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plover
on Wednesday August 20, @12:05AM
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plover (150551)
plover
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Plover was one of the few words from ADVENT that wasn't already taken as a nickname on /. (Plover was the word that would get you the platinum pyramid.) xyzzy and plugh were both taken.
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http://slashdot.org/
Plover was one of the few words from ADVENT that wasn't already taken as a nickname on
Firms start developing for the OpenMoko/FreeRunner 2008-08-19 23:42 Anonymous Coward
Submitted
by
Anonymous Coward
on Tuesday August 19, @11:42PM
An anonymous reader writes "The freedom of the OpenMoko platform certainly seems to be working, developers are getting behind the OpenMoko in a big way. Linuxdevices is reporting on the start of a port of Devicescape's connect application.Koolu (another Canadian company) is also doing development for it's W.E. phone (a branded FreeRunner)."
First all-drone USAF air wing[->] 2008-08-11 20:59 bfwebster
Submitted
by
bfwebster
on Monday August 11, @08:59PM
Strategy Page reports that the United States Air Force has announced its first air wing that will consist entirely of unmanned craft. The 174th Fighter Wing has flown its last manned combat sorties; its F-16s will be entirely replaced by MQ-9 Reapers. Reasons cited include costs (maintenance and fuel) and the drone's ability to stay in the air up to 14 hours, waiting for a target to show itself.
http://brucefwebster.com/
http://brucefwebster.com/
Technology: GM Researching Windshields For Old Drivers 2008-07-19 18:42
Posted
by
timothy
on Saturday July 19, @06:42PM
from the how-about-a-high-beam-blocker-for-everyone dept.
from the how-about-a-high-beam-blocker-for-everyone dept.
beuges writes "General Motors researchers are working on a high-tech windshield that users lasers and infra-red sensors to identify and enhance important objects for older drivers with vision problems. 'For example, during a foggy drive, a laser projects a blue line onto the windshield that follows the edge of the road. Or if infrared sensors detect a person or animal in the driver's path during a night drive, its outline is projected on the windshield to highlight its location.' And it's not only older drivers who will benefit: 'Some features would be helpful to drivers of all ages. If a driver is speeding, a pink box frames an approaching speed limit sign to draw the driver's attention.' The 65 and older population in the US will nearly double in about 20 years, meaning more people will be struggling to see the road like they used to."
Member of cyber-crime ring walks free.[->] 2008-07-14 22:04 Geekster
Geekster writes "Owen Thor Walker (also known by the name Akill), 18, appeared in the High Court in Hamilton, New Zealand today, and was discharged without conviction after pleading guilty to charges relating to an international cyber-crime ring. He is estimated to have helped infect over one million computers, and received just under $40,000 for his role in the attack, which included a global adware scheme and the collapse of a computer server at the University of Pennsylvania. He was charged with accessing a computer for dishonest purpose, damaging or interfering with a computer system, possessing software for committing a crime and accessing a computer system without authorization. He was ordered to pay $5000 in costs and $9526 in reparation to the University of Pennsylvania."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10521614
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10521614
Laser Light Show Partially Blinds Partygoers[->] 2008-07-14 21:30 phyrebyrd
Submitted
by
phyrebyrd
on Monday July 14, @09:30PM
phyrebyrd writes "Everyone likes lasers, right? Laser light shows are cool, they get the blood flowing in us geeks because there's just something special about them. With today's modern light shows, spectacular effects and visualizations can be seen at concerts, raves and clubs, right?
Well, what happens when good laser shows go bad? You go blind. Eerily reminescent of a "7 Days" episode (#63, The Brink, for those less enlightened) where some madman does pretty much the same thing to a concert in Atlanta, GA. Granted, this light show didn't actually KILL anyone, but hey... Close 'nuff!"
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080714.wlasereyes0714/BNStory/International/home
Well, what happens when good laser shows go bad? You go blind. Eerily reminescent of a "7 Days" episode (#63, The Brink, for those less enlightened) where some madman does pretty much the same thing to a concert in Atlanta, GA. Granted, this light show didn't actually KILL anyone, but hey... Close 'nuff!"
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080714.wlasereyes0714/BNStory/International/home
Ex-CIO Blames Microsoft For Security Breach 2008-07-14 11:23 plover
Submitted
by
plover
on Monday July 14, @11:23AM
plover writes "Hannaford is a grocery store chain who lost 4.2 million credit card numbers earlier this year as a result of a security breach. Their former CIO is directly blaming their use of Microsoft as the reason they were breached.
"
"None of the breach was anything related to Linux. All of it was Microsoft."
Asked whether he believed that Microsoft is less secure because it's truly less secure software or whether its overwhelming marketshare makes it a cyber thief target, Homa said it was the other way around. Microsoft's marketshare is not what attracts so many attackers. "Microsoft is so full of holes. That's why it's still a target," he said.
Hannaford's CIO Blames Data Breach on Microsoft[->] 2008-07-11 10:22 plover
Submitted
by
plover
on Friday July 11, @10:22AM
plover writes "Hannaford is a grocery store chain who lost 4.5 million credit card numbers as a result of a security breach. Their former CIO is directly blaming their use of Microsoft as the reason they were breached.
