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Microsoft

Submission + - Hungary Reconsiders OOXML Vote

Submitted by
Rob Isn't Weird
Rob Isn't Weird writes: "Hot on the heels of Sweden's change of heart, Hungary is reconsidering its OOXML vote. Because of certain irregularities, namely invitations that were not sent to the parties on time and a last-minute rules change to allow OOXML through with only 50% approval instead of the usual 66% approval. They intend to hold a new vote on August 31st, although there is no word on what they intend to do about the sudden influx of Microsoft partners who have paid the 200 Euro membership fee just to be able to vote on this particular issue."
Spam

Submission + - The Unreliability of Email

Submitted by
geekmansworld
geekmansworld writes: "Our business is entirely dependent on e-mail to function. We have our own server and maintain it scrupulously to make sure we optimize legitimate receipt versus deletion of spam. All our major clients' domain names are SA whitelisted to avoid blocking. Increasingly, we've had trouble receiving messages sent through certain ISPs. We've poured over the mail logs, but the messages never even got to our servers (we have primary and secondary MX). It's no secret that spam is overwhelming these days. I wonder, is e-mail now so unreliable that it's a dead medium of communication? How are other server admins coping with email recently?"
Microsoft

Submission + - Vista crippled by content protection

Submitted by
evansvillelinux
evansvillelinux writes: "PC users around the globe may find driver software is stopped from working by Vista if it detects unauthorised content access. Peter Guttman, a security engineering researcher at New Zealand's university of Auckland, has written A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection. He reckons Vista is trying to achieve the impossible by protecting access to premium content. Users will find their PCs' compromised by the persistent and continuous content access checks carried out by Vista.

http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index.cfm?news id=7675"
Media

Submission + - Discrimination against atheists on CNN

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "On January 31st, as part of a longer series on discimination, CNN's Paula Zahn show did a topic on discrimination against atheists. After a short prerecorded segment about two families' experiences, the show came back for a live panel discussion where opinions ranged from 'they just need to shut up' to 'they and others just need to shut up.' The bigotry was so bad even Paula Zahn was taken aback — "Are any of you going to defend them here tonight?" The flood of angry emails has prompted CNN to redo the segment on Monday night, 2/12 (Darwin Day !), this time with a balanced panel."
Wireless Networking

Submission + - How To Secure Your Home Wireless Network

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: NetworkSystemsDesignline has posted a chapter from the book How To Secure Your Home Wireless Network. Its four-step program to secure your set-up is: Change your router's password; Do not advertise your network (turn off SSID broadcast); Scramble (encrypt) your wireless signal, using WEP or WPA; and Do not use ad-hoc networking. Is wireless-net insecurity overblown? And what techniques have you used to protect your LAN?
Mozilla

Submission + - serious flaw in Firefox 2.0 and Opera 9.1

Submitted by
crazylittlebear
crazylittlebear writes: "Firefox 2.0 and Opera 9.1 have serious bug, which allows to read disc data (e.g. directory listing, contents of text files) from any computer. If you download HTML file do disc and open it from your computer, with JavaScript turned on, your disc can be scanned by someone else. As described on http://bragoszewski.com/?page_id=36, the flaw is not present in Internet Explorer 6 or 7. It is not only possible to send a file o directory listing from computer. The exploit or backdoor that uses this bug is extremely easy to write. With more complicated code an attacker can establish a full connection to a computer and can browse victim's disc nearly as easy as with local file manager..."
Microsoft

Submission + - Weather alert: Microsoft FUD storm ahead

Submitted by
xtaski
xtaski writes: "In recent weeks, Microsoft seems to have gone out of its way to put Linux down, while boosting Linux. First, there was the bribetop scandal; then, the Wikipedia 'correction' affair. Now, the company is up to one of its oldest tricks: playing games with analyst reports. This time around, Sunbelt Software is working with the Yankee Group, a research company with a poor reputation in Linux circles, to produce its "yearly major survey comparing Windows to Linux." Here we go again."
Encryption

Journal Journal: NSA CryptoKids Website

Journal by AppleButter
Most love to ponder the inner workings of intelligence agencies, and the link on the NSA's website (http://www.nsa.gov/) labeled "Kids Page" is no exception. Hardball recruiting practices aside, I wonder how long it will be before someone either a) tells the story of how they first became interested in cryptography when they were just a "CryptoKid", or b) writes a screenplay based on some ridiculous scenario where an adolescent genius hacks into the NSA's comput
Power

Submission + - not enough lithium available in the Earth's crust

Submitted by pH7.0
pH7.0 writes: From this Toronto Star story: http://www.thestar.com/article/175800 "there's simply not enough lithium available in the Earth's crust to stick a lithium-ion battery in the world's 900 million cars, and at the same time expect the auto market to grow. It's just not sustainable." Is this true? AFAIK there are more Lithium in the earth's crust than Tin or Lead. May it's still not enough? OTOH, that story try to plug "Zebra Battery" but fail to mention "Molten salt"...
Google

Submission + - Funny Google Directions

Submitted by
Eternal Enthusiast
Eternal Enthusiast writes: "Google Maps provides some very funny directions in our own USA. For 2 buildings that are connected and right next to each other, Google Maps shows up round-about directions for about 3.6 miles!! Very Very funny. Man should only use technology for guidance, not blindly follow it!! Read and see more here : http://vijaychallait.blogspot.com/2007/02/google-b looper.html"
Biotech

Submission + - For women nothing's like the smell of men's sweat

Submitted by
gollum123
gollum123 writes: "From CNN, Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley said women who sniffed a chemical found in male sweat experienced elevated levels of an important hormone, along with higher sexual arousal, faster heart rate and other effects ( http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/02/08/men.sweat.reu t/index.html ). They said the study, published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience, represents the first direct evidence that people secrete a scent that influences the hormones of the opposite sex. The researchers measured levels of the hormone cortisol in the saliva of 48 female undergraduates at Berkeley, average age of about 21, after the women took 20 sniffs from a jar of androstadienone. Cortisol levels in the women who smelled androstadienone shot up within roughly 15 minutes and stayed elevated for up to an hour. Consistent with previous research, the women also reported improved mood, higher sexual arousal, and had increased blood pressure, heart rate and breathing. The study did not determine whether the increase in cortisol levels triggered mood or arousal changes or whether those changes themselves caused the cortisol elevation."

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