Why the heck is this the post that gets hit more than any other in recent memory? You people who are trying to figure out how to mount a tape and getting that post from search engines really need to get new jobs. I’ve used that command once in the last 20 years. You can’t all need help figuring out how to do that. If you do, it’s two words…mount tape.
Filed by Ken at 4:39 pm under Technology
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There have been some interesting background conversations taking place recently, driven by Garrett Smith’s Top 30 VoIP Blogs post. A lot of this conversation has been among the folks listed and some who were overlooked. Luca took a different approach and rather than rank them himself, looked to Technorati rankings as a measure. I was a bit surprised to find that both my personal Digital Common Sense blog and the Realtime VoIP Conversation blog rank in the top 20.
There are some obvious oversights, but that’s to be expected in some ways. Phoneboy did a great job of identifying why, for example, Technorati rankings for his site and Ted Wallinford’s might be skewed a bit. Beyond that, rankings are flawed at best. Technorati ranks on keywords, so you’ll see different ranking for VoIP, Voice over IP, IP Telephony and unified communications depending on how the authors have tagged their sites in the Technorati search engine.
What leaped out at me were really two key points, and I think these are more important than any details about the order of ranking, since those rankings are fluid when everything works anyway.
First, that there are thirty or more VoIP oriented blogs that are highly read and of note in their visibility and presence speaks volumes to the importance of VoIP as a technology. This exercise in looking around at who’s talking about VoIP demonstrates to me that VoIP isn’t a niche technology. We have achieved mainstream critical mass in terms of awareness and criticality to both business and personal users. I think that implies that VoIP has achieved sustainable momentum and proves it’s around for the long haul.
The other thing I noted was the caliber of the company I keep in that light. The individuals listed represent some of the keenest business and technical minds I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Every single person listed in that group is someone I consider to be articulate, thoughtful, and a consumate professional. To me, the caliber of people writing about VoIP also speaks to the maturity and viability of VoIP overall. It’s a group of people who collaborate and interact, and even when there is disagreement, really does promote sharing knowledge and information about VoIP, whether it be services, technology, the business of VoIP or future vision.
It’s a group of colleagues I’m very proud to be a part of.
Technorati Tags: VoIP, blogs, Technorati, rankings
Filed by Ken at 11:40 am under Technology, Unified Communications
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I confess, I’ve neveer been a very big fan of Rocketboom. I’ll also admit that I like it much better with Joanna Colan than before. Previousl;y, I watched in a few times and found it to be inane. Actually, quite stupid. A waste of time. Since Joanne has taken the screen, I find it a bit more interesting. Not riveting. Not a daily stop by any means, but there’s potential.
Spotting this post today, and knowing how serious Jeff Pulver is about Video on the Net, I’ll watch for this episode. And knowing they spoke with Jeff, I have to say my expectations of Rocketboom are higher now. I expect more from them.
Yesterday afternoon the Rocketboom team of Andrew Baron and Joanne Colan visited pulver.com HQ in Melville, New York. Joanne interviewed me using the pulver.TV studio for a future episode of Rocketboom.
Andrew and Joanne will be joining us in Boston in a couple of weeks at Video on the Net.
Technorati Tags: Jeff Pulver, Video on the Net, Rocketboom
Filed by Ken at 9:11 am under Unified Communications
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Back in March I posted this, touching on the issue of AT&T taking financial advantage of our troops in Iraq. Tommi, who had just recently returned from serving in Iraq commented on the problem. Pascal commented too. But the post has been read hundreds of times and been commented on elsewhere.
This morning I received an email comment from an Spc who was formerly from Ar Ramadi, Iraq with the Vermont Army National Guard. I take this situation personally because I’m a professional in the telecommunications industry. I’ve spent almost thirty years of my life working around telecom. And I’m a VietNam vet. And I lived in Vermont for five years, so this note raised my hackles against the legacy telecom machine…again (admittedly, this is easy to do because it’s an industry that has completely lost touch with providing service in the quest for more return on less investment and next to zero R&D).
