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DudeAsInCool

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  1. webhead   

    Inside the Internet.

    Are the Browser Wars Back?

    How Mozilla's Firefox trumps Internet Explorer.

    By Paul Boutin

    Posted Wednesday, June 30, 2004, at 11:03 AM PT

    I usually don't worry about PC viruses, but last week's Scob attack snapped me awake. The clever multi-stage assault, carried out by alleged Russian spam crime lords, infiltrated corporate Web servers and then used them to infect home computers. The software that Scob (also known asDownload.ject) attempted to install on its victims' machines included a keystroke logger.

    In less than a day, Internet administrators sterilized the infection by shutting down the Russian server that hosted the spyware. But not before a barrage of scary reports had circled the world. "Users are being told to avoid using Internet Explorer until Microsoft patches a serious security hole," the BBC warned. (Disclosure: Microsoft owns Slate.) CNET reporter Robert Lemos zeroed in on why the attack was so scary. "This time," he wrote, "the flaws affect every user of Internet Explorer." That's about 95 percent of all Net users. No matter how well they had protected themselves against viruses, spyware, and everything else in the past, they were still vulnerable to yet another flaw in Microsoft's browser.

    Scob didn't get me, but it was enough to make me ditch Explorer in favor of the much less vulnerable Firefox browser. Firefox is built and distributed free by the Mozilla Organization, a small nonprofit corporation spun off last year from the fast-fading remnants of Netscape, which was absorbed by AOL in 1999. Firefox development and testing are mostly done by about a dozen Mozilla employees, plus a few dozen others at companies like IBM, Sun, and Red Hat. I've been using it for a week now, and I've all but forgotten about Explorer.

    You've probably been told to dump Internet Explorer for a Mozilla browser before, by the same propeller-head geek who wants you to delete Windows from your hard drive and install Linux. You've ignored him, and good for you. Microsoft wiped out Netscape in the Browser Wars of the late 1990s not only because the company's management pushed the bounds of business ethics, but also because its engineers built a better browser. When Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale approved the Mozilla project—an open-source browser based on Netscape's code—in 1998, it seemed like a futile act of desperation.

    But six years later, the surviving members of the Mozilla insurgency are staging a comeback. The latest version of Firefox, released this Monday, has a more professional look, online help, and a tool that automatically imports your bookmarks, history, site passwords, and other settings from Explorer. Meanwhile, all-conquering Internet Explorer has been stuck in the mud for the past year, as Microsoft stopped delivering new versions. The company now rolls out only an occasional fix as part of its Windows updates. Gates and company won the browser war, so why keep fighting it?

    The problem is that hackers continue to find and exploit security holes in Explorer. Many of them take advantage of Explorer's ActiveX system, which lets Web sites download and install software onto visitors' computers, sometimes without users' knowledge. ActiveX was meant to make it easy to add the latest interactive multimedia and other features to sites, but instead it's become a tool for sneaking spyware onto unsuspecting PCs. That's why the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, a partnership between the tech industry and Homeland Security, recently took the unusual step of advising people to consider switching browsers. Whether or not you do, US-CERT advises increasing your Internet Explorer security settings, per Microsoft's instructions. (Alas, the higher setting disables parts of Slate's interface.) Even if you stop using Explorer, other programs on your computer may still automatically launch it to connect to sites.

    Firefox eschews ActiveX and other well-known infection paths. You can configure it to automatically download most files when you click on them, but not .exe files, which are runnable programs. I thought this was a bug before I realized Firefox was saving me from myself, since .exe files could be viruses or stealth installers.

    For actual Web surfing, Firefox's interface is familiar enough to Explorer users. There's hardly anything to say about it, which is a compliment. Some interactive features designed exclusively for Internet Explorer won't appear, such as the pop-up menus onSlate's table of contents. A few sites don't display properly, but they're pretty rare. More common are those that stupidly turn non-Explorer browsers away by claiming they're "unsupported." Trusty, useful ActiveX-powered sites such as Windows Updatedon't load at all, but that's the idea. You can always launch Internet Explorer for those when you need to.

