Virgin Media looks set to become the first British internet company to crack down on customers who download music illegally.

More from the media, technology and telecoms industries

Record labels are lobbying for a “three strikes” regime that would see those who collect pirated material disconnected from the internet, and the government is expected next month to consult on how such curbs could be legally enforced.

Music trade body the BPI is working with Virgin on a pilot which could see dozens of customers sent warning letters.

The trial by the UK’s largest residential broadband supplier will go live within months and disconnecting customers who ignore warnings, a sanction favoured by the record BPI, remains an option. The trial will also be open to film and television studios.

This would be the first time a British internet company has publicly moved to share responsibility for curbing piracy. Two years of negotiations between record labels and internet service providers (ISPs) have so far failed to produce an industry-wide agreement.

A spokesman for Virgin Media said: “We have been in discussions with rights holders organisations about how a voluntary scheme could work. We are taking this problem seriously and would favour a sensible voluntary solution.”

The BPI has teams of technicians to trace illegal music downloading to individual accounts. It will hand these account numbers over to Virgin Media, which will match them to names and addresses.

Six million broadband users are estimated to download files illegally each year, costing record labels billions of pounds in lost CD sales. ISPs have so far resisted calls to control the traffic that passes over their networks, raising issues around customer privacy and the difficulty of accurately pinpointing file sharers.

The government said in February that it would implement legislation by April next year unless ISPs came to a voluntary agreement with the music and film industries. According to industry sources, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform is due to publish a consultation paper in April outlining legal measures.

The model being pushed by the BPI is for a letter warning customers they are committing an offence, followed by suspension of internet access for a second infringement, and finally disconnection.

BPI chief executive, Geoff Taylor, said: “This is not the time for ISPs to delay further. Government clearly shares the creative community’s frustration at the failure of ISPs to take action.”

 TAKEN FROM www.telegraph.co.uk

Spam continues to blight e-mail exactly 15 years after the term was first coined and almost 30 years since the first spam message was sent.

The term is thought to have been coined by Joel Furr, an administrator on the net discussion system Usenet, to refer to unsolicited bulk messages.

More than 90% of all e-mail is spam, according to anti-spam body Spamhaus.

“Spam is a real life arms race,” said Mark Sunner, chief analyst at online security firm Message Labs.

Billions of spam e-mails are sent each day, blocking mail servers, slowing down networks, infecting people’s computers with viruses, helping hijack machines and generally making the internet a painful experience for many.

Mr Furr told BBC News that the anniversary of his first use of the term was no cause for celebration.

“I prefer commiseration,” he said.

Mr Furr first used the term to refer to bulk postings on discussion boards on the internet but in the years to come spam became associated with e-mail.

“But even today there are many discussion groups that are unusable because of the amount of spamming,” he said.

‘Increasing risk’

Richard Cox, chief information officer of anti-spam body Spamhaus, said: “Spam means there is an increasing risk to e-mail; it cannot become a reliable vehicle for getting messages across.”

Mr Furr said: “In recorded human history as communcation barriers drop and as communication becomes easier civilisation progresses.

“We have this awesome tool to make it possible for people in any part of the planet to exchange ideas with one another and yet people are going out of their way to not use it because of the spammers, because of the jerks.

“It’s holding back innovation.”

“When e-mail was designed the internet was largely used by people you could trust,” said Mr Cox.

“Unfortunately not only did bad people start to use the internet, the gates to the internet were transferred from fairly prudent technologists to people who wanted to make money out of it.

“That’s when spam caught on and ever since it has been a rear-guard action.”

The term spam was inspired by the Monty Python sketch, first shown in 1970, in which a restaurant only serves the processed meat product.

In the sketch, a group of Vikings start singing: “Spam, lovely spam, wonderful spam.”

The term was picked up in internet chat rooms in the early 1970s and used in a variety of contexts until it became best-known as a reference to unsolicited bulk e-mail, according to research carried out by Brad Templeton, who is chairman of the board at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

‘Bulk e-mail’

The first unsolicited bulk e-mail was sent by a marketing representative at computer firm Dec on 3 May 1978, when he e-mailed every West Coast user on the Arpanet, the original building block of the internet.

The e-mail was inviting users to attend an open day in which the firm would be showing off its latest range of computers.

Mr Cox said years had been taken up trying to persuade government to ban spam.

“The Chinese and Russians are a major problem and probably always will be,” he said.

Mr Cox said the two countries’ governments were apathetic about dealing with spam because although it originates in their countries, its effect is felt largely outside their borders.

According to the Spamhaus Project, about 200 spammers worldwide are responsible for about 80% of all spam.

Household computers

Much of spam is sent from ordinary household computers that have been hijacked by hackers, and turned into what is known as botnets, which automatically spew out messages. Mark Sunner said spam was a problem that was constantly evolving.

