted to increase cash flow and profit. After all, they knew far better than we consumers, what was good for us.
In my humble opinion, they created the monster we have today where people download and share music for free. And it is a monster friends, because what is happening is people are downloading music for free and the poor songwriters and performers are getting ripped off. Sure there are big bands making truckloads of money for themselves and their promotors, but they are the minority. Most of the people in your favorite bands have to work a day job in order to be able to write and perform music at night. This might not be the case if they got fair remuneration for their work.
I ask you this. Do you work for free? Do you expect to go to work and build widgets or whatever you do and expect other people to reproduce them for peanuts and give them to your mates? Will you accept a 90% reduction in your income because people have found a way to clone your products? I didn’t think so.
Anyway, after that minor digression, this is a storm in a slot. Sure they will make some of these. Then they will cry foul when people copy them (if they can be bothered). They will weep when these cards don’t get sold, except on eBay, Craig’s List or Trade Me after people have copied the music onto their computers and shared them with their mates.
I love new technology, but when I can go to iTunes and for a couple of dollars, buy the only song as a track that I like (because I am happy for the band to make some money from it), why would I buy a little SD Card that I will probably lose.
In my humble opinion, the music industry got this one wrong. Can they redeem it? Only if they figure a way to genuinely add value. They want to offer the music on iGB SD Cards. (Interesting that I struggle to even buy 1GB SD Cards anymore.) Why not do something smart and offer us real value. Do what you should have done years ago and you might find a couple of years of legs in this yet. Use 4GB cards. Load it with the music, the live performance video, the interviews, the music video, lyric sheets (the mechanical rights people can still get a share) and a personal spoken message from the band or artist. You could sell that for a premium and create collectors items that people will want to keep.
Of course when real broadband arrives, people are no longer going to buy music in hard copy. I’m sorry but they won’t. Why would you. The other day I sat down in front of YouTube an had a great afternoon watching videos and listening to music of my favourite bands of the past and the present. All it cost me was a bit of internet access (and I do have ADSL 2 from Orcon so speed wasn’t an issue.
I think the future will be:
New York, Paris, London, Munich, Nobody’s talking about Slot Music.
Wow, nothing Apple this week..
