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Comment Re:Down or DDoS? (Score 1) 634

by Elgonn (#31396422) Attached to: Ubisoft's Authentication Servers Go Down
Just because everyone seems to be taking my comment as in some way taking Ubisoft's side. I'm glad it went down. I was just curious which it was. I'd rather the system be attacked because then Ubisoft couldn't then claim it will get better or was just a mistake.

Comment Re:Playing to Apple's weakness (Score 1) 180

by Elgonn (#29750303) Attached to: How Nokia Learned To Love Openness

The N900's hardware and Maemo's software are finally making phones truly open. But to truly change the landscape we'll need more phones. To hit different price points and form factors. At this rate I think they'll remain niche unfortunately.

I'd kill for a N900 in E90 form factor.
Security

Major Spike in Security Threats To Online Games 48

Posted by Soulskill from the i-blame-world-of-warcraft dept.
Gamasutra reports on data from security software firm ESET, which shows a major increase in the number of gaming-related security threats over the last year. They attribute the rise in attacks to the amount of money involved in the games industry these days. ESET's full report (PDF) is also available. "[ESET's research director, Jeff Debrosse] explains: 'It's a two-phase attack. If someone's account was compromised, then someone else can actually [using their avatar] during a chat session, or through in-game communication... they could leverage that people trust this person and point them at various URLs, and those URLs will either have drive-by malware or a specific [malware] executable. What ends up happening is that folks may end up downloading and using it. This is just one methodology.' These attackers also target gamers in external community sites, says Debrosse, through 'banners on websites or URLs in chat rooms or forums' — which can lead to unsafe URLs. 'If [users] don't have adequate protection, they could very well be downloading malware without their knowledge.'"
Medicine

Brains Work Best At Age of 39 267

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the sounds-like-a-good-last-day-to-me dept.
Scientists at the University of California Los Angeles are reporting that while some people may think "life begins at 40," all it seems to do is slow down. According to recent research, at age 39 our brain reaches its peak speed, and it's all downhill after that. "The loss of a fatty skin that coats the nerve cells, called neurons, during middle age causes the slowdown, experts say. The coating acts as insulation, similar to the plastic covering on an electrical cable, and allows for fast bursts of signals around the body and brain. When the sheath deteriorates, signals passing along the neurons in the brain slow down. This means reaction times in the body are slower too."
Communications

Sprint's Xohm WiMax Network Debuts In Baltimore, Works Well 86

Posted by timothy from the will-it-reach-the-double-t-diner? dept.
bsk_cw writes "Sprint's newly launched Xohm service is now offering America's first WiMax network. Computerworld's Brian Nadel went to Baltimore to try it out, and he reports that Xohm delivered data smoothly to a car moving at highway speeds, played YouTube videos flawlessly, and on average, pushed through more than 3Mbit/sec., compared with 1.3 Mbit/sec. for the AT&T network Brian used as a comparison. But right now, coverage is only planned in a few US cities; if Sprint isn't able to ramp up its coverage quickly, it may lose its advantage."
Security

Fixes Released (and More Promised) For "Clickjacking" Exploits 70

Posted by timothy from the no-death-penalty-for-online-jerks dept.
An anonymous reader writes "As discussed previously on Slashdot, concern has been raised over a class of 'clickjacking' vulnerabilities which affect all major Web browsers. These exploits allow an attacker to place invisible or seemingly legit objects on a Web page that perform undesired actions when a user clicks on them. In recent developments, 'Guya' posted a scary proof-of-concept that hijacks Adobe Flash Player to spy on users with a webcam and/or microphone. In response, Adobe released an advisory with a temporary workaround, and stated that a future Player update will address the exploit. This prompted the original disclosers of the vulnerabilities to post a summary of the exploits. Additionally, Giorgio Maone, creator of the popular NoScript extension for Firefox and other Gecko-based browsers, released version 1.8.2.1 of NoScript, which adds 'ClearClick,' a feature that intercepts clicks made on invisible or otherwise obscured elements on a page. Although issues remain, there seems to be progress in addressing these security problems."

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