Category: Computers, Science & Technology

It has been a slow blogging week because of so much happening at work and by the time I get home I am “bushed!” I will try and “catch up” with the news!

Yes, the long beta is over and V2.0 is now gold! I use Thunderbird for my personal e-mail client, and I do love it!

Thunderbird 2.0 email client goes gold

“Mozilla today released the final version of Thunderbird 2, the next generation of the organization’s open-source email client. Key new features include message tagging, message history, and a new function to search for content within messages, among numerous other enhancements.

The major new features, according to a Mozilla spokesperson, are:

* Message tagging — users can organize emails by assigning tags like “From Mom” or “Weekend Projects” to easily track and search for information; users can choose from default tags — such as Important, Personal, To-Do, Later, and Work — or create their own custom tags; users can also add as many tags as they want to a message

* Message history – Thunderbird 2 offers message history navigation similar to Web browsing history navigation; users can move backward and forward through their messages and easily browse through their message history

* Search — the find-as-you-type pane speeds up searches within displayed messages, and a quick search feature starts showing search results as soon as users begin typing search terms; additionally, Thunderbird 2 saves users time by allowing the storing of searches as folders and facilitating the rerun of saved searches by clicking on the saved search folder in the folder pane

* Easy access to Web mail services — Thunderbird 2 lets users integrate and access popular Web mail services simply by entering their user names and passwords

* Customization — users can customize Thunderbird 2 with hundreds of free add-ons that change the look, feel, and functionality of the email client to suit their tastes; users can also create their own message templates to save time.”

I used to have one (1) out of my four DNS servers that was a Microsoft NT box… but that was a LONG time ago! Now it is all Linux! Anyway, if you do have a Microsoft Windows DNS server… well… you are in for it!

Microsoft DNS Server Attacks Continue

“In an advisory this morning borrowing language used during previous statements about completely different exploits, Microsoft’s Security Response Center team confirmed that it has seen at least one new wave of attacks based on proof-of-concept code impacting its DNS server software in Windows Server-based systems. The concept enables malicious users to run code remotely under the system privileges generally granted to the DNS service itself. Although technically, the exploit does not directly threaten Internet routing the same way as the crafted IPv6 header problem in Cisco routers that also periodically rears its ugly head (or heads its ugly rear), this exploit can impact the routing of e-mail and other IP traffic within an enterprise or limited domain. Yesterday, Microsoft acknowledged that the proof-of-concept code discovered by engineers and reported by BetaNews was responsible for the first rash of attacks. But that acknowledgment was confused by multiple press sources as having been an indication that the code was just released, when in fact, the code may have been publicly disseminated for at least a matter of weeks, if not longer.”

Microsoft also says they are in no big hurry to fix it… so don’t hold your breath!

Don’t Hold Your Breath for a MS DNS Hole Patch

Microsoft says it hopes to patch the hole in its Domain Name System Server—which is now leaving vulnerable PCs open to a worm attack—by “no later” than Patch Tuesday in May. Microsoft teams are working around the world and around the clock to get a fix out for the May 8 security bulletin release, the MSRC’s Christopher Budd wrote in the security center’s blog on Tuesday night. Budd said that Microsoft teams are now developing and testing 133 separate updates, including one in every language for every currently supported version of Windows servers. ‘Each of these has to be tested to ensure they effectively protect against the vulnerability,’ Budd said. ‘Because DNS is a critical part of the networking infrastructure, they also have to be tested to ensure that changes introduced by the updates don’t pose a greater risk than the security issue we’re addressing.'”

Microsoft is branching out! They have plans to resell and market fuel cells under their own brand. So, it may not be long before you will be able to charge up your cell phone with a fuel cell from Microsoft. Is that a good thing?

Supplier: Microsoft to Brand, Sell Consumer Fuel-Cell Chargers

Medis, a startup specializing in fuel cells, began delivery of its first products to Microsoft on Friday. Medis executives said Microsoft will brand the products as its own and sell them as portable recharging stations for consumer devices. How Microsoft will position and sell the devices is unclear. However, Medis describes its ’24/7 Power Pack’ as a ‘handy, mobile and disposable charger with multiple connectors for immediate use of your electronic device.’ According to Medis, the Power Packs are designed for portable devices such as Blackberrys, mobile phones, and digital cameras. Although Microsoft could be backing the technology as a battery backup for all sorts of devices, its only current branded product that falls into that category is the Zune, its media player. The 24/7 Power Pack is a Direct Liquid Fuel Cell, which typically means that the fuel cell uses methanol as a catalyst, combining hydrogen and oxygen atoms together to form water, with electricity produced as a byproduct. Fuel cells have been used to power buses in California, planned GM cars, cell phones, trains, and even a bicycle.”

