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Thursday, April 27 2017 @ 05:45 AM CDT
Saturday, November 12 2016 @ 10:48 AM CST
Contributed by: Andy Updegrove
Views: 3,335
  So a year and a half ago I wrote a book called The Lafayette Campaign, a Tale of Deception and Elections. In it, a totally ridiculous conservative candidate leaps to the top of the polls, and then wins the nomination. Sound familiar?
Sadly, yes. But wait, there’s more.
Sunday, October 30 2016 @ 10:25 AM CDT
Contributed by: Andy Updegrove
Views: 2,832
 Yesterday was the big day – fifteen months after tapping out the first few words of my latest satirical, political, cybersecurity thriller, I uploaded the files for Frank Adversego’s third world-saving adventure. This time around, the villains are an ISIS-like terrorist group that’s been even more successful at gaining ground in the Mideast.
Now they threaten to bring the Western world to its knees. Like the first two books, everything in the book is technically accurate and could actually happen. Frankly (no pun intended), this book scares the hell out of me. The reason? There seems to me to be little doubt that some day, perhaps as early as tomorrow, just such an attack will actually be launched.
Saturday, October 22 2016 @ 01:00 AM CDT
Contributed by: Andy Updegrove
Views: 7,286
 According to Donald Trump, "the US Presidential Election is rigged!" That's a bit disingenuous coming from The Donald, given that if it's being hacked by anyone, the evidence is that it's being hacked by the Russians. And not for the benefit of Clinton, either. But just how realistic could such a claim be?
Experts agree that trying to pull off such a feat by traditional means (i.e., getting people to vote more than once) is not only not happening, but not even feasible to pull off in sufficient numbers to influence anything but the very closest of elections. But how about if you were to hack the election electronically? How hard would that be?
Thursday, October 13 2016 @ 04:45 AM CDT
Contributed by: Andy Updegrove
Views: 1,747
 Last week I posted a review of Dangerous, the latest book by mutli-genre author Ian Probert, concluding, “The result is a unique combination of themes and insights that does not attempt to reach any pat solution or heart-warming resolution. Instead, we leave the author and the boxers he has profiled the way we found them – damaged by their life experiences and making the best of the hard-won lessons they have learned along the way, but still entranced by the sport that has by turns served them so well and so dangerously.” This week, I’m following with an interview with the author, in which he tells us how and why the book came about.
Friday, September 16 2016 @ 09:18 AM CDT
Contributed by: Andy Updegrove
Views: 2,050
 It can be a struggle to reconcile the need to be creative and the need to be disciplined and to set standards when writing a book. Often, the balance of efficiency and spontaneity will be determined by the circumstances under which we write. Strict deadlines necessitate efficient writing processes, whereas passion projects can operate under a looser timeline. Regardless of your purpose for writing, it is difficult to argue against the benefits of streamlining your self-publishing process and increasing your efficiency. You stand to save time which eventually leads to financial savings through increased productivity and greater output.
Monday, September 05 2016 @ 10:07 AM CDT
Contributed by: Andy Updegrove
Views: 977
 I'm pleased to report that I've finished my last draft of the third book in the Frank Adversego thriller series. It's now in the capable hands of a half dozen Friends of Frank who have kindly agreed to be beta readers. Pre-launch ("beta") readers are a huge asset for to authors, helping them catch not just typos, but all the other sorts of gremlins that can be hard for an author to ferret out and banish because the author has become to immersed in the text to spot them.
Sunday, April 10 2016 @ 03:38 PM CDT
Contributed by: Andy Updegrove
Views: 2,245
 In principle, every author (self published or otherwise) should be in favor of diversity and competition in the book distribution marketplace. The reason? Because competition in any area of commerce fosters continuing innovation, more choices, and more price competition. Unfortunately, sometimes a competitive marketplace turns into a monopolized one. When that happens, idealism may have to take a back seat to pragmatism, and an author may have to just make the best of what she’s got.
Saturday, March 26 2016 @ 05:45 PM CDT
Contributed by: Andy Updegrove
Views: 2,390
This article is by Ellie Martin. You can find Ellie's web site here.
 When one thinks of a good book, it’s quite rare that the first thing that comes to mind is the book’s design. Why would it? It’s generally agreed that a good book is all about the words on the page and the power of the story between the two covers. It makes sense, then, that an author’s main focus is on the content of the book. The story is and rightly should be any serious author’s number one priority, but it should not be the only priority.
