Anonymous Stallion writes "Two security researchers from TippingPoint (sponsor of the recent CanSecWest hacking contest) were able to infiltrate the Kraken botnet, which surpasses its predecessors in size. The researchers have published a pair of blog entries: Owning Kraken Zombies and Kraken Botnet Infiltration. They dissect the botnet and go so far as to suggest that they could cleanse it by sending an update to infected hosts. However, they stopped short of doing so. This raises the old moral dilemma about a hypothetical 'friendly worm' that issues software fixes (except that the researchers' vector is a server that can be turned off, not an autonomous worm that can't be recalled once released). What do you think — is it better to allow the botnet to continue unabated, or perhaps to risk crashing a computer controlling a heart monitor somewhere?"
It’s fascinating how new layers of Twitter as a platform for our thoughts keep emerging. I saw Twitter-maker Ev Williams say today that he loves Twistori, which was inspired by friend Jonathan Harris’... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:40 am
CBS Corp.'s earnings rose 14 percent in the first quarter as a new international TV syndication agreement kicked in for its "CSI" franchise. Thye company that also also owns Simon &... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:28 am
Corning Inc. says its first-quarter profit more than tripled, exceeding Wall Street's expectations on strong demand for glass used in flat-screen televisions and computers. The... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:10 am
Three other men were also injured in the blast at the Cordon PharmaChem factory in Little Island, one of whom is understood to be in a serious condition.An investigation is underway into the cause of the explosion, which happened at around 1.30am. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
Text of report by Radio Australia, international service of the government-funded ABC, on 29 April, from ABC Radio National's "The World Today" programme [Presenter Eleanor Hall] Researchers at the CSIRO [Commonwealth (i.e. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c90210) has announced the addition of "Polish Chemical Report 2008" to their offering. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
By Keith Rogers Roy and Betsy Miller cringed at the sight of fresh vehicle ruts that left a zig-zag scar on what had been a picturesque Mojave Desert hill off a dirt road that leads to the historic mining town of Gold Butte. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
WILDWOOD, N.J., April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- With New Jersey's best beach and Boardwalk and an amazing selection of fun things to see and do amidst a resort delighting the eyes with whimsical aqua, pink and orange "Doo-Wop" architecture, the Wildwoods have become renowned as the gem of vacation destinations of the Jersey Shore. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
TWO IN TWO WEEKS Fatal boating accidents prompt warnings Two boating accidents on Northern Nevada waterways in the past two weeks have prompted game wardens at the Nevada Department of Wildlife to warn spring boaters and fishermen about the dangers of cold water and the absolute need to carry - and preferably wear - life jackets on spring boating and fishing trips. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
CACE Technologies, Inc., developer of enhanced tools for Wireshark, today announced that Pilot, their new, powerful network analyzer that provides unique reporting, charting, and traffic visualization features, will be bundled and sold with Solera Networks DS deep packet capture and stream-to-storage appliances beginning immediately. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
ENGLEWOOD, Colo., April 29, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- DISH Network Corporation (Nasdaq:DISH), formerly EchoStar Communications Corporation, will host its first quarter 2008 earnings conference call on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 at noon ET. The dial-in number is (800) 616-6729. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
SOUTHBOROUGH, Mass., April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The DEMO conferences, known for launching the technology industry's most impressive products and services, announced today the beginning of the DEMO Roadshow, a six city tour in search of the next generation of leading technology products. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
NOVATO, Calif., April 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sonic Solutions(R) , the leader in digital media software, today announced it has acquired the assets of Simple Star, Inc., a privately held software products and online service provider based in San Francisco, California. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
Text of report by Russian newspaper Gazeta, owned by metals magnate Vladimir Lisin, on 28 March [Article by Svetlana Kazantseva, headlined "No-one's watching internet TV", subheading "Not a single internet television project has paid off"] It's possible that the fashion for internet television, which surfaced last year, will soon subside. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
Etelcharge.com (OTCBB: ETLC) today announced that the Company has completed beta testing for its new version 3.0 social networking and payment gateway website and will be launching the completed new version in mid-May. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
Clarizen, the leader in OnDemand project execution software, today announced that it continues to see significant momentum in the marketplace and over 13,000 users are now registered to use its service. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
Sun Microsystems has acquired the technical assets of chip start-up Montalvo Systems for an undisclosed amount. Montalvo Systems has offices in Santa Clara, California, Boulder, Colorado, and Bangalore, India. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
AdventNet, Inc., the leading provider of enterprise IT management software, today announced the signing of an OEM agreement with Entuity. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
Sonic Solutions has acquired photo software developer Simple Star in an effort to expand its web presence. Simple Star is the creator of PhotoShow, desktop and flash-based software that allows users to... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 10:31 am
