Blackhacker

With signature (buzz making) flare the CEO of Apple Computers finally makes it BIG Announcement. C|Net has the details.

1. Video iPods, with new searching capabilities, and plays games
2. Some new brighter, longer lasting nanos. And they come in colors
3. A new smaller, clip on 1GB shuffle (it is REALLY small)
4. iTunes 7 will have cover art for music, & carry movies, for download, the same day they come out on DVD 14.99 & 9.99 price points. Download will take 30 minutes at 5Mb/s, quality will be close to DVD. This is not as big of news as you think because only Disney & Pixar movies will be available, initially.
5. Last but not least is a new product codenamed iTV, Cringely calls it videoXpress (Cringley’s name is better)
   

   iTV will sell for $299 and works with PCs and Macs. “We think it completes the picture here,” Jobs said.

   10:55 a.m.–The new iTV device, which Jobs demonstrated onstage, has 802.11 wireless built in, wired networking, USB, an HDMI connector, and also component video, analog audio and optical audio. It will be controlled with an Apple remote and hooks directly to a TV or to set-top box or home theater system.

   The point of iTV is to allow movies and TV shows downloaded to a computer to play on a TV in another room. The device is coming in the first quarter of 2007, Jobs said.

I think the last item is the really big news. It comes out in Q1 of 2007. My question is will it play standard formats or just what ever DRMed up forma Apple comes up with. It would be cool to download video via juice or democracy, and then be able to see it on a standard TV.Ooooorr what if I set up a DVR into a Mac, will it play those videos as well?

Sometimes it can be interesting and educational to look through your spam. Especially that which gets though your spam filter. Take this one for instance. It is an obvious attempt to get me to reveal personal details so this guy can assume my ID. A LAME attempt at that. But this guy get cute though. Instead of getting me to browse to his fraudulent website, he wants me to make a phone call. I couldn’t resist so, I made the call. I was at work so I wasn’t worried about him gleaning info from the caller id. On the other end was a cheesy voice synthesizer that sounded like a Cylon circa 1978. It asked to enter personal info, like account#, SS#, and PIN. of course all of this stuff was made up. I don’t even have an account with MBNA. It accepted the info no problem.

Just so that you guys know the credit card account number has check digits. By simply running a an algorithm on the number you can tell if it is valid number or not, before you even authorize a transaction with the bank.

Anyway, this little excerise got me thinking about something that Bob Cringely wrote last year.

So, let’s have some fun shall we. The number is 1-800-976-5713. Please be safe when you call this number. Use a pay phone (we still have those?), a work phone, or any phone where the Caller ID info is turned off. Make sure that NONE of the info you enter is legitimate, for you or anybody else. Just enter random digits. Also be sure to TAKE as LONG as you can to do it. He’s got an 800 and paying for each call so we want to make sure he gets his money’s worth.

Also start an email chain asking everyone in your address book to do the same. I abor email chains, and as a rule I never respond to them, but if there ever was an exception this is it.

And if you want to know who this guy is the IP address where the email that the email originates from resolves to dsl-ap-dynamic-063.155.22.125.airtelbroadband.in. Apparently somebodies home PC. If I’m not mistaken the TLD is India. Yo Airtelbrodband !! Sombody on you subnet isn’t playing NICE !!

Lastly check out this post. It has 3 REALLY good things you can do to keep you safer on the Wild Wild Web

Netcraft is giving away an iPod to the five people who identify and the most phishers using the Netcraft toolbar. Kind wish there was phishing spam in my inbox right now. All I’m getting lately is a bunch of cialis, and day trader spam these days.

Lockheed Martin to build future moonship - Human Spaceflight - MSNBC.com
Lockheed Martin on Thursday won NASA’s multibillion-dollar nod to build the Orion crew exploration vehicle, a spaceship with a look and a mission that echoes the space agency’s giant leap to the moon in the 1960s.

The announcement kicks off an effort to produce spacecraft that would replace NASA’s fleet of space shuttles, due for retirement in 2010. NASA’s timetable calls for the cone-shaped Orion ships to bring cargo or up to six crew members to the international space station by 2014, and carry up to four astronauts to the moon and back by 2020.

For 13 months, two high-profile aerospace teams — one led by Lockheed Martin, the other led by Northrop Grumman and The Boeing Co. — have worked on paper proposals to fit NASA’s specifications. Now it’s up to Lockheed Martin to turn the concept into a reality.

I just hope the Work they do for NASA is better than what they deliver for the Cost Guard.