    Firefox also adds a productivity feature that Explorer has never gotten around to: tabbed browsing. You can open several Web pages in the same window and flip through them as tabs, similar to those used in some of Windows' dialog boxes. It's tough to understand why tabbed browsing is such an improvement until you've tried it. But if you're in the habit of opening a barrage of news and blog links every morning and then reading them afterward, or clicking on several Google results from the same search, tabbed browsing is an order of magnitude more efficient and organized than popping up a whole new window for each link.

    That said, be aware that getting started with Firefox isn't a one-click operation. After installing the browser, you'll need to reinstall plug-ins for some programs, as well as Sun's Java engine for any Java-powered pages. Let me save you an hour of head-scratching here: Save Sun's Java installation file to your desktop, then go back to Firefox's menus and select File -> Open File to install the downloaded .xpi file into the browser. That'll work where other methods fail without explanation.

    Once you're set up, it still takes a day or two to get used to the interface and feature differences between Explorer and Firefox, as well as the fact that your favorite sites may look a little different. That's why I left it out of Slate's 20-minute anti-virus plan. But if you've got time to make the switch, the peace of mind is worth it. Mozilla also makes a free e-mail program called Thunderbird and a calendar tool called Sunbird, if you want to avoid using Outlook and Outlook Express, two other virus carriers. They're nowhere near as feature-packed as Outlook, but the e-mail client includes a spam filter that works pretty well after you train it on four or five thousand messages—in my case, one week's mail.

    Will Firefox make your computer hackproof? Even Mozilla's spokespeople stress that no software can be guaranteed to be safe, and that Firefox's XPInstall system could conceivably be tricked into installing a keystroke logger instead of Sun's Java engine. But for now, there's safety in numbers—the lack of them, that is. Internet Explorer is used by 95 percent of the world. Firefox's fan base adds up to 2 or 3 percent at most. Which browser do you think the Russian hackers are busily trying to break into again?

    Paul Boutin is a Silicon Valley writer who spent 15 years as a software engineer and manager.

    http://slate.msn.com/id/2103152/

  2. I dont know about you all, but that story is very disturbing... Clearly, there's another side to this country, and we are anything but... Too much focus is being put on a small percentage of our political leadership, who MOST of us didnt even vote for. I know we have been damaged by our foreign policy actons...but clearly these kids are not being given an objective look at all this country has to offer

  3. Can West News Services, owners of several Canadian newspapers including the National Post as well as the Global Television Network commissioned a series of polls to determine how young people feel about the issues that were facing the country’s voters. Dubbed "Youth Vote 2004", the polls, sponsored by the Dominion Institute and Navigator Ltd. were taken with a view to getting more young people involved in the political process.

    In one telephone poll of teens between the ages of 14 and 18, over 40 per cent of the respondents described the United States as being "evil". That number rose to 64 per cent for French Canadian youth.

    This being Canada, the amount of anti-Americanism that was found is not surprising. What is significant is the high number of teens who used the word "evil" to describe our southern neighbour. As Misty Harris pointed out in her column in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, evil is usually associated with serial killers and "kids who tear the legs off baby spiders." These teens appear to equate George W. Bush and Americans with Osama bin Laden and Hitler, although it is unknown if the teens polled would describe the latter two as being evil. Whether someone who orders planes to be flown into heavily populated buildings would fit that description would make a good subject for a future poll.

    You can read the full story here:

    http://www.torontofreepress.com/2004/weinreb063004.htm

  4. The British called the taverns of colonial America "hotbeds of sedition." And they were right. Paul Revere and the Sons of Liberty planned the Boston Tea Party at their favorite meeting place--the Green Dragon Tavern

    ***

    Lots of interesting tidbits like the above. Frankly the article made me thirsty for my favorite beer rof the moment - Tequiza (Beer with Blue Aguave Nectar and the Natural Flavor of Lime) :Here's to you:

    post-59-1089132235.gif

  5. This is an interesting development. It's unlikely to win many friends at the MPAA (and maybe even Mirimax), but it also blunts arguments from his critics that he's only in it for the money. Good move...clearly he wants to have the movie seen by as many people as possible

    It would be interesting to say how many people who download the film actually then go to the movie theater. My hunch is that the internet and dowloading may actually have more of a posative impact than a negative one...in some cases like this

  6. Ball Club Drives an HDTV Bandwagon

    By KEN BELSON

    Published: July 6, 2004

    SAN DIEGO - Even as baseball fans filled ballparks over the July 4th weekend, a growing number were watching the games on high-definition televisions.

