Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:Format shifting (Score 1) 346

by Retardical_Sam (#30240586) Attached to: Apple Asks Judge To Shutter Psystar's Clone Unit
It's the re-selling that's the problem, and the profit inherent in it. And again, I'm referring to moral problem, not legal problem. Legally I think each are illegal, which is another matter altogether. But morally, I think doing anything you want with a product after you buy it (without eating into a company's profits) is legit, but re-selling their product in a way they don't intend, and making a profit from it, that's much sketchier.

Comment Re:Format shifting (Score 1) 346

by Retardical_Sam (#30240044) Attached to: Apple Asks Judge To Shutter Psystar's Clone Unit
The core difference is between you buying a CD and putting it on your iPod when the record label says you can't, and someone else selling you an iPod with that CD on it, along with a copy of the CD. One is morally home and personal use, the other is business, and an attempt at a profit. To me, that's the big difference.
Privacy

Submission + - Facebook to change privacy policy (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by Retardical_Sam
Retardical_Sam writes: Facebook has agreed to make changes to protect users' personal information on the social networking site, including the way data is accessed by third-party developers, Canada's privacy commissioner said Thursday. Canadian officials have been negotiating with Facebook since the Office of the Privacy Commissioner released a report a month ago that argued the social network breaches Canadian privacy law. Facebook agreed to make changes dealing with third-party applications like quizzes and games, deactivation of accounts, the personal identification of non-users and accounts of users who die.
Security

Submission + - New attack breaks WPA WiFi crypto in 1 minute (threatpost.com)

Submitted by
Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: "First it was WEP, then TKIP and now WPA. A pair of Japanese researchers have developed a new technique for decrypting wireless packets encrypted with WPA , the most common wireless encryption protocol, in about a minute. The attack is an improvement on an existing technique and makes it simple for attackers to sniff and then crack supposedly secure wireless traffic. Threatpost.com reports: "The attack builds on the work done earlier by another pair of researchers who found a way to break the WPA encryption protocol that is used on many WiFi routers. Known as the Beck-Tews attack, the method involved making minor changes to packets encrypted with TKIP, a predecessor to WPA, and then sending the packets back to the access point. The vulnerability was in the way that the checksum was used. However, the attack required a significant amount of time to execute, as much as 15 minutes, making it somewhat impractical to execute in the real world. The newer attack, developed by Toshihiro Ohigashi and Masakatu Morii, improves on the Beck-Tews attack and lowers the amount of time needed to execute it to about one minute.""
Security

Submission + - Nmap 5.00 Released (nmap.org)

Submitted by
Irongeek_ADC
Irongeek_ADC writes: "Insecure.Org is pleased to announce the immediate, free availability of the Nmap Security Scanner version 5.00 from http://nmap.org/. This is the first stable release since 4.76 (last September), and the first major release since the 4.50 release in 2007. Dozens of development releases led up to this. Follow the link for more details. Here are the top 5 improvements in Nmap 5: 1. The new Ncat tool aims to be your Swiss Army Knife for data transfer, redirection, and debugging. We released a whole users' guide detailing security testing and network administration tasks it maked easy with Ncat. 2. The addition of the Ndiff scan comparison tool completes Nmap's growth into a whole suite of applications which work together to serve network administrators and security practitioners. Ndiff makes it easy to automatically scan your network daily and report on any changes (systems coming up or going down or changes to the software services they are running). The other two tools now packaged with Nmap itself are Ncat and the much improved Zenmap GUI and results viewer. 3. Nmap performance has improved dramatically. We spent last summer scanning much of the Internet and merging that data with internal enterprise scan logs to determine the most commonly open ports. This allows Nmap to scan fewer ports by default while finding more open ports. We also added a fixed-rate scan engine so you can bypass Nmap's congestion control algorithms and scan at exactly the rate (packets per second) you specify. 4. We released Nmap Network Scanning, the official Nmap guide to network discovery and security scanning. From explaining port scanning basics for novices to detailing low-level packet crafting methods used by advanced hackers, this book suits all levels of security and networking professionals. A 42-page reference guide documents every Nmap feature and option, while the rest of the book demonstrates how to apply those features to quickly solve real-world tasks. More than half the book is available in the free online edition. 5. The Nmap Scripting Engine (NSE) is one of Nmap's most powerful and flexible features. It allows users to write (and share) simple scripts to automate a wide variety of networking tasks. Those scripts are then executed in parallel with the speed and efficiency you expect from Nmap. All existing scripts have been improved, and 32 new ones added. New scripts include a whole bunch of MSRPC/NetBIOS attacks, queries, and vulnerability probes; open proxy detection; whois and AS number lookup queries; brute force attack scripts against the SNMP and POP3 protocols; and many more. All NSE scripts and modules are described in the new NSE documentation portal."