The criminals who sell the Zeus malware have added an end-user license agreement to their "product," setting out a bunch of terms controlling how the criminals who buy their products may use it, and threatening... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 10:14 am
The criminals who sell the Zeus malware have added an end-user license agreement to their "product," setting out a bunch of terms controlling how the criminals who buy their products may use it, and threatening dire technological reprisals for violations:
Symantec security researcher Liam OMurchu has details on this latest development. The help section of the latest version of the Zeus malware states that the client has no right to distribute Zeus in any business or commercial purpose not connected to the initial sale, cannot examine the source code of the product, has no right to use the product to control other botnets, and cannot send the product to anti-virus companies. The client does agree to "give the seller a fee for any update to the product that is not connected with errors in the work, as well as for adding additional functionality." Modern license agreements take a great deal of (deserved) fire for being absurdly draconian, but even the likes of Adobe and Microsoft don't claim that purchasing a version of their respective products locks the user into buying future editions.
It's obviously difficult for the manufacturers of an illegal product to threaten legal sanctions against an infringer, but the Zeus authors give it their best shot. According to the EULA, "In cases of violations of the agreement and being detected, the client loses any technical support. Moreover, the binary code of your bot will be immediately sent to antivirus companies." Frankly, "We'll blow your kneecaps off and feed them to you," might be a bit more effective as a threat, but I suppose it's a bit hard to carry out that threat over the Internet.
Recent dispatches from the outside world... The day i saw Gazira - we make money not art The Audrey Hepburn of the blogosphere, Rgine DeBatty of We Make Money Not Art is indisputably among the most influential... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 10:00 am
An anonymous reader writes "Intel convinced Cray to collaborate on what many believe will be the next generation of supercomputers — CPUs complemented by floating-point acceleration units. NVIDIA successfully placed its Tesla cards in an upcoming Bull supercomputer, and today we learn that Cray will be using Intel's x86 Larrabee accelerators in a supercomputer that is expected to be unveiled by 2011. It's a new chapter in the Intel-NVIDIA battle and a glimpse at the future of supercomputers operating in the petaflop range. The deal has also got to be a blow to AMD, which has been Cray's main chip supplier."
By Andrew Liszewski If you've ever been worried about losing your luggage while traveling, the Trace Me luggage tracking system might appeal to you. However, if you've ever actually lost your luggage,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 9:57 am
By Andrew Liszewski There was a lot of excitement when Asus announced the EEE. It promised all of the functionality of a real PC (running Linux or Windows) with a form factor that was smaller than any... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 9:51 am
I've been thinking about this since I saw the news on Monday morning that Jeff Dachis, one of the more successful NYC entrepreneurs in the first Internet wave, has partnered with Austin Ventures to "create... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 9:40 am
Sohu.com Inc. said Tuesday its first quarter profit quadrupled on strong advertising and online game revenue. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 9:34 am
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan on Tuesday confirmed four swans found last week were infected with the H5N1 strain of bird flu. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 8:52 am
This is the second in a 3-part series, by Bernard Lunn, on the new Web. Part 1 was The Whatchamacallit, Post Recession Phase Transition. Recessions change consumer behavior, drive weak businesses and models... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 8:51 am
Hey, remember that HP HDX Dragon PC that we unboxed a few months ago? Well, HP has gone and upgraded the specs on that puppy, and they want us to give one of them to you guys. Not just the computer,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 8:13 am
It might be best known for sex and violence, but at its heart GTA IV lampoons brutality rather than celebrating it, says Keith Stuart Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 8:03 am
By Claudia Palma -- Video: Outdoor science garden EL MONTE - Students at La Primaria Elementary now have a new hands-on eco-classroom. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Apr 2008 | 8:00 am
VANTAA, Finland, April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- - "Through ownership of Hyde Marine we significantly increase our focus and ability to grow on the global environmental technology market. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Apr 2008 | 8:00 am
By Janette Williams -- PDF: Copy of the Lawsuit PASADENA - In a ruling that trail advocates hailed as a major victory, a judge has affirmed the public's right to use hiking trails around the gated La Vina housing development in Altadena's foothills. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 29 Apr 2008 | 8:00 am
Marine scientists in New Zealand on Tuesday were thawing the corpse of the largest squid ever caught to try to unlock the secrets of one of the ocean's most mysterious beasts. No one... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 7:57 am
Dionysius, God of Wine and Leaf, points out a new wrinkle to Microsoft's pursuit of Yahoo. The most recent quarterly results, which saw Microsoft's earnings drop by 6% from the previous year (revenue from Windows alone was down 24%), have caused the stock to dip. This has reduced the value of the cash-and-stock offer from its original $44B to something nearer $40B. Yahoo, of course, has maintained all along that the original offer was lowball. A business professor is quoted: "Whatever leverage [Microsoft] built up in the last few days could be slipping away."
