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Submission + - Two Major Ad Networks Found Serving Malware (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: Two major online ad networks--DoubelClick and MSN--were serving malware via drive-by download exploits over the last week, experts say, after a group of attackers was able to trick the networks into displaying their ads by impersonating an online advertising provider.

The scheme involved a group of attackers who registered a domain that was one letter away from that of ADShuffle.com, an online advertising technology firm. The attackers then used the fake domain--ADShufffle.com--to dupe the advertising networks into serving their malicious banner ads. The ads used various exploits to install malware on victims' PCs through drive-by downloads, according to information compiled by security vendor Armorize.
The Internet

Submission + - 68% of US broadband connections aren't broadband 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The FCC has published a new 87-page report titled "Internet Access Services: Status as of December 31, 2009." The report explains that 68 percent of connections in the US advertised as "broadband" can't really be considered as such because they fall below the agency's most recent minimum requirement: 4Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream. In other words, more than two-thirds of broadband Internet connections in the US aren't really broadband; over 90 million people in the US are using a substandard broadband service. To make matters worse, 58 percent of connections don't even reach downstream speeds above 3Mbps. The definition of broadband is constantly changing, and it's becoming clear that the US is having a hard time keeping up.
Businesses

Submission + - Hosting Giants Teaming Against Small Businesses (simplecdn.com)

Submitted by
BlueToast
BlueToast writes: "Hosting giants SoftLayer, ThePlanet, Hosting Services Inc., and UK2 Group are teaming up to wipe out small competitors like SimpleCDN. Though ThePlanet isn't directly involved in the slicing of SimpleCDN's throat, ThePlanet runs the sales chat scripts for SoftLayer (check your NoScript). As a loyal customer of SimpleCDN, I really do not appreciate the disruption of service to a company I have been with for over a year on fabulous cloud services. As a supporter of small and medium businesses, I will not bow and give my money to the top dogs of the hosting realm. I doubt I will get far in my frustration against these huge companies, but the least I can do is try in attempt of voicing my frustration across the internet."
Games

Submission + - Ruin your graphics then check if you like a game (ohesso.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: I have often worried that I liked a game only for its graphics. Now, however, I don't have to worry, I can play a game with terribly downgraded graphics (all the way down to 1-bit black and white). I know I like dwarf fortress for its amazing detailed simulation, but do I really like Left 4 Dead? Or do I just like pretty pictures of zombies being cut into little pieces? Now, I can destroy the game's graphics and see for myself using a tool here.

Submission + - Netflix likes open source (netflix.com)

Submitted by Art3x
Art3x writes: Netflix's VP of Systems and E-commerce Engineering, Kevin McEntee, just blogged his appreciation for open-source software and open standards. 'At Netflix we jumped on for the ride a long time ago and we have benefited enormously from the virtuous cycles of actively evolving open source projects,' he writes, and he says that Netflix not only uses but has contributed back to projects such as Hudson, Hadoop, Hive, Honu, Apache, Tomcat, Ant, Ivy, Cassandra, and HBase. Instantly streamed in a bunch of comments asking why there's no player for Linux.

Submission + - SimpleCDN is being shut down 1

Submitted by
Kevin
Kevin writes: "I just wanted to bring this to your attention, it's a pretty big story and breaking news in the CDN (Content Delivery Network) Industry.

Here is what is happening to SimpleCDN: http://admin.simplecdn.com/

We're working with SimpleCDN and doing our best to help transition their customers that have been shut off: http://blog.maxcdn.com/

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Thanks."
Censorship

Submission + - On Free Speech and the Rule of Law (redbarn.org)

Submitted by temptaker
temptaker writes: Paul Vixie comments on the pro/anti-anon/wikileaks movement sweeping the internet.

"Some say that Wikileaks is a journalist deserving "freedom of the press" but many others don't agree. People on both sides of the issue have now participated in "denial of service" attacks, against Wikileaks and those companies who provide services to Wikileaks, or against those who refuse to provide services to Wikileaks. These opposite ideological camps are far more similar than they may realize, and I hope that these similarities make the two camps as uncomfortable as they make me.

