•Around the Industry:
SunRocket VoIP goes kaplooie again? BBR Members reporting outages
Earthlink wins Philadelphia bid
Sprint: Mobile broadband king maker?
New HP and Compaq PC's will come with Netscape browser included
Internet sales tax rears its ugly head again
If its beneficial, why not build it?
Videogame watchdog and Jeb Bush call each other dirty liars over game Bill proposal
•SecurityBits:
Kaspersky's AV said to be defective
RealNetworks patches Linux RealPlayer zero day flaw
UK Government creates network to fight hackers
•TidBytes:
VIA, Mini-box announce Car PC kit
Political hackers deface Novell SUSE sites
Electronic Arts unveils games for Xbox 360 launch
•More news from around the industry, SecurityBits, and interesting Tidbytes inside!... .
Around The Industry:
•SunRocket VoIP goes kaplooie again? BBR Members reporting outages:
Seems as if SunRocket VoIP is having troubles yet again, according to members posting in our VoIP forum. A BBR member in a post quotes from the SunRocket website: "Some customers are experiencing intermittent service disruptions. Our engineers are working diligently to find a resolution as soon as possible. Thank you for your continued patience in this matter. Please check back later for updates."
•Earthlink wins Philadelphia bid:
MuniWireless has the scoop: "Earthlink has won the bid to unwire Philadelphia. It won over HP which was the only other finalist. Earthlink is also one of the companies that responded to the San Francisco RFI. At the Muniwireless conference Earthlink announced the creation of a muni wireless division, which is a sign that the company is very serious about rolling out citywide Wi-Fi around the US."
•Sprint: Mobile broadband king maker?:
Om Malik makes the case: "Had it not been for Sprint’s decision to sign-up with Qualcomm when it was getting started on Sprint PCS, Qualcomm would not be the behemoth that it is today. It was the kingmaker. Strangely enough, as mobile broadband becomes a reality, Sprint finds itself in the same position." Says Sprint's CTO: "No one else is in our position right now … We have all the assets. We have a vision of wireless interactive multimedia services."
•New HP and Compaq PC's will come with Netscape browser included:
In a potential blow to MS, Netscape's browser will be included inside every new HP and Compaq computer sold starting early next year, Netscape said. This is the first time since the browser wars of the 1990s that a computer manufacturer has decided to include a Web browser other than IE in its products. Netscape owner AOL predicts that other browser makers will ink similar deals with computer makers.
•Internet sales tax rears its ugly head again:
The SSTA (Streamlined Sales Tax Project) is setting up a system by which e-commerce companies can voluntarily pay state taxes to the states in which their customers reside. The larger retailers are beginning to believe that paying state sales taxes may be inevitable and that by co-operating now it could eliminate some exposure. This is not say that state sales tax on Internet purchases is a done deal. There's still a lot of opposition.
•If its beneficial, why not build it?:
Parks, ball fields, senior centers, golf courses, libraries, performing arts centers, swimming pools, football stadiums, baseball stadiums, basketball arenas, opera houses, convention centers, marinas. All are projects munis large and small build using tax dollars. Munis can and should spend tax dollars to build out free high speed citywide WiFi if it is deemed a need or benefit to a community.
•Videogame watchdog and Jeb Bush call each other dirty liars over game Bill proposal:
Miami attorney and videogames watchdog Jack Thompson claimed last week that he was requested by Florida Gov Jeb Bush to draft a violent video games bill a la California's. Gov. Jeb Bush's office now begs to differ, saying that "Mr. Thompson was advised that, while the Governor does have concerns regarding violence in video games, he does not use his position to rally against specific products are retailers that sell them."
•Verizon will offer live mobiTV via Crown Castle:
Verizon Wireless plans to start delivering live mobiTV early next year using a network being built by Crown Castle International. Citing an engineer from Crown Castle and other unnamed sources, an analyst said the operator plans to cover the top 30 U.S. markets. Neither Crown Castle or Verizon Wireless were available for comment on the issue.
•24 proposals as SF mayor calls WiFi access a 'basic right':
Officials said 24 proposals had been turned into SF to deliver WiFi, ranging from Google to Cingular to EarthLink as San Francisco's Mayor said he considered WiFi access a fundamental right of all citizens. The Mayor said he was bracing for a battle with phone and cableco's along with state and fed regulators who are looking to derail campaigns by cities to offer free or low-cost Wi-Fi services.
