395283
submission
blamanj writes:
Three months ago, astronomers announced the discovery of a large hole at the edge of our universe. Now, Dr. Laura Mersini-Houghton thinks she knows what that means. (Subscription req'd at New Scientist site, there's also an overview here.) According to string theory, there are many universes besides our own. Her team says that smaller universes are positioned at the edge of our universe, and because of gravitational interactions, they can be observed, and they're willing to make a prediction. The recently discovered void is in the northern hemisphere. They contend another one will be found in the southern hemisphere.
380037
submission
infinitysv5 writes:
Obama made a campaign stop at Google. He pledged to post government data on the Internet in universally accessible formats, and likened his quick rise in politics to Google's rapid emergence as the giant it is. He also fielded questions, like this one:
"Obama was prepared when Google CEO Eric Schmidt, the event moderator, asked him the most efficient way to sort a million 32-bit integers.
Obama said he did not favor the bubble sort method, impressing engineers by his reference to a method of sorting out numerical algorithms.
"You answered the question correctly," Schmidt said."
Only a politician would even mention bubble sort.
369853
submission
cottagetrees writes:
Security uber-researcher Roger Thompson has discovered multipled hacked MySpace pages — most notably MySpace's #4 most popular major music artist Alicia Keys.
Thompson has posted a super-interesting detailed video here:
According to Thompson, the hack and exploit have some interesting characteristics...
1. MySpace is hacked, as opposed to the
bad guys getting the usernames and passwords of a few bands (other bands
hit include "Greements of Fortune," a French funk band, "Dykeenies," a
rock band from Glasgow, and several others.
2. When a visitor visits the infected page, they're first hit by an
exploit (which installs malware in the background if they're not fully
patched against the latest security vulnerabilities), and next they're
presented with a Fake Codec which tells them they need to install a
codec to view the video. So even if they're patched, they can fall
victim to the exploit.
3. The bad guys are using a deviously ingenious hack: The HTML in the page contains some sort of image map, which basically makes it so you can click on anything over a wide
area on the page and your click is directed to the malicious hyperlink.
Even the ads on the page are affected.
Thompson's blog, with more information, is at http://explabs.blogspot.com/
369839
submission
eefsee writes:
How can you support TV & movie writers during the current Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike? Kay Reindl, a TV writer, suggests boycotting iTunes in favor of bittorrent: '...go ahead and watch those DVDs. Yes, we're being underpaid for them but at least we ARE being paid. What I don't want people to do, however, is download episodes from iTunes or watch episodes on a network's website. ...when you download something or watch streaming video with commercials and the writers don't get any money for it, the networks call it promotion. ...Steal from the networks. You KNOW how much they hate it. But we're not supposed to hate it if they steal from us. Somehow, that's their logic. If you don't know how to use Bittorrent, go read up on it.' Makes you feel downright good to be a criminal!
244415
submission
eefsee writes:
The NYT reveals (silly login required): 'For the last 14 months, high-tech insiders have been eating up the work of an anonymous blogger who assumed the persona of Steven P. Jobs, Apple's chief executive and one of the world's most famous businessmen. ... Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Daniel Lyons, a senior editor at Forbes magazine who lives near Boston, has been quietly enjoying the attention.' Does Lyons worry that he will be held accountable for what some perceive as mean-sprited comments such as those about Linux 'freetards?' 'Yes,' he admits, but he's still planning on publishing the book 'Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs, a Parody.'