A new Ubuntu Linux will be out in just a few days! I am curious to see what this release will bring us… it just keeps getting better!

Ubuntu 7.04 arrives Thursday

“This new v7.04 release encompasses five versions: Ubuntu Server, Ubuntu Desktop, Edubuntu, Kubuntu, and Xubuntu. Along with the self-explanatory server and desktop versions, Edubuntu is meant for educational uses; Kubuntu is a desktop platform that uses KDE 3.5.6 for its desktop environment instead of Ubuntu’s GNOME 2.18; and Xubuntu is a desktop for lower-end PCs and uses the lightweight Xfce 4.4 desktop manager. The family is built around the new Linux 2.6.20 kernel. As a cutting-edge distribution, Ubuntu’s developers try to bring together the latest and best of open-source software every six months. Users interested in a more settled, stable distribution with full support can turn to Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Long Term Support).”

Wow. Google is buying Doubleclick for $3.1 BILLION… that is with a “B!” Wow!

Google Buys DoubleClick for $3.1 Billion

“Google reached an agreement today to acquire DoubleClick, the online advertising company, from two private equity firms for $3.1 billion in cash, the companies announced, an amount that was almost double the $1.65 billion in stock that Google paid for YouTube late last year. The sale offers Google access to DoubleClick’s advertisement software and, more importantly, its relationships with Web publishers, advertisers and advertising agencies. For months, Google has been trying to expand its foothold in online advertising into display ads, the area where DoubleClick is strongest. Google made its name and still generates most of its revenue from search and contextual text ads. DoubleClick, which was founded in 1996, provides display ads on Web sites like MySpace, The Wall Street Journal and America Online as well as software to help those sites maximize ad revenue. The company also helps ad buyers — advertisers and ad agencies — manage and measure the effectiveness of their rich media, search and other online ads. DoubleClick has also recently introduced a Nasdaq-like exchange for online ads that analysts say could be lucrative for Google.”

What will this mean for the “monetization” process of the web and web sites? I suspect we will see really soon!

Say it ain’t so! Well, maybe… we’ll see!

iTunes subscription service expected

“Major record companies are expected to ask Apple iTunes to change their 99c-per-song download model to a subscription-based service, according to industry insiders. At talks to be held next week, Apple will be negotiating with music label Universal and has reportedly already began talks with Sony-BMG, Warner Music and EMI to renew contracts for iTunes content. Amid industry fears that music sales are steadily falling, media labels are said to be looking to negotiate a more lucrative business model with iTunes, where labels would take a share of monthly subscription payments. Although rumors of a subscription service have been circulating for the past few years, insiders say it is far more likely now in light of Apple’s DRM (digital rights management)-free deal with EMI.”

Well, as you know, CentOS Linux is based on the Open Source code of Red Hat. CentOS is binary compatible in every way with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, so now that RHEL V5.0 is out, CentOS has followed suit.

CentOS Linux Web Site

Notes on upgrading: plan on downloading the CDs and do an upgrade from the CDs to be safe. Also, there are many changes, so read the Release Notes and plan carefully!

Here’s what CentoS says:

“The best and most recommended way to get your existing CentOS-3/CentOS-4 machine running CentOS-5 is to update the machine via the installer. This involves booting the machine with the install media, and running a normal installation path. You will be given an option to upgrade the
machine if an older CentOS install is found on the installable harddrive. You will still need to check for rpm orphans once the machine has booted into CentOS-5. Packages from non-CentOS repositories might need special attention. There is a wiki page starting now at https://wiki.centos.org/Migration/5 to document the process’s and experiences of people – so as to create a single combined knowledge base about updating to CentOS-5 from CentOS-3/4 as well as from other Distributions. So do join in and contribute.”

Since I have set up the Blog to allow comments even if you don’t create an account an log in, I am now requiring a test to be sure the person sending the comment is not a spambot. So, don;t freak out, just answer the simple question… things like “How do you spell Linux?” Answer= “linux” (See read the question closely… there’s the answer!) I know, I know… dumb… but spambots are dumber!

In case you are interested, the plugin for WordPress I am using is called WP-Gatekeeper. Check it out!

WP-Gatekeeper

A lot of news has been made recently by YouTube videos about political candidates. Careers are being made (or lost!) Now, Google and YouTube is offering a more “official” version for political speech.

YouTube Launches CitizenTube – Official Political Vlog

“YouTube has formally announced a new, official channel of political videos called CitizenTube. Edited by Steve Grove, YouTube’s Citizentube/YouTube News & Politics Editor, the channel appears intended to aggregate select political videos already appearing on the rest of the site. Will Steve effectively be an official representative of the politics of the GooTube giant? In some ways, he just may. To call that a big responsibility would be an understatement.”