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| Posted by l33tdawg on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 12:23 AM (Reads: 205) |
 Source: CNet News
Porn lovers or those who, you know, just read the articles, might want to take notice: a device from Paraben can be plugged into a computer's USB port and detect pornographic images on a hard drive.
The Porn Detection Stick is an interesting--and for some, worrisome--device. A porn investigator can pick up this handy device for about $100, plug it into the USB drive of any Windows-based PC, and run the Porn Detection program.
The software searches the hard drive using "advanced image analyzing algorithms that categorize images as potentially harmful by identifying facial features, flesh tone colors, image backgrounds, body part shapes, and more" to detect all pornographic images on the hard drive. Worse of all for those of us, er, you, who delete those images from the hard drive: Paraben's stick will find those too. [   ] |
IBM closer to chips with frickin' laser beams
Posted by l33tdawg on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 12:23 AM (Reads: 135) |  Source: The Register (UK)
IBM scientists say they're another step closer to creating computer chips circuits that efficiently use frickin' laser beams rather than copper wires to communicate.
On Wednesday, Big Blue's light wrangling boffins unveiled what's called an avalanche photodetector that is capable of receiving optical information pulses at 40Gbps. The device also operates with just a 1.5V voltage power supply, rather than the 20V to 30V power supplies required by existing devices.
Furthermore, the device is made of silicon and germanium. Both materials are already widely used in the production of traditional microprocessors and fabricated using standard processes for chip making. [ ] | |
RealNetworks will stop selling DVD copying product
Posted by l33tdawg on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 12:22 AM (Reads: 121) | | Source: Yahoo! News
RealNetworks Inc. has settled lawsuits with six movie studios that sought to stop it from selling technology that let consumers copy DVDs to their computers.
Under the settlement terms, which were announced Wednesday, RealNetworks can't sell its RealDVD product or other similar technology, the company said.
Walt Disney Co., Sony Corp. and others sued RealNetworks in 2008, arguing RealDVD is an illegal pirating tool that would stop consumers from buying movies on DVD that they could cheaply rent, copy and return. RealNetworks will also withdraw an appeal it filed after a judge barred the company from selling RealDVD in August. [ ] | |
Internet Explorer 8 still not mingling well with 2,000 highly-visited sites
Posted by l33tdawg on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 12:21 AM (Reads: 93) |  Source: The Register (UK)
Microsoft confessed yesterday that over 2,000 well-known websites still remained incompatible with Internet Explorer 8.
The software vendor said that the number had dropped by about 1,000 sites compared with figures Microsoft spat out a year ago when more than 3,000 web portals needed “Compatibility View” support to show up on an IE 8 user’s screen.
When IE 8 landed in March 2009, Microsoft confirmed that the current version of its browser didn’t sit pretty with sites including the BBC, Royal Mail, Apple, PayPal, Amazon and even its own MSN portal. In January last year the company said it would offer its play-nice-with-IE-8 tool to surfers, which provided a list of sites that were not compatible with the browser but that would render automatically, without the need for users to manually switch between the standard-based default mode and the tongue-twisting non-standard compatible option. [ ] | |
Is Novell worth $2 billion?
Posted by l33tdawg on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 12:13 AM (Reads: 118) |  Source: Info World
Novell isn't the IT giant it once was, but the company may be well worth the $2 billion offered in a takeover bid by a New York hedge fund, analysts say. Novell's value is "at least that, and more," says Gartner analyst Earl Perkins.
In a letter sent Tuesday to Novell's board of directors, the hedge fund Elliott Associates said its offer of $5.75 per share represented a premium of 49 percent over Novel's enterprise value, a measure that includes a firm's market capitalization, preferred stock and debt.
It's not likely Elliott Associates wants a long-term involvement in the IT industry, so the company must believe it will eventually see a return of more than $2 billion, possibly by selling off Novell's most valuable assets piece by piece, analysts say. [ ] | |
Intel to Offer Microprocessors with Unlocked Multiplier
Posted by l33tdawg on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 12:12 AM (Reads: 167) |  Source: X-Bit Labs
Intel Corp. plans to release inexpensive central processing units (CPUs) with unlocked multipliers designed for overclockers in an attempt to offer appealing products for enthusiasts, who do not want to spend to much on personal computers.
