Six Million notebook batteries at risk so far & counting

So many explosions in the news nowadays, even including computer parts and components.

Last week, it was Dell who announced that they would recall 4.1 million lithium-ion batteries for laptop computers, fearing that they could “over heat and catch fire”. It was the biggest safety recall in the history of computing.

Those batteries were manufactured by Sony, who also manufactures batteries for the latest victim of ‘battery-recall’: Apple.

This week, the typically reliable Apple, announced that it would recall 1.8 million laptop batteries.

These batteries featured in iBook and PowerBook computers sold from October 2003 to August 2006; and Apple have already received nine reports of overheating that caused minor burns or property damage.

Earlier this year, an iBook battery actually exploded in Japan!

The Apple iBook G4 overheated and caught fire in April. The user sustained minor burns. Apple and the Japenese government have confirmed the case.

It has triggered action by the Japanese government, which has ordered Apple's Japan branch to report on its findings regarding this battery problem and has put in place measures to prevent future troubles; if these issues are not settled by next week, Apple could face a fine of up to 300,000 yen ($2,570) under Japan's consumer safety laws. Not much money, but it’s a symbolic move!

Also, the Japanese government has decided to add Sony to its watch-list, as Sony itself makes notebook computers and should be under review just as Dell and Apple are.

One has to wonder how these manufacturers, renowned for quality control, have found themselves in such a mess!

The fact is that efforts to reduce costs and remain competitive have to, at some point, result in dangerous products!

This ‘explosive battery’ fiasco should open up a discussion regarding cheaply manufactured parts and it should put the spot light on big, and typically trusted, names like Sony, Dell and Apple.

Who knows who else will join the bandwagon in the coming weeks. After all, other notebook leaders like Acer and Toshiba probably follow the same manufacture procedures or have the same component suppliers!

It seems that government’s have not paid attention to this potential health hazard or do not have the procedures in place to test for it.

Protecting consumers cannot and should not be the sole responsibility of PC and battery manufacturers.

At this stage, it is advisable that every one of us checks with his/her notebook supplier regarding the source of the notebook battery we’ve got.

If it’s a Sony manufactured battery, you need to somehow contact Sony to see if it’s in the problematic batch, or was produced during the aforementioned period (late-2003 to mid-2006) which Apple have cited.

The chances of a notebook battery exploding are very slim. But, you can never be too safe, right?

(Published in The Star)
zanasser@gmail.com

Taking Cybersquatting seriously

Cybersquatting is a term that's been around for some time, and which first emerged when Apple Computer sued a teenager who registered the domain Apple.com before the company woke up to the importance of the Internet.

At the time, there were no rules governing the ownership of domain names that are identical to registered brand names and the result was a legal battle, which eventually ended in settlement as Apple decided it would be cheaper to pay this kid several thousand dollars and present him with a gift. As I recall, he was offered an iMac, but asked for a PS2 or XBox.

Shortly afterwards, in 1999, an Anti-cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act was signed into law in the US, and imposes a fine of up to $100,000 in damages for anyone who, with bad-faith intent to profit, "registers, traffics in or uses a domain name that is identical to, confusingly similar or dilutive of" an existing trademark.

Anyway, cybersquatting is now taking center stage again as Microsoft Corp. has filed three lawsuits against cybersquatters for online trademark infringement by people seeking profit from pay-per-click advertising.

Addresses Microsoft is aiming legal action against include the likes of xbox360.com, microsoftrebate.com, msnfinance.com", and although Microsoft hasn't mentioned it I would expect it includes www.IE7.com (Internet Explorer version 7) which has been registered by Firefox fans and the site says download Firefox instead!

Microsoft is even going after "typosquatters"- people who register Web addresses either with trademarked terms or with common misspellings in the hopes of luring Web surfers who mistype addresses into their sites.

Back here at home, one of the best known local examples of cybersquatting is www.royaljordanian.com, registered by a local tours operator, forcing Royal Jordanian to use www.rja.com and www.royaljordanianairlines.com.

To my knowledge, no action was taken, as there is no cybersquatting law in Jordan so far.

All that Royal Jordanian can do is try to negotiate a price to buy the domain from this travel agency! Even our country name, Jordan.com, is suffering from a cybersquatter who clearly states on the site that "we are not affiliated in any way with the country of Jordan."

On another note, soon we'll be hearing about cybersquatters using personal names as domains. For example, does famous Egyptian singer Amr Diab own amrdiab.com? No, some cybersquatter registered it first! So, he has settled for amrdiabworld.com. As for Lebanese singer Hayfa Wahbe, she registered hayfawehbe.com, but every other variation on her name- and there are many ... Haifa Wahbe, Haifa Wahbeh, Hayfa Wahbeh and others- are registered by fans and cybersquatters.

So, nowadays, one of the first things any Internet user must do is secure his/her own domain name. I've registered www.zeidnasser.com, and it opens up several possibilities for me such as moving my blog to that address in the future or simply blocking its use by anyone else, including some people who may turn that domain into a site of 'undesirable' content. It could be used as a practical joke to make fun of me, or just become a gambling site or worse- if you know what I mean!

