Tech News Blog
3.25.05
Phishers After Yahoo IM Users
CNET reports that phishers are looking toward Yahoo’s IM users in the never-ending quest to rip us off. Yahoo is warning their customers that phishers are issuing messages with links to bogus web sites that resemble an official Yahoo site. The message initiated by a phisher appears to come from a known contact; the unsuspecting victim is then asked to enter their user name and password and the phishers catch another live one in their net. Yahoo states that the attacks are not widespread but recommend IM users exercise caution when revealing sensitive information. It is always better to open a new browser and type in the company’s domain name if you need to exchange security-sensitive information.

Banks Must Reveal Security Problems
New regulations based upon interpretation of an old act (the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act) make it mandatory for financial institutions to reveal security breaches to their customers. According to CNET, if “an incident of unauthorized access to sensitive information” occurs the bank needs to make every “reasonably possible” effort to notify their customers in a timely manner; however, this act does not cover other breaches of sensitive information like those that occurred at Boston College and California State University, Chico. In the case of the latter, several weeks elapsed before notifications of the breach were distributed. I can tell you from personal experience that it only takes a matter of hours for an un-authorized person to max out your credit card, and delaying notification of security breaches should result stiffer penalties; like the assumption of all financial losses incurred because of the incident and a monetary fine.

Update for iPod
Apple has released an update for the iPod’s software, iPod Updater 2005-03-23. According to Apple, the update will provide support for the iPod Camera connector and update slideshow transitions. Click on the Apple logo in your toolbar and select Software Update to download and install this update.

Listen To The Tech Guy and Learn
Leo Laporte is The Tech Guy on KFI and he answers your questions about all things digital on the weekends from 11 am to 2 pm. You can listen to Leo live in the Los Angeles area on AM640 or catch the Internet feed by visiting Leo’s web site and then clicking on the KFI logo.

Open Source Updates
Secunia has released bulletins for the following open source systems: Fedora (1, 2), SuSE (1, 2), Gentoo, and Red Hat (1).

Multiple Platforms Tip of the Day: Favorite Web Sites
The following are some of our favorite (and helpful) web sites: Overclockersclub.com/, MacFixIt, Leoville.tv/, iPodLounge, MacWorld, and PC World.

What is Universal Serial Bus?
We end the week with the familiar bus standard, USB and Wikipedia provides this definition, “Universal Serial Bus (USB) provides a serial bus standard for connecting devices, usually to a computer, but it also is in use on other devices such as set-top boxes, game consoles and PDAs.
A USB system has an asymmetric design, consisting of a host controller and multiple devices connected in a tree-like fashion using special hub devices. There is a limit of 5 levels of branching hubs per controller. Up to 127 devices may be connected to a single host controller, but the count must include the hub devices as well. A modern computer likely has several host controllers so the total useful number of connected devices is beyond what could reasonably be connected to a single computer. There is no need for a terminator on any USB bus, as there is for SCSI and some others.
The design of USB aimed to remove the need for adding separate expansion cards into the computer's ISA or PCI bus, and improve plug-and-play capabilities by allowing devices to be hot swapped or added to the system without rebooting the computer. When the new device first plugs in, the host enumerates it and loads the device driver necessary to run it.”

Tech News Blog
3.24.05
Security Update for Firefox is Important
The update for Firefox (1.02) addresses critical issues affecting the browser according to reports from CNET and Secunia; the latter has graded this flaw as ‘highly critical’. You should upgrade the browser ASAP to avoid any attacks from crackers. Once the pathway to your PC has been published, crackers begin exploiting the defect and you and your computer could be at risk.

Apple Compromises on Lawsuit
MacWorld is reporting that a settlement has been reached between Apple and one of those accused of ‘leaking’ Apple’s soon-to-be-released operating system, Tiger. The accused issued an acknowledgement and apology for his actions and Apple got to look somewhat compassionate and issued a statement expressing the company’s pleasure in putting this part of their legal action to rest. I honestly believe Apple benefits tremendously from these rumor sites and if Steve was paying attention, he could borrow a page from the political world and ‘arrange’ for these sites to have even better (dis) information.

