Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Security

Submission + - ZeuS Takes Shots at U.S. Military Personnel (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: Malware created with the ZeuS toolkit is targeting members of the U.S. military with an email asking them to update their account information online.

No matter what user name and password entered by the victim, they are taken to a page, which contains the Update Tool malware that is says users must install in order to prevent their banking account from being locked.

ZeuS, also known as Zbot, WSNPOEM, NTOS and PRG, is the most prevalent banking malware platform for online fraud, and has been licensed by numerous criminal organizations. The program then waits for the user to log onto a list of targeted banks and financial institutions, and then steals login credentials and other data which are immediately sent to a remote server hosted by cybercriminals. It can also modify, in a user’s browser, the genuine web pages from a bank’s web servers to ask for personal information such as payment card number and PIN, one time passwords, etc.

Submission + - Warrant served to Perfect Privacy admin (perfect-privacy.com)

Submitted by think_nix
think_nix writes: On Friday a warrant was served to one of the perfect privacy admins in Erfurt, Germany. The warrant was served on the "suspicion" that unknown suspects had routed illegal communications over the privacy servers in Erfurt. According to the source, 5 encrypted computers were taken from the admin although routers and servers belonging to perfect privacy were left intact. Perfect Privacy has estimated damages to be around 6,000k — 6,5000 Euros , and has since contacted an attorney to try and gain access to police records.
Education

Submission + - Peregrine's 'Solition' Observed for the First Time (bris.ac.uk)

Submitted by eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: A new paper reports that for the first time researchers have observed Peregrine's Solition in action with light waves. Originally proposed as a model for rogue ocean waves, Howell Peregrine developed this defining model of nonlinear systems in science and engineering. The article states that the researchers 'were are able to rigorously test Peregrine's prediction by exploiting the mathematical equivalence between the propagation of nonlinear waves on water and the evolution of intense light pulses in optical fibres.' Unfortunately Howell Peregrine passed away in March of 2007 and never saw his model observed in a continuous physical system.

Comment Re:Good. (Score 1) 483

by ardyng (#32698658) Attached to: ASCAP Declares War On Free Culture, EFF
No, people DO care when the movie that they've legally bought doesn't play, or when the game that they just legally purchased doesn't work.

Perhaps they don't care about DRM as an acronym, but they care when stuff doesn't work after they've shelled out money.
Cellphones

Tetris Clones Pulled From Android Market 396

Posted by Soulskill from the bad-news-bears dept.
sbrubblesman writes "The Tetris Company, LLC has notified Google to remove all Tetris clones from Android Market. I am one of the developers of FallingBlocks, a game with the same gameplay concepts as Tetris. I have received an email warning that my game was suspended from Android Market due to a violation of the Developer Content Policy. When I received the email, I already imagined that it had something to do with it being a Tetris clone, but besides having the same gameplay as Tetris, which I believe cannot be copyrighted, the game uses its own name, graphics and sounds. There's no reference to 'Tetris' in our game. I have emailed Google asking what is the reason for the application removal. Google promptly answered that The Tetris Company, LLC notified them under the DMCA (PDF) to remove various Tetris clones from Android Market. My app was removed together with 35 other Tetris clones. I checked online at various sources, and all of them say that there's no copyright on gameplay. There could be some sort of patent. But even if they had one, it would last 20 years, so it would have been over in 2005. It's a shame that The Tetris Company, LLC uses its power to stop developers from creating good and free games for Android users. Without resources for a legal fight, our application and many others will cease to exist, even knowing that they are legit. Users will be forced to buy the paid, official version, which is worse than many of the ones available for free on the market. Users from other countries, such as Brazil in my case, won't even be able to play the official Tetris, since Google Checkout doesn't exist in Brazil; you can't buy paid applications from Android Market in these countries."

Comment Things that make you go, hmmm. (Score 1) 264

by ardyng (#30174722) Attached to: Netbooks Have Higher Failure Rate Than Laptops
The data are fishy. Do they fail because people buy a netbook because they can take them more places, and thus have a higher incidence of failure because they're being carried and used in more places? My own experience with a netbook vs laptop is that the Asus EEE PC I purchased nearly two years ago is still going strong without a single hardware issue, vs the cheap Dell that lasted a year before developing critical power issues (right after my warranty expired, of course) and the Fujitsu Lifebook likewise failing with hinge death at about a year and a half, after a long run of problems. My Asus netbook seems to just be more rugged than your average PC. Also, I take the thing everywhere, where my last laptops were left home a lot more because they weighed so much more.
Math

Submission + - Learning the basics of Computational Theory

Submitted by
SelArom
SelArom writes: "As a computer science graduate, I've always been fascinated by complex theoretical problems such as the Travelling Salesman Problem, or the Halting Problem, leading into deep theoretical stuff like Number Theory, Graph Theory, and Quantum computer theory which are so far over my head I feel like I should go back to programming little text games using BASIC in the 80s.

My college life did very little to prepare me for this high-level stuff, so I've never been able to keep up with even the simplest explanations laid out in Wikipedia or the advanced chapters of textbooks (which we always skipped!). But I've always wanted to expand my understanding of these theories, if for nothing else just to fulfill my curiousity (not to mention the advantage I would gain as a developer).

So I'm wondering, where is a good place to start? And I mean to START, at the beginning. Are there any specific reference materials that can start at a very basic level, like say set theory (which even that I only kind of formally understand) or even lower, expanding up towards some of the really high level stuff without completely overwhelming you with strange, foreign notation?"
Displays

Submission + - SPAM: Virtual reality broadcast directly into eyes

Submitted by
destinyland
destinyland writes: ""Engineers at the University of Washington have developed a contact lens that creates a virtual display superimposed over the normal field of vision." Lenses are printed with tiny circuitry and light projectors, creating the possibility of merging the real and virtual worlds. It could be the ultimate gaming interface, but it also has practical applications. Google maps could superimpose their streetview over actual streets!"
Link to Original Source

Comment Re:What's in that paper? (Score 1) 571

by ardyng (#27578287) Attached to: I prefer to consume my caffeine from a vessel of ...

Different parts of your tongue can be more or less sensitive to certain tastes. Sipping through a hole in the lid forces the coffee over the front part of your tongue where the sensitivity to sweetness is most prominent. The sides of your tongue, by contrast, are generally more sensitive to bitterness.

Bunk. Sorry, the Tongue map has been disproven for ages.

Slashdot Top Deals

He has not acquired a fortune; the fortune has acquired him. -- Bion

Close