Historically, neither of the two leading suppliers of central processing units accepter overclocking since this could damage their chips in many cases. However, when both Advanced Micro Devices and Intel started to sell processors designed for extreme performance enthusiasts, they had to admit that such chips are often used at clock-speeds that by far exceed the official ones. As a result, both AMD and Intel have been shipping their chips for overclockers – Extreme Edition, Black Edition, FX-series – with unlocked multiplier for about seven years now. AMD started to offer its Black Edition chips with unlocked multiplier and moderate price back in 2007 and it looks like Intel plant to follow its smaller rival this year. [ ] | |
Microsoft Imposes “Very Specific” Hardware Requirements for Windows Phone 7
Posted by l33tdawg on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 12:09 AM (Reads: 125) |  Source: X-Bit Labs
Microsoft Windows Mobile operating systems have always been compatible with various handsets or personal digital assistants, even with those that did not feature enough performance for them, which essentially ruined user experience. Nevertheless, with Windows Phone 7-series Microsoft Corp. has very strict hardware requirements that will not allow it to run onto older cell phones.
"Because we have very specific requirements for Windows Phone 7 Series the current phones we have right now will not be upgradable,” said Natasha Kwan, general manager for Microsoft’s mobile communications business in the Asia-Pacific region, reports InformationWeek web-site.
In fact, there are three types of form-factors for Windows Phone 7-series operating system-based mobile phones that will feature different hardware. [ ] | |
Twitter Staffer Stops Blogging After Backlash
Posted by l33tdawg on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 12:08 AM (Reads: 127) | | Source: GigaOM
Alex Payne, a Twitter engineer, is shutting down his personal blog after a comment he posted on Twitter became the subject of a TechCrunch blog post and caused a minor firestorm among Twitter application developers and others involved with the company. The comment (which has since been deleted from Payne’s stream) referred to “some nifty site features” that had been implemented on the internal version of the Twitter site. The Twitter engineer said that if users had access to the same features, “you might not want to use third-party clients.”
As the TechCrunch post described, this caused a bit of consternation among developers, some of whom were concerned that Twitter would be implementing features that might compete with third-party Twitter tools such as Tweetdeck, Seesmic, etc. As TechCrunch writer MG Siegler noted in a post on his personal blog about the response to his piece, certain Twitter staffers were unimpressed with the article and expressed their displeasure (via Twitter, of course) over what they seemed to think was an overreaction to Payne’s comment. [ ] | |
Confessions of a Windows 7 pirate
Posted by l33tdawg on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 12:06 AM (Reads: 225) | | Source: ZDnet (Blog)
I’ve been hanging out with a bad crowd lately.
In the interest of research, I’ve been digging into message boards and forums run by unabashed Windows enthusiasts who are intent on breaking Microsoft’s activation technology. I’ve had these forums bookmarked for years and stop in every once in a while just to see what’s new. This time I decided to drop by and actually try some of tools and utilities to see if I could become a pirate, too.
Unfortunately, I succeeded. In this post, I’ll share my experiences, including close encounters with some very nasty malware and some analysis on how the latest showdown between Microsoft and the pirates is likely to play out. [ ] | |
Run a Background Check on Yourself with Free Online Tools
Posted by l33tdawg on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 12:05 AM (Reads: 258) |  Source: Life Hacker
Consumer-advocate blog Consumerist is always looking to help you keep tabs on Big Brother and any of your personal information He's tracking. Toward that end, their comprehensive list of online background-checking tools is worth a look.
