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 eFluxMedia | Google Earth Gets A Makeover eFluxMedia - By Michael Todd Google’s latest release is a new browser plug-in that allows a direct access to the Google Earth program from inside a webpage. Google Pushes to Make Browser Applications More Powerful Google, Reaching Beyond Search, Touts Web Developer Tools |
 KIDK | Space Station inconvenienced as toilet fails VNUNet.com - Nasa has confirmed that the toilet on the International Space Station has failed, leaving astronauts in an urgent need for spare parts. Video: Space Station Toilet Breaks Shuttle's crucial mission: Deliver toilet |
 WBT | Study: US Metropolitan Areas Show Lower Carbon Emission Levels eFluxMedia - By Dee Chisamera Cities are known to be true sources of pollutants, and their residents contribute the most to global warming. However, environmental-oriented policies seem to have had a positive outcome in the West Coast’s metropolitan areas, ... Urban Areas on West Coast Produce Least Emissions Per Capita ... Report ranks metro areas on pollution |
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 FM Tech | Customize the history settings in Firefox and Internet Explorer CNET News.com - Some day browsers will make it easy to retrace our Web steps by providing total recall of every page we've opened. Until then we get the imperfect history features in Internet Explorer and Firefox. Mozilla Shooting for Record Books With Firefox 3 Release Firefox aiming for a Guinness World Record |
 NewsOXY | Apple Cures iCal Ills eWeek - By Brian Prince Apple has patched bugs in its iCal calendar application a week after security researcher disclosed them. Apple released a major security update Wednesday that included a patch for vulnerabilities in its iCal application disclosed last ... Apple releases security update for Mac OS X and OS X Server v. 10.4.11 Apple updates Leopard, issues 68 fixes |
Qualcomm and Adobe Collaborate to Empower Developer Ecosystems ... FOXBusiness - SAN DIEGO, May 28, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ ----Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) and Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq: ADBE) today announced the BREW(R) Mobile Platform with integrated Adobe Flash(R) technology and new platform ... Mobile Content Bits: Brew Gets Flash; Juicecaster Adds Location ... BREW gets a little Flash |
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
 KBCI CBS 2 | Windows 7 demo: all multitouch and no meat Ars Technica - By Peter Bright | Published: May 28, 2008 - 11:02PM CT D6, the sixth annual All Things Digital conference, kicked off yesterday with a session starring Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. Not Quite the End of Gates' Era, but Close Bill Gates: Windows 95 Was 'A High Point' |
 eFluxMedia | Seven Scientists Win First Kavli Prizes New York Times - By DENNIS OVERBYE Seven men - including two from Columbia University - whose work focuses on the large, the far away, the small and the horribly complex will share $3 million as the first winners of a new set of science prizes. Seven scientists win first $1 mln Kavli prizes First Kavli Prize winners in new fields of science announced |
Brevity is the soul of Flip. I've been enjoying the proliferation of short, sweet video clips taken with the ultracompact and low-cost digital camcorder. NYC-based PR terrorist Peter Shankman sneakily turned his Flip on while passing it through the TSA flight screening machine, and the resulting footage is above. Link. It's simple, but I like the sparkly parts where the poor little camera gets nuked. Pre-emptive note to actual nuclear scientists who will correct my semantics in the comments: shut up.
 Canada.com | Monkeys Control a Robot Arm With Their Thoughts New York Times - By BENEDICT CAREY Two monkeys with tiny sensors in their brains have learned to control a mechanical arm with just their thoughts, using it to reach for and grab food and even to adjust for the size and stickiness of morsels when necessary, ... Mind over matter: monkeys control robots with brain power Monkeys' Brains Operate Robotic Arm |
TiVo's triple play: recommendations, rentals, and lawsuits Ars Technica - By Anders Bylund | Published: May 28, 2008 - 08:50PM CT DVR pioneer TiVo is keeping busy these days. There's a new service for automatic show recommendations, downloadable movie rentals from a major motion picture studio, and an update on the Echostar ... TiVo leader predicts profit will be in view TiVo deal will make Disney movies available for rent |
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Aren't fax signatures the weirdest thing? It's trivial to cut and paste -- with real scissors and glue -- anyone's signature onto a document so that it'll look real when faxed. There is so little security in fax signatures that it's mind-boggling that anyone accepts them.
Yet people do, all the time. I've signed book contracts, credit card authorizations, nondisclosure agreements and all sorts of financial documents -- all by fax. I even have a scanned file of my signature on my computer, so I can virtually cut and paste it into documents and fax them directly from my computer without ever having to print them out. What in the world is going on here?
And, more importantly, why are fax signatures still being used after years of experience? Why aren't there many stories of signatures forged through the use of fax machines?