Update for OnyX
I have been using OnyX for several weeks and with the exception of one problem (self-inflicted, I assure you), it has been a useful tool for system maintenance. Apple.com is featuring this application and they supply a link to download the tool; current users of this program should update the application.

OpenOffice 2.0 Reviewed
PC World has reviewed OpenOffice 2.0/, the free open source office application and they give the new package a positive review. If you are looking for a replacement for Microsoft Office, you should check out this review from PC World. I have used OpenOffice 1.x and found it to be as good if not better than Office for some tasks. Check out the Multiple Platforms how-to article by clicking here (05/01/04).

Skype Offers More Tools for PC Users
I love Skype and soon Multiple Platforms will have a phone number that you can use to contact us with your questions and comments. I have wanted to add a phone number to my contact information to lend a degree of legitimacy to this site, but the high cost has restricted my ambition. However, Skype’s service is affordable and I think this could pave the way for many small businesses to extend their customer base. I hope that Skype will offer toll free numbers in the future. CNET featured Skype in an article published yesterday extolling the virtues of the new features available for PC users.

Open Source Updates
Secunia released updates or security bulletins for the following open source systems: Fedora (1, 2–Graded: Highly Critical), Red Hat, and SuSE.

Apple Tip of the Day: Must Have Applications for Macs
Third-party applications are an excellent way to add to your Apple experience and listeners of Leo Laporte, The Tech Guy on KFI have compiled list of must-have applications for Mac-heads.

PC Tip of the Day: Must Have Security Applications
The PC tip of the day regards must have security applications according to Leo Laporte,
The Tech Guy on KFI; visit Leo’s web site for recommendations and links to security software that Leo likes.

What is Futurebus?
What will the new computer bus standard be? According to Wikipedia, “Futurebus (IEEE 896) is a computer bus standard, intended to replace all local bus connections in a computer, including the CPU, memory, plug-in cards and even, to some extent, LAN links between machines. The effort started in 1979 and did not complete until 1987, and then immediately went into a redesign that lasted until 1994. By this point everyone involved lost interest, and Futurebus saw little use.”

Tech News Blog
3.23.05
Microsoft Unveils New Update Delivery
A free program from Microsoft will allow customers more flexibility in how they receive their updates according to a report from CNET. Microsoft Update will give PC users a complete update package, but if you prefer receiving Windows and Office updates separately, Microsoft will continue those services as well.

Is Firefox Safer Than Internet Explorer?
If you listen to the president of the Mozilla Foundation, Firefox won’t have as many security issues as Internet Explorer, but CNET quotes him as saying, “There is nothing that will be perfect.” Security experts claim that open source systems will become targets as they become more popular. These same security experts are singing a similar song about Apple’s OS X operating system. Could it be that these security experts are hoping that you can be frightened into buying their products? The problem is, many of the conflicts I hear about and help solve involve the same security systems that are supposed to be providing users with protection, but instead seem to deal up large doses of frustration.

Update On Apple’s Patch
MacFixIt reports that Apple has removed the Security Update 2005-003 for Mac OS X Server probably because of a conflict with Cyrus mail service. This was an issue reported on yesterday by MacFixIt and we cited that article in this column. Another annoyance experienced by some Apple users after updating is connectivity issues using Safari.

Mozilla Browser Update
Mozilla 1.7.6 is now available for Mac-heads and the latest release includes several security fixes that make the update worthwhile. You can visit Apple’s web site to learn more or surf directly to http://www.mozilla.org/.

Is Linux Safer than Microsoft?
When you are conducting a study for Bill Gates, you design the experimental to demonstrate what the big-guy wants to show-off, or you will probably be looking for a new job. According to a report from ComputerWorld (and no surprise), the researchers found just what the head of Microsoft wanted to hear: Windows Server 2003 did not have as many security problems as Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES 3 based on research sponsored by Microsoft. Okay, that is one system of many that Microsoft beat, what about the rest of the server systems?