Why would you want to run a background check on yourself? We've offered reasons before, but as Consumerist puts it:
Now you can know what Big Brother knows about you and get access to the same dirt everyone from your boss, landlord, insurance agent, to your favorite casino has on you. Here is a comprehensive list of websites and phone numbers for most of the "specialty" consumer reports, like your employment, rental, and check writing history. Be sure to check them out and correct any errors, before a crisis hits. [ ] | |
The science and technology of air traffic control
Posted by l33tdawg on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 12:01 AM (Reads: 115) | | Source: Arstechnica
The typical image people have of air traffic control (ATC) is that of a group of people in an airport tower who coordinate aircraft activity by staring at radar screens that use points of light to represent aircraft. While not fundamentally incorrect, this isn't a fair representation of the extent of ATC operations. This article will flesh out that simplistic image and introduce you to the equipment, technologies, and procedures that go into keeping aircraft and air travelers safe in the air and on the ground.
We'll look at the way air traffic control is organized, and explore the communication technologies that air traffic controllers use to keep in touch with air crew and ground personnel. We'll also look at the radar technologies used to keep track of aircraft, and we'll end with a brief look at some next-generation technologies. [ ] | |
Chinese man held by police over sex video clips
Posted by l33tdawg on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 12:00 AM (Reads: 131) |  Source: East Day (China)
A man has been detained for distributing explicit video clips of one of China's top models by e-mail.
The Miyun County police in Beijing said they found a post on the local section of an online forum, saying the poster would send explicit videos of Shoushou to any one who requested them, Beijing Times reported yesterday.
Police traced the poster to a computer shop and found other pornographic material on Li's hard drive. Li said he put up the post to attract attention and boost his popularity because the video had been crazily popular online. [ ] | |
Internet freedom and security
Posted by l33tdawg on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 12:00 AM (Reads: 86) | | Source: Computer World
It's already been a busy year in the area of Internet freedom and security. First, Google reported that it, along with a bunch of other major companies, had been hacked, and pointed the finger at China.
Then Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton gave a few "Remarks on Internet Freedom" in which she pushed for one Internet, without barriers.
Separately, the Federal Trade Commission notified about 100 companies that some of their secrets had been exposed by employees who were running peer-to-peer software. Finally the Internet security firm NetWitness said that it had figured out that 75,000 computers at 2,500 companies had been compromised with the ZeuS Trojan starting in 2008. [ ] | |
Microsoft open-sources clever U-Prove identity framework
Posted by l33tdawg on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 12:00 AM (Reads: 93) | | Source: Arstechnica
More and more personal, private information is being used and stored online than ever before, and at the same time, attacks on that information are increasing in frequency and sophistication. Phishing is a growth industry—it's very profitable to trick people into handing over names, passwords, credit card numbers, and so on, so that their finances can be pillaged. Important activities like banking and filing tax returns are being performed, and these need strong proof of identity. On the other hand, there's no reason why a storefront like, say, iTunes, needs to know your identity; it only needs to know that the money being handed over is yours to hand over.
Ultimately, we want to be able to securely make transactions without giving third parties the ability to masquerade as us; we want to be able to visit websites and make purchases without those sites being able to track us or combine different pieces of information to draw a more complete picture of us; we want to be able to be able to disclose some information about ourselves, but not everything. The U-Prove framework, released as a CTP today by Microsoft, aims to solve these problems. [ ] | |
McAfee Says Hackers Sought Companies’ ‘Crown Jewels’
Posted by l33tdawg on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 12:00 AM (Reads: 83) |  Source: Business Week
McAfee Inc., exploring the cyber attacks originating from China, discovered at least six incidents in which hackers broke into the computer systems that companies use to house valuable intellectual property.
“We know that these systems were absolutely targeted for the crown jewels of each organization -- potentially representing billions of dollars,” George Kurtz, McAfee’s chief technology officer, said today in an interview from Santa Clara, California. “We want to shed light on a problem that many didn’t realize.”
Many companies hold source codes, product formulas and other kinds of intellectual property in “software configuration management systems,” said McAfee, the second-largest maker of security software. Companies typically set up these systems to support collaboration and version control, and they assume network security will keep their internal systems safe. [ ] | |
Online Password Tips And Tricks
Posted by l33tdawg on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 12:00 AM (Reads: 116) | | Source: Forbes.com
When it comes to being targeted by a hacker, you're more likely to be a fish than a deer.
