All Shows

Show of 2-22-2003

  • Record Piracy in China has Changed the Music Industry
    • Pirated CDs sell for $1.00
    • Royalties at virtually nil
    • Performers only make money on personal appearances, endorsements
    • Only 20 high quality albums released last year
    • Songs sold for to play on radio only
  • Information Rights Management to be Integrated into Office 2003
    • Right management software will be debuted in Office 2003
    • IRM is a persistent file technology that allows users to specify permission for who can access and use document or e-mail messages.
    • It will help sensitive information from being printed, forwarded, or copied by unauthorized individuals
    • Once permission is assigned, access and usage restrictions are enforced no matter where the information is
    • Currently Windows Media included DRM code and is slated to help enforce media copyrights.
  • Fingerprinting Peer-to-peer Files Sharing
    • Audible Magic has developed a technology to monitor multi-media file sharing
    • The company?s core technology, content-based identification (CBID), accurately identifies multi-media content based on the perceptual characteristics of the content itself.
    • Build on a patented audio fingerprinting process, the technology is robust, efficient, and massively scalable
    • Currently in beta testing on the University of Wyoming?s Network. Not blocking as of yet, but that is coming
    • Other University to follow suit.
  • Study Praises Open Source Code Quality
    • Linux defect rate for TCP/IP protocol stack was 0.1 defects per 1,000 lines of code
    • Unix was between 0.6 and 0.7 defects per 1,000 lines of code
    • Rates for two embedded systems were between 0.1 and 0.3 defects per 1,000
    • Even Microsoft is now setting up procedures for sharing code.
  • Ten Technically Cool Cars
    • Article appeared in IEEE Spectrum Online
    • Volvo Safety Concept Car (fingerprint access system, heartbeat detector to sniff out left-behind infants, headlights that follow the lead of the front wheels.)
    • Saab 9-3 (Bluetooth wireless links all the car?s wireless devices cellphones, PDAs, headsets, computers through a voice control system)
    • Honda Civic GX (Natural gas car, with a home refueling station that automatically compresses natural gas)
    • Honda FCX (Proton exchange membrane fuel-cell puts out 78 kW, Ultracapacitor with porous electrodes provides boost during acceleration, it also stored energy from braking)
    • Cadillac XLR (Ride damping device that uses electro-rheotlogical fluid, whose viscosity changes with magnetic field, adaptively adjusts to road conditions, radar enhanced cruise control that adjusts to vehicle in front, keyless entry using card in driver?s wallet)
    • Audi A8 (Fingerprint sensing to identify driver/passenger and automatically adjust seats, mirrors, etc)
    • Mecedez-Benz (breaking by wire, automatically senses wheel conditions, context to independently adjust breaks, hydraulic backup)
    • Fiat Stilo (carefully controlled pre-injection creates smokeless diesel, self cleaning filter removes particulates)
    • Chevolet Trailblazer (Displacement of demand, dynamically switches engine from 4 to 8 cylinders)
    • Honda Prius (gas/electric hybrid dynamically adjusts load between two power sources for? additional fuel efficiency)
  • US Cyber Army Ready for War
    • 150 Computer Scientists assigned to Defense Department?s Joint Task Force ? Computer Network Operations (JTF-CNO)
    • Established five years ago, it has two missions (defense and offense)
    • Attend hacker conferences (like DefCon) and host a ?Meet the Feds? sessions to try and get input from both the blackhat and whitehat communities
  • FCC Vote Will Impact Internet Access
  • End of the Old PC As We Know It
    • For more that 20 years, the PC has relied on the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System)
    • A small fixed software routine built into a chip on the motherboard
    • Hangover from distant past, when the original PC designers thought the BIOS would only be used on about 250, 000 machines and then retired.
    • Intel is proposing an Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) to replace the BIOS
    • EFI is a tiny operating system that will support high-resolution displays, graphical user interface, networking, both local and remote diagnostics
  • AOL teams with Microsoft to Fight SPAM
    • SPAM is becoming public enemy number 1
    • The problem: delivery cost is much cheaper than filtering cost. Hence, spammers will always win.
    • Both AOL and Microsoft have enlisted subscribers to help and are seeking legislative relief
  • One ISP Proposes to Legalize SPAM
    • One ISP proposes to legalize spam. Have ISP get paid to deliver it.
    • Legalizing it makes blocking the illegal spammers easier.
    • The goal is to raise the cost of delivery and hence to reduce the number of unsoliced emails
  • Voting Machine Hacking could be a Problem
    • Black Box Voting calls for action to solve this problem
    • Code is not validated, patches are installed just before elections without proper testing
    • In Georgia, 22,000 voting machines got a fix just before the last election. No one certified the patches.?
    • Those systems were made by Diebold Election Systems. It is now preparing to install machines in Maryland.
    • Check and balances need to be instituted to ensure voter confidence and outcome accuracy.
  • Stratford?s Unique Approach to Education
    • Inverted Curriculum
    • Learning styles
    • Competencies
    • Retention and placement rates
    • Program clusters provide career options
    • Next Start March 17th
    • Bachelor Degree, Associates Degrees, Masters Degrees