The answer comes from looking at fax signatures not as an isolated security measure, but in the context of the larger system. Fax signatures work because signed faxes exist within a broader communications context.
In a 2003 paper, Economics, Psychology, and Sociology of Security, professor Andrew Odlyzko looks at fax signatures and concludes:
He's right. Thinking back, there really aren't ways in which a criminal could use a forged document sent by fax to defraud me. I suppose an unscrupulous consulting client could forge my signature on an non-disclosure agreement and then sue me, but that hardly seems worth the effort. And if my broker received a fax document from me authorizing a money transfer to a Nigerian bank account, he would certainly call me before completing it.
Credit card signatures aren't verified in person, either -- and I can already buy things over the phone with a credit card -- so there are no new risks there, and Visa knows how to monitor transactions for fraud. Lots of companies accept purchase orders via fax, even for large amounts of stuff, but there's a physical audit trail, and the goods are shipped to a physical address -- probably one the seller has shipped to before. Signatures are kind of a business lubricant: mostly, they help move things along smoothly.
Except when they don't.
On October 30, 2004, Tristian Wilson was released from a Memphis jail on the authority of a forged fax message. It wasn't even a particularly good forgery. It wasn't on the standard letterhead of the West Memphis Police Department. The name of the policeman who signed the fax was misspelled. And the time stamp on the top of the fax clearly showed that it was sent from a local McDonald's.
The success of this hack has nothing to do with the fact that it was sent over by fax. It worked because the jail had lousy verification procedures. They didn't notice any discrepancies in the fax. They didn't notice the phone number from which the fax was sent. They didn't call and verify that it was official. The jail was accustomed to getting release orders via fax, and just acted on this one without thinking. Would it have been any different had the forged release form been sent by mail or courier?
Yes, fax signatures always exist in context, but sometimes they are the linchpin within that context. If you can mimic enough of the context, or if those on the receiving end become complacent, you can get away with mischief.
Arguably, this is part of the security process. Signatures themselves are poorly defined. Sometimes a document is valid even if not signed: A person with both hands in a cast can still buy a house. Sometimes a document is invalid even if signed: The signer might be drunk, or have a gun pointed at his head. Or he might be a minor. Sometimes a valid signature isn't enough; in the United States there is an entire infrastructure of "notary publics" who officially witness signed documents. When I started filing my tax returns electronically, I had to sign a document stating that I wouldn't be signing my income tax documents. And banks don't even bother verifying signatures on checks less than $30,000; it's cheaper to deal with fraud after the fact than prevent it.
Over the course of centuries, business and legal systems have slowly sorted out what types of additional controls are required around signatures, and in which circumstances.
Those same systems will be able to sort out fax signatures, too, but it'll be slow. And that's where there will be potential problems. Already fax is a declining technology. In a few years it'll be largely obsolete, replaced by PDFs sent over e-mail and other forms of electronic documentation. In the past, we've had time to figure out how to deal with new technologies. Now, by the time we institutionalize these measures, the technologies are likely to be obsolete.
What that means is people are likely to treat fax signatures -- or whatever replaces them -- exactly the same way as paper signatures. And sometimes that assumption will get them into trouble.
But it won't cause social havoc. Wilson's story is remarkable mostly because it's so exceptional. And even he was rearrested at his home less than a week later. Fax signatures may be new, but fake signatures have always been a possibility. Our legal and business systems need to deal with the underlying problem -- false authentication -- rather than focus on the technology of the moment. Systems need to defend themselves against the possibility of fake signatures, regardless of how they arrive.
---
Bruce Schneier is Chief Security Technology Officer of BT, and author of Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World.
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"JW Horne," who claims he works for the dealership writing the ads posted to his blog, defending his decision, telling "non-believers" and "plain doubters" that we are "in the minority and as loud as you yell and protest, you will always be in the minority."
But today, Rick Kieffe, owner of Kieffe and Sons Ford in Mojave and Rosamond, publicly apologized for the ad, saying that a) he doesn't actually attend church, and b) he didn't approve the ad.
“It’s just something that went by us,” said Kieffe, who does not attend church but considers himself “a Christian spirit.” “We’re obviously sorry that it offends a given segment who identifies themselves as atheist.”Link to "You Will Always Be in the Minority" post, Link to apology (via Consumerist)
See also: Ford dealership uses bigoted radio ads to sell cars
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
If you only watch one 11-minute YouTube of anime music accompanied by custom Mario levels today, make it this one.
Link
(via Waxy!)
