Forgot your password?

Close
typodupeerror
Security

Thieves Using Stolen Credit Cards to Make Donations 104

Posted by Zonk
from the how-nice-of-them dept.
JagsLive writes with a link to a Newsday.com article about 'philanthropist identity thieves'. Credit card thieves appear to be donating to charity with their stolen goods. While it may sound like a strange form of generosity, it's really a method to determine whether a stolen card is valid. "The verification method has become popular because the monitoring software at credit-card companies may not question donations to charities, according the Symantec blog. Santoyo said the schemers usually donate less than $10. American Red Cross spokeswoman Carrie Martin said, 'This happens all the time. We have people at the Red Cross who deal with this type of activity.' Last month alone, the Red Cross refunded 700 fraudulent credit-card transactions, Martin said. That figure doesn't include the transactions the charity blocked because they appeared fraudulent."

Comment: Take your kid to work day (Score 1) 508

by Prophetic_Truth (#19064927) Attached to: Big Red Button Disasters?
When i was about 8 years old, during the mid 80's, my dad, a commander in the US navy and head of air operations at a naval air station, took me to work.

It was an awesome day, i got to see the pitch black control room with blinking lights and green radars, got a tour of various planes and helicopters at the base, then i got to hang out in my dad's office in the control tower.

There was this cool looking phone, not just any phone, but a bright red phone with no numbers on it. I had never seen a phone without a dialpad before. So, I pick up the phone. It rings maybe once and then someone answers it franticly, and I immediately hang up. Well about that time I notice fire trucks are rolling near the airfield and the phone starts ringing again and my dad rushes in the office with a startled look on his face. He answers the phone and apologizes to whomever was on the other line. My dad wasn't that upset, but let me know that I'm never to do that again.

Science

Organism Survives 100 Million Years Without Sex 343

Posted by samzenpus
from the they-must-play-dungeons-and-dragons-too dept.
zyl0x writes "The Times has an interesting article online on the discovery of a 100-million-year-old micro-organism which has survived its entire lifespan without sex." From the article "A tiny creature that has not had sex for 100 million years has overturned the theory that animals need to mate to create variety. Analysis of the jaw shapes of bdelloid rotifers, combined with genetic data, revealed that the animals have diversified under pressure of natural selection. Researchers say that their study "refutes the idea that sex is necessary for diversification into evolutionary species".
Security

A Second Google Desktop Vulnerability 80

Posted by kdawson
from the anti-anti-anti-DNS-pinning dept.
zakkie writes "According to InfoWorld, Google's Desktop indexing engine is vulnerable to an exploit (the second such flaw to be found) that could allow crackers to read files or execute code. By exploiting a cross-site scripting vulnerability on google.com, an attacker can grab all the data off a Google Desktop. Google is said to be investigating. A security researcher is quoted: 'The users really have very little ability to protect themselves against these attacks. It's very bad. Even the experts are afraid to click on each other's links anymore.'"
Your Rights Online

Canada May Lose Copyright Fair-Use Rights 303

Posted by kdawson
from the rights-eh? dept.
DotNM writes with an article from the CBC reporting that the Canadian government is considering removing fair-use rights from Canada's copyright law. From the article: "Exacerbating the situation is intense pressure from the United States, where Canada is considered a rogue when it comes to copyright and intellectual property. It still hasn't ratified a 1997 World Intellectual Property Organization copyright treaty... Two of the most controversial issues are [DRM] and the closely related technological protection measures."
Media

Adult Film Industry Moving To HD DVD 527

Posted by kdawson
from the BetaMax-deja-vu dept.
profet writes "One of the heavyweights in the war between BlueRay and HD DVD has chosen its format. Various members of the adult film industry have decided on HD-DVD. The article says the reasons seem to be based primarily on cost of manufacturing. History has shown that the porn industry can be a driving factor for technology, as it was in deciding for the VHS format over BetaMax." Heise reports that US BlueRay press plants are refusing the adult industry's business (in German).
Windows

Near-Future Fords to Feature Windows Automotive 441

Posted by CowboyNeal
from the clippy-is-my-copilot dept.
dpbsmith writes "The Detroit Free Press reports that a Windows Automotive software suite named Sync will be featured in some cars available Spring 2007, all 2008 Ford models, and Lincoln and Mercury models later. The software does not, apparently, run the engine or do anything directly connected with transportation. It will, rather, allow the user to 'use their vehicle as a computer in key ways, such as hands-free cell phone calls or downloading music or receiving e-mail.' Bill Ford and Bill Gates were reported as saying that having high-definition screens in vehicles, speech recognition, cameras, digital calendars and navigation equipment with directions and road conditions will set car companies apart from their competitors in the future. 'There are going to be those who have it and those who don't. And even those who get it later are going to be a generation behind,' Ford said."
Science

