The Important Part

Before going into the technical aspects, let’s start with the people. The Wall Street Journal describes Mr. King as “… a 46-year-old engineer from Livermore, Calif., [who] works for a company that mines computers for evidence in legal cases. He travels a lot for business…” Nothing about this description makes me think Mr. King is a networking security expert.

By way of background, Ethernet is a set of hardware and software rules/standards/protocols that computers on a Local Area Network (LAN) use to communicate. Ethernet used to have competition in the marketplace, but those days are over.

With that in mind, todays topic is an article about Wi-Fi security by Joseph De Avila that appeared on page D1 of the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday January 16th. See Wi-Fi Users, Beware: Hot Spots Are Weak Spots.

Beats me why major newspapers don’t hire computer techies to write about computer topics. Even worse, neither newspaper has the computer nerds on staff review articles for technical mistakes. Puzzling.

Who can argue with the main point being made here, that wired Internet connections are safer than wireless?

And Ethernet is not the only weak link in the security chain. The podcast describes software that can decrypt some normally encrypted data. “And in some cases, where you have weakly authenticator protocols, like Windows Remote Desktop that really doesn’t provide any kind of authentication, man-in-the-middle and complete decryption attacks are easily performed. I mean, it is really bad.” said Steve Gibson.

Exhibit A supporting this claim is Episode #29, Ethernet Insecurity, of Steve Gibson’s Security Now podcast. (transcript, 64K audio, 16K audio). This podcast, which explains the security problems inherent in a wired Ethernet network, was a huge eye-opener to me when I first heard it.

If anyone you know, ever intends to use a wired Ethernet connection at a hotel, then tell them to read this posting. And get a VPN.

As Steve put it “… one bad person in a hotel could arrange to, without much work, literally intercept all the traffic going to and from the hotel’s gateway so that all of the email conversations, all of the traffic of any sort that is being transacted by every other hotel guest, they’re able to monitor and intercept.”

I could write a whole blog about correcting computer articles in newspapers, pointing out mistakes and omissions. Many times I have corrected and expanded on articles in the Wall Street Journal by Walter Mossberg, but I’ve also griped about mistakes in the other newspaper I read regularly, my hometown New York Times. Back in May, on my previous blog, my comments
on an article that David Pogue wrote in the Times about data cartridges for backing up computer files
prompted a surprising rebuttal from Mr. Pogue.

The explanation of the vulnerabilities gets somewhat technical and includes terms such as ARP, MAC addresses, IP addresses, malicious ARP replies, NICs, man-in-the-middle attacks, ARP Poison Routing, ARP spoofing, sniffing and promiscuous mode. In simple terms, a bad guy can get in the middle of all Internet conversations (us nerds call this “traffic”). Web pages, email messages and everything else coming and going to the Internet can be intercepted and logged.

You don’t read PC magazine for mutual fund advice, and you shouldn’t read the Wall Street Journal for computer advice.

Update. February 18, 2008: For more on this see Defending against insecure hotel networks with a VPN.

The vast majority of the article is well done, but not the last paragraph. It offers the following advice from someone named John King, who “… avoids Wi-Fi at hotels in favor of high-speed connections that plug into his laptop. He says he uses Wi-Fi to check email and stock listings if that’s the only means available, but only if he’s sure of the signal. ‘I won’t go on a wireless access point that I’m not confident in,’ he says.”

While the term LAN may invoke a small network, such as that in a house or apartment, a LAN can encompass an entire building, such as a hotel. When you plug a computer into an Ethernet jack in a hotel room, you are on the same network as all the other guest rooms. And that can be dangerous.

See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.

The critical point here is that a wired Ethernet connection is not necessarily a safe haven from the insecurity of Wi-Fi wireless networks.

I first listened to this podcast episode while traveling to another city where I was planning on using a wired Ethernet connection in my hotel room. The podcast scared me to the point that I installed a VPN on my laptop. VPNs, while typically used by large corporations, are available to anyone and are the best protection from this sort of thing.

I don’t think the danger can be overstated. Wired connections to the Internet in a hotel are not, by their very nature, more secure than wireless connections.

As for Steve Gibson, I have enough of a technical background in the subject and have listened to enough of his Security Now podcasts, to confidently state that he is a networking security expert. I doubt that any of my fellow nerds would disagree.

As Steve Gibson explained in the podcast, the Ethernet protocol was designed long ago. Before the Internet. Before security was on anyone’s radar screen. “Essentially, there is absolutely no security with Ethernet. The assumption always was that it would be used in a LAN setting where you knew and trusted everybody on the network. You were one big happy company…” he said.

Pixelpipe, the multi-service file uploader and metadata management tool, has a new experimental Firefox extension out that should delight its regular users. It adds a sidebar to your browser where you can simply drag and drop digital media from your hard drive or things you find on the Web to upload directly to your Pixelpipe account.