1.both sides are willing to inflict collateral damage on innocent third parties and can offer arguments as to why their cause warrants this;
2.each side thinks the other is evil and must be opposed and that the rule of law is neither fast enough nor effective enough to get the job done;
3.both sides believe that the other side must not be allowed to communicate normally with customers, suppliers, supporters, etc.
I see no free speech advocates here. Both sides are committing censorship in the worst and ugliest sense of that term. Neither side can tolerate an open market of ideas or freedom of association. Neither side upholds the rule of law. This is an attempt at mob rule — by both sides."
Java

Oracle Asks Apache To Rethink Java Committee Exit 266

Posted by kdawson from the with-sugar-on-top dept.
CWmike writes "Oracle has asked the Apache Software Foundation to reconsider its decision to quit the Java SE/EE Executive Committee, and is also acknowledging the ASF's importance to Java's future. In a message released late Thursday, an Oracle executive made conciliatory gestures to Apache. At least for now, the ASF doesn't seem eager to rejoin the committee. 'Give us a reason why the ASF should reconsider other than "please,"' ASF president Jim Jagielski said in a Twitter post on Thursday. The Java Community Process is 'dead,' Jagielski said in a blog post, also on Thursday. 'All that remains is a zombie, walking the streets of the Java ecosystem, looking for brains.'"

Submission + - Software Patent Threats Take Down Great Site (runwayfinder.com)

Submitted by mattncsu03
mattncsu03 writes: Patent lawsuit threats from commercial flight planning site FlightPrep results in an awesome free resource that allows users to browse aviation charts in google maps going dark. RunwayFinder.com is closing their doors rather than fight what they claim may be a bogus patent.

Submission + - ARM is 20 years old today (armdevices.net)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: ARM was founded on November 27th 1990 in a converted barn outside Cambridge to exploit Acorn'(TM)s single greatest asset, the intellectual property bound up in its home-grown Acorn -" now Advanced -" Risc Machine processors. 20 Billion ARM processors have been shipped these past 20 years. The founders of ARM consisted of 12 engineers led by Sir Robin Saxby who gave the company its global vision and the innovative licensing model under which it sold not physical silicon but designs for other companies to manufacture.
Operating Systems

Symbian Foundation Sites To Close 78

Posted by Soulskill from the get-while-the-gettin's-good dept.
Following news earlier this month that Nokia is taking back control of Symbian platform development, the Symbian Foundation has now announced that its websites will shut down on December 17th. Source repositories will no longer be hosted online, and user-submitted content databases may be available later upon request. "We are working hard to make sure that most of the content accessible through web services (such as the source code, kits, wiki, bug database, reference documentation & Symbian Ideas) is available in some form, most likely on a DVD or USB hard drive upon request to the Symbian Foundation. Preparing this content will take some time, hence it will not be distributable before 31st January 2011. A charge may be levied for media and shipping.
User Journal

Journal Journal: Sideshow 1

Journal by daemonburrito

Just so y'all know, the TSA "controversy" is madly successful astroturf.

There are many, many things to be worried about at the moment; the TSA procedures are so low on the list as to be a non-issue. And on top of that, I am supposed to believe that this generation, who are likely to have sent high-quality pictures of their junk in all its glory to dozens of people with their cellphones, and run around nekkid at Burning Man, are actually prudish enough to have a reason to care.
Security

Hacker Sends Out Fake Tsunami Warning On Twitter 100

Posted by samzenpus from the false-wave dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A Twitter account belonging to an official adviser of the Indonesian president has been broken into by a hacker who posted a warning that a tsunami was heading for Jakarta. Andi Arief is Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's disaster management adviser and a frequent user of Twitter. But when he lost control of his account, a tsunami warning was sent out to Twitter users."
Patents

Submission + - Tandberg attempts to patent open source code (multimedia.cx)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: As if the current situation with software patents wasn't bad enough, it appears a new phenomenon is emerging: companies are watching the commit logs of open source projects for ideas to patent. In this case, Tandberg filed a patent that was step-by-step identical to an algorithm developed by the x264 project — a mere two months after the original commit. The particular algorithm is a useful performance optimization in a wide variety of video encoders, including Theora.
Databases

Submission + - CA Sues Over DB2 Migration Tool (itnews.com.au)

Submitted by aesoteric
aesoteric writes: Software giant CA has filed suit against an Australian software developer over a program that allegedly enabled companies to migrate off CA database platforms onto IBM DB2. It claimed the software "reproduced" portions of confidential source and object codes without permission and deprived CA of license fees. CA also disputed claims that its database platform was "dying".

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