“The bad guys are at least as technically proficient as the security services trying to stop them.”

He added: “The bad guys at the sharp end are using these botnets to do some really clever stuff.”

In the past, botnets could be taken down by finding the central server controlling the machines. But the latest variants of botnets are using a technique called fast-flux domain name service which shifts the location of servers every three minutes.

“There are still a number of spam factories in the US which are bulk sending spam,” said Mr Cox.

Spamhaus maintains a register of known spammers and spam gangs, many of whom are based in China and Russia.

Minimal activity

The body also maintains a list of internet service providers that are failing to deal with computers that have been hijacked.

Mr Cox said UK service providers like BT, Bulldog, Wanadoo and Tiscali were failing to tackle the problem of botnets.

“There has been minimal activity by many internet service providers, all of whom are blaming the dubious legal situation of spam,” he said.

Mr Cox said the battle against spam was being scuppered due to lack of government and law enforcement co-operation across borders.

“The spam may come from Bulgaria but if its controlled by somebody in Russia and paid for by someone in the US - who do you prosecute, and in which country?

“How do you get the evidence into the right country? We’re building on this but it’s a very slow process.”

Mr Cox said it was unlikely spam would ever be defeated completely.

“I don’t think it’s realistic to believe we will never receive spam,” he said.

TAKEN FROM news.bbc.co.uk

 Jupiter Kalambakal - AHN News Writer

Vancouver, British Columbia (AHN)– The Linux running on a Sony Vaio remained undefeated at the end of a three-way computer hacking challenge Friday at the CanSecWest conference.

Sponsors had wagered three laptops to anyone who could hack into one of the systems and run their own software. A $20,000 cash prize sweetened the deal.

The MacBook Air went first; Independent Security Evaluators’ Charlie Miller took the Mac after about two minutes work on Thursday. Miller took home $10,000, courtesy of 3Com’s TippingPoint division, in addition to the new laptop.

After two days of work, Shane Macaulay finally cracked the tiny Fujitsu laptop running Vista on Friday, with a little help from his friends.

Macaulay said the flaw he exploited was a cross-platform bug that took advantage of Java to circumvent Vista’s security.Macaulay said he chose to work on Vista because he had done contract work for Microsoft in the past and was more familiar with its products.

TippingPoint Manager Terri Forslof said several attendees tried to crack the Linux box, but nobody could pull it off. She noted that some had found bugs in the Linux operating system but many of them didn’t want to put the work into developing the exploit code that would be required to win the contest.

TAKEN FROM www.allheadlinenews.com

Judging by the amount of our image submissions, the life of sysadmins and IT technicians is not getting any easier, when it comes to unraveling wiring messes. Plus some countries seem to have never developed the concept of tidy wire management. But what if sophisticated connections simply have to be made? The set-up in this room seems to be working, but we do not have information exactly how well it works (click to enlarge) -

The wire is a simple thing. It only has two ends.

The potential for chaos, though, knows no limits. The following photos instill in us a certain sense of dread, as we do not want to come anywhere close to them in reality, or even poke them with a stick -

Sven Briels sent us this picture. He says: “This wonder of engineering was feeding the airconditioning in my hotel in Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Note the switch bundeling under it :)” -

Note the labels! Somebody went to the trouble of labeling this mess (did it help?) -

(photos by wb8foz at nrk)

Location, location, location -

(image credit: Vinny Abello)

I don’t see wires here. I see hair -

Somebody said “A clean desk is a sign of a sick mind”. It seems some wildly creative project is underway here -

Terrifying electric wiring from Chelyabinsk, Russia -

“The worst phone wiring in Scotland” -

(image credit: Shannon Orem)

Weeds (and trees) compete with wires:

(image credit: zombie37)

A semblance of order? or a real thing?

Wired magazine recently published shots of the internet’s “densest meet-me room” - where 260 ISPs get all inter-connected, with very little room for error.

“If this facility went down, most of California and parts of the rest of the world would not be able to connect to the internet.”

