Archive for October, 2009

5 New Technologies That Will Change Everything

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

From PC World (10/20/09) by Fleishman, Glenn: http://www.pcworld.com/article/173778/5_new_technologies_that_will_change_everything.html

3D TV, HTML5, video over Wi-Fi, superfast USB, and mobile “augmented reality” will emerge as breakthrough technologies in the next few years. Here’s a preview of what they do and how they work.

USB 3.0The new USB 3.0 standard preserves backward compatibility by allowing older cables to plug into newer jacks; but newer cables like this one have extra pins that boost the data rate to 4.8 gbps. – PCWorld

While sipping a cup of organically farmed, artisan-brewed tea, I tap on my gigabit-wireless-connected tablet, to pull up a 3D movie on the razor-thin HDTV hanging on the wall. A media server streams the film via a superspeedy USB connection to a wireless HD transmitter, which then beams it to the TV.

That actor–who was he? My augmented-reality contact lenses pick up the unique eye motion I make when I have a query, which I then enter on a virtual keyboard that appears in the space in front of me. Suddenly my field of vision is covered with a Web page showing a list of the actor’s movies, along with some embedded video clips.

These technologies will come to life in the distant future, right? Future, yes. Distant, no.

Speed and content (much of it video) will be paired consistently across mobile, laptop, desktop, and home-entertainment systems. New ways of using video–including adding 3D depth or artificial visual overlays–will require more speed, storage, and computational power.

802.11ac, 802.11adToday’s Wi-Fi will be left in the dust by 802.11ac and 802.11ad, both of which will be capable of carrying multiple video streams and of operating at far higher data rates. – PCWorld

In our preview of technologies that are well on their way to reality, we look at the connective tissue of USB 3.0, 802.11ac, and 802.11ad for moving media–especially video–faster; at HTML5 for displaying video and content of all kinds consistently across all our devices; at augmented reality to see how the digital world will stretch into our physical reality by overlaying what we see with graphics and text; and at 3D TV, which will add image depth and believability to the experience of watching TV.

While sipping a cup of organically farmed, artisan-brewed tea, I tap on my gigabit-wireless-connected tablet, to pull up a 3D movie on the razor-thin HDTV hanging on the wall. A media server streams the film via a superspeedy USB connection to a wireless HD transmitter, which then beams it to the TV. That actor–who was he? My augmented-reality contact lenses pick up the unique eye motion I make when I have a query, which I then enter on a virtual keyboard that appears in the space in front of me. Suddenly my field of vision is covered with a Web page showing a list of the actor’s movies, along with some embedded video clips. These technologies will come to life in the distant future, right? Future, yes. Distant, no. Speed and content (much of it video) will be paired consistently across mobile, laptop, desktop, and home-entertainment systems. New ways of using video–including adding 3D depth or artificial visual overlays–will require more speed, storage, and computational power. In our preview of technologies that are well on their way to reality, we look at the connective tissue of USB 3.0, 802.11ac, and 802.11ad for moving media–especially video–faster; at HTML5 for displaying video and content of all kinds consistently across all our devices; at augmented reality to see how the digital world will stretch into our physical reality by overlaying what we see with graphics and text; and at 3D TV, which will add image depth and believability to the experience of watching TV.

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Scan of Internet Uncovers Thousands of Vulnerable Embedded Devices

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

From Wired News (10/22/09) by Zetter, Kim : http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/10/vulnerable-devices

Researchers scanning the internet for vulnerable embedded devices have found nearly 21,000 routers, webcams and VoIP products open to remote attack. Their administrative interfaces are viewable from anywhere on the internet and their owners have failed to change the manufacturer’s default password.

Linksys routers had the highest percent of vulnerable devices found in the United States — 45 percent of 2,729 routers that were publicly accessible still had a default password in place. Polycom VoIP units came in second, with default passwords lingering on about 29 percent of 585 devices accessible over the internet.

“You can reflash the firmware or install any software you wish on vulnerable devices,” said Salvatore Stolfo, a Columbia University computer science professor who is overseeing the research project aimed at uncovering vulnerable appliances on the internet. “These devices will be owned and used by bot herders and other miscreants.”

