the JoshMeister - Slashdot User

Comment Security Now, MacBreak Tech, Security Bites, etc. (Score 1) 205

by the JoshMeister on Wednesday October 22, 2008 @07:22PM (#25476187) Attached to: Finding Better Tech Broadcasts?

There are several TWiT podcasts, and some of them only partially meet the criteria of the person who submitted the question. Let's review the criteria: "entertaining, informative, and, most importantly, thorough," not dumbed down, "dive deep into projects and discussions instead of simply skimming the surface."

The two TWiT podcasts that meet all the criteria that come immediately to mind are Security Now and the (unfortunately now defunct) MacBreak Tech. Security Now is very technical and educational, and it doesn't dumb things down, but instead it manages to explain very technical topics in ways that make them easy to comprehend. It's mostly about computer and information security (naturally) but it also gets into networking and other related topics as well. MacBreak Tech was mainly focused on Macs as the name implies, but I learned a lot of things from the podcast that don't just apply to Macs specifically. I think all the old episodes are still available, so browse through the titles and descriptions and download anything that looks remotely interesting.

Other TWiT podcasts that the asker might enjoy: This Week in Law and FLOSS Weekly. This Week in Law gets in depth about the legal aspects of computer technology and the computer industry. FLOSS Weekly is all about Free (Libre) Open Source Software and consists largely of interviews with lead developers of major open source software projects.

Another decent computer security podcast is Security Bites from CNET. Security Bites is not nearly as in-depth as Security Now as the episodes are very short and more focused, but the show is worth listening to as well.

If you don't mind the shameless self-promotion, I'm one of the hosts of MacMod Live, which deals with Mac modding and peripherally-related topics. MacMod Live doesn't always get super technical, but MacMod.com has a lot of interesting stuff too if you're interested in computer modding.

All of the above are audio shows (sorry if you're looking for video content specifically). Occasionally we do videos on MacMod Live, and those get posted in the same podcast feed as our audio shows.

Submission + - Does Mac Security Suck? (blogspot.com)

Submitted by the JoshMeister on Wednesday December 12, 2007 @05:27AM

the JoshMeister writes: Apple's "Get a Mac" campaign takes aim at Windows security, but how does Windows really stack up against the Mac? Recently on the Tech Pulse podcast, the state of Mac OS X security was discussed, including comparisons between Leopard and Vista and a look at where Mac security excels and where it falls short.

Submission + - Security to sit on the chip (theinquirer.net)

Submitted by

Tech.Luver

on Wednesday August 15, 2007 @04:02AM

Tech.Luver writes: "theinquirer reports, " SECURITY OUTFIT Symantec, and the maker of chips, Intel, are apparently sitting in smoke filled rooms trying to hammer security products into processors. Symantec Vice President Rowan Trollope told Reuters yesterday that the project, dubbed Project Hood, is part of an effort by both companies to expand their use of virtualisation technology. ""

Submission + - Don't Kill The Trolls, But Feed Them (seorefugee.com) 2

Submitted by

Henk van Ess

on Wednesday August 15, 2007 @03:41AM

Henk van Ess writes: "Voelspriet.nl has initiated an idea to rid communities (be it forums, blogs, whatever) of trolls. Not get rid of them by banning them or nuking their posts, no, by accepting their trolly messages and keeping them at ease. The smart thing is that this anti-troll plug-in only shows the trolly stuff to the troll itself. That way, the other community members need not suffer. The idea was presented today on Dutch radio in Radio Online. A free beta plug-in for Wordpress will be available soon."

Submission + - FOX commits changes to wikipedia

Submitted by HNS-I on Wednesday August 15, 2007 @02:25AM

HNS-I writes: geeksaresexy[dot]net Has a story about wikiality in action. After O'Reilly announced that the FOX employees have been making chenges to articles on wikipedia a guy sought out the IP address belonging with the edits and started inspecting other articles on edits by the same address. The most obvious to start with were of course the ones about conservatism, democrats and Keith Olbermann.

RTFA to see the changes that were made
HNS
PS. I advice you to edit this yourselves

Submission + - USPTO Rejects Eolas Plug-In Patent Claims

Submitted by

theodp

on Tuesday August 07, 2007 @11:39PM

theodp writes: "As Microsoft and Eolas work towards settling their long-running web plug-in patent lawsuit that resulted in a $521 million judgment against Microsoft and gave rise to the click-to-activate-and-use-this-control web, the USPTO has issued a non-final rejection of the patent's claims, citing the work of Pei-Yuan Wei as prior art."

