Security Researchers Look Beyond Vista (PC World)

Published in October 2nd, 2007

The improved security in Microsoft Corp.'s newest software products may leave some security researchers looking elsewhere for work. ADVERTISEMENT

That was the message that some security professionals took away from BlueHat, an event last week on Microsoft's campus that allows security researchers to mingle with Microsoft developers. "One of the messages we got was to look in the future for [our products] to not be so successful," said Pedram Amini, manager of security research at 3Com Corp.'s Tipping Point division. That's because Microsoft is applying a lot of the technologies used by security researchers in house, making the third-party techniques not as effective, he said. For example, he said that Microsoft Office has been susceptible to fault by fuzzing, an automated technique for finding software faults when access to the code isn't available. But Microsoft has recently put more effort into using fuzzing itself, so now third-party fuzzing technologies are unlikely to be as necessary for Office 2007. One well-known researcher who goes by the name Halvar Flake called Vista "arguably the most secure closed-source OS available on the market," in a blog post about BlueHat. "As a result I think that most of the security researchers will move on to greener pastures for a while. Why try to chase a difficult overflow out of Vista when you have Acrobat Reader installed, some antivirus software with shoddy file parsing, and the latest iTunes?" But the security researchers don't expect to have time on their hands just because Vista and Office 2007 are more secure than their predecessors. "It's not like our industry is done now," said Dan Kaminksy, director of penetration testing services for IOActive Inc. He pointed to weaknesses in Web-based services and technologies like virtualization. Others agreed. "There's always something that can be improved on," Amini said. Some researcher will come up with a new approach to bug hunting or they'll focus on different technologies, he said. While the advent of the first BlueHat event in 2005 marked a shift at Microsoft to become more open to the security research community, this BlueHat, only the second since the release of Vista, reflected another shift, Kaminsky said. He has seen a change in Microsoft toward considering security as an engineering problem. "If you look at security as an engineering problem, then the message from the security researchers stops being 'you bad horrible people, you write bad code,' and starts becoming 'here are changes in the engineering landscape that you need to be aware of,'" he said. That attitude change was apparent at the conference last week, he said. At some earlier BlueHat's, there was some antagonism among the researchers and Microsoft employees. Kaminsky remembers a presentation at the first event that took Microsoft to task for learning about certain bugs in one piece of software and then failing to prevent the same bugs in different applications. He didn't see those types of presentations this time. Neither did Amini. "Everyone appreciated what everyone else is doing," he said. BlueHat typically happens twice a year and Microsoft does not allow members of the press to attend.

Toshiba demonstrates hand motion controls at CEATEC

Published in October 2nd, 2007

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Just as expected, Toshiba is busy wowing onlookers at CEATEC with new applications that run on the firm’s , including one that enables couch potatoes to “control a DVD player with hand motions.” The chip is reportedly able to “process motion detected by a camera and turn it into commands,” and the camera can “recognize hand motions from 10 feet away.” Tosh’s Qosmio laptops are being used to demonstrate the new goods, and it was even said that the lappie’s camera could produce a 3D rendering of your head in order to help you choose hairstyles / makeup before heading out on the town. Regrettably, there’s still no official word as to when this newfangled technology will go mainstream.

Acousticlobe’s Lobie earbud accessory relieves ear pain

Published in October 2nd, 2007

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We’ve no idea exactly how well Acousticlobe’s Lobie will actually affect the sound quality of your earbuds, but it ought to provide a more comfortable listening experience nonetheless. This interesting canalphone accessory “places the just alongside the wearer’s ear without the need to insert the earbud into his / her ear canal,” supposedly providing a less invasive way to enjoy your tunes. Additionally, the firm claims that Lobie will provide a “passive secure fit during casual and active uses,” so runners should be a-okay, too. The Lobie is available for pre-ordering now in a variety of colors, and should ship in early November for $12 per pair.

British regulator attacks BSkyB’s stake in ITV

Published in October 2nd, 2007

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Michael Crabtree/Bloomberg News Michael Grade, the chairman of ITV, has been working on a turnaround strategy.

LONDON: British Sky Broadcasting, the satellite television company controlled by News Corp., suffered a rare setback Tuesday when British regulators said its investment in the broadcaster ITV “restricts competition and therefore operates against the public interest.”

BSkyB, whose chief executive is James Murdoch, a son of the News Corp. chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, acquired a 17.9 percent stake last year in ITV, the largest owner of advertiser-financed TV channels in Britain. The investment came as NTL, the cable company that has struggled to compete with BSkyB in the pay-television market, was considering a bid for ITV.

