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Elan:
During Christmas this year I had two experiences much the same. Our local mall had a Dell booth in the middle of the mall selling consumer pc's during the Christmas season. I asked one of the Dell reps if they were selling any pc's that had a trusted platform module. The Dell rep didn't know what a TPM was but did know about the "security chip" that he said he un-installed on his pc (Latitude).
The "Geek Squad" were just that at Best Buy... I had a mob of geeks surrounding me at Best Buy trying to figure out what the heck I was talking about?! They even made several phone calls to finally come up with the answer that "We dont sell any pc's with security chips". I give the geeks an A+ for effort though!
I'm willing to bet within the next three months that we'll all have a different experience! Jeff
Can You Trust China for Outsourcing?
Security concerns continue to dog Chinese suppliers
Can You Trust China for Outsourcing?
Security concerns continue to dog Chinese suppliers
Michael Cooney
While China's outsourcing market continues to grow, recent events highlight nagging concerns. A new study says China's software outsourcing services market reached US$323 million in the first quarter of 2006, up almost 44 percent compared with the first quarter of 2005.
According to Analysys International, Japan is the biggest contracting market to China, accounting for 59 percent of the country's software outsourcing market. Europe and the United States account for 23 percent. The country's leading outsourcing outfits by market share are Neusoft, Hisoft and SinoCom.
Considering how fast the world outsourcing market is growing, it's no surprise that IBM, HP, Microsoft, Siemens, Unisys, Electronic Data Systems and others are all adding staff in China. And even India's outsourcing giants -- Tata, Infosys and WiPro -- have a presence in the country.
But, as in most countries where outsourcing/offshoring is conducted, security concerns are one of the largest issues customers face. India, by far the largest destination for offshored work, has had its share of problems, and it has ongoing programs and plans to try to deal with those issues.
While China hasn't had as many security/outsourcingrelated problems -- that we know of -- the U.S government sent a signal this week that is indicative of underlying concerns that may influence the Chinese outsourcing market: the U.S. government said it doesn't trust one of China's largest manufacturers, Lenovo.
The U.S. Department of State said it won't use Lenovo computers on a classified network because of ongoing concerns about the company's Chinese government ties. The State Department's decision comes after House Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) objected to the use of Lenovo's computers in a classified network connecting U.S. embassies and consulates.
In March, the State Department announced plans to purchase 16,000 Lenovo computers and related equipment for $13 million through a government contractor. While the computers will still be used, they won't play a role in any sensitive government networks.
But one has to wonder if this development will give pause to U.S. firms considering outsourcing work to China. Should this matter?
We would argue yes and no. Yes, obviously you should care about the security implications of outsourcing work to any third party, especially firms overseas where the laws concerning intellectual property and privacy may be looser.
But beyond that, no. China shouldn't be singled out as being particularly dangerous. China and even Russia will likely become world-class players in the outsourcing market, even if our government continues to harbor suspicions.
http://www.oswmag.com/opinions/viewArticle/ARTICLEID=1591
Panasonic to Deliver Reliable Mobile Computing Solutions to Support Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI)
[February 05, 2007]
Panasonic to Deliver Reliable Mobile Computing Solutions to Support Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI)
SECAUCUS, N.J. --(Business Wire)-- Panasonic Computer Solutions Company, the leading provider of durable, reliable wireless mobile PCs, today announced that it has been selected to provide rugged notebook computers to military users as part of EDS' (NYSE: EDS) management of the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI), the Information Technology backbone of the Department of the Navy (DoN).
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NMCI provides the DoN with a full range of network-based information services on a single, enterprise-wide intranet. With Panasonic as part of the alliance, approximately 72,000 NMCI users--from war fighters to civilians--will have access to rugged computers designed to be reliable in mission-critical environments.
With other notebooks, product lifecycles can be a major concern, forcing users to replace computers on a regular basis leaving them without secure and reliable IT resources. By design, the failure rate of Panasonic's rugged Toughbooks is less than two percent, significantly better than the estimated industry average.
"For Panasonic and its valued federal partners and resellers, being able to sell via the NMCI contract is a huge opportunity to build upon our proven track record within the DoN," said Jan O'Hara, senior director, federal division, Panasonic Computer Solutions Company. "We are confident that all NMCI users will benefit from the industry-leading reliability, durability, and enhanced security features available via Toughbooks. This is the result of Panasonic's holistic approach to designing, manufacturing, testing and supporting computers that are built tough, from the inside out."
The Panasonic Toughbooks provided under this contract are ruggedized with cases constructed of magnesium alloy and include shock-mounted and removable hard drives. With battery life of approximately 6 hours, these units are certified to the MIL-STD-810F, tested to withstand drops, shocks, vibration and extremes in temperature. Among the industry's most secure, these Toughbooks come equipped with cable lock slot, the Trusted Platform Module (TPM v1.2) security chip, BIOS-level support for Absolute's Computrace anti-theft application, as well as optional fingerprint scanners. In addition, users have the option of multiple wireless options--WLAN, WWAN, GPS and Bluetooth.
About Panasonic Computer Solutions Company
Panasonic Computer Solutions Company empowers the mobile workforce. The company is a unit of Panasonic Corporation of North America, which is the principal North American subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE: MC). Panasonic has delivered reliable, durable mobile solutions through its Toughbook(R) line of notebook computers for fourteen years and has expanded the boundaries of wireless communications technology through a broad portfolio of products, ranging from fully rugged, industrial strength notebook computers and tablet PCs to semi-rugged and business-rugged thin and light and ultraportable notebooks. A core manufacturer, Matsushita and its subsidiaries control the entire process of design, manufacture, quality assurance, service and support. As a result, Panasonic Toughbooks are known for having the lowest failure rates in the industry. Government, industrial, and commercial users--from Fortune 1,000 companies to small businesses--rely on solutions from Panasonic, wherever their work takes them.