(images credit: Dave Bullock/Wired.com)

Monkeys like the wiring all too much:

If you’ll stare too long at some crazy wiring, maybe you’ll decide to simply turn it into a form of art:

“Spaghetti Art” - via

Mad, mad, mad pipe-work

Why would anybody do something like this? Perhaps they hoped that if they multiply trans-dimensional pipe loops and increase the structural complexity, it’ll turn the liquid inside into gold, or even better, into vodka… they failed, in either case:

If some plumbing is too messed up, you can use the weirdest pipe joints as a sculpture outside:

Just to compare, this is what the truly awesome pipe work looks like:

You gotta love this vintage arrangement:

(image credit: Steve Porcaro(ex-Toto), 1982)

But then again, maybe it’s not even worth to spend an extra time and effort to organize these pesky knots? After all, the Universal Law is the ultimate increase in entropy and chaos, so why even bother…

 TAKEN FROM www.darkroastedblend.com

Since the dawn of time, geeks have been playing harmless pranks on their beloved (but unsuspecting) associates, and it’s up to all of us to carry the torch forward. On the eve of April Fools’ Day, when you’ve got local network access to your coworkers’ and family systems, cubicles just crying out to be filled with packing peanuts, and webapps that can do all sorts of things automatically, there’s no better time to baffle, confuse, perplex, and just plain mess with your loved ones and associates. Hit the jump for our top 10 favorite harmless geek pranks, just in time to get your prankster pistons firing for tomorrow.

10. Install the Blue Screen of Death Screensaver

Make your co-worker think their PC crashed when they get back from lunch. The BSOD (”Blue Screen of Death”) screensaver is a free download from Microsoft (ironically.) For other operating system “support,” check out the Linux BSOD ’saver with support for Apple, Windows, and Linux crash screens.

9. Fake a Desktop with Screenshot Wallpaper

Freak out your co-worker or family member by faking out their Windows desktop with an unclickable facade: Take a screenshot of their current desktop, then set it as the desktop wallpaper. Hide the actual taskbar and disable desktop icons (right-click the desktop and choose “Arrange Icons By” and uncheck “Show Desktop Icons.”) When your victim returns to the computer, watch the futile clicking begin.

8. Schedule a Phone Call with a Text-to-Speech Message from Wakerupper.com

Wake up calls aren’t just for the a.m., you know. Pop your victim’s phone number, a time, and a custom message into Wakerupper.com, a free wakeup call service, and they’ll get a call with the message read Silicon Sally text-to-speech style back to them. (original post)

7. Fill an Office with Packing Peanuts (Or Make It Look That Way)

Actually filling your co-worker’s cubicle with packing peanuts can be a pain in the ass, but if there’s a glass wall involved, it’s easy to make it look like you did. Check out Hack N Mod’s nifty gallery of what looks like a glass room filled with packing material.

April Fools: Cubical Chaos Fakeout [Hack N Mod]

6. Remote Control Your Co-Workers’ Computer with VNC

How would it feel to have your mouse taken over by a ghost and do things on your computer you never intended while you watched? You can inflict this feeling of utter confusion on your victim using VNC, a computer remote control protocol. You’ll need to install the VNC server on your victim’s computer first, and have their IP address, so this one will work best in the office when you’re on the same network. Here’s how to remote control a computer with VNC. Mac users, here’s how to remote control Leopard with TightVNC.

5. Message Co-Workers with NET SEND

Hidden in the depths of the Windows command line is a nifty little utility called Net Send, which pops up very official-looking alert messages on any computer you send them to. If you know your co-workers’ IP address, you can net send them goofy messages, like this person on the Geeknewz boards:

A good prank that I have played on some friends involves the net send command. What I did was I used the net send command to send a message that said “Microsoft has detected that you have a small penis. Please consider upgrading for better performance” to other people on my local network. When you use the net send command in the command prompt, you specify the computer you want it sent to by typing the computer name, it also says on the message which computer it came from, so I changed my computer name to Microsoft, so it appeared, to the technically challenged, that the message actually came from Microsoft. In case you were interested, the syntax for the net send is:net send computername message

Here’s more on how to use net send.

4. “Break” Your Victim’s LCD Screen with Wallpaper

Want to put a crack into that shiny new widescreen monitor? Download the broken LCD desktop wallpaper, set it as your victim’s desktop wallpaper and hide the taskbar and icons.

3. Hijack Firefox with the Total Confusion Pack Extension (Enabled on April 1st Only)

Your victim use Firefox? Install the “Total Confusion Pack” Firefox extension, which enables the following “features” on April 1st only:

• Two Steps Back: Make the back button go back twice—not every time, but only on random instances.
• Rick Rollr: Switch out 2% of the video clips your victim watches with the infamous Rick Astley video.
• The Devil’s Inbox: Make the number of unread email in your victim’s Gmail inbox exactly 666.
• Highs and Lows/Sarcarsm Enhancer/For real: Add LOL, *sigh*, “for real,” “Whatever” and various other commentary to web page text.
• Watch it: Make it look as if the page was loading forever. (Now this is just plain mean.)

Download the Firefox Total Confusion Pack here.

