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Privacy

Submission + - No-fly list checked for accuracy, to be cut

Submitted by denebian devil
denebian devil writes: The Bush administration is checking the accuracy of a watch list of suspected terrorists banned from traveling on airliners in the U.S. and will probably cut the list in half, according to the head of the TSA. However, "Even cutting the list in half is "nice but not all that meaningful," said Barry Steinhardt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. He noted that various estimates of the list's size, which is classified, have ranged from 50,000 to 350,000 names. "Cutting a list of 350,000 names is not all that impressive," Steinhardt added. In addition, the Homeland Security Department launched a new program for passengers who feel wronged to try correcting the list. The program begins February 20.
Microsoft

Submission + - Zune Porn?

Submitted by
Roy
Roy writes: "My local Wal-Mart store had a very upset parent return a Zune mp3 player. Seems her daughter discovered gay porn on the device. According to the store, other buyers have found the same porn in different states. Wal-Mart is offering $25 gift card to appease consumers who bring them back. Wonder if anyone else have heard this?"
United States

Submission + - AMS CERTIFIED WEATHERMAN STRIKES BACK

Submitted by
lessthan0
lessthan0 writes: "I have been in operational meteorology since 1978, and I know dozens and dozens of broadcast meteorologists all over the country. Our big job: look at a large volume of raw data and come up with a public weather forecast for the next seven days. I do not know of a single TV meteorologist who buys into the man-made global warming hype. I know there must be a few out there, but I can't find them."
Privacy

RFID Tattoo for Tracking Cattle and Humans 181

Posted by Zonk from the one-mammal-is-as-bad-as-the-rest-go-reptoids dept.
ack154 writes "The Register reports that a St Louis based company, Somark Innovations, has successfully tested RFID tattoos to be used for tracking cattle and other animals. Details are limited for the actual tattoo, but it's said to contain no metals and can be read up to about four feet away. Engadget has some more details on the matter. And yes, the article does mention RFID tattoos are possible for people, specifically the military. From the article: 'The system developed by Somark uses an array of needles to quickly inject a pattern of dots into each animal, with the pattern changing for each injection. This pattern can then be read from over a meter away using a proprietary reader operating at high frequency.'"
Microsoft

Submission + - Torvalds on Vista

Submitted by
bl8n8r
bl8n8r writes: "Linuxworld is running an article on Linus Torvalds' take on MS Vista. "I don't actually think that something like Vista will change how people work that much," Torvalds told Computerworld. "I think it, to some degree, has been over-hyped as being something completely new and I don't actually think it is." Torvalds also cites (hardware requirements being one) a few reasons why Vista may cause a wider adoption of Linux. Perhaps the only reason behind Vista is to sell all those SuSE licenses Microsoft bought?"
Security

Submission + - PDFs in Firefox most vulnerable for Acrobat Reader

Submitted by
xianfa
xianfa writes: "Adobe Systems Inc. this week plans to issue patches for recently disclosed vulnerabilities in its widely used Adobe software. Security analysts noted that the flaws can be easily exploited — any Web site hosting PDF files can be used to carry out an attack. The flaw affects Adobe Reader and Acrobat Versions 7.0.8 and older running in the open-source Firefox browser, and Adobe 6.x and older versions running in Microsoft Corp.s Internet Explorer, analysts said. Researchers said the flaw is located in an Adobe Reader feature called Open Parameters, which allows additional commands to be sent to the program when opening a PDF file. The feature allows users to open a PDF file using a URL or a command that specifies both the file to be opened, plus actions to be performed once the file is opened, according to Adobe. Security analysts said the problem was likely created because Adobe failed to properly validate the kind of actions that can be initiated using the commands, providing attackers with a way to run malicious JavaScript code on a users browser. Ken Dunham, director of VeriSign Inc.s iDefense rapid response team in Reston, Va., said an attacker could use the flaw to create a hostile Web site with a link to PDF files on a banks Web site. The link could contain malicious commands that would be executed when the PDF file was opened in a users browser, he said.

Computer World-[Computer World Magazine] reports a vulnerability in all IE and Firefox (no mention of Opera). The interesting thing (to me at least) is that they recommend an upgrade to a new version of Adobe Reader. I understand that the reader is free, but some companies, such as my own, have already invested in the 7.x version of Acrobat Standard, the article does not explicitly set the creator software apart from the reader software so I would assume it affects both. It looks like I may have to move to an OSS for my PDF creation needs instead of being forced into an upgrade for a security fix."
Biotech

Submission + - Conserving genetic diversity, EDGE species.

