Networking World

By Denise Dubie
Career Education Corp. uses netForensics and Rippletech software to build security information management platform for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. Read full story

EU telecom lobby group blasts regulatory laggards, 11/28/07: Poland, the Czech Republic, Greece and Belgium have the worst telecommunications regulators in Europe, according to a study carried out for the European Competitive Telecom Association, an industry group that promotes the interests of new entrants ...

Nevis adds application intelligence to NAC, 11/16/07: Nevis Networks is upgrading software for its NAC appliances so it can do more application-specific monitoring and enforcement.

By Grant Gross
Google intends to bid on wireless spectrum in the 700MHz band when the U.S. Federal Communications Commission begins auctioning that resource in late January, the company announced Friday. Read full story

Fake high-tech blogs
Fake blogs - flogs - have been popping up all over these days. There are 'flogs' for political candidates such as Hillary Clinton and Fred Thompson and entertainers such as Britney Spears and U2's Bono. And of course there are flogs for high tech execs, with the highest profile of the bunch poking fun at Apple CEO Steve Jobs, and former high-tech execs such as Mark Cuban. Take a quick spin through the world of high tech flogs. Plus: Today's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Sprint nixes SK Telecom investment offer, report says
Sprint has told SK Telecom "no thanks" to a proposed $5 billion investment offer, according to a report in today’s Wall Street Journal.

Ed Zander replaced at struggling Motorola
Ed Zander will step down as CEO of Motorola at the end of the year, as the company continues to battle declining revenue and profit.

Google looks for help finding malicious Web sites
Google is asking everyday Web surfers to help with its efforts to stamp out malicious Web sites.

Privacy concerns prompt U-turn at Facebook
Social networking site Facebook has modified a controversial service that broadcast details of its users' online activities outside the site to ...

Cell phone battery didn't kill Korean worker, LG said
A South Korean construction worker reportedly killed by an exploding cell phone battery was actually killed in an industrial accident, South ...

LAST DAY TO WIN CISCO AND MICROSOFT TRAINING AND BOOKS UP FOR GRABS
Copies of the MPLS VPN Security book; and Cisco training course worth up to $3,495 are up for grabs. Or win Microsoft training from New Horizons worth up to $2,500. Also, enter to win one of 15 copies of SQL Server 2005 Management and Administration.

By Linda Leung
Cisco confirmed it is possible to eavesdrop on a remote conversations using Cisco VoIP phones. In its security response, Cisco says: "an attacker with valid Extension Mobility authentication credentials could cause a Cisco Unified IP Phone configured to use the Extension Mobility feature to transmit or receive a Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) audio stream." Read full story

Mozilla scrambles to patch Firefox for second time this week
Mozilla Corp. will probably release a Firefox update Friday to patch a bug in the just-released 2.0.0.10 version, according to the company's bug database.

Fast Windows fixes
Fortunately, you don't have to spend hours researching the cures for Windows' ills. We've distilled the most important fixes, and slick improvements, into steps that you can implement in mere minutes. These tips will accelerate your startups and shutdowns, automate your system maintenance, and even get you browsing at full throttle.

Sprint, don't give up on WiMAX, analyst says
If Sprint Nextel decides to appease its restless investors by dumping its WiMAX division, it could be throwing away its best shot at making a ...

MIT digitizes its courses, throws them online, and asks 'What now?'
MIT this week announced an important digital achievement: the completion of its pioneering OpenCourseWare project. And everyone involved seems quite happy with being unsure about why exactly it’s important.

Cisco's legal problems in Brazil: a timeline
Cisco last week fired its former Vice President for Latin America Carlos Carnevali Sr. after he was formally charged by ...

Government-sponsored cyberattacks on the rise, McAfee says
Governments and allied groups worldwide are using the Internet to spy and launch cyberattacks on their enemies, targeting critical ...

Cell phone battery explodes in the night
A New Zealand man was woken in the middle of the night when his cell phone battery exploded and burst into flames, the second exploding ...

Nortel bolsters security, business process gear
Nortel this week unveiled new and enhanced products designed to improve security and further optimize the network for business processes.

