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Submission + - How Nintendo's Mario got his name (technologizer.com)

Submitted by harrymcc
harrymcc writes: In 1981, tiny Nintendo of America was getting ready to release Donkey Kong. When the company's landlord, Mario Segale, demanded back rent, Nintendo staffers named the game's barrel-jumping protagonist after him. Almost thirty years later, neither Nintendo--which continues to crank out Mario games--nor Segale--now a wealthy, secretive Washington State real estate developer--like to talk about how one of video games' iconic characters got his name and Italian heritage. Technologizer's Benj Edwards has researched the story for years and provides the most detailed account to date.
Security

Submission + - McAfee to pay for PC repairs after patch fiasco (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by Barence
Barence writes: McAfee has offered to pay for the PC repairs of consumers affected by last week's faulty antivirus update. The problematic patch falsely identified the SVCHOST.EXE Windows file as a virus, causing PCs running Windows XP SP3 to crash or enter endless reboot cycles. In a blog post addressed to "Home or Home Office Consumers", the company offered to reimburse PC repair expenses, though there was a notable caveat. "If you have already incurred costs to repair your PC as a result of this issue, we're committed to reimbursing reasonable expenses," the company said. "Reasonable expenses" has yet to be formally defined.
Anime

Submission + - Porn virus publishes web history of victims on the (anguloconsulting.com)

Submitted by FishRep
FishRep writes: A new type of malware infects PCs using file-share sites and publishes the user's net history on a public website before demanding a fee for its removal. The Japanese trojan virus installs itself on computers using a popular file-share service called Winni, used by up to 200m people. It targets those downloading illegal copies of games in the Hentai genre, an explicit form of anime. Website Yomiuri claims that 5500 people have so far admitted to being infected. The virus, known as Kenzero, is being monitored by web security firm Trend Micro in Japan. Masquerading as a game installation screen, it requests the PC owner's personal details. It then takes screengrabs of the user's web history and publishes it online in their name, before sending an e-mail or pop-up screen demanding a credit card payment of 1500 yen (£10) to "settle your violation of copyright law" and remove the webpage. Read summary article Porn Virus Publishes Web History of Victims on the Net at Angulo Consulting Read the original BBC article
Intel

Submission + - Newegg Customers Receiving Fake Intel Core 17 920 (overclock.net) 4

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: This first surfaced on TribalWar around seven o'clock last evening and on Overclock.net around midnight last night. Newegg still hasn't commented on this. It's not known whether this happened as fraud by another Newegg customer or it happened in shipping. The "processors" are made of Aluminum, and the "fans" look to be made of some kind of synthetic molded material. The "factory seal" was printed onto the box. The holographic stickers on the boxes were also faked.

More links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDU7Xoju4LM

http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=606966

Submission + - 1st creation of anti-strange hypernuclei

Submitted by runagate
runagate writes: Brookhaven National Laboratory has created a heretofore unknown form of matter. The matter we normally encounter, and are comprised of, has nuclei of prontons and neurtons which contain no strange quarks. It was known that such matter could exist, but using the Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC they detected a couple dozen instances of antihypernuclei. The "Z" axis of the Period Table has already extended in the positive direction by the concept of hypernuclei, but now this new discovery extends it in the negative direction for this new type of "strange" antimatter which may exist in the core of collapsed stars and may provide insight into why our universe appears to be made almost solely of matter and not antimatter.
Space

Submission + - Could the Tumbleweed Rover Dominate Mars? (discovery.com)

Submitted by
astroengine
astroengine writes: "Mars has been visited by orbiters, landers and rovers, but could the future of Martian exploration be inspired by a wind-blown sphere? NASA and other research institutions have been developing the Mars Tumbleweed rover for the last decade, but with the help of the Planetary Science Institute, the Tumbleweed is now vying for some serious funding to further develop the technologies required. Although the Tumbleweed would be wholly dependent on the prevailing winds on the Martian surface, the lightweight and relatively cheap design could lead the way for a "swarm" of independent Tumbleweeds to explore vast regions of the planet. In 2003 and 2004, NASA even tested an inflatable Tumbleweed prototype on Greenland and Antarctica — it traversed hundreds of miles with ease, continually relaying location and environmental data."
Government

Submission + - NHTSA Has No Software Engineers To Analyze Toyota (thecarconnection.com)

Submitted by thecarchik
thecarchik writes: NHTSA officials told investigators that the agency doesn't employ any electrical engineers or software engineers leaving them woefully unable to correctly investigate what caused the most recent Toyota recall. A modern luxury car has something close to 100 million lines of software code in it, running on 70 to 100 microprocessors. And according to consultant Frost & Sullivan, that number will rise to 200 to 300 million line within a few years. And the software that controls the "drive-by-wire" accelerators of Toyota and Lexus vehicles is one potential culprit in the tangled collection of issues, allegations, and recalls of many of those vehicles for so-called "sudden acceleration" problems.
It's funny. Laugh.

Newspaper "Hacks Into" Aussie Gov't Website By Guessing URL 271

Posted by Soulskill from the security-through-hurf-durf dept.
thelamecamel writes "According to the New South Wales state government, the Sydney Morning Herald, a local newspaper, attacked the government's 'website firewall security' for two days to research a recent story. The affected government minister said that the website was accessed 3,727 times, and that this is 'akin to 3,727 attempts to pick the lock of a secure office and take highly confidential documents.' The matter has been referred to the police, who are now investigating. But how did the paper 'hack' the website? They entered the unannounced URL. Security by obscurity at its finest."

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The party adjourned to a hot tub, yes. Fully clothed, I might add. -- IBM employee, testifying in California State Supreme Court

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