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Items of Note:
A new extension to The Geekcast is coming. Will you be ready?
A shout out to Mark in Pittsburgh! Enjoy his interesting audio comment about The Geekcast.
On this episode, enjoy audio from the original Tetris commercial (found via Digg.com)
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Tech news:
Advertisers are slowly discovering the potential of Google Maps. Stores like Target and others are painting their roofs so when Google or other satellite imaging services update their pictures, you can see where the store is and it’s also a free form of advertising.
Microsoft admits to wifi flaw. Microsoft said Tuesday that under certain circumstances, attackers could exploit an anomaly in how Windows 2000, XP and Windows 2003 systems establish wireless connections. But users can take simple steps to neutralize the threat. Mark Loveless, a senior security researcher for Vernier Networks Inc.’s Vernier Threat Labs, released details of the glitch last weekend at the ShmooCon 2006 hacker conference in Washington, D.C. In his written findings, Loveless said, “If a laptop connects to an ad hoc network it can later start beaconing the ad hoc network’s SSID as its own ad- hoc network without the laptop owner’s knowledge. This can allow an attacker to attach to the laptop as a prelude to further attack.” The problem is essentially a configuration error that spreads virus-like from laptop to laptop, Loveless said in his written findings. In field tests, numerous ad hoc SSIDs such as “linksys,” “dlink,” “tmobile,” “hpsetup” and others have been documented, he said.
iTunes 6.02 adds video sharing. With all the attention on the new ministore presentation, no one seems to have noticed that iTunes 6.02 enables video-sharing to your local network. Whether it’s intended for an upcoming home media appliance or not, it brings videos up to par with music. Neither Apple’s main iTunes page nor its “Share & Stream” page mention this, and the Share & Stream page refers multiple times to “music sharing,” but it’s definitely enabled. Once you’ve installed iTunes 6.02, that machine will publish a “Videos” playlist, visible to but not accessible by iTunes 6.01.
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Test a geek: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast
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How To: Get free 411.
One of the many changes that has taken place in the telephone industry in the last few decades is that while phone companies once generally provided their local customers with free directory assistance, in most cases telephone customers are now charged a fee for each directory assistance call. Despite the charges, U.S. consumers continue to avail themselves of the 411 directory assistance service, placing about 6 billion such calls per year.
Now, however, an outfit called Jingle Networks is providing an alternative directory assistance service — and it’s free. Users who call the toll-free number 1-800-FREE411 (or 1-800-373-3411) can navigate a nifty automated voice recognition system that asks for a location (city and state), type of listing (business, government, or residential), and name. Once the service has located an entry for the requested number, it reads the information aloud and offers the caller the option of connecting to the number by pressing a single number on his telephone keypad.
How can Free-411 afford to offer free directory assistance service? The way it works in practice is that a caller who requests a business number is first presented with a short (about 12 seconds) audio advertisement for a sponsor who operates a competing business in that area; the caller is then given the option of being connected to either that competitor or the business he originally requested. If no sponsor operates a local competing business, then the caller hears no advertisement at all.
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Ask A Geek: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast
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Hack: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast
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The geek’s view: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast
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