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July 19

Update your Windows XP to Service Pack 3 NOW

Screenshot: Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3

Bug fixes no longer available for Windows XP Service Packs 1 or 2.

Microsoft announced that it will no longer provide updates (that is, bug fixes) for Service Packs 1 or 2 of Windows XP. This means that you should make certain that your Windows XP PCs have been updated to Service Pack 3.

To check the Service Pack level of Windows XP, click

Start

Control Panel

System

You should see a properties sheet similar to the screenshot.

To update to Service Pack 3, make sure that your PC is connected to the Internet and click

Start

All Programs

Windows Update

Microsoft's Windows Update website will guide you from this point. Press the Express button to get high-priority updates (recommended). After downloading updates, your PC may need to restart. Repeat this Windows Update procedure until Windows Update reports that no new critical updates are available for your PC. (If you're back at Service Pack 1, this will require many restarts.)

Don't ignore this. Windows XP Service Packs 1 and 2 are vulnerable to attack from the Internet.

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

7:44 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

August 24

Have your computer find your lost mobile phone

Partial screenshot: phonemyphone.com

Lost your cell phone? No landline phone? Here's one solution.

Phonemyphone.com claims that it can be used to

* Find your cell phone
* Set a wake-up call at a specific time
* Escape boring meetings or dates

This site has existed for at least a year. Their privacy policy looks benign. Next time I lose my phone, I'll give it a try. (I especially like the feature that allows a call to be scheduled, to give me time to go to the car to search for my phone when it rings.)

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

12:51 AM GMT | Read comments(0)

August 20

Google stops its Wave product

Screenshot: Carla Arena

Google flattens Google Wave.

Last year at this time, I wrote about Google Wave, which was gaining strength as the workgroup collaboration software of the future. Now Google has announced that it's killing Wave.

Maybe, to coin a phrase, what we have here is a failure to communicate. Wave was developed in Australia and its exact definition and market position weren't crystal clear to this North American resident. It seemed to incorporate features of email, instant messaging, social networking, Microsoft Exchange, Sharepoint, and Lotus Notes. Apparently the response was underwhelming, especially in view of the explosive growth of Facebook and Twitter, so Google pulled Wave's plug before spending more on a product that wasn't a clear winner. Its Lotus Notes / Microsoft Sharepoint features made it attractive to businesses, but it was mis-perceived as a Facebook / Twitter also-ran, which is a shame. Wave's demise may remind Google and other organizations to keep their developers in close touch with potential end-users. Otherwise, they could end up designing something like The Homer.

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

5:25 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

July 20

Reports of XP's death are greatly exagerrated

Logo copyright: Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft allows "downgrade" to Windows XP until at least 2014.

Microsoft announced that, for the lifetime of Windows 7, it will provide "downgrades" to Windows XP for licensed users of Windows Vista and Windows 7. This applies to the OEM versions (that is, pre-installed by computer makers) of Windows 7 Ultimate and Windows 7 Professional only. (This "downgrade" policy had been scheduled to expire with the release of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 -- now in beta test.)

The announcement was part of Microsoft's announcement that "Public Beta Now Available for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1".

If you work within a corporate environment, you will understand this policy:

Windows Vista and Windows 7 require faster computers with more memory than Windows XP. So, what seems at first to be a simple software update actually requires a hardware replacement as well. For businesses of any size, this is a "forklift upgrade" -- which businesses in this weak economy can't afford when they're barely able to make payroll.

Small businesses may rely upon mission-critical applications that aren't supported by Windows Vista or Windows 7. Some apps are no longer supported by their vendors and will never be updated. It's a bad idea to run your business with obsolete software, but in this poor economy small businesses may not be able to invest in system overhauls.

Some larger businesses with major investments in XP have concluded that an update to Windows 7 (and certainly Windows Vista) may not offer a worthwhile cost / benefit ratio. (Even Intel concluded that "upgrading" its 80,000 desktops to Windows Vista was a waste of resources.)

