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Submission + - DHS Turns to Unpaid Interns for Nation's Cyber Security

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: A week after President Obama stressed the importance of computer science to America, the Department of Homeland Security put out a call for 100+ of the nations' best-and-brightest college students to work for nothing on the nation's cyber security. The unpaid internship program, DHS notes, is the realization of recommendations from the Homeland Security Advisory Council's Task Force on CyberSkills, which included execs from Facebook, Lockheed Martin, and Sony, and was advised by representatives from Cisco, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Northrop Grumman, the NSF, and the NSA. "Do you desire to protect American interests and secure our Nation while building a meaningful and rewarding career?" reads the job posting for Secretary's Honors Program Cyber Student Volunteers (salary: $0.00-$0.00). "If so, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is calling." Student volunteers, DHS adds, will begin in spring 2014 and participate throughout the summer. Get your applications in by January 3, kids!

Submission + - Google Glass can now search faces in real time (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: A company called FacialNetwork has developed the first real-time facial recognition app for Google Glass that targets consumers, enabling Glass users to gleam detailed information about nearby people just by looking at them.

Called NameTag, a demo of the technology is shown in a YouTube video. Photos of famous people like Kanye West or Bryan Cranston, the actor of Breaking Bad fame, were strewn about the house as NameTag users tested the functionality. However, apparent users also claim to successfully find information about each other. After one user expresses doubt that the app would work with other people at the demo, he allegedly finds another user’s Facebook account simply by snapping a photo of his face with Glass and searching it on NameTag.

Submission + - Amazon's nightmare: Software hijacks drones mid-air (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: Although Amazon's proposed drone-based product delivery service is still apparently years away, one hacker has already developed a sort of next-generation pirate ship that could hijack and redirect Amazon's delivery bots mid-air. On his website, Sammy Kamkar explained SkyJack, a witty name for a software he developed that allows a remote operator to take control over a drone while it's still flying.

The software, which Kamkar calls "Zombie drone" throughout a YouTube video explaining it, runs on a Parrot AR.Drone 2 and scans for other drones' wireless signals while flying. When it detects nearby drones, the software disconnects the target drone from its wireless connection to its operator, then takes the operator's place. The target drone is then subjected to the same control as the one that detected it, and can be controlled by the operator.

Submission + - Worm may create an Internet of Harmful Things, says Symantec (computerworld.com)

Submitted by dcblogs
dcblogs writes: Internet security firm Symantec says it has discovered a new Linux worm that "appears to be engineered to target the Internet of Things." No attacks have yet been found in the wild, it reported. But as Alfred Hitchcock once said, "There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it." The worm discovered by Symantec attacks an old PHP vulnerability that was patched last year, and targets a small subset of Internet of Things devices, such as Linux-based home routers, set-top boxes, security cameras and industrial control systems.

Submission + - WinAMP's long, strange journey may lead to Redmond (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: Last week, it announced WinAMP would be shut down in December. Merry Christmas.

But now Microsoft is reportedly in talks to pick up WinAMP from AOL and rescue it from the tech graveyard. Now, Microsoft's track record when it comes to music isn't exactly ideal, but at least Microsoft has tried. Zune was a failure but it wasn't a bad idea, and some of its better parts live on in the Windows Phone music app. Microsoft is investing heavily in Xbox Live as a media center, and it could use a competitor to Pandora or iHeartRadio.

If Microsoft doesn't save it, WinAMP supporters are hoping AOL will turn the player over to the open source world. A petition has begun begging AOL to open source all of the WinAMP/ShoutCast code.

Submission + - 'Pawn Stars' take down the Chromebook, on Microsoft's behalf (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: Microsoft has hired what could be devastatingly effective new pitchmen to bash Google's Chromebook — the cast of "Pawn Stars." The show, which debuted on the History Channel in 2009, remains one of the network's highest-rated shows and its cast enjoys considerable popularity outside of the show.

An online video ad released Tuesday as part of Microsoft's anti-Google campaign "Scroogled" mimics an episode of the show, with the setup of a customer coming into the shop, a woman wanting to turn her Chromebook into a ticket to Hollywood. Rick Harrison, co-owner of the shop with his father, chuckles like he always does and declares it worthless unless you are connected to the Internet. "When you’re not connected, it’s pretty much a brick," he declares.

