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Submission + - 217,000 text messages!

Submitted by
AlHunt
AlHunt writes: "Two central Pennsylvania friends spent most of March in a text-messaging record attempt — for a total of 217,000. For one of the two, that meant an inches-thick itemized bill for $26,000. Nick Andes, 29, and Doug Klinger, 30, were relying on their unlimited text messaging plans to get them through the escapade, so Andes didn't expect such a big bill.

"It came in a box that cost $27.55 to send to me" Andes said.

After a "panicked" call, Andes says his cell phone company assures him he won't have to pay it."
Microsoft

Submission + - Vista post-SP2 is the safest OS on the planet. (microsoft.com)

Submitted by pkluss
pkluss writes: Kevin Turner, COO of Microsoft, is sure to turn heads with this little remark.

'Vista today, post-Service Pack 2, which is now in the marketplace, is the safest, most reliable OS we've ever built. It's also the most secure OS on the planet, including Linux and open source and Apple Leopard. It's the safest and most secure OS on the planet today.'

Discuss amongst yourselves.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/turner/2009/04-06MMCIOSummit.mspx
Handhelds

Submission + - iPhone Jailbreaking Still Going Strong (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
snydeq
snydeq writes: "Despite the productivity promises of Apple's forthcoming 3.0 firmware update, jailbreaking should continue to push the iPhone's productivity envelope, as users increasingly demand the Holy Grail of smartphone power use: applications that run in the background, InfoWorld reports. Copy and paste, video recording and streaming, Internet tethering, and content search are just a few of the features over which iPhone users have sought to jailbreak their devices — a practice Apple itself has done little to crack down on. Jailbreak apps circumvent hardware and software restrictions that Apple says ensure a consistent, responsive user interface and optimal battery endurance. In particular, jailbroken phones can run apps in the background, a capability Apple reserves for its own apps but prohibits in third-party programs. Jay Freeman, creator of the Cydia iPhone installer and Cydia Store, however, believes a free-market approach is the best way to satisfy power users' demands for features without compromising the performance of their iPhones. And given Apple's App Store overcrowding, it seems likely that jailbroken phones and app venues like Cydia Store will continue to be popular with iPhone customers and developers, even after the 3.0 firmware ships."
Security

Submission + - Conficker Worm Crashes University of Utah

Submitted by nandemoari
nandemoari writes: Last week the latest variant of the Conficker worm surfaced — and just to prove it, the worm infected at least 700 computers at the University of Utah. According to school officials, two main systems are affected by the infection: the university's three hospitals, but also its adjoined medical, nursing, and pharmacy colleges. The tip-off was a simple one most of us are quick to associate with trouble: staff noticed something was amiss when Internet service slowed considerably and email correspondence bogged down altogether.
Movies

Submission + - MPAA President to be Thrown Out (torrentfreak.com)

Submitted by XaviorPenguin
XaviorPenguin writes: Glickman, head honcho at the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), is in an unenviable position. As head of the MPAA he helped lead the organization into a crusade against millions of people around the world, pushing strategies which can, and often were described as draconian.

Glickman's departure comes as many see current MPAA tactics starting to backfire. In the important teen and twenties demographics the MPAA's messages are not getting through, and in many cases are driving resentment against them. The negative PR generated by The Pirate Bay case, initiated after intense pressure was put on the Swedish government by the MPAA (via the White House) has also worked against them, as have various pushes globally to get ISPs to agree to a 3-strikes (or 'graduated response') policy. Others claim that Glickman's leadership has been lackluster, his public speaking gigs 'bad' and 'boring', and hint that the short contract extension is because of this.
The Internet

Submission + - Web Surfing Boosts Office Productivity Study Says

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "Dr Brent Coker, professor of Department of Management and Marketing at Melbourne University, says employees who surf the internet for leisure during working hours are more productive than those who don't. A study of 300 office workers found 70 per cent of people who use the internet at work engage in Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing (WILB). "People who do surf the internet for fun at work — within a reasonable limit of less than 20 per cent of their total time in the office — are more productive by about nine per cent than those who don't," said Coker. "People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration. Think back to when you were in class listening to a lecture — after about 20 minutes your concentration probably went right down, yet after a break your concentration was restored. It's the same in the workplace." However Coker warns that excessive time spent surfing the internet could have the reverse effect. "Approximately 14 per cent of internet users in Australia show signs of internet addiction — they don't take breaks at appropriate times, they spend more than a `normal' amount of time online, and can get irritable if they are interrupted while surfing. Those who behave with internet addiction tendencies will have a lower productivity than those without.""
Security

Submission + - Aircrack-ng works with native Windows wifi driver

Submitted by
chalkcircle2
chalkcircle2 writes: "Aircrack-ng team released a GUI version of Airodump-ng that works with the native Windows (at least with XP) wireless drivers. They have posted all the details and download links on their blog. Because all wireless drivers on Windows are NDIS, they were able to do a small modification, a special driver, to enable monitor mode and the only thing you have to do is installing that special driver to enable it (they provided a torrent) and then start the application."
Privacy

Submission + - School flexes Muscles over Teacher's Thong Photos 1

Submitted by Darkon
Darkon writes: UK Teacher Natasha Gray faces disciplinary action after posting revealing pictures on a modelling website. While some may agree with the school's opinion that the material was "completely inappropriate" it was also not against the law and produced in her own time outside of work. To what extent should our employers be poking their noses into what we do at home and should legal activities conducted in private be grounds for censure at work?
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - obama biden salt and pepper shakers (securityjewelers.com)

Submitted by
secjewl
secjewl writes: "I have listed on ebay a set of Obama/Biden salt and pepper shakers. Obama is the pepper and Biden is the salt. My wife thinks it is in poor taste. After Obamas comment about his bowling and Special Olympics I think he has thrown the taste criteria out the window. Anyway here is link to auction. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200321167788&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123 What do you think?"
Software

Submission + - PRI & WNYC's Studio 360 Covers "Flower" (studio360.org)

Submitted by
Kurt S. Schlachter
Kurt S. Schlachter writes: "PRI and WNYC's Peabody award-winning "Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen" is covering two interesting takes on gaming in this week's show. Jenova Chen, co-founder of thatgamecompany, shows Kurt his new game, "Flower" — PS3's #1 download for February, and discusses at length what he's trying to do within the expanding field interactive media. Later in the show, Studio 360's Sarah Lilley looks at how research scientists can harness the brain power of volunteer gamers to tackle some tricky projects. Biochemist David Baker helped create a computer game called "Foldit" that thousands are playing around the world. Not about commercial success, Baker wants to analyze the structure of proteins, and it turns out that humans are a lot smarter at this than supercomputers. The game? It's a lot more fun than it sounds."
Operating Systems

Submission + - Dell 9 Suggestions?

Submitted by
Sparkie
Sparkie writes: "I have just acquired a Dell mini 9, a few months behind the times, and I was hoping I could get a little advice. I got the Dell 9 with Ubuntu, 2gb Ram, and 8gb SSD. I was looking at the available disk space, and I noticed that Ubuntu takes up a whopping 3.8gb of space (good thing I didn't get the 4gb version) I then started browsing through the package manager and noticed a bunch of packages that (to me) seemed unnecessary. I'm fairly new with Linux, and I was wondering if anyone has any tips for me to make room on my little ssd."
Idle

Submission + - Obama's Gift to Gordon Brown fails due to DRM 9

Submitted by quanticle
quanticle writes: According to the Daily Telegraph, when Gordon Brown sat down to watch the DVDs that Obama had given him, he found out that they were from the wrong region. Will this be the impetus that finally convinces our government that region coding is detrimental?

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