    After years of politics, promises and false starts, high-definition television with its bigger, superior pictures and enhanced audio is finally starting to take off. Prices of high-definition sets are falling and networks like HBO and ESPN are adding hundreds of hours of high-definition programming. Most important, they are increasing the number of sports events broadcast in that format.

    Sports programs are shown to particular advantage on high-definition televisons because the higher aspect ratio allows for wider pictures that can, for example, show first and third base simultaneously. The surround-sound audio can amplify the crack of the bat or a ball hitting a mitt.

    With high definition, "virtually every sport becomes more like being at the stadium than with old style television," said Gary Merson, editor of The HDTV Insider Newsletter.

    But as good as the pictures and audio are, cable providers, broadcasters and television makers have struggled to convince consumers that the service is worth higher monthly cable fees and the high cost of the sets. Cox Communications and Sony are hoping to make their case to consumers by teaming up with the San Diego Padres to promote high-definition television to a specific audience.

    For years, cable providers have worked with manufacturers to cross-market their products. Comcast, Cablevision and other cable companies have also latched onto sports to promote their high-definition programming. Comcast, for instance, broadcasts about 150 sports events in high definition for viewers in the Philadelphia area, including the games of the 76ers and Flyers, two teams the company owns.

    But the three-way deal in San Diego demonstrates a greater convergence of the broadcast, electronics and entertainment industries, one that could become a model for others.

    "You've got all three points on the triangle: the distributors of the content, the display of the content and the providers of the content," said Woody Thompson, senior vice president at Octagon, the sports marketing arm of the Interpublic Group.

    Read the full article here:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/06/business/06hdtv.html

  7. More on this story:

    You've Got Mail (and Court Says Others Can Read It)

    By SAUL HANSELL

    Published: July 6, 2004

    hen everything is working right, an e-mail message appears to zip instantaneously from the sender to the recipient's inbox. But in reality, most messages make several momentary stops as they are processed by various computers en route to their destination.

    Those short stops may make no difference to the users, but they make an enormous difference to the privacy that e-mail is accorded under federal law.

    Last week a federal appeals court in Boston ruled that federal wiretap laws do not apply to e-mail messages if they are stored, even for a millisecond, on the computers of the Internet providers that process them - meaning that it can be legal for the government or others to read such messages without a court order.

    The ruling was a surprise to many people, because in 1986 Congress specifically amended the wiretap laws to incorporate new technologies like e-mail. Some argue that the ruling's implications could affect emerging applications like Internet-based phone calls and Gmail, Google's new e-mail service, which shows advertising based on the content of a subscriber's e-mail messages.

    "The court has eviscerated the protections that Congress established back in the 1980's," said Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a civil liberties group.

    But other experts argue that the Boston case will have little practical effect. The outcry, said Stuart Baker, a privacy lawyer with Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, is "much ado about nothing."

    Mr. Baker pointed out that even under the broadest interpretation of the law, Congress made it easier for prosecutors and lawyers in civil cases to read other people's e-mail messages than to listen to their phone calls. The wiretap law - which requires prosecutors to prove their need for a wiretap and forbids civil litigants from ever using them - applies to e-mail messages only when they are in transit.

    But in a 1986 law, Congress created a second category, called stored communication, for messages that had been delivered to recipients' inboxes but not yet read. That law, the Stored Communications Act, grants significant protection to e-mail messages, but does not go as far as the wiretap law: it lets prosecutors have access to stored messages with a search warrant, while imposing stricter requirements on parties in civil suits.

    Interestingly, messages that have been read but remain on the Internet provider's computer system have very little protection. Prosecutors can typically gain access to an opened e-mail message with a simple subpoena rather than a search warrant. Similarly, lawyers in civil cases, including divorces, can subpoena opened e-mail messages.