Penguins Disappearing From Southern Hemisphere 218

Posted by Zonk
from the space-penguins-gotta-be dept.
The Scotsman is running a piece looking at the mysterious disappearance of penguins from all around the world. A biologist who studies the rockhopper penguin characterizes the population crash as 'sinister', as scientists are still baffled as to why almost 30% of the birds have vanished. From the article: "Grant Munro, the director of Falklands Conservation, said there were fears that rockhoppers might become extinct. 'If the present situation were to carry on then it's not a particularly great forecast. It doesn't look like they are suddenly going to start increasing in numbers ... In the Falklands, they are part of everyday life. If you head down to the beach you are going to see penguins.'"
Networking

Internet2 Turns 10 and Upgrades 84

Posted by Zonk
from the something-new-gets-old dept.
An anonymous reader writes "As an update to a previous story, Internet2 is celebrating its 10th anniversary in Chicago this week at it's fall conference. In addition, they're announcing the initial stages of their second significant network upgrade of their backbone network. Engineers are providing daily blog updates on the network install process as the old network is transitioned to the new. In addition to changing to a Level3-managed and Internet2-provisioned DWDM transport system for backbone capacity, I2 is implementing a new connection-oriented backbone network based on the Ciena CoreDirector platform in concert with the routed IP network."

Changes in Earth's Orbit Linked to Extinctions 311

Posted by timothy
from the avoid-the-large-yellow-barbeque dept.
Josh Fink writes "A group of Dutch Scientists have recently released a study stating that they have found that changes in Earth's orbit around the sun are linked to mammal extinctions. From the article: '"Extinctions in rodent species occur in pulses which are spaced by intervals controlled by astronomical variations and their effects on climate change..." The cycles are associated with lower temperatures, changes in precipitation, habitats, vegetation and food availability which are the main factors influencing the extinction peaks, the study published in the journal Nature said.' So on top of worrying about global warming, it seems we should also worry about the physics that govern the orbit of Earth around the sun. Too bad we don't have a way of keeping the Earth in the same orbit/on the same axis of rotation."

George Lucas To Quit Movie Business 520

Posted by kdawson
from the may-the-force-be-with-you dept.
CaroKann writes, "Variety is reporting that George Lucas is getting out of the movie business. Mr. Lucas laments that today's big-budget franchise films are too expensive and too risky. He believes American audiences are deserting their movie going habits permanently. Instead of making major films, Lucasfilm will instead focus on television. Lucas states that for the price of one $200 million feature movie, 'I can make 50-60 two hour movies' that are 'pay-per-view and downloadable.' Notably, he does not plan on distributing movies online, calling online distribution a 'rathole.'"

Television For an Audience 45 Light Years Away 324

Posted by kdawson
from the waiting-for-syndication dept.
beebopdebop writes, "The Irish Times notes that Europe goes intergalactic tonight with the broadcast of a program conceived for aliens and broadcast towards a point 45 light years away in the direction of the Big Dipper. The two naked hosts will present their own unclothed bodies as examples of our physical embodiments, and will tell about daily human existence. Music, art, and our own personal messages will be transmitted as well as discussions from sociologists, scientists, and space experts. This project is the brainchild of the French-based Centre National D'etudes Spatiales and is rooted in seriousness as a natural extension of the gold-plated ambassador disks of Pioneer 10. Those of us wishing to be included can still post messages to be sent into space via a CNES antenna. We will have to wait 90 years to learn whether or not some lifeform was listening."

New Robot Glides Through Intestines 96

Posted by Zonk
from the i-am-proud-to-live-in-a-time-where-this-is-possible dept.
TechFreep writes to mention a NewScientist article about a new mucus-riding robot, intended for use in medical examinations of the intestinal tract. The snail-like bot, it is hoped, will be easier on the internal organs of patients than similar robots which use small leg-like structures. From the article: "Dodou is testing a polymer material that clings to proteins found in the mucus that lines the gut. She measured the polymer's sticky properties in the lab using sections of pig gut, and also examined the way the polymer's stickiness can be 'switched off' by spraying it with water. This could allow a robot to move in a manner similar to a snail, which alternately makes itself sticky and slippery by exerting pressure with its body."

Ionic Cooling For Your Computer 202

Posted by kdawson
from the ion-breeze dept.
master0ne writes, "We (the folks over at InventGeek) have produced the first ionic cooling system for your high-end gaming system. This system produces absolutely no noise and in fact has no moving parts at all. While this is a proof of concept, it demonstrates that you can get the CFM you need to cool a system efficiently with no moving parts and no increase in power consumption."

In any world menu, Canada must be considered the vichyssoise of nations -- it's cold, half-French, and difficult to stir. -- Stuart Keate

Close