Safari: "Secure from day one" ... I guess we' re not at day one yet

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1. Safari: "Secure from day one" ... I guess we're not at day one yet - 2007-06-25 18:36:13-04
   For the second time in under two weeks, Apple has issued updates to fix serious security vulnerabilities in the beta version of Safari 3 web browser. OK, I gave Safari 3 for Windows beta a good chance, but after two updates in less than a week I'm declaring it a leaky bucket and it's banished from the PC Doc HQ for the foreseeable future.  It's only installed on a few systems so getting rid of it won't be a big deal.  Yes, it's just a beta and yes Apple has been pretty quick with the updates but there's nothing that the browser offers that makes it worth running.  For regular day to day browsing, having IE, Firefox and Opera presents...
   
2. Steve Jobs goes 'all in' with the iPhone - 2007-06-25 20:11:10-04
   The hype for the iPhone is like the launch of the next "Harry Potter" book or "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie. If they don't gross hundred of millions in the first few days, they are labeled disappointments, even though they are phenomenal by any other standard. With all the iPhone hype, the iPod/Web access/cell phone device will have to be near perfect, widely endorsed by even the skeptics and be sold out in the first wave to be called a success. Steve Jobs has brought this extremely high expectation for the iPhone on himself. He has hyped this to the point where anything less than blowout sales and rave reviews will tarnish his golden touch, the Apple image and stock...
   
3. Google Earth worries the military, but there's little to be done - 2007-06-25 21:33:14-04
   What would King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain think of Google Earth? They would see riches and new worlds to be to be exploited, and that is precisely what the the head of U.S. Air Force intelligence and surveillance is afraid of now that now anyone with a credit card can access the world's satellite imagery, reports Reuters. The advent of Google Earth has made online mapping software commercially available and that has the Defense Department worried about potential security issues. But Lt. Gen. David Deptula, deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, realizes that it can't be rolled back now that the cat is out of the bag. "To talk about danger is, if I may,...
   
4. OR closer to credit freeze law - 2007-06-25 21:57:49-04
   Add Oregon to the handful of states that allows consumers the right to protect themselves from identity theft by freezing their credit reports, reports the Oregonian. Supporters of the Oregon Consumer Identity Theft Protection Act say that the security freeze feature, which gives people the right to control access to their credit reports by protecting them with a passcode similar to an ATM personal identity number, is probably the most import aspect of the bill. The bill recently passed the state Senate as is expected to become law. The current law states that consumers can ask for a fraud alert on their credit records. But critics of of the bill say it is too little, too late. The legislation requires...
   
5. Site lays odds for iPhone recalls, screen breaks, tramples, spontaneous combustion - 2007-06-25 22:08:56-04
   The website LiveScience.com notes that gaming and probability oddsmaker site BetUs.com is, well, betting that some funky stuff could go down as iPhone debuts this Friday and users take it home. "This phone has everything but the kitchen sink," LiveScience quotes BetUS.com spokesman Reed Richards. "With the seemingly endless options that the phone offers, the chances for a malfunction are likely." Of course I know that some of the scenarios described are silly. At least a few are firmly in the "grain of salt" camp. So please understand I am presenting them to illustrate the degree to which folks who get paid to think about the probability of stuff have been devoting grey matter cogitations to this iPhone debut....
   
6. Startup's short-pulse laser tech has DoD's interest - 2007-06-25 22:09:08-04
   A small high-tech startup in Northern California has caught the attention of some big investors, including the Defense Department, all due to a breakthough in laser technology, reports the Santa Rosa (CA) Press Democrat. Lasers have a wide variety of applications and have been used for years in everything from bar codes to medical equipment. Raydiance, located in Petaluma, CA, has developed ultra-short-pulse laser technology that could one day treat cancer or disarm roadside bombs. "We saw a new way for light to interact with matter," said Scott Davison, president at Raydiance Inc. The breakthough hasn't gone unnoticed by venture capitalists. Raydiance has $25 million in venture funding and a $10 million research contract from the U.S. Navy, as well...
   
7. Ron Paul runs a Web 2.0 campaign - 2007-06-25 22:20:42-04
   In case you are out of the loop, Ron Paul Republican Congressman from Texas, is running for president and he's doing things a little different than usual. Instead of centralizing his campaign around his website, he's using his site as a portal to third-party sites that contain news and video clips about the candidate, reports the Bivings Report. There's the usual stuff about his stance on the issues, a bio page, a donation form, a sign-up form and a blog. There's no place for user comments, however; the site users to social sites like Digg, del.icio.us, StumbleUpon and Facebook. TO participate online, supporters have to participate in the Internet. If you want to see Ron Paul in action, go to...
   