Unlike in the movies, where cybercriminals are able to pinpoint their victims (deer), real-life bad guys are automating attacks across large pools of people (fish) in hopes of stealing data from a few.
A recent hack on a social-gaming company called RockYou suggests that hackers can be more efficient when they target large groups of people rather than trying to crack one person's password. By casting a wide net, a hacker gained control of over 32 million RockYou user passwords. Security company Imperva, which discovered and announced the security hole in RockYou's database systems, analyzed the stolen passwords and published a paper based on the password data. [ ] | |
Banks Get Double Dose Of 'Black Energy'
Posted by l33tdawg on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 12:00 AM (Reads: 96) | | Source: Forbes.com
Standard operating procedure for the identity theft industry involves performing high-volume fraudulent transactions as quickly and quietly as possible. But now researchers have found evidence of a new hacking group that takes a different approach--one that's less discreet and more destructive.
On Wednesday cybersecurity researchers at Secureworks issued a report describing a new cybercriminal group that aims a one-two punch at banks. First it collects banking customers' passwords using a variation of the so-called Black Energy software, which has infected thousands of computers worldwide to create a "botnet" of hijacked machines. The machines use the collected passwords to move funds into the hackers' accounts, and then typically deletes files from the user's computer to cover its tracks.
But what follows that fraud is an unlikely step: a cyber attack known as a "distributed denial-of-service," using a flood of data requests from the infected computers to take down the company's online banking service. "The same botnet that's being used to steal money from banks is launching these denial-of-service attacks on them," says Secureworks researcher Joe Stewart. "It's all very unusual." [ ] | |
How To Fight The New Cyberspies
Posted by l33tdawg on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 12:00 AM (Reads: 109) | | Source: Forbes.com
Welcome to the third wave of the corporate cyber wars.
At the beginning of the last decade, the "hacker threat" was what cybersecurity researchers now describe as a pimply teenager in his mother's basement whose idea of a master plan was to write his pseudonym across AOL's home page. Then came the second wave of digital miscreants, organized cybercriminal gangs that operated quietly and turned identity theft into a vast criminal conspiracy.
Today the threat to corporate and government data is evolving again, says Ed Skoudis, a researcher with security auditor and post-breach response firm InGuardians. But the new cyberspies aren't netting financial data for high-volume crime. Instead, they're focused on specific files like confidential communications, patents and business strategy documents--and their methods make even organized cybercriminals look like amateurs by comparison. [ ] | |
Dutch Internet wiretaps grow exponentially Posted by l33tdawg on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 12:24 AM (Reads: 137) Source:
The Standard
The Dutch police and intelligence services tapped at least 3350 internet connections in 2009. An increase of 385 percent since 2006.
The number of internet wiretaps by the Dutch government has exploded in recent years, reveals Dutch ict-newssite Webwereld. There is political uproar about the explosive growth of these numbers, which up until now have been secret. Two left-wing political parties demand written explanations of the Ministry of Justice. They fear huge privacy violations, because the wiretaps often encompass relations of suspects, who themselves are not suspected of crime and/or terror. Furthermore, the effectiveness of wiretaps in crime prevention has not been proven.North Korea develops its own OS Posted by l33tdawg on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 12:25 AM (Reads: 337) Source:
The Korea Herald
North Korea's self-developed software operating system named the "Red Star" was brought to light for the first time by a Russian satellite broadcaster yesterday.
North Korea's top IT experts began developing the Red Star in 2006, but its composition and operation mechanisms were unknown until the internet version of the Russia Today-TV featured the system, citing the blog of a Russian student who goes to the Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang.