Can Verizon really change its stripes?
Verizon’s decision to give customers the option of connecting to its network through outside devices is, to say the least, a departure from its past ...

PODCASTS

Promises and potholes of enterprise mobility
Enterprises are ready to take people, processes and technology mobile, enabling anywhere connectivity throughout their organizations. But the technology isn't quite there yet. Denise and Alex talk with Forrester Research analyst Chris Silva about the promises of ubiquitous mobility, and the challenges that lie ahead for enterprise adopters (19:51).

Twisted Pair: Old people and alligators
Keith and Jason talk about Verizon Wireless opening their network, why client-side attacks are on the rise, and whether an office Christmas party is a good or bad thing.

BLOGS

Today on Microsoft Subnet
Search engines have become the villains in too many malware attacks; Office Mobile 6.1 is finally available (really!); Microsoft robotics shows off its headless, walking robot.

It's here: Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1
Microsoft promises to release SP1 on November 30, which sports oodles of feature upgrades. Author expert and Microsoft Subnet guest blogger, Ross Mistry, has details.

Today on Cisco Subnet
Timeline of Cisco's Brazilian tax woes. What admin tasks would you like to offload? Cisco security expert discusses PCI compliance, the 12-step program. Cisco retains the top spot in the wireless LAN market. Plus: Green Google and the Cisco channel.

Today on Layer 8, McDonald's answers one of the burning questions of our time:
Will it ever offer breakfast 24/7?? The short answer...

Welcome to the Friday edition of Network World's Cisco News Alert in which we focus on the top items from Cisco Subnet, your gateway to Cisco news, blogs, discussion forums, security alerts, giveaways and more. Enjoy!

THIS WEEK'S TOP PICK: Cisco confirms ability to eavesdrop on phone calls using its VoIP gear 

Cisco confirmed it is possible to eavesdrop on remote conversations using Cisco voIP phones. In its security response, Cisco says: "An attacker with valid Extension Mobility authentication credentials could cause a Cisco Unified IP Phone configured to use the Extension Mobility feature to transmit or receive a Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) audio stream." Cisco adds that Extension Mobility authentication credentials are not tied to individual IP phones and that "any Extension Mobility account configured on an IP phone's Cisco Unified Communications Manager/CallManager (CUCM) server can be used to perform an eavesdropping attack." Read more.

MORE TOP PICKS:

Cisco fires top dog in Brazil

Cisco’s legal problems in Brazil: a timeline

Cisco's Chambers makes it into Fortune's Power 25 list where Steve Jobs rules

Cisco in the emerging markets: Is it all as rosy as it seems?

FROM OUR BLOGGERS:

Brad Reese on Cisco: Cisco-invented NetFlow MIA as Cisco invests in the network behavior analysis business
Beware Mazu Networks, Lancope, Q1Labs, Arbor Networks and the like, the creator of NetFlow: Cisco, appears to be investing in the Network Behavior Analysis Business and unlike the above companies, they aren’t doing it with NetFlow. "We can very quickly tell users, how people are behaving on the network, what threats exist and help them optimize it for business purposes," said Paul Brady – President of Mazu Networks. "We are able to without agents or inline devices through the use of NetFlow which is pervasive on almost all networks and transparent, meaning very little to no overhead." However, Cisco’s strategy appears to take a different approach.

Joe Panettieri's Eye on Cisco: Cisco prepares marketing surprise
Hundreds of Cisco partners are heading to Miami on December 2 for a private gathering with the networking giant. Is this yet another geek fest with plenty of golf mixed in? Guess again. The invitation-only gathering is a first-of-its-kind marketing summit for partners, and provides important clues about Cisco's strategic thinking for 2008.

Jeff Doyle on IP Routing: What about a volume III?
When Cisco Press approached me in 1996 or so about writing a book, they were a pretty new operation and they left it to me to choose the topic. So I chose the plum, "Routing TCP/IP," which originally was supposed to be one volume. Halfway through the project my editor and I both realized we couldn’t squeeze everything I wanted to cover in a single book so it evolved into two volumes. And those two volumes have been a cornerstone of my career. Given the success of these two volumes I had a conversation last year with Brett Bartow, the Executive Editor at Cisco Press, about doing a Volume III ...

