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Security

Exploit Found to Brick Most HP and Compaq Laptops 294

Posted by Soulskill from the cool-looking-paperweight dept.
Ian Lamont writes "A security researcher calling himself porkythepig has published attack code that can supposedly brick most HP and Compaq laptops. The exploit uses an ActiveX control in HP's Software Update. It would 'let an attacker corrupt Windows' kernel files, making the laptop unbootable, or with a little more effort, allow hacks that would result in a PC hijack or malware infection.' The same researcher last week outlined a batch of additional vulnerabilities in HP and Compaq laptops, for which HP later issued patches."
Software

Comparing Browser JavaScript Performance 134

Posted by kdawson from the lining-'em-up dept.
Thwomp writes "Over at Coding Horror Jeff Atwood has an interesting writeup on JavaScript performance in the big four browsers. He used WebKit's newly announced SunSpider to produce the results. If a probable anomaly in the IE7 results is overlooked, Firefox 2 is the slowest of the bunch. Atwood has also benchmarked the latest Firefox Beta, and its performance seems to be improved significantly."

Robotic Cannon Loses Control, Kills 9 580

Posted by Zonk from the keep-quiet-on-the-terminator-jokes dept.
TJ_Phazerhacki writes "A new high tech weapon system demonstrated one of the prime concerns circling smarter and smarter methods of defense last week — an Oerlikon GDF-005 cannon went wildly out of control during live fire test exercises in South Africa, killing 9. Scarily enough, this is far from the first instance of a smart weapon 'turning' on its handlers. 'Electronics engineer and defence company CEO Richard Young says he can't believe the incident was purely a mechanical fault. He says his company, C2I2, in the mid 1990s, was involved in two air defence artillery upgrade programmes, dubbed Projects Catchy and Dart. During the shooting trials at Armscor's Alkantpan shooting range, "I personally saw a gun go out of control several times," Young says. "They made a temporary rig consisting of two steel poles on each side of the weapon, with a rope in between to keep the weapon from swinging. The weapon eventually knocked the pol[e]s down."' The biggest concern seems to be finding the glitches in the system instead of reconsidering automated arms altogether."
Wii

Journal Journal: BBC Flash-based iPlayer brings shows to Wii?

Journal by Thwomp

According to this story the BBC is looking at developing a Flash-based version of their iPlayer to deliver BBC content to Mac and Linux users. Currently they only have a service which caters for Windows users.
Portables (Apple)

Submission + - Free Software-only SIM Unlock for the iPhone

Submitted by coasterfan
coasterfan writes: Put away your soldering irons! Charlie Sorrel at the Wired Gadget lab reports that the iPhone Dev team has released a free, open source unlock for the iPhone. Engadget has the story behind it. A complete tutorial for use with a computer running OS X is available at MacApper.
Security

Submission + - Bastille linux hijacked

Submitted by fathertedgrinch
fathertedgrinch writes: The Bastille-linux project's registration has apparently been hijacked by a cyber-squatter. See http://isc.sans.org/ for information. note that there are two articles there — one describes the discovery, and the second shows the new url for bastille.
Censorship

Submission + - Facebook under fire from breastfeeding advocates (thestar.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: After having images censored and even full user accounts canceled, a groundswell of support from Canadian groups who promote breastfeeding are angry at Facebook and say they should not have to defend a natural, healthy activity that is promoted by many medical groups and even the World Health Organization. "Photos containing an exposed breast do violate our terms and are removed," Facebook replied.
Biotech

Submission + - Make a baby. Win a car.

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "Sergei Morozov, Governor of the Russian province of Ulyanovsk, has decreed September 12 a Day of Conception and is giving couples time off from work to procreate. Couples who give birth nine months later on Russia's national day — June 12 — will receive money, cars, refrigerators and other prizes. The New York Times reports that this is the third year the competition has been going on and so far, the region's birth rate is up 4.5 percent compared to the same period last year. Russia's population has dropped since the 1991 Soviet collapse, fed by declining birth rates, a low life expectancy, a spike in emigration, a frayed health care system and other factors. The country — the world's largest by area — now has just 141.4 million citizens, making it one of the most sparsely settled nations. Experts estimate that Russia's population could fall another 22 percent by 2050 with a devastating impact on the workforce, military recruitment and family formation."
Utilities (Apple)

Submission + - iPhone Unlocking Goes Open Source (fastsilicon.com) 1

Submitted by mrneutron2003
mrneutron2003 writes: Sure to make the "Jobs Mob" and AT&T very happy, David Harrison has made available an open source method for unlocking the iPhone from provider, AT&T. He suggests donating to your favorite charity as opposed to sending him any green. Nice guy! He might want to check his warchest for legal defense funds however. Though we do not have an iPhone in need of unlocking (one of our staff has one, but he has AT&T service), it appears this is legitimate from a cursory glance around the webosphere. If you need it, it's right here . Use at your own risk... http://www.fastsilicon.com/off-the-wall/iphone-unlocking-goes-open-source.html
Role Playing (Games)

Next WoW Expansion Title Leaked? 121

Posted by Zonk from the chilly-jihad dept.
Gamespot reports that the German software ratings board may have accidentally tipped Blizzard's hand on the title of the next World of Warcraft expansion. "Spotted by German community site Gamona, a listing for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King appeared on USK yesterday, accompanied by the tag 'GC-demo,' implying Blizzard will be showing Wrath of the Lich King at this year's Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany. Responding to a request for comment, a Blizzard representative stated, 'We have not yet announced any details with regard to future expansions of World of Warcraft.'" No surprise that Northrend would be the setting for the newest expansion. A bit disappointing, really.
Biotech

Humans Evolved From a Single Origin In Africa 461

Posted by kdawson from the 6,000-skulls dept.
Invisible Pink Unicorn writes "Researchers at the University of Cambridge have combined studies of global human genetic variations with skull measurements worldwide to show conclusively the validity of the single origin hypothesis. The alternative hypothesis contended that different populations independently evolved from Homo erectus to Home sapiens in different areas. The lead researcher explains, 'The origin of anatomically modern humans has been the focus of much heated debate. Our genetic research shows the further modern humans have migrated from Africa, the more genetic diversity has been lost within a population. However, some have used skull data to argue that modern humans originated in multiple spots around the world. We have combined our genetic data with new measurements of a large sample of skulls to show definitively that modern humans originated from a single area in Sub-saharan Africa.' The article abstract is available from Nature."
The Courts

Submission + - RIAA v. Santangelo default judgment vacated

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "It was reported last week that at the July 13th status conference in Elektra v. Santangelo II, the default judgment taken by the RIAA against Patti Santangelo's daughter, Michelle, was vacated by Judge Stephen C. Robinson. This has now been confirmed in papers filed by the RIAA's lawyers in which they indicated that the Judge vacated the default judgment because he prefers cases to be decided on their merits, rather than by default (pdf). The papers sought $513 in attorneys fees for (a) procuring the default judgment and (b) preparing judgment enforcement documents. Patti Santangelo is the first RIAA defendant known to have moved to dismiss the RIAA complaint. After two years of litigation, the RIAA dropped its case against Patti Santangelo, leaving open only the question of whether the RIAA will be ordered to pay her attorneys fees."

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