IT Observer - Implementing Principle of Least Privilege

This is a good article that takes a need-to-know approach to system security.

IT Observer - Implementing Principle of Least Privilege
The Principle of Least Privilege is not a new concept, but the push to implement it on production networks has never been so important. This article will go over some of the most common configurations that you can make to implement these principles and reduce the possibility of an attack from a typical end user.

The Tech Zone: 10 reasons why Linux rules.

A biased but good set of reasons why you should drop the bill gates product for the linus torvalds one. .

The Tech Zone Computer Hardware Reviews

Developed by Linus Torvalds in 1991, Linux is a free operating system which “belongs to the world� and today, it has millions of happy users worldwide. Here are 10 reasons why you should adopt and use the Linux over Windows.

Frequently Answered Answers about the Optimus keyboard

The optimus keyboard has individual oled screens on each key. Why is this significant? Well, it’s not so much that you can change the little pictures on the keys, but that the changes are functional changes. For instance, as in the image below, you can set keys to launch applications, and the icons for those applications will be on those keys. You could change the keyboard to use international keyboard layouts, and those layouts would immediately show on the screens on the keys. This is a great tool for productivity, especially if you are a gamer.

Frequently Answered Answers about the Optimus keyboard

It’s in the initial stage of production.

We hope it will be released in 2006.

It will cost less than a good mobile phone.

It will be real.

It will be OS-independent (at least it’s going to be able to work in some default state with any OS).

It will support any language or layout.

Moscow is the capital of Russia.

Each key could be programmed to produce any sequence.

It will be an open-source keyboard, SDK will be available.

Some day it will be split (and made “ergonomic�).

It will most likely use the OLED technology (e-paper is sooo slow).

Our studio is located two blocks from the Kremlin.

It will feature a key-saver.

Keys could be animated when needed.

It has a numeric keypad because we love it.

There’s no snow in Moscow in summer.

It will be available worldwide (why not?)

OEM is possible (why not?)

Technology News - Technology Special - New York Times

This seems appropriate:

Technology News - Technology Special - New York Times
THE DIGITAL STUDENT
Packing for the ‘Net Generation’
By JOHN SCHWARTZ
Cellphones and iPods may be the most popular gadgets on college campuses, but students are also adding digital cameras, loaded laptops and superblenders to their must-have lists.
• Audio: John Schwartz
• Circuits Special: Back to School

NewsForge | Get a remote display With NoMachine

Rob Reilly talks about an open source solution for letting his desktop be seen remotely using NoMachine.

NewsForge | Get a remote display With NoMachine
I needed a way to display my desktop to a user at the other end of a network connection for an online training project. All the obvious solutions had serious drawbacks, so I had to dig deeper to find an answer. I turned up NoMachine’s NX software, a terminal server application for Linux and Solaris hosts. The product worked across my LAN, although I was only partially successful going across a WAN.

NX had some advantages over the alternatives. I thought about using the Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) and straight SSH, but they give the user a remote desktop or command line, and my desktop had to be visible to the networked user. VNC and x0rfbserver were also obvious choices. They provided the right functionality but weren’t very strong on security. I’d also have had to open various ports on my firewall, posing potential security problems.

The NoMachine system has two modes of operation. One mode allows a user to display a desktop (such as KDE) locally from a remote Linux machine, much like the LTSP. The user has a KDE desktop on his local machine, served by the NX Server. The other mode lets a user see another user’s desktop(who happens to be on the NX Server machine) using VNC functionality. The NoMachine system adds compression and a wrapper of security around the whole data stream.

ACE CAD Product DigiMemo A501

I had a colleague contact me about what I thought about the following digital notepad [not a tablet pc, but an actual paper notepad that captures your impression] device. My response follows the blurb.

ACE CAD Product DigiMemo A501
The DigiMemo A501 is a stand-alone device with storage capability that digitally captures and stores everything you write or draw with ink on ordinary paper, without the use of computer and special paper. Then you can easily view, edit, organize and share your handwritten notes in Windows.

I said in reply:

I’ve seen these things around, but have not felt strongly enough about the benefit of digitized notes to consider getting one.

I have not heard anything in the way of reviews, good or bad, but the epinions sites and other online reviews can sometimes be slanted to the negative.

This would be especially useful for someone in a vertical market, like a doctor or a surveyor or something. That is also the niche where the tablet PCs are taking hold. It’s funny - I actually had a domain named tabletcomputing.org before tablets were widely available, because I thought that it would revolutionize the way people interface with a computer, in a ‘more natural’ way. After I saw them close up when Microsoft made that first big push a few years ago, I was immediately turned off, and the worst part is that I can’t tell you why exactly, I was so turned off. I just didn’t like the reality of a concept I had invested in a great deal. You may feel the same way about this tablet.

I would say if you feel very strongly that this technology is ‘missing’ in your toolset, that you should consider it. If you feel that you like the portability, damage-proof nature, and no-fuss simplicity of a notepad, this is likely just going to gunk that up. Also, it goes without saying that it wouldn’t be supported by OIT, and so if something went wrong it would be between you and the reseller/vendor/manufacturer.

If you’d like to talk about it some more, give me a call.

O’Reilly Releases ‘Open Source for the Enterprise’

O’Reilly Releases “Open Source for the Enterprise”
If using open source were as easy as simply installing Linux and learning to use a few free tools and applications, the world would have completely converted to open source by now. Certainly, the benefits of using open source are attractive and significant: “Becoming the sort of IT department that can successfully use open source means empowerment, saving hard dollars, and ensuring freedom from captivity to vendors,” observe Dan Woods and Gautam Guliani, authors of “Open Source for the Enterprise” (O’Reilly, US $22.95). Large and small businesses alike that are enticed by open source’s possibilities–saving money on license fees, reducing support and integration costs, gaining access to the functionality of thousands of programs, and much more–must necessarily hesitate when they consider its incumbent risks and responsibilities.

Next Version of GPL Coming in 2007 - Yahoo! News

Open Source Software is due in large part to a brilliant license called the GNU Public License. A new version is coming out, in order to help protect open source software from potential holes in the logic and theory of the current license. All hail the GPL.

Next Version of GPL Coming in 2007 - Yahoo! News
The next version of the GPL (General Public License), GPL 3, is likely to appear in early 2007, according to a board member of the Free Software Foundation (FSF) who is working on drafting the future release.
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The GPL is the most popular license for free software and was created by Richard Stallman in 1989 for the GNU free software operating system project. Version 2 of the GPL appeared in 1991.

“Version 2 has now been running for [nearly] 15 years without substantial modification,” says Eben Moglen, a member of the board of the Free Software Foundation and a professor of law and legal history at Columbia University Law School. “It [GPL 2] has successfully been used to go from a world in which free software was a very marginal community to one in which everyone, everywhere is aware of it.”