This could happen to you too.Companies, organizations, individuals and even countries need to keep in mind the danger of cybersquatters and therefore must take the pre-caution of registering their relevant domain names.

Now, where's my credit card?

Zanasser@gmail.com
(Published in The Star newspaper)

PC truns 25 years-old this week

The personal computer (PC) sitting on your desk today is a descendant of the one first launched on 12 August, 1981, by IBM.

With an Intel microprocessor, the 8088, and a Microsoft operating system, MS- DOS, no one could have predicted that this machine would secure the multi- billion dollar future of Intel and Microsoft, and that IBM who built the machine would eventually get out of the PC market altogether - last year, 2005, selling its PC business to Chinese manufacturer Lenovo.

Anyway, back in 1981 the PC was created as a business (office) machine, that was going to compete with several such computers already available.

Within a few years it became the standard business computer, with IBM allowing Intel and Microsoft to cooperate with other manufacturers to produce ‘PC Compatibles’, starting with a Compaq PC and the rest is history.

Around the mid-eighties, IBM PC compatibles found their way into homes, as their prices dropped, and that sparked the home computing revolution.

Being able to run the same software at work, school and home resulted in the enivtable conclusion of ending the chances of other computing platforms that still existed in the early nineties like the Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and even almost killed the Apple Macintosh; but how that survived is another long story.

Now, looking back, it is believed that businesses thought of personal computers as toys, up until they saw IBM’s “stamp of approval” on a PC. IBM was already a leader in large computing systems (mainframes and mini computers- not so mini actually, they filled up half a room).

So, when IBM produced a powerful but relatively compact desktop system (costing around $5,000) the business world took notice, yet not entirely sure what to make of it. The following years would show the massive productivity gains, and resulting profits to business, that would result from using PC software.

At around that time several software companies like Lotus, Borland, WordStar, WordPerfect led the office applications market. But, as we all know, Microsoft then entered the applications business and crushed them all.

So, gone are those early software players too, as the lasting legacy of the
1981 PC that remains with us today is Intel architecture and Microsoft’s OS.

If you’ve been in computing as long as I have, and you’ve seen it happen over the past two decades, you always wonder ‘What If IBM didn’t work with Intel and Microsoft in 1981? What if someone else created the platform that became the standard?

Too late for that now. The PC has grown to something even beyond IBM’s reputation. Ask a teenager today, do you have an IBM Compatible PC? And he’ll think you’re an idiot! Well, that’s what they’re called, and IBM started it all in 1981.

A quarter of a decade later, there may be some lessons to be learned from the first 25 years of the PCs life.

Will the PC, with its current architecture, still be with us 25 years from now? With all the devices (PDAs, smart phones) we’re seeing and Internet-based systems and applications, it’s difficult to answer that.

We’ll see.

zanasser@gmail.com

Hezbollah’s “Tech Army” breaks the censorship

First of all, let me say that this is not a political opinion, but a relatively neutral source, Time magazine, provides this story in factual detail.

It’s about the way Hezbollah’s reportedly ‘hijacks’ website around the world to ‘promote its causes, recruit and fund-raise’.

The first question you may ask is why does Hezbollah need to do that?
Well, because the US Government classifies them as a terrorist group and therefore can penalize any web hosting company who grant server space and Internet services to a Hezbollah organizations, like Al Manar TV for example.

Time magazine describes a particular case in which Hezbollah hackers managed to link to the IP (Internet Protocol) address of a small cable operator in South Texas. Then, the hackers added an extension to the IP address, allowing their traffic to flow and went on to spread the word out through e-mail and blogs that it can be found at that IP address.

As long as the hijack was not detected, the IP address could be linked to a new domain name and that opens up the site to anyone who might search online for Al-Manar content. It succeeded for a while.

Once caught, the hackers move onto another vulnerable site and the chase continues everyday, like cat a mouse.

Apparently, an organization called the Society for Internet Research monitors these hijackings. It is an informal consortium of "freelance counter-terrorists."
As you would expect, it’s made up of pro-Israeli hacking experts.
Aaron Weisburd is one of the computer programmers who operates one of the Society's projects from his home office in southern Illinois.

His Web site's name is Internet Haganah— the name of an Israeli paramilitary group who were real terrorists during the establishment of the state of Israel, killing Palestinain villagers in documented incidents.

In any case, he claims to have ‘hijack logs’ that go back several years and boasts that ‘the Jihadis cannot hide’.

Well, it seems they can, and they’re beating Weisburd and co. Apparently, Hezbollah hackers have ‘acquired Internet resources’ in India, Indonesia, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and many other countries.

And it’s taking a long time to ‘shut these sites down’ or to remove the Hezbollah hacks.

The US Government believes it necessary to track down every such hacked site because “it limits their fundraising, recruiting and propaganda efforts.”
Well, in this one-sided court of public opinion, a lot will be said; but the fact remains that the Internet is being put to good use by Hezbollah and their ‘Tech Army’ are as skillful and knowledgable in their digital field as their offline counterparts are in South Lebanon.
zanasser@gmail.com

RSS …. what’s that?

Well, if 88% of office workers in the United States don’t know what RSS is, it’s a wonder we get RSS subscribers to our blogs in this part of the world!

Read more here.