All brand and company/product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective companies. All specifications are subject to change without notice. Information on Panasonic's full line of notebook PCs for the mobile professional can be obtained by calling 800-662-3537 or at http://www.panasonic.com/toughbook.
Live Migration of Virtual Block Devices
http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/announce/thisweeksevents.cfm
Wednesday February 7
4:00, F121 conference room
Live Migration of Virtual Block Devices
Cristian Zamfir (Dept. of Computing Science, University of Glasgow)
We propose a new way to support user mobility by live migrating a user's operating system instance over the network. Previous work includes the Collective and Internet Suspend/Resume projects that have addressed migration of a user's PC by suspending the state and resuming it at a later time. Opposed from previous work, we address live migration of a user's OS instance across low bandwidth links such as DSL links. Live migration is done by pre-copying most of the OS's state while it is still running, achieving very little downtimes and thus preserving network connections. We aim to optimize virtual block devices (VBDs) and memory migration over such commodity network links.
Currently, virtual block device live migration in Xen and VMware relies on highly available network attached storage so that live migration is straight forward from migrating the network stack. This solution works well in a cluster but is not suited for our scenario. We have developed and evaluated a new solution for migrating VBDs based on DRBD, a popular cluster disk mirroring software. We discuss this solution and future work plans to optimize disk live migration for our scenario.
Migrating a user's environment over the network imposes some trust requirements in both the migration hosts and the migrating VMs involved. We discuss the security problems that are inherent to such a scenario and argue that live migration should be enhanced by remote attestation of the migration hosts by using the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) architecture.
There are efforts to use trusted computing techniques in cameras
http://crnano.typepad.com/crnblog/2006/08/selling_sousvei.html
Posted by: Brian Wang | August 16, 2006 at 01:19 AM
There are efforts to use trusted computing techniques in cameras to enable authentication of content recorded by police cameras, both video and still. a signature on produced content would allow it to be produced in court in such a way that one would have the prove that not only was the data tampered with - but that the camera itself was tampered with. it's not perfect, but it's useful.
I think that enforcing anti-sousveillance is going to get about as difficult to enforce as copyright infringement is today - along with patent infringement by the time nanofactories come around. Hell, anti-nanofactory laws themselves will be difficult to enforce - possibly about as much as drug laws are today. Like marijauna, nanofactories can be "cultivated" to make more of it.
So the relevant question isn't so much whether the powers will accept it - but what can they do about it?
Trusted Computing for Nanofactories
http://wise-nano.org/w/Nanofactory_Security_Design#Trusted_Computing_for_Nanofactories
Why to Restrict Nanofactories
There are several distinct motivations for restricting the output of a nanofactory.
Security enforcement
Intellectual Property enforcement
Regional production restrictions
TPM for security and for intellectual property enforcement (and other goals) should be separate, so that circumventions of one TPM do not circumvent the others. Intellectual property pirates should not need to compromise the security protection measures in order to get their "free ride". Otherwise, the much larger community of IP pirates will be forced to become terrorists, as well. While this distinction might sound favorable the IP advocates, a compartmentalized design would be overall safer. Like Trusted Computing, Trusted Manufacturing WILL be cracked, and it is critical that the security design have an equal, if not greater, focus on mitigating the damage circumventions can cause as it does on preventing circumvention.
Trusted Computing for Nanofactories
The Trusted Computing Group publishes technical specifications that are being implemented by computer hardware manufacturers to enable applications a that require a level of trust between interoperating parties with regard to the computing environment. Without hardware support, these applications would not be possible. It is conceivable to implement a similar system within a nanofactory, whereby only approved designs (or classes of designs) can be produced by a consumer nanofactory. Such designs would be cryptographically signed by an appropriate authority (or a sufficient number of recognized authorities - see Distributed Design Authority, below)
[edit]Distributed Security Certification Authority
With any centralized authority, there is the posibility of corruption. Requiring that consumer nanofacotry designs be signed by just a single key creates a single point of failure, both technically, and politically. Corrupt officials may be persuaded, coerced, or duped into approving a dangerous design. A dedicated and well-resourced attacker may also compromise a single key, leaving an entire line of factories with the ability to create any product with the counterfeit signature.
Some jurisdictions may also prefer to impose additional restrictions on consumer nanofactories, over and above security and intellectual property enforcement. Each region would need to create and administer their own certification authorities.
Recent work on distributed reputation systems, such as Credence, shows promise that it may be possible to establish lawful certification authorities on various regional scales of legal jusridiction by implementing the democratic process directly into the nanofactory's design.
(describe how a system like this could work)
(StumbleUpon, Amazon - similar reputation techniques, but centralized)
[edit]Trusted GPS
Is it possible to create a spoof-proof geolocation system? If so, nanofactories could identify which jurisdictions they were operating within, and adjust their restrictions accordingly.
ASUS Announces New Vista Edition Motherboards
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/6964/asus_announces_new_vista_edition_motherboards/index.html
Published: 25th January 2007 @ 11:50 PM
Author: Steve Dougherty
ASUS have extended their motherboard lineup with four new "Vista Edition" offerings based around NVIDIA's nForce 590 SLI, 570 SLI and Intel P965 chipsets.
