The SONY Fiasco...

In case you haven't read about this, Sony recently brought out audio CDs with hidden copy protection s/w that messed with your computer's config, altering your registry settings.

Here's a recap from BoingBoing.net -

Oct 31: Sony DRM uses black-hat rootkits
Mark Russinovich, a security researcher, discovers that Sony has been sneakily installing "rootkit"-based DRM on their customers' computers. Rootkits are black-hat hacker tools used to disguise the workings of their malicious software. Removing Sony's rootkit nukes your Windows installation.

Nov 3: Sony releases de-rootkit-ifier, lies about risks from rootkits
Sony announces a "service pack" for its rootkit DRM. It deceptively downplays the risks the rootkit presented. It turns out that the remover doesn't actually work, either.

Nov 3: Felten on Sony's rootkit-"remover"
Princeton DRM researcher Ed Felten analyzes Sony's rootkit "remover" and concludes that it's a hunk of junk: "they're almost certainly adding things to the system...they're not disclosing what they're doing."

Nov 3: Defeat WoW spyware using Sony's rootkit
Warden, a program used by Blizzard to scour World of Warcraft players' system and report on the contents to the company can be defeated with the Sony rootkit. Blizzard claims that Warden only detects a few programs that facilitate cheating, but researchers have found evidence to the contrary.

Nov 8: Defend against Sony's rootkit with DRM-ripping software
AnyDVD, a DVD-ripping program, advertises that it can also inoculate you against the Sony rootkit.

Nov 9: List of CDs infected with Sony's rootkit DRM
EFF releases a partial list of CDs believed infected to infected with Sony's rootkit. Buyer beware -- you're better off buying music from someone else.

Nov 9: Sony's EULA is worse than their rootkit
EFF attorney Fred von Lohmann analyzes the license agreement that accompanies Sony's rootkit DRM (that's right, a license to listen to an audio CD!). It is unbelievably outrageous, the kind of thing that makes you want to get a torch and a pitchfork and head over to the nearest Sony office.

Nov 9: Wanna sue the pants off Sony?
EFF is looking for people who bought rootkit-infected CDs to join a potential lawsuit against Sony

Nov 10: Sony Music CDs infect Macs, too
Mac users shouldn't be smug -- Sony's audio CDs also contain an app that patches OS X's kernel with unspecified restriction-software; though Mac users have to take a few more steps before their computers are compromised

Nov 10: Fantastic screed against the coders who wrote the previous Sony DRM junk
This isn't the first time Sony's been caught doing crap like this; the last time around a geek wrote an amazing rant excoriating the coders who helped Sony write its anti-customer malware

Nov 11: Sony will stop shipping infectious CDs -- too little, too late
Twelve days after being caught using rootkits, Sony announces that it will stop shipping rootkit-infected CDs. No recall of the existing rootkits, though -- and Sony doesn't come close to apologizing. Buying Sony CDs is a great way to screw up your PC, but a lousy way to acquire music.

Nov 12: Sony's *other* malicious audio CD trojan
Princeton DRM researcher Alex Halderman reports on the other malicious software found on Sony CDs, a Suncomm product called MediaMax. MediaMax is a vicious little bug, which spies on you and reports on your deeds to the mothership.

Nov 12: New Sony lockware prevents selling or loaning of games
Sony patents a piece of software that can prevent you from playing a game that's been inserted into one console on another console; speculation is that this is destined for the PS3. Kiss game rentals, loaning and re-sale goodbye. Also, if your PS3 breaks or is stolen, you might as well toss out all your games, they're useless without it.

Nov 13: Sony's malware uninstaller leaves your computer vulnerable
A Finnish researcher discovers that the "uninstaller" for Sony's rootkit leaves a ton of crap behind that hackers can exploit -- he can reboot your computer just by getting you to load a web-page

Nov 13: Sony's rootkit infringes on software copyrights
There are strong indications that Sony ripped off a Free Software-based library called the LAME Encoder for its rootkit. The LAME Encoder is licensed under the Lesser GPL (LGPL), which was released for free re-use by public spirited programmers who merely requested that they be acknowledged. In Sony's zeal to protect its copyrights, they had no compunction about clobbering the copyrights of those software authors.

Other stuff:
* Sony lied about its rootkit. They said it didn't phone home with information about your deeds. It does. When they were caught in the lie, they said that they didn't pay attention to the information it sent back, so it's OK
* Microsoft is building a Sony rootkit-remover into its anti-spyware product
* Lawsuits against Sony are already underway in Italy and the US
* At least one piece of malicious software that exploits Sony's rootkit has been discovered in the wild

Thoughts on Web Designing

Looking for links on advertising, i stumbled upon Adam Greenfield's site. Very interesting guy, check his site out. What i'm pointing out is this, his critique on the practice of professionals looking down on amateurs designing web pages. Intersting article.