Previously: Pixelpipe lets you easily mass distribute media

If you’re a heavy Pixelpipe user this is definitely worth a download. I only hope that in future versions it will let you toggle the services you want on and off from the sidebar itself, and without the user having to visit the site. I’d also like to see it add a little microblogging tool like it has on the site, so you could use it to send out a short message or blog post to multiple services.

You can also pick the privacy level of the upload to Pixelpipe itself, which can limit who is able to see what you’ve uploaded based on your relationship with them.

Once you’ve picked all the items you want to upload, you hit a single button and it sends it off to Pixelpipe, which will instantly distribute it to all the services you have turned on by default. These can’t be edited right from the sidebar, but there’s a quick shortcut button that will take you to your settings page where you can turn certain services on or off.

Last month when ComScore released the paid-click rate figures that showed flat-year-over-year growth for Google in January, the company’s stock fell 8 percent the next day as Wall Street worried about slowed ad sales growth at the bellwether tech company.

Days later, ComScore explained that the drop in Google’s paid click rate was due to “Google’s own quality initiatives that result in a reduction in the number of paid listings” and said that the reduction in listings was “offset by paid revenue per click.”

The vast majority of Google’s revenue is from people clicking on sponsored search listings.

The latest paid-click figures for Google were up only 3.1 percent in February from a year earlier, possibly prompting a 3 percent drop in Google’s stock.

Earlier on Wednesday, Nielsen released figures that show Google’s U.S. Web search market share rose in February to 58.7 percent, up slightly from January and the same period a year ago, while Yahoo’s was down at 17.6 percent.

Even though Google’s paid-click growth rate was well below the fourth-quarter’s 25 percent year-over-year growth, Google outperformed the market growth rate of 0.9 percent, JPMorgan analyst Imran Khan wrote in a research note citing ComScore figures. ComScore has not released the latest figures publicly, but has provided them to Wall Street analysts who pay a subscription fee.

Yahoo had 5.3 percent year-over-year growth in paid clicks in February and Microsoft’s paid clicks declined 13.1 percent from the year earlier, according to Khan.

They used to say “only in America”, right?

(Credit:
banjo d)

Mr. Dean feels very strongly about this:
“With no disrespect to her, or indeed to my ex-wife, success in business or on the playing field, at least in my opinion, are based on the abilities of the ‘player’. To my mind it wouldn’t have mattered how much support Mrs Parlour had provided to Ray – if he’d been crap on the pitch they wouldn’t have been getting the cash they both enjoyed.”

It would also suggest that these rumors came from a wet, windy wilderness as desolate as the location of “No Country For Old Men,” but with far better beer.

“I have been painted in some quarters as a greedy, tight, ruthless bastard who abandoned my wife and children, walking off with millions and leaving my family almost destitute,” he writes. “It’s simply not true at all and I’ve decided that instead of allowing the rumour-mill to continue churning out nonsense – I’d just set out the actual facts to stop it.”

Please forgive me, but how does anyone cherish number plates (or, as they’re known in certain parts, license plates)?

I find myself wondering just how skin-tighteningly heinous the gossip must have been for Mr. Dean to feel the necessity to express his views with such bowel-assaulting sincerity.

And why would anyone feel the need to publicize the sheer power of this number-plate cherishing in a divorce settlement?

Gary Dean, a British businessman, who seems to have made quite a lot of money out of advertising, is deeply sensitive to public relations.

Mr. Dean helps us to understand that divorce in England and Wales is dropping (yes, I’d heard beer sales were declining) and he compares his situation to a recent case in which a relatively famous English soccer player, Ray Parlour, once of Arsenal, suffered a mighty financial tackle from behind.

It used to be that your plans to marry had to be read out in churches. (This allowed parishioners to raise an objection. “He’s stumpy and stupid.” “She’s far too beautiful for you.” That sort of thing.)

Now, divorce settlements are being slapped on websites.

And to publicly declare that his wife received around $7.5million, plus
cars, child maintenance and jewelry.

But I find myself struggling with both my mental and physical equilibrium to read that he also gave her “cherished number plates 7HD and 10HD.”

No, no. Now it’s “only in the area between Preston and Blackpool.”

He was so upset that people were calling him unpleasant names like “greedy” when he divorced his wife of nineteen years that he set up a website (at cost, I’m thinking) and published their divorce settlement.

Mr. Dean declares that the rumors had resonated “mainly in the area between Preston and Blackpool,” which would at the very least suggest precise market research is one of his strengths.

His ex-wife declared in court that without her, Mr. Parlour would have been a mere journeyman hacker. Which many observers had thought he always had been.

