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Submission + - TiVo's Unbreakable Password Patent

Submitted by
kbox
kbox writes: "Some of TiVo's patents have obvious applications and some of them are really held more for defensive purposes, but it's the bizarre ones that I find most interesting and on Tuesday, TiVo was issued a patent for a method of locking down hard drives, that involves creating a password, that is so hard to guess, it would take longer than the expected life of your hard drive for someone to crack. According to the patent document, the method is described as the following.

An authentication system for securing information within a disk drive to be read and written to only by a specific host computer such that it is difficult or impossible to access the drive by any system other than a designated host is disclosed.
Full Story"
Quickies

Submission + - The face, not the body, attracts a mate.

Submitted by
Ant
Ant writes: "New Scientist reports that it appears that the opposite sex is much more interested in human's face than their bulging biceps or elegant figure, especially if you're a man. At least that's the upshot of the first study to assess how much faces and bodies contribute to someone's overall attractiveness... Seen on Blue's News."
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - iPod Video Headphone Sockets - Defective By Design

Submitted by
iPod Hack
iPod Hack writes: "I own a 5th Generation iPod and I'm getting real good at opening it up, in fact it's been opened so many times that it needs a spot of glue on the corners to stop the back falling off. The problem is the headphone socket, my iPod is not mistreated yet I have gone through three of them, each time I find that the headphone socket fails and one channel of audio fades into static. I'm somewhat reluctant to order a fourth socket so I decided to create an alternative solution.

The headphone socket assembly contains a single IC and a handful of other components. If someone can supply me with the schematic for this assembly or give me some clue about its function then I can reverse engineer it. I'm thinking that the IC is either the headphone power amplifier or a switch to select between video and audio. As an alternative, the pinout for the 13-pin connector that connects the main board to the hold switch & headphone socket would help. Email any technical details to ipodhack2007@gmail.com

I believe that the 5th Generation iPod headphone socket is defective by design. With enough information I can create a design for an alternative assembly which will do the same job but with more reliable components. This design will use components from a single source (probably Mouser) and I will make the schematic for this assembly along with the Gerber files and PCB layout available under a GPL license. Can you help?

A Frustrated iPod Owner"
Yahoo!

Submission + - "My Yahoo" Severely Troubled This Weekend

Submitted by __aawlmn9210
__aawlmn9210 writes: While Yahoo continues to operate as usual, the personalized My Yahoo page, has shown up missing in a major way at least twice this weekend. I'd include a screenshot, but complete white is complete white. It's simply not there. Any info on this?
Censorship

Submission + - Scientologists In Row With BBC

Submitted by
CmdrGravy
CmdrGravy writes: "The Church Of Scientology is currently engaged in a row with BBC over a Panorama investigation by the BBC reporter John Sweeney. John is investigating the Church Of Scientology for the program to find out if they have changed in the last few years and moved away from the questionable practices and secrecy they have employed in the past.

The row centres around a YouTube video posted by the scientologists and a DVD they have released which show Mr Sweeney losing his temper with a scientology spokesman Tom Davis in which Mr Sweeney is driven to yelling at Tom Davis at the top of his voice. Mr Sweeney has since apologised for losing his temper which he says he now realises was both wrong and stupid. In the DVD the scientologists also accuse the BBC of organising an anti scientology demonstration and yelling terrorist death threats at John Travolta, allegations which the BBC denounce as being clearly laughable and utter nonsense. John Travolta has also accused of Mr Sweeney of harbouring "personal prejudices, bigotry and animosity" against Scientology in the documentary, and accused the reporter of displaying "hatred against my religion." This despite the fact that in the UK scientology is not classed as a religion due to the financial nature of their practices.

Mr Sweeneys outburst came at the end of a tour of a scientology exhibition which attempts to portray psychiatrists as evil nazi type torturers entitled "Psychiatry: Industry of Death" which is both gruesome and utterly unconvincing. In the days previous to this Mr Sweeney and his camera team became the latest in a long line of reporters to suffer harassment at the hands of scientologists whereby he has been shouted at, spied on, denounced as a bigot by John Travolta had his hotel invaded at midnight, and had mysterious strangers visit his neighbours and family and spy on his wedding. You can begin to see why someone might lose their temper having been victim to this sort of activity.

