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The Internet

Submission + - Comcast, Pando Partner for 'P2P Bill of Rights' (pcmag.com)

Submitted by
Bibek Paudel
Bibek Paudel writes: "Comcast on Tuesday announced that it would partner with Pando Networks to create a P2P bill of rights for file-sharing networks and Internet service providers. Comcast and Pando will meet with industry experts, other ISPs, and P2P companies in order to come up with a set of rules that would clarify how a user can use P2P applications and how an ISP can manage file-sharing programs running on their networks.Last month, Comcast announced that it had reached an agreement with BitTorrent whereby Comcast agreed to alter its network management practices, and BitTorrent acknowledged that Comcast has the right to police its own network.

Comcast's battle with P2P networks started last year after the Associated Press published an article that accused Comcast of blocking peer-to-peer services like BitTorrent. Comcast admitted to delaying P2P traffic during peak times, but denied that any file-sharing applications were being completely blocked.

Nonetheless, the FCC has opened an inquiry into the matter."
Security

Submission + - Hole found in 'flawless' encryption technology (physorg.com)

Submitted by
Bibek Paudel
Bibek Paudel writes: "Physorg reports, "Quantum cryptography, a new technology until now considered 100 percent secure against attacks on sensitive data traffic, has a flaw after all, Swedish researchers said Friday."
Many experts hope quantum cryptography will be the answer to growing fears about data security on the Internet, providing a one-off code that would be unbreakable for crackers. The evolving technology called quantum cryptography has emerged as absolutely secure since quantum mechanical objects, according to the laws of physics, cannot be measured upon without being disturbed and setting off alarm bells that the transmitted data has been manipulated.

"All that's needed is a small addition to the authentication process to fill the security gap," said Jan-Aake Larsson, an associate professor of applied mathematics at the Linkoeping University in southern Sweden, who found the bug. To send the key over the quantum channel, you must simultaneously send additional data over the traditional Internet channel, and then verify that the classical data has not been changed through an authentication process, he explained. While all data traveling though the quantum channel was 100 percent secure, "a gap appears because this is a combined system, which complicates things so much that the usual security system in some cases does not work," Larsson said. The problem arises when the system had been running for a long period of time, he said, adding that he and Cederloef proposed adding a so-called handshake between legitimate users."

Comment George Orwell's predicted this long ago (Score 1) 74

by bibekpaudel (#23136118) Attached to: Google Invests In Genetic Indexing
Google looks all set to become the next evil guy in the tech-world. What if the next "matrix" is built inside the Googleplex? After Google starting to aggree sharing its data with the CIA, the government beginning to index DNA of everyone arrested and now google willing to index the world's genetic information, the BIG BROTHER that George Orwell predicted is now only a matter of time.
The Internet

Submission + - New graphic novel from O'Reilly (macsimumnews.com)

Submitted by
Bibek Paudel
Bibek Paudel writes: ""Hackerteen: Internet Blackout" is O'Reilly's first graphic novel written for young readers. By following the exploits of Yago and friends, readers learn about basic computing and Internet topics, including the potential for victimization. The book is also ideal for parents and teachers who want their children and students to understand the risks of using the Internet and the proper ways to behave online. Readers will follow Yago and his hacker buddies in their fight against the bad guys of the Internet world. In the real world, Hackerteen is an educational project in Brazil that teaches adolescents about computer network security, entrepreneurship on the Internet, and hacker ethics. Its innovative methods include challenges, games, RPGs, Linux, and comics."
The Internet

Submission + - New graphic novel from O'Reilly (macsimumnews.com)

Submitted by bibekpaudel
bibekpaudel writes: Hackerteen: Internet Blackout is O'Reilly's first graphic novel written for young readers. By following the exploits of Yago and friends, readers learn about basic computing and Internet topics, including the potential for victimization. The book is also ideal for parents and teachers who want their children and students to understand the risks of using the Internet and the proper ways to behave online. Readers will follow Yago and his hacker buddies in their fight against the bad guys of the Internet world. n the real world, Hackerteen is an educational project in Brazil that teaches adolescents about computer network security, entrepreneurship on the Internet, and hacker ethics. Its innovative methods include challenges, games, RPGs, Linux, and comics.
Biotech

Submission + - Scientists make females flies behave just like men (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
Bibek Paudel
Bibek Paudel writes: "Scientists have been able to take control of flies' brains to make females behave just like males.
Researchers genetically modified the insects so that a group of brain cells that control sexual behaviour could be "switched on" by a pulse of light. The team was able to get female fruit flies to produce a courtship song — behaviour usually only seen in males. The study, published in the journal Cell, suggests that the wiring in male and female flies' brains is similar.Previous research has revealed that a group of 2,000 brain cells are necessary for this courtship behaviour in the insects; however, both male and female fruit flies appear to possess most of these neuron. To investigate the the big question, "why — what is the difference?" they conducted a series of experiments before achieving this result."
Google

