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Google

Submission + - Gmail offers AIM Chat ability through Open AIM (google.com)

Submitted by
protobion
protobion writes: "Gmail chat now offers the option to sign in to your AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) account to chat with your AIM buddies from Gmail. Your AIM buddies will populate your Contacts list, and are searchable just like your Google Talk contacts.Chatting with your AIM buddies is easy — just click on a name in your chat list, and start typing. Note that an AIM account is required to use this feature. AIM in Gmail is not a Google Talk and AIM federation; it's the ability to sign in to your AIM messaging account from Gmail. Gmail uses Open AIM to provide this feature."
Spam

Submission + - Does SPF really work?

Submitted by
Intelopment
Intelopment writes: "My Domain name has recently been used a lot as the REPLY field by some inconsiderate spammer and my ISP has suggested that I consider using the Open SPF service (http://openspf.org/) as a way to stop spammers from using my domain name for their REPLY field. From what I can tell it requires the receiving mail server to actually participate in the SPF service, which is where I get my doubts. Does anyone have any experience with this service? Does it work? Are many ISPs using openSFP?"
Security

Submission + - US two steps away from Dictatorship?

Submitted by carlmenezes
carlmenezes writes: 1. A "Catastrophic Emergency", 2. Execute National Continuity Policy
The President will then have absolute control. Is this not effectively a dictatorship? Why was this not passed through congress? Why did it not receive the press coverage it deserves?
Windows

Submission + - Longhorn resurrects

Submitted by
javipas
javipas writes: "On August 2004 Microsoft announced at WinHEC that they would abandon their Longhorn project line in order to accomplish the estimated release date of 2006 for what we know now as Vista. That day the original Longhorn — with capabilities such as WinFS — died, but a recent initiative called The Longhorn Reloaded Project has resurrected this operating system. A modified build called "Longhorn Reloaded M1" is available through torrent clients, and the developers even offer the serial key to proceed with the installation. At the moment Microsoft has not decided to stop this, and the people behind the project are working hard to move to the next iteration, LRM2."
Education

Submission + - VT fallout affecting asian students already?

Submitted by GodInHell
GodInHell writes: The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that charges have been filed against an 18 year old high school senior of Asian decent for using violent imagery in a creative writing essay.

"Lee said Thursday he was "completely shocked'' to be arrested Tuesday for his essay, especially because written instructions told kids not to "censor'' what they wrote." "[T]he father would not comment on whether he believed authorities acted quickly because his son is of Asian heritage, as was the Virginia Tech campus shooter."

Can we arrest Quentin Tarantino for the same crime? He's certainly written a few hyper-violent stories.
Windows

Dell Refunds Vista/Works With Two Emails 277

Posted by kdawson from the try-this-at-home dept.
look@thealternative.ch writes "Although many people have asked for pre-installed Linux, and Dell seems to have listened, some still think that buying a naked PC won't be easy. But what about stripping it naked after you buy it? I managed to get Windows Vista (and a bit more) refunded from Dell Germany last week. The process was surprisingly simple: 1) After delivery, ask Dell Support for refund by email. 2) ??? 3) Refund!!! Read the full email conversation in the original German or my English translation. For the impatient reader: The refund is €77.54 for Windows Vista Home Basic plus Works 8.0 (that is 15% of the total amount I paid). The whole process took 2 emails, 2 more to say thank you, and less than 48 hours. The money is already in my account. Kudos to Dell Customer Care (esp. 'Veronika') for being efficient and customer-oriented!"
Security

Submission + - Digg.com Accounts Compromised

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: There is a cross-site scripting vulnerbility on the registration page of popular social networking site Digg.com. The hole allows cookies and sessions of logged-in users to be hijacked, compromising the account. The exploit can be triggered simply by a user clicking a maliciously-crafted link. A full explanation and sample exploit code is available here
Biotech

