Never again will Steve Jobs grace the stage at Macworld

Ahhhh, Macworld.  It’s been like a post-Christmas Christmas for all us Appleholics out there.

Once upon a time, there were TWO Macworlds, and Steve Jobs’ keynote could be seen live!  I remember calling feeds here at CNN to find out where I could see it, and there was usually a group of us sending IMs back and forth ooohing and ahhhing over our glorious Leader’s every proclamation.  Then after the keynote ended we’d continue to IM back and forth about all the things we wanted (pizza box iMac!!) that we didn’t see, and arguing about why (or why not) Jobs was a genius.

All that changed several years ago – Apple pulled out of the Boston/New York Macworld, and it died.  No more live keynotes – we fanboys glued ourselves to the live reports on various gadget blogs by people actually in attendance.

Now even that will end.  And I have to think it’s going to be hard for Macworld to continue.  Which makes me wonder about trade shows in general.

Clearly Apple wants the stage to themselves, and I’m sure we’ll be just as excited about whatever new gadget, feature or upgrade the Leader sees fit to dole out to his salivating minions, but I can’t help but mourn Macworld’s passage.

I’ve never been to the actual show, and now I doubt I’ll ever get to go.  I’m a little sad at the end of this era, and wonder if the new era will have any of that Christmas-morning excitement I used to get before a Jobs keynote.

I wonder how January’s Macworld will go down.  I picture the crowd of Apple fans, a few of them teary-eyed, holding their cell phones aloft and swaying back and forth while singing some ballad after the last Apple-hosted keynote.  More likely it will be a shuffling of chairs by people hurriedly going off to the next event.

– CodyMcCloy, CNN.com

Your wireless internet connection is secure, you have anti-virus software, and your firewall is up.  You think you are safe from identity theft but there is a new way to gather information from your computer.  An internet connection is not even needed.

This time the culprit is your keyboard.  With each keystroke a slight electromagnetic wave is emitted.  A simple wire cable or a small antenna can pick up these waves. With the right computer software keystrokes are deciphered.   These waves can even travel through walls.

11 different PS/2, USB and laptop keyboards were tested by Sylvain Pasini and Martin Vuagnoux.  They are doctorate students at the Security and Cryptography Laboratory at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland.  For their experiment they attached a keyboard to a laptop that was running off of battery power. They unplugged the laptop to prevent electrical interference.  Each one of the keyboards tested was vulnerable to at least one of the four detection methods that Sylvain and Martin have discovered.  So far they have been able to detect keystrokes up to 65 feet away.  They believe a farther distance can be achieved by using better equipment.

Both Pasini and Vuagnoux blame computer manufacturers for this vulnerability.  However, the security risk could be lowered by tweaking the production of keyboards.

Do you feel that this could be a legitimate threat as ATM pads are even vulnerable according to Pasini and Vuagnoux?

Chris Piatt      CNN Science and Technology

An anti-piracy campaign by Microsoft is having a difficult time in China. The company may face an investigation from local authorities who allege Microsoft is trying to “hack” consumer computers.

Getty Images

Microsoft started a global plan in August to upgrade one of its anti-piracy tools, to make a stand against bogus copies of Windows XP Professional. PCs running either genuine or counterfeit XP Pro will automatically update themselves with an authorization evaluation program. Computers installed with the phony software will thereafter display a black desktop at start-up and revert to black again in an hour even if the background is changed. A permanent notice will also appear at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen warning users to purchase genuine XP copies. However, all programs will run normally.

The campaign expanded to China last week, and induced scares and firestorms among the large PC population, which exceeds 135 million.

More than 80% of the 60,000 Internet users participating in an online survey conducted by Tencent, one of the largest Internet service portals in China, protested the campaign. They complained that it was the high price of a legitimate copy of XP that had forced them to turn to counterfeits. A genuine copy of XP Pro is priced at $376 (2,578 yuan) in the Chinese market.

