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Security

Submission + - Windows has fewer flaws than Linux according to MS

Submitted by Stony Stevenson
Stony Stevenson writes: Surprise, surprise — data collected by a Microsoft security researcher suggests that the company had to patch far fewer software vulnerabilities than competing vendors in 2007. A vulnerability report maintained by Jeff Jones, strategy director at Microsoft's Security Technology Unit, claimed that the firm's Windows XP, Vista and Server operating systems required patches for some 20-45 vulnerabilities each.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Workstation and Ubuntu Linux topped the list with roughly 170 and 150 vulnerabilities patched respectively. Red Hat's Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 received around 130 vulnerability fixes, according to Jon

It would be interesting to see an independant review of the method and results. Can anyone confirm similar experiences such as our good friend Jeff Jones found?
Media

Submission + - Was Reuters submarine photo lifted from movie?

Submitted by onnellinen
onnellinen writes: Finnish paper Iltasanomat reports that Reuters photograph of Russian submarine expedition was actually lifted from the movie Titanic. The story is only in finnish, but you can compare the images there. The Russian expedition used two Mir submersibles on the expedition. The same submersibles appear at the beginning of the movie. Reuters obtainet the photo from russian RTR television channel. Both submarines of the expedition are visible in the photograph. I wonder how no-one thought to ask: Who took the picture?
Privacy

Submission + - Dell catching on to the "No Trial ware" sc (dell.com)

Submitted by
certain death
certain death writes: "It looks like Dell is finally catching on to the fact that people do NOT want a bunch of "Trial Ware" on new PCs. They are now offering a PC named "Vostro" that comes stripped of the crapware and with either Windows XP or Vista installed. The initial config is a bit short on memory, coming with only 512 megs, but it seems they are listening to people now. This may be in response to the fact that Wal-Mart has started providing low cost computers with only OpenOffice installed, and no Trial software. The base model starts at $399.00 and comes with a 19" LCD. This is still a bit more than the Wal-Mart model, but perhaps better quality hardware. That remains to be seen.

From the Dell advertisement:

You spoke. We listened. Introducing Dell Vostro — not just a new line of small business PCs, but a commitment to do more for your small business. They're powerful, completely customizable and backed by dedicated small business-trained technicians. Right now, get a Vostro 200 Mini Tower powered by an Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processor and complete with a 19-inch monitor for just $399. But hurry — this offer ends today!"
The Internet

Submission + - BBC Claims Open Source = unlicensed and unprotecte

Submitted by Buirseach
Buirseach writes: The BBC's The Today Programme ran an interview with the lawyer for Facebook, broadcasting his assertons that Open Source projects have no protection and no license, and so the creator of Facebook is perfectly entitled to halp himself to whatever code of theirs he wants. The news story is in relation to 3 university buddies of the founder of facebook sueing him.
Internet Explorer

Submission + - Open Addict blocks Internet Explorer users (openaddict.com) 2

Submitted by
derrida
derrida writes: "The popular website Open Addict, is now blocking Internet Explorer users from viewing the newly designed front page due to IE rendering bugs: "I'm tired of hacking workarounds for IE's bad implementations of standard technologies; Try to validate Internet Explorer's home page and see if you think Microsoft cares about standards". And the site admin goes one step further: "I'm going to take this a step further. Since IE sucks so much and actually hurts the adoption and use of web standards, I'm asking each of you that run a website to block IE.". Here is how you can do it."
Windows

Submission + - QuickTime plays havoc with RAID in Vista!

Submitted by Z00L00K
Z00L00K writes: This may be old news to some, but anyway...

According to an article there is a serious problem with Vista when Quicktime is used.

I thought I was just unlucky the first time but when something happens two times in the exact same fashion, you just got to check into it a little more.

System is Vista Ultimate 32-bit with RAID 10 on Intel ICH8R chipset. A couple of weeks ago I tried running a .mov file using Apple QuickTime software (latest version) and that is when things started to go downhill. The file seemed very slow to load and eventually QuickTime crashed after a lot of persuasion. Once QuickTime was closed, I was notified of a RAID error through the Intel Matrix Storage Console but the same thing will happen if you reboot during the lockup as well.
The problem here is that a rather normal application is able to cause data corruption on this level. This means that there is an obvious problem with Vista that can be exploited by malware.

Maybe it's the cause of "Beauty is only skin deep but ugly is down to the bone." from where I refer to that Vista has got a new skin of security but under the skin it's still the same ugly security handling.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Dodging H-1B Limits Via Canada

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Upset with not being able to import enough foreign IT workers into the US under the H-1B visa program, Microsoft is going to Canada to dodge the Visa limits. Microsoft will open a software development center in Canada this fall and stock it with "highly skilled people affected by immigration issues in the U.S." Microsoft said it plans to open the center near Vancouver, B.C., a two-hour drive from its Redmond, Wash., headquarters. A company spokesman said the facility will initially house 200 workers, "with room to grow." Is this another death knell for the American IT worker and his or her ability to make a decent living?
Microsoft

Submission + - Red Hat wants interoperability without patent pled

Submitted by AxminsterLeuven
AxminsterLeuven writes: Ars Technica reports on Microsoft's refusal to work with Red Hat on Windows/Linux interoperability, without Red Hat signing a patent deal first: "Linux distributor Red Hat wants to work with Microsoft to improve interoperability without signing a patent pledge, but Microsoft says that a mutual patent indemnification pact — like the controversial covenant not to sue that Microsoft established with Novell — is a prerequisite for collaboration."
Windows

