Comment News? (Score -1, Flamebait) 151
IE only browser to leave this unpatched. What a surprise! Everyony but microshaft fixes security bugs promptly while M$ pursues shiny. This is news?
Submission + - 1978 Cryptosystem Resists Quantum Attack (technologyreview.com) 1
KentuckyFC writes: In 1978, the CalTech mathematician Robert McEliece developed a cryptosystem based on the (then) new idea of using asymmetric mathematical functions to create different keys for encrypting and decrypting information. The security of these systems relies on mathematical steps that are easy to make in one direction but hard to do in the other. The most famous example is multiplication. It is easy to multiply two numbers together to get a third but hard to start with the third number and work out which two generated it, a process called factorisation. Today, popular encryption systems such as the RSA algorithm use exactly this idea. But in 1994, the mathematician Peter Shor dreamt up a quantum algorithm that could factorise much faster than any classical counterpart and so can break these codes. As soon as the first decent-sized quantum computer is switched on, these codes will become breakable. Since then, cryptographers have been hunting for encryption systems that will be safe in the post quantum world. Now a group of mathematicians have shown that the McEliece encryption system is safe against attack by Shor's algorithm and all other known quantum algorithms. That's because it does not depend on factorisation but gets its security from another asymmetric conundrum known as the hidden subgroup problem which they show is immune to all known quantum attacks (although the work says nothing about its safety against new quantum (or classical) attacks).
Submission + - Cosmic accelerators discovered in Milky Way (physicscentral.com)
Flash Modin writes: The world's largest cosmic ray detector, the Pierre Auger Observatory, has found natural particle accelerators living in our own galaxy. The UCLA astronomers say these ultra-high-energy cosmic rays are being shot from exploding stars. While such explosions have been seen in other galaxies, this is the first such detection anywhere in our neighborhood. The scientists realized they were detecting something bizarre when they noticed their detectors were gathering far more nuclei than any known theory could account for."When the data came out, they were so unexpected that many people started questioning the applicability of known laws of physics at high energy," UCLA Physicist Alexander Kusenko said in a press release. "The common lore has been that all ultra-high-energy cosmic rays must come from outside the galaxy." The solution is that while nuclei from stellar explosions usually disintegrate very fast, these nuclei were trapped in a galactic magnetic field where they traveled for millions of years before striking the earth's upper atmosphere.
Submission + - Sun's 'quiet period' explained (bbc.co.uk)
Arvisp writes: Solar physicists may have discovered why the Sun recently experienced a prolonged period of weak activity.
The most recent so-called "solar minimum" occurred in December 2008.
Its drawn-out nature extended the total length of the last solar cycle — the repeating cycle of the Sun's activity — to 12.6 years, making it the longest in almost 200 years. The new research suggests that the longer-than-expected period of weak activity may have been linked to changes in the way a hot soup of charged particles called plasma circulated in the Sun.
The most recent so-called "solar minimum" occurred in December 2008.
Its drawn-out nature extended the total length of the last solar cycle — the repeating cycle of the Sun's activity — to 12.6 years, making it the longest in almost 200 years. The new research suggests that the longer-than-expected period of weak activity may have been linked to changes in the way a hot soup of charged particles called plasma circulated in the Sun.
Submission + - 20 new ideas in science (newstatesman.com)
Rob writes: "From switching off the aging process to genetically enhancing our babies; understanding consciousness to finding dark matter, or finding extraterrestrial life. The New Statesman takes a look at cutting edge science thinking with 20 new ideas in science."
Submission + - Neighborhood Watch for Dummies?
smalljobbigcheck writes: Despite our somewhat remote location in the Oakland Hills, our neighborhood has been experiencing a disconcerting rise in break-ins or thefts due to windows or garages left open (doh!), but now also a stolen vehicle, just recovered but missing engine and transmission. In addition to day workers (housecleaning, yardwork, construction, trees), we are close to park and trail entrances that also attract non-residents. We have raised neighborhood awareness and tightened security. We are doing our best to keep an eye out for suspicious activities... but our best is clearly not cutting it. We are recording license numbers of unfamiliar vehicles, and in the process of putting up bilingual neighborhood watch signs; there has also been discussion of using webcams. What are the most cost-effective webcam solutions for outdoor use outdoors? At night? Over distances? What are the most effective crime prevention techniques for more isolated neighborhoods?
Submission + - Virtualization with NetBSD made easy (lumbercartel.ca)
lumbercartel.ca writes: I wrote a "how-to" document recently that explains, step-by-step, how to install and configure Xen on NetBSD as Dom0 on 64-bit Intel/AMD hardware that supports VT, and configure it to virtualize Operating Systems like MS-Windows/ReactOS using the hardware virtualization layer (HVM). The reason I wrote this document was to help people in IRC (mostly on irc.freenode.net#netbsd) who were asking how to do this (people have also been very helpful to me in this channel, and I felt obligated to contribute to others).
If you're new to virtualization, or have a need or an interest in this, or just haven't tried Xen before, then this document will save you a lot of time and hassle with setting up NetBSD as the Dom0 (the host) for the first time. Although this is a technical document, it was written to be "easy to follow" even for those who aren't familiar with NetBSD. A basic understanding of Unix/Linux is very important.