SAN FRANCISCO, April 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- OpenTV Corp. (Nasdaq: OPTV), a leading provider of solutions for the delivery of advanced television and advanced... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 7:30 am
LAS VEGAS, April 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Interop -- Extreme Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXTR) today announced a revolutionary data center switch that provides high... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 7:30 am
SANTA ANA, Calif., April 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Raptor Networks Technology, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: RPTN), provider of the world's first distributed network... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 7:30 am
ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Domino's Pizza, Inc. (NYSE: DPZ), the recognized world leader in pizza delivery, today announced results for the Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 7:30 am
TORONTO, April 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Tucows Inc. (TSX: TC, AMEX: TCX) plans to report its first quarter fiscal 2008 financial results via news release on Wednesday, Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 7:30 am
TORONTO, April 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Rogers Communications Inc. today announced its consolidated financial and operating results for the three months ended March... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 7:29 am
The lawyer for Mark Arneson, a former LAPD sergeant, said his client was tainted by the prosecution's accusations that he filed a fraudulent bankruptcy petition. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 7:00 am
Warner Bros. TV recruits producers to create original programming for the site, which is scheduled to debut in August. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 7:00 am
The technology works, but it would require millions of carbon dioxide filters across the planet at a cost of trillions of dollars a year. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 7:00 am
A report that pools data from 16 studies concludes that the FDA should have halted research years earlier because of increased incidence of heart attacks and deaths. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 7:00 am
Studios and artists split over its effects on digital distribution. Hollywood believes the Internet is the key... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 7:00 am
Bing Gordon, the chief creative officer at Electronic Arts Inc., will leave the video game company after 26 years to become a partner at premier venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 7:00 am
By lifting bans on cellphones and personal computers, Raul Castro is paving the way for open communications, but the regime is intent on avoiding the fate of the Soviet Union. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 7:00 am
Game developers haven't catered very well to Star Wars fans who want to live in George Lucas' world. While there's innumerable action and strategy titles based on the franchise, and the single-player RPG... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 29 Apr 2008 | 6:43 am
coondoggie alerts us to a story that is actually a few weeks old now about a network of sonic buoys to listen to right whales, in order to warn ships away from them. On April 10, 22% of the known population of right whales in the world — 79 out of 350 — were gathered at Stellwagen Bank, off of Massachusetts, to feed on a bumper crop of the tiny crustaceans called copepods. The network of smart buoys helps to protect the whales from the roughly 1,500 ships per year that go through this feeding ground on their way to and from Boston.
The Sheriff's Office in Shelby County, Tennessee, is warning locals to turn in anyone who takes too many pictures of bridges or shopping malls, because they might be scouting for Al Qaeda, who are clearly slavering at the opportunity to make a gigantic media splash by getting up to some serious naughtiness on the "iconic Hernando DeSoto Bridge."
The Sheriff also asked environmentalists to look out for anyone "a little bit radical" who might be a terrorist provocateur hoping to exploit the trusting, gentle hippies to turn them into deep green Unabombers.
"You may think a guy is just shooting pictures, but if you report it to us, we'll send it on to the FBI and they may have four or five other reports of the same thing," said Richard Pillsbury with the Tennessee Fusion Center, a collaboration between the Department of Safety and the Department of Homeland Security.