Sunday, February 21 2016 @ 04:36 PM CST
Contributed by: Andy Updegrove
Views: 2,008
 Or so we might hear Sarah Palin taunt a liberal. Just about every other pundit in the media, however, continues to scratch their heads in wonder, asking themselves, “Can this many people really, I mean really, be voting for Donald Trump?!? Well, if they had taken the time to read a recently released thriller by an unknown political satirist, they’d know that the answer could be, well, maybe not.
Sunday, January 31 2016 @ 01:50 PM CST
Contributed by: Andy Updegrove
Views: 2,685
 There’s a heart-warming story in the New York Times this morning that tells the tale of a brand new independent author with a flair for marketing who not only turns her first erotic novel into a best seller, but goes on to start her own imprint and build similar success for equally talented Indie authors who don’t have that special marketing gene. Great! you say? Well, maybe not so great. Read on.
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ABOUT THE
STANDARDS BLOG
There are over 1,000,000 supported standards, with more being developed all the time. The Standards Blog examines how standards are developed, and their impact on business, society, and the future. This site is hosted by Gesmer Updegrove LLP, a technology law firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. GU is an internationally recognized leader in creating and representing the organizations that create and promote standards and open source software. The opinions expressed in The Standards Blog are those of Andy Updegrove alone, and not necessarily those of GU. Please see the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy for this site, which appear here.
Quote of the Day“ The simple answer is that PAX will be judged by the company it keeps” -Me, quoted in a ZDNet article about Google's new PAX defensive Android cross-license program See all Quotes
Latest NewsNISO Releases Draft STS: Standards Tag Suite for Public CommentPress ReleaseNISO.org April 26, 2017 - The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) announces the release of a draft version of NISO Z39.102-201x, STS: Standards Tag Suite, for public comment. STS provides a common XML format that standards developers, publishers, and distributors can use to publish and exchange full-text content and metadata of standards. It is expected that this "standard for standards" will be published in the fall as an XML document marked up in the STS standard after comments on the draft version are addressed and it is approved by NISO Voting Members and by ANSI, the American National Standards Institute....Adoption of STS will offer significant benefits at every step of standards development and use,... Different groups will be able to co-publish standards much more easily, and the advantages continue through to distribution.... ...Full StoryANSI Seeks Organizations to Participate in Development of New ISO Technical Committee on Governance of Organizations
ANSI.org April 25, 2017 - ...A newly proposed International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee, (TC) 309, Governance of organizations, focuses on the increasingly important field of governance relating to aspects of direction, control, and accountability of organizations. Governance is a crucial factor in enabling organizations to achieve goals in a professional, ethical, and legal manner....As the U.S. member body to ISO, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) encourages organizations to actively engage in this important endeavor by participating as a member of the U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG).
TC 309 will focus on topics related to anti-bribery, conflicts of interest, due diligence, whistleblowing, compliance, remuneration structures, external reporting and more. Additionally TC 309 will be responsible for providing ongoing guidance, support and communications for the recently published standard ISO 37001, Anti-Bribery Management Systems, to promote further awareness, adoption, and revisions, as needed.... ...Full Story 5.0 out of 5 stars - One of the best action thrillers I've read in years [The Alexandria Project]
Bob Corson
Amazon Reader Reviews April 24, 2017 - Well written action, one of the best action thrillers I've read in years! The plot never stops drawing you in, the cyberterrorism details are accurate, and the character development is perfect.
After finishing this book in one day of reading adventures, my next step is to begin to read the second book in this series. ...Full Story ANSI Seeks Input on Proposed Revisions ANSI Appeals Procedures
ANSI.org April 23, 2017 - The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) seeks public comments on draft revisions to ANSI’s Appeals Procedures: ANSI Appeals Board, ANSI Board of Standards Review (BSR), and ANSI Executive Standards Council (ExSC).
The proposed revisions presented in ExSC_029_2017 are the next iteration of the proposed revisions announced in 2016 as ExSC_053_2016. Some public comments received in response to ExSC_053_2016 were accepted and incorporated by the ANSI Executive Standards Council (ExSC), while others were not.
Public comments are invited on new revisions presented in ExSC_029_2017. For reference, ExSC_029_2017 displays the proposed revisions available for public comment and ExSC_029_A_2017, which follows it, incorporates the new revisions as clean copy. ...Full Story HTTPS Certificate Issuance Becomes More Secure Thanks to New CAA Standard
Catalin Cimpanu
BleepingComputer.com April 18, 2017 - Last week, the CA/Browser Forum voted to implement CAA mandatory checks before the issuance of new SSL/TLS certificates, as a measure to prevent the misissuance of HTTPS certificates.
According to CA/Browser Forum ballot 187, 100% of all browser makers and 94% of all certificate authorities voted to implement CAA mandatory checks starting September 8, 2017.