The boards sport a bunch of new features designed to work soley in line with Microsoft's new Vista operating system, and they are covered in detail both at the Dailytech here, and of course within ASUS's official PR here folks.
Fremont, CA, January 23rd, 2007 – ASUS, the world's motherboard leader, is now offering 4 motherboard models that are designed especially for the new operating system. Packed with unique ASUS features like ScreenDUO, AI Remote, AP Trigger, TPM (Trusted Platform Module) and ASAP (ASUS Accelerated Propeller), ASUS is proud to be the first motherboard manufacturer in the industry to attain the Microsoft Windows Vista™ Premium logo, as well as the one who enriches the Windows Vista™ experience the most.
EVERYBODY has been wrong on this board over the years. Who cares? The only important point is that we're all right about the SCALE of Wave's share price. Whether it's this year or 2010 before that scale is realized.... Wavoids will all look like geniuses to the rest of the world when it's all said and done. Then maybe we'll see a happy ending on a new Wavoid broadway play. I vote for Barge as the leading character!
Microsoft Lifts The Curtain On Vista Ultimate Extras
http://www.opennetworkstoday.com/trends/200701080041005TCSWWD
ZDNET: Microsoft Lifts The Curtain On Vista Ultimate Extras
Jan 8, 2007, 09 :04 EST (0 Talkback[s])
(Other stories by Mary Jo Foley)
"For months know, Microsoft has made it known that it planned to position its downloadable Vista Ultimate Extra add-ons as icing on the top tier of the Vista cake. What Microsoft hadn't made public — until January 7 — was exactly what would be part of the Ultimate line up. But at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2007 kick-off keynote by Bill Gates on Sunday night, Microsoft showed a bit of what Microsoft has planned for the first wave of Ultimate Extras. And at Microsoft's Windows Vista Lab, an event for about 60 bloggers, Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) and Windows community members held in Las Vegas on January 6 and 7, Microsoft officials filled out details on the rest of its Extras strategy.
"Microsoft plans to make available only to Ultimate customers starting on January 30 — the day that that Vista becomes available in the retail channels — the following Extra downloadables:
"A Vista-customized version of the Texas Hold 'Em poker game
"Multi-user interface language (MUIL) packs, designed to allow individuals fluent in different languages to share the same PC. Microsoft plans to make MUILs available for 35 languages, in addition to English. (MUILs also are available to Vista Enterprise customers.)
"BitLocker Online Secure Key Storage. Ultimate customers will be offered a secure place to store their BitLocker encryption keys in the Online Vista Marketplace. That way, if they lose their keys, they will be able to retrieve them over the Web. (BitLocker encryption is a feature of the Ultimate and Vista Enterprise SKUs only.)
"Windows DreamScene, animated wallpaper technology that allows users to run high-resolution video inside the Vista Aero Glass user interface. Microsoft and selected partners, starting with Stardock Corp., will be providing sample content. DreamScene has been known by the codenames "Motion Desktop," and, more recently "Borealis."
"'Digital publications,' a bunch of tips and tricks, blog links and other resources for getting the most out of Ultimate. These are just the first few offerings under the Ultimate Extras banner. Microsoft is planning to roll out downloadables over time, company officials said."
Complete Story
Related Stories:
Redmond Mag: Unfair Fight?(Jan 05, 2007)
Software Journal: Microsoft Exchange 2007 Limits The Right To Use Outlook 2007 Free Of Charge(Jan 02, 2007)
New York Times: Flaws Are Detected In Microsoft's Vista(Dec 26, 2006)
Enterprise Networking Planet: Vista: Pretty Face, Works Well With Others?(Dec 22, 2006)
Computing: Microsoft Blames Vista Insecurity On Third-Party Apps(Dec 21, 2006)
InformationWeek: Open-Source Group Razzes Microsoft With BadVista.org(Dec 19, 2006)
wavxmaster: Especially considering Citigroup is a member of FIXS. Jeff
Ramsey: I agree to an extent but it's under promise and over deliver by projected deadline in my book. So far, we've heard nothing and his publically projected deadline is a week late. Respectfully, Jeff
TVTonic Turns Internet Video into 'Real' TV Experience
Published: Aug 12, 2006
http://www.onlinereporter.com/site_pages/article.php?article_id=7419
Way back in 2003, before the general public had ever heard the term
"weblog," never mind "blog," Wavexpress launched what was
essentially the first video blog for US presidential candidate
Howard Dean. The company's TVTonic Direct video-caching technology
powered the "Howard Dean TV" section of the former Vermont
governor's Web site, delivering full-screen DVD-quality video over a
broadband connection.
When it first launched TVTonic, Wavexpress used a couple different
business models. It offered its own "channels" of the TVTonic client
software. While some of the channels were free to view with the
$1.95 monthly subscription fee or included in a $2-a-month bundle,
some premium channels were priced on a per-channel basis.
The second business model, the one that led to "Howard Dean TV," was
to license its technology to third-parties wanting to offer high-
quality video on their Web sites. Wavexpress also had hopes of
partnering with cable TV operators to include its services with
their broadband offerings.
Three years later a number of online video providers are still
working on ways to deliver the video quality that TVTonic had back
then.
Despite the technical quality of video over the Internet, one thing
that content providers have learned is that consumers don't want to
be bothered with a bunch of little monthly charges, especially with
the ever-growing amount of free video available on the Web.
