Comment Re:Sci-Fi to watch... (Score 1) 514
Also Robocop (ED-209).
Comment Debian, naturally. (Score 1) 627
Although the issues with Wheezy have made me stay with Squeeze on most of my systems.
Honeynet Project Researchers Build Publicly Available ICS Honeynet 18
msm1267 writes "Conpot, short for Control Honeypot, is one of the first publicly available honeypots for industrial control systems (ICS) and SCADA gear. Built by two researchers from the Honeynet Project, the hope is that others will take what they started, deploy it on their own critical infrastructure networks and share the findings. 'The main goal is to make this kind of technology available for a general audience,' said Lukas Rist, one of the developers. 'Not just for security researchers, but also for people who are sysadmins setting up ICS systems who have no clue what could happen and want to see malware attacks against their systems and not put them in any danger.'"
Unlike previous ICS Honeypots, this one simulates the control systems rather than requiring that you happen to own an actual industrial control system.
Comment Users will put up with just about anything (Score 5, Interesting) 675
Many moons ago we got a new intern in the office. He was young, naive and hopelessly clueless about the corporate world. We took a liking to him immediately.
Of course, this meant that we had to play pranks on him. Because that's what you do to people you like, right?
Our best prank was what we did to his computer. We wrote a small program that ran in the background and drew a dot in the center of the screen on top of whatever was running. This dot grew bigger over time; at first it was just one pixel wide, but after a week it was over twenty.
One morning, just over a week after we'd secretly installed it onto the intern's computer, he called me into his cubicle and asked me if I had ever heard of "dead pixels on a CRT". I said no, holding back the laughter, and politely suggested that he try reinstalling his graphics card drivers. He declined, and said that was too much effort and he would just live with it.
The intern was fully prepared to live with this large, expanding, black dot in the center of his monitor. It was nothing but sheer annoyance, but he was willing to ignore it.
At this point we caved and uninstalled the software.
That experience taught me that users will put up with just about anything. As long as it doesn't outright prevent them from doing their job (eg, the network card has died), they will find some way to soldier on.
Comment Not going to happen (Score 1) 627
Here's the problem: Windows XP, for the majority of normal use cases, works. There is no business case for spending the kind of money necessary to upgrade everything, just so that your CEO can have "that big task bar".
Comment Mostly empty (Score 1) 109
There doesn't appear to be much data indexed yet, just data that has been publicly available for years.
Patent data? Check
Storm data? Check
Yawn. Call me when the FBI starts uploading data.
Comment Excellent! (Score 1) 71
Lets use it to make toilet paper.
Comment Email! (Score 5, Interesting) 231
Email addresses, of course. I'd pay for a @linux.com email address...1gb storage, SSH access to mutt/pine/emacs, IMAP/POP, decent webmail package... yeah, I would definitely pay for that. Premium for good service.
Comment Searching Google... (Score 1) 564
Searching Google I find that, apparently, I was a porn star in the late 70's. I hope this doesn't hurt my chances of getting hired somewhere.
Automation May Make Toll Roads More Common 585
bfwebster writes "Here in Denver, we have E-470, a toll section of the 470 beltway, that uses the usual transponder attached to your windshield. Fair enough, and I make use of it, particularly in driving to the airport. But they've just implemented new technology on E-470 that allows anyone to drive through the automated toll gates. If you don't have a transponder, it takes a photo of your license plate and sends a monthly bill to your house. As a result, the company that runs E-470 plans to close all human-staffed toll booths by mid-summer. And as an article in this morning's Rocky Mountain News notes, 'Such a system could be deployed on other roads, including some that motorists now use free. The result: a new source of money for highways and bridges badly in need of repair.' You can bet that legislators, mayors, and city councilpersons everywhere will see this as an even-better source of income than red-light cameras. You've been warned."
Comment Re:The submitter confuses DNS and HTTP errors (Score 1) 200
I can definitely confirm Insight is also doing it; I got bit by it the night they turned it on. 2 hours on the phone with their clueless tech support didn't help either--the clowns insisted this is the way DNS is "supposed to work".
Maryland Scraps Diebold Voting System 209
beadfulthings writes "After eight years and some $65 million, the state of Maryland is taking its first steps to return to an accountable, paper-ballot based voting system. Governor Martin O'Malley has announced an initial outlay of $6.5 million towards the $20 million cost of an optical system which will scan and tally the votes while the paper ballots are retained as a backup. The new (or old) system is expected to be in place by 2010 — or four years before the state finishes paying off the bill for the touch-screen system."
National ID Cards Mandated in the US, If You're Under 50 869
charleste writes "CNN is reporting that the US Homeland Security Department has mandated Real ID for drivers licenses. According to the article, this will not include a 'chip', but a list of options by state. Despite legislation passed in various states and objections by groups such as ACLU, this appears to be a done deal. Without one of the new IDs you will be unable to board a plane after 2014 if you are under 50."
Law Firm Claims Copyright on View of HTML Source 601
An anonymous reader writes "A law firm with all sorts of interesting views on copyright has decided to go the extra mile. As reported on Tech Dirt, they've decided that viewing the HTML source of their site is a violation of copyright. From the site's EULA: 'We also own all of the code, including the HTML code, and all content. As you may know, you can view the HTML code with a standard browser. We do not permit you to view such code since we consider it to be our intellectual property protected by the copyright laws. You are therefore not authorized to do so.'"
Bionic Eye Could Restore Vision 167
MattSparkes writes "A new bionic eye could restore vision to the profoundly blind. A prototype was tested on six patients and 'within a few weeks all could detect light, identify objects and even perceive motion again. For one patient, this was the first time he had seen anything in half a century.' The user wears a pair of glasses that contain a miniature camera and that wirelessly transmits video to a cellphone-sized computer in the wearer's pocket. This computer processes the image information and wirelessly transmits it to a tiny electronic receiver implanted in the wearer's head."
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