Here’s the note:
Ken,
Having served a year in Iraq and 6 months in Qatar, I can say that the AT&T situation IS bad. But it was not the only option we had. I found one unit with a satalite phone set up from Italy. I dont remember the name of the company. Here is an example of the AT&T costs: you buy a 500 minute phone card after a “conection fee” you are left with a little over 200 minutes of call time. At $35 per card that adds up for so little talk time. The satalite phone you paid for online. I bought $25 worth of talk time(was given 10 credit while the CC cleared) and had over 1000 minutes of talk time with NO connection charge and the quality was better. We were pissed, AT&T really gave it to us hard.
So here’s my note to Ed Whitacre, CEO of the new AT&T. Not my AT&T that was an honorable employer. CEO of the new AT&T. The one that fucks over customers at every turn.
Ed - I’ve noted many times that AT&T is dead, but like an elephant, still running on momentum. Any large beast tends to carry forward with inertia until it finally drops. People have observed that AT&T keeps raising its’ head and showing signs of life. I disagree. AT&T has become a disreputable company with bad intentions and downright stupid policies toward customers. You, as the leader of this company, are contributing mightily to the death of the traditional (read legacy) telephony business. The death of your company, which is coming, is overdue. Your practices represent a past. A past that there is no room for in todays technological and service environment.
Rex Hudler, in Sports Illustrated was quoted saying “Be a fountain, not a drain.” Your company is a drain. A drain on technology, a drain on advancement of the use of technology, and an emotional and financial drain on our troops serving overseas.
Quit being a fucking drain and do something right for a change!
Technorati Tags: AT&T, US military, Ed Whitacre, customer abuse, bad business practices
Filed by Ken at 8:16 am under Technology
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August 25, Security Focus — The danger of using “free” in search queries. Building on a Wall Street Journal analysis of the 20 million search queries leaked by America Online that found “free” to be the most popular search term, Web safety firm SiteAdvisor warned that the results produced by such searches frequently lead to malicious Websites. The top three search queries including the word “free” that led to malicious sites include “free screensavers,” “free ringtones,” and “free music,” the company stated. More than half of all sites returned for a search of “free screensavers” were malicious, not legitimate, SiteAdvisor stated.
Source: http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/289
Technorati Tags: The danger of using “free” in search queries, free screensavers, free ringtones, free music
Filed by Ken at 8:31 am under InfoSec
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August 28, Security Focus — Bot network attacker gets three years for breaches. A federal court in Seattle sentenced Christopher Maxwell, a 21−year−old California man, to 37 months in prison and three years of supervised release on Friday, August 25, for compromising millions of computers in the process of creating a bot net. The automated attack that created the bot net infected systems at Seattle’s Northwest Hospital, the Department of Defense, and the Colton Unified School District, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington said in a statement. Maxwell and two co−conspirators used the bot net to install adware on the computers and earn more than $100,000 in affiliate advertising income. Among the effects of the computer infection at Northwest Hospital: Doors to the operating room failed to open, pagers did not work, and computers in the intensive care unit were disrupted.
Source: http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/290
Aside: I can’t help but wonder which hospital bonehead allows computers in ICU to be connected to an unprotected networks where they could become infected with bot zombies. Sounds to me like there should be an opening for a competent network security manager somewhere near me. Everything I’ve seen in every article about this case implies utter incompetence on the part of the Northwest Hospital IT security staff
Technorati Tags: Northwest Hospital, Infosec, bot network
Filed by Ken at 8:29 am under InfoSec
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Great article on Dark Reading
‘Analog Hackers’ Overlooked, UndetectedAUGUST 17, 2006 | They can pose as copier repairmen, IT consultants, or fire marshals. They can steal a passcard, pick the lock, or simply walk in with a group of employees. They can borrow a password written on a Post-It, make a copy of a key, or simply plug into a network jack in an empty conference room.
They have two things in common: They’ve been on your network, and you probably never knew it.