Dell Warns of Vista Upgrade Challenges 287

Posted by kdawson from the if-not-putting-on-the-brakes-at-least-getting-off-the-accelerator dept.
Mattaburn writes with a story up on ZDNet UK reporting that Dell is warning businesses of the migration challenges that lie ahead as they move to Vista. The article notes what an unusual step it is for a company of Dell's size to be "toning down its sales pitch for Microsoft's Vista operating system" — particularly because "one of the issues the hardware vendor is warning business about is the extra hardware they will need to buy." Quoting: "'They need to be looking at the number of images they will be installing and the size of these images,' said Dell's European client services business manager, Niall Fitzgerald. 'A 2GB image for each user will have a big impact.'"
Movies

Submission + - Dying US vet attacks Google's Sicko criticism (p2pnet.net)

Submitted by
newtley
newtley writes: "A dying American veteran slams Google's claim that Michael Moore's Sicko, "attacks health insurers, health providers, and pharmaceutical companies by connecting them to isolated and emotional stories of the system at its worst". "I am one of those 'solated' stories," he says, and, "I know dozens more personally (many of whom I am related to), and HUNDREDS more ...""
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Revealing the Million-Dollar CIOs (cio.com)

Submitted by
Chris Lindquist
Chris Lindquist writes: "Consulting firm Janco Associates has released its mid-year IT salary survey. The overall numbers show that most IT salaries are increasing — if barely. But the real fun comes in the form of a list of the most highly compensated IT chiefs. Timothy Shack, CIO of PNC Financial Services, tops the stack with a total package of nearly $6 million. I've posted a short chart that lists the next dozen millionaires from the survey."
IBM

Submission + - The Mainframe Lives! (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "If you believe the stories, IBM's mainframe has in the last 10 years been knocked down and gotten back up more times than most of the characters in all the Terminator, Die Hard and Rocky movies combined. And while there are some out there who'd like to see its demise, a true threat to the Big Iron has never really amounted to much. Even today, the proponents of commodity boxes offering less expensive x86/x64 or RISC technologies say the mainframe is doomed. But the facts say otherwise. For example, IBM recently said the mainframe has achieved three consecutive quarters of growth, marked by new customers choosing the platform for the first time and existing customers adding new workloads, such as Linux and Java applications. http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1713 3"
Technology (Apple)

Submission + - iPhone Activation Problems, Errors, Hacks... (muratdikici.com)

Submitted by
subet
subet writes: "According to an informal engadet poll, 40% of iPhones aren't working properly, and another 12% had problems with activation. Those numbers are right, almost 50% of iPhones have activation problems! For those of you still waiting, the activation screen of glory looks just like this:

iPhone Acivated

Here's a few activation tips for you guys:

Activate with two iPhones

You'll need two iPhones. Plug one into iTunes and select "I am a new AT&T Customer" and choose to activate "2 or more phones on an individual or FamilyTalk plan." After you get the activation complete email, plug in the second iPhone and select "I am an existing customer" then "replace a phone on my account with this iPhone." Reuse the earlier number and activate your second iPhone. When you plug in your second iPhone it will unlock for use but without an assigned number or account.

DVD-Jon's Hacked Activation Server

You'll need to install UltraEdit-32 and iPhoneActivationServer 1.0. Open iTunes.exe with UltraEdit and change the following offsets and values:

Offset 2048912, value 33C0C3
Offset 257074, value 28
Offset 257013, value 33C9B1

Open c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts and add the line "127.0.0.1 albert.apple.com." Then run DVD Jon's activation server, open itunes, and plug in your iPhone, which will activate automatically in about 60 seconds.

The Prepay Method

Buy an iPhone but don't sign up with AT&T for any of their plans as of yet. Plug it into iTunes with 999-99-9999 as your SSN, and you'll fail the credit check. At this point you can pick a GoPhone prepayed plan, and zip over to the AT&T GoPhone funding page to add some money to your card. Don't fund it over the phone or set it up with actual AT&T employees, or it won't work and you will be sad.

Calling AT&T

Call the customer support at 1-800-331-0500. If you're coming from an old number or account try getting in contact with an AT&T state Number Porting office (1-888-898-7685). The number 1-877-800-3701 is supposed to be good, if not overwhelmed. The after hours number is 1-866-801-3600.

Reboot!

Turn off your iPhone and remove the SIM card. Cycle it, put the SIM back in, and turn it on again.

Ping like mad

You might think plugging in your iPhone to sync it with iTunes is good enough, but actually according to rc3, you should leave it plugged in until it activates. A support tech with AT&T told him that the activation system works by pinging the queue of unactivated iPhones. If your phone is not connected, you'll lose your place and have to start over!

According to a Reuters story, the activation issues are solved, but I don't believe them:

About 2 percent of those who bought iPhones since they went on sale Friday faced delays in activation with AT&T, the exclusive U.S. service provider for the widely anticipated cell phone, according to a source familiar with the matter. By Monday, those issues were mostly resolved, AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said. "We have resolved nearly all of the issues and we feel confident this is behind us now," Siegel said. "One by one, we worked to resolve (the problems) and now nearly all of them have been resolved."

Yeah right... well, hope these tips help! Feel free to leave your complaints / sucess stories in the comments."
Microsoft

Submission + - Dell warns of Vista upgrade challenges

Submitted by Mattaburn
Mattaburn writes: Dell has taken the unusual step — for a PC vendor of its size — of toning down its sales pitch for Microsoft's Vista operating system and warning businesses of the migration challenges that lie ahead for them. The step is particularly unusual because one of the issues the hardware vendor is warning business about is the extra hardware they will need to buy. "They need to be looking at the number of images they will be installing and the size of these images," said Dell's European client services business manager, Niall Fitzgerald. "A 2GB image for each user will have a big impact."

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