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Submission + - LinkedIn passwords possibly compromised via Gawker (linkedin.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: This from LinkedIn:

Dear xxx,

We recently sent you a message stating that your LinkedIn password had been disabled for security reasons. (Note: If you have more than one email registered with us, you will receive more than one password reset message. You only need to act on one of them.)

This was in response to a security breach on a different site, Gawker.com, where a number of usernames and passwords were exposed. We want to make sure those leaked emails and passwords were not being used to attack any LinkedIn members.

There is no indication that your LinkedIn account has been affected, but since it shares an email with the compromised Gawker accounts, we decided to ensure its safety by asking you to reset its password.

If you haven't done that already, now is a good time to follow these steps:

      1. Go to the LinkedIn website.
      2. Click on "Sign In".
      3. Click on "Forgot Password?" and follow the directions on the website.

Please keep in mind that the best defense against these types of attacks is to have unique passwords for each site you use. You can always search our support site and our blog for more security tips.

We apologize for the inconvenience, but we feel this action is in your best interest. Thanks for your immediate attention to our request.

Sincerely,

LinkedIn Privacy Team

Submission + - AT&T says no to linux (blogspot.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: AT&T are routinely and without any indication in their published terms and conditions refusing to allow non-windows users to set up their DSL modems. No to linux, no to MacOS, iOS, Android. Computer says no.
Security

Submission + - Retinal Scans: A New Airport Time and Money Waster (bnet.com)

Submitted by bizwriter
bizwriter writes: A company announced a pilot program at Barajas Airport in Madrid to install retinal scanners to identify passengers. Passengers would presumably get their eyes scanned instead of showing documents, because the blood vessel patterns in retinas are unique to people, and so should allow for unique identification. However, it seems not only invasive, but a potentially disastrous idea that could cost a lot of money and fail to do what it was intended to. Who gets the original retinal scans for comparison? And then, when retinal transplants are possible, how do you track anyone accurately?
Medicine

Submission + - Patient cured of Aids using Stem Cell Therapy (hematologylibrary.org)

Submitted by mrsportacus
mrsportacus writes: A patient in Germany undergoing Stem Cell Therapy for leukemia appears to have been cured of AIDS. The stem cells replaced the dormant AIDS cells with healthy cells. The virus did not resurface after they stopped the anti-viral meds. This is the paper published by the researchers.
Medicine

Submission + - Researchers Find 70-Year-Olds Are Getting Smarter 1

Submitted by
Pickens
Pickens writes: "AlphaGalileo reports that researchers from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden have found in a forty year study of 2,000 seniors that today's 70-year-olds do far better in intelligence tests than their predecessors making it more difficult to detect dementia in its early stages. "Using the test results, we've tried to identify people who are at risk of developing dementia," says Dr. Simona Sacuiu. "While this worked well for the group of 70-year-olds born in 1901-02, the same tests didn't offer any clues about who will develop dementia in the later generation of 70-year-olds born in 1930." The study started in 1971 with an examination of 70-year-olds who were then regularly followed over a period of 30 years. The 70-year-olds born in 1930 and examined in 2000 performed better in the intelligence tests than their predecessors born in 1901-02 and examined in 1971. "The improvement can partly be explained by better pre- and neonatal care, better nutrition, higher quality of education, better treatment of high blood pressure and other vascular diseases, and not least the higher intellectual requirements of today's society, where access to advanced technology, television and the Internet has become part of everyday life," says Sacuiu."

Submission + - Scientists achieve teleportation (helium.com) 1

Submitted by Terrence Aym
Terrence Aym writes: Chinese scientists at Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale have managed to entangle two objects ten miles from each other. They teleported the information to the Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, also located in Hefei. Captain Kirk would be pleased.

Submission + - Gravity Theory Mod May Rule Out Dark Matter 2

Submitted by pupitetris
pupitetris writes: Newton may prove himself right again when he stated that we should better find the forces that explain the movement of the stars, rather than claiming the existence of misterious and undetectable substances: S. Mendoza and X. Hernandez, two mexican astrophysicists, postulate a modification to the equation of the theory of gravity that explain the current observations of large-scale phenomena that couldn't be previously explained using gravity alone, while still retaining consistency with medium and small scale observations. This renders the Dark Matter theory unnecessary, and provides a cleaner and more ellegant solution to outer-space observations that have startled scientists for decades.
Bug

Submission + - Stuxnet Infects 30000 Industrial Computers in Iran (computerworld.com)

Submitted by eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: The BBC and AFP are releasing more juicy details about the now infamous Stuxnet worm that Iranian officials have confirmed infected 30,000 industrial computers inside Iran following those exact fears. The targeted systems that the worm is designed to infect are Siemens SCADA systems. Talking heads are speculating that the worm is too complex for an individual or group causing blame to be placed on Israel or even the United States — although the US official claims they do not know the origin of the virus. Iran claims it did not infect or place any risk to the new nuclear reactor in Bushehr which experts are suspecting was the ultimate target of the worm.

