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Submission + - Nagios Plugins web site taken over by nagios (monitoring-plugins.org) 1

Submitted by hymie!
hymie! writes: Holger Weiß , formerly of nagios-plugins.org, announced that "Yesterday, the DNS records [of nagios-plugins.org] were modified to point to web space controlled by Nagios Enterprises instead. This change was done without prior notice. To make things worse, large parts of our web site were copied and are now served (with slight modifications) by . Again, this was done without contacting us, and without our permission. This means we cannot use the name 'Nagios Plugins' any longer." Announcement here, discussion here

Comment Re:Too little, too late? (Score 1) 132

by dermoth666 (#43379443) Attached to: New Skype Malware Uses Victims' Machines To Mine Bitcoins

Indeed - from experience an average computer with standard GPU will do between 2 and 20 Mhash/s (not all GPUs will be usable, and most computers around with usable GPUs will have low-end ones). The best GPU's will make a whooping 600 to 900 Mhash/s, and even with that it'll be pretty hard to compete against the ASIC rigs - there's already devices making 60 Ghash/s (60,000 Mhash/s), and the upcoming rigs will do up to 1,500 Ghash/s (that's 1,500,000 Mhash/s!). In a few months the network difficulty will be so high even the best GPU's won't earn anything from mining....

They might make a little bit of cash now if they can infect a lot of computers, but it won't last for long...
Privacy

Cryptographers Break Commonly Used RC4 Cipher 90

Posted by timothy from the do-it-one-nanotimes dept.
Sparrowvsrevolution writes "At the Fast Software Encryption conference in Singapore earlier this week, University of Illinois at Chicago Professor Dan Bernstein presented a method for breaking TLS and SSL web encryption when it's combined with the popular stream cipher RC4 invented by Ron Rivest in 1987. Bernstein demonstrated that when the same message is encrypted enough times--about a billion--comparing the ciphertext can allow the message to be deciphered. While that sounds impractical, Bernstein argued it can be achieved with a compromised website, a malicious ad or a hijacked router." RC4 may be long in the tooth, but it remains very widely used.

Comment 64bit coLinux! (Score 1) 356

by dermoth666 (#42941011) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What Does the FOSS Community Currently Need?

One thing that would be awesome is a 64bit coLinux port!

coLinux is a win32 application with drivers that lets you run a Linux kernel with userspace natively in Windows - it is much lighter than any virtualisation option out there, and using Xming you can easily run GUI apps that launch and run just as well as if they were natively ported to windows.

Unfortunately the drivers were never ported to 64-bit, and thus is it now useless on all but the oldest computers out there. A 64-bit coLinux port would be a requirement to getting this awesome project back on its rails.

See:
http://www.colinux.org/
http://colinux.wikia.com/wiki/Dashboard_for_developing_a_64_bit_coLinux

And also andLinux - which offered an easy way to install and configure coLinux - think of it like coLinux being the Linux kernel and andLinux the Linux distribution...
http://www.andlinux.org/

I would love to be able to use coLinux again on my work PC, which (unfortunately) has to run Windows.
Input Devices

Ask Slashdot: Keyboard Layout To Reduce Right Pinky/Ring Finger Usage? 165

Posted by Soulskill from the try-upgrading-the-firmware-on-your-hands dept.
Tooke writes "I've developed focal hand dystonia from playing clarinet. It affects my right pinky (and my ring finger, but to a lesser extent). My pinky isn't totally unusable when typing; however, it isn't nearly as agile as it used to be. When I must press a key with it, I tend to keep the whole finger rigid and move my entire hand instead. I also use my ring finger to press the P and semicolon keys (on QWERTY) which is a bit awkward but better than using the pinky. Thus my question: are there any keyboard layouts that are optimized to reduce right pinky/ring finger usage? I switched to Programmer Dvorak a few years ago, but Dvorak seems to make me use my right hand significantly more than my left. I'm considering mirroring the letter keys so my left hand would be used more. I also came across the Workman layout which looks interesting. I might try using that after switching the numbers and symbols around to be more like Programmer Dvorak. Has anyone been in a similar situation? What else could I do to make typing more comfortable? I've got a long career ahead of me as a programmer (I'm currently a high school senior) and I'd like to take care of my hands as much as possible."
Technology

Video Plantronics Helps Make Remote Workers' Lives Easier (Video) Screenshot-sm 233

Posted by Roblimo from the whatever-you-just-said-made-no-sense dept.
If you're working at home or from a coffee shop or, really, anyplace outside your company's offices, they need to hear you when you talk, and you need to hear them. The same goes for dealing with clients via VOIP or video, the two communications techologies that seem to be driving POTS into obsolescence faster than we thought possible just a few years ago. In this video, Plantronics PR person Karen Auby -- who works remotely most of the time herself -- explains how Plantronics products help make work easier in a world of "unified communications."
Facebook

PayPal Launches Facebook App For Sending Money 66

Posted by samzenpus from the like-this dept.
angry tapir writes "PayPal has launched a Facebook application designed to let users of the social networking site send money to each other. The application, named Send Money, features a greeting card component for accompanying the money transfer with an e-card containing a message, photos and videos to mark occasions like birthdays and anniversaries."
Earth

Meet the Saber-Toothed Squirrel 59

Posted by samzenpus from the we're-going-to-need-a-bigger-acorn dept.
sciencehabit writes "Researchers have discovered the fossil remains of a 94-million-year-old squirrel-like critter with a long, narrow snout and a pair of curved saber-fangs that it would have likely used to pierce its insect prey. The creature, pieced together from skull fragments unearthed in Argentina and dubbed Cronopio dentiacutus, was not ancestral to us or any living mammal. Instead, it belonged to an extinct group called dryolestoids, a cadre of fuzzy mammals that scurried about in the shadow of long-necked dinosaurs."

