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Security

Submission + - Oracle IP address = 9th in world for ssh hacking? (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: As voted for by servers which run the "denyhosts" software to block ssh brute-force password attacks:

http://stats.denyhosts.net/stats.html

A box (or group of boxes behind a proxy) at Oracle UK seems to have hit the top 10 of machines on the Internet for launching attacks on boxes which run SSH server software...

This would imply that not only has a computer (or multiple computers) at Oracle UK been compromised without them noticing, but the new owners have then spent the last 3 months using Oracle's bandwidth to hack other boxes elsewhere on the net.

http://denyhosts.sourceforge.net/

Not so hot for a company which "has built a reputation for delivering many of the industry's most secure solutions"

http://www.oracle.com/security/security-solutions. html
Biotech

Submission + - Fingerprint Instead Of Blood Sample To Detect Drug (medicalnewstoday.com)

Submitted by nontrad
nontrad writes: To this day, fingerprints are just the thing when a perpetrator needs to be arrested or a person needs to be identified. British scientists working with David A. Russell also want to make it possible to use fingerprints to reveal drug and doping transgressions and to diagnose diseases. As the team from the University of East Anglia in Norwich and King's College in London report in the journal Angewandte Chemie, they have now been able to use specific antibodies to differentiate between the fingerprints of smokers and nonsmokers. ..... In addition to forensic applications, this method would be ideal for detecting doping. Sample manipulations by the test subjects would hardly be possible since each sample is uniquely assignable to a specific athlete by virtue of the ridge pattern. Medical diagnostics could also benefit in the form of simple and quick mass screening with no danger of sample mix-ups. Another application could be drug screening without taking blood samples — from suspicious drivers, for example. In addition to forensics to identify suspects, this could be used by insurance agencies, employment, athletics, etc.
Businesses

CEO Questionably Used Pseudonym to Post Online 187

Posted by Zonk from the anonymity-+-the-internet-= dept.
jpallas writes "The Wall Street Journal reports that court filings by the FTC about Whole Foods' plan to acquire Wild Oats reveal an unusual detail: The CEO of Whole Foods regularly posted to a Yahoo! stock bulletin board under a pseudonym. His alter ego was feisty, to say the least, and regularly disparaged the company that he later decided to acquire. A former SEC chairman called the behavior 'bizarre and ill-advised, even if it isn't illegal.' This certainly raises questions about online rights to free speech and anonymity, especially when the line between free speech and regulated speech depends on who is speaking as much as what they are saying."
Privacy

Submission + - Is Your Printer Spying on You?

Submitted by
gnujoshua
gnujoshua writes: "In 2005, the EFF alerted the world to how laser printers are spying their users by providing tracking information in the form of a unique smattering of barely detectable yellow dots that appear on every printout. Revitalizing this issue, the Computing Counter Culture Group at the MIT Media Labs has launched Seeing Yellow. They provide instructions to see the tracking dots, as well as provide you with a list of clever questions, and appropriate contact information so that you can confront your laser printer manufacturer. Let's act before this issue slips through the cracks again and send the message that manufacturers' must respect our privacy and our right to anonymous free speech."
Music

Net Radio Wins Partial Reprieve 96

Posted by Zonk from the axe-is-still-pretty-close dept.
Joren writes "Just a few hours after our last discussion on this topic, Wired News is reporting that Internet radio broadcasters have won a temporary reprieve from the new rates. Apparently the details are still being worked out. 'A coalition of webcasters have worked out a deal with the recording industry that could temporarily stave off a portion of crippling net radio royalties set to take effect Sunday, according to people familiar with the negotiations ... For now, the parties involved in what's described as ongoing negotiations have agreed to waive at least temporarily the minimum charge of $6,000 per channel required under a scheme created by the Copyright Royalty Board, or CRB. The deal, brokered late Thursday, is not final and could change. One person involved in the talks described the situation as a reprieve, and said that internet radio won't be saved until a workable royalty rate is set.'"
Music

Apple's DRM Whack-a-Mole 352

Posted by CmdrTaco from the ouch-ouch-ouch-ouch dept.
Mateo_LeFou writes "Gulf News has a nice piece exposing the last couple generations of Apple's DRM strategy (you didn't really think they were abandoning DRM, did you?). Article focuses on how quickly the tactics are worked around, and how nasty the latest one is: purchased iTunes now have your personal data in them. Author suspects that this is to prevent you uploading them to a network."
Networking

Submission + - Open Source Uses for Extra Bandwidth?

