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Open Source

Open Source Developer Knighted 101

Posted by samzenpus from the knights-who-say-free dept.
unixfan writes "Georg Greve, developer of Open Document Format and active FOSS developer, has received a knighthood in Germany for his work. From the article: 'Some weeks ago I received news that the embassy in Berne had unsuccessfully been trying to contact me under FSFE's old office address in Zurich. This was a bit odd and unexpected. So you can probably understand my surprise to be told by the embassy upon contacting them that on 18 December 2009 I had been awarded the Cross of Merit on ribbon (Verdienstkreuz am Bande) by the Federal Republic of Germany. As you might expect, my first reaction was one of disbelief. I was, in fact, rather shaken. You could also say shocked. Quick Wikipedia research revealed this to be part of the orders of knighthood, making this a Knight's Cross.'"
Security

Sun Pushes Emergency Java Patch 90

Posted by timothy from the emergency-shot-of-soy-latte dept.
Trailrunner7 writes "In a sudden about-face, Sun has rushed out a Java update to fix a drive-by download vulnerability that exposed Windows users to in-the-wild malware attacks. The patch comes less than a week after Sun told a Google researcher it did not consider the issue serious enough to warrant an out-of-cycle patch and less than a day after researchers spotted live exploits on a booby-trapped Web site. The flaw, which was also discovered independently by Ruben Santamarta, occurs because the Java-Plugin Browser is running 'javaws.exe' without validating command-line parameters. Despite the absence of documentation, a researcher was about to figure out that Sun removed the code to run javaws.exe from the Java plugin. The about-face by Sun is another sign that some big vendors still struggle to understand the importance of working closely with white hat researchers to understand the implications of certain vulnerabilities. In this case, Google's Tavis Ormandy was forced to use the full-disclosure weapon to force the vendor into a proper response."

Submission + - Apple Blocks Cartoonist From App Store (niemanlab.org) 1

Submitted by ink
ink writes: Here is another troubling anecdote on the iWeb front:

This week cartoonist Mark Fiore made Internet and journalism history as the first online-only journalist to win a Pulitzer Prize. Fiore took home the editorial cartooning prize for animations he created for SFGate, the website for the San Francisco Chronicle... But there’s just one problem. In December, Apple rejected his iPhone app, NewsToons, because, as Apple put it, his satire “ridicules public figures,” a violation of the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement, which bars any apps whose content in “Apple’s reasonable judgement may be found objectionable, for example, materials that may be considered obscene, pornographic, or defamatory.

Whether or not you agree with Fiore's political sentiments, I believe we can all agree that the censorship of his work should be denigrated.
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
Java

Submission + - Sun Pushes Emergency Java Patch (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: In a sudden about-face, Sun has rushed out a Java update to fix a drive-by download vulnerability that exposed Windows users to in-the-wild malware attacks.The patch comes less than a week after Sun told a Google researcher it did not consider the issue serious enough to warrant an out-of-cycle patch and less than a day after researchers spotted live exploits on a booby-trapped Web site. The flaw, which was also discovered independently by Ruben Santamarta, occurs because the Java-Plugin Browser is running “javaws.exe” without validating command-line parameters. Despite the absence of documentation, a researcher was about to figure out that Sun removed the code to run javaws.exe from the Java plugin. The about-face by Sun is another sign that some big vendors still struggle to understand the importance of working closely with white hat researchers to understand the implications of certain vulnerabilities. In this case, Google’s Tavis Ormandy was forced to use the full-disclosure weapon to force the vendor into a proper response.
Idle

Submission + - Need to fix a grade, a 3'rd grader can help 1

Submitted by Gud
Gud writes: In the Washington Post this morning there is a story about a 9 year old that was able to do anything he wanted to grades in his school in a system supplied by Blackboard.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/14/AR2010041404159.html?hpid=newswell

This comes on the heals of an other story about high-school students installing key loggers at their high school and going back and changing grades.

The question now is when will all the applicants to Harward submit transcripts that only have A's ?

Submission + - Iceland Volcano Ash Grounds European Air Travel (cbsnews.com)

Submitted by Ch_Omega
Ch_Omega writes: From the article at CBSNews:
"An ash-spewing volcano in Iceland emptied the skies of aircraft across much of northern Europe on Thursday, grounding planes on a scale unseen since the 9/11 terror attacks. British air space shut down, silencing the trans-Atlantic hub of Heathrow and stranding tens of thousands of passengers around the world.

