Broadband Internet Speed test

The popular file sharing service Grokster was shut down yesterday, agreeing to fork over $50 million in a landmark piracy case settlement.

Grokster was a popular p2p (peer-to-peer) file sharing service, where users could download music and movies from other users, and at the same time offer their own goods to be downloaded by other users.

Grokster claimed that only a small percentage of its users were trading copyrighted material, something that Justice David H. Souter rejected.
“While there is doubtless some demand for free Shakespeare, the evidence shows that substantive volume is a function of free access to copyrighted work,” he wrote. “Users seeking top 40 songs, for example, or the latest release by Modest Mouse, are certain to be far more numerous than those seeking a free ‘Decameron,’ and Grokster and StreamCast translated that demand into dollars.”

Looks like Grokster is going to pull a Napster though; that is re-emerge with a legal for-pay music service, “Grokster 3G“.

NetGear announced yesterday the release of a new wireless router, a notebook adapter and a USB 2.0 adapter, making up the RangeMax 240 family.

The RangeMax 240 is built with Airgo Networks’ third generation faster-than-ethernet MIMO wireless chips, promising real-world throughput of 115 Mbps, or faster than wired Ethernet.

The WAP (initially priced at $199 for the US market) and the notebook adapter ($129) will be in stores in time for the holidays, the USB adapter to follow in early 2006.

Exciting to see wireless technology playing catchup with its wired equivalent. I can’t wait till we see Gigabit wireless!

Wireless Internet access is ever so convenient; no need for messy ethernet cables when sitting with your wifi-enabled laptop in the sofa relaxing. This convenience can come at a price though. Your wireless access point (WLAN access point, WAP) could probably do with some locking down, especially if you’ve never even visited the administration interface of it.

Most WLAN access points are NOT secure out of the box.
Consult your WAP manual and make sure you at least do the following:

• Enable password protection/change default password for administration interface
• Enable logging
• Disable broadcasting of SSID
• Enable WEP (Wired Equivalency Privacy).
  This encrypts data transmitted over the air. WEP has flaws which can be exploited, but it’s still better than no encryption at all.
• Use MAC access control list.
  This makes sure your access point only talks to your computers. You may find a record of your computer’s MAC address in the WAP log (you did enable logging, didn’t you?)
• Disable remote SNMP
• Turn off your wireless access point when not in use.

For additional protection:

• Turn off any file- and printer sharing on your computer.
• Install a personal firewall.
• Install anti-virus software and keep it updated.
• Make sure you have the latest patches for your operating system.
• Look into deploying some sort of VPN-solution between computers connected via WLAN and your gateway.

Wireless web cameras, closed-circuit TV cameras and baby crib monitors broadcasting video streams not just to where you think, but as far as the radio signal can go. Using off-the-shelf equipment these video streams can be picked up by anyone, as they are usually not encrypted. Makes you think, no?

Wired has an interesting article on the subject.

Ever thought spam would come to good use?

At Spamusement you can find “poorly-drawn cartoons inspired by actual spam subject lines”. Good stuff.