Get Your SubwayService Advisories Email
Very cool
Hurry! Go to the MTA's Subway Service Advisory E-mail Notification Pilot page and sign up to get emails from the MTA about what service issues there will be on the weekends. Yes, just like knowing the L train will be out for every weekend in a month! In the future, the MTA hopes to email people about sudden service issues, but it's all about the baby steps, people. Only 10,000 people can enter this pilot program.

Microsoft plans to give some pirates a break
People duped into buying counterfeit versions of Windows could get free licensed copies of the operating system.

As part of its growing antipiracy campaign, Microsoft is testing a program that offers free licensed versions of Windows XP Professional to some customers whose copies are found to be bogus.
The move is the latest in a series of expansions for the Windows Genuine Advantage program, which Microsoft quietly launched last September. The program, which runs software that verifies whether a particular copy of Windows is legitimately licensed, is the linchpin of a campaign by Microsoft to boost the number of paying customers among the millions of people that use Windows.
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The Windows Genuine effort started as a purely voluntary program, but Microsoft has since been requiring validation for more and more customers who want to download software from the company.
In March, for example, Microsoft said it would require those who want to download a foreign-language pack for Windows to first validate their copy of Windows.
Starting Wednesday, customers in the United States whose copies of Windows XP Professional do not pass validation will be presented with the option of getting a free licensed copy. To do so, customers must fill out a counterfeit report with Microsoft and be able to provide the Windows disk they have as well as some kind of receipt for their purchase.
"Our goal is really to ensure that the complimentary offer is for people who really truly were unknowing victims of counterfeit," said David Lazar, director of the Genuine Windows program.
Those who don't have the disk or the receipt are eligible to buy a licensed copy online for $149. That's less than the cost of a full copy of Windows XP Pro but more than what customers pay when they get Windows on a new PC.
For now, the Windows validation process remains optional for most customers, though sometime this summer, Microsoft plans to make such scanning mandatory for those who want to download software from the company's site.
Customers whose copy fails to pass inspection won't be able to get most Windows-related downloads but will still be able to get security updates, either by turning on Automatic Update or by manually selecting a particular patch. The Windows Update utility, which determines all needed updates and presents them for download, will only be available to those whose copy is found to be licensed.
Before going that far, Lazar said, Microsoft wanted to test how the upgrade process might work. Hence the current offer, which runs through July 30. It is not clear what offer Microsoft will have when the program becomes mandatory.
"We knew that to fully implement the program, we would want an offer like this," Lazar said. "This gives us an opportunity to test it."
One of the things Microsoft is testing is a scanning tool that tries to verify that a customer who is upgrading to a legitimate copy of Windows already has all the right Windows files. The tool checks to make sure that all of the original Windows XP system files are present and not damaged, though Microsoft also sends a CD to customers and encourages those who suspect that there might be problems with their Windows copy to reinstall the operating system.
Analysts had worried that Microsoft might make customers completely reinstall Windows in order to convert to a licensed copy of the operating system.
So far, customers have appeared quite willing to let Microsoft check their copy of Windows. In the eight months since Microsoft began asking people whether they would be willing to test to see if their Windows copy was legitimate, a majority of those asked have gone along. Worldwide, 48 million customers have viewed a page asking them if they want to take part in the program, with 27 million people, or 56 percent, opting to do so.
Lazar would not say exactly how many bogus copies Microsoft has found, but he said the "vast majority" of machines are judged to have licensed copies of Windows. The software piracy rate is estimated globally at about 36 percent, and Lazar said Microsoft has seen piracy results similar to what it had expected.
The company has also been testing a paid-upgrade offer in China, one of three countries where validation is already mandatory. Lazar said "several thousand" customers there have taken the option of buying a discounted version of Windows, with XP Pro selling for roughly $150. Lazar said he is not surprised that only a minority of customers have opted for a paid upgrade.
"As you can imagine, presenting an offer online, you don't get a majority of customers to take those offers," he said.

"The Most Critical New Vulnerabilities Discovered or Patched During the First Quarter of 2005"

The SANS Top20 Internet Security Vulnerabilities (www.sans.org/top20) is an annual consensus effort of leading information security organizations around the world. In 2004, the United Kingdom's NISCC hosted the announcement of the 2004 Top20 with the direct support of the US White House and Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada.

Thousands of organizations rely on the Top20 to help set priorities for what needs to be fixed first. However, since new Internet threats are discovered daily, user organizations that rely on the Top20 as a list of high priority threats have been asking for more frequent updates.

On May 2, 2005, the sponsors of the Top20 project released the first installment in a new program of quarterly updates to the Top20. It updates the annual Top20 and provides an additional roadmap to the new vulnerabilities that must be eliminated in any Internet-connected organization.

The list below summarizes the most critical new vulnerabilities discovered during the first quarter of 2005 by vendor.

Following the brief list, the critical new vulnerabilities are grouped by the vulnerability categories employed in the 2004 Top20 announcement, and summarized with a brief assessment of the impact of exploiting the vulnerabilities and pointers to more detailed information.

Check out http://www.sans.org/top20/Q1-2005update/


source: SANS Institute - New to the SANS Website

New show gives voice to 'podcasts'

It was an offer even the podfather could not refuse: the chance to be host of a radio program devoted solely to podcasts, or homemade radio shows formatted for digital audio players.

Adam Curry, a former MTV host who developed software that lets people automatically receive these programs on Apple's iPod and other players, will produce and be host of a four-hour program every weekday starting May 13 on Sirius Satellite Radio.

Curry will help choose material for "Adam Curry's PodShow" from some of the thousands of amateur shows produced in basements and dormitories. Sirius subscribers, who pay $12.95 a month for the service, can listen to the show on Channel 148, "Talk Central."