Internet Video Goes to the Living Room
So, Wavexpress spent much of 2005 revamping its business model into
one that looks like it will have a bright future. Earlier this year,
it launched an updated version of TVTonic that's tightly integrated
with Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 to deliver a
"10-foot" experience for Internet video. According to Wavexpress
president and COO Michael Sprague, his company is trying to "turn
Internet video into a 'real' TV experience."
As has been the case since TVTonic first launched, the content is
delivered in the background and cached on the PC's hard drive, so
it's there and ready to watch whenever the user tunes in. It works
like a DVD, with pause, rewind and fast-forwarding through a
program. "We want to take a lot of the work away from a user," said
Sprague. "When one thing ends, the next begins, just like on TV."
Available through Media Center's Online Spotlight feature, TVTonic
lets users select content from an on-screen guide. The TVTonic
program guide lists the company's "featured" channels that offer
high-quality licensed content as well a list of about 150 other
channels comprising RSS feeds that the company provides because they
have content that works well in the Media Center environment,
Sprague said.
The new TVTonic viewing experience was designed to be watched from
the sofa and controlled with a remote and help consumers "get into a
video experience where the content is always fresh," said Sprague.
The channels with content licensed from Wavexpress partners deliver
video in high-definition or DVD-quality and are similar to
traditional television in that they're ad-supported. TVTonic ads
play between videos, just like a TV channel, so there no annoying
pop-ups to remind the user that the video comes from the Internet.
Wavexpress shares the ad revenue with its content partners. Channels
delivered via RSS are ad-free.
Create Your Own Channels
In addition to the feeds that Wavexpress provides, users can
subscribe to their favorite RSS (Really Simple Syndication) video
feeds and add them as channels to create a truly individual TV
experience. Users can assign how much hard drive space they want to
dedicate to their TVTonic channels.
When a user subscribes to video channels, TVTonic will automatically
update the channels whenever new content becomes available. Although
an Internet connection is required to download new content, it's not
necessary to be connected to watch TVTonic channels.
Consumers who don't have a Media Center PC can watch TVTonic within
the Internet Explorer window on a PC.
According to Sprague, the main competition for TVTonic comes from
other RSS video readers, although, he says, most others are "built
around a desktop experience," while TVTonic is designed for more of
a true TV experience. Other competition comes from TV channels like
Comedy Central or MTV, which offer similar content to TVTonic
channels.
It doesn't compete directly with the Akimbo service, Sprague said,
because much of the Akimbo content was originally produced for TV.
AOL's In2TV, iTunes or any of the other sites offering downloads or
streams of television shows don't qualify as direct competition
either. This, according to Sprague, is because rather than bring TV
to the Web, TVTonic focuses on bringing original Internet video
content to the TV.
Sprague also pointed out that TVTonic isn't trying to be another
YouTube with millions of videos. "YouTube is not an experience
you're going to watch in the living room," he said. When folks watch
TV, they expect a continuous stream; they don't want to watch a
three-minute video and then have to search for what to watch next.
"TV has been wildly successful for 50 years largely because there's
no need to search," said Sprague. "There's always something there to
watch."
That's the type of experience Wavexpress hopes to deliver with
TVTonic. In the next few weeks the service will have a new featured
channels section in its programming guide, along with a bunch of new
channels. The company is also working with Microsoft to get TVTonic
integrated with the upcoming Windows Vista operating system.
How will the company know if its new business model is successful?
Well, according to Sprague, "We ask, 'Can I keep someone entertained
in the living room for 15-20 minutes?' If so, then I've done my
job."
Wavexpress Channels
Wavexpress programs a number of channels which provide the best of
the Net in different genres. In some cases content will come from
many different sources, but in all cases, Wavexpress editors pick
the best clips and program the channels to provide a consistent and
reliable entertainment experience.
Rawdio: Rawdio is TVTonic's own alternative music video channel. It
serves the best in indie pop, college rock, electronica and
beyond. Videos are sourced from Warner Bros, Astralwerks, V2
Records, Mute, Sub-Pop, Beggars Group/Matador and others.
GTtv: GTtv is "the" place for hardcore and casual gamers with
reviews, previews, interviews and event coverage - many in HD.
Produced in association with Gametrailers.com.
Toon Hut: Toon Hut is an animation station presenting creative and
off-the-wall animated shorts from around the globe.
TechTonic: TechTonic is a tekkie's paradise featuring the best tech-
related video
podcasts from Microsoft, indie wunderkinds Revision 3 and more.
MoviePick: MoviePick provides instant access to the most up-to-the-
minute trailers
for current/upcoming films and interviews with the stars and
creators. Content is provided by Hollywood.com.
The News: The News delivers the latest stories 24 hours a day as
they unfold
around the world. The channel is produced in affiliation with the
Associated Press.
Cartoon Cow: Toons for the kids featuring new and classic animation
from Warner Bros, Fleischer Studios (Popeye, Betty Boop,
Superman), Art Clokey (Gumby) and more.
(c)2006 MAY NOT BE COPIED OR FORWARDED BY E-MAIL, POSTED TO A WEB
SITE, FAXED OR COPIED IN WHOLE OR IN PART.
We've got an in to TV.
http://blip.tv/about/
We've got an in to TV.
We're sending our top shows directly to the television set with Internet video on demand. And that's just the start. We believe that your show should be indistinguishable from a show on a broadcast network in terms of how people find and watch it. We're working hard to make this happen.
Interesting...
http://issj.sys-con.com/read/317307.htm
Starring Amanda Congdon' Show Launches on blip.tv With Major Sponsor Support
New videoblog sponsored by Dove Cream Oil Body Wash and Paltalk
By: PR Newswire
Dec. 21, 2006 06:12 PM
Digg This!
