Jesterace - Slashdot User

Submission + - Iowa 911 call center now accepting texts (engadget.com)

Submitted by

Jesterace

on Thursday August 06, 2009 @08:17PM

Jesterace writes: "As of this week, callers can now text their requests for fire, police, or ambulance, to the emergency call center in Black Hawk County, Iowa — both a nationwide first and a definite improvement for deaf and hard-of-hearing residents who have thus far had to rely on TDD devices. Unlike voice calls, however, the 911 operator can't get your location from a text message, meaning that the caller must first respond to a request for their city or zip code before the call gets routed. Currently, only i wireless subscribers (a local carrier affiliated with T-Mobile) can use the service, but plans are afoot to bring other carriers on board as well. Other future upgrades include the ability to accept video and picture messages. All the operators ask is that you refrain from sending them those silly chain text messages — that sort of thing can be really distracting when you're busy saving lives."

Submission + - Pirated Windows 7 OS Comes With Trojan

Submitted by Jesterace on Sunday May 17, 2009 @12:26PM

Jesterace writes: It appears that the leaked release Candidate of Windows 7 RC that was downloaded from torrents had a trojan and it was able to build a botnet of up to 27000 machines. "The rogue OS, which is rigged with a Trojan downloader, at one point had around 27,000 bots in its control as of May 10, when researchers took over the command and control server that communicated with the bots and served them additonal malware. At the height of the botnet buildup, the botmaster was recruiting over 200 machines an hour, says Tripp Cox, vice president of engineering for Damballa. The victims initially downloaded the pirated OS via popular bootlegged software sites and online forums."

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