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Netstat -vat by Sean Michael Kerner (bio)

A command line view of IT

November 6, 2009, 11:09 AM

Google's Chrome browser updated for security fixes

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From the 'Auto-Update' files:

Google is updating the stable version of its Chrome browser to version 3.0.195.32.

The new release fixes two security issues and addresses a number of stability issues including a top crash condition and a bug that could have consumed 100 percent of a user's CPU.

On the security side, one of the fixed flaws deals with executable JavaScript warnings, or rather a lack thereof.
"The user was not warned about certain possibly dangerous file types such as SVG, MHT and XML files," Anthony Laforge Google Chrome Program Manager wrote in a blog post. "In some browsers, JavaScript can execute within these types of files. Because the JavaScript runs in the local context, it may be able to access local resources."
The other security issue fixed in Chrome 3.0.195.32 is a memory corruption condition in the Gears plugin. Gears (formerly known as Google Gears) is Google's attempt at providing offline storage for website information.

Chrome 3.0.195.32 also fixes what I consider to be a very serious bug that could have eaten up 100 percent of a user's CPU.
(more) |

Posted by Sean Michael Kerner at 11:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Share

November 6, 2009, 10:11 AM

Mozilla updates Firefox 3.5.5 for 'annoying' bug

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From the 'Quick Fix' files:

For the most part, Mozilla issues updates to its open source Firefox browser for both security and stability related issues. That's not the case with the new 3.5.5 update out today.

Firefox 3.5.5 has no listed security fixes and is all about fixing a few key stability bugs.

The official list of bugs fixed in the 3.5.5 update actually only includes 5 fixed items of which three are labeled by Mozilla as being critical.

One of the critical bugs in the fixed liste deals with crashes in Firefox's GIF image decoder. The flaw was introduced in the Firefox 3.5.4 release which came out on October 28th.  The GIF flaw was reported in Mozilla bugzilla bug tracking system by Toronto staffer Joe Drew (JOE DREW!!) on October 29th.
"We're seeing lots of crashes in the GIF decoder, involving nsGIFDecoder2::ProcessData calling GifWrite(), then a null dereference," Drew wrote in the bugzilla entry. "Right now, this is showing up in the noted crash site, but this is a Windows-specific, 3.5.4-specific crash site, since the offset in xul.dll will change with every build, and obviously xul.dll has no meaning on OS X or Linux."
(more) |

Posted by Sean Michael Kerner at 10:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Share

November 5, 2009, 4:13 PM

Google brings Closure to open source JavaScript devs

 google_closure_small.gif From the 'Open Source Development' files:

Google builds a lot of its own tools as part of its development efforts. Sometimes we get all 'get lucky' and the tools become open source and available too.

That's what has happened today with the Google Closure tools which are a set of JavaScript optimization tools.  Considering the extreme importance of JavaScript in all modern web applications and browsers, it makes sense in my opinion for Google and everyone else to have the best JavaScript code possible.

Among the tools released by Google is the Closure Compiler which aims to compile web apps down into compact, JavaScript code.
"The compiler removes dead code, then rewrites and minimizes what's left so that it will run fast on browsers' JavaScript engines," Google stated. "The compiler also checks syntax, variable references, and types, and warns about other common JavaScript pitfalls."
That's kinda cool, but what's even more impressive in my opinion are the usage mechanisms that Google is making available for the Closure Compiler. In addition to the command-line they've also got a Firefox extension that works with their Page Speed optimization tool.

What that means to me is I can easily check JavaScript on any page and see how the JavaScript can be improved.

That's one heck of a powerful tool to have.
(more) |

Posted by Sean Michael Kerner at 4:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Share

November 5, 2009, 10:24 AM

Cisco's Chambers & EMC's Tucci: Buddies in Bad Times

 chambers.tucci.small.jpgFrom the 'Former Wang Employees'  files:

Sometimes is not what you know that's important, it's who you know -- right?

This week, Cisco, EMC and VMware entered into a partnership for delivering integrated virtual data center solutions.

Aside from the news itself, one of the most interesting pieces of drama in the whole event was the extreme chumminess between Cisco CEO John Chambers and EMC CEO Joe Tucci.

During the event there were a few back slaps (and the pic left from Cisco shows one of them, that's Chambers on the left and Tucci on the right) and many friendly words shared and said between the two CEOs.

