Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Security

Hackers Claim $10K Prize For StrongWebmail Breakin 193

Posted by Soulskill from the worth-their-while dept.
alphadogg writes "Telesign, a provider of voice-based authentication software, challenged hackers to break into its StrongWebmail.com Web site late last week. The prize: $10,000. On Thursday, a group of security researchers claimed to have won the contest, which challenged hackers to break into the Web mail account of StrongWebmail CEO Darren Berkovitz and report back details from his June 26 calendar entry. The hackers, led by Secure Science Chief Scientist Lance James and security researchers Aviv Raff and Mike Bailey, provided details from Berkovitz's calendar to IDG News Service. In an interview, Berkovitz confirmed those details were from his account. However, Berkovitz could not confirm that the hackers had actually won the prize. He said he would need to check to confirm that the hackers had abided by the contest rules, adding, 'if someone did it, we'll kind of put our heads down.'"
Security

Secret US List of Civil Nuclear Sites Released 167

Posted by Soulskill from the no-harm-no-foul-right dept.
eldavojohn writes "Someone accidentally released a 266-page report on hundreds of sites in the US for stockpiling and storing hazardous nuclear materials for civilian use. While some ex-officials and experts don't find it to be a serious breach, the Federation of American Scientists are calling it a 'a one-stop shop for information on US nuclear programs.' The document contains information about Los Alamos, Livermore and Sandia, and opinions seem to be split on whether it's a harmless list or terrorist risk. One thing is for sure: it was taken down after the New York Times inquired to the Government Accountability Office about it."
Government

Open Government Brainstorm Defies Wisdom of Crowds 709

Posted by Soulskill from the democracy-that's-easy-enough-for-stoners dept.
theodp writes "In May, the White House launched what it called an 'unprecedented online process for public engagement in policymaking.' Brainstorming was conducted in an effort to identify ways to 'strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness by making government more transparent, participatory, and collaborative.' So, what were some of the top vote-getters? Currently near the top of the list are Legalize Marijuana And Solve Many Tax Issues / Prison Issues (#2) and Remove Marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (#3). For those who remember Obama's earlier Online Town Hall, it's deja vu all over again."
Government

KGB Material Released By Cold War Project, Available Online 94

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the fewer-redactions-than-a-foia-request-about-yourself dept.
pha7boy writes "The Cold War International History Project just released the 'Vassiliev Notebooks.' The notebooks are an important new source of information on Soviet intelligence operations in the United States from 1930 to 1950. Though the KGB's archive remains closed, former KGB officer turned journalist Alexander Vassiliev was given the unique opportunity to spend two years poring over materials from the KGB archive taking detailed notes — including extended verbatim quotes — on some of the KGB's most sensitive files. Though Vassiliev's access was not unfettered, the 1,115 pages of densely handwritten notes that he was able to take shed new and important light on such critical individuals and topics as Alger Hiss, the Rosenberg case, and 'Enormous,' the massive Soviet effort to gather intelligence on the Anglo-American atomic bomb project. Alexander Vassiliev has donated his original copies of the handwritten notebooks to the Library of Congress with no restriction on access. They are available to researchers in the Manuscript Division."
Medicine

Gates Foundation Funds "Altruistic Vaccine" 259

Posted by samzenpus from the needles-with-a-heart dept.
QuantumG writes "The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a $100,000 grant to the University of Queensland, Australia to develop a vaccine against dengue fever, a disease spread by mosquitoes. Unlike other vaccines, the 'altruistic vaccine' doesn't specifically protect the individual being bitten, but instead protects the community by stopping the transmission of the pathogen from one susceptible individual to another. The hope is to do this by effectively making their blood poisonous to mosquitoes, either killing them or at least preventing them from feeding on other individuals. Professor Paul Young explained how his work fell outside current scientific traditions and might lead to significant advances in global health — he said he could envision the vaccine being used around the world within 10 years, and it would be designed to be cheap and easy to implement."
Cellphones

Apple May Loosen Restrictions With iPhone 3.0 178

Posted by kdawson from the minimallly-invasive dept.
mr100percent writes "Apple rejected the iPhone aggregator app Newspapers because of a topless photo in one of the app's subscribed-to papers. In the rejection message, Apple noted that Parental Controls have been announced for iPhone OS 3.0, adding that it 'would be appropriate to resubmit your application for review once this feature is available.' Rumor sites are speculating that Apple will relax their content restrictions once the 3.0 update puts parental controls in place. This may mean that apps like NIN will be allowed in the future."
Science

