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XBox (Games)

Submission + - XBox Live! Hacked

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: XBox Live! has reportedly been hacked. According to one source, "... there is a group online called "Infamous Clan" brazenly offering to "jack" Xbox Live accounts and boasting about successful account theft. ..." MicroSoft's response? "... I just got off the phone with a Microsoft Tech for Xbox live that has confirmed this to with me and they have stated that accounts are being stolen and that "Hackers have control of Xbox live and there is nothing we can do about it."
Security

Submission + - Chinese Hackers Wake up to Malware

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: From ITWeek: Security researchers are noticing an increase in malware originating from China, which is adding to the challenge of investigating online threats. "The past three to four months have seen a slow increase in Chinese malware. It used to be the odd file every now and then, but it is now almost every day," said Chris Boyd, director of malware research at FaceTime Communications. China has traditionally been a hotbed of password stealers who go after log-in names and passwords for online games such as World of Warcraft. The criminals are after virtual currencies and goods which can be sold on auction websites. But FaceTime is reporting a new trend of Chinese criminals developing their own file downloaders and rootkits...
Privacy

Submission + - The story of your life, now available online

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Juliet LaVia of Burbank, Calif., recently got a call from someone named John whose voice she couldn't place. After an awkward silence, she learned he was a college acquaintance from some 15 years ago who said he found her home phone number online. Since the dawn of the Internet, it's been possible to plug a name into a search engine to see what turns up. And for years, background-checking services have sold expensive online services for looking up personal information such as criminal records, marriage records, addresses and phone numbers. But now, directory companies and several start-ups are offering new people-search services that are more comprehensive and useful than the classic Google search at a fraction or none of the cost of a traditional background check.
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Cancer stem cells in breast cancer challenged

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "A Dana-Farber Cancer Institute study challenges the hypothesis that "cancer stem cells" — a small number of self-renewing cells within a tumor — are responsible for breast cancer progression and recurrence, and that wiping out these cells alone could cure the disease. Read More"
Portables

Submission + - Hands On: The $100 Laptop

Submitted by
Paul Stamatiou
Paul Stamatiou writes: "I got my hands on the second release of the $100 One Laptop per Child laptop and wrote a review complete with pictures. It runs a custom version of Fedora Core 6 complete with an Xulrunner-based browser and an impressive 7.5-inch LCD sporting a resolution of 1200×900 with the ability to go monochromatic in sunlight. Other hardware features include a VGA webcam, 802.11b/g wireless, 512MB flash storage, 128MB DDR266 system RAM and a 366MHz AMD Geode CPU."
Wireless Networking

Submission + - The great WIFI consipracy

Submitted by
tsoldrin
tsoldrin writes: "From: http://billzyblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/great-wifi- consipracy.html We are on the cusp of an emerging, ground breaking and revolutionary technology. The question is; will we be allowed to have it? In the United States of America, specifically in metropolitan area's, its difficult to be out of range of some wireless access point or another. We are throwing more signal around than SETI could dream of. But what is the limitation of WIFI? The answer is distance, the range at which you can negotiate a viable connection to a wireless access point. What if distance were no longer an issue? Lets say we had the power to make WIFI reach up to 30 miles. What would we do? The answer is simple, we would embrace and use that technology to our hearts content as we have amply demonstrated in the past. What if I told you we not only have the ability to accommodate 30 mile long wireless connections, its also affordable. So why don't we have it? This is a simple question. We don't have long range consumer level wireless connectivity devices because no ones figured out a way to make money with it yet. But that isn't the biggest reason. The real reason is the potential to bankrupt every broadcast media company on the planet. That and the overwhelming possibility of free speech and communication for everyone. Remember the BBS days back in the late 70's, 80's and 90's? We connected up to message boards by way of analog modems. We relayed Fidonet, Cnet and Usenet by scheduling UUCP drops or Unix to Unix copy. It was very cool, we enjoyed it because of the technology behind it. We were involved and happy to do it because we alone were responsible for propagating the technology, news and information that goes along with it. We were mavericks in our own sense, we understood what most of the world didn't. We have a chance to have it again but that chance is very slim. Given the technology behind radio and WIFI feasibility is no longer at question. The real question is how do you keep it from destroying all the major networks, advertisers and brands. Imagine if you will that the availability of a 30 mile range WIFI access point was an off the shelf item at your local Best Buy. In 2004 17.5 million wireless access points were sold. What we would do with these devices is a no brainer. We would link them together in a massive global network providing free access to all. In a matter of a few years the Internet as we know it would no longer exist. Port charges and up stream providers, gone. On demand streaming audio and video wherever and whenever you want it — and free. The major networks will be forced onto this medium. Cable, satellite and phone companies will be a thing of the past. The whole network controlled by and for the people. Remember that? Where do we go from here? Good question, technophiles are aware of the controversy known as Net Neutrality. If your not I'll sum it up for you. Billion dollar broadcast communications corporations crying poor because of the bandwidth required to stream audio and video. You know the likes; AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner and Verizon. They have demonstrated that they don't want to provide any resources to those that are not paying them. Never mind the fleecing we the consumer are subjected to. I think the best we can do right now is to keep our eyes and ears on the technology. The technology will emerge in bits and pieces and the big guys (see above) are not going to like it. One thing that comes to mind would be to compile lists of the lobbyists and the senators and or congressmen which have stakes in these companies. We need to be ready to call them on their decisions the moment these questions are posed. Make no mistake, billions if not trillions are at stake here and those that have it now are not going to easily give up what they've got."
The Courts

