Submission + - NetBSD is 20 years old today! (netbsd.org)
Noryungi writes: The first NetBSD commit was exactly 20 yers ago today, in March 1993... Happy Birthday NetBSD, and here is to the next 20 years!
Submission + - Unscrambling an Android telephone with FROST (uni-erlangen.de)
Noryungi writes: Researchers at the University of Erlangen demonstrates how to recover an Android phone confidential content, with the help of a freezer and FROST, a specially-crafted Android ROM. Quite an interesting set of pictures, starting with wrapping your Android phone in a freezer bag...
Comment Cue conspiracy theories... (Score 2, Funny) 371
In 3... 2... 1...
Submission + - Greg Palast on Piers Morgans and Aaron Swartz (gregpalast.com)
Noryungi writes: While Aaron Swartz was hounded mercilessly for the made-up crime of publishing information, Piers Morgan enjoys his prime-time slot on CNN... While guilty of much more serious crimes than Aaron. A must-read article by investigative journalist Greg Palast.
Submission + - Kim Dotcom's Mega Fileshare Service Riddled With Security Holes (techweekeurope.co.uk)
twoheadedboy writes: "Kim Dotcom launched his new project Mega on Sunday, claiming it was to be "the privacy company". But it might not be so private after all, as security professionals have ripped it to shreds. There are numerous problems with how encryption is handled, an XSS flaw and users can't change their passwords, they say. But there are suspicions Mega is handing out encryption keys to users and touting strong security to cover its own back. After all, if Kim Dotcom and Co don't know what goes on the site, they might not be liable for copyright prosecutions, as they were for Megaupload, Mega's preprocessor."
Submission + - Mozilla Launches Firefox OS Developer Phone (muktware.com)
sfcrazy writes: Three major players are battling for a spot in the highly competitive smartphone market with their open source operating systems — Jolla, Mozilla and Canonical. While Jolla has some deals to bring their devices to the market, Mozilla has a lead here. Stormy Peters of Mozilla Foundations announced that the foundation is working with Geeksphone to bring the developer phone running Firefox OS to the market. These developer phones are being developed by Geeksphone in partnership with Telefonica and Geeksphone.
The phone has appealing specs:
CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 1Ghz
UMTS 2100/1900/900 (3G HSPA)
GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (2G EDGE)
Screen 3.5 HVGA Multitouch
3 MP Camera
4GB ROM, 512 MB RAM
MicroSD, Wifi N, Light and proxmity Sensor, G-Sensor, GPS, MicroUSB
1580 mAh battery
Over the air updates
Unlocked, add your own SIM card
The phone has appealing specs:
CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 1Ghz
UMTS 2100/1900/900 (3G HSPA)
GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (2G EDGE)
Screen 3.5 HVGA Multitouch
3 MP Camera
4GB ROM, 512 MB RAM
MicroSD, Wifi N, Light and proxmity Sensor, G-Sensor, GPS, MicroUSB
1580 mAh battery
Over the air updates
Unlocked, add your own SIM card
Submission + - UK ISPs Respond to the Dangers of Using Carrier Grade NAT Instead of IPv6 (ispreview.co.uk)
Mark.JUK writes: "Several major Internet Service Providers in the United Kingdom, including BSkyB, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, AAISP and Fluidata, have warned that the adoption of Carrier Grade NAT (IPv4 address sharing) is likely to become increasingly common in the future. But the technology, which many view as a delaying tactic until IPv6 becomes more common place, is not without its problems and could cause a number of popular services to fail (e.g. XBox Live, PlayStation Network, FTP hosting etc.). The prospect of a new style of two tier internet could be just around the corner."
