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Security

Submission + - Researchers: Verified by Visa is insecure (idg.com.au)

Submitted by
angry tapir
angry tapir writes: "A widely deployed system intended to reduce on-line payment card fraud is fraught with security problems, according to University of Cambridge researchers. The system is called 3-D Secure (3DS) but known better under the names Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode. Steven J. Murdoch, a security researcher at the University of Cambridge, and security engineering professor Ross Anderson contend are several flaws with 3DS. One of their main points is how 3DS is integrated into Web sites during a transaction — e-Commerce Web sites display 3DS in an iframe."
Biotech

Machine Translates Thoughts Into Speech 93

Posted by timothy from the think-I-better-not-wear-one dept.
An anonymous reader points to this explanation of a brain-machine interface for real-time synthetic speech production, which has been successfully tested in a 26-year-old patient. From the article: "Signals collected from an electrode in the speech motor cortex are amplified and sent wirelessly across the scalp as FM radio signals. The Neuralynx System amplifies, converts, and sorts the signals. The neural decoder then translates the signals into speech commands for the speech synthesizer."
Microsoft

Submission + - Cygwin 1.7 Released 1

Submitted by jensend
jensend writes: The 1.7 branch of Cygwin, the Unix-like environment for Windows, has reached stable status after about 3 1/2 years of effort. Among many other changes, this release drops support for Windows 9x. Since the NT API and NT-based versions of Windows are more capable and somewhat less of a mismatch with POSIX (for instance, they include a security model), this has allowed for code path simplifications, better performance (particularly noticeable with pipe I/O), better security, and better POSIX compatibility.
Privacy

Submission + - Privacy Group Files FTC Complaint Against Facebook

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) today filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, asking the agency to investigate the recent changes made by Facebook to the privacy settings of Facebook users. The complaint discusses the sharing of user information with third-party developers and the new, widely-opposed "Everyone" setting, which allows certain user information, such as name, profile picture, and friends lists, to be publicly available. EPIC also urges the FTC to compel Facebook to restore privacy safeguards. The complaint was signed by nine privacy and consumer organizations. More from the NYT.
Media

BBC Lowers HDTV Bitrate; Users Notice 412

Posted by timothy from the totally-amazing dept.
aws910 writes "According to an article on the BBC website, BBC HD lowered the bitrate of their broadcasts by almost 50% and are surprised that users noticed. From the article: 'The replacement encoders work at a bitrate of 9.7Mbps (megabits per second), while their predecessors worked at 16Mbps, the standard for other broadcasters.' The BBC claims 'We did extensive testing on the new encoders which showed that they could produce pictures at the same or even better quality than the old encoders ...' I got a good laugh off of this, but is it really possible to get better quality from a lower bitrate?"
Games

Heavy Rain Previews Show Promise 84

Posted by Soulskill from the blue-skies dept.
As the February release date for Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain nears, several publications have gotten a chance for some hands-on time with the game and seem to be intrigued by what they saw. Quoting the Opposable Thumbs blog: "The game grabs you during the quiet moments where nothing 'happens.' When you look at a picture your child drew. When you're questioning someone about a crime. When you're trying to figure out how to react to a violent situation. The preview we were sent put me in different situations as I played a small handful of characters, and each one provided a few tiny moments that were surprising in terms of storytelling or subtlety." Eurogamer's previewer had a similar reaction: "To my great delight as well — Heavy Rain isn't a mature game because it has unhappy families and moody lighting, it's a mature game because it anticipates an adult response from the player and is prepared to receive it."
Media

Lack of Manpower May Kill VLC For Mac 398

Posted by timothy from the vlc-generally-rocks dept.
plasmacutter writes "The Video Lan dev team has recently come forward with a notice that the number of active developers for the project's MacOS X releases has dropped to zero, prompting a halt in the release schedule. There is now a disturbing possibility that support for Mac will be dropped as of 1.1.0. As the most versatile and user-friendly solution for bridging the video compatibility gap between OS X and windows, this will be a terrible loss for the Mac community. There is still hope, however, if the right volunteers come forward."

Comment Only a matter of time... (Score 1) 169

by DaRanged (#30360340) Attached to: Subverting Fingerprinting
Brings a whole new meaning to the word hacking. But in truth, how long will it be until <favourite biometric bodypart> can be swapped replaced 'a la' Minority Report?