There is an excellent article in the Telegraph and you can read about the incident in Mr Sweeneys own words here at the BBC.

The video of Mr Sweeney losing his temper is available on YouTube, the argument is about Tom Davis claiming he has said things in a previous interview with someone else at which Tom Davis was not present and therefore cannot know what he has said. During this interview with, I think, an ex scientologist Tom Davis burst in half way through to make claims that the interviewee was some kind of paedophile.

Happily it looks like the BBC is going to stand behind their reporter, judging by this interview with the programs editor and the general tone of their reporting but, really why I'm posting this on /., what can be done against an organisation so determined to prevent fair and unbiased reporting on their activities and is clearly able to utilise the power of the internet and YouTube to further their aims. The BBC is a large organisation and can survive attacks like this which would easily cause a lot more problems to individuals or smaller organisations, is there a way of levelling the playing field in favour of the general population being able to access accurate information on organisations or corporations rather than propaganda put out by the said organisations or corporations ?"
Microsoft

Submission + - Windows Vista "Non" Downgrade Clause

Submitted by Pissed Off
Pissed Off writes: Alright, so I bought a brand new DELL computer and opted for Windows Vista Ultimate. Figuring that Vista Business and Ultimate both come with downgrade rights I figure that I should not have a problem. None the less, the computer arrived and it got unpacked. So I started doing some tweaking and tuning and then timed the start up only to discover that my old computer running Windows XP blew my Windows Vista rig out of the water!

The old computer specs: Pentium M 1.4GHz / 60GB 7200RPM / 1GB RAM
The new computer specs: Core 2 Duo 2GHz / 100GB 7200RPM / 2GB RAM

So I did what any sane person would do and turfed Windows Vista and started installing Windows XP. In order to attain my downgrade rights I called Dell and asked them about this and they told me to call a 1-800 number or the Microsoft Volume Licensing department where they pretty much told me that since I have an OEM copy of Vista that my reseller (Dell) should assist me. Since then I have been back and forth with Dell and Microsoft and have not reached a solution.

After digging around I found a couple web sites describing the whole downgrade process. Some going as far as suggesting that I call and explain to the Windows Activation team my issue and that they should take care of it and activate my computer. So, I just got off the phone and sure enough they told me that the CD Key that i used (legitimate) has already been activated on another computer and that it is licensed for only one system.

This issue is still pending a resolution and neither Dell nor Microsoft seem to be much help! Has any one else out there gone through this with success or lack there of??? I have not yet tried to downgrade my Windows Vista Ultimate retail box... I wonder what Microsoft's excuse will be then >:|

My beef is that no where in the End User License Agreement does it say that I have to:

a) provide my own media (Volume License, Retail, OEM System Builder)
b) provide my own cd key (and not an OEM key)

Had I known that I would not have bothered with Vista and gotten my notebook with Windows XP right out of the gate.

Now I'm faced with the costs of returning my laptop at my cost and then having to wait another 2-3 weeks in order to get the replacement.
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Nimoy Seeks to Affect Cultural Views on Body Image

Submitted by
NewsCloud
NewsCloud writes: "Leonard Nimoy seems to be asking Americans to boldly go and explore our cultural stereotypes and biases in an upcoming photography book on full-bodied women.

For the last eight years, Mr. Nimoy, who is 76 and an established photographer, has been snapping pictures of plus-size women in all their naked glory. "The average American woman, according to articles I've read, weighs 25 percent more than the models who are showing the clothes they are being sold," Mr. Nimoy said. "So, most women will not be able to look like those models. But they're being presented with clothes, cosmetics, surgery, diet pills, diet programs, therapy, with the idea that they can aspire to look like those people. It's a big, big industry. Billions of dollars. And the cruelest part of it is that these women are being told, 'You don't look right.' "
"

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