Some users require features that no longer exist in Windows Vista or Windows 7. See List of features removed in Windows Vista and List of features removed in Windows 7. Some of these, such as "Unlike Outlook Express, Windows Mail does not allow users to switch Identities or manage multiple identities within one running instance of the program", may be real annoyances. (I notice that "The NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol is no longer supported" -- this prevents connection via Novell's IPX/SPX network protocol to legacy Novell NetWare servers. RIP.)

My guess is that many home users will go with Windows 7, especially since new retail PCs will no longer be available with Windows XP after this October. However, many business users will remain with Windows XP . . . which will make XP the longest-lived Windows yet. (It was released in 2001.) I applaud Microsoft for recognizing the reality of today's business users who don't have a penny to spare.

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

7:11 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

August 02

Movie about monetizing porn on the web debuts Friday

Movie poster: Middle Men movie

New movie, Middle Men, explores pornification of the Web

In the early 1990s the Internet provided a clunky but usable method of exchanging technical information and files. In those days, command-line tools such as gopher (for file exchange) and eudora (for reading email) provided my interface to the Internet. List servers and news servers distributed messages around the world. Most of the Internet's domains ended with ".edu". Most Internet users were helpful and respectful of others in a collegial way that's found at educational and research institutions. We trusted each other -- I didn't think that criminals with malicious intent would ever plague the Internet. What was missing was commercial content of any sort. As I recall, Mosaic, the first web browser that I used, preceded the opening of the Internet to commercial content.

It was the opening of the Internet to commercial traffic that changed everything. Manufacturers shut down their dial-up bulletin boards and opened web sites where they provided tech support. Shopping carts came on-line, average people began to surf the Web, and porn sites appeared the next day.

A movie will be released on Friday titled Middle Men. I heard George Gallo, its writer and director, interviewed on Doug McIntyre's Red Eye radio show. Apparently some of the characters are composites of real people, but a few represent real people who did real (if bizarre) things. According to Mr. Gallo, a couple misfits with negotiable ethics wanted to use the Internet to download porn for their own consumption. Then they saw that there was financial opportunity in producing porn. The epiphany came when they realized that they didn't need to produce any content: they just needed to enable porn transactions and receive a piece of the action. These guys made millions of dollars in no time and stumbled into trouble with truly bad guys, including the Russian mafia.

Details: Internet Movie Database (This movie is rated R in the USA.)

It sounds like a hoot.

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

10:57 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

August 01

Black Hat 2010: technologies shown to be vulnerable

Photo: Martin Eian

ATMs spew cash on command from attacker at Black Hat conference demonstration

Barnaby Jack, director of security research at IOActive Labs, demonstrated last week at the annual Black Hat conference just how vulnerable ATMs are. He demonstrated on two ATMS, both using the Microsoft Windows CE operating system. This disappoints me: I don't use Windows computers to do on-line banking because I don't trust their security. (To be safer, you should download a bootable Linux CD and boot from it when you wish to bank on-line. Reboot Windows when you're done banking.)

What is
Black Hat?

Mr. Jack demonstrated two attacks on standalone or "hole in the wall" ATMs: one remote and one local. (He's unsure if these attacks work on bank ATMs.) The remote attack required that the attacker know the phone number of the ATM's dial-up modem. Many ATMs use a dial-up modem to communicate with their banks. (A simple war-dialing program would get you started on this attack.) Some ATMs have IP addresses: if they reside behind NAT (Network Address Translation) routers and firewalls this would help protect them. Then he showed that he could bypass the ATM's authentication program to gain control of the ATM.

The local attack began by entering a supervisory sequence of keystrokes through the ATM keypad, which brought up an administrator menu that allowed him to eject banknotes from the ATM. Some ATMs allow a specially coded card to gain supervisory access.

One principle of system security is that the owner restrict physical access to the system. The ATM would be more secure from local attack if it required that service personnel first open a locked panel before punching in a security code to gain supervisory control. This raises another principle: there will always be a security versus convenience compromise.