NEW YORK, Dec. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Blip.tv, a service that hosts and distributes videoblogs and Web-based TV shows, announced today that videoblogger Amanda Congdon will launch her new show "Starring Amanda Congdon" this Friday, December 22nd. The show will be hosted on blip.tv and is one of the first videoblogs to debut with the support of significant sponsors.
"Starring Amanda Congdon" is sponsored by Dove Cream Oil Body Wash, a new Unilever product available in February 2007 and by Paltalk, the largest video chat community on the Internet.
"This is a turning point for both videobloggers and the advertising industry. It's great to see top brands like Dove and Paltalk pave the way by tapping into the uniquely loyal audience of a videoblogger like Amanda Congdon," said blip.tv COO Dina Kaplan. "Advertisers that have wanted to tap into the growth of online video but have been concerned about random and unpredictable viral videos have now found an outlet in independently produced shows like Amanda's."
Dove is sponsoring the videoblog to promote a contest, hosted at http://www.dovecreamoil.com/, inviting people to create a 30-second advertisement for Dove Cream Oil Body Wash. The winning spot will air during this year's Academy Awards and the winners flown to a private viewing party in Los Angeles. Amanda has set up a wiki, at amandacongdon.com/wiki/, where viewers will work together to create a script for a Dove Cream Oil ad that Amanda will shoot and star in herself.
"The Dove brand is excited to partner with a great new media personality. Amanda's experience in the videoblogging space makes her an excellent fit for a consumer-generated video campaign," said Babs Rangaiah, Unilever's USA Director of Media and Entertainment. "It allows us to tap into her viewership, which includes a large number of content creators."
"More than anything else, I consider myself a videoblogger, and these sponsorships are evidence that the world is continuing to take notice of our community," said Amanda Congdon.
As part of the sponsorship, Amanda will participate in live online video chats powered by Paltalk.
Blip.tv will distribute Amanda Congdon's videoblog to the show's site http://www.starringamandacongdon.com/ and to iTunes and MySpace. The show will also be featured on blip.tv's destination site at http://www.blip.tv/.
About blip.tv
Blip.tv hosts, distributes and monetizes independent Web-based TV shows and videoblogs from around the world. Founded in May 2005, the company distributes media throughout the Web: to blogs, iTunes, the video iPod, MySpace and myriad video search engines and aggregators. The company offers an opt-in advertising program and splits all revenues with its users 50/50. Blip.tv also brings videos to people's TV sets through partnerships with Akimbo and TV Tonic. In an August 2006 review, Light Reading ranked blip.tv the #1 online video sharing site. To learn more, please visit http://www.blip.tv/
About Unilever
Unilever , one of the world's largest consumer products companies, aims to add vitality to life by meeting everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene and personal care. Each day, around the world, consumers make 150 million decisions to purchase Unilever products. The company has a portfolio of brands that make people feel good, look good and get more out of life.
In the United States these brands include recognized names such as: Axe, "all," Ben & Jerry's, Bertolli, Breyers, Caress, Country Crock, Degree, Dove personal care products, Hellmann's, Lipton, Knorr, Popsicle, Promise, Q-Tips, Skippy, Slim-Fast, Snuggle, Suave and Vaseline. All of the preceding brand names are registered trademarks of the Unilever Group of Companies. Dedicated to serving consumers and the communities where we live, work and play, Unilever in the United States employs more than 15,000 people in 74 office and manufacturing sites in 24 states and Puerto Rico - generating more than $9 billion in sales in 2005. For more information visit http://www.unileverusa.com/.
About Paltalk
Paltalk (http://www.paltalk.com/) is the largest video chat community on the Internet, with over four million active members participating in live voice-and video-enabled chat rooms. Our patented technology allows thousands of simultaneous users to communicate via video and audio all in the same chat room. The Paltalk Messenger is compatible with leading instant messaging (IM) services, allowing users to transfer existing buddy lists, to combine all their contacts and talk to friends who use other IM programs. Founded in 1998, Paltalk is a privately held company based in New York. Paltalk also owns and operates HearMe (http://www.hearme.com/), a B2B Web conferencing service. Paltalk was the first company to launch video and voice combined with an on-line buddy list in one package.
blip.tv
CONTACT: Todd Barrish, Dukas Public Relations, +1-212-704-7385,
todd@dukaspr.com
Barge : I just had to give you a **** for this post! Strictly from a self proclaimed "elitest" perspective! Hope you're not offended not being included in my elitest group?! But you do know that you're simply crazy thinking outside the confines of what SKS said! Not until 2008 man! SKS said so!!! You're an idiot not to take him at his word! But hey, if you belonged to my elitest group THEN you could have free reign to lay the Spraguester out man! Please join my (one person group) and be free! Be free man!
Here's a post to keep this ON TOPIC:
http://daledietrich.com/gaming/
Australia Copyright Reform to Explicitly Permit Region-Code Mod Chips
Posted: Wednesday, December 6, 2006 at 5:23 pm - By: Dale Dietrich
Text of Copyright Amendment Bill 2006
In stark contrast to American and British modding decisions and copyright law, Australia is set to amend its copyright laws to make it legal for consumers to purchase/use mod chips that circumvent anti-piracy technology (TPMs and DRM) built into game consoles when used to overcome region-coding measures that restrict the use of DVDs and games titles purchased legally in other regions. Most of the Copyright Amendment Bill 2006 passed through both houses of Parliament, will become law by January 1, 2007.