2. Customize the Office HP Printer’s Console Message

Baffle your coworkers with an “Insert Coin” message on the office printer using the HP Printer Job Language (HPPJL) command set. Here’s how to customize the printer’s Ready prompt to read whatever you want. (original post)

1. Turn Web Pages Upside Down

If your office or housemates all use the same Wi-Fi network and you’ve got some network admin skills, run the web traffic to their computers through custom scripts that turn images upside down, blur them, or redirect all web page requests to kittenwar.com. This is the most difficult trick in the list to implement, but it’s pretty clever. Here’s more on how to set up Upside-Down-Ternet. (original post)

TAKEN FROM /lifehacker.com

Aviary is excited to announce the launch of its newest application, Dodo, the web-based time machine.

We’ve been working feverishly around the clock on this new tool which will allow you to age and de-age people, places and things from any browser with Flash 9 enabled.

Here’s a video of Dodo in action:

Dodo is incredibly simple to use: Just upload an input picture, choose between different settings that might affect the aging process (i.e. amounts of alcohol and tobacco consumed), set a year and hit generate. Obviously results will vary, but under strenuous laboratory analysis we have found a margin of error of only +-11% (unprecedented performance for time machines in general, let alone web-apps).

Dodo automatically detects the subject matter (noting the difference between people places and things) and chooses how to age it, using the Astley-Zonday time displacement theorem with accurate results.

Dodo can also be used on scenery. For example, Dodo changed this scene from an ordinary spring landscape to winter, using Dodo’s built-in database of geographically accurate weather history.

Additionally, Dodo is not limited to animate objects, and scenes; It works equally well on inanimate objects, predicting what they might look like at specified dates in the past (and future).

We see market opportunity for Dodo across several mediums, not just graphic design. We imagine it will be useful in everything from tracking down long missing children, to determining if a girlfriend will end up looking like her mother, to deceiving potential dates in the personals section of Craigslist.

To access Dodo, sign up for an Aviary account at http://a.viary.com. If you already have an account, please log out and back in to see it appear in your tool list.

TAKEN FROM a.viary.com

Introduction

Ars Technica’s original Wireless Security Blackpaper was first published back in 2002, and in the intervening years, it has been a great reference for getting the technical lowdown on different wireless security protocols. As a sequel to the original blackpaper, we wanted to do something a little more basic and practical, because the number of devices with 802.11x support has greatly expanded since 2002. Wireless security is no longer the domain of geeks and system administrators, but is now an issue in the lives of everyday users, from the worker with a home office who wants to keep sensitive files secure to the homemaker who wants to avoid an RIAA lawsuit because the teen next door is a wireless-leeching P2P addict.

In this practical introduction to the basics of securing your home wireless network, we’ll cover the important, high-level points that ordinary users need to know in order to secure a network of game consoles, phones, and PCs. Along the way, we’ll also recap some of the relevant information from the original wireless blackpaper, which I recommend if you want to pursue the topic further. So look through the guide, and if you’re already technically savvy then send it along to your uncle or your sister-in-law, and you may get one less phone call when it comes time for them to set up their new WLAN.

Note: This short guide will focus on securing 802.11g/802.11 draft-n routers, since these are the two most common types on the market today. Most of the information we’ll present should be applicable to older 802.11b or even 802.11a routers as well, assuming that your device’s manufacturer provided appropriate firmware updates.

First things first

The first thing to understand about wireless security is that by default, you have none. The router you buy from Newegg or Best Buy is going to come preconfigured for open access, which means that all of your neighbors can hop on and begin snarfing up MP3s with your bandwidth. This makes the router easier to set up—on a modern OS, you shouldn’t have to do much more than plug in both adapter and router—but it leaves the wireless access point (WAP) completely open to attack. Most manufacturers use a simple login/password combination, and such information is easily available online.

The first step to securing any wireless network, therefore, is to change the default router password. Most manufacturers set the default password to something along the lines of “admin,” “password,” or “changeme,” and the router IP address is almost always a simple variation on 192.168.x.1, where x = 0, 1, or 15. A nonstandard, strong password is no substitute for actual encryption, but it’s a step in the right direction. The next step should be to check for a firmware update for your router, particularly if it’s an older model. Many routers that didn’t support more advanced security settings (i.e., WPA, which I’ll describe later) had such support added via later firmware updates. 

Setting a password for your router should be one of the first things you do

Debunking myths

You’re likely to get some bad wireless security advice from the guy at your local electronics superstore who sold you your router, because many of the commonly recommended wireless security tips floating around out there aren’t actually all that useful and may even do more harm than good by lulling the end-user into a false sense of security.

Hiding the SSID

The SSID (Service Set Identifier) is an identification code (typically a simple name) broadcast by a wireless router. If a wireless device detects multiple SSIDs from multiple access points (APs), it will typically ask the end-user which one it should connect to. Telling a router not to broadcast its SSID may prevent basic wireless access software from displaying the network in question as a connection option, but it does nothing to actually secure the network. Any time a user connects to a router, the SSID is broadcast in plaintext, regardless of whether or not encryption is enabled. SSID information can also be picked up by anyone listening to the network in passive mode.

