From the beginning, one of the key elements to my high-def HTPC was the ability to write recorded shows to DVD. I didn’t include this functionality into my HTPC until recently. With the price of decent DVD burners dropping into the $35 range, there’s really no excuse not to have one. (In my case, newegg sweetened the deal by offering a 50-pack of RiData DVD+R discs for only $9) Since Windows XP has native CD burning capabilities, I wondered if it would burn DVDs as well. (it doesn’t) Not wanting to buy another full-featured DVD burning product, I did a quick search on the web and downloaded a few promising titles. One that turned out to be amazingly good was CDBurner XP Pro. This program is totally free, but has more features than many titles costing upwards of $40. Not only that, but it’s easy to use as well. If you’re building a new system, or just looking for a replacement to your old burning software, give this title a try. If you like it, consider sending the developers a donation too..

SCADA industry debates flaw disclosure

This story caught my eye, not because it was yet another vulnerability article, but because it deals with systems that power the critical infrastructure behind industries like power plants and hospitals. The problem it seems is that the industry has been slow to adapt to the changing security environment because they feel they are apart from it. While most of these systems are isolated from the internet, that doesn’t mean they can’t be attacked. Hopefully the dialog between security researchers and the industry will help to foster a better effort from these vendors. Imagine a hacker taking out power for an entire city, or even a region. The consequenses could be quite severe.