Microsoft presents source code to China August 9, 2007
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From ChinaTechNews.com:
Microsoft (MSFT) has announced further plans to open Vista source code in China.
Microsoft has reportedly signed a new government security program source code agreement with China Information Technology Security Certification Center, allowing CNITSEC and other approved institutions to look over the source code and relevant technical data of Microsoft’s products, including Windows Vista, Windows XP, Office, Windows CE and etcetera, so as to improve their evaluation on the security of Microsoft products. The agreement is an important part of the MOU signed between National Development and Reform Commission and Microsoft in April 2006.
Microsoft’s Government Security Program helps government departments and international organizations evaluate the security of Microsoft products. CNITSEC previously signed an agreement with Microsoft on security source code in February 2003 and was authorized to check over the company’s major source code and technical data.
Microsoft’s move should bring good results in the promotion of information and enhancement of mutual trust between China and the United States
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From CCTV.cn
本报北京8月7日电(记者杨谷)微软操作系统的安全性一直受到怀疑。日前,微软公司和我有关机构签约,将新款操作系统视窗Vista等软件的源代码提供给我国查看。 根据微软与中国信息安全产品测评认证中心签署的新一期政府安全计划源代码协议,中国信息安全产品测评认证中心和相关被授权机构可以查
看包括视窗Vista、视窗XP、Office2003、视窗CE等软件的源代码及相关技术信息,从而提高对微软产品的安全分析和测评能力。上一期的政府安全计划源代码协议签署于2003年,随着微软产品的不断更新换代,双方决定签署新一期的政府安全计划源代码协议。
微软的各种软件在我国拥有广大的用户,不少关键部门采用了微软产品作为信息系统的核心,因此其安全性备受关注。中国信息安全产品测评认证中心主任王海生表示,今后将加深对微软产品安全性的了解和研究分析,不断提高有效控制安全风险的能力,履行“信息海关”的职责。
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E-Insight, 2007
Norwegian hacker crack iPhone just one week after its release July 6, 2007
Posted by metalickl in Gadegets Insights, IT Industries, PDA and Mobile Insights, Software Insights.add a comment
According to a post on his blog, a well-known Norwegian hacker has figured out a way to bypass restrictions on the iPhone that forces people to activate on the AT&T network. Now the iPhone might be worth buying.Digital Journal — Jon Lech Johansen, a 23-year-old famous for his hacking of consumer electronics, says he has cracked the iPhone. In a post on his blog on July 3 (titled “iPhone Independence Day”), Johansen said: “I’ve found a way to activate a brand new unactivated iPhone without giving any of your money or personal information to
AT&TNSA. The iPhone does not have phone capability, but the iPod and WiFi work. Stay tuned!”Johansen’s blog, titled “So Sue Me” provides source code and software for hackers to activate an iPhone for iPod+WiFi use.
Hackers and coders have been working around the clock to crack the iPhone’s security restrictions since its launch a week ago.Apple is in a long-term contract with AT&T, meaning anyone who wants an iPhone must activate it through the wireless carrier.
Mark Siegel, a spokesman for AT&T said it was “necessary” to activate the iPhone on his company’s network to “ensure optimum performance.”Despite what AT&T’s spin doctors have said, anyone in the tech world knows the wireless provider has what can only be described as a horribly slow Edge network, and many Apple fans want to use the phone without activating on AT&T.
The hack is important for an iPhone owner who wants to travel abroad and use the Internet or the phone’s music without having to pay AT&T to activate the phone.
As hackers continue to dig through code, cracks will also (likely) eventually lead to a way for the iPhone to work on another network. The phone comes locked, and a crack is (of course) against AT&T and Apple’s contract.
No doubt, few crackers actually care about that.
Johansen is practically a god in the underground tech world, most well-known as “DVD Jon” for reversing the code on DVDs that protect them from being pirated.
On his blog, Johansen warns the “application will not do anything unless you understand the magic numbers as well as add the hosts entry,” and you will need software installed on your computer.
by Christopher Hogg
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E-Insight, 2007
sometimes i feel like a great chef July 5, 2007
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sometimes i feel like a great chef by F.S.J. (Fake Steve Jobs)
sometimes i feel like a great chef
who has devoted his entire life
to monastic study of the art of cooking
& gathered the finest ingredients
& built the most advanced kitchen
& prepared the most exquisite meal
so perfect so delicious so extraordinary
more astounding than any meal ever created
yet each day i stand in my window
& watch ninety-seven percent of the world
walk past my restaurant
into the mcdonald’s
across the street.
