Submission + - Najib's kangkung economics (blogspot.com)
Sham Aiman writes: Suddenly kangkung has become the king of all vegetables in the market, thanks to the government's saving grace. Finally we see hope in the Malaysian economy.
Submission + - Target credit card data was sent to server in Russia (computerworld.com.au)
angry tapir writes: The stolen credit card numbers of millions of Target shoppers took an international trip — to Russia. A peek inside the malicious software that infected Target's POS (point-of-sale) terminals is revealing more detail about the methods of the attackers as security researchers investigate one of the most devastating data breaches in history. Findings from two security companies show the attackers breached Target's network and stayed undetected for more than two weeks. Over two weeks, the malware collected 11GB of data from Target's POS terminals. The data was first quietly moved to another server on Target's network and then transmitted in chunks to a U.S.-based server that the attackers had hijacked. Logs from that compromised server show the data was moved again to a server based in Russia starting on Dec. 2.
Submission + - Will Schneier Help Save Us From The NSA? (schneier.com)
al0ha writes: Schneier briefs members of Congress on the NSA in a closed door meeting. According to Bruce, "Surreal part of setting up this meeting: I suggested that we hold this meeting in a SCIF, because they wanted me to talk about top secret documents that had not been made public. So we had to have the meeting in a regular room."
I am so very happy to hear a rational expert, that is almost uniquely able to explain complex subjects and their potential ramifications to those of us possessing less than brilliant minds in this world, has been briefing Congress on the NSA.
I am so very happy to hear a rational expert, that is almost uniquely able to explain complex subjects and their potential ramifications to those of us possessing less than brilliant minds in this world, has been briefing Congress on the NSA.
Submission + - US government to convert Silk Road bitcoins to USD (techworld.com.au)
angry tapir writes: The founder of the Silk Road underground website has forfeited the site and thousands of bitcoins, worth around US$28 million at current rates, to the U.S. government. The approximately 29,655 bitcoins were seized from the Silk Road website when the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) moved to close it in late September. "The United States Marshals Service shall dispose of the Silk Road Hidden Website and the Silk Road Server Bitcoins according to law," wrote Judge J. Paul Oetken, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, in a court order that was issued this week. The ruling represents the largest-ever forfeiture of bitcoins. "It is the intention of the government to ultimately convert the bitcoins to U.S. currency," said Jim Margolin, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York.
Submission + - Anonymous Hacker Who Exposed the Steubenville Rapists Gets More Prison Time Than (geekrepublic.org)
An anonymous reader writes: Deric Lostutter, the 26-year-old “hacktivist” who leaked the evidence that led to the conviction of two of the Steubenville, Ohio rapists is now facing more time behind bars than the rapists he exposed. The Steubenville Rape Case made national headlines when a video made by the rapists themselves, and their friends, proved that their victim was unconscious and unable to consent.
Comment Re:Ooh I know this one (Score 1) 200
Actually, it's a meteorological term...but who's counting?
Google Maps Updated With Skyfall Island Japan Terrain 107
MojoKid writes "The latest in the Bond film series, Skyfall, was certainly one to remember. And not all of those memories were pleasant. The head villain's island lair was a particularly spooky place. The decaying wasteland depicted in the film was a shadow of Hashima off the coast of Nagasaki Prefecture in Japan. Due to its unique flat shape, the island is most widely known in Japan by its nickname Gunkanjima — aka 'Battleship Island.' In some circles, it's called 'Dead Island.' Google actually sent an employee to the island with a Street View backpack in order to capture its condition and a panoramic view for all to see in 360 degrees. You can take a virtual walk across the island now, and Google also used its Business Photos technology to let you peek into the abandoned buildings, complete with ancient black-and-white TVs and discarded soda bottles."
Comment Security Theater, Act 230982394 (Score 4, Funny) 188
Surely this will increase the security of electronic voting in India.
Comment The best use for this (Score 2, Funny) 47
The best use for this is obviously to install it on the wheels of a stellar El Dorado.