•Solving VoIP's outstanding issues:
VoIP is an outstanding tech when it works. But besides the nagging 911 issue, whenever the power goes off or broadband connection tanks, voice links go poof. How reliable must a network be to run VoIP? The "five nines" of reliability is a basic requirement of traditional voice networks. The term "five nines" refers to the goal set by traditional telcos to reach 99.999% service uptime, which translates into 5.3 minutes of downtime per year or less.
•Wireless Mesh Nets set to boom:
In-Stat reported it expects the mesh access point market to boom from $33.5 million in 2004 to $974.3 million in 2009. “Vendors are reporting a sharp increase in both inquiries and RFPs, enough to make them highly optimistic for the future of the market. They are finding interest from public safety and municipal governments, carriers such as Wireless ISPs, the security market, and for an expanding range of applications,” said an In-Stat research director.
•802.11n standard deal imminent, says Broadcom:
The logjam that has delayed agreement on the IEEE 802.11n high data-rate WLAN standard will be broken soon, and a standard agreed by the middle of next year, a senior exec from Broadcom said. He was referring to suggestions that Intel, Atheros Communications, Marvell Semiconductors, and Broadcom itself have linked on an interoperable physical and media access controller layer and plan to submit this to the IEEE by November.
•Travel industry domain open for business:
A new on-line domain for the travel industry is open for business. Airlines, theme parks, restaurants, tourism offices and others in travel and tourism are eligible for websites and e-mail addresses ending in ".travel." Tralliance, a unit of Internet communications company Theglobe.com, won approval to run ".travel" earlier this year from ICANN.
•Digital music revenue 'triples':
Digital music sale revenue tripled in the first half of 2005 compared with 2004, figures have suggested. However, revenue from sales of physical music formats, like CDs, fell 6.3% and the overall market by 1.9%, it said. That translates to a global drop in the market from $13.4 billion (£7.6bn) to $13.2 billion (£7.5bn), for all music sales - regardless of format.
SecurityBits:
•Kaspersky's AV said to be defective:According to Alex Wheeler, who earlier this year disclosed bugs in many of the biggest security vendors' products, Kaspersky Labs' AV engine can be hacked by attackers armed with maliciously-created .cab files. Kaspersky also OEMs its AV engine to other companies; Wheeler warned that some products from those vendors may be vulnerable as well. Kaspersky Labs had no comment on the issue.
•RealNetworks patches Linux RealPlayer zero day flaw:
RealNetworks has patched the Linux media players that were susceptible to a zero-day attack for much of last week. According to RealNetworks, Linux RealPlayer 10 (10.0.0 through 10.0.5) and Helix Player (also versions 10.0.0 through 10.0.5) are vulnerable to attack; last week exploit code was published on the Internet, leading some security firms to label the bug as critical.
•UK Government creates network to fight hackers:
The UK Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has approved the creation of 9 regional IT security info sharing networks to cover all English councils. The networks will enable council IT security specialists to share info on hackers, software vulnerabilities and online threats. The concept has been under development for some time but is now set to be promoted across the wider public sector and small businesses as well as councils.
•PGP set to release encryption package:
PGP will release a new encryption software bundle for laptops, desktops and servers. The Whole Disk Encryption products offer full encryption of the HD when a computer is turned off, helping protect the data if the PC is stolen or lost. In addition, a PC user can encrypt a file on the fly when a system is running. The bundle also enables people to securely store data on external devices and permanently erase data on a disk.
•Worms biting harder into IM, P2P:
IM and P2P are being hit with more worm and malicious code attacks than ever before, according to research reports. The number of threats detected for IM and P2P networks rose a whopping 3,295% in the 3rd quarter of 2005, compared with last year, IMlogic said. MS's IM network is the most popular target, with 62% of all attacks in the 3rd quarter hitting MSN Messenger or Windows Messenger. AIM is second with 31%.
Hardware, Software, and other TidBytes:
•VIA, Mini-box announce Car PC kit
•Political hackers deface Novell SUSE sites
•Electronic Arts unveils games for Xbox 360 launch
•BellSouth ups e-mail storage to 250MB
•Gizmondo projects bigger US launch
•Windows Vista beta 2 comes in November
•Hardware: Making Peace With Low Prices
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Yahoo Starts a Book Collection to rival Google Print