SunRocket is one of the more impressive VoIP providers in the United States. The company keeps everything simple. Signing up for the service and getting it going are fairly simple. Even the pricing is uncomplicated: $199 per year. But the company announced a new plan on Tuesday: a $9.95-per-month offering that includes enhanced 911 service; free calling features such as call waiting, caller ID, and three-way calling; 200 minutes of global calling; and unlimited inbound and SunRocket-to-SunRocket Internet phone calling. The SunRocket $9.95-per-month plan provides unlimited inbound calling plus 200 minutes of outbound calling to the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico, along with Enhanced 911. All taxes are included, and extra phone numbers and enhanced voice mail can be added for $3 per month each. Customers who purchase the service can also make unlimited Internet phone calls to other SunRocket subscribers for free, providing friends and family the opportunity to keep in touch as much as they want, without adding a cent to their monthly bill (see SunRocket’s 25M VoIP Launch).

Researcher Uncovers Cisco Flaws, Again

Mike Lynn, the security researcher who uncovered and then publicly announced vulnerabilities in Cisco Systems’ router software earlier this year, claims to have discovered 15 more flaws. According to a piece in Wired News on Tuesday, three of the flaws can give an attacker entrée to Cisco’s routing and gateway hardware. The intruder can then run malicious code on the router. “That’s the one that really scares me,” Mr. Lynn told the publication, noting that the bug he revealed in July only affected routers configured in certain ways or with certain features. The new one, he said, “is in a piece of code that is so critical to the system that just about every configuration will have it. It’s more part of the core code and less of a feature set,” he added. Mr. Lynn, who now works for Cisco competitor Juniper Networks, told Wired News that his former employer Internet Security Systems has known about additional flaws in the Cisco software for months but hasn’t told Cisco about them. Cisco did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Where on Earth Is Macedonia?

Covering open-source technology can sometimes take a reporter to some fairly unusual parts of the globe. A story in the GNOME Journal really extends one’s coverage area. We don’t mean to slight the wonderful people of Macedonia, but when was the last time a Macedonian story hit the wires? News hit the wires this week with a story that the Republic of Macedonia decided to deploy 5,000 Linux desktop computers in 468 public schools and 182 computer labs nationwide last summer, based on an Ubuntu distribution with a GNOME desktop, the GNOME Journal reports. The country has a population of 2 million, and Internet penetration of about 5 percent. Macedonia gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, but recognition of its independence was delayed by Greece’s objections. Greece finally lifted its trade blockade in 1995, and the two countries agreed to normalize relations, although differences over Macedonia’s name remain.

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