“Analog hackers,” sometimes called “physical hackers” or “social engineers,” are among the industry’s most subtly dangerous, yet least known, threats to IT security. At least, we think they are: Despite extensive research, we were unable to find any definitive industry research that shows the extent of the threat, or how fast it might be growing.
“There’s a whole community built around it, yet you hardly ever see any real discussion about it anywhere,” says Leonard Gallion, a physical security consultant, who also serves as IT manager for a Dallas-based nonprofit organization. “I’m not sure there is any data about it.”
Technorati Tags: Social engineering, analog hacking
Filed by Ken at 10:44 pm under InfoSec, Technology
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Here’s another report from Gartner. They’ve demonstrated an uncanny knack the last year or two for spotting trends and hot segmenst after the fact and saying “oh by the way, we think this will be hot.” They usually do this after the trend in question has peaked.
Gartner Names Hot Technologies With Greatest Potential Impact
Gartner says hot technologies include social network analysis, collective intelligence, location-aware applications, and event-driven architectures.
By Antone Gonsalves
Researcher Gartner Inc. on Wednesday identified the technologies it believes will have the greatest impact on businesses over the next 10 years, naming such hot areas as social-network analysis, collective intelligence, location-aware applications and event-driven architectures.In its 2006 Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle report, Gartner assessed the maturity, impact and adoption speed of three dozen technologies and trends. The list was divided under three themes: Web 2.0, Real World Web and Application Architecture.
Under Web 2.0, social-network analysis and Ajax were rated as “high impact” and reaching maturity in less than two years. Collective intelligence, on the other hand, was rated as potentially transformational to businesses.
Social network analysis, as defined by Gartner, is using the information and knowledge gathered from people’s personal networks to identify target markets, create project teams and discover unvoiced conclusions. Ajax, a method for building enhanced user interfaces for Web applications, could achieve high impact if the development process encompasses innovations in server-side processing, such as Google’s use of the method in its mapping service called Google Maps.
Notice, here, they do it again. They even noticed Web 2.0, the great non-event, buzzword of 2006. I mean, there’s news that needs to float downriver.
Technorati Tags: Gartner
Filed by Ken at 10:42 pm under Technology
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Revealed: world’s oldest computer
Helena Smith
Sunday August 20, 2006
The Observer
It looks like a heap of rubbish, feels like flaky pastry and has been linked to aliens. For decades, scientists have puzzled over the complex collection of cogs, wheels and dials seen as the most sophisticated object from antiquity, writes Helena Smith. But 102 years after the discovery of the calcium-encrusted bronze mechanism on the ocean floor, hidden inscriptions show that it is the world’s oldest computer, used to map the motions of the sun, moon and planets.‘We’re very close to unlocking the secrets,’ says Xenophon Moussas,an astrophysicist with a Anglo-Greek team researching the device. ‘It’s like a puzzle concerning astronomical and mathematical knowledge.’
Known as the Antikythera mechanism and made before the birth of Christ, the instrument was found by sponge divers amid the wreckage of a cargo ship that sunk off the tiny island of Antikythera in 80BC. To date, no other appears to have survived.
Technorati Tags: world’s oldest computer
Filed by Ken at 10:32 pm under Technology
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Ok, I’ve mentioned it in the past, but for you WordPress users out there, if you’re fighting comment spam, and you haven’t looked at Dr. Dave’s Spam Karma, you are really missing the boat. Truly. I’ve been using it for a long time now and it’s intercepted and automagically destroyed thousands of comment spams without my intervention and I think I’ve only ever had one false positive. Of all the WP plugins in the codex, I love Spam Karma best
Technorati Tags: Spam Karma, Wordpress plugins
Filed by Ken at 10:28 pm under Technology
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Colleague W. David Stephenson follows disaster response and preparedness issues more closely than anyone I know. He has some of the brightest and best ideas the federal government isn’t implementing and some of the keenest insights into the best ways to respond to disasters I’ve seen.
I’ll excerpt highlights from this post, but you really need to read it for yourself and take heed. Some of the best tips you’ll ever get.