Enter the ingenious MoGo Mouse BT, which operates wirelessly via Bluetooth and docks/recharges inside your notebook’s PC Card slot. How smart is that! Newegg.com has the MoGo Mouse BT for $29.99, plus $5.58 for shipping. That’s a pretty sweet deal, considering that most vendors sell it for around $70.

Check the user reviews before you buy, however: The MoGo lacks both a scroll wheel and a middle button, and it doesn’t come with a Bluetooth adapter for those notebooks that lack integrated Bluetooth. If you can live with those limitations and have a PC Card slot sitting around doing nothing, this looks like an ideal way to fill it.

Here’s the problem with most “travel” mice: power. If they’re not plugged into a USB port, they need batteries–which inevitably die at the worst possible time. Sure, there are rechargeable rodents, but then you need to remember the charging dock and/or cord. And let’s not forget: A mobile mouse is one more thing taking up space in your bag, one more thing you run the risk of losing.

(Credit:
Newton Peripherals)

• Fighting with your significant other? Try getting a DVR.

• The next-generation
iPod Touch and iPod Nano could look like this.

• The world gets ready for Spore–and so does the iPhone.

• Everywhere we turned, we saw Blu-ray, but for how much longer, we’re not so sure.

• CNET’s Nicole Lee got a peek at the Peek, and then looked the other way.

• A Crave reader stopped by his local Fry’s Electronics store, and all he got was this lousy 120GB Zune.

• Stop saving your pennies, gamers. Word’s finally out that Microsoft’s
Xbox 360 will dip below $200.

CNET gets its hands on Dell's Inspiron Mini 9.

See anything awesome we missed? Send it our way at crave at cnet dot com.

(Credit:
CNET)

EA is bringing its new creature feature to the iPhone and iPod Touch.

(Credit:
EA Mobile)

• Dell made a decision: Asus’ Eee PC shouldn’t have all the fun. And speaking of Netbooks, the nostalgia-laden Commodore name is having a decidedly 2008 moment in connection with that nascent but red-hot market.

John Chambers and Al Gore in telepresence mode.

During Tuesday’s quarterly earnings call with analysts, Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers mentioned in passing that orders of the company’s telepresence units were up 500 percent year over year.

In time, the system costs doubtless will come down–though obviously not to Kmart levels. But if energy prices suddenly plummet as fast as they climbed, might business buyers have a change of heart about investing in expensive teleconferencing systems? Their depth of conviction remains the $64,000 question.

Considering the scope of Cisco’s $10.4 billion in sales during the second quarter, this qualifies as relative chump change. The list price for the company’s typical telepresence configuration is $299,000. Also, there’s a difference between the way Cisco books orders and sales.

And, in this case, ignore the hyperbole and pay close attention to what the signposts mean. If you’re looking for a silver lining to the ridiculous run-up in energy costs in the last year, this is it. The typical Fortune 500 company shells out a small fortune to jet its executives around the world each month: The World Travel & Tourism Council estimates that U.S. businesses spend some $179 billion on corporate travel annually.

When it comes to various telepresence incarnations, we’re still talking about relatively few units at this stage and it’s unclear whether we’re on the cusp of a permanent or just temporary behavioral shift. Remember that after the Arab oil boycott in 1973, Americans began to embrace smaller, more gasoline-efficient automobiles. Unfortunately, that trend did not last long after prices at the pump returned to their historically cheap levels.

(Credit:
Cisco)

Tech CEOs tend to lay it on a bit thick when talking up the bright spots in their business, and Chambers naturally couldn’t resist seizing upon the telepresence statistics to proclaim video as “the killer app.” But that’s just John being John. No harm, no foul.

But when we objectively consider the state of the industry, it becomes blatantly clear that Sony and Microsoft simply don’t have what it takes right now to compete and more consumers are more excited about Nintendo’s platform than anything Sony or Microsoft can dole out.

The gaming division is still an important component in Sony’s broad strategy, but it’s simply not as important as it once was. With huge losses that may or may not turn to profits, Sony is in an awkward position. Should it simply wait and see what happens or should it go to Microsoft now and see if the company is interested?

Even though Sony enjoyed a small profit of about $51 million from its game division last quarter, it’s still far behind previous generations and is quickly becoming a thorn in the company’s side. Earlier this year, Sony announced that its games division posted a $276 million loss and over the course of its availability, things have been even worse.

Sony has blamed its gaming division’s financial problems on high manufacturing costs and slow sales, but it’s probably easier to blame it on poor management. Either way, it’s not in a position to acquire a small developer, let alone Microsoft’s gaming division, and to be honest, I’m not so sure Sony would mind doing just that.

Why Sony?