Wendell Odom's Cisco Cert Zone: A few hints and another question about frame relay addressing
Monday's sample question focused on the data link layer addresses used as frames pass over a Frame Relay WAN. Today, I’ll summarize the key points that must be considered when answering that question, as well as posing a follow-on general question about Frame Relay addressing. (If you’ve not looked at Monday’s question yet, it may be worth reading the question, and picking some answers, before reading these suggestions.)

Dheeraj Tolani's Cisco Routing Switching Essentials: Securing Cisco devices
So far, we’ve discussed securing your devices by implementing passwords on your console, your aux, and your VTY. We’ve discussed using SSH rather than telnet for security purposes, and we’ve talked about using “enable secret passwords” on your accounts. In my last article, we discussed disabling protocols like CDP for security purposes since it gives away too much information about your network. There are still many other things covered in Global Knowledge courses that you can do to secure your network.

Michael Morris From the Field: Routing iSCSI with 10GIG
We recently redesigned our DC network templates. Part of this redesign created a "Storage Pod" where our network storage resources would be located and virtualized. This consolidated storage devices not just physically, but logically into separate VLANs. The previous DC design had the storage resources in the same VLAN as the application and database servers. All iSCSI access was at Layer-2, ignoring the "i" in iSCSI. This was a legacy decision driven by our storage teams who were convinced that any Layer-3 routing of iSCSI would severely impact performance.

Jamey Heary: Cisco Security Expert: PCI compliance, the 12 step program
If your company stores, processes, or transmits the primary account number on a credit card then you are required to meet, or exceed, the data security standards set forth in the PCI security standards. These security requirements apply to all network components that forward or have access to card holder data. This would include switches, routers, firewalls, IPS, Servers, workstations, wireless, storage, etc. So basically, if the device is IP (Internet Protocol) reachable to cardholder data then it is in scope for the PCI requirements.

ChannelSurfing with Ken Presti: Green Google and the Cisco channel
The blogosphere has been full of reactions to Google’s renewable energy initiative. If you’re still coming out of a turkey-induced slumber, the company announced plans to invest huge quantities of money in the development of renewable energy technologies, especially solar, wind, and geothermal. Some of the reactions are very complimentary; others more skeptical. But I had a completely different reaction jump into my mind when I saw the announcement.

Author Expert: Michael Behringer: Who is responsible for abuse of Internet technology?
The Internet with all its peripheral infrastructure has an enormous potential, to the good guys as well as to the bad ones. No surprise. Lots of technologies are extremely powerful, and provide a lot of detail on the network as well as its users. Somehow the potential abuse of Internet based data needs to be controlled. But how? And who is responsible for this?

Joe Chapman's Network Training Edge: The line and the LAN
Depending on the person - or provider - you ask you may get different answers as to what types of services are supported in a 'metro ethernet' environment. Fortunately, the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) has gotten together the leading providers and manufacturers in the industry and has built a cohesive list of the products, platforms, standards and services which should constitute a great starting point for anyone looking to get into this area.

HOT DISCUSSIONS AMONG CISCO SUBNET READERS:

Cisconet: Parts of Cisco.com inaccessible for most of Monday

Morris: Any CCIEs in Syria???

Cisconet: What admin tasks would you like to offload?

Odom: The confidence that comes from sniffing/tracing

Badccie: Cisco Gold partners who hire and fire just for certification

FREEBIES, GIVEAWAYS AND OTHER NOTABLES:

* Enter to win a Skyline-ATS training course of your choice worth up to $3,495. Details here. FINAL FEW DAYS TO ENTER!

*Enter to Win a Cisco Press Book: Up for grabs are 15 copies of "MPLS VPN Security" by Michael H. Behringer and Monique J. Morrow, is the first book to address the security features of MPLS VPN networks and to show you how to harden and securely operate an MPLS network. Details here.  Get a sneak peek of a chapter from one of the books here. Read Michael Behringer's blog for Cisco Subnet here.

* Read a free chapter from "Firewall Fundamentals" by Wes Noonan and Ido Dubrawsky. Free excerpt here

*Browse through our library of other free Cisco Press book chapters.

* Check out Cisco Subnet's library for more free chapters from Cisco Press books.

