Comment Is it April 1st? (Score 1) 553
Seriously, did I time warp?
Comment Re:No money in it. (Score 2, Insightful) 71
They will probably sell each piece for $500.
Submission + - Hackers broke into FAA air traffic control systems (cnet.com)
PL/SQL Guy writes: "Hackers have repeatedly broken into the air traffic control mission-support systems of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, according to an Inspector General report sent to the FAA this week, and the FAA's increasing use of commercial software and Internet Protocol-based technologies as part of an effort to modernize the air traffic control systems poses a higher security risk to the systems than when they relied primarily on proprietary software, the report said. Intrusion detection systems (IDS) are deployed at only 11 of hundreds of air traffic control facilities. In 2008, more than 870 cyber incident alerts were issued to the organization responsible for air traffic control operations and by the end of the year 17 percent (more than 150 incidents) had not been remediated, "including critical incidents in which hackers may have taken over control" of operations computers, the report said."
Submission + - NASA running low on fuel for space exploration (msn.com)
smooth wombat writes: With the end of the Cold War came warmer relations with old adversaries, increased trade and a world less worried about nuclear war. It also brought with it an unexpected downside: lack of nuclear fuel to power deep space probes. Without this fuel, probes beyond Jupiter won't work because there isn't enough sunlight to use solar panels which probes closer to the sun use.
The fuel NASA relies on to power deep space probes is plutonium-238. This isotope is the result of nuclear weaponry and since the United States has not made a nuclear device in 20 years, the supply has run out. For now, NASA is using Soviet supplies but they too are almost exhausted.
It is estimated it will cost at least $150 million to resume making the 11 pounds per year that is needed for space probes.
The fuel NASA relies on to power deep space probes is plutonium-238. This isotope is the result of nuclear weaponry and since the United States has not made a nuclear device in 20 years, the supply has run out. For now, NASA is using Soviet supplies but they too are almost exhausted.
It is estimated it will cost at least $150 million to resume making the 11 pounds per year that is needed for space probes.
Submission + - Canadian DMCA bill withdrawn from House of Commons (michaelgeist.ca)
ToriaUru writes: "The Canadian Minister of Industry, Mr. Jim Prentice has withdrawn the proposed Canadian Digital Millennium Copyright Act legislation that was due to be tabled in the Canadian House of Commons tomorrow. This is due to the overwhelming response by Canadians from every walk of life towards their Members of Parliament, the Industry Minister's office, and his counterpart at the Ministry of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages, Ms. Josee Verger. The story is taking hold in the main stream press of Canada, with stories here http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071209.WBmingram20071209191018/WBStory/WBmingram/ and here on CBC http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/12/10/tech-copyright.html/ The power of the people talking."
Submission + - Mobile Linux Group Releases First Specification (itworld.com)
narramissic writes: "Android may be getting all the headlines, but the venerable LiPS (Linux Phone Standards Forum), which launched to much fanfare in 2005, is rolling out the specs. The group, comprised of companies including Orange, France Telecom, MontaVista and Access, announced Monday that it has completed the first release of its mobile Linux specification, adding components including APIs for telephony, messaging, calendar, instant messaging and presence functions, as well as new user interface components."
Submission + - Freakonomics Q&A With Bruce Schneier 1
Samrobb writes: In grand /. tradition, the Freakonomics blog solicited reader questions for a Q&A session with Bruce Schneier. Mr. Schneier has responded, and "...his answers are extraordinarily interesting, providing mandatory reading for anyone who uses a computer. He also plainly thinks like an economist: search below for "crime pays" to see his sober assessment of why it's better to earn a living as a security expert than as a computer criminal."
Submission + - BBC creates 'Perl on Rails' 2
Bogtha writes: Long-time users of Perl for their public websites, and having successfully used Ruby on Rails for internal websites, the BBC have fused the two by creating a 'Perl on Rails' that has the advantages of rapid development that Rails brings, while performing well enough to be used for the Beeb's high-traffic public websites. This is already powering one of their websites, and is set to be used in the controversial iPlayer project as well.