Comment Re:Why wearable? (Score 1) 234

by Retardical_Sam (#23521302) Attached to: Wearable Motorcycle Design
Ok, I see your point, but there still should be a distinction between wearing the control mechanism and wearing the actual transportation device. So while in this case, the control mechanism and the device are essentially one and the same, that's not true in all cases. I suppose your wording could still imply that, it just depends on how it's read.
Games

Gaming's 10 Biggest Scandals 96

Posted by Zonk from the skeletons-in-the-closet dept.
GamePolitics has a list of ten of the most well known gaming scandals to hit the games industry. Starting back in 1993 with the senate hearings on Night Trap (a game that arguably led to today's ESRB), the list catalogs some things that the companies responsible would probably just as soon forget. "Hot Coffee (2005) - needs no introduction. Cheeky Rockstar programmers left hidden sex animations (accidentally or otherwise) buried in the PS2 code of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Modders made sure they didn't stay buried for long. Rockstar's denials only made things worse. And then Hillary got involved ..." At the post's close they call for additional nominations, as it's definitely not an exhaustive list. They left off the ESRB's decision to re-rate Oblivion , for example. What 'scandalous' gaming events can you see rating with this topics?
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - Is WOW #1 because of its style? (channelmassive.com)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: In this blog entry, Are SOE fanboys/girls blind to the sucky-spectrum? the author suggests that the art direction, style and accessibility of World of Warcraft might account for its huge numbers compared to competing games by SOE which rely on heavy duty photorealistic graphics engines and computer horsepower for presentation. The fact that the WOW game is more widely supported by older existing hardware than newer SOE titles such as Vanguard and Everquest 2 is not mentioned in the article but is an interesting side-effect of WOW's less intensive hardware requirements.
United States

Submission + - High-Tech workers take to the streets in San Jose

Submitted by UniversalVM
UniversalVM writes: Business Week is among the many reporting the protest march by high-tech LEGAL immigrant workers in the San Jose area. This came after a novel "Gandhian" protest that involved sending hundreds of Flowers to the US citizenship and Immigartion service. The protestors were seeking relief from the inter-departmental wrangling in the government that resulted in thousands of people being denied a chance to get their Green Cards sooner. The article goes on to document how the long waits associated with getting as green card for these High-Tech, Highly skilled workers is hurting some of the very people that we want to retain in this country. A linked piece also documents the hardships caused to the enterprenures that want to leaglly stay in this country.
Businesses

Submission + - Gateway Warrenty or Lack Thereof

Submitted by
zorkerz
zorkerz writes: "The headphone jack on my Gateway M680 laptop has always been a bit loose fitting. I never thought anything of this assuming it was only a cheap part until my headphone's sound started cutting out. Quickly I realized there was a loose connection in the headphone jack. Needing my computer for school I decided to wait it out. Just as school ended the jack broke completely, killing all sound on the system not just the headphones. I sent the computer to Gateway a few days later with assurances it would be fixed under the warranty. They received my computer on June 20th stating that, "Depending on part availability, the estimated time to complete the service is 3-4 business days". Ten business days later I emailed them and never received a reply. I called in on the 11th, and 12th of June and was told each time they did not know the status of my computer and would email me back the next day. Having never been contacted by Gateway after the original "receipt confirmation" email, I called in on June 13th, seventeen business days and 24 real days after Gateway had received my computer. Finally I was told the repairs would not be covered by the warranty and would cost 299 dollars. It is unacceptable to take 4 to 6 times longer than estimated without any warning and then only after being hassled to notify me that nothing would be fixed. Is there anything I can do to get some compensation from Gateway? Do I have any ground to stand on? Is there any accountability for tech/warranty support? I do not know what I can do."

Slashdot Top Deals

Any circuit design must contain at least one part which is obsolete, two parts which are unobtainable, and three parts which are still under development.

Close