By Jim Romeo
Established IT vendors have long relied on "fear, uncertainty, and doubt" to scare their customers away from the upstarts. But customers are getting tired of it, and a new generation of vendors is finding that FUD only makes them stronger. Read full story

Zonbu launches barebones subscription laptops November 29, 2007 Unfazed by the failure of earlier subscription-based PCs from vendors like PeoplePC, Zonbu Wednesday launched an inexpensive Linux-based subscription notebook that the company claims will free users from the hassle of computer maintenance.

Sun bullied, used threats to gain control of open source project, former owner says November 29, 2007 Ex-Sun worker says former employer threatened to withhold severance benefits if group did not relinquish ownership of the OpenDS open-source project.

Mozilla scrambles to patch Firefox for second time this week November 29, 2007 Mozilla Corp. will probably release a Firefox update Friday to patch a bug in the just-released 2.0.0.10 version, according to the company's bug database.

Novell ships latest high-performance Linux platform November 28, 2007 SUSE Linux Real Time 10 targeted at financial services, healthcare

Open source's future: More Microsoft, bigger talent shortages November 27, 2007 The open source industry in 2008 will be marked by more news out of Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and other big IT vendors, less start-up funding, more M&A activity, and an increasingly serious talent shortage.

Gartner: x86 servers gain as Unix shipments fall November 27, 2007 As adoption of x86 servers increased globally, Unix-based server shipments witnessed a slowdown during the third quarter, a Gartner survey released on Monday said.

By John Fontana
Ex-Sun worker says former employer threatened to withhold severance benefits if group did not relinquish ownership of OpenDS open-source project. Read full story

THIS WEEK'S MOST-READ NEWS STORIES AND BLOGS

1. Cool Tools Holiday Gift Guide
2. Football field-sized kite powers latest heavy freight ship
3. Teleworkers called back to cubicle life
4. Judge backs Amazon, chides prosecutors in book-records case
5. BSA, software giants target little guys
6. Boeing, USAF show off supersonic bomb firing technology
7. Testing all-in-one firewalls
8. 3.3 billion mobile accounts: 1 for every 2 earthlings
9. Which certifications are worth your time?
10. 2007 Enterprise All-Star Awards

11. Microsoft working to close 8-year-old Web proxy vulnerability
12. Security concerns cloud virtualization deployments
13. Open source's future: More Microsoft, bigger talent shortages
14. Another inconvenient truth: Al Gore's Web site hacked
15. A California city rebuilds network using all open source software
16. AT&T to hike prices on dial-up
17. One reader's IT management nightmare
18. First large-scale 802.11n wireless LAN now operational
19. 12 spam research projects that might make a difference
20. EFF fires an upper-cut at Internet traffic interference

21. OLPC sued for patent infringement
22. Hackers jack Monster.com, infect job hunters
23. Geek press can't handle a sex scandal
24. Parts of Cisco.com inaccessible for most of Monday
25. Free password generators, Part 2

By Steve Taylor and Jim Metzler
Last time, we began a discussion of the pros and cons of using a single vendor for your entire network infrastructure. We'll continue the "pro" side of this discussion with more comments from Ben Goldman, Cisco director of marketing, network systems, as he explains the four reasons that single-vendor networks are optimal (see the first two reasons in the last newsletter). Read full story

How do your WAN optimization efforts measure up?, 11/27/2007How does a thousand-fold improvement in application response time sound? Or an 87% improvement in bandwidth utilization? It may sound too good to ...

Blog: Frame relay addressing hints: Cisco trainer gives some hints on exam questions to do with frame relay addressing.

Blog:Game on:Imagine three days of online gaming with thousands of other players on a network supported by Cisco's honking 40Gbps CRS-1 router that can handle 92Tbps.

By Deni Connor
Index Engines last week announced one of the first systems for automating the e-discovery process of data from offline tape. The company's eDiscovery Edition of its Tape Engine appliance automatically performs tape data sorting and object extraction and eliminates the restoration of tapes before e-discovery can begin. Read full story

Micron exec: SSDs to reach portable devices in 2008, 11/28/2007Memory maker Micron Technology on Wednesday introduced a line of solid-state drives (SSDs) and said it would plug the technology into portable ...