A lawsuit followed. On the second day of the campaign’s landing, Dong Zhengwei, a lawyer specialized in consumer rights protection, charged Microsoft with potentially sabotaging private computers. He suggested a billion-dollar fine for Microsoft.

Dong said that the anti-piracy program would “pose a threat to personal information security” and could be defined as a “crime.” “It is equivalent to illegal invasion, or hacking,” he said on Sina, the largest Chinese news portal. Many of the country’s computer societies, IT critics and scholars also stated their agreement with Dong.

In response, Microsoft China’s Intellectual Property Rights Supervisor Yu Weidong explained that this was a global campaign that aimed to educate consumers and keep them from harmful counterfeits.
The program would not affect normal functions of a PC and the company would not collect any personal information through it, he said.

On October 27, a week after the debate began, Chinese authorities made a statement that it supports any legal campaigns to protect intellectual property rights. But, “the companies should weigh their approaches and consider the affordability of Chinese consumers,” said Yan Xiaohong, deputy director of China’s National Copyright Administration.

Although more than 80% of surveyed Internet users in China told Sina that they would not purchase legitimate XP copies, Microsoft’s campaign, in combination with promotions on Office and Vista, did push up the company’s overall sales by roughly 60%. But, some free open-source software also witnessed a huge increase in sales, apparently thanks to Microsoft’s crackdown.

And more experienced PC users said they had simply shut down the “automatic update” function to avoid the “black screen” desktop and additional costs.

Chong Wu, CNN Science and Technology

Could the days of becoming half-man, half-machine be getting closer? Cyberdyne, a company just outside of Tokyo, has manufactured a robotic suit designed to help the elderly and disabled walk and go up stairs. Cyberdyne says even partially-paralyzed individuals are able to move around slowly with this device.

YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images

The “hybrid assistive limb,” HAL for short, attaches to a user’s waist, thigh, and calf. Cyberdyne says brain signals that tell HAL to help a person walk are captured through the skin. HAL calculates how much energy the person will give towards the movement then it compensates with the right amount of assistance.

Even though HAL weighs 22lbs, the user does not have to carry around that weight as HAL is supported through its exoskeleton. The battery charge should last five hours under normal use.

HAL is currently available only in Japan. Users can choose between three different sizes. It can be rented monthly for $2,200.00 for two legs or $1,500.00 for one leg.

Cyberdyne has also designed a full robotic suit that includes assistance for the arms, allowing users to lift and hold objects they normally wouldn’t be able to. A release date for this has not been announced.

One question — can’t help but wonder why the company chose the names “Cyberdyne” and “HAL” — names that have less-than-stellar reputations from the Terminator movies and 2001, A Space Odyssey.

Christopher Piatt, CNN Sci-Tech Unit

How I remember those days of vinyl records, 8-track tapes, cassettes, and CDs. Yes, I said CDs. Their days could be numbered as a new music format is about to burst onto the scene. Slot Music, a micro SD card that is about the size of a fingernail, has been developed by SanDisk. Each SD card will hold an album’s worth of music, album cover art, liner notes, and will have extra space for personal files and photos. All songs will be free of copy protection as well.

A slot music memory chip is smaller than the size of a postage stamp. (From Sandisk)

So far four music companies — Universal, Sony, Warner, and EMI –are on board as they hope to add another revenue stream to their bottom line. CD sales dropped 19 percent last year.

Best Buy and Wal-Mart are just two of the big retailers that will carry Slot Music. The new format is expected to be out before the holiday shopping season. Twenty-nine different albums ranging from Usher, Weezer, Akon, and even Elvis will be available at launch.

Micro SD cards can be played in many cell phones and MP3 players. Each album will come with a USB device so you can access the album on your computer. All we need now is a Micro SD player for our cars.

Is this the end for CDs or will Slot Music become just a short fad?

Christopher Piatt CNN Science and Tech