8. Key iPhone waiting sites now depicted in mash-up maps like this one - 2007-06-25 22:28:01-04
   OK, so maybe you have the Apple iPhone mania so bad you are going to camp out in a mall or on the street next to an AT&T Wireless Store or Apple Store this Friday. Urban attractions guide Gridskipper is thinking of you, and your needs on Friday- not only to wait on line (as opposed to wait online), but your need to eat, hydrate, pay back for those last two indulgences, maybe even find a cheap hotel to bed down with the night before. Or maybe the night of your iPhone purchase. Working with Gridskipper, gadget site Gizmodo offers The Ultimate iPhone Campout Guide. As you can see above from the guide to waiting for an iPhone at...
   
9. Techs describe how Apple boosted iPhone battery life - 2007-06-25 22:50:40-04
   Slate's David Sessions was wondering exactly how Apple has- at least by their own tested explanations- lengthened the battery life of the iPhone to as much as eight hours. Sessions then got busy, talking to some experts about how this could be done. Experts such as Richard Doherty of the Envisioneering Group, Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group, Ian Hill of the NRC Institute for Chemical Progress and Environmental Technology, and Brian Lam of Gizmodo. Here's David's distillation of what he was told: One way to improve power efficiency is to upgrade the hardware. A smart phone's circuit board incorporates dozens of chips that control the display, operating system, and the phone's wireless connection, among other things. Along with the...
   
10. Google Apps for Education gets even easier - 2007-06-26 01:19:19-04
    Google announced yesterday that they were adding automated email migration tools to the Premier and Education editions of Google Apps for Your Domain. The latter is free for educational institutions. The automated migration tool allows administrators to simply copy mail from their existing IMAP server to Google's servers. Google claims transfer rates of up to 2000 emails per minute. This new feature is in addition to several others introduced recently and available freely to educational customers. New features include a built-in PowerPoint viewer, shared address books, and increased functionality of iGoogle, each user's personalized homepage. Particularly telling was the last part of this statement: Now you can open PowerPoint attachments as slideshows without having to download anything. Just click 'View...
    
11. MobileTechRoundup show #103: Are any of the hosts planning to pick up an iPhone? - 2007-06-26 03:06:51-04
    Listen here (MP3, 29.8 MB, 32:30 minutes) Subscribe to the show with this link (RSS) This week is iPhone week and James, Kevin, and I just couldn't avoid talking a bit about the upcoming release in MobileTechRoundup show #103. Kevin asked each of us if we planned on getting an iPhone so listen to the show and find out our responses. James talked about some of the usability features on the Lenovo X61 Tablet PC that make the device just that much better. Opera Mini 4 was covered as well as Kevin's first thoughts on the Nokia N80ie device. The HTC Advantage is available on Amazon for US$850 and HTC may have some other cool devices up their sleeves. If...
    
12. Climb mount buffer? - 2007-06-26 03:15:58-04
    Here's a bit from a recent fcw.com report by Josh Rogin: Published on Feb. 13, 2007 NORFOLK, Va. -- At the Naval Network Warfare Command here, U.S. cyber defenders track and investigate hundreds of suspicious events each day. But the predominant threat comes from Chinese hackers, who are constantly waging all-out warfare against Defence Department networks, Netwarcom officials said. Attacks coming from China, probably with government support, far outstrip other attackers in terms of volume, proficiency and sophistication, said a senior Netwarcom official, who spoke to reporters on background Feb 12. The conflict has reached the level of a campaign-style, force-on-force engagement, he said. ?They will exploit anything and everything,? the senior official said, referring to the Chinese hackers? strategy....
    
13. Dune Technologies Orchestration for VMware and Microsoft Virtual Server - 2007-06-26 06:00:29-04
    Stefan Hochuli Paychère, Founder & CTO, of Dunes Technologies, spent a few moments speaking with my colleague, Roger Sakowski, and I to help us understand his company's products, VS-O and VD-O. Dunes appears to be working from the point of view that a revolutionary change is occurring in the industry and Dunes doesn't need to offer ready-made links to the past. It is our view, however, that this doesn't jive with IT decision makers strong focus on the Golden Rules of IT (mentioned in this post). These decision-makers usually try to evolve from one position to another rather than tearing things down just to rebuild them some other way. They, after all, are charged with keeping things going. Revolutionary changes...
    
14. News to know: Google Apps; iPhone Watch; Golden Rules - 2007-06-26 07:09:30-04
    Notable headlines: Danah Boyd: Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace TechMeme coverage David Berlind: Google improves 'Apps', offers organizations clear path off Exchange, Notes, etc. to GMail iPhone Watch Dan Farber: Steve Jobs goes 'all in' with the iPhone Bloomberg: iPhone Euphoria May Lead to Investor Disappointment Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: iPhone - The bets are on! Engadget: iPhone's touchscreen keypad kind of sucks Digital Daily: Do You Accept the iPhone as Your Personal Savior? Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: How can Apple turn the iPhone into a long-term success? Video spoof: N95 vs. iPhone (iPhone thinks he's a real camera) [at right] Scoble: Plaxo 3.0, the new "Switzerland" of social networks, but…Infoworld: Oracle's Safra Catz lashes out at rivals IBM, Microsoft, and...
    
15. The best organized vendor VoIP support page I've ever seen - 2007-06-26 07:54:26-04
    I'm quite aware that most equipment supplier Frequently Aasked Questions lists and online Help centers are only there to provide assistance with their own products, and those of their distribution partners. But after touring VoIP hardware and software solutions vendor Fluke Networks' new VoIP Performance Management in the Converged Network resource section of the Fluke site, I can tell you that here is a vendor-supplied VoIP help area that's more expansive than most. The shining attribute of this section is clarity on where everything is. Rather than have to hunt around Support sections, FAQs, Knowledge Bases, Site Maps  and local site searces for the info you want, it is all here and presented in an easily identifiable manner. It's...
    
16. Avaya Quick Edition 3.1 adds some useful call management functions - 2007-06-26 08:13:10-04
    I ordinarily don't micro-cover VoIP management software solution incremental upgrades, but I am going to make an exception for the newly released Avaya Quick Edition 3.1. That's the small-to-mid-size enterprise user VoIP administration hardware and software solution from - you guessed it- Avaya. So what's new in 3.1? First, the software: Presence and status monitoring. An icon next to an employee's name on the phone's screen shows whether the employee is busy, on the phone or away from the office. One-touch, alternate auto attendant greetings. Users can press a key to change a customized greeting when there's a special promotion, they are out of the office or the business is closed for the evening. Avaya is positioning this capability...
    
17. iPhoneDevCamp announced for July 6-8 in SF - 2007-06-26 08:46:45-04
    iPhoneDevCamp has been announced for July 6-8 at the Adobe offices in San Francisco. Raven Zachary, an Open Source Industry Analyst with The 451 Group is a lead organizer. A free event, it is intended to spur on-site development of new iPhone-ready web applications and web sites. Here's what the organizers say on the iPhoneDevCamp site: Attendees will include web designers, developers, testers, and iPhone owners, all working together over the weekend to improve the web experience for iPhone. Development projects will include both solo and team efforts. While some attendees will wish to work solo during the event, we encourage attendees to team up, based on expertise, to work in ad-hoc project development teams. All attendees should be...
    
18. iPhone activation and sync video posted - 2007-06-26 09:10:50-04
    Apple today posted a new activation and sync video. Activation is handled via a new version of iTunes in the comfort of your own homeor office. You can add a iPhone to an existing AT&T Wireless account or set up a new one. You can also port your old mobile phone number to AT&T which will take between 20 minutes and "several hours."
    
19. Friendster page views up 40% - 2007-06-26 09:14:42-04
    According to Comscore data, the social networking site, Friendster saw a 40% increase in page views for the month of May. As you may remember, Friendster was the leader over three years ago, before losing pace to MySpace in particular and then a host of others including the new darling, Facebook. So a 40% increase is a big deal: is it too early to call it a come back, and what's beneath the numbers? VentureBeat provides some good analysis, with a few key takeaways: The site has finally managed to fix the technology that had slowed its growth in 2004: Its "graph server" which allows users to see how their are linked to their friends through three degrees, and control...
    
20. Analysts predict minimal iPhone impact on BlackBerry sales, stock - 2007-06-26 09:24:08-04
    An article running this morning on the Dow Jones Newswires quotes analysts and presents information that the release of the iPhone may have minimal impact on BlackBerry sales. John Lynch of Needham & Co. tells Dow Jones that while the Palm Treo is popular with the iPhone's target market of high-end consumers and small-business owners, most of Research In Motion's business comes from the corporate market, which is not expected to be a large base of demand for the iPhone. "I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for Apple to emphasize enterprise spending, " Lynch added. "But it will be an interesting dynamic is to see if the iPhone can curb sales of the [BlackBerry] Curve and Pearl to consumer buyers."...