Quicken: Does Intuit have a back door?

A Moscow-based password-recovery vendor today accused Intuit Inc. of hiding a backdoor in its popular Quicken personal finance program that gives it — and perhaps government agencies — access to users’ data files.

In a statement released today, Elcomsoft Co. Ltd., a Russian maker of password-recovery tools, said Quicken versions since 2003 have used strong encryption designed to foil hackers. But those editions also have a backdoor that unlocks the encryption with the 512-bit RSA key that Intuit controls.

AT&T and Verizon -head to head

AT&T just scooped up Centennial Wireless and that gives them a big roaming advantage in Indiana and Ohio plus some parts of Michigan.  Verizon is buying Alltel and that will help them in SW Michigan plus a bunch of other areas.  It is the epoch of the big boys and they are buying all the smaller players to get spectrum and coverage in areas that they are not well represented.  It is going to take something like this to get 3G and 4G nationwide.  However, will prices go down?  I doubt it.

My brother has an iPhone and it is all we can do to avoid becoming involved with that phone.  Here is a guy that just started using email a couple of years ago and is semi -computer literate.  Now he has the toy everyone wants but doesn’t not want to pay the recurrring monthly 3G fees.  That is where I am.  I would like to have Internet on the road and email too but I will not pay $99 per month to have that.  If I was not retired then I might spring for the $ but as it is I need the $ for other things.

Septic & Website Work

Dilts showed up at 0830 this AM to pump the septic system.  We got tank #2 but tank #1 we cannot find.  I will need to get an excavator out here to dig it up.

Worked on ITS Michigan website this afternoon and last night.  Had a running email conversation with a couple of BOD members.

Went into the big city to find some conductive paste to put on the terminals of the boats batteries.  A couple of terminals were getting the acid blue crud (copper sulfate) and I want to clean the terminals and coat them with the conductive paste.  Hopefully this will end the problem.  Outside the terminal area I will put a silicone dielectric paste over a larger area (the stuff I use for transistor heat-sinks).

I might go to the boat tomorrow to do this as I want to check out how I am stacked in the building and get some more items off the boat.

TSA Hangar Owners

I was up early this AM to make the 0900 TSA Hangar Owners meeting.  We discussed many ways to promote  ANQ airport and ways to accomplish these items.  The meeting lasted about 1.5 hrs and was a good one.  Several task items delegated were to responsible persons.  We have a website http://www.anqhangarowners.org .  Check it out.

It is cold today with the expected high of 38 degrees.  No plans but Andy is supposed to arrive about 1500 hrs from a birthday party for a childhood friend’s 90 year old mother.

Oil & Economy

Quote:

Light, sweet crude for December delivery rose 27 cents to settle at $61.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. But the contract dropped below $60 in overnight electronic trading for the first time 19 months.

The U.S. Labor Department said Friday that the country’s unemployment rate hit 6.5 percent in October as another 240,000 jobs were cut, matching the worst jobless rate since March 1994. So far this year, a staggering 1.2 million jobs in the U.S. have disappeared.

The job losses are yet another sign that the country is in a recession and that consumers and businesses will cut back on energy use.

Most industry experts, however, believe that the decline in crude prices will not last.

The International Energy Agency on Friday nearly doubled its forecast for the price of oil over the next 20 years, citing rising demand in the developing world as well as surging costs of production.

According to a summary of its World Energy Outlook, the IEA hiked its forecast for the price of a barrel of oil in 2030 to just over $200 in nominal terms, compared with its forecast last year of $108 a barrel. Measured in constant dollars, the IEA forecasts oil at $120 a barrel in 2030, up from last year’s forecast of $62.

END QUOTE……………

Eight loads of leaves!

Outstanding accomplishments today in 70 defree weather with a South wind of about 10mph.  That means we have someware between 12-18 more loads and we are done for the year. 

That number of loads depends on the winds of course.  When the win is predominately from the West or South Wes and really strong all the neighbors leaves come down to our yard to visit.  Unfortunately, like unwanted relatives, they stay forever.  The way our canyon is situated all leaves from the SW are channeled down to our bay of a yard and just stop travelling.

The neighbors cooperate by cutting their yard as close to the ground as possible so that the leaves can flow unimpeded.  Bless their hearts.  Every year I turn the other cheek and it gets whacked a good one.

Rain & Leaves

I can see rain on the radar now but it is supposed to not arrive until this afternoon.  SAM getsw the permanent crown in about a half an hour.  Then comes the leaves: try to get as much done as we can by 1300 hrs.  Then she has to get ready for work. I would say that about 1/2 to 2/3 of the leaves are down.  We have done about 10 loads and 20 to go.

Barack acceptance speech

Well, here it is – the expected result – that was foretold months ago.  We must all pray for all our leaders that they have the wisdom of Solomon.  There are challenging times ahead.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgXZRYNiSXg&feature=bz302

Pleasant Lake Days 2008

I have installed a new plugin and this will show Marc, David, CWM & SAM pictures of August 2008 when they visited us in PL.

[slideshow=2,400,300]

Election Day 2008

We were done voting in about 15 minutes today – one of the benefits of living in the country.  We arrived at the Mennonite Church to vote around 0900 hrs. 

After that it was down to the Toon-Up automotive repair guy to pick up the SunFire – Total bill $400 plus or minus.  The Chevy Dealer in Angola quoted $1350 to replace a water pump that did not need replaced and to do some stuff that did not really need to be done.  Our local guy corrected all that we hope and did a few more things too.  Big difference in labor.

We went shopping for food, ate lunch at home and then went kayaking for an hour and then off to the airport for the Aviation Board meeting.  Several of us hangar owners attended.  It was a very cordial meeting.