Submission + - The mystery of vitamin B12 finally solved

Submitted by
Roland Piquepaille
Roland Piquepaille writes: "You probably think that scientists know everything about the common and essential vitamin B12, the only vitamin synthesized by soil microbes. In fact, one part of this biosynthesis has puzzled researchers for at least 50 years. But now, MIT and Harvard biologists have solved this vitamin puzzle by discovering that a single enzyme known as BluB synthesizes the vitamin. So what is the next challenge for the researchers? It's to discover why the soil microorganisms synthesize the vitamin B12 at all, because neither them — nor the plants they're attached to — need it to live. Read more for additional references and a picture of BluB."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft owns up to Xbox Live pretexting

Submitted by
jcatcw
jcatcw writes: "Reports of account theft on Xbox Live have been making the rounds of its member forums since at least December. Microsoft yesterday finally admitted that the service's support staff is at fault — victims of "pretexting." But Microsoft responded only after noted security researcher — Kevin Finisterre of "Month of Apple Bugs" fame — last week went public about how his account was hijacked."
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Brussels Wants to Tax WiFi Antennas

Submitted by
mernil
mernil writes: "According to brusselsjournal.com "Olivier Maingain, the mayor of Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe, one of the 19 Brussels boroughs, is planning to tax all "antennas for the transmission of data". Each antenna will be taxed a staggering 4,000 euros per year. [...] While the small antenna on your wireless router could theoretically be taxed, the new tax seems to target WiFi-antennas that can be seen from the outside, i.e. that are positioned on the outside of buildings. If the owner of the aerial cannot be identified the owners of the buildings have to pay the new tax.""
PlayStation (Games)

Submission + - Grand Theft Auto IV

Submitted by CoffeeHedake
CoffeeHedake writes: http://www.rockstargames.com/IV/ Noticed this on my TV this morning @ 2:00AM, a counter ticking down the time until a trailer for the new GTA? Odd. Not sure if anyone else on the East Coast has noticed....
The Internet

Submission + - Microsoft: The World's Biggest Cybersquatter?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: What happens if you use Internet Explorer and try to visit a domain that doesn't actually exist? Microsoft sends you to an automatically generated results page filled with related pay-per-click ads. Click any ad and MS earns $$$. Earthlink is doing this too and Charter just got into the game. Is Firefox next?

http://www.dailydomainer.com/200784-microsoft-eart hlink-charter-cybersquatting.html
XBox (Games)

Submission + - Xbox Live Marketplace Digital Rights MISManagement

Submitted by
Divalent
Divalent writes: "For over fourteen months, Microsoft has been aware of a problem that is presented to a user if they attempt to play an XBL arcade game or a game with premium paid downloadable content on any other machine than the one it was originally downloaded on. (See forum thread begun on 12/18/05)

MS has not come forward and publicly acknowledged the problem. Their representatives on the forums have even gone so far as to say, despite it's frank illegality, that those that had consoles stolen or replaced, in or out of warranty, from retailers will not have the workaround solution applied to their accounts unless they have explicit proof of said replacement. This means if your box breaks out of warranty, you cannot simply trash it and head to a store and buy a new one. You must somehow show continuity and PROVE to Microsoft that your old box is broken and has been replaced by the one you say it has been replaced by. Whatever happened to content being tied to your Gamertag, an ID that is uncopy-able and can only be logged onto one console at any one time? Where was the mention prior to launch of tying content to Gamertag AND the first console used to download the content before launch? That little detail wasn't even brought up until the Fall Update in October '06.

Currently there is a group of users who have had enough of this mismanagement of the growing segment of users with this problem. It is felt that Microsoft has its choice of a myriad of solutions such as Apples (de)authorizing protocol for iTunes. You can get a synopsis of the problem at Parallax Abstraction's blog on the matter here along with his recommendations of what to do. Included in the suggestions, whether you've personally been effected by the problem or not, is the urging to sign a petition that asks Microsoft to change the Digital Rights (Mis)Managment scheme currently in place."
The Courts

Submission + - Top Canadian Court strikes down detention law

Submitted by
athar
athar writes: "The Canadian Supreme Court, in an unanimous 9-0 decision, struck down the security certificate regime in Canada, whereby foreigners could be detained indefinitely on the basis of secret evidence, with no real ability to challenge their detention. The Court ruled that the regime violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and has given the government one year to rectify the regime. The decision is in stark contrast to the current legal situation in the United States."

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