Online address registration body loses its own   
July 05, 2008
Source: IANS 
NEW YORK: This doesn’t sound good: The nonprofit agency in charge of the internet’s addresses recently lost track of its own. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, said it happened when an internet registration company it oversees got fooled into transferring the domain names to someone else. 

The attack was quickly noticed, and ICANN’s domain names were restored within 20 minutes. However, because many internet directories retain information for a day or two, visitors could have been redirected to an unauthorised site for longer. ICANN said Thursday that new, unspecified security measures should prevent such attacks in the future. 

The organisation also said it was reviewing other security procedures. The domain names hijacked were ICANN.com and IANA.com — for the ICANN subdivision known as the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. Visitors to those addresses are normally redirected automatically to the organisation’s main sites at ICANN.org and IANA.org, neither of which was affected by the attack.

Linspire Assets Sold To Rival Linux Distributor, Xandros   
July 05, 2008
Source: InformationWeek 
Linspire produced Click'N'Run as a way of finding, reviewing, and downloading a copy of desktop software available on the Internet, including the Linspire Linux distribution. 


Linspire chairman Michael Robertson confirmed in a public announcement Wednesday that Linspire assets had been acquired by Xandros. 
The news was hinted at earlier this week as the former president of Linspire, Kevin Carmony, aired a company memo Monday in his blog that showed that Linux distributor Linspire would be sold to Xandros. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. 


More Software InsightsWhite PapersNexaweb Advance: End-to-End Application Modernization DHL Switzerland Improves the Flow of Information and Goods with Nexaweb's Enterprise Web Suite ReportsSaaS: Red Light, Green Light Guide To Cloud Computing "Xandros has emerged as a leader in the OEM, mobility, desktop, and PC management and application business," Robertson said of his company's purchaser. "I'm excited to see Linspire technology go to a worthy competitor," he said in a prepared statement. He couldn't be reached for further comment. 
Linspire produced Click'N'Run, or CNR, as a way of finding, reviewing, and downloading a copy of desktop software available on the Internet, including the Linspire Linux distribution. CNR ensured that the software was loaded onto the recipient's machine, with an icon loaded onto the desktop to enable the user to start it. The consumer-oriented approach simplified frequent updates to a Linux distribution as well. 

"Products like CNR will help Xandros makes these [Linux] platforms easy to enhance and maintain, while providing on-demand delivery of a growing number of Linux applications, utilities, games, and content," Xandros CEO Andreas Typaldos said. 

Carmony posted a scanned copy of the sell-off memorandum, written by current Linspire president and CEO Larry Kettler, on his June 30 blog. Carmony received the memo as one of about 100 Linspire stockholders. The memo said it was providing notice of an action by the Linspire directors, taken without a board meeting. Linspire was formerly known as Lindows. 

Carmony resigned the CEO post a year ago, having previously served six years as president. 

The new company will have a new name, Digital Cornerstone. Both companies gained momentary fame in early 2007 with a handful of other small Linux distributors as signers of a patent agreement with Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT). Microsoft promised not to sue either company for patent infringement. The companies in turn entered into various technology-sharing agreements with Microsoft. Typaldos told InformationWeek on June 5, 2007, that the agreement allowed his company to work toward Linux-Windows interoperability. 

Carmony has engaged in a war of words with his successors at Linspire since leaving the company. He posted the headline "Xandros Acquires Linspire Assets In Secret Backroom Deal" on his blog Monday and called on Robertson today to share the proceeds of the sale with Linspire stockholders. "So, Michael, now that all the assets have been sold, what's my stock worth (again, no worthless Xandros stock please), and what will happen with Linspire's customers?" 

Carmony said neither his e-mails to company officials nor his blogging had prompted a response from Linspire officials over the past 10 months. He had been calling for an annual stockholders meeting, saying the required time period for one had been overrun and that he wanted to know what had happened to the "millions" he had left in the company's accounts.

Kansas Lottery reports wrong winning numbers due to software glitch     
July 05, 2008
SOURCE: Google
First the bad news. Because of a software glitch, the Kansas Lottery reported the wrong winning numbers this week for its Pick 3 game on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

The good news? The lottery will pay holders of tickets with either the correct numbers or the numbers that were incorrectly announced.

“The Random Number Generator that is used for Pick 3 drawings functioned correctly, but the winning numbers reported to the public were not the numbers drawn,” the lottery said in a statement issued Thursday.

The Lottery said the confusion came from the conversion to a new software system by its online vendor, Gtech.

The software problem has been fixed.

The correct numbers and the reported numbers for each day:

•Sunday, 4-2-3

and 1-6-7.

•Monday, 5-1-6

and 0-0-4.

•Tuesday,

8-3-9 and 0-7-1.