Norton Anti-Virus Exploit

There is a buffer overflow problem in Norton Anti-Virus. It exist in both Windows and OSX version of the product. The ironic thing is, in essense your OSX is only vunlnerable to this attack if you install Norton. So installing Norton Anti-Virus for OSX actaully makes your OSX less secure.

Python's Father Is Now A Google Employee

Guido has started his new job at Google. So now Google has both the Right Hand of Java and Father of Python. I think Ruby guys can give up their dream of Google switching to Ruby.

Fake Santa Visit On IM

Santa IM worm is out visiting people on AIM, MSN, and Yahoo. It installs a root kit, not a very happy Santa.

ThinCRT Has Landed

Finally, Samsung's Thin CRTs are here. They are now under the brand "SlimFit". That took a while, I still remember the prototypes from Jan 2004 in CES.

Gmail For Mobile Device

Finally, Gmail now has a version that's been optimized for mobile devices. Point your cell phone or what not to http://m.gmail.com

Trails, Rail The Java Way

Want to try Ruby on Rails, but you prefer Java? Try Trails The development is being hosted here

Java Overtook C++ in SourceFroge

On November 24th, Java overtook C++ as the most popular language for SourceForge hosted project.

Microsoft Office Format A Open Standard?

Microsoft in an effort to fight off OpenOffice's format being adapted by a lot of organizations and countries, has attempt to create an open version of their file formats and submit it to ECMA. “Additional standards give you more choice over a period of time,” Alan Yates, general manager, business strategy with Microsoft’s information worker group, said Wednesday. “Governments should be open to both [Open XML and OpenDocument] and whatever else is rolling down the street. Choosing both is really wise.” Yes, it's so wise that really, I wish everyone uses two different versions of HTTP, TCP/IP, SMTP, SSL, etc. Besides, As Andrew Tanenbaum once said, "Standards are great because you have so many to choose from."

Widgets The Google Way

Only took a day for Google to repond to Yahoo Widgets. They are taking the remote widget idea a step further. All widgets are stored on remove server. Your Google homepage is the Widget Plane. Unsure how I feel about this yet.

Yahoo Widget 3.0 aka Konfabulator 3.0 Released

Yahoo Widget formerly known as Konfabulator has been updated to version 3.0. Now before you start saying "It's just an marketing upgrade", please read version history. I've been a firm believer of intergration via a bunch of smaller applications instead of a single big application. I much rather using a Calender Widget to view my Yahoo Calendar, instead of using a single application which integrates Email, News, everything. Yes, I'm talking about Google Desktop. I prefer smaller unit apps these days. There was a time I thought the Mozilla mega suite approach was the way to go. But I've come around to the Thunderbird/FireFox/Sunbird's way of thinking.

Yahoo Stays On Top

Yahoo is number 1! Yahoo is number 1!

Mediaplay Closing

So I stopped by Mediaplay tonight, which is part of my routine. I normally stop by at least once to twice a week, sometimes more. There are so many nights where I go "Oh, it's 9 PM, if I hurry, I can still make it to Mediaplay." I found out tonight that Mediaplay is closing national wide. All 61 stores, including the 4 in Columbus Ohio will be closed by January. So many of the people there were like "Oh, I'm going to miss seeing you." This has been one of my hangouts since the mid 90s. It will leave a terrible void. I feel bad for the people there. They didn't find out till yesterday afternoon. And the news hit this morning in Columbus Dispatch. The liquidation sale starts tomorrow morning at 9 AM. So long, you’ll be missed.

The Mediaplay I've spent countless hours in.

Cyber Merc, for Hire

Yet another sign of the Information Age upon us. Someone is trying to auction off his research on an Excel vulnerability.

Gmail RSS Reader

Gmail's RSS Reader is now live. Good example of AJAX usage.

The Sorry State of US Patent Laws

If there ever was a case that point out how US Patent laws and US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is so broken, this is it. After 4 years of this, USPTO goes "Oops, you know, the patent probably shouldn't be issued in the first place"?! I mean, this has gotten so bad that India is creating a Traditional Knowledge Digital Library which compiles the country's traditional medicine in an effort to stop people from claiming them as their own and patenting them.

Sony Root Kit Saga Part 2

Sony needs to stop patching. Their patch is making the problem worse every time. Frankly, if you are one of the people who got hit by this, reinstall, it's the only way to be sure. Meanwhile, in at least two states, lawsuits have been filed against Sony by the State government. Hopefully this will deter other big companies from doing stupid things like this that step all over consumer's rights.

Talking Virus

I wonder when someone was gonna do this. I mean, I remember back a few years ago I piped Eliza to AIM to fool J into having a conversation with it/me. And of course, let's not forget AOL's latest push with their own official bots.

Linux Unified Desktop hit next milestone

The effort to unify Linux desktop has hit another milestone. Portland project is now officially a go.

The world finally realize AMD cpus are better.

ZD Net did a dual core shoot out here. AMD totally blow passes Intel. Maybe the general public will finally realize what most of us know for sometime. AMD chips are cheaper faster, and more efficient.

Apache 2.2 released

Apache 2.2 has been released. This is a major step for me, because this means no more messing around with mod_jk2. While mod_jk2 was nice, too many people felt it was too complex. So it was abandoned. Now we have mod_proxy_ajp and mod_proxy_balancer built right into apache itself. Will make setting up load balancing apache+tomcat so much easier.