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Cellphones

Submission + - Quick! Get a tinfoil hat for your smartphone!

Submitted by BuhDuh
BuhDuh writes: TV Station KOAT in Albuquerque, reporting on the dangers of spyware on smartphones offers the following:

To test the spyware, Action 7 News purchased software for about $350, and with permission, installed it on an employee's phone. Producers Robin and Laura agreed to be spied on. So what can the software do? "I can follow you around if your phone has GPS technology. I can see where you are, I can read your e-mails, I can read your text messaging," said Carr. Once Robin makes a phone call from several miles away, a cell phone in the newsroom receives a text message alert about her call. The newsroom cell phone is able to listen to the phone call between Robin and her fiance. Robin's GPS location could also be continuously monitored.
And even with her phoned turned off, her conversation over lunch with her colleague Laura could be heard on the newsroom cell phone.

(Emphasis in the last line is mine)
So there goes our ultimate sanction against a machine takeover — no more "Hah! Let's see how far you get after I pull the plug on you, you bastard!"

NASA

Space Shuttle Endeavour Heads To Space Station 79

Posted by CmdrTaco from the still-no-light-speed-engine dept.
RobGoldsmith writes "The STS-127 crew began its journey to the International Space Station at 6:03 p.m. EDT Wednesday when space shuttle Endeavour lifted off from Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The shuttle crew will complete construction of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory and deliver a new crew member, astronaut Tim Kopra, to the orbital outpost."
Google

Submission + - Google services failure 1

Submitted by
banetbi
banetbi writes: "It seems that there is a massive failure at Google. Twitter is abuzz with reports of all Google services failing. It seems the outage is pretty widespread as there are reports from the US, Canada, and South America."
Security

Submission + - Hackers 'destroy' flight sim site (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
zebadee
zebadee writes: "The BBC reports that the flight simulator site Avsim has been "destroyed" by malicious hackers. The site, which launched in 1996, covered all aspects of flight simulation, although its main focus was on Microsoft's Flight Simulator. The attack took down the site's two servers and the owners had not established an external backup system. The site's founder, Tom Allensworth, said that the site would be down for the foreseeable future and was unsure if would ever go back up. "Some have asked whether or not we had back ups. Yes, we dutifully backed up our servers every day. Unfortunately, we backed up the servers between our two servers. "The hacker took out both servers, destroying our ability to use one or the other back up to remedy the situation."

I wonder why such a site would be targeted, are we already at the stage where any site is fair game for destruction if the owners aren't security conscious enough? "
Security

Submission + - Security guru: don't surf web with Firefox (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "F-Secure's chief research officer Mikko Hypponen has warned people worried about being infected by malware not to use Firefox. "You don't want to surf the web with Firefox because most of the attacks now are targeting Firefox and older versions of Internet Explorer, so don't use those." He also warned PDF users not to use Adobe Reader, and suggested the best way to avoid being attacked is simply to stop using Windows altogether, saying "there's plenty of alternatives.""
Privacy

Submission + - Pirate Bay launches its own VPN for five euros a m (itpro.co.uk)

Submitted by nk497
nk497 writes: Pirate Bay has announced it's going to launch its own VPN system called IPREDator ahead of April Fool's Day, for just five euros a month. It's not a joke, but is looking to render the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED) laws useless. That directive, which is set to come into force this week in Sweden, would give IP and other identity data to media firms so they can take action against file sharers. Using a VPN would make that rather difficult. According to the IPREDator website: "The network is under our control. Not theirs." The VPN is currently in beta stage, but you can sign up for an email alert when it's ready here.
Operating Systems

Submission + - What s new in Linux kernel 2.6.29? (itwire.com)

Submitted by
davidmwilliams
davidmwilliams writes: "Last week a brand new Linux kernel came out, 2.6.29 released from the hands of Linus Torvalds himself. Besides a cutesy new mascot this edition comes with a host of new features that highlight future directions. There are two new file systems, improved graphics and WiFi support, faster boot times and more."
Businesses

Submission + - ABC/Disney considerin Linux friendly Hulu (yahoo.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — The Walt Disney Co and Hulu.com have restarted talks over offering shows from Disney's ABC television network on the online video distributor owned by NBC Universal and News Corp, paidContent.org reported on Friday, citing unnamed sources.
Input Devices

Submission + - Old-School Keyboard Makes Comeback Of Sorts (npr.org)

Submitted by
CharlotteShma
CharlotteShma writes: "Some old writer once said that in order to keep going, he needed to hear the scratch of the pen on the page. Some self-proclaimed keyboard aficionados would make the same argument for computer keyboards. Is it possible that the old "clicky" keyboards are making a comeback? Now that we've replaced the old buckling springs with rubber domes, our keyboards are only getting quieter and quieter. According to the people at Unicomp Inc., all keyboards made since the early 1990s are, frankly, no good. They still use and produce vintage IBM Model M keyboards in their small factory in Lexington, Kentucky. The IBM Model M keyboards are ugly, built like tanks, and, most importantly, with a spring under each key which clicks when you press it."
Google

Google To Monitor Surfing Habits For Ad-Serving 219

Posted by CmdrTaco from the do-you-see-what-i-see dept.
superglaze (ZDNet UK) writes "Google is gearing up to launch cookie-based 'interest-based' advertising, which involves monitoring the user's passage across various WebSense partner sites. The idea is to have better-targeted advertising, which is not a million miles away from what Phorm is trying to do — the difference, it seems at first glance, is that Google is being relatively up-front about its intentions."
Programming

QT 4.5 Released, Plus New IDE and Analysis Tool 62

Posted by timothy from the cute-train-is-the-q-train dept.
stoolpigeon writes "QT 4.5 has arrived and is now available for download. This new release is quite significant due to licensing changes that now make it simpler to use QT in a wider range of products without cost as well as a number of new features. The latest version of Webkit is now integrated into the product. Qt 4.5 sees the introduction of QtBenchLib, a new component to make measuring the performance of the toolkit and checking for regressions easier. Mac developers who use Qt will note a major reworking of 4.5 on the Mac, now providing 64-bit support. QT Creator is a new IDE that looks to have combined a number of previously separate tools. And there is much more."

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