Going to the 'Dark Side'

Or you may call it hopping the fence, from hack to flack, or whatever other expression you can come up with.

After about a decade of being a reporter both in Europe and the U.S., I am joining McAfee on May 21 as director of public relations. That means I won't be reporting on security or receiving pitches anymore, instead I will be working behind the scenes at McAfee helping its PR efforts as it enters exciting times under new CEO Dave DeWalt.

I will surely miss being part of the excellent team at CNET News.com and appreciate the many opportunities the company has given me over the past years. I'm happy to say though that I will still be in touch with many of the people I have gotten to know as a reporter, especially the fellow security writers, albeit in a different capacity.

McAfee gave me an opportunity I could not refuse at the right time in my career. I am eager to take on the challenges ahead and working with the ambitious and fun-loving people at McAfee. Also, I will still have a byline on my own blog and perhaps even on a McAfee blog, stay tuned.

To the reporters: Don't hesitate to contact me anytime and I welcome your thoughts on what I could do to improve PR at McAfee from a reporter's perspective. Also, ping me if you happen to know anyone experienced in reporting on security and looking for a new outlet, I'll be glad to pass the details on to the right people at CNET.

For the next two weeks I will still be at CNET, but obviously not covering anything related to McAfee or its competitors.

Queen's Day

Every year on April 30 the Dutch celebrate the monarchy. The date was chosen because it is the birthday of the late Queen Juliana (1909-2004). This year the Dutch celebrate Queen Beatrix's 27th anniversary of her accession to the throne. Some are speculating that this may be the last Queen's Day with Beatrix on the throne. Her son, prince Willem Alexander, may take over as head of state in the coming 12 months as his mother turns 70 and may abdicate.

Personally, I don't care much for the monarchy. But it is a great reason for a party. Here in San Francisco some Dutchies got together on Saturday for an Orange bash. I missed it, sadly.

Queen's Day, or Koninginnedag, is mainly known for being the one day in the year that everyone clears out their attics and garages to sell whatever they don't want anymore on the street in a giant vrijmarkt. The night before is celebrated as 'Koninginnenacht' (queen's night).

My uncle Peike sent me this picture of Queen's Day in Haarlem. Thanks!

Rufus Wainwright

My friend Christel invited me to go see Rufus Wainwright in concert at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco last Wednesday. I had not heard him before she asked me to come along, but then I am notoriously bad in remembering the names of artists and actors. At least one of his songs sounded familiar. Thanks to my subscription to Yahoo Music--highly recommended, though they jacked the fee recently--I caught up with his music prior to the concert. At the event though, much of what he and his band played was from a yet-t0-be-released album.

We had exclusive seats through sheer luck. Christel lost her original tickets and we called TicketMaster . New tickets would be waiting for us at the box office. We entered the auditorium and found out we were seated front row, center. The best seats in the house. The Wainwright fan next to us asked, after the show, how much we paid for the seats since they were being auctioned on eBay for $500!

The next day my friend Denis suggested I look up Rufus' history on Wikipedia. Like many artists, Rufus' is a pretty sad story that involves sexual and substance abuse. Wikipedia isn't always right, I know that from experience. But if it is even partially correct, then Rufus has had a rough life so far and he is still waiting for his big break.

I liked the concert, but it didn't make me an instant fan. The San Francisco Chronicle was also there and liked the performance more than I did. "Wainwright takes command, with talent overflowing," the review headline reads. It is hard to describe the music, a blend between pop and folk.

The outfits were impressive. In the words of the Chronicle: "Wainwright wore cream-colored striped pants, a gray vest and an ill-matching gold striped shirt, adorned with multiple brooches and bling. The seven members of his backup band also were attired in stripes with paste accents. They almost looked like a dance band from one of Jay Gatsby's little dos. All they needed were boaters."

CBC and Virginia Tech shootings

Driving back from Whistler to Vancouver to catch a flight to San Francisco (thanks United for shipping part of my luggage to LA instead!) I listened to a program called "Cross Country Checkup" on CBC radio, Canada's national broadcaster.