Nuclear Testing Helps Identify Fake Vintage Whiskey 366

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the nuclear-booze-coozie dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "Industry experts claim the market for vintage whiskey has been flooded with fakes that purport to be several hundred years old but instead contain worthless spirit made just a few years ago. Now researchers at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit have developed a method that can pinpoint the date a whiskey was made by detecting traces of radioactive particles created by nuclear bomb tests in the 1950s. '"It is easy to tell if whiskey is fake as if it has been produced since the middle of the twentieth century, it has a very distinctive signature," says Dr. Tom Higham, deputy director of the facility. Nuclear bomb testing in the 1950s saw levels of carbon-14 in the atmosphere rise around the world so the amount of isotope absorbed by living organisms since this time has been artificially elevated. Whiskey extracted from antique bottles is sent to the laboratory where scientists burn the liquid and bombard the resulting gas with electrically charged particles so they can measure the carbon-14 in the sample. In one recent case, a bottle of 1856 Macallan Rare Reserve was withdrawn from auction at Christies, where it was expected to sell for up to £20,000, after the scientists found it had actually been produced in 1950. "So far there have probably been more fakes among the samples we've tested than real examples of old whiskey," says Higham.'"

Comment Do-over (Score 4, Interesting) 238

by concernedadmin (#27594785) Attached to: Bell Proposing Usage-Based Billing

How much would it cost to rip up the ground and lay down more fiber? It seems like in most cases, a (natural?) monopoly results. When things get this bad, is there any chance that a new generation of telecommunications companies can spring up (perhaps with government subsidies to get them going)?
Government

When Politicians Tax Violent Video Games 315

Posted by samzenpus from the hands-in-the-cookie-jar dept.
talien79 writes "Taxing video games has a storied history in state legislatures. The reality is that video games, violent or otherwise, simply make too much money to be stopped. But taxing them is a viable compromise, a 'sin tax' of sorts similar to that levied on cigarettes. This article reviews the time-honored tactic of politicians pandering to their base: taxing violent video games."

Comment What could have been done? (Score 1) 485

by concernedadmin (#27480605) Attached to: Scientist Forced To Remove Earthquake Prediction

Suppose the earthquake's precise location and time were known -- what then? Would there have been any way to spread out the total damage either over a larger time interval or over a greater radial distance?

We can somewhat control fires: we have a preventative measure -- public education and we have a cure -- firefighters. We can somewhat control floods: we have levees. We can't control tornadoes very well, though perhaps with some cloud seeding, we might be able to in the future.

But how does society mitigate the effects of earthquakes, especially in areas with very ancient architecture?

Comment Re:I run Debian, and I run FreeBSD. (Score 1) 425

by concernedadmin (#27469821) Attached to: Debian Gets FreeBSD Kernel Support

FreeBSD
*is more secure (apparently, i don't know enough to be sure but they're development model and security results do tend to suggest this)

Citation needed. Also, their not they're.

*has zfs,

Btrfs, the response to ZFS, was merged into 2.6.29. If you really want ZFS, there is ZFS via FUSE, but since the start I've read of complaints regarding the slow performance.

*etc

If your other points aren't substantial, then you "etc" is meaningless.

Comment Re:Video games (Score 5, Funny) 33

by concernedadmin (#26682215) Attached to: Involving Kids In Free Software Through Games

Do you all want to be a parent of some soul-less little pokemon-playing faggot glued to a monitor during all of their waking hours? Do you want to teach them that escapism is an acceptable way to deal with life? Do you want your kid to be the overweight, friendless baby-talker who reads lame fantasy books all day? Do you want to raise somebody who will grow to be 300 pounds and who will want to live with you rent-free through their adulthood, urinating in a bucket they keep in their room and emerging only to ask for your money?

Yes. Like father, like son.
Education

Involving Kids In Free Software Through Games 33

Posted by Soulskill from the works-better-than-stapling-them-to-a-linux-cd dept.
SynrG writes "Platinum Arts Sandbox puts into childrens' hands the ability to role play in a 3D world and edit that world using simplified controls. The expressions on the faces of our kids as they played were priceless; both the ups and the downs. I wanted to capture this on video and share it. After having established a rapport with upstream, we took a 20 minute clip of one of our play sessions and gave a copy to them to use to help further their work. Here is the edited result. They were very pleased to have that kind of feedback and found the video valuable for determining where the software still needed improvement and to notice which aspects particularly pleased the children."
Sci-Fi

Difficult Times For SF Magazines 218

Posted by kdawson from the genre-you-save-may-be-your-own dept.
Lawrence Person writes "Another speculative fiction magazine folds: Realms of Fantasy is ceasing publication. This comes hot on the heels of the announcement that the venerable Fantasy and Science Fiction will be moving from a monthly to a bimonthly schedule, and underscores what a tough environment this is for science fiction and fantasy magazines, all of which have suffered declining circulation for quite some time. This is a real problem, since short fiction is generally where new writers cut their teeth, appearing in print alongside their more famous peers. Given that a one-year subscription costs less than the average video game, those with an interest in science fiction might want to consider buying subscriptions to Asimov's, Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Analog. (Those in the UK might want to add Interzone and/or Black Static and Postscripts as well.)"

Slashdot Top Deals

Remember, UNIX spelled backwards is XINU. -- Mt.

Close