The Competition Commission said BSkyB, better known as Sky, might be required to sell some or all of its stake in ITV, which was acquired for £940 million, or nearly $2 billion. The decision remains subject to review before a final recommendation is sent to the government.

The commission said that it had “concluded that BSkyB's shareholding in ITV would be likely to lead to a substantial lessening of competition by giving it the ability to influence ITV's strategy.”

The investigation has been politically charged because of the Murdochs' prominence in the British media landscape. In addition to controlling Sky, News Corp. owns newspapers like The Sun and The Times. Richard Branson, the entrepreneur who is the largest shareholder in NTL, which has been renamed Virgin Media, called the move by Sky an attempt to “secure creeping control of the British media.”

“The Competition Commission's provisional findings are a major step towards addressing the problems caused by Sky's stake in ITV,” Virgin Media said Tuesday.

Sky said last November, when it bought the stake in ITV, that it was acting as a long-term investor, and maintained that under British media ownership rules it was permitted to hold up to 20 percent of the company.

Sky said it would “continue to engage with the commission during the remainder of this process.”

If Sky is eventually required to sell its stake, ITV may again become a takeover target, analysts said. But they added that Virgin Media, which has also attracted takeover interest, was no longer a likely buyer, as the fierce rivalry with Sky has taken its toll.

Virgin Media has sued Sky after several Sky channels were dropped from the Virgin cable system in a dispute over carrying costs. Separately, British regulators are carrying out a broader investigation of the pay-television market in Britain. Sky dominates the market with more than eight million customers, more than double the clients of Virgin TV.

Meanwhile, ITV, which has suffered from a loss of advertising revenue at its flagship channel, has been working on a turnaround strategy under a new chairman, Michael Grade, a former chairman of the BBC.

“Accordingly, we believe ITV is better placed to argue for its independence,” analysts at Numis Securities wrote in a note to investors.

Tight conditions in credit markets, which have delayed possible bids for Virgin Media, could hamper any offer for ITV, analysts said. They added nonetheless that a sale of Sky's stake could revive interest in ITV from potential suitors like RTL, the pan-European broadcaster controlled by Bertelsmann.

A spokesman for RTL declined to comment.

ITV said it “welcomes” the commission's findings, adding: “We will be reviewing the commission's notice of possible remedies in detail and look forward to working with the commission so that the issues arising from BSkyB's stake can be addressed.”

If Sky is required to sell the stake, it could mark one of the few instances when the Murdochs have lost money on an investment. Sky bought the stock at 135 pence each; ITV shares closed Tuesday at 105.50 pence.

FlipStart sees $500 price reduction, now sits at $1,500

Published in October 2nd, 2007

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FlipStart sees $500 price reduction, now sits at $1,500

Posted Oct 2nd 2007 4:28PM by
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Demanding a cool two grand for the was probably asking a bit much, but whacking 25-percent off the purchase price is probably a good way to get folks looking in that direction once again. Effectively immediately, the “FlipStart super compact PC will be available for $1,499,” and while none of the specs have changed, it’s definitely (well, somewhat) easier to stomach the pricetag. Of course, it remains to be seen if $1.5k is still a bit overpriced, but hey, it’s a start, right?

[Via ]

Vodafone joins race for control of Tele2’s Italian assets

Published in October 2nd, 2007

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MILAN: Vodafone has bid to buy the Italian and Spanish businesses of the Swedish telecommunications operator Tele2, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

Wind, Tiscali and Fastweb, three Italian telecommunications companies, also expressed an interest in buying Tele2's Italian assets before a Sept. 10 deadline, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the negotiations had not been concluded.

Fastweb and Tiscali have withdrawn, they added, leaving Wind as the most likely buyer besides Vodafone.

Buying Tele2's businesses in Italy and Spain, where Tele2 sells Internet access as well as traditional phone services, would position Vodafone, already one of the largest cellphone companies in the world, to take advantage of a move in the industry to bundle mobile and fixed-line services.

Vodafone Italy needs to add broadband service to better compete with Telecom Italia, the largest fixed-line and cellphone company in the country.

The trend toward the bundled offers, sometimes called fixed-mobile convergence, has intensified in the past few years as the technology has improved to allow one phone to make calls on a cheaper fixed-line network when somebody is at home and then transfer to a mobile network outside of the house.

Tiscali offered more than Vodafone for the Italian assets, but Tele2 preferred the Vodafone offer because the British company has also offered to acquire its Spanish business, according to one person familiar with the negotiations.

