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Submission + - Google confirms, downplays Gmail phishing attack (computerworld.com)

Submitted by CWmike on Tuesday October 06, 2009 @05:37PM

CWmike writes: Google confirmed today that passwords for its free Gmail online e-mail service had been harvested by hackers, but downplayed the phishing attack as involving just a "small number" of accounts. Earlier Tuesday, the BBC reported that both Gmail and Yahoo Mail had been targeted by a large-scale identity theft scam, perhaps the same one that collected between 10,000 and 20,000 passwords from those services as well as from Microsoft's Windows Live Hotmail, Comcast, Earthlink and others. "We recently became aware of a phishing scheme through which hackers gained user credentials for Web-based mail accounts including a small number of Gmail accounts," a Google spokesman confirmed today in a reply to questions from Computerworld. "As soon as we learned of the attack, we forced password resets on the affected accounts. We will continue to force password resets on additional accounts if we become aware of them." Like Microsoft on Monday, Google today denied that Gmail had been hacked, and Gmail usernames and passwords stolen because of a lapse on its end. "This was not a Gmail security issue, but rather a phishing scheme," said the Google spokesman.

Submission + - AT&T and Apple to allow VoIP on iPhone (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by MoxFulder on Tuesday October 06, 2009 @05:22PM

MoxFulder writes: Blogger Cecilia Kang at the Washington Post reports that AT&T plans to allow Apple to enable VoIP applications on the iPhone. Presumably this will include Google Voice? Apparently, they are trying to stay ahead of government regulation, now that it looks like the FCC is ready to enact rules enforcing network neutrality.

Submission + - SPAM: Huge magnet 100,000X stronger than Earth's pull 3

Submitted by coondoggie on Tuesday October 06, 2009 @12:57PM

coondoggie writes: So you want to build a magnet 100,000-times stronger than the pull of the Earth's magnetic field, what do you need? Well, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory this week spent $33.6 million for 8,270 km of niobium tin strand and 4,795 km of copper strand (or about 7 miles total) to help build such a magnet.

The materials, being supplied by Luvata Waterbury and Oxford Superconducting Technology are being used to build what's known as the Toroidal Field Magnets for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) being built in at Cadarache, France. Each Toroidal Field coil will weigh 360 tons.

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Submission + - Chicago lost Olympics due to US passport control?

Submitted by on Friday October 02, 2009 @07:47PM

An anonymous reader writes: Chicago lost its bid for the 2016 Olympics (which went to Rio de Janiero instead), and it's looking very likely that US border procedures were one of the main factors which knocked Chicago out of the race:
Among the toughest questions posed to the Chicago bid team this week in Copenhagen was one that raised the issue of what kind of welcome foreigners would get from airport officials when they arrived in this country to attend the Games. Syed Shahid Ali, an I.O.C. member from Pakistan, in the question-and-answer session following Chicagoâ(TM)s official presentation, pointed out that entering the United States can be "a rather harrowing experience." ... The exchange underscores what tourism officials here have been saying for years about the sometimes rigorous entry process for foreigners, which they see as a deterrent to tourism.

Submission + - Habitable Planet Discovery Expected "Anytime Now" (dailygalaxy.com) 2

Submitted by

bughunter

on Friday October 02, 2009 @06:08PM

bughunter writes: "Planet hunters from NASA, Harvard University and the University of Colorado are collaborating on an effort to find Earthlike planets orbiting other stars. David Latham, from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, is quoted at saying, "It could happen almost any time now. We now have the technological capability to identify Earth-like planets around the smallest stars." Using the COROT and HARPS observatories, they expect to soon find our first candidates for extrasolar colonization. Now all we need is a Bussard Ramjet and a few volunteers."

Submission + - SPAM: Lockheed gets $31M to secure military nets

Submitted by coondoggie on Friday October 02, 2009 @04:42PM

coondoggie writes: In its ongoing effort to tighten the security around military networks, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency today gave Lockheed Martin $31 million to work on its advanced network project.

That project, known as the Military Network Protocol looks to develop an authenticated and attributable identification system for packet based, military and government data networks, the agency said. Military or government data sent with the MNP will be compatible with normal Internet equipment to allow MNP traffic to pass through legacy network or encryption equipment, DARPA said.

Not only should the prioritization scheme be radically advanced, the system should be extremely difficult to spoof or inject false traffic into, DARPA said.

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Submission + - In Africa, Lighting up the Darkness with LEDs

Submitted by

Peace Corps Online

on Tuesday March 03, 2009 @12:01AM

Peace Corps Online writes: "In a non-electrified society, life is defined by the sun and little is accomplished once it sets around 6 pm. Only 19 percent of rural areas in Ghana have electricity. The rest use foul-smelling kerosene lamps to light their huts, which pollute, provide little light and are major fire hazards. But now Philips has partnered with KITE, a not-for-profit Ghanaian organization, to bring artificial light to villages that have no electricity. The new Philips products include a portable lantern which provides bright white light where it is needed, the Dynamo Multi LED self-powered (wind-up) flashlight that provides 17 minutes of light from two minutes hand winding, and the "My Reading Light", which is a solar-powered reading light with built-in rechargeable battery. "People can now do things in the evening," says Harriette Amissah-Arthur, KITE's director. "If you could only see the joy these products bring the villagers. You look at their faces; you have to see it to believe it.""

Submission + - Solar Panels drop to $1 a Watt 1

Submitted by

ZosX

on Sunday March 01, 2009 @03:24AM

ZosX writes: "An article over at Popular Mechanics has announced that for the first time, Solar Cells have reached the mythical $1/watt figure. They also talk about supply problems and a few other issues. I'm not the biggest fan of PM, but this article is actually pretty good."

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