Samsung's dual-format HD disc player coming in December, 11/27/07: Samsung looks ready to make good on its plan to release a dual-format Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD player in time for the year-end holidays.

Isilon adds scalability to clustered storage devices, 11/27/07: Isilon last week bolstered its clustered storage environment with the release of two products that allow its storage systems to scale to as much ...

Vendors to the '07 All-Stars, 11/26/07: Here are the vendors described in this package of stories.

Indiana University grabs Bandwidth Challenge crown, 11/21/07: A team led by Indiana University won this year’s Supercomputing Bandwidth Challenge by achieving a peak transfer rate of over 18Gbps out of a possible maximum of 20Gbps.

By Michael Osterman
An interesting article in Slate magazine a couple of weeks ago entitled "The Death of E-Mail" discusses the impact that social networking, instant messaging, mobile messaging and other technologies are having on teenagers' use of technology for communicating with one another. The gist of the article is that while e-mail won't go away, a significant proportion of communications will migrate to social networking and other tools, and that e-mail use will become secondary for many users. Read full story

Fantasy football, IM throwing productivity for a loss, 11/26/2007Not only does football consume much of America's weekend this time of year, but new survey data also reveals that fans let their Fantasy Football ...

Blog:The cost-effective unified inbox:Have you considered Linux SIP gateways for putting voicemail in Exchange 2007?

By Tim Greene
Nevis Networks recently upgraded its software to give its NAC gear more functionality, bringing its products inline with those of its competitors. Read full story

SunTrust shines, 11/27/2007At SunTrust, a major bank with $182 billion in assets, network executives had the blues. Although mergers and acquisitions had boosted the bank's ...

Microsoft working to close Web-proxy vulnerability, 11/26/2007Microsoft is working on a fix for a five-year-old flaw in Windows that lets hackers exploit a Web proxy autoconfiguration protocol and take over ...

Revised opinion of Gartner ID Summit, 11/28/07: I went to the second annual Gartner ID Summit in Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. You may remember that I ...

How to Join - NetworkWorld.com Buyer's Guides, 11/27/07: Network World Buyer's Guides are a one-stop shop for the most detailed and accurate information on products offered in the topics below. We've built the industry's most in-depth searchable database, comprising thousands of details on hundreds of ...

NetworkWorld.com Buyer's Guides, 11/27/07: Network World Buyer's Guides provide you with the most detailed and accurate information on thousands of network and IT products from anti-spam to application acceleration to storage management wares. Make informed buying decisions for your enterprise ...

Free password generators, Part 2, 11/27/07: Last time I asked, "What's a good password?" and discussed a Web-based service for creating random passwords. This time I’m looking at the Bytes Interactive ...

Handful of bugs squashed in Firefox security fix, 11/27/07: Mozilla has released an update to its Firefox browser, fixing a widely publicized flaw in the open-source software.

When it's OK to use NAC endpoint checking sporadically, 11/27/07: A recurring theme among NAC customers is they use NAC endpoint checking sporadically. When a computer has been scanned and found compliant once, ...

Bandwidth Challenge winners; Virtualization draws security concerns, 11/26/07: Indiana University grabs Bandwidth Challenge crown; Security concerns cloud virtualization deployments.

Another inconvenient truth: Al Gore's Web site hacked, 11/26/07: A blog set up to promote former U.S. Vice President Al Gore's film, "An Inconvenient Truth," has been hacked and is hosting links to Web sites hawking online pharmaceuticals.

Baltimore utility powers up with e-discovery program, 11/26/07: E-discovery energizes Constellation Energy, which uses tools from HP and Clearwell Systems.

Client virtualization, blade PCs gain popularity, 11/26/07: Client virtualization and blade PCs are gaining popularity, but server-based computing is still the most popular alternative PC technology.

By Ann Bednarz
If you're still thinking that simply increasing bandwidth is going to solve your application delivery woes, it might be time to give up that notion. Most companies have tried adding bandwidth capacity, but that alone isn't going to bolster application response times as much as end users would like. Read full story

How do your WAN optimization efforts measure up?, 11/27/2007 How does a thousand-fold improvement in application response time sound? Or an 87% improvement in bandwidth utilization? It may sound too good to ...