Open Source Updates
Secunia announced updates for these open source systems: Debian, Red Hat (1, 2, 3, 4), Fedora, and Sun Java.

Apple Tip of the Day: Get Rid of the Startup Blues
Occasionally Apple users experience the startup blues and a good defensive strategy is to know what to do before the blues hits you. To learn what steps you can take before being hit with a calamity, visit MacFixIt for their tutorial on the startup blues.

PC Tip of the Day: How to Work at Home
If you want to quit commuting and start working from home the PC tip of the day is for you; Microsoft has suggestions on how you can work from home using your PC and Windows software products. To learn more about configuring and using Remote Desktop Sharing, visit the Microsoft support site.

What is Front Side Bus?
Wikipedia has this definition: “Front Side Bus (FSB) is the term used to describe the CPU data bus. This bus carries all information that passes from the CPU to other devices within the system such as RAM, PCI expansion cards, hard disks, etc.

On older computers where the L2 cache was not integrated into the CPU, the back side bus connects to the L2 cache, and using this was faster than accessing the RAM via the front side bus. With modern CPUs having L2 cache on the processor die itself, this bus no longer exists, as the CPU's cache is simply checked for the appropriate data before a read request is issued to main memory.”

Tech News Blog
3.22.05
Virus Writers: Show Me The Money
The target of 54 percent of the worst crack attacks was your identity and the aim of those crackers is your money according to Symantec. In a report carried by CNET and a continuation of the thread started yesterday, it appears that crackers greed is overtaking their egos and that this trend of targeting personal information will continue until holes in web servers (another of the increasingly popular targets) are patched.

Apple Releases Update for OS X
Mac users have a new update available, Apple Security Update 2005-003 and according to MacFixIt, a few conflicts are associated with the update are being reported. The issues include server problems, printer sharing difficulties, and Hotsync failures with Palm users. CNET is carrying a story on the specifics of the update from Apple and if you want to learn more about the technical aspects of the update you can surf to Secunia or Apple. Remember to follow the procedures recommended by MacFixIt. I actually skip their suggested step of booting from the CD. Here is the method I use: Disconnect Firewire devices; log out and restart (I don’t have any applications configured to launch at startup, but if you do first disable those programs from your Accounts Preference panel: System Preferences/ Accounts/ Your Admin account). Next follow this path: Applications/ Utilities/ Disk Utilities and then repair disk permissions. After the repair process is complete, close the program and access the update by clicking on the Apple logo in your toolbar and selecting Software Update. After installing the update and restarting, again repair your disk permissions. You should now be updated safely; as usual, you might want to wait for 5-7 days before installing the update to insure that there aren’t any conflicts with this latest fix.

Camino Update for Apple
Mozilla has released an update for Mac-heads, Camino 0.8.2/. MacWorld reports that the update fixes some flaws that caused stability issues and allows for easier bookmark importing. Visit Mozilla.org to download the latest version of this free browser for Macs.

Survey Says: Apple Will Increase Market Share
Based on a survey published by Morgan Stanley, Apple could increase their market share of desktop computers to 5 percent due to the popularity of the iPod. According to the article in CNET, the iPod is seen as the impetus for the conversion of PC users to Mac-heads. The article does not state if these PC users are complete converts, or just joining the growing ranks of Multiple Platforms users. Apple is currently soliciting recent converts to share their stories and if that describes you, visit the Apple web site.

Thunderbird Users Should Update
If you are using Mozilla’s Thunderbird version 1.x or 0.x/, you should upgrade to the latest release Thunderbird 1.0.2 according to Secunia. The security company is suggesting this update based upon the discovery of a ‘drag and drop vulnerability’ graded ‘less critical’. To update to the latest version you can click here.

Novell Releases Small-Business Open Source Package
Novell has announced the release of a Linux package designed for small businesses according to a report from CNET. The package will retail for $475 for five computers and should be available after March 31. The package is a bargain at that price and comes complete with Novell Linux Desktop for PCs, server software for email management and more. I received a complimentary package of this software but I have had very little time to work with it. It certainly struck me as a complete package.