"
http://storefrontbacktalk.com/story/071108homa
Homa has become a fan of simplification in battling security. "We used a lot of Linux," Homa said. "None of the breach was anything related to Linux. All of it was Microsoft."
Asked whether he believed that Microsoft is less secure because it's truly less secure software or whether its overwhelming marketshare makes it a cyber thief target, Homa said it was the other way around. Microsoft's marketshare is not what attracts so many attackers. "Microsoft is so full of holes. That's why it's still a target," he said.
Would he counsel other CIOs to avoid Microsoft like the plague? "That's what I'd do. If you limit your exposure to Microsoft, you're going to be in a more secure environment," he said, adding that Microsoft's philosophy is decentralized, forcing IT to manage more points. That means more license fees for Microsoft and more potential security gotchas for the CIO. "Hence, you see my aversion to Microsoft."
http://storefrontbacktalk.com/story/071108homa
Internet pedophile ring busted: girl saved 2008-06-19 23:12 SurturZ
Submitted
by
SurturZ
on Thursday June 19, @11:12PM
SurturZ writes "One of the oldest and most sophisticated internet pedophile rings has been busted, and a nine-year-old abuse victim has been rescued. The Australian newspaper details how an international police effort tracked the perpetrator through clues from images of the victim, and cracking into an internet pedophile ring's secured servers. A key piece of evidence was the Myspace page of the perpetrator's wife."
UK Banking Law Blames Customers For Insecure OS[->] 2008-06-18 14:22
Bookmark
by
plover
on Wednesday June 18, @02:22PM
- Nothing More
Electronic receipt ideas[->] 2008-06-07 19:12
Bookmark
by
plover
on Saturday June 07, @07:12PM
- Nothing More
IT: China's Cyberwar Against India 2008-05-05 08:40
An anonymous reader writes "China's cyber warfare army is marching on, and India is suffering silently. Over the past one and a half years, officials said, China has mounted almost daily attacks on Indian computer networks, both government and private, showing its intent and capability."
Flu Tracked To Viral Reservoir In Tropics 2008-04-18 01:33 Pickens
Pickens writes "Each winter, strains of influenza A virus infect North Americans, causing an average of 36,000 deaths. Now, researchers say the virus comes from a viral reservoir somewhere in the tropics, settling a key debate on the source of each season's infection. "We now know where the influenza A virus comes from every year," said Edward Holmes, professor of biology at Penn State. "And because we now know how the virus evolves, we have a much better chance of controlling it." Currently, there are many strains of the influenza virus that appear only in birds, which are natural viral reservoirs. Each year new strains appear in the northern hemisphere, infect people and then burn out. However, patterns of genetic diversity within the viruses suggest the strains are coming from a global source population. "We know the strains are dying out every year in the northern and southern hemispheres. So they're surviving somewhere else, and we think it is a reservoir in the tropics," Holmes says. "The critical thing is unless you understand the way the genome evolves, you will not understand why vaccines work during some years and fail during others.""
Sun may back off plans for MySQL add-ons[->] 2008-04-18 01:18 Bibek Paudel
Bibek Paudel writes "ComputerWorld reports, "caught in a firestorm of criticism in the blogosphere and online forums, officials at Sun Microsystems Inc. are now saying that some upcoming online backup features may not necessarily be made available only to paying users of the MySQL open-source database. In multiple posts today and yesterday on the Slashdot Web site, Marten Mickos, former CEO at MySQL AB and now senior vice president of Sun's database group, defended the plan to offer what he described as "high-end add-ons" to MySQL Enterprise customers only — not to users of the free MySQL Community version. But Mickos added that Sun officials "have not yet decided under what license we will release those add-ons (GPL, some other FOSS license, and/or commercial)."""
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyId=9&articleId=9078718&intsrc=hm_topic
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyId=9&articleId=9078718&intsrc=hm_topic
How to avoid keyloggers on public terminals? 2008-04-18 01:06 goombah99
Submitted
by
goombah99
on Friday April 18, @01:06AM
goombah99 writes "When on vacation sometimes I need to check my e-mail on a public terminal. What are techniques for avoiding key loggers? Here's some ideas that nominally work but have drawbacks. 1) Linux LiveCD can probably avoid software key loggers but requires an invasive takeover of the public terminal and thus generally not possible. 2) Kyps.net offers a free reverse proxy that will decode your password from a 1-time pad you carry around then enter it remotely. But of course you are giving them your passwords when you do this (yikes!). 3) You can run firefox off a usbstick with various plugins (e.g. RoboForm) that will autofill the page in some manner they claim to be invulnerable to key loggers. If that's true, and I can't evaluate its security, it's getting close to a solution. The problem here is keeping the password file up-to-date is mildly a nuisance. Moreover, since it will need to be a windows executable, it's not possible for people without a windows machine available to fill in their passwords ahead of time. 4) for my bussiness I have SecureID which makes 1-time passwords. Perhaps a perfect solution for bussinesses but not for personal accounts on things like gmail, etc..
So what solutions do you use, or how do you mitigate the defects of the above processes, particularly for people with mac or linux home computers?"
So what solutions do you use, or how do you mitigate the defects of the above processes, particularly for people with mac or linux home computers?"