Shelby County sergeant Larry Allen warned attendees at the meeting to look for people who appear to be doing surveillance outside public buildings, such as shopping malls.
"One of the things discussed in the al-Qaeda manual is conducting surveillance of your target," added Eric Jackson with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. "That could mean looking at a building to see how security is established."
Artist Nina Katchadourian tried repairing spider webs with thread, but her efforts were rebuffed: "My repairs were always rejected by the spider and discarded, usually during the course of the night, even in webs which looked abandoned."
The Mended Spiderweb series came about during a six-week period in June and July in 1998 which I spent on Pörtö. In the forest and around the house where I was living, I searched for broken spiderwebs which I repaired using red sewing thread. All of the patches were made by inserting segments one at a time directly into the web. Sometimes the thread was starched, which made it stiffer and easier to work with. The short threads were held in place by the stickiness of the spider web itself; longer threads were reinforced by dipping the tips into white glue. I fixed the holes in the web until it was fully repaired, or until it could no longer bear the weight of the thread. In the process, I often caused further damage when the tweezers got tangled in the web or when my hands brushed up against it by accident.
Here's the latest Instructables HOWTO to tie in with my young adult novel Little Brother, which tells the story of young geeks who use technology to restore liberty to post-9/11 America.
This week, it's HOWTO start a flashmob:
Timing is everything
This refers back to the whole participation thing. If your event is spontaneous in nature and just requires people to show up at the same time and do something goofy(say, gather at a subway stop and follow the first bearded person you see as if they were Jesus), they won't need much time to prepare. The ideal time for this sort of event is at the end of the workday (between 5 and 6PM) during the week as a) the streets are more crowded and b)participants are more available. For whatever reason, Thursdays seem to be most effective.
If you are planning something more elaborate, like a Costumed Rampage, you want to give people at least a week to prepare, and preferably two. These events are most effective in heavily populated shopping and tourist areas, so Saturday afternoons work best. Note: these often turn into drunkfests.
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "The authors of the Zeus malware have added an end-user license agreement to their product. The buyer is, of course, permitted to infect as many computers with Zeus as they please, but they have no right to distribute it for 'any business or commercial purpose not connected with this sale,' and they can't examine the source, use it to control non-Zeus botnets, or send it to anti-virus companies. Oh, and they commit to paying for future upgrades, too — wouldn't Microsoft love to be able to add that term to their EULA. While it seems silly to imagine Zeus's authors going to the authorities for violations of this EULA, if they're anything like the Russian Business Network, they probably have an extra-judicial means of contract enforcement named Ivan. That said, this is by no means the first EULA-encrusted malware."
Devin sez, "I believe this was the navigation system for several old English bombers (Victor, Vulcan, and Valiant). Very wire-y and cool. Many, many plugs and things all over the place."
Link
(Thanks, Devin!)
Watchismo's feature today covers the illustrious history of early LED watches, whose origins are stylish as only artifacts from a lost era can be.
With the recent release of the $350,000 Opus 8 and the de Grisogono Meccanico dG with their mechanically mimicked LED digits, I wanted to also share this video and photos from the collection of UK LED collector, Lloyd "Theledwatch". He was recently featured on Antiques Roadshow (see video above) where he shared some of the best examples of early 1970s digital light emitting diode watches like the Pulsar Hamilton P1, Girard Perregaux Casquette, Omega Time Computer and my one-of-a-kind favorites by the Royal designer Andrew Grima.
In March 2007, a free speech and free assembly rally was held in Union Square to protest a new NYPD rule of dubious constitutionality instituting a permit requirement for any assembly of 50+ people on foot or on bike in NYC.
While the restriction would apply to any assembly of 50 or more people, it was enacted as transparent attempt shut down, harass or frustrate the Critical Mass bicycle rides that have occured monthly in Manhattan for at least ten years.
After the rally proper, a Critical Mass ride (accompanied by citizen videographers from the Glass Bead Collective and other groups) set out north from Union Square, only to be subjected to outrageous and illegal treatment by NYPD officers in Times Square under the supervision and instigation of Sgt. Timothy Horhoe.
Despite the numerous video-verified complaints of unlawful arrest and the numerous provably false sworn statements in police reports documenting the incident, the Civilian Complaint Review Board said in March of this year that they cannot act to punish the officers involved for their willful perjury.