Changing the SSID

This is sometimes touted as a security measure. It isn’t. Changing your access point’s SSID will change the identification code the router is broadcasting, but it won’t change anything else. It doesn’t prevent the router from being detected, snooped, or hacked in any way.

Disable DHCP

Switching DHCP off and using static IP addressing is no defense against hacking. Anyone snooping the network can usually figure out the pattern that has been used to assign the IP addresses in question and then make a specific request accordingly.

Filtering MAC addresses

In theory, this sounds great. Every NIC has its own unique MAC address, and wireless access points can be configured to block all but a handful of specified NICs. The problem with filtering by MAC address, however, is that these addresses are easily faked and readily detected by anyone using appropriate monitoring software. In addition, this approach requires a great deal of overhead in corporate environments, and even for a large home network with multiple machines and gadgets (consoles, phones, and consumer electronics) it quickly becomes untenable.

Of the above bogus “security” measures, filtering MAC addresses is the only one with even a minimal level of value. MAC address filtering can keep obnoxious and non-tech-savvy neighbors from easily freeloading on your wireless network, but it won’t do much else. To keep more determined intruders off of your network, you’ll have to use encryption.

Encryption methods

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) are the two encryption standards that are widely used in today’s wireless devices. Of the two, WPA is far superior in every respect, and should be used in any situation where it’s available, but the sheer number of people using WEP requires that we discuss it here as well. Each of these standards contains several specific implementations, which we’ll also discuss. 

WEP: Old, busted, and better than nothing

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) was the first wireless security protocol. Originally, WEP used a 40-bit encryption key, but this was later extended to 104 bits due to concerns over the security of the WEP standard. This change, however, was little more than a stop-gap measure, meant to make WEP less susceptible to brute-force attacks. WEP used a 24-bit initialization vector (IV) when encrypting both 40-bit and 104-bit ciphers. This 24-bit IV is vulnerable to cracking due to the low number of possible permutations (16,777,216 for those of you keeping count). Just last year, researchers succeeded in cracking 104-bit WEP encryption in about two minutes using an old Pentium-M machine.

Unfortunately, WEP’s flaws have yet to drive it from the market. As recently as last November, surveys showed that up to 25 percent of WAP hotspots were still using WEP, and the largest data theft in US history is thought to have been caused by the use of WEP encryption. Now that even WEP’s 104-bit encryption can be brute-forced easily, this standard should no longer be considered secure by any measure.

Easily cracked, but still used about a quarter of the time

There is, however, a reason to mention it here. Despite its numerous flaws and weaknesses, running WEP is still better than running your wireless access point completely in the clear, and it’ll at least keep your neighbors (or random passers-by) from surfing on your network. WEP should also be compatible with virtually any router ever made, including orphaned models that haven’t seen firmware updates in years. Your best bet when dealing with this kind of situation is to replace the router, but if that’s not possible for whatever reason, WEP may be all you’ve got.

There have been a few other WEP-related encryption standards worth mentioning here. WEP2 was a short-lived attempt to improve on the original standard by incorporating both a 128-bit encryption key and a 128-bit initialization vector. WEP2 doesn’t improve on any of the inherent weaknesses of the WEP model, but it does make brute-force attacks substantially more difficult. In the absence of support for other standards, WEP2 is a better option than standard WEP.

Several other vendors have developed their own specific and proprietary technologies to address WEP’s flaws. These typically require a matched WAP and adapter combination, and their efficacy may vary widely. Again, such solutions should only be considered only when they represent the best alternative to a standard WEP configuration or no security whatsoever.

WPA and WPA2

WPA was developed in response to the flaws in WEP, and it’s a much better security protocol than its predecessor. Unlike WEP, WPA uses a 48-bit initialization vector and a 128-bit encryption key. More importantly, however, WPA uses what’s called the Temporary Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP). Whereas WEP recycles the same key for encrypting all the packets flowing across the network, WPA’s TKIP changes the encryption key every single time a packet is transmitted. This, combined with the use of longer keys, prevents a hacker from compromising a router simply by passively observing a large enough set of packet transmissions.

The WPA2 standard is a 2004 update to the WPA specification that includes support for a US government-approved encryption protocol called Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). (AES can also now be used with WPA, though the presence of this option will probably depend on how recently your router received a firmware update.) Unlike WPA, WPA2 was not explicitly developed with backwards compatibility in mind; older routers that are capable of handling WPA encryption via TKIP may not be able to use WPA2, as WPA2 mandates both AES and TKIP compatibility. If possible, you should use WPA2 instead of WPA.