ATMs are immobile shared devices; the bad guys have moved to individual users' mobile devices. Smartphones are a new playground for criminals: during one Black Hat presentation, a wallpaper application for the Android smartphone installed its spiffy self and promptly uploaded its user's personal data to a site in China. Maybe the fact that Apple insists that it certify every iPhone app makes sense, after all.

Roundup: A week of hacker news from Black Hat and Defcon (courtesy VentureBeat)

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

6:40 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

July 30

Amazon's CEO introduces new improved Kindle e-book reader

Jeff Bezos interviewed by Charlie Rose video

Screenshot of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos: The Charlie Rose Show

Amazon shows new, smaller Kindle e-book reader with same screen size, improved battery life, plus a $139 WiFi-only model

Charlie Rose, a lawyer turned television interviewer, is amazingly clued-in to information technology trends. On Wednesday night, he (again) interviewed Jeff Bezos, the long-time CEO of Amazon.com.

Jeff brought with him Amazon's newest version of its ground-breaking Kindle e-book reader. It's smaller, lighter, has better screen contrast, and has a one-month battery life, yet retains the same screen dimensions as the earlier Kindle. It looks like a winner. It will be released on August 27. The conversation had the easy, natural flow of a meeting between old friends -- which apparently is the relationship between Jeff and Charlie. I especially enjoyed hearing Bezos, with apparent candor, explain the reasoning behind some of the Kindle's design decisions: the trade-off between touch-screen functionality and minimum glare, for example. He emphasized that high contrast paper-like presentation with minimal eye strain remain Kindle design goals.

Mr. Bezos mentioned that at Amazon, over the past three months, sales of books in Kindle format have outnumbered sales of hardcover books by about 50%, and that this margin is widening.

The interview goes on to cover Amazon's remarkable success, which Mr. Bezos attributes to Amazon's concentration on customer satisfaction, and its willingness to suffer initial losses as it gains market share in new markets. (Sounds like the Japanese way of doing business.) All in all, it's an interview worth watching.

Disclosure: I am an Amazon affiliate.

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

8:39 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

July 22

Zuckerberg's ownership of Facebook shares is challenged (again)

Photo: jdlasica

Web designer who employed Zuckerberg in 2003 claims that he owns 84% of Facebook

Paul Ceglia, who employed Mark Zuckerberg in 2003, claims that Mr. Zuckerberg, in writing, gave him rights to 84% of "The Face Book", which was a pet project that Zuckerberg was working on. Mr. Ceglia has filed suit in New York state court. He claims that he has a signed contract with Mr. Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg's lawyers haven't said whether such a contract exists or doesn't exist.

Mr. Zuckerberg denies that he signed such a contract. Previously, fellow Harvard classmates claimed that Zuckerberg appropriated code from the school's ConnectU project. They settled out of court.

The most recent claim could prevent Facebook from going public, as the court has issued an injunction on trading of its shares. Facebook is now (foolishly) valued at over 24 billion dollars. (Does anyone want to buy a Dutch tulip?)

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

5:53 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

July 09

Starbucks now provides free WiFi

Photo: Andrew Stawarz

Starbucks now provides free Internet access via WiFi. That's great, but . . .

As of July 1, Starbucks company-owned stores in Canada and the USA now provide free Internet access via their WiFi hotspots. This affects over 7500 stores. Starbucks' June 29 announcement.

This is great news, but please remember that anyone within a radius of several hundred feet (or more) may be sniffing all of your packets and capturing them for decryption and attack later. Don't be tempted to do banking from a Starbucks hotspot! I wouldn't even consider it, nor would I purchase anything with a credit or debit card while using a Starbucks (or any other) public WiFi hotspot. Public WiFi hotspots attract cyber-thieves.

For example, anyone could set up an inexpensive clone AP (wireless Access Point) that bridges to the real network. The thief's AP masquerades as the genuine Starbucks AP. They'd sit in the coffee shop so that their signal is stronger than the real access point, then just sit back, intercept, and capture login traffic. Voila: cheap and easy account and password collection. Users would have no idea that their accounts had been compromised.

