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Sunday, August 31, 2003

Random thought:

Coming soon: Candy from Macromedia's Jar

Macromedia Dreamweaver is the unquestioned king of the hill for serious website designers. Coupling that application with HomeSite+, Fireworks, and Flash give designers the power they need. Soon there will be something better.

I haven't seen the applications yet, but Macromedia senior marketing director Jeff Whatcott has described the new suite that will replace the current MX applications. The new versions are called MX 2004 and the full suite (retail) is $899 or $999. For upgraders, the price is as low as $399.

What will you get for your money?

Here are some of the features that caught my attention ...

• If you're formatting text and you like the look you've created, you can convert the in-line attributes to a cascading style sheet style. In the past, CSS development has been somewhat removed from HTML coding.
• "Broken browser alert" -- This sounds like another big winner. Developers can have Dreamweaver alert them (real time) when they code something that will break some of the earlier browsers. Netscape 4 is still in fairly widespread use and if weblogs from your site show a substantial number of NN4 users, this feature will save you some grief.
• Macromedia has long provided extensions for many of its applications -- the ability for you or any user to develop extra functionality. Extensibility will be taken to a new level in the MX 2004 applications.
• Templates have been a feature of Dreamweaver for several versions, but now they will be added even to applications like Flash. In addition, Flash will have a variety of ready-made "timeline effects" that will extend the power of animation to those of us who are clueless about animation.
• Do you work in more than one language? I once worked on a project that involved translating a manual to French for the Canadian market. Besides having to take the translator's word that his French was the linguistic equivalent of my English, I also had to deal with the fact that French is about 15% longer than English. If I'd had to provide localization for a Flash project, I might have found a good reason to take a very long vacation. Flash MX 2004 will allow the user to export every bit of text in the file to an XML file. The translator can work with that file and the XML can then be imported back into Flash. What about the length difference? Easy Flash now works with what are essentially cascading style sheets -- the French style sheet could call for smaller margins or smaller text.
• And for developers who have worked with one of the visual development languages (Visual Basic, for example) and who want to work with Flash but are put off by the timeline, Flash Professional introduces the ability to interact with XML or SOAP to communicate with databases on the server.
• Fireworks already creates the best possible Web output, but Whatcott says it will be even better in MX 2004. Some people who do all their graphic development work in CorelDraw still grab Fireworks to output the resulting file to the website.
• Oh, and did I mention the new Flash Player? It's reported to be far faster than any previous version and offers new capabilities for handling high-resolution video.

The applications won't be shipping until sometime in September, but I've had the opportunity to work with some of the applications in beta. From what I've seen, the preview I've just given you has only one significant flaw: It doesn't even begin to cover the new and exciting features you'll find when you start working with the applications. I've had the opportunity to look at the applications in beta and it's looks like Macromedia will maintain its position as developer of THE development tools for serious website designers.

More information will be available at http://www.macromedia.com/.

Think security ... NOW

In 1996, security consisted of making sure you didn't boot from an infected floppy. That was about it. How things have changed in just a few years! In those days, virus protection was optional. Nobody with a home PC had a firewall. Life was good.

Danger ahead: Terrorism by e-mail

As bad as spam is, the Internet brings us things that are even worse: worms and viruses. The Homeland Security folks suggest that we'll see a major attack on the Internet. I think they're right and I believe that it will happen sooner rather than later.

Microsoft is a large part of the problem, but users who haven't bothered to learn how to protect their computers and why this is important share some of the blame. I'm writing this on August 20, as the latest round of the "SoBig" virus is ripping through computers at an unprecedented rate.

The systems administrator at a large university in the Midwest announced earlier today that in 13.5 hours, their central mail servers detected over 60,000 copies of the Sobig.f virus from several thousand unique IP addresses. How bad is that? It's more than double the number of viruses detected in the university's previous worst month! That's right. In slightly more than half a day, they detected more viruses than in their previous worst month.

The math is easy: That's about a 60-times increase!

The university's help desk e-mail address and their LISTSERV server's administrative address have been forged on copies of the Sobig.f virus.

Last week, it was the MS Blaster worm. What will show up in your mailbox next week? Chances are, it won't be pretty.

Worms and viruses

Worms can replicate across an entire network in a few minutes because once they're on your network they need no human action to continue the spread. Nobody has to receive, send, or open an e-mail. Worms look for ports that are needlessly open and unnecessary services that are running.