Dale's Comment: This doesn't really change the law in Australia because, as you can see from the related posts below, Australian courts had held that such modding did not breach Australian copyright and anti-circumvention laws. As far as I can tell, these amendments merely codify the existing case-law. These amendments may be important though because it was thought that Australia's recent free-trade agreement with the United States may have resulted in copyright reform to explicitly overrule existing mod-chip case-law.
Sources: Gamasutra | P2PNet | News.com.au | Austrian IT | Kotaku | FAQ
Encrypted Hard Disk Keeps Secrets
http://elecdesign.com/Articles/ArticleID/14234/14234.html
Encrypted Hard Disk Keeps Secrets
William Wong | ED Online ID #14234 | December 15, 2006
Lock down your data without paying a performance penalty with Seagate s Momentus 5400 FDE.2 2.5-in. secure hard-disk drive with DriveTrust (see the figure). It incorporates full-disk, 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) hardware-based encryption in addition to a number of new features. For example, its secure, hidden partitions can be used to store information such as additional encryption keys or capability tokens. The drives have a 1.5-Gbit/s Serial ATA interface and can store up to 160 Gbytes of data. DriveTrust security starts with pre-boot authentication that s compatible with most current BIOS implementations. The entire hard disk is always encrypted and accessible only after the proper boot password is provided. Hardware encryption support means performance is the same as a non-encrypted version. It also is completely transparent to an operating system.
Additionally, DriveTrust doesn't implement multilevel security. Instead, it adds support for small, secure, hidden partitions that can be accessed by applications utilizing the DriveTrust application programming interface (API). The size of the hidden area, which is fixed for each drive, typically is on the order of 1% of the drive about the same amount that s reserved for defect recovery.
This hidden area can be broken up into smaller chunks, and it s only accessible via additional keys. It can be used to store information such as authentication certificates. Furthermore, it could be used to implement multilevel security support with software encryption.
Seagate s DriveTrust software adds password management support for the secure partitions as well as emergency password recovery support. It also provides access to the secure erase feature, which includes on-the-fly quick erase.
This approach makes it relatively simple to incorporate an encrypted hard drive into an embedded application. For example, a secure micro-controller with on-chip key storage can store the drive's access password, which is only supplied when it boots or accesses the drive, preventing its removal and use on another system.
The added security of Seagate s DriveTrust architecture puts a premium price on the drives. But it should cost less than $99, which tends to be less than even low-end software-based solutions. Of course, the software approach adds overhead and reduces security, while users and applications now demand higher levels of security. Incorporating a drive like the Momentus 5400 FDE.2 may be one way to up your embedded ante.
Seagate
www.seagate.com
The tech posters have already evaluated this.... Cmon! Interfacing to the TPM = Wave. We have seen nothing thus far to displace this theory?!
Cryptographic Module Validation Program
FIPS 140-1 and FIPS 140-2 Pre-Validation List
Updated 12/8/2006
http://csrc.nist.gov/cryptval/140-1/140PreVal.pdf
More...
Employing Encryption to Combat Data Theft.
Derek Tumulak, Ingrian Networks
In the wake of continued data thefts and security breaches and increasingly rigorous security and privacy mandates, encryption of data at rest is becoming a necessity for about any organization that manages sensitive customer or employee data. This presentation will provide an overview of the industry mandates for encryption of data at rest, an overview of the pros and cons of various encryption solutions, and offer best practices for deploying an encryption solution.
Twenty-Second Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC)
Practical Solutions To Real World Security Problems
December 11-15, 2006
Miami Beach Resort and Spa
Miami Beach, FL, USA
http://www.acsac.org/2006/advance_program.html
Track 3: Case Studies
Title: Case Studies
Chair: Ed Giorgio, Booz Allen Hamilton
Trusted Storage.
Dave Anderson, Seagate Research
Storage Systems, such as disk drives, and other computing-system peripherals are critical components of a security, privacy, and trust configuration of a computing platform. This session provides a framework with which to understand why and how peripheral devices should be secured as independent roots of trust. The framework provides a generic security model for all peripheral devices, and shows how peripherals can be configured as roots of trust, each playing a complementary role in establishing the overall security and privacy goals of platform-based and networked computing.
The session begins with security measures for storage systems that exist today and their relative effectiveness. It will then go into where and how to secure access control of the storage system, discussing in detail what needs to be controlled and how to grant control in a secure manner.
The Trusted Computing Group's Trusted Storage Use Cases will be reviewed in depth, highlighting the technical requirements being solved by the formal specifications. Relationships and cooperation with other industry storage standards (eg, SCSI and ATA) will be discussed, and the TCG's specification for secure and trusted storage will be outlined.
Putting Trust into the Network: Securing Your Network through Trusted Access Control.
Steve Hanna, Juniper Networks
Today, client network connection requests are granted or denied based on the client's ability to prove their credentials, including passwords, machine certificates and user certificates. This approach ignores the possibility that the client platform contains malicious code (e.g. viruses, Trojans, malware) that spreads through the network once IP connectivity is granted. Trusted Computing and its hardware elements provide the most reliable and secure method to ascertain end-point integrity for clients seeking connectivity to a network. Through trusted network connection protocols and trusted platform mechanisms, platforms can be authenticated before being given full network connectivity. This speaker will address the architecture, applications, status of the Trusted Network Connect specification which is backed by more than 90 companies and also discuss how to properly implement it.
