Bob535 - Slashdot User

Submission + - This Gadget Can Hijack Any Google Chromecast, And It's A Serious Issue (businessinsider.com)

Submitted by redletterdave on Monday July 21, 2014 @02:23PM

redletterdave writes: Dan Petro, a security analyst for the Bishop Fox IT consulting firm, built a proof of concept device that’s able to hack into any Google Chromecasts nearby to project Rick Astley’s 'Never Gonna Give You Up,' or any other video a prankster might choose. The 'Rickmote,' which is built on top of the $35 Raspberry Pi single board computer, finds a local Chromecast device, boots it off the network, and then takes over the screen with multimedia of one’s choosing. But it gets worse for the victims: If the hacker leaves the range of the device, there’s no way to regain control of the Chromecast. Unfortunately for Google, this is a rather serious issue with the Chromecast device that’s not too easy to fix, as the configuration process is an essential part of the Chromecast experience.

Submission + - FBI concerned about criminals using driverless cars (theguardian.com)

Submitted by gurps_npc on Wednesday July 16, 2014 @12:07PM

gurps_npc writes: As per the Guardian, The FBI is concerned about dirverless cars. It discussed such issues as letting criminals shoot while the car drives (silly in my opinion, apparently they haven't heard of "partners" or considered requiring such cars have a police controlled "slow down" command), the use of such vehicles as guided bullet, (safeties again should stop this), and loading it with explosives and using it as a guided missile. This last concern is the only one that I considered a real issue, but even that is not significantly more dangerous than loading up a regular van full of explosives with a timer, then setting the timer to explode before you leave the vehicle next to a school, etc.

Submission + - Amazon is testing a $10 a month ebook service called Kindle Unlimited (the-digital-reader.com)

Submitted by Nate the greatest on Wednesday July 16, 2014 @11:11AM

Nate the greatest writes: Details are still scarce but it looks like Amazon is going to be launching a competitor to Scribd and Oyster. Earlier today new pages leaked on the Amazon website which mentioned Kindle Unlimited, a new subscription ebook service. The pages were quickly removed, but not before we got some screenshots. If the screenshots are to be believed KU is going to offer a catalog of over 600,000 titles for $9.99 a month. The news hasn't been confirmed by Amazon but those pages were seen by any number of authors and bloggers, including indie authors who confirmed that the new service is mentioned in their sales reports.

Comment Re:Now I'm confused ... (Score 2) 380

by Bob535 on Thursday June 26, 2014 @02:57PM (#47326899) Attached to: New Chemical Process Could Make Ammonia a Practical Car Fuel

Storing hydrogen in cars is bad. It's stored in pressure vessels. Storing liquid ammonia is much safer.

Submission + - Valve Continues Recruiting Top Linux Talent (phoronix.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 14, 2012 @04:28PM

An anonymous reader writes: Valve Software in their Linux Steam / Source Engine effort, plus the rumored Steam Box, is continuing to hire top Linux developers. So far they have poached the lead developers of the DarkPlaces open-source engine used by Nexuiz/Xonotic, the founder of Battle for Wesnoth, and just yesterday they hired the creator of SDL. According to Michael Larabel, they are still trying to hire more Linux kernel developers, driver experts, and other "extremely talented Linux developers."

Comment Google Glasses (Score 1) 1

by Bob535 on Wednesday July 11, 2012 @01:49AM (#40611287) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What application prototype should I make in my 20% time?

Screw the 2D map, get your hands on a pair of google glasses. Overlay the route with a line they can see as they walk. Hospital style (minus the wall)

Comment Re:ASML? (Score 1) 61

by Bob535 on Wednesday July 11, 2012 @01:45AM (#40611263) Attached to: Intel Invests In ASML To Boost Extreme UV Lithography, 450mm Wafers

At least a few of us.

Comment Re:SharePoint (Score 1) 165

by Bob535 on Sunday July 08, 2012 @12:00PM (#40582595) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Documenting a Tangle of Network Devices?

you're.. and I'm not trolling I'm a linux user at home, but my job every day is in front of MS SharePoint and Windows X, use what you have.

Comment Re:SharePoint (Score 1) 165

by Bob535 on Sunday July 08, 2012 @11:47AM (#40582477) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Documenting a Tangle of Network Devices?

More specifically a custom list in SharePoint, using SharePoint Workspace (part of enterprise Office 2010) in order to access offline.

Comment SharePoint (Score 1) 165

by Bob535 on Sunday July 08, 2012 @11:45AM (#40582461) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Documenting a Tangle of Network Devices?

If your company has it, if not, and you have a spare Win2K8R2 machine laying around you can just install the free version.

Submission + - Low cost way to maximize SQL Server uptime? 2

Submitted by

jdray

on Saturday June 23, 2012 @01:01PM

jdray writes: "My wife and I own a mid-sized restaurant with a couple of Point of Sale (POS) terminals. The software, which runs on Windows and .NET, uses SQL Server on the back end. With an upgrade to the next major release of the software imminent, I'm considering upgrading the infrastructure it runs on to better ensure uptime (we're open seven days a week). We can't afford several thousand dollars' worth of server infrastructure (two cluster nodes and some shared storage, or somesuch), so I thought I'd ask Slashdot for some suggestions on enabling maximum uptime. I considered a single server node running VMWare with a limp-mode failover to a VMWare instance on a desktop, but I'm not sure how to set up a monitoring infrastructure to automate that, and manual failover isn't much of an option with non-tech staff. What suggestions do you have?"

Submission + - Why Your IT Department Needs to Staff a Hacker (intechnic.com)

Submitted by

anaphora

on Monday June 11, 2012 @01:06PM

anaphora writes: "In this TED Talk, Rory Sutherland discusses the need for every company to have a staff member with the power to do big things but no budget to spend: these are the kinds of individuals who are not afraid to recommend cheap and effective ways to solve big company problems. This article argues that, in the IT world, this person is none other than a highly-skilled hacker."

Comment Re:Any chance left? (Score 1) 37

by Bob535 on Tuesday June 05, 2012 @06:02PM (#40225917) Attached to: Fourth European Committee Rejects ACTA

We (Canada) are busy building our own Crappy Copyright legislation again anyways. Doesn't matter what it's called.

Submission + - Startup Applies for 307 gTLDs (itworld.com)

Submitted by

itwbennett

on Tuesday June 05, 2012 @04:48PM

itwbennett writes: "Startup Donuts has set its sites on being a domain-name registry. With $100 million in venture capital in its pocket, Donuts has applied for 307 of the most generic of generic top-level domains. The new domains will be targeted toward specific services, said Jon Nevett, a cofounder and vice president of corporate affairs at Donuts. For example, the .tickets domain would be where Web users could expect to go to buy event tickets. 'There will be more names geared toward what consumers are looking for,' Nevett said."

Comment Wouldn't a Stationary Bike be easier? (Score 2) 204

by Bob535 on Tuesday June 05, 2012 @12:06PM (#40220493) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What Is the Future of Standing/Walking Workstations?

If you're doing it to keep fit, wouldn't a stationary bike be easier? The motion of walking is much more difficult to compensate for. A bike would also be lower impact, which would be better for something you are doing for a long time.

Slashdot Top Deals