Be the Next American Idol With Karaoke You Can Carry

If you cannot get enough karaoke at the local sushi house, the engineers at Griffin Technology have created a low-cost karaoke system you can carry anywhere.
The iKaraoke is a microphone that plugs into any iPod with a dock connector and processes any music that you own. Its software mutes the vocals so you can be Bono’s fill-in. The playback can travel by cable to a headset or amplifier, or it can be broadcast wirelessly to an FM receiver up to 20 feet away.

The muting is not perfect You will still hear the lead singer at least faintly in the background, and, unpredictably, it works better with some songs than others. The microphone has three reverb settings to enhance your voice and help you compare more favorably with the vocalist you are replacing.

The iKaraoke is $50 and is available now at RadioShack and Apple stores. Now when you get the urge to sing “Behind Closed Doors,” it can stay behind closed doors.
(Via:Nytimes)

iPod & iTunes: Create Your Own Podcast

Podcasting is still such a new medium that there aren't many programs around to simplify the process of wrapping your MP3 in an RSS feed yet. A little online research should yield some decent freeware or shareware podcasting applications for download. Here's the basic idea.

1. Record the show; use Audacity (audacity.sourceforge.net), which has everything you need and doesn't cost a dime.
2. Edit the audio, removing any verbal missteps (“uh, um, err, you know what I mean,” etc.). You can also run noise reduction and hiss reduction, but in general, a dry mix works fine for podcasting your voice.
3. Export it as an MP3; a bit rate of 64 Kbps should be sufficient. If your podcast is voice only, consider mixing it down to one mono track, since that takes up half the space and recordings made with most desktop microphones are mono anyway.
4. Make an XML file with all the relevant data about your recording.
5. Post the MP3s and XML file on your server, using whatever directions your host service provides.
6. Publicize your podcast by submitting it to podcast directories (a simple web search will turn up several, but you might start at iPodder.org, Podcast.net, or PodCastAlley.com).
7. Keep doing your show every week; who knows, you might be able to build up enough of a following to influence the New York Times Best Sellers list like Oprah, or you might end up being approached by a nationwide detergent company to advertise their wares during your dramatic daytime soap opera show.

Security project focuses on Apple

Two security researchers are spending the next month publicising bugs in Apple's OS X operating system and programs that run on it.

The plan is to only publicise flaws that have never been found before.

The two hackers behind the project also propose to produce working code that can be used to exploit any loopholes they find.

The pair said they will be revealing problems that range in importance from the trivial to the critical.

Bug tracking

Describing the project on their blog, Kevin Finisterre and hacker LMH said their work was not driven by malice.

Instead, they said, highlighting problems and getting them solved would "improve" OS X and many of the programs that run on it.

"A positive side-effect, probably, will be a more concerned (security-wise) user-base and better practices from the management side of Apple," wrote the two researchers.

LMH told the BBC News website that enough bugs have already been found, including some extra ones as back-up.

Apple iPods, AP

The project started on 1 January and the first discovery was a flaw in Apple's Quicktime video software and the way it handles a particular protocol.

Exploiting this bug via a booby-trapped webpage would let attackers install malicious programs on a target machine.

The attack is designed to work on Intel-based Macs and can also be used to attacks PCs running the Windows version of Quicktime. The flaw is found in version 7.1.3 of Quicktime.

LMH said there had been a variety of reactions to the project from Apple users.

He said: "We have had non-sense personal attacks, delusional responses, some people liked it, some Mac users giving thanks over email, others sent bugs."

Another response has come from former Apple employee Landon Fuller who has set up an unofficial project to patch the bugs found throughout January.

Writing about his project on his blog, Mr Fuller said: "If I have time (or assistance), I'll attempt to patch the other vulnerabilities, one a day, until the month is out."

In an e-mail to the BBC he said: "My run-time patches are band-aids, in that they wrap and protect the vulnerable code. Apple will actually fix the bugs."

Apple has yet to issue an official statement on the project. It is not known if it will produce official fixes or patches.

But, LMH told the BBC News website that he expected Apple to respond and produce official fixes.

"They may be dysfunctional at some points but they will catch up sooner or later," he said.

Previously similar projects have been run finding bugs in web browsers and the kernels, or core, of several operating systems.