Another easy technique is to use easily obtainable software (most of this runs on Linux, rather than Windows) on the laptop to place its wireless adapter into "monitor" mode and simply capture every packet on the wireless network, write it all to disk, and decipher it later in the comfort of the thief's home.

Public hotspots are fine for low-security web surfing -- but not banking. Here are simple measures that will keep you safer while using Starbucks WiFi Hotspot Security hotspots.

In the world of security, there's a spectrum that runs from systems that are very convenient but insecure at one extreme, to systems at the opposite end of the spectrum that are very secure but inconvenient. Public WiFi hotspots such as Starbucks' are WAY too convenient to offer meaningful security.

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

11:21 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

July 10

Google adds suspicious log-in detection

Photo: Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Google improves its account hacking detection.

Google announced on June 30 that it has improved the detection of account hacking attempts on all Google accounts. This includes G-mail, Google Docs, Google Analytics, etc.

For the moment the detection is fairly passive: if you logged in from a Florida site an hour ago, it's unlikely that you will log in now from, say, China. Such obvious bogus log-in attempts are flagged and logged for you on your account's dashboard page.

I suspect that Google will extend this detection's functionality in the near future.

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

10:45 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

June 30

Dell covered up faulty motherboards

Photo: DellHellAgain.com

Dell hid motherboard problems.

The New York Times has reported that as a result of a North Carolina lawsuit, Dell Computer revealed that it hid a serious problem with faulty components and replaced faulty components with known faulty components. The components were capacitors -- used to filter AC ripple and noise from DC (Direct Current) supply lines on motherboards. This was an industry-wide problem when a capacitor manufacturer produced millions of faulty capacitors throughout the early 2000's. I wrote about it in 2008, when I was asked to repair a failed PC. (The computer wouldn't boot -- no display at all. Examination revealed bulging capacitors. I replaced the bad caps with capacitors that I bought from Radio Shack: physically, they were a sloppy fit, but they worked electrically and got the customer back on line by day's end.) Bad capacitors were a problem with many motherboards -- but the capacitors would look and function fine when new; they'd start to bulge, leak, and fail only after months or years.

I can see how these bad capacitors slipped by traditional quality control source inspection and incoming inspection: I'm sure that they passed physical inspection and electrical tests . . . when they were new. I can't fault Dell for installing the faulty capacitors in new product. I do fault Dell for replacing bad capacitors with known bad capacitors. This strikes me as a cynical business decision:

"This failed motherboard is already xx months old . . . it's likely to be scrapped before the replacement capacitors fail, so let's just replace them with more bad capacitors (which we should have scrapped). Most of our customers will never know the difference, since they'll probably scrap their computer before these capacitors fail."

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

9:49 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

June 20

Fathers' Day with Bill Gates' father

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Time Magazine article, In Search Of The Real Bill Gates

Photo by Gregory Heisler for Time

Meet Bill Gates' father and sisters.

CBS-TV ran a video segment about Bill Gates' father today (Fathers' Day) on their Sunday Morning show. I enjoyed seeing the house where Chairman Bill was raised, including the bedroom window through which he escaped at night to debug a computer with friend Paul Allen at a local company. His sisters share his looks and humor.

Read about Bill Gates' origins, in a fascinating 1997 Time Magazine article by Walter Isaacson, In Search Of The Real Bill Gates. Here's an excerpt:

"In ninth grade," Gates recalls over dinner one night, "I came up with a new form of rebellion. I hadn't been getting good grades, but I decided to get all A's without taking a book home. I didn't go to math class, because I knew enough and had read ahead, and I placed within the top 10 people in the nation on an aptitude exam. That established my independence and taught me I didn't need to rebel anymore." By 10th grade he was teaching computers and writing a program that handled class scheduling, which had a secret function that placed him in classes with the right girls.

His best friend was Kent Evans, son of a Unitarian minister. "We read FORTUNE together; we were going to conquer the world," says Gates. "I still remember his phone number." Together with Paul Allen, they formed the official-sounding Lakeside Programmers Group and got a job writing a payroll system for a local firm. A furious argument, the first of many, ensued when Allen tried to take over the work himself. But he soon realized he needed the tireless Gates back to do the coding. "O.K., but I'm in charge," Gates told him, "and I'll get used to being in charge, and it'll be hard to deal with me from now on unless I'm in charge." He was right.