The Red Star is based on Linux, a free and open software operating system, but looks a lot like the Microsoft Windows on display. It also has a similar user interface. The desktop display of Red Star is almost identical to that of MS Windows.Why web security is best served in the cloud Posted by l33tdawg on Monday, February 22, 2010 - 04:24 AM (Reads: 353) Source:
IT Director
Most business today is conducted electronically, with the internet a prime communications mechanism and resource for finding and sharing information. Yet its importance makes it a prime vector of attack for hackers that are looking to steal information for commercial gain. Because of this, malware threats are actually on the rise after years of tailing off. The 2009 CSI computer crime and security survey recently reported that malware attacks had been experienced by more than 64% of respondents in 2009, up from 50% in 2008, and making this the most prevalent type of attack seen.
Not only are attacks rising in number, but they are also becoming more complex and sophisticated. The number of variants of particular samples of malware is increasing dramatically and hackers are increasingly using blended mechanisms to make their attacks more effective, for example, using a combination of email and web exploits to increase their chances of success.
10 Alternatives To Mininova
Written by TorrentWatcher on November 26, 2009 After nearly five years of loyal service, Mininova disabled access to over a million torrent files when it partly shut down its website. Starting today, only approved publishers are able to upload files to the site, but luckily there are plenty of alternatives and potential replacements BitTorrent users can flock to.
With an impressive 175,820,430 visits and close to a billion page views in the last 30 days, Mininova set a record that they will be unable to break in the near future. Last August a Dutch court ruled that Mininova had to remove all links to ‘infringing’ torrent files, with disastrous consequences.
Since it is technically unfeasible to pre-approve or filter every potentially infringing torrent file, the Mininova team decided to throw in the towel and only allow torrents to be submitted by approved uploaders. This move resulted in the deletion of more than a million torrents, many of which were not infringing any copyrights at all.
Thankfully, there are still plenty of alternatives for those BitTorrent users who are looking for the latest Ubuntu, OpenSUSE or Fedora release.
Below we provide a random list of public torrent sites that are still open, but there are of course hundreds more sites we could have included. If your personal favorite is missing, feel free to post it in the comments below – preferably with your reasons why it should be included in any upcoming lists.
If you’re looking for high speed downloads, you might also want to check out Usenet.
Update: The owner of Monova, told TorrentFreak that he has reserved all Mininova usernames for people who want to make the switch to his site. The account names can be claimed here. Also, we replaced some sites in the original top 10 because they went down or started to serve trojans,or viruses.
Piracy Isn’t Killing The Movie Industry, Greed Is
Written by Ernesto on February 22, 2010 At the box-office the major movie studios are raking in record profits, but their continuing refusal to widely adopt online business opportunities are hindering progress. According to the head of the Blockbuster video chain, the movie industry’s greed is to blame for holding back innovation.
First off, we have to make it clear that the major movie studios are doing great at the box-office, despite movie piracy riding at an all-time high. Other parts of the movie industry, such as video rental outlets, do seem to struggle and they have the studios to thank for this, not piracy.
In January of this year Warner Bros. announced that new DVDs will not be available at online rental outlet Netflix for the first month after they are released in stores. Warner Bros. hoped that this would increase DVD sales. However, the most likely side effect is an increase in piracy and a loss of income to Netflix.
It is a step back in a time where consumers are screaming for on-demand access and the flexibility to choose the option they want for their video consumption. The studios are clearly skeptical of all these ‘new’ technologies and are frantically adding restrictions to maximize their revenues, ignoring all market signals.
The greed of the music studios hasn’t gone unnoticed by Paul Uniacke, head of the Video Ezy and Blockbuster video rental chains. “Studio greed is what’s holding back video-on-demand,” he said in response to the studios demands to pay huge sums of money upfront if they want to offer on-demand streams.
“Movie studios are still as arrogant as the music moguls were before digital downloads and piracy destroyed them. The only thing that’s protecting the movie studios (from more widespread illegal downloading) now is file size,” Uniacke added.
Much like the big music labels, the studios are trying to control how people consume media to an extent where it becomes impossible for innovative retailers to offer a product that can compete with piracy. By this process they are killing their own business and that of many retailers, while blaming piracy for the damages.
Consumers demand convenience, availability and a high quality product for a fair price. Still, the decisions of the music labels and movie studios are mostly heading in the opposite direction as they cling to their old business of trying to safeguard their monopolies.