Frame relay addressing hints: Cisco trainer Wendell Odom gives some hints on exam questions to do with frame relay addressing.

Game on: Imagine three days of online gaming with thousands of other players on a network supported by Cisco's honking 40Gbps CRS-1 router that can handle 92Tbps.

By Jeff Caruso
The IEEE Higher Speed Study Group is looking to move both 40Gbps and 100Gbps Ethernet over a modest 10 meters of copper cabling. And then there are the folks talking about running 100G Ethernet over 10 times that distance, using Category-7A copper wiring. Read full story

How do your WAN optimization efforts measure up? 11/27/07: How does a thousand-fold improvement in application response time sound? Or an 87% improvement in bandwidth utilization? It may sound too good to ...

Single-vendor integrated network vs. best of breed: Why single vendor is best, 11/27/07: If the reaction to the discussion back in October on whether application optimization should be integrated into the router is any ...

Beware possible 802.11n discrepancies, 11/26/2007: A reader recently pinged me with an observation and a question about forthcoming 802.11n products. He pointed out that over the years, the wireless ...

Connecting one PC to two LANs, 11/26/2007: I would like to connect two LANs from one PC. The first network will be used for application software and the second for Internet and e-mail. The ...

By Bob Brown
The open source industry in 2008 will be marked by more news out of Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and other big IT vendors, less start-up funding, more M&A activity, and an increasingly serious talent shortage. Read full story

Microsoft capacity planning tool set for year-end release, 11/28/2007: Microsoft plans to release by year-end its tool to help user's size deployments of servers such as Exchange and SharePoint. . . On Tuesday, the ...

Web apps, Office among top security headaches, says SANS, 11/28/2007: Web-based applications and security holes in Microsoft Office are among the biggest threats faced by Internet users today, according to the SANS ...

Microsoft won't confirm proxy configuration flaw, impending patch, 11/27/2007: Microsoft Tuesday was still examining the details of a vulnerability discovered by a hacker that appears to exploit an eight-year-old flaw in ...

Oracle to VMware users: We still support you, kind of, 11/27/2007: Oracle Corp. attempted to clarify its support policy for customers running non-Oracle virtualization platforms, after conflicting statements during ...

Microsoft pushes IT in Siberia, 11/26/2007: Microsoft is working with one local government in Siberia on improving the use of IT by the government in the region, the software giant said on ...

Today on Microsoft Subnet
Microsoft and Autodesk have been ordered to pay $140 million in damages on a patent infringement lawsuit. Have you considered Linux SIP gateways for putting voicemail in Exchange 2007?

Operating systems be gone
Who will win the next operating system battle? The hypervisor – it is poised to replace the OS altogether, argues Microsoft Subnet blogger Mitchell Ashely.

Time to start mastering PowerShell
PowerShell is soon coming to every Microsoft server product. Tyson Kopczynski says that's good news.

More from the Microsoft Subnet blog:
Plus, Greenpeace dings Microsoft for toxic manufacturing practices. Microsoft's VoIP QoS server fills a big gap. And, games people play: how a Wii machine betrayed a cheating wife.

By Bob Brown
The open source industry in 2008 will be marked by more news out of Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and other big IT vendors, less start-up funding, more M&A activity, and an increasingly serious talent shortage. Read full story

One-third of major online retailers were unprepared for holiday rush, study finds
Web traffic increases on Black Friday and Cyber Monday should be no surprise, but one-third of major online retailers were still unprepared, according to a study that illuminates ongoing problems within the e-commerce industry.

Google locates mobile phone users by tracking cell towers
The Google Maps product for cell phones is now using cell tower ID information to tell users where they are and what destinations are nearby.

EU telecom lobby group blasts regulatory laggards
Poland, the Czech Republic, Greece and Belgium have the worst telecommunications regulators in Europe, according to a study carried out for ...

Verizon unveils eBonding Toolkit
In an effort to make its eBonding software easier for the casual user, Verizon Business has unveiled a new eBonding toolkit that lets customers ...