Comment Re:Is a picture a picture without a CODEC? (Score 1) 540
Ferinstance: Somone sends a Windows DRMed video over my Linux AP and I don't have a CODEC for it so I cannot view it since it is just a jumble of bits. Is that stream of bits a picture?
I'm not sure. Is it a video of a cat in a box?
Big Mother Is Watching 533
theodp writes "Newsweek reports that high-schoolers are being denied the joy of ordering unhealthy lunches thanks to their schools' adoption of services like MealpayPlus. New web-based services allow moms to prepay for cafeteria food, specify what their kid can and can't buy, and go online to track his purchases." From the article: "If the child tries to buy a prohibited item, an alert flashes on the cashier's computer. Of course, the system isn't foolproof. According to a KRC Research survey, 73 percent of 8- to 12-year-olds are throwing out part of their lunches at least once a week; 36 percent are trading them." All I ever got was PB&J.
What's In Your Inbox? 185
kenoa writes "In a recent blog entry, Gabor Cselle wrote about How Researchers are Reinventing the Mail Client. He highlights some ideas taken from research papers that will probably make it into the real world someday. From the article '
"[TaskMaster] All your emails, drafts, attachments, and bookmarks are mapped to "thrasks". Emails in the same thread are grouped automatically, but the user still has to assign other mails, links, and deadlines manually.
[Bifrost] The idea here is that the people are the main indicators of whether an email is important. (...) Bifrost then reorganizes your inbox and displays your email in a number of predefined categories: Timely, VIP Platinum, VIP Gold, Personal, Small/Large distribution lists.
[ReMail] Thread Arcs visualize relationships between email messages. Instead of wasting lots of space with a tree view that Thunderbird has, it displays the thread structure in a little image. (...) Contact Maps offer a different view of the address book: Senders from which you have received email are grouped by domain. Each person's name is shown with a different background color, depending on the time of the last email exchange."
' " Given that most of us probably read email essentially the same way as elm/pine did for us a decade ago, it sure would be swell to see updates to these metaphors.
New Eternal Darkness Titles Promised 66
1up reports that Silicon Knights, maker of the Too Human and Eternal Darkness games, have promised they plan to return to Eternal Darkness at some point in the future. I wouldn't hold your breath for it, though. Any sequel to the Lovecraft-inspired horror title will be some time in coming. From the article: "'Although this [Eternal Darkness 1] is just one story we had in mind for the Eternal Darkness universe, there are even more manipulations, great ancients, and numerous other stories to tell...' The outspoken developer continues on by describing how their plans for Eternal Darkness tie into Too Human, as well; the upcoming trilogy represents an evolution of the studio's concept for Eternal Darkness. Instead of holding off on sequel treatments, however, they've instead decided to plan an overarching three-part story from day one. "
ABC Wants DVR Fast Forwarding Disabled 718
Anonymous CE Worker writes "The television network ABC is looking to develop technology that would disable the fast-forward button on DVRs, and allow commercials to run as intended on their channel." From the article: "Some research executives — even at networks with sales departments that acted differently — had argued before the upfront that ads viewed in fast-forward mode generated value for advertisers, since consumers were at least partly exposed to their messages. But Shaw said ABC was only interested in finding a way to receive compensation for un-skipped ads."
Gangs on the Internet 402
mikesd81 writes "Apparently street gangs have gotten Web-savvy. Web Bangers are posting potentially incriminating photos and taunts on their websites. Police departments suddenly faced with gangs are looking for help on the gangs' own easy-to-find Web sites. The director of the National Gang Crime Research Center has stated "In order to understand any subculture, be it al-Qaida, witches, devil worshippers or gangs, you have to be able to know their own language.'
Knox said it's important for police to learn how to read between the lines on gang Web sites and blogs. Just as time on the streets has given gang investigators the ability to read the hieroglyphics of wall graffiti, time on the Web helps them understand arcane Web clues. Gang identifiers, such as tattoos, graffiti tags, colors and clothing often are embedded in each site."