Chambers said at multiple points during the launch press conference how his 20 years of friendship with Tucci helped to make the deal possible. Chambers actually worked for Tucci at one point, when both men were at the now-defunct Wang Labs.
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Posted by Sean Michael Kerner at 10:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Share

November 4, 2009, 10:58 AM

Adobe updates Shockwave for 5 critical vulnerabilities

 shockwaveplayer_logo.jpgFrom the 'Shocking Updates' files:

Adobe Shockwave users, it's time to update.

Adobe has issued an updated version of its Shockwave Player to address 5 critical vulnerabilities. The flaws affect  Adobe Shockwave Player 11.5.1.601 and prior versions. The new version is numbered 11.5.2.602.
"The vulnerabilities could allow an attacker, who successfully exploits the vulnerabilities, to run malicious code on the affected system," Adobe stated in its advisory.
Two of the vulnerabilities deal with invalid pointer issues that could lead to arbitrary code execution.

Arbitrary code execution is also the potential end result for two of the other flaws fixed by Adobe in this new Shockwave update. There is an invalid index issue that could also lead to code execution vulnerabilities. As well there is an invalid string length vulnerability that has now been addressed.

A potential Denial of Service (DoS) attack vector is fixed in the Shockwave Player 11.5.2.602 release thanks to a fix for a boundary condition issue.

The  Shockwave Player 11.5.2.602 is the third security update for the Adobe product this year.

In June, Adobe issued the 11.5.2.600 update fixing a critical zero day flaw. That update was followed in July with the 11.5.3.601 update which was related to Microsoft's Active Template Library (ATL) fixes made at the same time.

Posted by Sean Michael Kerner at 10:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Share

November 4, 2009, 10:28 AM

Sun updates Java 6 for the 17th time

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From the 'Still Owned by Sun' files:

If you're like 80 percent of all web users, chances are that you're running Java. Have you updated to the latest version yet?

Yesterday, Sun released Java 6 Update 17, fixing multiple vulnerabilities.

Among the issues fixed by Sun is a command execution vulnerability in the Java Runtime Environment Deployment Toolkit. According to Sun's advisory on the issue, the vulnerability could potentially be leveraged to execute arbitrary code.

There is also critical fix for a vulnerability in the Java Web Start Installer which potentially could enable an untrusted Java app to run as trusted and then run whatever code it wants.

Update 17, also addresses what Sun refers to as, "Multiple buffer and integer overflow vulnerabilities in the Java Runtime Environment". The overflow vulnerabilities could potentially lead to a privilege escalation attack.

From my perspective, there is one other key vulnerability that Sun is addressing with this update. It has to do with the actual Java update mechanism. Many (if not most) users have their Java installations automatically checking Sun's server periodically for updates. According to Sun, it didn't always work.

(more) |

Posted by Sean Michael Kerner at 10:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Share

November 3, 2009, 10:44 AM

Google Chrome 4 Beta debuts including bookmark sync

 googlechromologo.jpg
From the 'Delicious Feature' files:

Google's Chrome 4 web browser is now in Beta. Chrome 4 has been in the dev-channel cycle since August and has one key differentiating feature over its predecessors in the Chrome 3 browser series, bookmark syncing.

Google has three main releases for Chrome, dev, beta and stable channel. The move into the beta channel for Chrome 4 means it's getting ready for prime time.

Back in August, I had some issue with the bookmarking syncing feature which wasn't really well integrated with either Google's online services or with Chrome itself. That was months ago, and Google has since improved the whole process.
"Once you've activated Google Chrome bookmark sync on each of your computers, any changes you make to your bookmarks will appear on all synced computers in just a few seconds," Google engineers wrote in a blog post.
The synchronization leverages Google's XMPP (that's the same protocol used by Jabber and Google Talk) assets to synchronize bookmarks.
(more) |

Posted by Sean Michael Kerner at 10:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Share

November 2, 2009, 4:02 PM

Open Source Skype? Not yet, but soon

 skype.jpg
From the 'Codecs, Codecs, Codecs' file:

Is Skype going open source? Apparently so.

"Yes, there's an open source version of Linux client being developed. This will be a part of larger offering, but we can't tell you much more about that right now," a Skype developer wrote on Skype list. "Having an open source UI will help us get adopted in the "multicultural" land of Linux distributions, as well as on other platforms and will speed up further development. We will update you once more details are available."
I run Linux and I also run Skype on my Linux desktop today. I also run Adobe's Flash and AIR too. None of them are open source, but all are freely available. As an end-user I'm not sure that it makes a difference.

