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Security

Submission + - Attachment spam - the latest trend (netseclib.com)

Submitted by EmptyStreets
EmptyStreets writes: At one point or another — like the majority of computer users — you have received emails that promise business deals worth millions of pounds, that try to sell products to improve your appearance or...
The Courts

Submission + - IFPI.* domain dispute likely to go to court (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by fgaliegue
fgaliegue writes: Ars Technica has a follow-up on the ifpi.com domain takeover by The Pirate Bay. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, ifpi.org, is quite unhappy that the .com is now a link to the (still not live) International Federation of Pirates Interests. The ifpi.com domain has been free as soon as March of this year, according to WebArchive. Nevertheless, the "real" IFPI wants to take it to the WIPO under the accusation of cybersquatting.
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Steam disables legitmate Orange Box keys from Asia

Submitted by SLAM-ER
SLAM-ER writes: Experienced first hand and posted here: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?catid=18&threadid=772041 Swiped from Digg: http://www.digg.com/pc_games/Valve_disabling_apparently_legit_Asian_Orange_Box_keys The gist for those that don't want to register at CAG: 1. People buy Orange Box keys from a Thai site for $18. 2. Keys validate in Steam and allow people to play Orange Box. 3. Valve drops the hammer and disables Orange Boxes with these keys; doesn't (yet) allow a way to reregister with a USA key and continue playing with same Steam account. 4. Some games not registered with those keys are taken out as collateral damage. 5. Gamers wonder what is going on, since either the keys are legit and Valve is retroactively enforcing region protection, or the keys are fake and Steam is a bastard for accepting them in the first place.
Privacy

Submission + - Time to encrypt all P2P traffic? 3

Submitted by VORNAN-20
VORNAN-20 writes: Yesterday's item here about Comcast screwing around with P2P traffic brings up an idea. Is it time to change the P2P standard to encrypt all traffic? I think that almost any current PC would have no problem handling the extra load, and really, Comcast or any ISP has no business knowing what you are sending in the first place. I am not a network guy but I think that this is doable. If azureus, ktorrent, etc were all to come out with an "encrypt all packets using " option maybe this could be managed quickly and cleanly. It would be best to move quickly before all of the ISPs catch on to this. Come on developers, liberate us from the network meanies!!
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Laptop-Computers: UN telecom panel Opens Doors for (blogspot.com)

Submitted by laptopcomputer
laptopcomputer writes: The International Telecommunication Union has approved Intel's WiMax Technology as third-generation 3G mobile technology.This decision mainly helps the deployment of WiMax in Europe instead of the more established 3G systems. However, the deployment of WiMax has just been started in the United States. Sprint Nextel and Clearwire are going to roll out a network in late 2007. Intel will Launch WiMax with next-generation Centrino platform; Montevina in the second quarter of 2008. Naturally with this opportunity that has been given to WiMax the productions related to this technology will increase and the international prices of its equipment will decrease. PC World explains the current 3G systems: 3G is dominated by WCDMA, the next step on the migration path from GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications). But the ITU-R has also recognized CDMA-2000, the 3G upgrade to CDMA networks, and TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code-Division Multiple Access), developed in China, as well as other technologies. WiMax is based on the IEEE 802.16 standard. It promises to provide longer range Internet connections than the current Wi-Fi as it can broadcast up to 40 miles. Source: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/138691/wimax_counts_as_3g_itu_says.html posted by Sahar Tadayyon at 2:48 PM 0 Comments: Post a Comment Links to this post: posted by @ Create a Link Home
Censorship

Submission + - Collaboration suspended on Wikipedia article (wikipedia.org) 2

Submitted by gkhan1
gkhan1 writes: A note on the talk page of the Wikipedia article Views of Lyndon LaRouche states that regular Wikipedia policies of collaboration and consensus has been suspended and the page is now protected. While page protection is common on Wikipedia, usually while articles are recieving heavy loads of vandalism, this case is unique in that the admin responsible of the protection has stated that it is supposed to last indefinitely and that all future editing on the article should go through an administrator first.

Is this acknowledgement that the collaborative and open Wikipedia-method does not work, and that a closed editorial-system is needed for some subjects? What implications does this have for the future of Wikipedia?
Media (Apple)

Submission + - CNN Slams Apple For Trialware

Submitted by
gbulmash
gbulmash writes: "When you think of computers that have been overloaded with unwanted trialware and demo programs to try to improve the manufacturer's margins, who do you think of? CNN apparently thinks of Apple. In a video story on how to avoid excessive amounts of trialware on your new PC, they displayed 25 seconds (from 2:07 to 2:32) of footage of an Apple store while their expert described how stores will charge you up to $130 to remove trialware and optimize the machine you just bought. Is this fair, or does CNN owe Apple an apology?"
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Facebook Goes 64 Bit: Expects to Grow Quickly (idealog.us) 1

Submitted by
NewsCloud
NewsCloud writes: "Facebook announced to developers today that they are moving to a 64 bit user ID in November (see below). At 32 bits, the current ID allows nearly 4.3 billion user accounts. Yet, despite having only 47 million users today, Facebook's move to 64 bits will allow it to have more than 18 quintillion (18,446,744,074,000,000,000) user accounts. Of course, there are currently only about 6.5 billion people in the world. Is Facebook setting their sights beyond Earth or just trying to avoid what happened when Slashdot ran out of space for comment IDs last year. Perhaps they are planning to implement personas. Anyway, do you have any idea how much Facebook would be worth with 18 quintillion user IDs? Sextillions..."
Software