This solution is working reliably for me in 5 completely unrelated production environments, and it seems to make the Windows OS run faster than a "bare metal" configuration (without any virtualization), which is a particularly nice benefit; one example is the installation of Adobe Reader for Windows, which requires a lot of time to install — under Xen virtualization, it typically finishes in up to 1/4 of the time compared to a "bare metal" MS-Windows install on the same hardware. I suspect that NetBSD is also helping with disk I/O to some extent, and I wonder if Windows also has less hardware to contend with since Xen may only providing what is necessary to each DomU.
If you're new to virtualization, or have a need or an interest in this, or just haven't tried Xen before, then this document will save you a lot of time and hassle with setting up NetBSD as the Dom0 (the host) for the first time. Although this is a technical document, it was written to be "easy to follow" even for those who aren't familiar with NetBSD. A basic understanding of Unix/Linux is very important.
This solution is working reliably for me in 5 completely unrelated production environments, and it seems to make the Windows OS run faster than a "bare metal" configuration (without any virtualization), which is a particularly nice benefit; one example is the installation of Adobe Reader for Windows, which requires a lot of time to install — under Xen virtualization, it typically finishes in up to 1/4 of the time compared to a "bare metal" MS-Windows install on the same hardware. I suspect that NetBSD is also helping with disk I/O to some extent, and I wonder if Windows also has less hardware to contend with since Xen may only providing what is necessary to each DomU.
Submission + - Apple's web site hacked.
amitava writes: Apple's discussion web page http://discussions.apple.com/ has been hacked.
Instead of links it now shows only showing the text "have fun, by tojen".
Other web pages under this appear to be working, there's even a discussion on this down below, but the main page is still hacked.
Instead of links it now shows only showing the text "have fun, by tojen".
Other web pages under this appear to be working, there's even a discussion on this down below, but the main page is still hacked.
Submission + - Protesters Gather At Google Headquarters; 600 Goog (sfweekly.com)
jamie writes: "ââHundreds of Google employees sign petition against Google-Verizon pact, petition's organizers tell SF WeeklyToday at noon, roughly 100..."
Submission + - Man fends off polar bear with punch to the nose - (thestar.com)
Submission + - How do you organize your experimental data?
digitalderbs writes: As a researcher in the physical sciences, I have generated thousands of experimental datasets that need to be sorted and organized--a problem which many of you have had to deal with as well, no doubt. I've sorted my data with an elaborate system of directories and symbolic links to directories that sort my data by sample, pH, experimental type, and other qualifiers, but I've found that through the years, I've needed to move, rename, and reorganize these directories and links, which have left me with thousands of dangling links and a heterogeneous naming scheme. What have you done to organize, tag and add metadata to your data, and how have you dealt with redirecting thousands of symbolic links at a time?
Submission + - Quick Question: Encrypted Video Chat?
Smoother Schmoozer writes: Quick Question: Encrypted Video Chat?
I am in a long-distance relationship with a beautiful woman. We would like to try internet sex. We are worried about the privacy of the video. And before anyone asks, we are both many years above legal age in both our countries.
Out current setup is encrypted text using Pidgin with Off the Record plugin to run a Yahoo chat account + a second Yahoo chat account for unencrypted video... (I chose this setup because it allows encrypted chat + it will run in a restricted user account)
Is there a way I can get an encrypted video session with her?
Thanks,
Smoother Schmoozer
I am in a long-distance relationship with a beautiful woman. We would like to try internet sex. We are worried about the privacy of the video. And before anyone asks, we are both many years above legal age in both our countries.
Out current setup is encrypted text using Pidgin with Off the Record plugin to run a Yahoo chat account + a second Yahoo chat account for unencrypted video... (I chose this setup because it allows encrypted chat + it will run in a restricted user account)
Is there a way I can get an encrypted video session with her?
Thanks,
Smoother Schmoozer
Submission + - How Much Faster Is Konqueror With WebKit? (digitizor.com)
An anonymous reader writes: We always knew that WebKit is going to make Konqueror fast; but how much faster? Today we test that by putting Konqueror with KHTML through the SunSpider JavaScript Test and the then do the same with WebKit. To get an idea of how fast they are compared to other browsers, we also decided to put Firefox 4.0 Beta 2 through the tests.
Submission + - 100-year-old Scotch pulled from frozen crate - Yah (yahoo.com) 1
jamie writes: "A crate of Scotch whisky that was trapped in Antarctic ice for a century was finally opened Friday — but the heritage dram won't be tasted by whisky lovers because it's being preserved for its historical significance."
Submission + - What's the state of the art of anonymous browsing? 7
enter your name writes: Most techies have a basic idea of how to stay anonymous when surfing websites. But what should you do when your life may depend on being able to hide your identity and location from the website operators? My mundane sysadmin job has taken a very strange turn recently (which I will not go into, for obvious reasons) and I need to be really, really sure that I can never be identified by the server or content owners of certain websites. I thought I knew what I was doing, using anonymous http proxy websites, google cache, etc. But recently a popup ad appeared on a site and the ad was customized for my exact city. Cookies? Or maybe my browser is somehow telling more than I think it is? And what about embedded content that comes from a different server? Not all anonymous http proxies I've seen can deliver all the content on today's complex websites. So you get either broken web content or links that are not safe to click on.
I'd really like to hear what Slashdot users think are the best practices for anonymous web browsing.
I'd really like to hear what Slashdot users think are the best practices for anonymous web browsing.
