Today, in terrifying things about the world: Iraqi militants have been able to intercept video feeds from Predator surveillance drones with a simple Windows app. To rephrase, an iconic symbol of American military superiority can be foiled by, oh, anyone.

The software, as far as I can tell, is a simple data-leeching utility. With a satellite dish and a few parameters (Packet IDs and transponder codes, which you can evidently scan for) you can tap into downstream data feeds, and essentially recording whatever data is transmitted to (specific) other users on a satellite network. How the insurgents got the proper parameters for predator drone, I have no idea—but apparently it's not that hard. Says a senior defense official:

There did appear to be a vulnerability. There’s been no harm done to troops or missions compromised as a result of it, but there’s an issue that we can take care of and we’re doing so.

If twelve-year-olds can encrypt their torrent downloads, I think it's a reasonably fair expectation for the US military to be able to encrypt mission-critical data transmissions, the insecurity of which could kill people. (Or, alternatively, the security of which ensures that that we can kill people. Someone's got to die, right? Right? Right.)

via Iraqi Militants Hack $4.5m Predator Drones With $26 Windows Shareware – Skygrabber – Gizmodo.

Windows only: If you want a little extra eye-candy in your Windows management, T3Desk is an alt-tab alternative that gives you 3D windows arrangement and more.

T3Desk works on all versions of Windows but it really shines in Vista and above where it can take advantage of Aero. After installing T3Desk you can use keyboard shortcuts to minimize and maximize windows to the edges of your monitor, arranging them in a pseudo-3D fashion. T3Desk can be tweaked in a variety of ways including how the windows are angled, animated, their level of transparency, the apparent distance from the viewer, and how they transition from the virtual desktop back into use.

You can drag windows and dock them to the four sides of the monitor, use Aero Peek to see which windows are on the virtual desktop, and set an always include/exclude list for applications to easily exclude applications from the effects of T3Desk.

via T3Desk Brings 3D Eye-Candy to Your Windows Desktop – Window Management – Lifehacker.

by Daniel Feller

Truth be told, no one really cared about the desktop before we started talking desktop virtualization.  If a desktop failed, it really only impacted a single user, not a big deal unless the user is the CEO or Payroll. Unfortunately for that user, they could be out of commission for days/weeks.  But in a desktop virtualization world, that user can automatically reconnect and get their desktop back, albeit it is technically a different entity as it is now running on another hypervisor with a fresh OS install and Apps, but it looks and acts the same.

What happens if there is a major glitch, issue, failure, etc with the environment?  Even if your environment is rock solid, someone is going to do something that will bring down a very critical component. You might lose one user, but chances are you will lose hundreds or thousands.  If the failed component is critical, those users might not be able to reconnect.  Now you are in a world of pain.  If you are in IT and in charge of the desktop virtualization solution, it might be time to either

1.    Change your name

2.    Update your Resume

3.    Convince everyone that you are trying to save energy costs and shut down the entire system (not likely to work)

How do you avoid the name change or career change?  By doing your job correctly and designing a desktop virtualization solution that can withstand the failure of components without denying user access.  A High-Availability Reference Architecture and Implementation Guide for XenDesktop have been released to the Ask the Architect site.

The choice is yours, design an environment that has high-availability or design your own rapid exit plan.

Daniel – Lead Architect – Worldwide Consulting Solutions

via What happens if Your Desktop Virtualization Infrastructure has a Failure? » ocb – Citrix Community.