This is news cast 142.

In the intro a review of my latest gadget purchase, a new iPod Touch.

Security alerts this week are an exploitable flaw in a very popular make of cell phone and a Firefox extension for identifying bad Debian SSL certificates which I discussed previously. There’s a lot more detail about the extensions at the developer’s site including a page with a known bad certificate so you can test and see how the extension is meant to work.

In this week’s news, code katas, TJX fires an employee for discussing lax security, Neuros selects VideoLAN for use in its forthcoming set top device, and Revision3 uncovers Media Defender shenanigans during a recent outage, Media Defender already having received scrutiny for suspect activity recently..

Following up this week, just that NBC and Microsoft claim to have gotten to the bottom of the recent broadcast flag snafu.

Download the show directly. Grab the detailed show notes with time offsets and additional links either as PDF or OPML.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

This is a feature cast.

In the intro, just a quick mention of Balticon and memorial day. My write ups of Balticon are on my LiveJournal for day 1, day 2, day 3, the wrap up, and a bit of memetic silliness.

The hacker word of the week this week is dead lock.

The feature is a monologue considering the topic of volunteerism, inspired by my work at Balticon and the holiday, especially a friend who as decided to re-enlist.

Download the show directly. Grab the detailed show notes with time offsets and additional links either as PDF or OPML.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

This is a feature cast.

A reminder that there will be no news cast this weekend as I’ll be at Balticon 42.

There is no new hacker word of the week.

The feature is an interview with Cory Doctorow in which we talk about his new book, Little Brother

Download the show directly. no detailed show notes this week.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

This is news cast 141.

I will be at Balticon 42 next weekend, so no news show that Sunday. I was going to skip the feature cast, too, to make more time to prepare, but I lucked into a last minute interview which I will share on Wednesday. More details when that show goes live.

Security alerts this week are the Debian GNU/Linux project fixes a critical crypto bug and PayPal is proven vulnerable despite using an enhancement to plain SSL security.

In this week’s news, researchers look at providing social interactions for remote workers though I worry this may exacerbate some other workplace trends, the USAF contemplates building a botnet, some of the risks of the cutover to digital TV, and NBC briefly activates thier broadcast flag although the EFF defended device makers’ right to ignore the flag.

Following up this week, a couple of cases go against the RIAA in particular Judge Davis in the Thomas case thinks he made an error.

Download the show directly. Grab the detailed show notes with time offsets and additional links either as PDF or OPML.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

This is a feature cast.

The hacker word of the week this week is dead code.

The feature is a monologue considering the questions presented by online identity.

Download the show directly. Grab the detailed show notes with time offsets and additional links either as PDF or OPML.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

This is news cast 140.

Security alerts this week are a security flaw turns Gmail into an open relay and Google launches a security group to help with open source software.

In this week’s news, consider how a suit against Psystar might affect the legality of EULAs, the copyright claims in the Blizzard v. Glider case, a procedural gaffe could impact thousands of patent rulings, and correct chip defects after they have been manufactured.

Following up this week, the PRO-IP bill passes the house and the RIAA claims DRM is not dead though most of us remain skeptical.

Download the show directly. Grab the detailed show notes with time offsets and additional links either as PDF or OPML.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

This is a feature cast.

The hacker word of the week this week is de-rezz.

Listener feedback is an email from Christopher.

The feature is a new Hacking 101 exploring the concept of complexity.

Download the show directly. Grab the detailed show notes with time offsets and additional links either as PDF or OPML.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

This is news cast 139.

In the intro a quick recap of our Free Comic Day and review of the movie, Iron Man.

Security alerts this week are EULAs for malware and the security risks of social network applications.

In this week’s news, Linux file system developer Hans Reiser is convicted of murder, implementing the Java and Ruby VMs in JavaScript, tracking down hidden kill switches in ICs, and the missing link in electronic circuitry.

Following up this week, a favorable ruling in the Howell file sharing case with Patry’s commentary and Radiohead is not going to repeat their download experiment.

Download the show directly. Grab the detailed show notes with time offsets and additional links either as PDF or OPML.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

This is a feature cast.

In case you missed it, a reminder to check your feed for the special edition to commemorate the launch of Cory Doctorow’s latest novel, Little Brother. Also, here’s my interview for the Future and You which was recorded this past weekend at RavenCon.

The hacker word of the week this week is dd.

Listener feedback is a voice mail from C.A. Sizemore commenting on the Social Spaces 2 feature.

The feature is a monologue considering the effects of coding on thought.

Download the show directly. Grab the detailed show notes with time offsets and additional links either as PDF or OPML.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

I am pleased to be able to help promote the launch of Cory Doctorow’s latest book, Little Brother. I was privileged to be able to read an early draft of this book and cannot recommend it highly enough to my listeners. So much so that I am taking Cory up on his offer to share an excerpt from my own purchased copy of the audiobook with his permission.

I encourage you to pick up your own copy, in your favorite format, right away. You can find details on the launch at Cory’s site and you can buy the book in audio or dead tree formats. The link to the free electronic text is not up yet, I will post an update as soon as it is.

Download the excerpt with my comments and Cory’s license terms for anyone else who purchases the audio directly.