Forgot your password?

Close
typodupeerror
Security

a little .mac security flaw

Submitted by
deleuth
deleuth writes "The de facto online connectivity software sold along with many Apple computers, .Mac, has a web interface through which users can check their "iDisk" whilst away from their own computer. However, there is no Log-Out button in this web interface, so most users just close the browser and walk away...not realizing that their iDisk has been cached by the browser and that anyone who wants to can open up the browser, go back to the link in History, and get into their iDisk completely logged in. From here, files can be downloaded and/or deleted. This seems like a minor security flaw via bad interface design, and podcaster Klaatu (of thebadapples.info) posted this on the discussion.apple.com site, only to have his post removed by Apple. Furthermore, feedback at apple.com/feedback has gone unanswered. The problem remains: there is NO way for the average computer user to log-out of their iDisk on public computers! The format of the link that will get you into an iDisk is this: http://idisk.mac.com/USERNAME?view=web So a quick review of any public terminal's browser history could bring up all kinds of interesting things."
Editorial

Top ten scientific discoveries of 2007-> 2

Submitted by
Josh Fink
Josh Fink writes "Time Magazine has a piece about the top 10 scientific discoveries of 2007. While most of the items in the top ten are interesting, I do not know if they hold much value as the best top ten to pick from what has been discovered this year. Items such as "Kryptonite", stem cell research and the brighten supernova on file made it to the list though. Check out the editorial here. Also included in the top 10 editorial are pieces on the top 10 medical breakthroughs, the top 10 man made disasters and the top 10 green "ideas"."
Link to Original Source
Biotech

Desktop synchrotron freezes molecular action

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes "Most sources of synchrotron radiation are giant dough nut-shaped particle accelerators. But researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland have developed a compact synchrotron machine that could fit inside any lab. Instead of a giant ring of magnets and microwave cavities, the device uses plasma wakefield acceleration to accelerate electrons. Synchrotron radiation can be used to probe many kinds of matter and is used in many areas of scientific research."
The Almighty Buck

US Consumerism Poses Global Recession Threat->

Submitted by
Horar
Horar writes "From the article: One of the world's leading economists has issued a scathing denunciation of American consumerism, saying overspending could lead to a "catastrophic" recession... He says the United States has a current account deficit of $US811 billion for last year, which means America is borrowing [more than two] billion a day from overseas.

What are the implications of this for the IT industry if there is such a recession? Alternatively, what would happen if rampant consumerism is brought under control? Isn't it that very consumerism that pushes the development of the devices and technologies which most slashdotters could not live without?"
Link to Original Source
Media

Your camera-raw images unreadable in future? 1

Submitted by
MessyBlob
MessyBlob writes "Given the recent renewed interest in open file formats for Office applications, perhaps we could apply the same scrutiny to closed camera-raw file formats?

This subject has many facets. Nevertheless, I'll attempt a concise summary here: There are hundreds of proprietary file formats for camera raw images, but very few are openly documented. It is very easy for a camera manufacturer to stop supporting a format. Users of old cameras can lose access to their raw images, as software developers also drop support. It is difficult for software developers to write libraries to read and write undocumented formats. Some data is deliberately encrypted (e.g. Nikon colour data) to give proprietary vendors a competitive advantage. Scientific and historic organisations can not trust proprietary raw formats for fear of losing the ability to read the archives in future. Digital raw photographers are not afforded the same rights to their original image as film photographers. Adobe's DNG has some answers, but not all of them. Open documentation gives developers a chance to write encoders and decoders. A common file format would give developers a better chance of supporting all compliant cameras. Standardisation might inhibit innovation by camera manufacturers. Finally, an idea: can object-oriented images help, or would this have the same problems as undocumented proprietary raw formats?

More info on the OpenRAW initiative: www.openraw.org"
Security

The Database Exposure Survey 2007->

Submitted by
ExaProtect
ExaProtect writes "New research by David Litchfield reveals that a staggering 368,000 Microsoft SQL Servers and 124,000 Oracle database servers were directly accessible via the internet and NOT protected by a firewall. Last ran in 2005, The Database Exposure Survey has discovered large increases in the number of unprotected databases in the two years since. Read the full article by Security Information Management firm ExaProtect"
Link to Original Source
The Internet

Congress Passes SAFE Act, Burdens Public Networks

Submitted by
sqrt(2)
sqrt(2) writes "As reported by Techdirt on the recently passed SAFE Act, "So what's so awful about the law? Well, like most "protect the children" legislation, it goes way overboard in terms of what people are expected to do, and like most legislation having to do with technology, seems utterly clueless about how technology works. The bill would require anyone providing an "electronic communication service" or a "remote computing service" to record and report information any time they "learn" that their network was used for certain broadly defined illegal activities concerning obscene images. That's double trouble, as both the illegal activities and the classification of who counts as a service provider are so broadly defined.""
Education

Students 'should use Wikipedia'-> 3

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes "The BBC has an article on these disturbing quotes from Jimmy Wales.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has said teachers who refuse students access to the site are "bad educators". Speaking at the Online Information conference at London's Olympia, he dismissed the long-running controversy over the site's authority. He said he now thinks that students should be able to cite the online encyclopaedia in their work.
"
Link to Original Source
Biotech

Find biodiversity research resources more easily->

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes "If you needed to see a specimen of a hedgehog from Herzegovina or a fish from Fiji, would you know where to look? Finding a natural history collection that has specimens from a particular time or place is now mostly a matter of guesswork. GBIF is working to make finding this out a whole lot easier.

There are thousands of specimen collections in the world (holding billions of specimens), but there is currently no index to help a person find them, much less tell what kinds of specimens are in the collection.

These collections are vitally important to understanding biodiversity, especially in the face of global change. This is because they provide a historical baseline against which to measure the effects of that change on biodiversity. Many of these collections have been around for 300 years or more.

There has never been an index to all of them. Now, GBIF and its partners will produce not only the first Internet-based index, but also the first such index of any kind.

The Biodiversity Collections Index will be available online for anyone to use for free by the end of 2008. After that it will grow to include additional kinds of collections.

It will be interconnected with other online resources like GBIF and the Encyclopedia of Life."
Link to Original Source

She sells cshs by the cshore.