Russian gymnasts going nuts

These kids are insane. A great look at some "off the wall" antics of these Russian gymnasts. One of the best google videos I've come across this year.

Bugmenot.com

Don't you just hate it when someone sends you a link to an article, but the link directs you to a site that requires a username and password? Ugh, the bane of the internet. But fear not, my thinly veiled friends. Simply copy the URL for the website in question, then go to BugMeNot.com, paste the URL into the box and BAM - it'll dish you a username and password. I've not run across a website yet that this hasn't come through for me. Don't ask me if it works on porn sites because I HAVE NO IDEA.

Firefox 1.5

Word on the "street" is that the latest version of Firefox will be released some time today. If you don't know what Firefox is, then I'll tell you. As I've mentioned in a previous post, Firefox is a faster and, most importantly, a more secure browser. If you're NOT using Firefox, then I am going to assume you are using Internet Explorer or Opera. If you use Opera, you're ok in my book. If you're an IE user, kick yourself in the face, recover, and go download the greatest browser to hit the internet. (Those that are on Macs are ok with Safari, and those that are Linux nerds haven't bothered reading this article)

*UPDATE* It's out today folks. Click on the links above.

Mac OSX Tiger free tutorials

Some really nice tutorials for the noob and also for people that are interested in getting a Mac. Covers the Dashboard and Widgets, using Spotlight, and some other goodies.

Why $5 Gas Is Good For America

"At the climax of his book Twilight in the Desert, Houston investment banker and energy guru Matthew Simmons describes a visit to the world's most powerful oil company, Saudi Aramco, in Dhahran. Simmons listens in horror as a senior manager reveals the kingdom's darkest secret. The old ways no longer suffice. To keep their aging wells productive, the Saudis now rely upon one information age prop after another: advanced analysis of rock cores, 3-D seismic imagery, software for diagnosing underground oil flows - all integrated using something called fuzzy logic. Fuzzy logic? The Aramco man tries to explain the science of complex systems and partial information, but Simmons hears only tidings of a bleak future. Obviously, the end of energy as we know it is nigh."

A great read and could possibly be an eye-opener for some of you behemoth SUV drivers.

20 years of Microsoft Windows

Ah, 20 years of the operating system we love to hate. Love - because it does alot of things well (and it plays a big part in how I make my living), and Hate - because of the proprietary nature of the software and the security issues that crop up now and again.

I'll leave you with your balloons and party hats with these photos of the one, the only, Bill Gates (he's so dreamy!!!11)

CD's containing Sony's rootkit - Complete List

Please check this list against your CD collection.

2005's "10 Worst Toys" List

"W.A.T.C.H.'s annual "10 Worst Toys" list nominates representative toys with the potential to cause childhood injuries, or even death. W.A.T.C.H.'s annual "Toy Conference" has generated extensive national press and media coverage. Because of these efforts, and the positive response from both the media and the public, there have been many toy and product design changes. Founder Edward M. Swartz and W.A.T.C.H. have fearlessly exposed potentially dangerous toys to the general public. As a result, children’s lives have been saved."

First of all, if you bought something like this for your kid, you shouldn't have kids to begin with. Secondly, The manufacturer recommends knee pads, elbow pads, gloves, and a helmet. Just look at that kid in the picture. Safety first, kids!

Yes folks, it's true. There's nothing wrong with buying your 5 year old a crossbow that shoots "soft tip arrows" up to thirty feet. "Hey mom, it even has 3 power settings!!"

*recommended for families that still hunt for their food*

Ok, let me stop laughing first. This manufacturer even encourages children to engage in "clobberin' time!" They look like the ass ends of a Tiki god if you ask me.

$100 Laptop!? (continued)

Last month I covered MIT's brave endeavour. Now, it seems like the ball is really rolling.

"Although no contracts with governments have been signed, Mr. Negroponte (founder of MIT's Media Labs) says current plans call for producing five to ten million units beginning in late 2006 or early 2007, with tens of millions more a year later. Five companies -- Google Inc., Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Red Hat Inc., News Corp. and Brightstar Corp. -- have each provided $2 million to fund a nonprofit organization called One Laptop Per Child that was set up to oversee the project. Mr. Negroponte says five companies are bidding to make the laptop, although he declined to name them."