Hackers can use vulnerable routers to conduct click fraud or DNS cache poisoning attacks or to launch attacks on other systems. (See our recent Threat Level story about vulnerable routers used by Time Warner customers.) Someone with remote access to the administrative interface of a VoIP system would also be able to install firmware to record conversations.

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International Workshop on e-Health in Emerging Economies – IWEEE 2010

Monday, October 19th, 2009

IWEEE 2010 – International Workshop on e-Health in Emerging Economies, February 10-12, 2010 – Las Palmas, Canary Islands (Spain)

“IWEEE brings together a multi-disciplinary team representing NGOs, Academia, Government, Church and Industry to share their experiences and to try to find ways to improve the lives of millions of human beings from the developing world.

IWEEE is not a pure technical conference. It will focus on the human factor and in raising awareness about the actual situation. We will discuss the tools that we can provide today to doctors and institutions to improve their habitants health and education”

Registration and accommodation’s information at: http://www.iweee.org

*IWEEE is a non-profit event. The resulting balance will be donated to charity.

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Event: Global Conference on Open Source (GCOS) 2009 Update

Friday, October 9th, 2009

“Open Source practitioners from around the world will attend the Global Conference on Open Source, 26 – 27 October 2009 in Jakarta“

Jakarta, 07 October 2009, The Global Conference on Open Source 2009 committee held a meeting on October 1 2009 at the Department of Communication & Information Technology’s office to finalize the latest data regarding preparations for the Global Conference on Open Source and the availability of domestic and foreign speakers.

Open source experts that have positively stated their availability to attend and speak at the conference representing governments’ perspective are; MAMPU (Malaysia): Modernizing Public Service Using Open Source, USA: The Importance of Document Format on Government Task, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam: Serving The Society Efficiently and Effectively, Ministry of Information and Communications, Republic of Indonesia: Legal and Smart Solution in Building National ICT Capability, and many more (for more information go to http://gcos.info).

Speakers representing the private sector that have also stated their availability are Sun Microsystems: Embrace and Extend: Making Open Source Technologies Complement Incumbent Technologies in the Enterprise, TELKOM: To Open source or Not To Open source: A CIO Strategy and Migration Methodology, IBM: Open Source Adoption in Enterprise, NTT: Big Surge in the Use of Open Source in Mission Critical Systems, and others (for more information go to http://gcos.info).

The academic track has also attracted distinguished speakers. Those attending are CNRS France: The Use of Open Source in the Grid Computing and Data Acquisition System in High Energy and Particle Physics Research Projects, SEAMOLEC: Prospect and Experience in using Open Source for Distance Learning, The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University: Open Source Software and Open Data in Biodiversity Research and Education.

GCOS 2009 will also be discussing other topics that include open source in communities and open source in the creative world.

The meeting has also mapped the committee’s preparations related to the workshops and exhibitions that are also part of GCOS 2009, which will be held on October 26-27 2009. The committee is currently preparing three workshops, which are: Character Animation using Blender, Open Source For Health/Medicine, and Network Analysis & troubleshooting @ enterprise.

There are three other events that will be held parallel to the Global Conference on Open Source, which are Asia Open Source workshop, POSS Network Workshop and IGOS Summit 3.

The day after GCOS ends, Oct 28, there will be a Free (Bebas) Software event: Richard M. Stallman, founder of the Free Software Movement and leader of development of the GNU operating system (with which the kernel Linux is typically used) will give a speech to explain the ethical and political ideas of free software, which are differ from the ideas of open source, and how GNU was developed to realize these ethical goals. The talk, entitled: The Free Software Movement and the GNU/Linux Operating System

This event will be held at the 3rd floor Auditorium, BPPT II Building, Jl. M.H. Thamrin 8, Jakarta on October 28 2009 at 09.00 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. InfoLinux Magazine will host this even, which is open for FREE to the general public.

Let us work together to make the Global Conference on Open Source 2009 a great success.