Aviation officials said it was not clear when it would be safe enough to fly again and said it was the first time in living memory that an ash cloud had brought one of the world's most congested airspaces to a standstill. "

BBC News, Deccan Herald and Barents Observer has more coverage.

Submission + - Meteor Spotted Over Midwestern United States (google.com)

Submitted by the1337g33k
the1337g33k writes: The National Weather Service is reporting that a fireball that many people had witnessed last night is a meteor that entered the atmosphere last night around 10:10PM Central Time. This meteor was spotted by many in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois.
Data Storage

Submission + - WD, Intel, Corsair, Kingston, Plextor SSDs collide (techreport.com)

Submitted by J. Dzhugashvili
J. Dzhugashvili writes: New SSDs just keep coming out from all corners of the market, and keeping track of all of them isn't the easiest job in the world. Good thing SSD roundups pop up every once in a while. This time, Western Digital's recently launched SiliconEdge Blue solid-state drive has been compared against new entrants from Corsair, Kingston, and Plextor. The newcomers faced off against not just each other, but also Intel's famous X25-M G2, WD's new VelociRaptor VR200M mechanical hard drive, and a plain-old WD Caviar Black 2TB thrown in for good measure. Who came out on top? Priced at about the same level, the WD and Plextor drives each seem to have deal-breaking performance weaknesses. The Kingston drive is more affordable than the rest, but it yielded poor IOMeter results. In the end, the winner appeared to be Corsair's Nova V128, which had similar all-around performance as Intel's 160GB X25-M G2 but with a slightly lower capacity and a more attractive price.

Submission + - Mass. Gambling Bill Won't Criminalize Online Poker (examiner.com)

Submitted by
travdaddy
travdaddy writes: "As reported on Slashdot only about a week ago, a passage of a Massachusetts Gambling Bill would criminalize online poker. That passage has been stricken due to the help of a grass-roots organization called the Poker Players Alliance. It "quickly got the message to all of its Massachusetts members—around 25,000 people-- and over 1,000,000 nationwide to make their voices heard; apparently lawmakers were listening since the language making online poker illegal –and online gaming in general-- was taken out of the legislation." Another Massachusetts bill may even "take [poker] completely out of the gambling genre" and make it legislated as a game of skill."
Wireless Networking

Israel Blocks iPad Imports, Citing Wi-Fi Transmission Regulations 204

Posted by timothy from the we're-looking-for-droids dept.
unixcrab writes with this excerpt from The Mac Observer: "Apple's iPad is proving to be popular everywhere — except Israel. The country's Communication Ministry is refusing to let people bring the multimedia tablet into the country because it hasn't tested and approved the Wi-Fi technology used in the device, according to Haaretz. Ministry officials commented, 'The iPad device sold exclusively today in the United States operates at broadcast power levels [over its Wi-Fi modem] compatible with American standards. As the Israeli regulations in the area of Wi-Fi are similar to European standards, which are different from American standards, which permit broadcasting at lower power, therefore the broadcast levels of the device prevent approving its use in Israel.' The government seems serious about its iPad import ban. Customs officials have already confiscated ten iPads and told their owners to ship them overseas."
Government

Entertainment Industry's Dystopia of the Future 394

Posted by CmdrTaco from the truth-is-often-stranger dept.
renek writes "If you think the RIAA/MPAA's tactics have been outlandish, laughable, and disconcerting in the past, you haven't seen anything yet. From government-mandated spyware that deletes infringing content to border searches of media players, this reads like an Orwellian nightmare. Given the US government's willingness to bend over for Big Media it wouldn't be terribly surprising to see how far this goes and how under the radar it stays."
The Internet

The World's Largest Data Centers 87

Posted by CmdrTaco from the can-i-visit dept.
1sockchuck writes "It seems data centers are getting bigger all the time. Who has the world's largest server farm? Data Center Knowledge has put together a list of 10 huge data centers, all between 400,000 and 1.1 million square feet. The story highlights the trend toward ever-bigger data centers, such as the Vegas SuperNAP and Microsoft's container data center, as well as established behemoths like the NAP of the Americas in Miami and Lakeside Technology Center in Chicago."

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