Many of the current problems are combination worm-virus attacks. In many cases, the attacks use the Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express e-mail application to send messages with forged "from" lines to addresses found anywhere on your computer. I've already received several virus warnings from systems that received messages "from" me. Needless to say, I haven't sent any infected messages. I was caught once, several years ago, by the first e-mail trick. Never again.

Being on the font lines

In the "good old days", viruses and worms were mainly the work of adolescent boys (mainly boys) who weren't bright enough to write useful applications they could sell. Instead of slashing tires, scratching new paint, or throwing rocks through store windows, they got their enjoyment by releasing malware that crashed computers or networks and occasionally deleted files.

It should come as no surprise to any of us that some people don't much care for "The West" in general and the United States in particular. For whatever reasons - some say it's because they have been unable to develop an open society or an economic system that will allow anyone but a few at the top to accumulate any wealth - their goal is to destroy what others have developed.

In the final analysis, it doesn't much matter whether it's some fanatic from Saudi Arabi or a 18-year-old moron who has enough time on his hands to figure out how to damage your computer from a distance. What appeals to these largely powerless individuals about the Internet is that they can attack without having to leave the discomfort of their cave or hovel and there is little chance that they will ever be identified, located, or prosecuted. And because so many of us have become so dependent on the ability to obtain information, buy or sell products or services, and communicate with each other via the Internet, the target is particularly attractive.

And when you consider that most home computers and many corporate networks are operated by people who have had no training at all in computer security, the target becomes irresistible.

Persistent pestilence

Viruses and worms will become harder to identify and eradicate. It is possible for rogue websites and malicious e-mail attachments to install pieces of apparently harmless code on your computer today. The code appears harmless because it is harmless - by itself. Imagine a malware application that loads a little "ammonium nitrate fertilizer" into your computer one day and another malware application that adds some "kerosene" the next day. A week or two later, a third piece of malware loads a "detonator". A fourth component arrives later. It checks in each day with a remote application that one day sends a message to all computers that have been loaded with "explosives" to "detonate".

Of course it's impossible to load fertilizer, kerosene, and a detonator into your computer via the Internet, but it is possible to load several code components that could be combined and then executed. What would be the result of 1,000,000 computers staging attacks on a few hundred carefully identified sites? What if all of the files on 10,000,000 computers suddenly vanished? Or 100,000,000?

The City of Columbus recently had to hand check every single police cruiser because most of the on-board computers had been infected with the MS Blaster worm. If something like this doesn't make you nervous, what does it take to make you nervous?

What you can do

Without even thinking about it very hard, I see at least 6 essential steps. More may occur to you, but start with these.

• First, understand that conditions aren't going to improve anytime soon.
• Second, practice thinking about safety. When I received an e-mail with an attachment but no message, I didn't open the attachment even thought the message was from someone I knew. Instead, I sent a message to ask if the person sent a PowerPoint presentation to me. She had sent it, and it was safe. A small delay saved what could have been a mess.
• Third, install a firewall. There are hardware firewalls and software firewalls. I no longer consider these as optional, "nice-to-have" additions. If your computer doesn't have a firewall, you have effectively hung out a sign that says "Take my computer and do anything you want with it. I don't care." If you have a home computer network that is behind a router/switch, the router/switch uses network address translation (NAT). This is not secure. You still need a firewall.
• Fourth, be absolutely certain that you have an antivirus program installed and that your application automatically checks for updates at least once per day. Do not depend on the antivirus program to detect every virus, though. Every antivirus program has some shortcomings and all antivirus programs will miss new viruses that can often spread in the wild for several days before the antivirus program has updated definitions.
• Fifth, use your operating system's automatic update service (many version of Windows and Apple's OS X offer an update service) and be certain to install every security-related patch.
• Sixth, never trust anything you receive by e-mail - particularly if it has anything to do with money or credit cards. Make sure that the message has come from the person or company that it claims to be from. Verify!

The Internet is just a tool

Tools aren't good or evil; they're just tools. A hammer can be used to build a house that will keep a family warm and dry, or it can be used to commit a brutal murder. The automobile gives us mobility that people could have barely foreseen even 100 years ago, yet it is responsible for dirtying our air and killing tens of thousands every year. Even immunizations that protect us from horrific diseases occasionally - instead of providing protection - cause disability, disfigurement, or death.