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004975.php
Is the DMCA Coming Down Under? New Copyright Bill on Fast-Track in Australia
October 31, 2006
As a result of a Free Trade Agreement between Australia and the U.S. that came into force in 2005, Australia is required to rewrite its current, relatively flexible, technological protection measure law by 1 January 2007, to make it more like the DMCA. A serious policy debate on how to frame a DRM law that does the least damage to consumers, scientific research, technological innovation and competition has been underway in Australia for several years. In February, a landmark Australian parliamentary committee report with consumer and technology-friendly recommendations for Australia’s rewrite process also pointed the way for other countries seeking a sensible response to the U.S. effort to export its unbalanced DMCA regime through recent free trade agreements. But many of the insights from that policy debate could be lost if the 219 page Copyright Amendment Bill, currently being fast-tracked through Australia’s Parliament, is passed. Apart from rewriting Australia’s current TPM law, the Bill would also make a number of sweeping changes to Australian copyright law, including introducing new criminal penalties.
After the jump we explain what’s in the Bill and what concerned Australians can do.
UPDATE:
Submissions to the Australian Senate Committee tasked with reviewing the Bill have now been published. There are over 50 submissions posted. Here are some great submissions we've read and recommend: Dale Clapperton and Prof. Stephen Corones from QUT's great submission on TPMs and interoperability and competition issues, Prof. Brian Fitzgerald and QUT team's submission on proposed criminal provisions, and Kim Weatherall's submission on the deficiencies in the proposed format shifting exception (i.e. it won't cover iPods in particular, and MP3 players used outside of the home) and other issues raised by the Bill; and Electronic Frontiers Australia on TPM and fair dealing issues.
--
The Bill makes Australia's TPM law more like the DMCA. After the AUSFTA it was inevitable that there would be some movement in that direction. But what's surprising is that the final version of the bill released on October 19 differs in a key respect from the Exposure Draft issued a month ago. The first version linked the scope of legal protection for DRM to copyright infringement. That’s good policy. It’s also consistent with current Australian law and the key recommendation of the February 2006 Australian House of Representatives’ Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee report on TPM exceptions. The new version does not make that crucial connection, and therefore creates a broader TPM ban.
While the new version’s TPM ban is broader, the Bill does contain two carve-outs: First, there’s no legal protection for region-coding access control technologies on video games and DVDs. That is likely to avoid some of the potentially anti-competitive impacts of geographic market segmentation via TPMs – a practice that involves no copyright right. The carve-out is presumably designed to preserve the 2005 Australian High Court ruling in the Sony v. Stevens PlayStation modchip case, but unfortunately, does so in the narrowest possible way. Second, there’s an attempt to exclude misuses of TPM provisions on embodied computer programs like the printer cartridge and garage door opener cases invoking the DMCA.
How bad is the last minute change in language? Even Australia's top legal minds are unsure of the precise impact. Unless the bill is delayed there will be no opportunity to assess that before the highly complex bill is pushed to a speedy vote.
But that’s not the only problem with the bill. It also creates new criminal penalties for copyright infringement. It introduces new summary and strict liability offences and criminal penalties for non-commercial infringement. These rules would apply to children as young as 14, and could make everyday Australians criminals for uploading lip-synched videos to YouTube and other commonplace activities.
While expanding penalties, the bill also rolls back copyright exceptions. The good news is that it creates new exceptions for time and space shifting that were recommended in this year’s Fair Use inquiry. The bad news is that because of muddy drafting it's not clear that the Bill will actually legalize space shifting of music to portable music players The Bill also narrows the current "fair dealing" exception for study and research involving copying of literary, dramatic and musical works. It creates a new parody exception, but frames it in a murky way that invites lawsuits.
There’s further analysis of the bill’s far-reaching impacts in this op-ed from Professor Brian Fitzgerald and at Kim Weatherall’s excellent blog.
The bill is currently before the Australian Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, which is due to issue its report on November 10. A public hearing will take place on November 7.
The deadline for making formal submissions has now closed, but concerned Australian citizens can still:
- Email or call your MP and express your concern that this complex bill is being rushed through the Parliamentary process without adequate opportunity for debate and an assessment of the impact of the proposed changes on Australian consumers, families, educators and the scientific community. You should ask your MP to stop the introduction of any new criminal provisions and any changes not directly required by the AUSFTA until there has been adequate time for informed public debate. (Only the trade agreement's DRM provisions are required to be in place by January 1, 2007).
MPs contact details are here.
- If your state's Senators are on the Senate Standing Committee for Legal and Constitutional Affairs, email or call them to express your concerns and ask them to record your views in the Committee's report, then reiterate your request to hold back new criminal provisions and other proposed changes that are not directly required by the free trade agreement until there's been an appropriate assessment of their impact.
The Committee members for this inquiry are Senators Payne (Chair), Ludwig, Crossin, Kirk, Trood, Brandis, Scullion and Bartlett.
Contact Details for all Senators are available at here.
http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/senators/homepages/index.asp?sort=state.
