Larry Loeb

Winamp Bug Could Bring Buffer Overflow In a grim reminder of force of the Pod, Winamp was found this week to have a problem handling IDv2 MP3 tags. It seems that if an overlong string was inserted into the album name, for example, a buffer overflow could occur that would allow the execution of the […]

Poor old CardSystems Solutions got thwacked in the head with a major trout this week by Visa and American Express. Both companies said that they would no longer do business with the ACH (automated clearing house). MasterCard has given CSS until the end of August to demonstrate compliance with MCs standards or face the same […]

If the latest boatload of patches from Redmond and San Jose werent enough for you (as well as anything important that had to run no matter what, patches be damned) this week, there was enough other stuff happening for other vendors to make things interesting. If you have Ciscos CallManager, ONS 15216 OADM and Security […]

You almost have to pity Microsoft sometimes. While it sells the most popular computer OS, it is also one of the worst designed ones. Moreover, they have made the business decision to keep the very features that make it a security nightmare in the name of backward compatibility. As a result, they have to keep […]

In the days and weeks following the London bombings, there will be warnings that IT managers need to heed and others need to ignore, especially when feelings are still raw. The problem is that there are people who will think they can profit from terror. Now, its not terrorists themselves or the politicians that Im […]

New Trojan Attack The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team has received reports of an e-mail-based technique for spreading Trojan horse programs. Once opened, the malicious code can collect unauthorized information that can be exploited for various purposes, or permit computers to be used surreptitiously for other malicious activity. Unlike the usual viral attacks, the […]

Sometimes, the people you expect to be competent at what they do confound you big time. The latest example of this involves a purveyor of financial crack to the middle class, a credit card company. Said credit card company, a very large one in the field, threw some e-mail my way the other day that […]

Well, it seems that the Intel juggernaut is heading onward to the Wi-Fi chip sector. ABI Research of Oyster Bay, N.Y., figures that Intel in the last quarter was the No. 1 seller of chips in the Wi-Fi g and a/g market. This is not good news for former market leaders Broadcom and Atheros. But […]

The news of Apple switching to Intel processors in the next year or so was the big story coming out of Apples recent Worldwide Developer Conference. While punditry has abounded concerning the reasons for Apples switch, my take on the change is somewhat different. I dont think it had much to do with PowerPC architecture […]

Ive never liked Bluetooth devices. They have always seemed finicky to me, especially the process where they “pair” with each other in order to communicate. It may well be that this dislike stemmed from a review I tried to do a few years ago on a Bluetooth headset for mobile phones. I spent many hours […]