Ten 21st Century Disaster Preparation Tips the Officials Won’t Tell You
The advent of 21st century personal communications devices and services, particularly camera phones with GPS capability, GPS devices in your car, P2P software such as mesh networking, or social networking services, mean that it’s now feasible to have two-way sharing of real-time, location-based information that could save your life in a crisis.
Here are some highlights:
Good advice
Technorati Tags: disaster planning, emergency preparedness
Filed by Ken at 9:46 am under General
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I’ve seen a couple articles recently on Blackbery security and potential “Blackjacking” of the corporate BES server. Here’s one
Blackberry Carries Security Bull’s-EyeCompanies that have not appropriately applied Research In Motion’s security protections for its BlackBerry communications system are vulnerable to outside attacks based on malware code released in mid-August by researchers. The threat illustrates a wider issue with always-on wireless applications, analysts said.
Jesse D’Aguanno, director of professional services and research at consultancy Praetorian Global, in Placerville, Calif., published his BlackBerry Attack Toolkit on Aug. 16 after first showing off the software at the DefCon reverse-engineering convention held in Las Vegas earlier in August.
While companies that have aggressively exercised RIM’s security features for its back-end BlackBerry servers should be immune to attacks based on the code, D’Aguanno said, many users of the ubiquitous wireless communication devices remain vulnerable.
“By releasing the code, we’re trying to make people understand the potential risks; there’s a need to realign people’s thinking as far as portable device security, along with making administrators realize they can’t just put something like this on a network without understanding the security implications first,” he said.
Technorati Tags: Blackberry, Infosec, security
Filed by Ken at 8:24 am under InfoSec, Mobility & Handheld
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BellSouth Drops Internet Fee After FCC Threat By Jeremy Pelofsky, Reuters
August 26, 2006
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—BellSouth Corp., the No. 3 U.S. local telephone
company, on Friday said it will immediately drop a $2.97 monthly fee
for high-speed Internet service after U.S. communications regulators
threatened to investigate the charge.The U.S. Federal Communications Commission had been poised to
send a letter of inquiry to BellSouth asking the carrier to explain the
new fee, which replaces a surcharge for a government subsidy program,
FCC officials said.Most customers would see the change on their bills within a
week, but it could take up to six weeks, BellSouth said. It added that
customers charged the fee dating back to August 16 would receive a
credit.However, the FCC’s enforcement bureau on Friday did send a
letter to Verizon Communications, the No. 2 U.S. telephone company, for
information on its own new charge instituted to replace the fee for the
government program.
Filed by Ken at 10:09 pm under Technology
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I received a nice invitation in the mail today asking if I’d be interested in submitting a one day VoIP Security workshop presentation for InfoSec World. It’s a premier that attracts 3000 plus information security professionals from all industry sectors.
The event is being held at the new Rosen Shingle Creek Resort & Spa in Orlando. in March and this will be a new workshop offering held on Thursday, March 22, 2007 if we work everything out.
No product or sales talks, which is good because I just don’t do those any more myself. The material for this workshop must be substantial, detailed and educational.
I’ve got a fairly short deadline to confirm my interest, but this looks to be a good workshop session potential, and it raises VoIP security awareness in the broader InfoSec arena. I’ll be working on a proposal this weekend so I can get it off to them. I’ll keep you posted as things progress.
Technorati Tags: VoIP Security, VoIPSec, VoIP, Infosec
Filed by Ken at 1:09 pm under InfoSec, Unified Communications
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This morning I read this -
More Tiny Towns Get MuniFied
Written by Om Malik , August 25th, 2006
With all the attention being lavished on large municipal wireless networks such as the one being built by the city of Philadelphia, or the one proposed by San Francisco, the fact of the matter is that it is small towns which are (and rightfully so) being more aggressive in embracing MuniFi.