Submitted by
yourexhalekiss
yourexhalekiss writes: "I recently signed up for a website hosting plan from a relatively well-known host. After about a month or so of use, I've discovered that I'm using approximately 0.5 gigabyte of bandwidth per month, or 0.5% of my total monthly allowance. Are there open source projects out there that could benefit from my donated bandwidth? I know everyone needs mirrors for one thing or another, but how do I know who needs content mirrored, and what's the best way to get in touch with them? Is there some sort of online clearinghouse for donated bandwidth, or open source projects that rely on donated bandwidth to operate?"

Wikipedia Closes Wii, PS3, Sony Entries 99

Posted by Zonk from the stop-fighting-live-together-it'll-all-be-over-soon dept.
GameSpot reports that Wikipedia has closed the next-gen console entries because of nigh-onto constant defacement from angry fanbois. From the article: "Last week the complete Nintendo company page was replaced with the phrase "Nintendo Sucks!!!!!!!!!" briefly before the Web site reloaded the original entry. Previous vandalism efforts include someone doodling on a Hitler moustache and horns on the photograph for the entry for Bill Gates, and the sentence "Microsoft is Zomg T3h Suck0r!!!!!!" briefly replacing the computer software company's page. All of the next-generation consoles make it into the company's top 40 list of most revised pages, with the Nintendo Wii at number 10 (12,780 revisions), the PS3 at number 21 (9,894 revisions), and the Xbox 360 at 25 (9,481 revisions.) Interestingly, the Wii seems to attract more conflicts of opinion on the site than the subjects of Scientology (8,475 revisions), God (7,537 revisions), and even Britney Spears (9,886 revisions.)"

Comment Re:difference between "not private" and "announced (Score 1) 426

by windows (#16050199) Attached to: Facebook Changes Provoke Uproar Among Users
I don't really care what people see about me on Facebook. I'm well aware of the privacy issues.

However, I can see some reasons why people would be concerned.

My biggest concern is that there are plenty of things on Facebook that I can choose to opt out of. I can choose who can see my photos, who can see my online status, who can see my wall, and plenty of other options. I don't see any option to hide or opt out of the log of my events being posted on my profile page. I am very capable of manually deleting events, but in order to fit the privacy scheme of the rest of the site, I should have the ability to opt out altogether if I so choose.

I certainly don't care that someone can see that I insulted the Saint Louis Cardinals on some girl's wall or that I joined a group for Royals fans. But I do believe that the privacy options on this feature are inconsistent with the options available for other features around the site.

Comment Re:Boot Camp for Linux? Others? (Score 1) 106

by Grim Grepper (#15921447) Attached to: New Apple Bootcamp Released
Boot camp is nothing more than a set of Windows drivers. The BIOS emulation layer, which allows other operating systems to boot, is part of a firmware update. Newer machines like the Mac Pro most likely come from the factory with this firmware. So your ability to run Linux or other operating systems will depend on the drivers available for them.

Robot Balances on a Single Spherical Wheel 211

Posted by CmdrTaco from the so-robots-can-unicycle-then dept.
dalangalma writes "Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute have developed a new kind of robot called the Ballbot that balances on a steel ball. Using a mechanism similar to a ball mouse, the Ballbot uses rollers to drive its single, spherical wheel and balance in place or glide around the room. The promise of such dynamically stable robots is that they can be much taller without having to have a wide base, making them much more suitable for working with humans. They are also much more agile, since they can be pushed out of the way easily without falling over. You can read the press release or check out the project's web page when it recovers from traffic."

MySpace #1 US Destination Last Week 381

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the looking-for-a-stage-2-burn dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Hitwise is reporting that MySpace has reached the top, surpassing Yahoo! Mail as the most visited site on the internet for US users. Seeing a 4300% increase in visits in just two short years, this internet sensation has come quite a long ways. From the article: 'To put MySpace's growth in perspective, if we look back to July 2004 myspace.com represented only .1% of all Internet visits. This time last year myspace.com represented 1.9% of all Internet visits. With the week ending July 8, 2006 market share figure of 4.5% of all the US Internet visits.'"

Microsoft to Supply Electronics to Formula 1 433

Posted by samzenpus from the blue-car-of-death dept.
Yooden_Vranx writes "speedtv.com reports that beginning in 2008, Microsoft will be the sole supplier of Engine Control Units to Formula 1. Apparently, moving to a single supplier is part of the FIA's (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) attempts to cut costs. The article does not clarify whether this cost reduction is enabled by cutting back on tech support, what percentage of the engine's power will be required to run all the 'features' embedded in the device, or whether 'crash' will now refer primarily to software behavior rather than driving incidents."

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