Well, it’s been a while again… things have been a little crazy lately, with Jamie’s mother dying, my mother getting a new house, and me moving to a new facility at work. But alas, I’m here and this post will just be a quick and sweet mix of a few things of interest I’ve come across the last few days. So, lets begin!

First of all, there’s a post I found talking about the quality of VoIP calls improving and specifically service provided by cable companies surpassing that of traditional phone service.

VoIP from the cable companies actually surpassed the traditional phone network in reliability, meaning that the service was more often available and connected calls without dropping them. Cable providers also led the way in audio quality; the top firm in Keynote’s study actually turned in an MOS of 4.24, above most “real” phone networks.

Linspire, the Linux OS alternative to Windows – formerly “Lindows” before Microsoft complained about it, is growing strong. So much so, that they are now moving into their own building! I also discovered that Michael Robertson – the founder of Linspire – is also the founder of SIP Phone, a VoIP service commonly known for their softphone.

In the security world, I saw an article on Slashdot about a 3rd party releasing a patch to attempt to slow the malware attacks on Windows. From the article on eWeek:

The group, known as ZERT (Zero Day Emergency Response Team), was formed in the aftermath of the WMF (Windows Metafile) attacks of December 2005 and is now emerging from stealth mode with an unofficial patch that offers temporary respite from a spate of drive-by malware downloads aimed at users of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser.

And lastly, Bruce Schneier will be giving a free public talk this evening in LA, 7PM at the USC campus, at the Annenberg School room 207. Bruce is a well-known security expert and is the author of many security articles as well as several books.

If only I could be in LA tonite