WPA2 is more secure, but lacks the backwards compatibility of WPA

There are two security levels built into WPA and WPA2, WPA Personal (or WPA-PSK) and WPA Enterprise. WPA-Personal uses a preshared authentication key between all the systems on a network. This means that the network is potentially vulnerable to dictionary-based attacks if strong passwords are not used. Home networks don’t have much to worry about here, provided your authentication key isn’t something along the lines of “cat.”

Enterprise-level WPA implementations make use of a separate RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service) server. In this case, the adapter attempts to connect to the wireless access point, which then demands a set of credentials. The access point forwards this request and any associated information to the RADIUS server. The RADIUS server then checks these credentials against its own stored data. At this point, the RADIUS server can authenticate the user’s login, deny it, or return a request for further information in the form of a second password or equivalent source.

RADIUS servers are typically reserved for enterprise-level deployment, where they provide both an additional level of security and an increased level of control over how network resources are allocated on a per-user level. As such, they fall outside the realm of what most home users are likely to encounter.

Once you understand the terminology, the basics of wireless security fall firmly into place. If you want a secure configuration, use the WPA protocol in combination with a strong passkey. Past that point, we’re mostly splitting hairs. AES-based WPA2 is more secure than TKIP-based WPA, but either solution is light-years beyond WEP.

Securing your media network

Wireless support is now a common feature in many different types of consumer devices. All current-generation game consoles support wireless connectivity, and it’s a built-in feature on any decent laptop, handheld device, or Internet tablet. Wireless networking is on its way to becoming a ubiquitous home technology, but there’s a difference between having a home full of network devices and having those same devices happily sharing a single wireless network. It can be difficult to find a single encryption standard that all the devices can agree on.

The table below should be some help the next time you have to synchronize security settings between a mishmash of hardware.

Device	WEP	WPA-PSK	WPA2-PSK
PlayStation Portable	Yes	Yes	No
Nintendo DS	Yes	No	No
PlayStation 3	Yes	Yes	Yes
Wii	Yes	Yes	Yes
Xbox 360 WiFi adapter	Yes	Yes	No
iPhone	Yes	Yes	Yes
Nokia N800/N810	Yes	Yes	Yes
Asus Eee PC	Yes	Yes	Yes*

*The EEE PC’s hardware supports WPA2, but the native ASUS Linux install may not expose this capability. 

We’ve listed a number of the most popular Wi-Fi-capable devices above. The good news is that all of them support some kind of encryption. The bad news is that the choice between TKIP and AES complicates the picture a bit. For instance, the Nintendo Wii supports AES for both WPA and WPA2, but not TKIP for WPA2. So if you’re looking for maximum compatibility among all your networked devices, your first choice in router settings should be WPA2 (AES) and your second should be WPA (TKIP). Forget about permutations like WPA2 (TKIP) and WPA (AES) and stick with the two options just mentioned.

Unfortunately, the Nintendo DS is the odd man out here, and only includes support for WEP. If you plan on running a wireless network that includes a Nintendo DS, you’re stuck on an awful security protocol. This was downright shortsighted on Nintendo’s part. The DS itself may have no particular need for strong wireless security, since there’s virtually nothing a hacker could do with your DS, even if he broke into it—but as we’ve already observed, an increasing number of homes deploy a WAP as a general access point for multiple wireless devices. The DS might not need much security, but the same can’t be said for the desktop, laptop, and PS3 that might all be sharing the same connection.

Set the DS aside, and WPA is easily the way to go. All of the other devices listed above support it and you’d be hard-pressed to find a router on the market today that didn’t include WPA as well. WPA2, however, is still hit-and-miss. The newest encryption standard doesn’t share WPA’s near-universal backwards compatibility, and some routers on the market may not support it. In all honesty, this shouldn’t be much of an issue—WPA2 is more secure than WPA, but WPA is still considered a secure standard, and it’s still recommended as a general solution. 

Enabling a wireless security standard

Actually enabling a security standard (assuming you don’t already run one) is simple.  I’ll provide a few sample screenshots from a Linksys WRT150 router (802.11n Draft 2.0 compliant); the procedure should be similar on any other product. Drop into the “Wireless Security” of the WRT150 and open the selection tab, and this is what you see: 

We’re going to ignore WEP, since you really shouldn’t be using it, and focus on the various WPA options. WPA Personal (aka, WPA-PSK) and WPA2-Personal are configured more-or-less identically. Select the option, choose your encryption method (TKIP or AES), and enter your chosen encryption key. There should be no need to change the default key renewal time (3,600 seconds) but if you need to do so, you can do that, as well. From this point, all you need to do is configure your various wireless adapters with the same information, and you should be up and running. 

