Podcast Pick of the Day - This Week in Tech

This Week in Tech
TWiT 107: We’re Going to Need a Bigger Flywheel
Run Time: 1:31:32

Hosted by Leo Laporte, This Week in Tech is a weekly podcast focusing on all things tech. This episode consisted of a sizeable cast: John C. Dvorak (Dvorak.org/blog), Patrick Norton, Robert Herron, Steve Gibson and Molly Wood. Amongst other topics, the large gang pontificated on Google bidding for the 700MHz spectrum, Dvorak’s insight into a possible Sprint-Google deal, the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray war, hybrid hard drives, Congressmen and tech, intern loses 800,000 Ohio social security numbers, Apple and Microsoft quarterly profits, smog testing and HDMI cable reviews.

The podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

Podcast Pick of the Day - Windows Weekly

Windows Weekly
Episode 24: And Hilarity Ensued
Run Time: 48:11

Hosted by Paul Thurrott and Leo Laporte, Windows Weekly is a weekly podcast focusing on Microsoft and the latest in technology. This episode featured HD-DVD woes, HD-DVD software, Dell and Ubuntu, Microsoft’s earnings, Vista Anytime upgrades, Paul’s CHK DISC anecdote, Silverlight 1.1 is a self-contained version of .NET and IE8.

Microsoft’s quarterly earnings perspective (from the podcast):
What these companies earn in a quarter, Microsoft earns the same amount in the following time periods:

• Red Hat – 10 hours
• Research and Motion (Blackberry creators) – 4 days
• Starbucks – 4 days
• McDonalds – 14 days
• Apple – 14 days
• Google – 18 days
• Coke – 23 days
• Walmart – 10 weeks
  

Microsoft profits 55 million dollars a day. I think articles declaring Microsoft’s death are greatly exaggerated.

The podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

Enjoy.

Podcast Pick of the Day - Security Now!

Security Now!
WEP Insecurity
Run Time: 45:54

Hosted by Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson, Security Now is a weekly podcast discussing the latest in computer security. This episode featured WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) and how German researchers have been able to crack it. The researchers published a paper revealing how WEP can now be cracked in under a minute. What took 5 million packets before to crack, now only takes forty thousand (1,000 times faster). It’s almost faster now to crack a WEP key than it would be to type it. The code has been made available, and it probably won’t be long before it’s implemented in security cracking software.

Gibson quotes the following numbers:

• 25% of wireless networks have no protection
• 50% of wireless networks use WEP
• 25% of wireless networks use WPA (WiFi Protected Access)
  

Therefore, only 25% of wireless networks are “uncrackable” (only through a brute force attack).

Gibson delves into technology behind the WEP crack. It’s a fairly technical discussion, but it’s pretty amazing if you can follow how the researchers managed to crack the original WiFi security. Gibson gives alternative WiFi security measures, such as WPA, VPN and HTTPS.

The podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

Steve Gibson’s website for the latest in security and some free downloadable security programs.

Podcast Picks of the Day - Windows Weekly and This Week in Tech

Windows Weekly
Silverlight
Run Time: 41:57

Hosted by Leo Laporte and Paul Thurrott, Windows Weekly is a podcast focusing on Windows, Microsoft and some added discussion on Apple and Linux. This episode focused on Silverlight, which is Microsoft’s “Flash” killer. Silverlight will act like a flash player, capable of being embedded in web pages and playing multimedia. It looks to compete against Adobe and Quicktime. They also discussed Adobe’s new media player, Google buying double-click, Microsoft’s demise(?), Windows Live and Ubuntu Enjoy.

The podcast can be found on iTunes and here.

Silverlight


This Week in Tech
TWiT 95: NABbed Red-handed
Run Time: 59:16

Hosted by Leo Laporte, This Week in Tech is a weekly podcast delivering the most important stories from the week’s tech news. This episode focused on NAB, the National Association of Broadcasters convention held in Las Vegas. The panel of twits consisting of Alex Lindsay, Wil Harris, Doc Searls and the incomparable John C. Dvorak discussed, amongst other topics, the latest with the remarkable RED camera (the brainchild of the man behind Oakley), Final Cut Studio 2, Silverlight, AMD’s huge quarterly loss, the hacking of a MacBook at a security contest and Alec Baldwin and Will Ferrell in a shady multimedia spotlight. Enjoy.

The podcast can be found on iTunes and here.