This Time article is a really well-done insight into what makes Bill Gates tick. I've read biographies of Mr. Gates and thought that I knew most of the details of Bill Gates' history. I was wrong: this article revealed still more details.

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

7:19 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

June 13

Microsoft rolls out its Web Apps -- gratis

Screenshot from The Windows Blog

Web Apps is Microsoft's cloud-based answer to Google Docs.

The on-line version of Microsoft Office -- called Microsoft Web Apps -- offers lightweight versions of Microsoft Office's Word, Excel, OneNote, and Powerpoint applications. This is Microsoft's response to cloud-based Google Docs and Adobe Buzzword. (I notice that Web Apps doesn't include a program similar to MS-Office's Access database.)

Google Docs is aimed at Microsoft's most profitable product, Microsoft Office. The success of Google Docs has placed Microsoft in an awkward position: it must offer an alternative to Google Docs, while not undercutting Microsoft Office sales. Web Apps allows users to view, share, and edit documents on-line, but doesn't offer full Microsoft Office functionality. The office suite market is changing, and Microsoft's introduction of Web Apps acknowledges that fact.

Web Apps seems like a great deal: it includes 25 gigabytes of on-line storage (called SkyDrive) for your documents. Microsoft is experienced at providing 90% of what you need for free; to get everything that you want, you must pay. This blog and my website are hosted (for free) on Microsoft's OfficeLive, and I'm very happy with it; I've had to work around some of the limitations, but most of those limitations are manageable. I imagine that Microsoft Web Apps will be similar -- not perfect, but good enough for most needs. Read Microsoft's announcement.

This battle over office applications is just another example of the truth that no computing market segment is secure. Microsoft taught this lesson back in the early 1980s; now Google is teaching the same lesson to Microsoft. Microsoft started its life in the 1970s by creating computer language interpreters and compilers (MBASIC, ForTran, Pascal, etc.). For years, it seemed that they would stay within that segment, Digital Research would stay within the operating system segment, and Lotus and MicroPro would stay within the applications segment. Then Microsoft, using profits from its language products, released its Multiplan spreadsheet as a competitor to Lotus 1-2-3, MS-Word as a competitor to MicroPro's WordStar, and MS-DOS as a competitor to Digital Research's CP/M operating system. Bill Gates had removed the gloves and no segment was ever again sacrosanct. Now Google is playing the same game, using profits from its Adsense and Adwords to do battle on Microsoft's turf. Knowing how much Bill Gates likes a good fight, I wonder if he'll remain "retired" on the sidelines?

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

9:02 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

June 04

My new favorite tool is a Streamlight Stylus

Click photo for Amazon customer reviews

I love this tiny flashlight!

Part of my job means that I work on computer hardware for a living; I also work on cars for (a Masochistic form of) pleasure. While working in both environments, I need good lighting to see what I'm doing. I'd always thought that large overhead lights supplemented with a large bright flashlight would suffice, but I was wrong. With each passing year, systems become denser -- the need to work on a fastener or component that's buried beneath layers of wires, hoses, and components has become common. With normal lighting, or even powerful flashlights, those interfering wires and components cast dark shadows on the target fastener or component. Most flashlights are too large to snake down through the maze of interfering parts to light the target fastener or component.

I purchased a slim Streamlight Stylus flashlight a few months ago (from the Batteries Plus store in Fort Lauderdale) and it has become my favorite tool. It's very bright and slim enough that I can snake it through the layers of interfering parts to cast its bright beam directly on the target fastener or component -- with no shadows. It's been a revelation.

Today I looked at Amazon's page for the Streamlight Stylus, and was happy to see that dozens of happy customers share my enthusiasm.

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate.

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

12:35 AM GMT | Read comments(0)

June 03

Looking for work? Looking for workers?

poster announcing employment opportunities in callcenters and other business process outsourcing (BPO) operations on a wall next to the shavij nagar bus station in bangalore.

