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Security

Sun Pushes Emergency Java Patch 90

Posted by timothy
from the emergency-shot-of-soy-latte dept.
Trailrunner7 writes "In a sudden about-face, Sun has rushed out a Java update to fix a drive-by download vulnerability that exposed Windows users to in-the-wild malware attacks. The patch comes less than a week after Sun told a Google researcher it did not consider the issue serious enough to warrant an out-of-cycle patch and less than a day after researchers spotted live exploits on a booby-trapped Web site. The flaw, which was also discovered independently by Ruben Santamarta, occurs because the Java-Plugin Browser is running 'javaws.exe' without validating command-line parameters. Despite the absence of documentation, a researcher was about to figure out that Sun removed the code to run javaws.exe from the Java plugin. The about-face by Sun is another sign that some big vendors still struggle to understand the importance of working closely with white hat researchers to understand the implications of certain vulnerabilities. In this case, Google's Tavis Ormandy was forced to use the full-disclosure weapon to force the vendor into a proper response."

Comment: Re:Forrest Mims (Score 1) 301

by huckda (#31841110) Attached to: Where To Start In DIY Electronics?

I'm not an EE, and started my foray into electronics 2 years ago... TAOE is WAY too deep for 90% of beginners simply because of the overwhelming mathematics in the text...the first 4 chapters however will get you started however before you get too intrenched into all of the mathematical-fu...at the same time I got the Mimms book...which was way too basic and left a lot to be desired in the explanation of WHY a circuit is built in a specific manner...

Really really really wish I could find some middle-ground...there are tons of excerpts on hundreds of websites for specific electronic applications, but even 'beginner kits' such as those from Adafruit and the like do not give detailed WHY's...but only how to solder the thing and perhaps make it do something nifty...

Medicine

Child Receives Trachea Grown From Own Stem Cells 103

Posted by samzenpus
from the just-add-oxygen dept.
kkleiner writes "Doctors at the Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) along with colleagues at the University College London, the Royal Free Hospital, and Careggi University Hospital in Florence have successfully transplanted a trachea into a 10 year old boy using his own stem cells. A donor trachea was taken, stripped of its cells into a collagen-like scaffold, and then infused with the boy's stem cells. The trachea was surgically placed into the boy and allowed to develop in place. Because his own cells were used, there was little to no risk of rejection. This was the first time a child had received such a stem cell augmented transplant and the first time that a complete trachea had been used."
X

After 2 Years of Development, LTSP 5.2 Is Out 79

Posted by timothy
from the terminal-velocity dept.
The Linux Terminal Server Project has for years been simplifying the task of time-sharing a Linux system by means of X terminals (including repurposed low-end PCs). Now, stgraber writes "After almost two years or work and 994 commits later made by only 14 contributors, the LTSP team is proud to announce that the Linux Terminal Server Project released LTSP 5.2 on Wednesday the 17th of February. As the LTSP team wanted this release to be some kind of a reference point in LTSP's history, LDM (LTSP Display Manager) 2.1 and LTSPfs 0.6 were released on the same day. Packages for LTSP 5.2, LDM 2.1 and LTSPfs 0.6 are already in Ubuntu Lucid and a backport for Karmic is available. For other distributions, packages should be available very soon. And the upstream code is, as always, available on Launchpad."
Censorship

Sourceforge Bans the "Evils" from Free Software 7

Submitted by
neo00
neo00 writes "Syrians, Sudanese, N. Koreans, Cubans and Iranians will now be prohbitied from downloading or contributing to FOSS projects hosted by Sourceforge.net. According to sf.net terms of use, persons residing one of the countries on which the US government imposes sanctions, will be banned from accessing the site contents. An act that violates the Freedoms of Free Software and the "No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups" from the OSS definition.
US sanctions on these countries were initiated or hardened during the administration of Bush who called them the "Axis of Evil"."
Cellphones

iPhone 3.1 Update Disables Tethering 684

Posted by CmdrTaco
from the but-i-how-will-i-torrent-from-a-corn-field dept.
jole writes "The newest iPhone 3.1 update intentionally removed tethering functionality from all phones operating in networks that are not Apple partners. This is not limited to hacked or jailbroken phones, but also includes expensive 'officially supported' factory-unlocked phones. To make the problem worse, Apple has made it impossible to downgrade back to a working 3.0 version for iPhone 3GS phones."

You can't carve your way to success without cutting remarks.