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E-Insight, 2007
My little Journey to The West, from The Spirit of “Why Not” to Quantum Computers May 26, 2007
Posted by metalickl in Hardware Insights, IT Industries.1 comment so far
My little journey to the west, from The Spirit of “Why Not” to Quantum Computers
My little journey to the west, from The Spirit of “Why Not” to Quantum Computers
“啊卡” 我去滑铁卢取的经
First, I’d like to congratulate myself for able to write some professional stuff instead of the random b.s. I used to write before, and for having the privilege of entering University of Waterloo in the coming up autumn. Truly thrilled and excited, I was also invited to its early morning reception session for president scholarship receivers.
This year, 2007, is the fiftieth anniversary of the University of Waterloo, and I was given a pin of remembrance, coated in black and gold, upon my arrival in the festival room. I also received a sticker with my name and my program “software engineering” on it. It certainly was quite an honour to become a Waterloo prospect, especially a student in software engineering. Several professors from various departments have spoken, and congratulated me. Since software engineering itself is a double-jointed program, I’m still trying to figure out which faculty I belong to. Although many have told me this is a program which gets the best parts from both faculties, but I know the apparent truth is similar to stepping my feet across two boats.
Mr. Johnston, the president certainly has a good sense of humour and approach when comes to inspiring and encouraging young students. The aspect of character which was not seen in those speakers I met in the “Top Applicants’ Reception” in University of Toronto. Mr. Johnston has also told the audience that Waterloo was selected as the most intelligent community in the world in 2007. It happens to be so, that many people would wonder “Why?” when approach something new, but UofW’s spirit is to wonder “Why not?”
Mr. Johnston has also given the students a glimpse of some of the frontier technologies that are been exploited in the Waterloo Research Park. The one I found the most interesting was the research in Quantum Computers. The president of RIM has said that the capacity of data holds in a blackberry is 2-3 times larger than the supercomputer 20 years ago, which occupied several room weighing several tons. The advances in the development of “chip”, is because of the advances in physics. But within the next decade, we will eventually hit the physical limit, where processors can run no faster than it already running. At that stage, we will have to use quantum computers, which replace traditional charge, 1 or zero, with the spin number of the fundamental particles. Quantum computers will make use of qubits (quantum bits) instead of bits (1 or 0). There will be 1, 0, and the superposition of 1 and 0. (Both 1 and 0 at the same time). This area is the area where all laws of physics break down. I was quite fascinated by this topic.
As I looked around, I can see the same passion in everyone else’s eyes. This was one of the reasons I chose Waterloo. I like its spirit.
P.S. Please don’t penalize me, I don’t proof read.
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E-Insight, 2007
Lenovo ranks number one by Greenpeace May 19, 2007
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Lenovo smiles at Greenpeace ranking
Apple, on the other hand, continues to disagree with tech company rating criteria behind organization’s Guide to Greener Electronics.
By Luke Anderson
Special to CNET News.com
Published: April 5, 2007, 10:25 AM PDT
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Chinese PC maker Lenovo has gone from ranking last on a Greenpeace list of 14 big tech companies to topping it.
The latest edition of Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics, published Tuesday, is designed to help consumers and businesses gauge how green tech companies are. Rather than focusing on recycling, environmentally conscious customers should focus on the toxic chemicals used by suppliers, Greenpeace said.
The guide ranks Lenovo as No. 1 out of 14 global manufacturers and the most improved. According to Greenpeace, Lenovo has made “progress on all criteria but lost points for not having products free of the worst chemicals on the market yet.”
Greenpeace cited improvements in Lenovo’s position on environmentally conscious principles and responsibilities, as well as providing recycling or return services wherever its products are sold, as main factors for the Chinese company’s performance. However, the PC maker still failed to score any points for making computers that are free of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) and BFRs (brominated flame retardants). 
“We realize that continual improvement of our environmental performance is a long-term commitment, and we are focused on taking the steps necessary to be a leader in this arena,” Mike Pierce, Lenovo’s director of environmental affairs, said in a statement.
Iza Kruszewska, an antitoxics campaigner for Greenpeace, said Lenovo has made considerable progress in the past six months to jump from the last position to the lead spot in the ranking.
“Lenovo’s performance challenges others in the industry to keep setting the pace for environmental progress,” Kruszewska said.
In the first edition of the Greenpeace report, published in August, Lenovo was ranked last on the list of 14 companies, which also included Acer, Apple, Dell, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, Hewlett-Packard, LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, Sony and Toshiba. Lenovo climbed to eighth place in the second edition of the Greenpeace report, released in December.
Apple, on the other hand, remains in last place.
