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GNU is Not Unix

Submission + - An accidental Free Software Accelerated 3D GPU (phoronix.com) 1

Submitted by
lkcl
lkcl writes: "In evaluating the Xilinx Xilinx Zynq-7000 for use in a FSF Hardware-endorsed Laptop and possible OpenPandora v2.0, a series of Free Software projects were accidentally linked together — Gallium3D and LLVM 2.7's MicroBlaze FPGA Target. The combination is the startling possibility that the Xilinx Zynq-7000 may turn out to be the perfect platform for a Free Software 3D GPU, for use in Tablets, Laptops, and the OpenGraphics Project. entirely by accident."
Security

Submission + - Customer Email Address Leaks 2

Submitted by anyaristow
anyaristow writes: Since the mid nineties I've used a unique email address for everyone I do business with and for every service or site I sign up with, so that if someone leaks my email address to spammers I know who did the leaking. Until this year I'd only had a few of these addresses compromised (including a national flower seller and a major music gear maker). This year I'm getting about one every other month, including a telecommunications giant and one of the three credit reporting agencies. There are no mailboxes or accounts associated with these email addresses; I receive all email to the domain. These addresses exist only as text I typed into a web form, and as header fields in received email. I'd consider a man-in-the-middle or someone gaining access to my mailbox as possible culprits except I haven't had communication with that credit agency in years, and I just yesterday started receiving spam to that address. That, and only a few of these addresses are compromised. Is anyone else seeing this, and can anyone think of a reason other other than lax security or the use of third-party email campaigns?

Submission + - Hackers, Zombies and Lulz - Defcon 19 in Photos (eecue.com)

Submitted by
eecue
eecue writes: "This year marked my 11th Defcon (the world's largest hacker convention, covered here previously). For the last few years I covered Defcon for Wired: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007. This year I didn't shoot for Wired, for a number of reasons, which gave me the opportunity to post many more Defcon photos than I normally do (and at a higher resolution to boot!). Enjoy!"

Submission + - Cop Tries To Sue Woman Who Videotaped Beating (techdirt.com) 4

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A police officer who was disciplined for his role in a massive beating of a guy (many broken bones in his face and permanent partial blindness) is looking to bring criminal wiretapping charges against the woman who caught much of the incident on video. The guy received a 45-day suspension. He does not appear to deny anything that happened in the video. But he apparently thinks it shouldn't have been filmed.
Security

Submission + - SpyEye Trojan Source Code Leaked (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: The SpyEye malware kit has long been both the bane of unsuspecting victims and a boon for cyber-criminals. Now, according to security researchers, the situation may have taken a turn for the worse.

The SpyEye Builder patch source code for release 1.3.45 was leaked by the Reverse Engineers Dream Crew (RED Crew) recently after a crew member was able to locate a copy of SpyEye Builder 1.3.45 and create a tutorial that enables a reader with SpyEye Builder to crack the hardware identification.

The fact that SpyEye has plagued victims around the world is not in doubt. In April, police in the U.K. arrested a handful of people in connection with a bank fraud operation that used SpyEye to steal money and banking information.
The Courts

Submission + - Driver using two cell phones gets year driving ban (networkworld.com) 1

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "This guy is the poster boy for why cell phone usage in cars should be banned in more places. According to press out of the United Kingdom, a man who was driving at 70MPH while texting on one phone and talking on the other has been banned from driving for a year. Initial reports said that the driver, David Secker was apparently using his knees to steer the car, an accusation he refuted in court apparently."
NASA

Submission + - Computer Chip-Sized Spacecraft To Explore Space (singularityhub.com)

Submitted by
kkleiner
kkleiner writes: "We knew to expect a paradigm shift with the end of the space shuttle program, but this is ridiculous. Mason Peck and his group of forward-thinking engineers are taking NASA’s slogan of Faster, Better, Cheaper to the extreme. Their spacecraft will cut down travel time to Alpha Centauri from thousands of years to just a few hundred, and instead of the $1.7 billion it takes to build a space shuttle, Peck’s ships can be built for an amazing $33."

Submission + - Mussels With Hydrogen Fuel Cells Found (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by
greenrainbow
greenrainbow writes: "According to scientists, there are mussels at the bottom of the ocean that are efficiently converting hydrogen into energy in their very own, nature-made hydrogen fuel cells. The mussels were found near hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor and have onboard symbiotic bacteria that convert hydrogen into energy. With this discovery, researchers might be able to clone the hydrogen eating bacteria to create all-natural hydrogen fuel cells to power things other than sea life."
Music

Submission + - Music Copyright War Looming (nytimes.com)

Submitted by quarterbuck
quarterbuck writes: When copyright law was revised in the mid-1970s, musicians, like creators of other works of art, were granted “termination rights,” which allow them to regain control of their work after 35 years, so long as they apply at least two years in advance. Recordings from 1978 are the first to fall under the purview of the law, but in a matter of months, hits from 1979, like “The Long Run” by the Eagles and “Bad Girls” by Donna Summer, will be in the same situation
The Courts

Submission + - Copyright Wiretaps are Hollywood's "PATRIOT (arstechnica.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Ars is reporting that the CCIA is calling the copyright wiretaps requested by the IP Czar 'Hollywood's PATRIOT Act'. For those who don't remember, IP Czar Victoria Espinel recently wrote a report calling for more charges of felony copyright infringement under the NET Act, as well as felony charges for illegal web streaming, authorization for the use of wiretaps in going after copyright infringement cases, and several other measures. In short, this means that the copyright cops are coming online.
Botnet

Operation Payback and Hactivism 101 423

Posted by CmdrTaco from the tread-softly dept.
Orome1 writes "While individual acts of hacktivism are inconvenient, something else happens when hacktivists group together — they commonly perform a DDoS attack. Techniques have advanced to automate the process, making the attacks more powerful and thus more able to bypass security controls — the effect, however, remains the same. Let us take a look at the recent Operation Payback which has gained notoriety in the past few months."
Image

IT Worker's Revenge Lands Her In Jail 347

Posted by samzenpus from the bad-idea dept.
aesoteric writes "A 30-year-old IT worker at a Florida-based health centre was this week sentenced to 19 months in a US federal prison for hacking, and then locking, her former employer's IT systems. Four days after being fired from the Suncoast Community Health Centers' for insubordination, Patricia Marie Fowler exacter her revenge by hacking the centre's systems, deleting files, changing passwords, removing access to infrastructure systems, and tampering with pay and accrued leave rates of staff."
It's funny. Laugh.

Tofu Activists Spoof Meat-Based Indie Game 420

Posted by Soulskill from the have-a-burger-to-celebrate dept.
Faulkner39 writes "In response to the recently released independently developed platformer Super Meat Boy, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has released a Flash-based spoof game titled Super Tofu Boy. The spoof attempts to mirror the original by featuring a protagonist made of tofu and an antagonist made of meat in a statement promoting animal rights. Ironically, however, the original game is about a human boy who is vulnerable because he lacks skin (Meat Boy), raising the question: 'is the spoof in reality really about cannibalism?'" The Super Meat Boy team posted a response on their Twitter feed.

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