Gradients and drop shadows were the name of 2004’s web design game. Everything from high-end corporate sites like Mac to upscale blogs such as designer Cameron Moll’s utilized, and are still utilizing, gradients, drop shadows and other “soft effects” in web design.

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Take a look at http://www.shmoo.com/idn/
The link is “http://www.pаypal.com/”, which the browsers punycode handlers render as www.xn--pypal-4ve.com.
This security flaw could be quite major, as any letter can be replaced by its look-alike from an international character script. For full details, take a look at this file.

Vulnerable browsers include (but are not limited to):

Most Mozilla-based browsers (Firefox 1.0, Camino .8.5, Mozilla 1.6, etc)
Safari 1.2.5
Opera 7.54
Omniweb 5

While those are mainly Mac browsers (OmniWeb and Safari), all users of anything that isn’t IE should be wary, at least until a patch is released which fixes this issue.

Update: (Franki) There is a temp fix for Firefox already out, I’ve tried it and it works. Here are the steps:
1. Go to your Firefox address bar and enter: about:config and press enter, this will bring up Firefox’s internal configuration page.
2 Scroll down to the line beginning: network.enableIDN or in the alternative enter that phrase (you can cut and paste it) into the filter text box and click “show all”.
3 Double-click the network.enableIDN label, and Firefox will change the default value of ‘true’ to ‘false’, close that window and you’re done.

There will no doubt be a software fix on the way soon, so you should run Firefox update regularly. (Go to “tools”->”options” -> “advanced” and scroll down till you see the section called “Software Update” and click “Check now” and Firefox will do the rest.

It should be noted that the reason that IE is not vulnerable, is because they never supported international domains in the first place. There is a plug in to enable that functionality in IE, and if you have the plug-in installed, then your copy of Internet Explorer is just as vulnerable.
Read more on this issue here.

In what is an ominous sign of the future, several thousand Lexus model cars have been infected by a computer Virus. The Virus gets access to the car via Bluetooth network connectivity and although the computers can’t actually affect things like the brakes or steering, there are some serious potential side effects of this sort of thing..

The reason I see this as a huge future trend, is because of companies like Microsoft pushing really hard to get their embedded operating system into car computers, and the other push to increase network connectivity in these higher end vehicles.

An interesting question: When you buy a Windows license on a PC, you basically click the EULA and agree that the most Microsoft can be liable for, is the cost of the actual software. Even if a bug in the software costs you your whole business, you can claim from them only the amount you paid in the first place. How would it go if a Microsoft running on-board car computer shuts down the cars headlights in a tunnel and causes a pileup and a few people die, would a Microsoft EULA (End User License Agreement) be able to get them off the hook? This is not all speculation, Microsoft have already done deals to get their operating systems into cars, the Fiat Microsoft deal is a good example of that, but it isn’t the only one.

The only solution here, is to set-up general use Operating Systems for use in only entertainment, navigation and internal visual aid tools. No actual car control systems, or engine management systems should be hooked up to any Operating System that has any form of network connectivity. Microsoft might see a market for car anti-virus products, but I see hundreds of thousands of really angry consumers if the car industry follows the PC industry in these areas. Sure, you can have an engine control computer report stats to the display computer, but it should be strictly a one way street. No controls, even those like door locks, lighting and indicators, engine or steering and brakes should rely on a generic Operating System. To do so would be to risk someone getting killed. No amount of searching I’ve done indicates what Operating System the above mentioned Lexus cars were using, but it doesn’t really matter, no generic Operating System with network connectivity should be in control of anything important in a car.
Read more about the Lexus story here.

Immediately after hiking fees, Ebay follows saying it should drop some fees to match a system used in Germany. More on the story here. They also announce they are scrapping auto-responder emails and you will get a real answer when you ask questions. The real test on that will be if they just use boiler-plate responses like so many companies as opposed to actually reading your question and answering it.

In this ongoing series of posts written as I watch the Super Bowl (US Professional Football Championship Game), I have to say most of the commercials for Bud Beer and Pepsi just weren’t all that funny. I did particularly like the P-Diddy and Carson Daily Diet Pepsi Commercial. P-Diddy’s car breaks down so he gets a ride in a Diet Pepsi truck … so far okay, but then Daily shows up the next day in a monster Diet Pepsi truck and that is funny because that is the level of ridiculous mimicry that you get of stars. Good ad Pepsi … even though it took you many many ads to do it. Of the beer ads, the only one I really liked was a pilot going out of the plane after the beer without a parachute leaving the one parachutist who was afraid to jump alone on the plane. Should he fly the plane or jump.

In the United States, the advertisements aired during the Super Bowl have become a spectacle all unto themselves, equally as important perhaps as the game. In 2004, Janet Jackson made big news — and netted broadcast company Fox a $500,000 fine — when she “accidentally” bared a breast at the end of a raunchy dance routine. This year, all advertisements were closely scrutinized and several were either rejected outright, or pulled by the ad sponsor. One of the pulled ads was a spoof on the Jackson wardrobe malfunction where a stage hand mistakenly damaged the garment. Now tell me Read the rest of this entry »

Godaddy.com decided to enter the Super Bowl Football Championship advertising arena. Ad’s cost something like $80,000 US a second. They tried several ads and were rejected on one. Then their second commercial was pulled as the game was being played. I didn’t think the ad was all that funny to be honest.
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