Microsoft capacity planning tool set for year-end release
Newest version of Capacity Planner will support Exchange 2007, SharePoint Server 2007 and SharePoint Services 3.0

Verizon Wireless' open network earns praise
Verizon Wireless' decision to open its network to outside mobile devices and applications has won praise from several groups, including past ...

EFF fires an uppercut at Internet traffic interference
Looking to keep the pressure on Comcast and any other ISPs who might be messing with Internet traffic, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has released software and documentation instructing 'Net users on how to test for packet forgery or other forms of interference by their own service providers. The EFF also published what it calls a comprehensive account of Comcast's packet-forging activities.

BLOGS

Today on Cisco Subnet
Cisco's Chambers makes it into Fortune's Power 25 list where Steve Jobs rules. Cisco trainer gives some hints on exam questions having to do with frame relay addressing. Plus: Imagine three days of online gaming with thousands of other players on a network supported by Cisco's honking 40Gbps CRS-1 router that can handle 92Tbps.

Today on Microsoft Subnet
Microsoft and Autodesk have been ordered to pay $140 million in damages on a patent infringement lawsuit. Have you considered Linux SIP gateways for putting voicemail in Exchange 2007? All opposed to buggy software (in the form of Silverlight), say "Aye."

Our World is Gonna Change Again
Microsoft Subnet blogger Mitchell Ashley writes: "I believe Apple's iPhone Safari browser is a sign of things to come. (I mentioned previously that the iPhone's biggest innovation was the Safari browser.)"

FINAL WEEK TO ENTER TO WIN
Win copies of MPLS VPN Security book; Win Cisco training course worth up to $3,495; Enter to win a copy of MPLS VPN Security by Michael Behringer and Monique Morrow, published by Cisco Press. Also, you can enter to win a Cisco training course of your choosing, worth up to $3,495, courtesy of Cisco learning partner Skyline-ATS. Or win Microsoft training from New Horizons worth up to $2,500. Also, enter to win one of 15 copies of SQL Server 2005 Management and Administration.

LATEST COOL TOOLS VIDEO:

Which T-Mobile Sidekick is the best?

PC World Senior Editor Narasu Rebbapragada takes a look at two new smart phones: the T-Mobile Sidekick LX and Sidekick Slide, a slimmer version of the celebrity-endorsed messaging device. Will they end her quest for a Web-enabled cell phone with keyboard? View now

* LATEST COOL TOOLS COLUMN:

Two services to light up your holidays
The world's first "matchmaking service" between consumer and electronics, Retrevo lets users search for consumer electronics products based on people's individual needs or choices. The site uses artificial intelligence algorithms to determine the "value" of a product, based on product feature sets, prices and brand names, as well as the "community value" that is based on thousands of expert product reviews and individual user recommendations scattered across the Web. The site includes advice on more than 40 categories of consumer electronics items, including digital cameras, HDTVs, camcorders and GPS devices.

* LATEST FROM NETWORK WORLD PANORAMA:

Streaming content to a desktop near you
Content delivery networks play an increasingly important role in delivering large files - software downloads, music and video - to users across the Internet. Network World's Jason Meserve talks with Mike Gordon, co-founder and chief strategy officer, and Dave Hatfield, senior vice president of worldwide sales, services and marketing, at Limelight Networks about the business of content delivery, particularly when it comes to high-definition video. (7:25)

The skinny on GNU GPLv3
Doug Levin, CEO of Black Duck Software, talks with Network World's Jason Meserve about The Free Software Foundation's GNU General Public License version 3 (GPLv3), what it means for software developers and clears up some of the confusion over licensing terms. (14:26)

* LATEST COOL TOOLS BLOG:

Harass me with your holiday gift questions
On Wednesday, Nov. 28, Keith Shaw took part in a live online text chat session with readers, fielding questions about gadgets, personal technology, and holiday gift ideas. The transcript of the Q&A will be posted here - check back soon!

Taking a long-deserved break
After being buried in hundreds of boxes over the past few months by eager technology vendors wishing to be in the Cool Yule Tools holiday gift guide, I've decided to take a quick break. Sure, you may think my job is really cool in that I get to open up boxes and play with tech toys, but consider that I also had to test a lot of systems with Windows Vista on it this year. Now tell me I don't deserve a quick vacation.