Open Source Updates
Secunia has released bulletins for the following open source systems: Debian, Gentoo, Mandrake, Trustix, and Red Hat (1, 2, 3).

The Source for Open Source
The question comes up on a regular basis when tech geeks gather: where can I get the latest release of an open source platform? I have found that one of the best sites for open source distributions is DistroWatch.com/. This site has links to the latest distro releases, packages, and reviews of the same. It is a virtual one-stop shop for open source users.

Multiple Platforms’ Tip of the Day: Use Skype and Talk Free
I tried out last weekend and the audio quality is amazing! It truly is a Multiple Platforms application and is available for PCs, Linux, and Apple. According to the Skype web site: “Skype is free Internet telephony that just works. Skype is for calling other people on their computers or phones.” To learn more about Skype visit their web site. ZDNet UK has a story regarding the free VoIP service provider and they give a positive review; you can also check out The Skype Journal, a web site dedicated to this topic.

What is the Back Side Bus?
According to Wikipedia, “The back side bus is a computer bus used to connect the CPU with the L2 cache. The back side bus is found within the processor and speed is determined by the processor.”

Tech News Blog
3.21.05
Number One Threat to the Internet: Phishing
Phishing attacks are the number one threat to Internet safety and they have increased by 64 percent this year according to Symantec. Software issues are another favorite target of crackers and have increased during the second half of this year according to a report from PC World. Meanwhile, the number of zombie computers has declined to less than 5000 a day after reaching a high of 30000 computers a day in July.

PlayStation Portable Popular Topic
The hot topic for the week is the release of Sony’s PlayStation Portable (PSP) but according to reports from CNET and elsewhere, you might have a tough time finding this new tech toy. The official release date is Thursday, but many of those being shipped have been pre-sold by retailers and if you order a PSP now you won’t see your player until next month. If you can’t wait, try eBay and if you opt for the Japanese version you can save some serious cash.

Google Library Project Online
Slashdot reports that the Google Print project has started to release their online library and you can access Oliver Twist (starting on page 11) and other stories. Before you sell all the books in your personal library though, you might want to read the following news item regarding the computer and learning.

Do Computers Help or Hinder Learning?
Contrary to popular opinion, using a computer may actually hinder students trying to master science, math, and English according to a study cited by The Register. The research also found that if a household contained 500 books or more, the student typically performed at a higher level than those homes with fewer than 500 books. Sorry, technical manuals for your electronic toys and comic books do not count toward the 500 books total. There is speculation amongst the researchers that part of the problem with computers use associated with learning is the distractions provided by today’s computers; you could test this theory by following the lead of others and block IM ports and apply parental filters.

Mac Safer for Now
We all know of the security woes that have been plaguing the Microsoft users of the world and Mac-heads have become accustomed to not worrying about worms and viruses. However, the tech headlines today warn of a possible change to come. A report from Zdnet Australia (via Yahoo News) and featured by MacNN states that security giant Symantec has identified a trend of Macs becoming a target of crackers and malware; and the company claims there are 37 critical issues in Apple’s OS X system. The Zdnet article has a link to one of the vulnerabilities Symantec is referring to and it is the same flaw reported on in February by eWeek and in this column.

Open Source Update
Secunia released updates or security bulletins for the following open source systems: Conectiva, Gentoo (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), Red Hat (1, 2), Linux Kernel 2.6, Fedora, and Ubuntu.

For the Tip of the Day, Please Visit -- http://www.multipleplatforms.com

What is the Computer Bus?
This week the Multiple Platforms ‘what is’ section will focus on the bus and Wikipedia has this definition for computer bus, “In computer architecture, a bus is a subsystem that transfers data or power between computer components inside a computer or between computers. Unlike a point-to-point connection, a bus can logically connect several peripherals over the same set of wires.

Early computer buses were literally parallel electrical buses with multiple connections, but the term is now used for any physical arrangement that provides the same logical functionality as a parallel electrical bus. Modern computer buses can use both parallel and bit-serial connections, and can be wired in either a multidrop (electrical parallel) or daisy chain topology, or connected by switched hubs, as in the case of USB.”