News reports have valued Tele2's assets in Italy at €400 million to €560 million, or $570 million to $790 million.

30-year battery may be too good to be true

Published in October 2nd, 2007

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According to reports, a team of scientists have developed a battery which uses “betavoltaic” cells to keep chugging along for up to 30 years without the need for a recharge. If you believe what they say (and that’s a big “if”), the battery uses a non-nuclear form of radioactive material as the basis for power, and that material gives off energy as it decays. Apparently, the batteries are small and thin, and when they’ve cashed in their energy-producing chips, they’re totally non-toxic and inert. Sound too good to be true? Well you’re not alone. Rupert Goodwins, of ZDNet, cleanly separates the wheat from the chaff by pointing out a number of problems with claims being made over the batteries, pretty much dashing any real hopes that these things will end up in your next laptop. Raining on the parade, Mr. Goodwins says that the atomic structure of the cells tends to fall apart when hit with high energy electrons, the “inert” battery would still be toxic should its housing ever crack, conversion efficiency would be 25-percent (an abysmal number, which also means 75-percent is heat), and finally, the cells would weigh something like 72-times more than conventional batteries. Guess we’ll get back to watching the progress.

— Scientists Invent 30 Year Continuous Power Laptop Battery
— Radioactive laptops? Perhaps not…

EU remains split on Galileo funding (AP)

Published in October 2nd, 2007

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LUXEMBOURG - The EU nations vowed to push ahead Tuesday with the development of the Galileo satellite navigation project — a rival to the U.S.-run Global Positioning System — but were split on whether to spend any money on it. ADVERTISEMENT

The European Commission calls Galileo “a strategic project” that will end Europe’s reliance on the GPS signal which the United States can disconnect at any moment. At a meeting of telecommunications and transport ministers from European Community countries, Britain, the Netherlands and Germany led opposition to using $3.3 billion in EU funds to rescue Galileo after private money dried up when eight companies disagreed on how to share the work. The money would come from unspent EU agricultural and administrative funds. Portugal’s transport minister and the meeting’s chairman, Mario Lino, acknowledged disagreements over funding but was confident Galileo — whose 30 satellites are to be launched by 2013 — will get the final go-ahead from EU leaders at a mid-December Brussels summit. “We are on the right track,” Lino told reporters. The EU ministers issued a statement reaffirming “the value of an effective Galileo as a key project for the European Union.” Germany was initially opposed to using money from the 27-nation EU’s budget and suggested the 17-nation European Space Agency should fund the project. That plan also would secure more business for German firms. Matthias von Randow, a senior German official dealing with Galileo issues, urged the European Commission Tuesday to “analyze financial alternatives” but said EU financing was acceptable. Officials from the Netherlands and Britain said funding should come from the EU’s long-term research and development program. Galileo’s total cost is estimated at $4.7 billion to $5 billion. Of the 30 Galileo satellites to be operating by 2013, only one is in orbit, launched in December 2005. A second missed its autumn 2006 launch date after it short-circuited in final testing. The national officials also left unresolved whether the EU would pay for a proposed European technology institute, whose development is seen as crucial to Europe’s effort to close the high-tech gap between it and the United States and Japan. The institute, preliminarily approved by the European Parliament last week, is designed to rival the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is expected to cost some $3 billion to establish. It would consist of research and education centers around the EU coordinated by a small, governing body in charge of finances and research strategy.

Best Buy customer sues after being clobbered by falling TV

Published in October 2nd, 2007

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Best Buy customer sues after being clobbered by falling TV

Posted Oct 2nd 2007 3:33PM by
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It looks like Texas Best Buy customer Sam Fisher recently found himself at the center of a slightly more perilous problem than a , when an employee at the store accidentally dropped a 27-inch from the top shelf straight onto his head. Unsurprisingly, the man (no doubt already under distress from a barrage of “Where’s your goggles?” jokes) is now suing Best Buy for gross negligence, although not the individual employee, who he says was simply following the store’s policies. According to TG Daily, Fisher is alleging that Best Buy did not provide the proper training or necessary safety warnings, and that it has no official procedure for getting items down off a high shelf. As a result, he’s seeking “exemplary damages” for Best Buy’s “willful, wanton, and reckless disregard for the safety and welfare of its customers,” although it’s not been revealed exactly how exemplary those damages might be.

