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Security

Submission + - OpenBSD 4.7 preorders are up (openbsd.org)

Submitted by badger.foo
badger.foo writes: The OpenBSD 4.7 pre-orders are up. That means the release is done, sent off to CD production, and snapshots will turn -current again. Order now and you more likely than not will have your CD set, T-shirt or other cool stuff before the official release date. You get the chance to support the most important free software project on the planet, and get your hands on some cool playables and wearables early. The release page is still being filled in, the changelog has detailed information about the goodies in this release.
Space

Submission + - Air Force Spaceplane Readying For Launch (space.com)

Submitted by FleaPlus
FleaPlus writes: The US Air Force is currently preparing for the launch of the secretive X-37B OTV-1 (Orbital Test Vehicle 1) spaceplane, which was transferred from NASA to DARPA back in 2004 when NASA opted to focus its budget on lunar exploration. The reusable unmanned spaceplane is set to launch in April on top of a commercial Atlas V rocket, orbit for up to 270 days while testing a number of new technologies, reenter the atmosphere, then land on auto-pilot in California.
Media

Submission + - Pharma Faces a Character Count Conundrum (nature.com)

Submitted by this_boat_is_real
this_boat_is_real writes: There’s growing concern over how pharmaceutical companies use social media and the Internet to market their products. Last November, the US Food and Drug Administration held a hearing on the topic, and many were worried over how marketing mediums such as Twitter — which has a 140-character limit on text — can sufficiently disclose drug risks. FDA Article: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/CentersOffices/CDER/ucm184250.htm

Comment Re:Quick turnaround! (Score 2, Insightful) 142

by bstone (#30854440) Attached to: Microsoft Patches "Google Hack" Flaw In IE

>>Nothing quite like two national governments recommending against using your product to raise the priority of fixing the problem

Nothing like people actually switching browsers in droves because of the warnings to raise the priority of fixing it. Now that they've switched, what are the chances of those lost users switching back?
Bug

Submission + - D-Link warns of vulnerable routers 1

Submitted by wiedzmin
wiedzmin writes: D-Link announced today that the problem, discovered by security researchers SourceSec, affects three of its wireless routers: DIR-855 (hardware version A2), DIR-655 (versions A1 to A4) and DIR-635 (version B) and lies in D-Link's implementation of Cisco's Home Network Administration Protocol (HNAP), which allows remote router configuration. The scope of the vulnerability is greatly reduced by the fact that the above routers have not been shipped with the affected firmware by default, so only those customers who updated their firmware could be affected. Or at least this was indicated in the company's response to the SourceSac claim that all D-Link routers sold since 2006 were affected.
Microsoft

Submission + - France Tells Its Citizens To Abandon IE (pcw.co.uk)

Submitted by
Freistoss
Freistoss writes: "Microsoft still has not released a patch for a major zero-day flaw in IE6 that was used by Chinese hackers to attack Google. After sample code was posted on a website, calls began for Microsoft to release an out-of-cycle patch. Now, France has joined Germany in recommending its citizens abandon Microsoft's much-maligned browser altogether, rather than waiting for a patch. Microsoft still insists IE8 is the "most secure browser on the market" and that they believe IE6 is the only browser susceptible to the flaw. However, security researchers warned that could soon change, and recommended considering alternative browsers as well."

Comment Re:Genius. (Score 1) 290

by bstone (#26409203) Attached to: SCO Proposes Sale of Assets To Continue Litigation

>>Have SCO stocks reached zero value yet?

Zero value was reached years ago, some idiots are still purchasing (very few) shares at about $0.15 though, so the stock isn't reflecting the true value, even though their new plan proposes paying stockholders perhaps $0.02/share if things go well.

   
Medicine

Half of American Doctors Often Prescribe Placebos 238

Posted by timothy from the first-do-no-nothin' dept.
damn_registrars writes "'Half of all American doctors responding to a nationwide survey say they regularly prescribe placebos to patients. The results trouble medical ethicists, who say more research is needed to determine whether doctors must deceive patients in order for placebos to work.' The study just quoted goes on to say that the drugs most often used as placebo are headache pills, vitamins, and antibiotics. Studies on doctors in Europe and New Zealand have found similar results."

Comment Re:Don't panic! (Score 4, Insightful) 803

by bstone (#25464087) Attached to: Why RAID 5 Stops Working In 2009

Using the same failure rate figures as the article, you WILL get an unrecoverable read error each and every time you back up your 12 TB of data. You will be able to recover from the single block failure because of the RAID 5 setup.

With that kind of error rate, drive manufacturers will be forced to design to higher standards, they won't be able to sell drives that fail at that rate.
Linux

Linux Kernel to Include KVM Virtualization 194

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the last-minute-contenders dept.
It looks like the newest version of the Linux kernel (2.6.20) will include KVM, the relatively new virtualization environment. From the article: "Thanks to its approach KVM already runs in the current kernel, without any extensive bouts of patching and compiling being required, after the fairly simple compilation of a module. Virtual machines that run unmodified operating systems are meant to appear in the host as a simple process and work independently of the host kernel. In a fashion comparable to that of Xen a modified QEMU is used for the supportive emulation of typical PC components of the virtual machines."

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