Microsoft Watch writes "Microsoft downplays a recent DNS vulnerability in all Microsoft operating systems (XP, Vista, 2000, and 2003), claims Amit Klein, the security researcher who published the original vulnerability description (PDF) earlier this month. According to Klein, the description in Microsoft's Secure Windows Initiative blog entry is misleading, contains disinformation about the DNS transaction ID algorithm, and downplays the severity of the issue. Klein refutes Microsoft's claim that there is no way to reproduce the next transaction ID, given a series of observed transaction IDs. He shows that this is possible in his paper, which Microsoft had before publishing the SWI post, as well as on the series of data provided in the SWI blog itself."
1964: Mothra vs. Godzilla makes its screen debut in Japan. Or was it Mothra Against Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Mothra or Godzilla vs. The Thing?
By whatever name you choose -- and it went by all of them at one time or another -- for those of us who grew up watching these entertaining romps, this is the quintessential Godzilla movie.
It had everything you could ask for: wonderfully cheesy special effects (acute halitosis never looked so good), great dubbing (in the English-language release, the talking went on after the Japanese actors had stopped moving their lips), a couple of hot Japanese twins (albeit a pair of faeries scarcely a foot tall), wanton, widespread destruction (Nagoya, rather than Tokyo, took the hit this time), and a monster to root for (the big moth).
The Godzilla-Mothra imbroglio wasn't the first time these two had courted trouble.
Godzilla had already been around for a decade, rising from the sea in the 1954 film, Godzilla, to ravage the Japanese mainland following a hydrogen-bomb test gone awry. Godzilla evolved over the years, his dinosaur-like appearance always changing, although he never lost the atomic breath that, along with his sheer bulk, served as his main weapon of destruction.
As for Mothra, she (yes, Mothra was all woman) made her original cinematic bow in the 1961 flick bearing her name. Maybe because Mothra, a fictional lepidopteran, originated in a novel before coming to the screen, she was more nuanced than her troglodytic antagonist. Unlike Godzilla, Mothra possessed an intellect, which she put to use in a series of films.
The plots for what are loosely called "Godzilla movies" follow the same simple formula: The monster -- usually our man Godzilla -- is awakened from its slumber, either by man's folly (nuclear testing) or man's greed (there always seems to be an evil capitalist lurking in the weeds, eager to exploit a lost culture or a slumbering monster). Fully awake now, the monster wreaks vengeance on the hapless Japanese, whose soldiery, never fully recovered from Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima, lies prostrate before the rampaging beast.
The soldiers do know how to die dramatically, though, which makes for some entertaining cinematic moments.
In the end, the movie's alpha monster is finally overcome, either by a few plucky scientists who dream up some goofy formula that works, or by another hairy, scaly or wing-flapping opponent, who, for reasons never adequately explained, decides to temporarily ally itself with the perfidious two-legged mammals that stirred up this hornet's nest in the first place.
Simple and repetitive as the storylines may be, the '64 film began a complicated relationship between Godzilla and Mothra, who, over the course of several movies, died and were reborn, were alternately vanquished and victorious, and lined up both as friend and foe. Their relationship with humanity was equally complex: Mothra could be punishing but was ultimately benevolent, while Godzilla, usually the heavy, occasionally emerged as a kind of antihero, earning our sympathy in his role as avenging angel.
The Godzilla franchise was born in the Toho film studios in the 1950s but has been spun off so many times that it's impossible to chronicle the monster's lineage here. Suffice it to say, Godzilla has appeared on the screen -- both large and small -- in comic books, videogames, novels and in myriad other places as a pop culture icon.
OK, so maybe Mothra vs. Godzilla wasn't Kurosawa. But it was a fine way to kill a Saturday afternoon.
An anonymous reader writes "The NYTimes is running a front-page story about lawyers for suspects in terrorism-related cases fearing government monitoring of privileged conversations. But instead of talking about the technological solutions, the lawyers fly halfway across the world to meet with their clients. In fact, nowhere in the article is encryption even mentioned. Is it possible that lawyers don't even know about PGP?" The New Yorker has a detailed piece centering on the Oregon terrorism case discussed by the Times.