MIT even turned down Steve Job's offer of giving each laptop OSX, saying "We declined because it's not Open Source". Well done.

Consumer : 1, Sony BMG : 0

"Sony is to suspend production of CDs using its controversial content protection technology, currently being exploited by a Trojan virus.

The technology employed by Sony to protect its music from illegitimate use was picked up by security software as a rootkit which hid files from Windows and made them impossible to detect. But simply using letters '$sys$' in a filename means that any such file will be hidden, even malicious files. And this is exactly what has happened with the latest virus."

Well, this is a nice change of events. Hopefully Sony BMG will let go of First4Internet and try a different approach.

Sony BMG Summary

Here is what has transpired so far in this debacle:

The DRM software Sony has been shipping on many CDs since April is cloaked with rootkit technology:

* Sony denies that the rootkit poses a security or reliability threat despite the obvious risks of both
* Sony claims that users don’t care about rootkits because they don’t know what a rootkit is
* The installation provides no way to safely uninstall the software
* Without obtaining consent from the user Sony’s player informs Sony every time it plays a “protected” CD

Sony has told the press that they’ve made a decloaking patch and uninstaller available to customers, however this still leaves the following problems:

* There is no way for customers to find the patch from Sony BMG’s main web page
* The patch decloaks in an unsafe manner that can crash Windows, despite my warning to the First 4 Internet developers
* Access to the uninstaller is gated by two forms and an ActiveX control
* The uninstaller is locked to a single computer, preventing deployment in a corporation

Consumers and antivirus companies are responding:

* F-Secure independently identified the rootkit and provides information on its site
* Computer Associates has labeled the Sony software “spyware”
* A lawfirm has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of California consumers against Sony
* ALCEI-EFI, an Italian digital-rights advocacy group, has formally asked the Italian government to investigate Sony for possible Italian law violations.


I'm going to step away from this story (via the blog anyway) for now. I will post anything that's big when it breaks. Please visit Mark's Sysinternal's Blog for more up to date information.

First trojan found that piggybacks Sony's rootkit

"Virus writers have begun taking advantage of Sony-BMG's use of rootkit technology in DRM software bundled with its music CDs.

Sony-BMG's rootkit DRM technology masks files whose filenames start with "$sys$". A newly-discovered variant of of the Breplibot Trojan takes advantage of this to drop the file "$sys$drv.exe" in the Windows system directory.

"This means, that for systems infected by the Sony DRM rootkit technology, the dropped file is entirely invisible to the user. It will not be found in any process and file listing. Only rootkit scanners, such as the free utility RootkitRevealer, can unmask the culprit," warns Ivan Macalintal, a senior threat analyst at security firm Trend Micro"

Thanks again, Sony.

UPDATE: Sony BMG - list of CD's with rootkit

"As we've mentioned before, Sony-BMG has been using copy-protection technology called XCP in its recent CDs. You insert your CD into your Windows PC, click "agree" in the pop up window, and the CD automatically installs software that uses rootkit techniques to cloak itself from you. Sony-BMG has released a "patch" that supposedly "uncloaks" the XCP software, but it creates new problems."

But how do you know whether you've been infected? It turns out Sony-BMG has deployed XCP on a number of titles, in variety of musical genres, on several of its wholly-owned labels.

EFF has confirmed the presence of XCP on the following titles (each has a data session, easily read on a Macintosh, that includes a file called "VERSION.DAT" that announces what version of XCP it is using). If you have one of these CDs, and you have a Windows PC (Macs are totally immune, as usual), you may have caught the XCP bug.

Click here for the list and more information.

UPDATE: Sony BMG

Stemming from yesterday's Da Kine! article, today on NPR, Sony BMG's Thomas Hesse says:

"Most users I think don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care?"

Oh brother. In other words folks, when it comes to Sony BMG installing hidden apps on your pc; what you don't know won't hurt you. Listen to the short NPR broadcast here.