And I thought to myself…where the hell has everyone been that they think this is new stuff? Muni WiFi projects in small towns and rural areas have been a very hot ticket since late 2000- early 2001 and driven by huge amounts if funding under RUS program grants from the USDA for enhancing rural telecommunications. I read folks like Om talking about how new and innovative this is and I can’t help but wonder - if this is innovation, what was implementing broadband WiFi in rural town centers 4 years ago with antennae in the church steeples? I know of easily a hundred such project implementations. They’ve been in production and are mature, established, accepted solutions. Wo why is it suddenly an innovative big deal? Just wondering…
Filed by Ken at 7:11 am under Unified Communications
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As a horn player myself, while I haven’t played in years, this was sad news indeed.
Maynard Ferguson May 4, 1928 - August 23, 2006
August 24, 2006
Maynard Ferguson passed away yesterday, at the age of 78. Here is the statement released by Maynard’s management.
LEGENDARY MUSICIAN MAYNARD FERGUSON DIES
Grammy Nominated Trumpeter Known for “Gonna Fly Now”
Theme To Movie “ROCKY” was 78Ojai, CA (August 24, 2006) - Walter “Maynard” Ferguson, one of the most influential musicians and band leaders in the history of Jazz, passed away August 23rd at 8:00 pm Pacific Time at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, California. He was 78 years old. His death was the result of kidney and liver failure brought on by an abdominal infection. Mr. Ferguson’s four daughters, Kim, Lisa, Corby, Wilder and other family members were at his side when he passed away after this brief illness. He spoke by phone with his friend and manager Steve Schankman from St. Louis, longtime tour manager Ed Sargent, and friend, and fellow trumpeter Arturo Sandoval.
Mr. Ferguson had recently returned home to California from New York after several sold out performances in July at the famed Blue Note Club. During this time, Ferguson and his Big Bop Nouveau band also recorded a new album at Bennett Studios in Englewood, New Jersey.
Maynard Ferguson, born May 4th 1928 in Montreal, started his career at the age of 13 when he performed as a featured soloist with the Canadian Broadcasting Company Orchestra. He played with some of the great Big Band Leaders of the 1940’s including Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Barnett, Jimmy Dorsey and Stan Kenton. In 1945, at age 17, Ferguson became the leader of his own Big Band. The 78-year old musical phenomenon went on to record more than 60 albums, receiving numerous honors and awards including the GRAMMY® nomination for “Gonna Fly Now.” In 2005, Ferguson was awarded Canada’s highest civilian honor, the “Order of Canada” from the Right Honorable Governor General Adrienne Clarkson. In addition to those accolades, Ferguson has been the recipient of DownBeat Magazine’s prestigious “DownBeat” Award.
“The Boss,” as Ferguson is known, has been performing for packed houses for decades. His recent DVD release, “Live at The Top,” captures one of his most memorable performances, a concert held at the Plaza Hotel in Rochester New York in 1975, with Ferguson performing alongside fellow music pioneers Stan Mark, Ernie Garside and Bruce Johnston. Most recently, Ferguson and Big Bop Nouveau Band had been touring the United States. He was preparing for a Fall Tour beginning mid-September in Tokyo, Japan. He had also been invited to play for the King of Thailand’s 80th birthday in January.
Mr. Ferguson’s body will be cremated in his hometown of Ojai, California. Memorial contributions can be made to the Maynard Ferguson Music Scholarship Fund at University of Missouri - St. Louis, which was established by Steve Schankman at Maynard’s 75th birthday celebration. Mr. Schankman and the Ferguson family are planning a memorial concert to take place in St. Louis which will feature many of the band’s alumni and friends who Mr. Ferguson performed with during his more than 60-year musical career.
Mr. Ferguson’s latest, and last, recording will be released later this year as a legacy to the life of Maynard Ferguson.
