Bensel - Slashdot User

Masters or not? 2

Submitted by mx12 on Sunday May 10 2009, @12:01AM

mx12 writes "With the semester finishing up, I have been thinking about my education future. I am currently an undergrad in computer engineering and I am thinking about getting my masters. I have a year left in school, and most of my professors seem to think that getting a masters is a great idea, but I wanted to hear from people out in the working world. If I could get my masters paid for by the lab I work in, is a masters in computer engineering better than two years of experience at a company?

Thanks everyone!"

Blizzcon Begins, Diablo 3 Wizard Class Unveiled 142

Posted by Soulskill on Friday October 10 2008, @03:56PM
from the zap dept.

Blizzcon is officially underway today, starting with a presentation showcasing the Worldwide Invitational tournament held earlier this year. A company spokesman went on to talk about the tournaments being held for World of Warcraft 3v3 Arena, Warcraft 3, and Starcraft 2, followed by word that Starcraft 2 was not yet ready for beta, but that Blizzcon attendees would be included in the first round of testers when the beta program starts. The big news of the presentation, though, was the unveiling of the Wizard class — the third such class to be announced, along with the previously mentioned Barbarian and Witch Doctor. Read on for some more details.

Ransomware Victims Urged to Try Recovery App-> 0

Submitted by

CWmike

on Monday June 16 2008, @12:40PM

CWmike writes "The security company that two weeks ago said it would lead a group effort to crack an encryption key used in a "ransomware" scam, Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab, has published recovery instructions, which rely on an open-source file-recovery utility, to its writeup of Gpcode.ak, the Trojan horse that it first warned users about on June 8. Two days later, another Kaspersky researcher asked for help. "Along with antivirus companies around the world, we're faced with the task of cracking the RSA 1024-bit key," said Aleks Gostev, a senior virus analyst. "This is a huge cryptographic challenge. We estimate it would take around 15 million modern computers, running for about a year, to crack such a key.""
Link to Original Source

Google to stop advertising essay writing services

Submitted by

escay

on Tuesday May 22 2007, @05:27PM

escay writes "Google has now added commercial essay writing services to its advertising blacklist of businesses, which include online gambling, prostitution and cigarettes. Many universities have been complaining about essays/papers written by others for a fee are submitted by students as their own, which amounts to plagiarism and affects quality of education. In a survey conducted earlier among undergraduates, one in 10 admitted they had tried to find model essays on the internet. Essaywriter, a UK-based company that charges $90 for a 1000-word essay, commented that this blanket ban hurts legitimate businesses like theirs but does not weed out the cheap $7.95-a-paper services which are the real causes of low-quality material.

For comedic measure, here's a 'student' testimonial from www.mycustomessay.com, a random pick from the list of sponsored links a google search on "essay writing" brought up.

"When parties gets in the way of my school research, i know who gonna help MyCustomEssay, these guys rocks!" — Timothy (California, USA)
"

New Microsoft Dirty Tricks Revealed 207

Posted by CowboyNeal on Saturday February 17 2007, @11:32AM
from the sleights-of-hand dept.

Conrad Mazian writes "Robert X. Cringely has an article on the Technology Evangelist web site where he claims that Microsoft destroyed evidence in the Burst vs Microsoft case. Specifically Burst's lawyers had asked for certain emails, Microsoft claimed that they couldn't find the backup tapes the emails would be on, and while this was happening the tapes were in a vault at Microsoft — until they mysteriously disappeared. It's a fascinating story, and even names one person at Microsoft."

Zink Imaging to launch inkless printer

Submitted by

Vinit

on Saturday February 17 2007, @10:52AM

Vinit writes "Zink Imaging has developed a unique technology which can print pictures without ink! The innovation could be applied to make hand-held printers that can be integrated into mobile phones and digital cameras. While printing one only needs a paper, I mean Zink paper which is initially colorless, looks and feels like ordinary white photograph paper and is not light sensitive. You can get a copy of picture (5 cm x 7.5 cm) in 30 seconds and the photos are are very durable — they cannot be torn and are also water resistant. The firm plans to launch two products by the end of the year: a small battery-operated, pocket-sized printer for camera-phones and a digital camera with a 2 inch x 3 inch (5 cm by 7.5 cm) printer built in. The company recently demonstrated a working prototype of the camera phone printer at the DEMO 2007 technology conference in California, US. The printer is expected to cost $200 while 100 sheets of paper will cost $20. http://www.pclaunches.com/optical_media/zink_imagi ng_to_launch_inkless_printer.php"

Comment: Re:This is why... (Score 5, Informative) 416

by Bensel on Tuesday September 20 2005, @11:10AM (#13605009) Attached to: What's On Your Hotel Keycard

Aha... here's the email I heard this from:

From the Colorado Bureau of Investigation:

"Southern California law enforcement professionals assigned to detect new threats to personal security issues, recently discovered what type of information is embedded in the credit card type hotel room keys used throughout the industry.

Although room keys differ from hotel to hotel, a key obtained from the "Double Tree" chain that was being used for a regional Identity Theft Presentation was found to contain the following the information:

a.. Customers (your) name b.. Customers partial home address c.. Hotel room number d.. Check in date and check out date e.. Customer's (your) credit card number and expiration date!

When you turn them in to the front desk your personal information is there for any employee to access by simply scanning the card in the hotel scanner. An employee can take a hand full of cards home and using a scanning device, access the information onto a laptop computer and go shopping at your expense.

Simply put, hotels do not erase the information on these cards until an employee re-issues the card to the next hotel guest. At that time, the new guest's information is electronically "overwritten" on the card and the previous guest's information is erased in the overwriting process. But until the card is rewritten for the next guest, it usually is kept in a drawer at the front desk with YOUR INFORMATION ON IT!!!!

The bottom line is: Keep the cards, take them home with you, or destroy them. NEVER leave them behind in the room or room wastebasket, and NEVER turn them in to the front desk when you check out of a room. They will not charge you for the card (it's illegal) and you'll be sure you are not leaving a lot of valuable personal information on it that could be easily lifted off with any simple scanning device card reader. For the same reason, if you arrive at the airport and discover you still have the card key in your pocket, do not toss it in an airport trash basket. Take it home and destroy it by cutting it up, especially through the electronic information strip!

Information courtesy of: Sergeant K. Jorge, Detective Sergeant, Pasadena Police Department