Submission + - EA Calls for 'Open Platform' for Games (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "EA's head of international publishing made some interesting comments on where EA would like platforms & PC gaming to move to. From his statement, "We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible." While the rest of his comments imply that he simply meant 'one' platform instead of removing development licenses, it is an interesting concept. This is obviously a move designed to cut their development time for a game into a fifth of what it is but could this have other implications like easier homebrew development for consoles? There are the obvious concerns about losing the security-through-obscurity that odd hardware gives consoles, lack of being able to take advantage of chip architecture and emulators springing up on PCs. However, maybe this move would benefit everyone involved in gaming?"
The Military

Submission + - British Intelligence Inserts Job Ads Into Games (cnn.com)

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is taking a new approach to attracting the computer savvy youth today. From the article, "The monthlong ad campaign, which starts at the end of October, is being run by GCHQ, the recruitment firm TMP Worldwide and Microsoft-owned in-game ad agency Massive Inc. Ads headed "Careers in British Intelligence" will appear as billboards in scenes in "Splinter Cell" and other games including "Need for Speed Carbon" and "Enemy Territory: Quake Wars" when they are played on computers and Microsoft Xbox consoles in Britain." While this may sound like a glamorous career choice of James Bond-style killing and womanizing, it's anything but. Expect working requirements and developing software for intelligence analysts and the daily bore of an office setting."
The Media

Submission + - FCC Plan: Freedom OF or FROM the Press? (editorandpublisher.com) 1

Submitted by macduffman
macduffman writes: Kevin Martin, Chairman of the FCC, has fired a volley in the war against media moguls... or is it in the war against freedom of the press? An article in the Editor and Publisher describes the plan to ban cross-ownership in the same market (i.e., owning a newspaper and a broadcast station in the same city). Several waivers exist for some current ownerships, but would not be passed on to new owners.

The plan calls for public comment beginning in mid-November, and the FCC would vote on it a month later. Naturally, some people have heated opnions. From the full article:

Democratic Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein did not object specifically to the Dec. 18 date, but did say the commission has a lot of work yet[....] "We should first address the appalling lack of ownership of media outlets by women and people of color."

Gene Kimmelman, [VP at] Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, had harsh words [for the plan....] "We will demonstrate this is purely an ideological, politically motivated effort to allow media companies to consolidate and dominate local markets."

The proposed schedule calls for a public hearing in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 31; another hearing on Nov. 2 in Seattle; publication of the proposed rule on Nov. 13; and a commission vote on Dec. 18.
The Military

Submission + - Indian Stealth fighter to take on the F22 Raptor

Submitted by
Gary
Gary writes: "After developing the supersonic cruise missile Brahmos, India and Russia have come together once again to develop a fifth-generation stealth fighter aircraft (FGFA). The Indian Air Force wants the FGFA which is being called T-50 by the Sukhoi Design Bureau, to exceed the capabilities of the American F/A-22 'Raptor' and somewhat match the F-35 'Lightning-II' fighter. The distinguishing features of the FGFA will be stealth technology, composite materials, thrust-vectoring, advanced radars and sensors, and the ability to supercruise (achieve supersonic speeds without the use of the afterburner)."
Security

Submission + - P2P decoy users and the RIAA

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers at the University of California have analysed P2P traffic and found that the probability of association to a blocklisted (PDF) decoy user is 100%. Additionally they have found that this can be reduced by two orders of magnitude by simply avoiding systems maintained in publicly available and maintained lists. Finally they analyse ownership of the blocklisted domains and attribute 71% to government owned systems, and that less than 0.5% is in fact owned by "content providers" such as Time Warner Inc which support the RIAA.
OS X

Submission + - Apple's Missed Opportunity With Leopard Delay (osweekly.com)

Submitted by Anonymous
Anonymous writes: According to an article on OSWeekly.com, Apple missed a big opportunity by not releasing Leopard soon. They could've taken advantage of Vista's losing streak and one upped Microsoft, the author suggests. "It's not uncommon for Windows users and technology consumers in general to say that Microsoft missed out on making the most of Vista both before and after its launch. Longtime fans of Windows have changed their tone due to Vista's inadequacies, and regular users are in many cases stuck with trying to figure out why they still can't get certain things to work within the operating system. Granted, it's not a completely horrific OS, but is that even a compliment worth accepting?
Power

Submission + - Ubuntu's Power Consumption Tested (phoronix.com)

Submitted by
RedDragon
RedDragon writes: "Ubuntu 7.10 is due out on Thursday, October 18, and in addition to desktop 3D effects, GNOME 2.20, and other features is the use of the Linux 2.6.22 kernel with the tick-less (CONFIG_NO_HZ) kernel feature. But does this mean enhanced power savings when compared to past Ubuntu releases? At Phoronix are Ubuntu power consumption tests looking back at the six Ubuntu releases from Ubuntu 5.04 to the yet-to-be-released Ubuntu 7.10. Testing was done when the system was idling and then under load and when the Lenovo notebook was powered via the battery and then again with the AC adapter. The Pentium M CPU temperature was also monitored. While Ubuntu 7.10 does include the tick-less kernel feature, more daemons and processes running by default on these modern Ubuntu releases is actually causing an increase in power consumption."

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