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Comment Re:TV Isn't Broken, So Why Fix It? (Score 1) 839

Here is what I think. Commercials are ruining TV. It seems as though there is a LOT more commercials than TV. So much so that when a commercial pops up I immediately channel surf to fill in the commercial. I pretty much refuse to watch the crap that comes cascading through the screen. If only they made toilet paper for my TV screen. Not to mention abysmal selection of reruns that seem to rerun every 2 weeks or so. No wonder people are disgusted with "TV". Regards, Stewart B Lone
Botnet

Submission + - Most Sophisticated Rootkit Getting An Overhaul (itworld.com)

jfruhlinger writes: "TDL4, a rootkit that helps build a powerful botnet, is pegged by security vendor ESET as one of the most sophisticated pieces of malware in the world. But its creators aren't resting on their laurels; they're rewriting some of the code from the ground up to make it difficult for antimalware to detect it, creating a hidden boot partition that gaurantees that malware code will be loaded even before the operating system is. It's part of a plan to turn TDL4 into a turnkey product that can be sold to other criminal operations."
Security

Submission + - New JBOSS Worm Infecting Unpatched Servers (threatpost.com)

Trailrunner7 writes: There is a new worm circulating right now that is compromising servers running older versions of the JBoss Application Server and then adding them to a botnet. The worm also attempts to install a remote access tool in order to give the attacker control over the newly infected server.

The worm has been circulating for a couple of days at least, and it's not clear right now how many servers have been compromised or what the origins of it are. It apparently exploits an old vulnerability in the JBoss Application Server, which was patched in April 2010, in order to compromise new machines. Once that's accomplished, the worm begins a post-infection routine that includes a number of different steps.

Games

Pirates as a Marketplace 214

John Riccitiello, the CEO of Electronic Arts, made some revealing comments in an interview with Kotaku about how the company's attitudes are shifting with regard to software piracy. Quoting: "Some of the people buying this DLC are not people who bought the game in a new shrink-wrapped box. That could be seen as a dark cloud, a mass of gamers who play a game without contributing a penny to EA. But around that cloud Riccitiello identified a silver lining: 'There's a sizable pirate market and a sizable second sale market and we want to try to generate revenue in that marketplace,' he said, pointing to DLC as a way to do it. The EA boss would prefer people bought their games, of course. 'I don't think anybody should pirate anything,' he said. 'I believe in the artistry of the people who build [the games industry.] I profoundly believe that. And when you steal from us, you steal from them. Having said that, there's a lot of people who do.' So encourage those pirates to pay for something, he figures. Riccitiello explained that EA's download services aren't perfect at distinguishing between used copies of games and pirated copies. As a result, he suggested, EA sells DLC to both communities of gamers. And that's how a pirate can turn into a paying customer."
Microsoft

Submission + - Bill Gates to finally receive his Harvard degree

coondoggie writes: "It's not like he needs it to beef up his résumé, but the world's richest college dropout finally is getting his degree. Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, will speak at Harvard University's commencement ceremony in June and, like all commencement speakers, will receive an honorary degree from the institution. It's hard to guess if Gates, the wealthiest person in the world and co-founder of a company that brought in $44 billion in revenue last year, cares. But the programming whiz who once dropped out of Harvard will likely feel some sense of satisfaction. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/032207-bill- gates-to-finally-receive.html"

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