It is a talk radio show, but unlike anything you may expect on the AM band in the U.S. It is more like a serious conversation with listeners, much like one might hear on public radio in my native Netherlands. However, this would be on Radio 1, where most of the listeners probably have graying hair and aren't a real reflection of the country.

The conversation was interesting (listen in RealAudio.) The CBC had decided in the preceding week not to air any of the video's recorded by the killer in the Virginia Tech shootings, which had dominated much of the news. The videos added nothing new and broadcasting them could glorify the attacker and possibly provide an incentive for copy-cats, the CBC decided

All of the callers I heard agreed with the CBC's decision and were disgusted by the American media, NBC in particular, for airing Cho Seung-Hui videos. All were proud of CBC for showing restraint. (I didn't hear all the callers on the show, driving several hours meant changing frequency three times to keep listening.)

I disagree with CBS. Those videos are news and a news organization should show at least part of them. They provide a glimpse into the mind of this person. Broadcasting all of the material isn't needed, but just enough to provide people a look at the killer. This could possibly even help experts, counselors, class mates, prevent future dramas if they know now what to look for.

US news did go overboard, in particular cable news, but that's their job and that's what their audience expects. They did so with stories like Imus' flap and Anna Nicole's baby, which in my view are much less of a story than a tragedy such as the Virginia Tech shootings.

The Virginia Tech event was real news. People are curious and want to see every angle of the story broadcast live from where it happened. 24-hour cable channels deliver on that need. If you don't want to watch it, turn off the TV. (I got most of my news from the Web, including from MSNBC's Web site, where I saw Cho.)

My $0,02, since I was unable to call in on Sunday.

MacBook hacked at CanSecWest

You'll see my ski post and pic below, but the primary reason I was up in Vancouver was to attend the CanSecWest security conference. I wrote several stories about the event on News.com. The big headline came at the end of the week as a security researcher, with the help of a buddy, was able to breach a MacBook Pro through a vulnerability in QuickTime. The piece I wrote on that was the big hitter over the weekend. Its always interesting to see how such stories stir heated conversations in TalkBack, some with attacks on me and CNET. I won't take it personal.

And a shout out to fellow security reporters Rob Lemos, Ryan Naraine and Dan Goodin (in no particular order), its always fun to hang out with those guys at a Con, even if they talk about their families. Turns out I'm the only single guy of the bunch :)

Here's MacBook co-hacker Shane Macaulay doing his thing:

Whistler

Turned out that last weekend was the last weekend of skiing on Whistler mountain. It doesn't make much sense to me, since there were still epic conditions up on top. True, there is no snow left down in the village and skiing down to lower elevations equates almost to water skiing, but up higher it is great. Two days of skiing were wonderful and exceptionally quiet with barely any lift lines and no crowds on the slopes. I highly recommend Whistler and Blackcomb (which will be open for a bit longer) for spring skiing.

Gray Skies in Vancouver

Vancouver is only a two hour flight from San Francisco, yet it sounds so far away. Don't know why, perhaps the notion of being in a different country than the U.S., with money that actually has more colors than just green. Anyway, I am rambling from my room in Vancouver, looking out over Robson street, the downtown shopping strip here. The picture shows the intersection of Robson and Thurlow streets. This morning I discovered Tim Hortons for a quick and cheap breakfast, that should please the folks at CNET who have to pay my expenses.

Off to Vancouver!

The ski season has been cut somewhat short and has been snow-deprived in the California Sierra Nevada. However, I am heading up north to Vancouver for the CanSecWest security confab and am staying through the weekend to enjoy the spring skiing up at Whistler/Blackcomb. This will be my first time up in the Canadian snow. People have told me lots of great things about the resort though. Stay tuned for some more snow pictures, then its on to camping and mountains in the sun. (Image source: Ski Canada.)

Hello World!

Though it may look like this blog has existed for a long time, it hasn't in this form. I am being forced to move from my old Text America photo blog to a new blog because Text America is nixing its free service. So, while I am still able to access the old site, I am moving interesting posts over to this new blog hosted safely (I hope) on a server run by friend Denis. Enjoy!