Wednesday, September 1

Spire Communications is offering a spin on the free ISP strategy: customers pay $19.95 per month for access, but that amount is reduced by $4 per month for every customer they refer. Once their Internet access is paid for by referring five customers, each additional referral earns them $4 per month in cash.

Apple iCEO Steve Jobs announced the Power Mac G4 and Apple Cinema Display at Seybold on Tuesday. Apple claims the G4 is twice as fast than a Pentium III. It is the first desktop computer to achieve the one gigaflop threshold. Under U.S. State Department classifications, G4 computers will be considered munitions and will be ineligible for export to hostile countries such as Iraq and North Korea. The 400 MHz version is available now for US$1,599. At 22 inches diagonal, Apple claims the US$3,995 Apple Cinema Display will the largest computer LCD screen available when it ships in October.

Bill Boas of the Denver Rocky Mountain News shows how to do more with less in "Slumming in the bowels of the Net on an XT clone." Lisa Greim Everitt tells you where to find those old computers, and where to donate your old one.

Microsoft's lax privacy and security standards, day 157

Using a simple exploit posted on several web pages, people were able to read email in Hotmail accounts simply by typing in someone's Hotmail address. It took Microsoft ten hours to patch the hole after European media contacted the company. Wired has ongoing coverage:

Hotmail Accounts Exposed to All

Hotmail Hackers: 'We did it'

Want Security? Forget Web Mail

Hotmail Fallout: A Mere Trickle

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Friday, September 3

USA Today reports on high speed Internet access in hotels, where customers are typically charged $9.95 a night for fast Internet.

CableLabs has certified the eleventh DOCSIS-compatible cable modem, this one from Terayon Communications Systems. In other news, Com21 modems recently failed CableLabs tests, resulting in lowered Com21 stock prices.

Dana Baggett directed us to Apple Tech Info Library article 24977: the documentation for the iMac and G3 desktop modems lists the wrong values for the S29 register.

Breakin' the law

In "New Web Scam Attacks ISPs," Wired's Chris Oakes looks at a technique some hackers are using to gain access to ISP customer passwords and credit card information.

TechWeb's "Microsoft Admits NT Has Serious Security Flaw" by Peter Heywood looks at a hole in Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 4. The problem is fixed in Windows 2000, and will be addressed in a future Service Pack for existing NT users.

The PrivacyX browser was supposed to offer secure, anonymous web surfing, but security holes were found within days. Now the company may not release the browser.

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