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News: June 2003
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In this Issue
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Political Viruses on PC's Around the World
Since September 11th, and even more so now with the conflict in Iraq, American's have been unable to escape political messages anywhere they go. From billboards, to talk shows, to the magazine rack at the checkout line, we are bombarded daily with dozens of messages telling us how and what to think. Now it seems that political activists have chosen to use computer viruses to spread their messages around the world. Here are just a few of the computer viruses out there with political points of view.
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Injustice Worm: This virus puts up a big message that says, “Please accept my apologies for disturbing you.” It then describes the alleged murder of a 12-year-old Palestinian child by Israeli soldiers in a Windows dialog box. To spread, it sends itself to the first 50 contacts in a person's Outlook address book, and then sends members of the Israeli government protest petitions.
Yaha Worm: This stems from a longstanding fight between some Pakistanis and Indians on issues affecting their countries. It comes as a file attachment to e-mail. The Yaha has three different payloads. One tries to terminate the anti-virus program on the computer. It also modifies the Internet Explorer homepage. Then it launches a denial-of-service attack on five different Pakistani sites and tries to slow down those particular sites by flooding them with messages. The Yaha worm also spoofs the address, titles and subjects in the e-mails it sends out so that it looks like it came from someone other than it really did.
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September 11 Worm: This was an e-mail that said it did not contain viruses and was not spam. It said it contained classified information, a set of documents and photos [that tried to establish that George W. Bush and Al Qaeda were connected]. Education in the past few years has centered on telling people not to open file attachments. The worm tried to get around this by saying, “Trust us, these are just photos and word documents.”
Source: Newsweek Online
From Online Shopping to Online Homeland Security?
Jay Walker, the man behind the immensely successful Priceline.com, which revolutionized the travel industry, is hoping that his next bright idea, USHomeGaurd, will revolutionize national security. USHomeGaurd will have the ability to monitor any of the 47,000 power plants, airports and other "critical infrastructure facilities" in the United States. Using onsite web cameras, Americans could monitor these sites from home and alert security agents of disturbances at the click of a mouse.
Walker envisions a system where “spotters” would be paid $10 per hour by government agencies and companies in need of monitoring. Spotters must answer a simple question about each image: Does it contain a person or vehicle? If yes, local authorities could be notified in as little as 30 seconds. If a spotter clicks "yes", he triggers a first-stage alert. Software automatically routes the same photo to other spotters. When multiple spotters click "yes," they trigger a second-stage alert. Security supervisors at a data center review photos from all the Web cams and analyze video from the site. Supervisors who see a suspicious person can speak to him through the Web cam and alert authorities if necessary.
Is this the next wave of homeland security? Opinions are still mixed.
Source: CNN.com
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What clients have to say about 3W Studios "3W Studios was very efficient and professional. Not only was the project completed earlier than predicted, we are also more than satisfied with the results. To say the least, we are very pleased with the services and will definitely be recommending you all for future projects." Stacey Meaders, FAMU HEARTS |
Site Launch News
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Apply for your Florida Construction License Exam online
Professional Testing Inc. administers the construction license exams for the State of Florida. Their new website allows users to apply for these examniations online, and is commerce-enabled to make the process more efficient for all concerned. Apply for your examination today by visiting www.proftesting.com.
HEARTS Launches
The HEARTS Family Life Center is an after-school program addressing violence prevention in grades 6-8. Students from the FAMU Developmental Research School participate in the program, which engages them in activities, projects and field trips. The program is now online at www.heartsflc.com. Visitors can find out more about the program, how it is run and view a searchable database of student projects.
Gamma Knife Site "Operational"
A Leksell Gamma Knife is a powerful radiosurgery tool. There are only 68 in the US, so it's hardly surprising that the Archbold Medical Center would want to highlight their latest acquisition. A new website dedicated to the Gamma Knife Center is just one of the avenues they chose. The Center also received traditional print and broadcast media from The Kidd Group.
Manatee Magnet Attracts New Visitors
The Manatee County School District recently benefited from the services of 3W Studios and The Kidd Group. The marketing makeover resulted in a new logo, new printed material and a new website. Refreshingly bold and engaging, the site covers the programs offered, which schools offer them, and how to get enrolled.
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Keeping track of soccer practices and doctor's appointments?
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Moms Online
She cooks a homemade version of Play-Doh. She knows the best place for kids' haircuts. Her electric teakettle is always at the ready while entertaining other moms during play dates. Her husband sends her romantic little notes when he's on business trips.
This San Jose, Calif., stay-at-home mom might seem to be a throwback to 1950s June Cleaver. But with a computer sitting on her kitchen counter, Lia MacDonalds, 37, is a thoroughly modern mother. Instead of feeling the isolation of her predecessors, she and scores of women like her are harnessing technology to get connected, empowered and bring new meaning to the homes as “command central.”
To wit: MacDonald follows the imitation Play-Doh recipe from the computer screen while stirring flour and cream of tartar on her stove. She punches in the Yahoo.com Yellow Pages to get directions to Balloon Cuts for kids, and she shopped online for the teakettle. Her husband isn't hand-scripting love letters; he's instant-messaging her from London, where he has set up Web cams at his office and at home to watch his wife and two children make breakfast in the mornings.
It has made information so easy to obtain, it makes life much more satisfying for me,” said MacDonald, who bought her first computer in 1996 while she was a fourth-grade teacher. “If the kids ask me, 'How do snails have babies?' I'm one of those people who thinks 'computer' first.”
Like the advent of the washing machine and dishwasher decades ago, home computers – as well as cell phones and handheld computers – make women's hectic lives easier.
Source: Tallahassee Democrat
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In her free time from being Media Director and tri-athlete extraordinaire, Shelly likes to spend time with Brad, her husband of two years. Their favorite hobbies: mountain biking, kayaking, camping, swimming, surfing and snowboarding. Shelly also finds the time in her busy schedule to teach a Sunday school class for high school girls and to be a mom to her eight-month-old baby bulldog. Fun Fact: “My puppy is semi-famous. He is the great grandson of UGA IV.” |
Staff News: A Triathlete Among Us
3W Studios and The Kidd Group would like to congratulate its first ever tri-athlete, Shelly Russell. Shelly is the Media Director at The Kidd Group, but when she is not wrapped up in her work she is an all-around outdoorsy young woman.
Recently Shelly took her athleticism to another level when she completed the Red Hills Triathlon in Tallahassee, FL in less than two hours. Shelly trained intensively for 6-weeks for the triathlon which consisted of a 1/3 mile swim, an 18 mile bike ride and a 3.2 mile run to the finish line. She finished 15th in her age group and found the experience to be personally rewarding. “I definitely plan on participating in the Red Hills Triathlon again,” says Shelly. “It was a great experience and I am looking forward to possibly participating in some similar upcoming events like the First Coast Off-Road Triathlon in Jacksonville this July.”
Congratulations Shelly!