Submission + - Desktop computer hacks cost $7bn to US customers (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by

Christopher_Blanc

on Tuesday August 07, 2007 @05:35PM

Christopher_Blanc writes: "The reality is that viruses, spyware, and other computer threats have cost to US households an estimated $7 billion over the last two years alone, and 25 percent of all households are likely to become a "cybervictim" this year. That's the word from Consumer Reports, which just announced the results of its most recent "State of the Net" survey. If Microsoft doesn't get its act together on security, it's going to have customers defecting — in droves. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070807-the- state-of-the-net-is-not-so-strong.html"

Submission + - Netflix Gets Hacked (tvsquad.com)

Submitted by

Dragontologist

on Tuesday August 07, 2007 @05:28PM

Dragontologist writes: "In an interestingly round-about way, a few hackers have posted publicly about how to get around the $17/month fee for Netflix streaming video. It's not particularly easy, you only get 17 hours of video a month, and you can't copy it onto your iPod (not without another hack, anyway), but it's free (assuming you don't mind the whole illegal thing). All I want to know is, who would think to exploit Windows Media Player?"

Submission + - Kittens could kill the spam (computerworld.com) 1

Submitted by jcatcw on Tuesday August 07, 2007 @05:20PM

jcatcw writes: Researchers at Microsoft are proposing the use of images of kittens when software gets good enough to decipher captchas, which is inevitable. "It's possible that kittens are the wave of the future," according to Kevin Larson, a researcher at Microsoft's advanced reading technologies group. Humans can identify the image in a picture while software cannot. A beta service, called Asirra (Animal Species Image Recognition for Restricting Access), of the photo recognition technology is available from Microsoft for free to Web site hosters.

Submission + - 802.11n tests show "unbelievable" results

Submitted by BobB on Tuesday August 07, 2007 @05:02PM

BobB writes: The IT staff at Morrisville State College, where the first large-scale Draft 802.11n wireless LAN is being designed, says the beta gear exceeds expectations. Among the results: a 50MB file uploaded from a laptop to a network drive took 3 minutes, 51 seconds with an 11g connection, but 26 seconds with an 11n connection — nearly nine times faster. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/080607-draft -80211n-morrisville-test-results.html?netht=080607 dailynews2

Submission + - Windows 98 Blue Screen of Death tattoo (com.com)

Submitted by

mytrip

on Tuesday August 07, 2007 @04:52PM

mytrip writes: "Back in the day, it was skulls, snakes and Iron Maiden's undead mascot, Eddie. In the post-heavy-metal Internet era, to express your anguish, malaise, or traumatic childhood, you have to get a tattoo of the Blue Screen of Death on your arm.

The artist, 23-year-old Sam Rulz of Auckland, New Zealand, has this to say: "Paul's tattoo is based on the Windows 98 error code, which is what you see when your pc is f**ed. ..."

Submission + - First Water on an Extrasolar Planet (tfot.info)

Submitted by

Iddo Genuth

on Tuesday August 07, 2007 @04:51PM

Iddo Genuth writes: "Scientists discovered what seems to be the first conclusive evidence for water on an extrasolar planet. The discovery was made by French scientists using data from NASA's Spitzer space telescope and was recently published in the scientific magazine Nature."

Submission + - Education slows learning (in babies)

Submitted by

mcgrew

on Tuesday August 07, 2007 @01:41PM

mcgrew writes: "New Scientist reports that

Educational DVDs may hinder rather than help a young child's learning. Infants who watch DVDs such as "Brainy Baby" and "Baby Einstein" know fewer words than those who do not watch such programmes, a new study suggests.

In recent years the popularity of such infant programmes has soared, particularly in the US. Parents hope the programmes, which typically consist of brief dialogue and picture sequences, will boost the learning ability of children as young as eight months old, even though the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that youngsters not watch television until two years of age.
Well DUH, why do you think they call it the 'boob tube'?"

Bookmark Tech Pulse Podcast (techpulsepodcast.com)

by the JoshMeister on Thursday July 26, 2007 @03:38PM

Submission + - The Learning Curve for iSwitching

Submitted by Psychotic Venom on Tuesday January 16, 2007 @07:34PM

Psychotic Venom writes: After trying for nearly 5 years to acclimate my wife to Linux, it still just isn't happening, so after nearly 2 decades of disdain for the Mac, I think I've finally come around to understanding the elegance and ease of use that Apple seems to put in every product. I am considering buying a 24" iMac and keeping my Linux box as a backup server — but I know noone that owns a Mac as their home PC! What kind of learning curve should I expect (for me, a tech geek)? Has anyone had a good experience with a heterogenous home network of Mac and Linux? What kind of learning curve should I expect for my wife (decidedly non-tech geek)? Are there people who made the switch for their family and wish they hadn't, especially considering the price?

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