As all kinds of technology improve, cheapen, become more accessible, so do the means to subvert them.

Comment Old news? (Score 1) 65

by DaRanged (#30138466) Attached to: T-Mobile UK Employees Sold Customers' Information
I was a T-Mobile customer for something like 7 years (started of as One2One customer) and that was over 5 years ago, but that doesn't stop some complete dipstick from some dipstick company calling me every year around September asking me if I would like to upgrade my T-Mobile contract!

Yeap, it's not T-Mobile calling me, but whoever it was they sold all my details to (including tarrif and expiry details) back then is STILL using/forwarding/selling it on and on! Every year the company name is different, but they always think I'm with T-Mobile, and they always hang up quickly after I've asked them for their company details so I can report them to Ofcom for breaching TPS!

I also called T-Mobile on numerous occasions complaining that they have obviously sold on my information, and of course they always deny it. F'tards.

Comment Re:YRO??!! (Score 1) 447

by DaRanged (#29536313) Attached to: High-Tech Gadgets Can Pose Problems At Mexican Border
<quote><p>I have entered Japan 2 times in the last 2 years and i never get searched when i enter the country. They just ask, "Do you have anything dangerous?", reply "No" and they say "go on".</p><p>Never been in USA so i cannot compare but from what have read, it seems really painful.</p></quote>

Ditto, twice to Japan in the past 12 months from UK and not a problem or a peep. UK border on the other hand are starting to lose the plot as well. Im willing to bet they wont be far behind the USA in their paranoid delusions of terrorist threats. Every time I travel outbound it takes longer to get thru UK customs, Im betting they have a tombola of searches that they pick from at random on a daily basis... "OK people, today we will be checking belly buttons for a new form of explosive posing as cheesy lint.. stay sharp!'

I've been in the USA after 9/11 enough times to see how the government and media use terror to whip up the Americans into a blind frenzy of fear where they are willing to give up all their rights for some smoke n mirrors perception that they are safe, and they lap it up unquestioningly. Take the Brits tho, with their 7/7 (they couldnt afford the extra 2/4!), it was more of just an annoyance / inconvenience to us getting to/from work and hate to say it, but a lot of us just got on with our lives... but that doesnt stop our gov from trying it on with the FUD spreading... *sigh*

Up until now I would have said that altho the customs in US can be long-winded, they've never really put me off visiting my family and friends.... that was before this laptop/cellphone/disk seizing crap started. I have nothing to hide myself, and my youtube browsing history is probably the most interesting thing on my laptop, but FFS if Im only gonna spend a week or 2 in Tennessee WTF!? All I want to do is call my sis to tell her Ive landed safely, check my mail, sync my phone, and let friends know Im in town while Im there!

Seriously, like some have said: Smart criminals slip thru coz they dont waste time carrying this kinda crap around, everything is over SSH and more. Whats to stop them writing it all on paper? Thats gonna be the last place 'suck'urity is gonna look, especially if its in the checked baggage? Going old school... that's the ticket. Worked in Independence Day didn't it? Maybe they should also look into carrier pidgeons now as well?

I can only hope that this nonsense all backfires dramatically. Maybe one day we can just go back to living our lives how they should be lived, and not how the governments think we should live. (Yeah right!)
Software

Submission + - mp3 duplicate files (mp3-duplicate-finder.com)

Submitted by wonn1377
wonn1377 writes: MP3 Duplicate Finder is a useful program that helps you to find and remove duplicate mp3/wma files with the same or similar properties, In addition the program analyzes the artist, title, album, etc.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft's GPL code because of breach. (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by
ozmanjusri
ozmanjusri writes: "While Microsoft presented its recent embrace of the GPL as "a break from the ordinary", and the press spoke of them as going "to great lengths to engage the open source community", as is often the case with Microsoft, it turns out they had an ulterior motive.

According to Stephen Hemminger, an engineer with Vyatta, Microsoft's Hyper-V used open-source components in a network driver and the company released the code to avoid legal action over a GPL violation.

Microsoft's decision to embrace the GPL was welcomed by many in the open source community, but their failure to honestly explain the reason behind the release will have squandered this opportunity to build trust, something which is sadly lacking in most people's dealings with Microsoft."

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