Submission + - PS3 Jailbreaks Galore Released 1

Submitted by YokimaSun
YokimaSun writes: Following up on yesterdays story about the PS3 being hacked by one of its own Official Controllers, theres now a guide in English that details how to Mod a Sixaxxis Controller, but thanks to the very latest releases, if you dont like soldering you can now use an Ipod, a Pandora Console or even a Dingoo Console. Finally Jaicrab has released a USB Firmware Loader which will come in handy once the first Custom Firmware for the PS3 is released. Maybe then we will get region free Blueray, PS1 and PS2 Games.
Politics

Submission + - Happy Petrov Day (wikipedia.org)

Submitted by ChienAndalu
ChienAndalu writes: This day in 1983, Stanislav Petrov saved the world from a potential nuclear holocaust.
Cellphones

Submission + - Facebook is building an Android-based smartphone (bloomberg.com) 1

Submitted by destinyland
destinyland writes: Reports are surfacing of a Facebook-backed smartphone running Google's Android system, built by INQ (who also manufactures a phone for Skype). GigaOm's Om Malik says he's been aware of the project "for quite some time," and Bloomberg News reported that Facebook Inc. will release two AT&T smartphones in 2011, first in Europe and then in America. (Adding that 25% of Facebook users access the social networking site with their wireless devices.) "Like some people would love to have a Hello Kitty phone or a Batman phone, there are undoubtedly buyers waiting with bated breath for a phone that says Facebook on it..." notes one technology blog. "The buying public seems to be entranced with the idea of the phrase 'Facebook phone' so rumors persist."

Submission + - Aptly Helps Android Devs Distribute Test Apps (aptly.mobi)

Submitted by davidpettersson
davidpettersson writes: Being tired of having to explain to beta users how to install Android apps, I wrote Aptly that helps devs (and others) to distribute their Android apps. Great for when you are near beta, but don't want to upload to Market quite yet. Works a lot like a URL shortener, except it handles APK files. Thought I would share it with the world, there are surely others than me in need of this functionality. First version is just out, and improvements will be rolled out continuously. Check out how it works, or just try it out.

Submission + - Crimanal action against speed trap tweeter (iol.co.za)

Submitted by martinlp
martinlp writes: Pigspotter is making big news in South Africa. The traffic authorities in Johanessburg, South Africa are looking at taking legal action against Pigspotter, an individual who is tweeting up to the minute information about speed traps in and around the city. He has recently stopped, stating that his Blackberry is going in for repairs but it may be out of fear of getting prosecuted. The police claim he must be getting inside information and suspect that disgruntled traffic officers may be involved. There is also speculation that it is more than one individual that is tweeting.
Security

Submission + - Hole in Linux kernel provides root rights (h-online.com)

Submitted by oztiks
oztiks writes: A vulnerability in the 32-bit compatibility mode of the current Linux kernel (and previous versions) for 64-bit systems can be exploited to escalate privileges. For instance, attackers can break into a system and exploit a hole in the web server to get complete root (also known as superuser) rights or permissions for a victim's system.

According to a report, the problem occurs because the 32-bit call emulation layer does not check whether the call is truly in the Syscall table. Ben Hawkes, who discovered the problem, says the vulnerability can be exploited to execute arbitrary code with kernel rights. An exploit (direct download of source code) is already in circulation; in a test conducted by The H's associates at heise Security on 64-bit Ubuntu 10.04, it opened a shell with root rights.

The kernel developers have remedied the flaw in the repository, and Linux distributors will probably soon publish new kernels to close the hole. Until then, switching off 32-bit ELF support solves the problem if you can do without this function. For instructions, see: "Workaround for Ac1db1tch3z exploit".

Hawkes says the vulnerability was discovered and remedied back in 2007, but at some point in 2008 kernel developers apparently removed the patch, reintroducing the vulnerability. The older exploit apparently only needed slight modifications to work with the new hole.

 
IT

Submission + - T-Mobile Censoring Text Messages Says Lawsuit (wired.com)

Submitted by Tootech
Tootech writes: mobile-marketing company claimed Friday it would go out of business unless a federal judge orders T-Mobile to stop blocking its text-messaging service, the first case testing whether wireless providers can block text messages they don’t like.

EZ Texting claims T-Mobile blocked the company from sending text messages for all of its clients after learning that legalmarijuanadispensary.com, an EZ Texting client, was using its service to send texts about legal medical marijuana dispensaries in California. “T-Mobile subjectively did not approve of one of the thousands of lawful businesses and non-profits served by EZ Texting,” according to New York federal lawsuit.

The suit against T-Mobile, which controls about 15 percent of the U.S. mobile market, comes as the company just announced it was raising its texting prices, which some claim is an abuse of its market share. And the case comes amid a fierce debate surrounding net neutrality, with net giant Google claiming that wireless carriers should not be bound by the same rules as wireline carriers.

Even the New York-based texting service acknowledges that the case raises novel issues. “At the very least, EZ Texting has raised serious questions about the legal ability of a wireless service provider, T-Mobile, to block its customers from exchanging text messages with EZ Texting’s customers,” according to the suit.

A similar text-messaging flap occurred in 2007, but ended without litigation, when Verizon reversed itself and allowed an abortion-rights group to send text messages to its supporters.

T-Mobile, of Bellevue, Washington, said in a statement: “We believe the claims in the lawsuit are meritless.”

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