The Internet is simply a tool. We use it to do our jobs better and faster. We use it for entertainment and enjoyment. We use it to share knowledge and to keep in touch with friends and family. But it can also be used against us for great harm.

Please! Take computer security seriously starting this very minute.

Before the end of this day, I hope you'll be sure that your antivirus program is up to date and that you will have installed Zone Alarm (or have ordered a hardware firewall). All of us have had more than adequate warning about what is likely to happen. We can continue to ignore the signs or we can take prudent actions to protect ourselves, our computers, and our data. The threat is real. The time is now.

Elementary, my dear Photoshop

What you you do if you're Adobe and you have the most popular image editing application in the solar system? In Adobe's case, they've invented a new application that has many of the features of Photoshop but sells for one sixth of the price. And it comes with features that make the application something that anyone can use immediately.

You don't know an RGB from a CMYK? You don't care what gamma is? You don't want to spend $600 for Photoshop 7? OK. What about spending $100 or less (shop around, it'll be less) for Photoshop Elements. Then, instead of spending $1000 for a training program that will teach you how to use all the intricate features in Photoshop, you'll be able to just start using Photoshop Elements to do some exciting things with your photographs -- and it doesn't matter whether you shoot film and then scan the negatives or prints or whether you shoot digital.

Adobe product manager Kakul Srivastava says one of the main reasons for developing Photoshop Elements was to introduce home users to an affordable image editing application ...
REAL AUDIO Kakul Srivastava 4:40 q-in photoshop elements 2.0.

If you need a few extra ideas about how the program works or what you can do with it, you need a book by Dave Huss. Dave is the kind of guy who, when he's speaking at a conference in -- oh, say for example, San Diego -- he gets up at 4:30* to make sure he's at the ocean early enough to bring back a few drop-dead sunrise scenes. ("A few" to Dave is about 300.) Then he'll head out late in the afternoon to grab some dramatic scenes that happen only when there's strong, angular, late-afternoon light. (That would be another 300 or so images.) Pick up a copy of Photoshop Elements 2.0: 50 Ways to Create Cool Pictures by Dave Huss and Jim Patterson. It's a $30 book that you'll find on line for $25 or less.

This is the kind of work Dave does for fun. It's a sunset (d'oh!) near Austin.
From Dave regarding the "technical stuff": The panorama was made using 12 photos taken with a Nikon D-100 The image was stitched together using PixMaker Value from PixAround. At 400 dpi the image is 37 inches wide and 8 inches in height. Very little image enhancement was done except to remove the slight appearances of tonal shift where the panels joined together. And that was done in Photoshop Elements 2

* I know because I shared a room with Dave in San Diego. He had to buy ear plugs to deal with my snoring.

Nerdly News

Gotcha, creep!

Will this kid get a tap on the wrist or some deserved jail time?

FBI agents arrested a Minnesota teenager Friday. The agency says 18-year-old Jeffrey Lee Parson of Hopkins, Minnesota ("teekid" on line) has admitted unleashing the Blaster.B worm.

FBI Director Robert Mueller said earlier this week that the agency uses technology and code analysis to locate the source of an attack. In previous cases, tacking a worm or virus back to its source has been difficult. As more information comes out, it looks like this kid was just too stupid to cover his own tracks. The clues he left were so obvious that even I would have found them if I'd had the same access the FBI had. The person who created the first strain of this particular bug wasn't that stupid. You'll notice that he's also not been caught.

Parson operated "t33kid.com", where the FBI is reported to have found software code for at least one virus and a listing of the most-damaging viruses circulating on the Internet.

The case has been handled by the FBI's Seattle office because the infection affected software sold by Microsoft, located north of Seattle in Redmond.

Have an IBM monitor?

The company has expanded its recall for G51 and G51t monitors produced between June 1997 and September 1997. It seems that these monitors are somewhat prone to causing fires. IBM says most of the fires so far have been minor.

The earlier recall was for 117,000 units worldwide -- 56,000 in the US. IBM now says that it has expended the recall to include monitors made between June 1997 and September 1998. That raises the total to 235,000 units worldwide -- 119,000 in the US.

You can figure out if an IBM monitor you own is covered by looking at the label on the back, If you find model number G51 or G51t and a manufacturing date between June 1997 and September 1998, your monitor is probably covered by the recall.

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