Archive for January 22nd, 2006
One thing I’ve noticed about 2UE lately, is that the shows where the presenter doubles as the panel op have been sounding quite odd on network stations. Hosts have consistently cut the network feed for computer audio, creating annoying silences when they play bits of incidental music (such as at the end of a call), Glenn Wheeler has become quite an expert in that in recent weeks. Somebody really needs to reminds the presenters that they only need to cut the computer network feed for ads and 2UE specific intros.
The other example which has driven me nuts is Stuart Bocking enabling the complete audio feed during the weather, effectively making network station weather and 2UE weather clash. It’s quite simple Stuart, press the button when the weather finishes. This is not a criticism, just a bit of helpful advice.
I’ve noticed that 2GB seem to employ panel operators for all shows, perhaps 2UE should consider this. Yesterday’s OB sounded very good from a technical perspective as there was a panel op at 2UE controlling things, which made the program flow nicely.
I have said before (perhaps not here), that automation and networking are only obvious when things go wrong, and then it reflects badly on all stations involved, regardless of how fair that might be.
I would urge 2UE to do one of two things, employ panel ops 24/7, or remind staff of correct panelling procedure.
Samuel
January 22nd, 2006 at 12:32pm
As you may recall from 2UE’s letter, John Kerr will be returning to 2UE on the weekend version of New Day Australia on January 28. This is now less than one week away, and I have closed the petition and archived it.
I appreciate, as I’m sure John does, all the support that people gave John. 2UE have decided to keep John on weekends, so it is time to get behind that show.
I have archived the Save John Kerr page here, and the petition here. 2UE will receive the final version of the petition, as it would be unfair of me to not pass on the comments left in good faith.
If you still want to send a message to 2UE, you will need to send it directly to them.
Samuel
January 22nd, 2006 at 07:21am
It turns out that Steve Gibson was mostly correct when he announced that he thought the WMF exploit was a deliberate backdoor.
It would appear that Steve stumbled on another part of the exploit, rather than the section which was being used. Steve uncovered a section which made use of an invalid length record in metafiles with only one record. It is the considered opinion of independent security experts that this section of the code was deliberately implemented by the programmer as a way of executing code in a metafile. Whether or not it is a backdoor is dependent on your definition of backdoor. Whilst it is a program backdoor similar to “secret” master BIOS passwords set by the manufacturer, it isn’t a backdoor in the “malicious person remotely gains access to your computer” sense (although it can contain code to do such things).
Steve has now, in collaboration with other experts, created a WMF exploit tester which tests for all the known ways of exploiting the WMF exploit, on Windows and WINE.
The following operating systems and envoironments are vulnerable to the WMF exploit until a patch is installed:
- Windows Vista beta
- Windows XP
- Windows 2000
- WINE
The following operating systems are vulnerable and will not be patched by Microsoft, you must run a vulnerability supressor such as the one from NOD32 (it’s free) on these operating systems.
All other operating systems are safe.
You can download the vulnerability tester, and read more about the WMF exploit from http://www.grc.com/wmf/wmf.htm, the page includes a detailed Q & A about the vulnerability, including analysis from Microsoft and security experts other than Steve.
Whilst I appreciate that there are people who disregard just about everything Steve says, I think he has written a fairly comprehensive, well thought out, and unbiased article on that page. If nothing else, there is a good vulnerability tester there for anyone and everyone to check their systems.
Also, you may be interested in his discussion with Leo Laporte about the WMF exploit in the most recent edition (episode 23) of Security Now!. Steve explains his vulnerability tester, and the discussion explains the exploit.
Samuel
January 22nd, 2006 at 12:09am