CAA stands for Certificate Authority Authorization and is a new extra field that can be added to DNS records, as approved by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) via RFC 6844....According to the new CAA checking procedure approved by the CA/Browser Forum, the organization that oversees HTTPS certificate issuance operations, certificate authorities (CAs) must check the CAA field in the DNS record for the domain for which a customer asks a new certificate for.
Domain owners can leave instructions in the CAA field to prevent rogue actors from requesting SSL/TLS certificates in their domains.... ...Full Story Industrial Wireless Guidelines Technical Working Group
Press Release
NIST.gov April 17, 2017 - Starting in May 2017, the intelligent Systems Division of the NIST is forming a technical working group (TWG) to develop best practices guidelines in selecting and deploying industrial wireless solutions within industrial environments such as process plants and discrete manufacturing factories. Guidelines will consider the entire wireless ecosystem within factories with emphasis on wireless systems operating on the factory floor. This includes factory/plant instrumentation, control systems, and back-haul networks.
The guidelines will be technology and vendor agnostic and will address the current needs of industry to have independent guidelines based on user requirements and measurement science research. The guidelines will be kept concise and will be targeted to the plant/factory floor for tracking of materials, observation and control of processes, improvement of personnel safety, and improvement of plant/factory operational objectives. Classes of control systems will include both feedback and supervisory forms of control....The user community and system integrators are strongly encouraged to participate.... ...Full Story IFX Version 1.9.1 Published: Accommodates Changes in ATM Processing, Including PCI SSD Requirements and Dynamic Currency Conversion
Press Release
IFXForum.org April 14, 2017 - The IFX Forum announced today that it has published Version 1.9.1 of the IFX specification. The focus of the new version is to accommodate changes in ATM processing....Release 1.9.1 includes two new features. The first introduces functionality for remote key loading compliant with the requirements recently introduced by the PCI Security Standards Council, which are to be rolled out in 2017. The second feature provides new mechanisms to support dynamic currency conversion, which provides the user of an ATM with information about the cost of a currency conversion in advance of the transaction, so that the user can choose to complete or abandon the transaction.... ...Full Story Microsoft Closes Its Open Source Code Hosting Service CodePlex, Asks Devs To Move To GitHub
Fossbytes.com April 13, 2017 - Microsoft has announced that it’s shutting down its open source code hosting service CodePlex. The website will be completely shut down in December, 2017. The backups will be made available to the users in common, transferable formats. Microsoft has also published a guide to help the devs shift their code to Github.
In 2006, Microsoft launched CodePlex as an alternative to SourceForge. Back then, it was being seen as Redmond’s one of the biggest steps into the world of open source. But, on Friday, Microsoft announced that CodePlex will be closed down.... ...Full Story Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of the World Wide Web, to receive the ACM A.M. Turing Award
Press Release
W3C April 12, 2017 - The ACM, the
Association for Computing Machinery, today named Sir Tim
Berners-Lee, inventor of the Web and Director of the World Wide
Web Consortium, as the recipient of the 2016 ACM A.M. Turing
Award. The ACM Turing Award is recognized as the highest
distinction in Computer Science and is sometimes referred to as
the "Nobel Prize of Computing." The Award is named for the
British Computer Scientist Alan Turing who is known as the
key founder of theoretical computer science and artificial
intelligence as well as for the development of the Turing
machine, considered a model of a general purpose computer.
Sir Tim is being given this award for inventing the World Wide
Web, the first web browser, and the fundamental protocols and
algorithms allowing the Web to scale. Considered one of the
most influential computing innovations in history, the World
Wide Web is the technical infrastructure of society and has
already become the universal connectivity platform.... ...Full Story W3C responds to UNESCO concerns about Encrypted Media Extensions
Press Release
w3c.org April 11, 2017 - UNESCO recently published a letter and an article about Encrypted Media Extensions. Since we didn’t have an opportunity to set the record straight with them, we are responding here.
The spirit of the letter is anchored in UNESCO’s values and the concept of Internet Universality. We agree on the concept of Internet Universality. We even believe that those who are trying to restrict movies from the Internet are violating the concept of universality by preventing certain content from being on the Web.
We note that EME does in fact provide improvements in privacy, security and accessibility over the alternatives....
When UNESCO suggests that laws such as DMCA are against UN principles, we note that their colleagues at WIPO have been a motivating force behind such laws. We would urge UNESCO to use its own weight to insist that Member States’ laws on the Internet are always reasonable and proportionate and respectful of human rights. We are a technical standards organization but litigating the laws of a single country or many nations (like the WIPO treaty) is the role of legal advocates such as the EFF or UNESCO.... ...Full Story
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