Morning Broadband Bytes1) Get Coffee 2) Read Morning Broadband Bytes 3) Start Day ( old news - 05:22AM Tuesday Aug 09 2005) • Around the Industry: Aussie ISP threatens legal action over broadband forum post
Time Warner cable trials Broadband TV
Vonage down again?
Japan plans 'giant' broadband satellite
Who will buy Skype? Yahoo!? or Google? or Rupert Murdoch?
Qualcomm, Connexion to test in-flight mobile calls• SecurityBits: Security download must clearly disclose adware
Security firm may stay mum due to Cisco IOS fiasco
ITC bars import of Fortinet products with antivirus• TidBytes: Google Earth poses no risk: Government
Longhorn Server enters closed beta
Xbox 360 price could rise to match the PS3• More news from around the industry, SecurityBits, and interesting Tidbytes inside!... . Around The Industry:• Aussie ISP threatens legal action over broadband forum post: ADSL provider aaNet is threatening legal action against a broadband forum over a post it says was deliberately damaging. The post contained information about a court action published on the website of the corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. The notice concerned an aaNet debt to network equipment maker NetComm, which was settled out of court. Whirlpool's news editor said the offending post merely linked to a public record at the ASIC website. Less than 4 hours later Whirlpool received an email from aaNet threatening legal action.• Time Warner cable trials Broadband TV: Om Malik reports: "Time Warner Cable, is putting 75 channels on the web for its broadband subscribers, as part of a trial, currently underway in San Diego with 9000 households participating. Real Networks is providing the streaming technology. The company will offer it for free to those who subscribe to its broadband and video service."• Vonage down again?: It seems so, according to posts in a Vonage forum. One post says it all: "Yep, getting the "All circuits are busy" error again. No service announcement at the Vonage website. This is 2X within a week with the same error. Maybe Vonage is overselling it's service. If so, they are going to start losing customers quickly. That would be a shame. Dialing the Vonage help line, results in 2 rings, silence, and then a fast busy. Come on Vonage, get your act together."• Japan plans 'giant' broadband satellite: Japanese government officials said they will develop a new communications satellite to provide broadband services that are as fast as fiber-optic cable. Japan's Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said the new satellite will make it possible to send and receive data at a maximum speed of 100 MBps in mountainous areas and remote islands, as well as aboard Shinkansen bullet trains, airplanes and ships. The ministry plans to begin services by 2015.• Who will buy Skype? Yahoo!? or Google? or Rupert Murdoch?: Rumors of a Skype valuation of $3bn Rupert Murdoch's New International have surfaced - but is Skype a valuable commodity, then? The question has hidden answers, because most of the people who are likely to be interested in Skype are not yet showing their hands in the marketplace. Specifically, two companies have leaked drips of information about their telephony plans: Google and Yahoo! are both known to be planning a complete package.• Qualcomm, Connexion to test in-flight mobile calls: Qualcomm Inc. and Boeing Co.'s Connexion said on Monday they would test in-flight mobile phone calls in the hopes they can overcome public skepticism. Connexion, which already provides wireless laptop Internet services in airplane cabins, hopes to provide in-flight wireless voice and data services if regulators give the go-ahead. The tests will be conducted through September in a specially equipped Boeing 737-400 aircraft.• Where muni broadband capacity exceeds local demand: anyone care to point out where this is?: MuniWireless asks: A Yankee Group analyst says: "Building out a network so quickly that its capacity exceeds local demand can create an unnecessary financial burden on the community." I would like to know which munis have this problem. Which municipalities have deployed broadband networks whose capacities far exceed local demand? In the cities and towns I have surveyed, the problem is the opposite: there are so many people who want broadband, wired or wireless, and not enough service.• How about an FCC blog?: Paul Kapustka says: Forget the Vonage blog, its time for an FCC blog. “One that should be a no-brainer, since it is our tax dollars that support the agency. Odds of it actually happening? You have a better chance of winning Lotto ….Why not create an FCC blog, where the agency would be required to post attributable updates the minute any decision is made? Does the back-channel, anonymous-source routine help anyone except those with hidden agendas?”• Telstra broadband boost: Australia's largest telco said sales of its wireless broadband solution had outstripped forecasts by 100%. Telstra's mobile broadband was expected to reach 6.3 million people by November 2005, translating into more than 33% of the population. Telstra will launch its 3GSM mobile service for consumers and businesses later this year, providing them with multimedia content over mobile phones and laptop computers.• Is Telstra a backhaul monopolist?: Yes, says iiNet, and the telco giant's price chains are keeping smaller players from venturing down the rural broadband route. The nation's third largest Internet Service Provider joined the growing chorus of debate on Telstra's obligation to maintain rural telephone services. Optus CEO recently said the Universal Service Obligation (USO), which requires carriers to subsidise Telstra's maintenance of regional and rural phone services, should be reformed.• File-swap TV comes into focus: As broadband connections proliferate, most of the major Internet companies are adding video to their offerings. Yahoo, AOL and Google each are kicking off video search services, and Google has even offered to host independently produced video in its own databases. Open Media Network's Mike Homer said that the P2P TV tools will ultimately wind up intertwined with those databases.• Intel throws weight behind US municipal metrozones: Intel has taken a keen interest in the burgeoning market for ‘digital cities’ – metro areas blanketed in broadband wireless coverage, sometimes privately run, increasingly frequently supported by municipal authorities. It is now stepping up its activities to promote these deployments, seeing them as a key early market not just for Wi-Fi but also for WiMAX, and therefore a means to gain ubiquity for the technologies that is stands the best chance of dominating.