Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Privacy

Moxie Marlinspike Answers Your Questions 76

Posted by samzenpus from the here's-the-scoop dept.
A few weeks ago you asked security guru Moxie Marlinspike about all manner of security issues, being searched at the border, and how to come up with a good online name. He's graciously answered a number of your inquiries which you will find below.

Comment Re:Accidental overdose? (Score 1) 385

by thegameiam (#38417530) Attached to: The Painkiller That Saves Money But Costs Lives

Absolutely true. I recently had a trauma which redefined my pain scale - it used to be that kidney stones and the EMG were the 9, while the spinal taps were about a 7. Now those are both 6, and the torsion was the 9. I only call it not a 10 because I have a particularly vivid imagination, and a 10 sounds like being drawn and quartered while alive, for instance...
Space

Astronauts As Alien Life Hunters? 172

Posted by Soulskill from the risk-is-our-business dept.
astroengine writes "Ever since the last NASA space shuttle mission touched down in Florida on July 21, there has been a spirited debate in articles and blogs across the Internet over the future of humans in space. Everyone seems to be asking: What's the point of spending shedloads of cash getting mankind into space when robots can do it at a fraction of the cost? Well, pending any great (and unexpected) advance in robotics, our adaptability in space may be our biggest asset. Ultimately, the hunt for extraterrestrial life may need an astronaut to physically push deeper into space." Also, who wants to let the robots have all the fun?
Advertising

Digital Tech and the Re-Birth of Product Placement 228

Posted by CmdrTaco from the making-the-world-worse dept.
pbahra writes "When you think of product placement on television you tend to think of cumbersome 1950s examples where the actor would cheesily turn to camera and hold up, say, a bar of soap—where do you think the sobriquet soap opera came from—to deliver his line. Perhaps to save all of us the artistic murder, the practice was prohibited in Europe, but recently the prohibition has been relaxed and a U.K. start up is offering digital producers the chance to inject products realistically in post production with full directorial control. The problem with existing physical product placement is that there are no clear business plans, and the process is incredibly slow. In Europe, legal constraints prohibit directors from re-writing scripts to include products, so any placement has to be done at the creative stage."
Nintendo

Nintendo Announces New Console: Wii U 330

Posted by timothy from the touched-I'm-sure dept.
_xeno_ writes "Nintendo has announced the official name for what had been known as 'Project Cafe:' the Wii U. It is an HD console, it retains backwards compatibility with the Wii (it's unclear if this includes GameCube software), and the controller does, in fact, have a touch screen on it. Nintendo demoed moving a game off the TV and playing it solely on the Wii U controller." Also in E3 news, cylonlover writes "At its E3 press conference Sony finally revealed that its next generation handheld — previously codenamed the NGP — will carry the official moniker of the 'PlayStation Vita.' The PS Vita — which is Latin for 'life' — will come in two flavors: a Wi-Fi only version priced at $249 in the US, JPY24,980 in Japan, and EUR249 in Europe, and a 3G/Wi-Fi version going for US$299, JPY29,980 and EUR299."
Businesses

Cisco Ditches Flip and $590 Million 121

Posted by timothy from the but-they're-cool-little-devices dept.
darthcamaro writes "Remember the Flip? When Pure Digital Technology first came out with the device it was one of the hottest gadgets, providing users with an ultra-portable camcorder. Then Cisco came along and bought the Flip for $590 million in 2009. Now less than two years later, Cisco is throwing the money, 550 employees and the Flip out the door." Wired has an analysis of why Flip floundered. I hope this means I can find a AA-powered Flip UltraHD for $50 in a clearance bin.
Android

Pirated Android App Shames Freeloaders 519

Posted by timothy from the hey-I-pay-per-text-you-insensitive-clod dept.
MojoKid writes "A pirated version of an Android app is actually a Trojan that shames someone who installs it by sending an SMS message to all his/her contacts telling them of his/her piracy. The original app is called Walk and Text, and costs $2.10 in the Android Market. The app uses the camera on the back of a smartphone to show a user a visual of his upcoming surroundings, which will supposedly prevent the user from running into the street or across a set of train tracks. The pirated version is available from unofficial Android app markets, and once installed redirects the pirate to the legitimate app in the Android Market, while also sending the SMS message to the phone's entire contact list."
Privacy

