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Quake

Submission + - Indonesia to plug Volcano with Cement Balls

Submitted by
Anonymous from UCI
Anonymous from UCI writes: "CNN.com — "A team of geologists and engineers hope the plan, believed to have never been tried before, will reduce the amount of mud flowing from the geyser at a gas exploration site on Java island by up to 70 percent. The mud is now surging out at a rate equivalent to about a million oil drums a day." "Engineers will release five of the chained cement balls, each weighing up to 250 kilograms (550 pounds), and monitor the effect before gradually releasing more balls into the hole,..." http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/02/23/indone sia.volcano.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories"
Businesses

Submission + - Meetings make you dumber

Submitted by Maximum Prophet
Maximum Prophet writes: Robert Heinlein said that the committee was the only life form in the universe with three or more bellies and no brain. Well, here's some proof:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17279961/
So, is slashdot a group subject to this kind of groupthink, or are the participants isolated enough that the effect is minimized? Discuss...
Movies

Submission + - ECommerce Rocks Video Tutorial Series

Submitted by
Dimi Petrova
Dimi Petrova writes: "GSINC Limited, a UK Internet marketing consultancy today released a series of online video tutorials entitled "ECommerce Rocks".

The series of videos presented by Gareth Davies of GSINC Ltd address some of the common problems ECommerce webmasters encounter.

Through a simple, easy to understand format and common sense principles, the videos aim to bridge a knowledge gap that exists between web design and website promotion.

Shot in the studio and on location the material provides a fresh approach to studying ECommerce.

"There seems to be a knowledge gap emerging between web designers and Internet marketers when it comes to the key content a website should include that affects conversion rate.
Many websites make simple mistakes that result in lower sales and this is what ECommerce Rocks aims to address."
Gareth Davies, GSINC


The ECommerce Rocks video series is currently offered to visitors free of charge via the GSINC website at http://www.gsinc.co.uk/

A direct link to the ECommerce Rocks video page can be accessed here http://www.gsinc.co.uk/tips/"
Security

Submission + - Massachusetts Data Protection Bills

Submitted by
Larry Greenemeier
Larry Greenemeier writes: "Companies doing business in the Bay State may soon face stiff penalties for wayward security practices as Massachusetts is now considering legislation that would place these companies on the hook to pay for any costs associated with a data breach of their IT systems."
Yahoo!

Submission + - Yahoo! patent Web 2.0

Submitted by
MattSparkes
MattSparkes writes: "Yahoo! have filed a patent that allows users to "Customise a webpage template to display data drawn from other sources." Needless to say, this covers almost every Web 2.0 sites out there, including our very own Slashdot. Yahoo! was granted the patent on the basis of work that took place in the late 1990's at the height of bubble 1.0. So could Yahoo! now ask for royalties from various Web 2.0 companies?"
Debian

Submission + - Where the heck is Etch?

Submitted by
sjvn
sjvn writes: "The latest and greatest version of Debian, Etch, was supposed to be released on Dec. 4, 2006. Almost two months later, though, according to the Feb. 17th Release Critical Bug Report memo to the Debian Developers Announcement list, there are still 541 "release critical" bugs... What's happening here?

http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS2327436222.html"
PlayStation (Games)

European PS3 To Play Fewer PS2 Games 150

Posted by Zonk from the give-a-little-get-a-little-more-money dept.
Mondrian_was_a_square writes "When Sony launches the PS3 in Europe, consumers there won't be getting the same thing that US and Japanese buyers picked up at launch—they'll be getting less. Sony has just announced that the new revision of the PS3 will be less backwards compatible with PS2 games. 'Sony is looking to decrease the production cost of the Playstation 3, and they have opted to replace dedicated hardware with software that will replace its functionality. The hardware had been providing full backwards compatibility of PS2 games, but Sony makes it clear that the new configuration will not offer the same level of support. Certain PlayStation 2 format software titles may not perform properly on this system, the statement reads.'"
Sony

Submission + - European PS3s offer limited PS2 game compatibility

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Sony is ready to launch the Playstation 3 in Europe with a new hardware configuration. The only problem is this will limit the ability of the newer systems to play Playstation 2 games, a major selling point of the expensive PS3. How much will this hurt Sony's ability to crack the European market, and are these new systems heading for American shores?
Data Storage

Submission + - Computer Forensics - A Brief Introduction

Submitted by
Simon Steggles
Simon Steggles writes: "Computer Forensics — A Brief Introduction li.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; margin-left:0cm; margin-right:0cm; margin-top:0cm}



Computer Forensics — A Brief Description



Computer Forensics is the function of utilising scientifically proven methods to assemble together and process data found on a digital device, (computer, hard disk drive, mobile phone, memory card etc), and interpret that data for possible use in a court of law or other theatre of investigation. The evidence may assist in the prosecution or a criminal, help in the defence of an accused person, or be of intelligence to an individual who is seeking knowledge for either personal or professional reasons.



The main users of Computer Forensics are law enforcement officers, as a large percentage of crimes in some way utilise digitally stored data. This data could be a phone call made on a mobile phone, (or cell phone), which could place an individual at the scene of a crime, (or of course away from it), accounts for illegal activities such as drug sales, images of paedophilia, human resource issues, hacking, email abuse, unauthorised data duplication, IP theft etc. Corporate organisations are utilising computer forensics more and more now as they often have to investigate incidents such as inappropriate computer use, inappropriate email use, unauthorised data duplication and disloyal employees. Human Resource departments and Internal Security are the biggest users of these specialist corporate services. Private individuals may also use these services. It may be the lover cheating on their partner, or inappropriate internet use by a family member.



Computer Forensics or Cyber Forensics as it is also known, is now taught at many colleges and universities around the world, and is available to both the law enforcement community and private individuals.



What to do if you suspect illegal or inappropriate activity on a computer or digital device:

  1. Turn the power off — Pull the plug out if necessary
  2. Secure the 'exhibit'. Don't allow anyone access to it, security seal it if possible
  3. Contact a Computer Forensics Expert




What NOT to do if you suspect illegal or inappropriate activity on a computer or digital device:

  1. Call your IT manager, or one of your technical staff
  2. Get them to 'see' if the user has been looking at 'dodgy' websites or if any important files are missing
  3. Sack the member of staff




The analogy of the above:



Imaging a body lying in a muddy field. There is a blanket over the body and something petruding from it. By not following procedures, what you will have done is the same as follows:

  1. See the body
  2. Walk up to the body in the field
  3. Take the blanket off the body
  4. Move the body to 'have a look'
  5. Put the blanket back over the body — 'like it was before'
  6. Leave the field




What you have just done:



Entered the scene of a crime, left YOUR footprints all over the muddy field, left YOUR fingerprints on the body and blanket, left YOUR DNA all over the place.



You then expect to call the relevant organisation/authority and have them try and find evidence, which has just been tainted by YOU or YOUR STAFF. This is not a good start, and could make the case in question inadmissible.



Remember that this is a very specialised service provided by experts. Use computer forensics experts to do the job correctly in the first place, then there shouldn't be a problem.



Simon Steggles

Disklabs Computer Forensics

www.disklabs.com/computer-forensics.asp

www.computer-forensics.co.uk

simon.steggles@disklabs.com"

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