Submission + - Google Wants to Index Your DNA, Too (businessweek.com)

Submitted by
Bibek Paudel
Bibek Paudel writes: "Your DNA falls into the realm of "the world's information," and it seems that Google (GOOG), as part of its corporate mission, is making a play to organize that, too. It is putting money into a second Silicon Valley DNA-screening startup, Navigenics. Navigenics aims to boost disease prevention by providing customers reports on their DNA that they can share with their doctors. Much in the way it invested in 23andMe, Google wants to plant an early stake in a potentially large new market around genetic data. "We are interested in supporting companies and making investments in companies that [bolster] our mission statement, which is organizing the world's information and making it universally accessible and useful," Google spokesman Andrew Pederson says. Both Navigenics and Google refused to disclose the size of Google's investment."
Sun Microsystems

Submission + - Sun may back off plans for MySQL add-ons (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
Bibek Paudel
Bibek Paudel writes: "ComputerWorld reports, "caught in a firestorm of criticism in the blogosphere and online forums, officials at Sun Microsystems Inc. are now saying that some upcoming online backup features may not necessarily be made available only to paying users of the MySQL open-source database. In multiple posts today and yesterday on the Slashdot Web site, Marten Mickos, former CEO at MySQL AB and now senior vice president of Sun's database group, defended the plan to offer what he described as "high-end add-ons" to MySQL Enterprise customers only — not to users of the free MySQL Community version. But Mickos added that Sun officials "have not yet decided under what license we will release those add-ons (GPL, some other FOSS license, and/or commercial)."""
Space

Submission + - Ion engine enters space race (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
Bibek Paudel
Bibek Paudel writes: "In a laboratory in a leafy part of Hampshire, where defence and security firm Qinetiq develops and tests its ion engines — a technology that will take spacecraft to the planets, powered by the Sun a huge vacuum chamber has been designed to replicate — as far as possible — the conditions of space.
Using helium gas as a coolant, they can bring down the temperature in the vacuum chamber to an incredibly chilly 20 Kelvin (-253C). The pressure, meanwhile, can drop to a millionth of an atmosphere. The ion engine developed by Qinetiq, the T5, will be flown for the first time on the European Space Agency's Goce spacecraft. The mission will fly just 200-300km above the Earth, mapping the tiny variations in its gravity field. It took 20 to 30 years to develop, at a cost of tens of millions of pounds. In theory, using this technology, a spacecraft can be taken beyond our Solar System, if sustained for long enough."
Digital

Submission + - One atom thick smallest transistor developed (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
Bibek Paudel
Bibek Paudel writes: "Researchers at the University of Manchester have built the world's smallest transistor — one atom thick and 10 atoms wide — out of a material that could one day replace silicon. The transistor, essentially an on/off switch, has been made using graphene, a two-dimensional material first discovered only four years ago. Graphene has been hailed as a super material because it has many potential applications. It is a flat molecule, with only the thickness of an atom, and both very stable and robust. Graphene is a single layer of graphite, which is found in the humble pencil."
The Internet

Submission + - Chinese Blogs, Netizens react to the Tibet issue (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
Bibek Paudel
Bibek Paudel writes: "Over the past few weeks Chinese bloggers and people on internet forums have been reacting to events in Tibet and the protests disrupting the torch relay. The BBC and Global Voices [0] have interesting insights on the recent happenings in the netsphere.

A western commentator says, "Lots of Chinese people now view the Western media, human rights groups, and Western leaders' criticisms of their country as part of the Racist Western Conspiracy to Stop China From Being Successful." One of the most vocal appeal by the Chinese blogs, forums and text-messages has been to boycott French goods in response to the protests that accompanied the torch relay in Paris. One of the response posts reads, "Who is abusing human rights? Who is bringing violence to this world?" There also are two versions of music video of the song "DON'T BE TOO CNN". Its lyric has assumed the status of a cult catchphrase. Sina.com, has a popular page [1] : "Don't be too CNN, fire to the Western media." Many analysts believe that the protests over Tibet have only served to strengthen Chinese nationalism rather than evoke sympathy for the Tibetan cause. Sina.com has a petition [2] against the Western media which has reportedly accumulated millions of signatures. There is also a blog by an expatriate in China [3], Mutant Palm, who has been watching and commenting on the fallout from Tibet and torch protests online.

[0] http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2008/04/13/china-fallout-from-the-free-tibet-protests/
[1] http://bbs.sina.com.cn/zt/w/08/attackcnn/index.shtml
[2] http://hi.news.sina.com.cn/news/xizang08/index.php?dpc=1
[3] http://www.mutantpalm.org/2008/03/14/schizolympics-chinese-and-english-tibet.html"

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