Wave mention. Ineteresting Army and AirForce mention. Jeff
http://www.voicestick.com/downloads/PressReleases/10-02-06.doc
Webcast Alert: i2 Telecom International, Inc. Announces Its i2 Telecom Small Cap Forum Webcast
Presentation & Audio
Atlanta, GA, October 2 -- i2 Telecom International, Inc. announces the following Webcast:
Snackman: Done. Moved on. Wish you the best. Jeff
I re-read my posts from last night and still have no clue why posters here think i'm bashing Wave or throwing the towel in at this point? The insecurity here is incredible. My friends who are relatively new investors in Wave unilaterally had the same opinion about Stevens presentation. They only have maybe one or two past cc's to have formed their opinion. My dissapointment is drawn mostly from theirs. Go back three years and review my posts about Steven and management. I think you'll find i've been their biggest fan all along. Still am. BUT, I'm sticking to what I personally thought about Stevens presenation as well. Obviously (to a few at least), I just provided a bad presentation of my own last night on this board. Haven't we all from time to time over the years. But, if my opinion is offending, betraying or simply "hogwash" or "annoying" in nature then so be it. No insecurity here. Early congrats to everybody invested in Wave at this time. It's gonna be a wonderful ride. You're all wonderful people. Out. Jeff
I wasn't posting in YOUR community (AB). Relax.
Gray to me. To over ten of my relatively new investor friends who have listened to the last two cc's. A dog. Hence, my opinion of the NOW. Jeff
Barge: No doubt about what you're saying concerning the future of Wave. But, headfakes are BS. SKS has little or no influence on Dell pc sales. I do think / believe your last line. Triple digits are a possibility! Jeff
Snack: I have always respected your opinion. Show me the same courtesy and HEAR what i'm saying. I'm not trashing SKS or management in general. You dont need to convince me of where we're going and with whom. I already know those answers. I know Steven has his hands tied with NDA's. BUT, don't say anything (SKS) if you can't ellaborate?! SKS says 1 million FDE drives next year and I find that to be hedging in its finest form. Snack, don't insult me by attempting to pidgeonhole me. It's not black and white dude. I'm in the gray relative to THIS cc. I believe (as you say) the next seven weeks will tell a diifferent tale. A tale that is so much different from what SKS dicatated in the last cc (to the good). Be careful of giving too much credit for the "deals" that SKS closes. He does have a pretty dynamic team both above and below. Jeff
Guv:
"- SEAGATE FDE: starting in 07’. conservatively expect 1mm units to ship as options. What is Secude/Wave ratio of 1mm units at $3 (don’t hold yer breath), not much coin in 07. BTW, some sampling shipped out already yet we have no pricing deal in place with SG yet?? Hmmm. Nice to know the HDD TPM will have very little impact on performance and can be managed with EKTM. slow but a contract would be nice"
Slow and a contract would be nice? HS. Hedge. hedge. hedge. I believe SKS should have said NOTHING if he wasn't able to elaborate on this space. He missed the boat here IMO. Jeff
Snack: You know I heard all the good. The future is brighter than ever. SKS wil be on the cover of Forbes someday in the foreseable future. But my immediate DISAPPOINTMENT is healthy. I have to be true to my gut. When I read posts of frustration from Tampa and Gokite that have such tremendous credability and reason my gut tells me to listen and experience the NOW. SKS flopped in THIS cc. Snack, there is a vast difference between complaining and shear dissapointment. This last cc is worthy of dissapointment. SKS hedged again. I thought we were past all the hedging.... Finally. I don't know the reason. I dont know the motive. Given if I were in his position I might have responded the very same way considering his current paradigm. But IT WAS WHAT IT WAS at a time where it just doesn't make any sense? My timeframe was established by SKS. That timeframe is still in tact I BELIEVE. But his tone and words dictated something different. He may have a perfect reason but again the cc WAS WHAT IT WAS. A DOG. Jeff
My take on the cc... I wasn't so much dissapointed about my revenue expectations not being met as I was that Steven clearly exposed himself and many loyal longs on this board to the "Sprague speak" forum once again. I felt it was so unecessary considering where we are in this journey. He sounded like a completely different CEO in comparison to recent cc's. He may have a million reasons that we may never know or understand but from the bleachers I have to say he flopped this time. Hope he gets back on track in his next public venue. Jeff
Doma: Still LMAO on a Friday night. Nice attempt to spin partner (2008/2009-ish?)LOL. Can't wait for unclever transcripts because SKS didn't say the consumer space would start in 2008 and I know he didn't say massive consumer TPM deployment in 2009 either. Jeff
Posted by: Doma
In reply to: scorpio_esq who wrote msg# 132244 Date:11/2/2006 5:31:10 AM
Post #of 133131
scorpio.....massive consumer TPM deployment
= 2009...........
Doma.
Posted by: Doma
In reply to: Whitewash who wrote msg# 133050 Date:11/10/2006 9:39:38 AM
Post #of 133131
Whitewash..............LMAO!
I said 2008/2009 for mass Consumer adoption
& SKS said Consumer space Starting in 2008
so excuse me if i LMAO at your 2007 prediction!
Doma.
Doma: You need to use your listening ears... SKS did say we would see consumer business in 2007. Jeff
Doma: I'll tell you just as soon as you explain where your 2009 theory comes from? LMAO. Jeff
cm: I hear you brother.. I've been known to wear my "Wave Goggles" on a Friday night or two in the past LOL. Jeff
cm: I cut and pasted that remark from Vacations post. She heard what I thought I heard. I don't think she was trying to perfectly quote anything just expressing what she thought she heard. Hope you had a good nights sleep.
Internet: If you tie SKS's comments about Authentication support for Vista with his comments about his developers working their arses off trying to make final tweeks due to Vista changes then I think you get a pretty good idea of the relationship level between Wave and Microsoft. The importance of the upcoming Vista rollout as it relates to our investment in Wave. Jeff
Vaca: Excellent book! I bought it for my daughter when she was 9. She's sitting next to me right now as a fully developed teenager and your post is bringing back some wonderful memories. One of my favorite reads too:) My investment in Wave is for her anyhow! Have a good night! Jeff