MEDIA INQUIRIES:
Steven F. Schankman will be available for interview August 24th. Please contact Cindy Tangaro at (314) 721-9090 ext. 203 to book a time.For more information or to request images of Maynard Ferguson, please contact the same number or email ctangaro@contemporaryproductions.com
[download the entire release] (pdf)
Technorati Tags: Maynard Ferguson
Filed by Ken at 12:27 pm under General
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I’m sure this is good for somebody. I’ve got friends at both companies, but to be honest, in the past year, my dealings with ISS have been far from stellar, or even acceptable. I’ve seen a terrible decline in their capabilities and performance myself
IBM to Acquire Internet Security Systems
ARMONK, NY & ATLANTA - 23 Aug 2006: IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Internet Security Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISSX) today announced the two companies have entered into a definitive agreement for IBM to acquire Internet Security Systems, Inc., a publicly held company based in Atlanta, Ga., in an all-cash transaction at a price of approximately $1.3 billion, or $28 per share. The acquisition is subject to Internet Security Systems, Inc. shareholder and regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2006.Internet Security Systems (ISS) provides security solutions to thousands of the world’s leading companies and governments, helping to proactively protect against internet threats across networks, desktops and servers. ISS software, appliances and services monitor and manage network vulnerabilities and exploits and rapidly respond in advance of potential threats. This acquisition advances IBM’s strategy to utilize IT services, software and consulting expertise to automate labor-based processes into standardized, software-based services that help clients optimize and transform their businesses.
Filed by Ken at 10:05 am under Technology
2 Comments
Readers here know that I recently attend the TMCnet VoIP Developer Conference in Santa Clara, CA. Rich Tehrani and the TMC team do a great job of providing valuable converences. I’ve left a standing offer with these friends to assist in any way I can at any of their conferences, because I think these folks add real value to our industry. I talked to them recently and this morning received a nice email from their coordination team asking if I’d moderate a panel discussion or two and the October INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO at the San Diego Conventino Center.
Long-time readers know that beyond VoIP and unified communications, my interest vary widely, but that I’m pretty closely involved in the InfoSec community and involved in a variety of security initiatives. Here’s a heads-up on the two panels I think I’ll be moderating at the October conference.
If you’re planning on attending, please do find me there. I plan on doing an array of interviews, podcasts, and perhaps some viedo (certainly pictures) from the floor.
Introduction to VoIP Security
Friday October 13th, 8:45-9:30am
While performance and availability of a VoIP system are of course extremely important, security oftentimes tops the list of concerns when deploying VoIP. In order to achieve the highest quality of service, focus must be placed on the underlying VoIP security framework. With most attacks occurring at the application level, it is imperative that companies understand the risks, and consequently design an effective security approach. By weaving security in from the onset, VoIP can be a powerful enterprise communications solution that significantly enhances worker productivity and enables cost savings.
In this presentation, the speakers will address a number of security-related VoIP topics, including:
VoIP Security Best Practices
Friday October 13th, 12:15-1:00pm
Behind our daily barrage of hacker attacks, announcements of new viruses and worms, and frequent risk of downtime is an opportunity. This session is an opportunity to step away from the noise and learn how to build a proactive VoIP security model. It will explain the root cause of downtime and non compliance and how to preemptively, proactively protect VoIP networks against hackers, viruses, worms, spyware and malicous insiders. Attendees will learn how IP communications applications demand a security solution that not only “borrows” from the best security functionality of the data world but adds specific VoIP protection techniques that take into account the real-time, peer-to-peer, and feature-rich nature of these session-based protocols.
About the Conference & EXPO
INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO, held since the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Industry’s infant days in 1999, has grown into the largest conference and exposition in the world focused on IP Communications. Our most recent event in Fort Lauderdale this past January drew over 8,000 attendees, making it the best-attended IP Communications conference ever staged. We are expecting well over 9,000 attendees in San Diego.
The conference is hosted by Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC). Founded in 1972, TMC is a leading publisher and trade show producer focused on communications technology. The event is backed by the industry leading magazine Internet Telephony Magazine and the industry’s leading Web site TMCnet.com. Through its print and online vehicles, TMC reaches nearly one million technology and communications professionals each month.
Technorati Tags: INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO, TMCnet, Ken Camp, VoIP Security
Filed by Ken at 8:49 am under InfoSec, Unified Communications
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The views and opinions expressed here do not represent those of any past or present employer. Sometimes they aren't even mine.
ken@ipadventures.com
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