For more information regarding preparations, schedule and GCOS events please visit GCOS official website http://gcos.info.

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RP 20th in open source activity in government sector

Friday, October 9th, 2009

Would like to share this news about the progress we’re making in the Philippines as regards Free and Open Source Software. Thanks to Roli for sharing.

From the article: Open source adoption still strong in RP
By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 18:34:00 10/05/2009
http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view/20091005-228524/Open-source-adoption-still-strong-in-RP

MANILA, Philippines – Open source software development, particularly Linux, is seen to have a strong following in Asia Pacific as companies look to incorporate virtualization and cloud computing in their IT infrastructure.

New approaches to IT infrastructure building include managed services and software-as-a-service, which make use of third-party applications provider.

For end-users, these reduce the need for capital and operational expenditures and allow companies to focus more on their core businesses.

“It’s already obvious that open source, cloud computing and virtualization have done a lot for companies in the Asian region. But what about the complexities of implementing these, are they ready?” asked Red Hat Asia Pacific President Gery Messer.

Messer was in the Philippines recently to talk to customers about Red Hat’s latest services. But more than a product pitch, Messer also spoke of trends in open source computing amid the rise of cloud computing and virtualization.

The current economic crisis, Messer said, has somewhat sped up the adoption of open source, cloud computing and virtualization, which helped create a more streamlined system that won’t take up time, physical space, and man hours to manage.

Also, he noted a growing trend is on managed services delivered through telecommunications providers that have their own data centers. This growth is also accelerated by the economic crisis with company budgets slashed to curtail additional expenses and losses.

“Companies now only want to pay for what they are currently using, not what they think they’d be using in the future,” Messer said.

According to a Red Hat study published in April this year, the Philippines ranked 67th out of 75 countries that had overall robust open source activity.

The Philippines, meanwhile, ranked 20th in terms of open source activity in the government sector, largely due to many government-related IT projects running on open source.

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POST ONDOY / Typhoon- HEALTH ISSUES / Information

Monday, October 5th, 2009

From: pisay2011PTA mailing list

Thanks to Dr. Nancy Garcia Tan (PSHS Batch 2011 President) for this very useful and important information

As we pick up the pieces post typhoon Ondoy, I wish to remind everyone regarding health issues that may arise following a storm and exposure to flood waters.

1. Please make sure the water you drink and use to prepare your food is not contaminated as this may lead to gastroenteritis (stomach problems). Best to properly boil water for consumption or food preparation. Frequent hand washing, prompt disinfection of contaminated surfaces, and prompt washing of soiled articles of clothing also help reduce risk of infection.

2. For those who were exposed to flood waters – check for skin abrasions, cuts and wounds specially on the feet, as these are entry points for bacteria. Note for any pain, swelling or inflammation. Scaling, maceration in between toes may be secondary to fungal infection.

3. Dengue fever – Mosquitoes may breed in water trapped in areas around the house. Though clean-up may take time, we have to make sure our surroundings do not hold any stagnant water. Insect repellants are advised, at home and in school.

4. Influenza – Fever, cough , colds are more common during this time. Best to consult a physician for proper diagnosis and management as flu-like symptoms may be the initial manifestation of more severe illnesses.

5. Though less common, would like to mention Leptospirosis – This is a bacterial infection occurring in domestic and wild animals specially rats. Human infections / outbreaks are usually caused by exposure to water or soil contaminated with the urine of infected animals. Incubation period is from 2 – 20 (usually 7 – 13) days. Signs / symptoms are biphasic: First phase (lasts 4 – 9 days) – Flu-like symptoms: severe headache, fever, red eyes, muscle pain, nausea, +/- skin rash. Patient then (temporarily) recovers. Second phase (6th – 12th day of illness) – may not occur in mild cases. In more severe infections, fever returns, accompanied by abdominal pain, renal, liver problems. Patients with mild infections recover quickly, those with severe infections can take several weeks to recover. Infection is confirmed by laboratory test (blood / urine). Pls. consult your physician early for proper diagnosis and management. Pls. do not self medicate.

Keep well everyone.

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