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for the music and issues advocacy industries
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We've updated much of the content; information on many of our recent and favorite projects will be updated this week.
Two decades before Thomas Edison recorded sound on tinfoil...
... Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville was making recordings with the phonautograph. A century and a half later, scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory devised a way to play them back. Read the article here.
Another reason not to use RealPlayer
Looks like it has a security hole when used with Internet Explorer. CNet's Crave blog has the story -- but since the link is broken, here's the gist:
If you use the RealPlayer on Internet Explorer, watch out. Researcher Elazar Broad has posted to the Full Disclosure mailing list a so-called heap overflow vulnerability that makes it possible for an attacker to modify heap blocks after they are freed and overwrite certain registers. This could allow code execution on a compromised machine. The vulnerability affects all versions of RealPlayer running under Internet Explorer.
Exploit code for this flaw has not yet been made public.
Without a patch from RealPlayer, security experts recommend disabling the killbit for the following ActiveX ClassIDs:
- 2F542A2E-EDC9-4BF7-8CB1-87C9919F7F93
- CFCDAA03-8BE4-11CF-B84B-0020AFBBCCFA
To avoid the loss of functionality, security experts recommend using RealPlayer in a browser that doesn't support ActiveX, such as Mozilla Firefox (for Windows and Mac).
Security Watch: Bought a digtal picture frame recently?
Then you'd better read this. NOW. (Hat tip to Raw Story. Crossposted to APJ.)
NEW: A slew of reviews at classicalsource.com
The Pacifica Quartet plays all five of Elliott Carter's string quartets on one program , Lorin Maazel tackles Berio and Brahms, and not one but two reviews of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Mariss Jansons.
What are "The Z Files"?
The mystery begins. Hint: it involves a new partnership with some amazingly talented experts on information infrastructure. More soon...
NEW: FT raves about Pinnock's new Brandenburgs
My client Forte Distribution is distributing Trevor Pinnock's new recording of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, just released on the UK's hottest classical indie label, Avie. FT's Andrew Clark calls them "my first-choice recording of the Brandenburgs." You can buy them here.
NEW: More reviews at classicalsource.com
Elliott Carter's What Next?, Valery Gergiev with his touring Kirov/Mariinsky troupe, and Gustavo Dudamel conducting the New York Philharmonic.
NEW: New York Polyphony's I Sing the Birth
With a little help from Avie Records' Simon Foster, remarkable producer Malcolm Bruno, and a few friends – including Anonymous 4 alumna Ruth Cunningham – New York Polyphony, a quartet of gentlemen who bring a highly individualistic sound and passionate musicality to a millennium of vocal music, have issued their first CD: a program of music for the festive season. You can order a copy here.