Submission + - NASA team pushing towards thermal nuclear propulsion systems (gizmag.com)
cylonlover writes: Nuclear-powered rocket engines are not new. In the 1960s, both the U.S. and the Soviet Union developed and tested thermal nuclear rockets fitted with flight-worthy components. However, Project Rover and NERVA (Nuclear Engine for Nuclear Rocket Application) programs were defunded in the early 1970s just before test flights were to start. Now, as part of the Advanced Exploration Systems program at NASA, the Nuclear Cryogenic Propulsion Stage team is tackling a three-year project to demonstrate the viability of and to evaluate materials for thermal nuclear propulsion systems for use in future deep space missions.
Submission + - Andrew Auernheimer Case Horrifyingly Similar To Aaron Swartz Case (techcrunch.com)
TrueSatan writes: Thankfully Auernheimer doesn't appear suicidal, no thanks to US prosecutors, yet he has been under attack for an his act of altering an API URL that revealed a set of user data and posting details of same.
"In June of 2010 there was an AT&T webserver on the open Internet. There was an API on this server, a URL with a number at the end. If you incremented this number, you saw the next iPad 3G user email address. I thought it was egregiously negligent for AT&T to be publishing a complete target list of iPad 3G owners, and I took a sample of the API output to a journalist at Gawker."
http://gawker.com/5559346/apples-worst-security-breach-114000-ipad-owners-exposed
Auernheimer has been under investigation from that point onwards with restrictions on his freedom and ability to earn a living that are grossly disproportionate to any percieved crime. This is just as much a case of legislative over reach and the unfettered power of prosecutors as was Swartz's case.
"In June of 2010 there was an AT&T webserver on the open Internet. There was an API on this server, a URL with a number at the end. If you incremented this number, you saw the next iPad 3G user email address. I thought it was egregiously negligent for AT&T to be publishing a complete target list of iPad 3G owners, and I took a sample of the API output to a journalist at Gawker."
http://gawker.com/5559346/apples-worst-security-breach-114000-ipad-owners-exposed
Auernheimer has been under investigation from that point onwards with restrictions on his freedom and ability to earn a living that are grossly disproportionate to any percieved crime. This is just as much a case of legislative over reach and the unfettered power of prosecutors as was Swartz's case.
Submission + - FBI documents offers new insight into the death of the old Atari Corporation (atarileaks.org)
AtariDatacenter writes: "Newly released evidence suggest that Atari Corporation's decline (ending in 1996) may have been greatly influenced by two factors. Atari's investment in Federated Department Stores was a major financial disaster that was far worse than the public was aware of at the time. The depth of the injury by Federated was partially concealed by a DRAM import and resale operation which was determined by the FBI to be an illegal operation. Federated had financially crippled Atari. Both Federated and the DRAM resale operation kept management distracted. Atari limped along, but never recovered."
Comment Re:That's fine (Score 4, Funny) 338
ccAdvertising is an American company, you [insert favourite insult here].
Mozilla Makes Prototype of Firefox OS Available 101
Thinkcloud writes "Even though the operating system hasn't arrived in a version for smartphones and tablets just yet, Firefox OS is available as a prototype module that you can run on Windows, Mac or Linux computers (download page). The initial Firefox OS phones are expected to arrive in 2013, and it's been reported that Alcatel and ZTE are the first manufacturers on board."
Comment Go tell that to 4chan. (Score 1) 432
Go ahead. I'll wait right here.
Comment Yep, it's all fun and games... (Score 1) 188
... Until one of your rockets explode while going up, or even on the launchpad.
Not to belittle SpaceX, but they have had, what? Four successful launches so far? Ariane has had 62 successful launches out of 66.
And don't get me started on Soyuz rockets - the first one flew in 1966 - with 1600+ successful launches to its credit.
Wake me up when SpaceX has had 60+ launches without a hitch. Until then, Musk is just talking P.R. for his firm.
Submission + - Ancient tsunami devastated Lake Geneva (nature.com)
Noryungi writes: "A fascinating article in Nature, details how a tsunami, provoked by a massive landslide, ravaged the shores of the Lake Geneva, including the city of the same name. Interesting, especially given the much larger population now present on the shores of the same lake."