Right now, Microsoft is a major force in the US and Europe, but it’s practically nonexistent in Asia. On the other hand, Japan has always been a Playstation 3 stronghold and even now, it far outpaces the Xbox 360 on almost every measure of performance.

From Sony’s side, the deal is a no-brainer. Over the last few years, the company has presided over the worst degradation in value the games division has ever seen and it’s limping along trying desperately to turn things around. And now that its focus is squarely planted on Blu-ray above all else, why wouldn’t it take the hefty price Microsoft would be willing to pay, right its wrongs, and make Blu-ray available on two gaming platforms?

But by acquiring Sony’s games division, all those troubles are behind Microsoft. After the ink dries, it’ll have a full-fledged customer base in Asia and together with its US and Europe customers, it can expand its Xbox Live platform to more people than ever before and truly become a fearful competitor to Nintendo.

Surely some are thinking that the deal breaker here is Blu-ray. Sony relies on the Playstation 3 more because of its Blu-ray capability right now than anything else. The company is so inexorably tied to Blu-ray that if the Playstation 3 fails, the high-def format will as well.

Lest we forget, the only thing stopping Microsoft from offering Blu-ray now is that Sony is behind it and it doesn’t want to pay off its competitors. But by acquiring the games division, it’s eliminating that competitor and offering Blu-ray seems like an even smarter move.

But I don’t think that’s a problem here at all. Microsoft would be more than happy to bring Blu-ray to its platform as long as people want to use it, and Sony would make out in the long-run anyway: both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 would undoubtedly offer Blu-ray drives, thus increasing its penetration rate.

And why wouldn’t it be? By acquiring Sony’s games division, Microsoft effectively eliminates the major competitor in its space and can increase its presence overseas — a major sticking point for the company.

Now is the prime moment for both of these companies to come together, strike a deal, and see Microsoft acquire Sony’s games division. Microsoft is not only capable of writing a check for the division, it’s fully aware that by acquiring Sony’s third-party agreements, Blu-ray capability, and its worldwide presence, it can become an incredibly powerful force in the video game industry and solidify itself as a feared player going forward.

Check out Don’s Digital Home podcast, Twitter feed, and FriendFeed!

As I was thinking of something to discuss today, I peered beneath my HDTV and saw my
Wii sitting next to my Playstation 3 and
Xbox 360. And as soon as I looked at all three, it had me thinking: the Wii is a wildly successful platform, but the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 are still limping along in the hope that they’ll compete with Nintendo’s platform at some time in the future.

Sony’s gaming division is quickly becoming a drain on its financial stability and shareholder confidence, while Microsoft is chugging along at a pretty good clip even though it has little influence in Asia. And although neither company can beat Nintendo alone, don’t you think it’s entirely possible that Microsoft and Sony could become a powerhouse in the industry if the former acquires the latter, thus making it a valuable idea?

Realizing that, why wouldn’t Microsoft acquire Sony’s gaming division and consolidate its power and influence in the gaming space? I know, it may sound radical and at first glance you would think that Sony would never agree to such a deal, but keep an open mind for a minute and hear me out.

Undoubtedly some are wondering why I think Microsoft should acquire Sony and not the other way around. Well, Microsoft is the company with more money in the bank than Sony ever dreamed of having. On top of that, Sony is in no position to acquire a gaming division from a company that’s enjoying record profits with its online platform and has finally turned things around after years of losing money.

To use the kit, you need
Windows Vista Premium or Ultimate. (Rumor has it there’s a hack that’ll allow it to work with the XP version of Media Center; try Google.) A TV tuner is optional, though definitely recommended if you want to make the most of Media Center. The IR transceiver, which plugs into a USB port, includes a suction cup so you can mount it in an out-of-the-way location.

Find more deals, coupon codes, and bargains on CNET’s Shopper.com.

(Credit:
Woot)

Know how I’m always going on and on about TV tuners and Windows Media Center? One ingredient that’s almost always missing from the equation is a remote. Enter the Pinnacle Remote Kit, which lets you operate Windows Media Center from afar (or from the couch, anyway). Woot Sellout has the remote on sale for $14.99 (plus $5 shipping), a decent savings over the $29.99 list price.

CellSpinners can quickly share photos, video, text, and audio to Blogger, eBay, Facebook, YouTube, Picasa, LiveJournal, Flickr, and Windows Live Spaces, with more partnerships on the way. Of course, there are a few limitations brought on by the partner sites. YouTube only accepts video submissions, for example, and photos are the only media that can be uploaded to Flickr, Picasa, and Facebook. The blogging sites and eBay accept all four media types.

Up until today, only Windows Mobile 5 and 6 and BlackBerry users could take CellSpin’s mobile blogging and media-sharing platform for, well, a spin. On Thursday the San Jose, Calif. company announced a big addition to the family: phones on the Symbian platform.