Here's a papercraft steak dinner to download, print out and make. Link
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Recently on Boing Boing Gadgets we saw suits made from recycled bottles; heard that Apple is toying with solar power; and felt the MacBook Air cut to the bone. Rob wondered who would like a text-based portable gaming console; Joel tinkled on Yamaha's Disklavier IV WiFi Piano; and John, when he wasn't microwaving cellphones, pondered the creation of a floating libertarian utopia. As for reviews, there wasn't much to hear from Koss' new Sparkplug headphones.
Last week, we invited Mrs. Buttermer to take her teacher's red pen to the worst "top 10 worst things" Diggbait list of all time. Today, however, all we want to know is this: what the hell is this strange knob that we found in Rob's back yard?Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Breaking up with your wireless provider just got a bit easier -- but as with the termination of any bad relationship, timing is everything.
Following a spate of announcements from Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile earlier this year, AT&T officially began pro-rating its early termination fees on Sunday. According to the company, instead of paying one single flat fee of $175 to jump ship, you'll now be able to shave off $5 from that amount for every month completed of your one- or two-year contract.
"We have not yet provided specifics on our new approach," an AT&T spokesperson said on Tuesday, "but we remain committed to the idea that wireless customers who leave their contract early should not pay a flat early-termination fee."
Unfortunately, this new policy does not extend to those who signed up for a contract prior to May 25, 2008.
So why the sudden change of heart? According to most wireless analysts, this newfound flexibility on the part of AT&T and the rest of the industry is largely the result of a number of pending class action lawsuits, in several states, by customers who claim they were either misled or charged excessive penalty fees.
"If you take a look at what AT&T did, they basically matched Verizon's current policy," says Current Analysis analyst William Ho. "You can argue that this is carriers being proactive against pending legislative penalties and the coming open access environment, but to me, this is really about staying competitive. With everyone else agreeing to pro-rate their termination fees, AT&T didn't want to be seen as the bad guy."
Verizon, which currently faces a $1 billion suit related to its early termination fee policy, is actually in the midst of proposing two separate remedies to the FCC, Congress and various other consumer groups.
The first is similar to what all major U.S. carriers are already planning on doing: pro-rating their ETFs over the course of a given contract. The alternate option would have carriers agreeing not to charge any termination fee during the first month of a contract; after that, all bets would be off.
Theoretically, these half-measures would give carriers some degree of wiggle room when it comes to any pending and future ETF-related lawsuits.
For years, U.S. carriers didn't seem to mind the "bad guy" label and justified early cancellation fees based on the fact that the majority of customers still purchased subsidized handsets.
Many customers rightly assume the cheap phone they get in the deal is a part of entering into a one- or two-year contract with a given carrier, but subsequently forget that breaking that contract can mean parting with a significant chunk of change.
"In essence, it's the carrot-and-stick approach," says Ho, "where the carrot is the subsidy and the stick is the early termination fee."
Things are starting to change, albeit very slowly. Currently, the ongoing ETF legal battles are being waged at the state level, but the FCC announced last week it will be holding its own hearing in mid-June to decide whether the government should in fact take over jurisdiction of the fees -- the theory being that one national policy applicable to all wireless carriers would eliminate much of the confusion and lawsuits.
In the foreseeable future, you can bet on one thing: If there's a contract or a subsidy involved when you sign up with a new carrier, expect to get whacked with some manner of ETF should you decide to walk away early. The only difference is it might not hurt as much as it used to.
Breaking up with your wireless provider just got a bit easier -- but as with the termination of any bad relationship, timing is everything.
Following a spate of announcements from Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile earlier this year, AT&T officially began pro-rating its early termination fees on Sunday. According to the company, instead of paying one single flat fee of $175 to jump ship, you'll now be able to shave off $5 from that amount for every month completed of your one- or two-year contract.
"We have not yet provided specifics on our new approach," an AT&T spokesperson said on Tuesday, "but we remain committed to the idea that wireless customers who leave their contract early should not pay a flat early-termination fee."
Unfortunately, this new policy does not extend to those who signed up for a contract prior to May 25, 2008.
So why the sudden change of heart? According to most wireless analysts, this newfound flexibility on the part of AT&T and the rest of the industry is largely the result of a number of pending class action lawsuits, in several states, by customers who claim they were either misled or charged excessive penalty fees.
"If you take a look at what AT&T did, they basically matched Verizon's current policy," says Current Analysis analyst William Ho. "You can argue that this is carriers being proactive against pending legislative penalties and the coming open access environment, but to me, this is really about staying competitive. With everyone else agreeing to pro-rate their termination fees, AT&T didn't want to be seen as the bad guy."
Verizon, which currently faces a $1 billion suit related to its early termination fee policy, is actually in the midst of proposing two separate remedies to the FCC, Congress and various other consumer groups.
The first is similar to what all major U.S. carriers are already planning on doing: pro-rating their ETFs over the course of a given contract. The alternate option would have carriers agreeing not to charge any termination fee during the first month of a contract; after that, all bets would be off.
