markw365 - Slashdot User

Submission + - Unusual security for Harry Potter 7 (thinkabdul.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 16, 2007 @07:35PM

An anonymous reader writes: This article highlights some of the most unusual and unheard of security measures that are being taken to ensure that the secret about the death of two main characters in the story are not revealed till the launch of the book on 21st of July. They include interesting items from various sources such as:

-only Rowling and 20 others — illustrators, editors and continuity experts — know the book's ending

-some employees had to work in near darkness to prevent them from reading the books

-The delivery trucks are fitted with satellite tracking systems GPS) costing up to £1,000 each

-written consent from Rowling's literary agent to read aloud from the book. Quizzes, riddles and crosswords are strictly banned.

http://thinkabdul.com/2007/07/16/highlight-unusual -unprecedented-security-measures-taken-to-protect- jk-rowlings-harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-s ecrets/

Submission + - Blogs Are Eating Tech Media Alive - Forbes.com (forbes.com)

Submitted by Heinz on Monday July 16, 2007 @07:10PM

Heinz writes: Silicon Valley is booming again. But if you work in tech media, there's blood on the floor. Take Red Herring. It hung onto its offices after getting the eviction notice earlier this month. But gossip site Valleywag is breaking story after story not just on its beat — but about its woes. Meanwhile, bigger publications are hurting too: Time Warner's (nyse: TWX — news — people ) Business 2.0 saw ad pages drop 21.8% through March from the same period a year ago; PC Magazine's editor in chief walked out the door after ad pages fell 38.8% over the same period; and one-time online powerhouse CNET is reporting growing losses even as the companies it covers flourish. It may be happening in tech first, but there's no reason the same thing won't happen, eventually, in every media niche.

Submission + - Can cryptography prevent printer-ink piracy? 1

Submitted by Zack Melich on Friday June 29, 2007 @10:13AM

Zack Melich writes: Cryptography Research Inc. (CRI), a San Francisco company, is developing chip technology aimed at helping printer manufacturers protect this primary source of profit. The company's chips use cryptography designed to make it harder for printers to use off-brand and counterfeit cartridges. CRI plans to create a secure chip that will allow only certain ink cartridges to communicate with certain printers. CRI also said that the chip will be designed that so large portions of it will have no decipherable structure, a feature that would thwart someone attempting to reverse-engineer the chip by examining it under a microscope to determine how it works. Its chip generates a separate, random code for each ink cartridge, thus requiring a would-be hacker to break every successive cartridge's code to make use of the cartridge. "You can see 95 percent of the [chip's] grid and you still don't know how it works," said Kit Rodgers, CRI's vice president of business development.

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