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Security

Submission + - Residential intrusion detection

Submitted by GodfatherofSoul
GodfatherofSoul writes: For the past 5 years that I've been in my house, I've noticed what I would call nuisance attempts to either peer into or enter my home. Before I secured my window wells and trimmed back some shrubs, I'd noticed on many occasions the covers would be completely removed *windows remain secure). Before I installed a motion sensor light, I'd find my backyard gates unlatched.

The last "hole" is my garage door opener. Very frequently when I've left the house for extended periods (over 24 hours), I'll come home to find the remote key pad with the cover open as if it were used. I've rigged the garage door before and I don't think anyone has ever entered through it, but I don't doubt someone has been plugging in random numbers trying to get in.

I'm in a good neighborhood with nosey neighbors, so I don't expect more than "industrious" teenagers at work. But, I would like to surreptitiously see who's doing it without them seeing me. I'm on a typical residential street, so I don't have options like a wildlife camera. Again, I'm not interested in installing some whole-house security camera system. What I want is a localized system that I can put in place to detect when someone is at the keypad using it and preferably record that content while I'm away. Any ideas, Slashdotters?
Security

Submission + - US warns users of new Citadel ransomware hit (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "The nasty Trojan known as Citadel malware, which is based on Zeus, has typically been used to extort money from online banking users, but a new variant is making the rounds that tries to get your money by saying you looked at child porn sites and must pay a violation fee to the U.S. Department of Justice. This variation, called Reveton, lures the victim to a drive-by download website, at which time the ransomware is installed on the user's computer, says the U.S. Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Once installed, the computer freezes and a screen is displayed warning the user they have violated United States Federal Law."
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Spectrum segment for medical devices opened by FCC (patexia.com)

Submitted by
sarfralogy
sarfralogy writes: "The average doctor’s phone and computer are likely both wireless — and soon many of his or her patients can be as well.
The FCC announced on May 24 that it’s assigning 40 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum for wireless medical tracking devices, called medical body area devices, or MBANs. This will be on a shared basis with, would you believe test pilots in the defense and aerospace sectors? It’s true. The announcement caps several years of negotiations between the FCC; two major manufacturers of medical monitors, General Electric and Phillips; and the flight industry’s Aerospace and Flight Test Radio Coordinating Council."
The Internet

Submission + - UN Takeover of Internet Must be Stopped, US Warns (cnet.com) 1

Submitted by
benfrog
benfrog writes: "In a rare show of bipartisan agreement, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle warned this morning that a United Nations summit in December will lead to a virtual takeover of the Internet if proposals from China, Russia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia are adopted. Called the World Conference on International Telecommunications, the summit would consider proposals including "[using] international mandates to charge certain Web destinations on a 'per-click' basis to fund the build-out of broadband infrastructure across the globe" and allowing ""governments to monitor and restrict content or impose economic costs upon international data flows." Concerns regarding the possible proposals were both aired at a congressional hearing this morning and drafted in a congressional resolution (pdf)."
Music

MusOpen Releases Open Source Classical Music As Pro Tools Files 83

Posted by timothy from the now-it's-yours dept.
VVrath writes "Following Tuesday's story about MuseScore releasing its open source recording of the Goldberg Variations, the Musopen project has released ProTools files from its open source recording project. The final edited recordings are still being worked on but it seems we're living in very interesting times regarding open source classical music."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Research Releases Cliplets Software for making "Harry Potter" photos (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Have you every wanted to create your own "Harry Potter" photos?, well one of Micrsosoft Research's latest projects called Cliplets, unveiled at Microsoft’s own TechFest 2012, is a free piece of software that video enthusiasts–consumer and professional–may enjoy.

Cliplets is video manipulation software and explores the space between still and video media. The software allows the user to take a moment in time from a home video, and focus on looping the action of one object, while all other actions surrounding that object remain frozen in time. For instance, say you took a video of a waterfall, but the camera is shaking and some hikers walked into your shot toward the end. You can isolate the waterfall as one object and make it loop, allowing you to create a dynamic photo; the waterfall still falling, but everything else standing still. Imagery like this (similar to cinemagraphs) typically take some difficult Photoshop editing to pull off, which makes Microsoft's new Cliplets software a cool point of entry for amateur photographers.
Facebook

Submission + - Facebook Brand Timelines? Meh. (gabardine.com)

Submitted by Hieronymus.N
Hieronymus.N writes: Facebook launched their new Brand Timelines this week, and the tubes lit up with reviews and commentary about the new features. Reviews have been consistently positive and enthusiastic, with everyone from Mashable to Forbes verily gushing about the superiority of this latest advancement over the old way brands were able to use FB—better photos! Better layout! Private messages!

This latest ‘breakthrough’ may be better than what came before, but it’s still incredibly weak in comparison with what’s possible. In short, FB pages for brands, Brand Timelines and all, still suck.
Intel

Submission + - Fastest Ultrabook Yet: Dell's XPS 13 (hothardware.com)

Submitted by
MojoKid
MojoKid writes: "The ultrabook onslaught continues with offerings from virtually all the major players. Dell's first effort in the new ultralight notebook category is the XPS 13. Built on a low power Intel Core i7-2637M mobile processor, backed with a 256GB 6Gbps mSATA SSD and 4GB of RAM, the XPS 13 is actually one of the fastest ultrabooks out there right now. Its display is nicely setup too, with a 13.3-inch LCD that has edge-to-edge glass. Dell actually managed to squeeze a 13.3-inch panel into what is essentially a 12-inch form factor. Finally, it appears ultrabooks could give the Apple MacBook Air a run for its money."
Cloud

Submission + - Microsoft's Azure cloud down and out for 8 hours (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by dcraid
dcraid writes: Microsoft's cloudy platform, Windows Azure, is experiencing a major outage: at the time of writing, its service management system had been down for about seven hours worldwide.

A customer described the problem to The Register as an "admin nightmare" and said they couldn't understand how such an important system could go down.

"This should never happen," said our source. "The system should be redundant and outages should be confined to some data centres only."
HP

Submission + - TouchPad to run Android thanks to TouchDroid (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: By now, there’s a massive number of brand new owners of the HP TouchPad tablet. Compared to other tablets in the market, it's is still a major competitor when it comes to hardware, and yet it’s only $99 if you can find one. What happens when that “new gadget smell” wears off, and you’re left with a tablet that isn’t likely to get any better than it is right now? Eventually, you’ll be able to put Android on it.
Cellphones

Cell Phone Interception At Def Con 95

Posted by Soulskill from the can-i-hear-you-now dept.
ChrisPaget writes "I'm planning a pretty significant demonstration of GSM insecurity at Defcon next week, where I'll intercept and record cellular calls made by my attendees, live on-stage, no user-input required. As you can imagine, intercepting cellphones is a Very Big Deal in the eyes of the law; this blog post is an attempt to reassure everyone that their privacy is being taken seriously despite the nature of the demo. I'm not just making it up either — the EFF have helped significantly with the details."
Image

Plagiarism Inc. Screenshot-sm 236

Posted by samzenpus from the cheating-is-easy-money dept.
Here's an interesting article on the life and times of 24-year-old Jordan Kavoosi, who has made a business of plagiarism. His Essay Writing Company employs writers from across the country, and will deliver a paper on any subject for $23 per page. In addition, his company will get it done in 48 hours, and he guarantees at least a B grade or your money back. From the article: "'Sure it's unethical, but it's just a business,' Kavoosi explains. 'I mean, what about strip clubs or porn shops? Those are unethical, and city-approved.'"

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