Driverless truck lurches out of lab (AP)

Published in October 2nd, 2007

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OSHKOSH, Wis. - Sitting high in the cab of the hulking lime-green TerraMax truck, a driver can be excused for instinctively grabbing the steering wheel. ADVERTISEMENT

There’s no need. TerraMax is a self-driving vehicle, a prototype designed to navigate and obey traffic rules — all while the people inside, if there are any, do anything but drive. During a recent test on property owned by manufacturer Oshkosh Truck Co., TerraMax barreled down a dusty road with its driver seat empty. It stopped at a four-way intersection and waited as staged traffic resolved before obediently lurching on its way. If the Defense Department gets its way, vehicles like TerraMax — about as long as a typical sport utility vehicle and almost twice as high — could represent the future of transportation for the military’s ground forces. Consider 80 soldiers driving a convoy of 40 trucks across the Iraqi desert, said Joaquin Salas, spokesman for the Oshkosh, Wis.-based company. If most of those vehicles could drive themselves, the same convoy might manage with just 10 soldiers. “You’re reducing the number of people susceptible to enemy fire,” said Salas, who served eight years in the U.S. Marine Corps. “It’s simply amazing technology.” In 2001 Congress mandated that one in three ground combat vehicles be self-driving by 2015. The idea is to free personnel for nondriving tasks such as reading maps, scanning for roadside bombs or scouting for the enemy — and to be able to deploy vehicles altogether unoccupied. The military’s research arm turned to industry and academia to help meet that goal. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, has sponsored a series of contests since 2003 in which prototype vehicles must navigate rough terrain and avoid obstacles. Oshkosh Truck, a public company that in August projected its 2008 sales would be about $7 billion, is fielding one of 35 teams whose vehicles passed qualifying tests this year. Some teams see the competition as a way to improve automotive technology. “It’s my view that we’re not just trying to win but we’re also trying to advance the topic of safer cars,” said Sebastian Thrun, a computer-science professor who leads Stanford University’s team. “There are so many other great uses of this technology.” Thrun called TerraMax “an amazing vehicle, very sturdy” but noted that the DARPA competition is more about software than hardware. The software that controls TerraMax is Oshkosh’s own. Teledyne Technologies Inc. company Teledyne Scientific Co. in Thousand Oaks, Calif., provided the path-planning technology, and VisLab at Parma University in Italy developed the vision systems. On a recent afternoon, Oshkosh chief engineer John Beck programmed a course into TerraMax’s onboard computer. The monitor displayed the truck’s proposed path and a 360-degree view of its surroundings. External objects showed up as ambiguous red squiggles. Humans can drive TerraMax, in which Salas said the company has invested “tens of millions of dollars.” But once Beck pressed a button marked “Auto Drive,” the steering wheel snapped into automated mode and the vehicle moved on its own. After traveling at the programmed speed of 10 mph, TerraMax jerked to a halt at a preprogrammed stop. “That’s one of the things we’re working on,” Beck said of the rough ride. The 12-ton truck paused to allow its onboard sensors — lasers, sophisticated cameras and global positioning systems — to determine the roadway was clear. Then it dutifully signaled, executed a tight left turn and continued. TerraMax safely avoided trucks driven by humans that passed through the same parking lot, and it obeyed traffic laws with such precision that a roadside observer might have believed a person was driving. It takes only minutes for a passenger to trust the vehicle, just as one doesn’t worry what the chauffeur is doing in a limousine. Beck said it’s amazing how quickly people become comfortable in a self-driving truck. “What’s weird, though — it’s not that comfortable when you step out of it and tell it to go by itself,” he said. “For some reason it’s a lot more scary watching it drive when there’s no one in the cab. I don’t know why.” It could be years before driverless vehicles are used regularly in combat. Some prototypes, such as the 6.5-ton “Crusher,” a six-wheeled military vehicle that uses robotic technology developed at Carnegie Mellon University, are in testing. But while Crusher can maneuver rough terrain, it wasn’t designed to navigate an occupied intersection. Early on, DARPA competition results were disappointing. In 2005, only five of 23 vehicles completed the 132-mile course, led by the Stanford team that won the $2 million top prize with its modified Volkswagen Passat station wagon. This year’s competition is expected to be stiff. Squads from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cornell University are among those invited to participate in an Oct. 26-31 qualifying event in Victorville, Calif., along with industry teams that include employees of Delphi Corp. and Ford Motor Co. The entrants include modified cars, pickups and SUVs. Salas said he’s tempering his optimism about how TerraMax will do. “Everybody’s extremely competitive,” he said. “We’re so much further, the entire industry, than it was just two or three years ago. It’s absolutely incredible how advanced the technology has become.” ___ On the Net: Oshkosh Truck: DARPA Urban Challenge: