Marc Erickson

Sam Williams of TechnologyReview.com writes:
Why the eBay Supreme Court case matters so much.
In monetary terms, the Supreme Court case being heard next Wednesday - pitting online retail giant eBay Inc. against its left-in-the-dust competitor MercExchange - might seem trivial. MercExchange, which won the original suit in 2003, by proving to a Virginia jury that […]

Free registration required to read this fascinating story of a business’ recovery - including IT recovery - from the Katrina disaster. Michael Ybarra of SearchCIO.com writes:
Oreck Corp. thought it had a disaster recovery plan. Then Hurricane Katrina struck. To keep the business alive, a dedicated crew of executives and staff had to surmount huge […]

From the Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Hard Disk Drive Knowledge Base - failing drive noises:

Optimized for performance and mobility, these special-edition notebook PCs feature a new processor from AMD, a unique design bearing the LIVESTRONG message, and Lance Armstrong’s autograph as a tribute to his inspirational fight against cancer and to the 10 million people living with cancer. For every special edition notebook PC purchased, the Lance Armstrong Foundation […]

Want to access restricted Web sites using Google language tools service as a proxy? Here’s a tip from bigthistle at O’Reilly’s Google Hacks page:
A little tutorial found on the italian site manuali.net inspired me for this hack. That tutorial suggests to translate a Web page, using Google translator, to access it even if restricted.
It […]

Never update the firmware of a wireless router over a wireless connection - always connect a network cable between the computer and the router and update the firmware over that link. The D-Link page to download firmware updates is here.
Aaron Portnoy and Keefe Johnson has reported a vulnerability in D-Link Wireless Access Point, which […]

Free registration required to read the story. David Pogue of the New York Times writes:
Those crazy kids today! Their home music systems often wind up split in two. In this corner: the computer, stuffed with music files copied from CDs or downloaded from the Internet. In that corner: the stereo system or home theater.
The […]

Joris Evers of ZDNet.com writes:
Computer code that could be used in cyberattacks on Firefox users has been released, increasing the urgency for people to upgrade to the latest version of the Web browser.
The two pieces of exploit code, posted online earlier this week, take advantage of a security vulnerability in Firefox that Mozilla […]

Secunia has sent out a couple of advisories (here and here) for the Sun Java runtime (including early versions) that you install on your Windows, Solaris, or Linux computer, for the Web Start, and for the Java Development Kit or the Software Development Kit.
The vulnerabilities are rated highly critical and allow system access […]

Matthew Barakat of the Associated Press reports:
A man who sent billions of junk e-mails hawking online college degrees, sexually explicit Web sites and “generic Viagra” must pay more than $5 million in penalties to America Online Inc., a federal judge ruled.
Christopher William Smith, of Prior Lake, Minn., was considered one of the world’s worst spammers, […]

Kate Greene of TechnologyReview.com writes:
Jeff Jonas is an IBM engineer who specializes in software that infuses powerful search technology with anonymity.
In 1983, entrepreneur Jeff Jonas founded Systems Research and Development (SRD), a firm that provided software to identify people and determine who was in their circle of friends. In the early 1990s, the company […]

Two vulnerabilities have been reported in Mozilla Suite, which can be exploited by malicious people to conduct cross-site scripting attacks and potentially compromise a user’s system.
For more information, see #1 and #4 in: SA18700

Multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in Firefox, which can be exploited by malicious people to bypass certain security restrictions, conduct cross-site scripting attacks, potentially disclose sensitive information, and potentially compromise a user’s system.

Robert McMillan writes for IDG News Service,
Users of Advanced Micro Devices Inc.’s (AMD’s) microprocessors may want to think twice before looking for technical support on the company’s Web site. Customer support discussion forums on the forums.amd.com site have been compromised and are being used in an attempt to infect visitors with malicious software, an AMD […]

A study entitled “The Strength of Internet Ties” (by the Pew Internet & American Life Project) found that email and other forms of digital communication strengthen the relationships between friends and family, according to this BBC article.
The report hasn’t made it online yet, so I’ve not had the opportunity to peruse the findings; however, the […]

Kate Greene of TechnologyReview.com writes:
Intel just announced a chip that the company says has them right on track to keep alive Moore’s Law, the 1965 prediction that the number of transistors on a chip will double about every two years. Indeed, the company has just manufactured a test chip that packs in approximately two […]

AP (via Technology Review) reports:
The United Nations on Thursday lent its support to a project which aims to ship inexpensive, hand-cranked laptops to school-aged children worldwide.
Kemal Dervis, head of the U.N. Development Program, will sign a memorandum of understanding Saturday with Nicholas Negroponte, chairman of One Laptop per Child, on the US$100 (euro85) laptop project, […]

There are awards for students and teachers who participate in the SuitSat program - read the story to find out more.
Using a simple police scanner or ham radio, you can listen to a disembodied spacesuit circling Earth.
One of the strangest satellites in the history of the space age is about to go into […]

I received this e-mail from Kevin Thomas of SMobile Systems:
We offer free trial versions and support all the same features as Trend Micro. We also support several other platforms it does not, including Series 80, 90, Linux, BlackBerry - we also offer firewall, encryption, backup, software as a service, 1 license per multiple […]

A vulnerability has been reported in AOL that can be exploited by malicious people to cause a DoS (Denial of Service) and potentially compromise a user’s system.
The vulnerability is caused due to a boundary error in the YPG Picture Finder Tool ActiveX Control (YGPPicFinder.DLL). This can be exploited to cause a buffer overflow and may […]