Episode 0044,
04/12/2008
Title/Description: CourseCast 44: Hi-Speed Wireless
Services, Microsoft Applications, Google-Hosted Applications, and PC Control
Welcome to Course
Technology's CourseCast of the week, Episode 44, recorded April 12th, 2008. This
is Ken Baldauf bringing you this week's technology news and information. This CourseCast
is brought to you by Course Technology. Check out www.course.com for innovative textbooks and
creative electronic learning solutions.
Story 1 - New High-Speed
Wireless Services
The gag-order imposed on
those that participated in the FCC's auction of the 700-MHz spectrum has been
lifted. The winners have begun talking about how they will use this valuable
commodity. Verizon, the biggest winner, says that it will use its portion of
the spectrum to roll out 4G wireless service using Long Term Evolution or LTE.
LTE is an effort to evolve the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, or
UMTS, to include high-speed data services. AT&T says that it will be doing
the same. Both companies expect to roll out their 4G networks in 2010. Sprint
is working to roll out its 4G network this year, giving it a two year head
start. Analysts predict that the new high capacity 4G networks will prompt cell
phone chips to migrate to all kinds of devices including cars, digital cameras,
portable computers, and e-book readers. All of these devices might eventually
send and receive data over the cell phone networks.
Sources: New Wireless
Technology Will Use 700-MHz Spectrum [NewsFactor],
700-MHz
spectrum winners detail plans [Computerworld]
Story 2 - New Technologies
from Microsoft
It's not easy being number
one. Microsoft's enjoyment of holding a huge monopoly in the PC industry is
dampened by sharp barbs and criticisms from the media and its competitors.
Microsoft is often criticized for lack of innovation, but this week, several
stories counter that criticism.
Microsoft has updated Live
Maps to include interesting new features. The new improved 3D view is
impressive and provides high resolution images of Las Vegas, Dallas, Denver,
and Phoenix with hundreds more cities by the end of the year. Live Maps now
interfaces with a variety of GPS devices. There’s also a feature which
allows you to zoom in on a specific area and subscribe to news about that area
using RSS technology. These and other features provide Microsoft Live Maps with
fuel to compete with the most popular online map software.
Microsoft is unveiling a
Web-based service called Clearflow that will provide the best driving
directions taking into account traffic congestion. So, for the first time, an
automated system will provide you with a route that is not the shortest, but
will bypass traffic jams and get you there faster.
Microsoft Researcher Gordon
Bell has been working on the MyLifeBits project for
the past nine years. The goal of the project is to capture all of a person's
lifelong experiences in digital form and store the data in a manner that can be
easily traversed. After storing 131 GBs of articles,
books, cards, Music, letters, memos, papers, photos, pictures, presentations,
home movies, lectures, phone calls, IM's and other important records of his
life, Bell has now completely digitized his life's history, and is living a
paperless lifestyle.
Sources: Total
Recall: Storing every life memory in a surrogate brain [Computerworld]
Story 3 - Google Hosts User
Applications
Google has announced a
preview release of a new service called Google App Engine. Software developers
can now create Rich Internet Applications (RIA) to run on Google's servers and
make use of Google's infrastructure and databases, and integrate with Google's
own applications. The new service has software developers buzzing, and Google's
competitors, like Amazon and Microsoft, feeling the heat!
Sources: Google Releases App
Engine To Host Applications [NewsFactor],
Google's
new App Engine aims for the cloud [Computerworld], Google
App Engine readies for brawl with Amazon [VentureBeat]
Story 4 - Who Controls Your
PC?
The term botnet has come up often in many of the stories I have
covered. A recent study by the National Cyber Security Alliance found that
seven out of ten online consumers don't know what a botnet
is. So for those folks, here's a brief explanation.
At this moment hundreds of
thousands, some believe over a million, Internet-connected PCs are infected
with malware, and their operators haven't a clue. Malware is short for
malicious software. It's installed on PCs typically through security holes in
Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer, Firefox, and other Web browsers, and
plug-ins for Web browsers like Adobe Flash. Users that do not keep up with
software updates that apply security patches to security holes can pick up
malware just by viewing a Web page.
Malware runs on the
hundreds of thousands of PCs without the user having any clue. These PCs are
called zombie computers since they are carrying out the will of the malware
architect without the PC user’s knowledge. Malware designers are able to
command the malware over the Internet and can combine the power of many
infected computers into groups, called botnet armies,
or botnets. A botnet army
can harness the power of hundreds of thousands of PCs, creating a tool equal in
power to today's most powerful supercomputers. The designer uses this tool to
send massive amounts of spam, to infect other PCs and grow the botnet, to hack accounts for ID theft, to steal money from
financial institutions. Many botnet armies are leased
out to provide services to the highest bidder.
Until recently, the Storm botnet has been by far the most powerful, controlling
85,000 PC bots. A newly discovered botnet, called
Kraken is believed to have enslaved 400,000 PCs.
Botnet malware is sometimes difficult to
detect with traditional virus detection software. To prevent malware from
infecting your PC, you should make sure that the PC account you are logged in on
does not have the administrative power to install software. You should also
make sure that you are running the most recent editions of all software. A
utility from Secunia called Personal Software
Inspector can help in this regard (see psi.secunia.com). Also as always, use
antivirus software, anti-spyware software, a
firewall, and don't click links sent to you in email or IM.
Sources: Never Heard of Botnets? Join the Club [NewsFactor],
Top
botnets control 1M hijacked computers
[Computerworld], New
Kraken worm evading harpoons of antivirus programs [Ars
Technica]
New Briefs
That's it for this week's CourseCast.
Links to this week's stories and many more news and information resources are
provided at the CourseCast Web site at www.course.com/coursecasts. E-mail
us with your suggestions for the show at course.coursecasts@cengage.com.
Until next time, have a great week and be sure to take advantage of the Power
-- of Technology!