Shame On You, Sony BMG

"Sony's music arm has been accused of using the tactics of virus writers to stop its CDs being illegally copied.

One copy protection system analysed by coder Mark Russinovich uses cloaked files to hide deep inside Windows.

The difficult uninstallation process left Mr Russinovich saying that Sony's anti-piracy efforts had gone "too far".

In response to criticism, Sony BMG said it would provide tools to users and security firms that would reveal the hidden files."

This is unbelievable. Riding on the anti-piracy wave of idiocy, Sony BMG has gone off the deep end on this one. Sony's always been the pusher of their sometimes ridiculous proprietary software/hardware (beta, memory stick, etc) and this cloaked software is no exception to their terrible track record in this regard.

Here is an update on Mr. Russinovich's findings after going to Sony BMG's website for the "patch" to uninstall the rootkit:

"My posting Monday on Sony’s use of a rootkit as part of their Digital Rights Management (DRM) generated an outcry that’s reached the mainstream media. As of this morning the story is being covered in newspapers and media sites around the world including USA Today and the BBC. This is the case of the blogosphere having an impact, at least for the moment. But, there’s more to the story, like how Sony’s patch can lead to a crashed system and data loss and how Sony is still making users jump through hoops to get an uninstaller. At the core of this story, however, is the issue of what disclosure should be required of software End User License Agreements (EULAs) and how the requirements can be made Federal law."

This is a disturbing and eye-opening read on an extremely poorly implemented anti-piracy scheme. Please read the rest of Mr. Russinovich's article here.

I seriously discourage anyone buying any Sony BMG cd's until Sony straightens up.

Why do you have so much junk?

"You have way too much crap.

I'm just guessing. Guessing that right now, in your life, in your closets and in your garage and in your car trunk and in your brain and even in your desk drawer you have way, way too much stuff, far more than any one person or single family needs and, oh my God, have you even seen your closet lately?"

Almost all of us are like this. I try and toss most stuff out if I don't use it in about a year or clothes if I don't wear them within the past 6 months (I live in Arizona, so we HAVE no change of season here ;P). Anyway, it's a good article and it just might give you that motivation to finally get rid of that Levi's jacket from high school or the used 8 track player that your dad gave you for your 16th birthday.

Buh-bye Adam Corolla

Tonight was the last night of Adam Corolla (the guy on the right) guest hosting the famous Loveline radio show which answers questions in regards to love, life and relationships. The perfect marriage of two radio personalities. For some archived shows, visit The Loveline Archive; guaranteed to learn something and at the same time, laugh your ass off.

Desktop and Laptop in 1, by Samsung

"The M70 is a hybrid PC by Samsung. It's a laptop with a detachable 19" screen, so you can use your laptop as a desktop too. What's the use you might think... well, in case you need a bigger screen than a 19", you can connect it to a bigger one or a plasma TV, and your laptop screen can be connected to another PC. And if you're on the go, you just use this PC as any other regular laptop.

When it comes to specs, we get the following:

19" WSXGA+ (1680x1050) HDTV compatible screen, Pentium M770 (2.13GHz) CPU, 1Gb of DDR 533MHz RAM, 100Gb HDD, Wireless LAN, ..."

Nerdy cool, but who in the hell is going to put one of those behemoths on their lap? I don't know about you, but having a laptop means being light and using it like a laptop should be used - mobile. Give me a 15" WSXGA and Wireless G and I'm good.

Windows Live

Windows Live are several applications in beta form that are strictly online and basically just a portal to the internet. Taken directly from Start.com it seems, which isn't surprising. There are already other sites using this sort of technology, one of them I am using right now called Netvibes. Normally I don't use a homepage or any kind of start page, but this one is really nice. It supports RSS/Atom feeds and is VERY simple to setup just the way you want it.

But I regress - Windows Live is a step in the right direction for Microsoft since alot of applications will be going live and online like I've previously blogged about. Of course they didn't come up with the idea, but they have the money to really do something with it. Between them and Google/Sun Microsystems, this is going to be fun to see how this develops, which will bring good and healthy competition. The race is on.