    The case in Boston involved an online bookseller, now called Alibris. In 1998, the company offered e-mail accounts to book dealers and, hoping to gain market advantage, secretly copied messages they received from Amazon.com. In 1999, Alibris and one employee pleaded guilty to criminal wiretapping charges.

    But a supervisor, Bradford C. Councilman, fought the charges, saying he did not know about the scheme. He also moved to have the case dismissed on the ground that the wiretapping law did not apply. He argued that because the messages had been on the hard drive of Alibris's computer while they were being processed for delivery, they counted as stored communication. The wiretap law bans a company from monitoring the communications of its customers, except in a few cases. But it does not ban a company from reading customers' stored communications.

    "Congress recognized that any time you store communication, there is an inherent loss of privacy," said Mr. Councilman's lawyer, Andrew Good of Good & Cormier in Boston.

    In 2003, a federal district court in Boston agreed with Mr. Councilman's interpretation of the wiretap law and dismissed the case. Last week, the First Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-to-1 decision, affirmed that decision.

    Because most major Internet providers have explicit policies against reading their customers' e-mail messages, the ruling would seem to have little effect on most people.

    You can rad the full article here:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/06/technology/06net.html

  8. I had one around the same time as you guys. Used to use it during my 4 mile running days... (which Id still be doing if it wasnt for all this damned asphault out here)

  9. They had a big tribute in LA, which was covered by KCRW, with Stevie Wonder and others performing--but that's a public radio station...Im sure nothing happened of much on ClearChannel or its affiliates

  10. Iranian woman 'gives birth to frog'

    An Iranian newspaper has reported the controversial story of a woman who claims to have given birth to a frog.

    The Iranian daily Etemaad says the creature is believed to have grown from larva to an adult frog inside her body.

    While it is unclear how this could have happened, the paper carries quotes from medical experts who say there are human characteristics to the animal.

    It has been speculated that the woman, who has not been named, unknowingly picked up the larva while she was swimming in a dirty pool.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3844441.stm

  11. But what if you are in California - and what do you think the possibilities are that they can go after a million plus people here. It still needs approved before its a law, and its overkill.

    The bill is stupid, too. What if I purchase an Itunes song and send it myself at home from one computer to another without including my address?

  12. T-Shirts.jpgAt Festivals, Faith, Rock and T-Shirts Take Center Stage

    By JOHN LELAND

    Published: July 5, 2004

    MOUNT UNION, Pa. - By the third day of Creation East, the granddaddy of Christian rock festivals, Dave Lula could pick a winner among the merchandise he was selling. It was a $12 T-shirt of his own design that said "I Mosh for Jesus." The crowd was young, Mr. Lula figured, and this appealed to their sense of humor and independence.

    Advertisement

    Since the summer began, Mr. Lula has lived a nomadic existence, sleeping mainly in his van, part of a new mobile tribe of bootstrap entrepreneurs that has grown up along with the proliferation of Christian rock festivals, mixing creative capitalism with novel expressions of faith.

    At booths all around his at the festival last month, 91 other vendors spread their wares, mostly Christian CD's, T-shirts and hats (the ones reading "I Love Christian Boys" seemed to be the most popular), in a sprawling bazaar that was part mall, part invitation to witness. The tents cleared only for twice-daily sermons.

    "It's kind of a business-slash-ministry," said Mr. Lula, 36, who lives in Los Angeles when he is not on the road. In a summer, he said, he can sell 3,000 shirts.

    "I travel to all the festivals, dozens of them, all summer long, then I do smaller events in California during winter," Mr. Lula said, standing over T-shirts that read, "Hardcore Christian," "Hetero-Boy" and "Religion Is Dead. Jesus Is Not." He said he was not simply selling concert souvenirs. "I feel I'm getting the word of God out," he said.

    Before the rise of the live Christian rock circuit, such overtly Christian merchandise was largely limited to Christian bookstores, which in 2002 did $2.4 billion in business, according to the CBA, formerly the Christian Booksellers Association. But as festivals and tours have multiplied, drawing younger evangelicals who express their faith through alternative music, tattoos and skateboards, they have opened a market for products that do not fit easily into more decorous Christian bookstores.

    Read the full story here:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/05/national/05sell.html?8hpib

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