He's also linked to two incredible simplistic, yet very effectively done flash sites - Relevare and Method.

Also, here's WebPagesThatSuck's "The Biggest Web Design Mistakes Of 2004".

JuicyStudio has some thoughts on the colors a web page should have.

The New Hotmail

Oye people, interesting news here -

The guys at Microsoft have decided that Hotmail is showing it's age, and it's architecture is unable to cope with current user needs. Hence, Kahuna, the new hotmail.

http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/msn_kahuna_preview.asp

Direct link to an image preview of Kahuna.

let's give bumps to bottleHeD...

hey Kailash...many many happy returns of the day!!

Tushar's Contact!!

I need Tushar's contact number!! Urgently!!
All ye idiots, check your mail...

News!!!

Nail 11.4
I got know about it through my friend. It's a mail agent with SuSE 9.1 onwards.
When you execute mail command it internally calls nail. It provides
you with one little enhancement over normal mail command. you can add
a 'From' address in it when you send a mail to anybody! Now you
imagine... (Danny... i can see whats on your mind dear!! )
if you want to use it for some purpose... its available on SuSE
website just install the rpm file and you are good to go!

and plz stop talkin bout that shit here!

D dosent make a good Daud

saw D the other nite

Ram Gopal Verma's third offering after Satya & Compnay. The movie itself is watchable with certain standard dialouges like "Is dhandhe me doost hi sab se bada dushman hoota hai" & "Koi kaam choota nahi hoota, kaam karne wale choote hote hai". Apart from that the movie dosen't have a story line as such, things just keep on flowing smoothly,too smoothly probably.Dosen't leave the audience with a flavour like the previous 2 movies.

Randeep Hooda has done a strictly o.k. job just that his model looks can be alluring at times but Chunky Pandey takes the glory. Though in a short role his performance is commendable.

And as with almost all bollywood movies there is a misplaced song. Totally disturbs what the director has got going.

Hopefully we can expect better works from Vishram Sawant if he ever tries his hand at direction again.

Goodbye, Cruel World!!

Boohoo!! I'm off to Pune!! I'll miss my PC and the net!! *sniff-sniff*

Hey bugger INFERNO ..... Happy B'day

haraaami......
Happy B'Day.....
And waiting for a party... ;-)

I Love Mountains!

While far below men crawl in clay and clod,
Sublimely I shall stand alone with God.

I looked ahead and saw the mountains there, with rocks and forests
on them, and from the mountains flashed all colours upward to the heavens.
Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and round
about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world.
And while I stood there, I saw more than I can tell, and I understood
more than I saw; for I was seeing, in a sacred manner, the shapes
of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must
live together like one being. And I saw that the sacred hoop of my
people was one of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight
and as starlight, and in the centre grew one mighty flowering Tree to
shelter all the children of one mother and one father.
And I saw that it was holy.

To the mountains I say: "How fragrant are your odours,/ how delightful your perfume!/ Within you all is full of brightness!"

They reply, "The Being who passed through our midst/ has no tangibility or substance;/ No substance or tangibility has he,/ nor is there any kind of desire in him./ The Being who passed among us,/ released some of his vivifying power among us."

Kailash - Get Well Soon

Dear Kailash aka bottleHeD has just had an operation. Wishing him a speedy recovery.

Happy Birthday Rutu!!

Many Happy Returns of The day!

Links and Blogs!!

Hey fellow ponderers! I've added a bunch of links to some tech blogs and sites. Actually the blogs are all from Download.com blogs right now, and they're real good good. Check it out. Plus the site, it's a place where you can search for the meanings of various techie terminology. My first search, ofcourse, was for "Crimper" :-P

To everyone, if you have a personal blog, let me know, i'll add it to the Contributor Links section. So far, we have Kiran's photos, Sudeep's blog, and mine.

apna Yahoo! group..

I have created a group again.. Just for the purpose of maintaining all our master data. Like e-mail address, contact info., residential address etc. and not for the purpose of publishing our messages.

Yahoo! group has some excellent features like database, photo albums, and few other 'folders' which provides us with an easy and efficient way of maintaining our above mentioned details (with blog its kind of messy to maintain all those things).

So I suggest every one -
1. Get a Yahoo! id if you don’t have one.. and

2. click on the 'Group' link at our blog. It will lead you to our group at Yahoo!. then

3. join the group. It's a private group, created just for us, so you need to apply for it and I ll approve your request as soon as possible(or just sms me so that I ll do it immediately and you can continue there itself).

After that,
1. Go to our group then to databases and add your contact info there.(update it as those details change in future)

2. There is a section 'links'. we can use this section to spread the useful information around. just go on adding links of pages which you find interesting and think we should read it.

3. Apart from this there are other things too like photos n all.

with this I feel we have a complete solution in place. :-)

kailash, see! I have created an interesting and challenging job for you! ;-)