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Security

Submission + - An analysis of OS X security problems.

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: OS X has been in the news a lot lately as malware is increasingly becoming an issue for the platform. This article gives an analysis of the security problems OS X has had from the start, debunking several myths and explaining why users have always been at risk. An interesting read, and very relevant with Lion on the horizon.
Lord of the Rings

Submission + - First Official Images from The Hobbit 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: We'll all have to wait until Dec. 14, 2012, for the full fruits of director Peter Jackson's labors on his two-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Hobbit. But, to tide us over, Jackson has shared the first images from his Lord of the Rings prequels with EW
Network

Submission + - $350 million dollars and they lost the URL?

Submitted by oetkb
oetkb writes: Either somebody at Disney is seeking gainful employment elsewhere today or the cartoon creator is currently taking the safety catches off their corporate lawyers. Kids site Club Penguin, bought by Disney for $350 mega-smackers some while back seems to have gone off the air due to a cock-up over domain renewals. Right now kids visiting the site paid for with their hard-earned subscriptions will be delighted by the image of a golfer slaughtering a putt — not exactly guaranteed to wow the after-school audience. Did Disney drop a clanger? Or are Network Solutions about to find a brace of lawyers up their backsides? Watch this (affiliated) space...
The Courts

Submission + - GPL in German court over routers (fsfe.org)

Submitted by
ciaran_o_riordan
ciaran_o_riordan writes: "Tomorrow, a German court will hear the case of AVM, a distributor of Linux-based routers, which seeks to block Cybits from distributing software that modifies the routers' software to add content filtering functionality. FSFE explains: "AVM justified its position using three arguments. First, they stated that their whole product software must be regarded as an entity under AVM copyright, and that this entity must not be modified. The position Mr Welte took was that the whole product software would in that case be a derivative work according to the GPL, and thus the whole product software should be licensed under the GNU GPL. AVM then switched to a second argument: that the software embedded on its DSL terminals consisted of several parts. According to Mr Welte, AVM could then not prohibit anyone from modifying or distributing the GPL licensed software parts. The final argument by AVM was that the software on their DSL terminals is a composition of several different programs, which, due to the creative process, would be a protected compilation and thus under the copyright of AVM and not affected by the copyleft of the GPL.""

Submission + - The Autistic Mouse (newswise.com)

Submitted by
lee1
lee1 writes: "Some autistic children are known to possess a mutation in a particular gene. Scientists have genetically engineered a mouse to have the same mutation, and claim that it exhibits autistic behaviors, as well as abnormal brain chemistry. In social interaction experiments, the mouse either avoided normal interactions or became inappropriately aggressive, behaviors that the Johns Hopkins researchers claim is similar to social behavior in autistic humans."
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - On the Ethics of TLD Censorship (vortex.com) 1

Submitted by NoOnesMessiah
NoOnesMessiah writes: I run my own name servers for a variety of reasons. Now, thanks to ICANN, I have to consider whether I go down the slippery slope of being a BS sifter by black-holing certain top-level domains.

Oh, I know those .TV, .WS, .INFO, and .CC TLDs are hiiiiiighly coveted, and I just can't wait for .COKE and .WALMART, but I can't help but think that brand-specific TLDs will be more abusive rather than useful. .RUSSIANMAFIA anyone? Can we get a .LULZSEC or .WIKILEAKS TLD while we're at it?

So my attitude it going to be, "use my name servers, deal with my real-world choices." Oh, I'm censoring all right. I know this. And its really going to help with the spam sorting and tagging. Question is, "as a network operator am I really over-stepping my bounds?" What do you think?

Submission + - Arrested for Possessing Information (nti.org) 1

Submitted by
lee1
lee1 writes: "A citizen of the UK, of Pakistani origin, has been arrested for possessing a recipe for the production of ricin, an extremely dangerous poison made from castor beans. He has also been charged with possessing some bomb-making instructions. He has not been accused of actually doing or having anything besides information. Some claim that you can find a ricin recipe on the web; others that the recipes are bogus. Either way, think twice about indulging your curiosity if you live in Britain."

Submission + - Assassin's Creed 4: Revelations Trailers, Gameplay (itechwhiz.com)

Submitted by
thomwerepa
thomwerepa writes: "Ubisoft has release several different Trailers, Teasers and Previews for Assassin’s Creed Revelations so far by, including the CG trailer that was hinted at in the Pre-E3 2001 Teaser. The other trailers showcase Gameplay and the Black Room.

The new trailers for Assassin's Creed: Revelations also offers some hints on the direction the modern-day portion of the story will be heading in. So let have a look at them one by one"
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Embraces The Hacking Community (tekgoblin.com)

Submitted by
tekgoblin
tekgoblin writes: "Microsoft Logo

ChevronWP7 made headlines last fall by giving Windows Phone 7 owners the opportunity to load applications from Windows onto Windows Phone 7 phones. Previously only approved apps could be downloaded, and if one wanted to create an app, a license and developer status had to be obtained from Microsoft."
China

Submission + - The End of Cheap Labor in China (time.com) 3

Submitted by hackingbear
hackingbear writes: The Time magazine reports, in what is supposed to be a land of unlimited cheap labor — a nation of 1.3 billion people, whose extraordinary 20-year economic rise has been built first and foremost on the backs of low-priced workers — the game has changed. In the past decade, real wages for manufacturing workers in China have grown nearly 12% per year. The hourly cost advantage, while still significant [comparing to the West], is shrinking rapidly. The changing economics of Made in China will benefit both the rich and poor world. Countries like Cambodia, Laos, India and Vietnam are picking up some of the cheapest labor manufacturing left by the Chinese. And there is already evidence of at least the beginning of a shift in manufacturing operations returning to the U.S. Perhaps we will soon stop picking at "Made in China" but instead complaining "Made in Vietnam/Cambodia", while serving the flood of Chinese tourists stocking up brand-name merchandises on US tours and Chinese students paying high tuitions to our cash-strapped universities.

Submission + - LulzSec members revealed by "LulzSec Exposed"? (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
mlauzon
mlauzon writes: "The antics by LulzSec over the past few weeks may have attracted a bit too much attention, at least for those involved in the group. Their veil of anonymity and fearlessness may be finally crumbling. Some unidentified individuals are taking matters into their own hands, feeding LulzSec a taste of their own medicine — revealing the identities of (suspected) LulzSec members to the world.

A new blog, LulzSec Exposed, began its first day on Blogspot with a mountain of IRC chat logs and personal information for a handful of LulzSec members: Kayla, BarretBrown, Joepie, Nakomis, and Topiary. Of these persons, Topiary admitted to being part of LulzSec via their official Twitter page. Three of these persons are from the United States, while one is from Sweden and one from the Netherlands. Mr. Brown has also contributed to various publications, including the Huffington Post and The Guardian.

Amongst the blog posts, there is also evidence that suggests some of the LulzSec members used to be part of Anonymous, based on similar IRC nicknames they use.

LulzSec has, not surprisingly, mocked the accuracy of the posted information. Despite that, the confident public face they put on while revealing their exploits on their site and in explaining their antics may be one giant facade, as members are being extra cautious thanks to the extra scrutiny they now face from the general public and authorities alike."

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