NASA's Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS):  10 years old, the program continues to provide capacity and sometimes, people, to demonstrate new satellite applications.  Education in developing countries is one ongoing area.  "The Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS), a significant activity of the Space Communications Program, provided for the development and flight test of high-risk, advanced communications satellite technology. Using multiple spot beam antennas and advanced on-board switching and processing systems, ACTS pioneered new initiatives in communications satellite technology."  4:27:01 PM    

SMTP SPF: Sender Policy Framework:  Considerable progress on this anti-spam protocol:  software available for many MTAs; a wizard for generating new DNS records; supported so far by 14,000 domains.  "SMTP has a security hole: any connecting client can assert any sender address. This flaw has been exploited by spammers to forge mail. The result: your mailbox fills up with bounces to messages that you didn't send. Close the hole, and we can easily block spammers by sender domain."  2:57:51 PM    

IDrive - Online Storage Network Drive: New service from iBackup. "IDrive maps your IBackup online storage account as a local drive on your computer allowing you to drag-n-drop, open, edit and save files in your online backup account as if they were on your local computer. Recommended for most users for its ease of installation and 128 bit SSL support.

IDrive Plus is another variation of Network Drive technology (available only for XP and 2000) with ability to support Concurrent Operations for Access, Act! and many other applications in addition to all the features of IDrive. IDrive Plus is the recommended Network Drive application if you have a need to directly edit large office files such as Access and Act!. It is more efficient as it sends only changes over the network, and reads only what is necessary for direct edits and saves. Unlike Network Drive solutions from competing services, IDrive Plus does not do background downloading of files first. It is a true Internet Network Drive technology."

  11:57:31 AM    

Arms trafficker protected: report: "BRITAIN had bowed to US pressure to keep the name of a notorious arms trafficker off a list of those subject to planned United Nations sanctions, the Financial Times reported today.  "London had originally supported moves to freeze Mr (Victor) Bout's assets, but appeared to have reversed its view under pressure from Washington," the newspaper said, citing evidence from several western diplomats.

In 2000, Peter Hain, then British foreign office minister responsible for Africa, described Victor Bout as "the chief sanctions-buster and ... a merchant of death who owns air companies that ferry in arms" to rebel and government forces in several African conflicts, including Liberia, Angola and Sierra Leone. ..

The paper quoted a senior western diplomat close to the UN negotiations as saying, "We are disgusted that Bout won't be on the list, even though he is the principal arms dealer in the region. If we want peace in that region (of West Africa), it seems evident that he should be on that list."

According to the anonymous diplomats cited in the Financial Times report, the US may be using an air freight company linked to Bout to help supply their forces in Iraq. "The American defence forces are using Victor's planes for their logistics," a former senior UN official told the paper."

  2:08:09 AM