Submission + - RIAA sues paralyzed stroke victim

Submitted by
Waylon
Waylon writes: "It seems the RIAA will sue anyone, anywhere, even if you're a paralyzed stroke victim. Yes, Warner Music and the RIAA are suing a retired railroad man in Florida whose left side has been paralyzed by a stroke and whose sole source of income is his disability check. From the article: "Although the defendant John Paladuk, an employee of C&N Railroad for 36 years, was living in Florida at the time of the alleged copyright suit, and had notified the RIAA that he had not engaged in any copyright infringement, and despite that the fact that Mr. Paladuk suffered a stroke last year which resulted in complete paralysis of his entire left side and severely impaired speech, rendering him disabled, and despite the fact that his disability check is his sole source of income, the RIAA commenced suit against him on February 27, 2007.""
The Internet

Submission + - Free web analytics wish-list

Submitted by
Andreas Hassellof
Andreas Hassellof writes: "My name is Andreas Hassellöf and I am the founder of Syntesio AB (www.syntesio.com), a Swedish company providing web analytics and live-chat services. We are currently working on the next version of our web analytics service, and are considering releasing a free version of that service. What we would like to ask the slashdot community is; what features would You like to see in a free hosted web analytics solution? Maybe you use one today? If so; which one, and what would you like to improve about it?"
The Courts

Submission + - Is Piracy Really Killing the Music Industry?

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: While various music industry trade groups claim that piracy is killing their industry and that higher CD prices, DRM, and file sharing litigation are its only recourse to survive, RoughlyDrafted presents a look at four groups critical of the labels' policies, and compares sales figures published by the RIAA itself. The article provides an interesting look at the variety of opinion on the subject, and how RIAA members can best adapt to current market realities. Is Piracy Really Killing the Music Industry?
Classic Games (Games)

Submission + - The Final Commercial Dreamcast Game

Submitted by
Joan Cross
Joan Cross writes: "The curtain has come down on the Dreamcast, the release of Milestones Karous another shooter for the console that refuses to die is the last commercial release for Sega`s last hardware. The closing of GDRom production effectively kills off the chance of any new commercial releases. A few weeks ago the release of Trigger Heart Exelica got into the top 10 sales in Japan."
Education

Submission + - Schools across Japan may switch to Linux

Submitted by
Chris Salzberg
Chris Salzberg writes: "Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported late last week that the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to introduce the open-source operating system Linux for use within classrooms across the country in the near future. According to an investigation conducted in the spring of last year, there are currently over 400,000 computers at schools in Japan running on either Windows 98 or Windows Me, systems no longer supported by the software manufacturer Microsoft. The prohibitive cost of replacing these machines with newer models, as well as the rising price of proprietary software, prompted school teachers and administrators to propose the possibility of switching to open-source software as an affordable alternative. A conference held in Tokyo on March 2-3, attended by around 2000 government officials, teachers and education board members from across the country, considered the idea of reclaiming these older computers by switching from unsupported and out-of-date versions of Windows to the operating-system Linux, which can be freely downloaded from the Internet. A teacher from a high-school in Fukuoka Prefecture explained: "Having to always install the latest software is costly, and it makes things very difficult for us. From now on, I want to actively move toward the use of free open-source software." (continue reading at gyaku.jp)"

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