November 19, 2012 archive

Nov 19

Got A DNSSEC Project That Needs Funding? Apply to NLnet Foundation Before Dec 1

NLNet FoundationDo you have an open source project (or the idea for one) related to DNSSEC that needs funding? Perhaps a new tool that will make it easier to use DNSSEC?  Or perhaps new software that supports the DANE protocol to increase the security of TLS/SSL? A browser plugin?  A program that makes it easier for registrars to pass DS records?  A measurement tool for DNSSEC usage?

Or do you want to add DNSSEC capabilities to an existing program, like the Jitsi team did when added DNSSEC validation to VoIP?  Would you like to build DNSSEC validation into your tool or service?  Would you like to add DANE support to your browser or other tool?  Would you like to add DANE support to another service beyond the web?  Do you have a use case where DNSSEC-signed TLS/SSL certificates would greatly add another level of security?

If you have any ideas along these lines, the NLnet Foundation is funding projects through their “DNS Security Fund” and THE NEXT APPLICATION DEADLINE IS DECEMBER 1, 2012 at 12:00 Central European Time (CET).  You can read more and find out how to apply at:

http://www.nlnet.nl/dnssec/

That page lists at the bottom some of the many projects that the NLnet Foundation has funded.  Their most recent “Open call for funding” gets into more details.  There is one very important note:

There is one important condition which is that any software or hardware that a project produces must be available under a valid open source licence (GPL, BSD, Apache, etc.).

As long as you are fine with that, you may be able to get some level of funding through NLnet Foundation.

We’d definitely appreciative of all the great work that the NLnet Foundation has funded to date. Tools like Unbound, DNSSEC-Trigger and the multiple DNSSEC developer libraries they have supported have made it so much easier to get DNSSEC deployed.

Now it’s your turn – what can you develop to help get DNSSEC more widely deployed?    If you’ve got an idea, the NLnet Foundation may be able to help… apply before December 1 to see if they can!

P.S. Note also that if you can’t apply before December 1, the NLnet Foundation accepts proposals six times a year, with deadlines of February 1, April 1, June 1, August 1, October 1, December 1.

Nov 19

What Is The Future Of The Levelator? (The Podcaster’s Ultimate Quick-Fix Audio Tool)

LevalatorWhat does the future hold for the awesome "Levelator®" tool, now that The Conversations Network is shutting down all of its websites at the end of 2012?

That's certainly the first thing that popped into my mind when I heard the word that Doug Kaye was declaring "Mission Accomplished" and shutting down the TCN websites and moving their content to other locations.

The "Levelator," in case you aren't aware, is a truly awesome piece of software for Windows, Mac OS X or Linux that can take an interview recorded with varying audio levels and turn it into something great for listening. As the bottom of the Levelator page says:

Do you believe in magic? You will after using The Levelator® to enhance your podcast. And you'll be amazed that it's free, now even for commercial use.

So what is The Levelator®? It's software that runs on Windows, OS X (universal binary), or Linux (Ubuntu) that adjusts the audio levels within your podcast or other audio file for variations from one speaker to the next, for example. It's not a compressor, normalizer or limiter although it contains all three. It's much more than those tools, and it's much simpler to use. The UI is dirt-simple: Drag-and-drop any WAV or AIFF file onto The Leveler's application window, and a few moments later you'll find a new version which just sounds better.

For those wanting the gory details, the site contains a detailed description of the "Levelator Loudness Algorithms" that explains how it does its magic. The FAQ, also, includes some helpful information.

Normally, when I'm recording podcasts in my home office with my podcasting rig, I'm able to control all the audio levels, even if I'm interviewing someone over Skype. So in those cases I don't need the power of the Levelator.

But... if I'm recording an interview with multiple people over Skype, I only have one feed for Skype into my mixer and so I can't control the varying audio levels for the different speakers.

Similarly, if I am recording a panel session typically speakers are sitting at different distances from their microphones and they naturally have different levels of their voices.

In either of those cases, the Levelator has been a HUGE help in making my recordings sound that much better.

It's also insanely easy to use - just drag a file onto the interface and drop it. That's it.

Now it's now always on target. A time or two I've actually liked the original better, but that's often because I've got noisy backgrounds or other issues. But probably 95% of the time it does a truly wonderful job making the audio sound better.

So what is its future?

I don't know.

Doug Kaye's post about the future of TCN says only that they intend to continue to make the existing content available. It's not clear from reading that what will happen to the Levelator. Will it be updated? Will someone continue to maintain the software? Will it be open-sourced so that the community could maintain it? Or will it just fade away?

The @levelator Twitter account did provide some hope in an October 3 tweet saying plans are still being discussed:

Levelator future

I do hope Doug and his team are able to find a way to keep the Levelator around. It truly is an awesome tool and it is and was a tremendously generous gift to the Internet community to make it available for free.

I look forward to learning its future... and meanwhile, I've made sure I've downloaded the most recent version so that I'll have my own copy around for a while.

Have you used the Levelator before? Has it helped you? What would you like to see the TCN team do with the Levelator?

If you found this post interesting or useful, please consider either:

Nov 19

IPv6 Lessons From The US Air Force

US Air Force logoWhat is the US Air Force doing with IPv6?  What lessons have they learned in their IPv6 deployment so far?

In a ReadWrite article in August titled “How The Air Force Is Flying Toward IPv6,” writer David Strom spoke with Doug Fry, the engineering lead for the USAF Transition Management Office (TMO), about the challenges the USAF faces as well as the lessons they have learned.  I found the article’s description of the scale quite interesting:

The Air Force base furthest along in the transition process is Eglin in the Florida panhandle, which also happens to be the service’s largest base – covering more than 600 square miles and employing more than 30,000 people. To give you an idea of the size of the base, it has 30,000 individual IP addresses assigned, to a wide mix of both computing and embedded equipment. There are two core networks, 14 access layer devices, and 5000 in-building switches. That is a lot of gear to migrate over to the new networking protocols.

Indeed that is a lot of gear!  The article goes on to list 8 lessons the Air Force learned.  The article has the full descriptions, but I’ll summarize them here:

  1. Don’t go with your first address plan, but think about ways that you can make it more hierarchical and improve it.
  2. Make sure your core and IOS routers are all IPv6 compatible and can run dual stack protocols.
  3. Make sure all your monitoring equipment is up to snuff.
  4. Now is the time to make sure your entire network documentation actually reflects what is actually deployed.
  5. Upgrade your router firmware or replace them to handle IPv6.
  6. Build a test lab that replicates your entire network if you can afford to.
  7. Understand how things will change when you add new desktops or network infrastructure to your IPv6 network.
  8. Finally, participate in the next World IPv6 Day in June and other experiments to prove out your installation and deployment plans.

Good thoughts from people in the process of deploying IPv6. We look forward to reading future articles as they move forward with their IPv6 deployment across all their bases.

Nov 19

FIR #678 – 11/19/12 – For Immediate Release

LinkedIn endorsements, Google's mobile Alternate Reality Game, libel laws include Twitter, big changes at social sites; Ragan promo; News That Fits: sponsored digital content, Dan York's report, Media Monitoring Minute from CustomScoop, Coca-Cola reimagines the corporate website, listener comments, survey shows desire to social media ROI tool, TemboSocial promo, Michael Netzley's Asia report; music from the Chris Greene Quartet; and more.