Viking Waters presents
News from the Computer World

Home Automation on the Rise

The popularity of home networking is on the rise. We see the computer manufacturers and vendors clearly focused on the consumer electronics space, said Dan Schwab, vice president of marketing at D&H Distributing,

Most of what consumers do with home networks today are PC-centric tasks. However, the trend is evolving to more extensive inclusion of home entertainment gear. Throughout the past three months, many manufacturers and IT-based distributors have begun to focus intensely on the digital home and business environments.

Tech Data is approaching this market not just in residential systems, but in light commercial and SMB digital needs. Tech Data plans to announce its formal digital program next month, while Ingram Micro is planning to launch its campaign next week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Digital solutions require a variety of products from multiple vendors and will increase in their complexity as home technology needs grow. "When you look at the types of solutions being deployed in the home, they're pretty complex," said Ingram Micro's Mike Shelton.

Digital-based products such as flat-screen monitors and televisions, security devices, storage, media PCs, tablets, cabling, wireless solutions, digital cameras and smart phones are being integrated into the home and business networks. Home controllers, automation solutions and some analog home entertainment solutions are also being used.

Consumers planning a home network expect more digital functionality in their homes than is currently available, according to a survey. Over half of current home network owners have an Ethernet network, while 22 percent reported having a Wi-Fi network. 2/3 of the respondents with more than two computers at home said they used Ethernet but acknowledged Wi-Fi is becoming more popular, especially among notebook owners.

Security Pipeline Looks at Windows XP Service Pack 2

Security Pipeline obtained access to the first widespread beta of Microsoft's forthcoming Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) during the holidays. Microsoft has said that this beta represents a subset of what will be released when this software is finalized sometime during the first half of 2004.

Unlike many Windows service packs, this one adds new functionality. There are four main areas where Microsoft has made user interface changes. They are:

1. Automatic Updates: A reminder screen that is hard to get rid of unless you authorize auto updates.
2. Windows Firewall (previously known as Internet Connection Firewall, or ICF) which now automatically detects network connections that you can opt to disable firewall protection for. Microsoft currently intends to turn Windows Firewall on by default.
3. Wireless Networking network controls: "When we tested it, we found that the scanning feature didn't work, which made it hard to work with."
4. A new pop-up blocker for Internet Explorer with a simple but functional white list (for sites whose pop-ups you want to see).

Microsoft has apparently added a new feature that blocks remotely-initiated downloads.

The network messaging feature (not to be confused with Windows Messenger, the instant-messaging client), is turned off by default in SP2. Microsoft has also added a number of other security features while turning off or partially disabling some features that have been exploited by hackers, including buffer overrun.

Read their entire report