The blog

Making the case for the CableCARD

Via eHomeUpgrade, I read this post from Shelly Palmer, chair of the Advanced Media Committee of the New York chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (I’ve highlighted two key sentences in bold):

An array of technology firms, including major computer and TV-set manufacturers, is pressing federal regulators to enforce new set-top-box rules against the cable industry.

Cable operators are resisting implementation of a Federal Communications Commission rule that would ban the deployment of new integrated set-tops after July 1, 2006, effectively meaning that all new boxes would need to function with the CableCARD conditional-access device.

“The time has come to end consumers’ exclusive reliance on [set-top boxes] provided by their cable company. In fact, it’s long overdue,” Hewlett-Packard Co. executive vice president Shane Robinson said in a Feb. 17 letter to the FCC.

The CableCARD mandate is designed to establish a retail set-top market, and the technology firms maintained that the creation of such a market requires that cable operators support the CableCARD in all new boxes that they provide their customers.

Cable insists that the mandate would drive up box costs without creating new value for consumers.

In a separate letter, H-P joined 11 other companies, including Sharp Electronics Corp. and Dell Inc., in urging the FCC to reject cable’s proposal that the agency should eliminate the ban or postpone its effective date by 18 months.

“The only way to ensure that consumers enjoy the benefits of a competitive marketplace is to maintain the requirement that devices supplied by cable operators rely on the same CableCARDs for security that must be used by equipment supplied through competitive retail outlets,” the companies told the FCC in a Feb. 18 letter.

Read between the lines. The cable companies desperately want to lock you in to their hardware to maximize their profits and reduce your options. Their tactics now include stonewalling and spreading misinformation. The CableCARD initiative cuts their hardware out of the loop, giving alternative hardware providers (including makers of PC-based systems like Windows XP Media Center Edition) the option of tapping directly into the signal that comes over the cable into your home. The underlying technology is sound and secure. Through the use of strong encryption, the cable company gets assurance that only its subscribers will have access to the programming it delivers. Consumers get the option to record, time-shift, and expand their media options.

But the cable industry is doing everything it can to torpedo the move to CableCARD technology. They say it won’t “add value” to consumers. I say they’re dead wrong, and I have a perfect example to prove it.

Continue reading “Making the case for the CableCARD” →

P2P programs spread spyware. Here’s the proof.

Ben Edelman has done an epic research project to establish just how bad most peer-to-peer file-sharing programs are. In What P2P Programs Install What Spyware? he looks at five extremely popular programs:

Request a peer-to-peer filesharing program, and you may be surprised what else gets installed too. I’ve tested five major P2P programs and analyzed their bundled software. Licenses stretch to as long as 22,000+ words and 180+ on-screen pages. Some P2P apps add additional programs disclosed only in license agreement scroll boxes. And it’s not uncommon for a P2P app to create thousands of registry entries.

The full test results prove in nearly clinical detail what you probably already suspected. Kazaa, Morpheus, iMesh, and eDonkey are riddled with bundled software that tracks your Web-browsing activity and shows ads in or around your Web browser. Kazaa’s license is the antithesis of transparency – if you want to read all 22,606 words you’ll need to hit the Page Down key 182 times.

Surprisingly, Limewire (which paid for Ben’s research) was the only program that installed no third-party software except the Java run-time engine, and whose only ads are for its paid version.

Excellent work.

Help us test the Windows XP Inside Out BBS

For the past few years, Carl Siechert, Craig Stinson, and I have maintained a group at MSN to help readers of Windows XP Inside Out. When we published the second edition last year, we promised to create a new Web site and forum with more features. It took a few months longer than promised, but the new message board is almost open for business. We could use some help shaking out the bugs, so come over to the new place, sign up for a login, and get the conversation started:

 

Spyware in Firefox?

Vitalsecurity.org has an interesting report of a potential spyware/adware infestation that directly attacks Firefox users, using the Sun Java Virtual Machine as its installation engine. (In the comments, a security expert from the Mozilla Foundation notes that this exploit could attack Opera users as well.)