Anonymous Meoward writes "Today Hans Reiser was found guilty of first degree murder in Oakland, California. Quoting Wired: 'In a murder case with no body, no crime scene, no reliable eyewitness and virtually no physical evidence, the prosecution began the trial last November with a daunting task ahead... The turning point in the trial came when Reiser took the stand in his own defense March 3.' Whether he really did it or not, Hans basically just didn't know when to shut up."
Interesting Andy Warhol quote, found on The Happiness Project:
"Actually, I jade very quickly. Once is usually enough. Either once only, or every day. If you do something once it’s exciting, and if you do it every day it’s exciting. But if you do it, say, twice or just almost every day, it’s not good any more.”
The Globe and Mail is reporting that scientists claim to have found a DNA link between the frozen remains of an aboriginal man and 17 living people. "While the work on the human DNA project has opened new doors and work will continue on establishing a fuller family tree, Long Ago Person Found's descendants said they finally have the opportunity to give their ancestor a proper burial. Because his lineage had never been established, no memorial potlatch could be held. Of the 17 people linked through DNA, 15 self-identify with the Wolf Clan, meaning the young man was most likely Wolf as well."
Titus Germanicus writes to tell us that a recent attack has compromised somewhere in the neighborhood of 500,000 pages with a SQL injection attack. The vulnerability seems to be limited to Microsoft's IIS webserver and is easily defeated by the end user with Firefox and "NoScript". "The automated attack takes advantage to the fact that Microsoft's IIS servers allow generic commands that don't require specific table-level arguments. However, the vulnerability is the result of poor data handling by the sites' creators, rather than a specific Microsoft flaw. In other words, there's no patch that's going to fix the issue, the problem is with the developers who failed follow well-established security practices for handling database input. The attack itself injects some malicious JavaScript code into every text field in your database, the Javascript then loads an external script that can compromise a user's PC." Ignoring corporate spin-doctoring there seems to be plenty of blame to go around.
Institute for the Future, the nonprofit thinktank in Palo Alto, California where I'm a research director, has a rare job opening. We're looking for a Collaborative Media Designer and Drupal hacker. This is a great opportunity. Mike Love, who created the position but is leaving for grad school, did amazing work building open source collaborative tools for forecasting. There's room here for someone motivated to design, build, and integrate new blogging platforms, wiki applications, visualization tools, digital video, and online collaboration systems. (Please don't email me directly as I'm not involved in the hiring process.) From the job description:
Looking for the right person with a passion for new technologies and social software. If you are a developer or researcher with an interest in experimenting, designing, developing, and implementing collaborative technology tools—such as open-source online platforms and social software to support dynamic research processes—this is the job for you. If you are a Drupal tinkerer or developer, we’d love to meet you!
Two years ago, Hanson Robotics' incredible Philip K. Dick robot head went missing. David Hanson had left it in the overhead bin on an America West airplane and it hasn't been seen since. Hanson sued the airlines but the case was recently dismissed. The summary judgement is a laff-riot. Here's an excerpt, posted at the Total Dick-Head blog:
Plaintiff David Hanson (“Plaintiff”) has lost his head. More specifically, Plaintiff has lost an artistically and scientifically valuable robotic head modeled after famous science fiction author Philip K. Dick (“Head”). Dick’s well-known body of work has resulted in movies such as Total Recall, Blade Runner, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly, and a large group of admirers has grown following his death in Orange County, California, in 1982. His stories have questioned whether robots can be human (see, e.g., Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)), so it seems appropriate that Plaintiff reincarnated Dick as a robot which included the Head, valued at around $750,000. (Motion 1:9-10.)
Looking for the right person with a passion for new technologies and social software. If you are a developer or researcher with an interest in experimenting, designing, developing, and implementing collaborative technology tools—such as open-source online platforms and social software to support dynamic research processes—this is the job for you. If you are a Drupal tinkerer or developer, we’d love to meet you!
Plaintiff David Hanson (“Plaintiff”) has lost his head. More specifically, Plaintiff has lost an artistically and scientifically valuable robotic head modeled after famous science fiction author Philip K. Dick (“Head”). Dick’s well-known body of work has resulted in movies such as Total Recall, Blade Runner, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly, and a large group of admirers has grown following his death in Orange County, California, in 1982. His stories have questioned whether robots can be human (see, e.g., Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)), so it seems appropriate that Plaintiff reincarnated Dick as a robot which included the Head, valued at around $750,000. (Motion 1:9-10.)
