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Security

BIOS "Rootkit" Preloaded In 60% of New Laptops 236

Posted by kdawson from the hijacking-lojack dept.
Keldrin_1 writes "Researchers Alfredo Ortega and Anibal Sacco, from Core Security Technologies, have discovered a vulnerability in the 'Computrace LoJack for Laptops' software. This is a BIOS-level application that calls home for instructions in case the laptop is ever lost or stolen. However, what the application considers 'home' is subject to change. This allows the creation of malware capable of 'infecting the BIOS with persistent code that survive reboots and reflashing attempts.' Computers from Dell, Lenovo, HP, Toshiba, Asus, and others may be affected."

Comment Re:This is beyond garbage (Score 1) 598

by Tomun (#28646715) Attached to: Mono Outpaces Java In Linux Desktop Development

On the subject, Firefox 3.5 was out a week back, but I don't see it anywhere in the Ubuntu reps. Does anybody know why? and how long it'll take?

I'm running it now in Ubuntu. Just install Firefox-3.5 from universe.
After that I found the easiest way to make it default was to change the /usr/bin/firefox symlink to point to /usr/bin/firefox-3.5

Comment Also (Score 4, Interesting) 615

by Tomun (#27914295) Attached to: Adblock Plus Maker Proposes Change To Help Sites

In other (related) news, Slashdot today allowed me to disable all the ads on the site, simply for occasionally moderating an not posting stupid crap all the time. I was using adblock anyway but this removes the blank space and allows the content to expand into the areas the ads used to occupy.

Thank you Slashdot.

Comment Re:Hi again (Score 1) 276

by Tomun (#26879455) Attached to: How Many Open Source Licenses Do You Need?

Hi Bruce,

Nice article. As I was reading it I was all ready to disagree and post here complaining that you didn't include the AGPL, but there it was on page 4. So thanks for introducing this license to so many that didn't know of it's reasons for existence.
Science

Hadron Collider Relaunch Delayed 223

Posted by kdawson from the earth-gets-a-reprieve dept.
SpuriousLogic writes "There's been another delay in the schedule announced for getting the Large Hadron Collider switched back on — now it's September 2009, a year after it shut down due to a malfunction. Scientists had said they expected the $5.4B machine to be repaired by November 2008, but then pushed the date back to June 2009, before the latest delay."
Education

Darwinism Must Die So Evolution Can Live 951

Posted by kdawson from the not-all-isms-created-equal dept.
Pickens writes "MacArthur fellow Carl Safina, an adjunct professor at Stony Brook University, has an interesting essay in the NYTimes that says that equating evolution with Charles Darwin opened the door for creationism by ignoring 150 years of discoveries, including most of what scientists understand about evolution — Gregor Mendel's patterns of heredity, the discovery of DNA, developmental biology, studies documenting evolution in nature, and evolution's role in medicine and disease. Darwinism implies an ideology adhering to one man's dictates, like Marxism, says Safina. He adds that nobody talks about Newtonism or Einsteinism, and that by making Darwin 'into a sacred fetish misses the essence of his teaching.' By turning Darwin into an 'ism,' scientists created the opening for creationism, with the 'isms' implying equivalence. 'By propounding "Darwinism," even scientists and science writers perpetuate an impression that evolution is about one man, one book, one theory,' writes Safina. '"Darwinism" implies that biological scientists "believe in" Darwin's "theory." It's as if, since 1860, scientists have just ditto-headed Darwin rather than challenging and testing his ideas, or adding vast new knowledge.'"
The Media

90% of Gaming Addiction Patients Not Addicted 333

Posted by Soulskill from the don't-worry-i'm-sure-you're-in-the-other-10% dept.
phorm writes "BBC is carrying an article which states that 90% of visitors to Europe's 'video game addiction clinic' are not, in fact, addicted. The problem is a social one rather than a psychological issue. In other words, the patients have turned to heavy gaming because they felt they didn't fit in elsewhere, or that they fit in better 'in the game' than elsewhere in 'the real world.' This has been discussed before, with arguments ranging from gaming being a good way to socialize, the clinical definition of gaming addiction, and claims than males are wired for video-game addiction."

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