Sure, open source software is a good thing enabling developers to expand it more easily than closed source. As a developer, I sure would like to get into the internals of Skype and see what I can hack on.

That said, I know full well that the heart of the magic that makes Skype actually work are a number of patented close-sourced proprietary media codecs. The there is also the issue of the network itself which isn't exactly open either.

But there are some real positives from Skype going open source too.
(more) |

Posted by Sean Michael Kerner at 4:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Share

November 2, 2009, 2:39 PM

Google Back to Full Speed on Chrome browser dev

 googlechromologo.jpg
From the 'Code Yellow Alert' Files:

Google Chrome development is moving along full speed ahead. Why is this news? Well let me tell you...

Early last week, Google developer Anthony LaForge (no not Geordi, he's working on the warp core still...) issued a 'Code Yellow' alert halting all Google Chrome release until some critical bugs could be fix.

By the end of the week, not only was the Code Yellow lifted, but Google also managed to issue two dev-channel releases for the Chrome browser. Nice recovery Google, very nice.

The 4.0.223.11 dev-channel release is the most recent release and packs in a few interesting additions to Chrome.  There are numerous bug fixes for all platforms and Mac users finally get printing and the Apple Quicktime plugin.

What's also interesting from my point of view is that Google is now treating its Chrome Frame - the effort to enable Chrome to run inside of a Microsoft Internet Explorer browser - as its own release version, same as Windows, Linux and Mac.

There are 14 seperate fixes for Chrome Frame made by Google in its recent release, and that's significant. It means that Google takes its fight to take over IE from the inside seriously and is putting the full weight of its Chrome engineering expertise into the effort.
(more) |

Posted by Sean Michael Kerner at 2:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Share

November 2, 2009, 10:02 AM

Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 doesn't know about:me, but it's fast

 sr-firefox3.jpg
From the 'Where Did the Features Go?' files:

The first official Mozilla Firefox 3.6 Beta release is now available, bringing with it a whole bunch of improvements to the open source web browser. It's also (to my naked eye) missing a few features that I had initially expected to see in Firefox 3.6.

Officially the Firefox 3.6 release is being called a minor upgrade and will be made available to all Firefox 3.5.x users.

While it's called minor by Mozilla, in my own limited tests on both Linux and Windows XP SP 3, the Firefox 3.6 browser starts faster than its Firefox 3.5.x predecessor. According to Mozilla, overall JavaScript performance has been improved as well.

On the security front, Firefox 3.6 includes a built-in plugin detection capability to alert users to out-of-date items.

In previous versions of Firefox users could 'theme' there browsers, but with Firefox 3.6 there is integrated support for Firefox Personas which are complete skins for the browser.

Then there are the under the hood improvements like expanded CSS support and support for the the new Web Open Font Format (WOFF) which builds on Firefox 3.5.x earlier work on expanding Font support and options to developers.

Not a bad list of items and certainly the speed improvements of this release make it worthwhile.

That said, it is missing a number of items that I was looking forward to seeing in this release.
(more) |

Posted by Sean Michael Kerner at 10:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Share

October 30, 2009, 3:24 PM

Where is PHP 6?

 php.gif
From the 'Vaporware Language Release' files:

Back in 2005, I wrote a story for InternetNews.com where I wrote that I expected PHP 6 to be out in 2006. Here we are three years later and guess what? No PHP 6.

Back in 2005, the promise of PHP 6 was to be the next big thing for the open source dynamic language. At the time, I remember joking with Zend co-founder Andi Gutmans about Perl 6, which is a release that also has been promised for years and still hasn't been released either.

Instead what has happened to PHP 6 is it has become the horizon of PHP. A place that you can see off in the distance, but can never be reached.

It's also a place where features are backported from, as was the case with the PHP 5.3 release which included several key features that were originally intended for PHP 6.

Among the PHP 6 features now in PHP 5.3 is internationalization support.
"The question is now with the internationalization extension, what is the gap and how much benefit do we get from PHP 6 versus 5.3?" Zend CEO Andi Gutmans recently told me.
(more) |

Posted by Sean Michael Kerner at 3:24 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0) | Share

October 29, 2009, 4:06 PM

The irony of Juniper Networks' new branding

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From the 'Competitive Irony' files:

In 2006, networking giant Cisco Systems revamped it's corporate logo and its branding. At the time, rival Juniper Networks, put out its own anti-Cisco branding marketing initiative, printing up T shirts with a press release type letter on the back.