Submitted by
Straighland
Straighland writes: "*note I selected biotech above, but it is not a biotech story! I cannot get this form to submit, so I am trying lots of things(tm)*

http://www.edgeofexistence.org/species/

The Institute of Zoology (IOZ) part of London Zoo(ZSL)has a new project to increase funding for animal conservation. The idea is to target money to species that have few close relatives (described as EDGE species, Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered).

Having an automatic metric means that the animals are not chosen by their fluffiness or big-cute-eyedness. The website allows people to give money to a specific species conservation, as well as sponsor in a more general way.

The effort has garnered a fair amount of attention in the UK press, I thought the /. crowd would like it. eg http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6263331.stm

quote
EDGE species have few close relatives and are extremely distinct in the way they look, live and behave. These unique species are also on the verge of extinction, and if they disappear there will be nothing like them left on the planet.

Some EDGE species, such as elephants and pandas are
well known, but others, such as the Yangtze river dolphin
(the world's rarest cetacean), the bumblebee bat (the smallest mammal on earth) and the egg-laying long-beaked echidnas, remain poorly understood.
quote"
Software

Submission + - Grouper p2p refugees flock in droves to GigaTribe

Submitted by
John Carricaburu
John Carricaburu writes: "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:
John Carricaburu
Shalsoft
5, rue Uzès
75002 Paris, France
Tel. +33 (0)1 40 13 53 57
Email: john@gigatribe.com

Grouper peer-to-peer "refugees" flock in droves to GigaTribe.

Paris, France, January 18th, 2007

According to information posted on Grouper's website (http://forums.grouper.com/showthread.php?t=3727), their client for private P2P file sharing officially stopped running on December 18th, 2006. Although popular with a core group of users, their business model has apparently oriented itself toward online-based video services, a change reinforced by Sony's $65 million purchase of Grouper.

The Grouper users who previously enjoyed sharing files in their private peer-to-peer networks found themselves brutally cut-off from the online service they came to love. A posting on Grouper's forum by a former user lamented: "I am disappointed to have lost so many friends!
As of today I announce to you my departure from Grouper. I am not anymore a member. I will never forget my 2 years with you." The micro-communities that had formed and grown to enjoy sharing content with one another were faced last month with the need to find a similar alternative elsewhere, and, for many, Shalsoft's GigaTribe filled that void perfectly.

Over the past month, adoption and usage of GigaTribe's private peer-to-peer client has risen dramatically. At first, Shalsoft management assumed that word of mouth combined with favorable press coverage was the primary cause of this unexpected success. However, upon more closely examining the external environment, it was clear that the cessation of Grouper's P2P client was one of the primary causes of GigaTribe's sudden surge in popularity.

GigaTribe's free software allows groups of friends (and online collaborators) to share large files easily and with no file-size limits. Unlike other solutions, no adware or spyware is bundled into the application, and all data exchanges are strongly encrypted, so only an uploader and downloader know what is being shared.

For more information, or to download free GigaTribe software, please go to www.gigatribe.com.
________________________________________

About Shalsoft:
Shalsoft is an innovative software developing company whose goal is to produce the best community file-sharing solution. Based in France, they already have a user-base of 300,000 users, and that number is growing at an exponential rate. Shalsoft was created in 2004 by Stéphane Herry and Alexis Leseigneur, who both participated in the success of VirtuaGirl, the desktop stripper that has garnered worldwide attention.

END"
Space

Submission + - China Tests Anti-Satellite Weapon

Submitted by MrSteveSD
MrSteveSD writes: The BBC is reporting that China has tested an anti-satellite weapon against one of it's own weather satellites. In the past China has called for an international treaty against the weaponization of space, but these calls were rejected by the US, which continues to pursue its own space weapons programme. It is also worth noting that both the US and Russia already posses anti-satellite weaponry.
NASA

Pluto Probe Snaps Jupiter Pictures 133

Posted by CowboyNeal from the eye-in-the-sky dept.
sighted writes "The New Horizons probe, on its way to Pluto and beyond, is now speeding toward Jupiter. Today the team released some of the early data and pictures, which are the first close-range shots of the giant planet since the robotic Cassini spacecraft passed that way in 2001."

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