• London Internet Exchange cuts ISP charges: LINX (the London Internet Exchange) - a mutual organisation owned by more than 170 ISPs and links their networks - has cut its fees by 15%. Increased levels of net traffic have led to a "better-than-expected financial position for the world's largest internet exchange", it said in a statement. And following a financial review which found the organisation was "ahead of budget" LINX decided it had room to cut prices.SecurityBits:• Security download must clearly disclose adware: Advertising.com has settled charges made by the FTC that it failed adequately to disclose the bundling of adware with a free security download. The adware was mentioned, but only in a user licence that was easy to ignore. The settlement with Advertising.com, which is now part of AOL, does not require the payment of damages, only a promise that future downloads will clearly and prominently disclose any inclusion of adware.• Security firm may stay mum due to Cisco IOS fiasco: Next Generation Security Software is weighing a change that would keep details of software vulnerabilities between NGS and the software vendor affected. The change in policy, which is still under consideration, comes amid heightened debate about the practices of independent security researchers after a former employee of Internet Security Systems revealed details of a serious hole in Cisco's Internet Operating System, which is run by many of the machines that make up the Internet's critical infrastructure.• ITC bars import of Fortinet products with antivirus: The International Trade Commission ordered Fortinet to stop importing products that contain its AV software into the US, but stopped short of preventing the company from supporting its current customers. The ITC’s order stems from an earlier ruling that the AV software from Fortinet violates a Trend Micro patent. The order bars Fortinet from importing, marketing, advertising, offering for sale or selling the affected products, and also from aiding or abetting other entities in the sale or distribution of the products.• Car viruses: Bluetooth "a risk" to on-board computers: Car industry officials and analysts say hackers' growing interest in writing viruses for wireless devices puts auto computer systems at risk of infection. As carmakers adjust on-board computers to allow consumers to transfer information with MP3 players and mobile phones, they also make their vehicles vulnerable to mobile viruses that jump between devices via the Bluetooth wireless technology that connects them.Hardware, Software, and other TidBytes:• Google Earth poses no risk: Government• Longhorn Server enters closed beta• Xbox 360 price could rise to match the PS3• Yahoo extends phone calling via instant messaging• Doom ported to iPod• AOL Acquires Wildseed, Expands AOL Wireless Group• Debian Dissension Gets Louder• VoIP has police forces worried
|
 
LiamJunket
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Ocean City, NJ
 ·Comcast
|  Giant Jap satellite must still obey law of physics
Japanese government officials said they will develop a new communications satellite to provide broadband services that are as fast as fiber-optic cable.
Japan's Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said the new satellite will make it possible to send and receive data at a maximum speed of 100 MBps in mountainous areas and remote islands, as well as aboard Shinkansen bullet trains, airplanes and ships.
The satellite will have a dish antenna measuring 66 feet in diameter. It will be four times larger in diameter and 16 times larger in surface area than a conventional satellite antenna. One thing that the news item left out of this wonderful product is that the average latency of about 800 msecs for a satellite connection( »Satellite Forum FAQ »What are the average ping times for satellite? ) makes the product a poor supplier of interactive internet browsing. It will suffer the same problems that the Direcway( »HughesNet Satellite ) system does.
That doesn't mean it doesn't have a lot of uses. It just means that when the marketing types start hyping the product they conveniently overlook its limitations. And in comparing it to fiber optic without mentioning latency issues, they are doing just that.
--
My Web Page
Join Red Room Forum | |
|  | 
fuziwuzi
Not born yesterday
Premium
join:2005-07-01
Atlanta, GA
| Re: Giant Jap satellite must still obey law of phy said by LiamJunket  :One thing that the news item left out of this wonderful product is that the average latency of about 800 msecs for a satellite connection( » Satellite Forum FAQ » What are the average ping times for satellite? ) makes the product a poor supplier of interactive internet browsing. It will suffer the same problems that the Direcway( » HughesNet Satellite ) system does. That doesn't mean it doesn't have a lot of uses. It just means that when the marketing types start hyping the product they conveniently overlook its limitations. And in comparing it to fiber optic without mentioning latency issues, they are doing just that. You're assuming a geosynchronous orbit, however. If it were in a LEO (Low Earth Orbit), the latency could be far less. Even with geosynchronous, the latency only becomes a problem when using something like VoIP or gaming... for standard web browsing and email, it is not an issue. | |
|
LiamJunket
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Ocean City, NJ
·Comcast
| Pros & cons of publishing security vulnerabilities
The security research company responsible for discovering a software hole later used by the Slammer worm is considering an end to its policy of publishing details of vulnerabilities to public forums.
Speaking with eWEEK at the Black Hat conference here last month, David said that arguments in favor of disclosing details of software holes have lost force in recent years. At the same time, the threats to organizations and individuals on the Internet from organized cyber-crime syndicates and international terrorists have increased.
In the wake of the Slammer worm, NGS changed its disclosure policy. NGS now notifies companies of the holes it discovers and gives them time to create a patch and 90 days to distribute it before releasing vulnerability details to the public. It seems that NGS has reached a reasonable compromise. If they discover a vulnerability, they give the vendor time to fix it and deploy it before using the club of public disclosure on recalcitrant vendors.
They thereby minimize the possible risk of allowing hackers to unleash an exploit on the public prior to a fix being deployed due to premature disclosure. But they also hold the vendor's feet to the fire by keeping the option of public release available in their back pocket.
--
My Web Page
Join Red Room Forum | |
| | | |
|
|