Comment Re:To-Do lists (Score 1) 314

by dermoth666 (#37475346) Attached to: I tend to keep random notes most often ...

Right. I answered "Post-it Notes", but I didn't count emails. I do exactly the same, and also at the end of the day I take a picture of whatever urgent is left on my post-it's and email myself. Obviously after making sure the image is readable I leave the email unread ;)
The Military

US Military Moving Closer To Automated Killing 472

Posted by Soulskill from the paging-john-connor dept.
Doofus writes "A recent article in the Washington Post, A future for drones: Automated killing, describes the steady progress the military is making toward fully autonomous networks of targeting and killing machines. Does this (concern|scare|disgust) any of you? Quoting: 'After 20 minutes, one of the aircraft, carrying a computer that processed images from an onboard camera, zeroed in on the tarp and contacted the second plane, which flew nearby and used its own sensors to examine the colorful object. Then one of the aircraft signaled to an unmanned car on the ground so it could take a final, close-up look. Target confirmed. This successful exercise in autonomous robotics could presage the future of the American way of war: a day when drones hunt, identify and kill the enemy based on calculations made by software, not decisions made by humans. Imagine aerial "Terminators," minus beefcake and time travel.' The article goes on to discuss the dangers of surrendering to fully autonomous killing, concerns about the potential for 'atrocities,' and the nature of what we call 'common sense.'"
Android

Intel, Google Team To Optimize Android For Smartphones 187

Posted by Soulskill from the get-on-that dept.
angry tapir writes "Intel and Google announced on Tuesday that they would partner to optimize future versions of the Android OS for smartphones and other mobile devices using Intel chips. Intel CEO Paul Otellini demonstrated a smartphone with the upcoming Medfield chip running on Android during a keynote at the Intel Developer Conference being held in San Francisco. However, Otellini didn't mention the version of Android running on the smartphone. Intel wants to make x86 the architecture of choice for smartphones, and porting Android will provide a larger opportunity to the chip maker in the smartphone market, Otellini said."
Businesses

Algorithmic Trading Rapidly Replacing Need For Humans 331

Posted by Soulskill from the digitizing-greed-and-fear dept.
DMandPenfold writes "Algorithmic trading, also known as high frequency trading (HFT), is rapidly replacing human decision making, according to a UK government panel which warned that the right regulations need to be introduced to protect stock markets. Around one third of share trading in the UK is conducted by computers fulfilling commands based on complex algorithms, said the Foresight panel in a working paper published yesterday. Nevertheless, this proportion is significantly lower than in the U.S., where three-quarters of equity dealing is computer generated. The Foresight panel, led by Dame Clara Furse, the former chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, argued that there are both benefits and severe risks to algorithmic trading. There was 'no direct evidence' that the computer trading in itself increased volatility, it said, but in specific circumstances it was possible for a series of events with 'undesired interactions and outcomes' to occur and cause massive damage."
Security

Apple Criticized For Not Blocking Stolen Certs 154

Posted by samzenpus from the I-am-disappoint dept.
CWmike writes "A security researcher is criticizing Apple for lagging with its response to the DigiNotar certificate fiasco. He is urging the company to quickly update Mac OS X to protect users. 'We're looking at some very serious issues [about trust on the Web] and it doesn't help matters when Apple is dragging its feet,' said Paul Henry, a security and forensics analyst with Lumension. Unlike Microsoft, which updated Windows on Tuesday to block all SSL certificates issued by DigiNotar, Apple has not updated Mac OS X to do the same. Meanwhile, even Mac OS X users who want to go DIY are stymied, reports Bob McMillan, because the OS can't properly revoke dodgy digital certificates."
Windows

Microsoft 'Ribbonizes' Windows 8 File Manager 951

Posted by Soulskill from the statistically-driven-interface dept.
CWmike writes "Microsoft said today it will 'ribbonize' the file manager in next year's Windows 8, adding Explorer to the short list of integrated applications that already sport the interface in Windows 7. Microsoft's Alex Simons, director of program management, released screenshots of the new ribbon interface planned for Explorer (scroll way down). 'We evaluated several different UI command affordances including expanded versions of the Vista/Windows 7 command bar, Windows 95/Windows XP style toolbars and menus, several entirely new UI approaches, and the Office style ribbon,' explained Simons. 'Of these, the ribbon approach offered benefits in line with our goals.' Plans by Microsoft and others to ribbonize applications have often met resistance. 'We knew that using a ribbon for Explorer would likely be met with skepticism by a set of power users, but there are clear benefits,' Simons said."
Patents

Appeals Court Makes It Easier To Dump Software Patents 109

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the your-thoughts-are-infringing dept.
An anonymous reader writes "While software patents are still legal, it appears that the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, sometimes known as the nation's 'patent court' has just made a decision that will make it much easier to reject software patents for being mere 'mental processes'" rather than an actual invention. This could allow the Patent Office and the courts to reject many software patents."

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