The gist of the letter was that Juniper, unlike Cisco, wasn't going to spend its money on new logos and branding. Instead Juniper (at the time) said it was sticking with what it does best, namely high speed networking.

Well, today three years later, in the midst of the worst economic slowdown of the information age, Juniper updated it logo.

Seems a bit ironic doesn't it?

Three years ago, when the economy was booming they criticize Cisco for spending money on a re-branding effort and now today they do the same thing, albeit in much more difficult circumstances. They've had to eliminate jobs (including a few that I'm aware of in PR) and cut costs, yet they manage to find the money for a corporate re-branding.
(more) |

Posted by Sean Michael Kerner at 4:06 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) | Share

October 29, 2009, 3:47 PM

Google Chrome development slows to fix bugs

 googlechromologo.jpg
From the 'Rapid Release Cycles' files:

Since its first release a year ago, Google's Chrome browser has been updated at a rapid pace -- perhaps too rapid.

This week, Chrome developer Anthony Laforge issued a 'Code Yellow' alert and put all Chrome developer releases on hold, until some high priority bugs could be fixed.

The problem was the number of un-touched P0 bugs that were in Google Chrome bug tracking system. A P0 is supposed to be the highest priority bug and could considered serious enough to be a release blocker. According to Laforge, 10 bugs were labeled as P0 that had not been worked on by developers in over five days.

After issuing the Code Yellow, further examination revealed that in fact many of the P0's were in fact mis-categorized. As such, Google developers have demoted many of them to a P1 status.

In a follow-up message to his Code Yellow alert Laforge wrote on a Google mailing list:
"Since all of the open issues have owners and are all actively being worked  on I'm lifting the code yellow status," Laforge wrote. "The embargo on the dev channel for  this week will also be release as soon as the remaining issues are resolved."
(more) |

Posted by Sean Michael Kerner at 3:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Share

October 28, 2009, 9:30 AM

Microsoft wants open source Eclipse to work with Windows 7

 msft.jpg
From the 'Resistance is Futile' files:

Microsoft has thousands of developers building code for its platforms using Visual Studio. Thousands more use open source Eclipse based IDEs to develop their code and Microsoft wants them to target Windows platforms too.

To that end, Microsoft today announced a series of interoperability initiatives to help Eclipse users develop for Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2. and the Microsoft Azure cloud platform.

Frankly I'm not surprised. Microsoft has been friendly with the commercially focused Eclipse Foundation for years and I personally see the Windows 7 interop as an extension of that working relationship.

That said the new efforts are still quite interesting.

Among the new and expanded efforts is the Windows Azure Tools for Eclipse for PHP developers project, the Windows Azure Software Developer Kit (SDK) for Java and perhaps most interesting is the Eclipse Tools for Silverlight effort.
(more) |

Posted by Sean Michael Kerner at 9:30 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) | Share

October 27, 2009, 4:45 PM

U.S Department of Defense takes a shine to open source

 dod.jpg
From the 'Do Ask and Do Tell' files:

Open Source software has a role to play in the national interest and national security of the United States. That's the gist of a new U.S Department of Defense (DoD) Memorandum providing clarifying guidance on the use of open source within the DoD.

While the tone of the memo is positive on open source, the memo is not changing or implementing any new policies
"This attachment provides clarification and additional guidelines on the use and development of OSS (open source software)," the memo states. "It does not change or create new policy, but is intended only to explain the implications of existing laws, policies and regulations."
From my point of view, the document is just a restatement of things that the DoD has already been doing in some respects. There are places for open source in the DoD and commercial open source software vendors can be engaged just like commercial proprietary vendors.

One of the of the larger open source deployments that I'm aware of is a U.S Navy deployment that uses Red Hat as part of a joint IBM/Raytheon technology called the Zumwalt Total Ship Computing Environment (TSCE).

That's right Linux is on U.S Naval Warships defending the free world and American interests and has been for a few years. Oh and it's now good enough for the President of the United States too.

(more) |

Posted by Sean Michael Kerner at 4:45 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) | Share

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