In August, when the company was ranked 11th on the list, a representative of Apple disagreed with Greenpeace’s rating and the criteria it had chosen.
“Apple has a strong environmental track record and has led the industry in restricting and banning toxic substances such as mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium, as well as many BFRs. We have also completely eliminated CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors, which contain lead, from our product line,” the representative then said.
When contacted, Apple Australia spokesperson Fiona Martin stood by the company’s previous claim, adding that “Apple desktops, notebooks and displays each score best in class in the new EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) ranking system.”
The EPA system, which uses international standards set by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, is called the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool.
Luke Anderson reported for ZDNet Australia in Sydney. Andrew Donoghue of ZDNet UK contributed to this report.
Take back the free encyclopedia, with Citizendium May 19, 2007
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From Citizendium Blog, by Larry Sanger:
I’ve recently posted an essay, “Why the Citizendium Will (Probably) Succeed.”
From the first two paragraphs:
The Citizendium pilot project wiki got under way privately at the start of last November. In the intervening months, we have steadily grown to some 1,100 “CZ Live” articles — that’s approximately how many articles we have done significant work on. A fairly large percentage of these, I believe well over half, are either original articles or have been significantly changed from Wikipedia sources. We have steadily added authors and editors in this period, so that we have 820 authors and 180 editors (some of whom also have listed themselves as authors). Our activity has grown from 100 edits per day in the first month to over 500 prior to launch. Every day, a large variety of people from many fields sign on and do some work. This is all in a period in which the project has been visible only to those who have applied to the project. In addition, while it has received a fair bit of press, we have done very little in the way of recruitment — but with good results when we have. More aggressive recruitment is our trump card, which we haven’t played.
…the progress report shows merely that the fundamentals of the project are sound, many basic doubts are now dismissible on the basis of solid experience — and little more than that. It shows that that experts can be quite good at wiki-style strong collaboration; that they can work well together with the general public; that a wide variety of people have a substantial desire to work on this sort of project; that a largely collegial and pleasant community can be built on principles of the use of real names and gentle expert guidance; that, so long as we avoid wide-open self-registration as we tried for about three weeks, this sort of project can be free of vandalism. In short, there are no “gotchas” — nothing that makes me think this project can’t work — and quite a bit of good news.
I argue at some length that the Citizendium will enjoy a Google effect and that the latent demand for CZ is sizable and growing. I conclude with replies to a bunch of objections.
My views: Looks like there are some dynamics between the founders of Wikipedia. Although I deeply doubt CZ would success over Wikipedia, I’m still quite glad to see a new source of information that is claming to be more reliable. Find out about Wiki’s little nemesis at http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Main_Page
Ironically, here is an article about citizendium on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizendium
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2007, E-insight
Apple TV May 19, 2007
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Beside the new iPhone, Apple has also launched Apple TV device, that will bring iTunes to the big screen for $299. With Apple TV, you can enjoy movies, TV shows, music, and podcasts in your iTunes library, plus photos and movie trailers, on your widescreen TV – wirelessly, from your Mac or PC.
“Apple TV is like a DVD player for the 21st century-you connect it to your entertainment system just like a DVD player, but it plays digital content you get from the internet rather than DVDs you get from a physical store,” explains Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.
Apple TV is an easy and fun way to wirelessly play all your favorite iTunes content – including movies, TV shows, music, photos, and podcasts – from both Mac and PC on your widescreen TV.
The product also known as ‘iTV’ uses the new 802.11n wireless network standard to provide high-speed data transfer for video files, and includes a 40Gb hard disk, Ethernet, HDMI, component video and audio ports for connecting to your TV or music system.
The Apple TV will be available to buy in the UK in February, priced at £199.
The revolution will be televised.
Say you’ve just downloaded Cars from iTunes. Instead of huddling around your computer to watch, you pop some popcorn while your computer wirelessly syncs your new flick to Apple TV. Then you pull up a seat, put up your feet, and pick up the included Apple Remote to play your movie on TV. Give yourself a hand: You’ve just changed the way you watch digital media.
iTunes to Apple TV, wire free.
Apple TV connects to your TV via an HDMI port or component video and audio ports. Its built-in, superfast 802.11 wireless capability syncs your iTunes library to any Mac or PC in the house. Best of all, what’s on Apple TV stays in sync: Anytime you change your library in iTunes, it changes on Apple TV – wirelessly, automatically.
What’s on TV? Whatever you want.
Apple TV puts your iTunes library – movies, TV shows, music, and podcasts – plus movie trailers from Apple.com on your TV. And your digital photos from iPhoto on a Mac or Adobe Photoshop Elements or Adobe Album on a Windows PC appear in high definition, so you can put on a stunning big-screen slideshow.