Linksys’ options for switching to RADIUS mode are a bit misleading. WPA Enterprise and WPA2 Enterprise are the options you’d choose for a RADIUS server using one of those two protocols. The actual RADIUS option refers to a RADIUS server combined with WEP, and probably isn’t used much at this point. 

Configuring WPA/WPA2 Enterprise is also simple:  Choose your encryption standard (TKIP or AES), and punch in the IP address and port number for the RADIUS server that handles authentication, as well as your shared secret. Once you’ve finished these steps, the router itself should be ready—make the appropriate configuration changes for your wireless adapters, and you’re good to go.  

Conclusion

It’s actually quite easy to secure a wireless network, once you have a handle on what works and what doesn’t. Don’t waste time manually configuring MAC addresses or disabling DHCP when enabling an appropriate encryption standard is both faster and more effective. 

WPA2 (AES) is the best encryption method currently available, followed by WPA2 (TKIP), WPA (AES), WPA (TKIP), and WEP. The relative gap between WEP and WPA, however, is far greater than the gap between WPA (TKIP) and WPA2 (AES). Generally speaking, any router that supports WPA is “good enough” in terms of its overall security. WEP, as we’ve previously stated, is an “only if you must” protocol, but it’s still a better option than transmitting in the clear.

Follow these simple guidelines and you’ll soon be leeching off your neighbor’s wireless network in peace, confident in your assurance that he can’t do the same to you. 

TAKEN FROM arstechnica.com

There has been a lot of buzz recently about HDR photography, but many people assume that it’s only limited to professional photographers. The reality is that just about anyone can take and process an HDR photo with most cameras and proper HDR software.

There are plenty of explanations of what HDR is and how it works, so we won’t cover that here. If you want more background info, check out HDR explained so anyone can understand or Jon Meyer’s popular HDR primer.

In this tutorial we’ll go through the steps necessary to take your very own HDR photo and process it like a pro. What you will need:

1. A camera that allows you to adjust exposure settings.
2. Tone Mapping Software (In this tutorial we will use Photomatix, which is the most popular way to create HDR’s.)

Step 1: Taking the photo(s)

TITLE: Quick and Easy steps to take HDR Photos with any camera

To create an HDR photo you need at least 3 differently exposed photos of the same shot. That’s not as difficult as it sounds. Many cameras give you the ability to change exposures from shot to shot. Since all cameras are different you’ll have to figure out how to change these exposure settings on your particular camera. Look for Exposure, AEB (Automatic Exposure Bracketing), A-EV, BKT (more on that here and here), or a little +/- graphic.

Important: Make sure the camera does not move between shots. Use a tripod or place the camera on a stable surface, minimizing movement as much as possible between shots. Below is an example of how this works using my girlfriend’s simple point and shoot camera - the Sony DSC-W50. If you click on the +/- button you will see a way to adjust the Image brightness (EV) level for your picture.

1. Take one picture at EV 0

2. (press the shutter halfway to clear the preview), press the +/- button again and move the cursor down to EV -2. Take a picture.

3. (press the shutter halfway to clear the preview), press the +/- button again and move the cursor up to EV +2. Take a picture.

I usually take 3 shots each spaced 2 EV exposure values apart - one at EV -2, one at EV 0 (which is the most correctly exposed photo), and one at EV +2. Here is an example of 3 shots I recently took:

The first is exposed just right (0), the second too dark (-2), and the third exposed too light (+2).

Step 2: Generating and Tone Mapping the HDR

For this step you will need Photomatix Pro. While it’s possible to do this with Photoshop CS2/CS3 or other HDR software, Photomatix is a much better tool - it gives you better results and is much easier to use. You can download a free trial of Photomatix Pro which will leave a watermark on your picture, or you can buy it for $99.

Note: You can use Photomatix Coupon Code VPG8 to get an 8% discount..

Open Photomatix Pro and click on “Generate HDR image.”

Click “Browse…” and select the 3 photos you took in step 1 (by clicking each one while holding down CTRL on a PC or Command on a Mac). Once you have the 3 photos highlighted, click “Open” then click “OK.” Now you will see a set of options.

Keep Align source images checked. I also usually leave the “Attempt to reduce ghosting artifacts” option checked as well. If you have moving water in your shot, change the option to (”Background movements”, otherwise leave “Moving objects/people) selected. Click OK. After a few seconds of processing you will see something like this.

It will usually look too dark - don’t worry. The next step is where the magic happens. Click on “Tone Mapping”. You will see Tone Map Settings panel and a preview of your HDR photo.

The settings toward the top will have the most impact on your photo. Adjust Strength and Light Smoothing settings to get your preferred “HDR effect.”