Submission + - Commercializing open source software with Shareware (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: Over the last several years I've tried quite a few different mechanisms of earning a living wage by developing, and distributing, open source software: donations, pay-to-download, software feature bounties, fund-raisers...you name it, I've tried it. And all of these attempts have fallen flat on their faces. Yet one thing consistently confounded me. That very same software sells like gangbusters when it is sold, closed source, under a shareware model. It typically has a big, extremely happy user base and great sales numbers. So how could it being open source possibly not work out exceedingly well?

Release software in a “standard” way – say, shareware, for example. Then put the source code up on GitHub to allow the tinkerers and developers of the world to gain access to the GPL licensed code. This would mean that the freedoms of the end users are being respected while the traditional revenue models of closed source software development are being fully utilized.

So, I've started doing exactly this with my software, Illumination Software Creator. If you look at the website you'll notice something: It looks like any normal commercial, closed source software website. (I present this as just an example of how I'm going about things; feel free to ignore my software if you like...it is pretty awesome, though.)

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this sort of model. Do you like it as an end user? Do you feel, as a software developer, that this would work for your projects? Leave your comments below.

Submission + - Reuters: Snowden stashed "doomsday" cache as insurance policy against harm (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Dega704
Dega704 writes: US and British intelligence officials are concerned former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden has stored an online "doomsday" cache of extraordinarily sensitive classified information that will be unpacked in the event he is arrested or physically harmed, according to a report published Monday.

The article, headlined Spies worry over "doomsday" cache stashed by ex-NSA contractor Snowden, cited seven current and former US officials, as well as other sources briefed on the matter, who spoke on the condition they not be identified. The report claimed the cache contained documents generated by the NSA and other agencies that include previously unpublished names of US and allied intelligence personnel. One of the sources described the documents as an insurance policy against arrest or harm.

Ars was unable to confirm the claims in the article, and some of the reported details sounded technically implausible, at least as they were described.

Submission + - Why Microsoft's New CEO Needs to Get Mobile Right and Fast (ibtimes.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Need figures show in 2014 tablets will make up 50% of the entire PC market. In 2014 Windows will make up just 5% of that huge tablet market. This, in just two sentences, show just why the new Microsoft CEO needs to make mobile work....and fast

Submission + - Review: Puppet vs. Chef vs. Ansible vs. Salt

Submitted by snydeq
snydeq writes: InfoWorld's Paul Venezia provides an in-depth review of Puppet, Chef, Ansible, and Salt — four leading configuration management and orchestration tools, each of which takes a different path to server automation. 'Puppet, Chef, Ansible, and Salt were all built with that very goal in mind: to make it much easier to configure and maintain dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of servers. That's not to say that smaller shops won't benefit from these tools, as automation and orchestration generally make life easier in an infrastructure of any size. I looked at each of these four tools in depth, explored their design and function, and determined that, while some scored higher than others, there's a place for each to fit in, depending on the goals of the deployment. Here, I summarize my findings.'

Submission + - Here's a fake virus to get you out of work early (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: What better way to get out of work early than to fall victim to a virus that shuts down your PC? Well, being able to do that without actually suffering a virus.

That's the thinking behind the Happy Hour Virus, a simple service that makes your PC look like it has crashed so you can pretend to be really upset about missing out on the last three hours of your Friday afternoon before heading out to happy hour (I think that's where they got the name).

Colorado-based ad agency TDA_Boulder launched the service with a website, HappyHourVirus.com, that offers a pretty impressive menu of PC outages — a kernel panic, a notorious blue screen of death, or the trusty broken monitor, because you can't get your work done if you can't see it on your monitor.

Submission + - Dropbox lowers the wall between personal and business accounts (citeworld.com)

Submitted by mattydread23
mattydread23 writes: Dropbox keeps moving into the enterprise, bit by bit. Today, the company announced an update to Dropbox for Business that will let end-users see personal and business accounts in one place, as well as better auditing for IT managers, remote wipe, and the ability to transfer accounts when a person leaves the company. Chances are, your company's employees are using Dropbox already, so why make them switch? That question is getting harder and harder to answer.

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