Update: Robot company gets $5M order
A few months ago I wrote an item about the Adept Quattro s650 robot, and how the look of it reminded me of the 1984 film 'Runaway', in which scary spider-like robots threaten society.

Use your Bluetooth headset as a walkie-talkie
The new Dragon Bluetooth headset ($119.99, available now) by Callpod not only provides noise-cancellation features and simultaneous pairing between a Bluetooth mobile phone and a PC using Skype, but the coolest feature may be that it can pair with a second Dragon headset for two-way radio communications over a 250,000 square-foot area.

Let your cell phone call you fat
This week Sensei launched a mobile phone application that allows users to have a "personal digital coach," which will give you motivational messages when you're at the store eyeing that box of Ring Dings.

Elsewhere on NetworkWorld.com: When toys and collaboration merge
Need an excuse to buy the Xbox game Rock Band for your – ehem -- kids? Collaboration expert Sue Hanely is giving you one. It is the perfect example of collaboration, where gamers work together (instead of try to kill one another).

By John Cox
Morrisville State College has 720 802.11n access points deployed, the first large-scale 11n deployment. IT staff and users are starting to see the results: faster applications, more of them, more bandwidth-hungry applications and more-reliable connections. Read full story

News podcast: Network World 360
Annual SANS security report points finger at sloppy Web application programmers and Microsoft Office flaws; IBM has patched a critical vulnerability in Lotus Notes 7. (7:16)

Lotus Notes vulnerable to e-mail attack
A serious bug in IBM's Lotus Notes software could be used by attackers to run unauthorized software on a victim's PC, researchers at Core ...

What does Verizon’s open-access network option mean for you?
Verizon’s decision to give customers the option of connecting to its network through outside devices is, to say the least, a departure from its past views on open-access rules. In this FAQ, we discuss the possible reasons for Verizon’s change of heart, as well as what this decision means for the future of open-access networks.

Novell ships latest high-performance Linux platform
SUSE Linux Real Time 10 targeted at financial services, healthcare

Client side attacks on the rise, SANS says
Client-side vulnerabilities are among the biggest threats facing users, the SANS Institute said yesterday as it announced its 2007 list of the ...

Dell targets the enterprise with new workstations
Dell Tuesday upgraded its line of workstations, introducing a quad-core system that packs graphics and processing power that the ...

OLPC sued for patent infringement
A Massachusetts company has sued the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Association for patent infringement, charging the project with stealing its designs for ...

Web apps, Office among top security headaches, says SANS
Web-based applications and security holes in Microsoft Office are among the biggest threats faced by Internet users today, according to ...

Rambus aims for 1 Terabyte bandwidth
Rambus Inc. laid out a long-term plan to increase the bandwidth in computer chips to 1 terabyte per second, which would significantly speed up ...

Online shoppers spent $733M on 'Cyber Monday'
Online shoppers in the U.S. set a record for one-day sales on Cyber Monday, racking up $733 million in purchases, comScore Networks said ...

BLOGS

Buzzblog: Judge backs Amazon, chides prosecutors in book-records case
"The (subpoena's) chilling effect on expressive e-commerce would frost keyboards across America," U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker wrote. Even better, prosecutors made their case anyway, without trampling on the First Amendment.

Today on Cisco Subnet
Cisco is pinning its future on success in the emerging markets but its revenue there is sliding, say financial analysts. Cisco-invented NetFlow is MIA as Cisco invests in the network behavior analysis business. Help legendary IP routing author Jeff Doyle decide the topic of his next book. What "From the Field" blogger Michael Morris learned about using 10G Ethernet in his firm's storage infrastructure. Plus: Who is responsible for protecting your network from Internet abusers?

Today on Microsoft Subnet
Who will win the next operating system battle? The hypervisor – it is poised to replace the OS altogether, argues Mitchell Ashely. Plus, Greenpeace dings Microsoft for toxic manufacturing practices. Microsoft's VoIP QoS server fills a big gap. Say hello to the new PowerShell overlords – you better start mastering PowerShell now. And, games people play: how a Wii machine betrayed a cheating wife.