Submission + - MSN Messenger banner ads distributing malware
An anonymous reader writes: The malware commonly known as Winfixer aka Errorsafe is being distributed via MSN Messenger banner advertisements. This has been reported to secure@microsoft.com and they and the MSN ads team are investigating.
Report here:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/spywaresucks/archive/2007/ 02/18/591493.aspx
Submission + - Hanks buys practical electric car: eBox
OldSprocket writes: eBox has produced a very practical all-electric car. Veteran electric-driver Tom Hanks recently took delivery of the first off the line.
http://www.acpropulsion.com/releases/02-15-2007.ht m
Range and charging are decent: 150- mile range, full charge in 2 hours, 50-mile charge in 30 minutes.
Performance is OK too: 0-60mph in under 7 sec., top speed 95.
http://www.acpropulsion.com/releases/02-15-2007.h
Range and charging are decent: 150- mile range, full charge in 2 hours, 50-mile charge in 30 minutes.
Performance is OK too: 0-60mph in under 7 sec., top speed 95.
Submission + - Microsoft Wants Patent on Indentation
theodp writes: "Throw some text in a worksheet, make the columns small, and color the cells to denote a hierarchy. Like this. That, my friend, may constitute patent infringement for the next twenty years if the USPTO grants Microsoft the patent it's seeking for Minimizing Indenting (actual patent image). Just one more example of how Microsoft's lawyers are making the world a better place through more joyful and inclusive design."
Submission + - Researchers highlight a router route to pharming
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers at Symantec, along with Sid Stamm and Markus Jakobsson of the Indiana University School of Informatics, have uncovered an almost trivial means of hijacking web browsing.
The attack involves little more on the victim's part than simply visiting a web page.
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/105032/researchers-hig hlight-a-router-route-to-pharming.html
Submission + - Google Search Screws Over SomethingAwful.com
An anonymous reader writes: You may have heard of the humour website SomethingAwful.com. Apparently, for all of their long history they've been having a problem where their website is listed far down Google's results (often last) for searches related to the site (such as the names of features and articles on the site). For example, when I google for "Photoshop Phriday", the site isn't in the first ten pages of results, despite the fact that Google has indexed the relevent page. In fact, the first result is a noproxy.us proxied version of the relevant page, and the rest of the results are blog and forum entries referring to Something Awful. (Results are apparently better on many non-English versions of Google, however.)
It's far from clear what's causing this; the site's PageRank is apparently fine. Attempts to contact Google have fallen on deaf ears and dumb autoresponders. The site was even recently redesigned in the hope of fixing the problem, with no luck so far. Is the world's most popular search engine really this broken, and how much money are people bringing in from knowing the black magic to work around it?
It's far from clear what's causing this; the site's PageRank is apparently fine. Attempts to contact Google have fallen on deaf ears and dumb autoresponders. The site was even recently redesigned in the hope of fixing the problem, with no luck so far. Is the world's most popular search engine really this broken, and how much money are people bringing in from knowing the black magic to work around it?
Submission + - MPAA Steals Code, Violates Linkware License
stedo writes: A blogger who wrote his own blogging engine called Forest Blog recently noticed that none other than the MPAA was using his work, and had completely violated his linkware license by removing all links back to the Forest Blog site, and had not credited him in any way.
Submission + - MPAA Steals Code, Violates Linkware License
GRW writes: "TorrentFreak reports that the MPAA is using blogging software, called Forest Blog by web developer Patrick Robin, in violation of the "linkware" license. They have removed all links and references to the Forest Blog website, and have not purchased a commercial license. Is this a case of "Do as I say and not as I do"?"
Submission + - Charlotte's Web Site - New Hacking Contest
ddonzal writes: "Ed Skoudis, SANS Instructor and host of The Ethical Hacker Network's Skillz Hacking Challenge has done it again. This time the theme is Charlotte's Web, and it's amazing. With subtle mentions of higher mathematics, this contest will have you knee deep in web hacking, crypto and steganography. Signed copies of Ed's book, Counter Hack Reloaded, and prestige in the security community are at stake. Good luck as these challenges have been known to zap corporate productivity!
http://www.ethicalhacker.net/content/view/114/2/"
Submission + - Elections for Debian project leader start
DJ Wings writes: "For Debian, the elections have started already, right in the last phases of the release of version 4.0 "Etch". According to ZDNet, the Debian project is about to switch leaders at a crucial point, with hundreds of thousands of fans waiting anxiously for the next release."
Submission + - Classical Music Hoax of the Century?
Retrospeak writes: "The CD recordings of Joyce Hatto, a concert pianist often described as "the greatest living pianist that almost no one has ever heard of" and praised by one critic as performing "the most extraordinary recordings I have ever heard" has come under a cloud of musical suspicion, as reported in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/17/arts/music/17ha tt.html?th&emc=th).
Seems that many the Hatto recordings are digitally identical to those of a variety of other classical performers, some relatively obscure and some more famous.
Because of the growing storm of sonic controversy, the British audiophile magazine "Gramophone" requested the folks at Pristine Classical to subject some of the tracks in question to detailed digital scrutiny and the results are very interesting (http://www.pristineclassical.com/HattoHoax.html). "
Submission + - Videoconferencing server for Linux ?
Hymer writes: Well it is really a simple question: Does anyone here know a vidoconferencing server for Linux ? It may be a non-standard solution but the clients have to exist for at least Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. The communication channel should preferably encrypted. I need video and some kind of common workplace or desktop sharing, audio is optional. I've searched the Net and found nothing... geeks do not need to look at other geeks to understand eachother but CEO's obviously does... ;-)
Submission + - Zink Imaging to launch inkless printer
Vinit writes: "Zink Imaging has developed a unique technology which can print pictures without ink! The innovation could be applied to make hand-held printers that can be integrated into mobile phones and digital cameras. While printing one only needs a paper, I mean Zink paper which is initially colorless, looks and feels like ordinary white photograph paper and is not light sensitive. You can get a copy of picture (5 cm x 7.5 cm) in 30 seconds and the photos are are very durable — they cannot be torn and are also water resistant. The firm plans to launch two products by the end of the year: a small battery-operated, pocket-sized printer for camera-phones and a digital camera with a 2 inch x 3 inch (5 cm by 7.5 cm) printer built in. The company recently demonstrated a working prototype of the camera phone printer at the DEMO 2007 technology conference in California, US. The printer is expected to cost $200 while 100 sheets of paper will cost $20.
http://www.pclaunches.com/optical_media/zink_imagi ng_to_launch_inkless_printer.php"
Submission + - Advanced Perl XML tips using XSLT, SAX, and SQL
An anonymous reader writes: This article shows you more powerful tools for parsing XML using Perl: DOM-style tree parsers and the SAX event-based parsers. You will learn about XML::SAX::Base and how you can use it to build sources, handlers, and sinks of SAX events. See how to feed transformed parse trees into SAX pipelines, further transform them, and write them as text or to SQL databases. Finally you will learn how to reverse this, using database content to drive SAX pipelines.
Journal Journal: The co-inventor of the TV remote, Robert Adler, passed away
CNN reports
that
Robert Adler, who co-invented the device that made the couch potato possible, died Thursday at 93.
Adler was a prolific inventor, earning more than 180 U.S. patents. He was best known for his 1956 Zenith Space Command remote control, which helped make TV a truly sedentary pastime.
Few people today would imagine that that remote was ultrasound