Photo by Paul Keller

Two sites to find work . . . or workers

The traditional employment agency is under attack by on-line agencies . . . and some on-line sites seem to do a good job of providing one-stop shopping for both job-hunters and those looking for resources. Some sites address the needs of outsourcing across national borders.

Two leaders are Odesk.com and Guru.com. I've heard positive reports from users -- both employers and workers -- of both sites. Both sites provide some kind of currency conversion and mediation service, which is necessary for international transactions. Odesk allows project teams to be assembled across national borders and facilitates routine on-line team meetings. I'm intrigued by the scope of services provided by these sites, though I haven't personally used either one. I'd like to hear from you if you have tried either site.

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

5:53 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

June 02

Digital photography best practices

Photo by mikebaird

Work like a professional photographer.

Even if you take only family photographs, you'll find plenty of good ideas on the ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers) Best Practices page. I'm impressed with how thoroughly they cover the all-important topic of backup. I especially like its Backup Overview page, written by Peter Krogh. His 3-2-1 idea is very sensible:

We recommend keeping 3 copies of any important file (a primary and two backups)

We recommend having the files on 2 different media types (such as hard drive and optical media), to protect against different types of hazards.

1 copy should be stored offsite (or at least offline).

In fact, this 3-2-1 idea makes sense for any important file.

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

12:13 AM GMT | Read comments(0)

May 29

My war against junk mail continues

Photo by Dvortygirl

This war won't be won in just one battle.

Since starting my campaign to reduce the flood of (paper) junk mail that's been polluting my mailbox, I've had some success. I'm very happy with Catalog Choice. I created an account on their website, where I can request that their member catalog companies either stop mailing to me or I can request that they send me their catalog. What I like, is that they keep me updated with the status of my requests:

Recent Mail Preference Activity

* View | Details - 1 day ago - We sent your request to ValPak
* View | Details - 1 day ago - We sent your request to Clipper Magazine
* View | Details - 18 days ago - Office Depot confirmed your request
* View | Details - 25 days ago - Brookstone confirmed your request
* View | Details - 29 days ago - Bed, Bath, & Beyond confirmed your request
* View | Details - 29 days ago - Bed, Bath, & Beyond confirmed your request
* View | Details - about 1 month ago - OfficeMax confirmed your request
* View | Details - about 1 month ago - We sent your request to Dell
* View | Details - about 1 month ago - JC Penney received your request
* View | Details - about 1 month ago - We sent your request to Lands' End

Some national advertisers seem to have removed me from their mailing lists. Local mailers (restaurants, stores, health clubs, etc.) still send me their junk mail. My guess is that many of them purchase or rent mailing lists and suck the entries into their own mailing lists, so names that have been removed from the parent list will never be removed from the child lists . . . unless I contact them directly and request that they remove my name.

I've begun to do just that: I locate their website and try to obtain the name and email address of their owner, CEO, sales manager, publisher, etc. Then I send them a short email that asks them to remove me from their list. A typical message reads

Dear Mr. Smith,

Today I received an unsolicited advertising piece from your firm. Its label reads

******EERG**CCG-50
776 RFG
RUSS BELLEW
100 MY STREET
MY TOWN, FL 33444

I do not wish to receive any unsolicited advertising of any kind from your company or its affiliates or subsidiaries.

Please remove my name and address from your mailing lists and do not rent, sell or trade my name or address.

Thanks,
Russ Bellew

I recently discovered Wikihow's Get Rid Of Junk Mail page. It contains excellent ideas.

I will occasionally publish progress reports on my war against junk mail. Even though my mailbox is sagging and may fall to the ground, I shall not flag or fail. I shall go on to the end. I shall fight on the web, I shall fight in the mails, I shall defend my mailbox, whatever the cost may be. I shall never surrender.

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

5:52 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

May 25

PBS airs documentary: The Repair of the Hubble Space Telescope

Hubble space telescope undergoing repair

Watch space-borne repair personnel fix the Hubble Space Telescope.