Submission + - Pirate Bay Facing A More 'Old Fashioned' Pressure (arstechnica.com)
Jety writes: "Ars Technica has an article reporting that The Pirate Bay is facing legal pressure from a new front. A wealthy musician with a track record for going head-to-head with record labels and little kids is now joining the queue to take a legal swing at TPB. What I find particularly interesting about this article is the description of the "camera-toting investigators following [The Pirate Bay admins] around in cars marked with Danish plates."
This sort of borderline-harassment raises an interesting question: with billions of dollars on the line, and the 'pure evil' of those who stand to lose it, how long will it be before someone takes a page from the Tony Soprano playbook and TPB headquarters mysteriously burns down or one of the admins has an 'unfortunate accident'? Though the question strikes me as a bit sensationalistic, a part of me marvels that it hasn't happened already."
This sort of borderline-harassment raises an interesting question: with billions of dollars on the line, and the 'pure evil' of those who stand to lose it, how long will it be before someone takes a page from the Tony Soprano playbook and TPB headquarters mysteriously burns down or one of the admins has an 'unfortunate accident'? Though the question strikes me as a bit sensationalistic, a part of me marvels that it hasn't happened already."
Submission + - Wikipedia wins defamation case
Raul654 writes: Yesterday, a french judge dismissed a lawsuit against the Wikimedia Foundation for defamation. The judge found that "Web site hosts cannot be liable under civil law because of information stored on them if they do not in fact know of their illicit nature". According to the inquirer: "Three plaintiffs were each seeking 69,000 euros ($100,000) in damages for invasion of their privacy after their homosexuality was revealed on the website."
Submission + - Will security firms detect police spyware? (com.com)
cnet-declan writes: "A recent appeals court case dealt with Drug Enforcement Administration agents using a key logger to investigate a suspect using PGP and Hushmail. That invites the obvious question: Will security companies ever intentionally overlook police spyware? There were somewhat-muddled reports in 2001 that Symantec and McAfee would do just that, so over at News.com we figured we'd do a survey of the top 13 security firms. We asked them three questions, including if it is their policy to detect policeware, and our article reporting the results is here. Notably, Check Point said it would "afford law enforcement" the courtesy of whitelisting if requested. We've also posted the full results, with their complete answers. Another question we asked is if they received a court order requiring them to overlook police key loggers or spyware. Symantec, IBM, Kaspersky, and others said no. Only Microsoft and McAfee refused to answer."
Submission + - Wikipedia releases offline CD
Anonymous Coward writes: "WikipediaOnDVD, with cooperation with the Wikipedia community, has released its first offline test version. The articles were selected by Wikipedians and reviewed for accuracy, vandalism, and importance. Nearly 2,000 core Wikipedia articles will be sold on compact disc to give people without a net connection access to highlights of the popular web resource. The CD can be purchased or downloaded online via http or torrent for free."
Tricked-Out Cars Trickling Down 233
Good sends us to an IBTimes article on the expanding trend for more options for electronic gadgetry — telematics — in cars. Manufacturers are including more high-tech options in more models, including low-end models, as component prices drop and as the car makers attempt to sell to a demographic that has grown up surrounded by personal electronics. According to a telematics analyst, Bluetooth hands-free modules for cell phones will be available on more than a third of car models sold in the US in 2007, and auxiliary jacks for iPods in nearly half. From the article: "One of the industry's more advanced systems will be Ford's Sync, which connects digital music players to the car's voice-control communications system and reads aloud cell-phone text messages and has 20 preset text-message responses... The flash memory-based system, controlled through voice commands and buttons on the steering wheel, is based on a Microsoft Corp. operating system for cars."
Submission + - How MP3 Was Born
Actual Reality writes: Karlheinz Brandenburg often is cited as the inventor of the music format. But he credits many for a discovery that has upended the music business
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2 007/gb20070305_707122.htm?campaign_id=rss_topStori es
Submission + - Build an Environmental-Friendly PC
ThinSkin writes: "While gas-guzzling cars are greatly to blame for releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, computers play their role in warming up the Earth too. ExtremeTech has an informative how-to article on building a green PC that will not only help save the planet, but will also slim down that energy bill. An important component, or culprit, to consider is the power supply, so investing in an 80 PLUS PSU is a step in the right direction. The article also discusses how to configure Windows Vista to utilize its power-saving options."