Podcasting has grown out of the boom in MP3 players, which can store hundreds of hours of music in small devices. The word "podcasting" is a nod to iPod, the most popular player.

Podcasts - essentially homemade digital audio files that users upload to the Internet for others to download on demand - run the gamut from tributes compiled by aspiring disc jockeys to their favorite music artists, to up-and-coming bands, to talk show "hosts" chatting with their friends about anything from fine wine to fly fishing.

As with TiVo and other digital video players, users can listen to podcasts whenever they want, pause them or rewind them. This allows users to carry their shows with them and no longer be bound to a radio station's schedule.

Unscripted podcasts are an audio version of so-called reality television shows for the airwaves. The unpolished and recreational feel of podcasts often draws comparisons to the Saturday Night Live skit "Wayne's World." The serendipity of the shows appeals to listeners looking for an alternative to canned commercial radio.

"It has to be the completely unedited voice," said Curry, who will preside over the show from London, where he lives. "There's a whole universe of people who make music, but there is no disc jockey putting it out there."

Sirius is not the only radio network moving into podcasting.

Infinity Broadcasting plans to convert one of its AM channels in San Francisco, 1550 KYCY, which now broadcasts mostly syndicated talk shows, into one mostly filled with podcasts.


More than 200 people have already submitted podcasts to the station, whose programming will be simultaneously streamed over a Web site for listeners outside the San Francisco area. The channel will continue to sell on-air advertising, though it will be adapted to fit the irregular length of the podcasts.

Curry's show on Sirius will also include advertising. But the company expects the show to have a free-form feel, much like the podcasts, rather than the more rigid format of mainstream radio.

The audience for the show is likely to be mainly 18- to 34-year-olds.
source: New show gives voice to 'podcasts': printer friendly version

Soccer Fans 'Sober' After Opening Free Ticket E-Mail

Soccer fans all over the world are being lured in by a new variant of the infamous Sober virus. The virus, which is being sent out in both German and English, promises free tickets to the 2006 World Cup, and once the user opens it, mass e-mails itself to others.

The virus, contained in attachments with addresses from the domain @fifa.de, has clogged up FIFA's own e-mail system, stopping them from sending out e-mails also. Since the worm comes in a .zip file, antivirus programs normally cannot identify it.
According to Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, the worm can use a variety of different subject lines and message bodies.

'Many people will be eager to attend one of the biggest sporting events in the world next year, and may think it is worth the risk of opening the e-mail attachment just in case the prize is for real,' Cluley said."
source: GeekCoffee | Technology News and Reviews:

On our way to a Computer Controlled Cashless Society
MTA To Roll Out Unmanned Booths In Dozens Of Subway Stations
The MTA has unveiled the new kiosks that will replace dozens of fare booths in subway stations around the city.

The new booths, which will not have clerks on duty, are painted red to distinguish them from ordinary, staffed booths. There are signs explaining MetroCards must be purchased at vending machines and that the clerks are elsewhere in the station if you need assistance.

The MTA was originally going to get rid of 164 token booths entirely. But that plan changed after a passenger was shot and killed earlier this year, and police were delayed reaching the platform because no clerk was on duty to let them in.

Under the new set-up, clerks can get inside the booths and use the phones in case of an emergency.

The change will not save any money, as initially envisioned, the MTA says. The move is now intended to improve customer service.

The new red booths will debut on May 22 at eight stations: Jay Street/Borough Hall, Union Square, 23rd Street and Lexington, Herald Square, Penn Station, Rockefeller Center, Chambers Street (J,M,Z) and Delancey Street. The rest will be rolled out over the next year.

The booths slated to close are in entrances that are currently open part-time. All stations will retain at least one entrance staffed by a clerk 24 hours a day.

But riders still have concerns about safety.

“Years ago clerks used to get hurt a lot, with the kids robbing them and stuff like that, and they were inside the booths,” said one straphanger. “What’s going to happen to these people if they’ve got keys to access doors and somebody grabs them? They’re safer in the booth.”

“I think it is a safety issue,” said another rider. “If they’re in the booth, you know where they are. You can get to them. If they’re roaming about, if something happens, what happens? It’s like trying to find a policeman in a subway station – you can never find one.”
source: NY1

Goodbye Free Verizon WiFi
Verizon will be pulling the virtual plug on its free NYC WiFi for DSL subscribers in the next two months. Verizon had put WiFi transmitters in phone booths, making their customers happy, but now the Big Bell doesn't feel it's as attractive a business opportunity and will be upgrading their system from WiFi to a 'fee-based cellular Internet service.' The EV-DO system is more powerful than WiFi and will probably be offered, along with a hike your Verizon bills.

What WiFi service providers do you use when you're out of your office or home? Is it a predominantly about stealing WiFi? Here's a list of the Verizon hotspots; the least popular locations will be turned off first, and slowly the others will be unavailable over the next two months. More resources: NYC Wireless, which promote wirelessness in the city (here's a map of free wireless connections) and use Google's local searches to find hotspots like this."
source: Gothamist: Goodbye Free Verizon WiFi

My next Mission
I have been travelling from one apartment to another every week and I get the chance to watch a lot of TV since I cannot go out as much as I want. I ended up seeing a commercial for the Olive Garden and they mentioned how they get their newest recipes from the Olive Garden Culinary Institute of Tuscany. I nealy fell out of my chair. If you ate at an Olive Garden, you know it's on the par of any Chili's or Sizzler. What do they have to do with Italy. My next mission is to find this Culinary Institute of Tuscany
and see if it exisits.
Olive Garden Italian Restaurant: Our Opportunities: Press Releases