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Comment Re:On your marks (no pun intended) (Score 1) 302

by stirz (#26050781) Attached to: 21 Million German Bank Accounts For Sale
Hey John,

the German cliché you mention might be true on one hand, but on the other, there are other reasons for the customers to relax and wait for further things to happen. German laws are somewhat consumer-friendly, so that Hans and Franz who eventually got digitally bankrobbed can be sure to get every single Euro back to their bank account - even if they take notice of this fraud after weeks.

By the way, this shows a not-so-famous German cliché: Germans expect governmental protection in many ways and rely on it.

You might have noticed that the European Union has suffered a noticable number of cases in which criminals manipulated ATMs to get access to both debit card data and the customers' security codes (so called "skimming"-fraud). As far as I have read about thoses cases, the banks have been balancing out every loss on their customers' accounts - even without any legal pressure to do so.

Maybe it is quite comforting to live here, in the Old World -- at least for my dear Euros :-)

Regards,

stirz
Sony

Sony to Launch Virtual Universe

Posted by samzenpus from the my-world-is-better-than-yours dept.
UmUm~ writes "Capitalizing on the popularity of social networks and online worlds, Sony will launch its own virtual universe and another 3-D game built almost entirely by players. "Home" is a real-time, networked world for the PlayStation 3 in which players create human-looking characters called avatars. They can buy clothing, furniture and videos to play on a virtual flat-screen television in their virtual apartments."
Music

Submission + - Just how random is Apple iTunes' random?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Think that song has appeared in your playlists just a few too many times? CNET.com.au analyzes Apple iTunes' song randomizer — and finds some surprising results.

Lionel Richie (Universal) proved to be iTunes' most popular artist, appearing 59 times all told, for an average of 1.475 times per possible playlist. The least frequently played artists were all those whose songs were taken from CD, with the bottom of the rung inhabited by Christina Aguilera and Oasis.
Security

Submission + - Apple Fixes iTunes for Windows Vista

Submitted by
IT071872
IT071872 writes: "According to PC World, Several weeks after rival Microsoft Corp. rolled out Windows Vista to consumers, Apple Inc. has updated iTunes to run on the new operating system — although "a few" problems still remain, Apple said yesterday.

The company also issued a security update for its QuickTime multimedia player software, patching eight vulnerabilities; According the Apple warning, all could be used to execute arbitrary code, a scenario most researchers equate with a critical threat.

More than a month ago, Apple warned Microsoft Corp.'s Vista users to stay away from iTunes — the software for buying music tracks and loading tunes onto iPods — until further notice."
Security

Submission + - IE 7 still not safe enough!

Submitted by
IT071872
IT071872 writes: "According to PC World, Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 offers significant security improvements over its deservedly criticized predecessor. But the new IE still does not do enough to protect users. Microsoft has, in IE 7, locked down some of the problem areas in IE 6. The browser will permit a Web site to nag you only once about installing an ActiveX control, for instance. (Some users will approve an installation simply to get rid of the pop-up windows.)"
Google

Submission + - YouTube bans don't work: Vint Cerf

Submitted by AcidAUS
AcidAUS writes: Dr Vint Cerf, one of the founders of the internet and now a senior executive with Google, has cast doubt on the efficacy of recent attempts to curb cyber bullying by blocking student access to video-sharing sites such as YouTube.
Power

Submission + - Using Gym Rats' Body Power to Generate Electricity

Submitted by
Carl Bialik from WSJ
Carl Bialik from WSJ writes: "A Hong Kong health club is hoping that a car battery, some StairMasters and dozens of gym rats can help ease the world's energy problems. It is just one of a wave of projects that are trying to tap the power of the human body, the Wall Street Journal reports. From the article: 'The human power project at California Fitness was set in motion by Doug Woodring, a 41-year-old extreme-sports fanatic and renewable-energy entrepreneur, who pitched the experiment to the gym's management last May. "I've trained my whole life, and many megawatts have been wasted," says Mr. Woodring, who has worked out at the Hong Kong gym for years. "I wanted to do something with all that sweat." '"
Power

Submission + - Is Nuclear a Viable Option for Our Energy Needs?

Submitted by
Prof. Goose
Prof. Goose writes: "Very interesting and detailed technical piece on the pros and cons on nuclear power.

Technically, there appear to be no show stoppers for a considerable expansion of Nuclear Power throughout the world. It is a low carbon energy source with abundant fuel supplies. The technology works and has much potential for improvement. Whether or not a large scale expansion eventuates depends on how it competes with Coal on economic grounds and with the public on political grounds. This in turn will be determined by the performance of the nuclear industry over the next few years as these purportedly cheaper and safer plants are built.
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2323"
First Person Shooters (Games)

Submission + - Virtual Reality Game Ties Depression To Brain Area

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Scientists are using a virtual-reality, three-dimensional video game that challenges spatial memory as a new tool for assessing the link between depression and the hippocampus, the brain's memory hub, Science Daily reports. Spatial memory is the memory of how things are oriented in space and how to get to them. Researchers found that depressed people performed poorly on the video game compared with nondepressed people, suggesting that their hippocampi were not working properly.
Editorial

Submission + - How to find a job?

Submitted by
boxxa
boxxa writes: "My graduation is approaching soon and I have begun the job search that many students go into. Since I wish to get out of the area where I am currently in school, the job hunt has gone online. My question is what type of jobs are posted online? My resume is on Monster.com and I carry quite a background with expierence in networking which is the career path I have chosen, but all the calls I seem to get are low level tech and PC jobs. Has anyone else experienced this? Is Monster.com and other sites like Yahoo! Jobs mostly recruiters and other low level postings for the lazy person to find while the larger companies in the US are waiting for people to find their postings in different places? Lastly, what other alternatives are there to finding jobs around the US?"

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