If you're reading this, you probably are to some degree fascinated with things technical. They're great . . . until they break. Then somebody's got to repair them.

Repairing technical systems is always challenging, especially when they're mission critical, you're far from home, have few spare parts, and are stressed by a tight schedule. I've been under pressure to repair critical systems, but never in the way that the most recent Hubble repair mission members were. It's a fascinating documentary: 7 crew members trained for 2.5 years for this repair mission. If they failed, the Hubble telescope might never again work.

I was intrigued to see that even in space, repair technicians encounter reluctant fasteners, bolts that simply can't be removed, and Phillips head screws that strip out while trying to remove them . . . plus while "floating" (at 13,000 miles per hour) in space they have other problems, including torque reaction every time they try to turn a fastener.

The US PBS (Public Broadcasting System) aired this excellent hour-long documentary -- Hubble's Amazing Rescue -- last night. Watch it online!

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

4:23 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

May 30

Watch this before you scrap your next copier

Photo by 24thcentury

Most large copier / printers retain copies of your documents.

In this important CBS News report, reporters purchased 3 used floor-standing copier / printers, removed their hard drives, and obtained copies of confidential documents including medical records, social security numbers, and criminal investigation documents. This video report is a real eye-opener! Here's the full CBS News story.

The comments from IT professionals to the arstechnica article That old copier still holds a picture of your backside reveal that many IT professionals had no idea that this backdoor to confidential data existed. They also reveal a sense of humor: Shred the whole copier.

Many modern floor-standing copiers also function as printers. In order for them to handle huge print jobs, they store a temporary copy of each print job on an internal hard drive. Most copiers and laser printers count total number of pages printed. The CBS reporters bought discarded copiers with high page counts.

Copier manufacturers are aware of this backdoor. JimboPalmer comments on arstechnica that Xerox offers copier / printer security options. He adds that Xerox copiers can be ordered with automatic and manual hard drive wiping (required for many federal government customers). "Image Overwrite Protection Option This feature electronically “shreds” data stored on the machine’s hard disk during routine printing, scanning, copying or faxing. Electronic removal of data can be performed automatically after every job or on request. Data is overwritten using a 3-Pass algorithm specified in U.S. Department of Defense Directive 5200.28-M." Sharp offers similar security options -- at additional cost.

If your organization owns or leases large copiers/printers, it would be a good idea to follow a policy that ensures that any data that's stored in such machines is destroyed before disposing of them.

I can't find a policy statement from Kinko's regarding images that may remain stored on their copiers.

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

8:34 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

May 28

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg addresses privacy concerns (again)

Mark Zuckerberg, Hail Caesar!

Mark Zuckerberg announces easier privacy settings on Facebook.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, answered some of his critics in a Washington Post column on Monday. His article promises that in the near future, Facebook users will have easier and more complete control over their information. In the article, he states, "Here are the principles under which Facebook operates:

You have control over how your information is shared.

We do not share your personal information with people or services you don't want.

We do not give advertisers access to your personal information.

We do not and never will sell any of your information to anyone.

We will always keep Facebook a free service for everyone."

Many industry observers don't agree that Facebook has followed these principles. The Guardian's review of Mr. Zuckerberg's article sounds unconvinced. On Thursday, David Neal wrote a scathing article in The Inquirer titled Facebook Must Die.

On Wednesday, Facebook announced that they were revising user privacy controls . . . to mixed reviews. Most of the criticism is aimed at the fact that any action should be required by the user to opt-out of revealing his data. Critics think that opting-out of sharing should be Facebook's default privacy setting; if a user is not concerned with privacy, he should be required to opt-in to share his data with the public.

Meanwhile, there's a feature movie about Mr. Zuckerberg and Facebook waiting in the wings. Directed by A-lister David Fincher and titled The Social Network, it's scheduled for release this autumn. It will reportedly paint an unflattering picture of Mr. Zuckerberg.

(Caricature by DonkeyHotey)

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

12:50 AM GMT | Read comments(0)

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Computer Technical Support

by Russ Bellew · phone 954 873-4695