Iris-Scan ID Cards For Children In Mexico 114

Posted by timothy from the cuidado-con-el-gobierno dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Today the first ID cards that include iris and fingerprint biometric information were registered and issued in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. (Original article in Spanish.) The juicier part of the story is that for now, only children will be enrolled in this national biometric database. It is intended that by December 2012 all children in the country will be registered. The alleged purpose of the new ID card is to hinder the abduction of children and prevent child exploitation. The first ID cards are being issued in the same city that last year started implementing a mandatory iris scan for convicted felons and voluntary members of the public in a Minority Reportesque plan to combat delinquency that features iris readers in public transport and ATMs. This comes from the country that last year attempted and failed to create a national database of mobile phone users, again with the purported intention to tackle extortion and kidnappings."
Transportation

A Car You Can Drive With Your Thoughts 137

Posted by Soulskill from the just-don't-think-about-facebook dept.
An anonymous reader writes "German researchers have demonstrated a car that can be driven with brain power alone. In the video, a driver wears an EEG head cap, which records brain activity. Software converts the neural signals into steering and acceleration commands, feeding the data into the car's drive-by-wire system. The brain-car interface, which the researchers call the 'BrainDriver,' is far from being commercially viable. But it could one day allow disabled and paralyzed people to gain more mobility. It could also, the researchers say, help people control autonomous vehicles, like a future driverless cab; just by thinking, passengers would tell the cab where to go."
Crime

Assange Secret Swedish Police Report Leaked 840

Posted by CmdrTaco from the nothing-is-sacred dept.
letsurock writes "The 68-page confidential report prepared by Swedish police got leaked which tells the police version on the alleged sexual misconduct by the Julian assange. The Swedish report traces events over a four-day period in August this year when 39-year-old Assange had what he has described as consensual sexual relationships with two Swedish women."
Intel

Intel's Sandy Bridge Processor Has a Kill Switch 399

Posted by timothy from the no-mr-chip-I-expect-you-to-die dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Intel's new Sandy Bridge processors have a new feature that the chip giant is calling Anti-Theft 3.0. The processor can be disabled even if the computer has no Internet connection or isn't even turned on, over a 3G network. With Intel anti-theft technology built into Sandy Bridge, David Allen, director of distribution sales at Intel North America, said that users have the option to set up their processor so that if their computer is lost or stolen, it can be shut down remotely."
Encryption

The Clock Is Ticking On Encryption 228

Posted by timothy from the promise-that-keeps-on-giving dept.
CWmike writes "In the indictment that led to the expulsion of ten Russian spies from the US in the summer of 2010, the FBI said that it gained access to their communications after surreptitiously entering one of the spies' homes, during which agents found a piece of paper with a 27-character password. The FBI had found it more productive to burglarize a house than to crack a 216-bit code, despite having the computational resources of the US government behind it, writes Lamont Wood. That's because modern cryptography, when used correctly, is rock solid. Cracking an encrypted message can require time frames that dwarf the age of the universe. That's the case today. 'The entire commercial world runs off the assumption that encryption is rock solid and is not breakable,' says Joe Moorcones, vice president of information security firm SafeNet. But within the foreseeable future, cracking those same codes could become trivial, thanks to quantum computing."
The Internet

Vint Cerf Calls For IPv6 Incentives In UK 164

Posted by timothy from the there-would-be-this-thing-called-a-market dept.
sweetpea23 writes "Vint Cerf, the 'godfather' of the web and Internet evangelist for Google, has highlighted the need for cash incentives to encourage ISPs and businesses in the UK to move to version six of the IP addressing scheme (IPv6). In response to the UK government's stance that its role in the transition will primarily be advisory, Cerf suggested a system of tax credits for upgrading equipment to v6 capability — similar to the 'cash for clunkers' scheme in the US. 'You'd have to do the math to see what impact it would have, but creating some business incentive might be helpful,' he said. His words echo those of Axel Pawlik, managing director of the RIPE NCC, who warned last month that that the IT industry is adding unnecessary risk and complexity to Internet architectures by ignoring the availability of IPv6 addresses. the Internet authority IANA is expected to assign its last batch of IPv4 addresses in June 2011."
Earth

Gold Nanoparticles Turn Trees Into Streetlights 348

Posted by samzenpus from the elf-approved dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Street lights are an important part of our urban infrastructure — they light our way home and make the roads safe at night. But what if we could create natural street lights that don't need electricity to power them? A group of scientists in Taiwan recently discovered that placing gold nanoparticles within the leaves of trees causes them to give off a luminous reddish glow. The idea of using trees to replace street lights is an ingenious one — not only would it save on electricity costs and cut CO2 emissions, but it could also greatly reduce light pollution in major cities."

Slashdot Top Deals

He who has but four and spends five has no need for a wallet.

Close