I’ll look at this in more detail when I get back in the office.

eBay ad of the day

I’ve been trolling eBay lately in search of a Windows SmartPhone. (Yes, I bought an Audiovox SMT5600 last year, but Judy fell in love with it, and being the loving husband that I am… Well, you can guess who’s using it now.) Anyway, I nearly fell out of my chair when I read this text:

I am selling an Audiovox SMT 5600… i came across this phone in a parking lot and called the owner and got no response… therefore i am selling it. This phone has ever bell and wistle anyone could ask for. Camera, Internet, Planner, Color, WINDOWS XP, and lots more. This phone is too much for me. I believe it is capable for world wide calling. It has some dings but nothing major. I do not have the charger but that is probably a 15 dollar quick fix. I have a case that it came with i will include that aswell. It has the SIM card in the back, and Blue-tooth capable. There is much more!!!

Did I mention that the seller has an eBay feedback rating of 0?

What I find most astonishing is that the item has attracted 8 bids so far. I don’t plan to bid on this one.

Alex Nichol, 1935-2005

I learned yesterday that Alex Nichol passed away earlier this week. Alex was a Windows MVP and a prolific contributor to the Aumha.org site. Although Alex and I never met, I feel like I knew him through his writing, which was consistently well researched and easy to read. Just last week, in fact, I included a link to his article on Windows Product Activation in my post here, and every edition of Windows XP Inside Out includes a reference to his excellent explanation.of virtual memory in Windows XP.

The good folks at the Aumha forums have begun a thread in Alex’s memory. If you knew his work, stop by and add your thoughts.

Thank you, Alex, and farewell.

War of the worms?

Oh, great. F-Secure says they’re seeing an alarming spike in worms spreading over instant messaging channels:

Recently we have noticed an increase in IM (Instant Messaging) worm numbers. We are regularly adding detection for new Bropia worm variants. The last one, Bropia.K, appeared yesterday, on Sunday. Today there appeared 2 more MSN worms: a variant of Kelvir and a new worm called Sumom.

When virus writers get into turf wars, you and I are usually caught in the crossfire.

Microsoft buys Groove

I was surprised to see this press release:

Microsoft will make its growing business and technology bonds with Groove Networks permanent today as it announces plans to acquire the Beverly, Mass.-based provider of collaboration software for ad-hoc workgroups.

The acquisition will add Groove’s products to the lineup of Microsoft Office System products, servers and services, as well as bring the development talent and technology leadership of top Groove executives to Microsoft. Groove founder Ray Ozzie, the creator of IBM’s Lotus Notes, will become Chief Technical Officer of Microsoft, reporting to Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates.

I haven’t used Groove in a few years, mainly because I haven’t worked on any projects where I needed it. But it is genuinely cool and useful business software – kind of like BitTorrent meets Office. And the news that Ray Ozzie is going to Microsoft is big. He’s one of a handful of extraordinarily smart people in this industry, and he will make a difference at Microsoft.

Creative’s powerful portable speakers

Last summer, I ran across a deal on the Creative TravelSound MP3 portable speaker system and, on an impulse, I bought one. It arrived via UPS a few days later, and I promptly set the box aside. Over the next few months, I took a few short trips, but never felt the motivation to throw this little unit into my traveling bag.

For this week’s trip to Redmond, I decided to give these little speakers a shot. I had read a lot of reviews before clicking the Buy button, and the consensus was overwhelmingly positive, but I was still skeptical. I used the short cable (included) to connect the headphone output of my MP3 player to the speaker’s inputs and cranked it up. What a treat! The sound is excellent for such a small package. It’s not going to replace my 5.1 surround system, but it’s more than good enough for traveling, and I’m finally able to listen to a little music while I catch up on e-mail in a hotel room instead of settling for whatever happens to be on TV. It has 32MB of flash memory as well, so it can hold a few songs and work without an external sound source. It also records voice, so I could use it for interviews if necessary.

Creative_mp3_spkrs

These speakers are designed to run on 4 AA batteries, and Creative claims that they’ll play for 35 hours when they’re plugged into an external sound source. I decided not to buy the external power supply, because I don’t want to have to carry yet another AC adapter in my travel bag. Surprise! The adapter for my iRiver H120 music player works perfectly with these speakers, and it’s already in my bag. Connect power to the speakers for playback, and then switch the cable to the H120 to recharge. Perfect.

At nearly $90 through Amazon.com, this isn’t a bargain, but if you spend a lot of time on the road, you might be willing to pay the price. I paid roughly half that price, which was great for this unit. If all you want is playback, look at the Creative TravelSound 200, which appears to be the same speaker unit minus the MP3 player and voice recorder. At $42 with free shipping, I’d recommend it for any frequent traveler with a music player.