How it works
1. Download movies, TV shows and more from iTunes.
2. Sync wirelessly from your Mac or PC.
3. Watch everything on your widescreen TV.
Source: Apple
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2007, E-insight
Adobe and Photobucket introduces online video editor May 19, 2007
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Adobe’s Remix is a new Web-based video editing tool that will be provided free to all Photobucket members in the coming weeks. Remix allows you to string together and edit short video clips. We covered the announcement of the online video editor last week, but got our hands on it this morning.Remix is essentially a stripped-down version of Adobe Premiere Elements. You get a timeline with clips and transitions, along with a source bin containing all the media from your Photobucket account. Adding clips to your movie is as simple as dragging and dropping. There’s also a handy clipping tool if you feel like cutting out the boring bits. There are only three transitions to choose from, and they’re all fades. This might seem like a letdown, but honestly if you’ve ever edited video before, you know some of the flashier transitions aren’t necessarily better than the fundamentals.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
To put the finishing touches on your movie you can add titles and all sorts of cheesy digital overlays, like a police hat or gingerbread people (both genders are provided). You also can add thought or chat bubbles with customizable text. What really feels off about adding all these effects is that you can only add one to each clip. There is a way to get around this–by cutting your clips into pieces to make them separate–but it would be nice to have a separate timeline for overlays, as the majority of video editing apps provide.
You also can add music to your film, though not your own. The library of music clips is fairly large, although you’ve probably never heard the tracks. There’s no way to add voice narration.When you’re done with your masterpiece, there are the standard URL and embed links, but no way to locally save or export your video to other formats. No doubt Adobe wants you to buy one of its video editing programs for this. This also means there’s no way to archive your videos–you’ve got to rely on Photobucket to keep running.
I like Adobe Remix for the casual stringing together of clips. It’s really easy to use and quite fast. The Photobucket integration is spot-on, but don’t be surprised if you see Remix popping up in other sites, since the partnership isn’t exclusive. It will be interesting to see where it shows up next.
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2007, E-insight
iPhone, another giant leap by Apple January 10, 2007
Posted by metalickl in Gadegets Insights, IT Industries.1 comment so far
Apple’s share value leaped 8 percent today with its release of the ultimate smartphone/pda – iPhone. Above all others, Apples has done it again.
Few years ago, Apples was on the verge of death. Then it just blitzkreiged all others with the release of its ipods. It became popular because it was easy to use than ever; it ruled 75% of the mp3 market, because Apple had the foresight that song tracks are not limited to be sold and passed on by cd’s.
Apple now has released it’s new, sexier-than-ever smartphone, iPhone. It consists of a full fledged Macintosh OS, built-in WIFI & Bluetooth support and A multi-touchable sensible screen. More importantly, it has checked Waterloo, Canada’s RIM with it’s very own ‘PUSH’ email service system in partnership with Yahoo. Of course, Apple’s signature characteristic, the ability to play music and video are also included.
Most importantly, to me personaly, above all fancies, iPhone has a built-in reachargeable battery that last up to 16 hours of non-stop audio playing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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E-Insight, 2007
Google building mother of all supercomputers to dominate cyberspace January 6, 2007
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from Indobase
Popular Internet search engine Google is reportedly developing one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers in a bid to outstrip rivals Yahoo and Microsoft.According to The Telegraph, Google is building a vast complex said to be the size of two football pitches with cooling towers four floors high in Oregon. The new Google “powerplant”, which is known as Project 02, has already created hundreds of jobs.
The new Oregon centre will form just a part of Google’s global computing system, called the Googleplex. It will house two huge data centres and thousands of Google servers that will help power billions of search queries it handles daily as well as an expanding range of other services.The clandestine expansion on the 30-acre site 80 miles east of Portland is thought to be part of an “arms race” as other online companies vie for Google’s crown. Google currently runs 450,000 servers worldwide, but aims to spend 814 million pounds to increase its capacity.
Meanwhile, Bill Gates Microsoft has announced it will spend 1.08 billion dollars next year and aims to quadruple its number of internet servers to 800,000 in 25 locations by 2011.
Microsoft and Yahoo have also toying with plans to build multi-billion-dollar data centres in the Pacific North West, which is home to cheap electricity from hydropower and existing data networks.
Analysts, according to the paper, are interpreting Google’s growing range of services as an attempt by the search engine to muscle in on territory historically dominated by its computer-related rivals. (ANI)
Google gathers its revenue from its adsense services, and its social network through its search engine. With this supercomputer, Google’s getting a firmer grasp on its customers.