Feel free to experiment with the rest of the tabs, controls, and settings to get your desired results. Some people prefer a saturated surreal look, while others like to keep the photo looking more realistic and natural. After you are happy with what the photo looks like, click “Process.” Once Photomatix is done processing, it will show you the resulting HDR. Click “File” > “Save As…” and save your photo as a JPEG. Voila! You now have your very own HDR photo.

TAKEN FROM abduzeedo.com

Sony Ericsson’s Experia X1 is one of several iClone devices that can be seen at CTIA Wireless 2008.
Courtesy of Sony

Forget the iPhone: Your next cellphone will probably resemble Nokia’s N95. This upstart smartphone features sexy touches like a 5-megapixel camera — with flash — and a dual keypad that can slide in multiple directions. But it’s the extra internal components, like high-speed internet access, integrated GPS and an open source platform, that make the N95 the target every handset maker will be aiming for this year.

And you thought Apple was the one upending the mobile phone industry.

While Apple’s so-called “Jesus phone” will have a significant effect on the handset market in 2008, many phone manufacturers will be looking to distance themselves from Apple by enticing customers with smart offerings in multimedia applications and entertainment features — not hardware features like touchscreens and megapixels. And there will be no better place to see this than at the annual CTIA Wireless conference running from April 1 to April 3 in Las Vegas.

Don’t get us wrong, there will be tons of handsets clearly mimicking the iPhone at the show — even more than at last year’s show.

“The first generation of products that were influenced by the iPhone were products that were already scheduled for the market,” explains Avi Greengart, a research director at Current Analysis. “But now, we’re definitely starting to see phones that are beginning to look at user interface on a touchscreen to provide a different experience.”

Greengart cites Sony Ericsson’s upcoming Experia X1 as one example of an iPhone-inspired handset. Other iClones are expected from Samsung and LG.

iClones aside, possibly the most hyped item at CTIA won’t be a phone or an application or even an innovative piece of software, but an operating system. The Google-backed, open source Android operating system, first unveiled in November 2007, is still under development. Some ambitious manufacturers showed early prototypes of Android phones at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this February — but behind closed doors. Those prototypes were little more than circuit boards sprouting wires, LCD screens and keypads, so with luck, CTIA will feature some slightly more refined Android prototypes.

Carriers next week will also be touting massive amounts of content available for their devices. AT&T has announced full-length television content comprising sports, news and prime time shows. It remains to be seen, though, how AT&T hopes to deploy this media with its slow-as-frozen-molasses EDGE network.

Wishful thinking is one thing, but there are some concrete things we do know will be released at CTIA. To stoke your gadget lust, here are some quick hits on what the major manufacturers will be up to.

Nokia
Despite producing smart, powerful products (hello, N95), Nokia suffers from horrid sales and brand presence within the United States. The rumor mill, however, is rife with conjecture that the handset manufacturer will make an announcement at CTIA introducing a CDMA-enabled device for either Sprint, Verizon or both. A Sprint/Nokia pairing would make sense considering Nokia’s top-notch web browsing abilities and Sprint’s high-speed data network (the fastest of any carrier).

Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson will be heavily hyping its Experia X1. This iClone-like device sports a touchscreen, but it’s no wizard of OS. Under its alluring 3-inch VGA screen lies a homely Windows Mobile operating system. Sony Ericsson touts the Experia X1 as a mobile solution for business and entertainment.

Google
We’re just as excited as anyone to play with a phone equipped with Android. But if you’re expecting a big announcement, then dream on. Greengart says, “I don’t think you’ll see any specific product announcements. Android phones probably won’t be available until the fourth quarter, and I certainly don’t expect Android phones to be launched at CTIA.”

Motorola
Virtually anything Motorola announces will be overshadowed by the splitting of its cellphone division from the rest of the company. But that hasn’t stopped photos of what could be a ROKR E8 music phone from popping up. There are also rumors of a Kodak-engineered 5-megapixel camera phone from Moto.

Samsung and LG
These two companies like to use the shotgun approach to product releases. CTIA will be no exception. “Samsung and LG … typically throw a whole bunch of stuff at the wall to see what sticks. Expect to see more touchscreen devices from both companies,” Greengart says.

TAKEN FROM www.wired.com

Jean Nouvel has won the Pritzker Prize, the world’s most prestigious architecture award. And for a good reason, because his work is simply amazing. We love Nouvel’s work for many reasons, from his irregular shapes and spaces, to the use of plants and color LEDs to create almost surreal, night-city creatures that seem taken from a science fiction movie. Here’s a 68-picture gallery with his most stunning pieces, from the vibrant Torre Agbar in Barcelona to the alien spaceship of the new Orchestra Hall for the Philharmonie de Paris. Update: due to an error, the 68-pic gallery was incomplete. I’ve fixed it and the remaining pictures will appear shortly, after the jump.

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taken from gizmodo.com