Theoretically, these half-measures would give carriers some degree of wiggle room when it comes to any pending and future ETF-related lawsuits.
For years, U.S. carriers didn't seem to mind the "bad guy" label and justified early cancellation fees based on the fact that the majority of customers still purchased subsidized handsets.
Many customers rightly assume the cheap phone they get in the deal is a part of entering into a one- or two-year contract with a given carrier, but subsequently forget that breaking that contract can mean parting with a significant chunk of change.
"In essence, it's the carrot-and-stick approach," says Ho, "where the carrot is the subsidy and the stick is the early termination fee."
Things are starting to change, albeit very slowly. Currently, the ongoing ETF legal battles are being waged at the state level, but the FCC announced last week it will be holding its own hearing in mid-June to decide whether the government should in fact take over jurisdiction of the fees -- the theory being that one national policy applicable to all wireless carriers would eliminate much of the confusion and lawsuits.
In the foreseeable future, you can bet on one thing: If there's a contract or a subsidy involved when you sign up with a new carrier, expect to get whacked with some manner of ETF should you decide to walk away early. The only difference is it might not hurt as much as it used to.
Link to New Scientist article, Link to videoMost people who become paralysed or lose limbs retain the mental dexterity to perform physical actions. And by tapping into a region of the brain responsible for movement – the motor cortex – researchers can decode a person's intentions and translate them into action with a prosthetic.
This had been done mostly with monkeys and in virtual worlds or with simple movements, such as reaching out a hand. But two years ago, an American team hacked into the brain of a patient with no control over his arms to direct a computer cursor and a simple robotic arm.
Schwarz's team extracted even more complicated information from the brains of two rhesus macaques by reading the electrical pulses of about 100 brain cells. Normally, millions of neurons fire when we lift an arm or grab a snack, but the signals from a handful of cells are enough to capture the basics, (neurological engineer Andrew) Schwarz says.
While at the cinema yesterday, I read a notice posted by the box office that Paramount has intentionally silenced bits of the soundtrack of _Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull_ in order to deter and track piracy. The notice acknowledged that the momentary silences were annoying but that it was out of their control. Basically it said, please don't bug the manager if the sound drops out, unless it lasts more than a minute.I searched this morning, but I can't find any mention of this on the web. I was going to snap a picture of the notice to post on my blog, but my cell phone battery had died--and I probably would have been chased off by a security guard.
Blanking out chunks of audio seems a rather crude way of watermarking the film. Once again, it's the paying customers who suffer.
For reference, it was the Regal Cinema at Hacienda Crossing in Dublin, California. I was there to see Speed Racer in IMAX, so I didn't directly witness tampering with Indiana Jones.
The whole idea behind Christian Zionism is to align America with the nation of Israel so as to "hurry God up" in his efforts to bring about Armageddon. As Hagee tells it, only after Israel is involved in a final showdown involving a satanic army (in most interpretations, a force of Arabs led by Russians) will Christ reappear. On that happy day, Hagee and his True Believers will be whisked up to Heaven by God, while the rest of us nonbelievers are left behind on Earth to suck eggs and generally suffer various tortures.Link...
"In the name of Jesus," continued Fortenberry, "I cast out the demon of astrology!"
Coughing and spitting noises. Behind me, a bald white man started to wheeze and gurgle, like he was about to puke. Fortenberry, still reading from his list, pointed at the man. On cue, a pair of life coaches raced over to him and began to minister. One dabbed his forehead with oil and fiercely clutched his cranium; the other held a paper bag in front of his mouth.
"In the name of Jesus Christ," said Fortenberry, more loudly now, "I cast out the demon of lust!"
And the man began power-puking into his paper baggie. I couldn't see if any actual vomitus came out, but he made real hurling and retching noises.
Now the women began to pipe in. On the women's side of the chapel the noises began, and it is not hard to explain what these noises sounded like. If you've ever watched The Houston 560 or any other gangbang porn movie, that's what it sounded like, only the sounds were far more intense.
It was not difficult to figure out where the energy was coming from on that side of the room. Some of the husbands glanced nervously over in the direction of their wives.
"In the name of Jesus Christ, I cast out the demon of cancer!" said Fortenberry.
"Oooh! Unnh! Unnnnnh!" wailed a woman in the front row.
"Bleeech!" puked the bald man behind me.
Within about a minute after that, the whole chapel erupted in pandemonium. About half the men and three-fourths of the women were writhing around and either play-puking or screaming. Not wanting to be a bad sport, I raised my hand for one of the life coaches to see.
"Need . . . a . . . bag," I said as he came over.
He handed me a bag.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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