Trailrunner7 writes "A new research report says variants of the Sykipot Trojan have been found that can steal Dept. of Defense smartcard credentials. The research, published in a blog post Thursday, is the latest by Alien Vault to look at Sykipot, a Trojan horse program known to be used in targeted attacks against the defense industry. The new variants, which Alien Vault believes have been circulating since March, 2011, have been used in 'dozens of attacks' and contain features that would allow remote attackers to steal smart card credentials and access sensitive information."
wisebabo writes "According to a Caltech news release, 'Astronomers from the California Institute of Technology and the University of Arizona have released the largest data set ever collected that documents the brightening and dimming of stars and other celestial objects—two hundred million in total. The night sky is filled with objects like asteroids that dash across the sky and others—like exploding stars and variable stars-that flash, dim, and brighten. ... Using the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey, a project led by Caltech, the astronomers systematically scanned the heavens for these dynamic objects, producing an unprecedented data set that will allow scientists worldwide to pursue new research.' So, anybody going to write a program looking for artificial sequences? (primes, Fibonacci, integers.) Wouldn't a good way to attract interstellar attention 'cheaply' would be to put up some (very) big solar sails in orbit around a star to modulate (and maybe collect!) its output? With 'micro-transits' being a preferred way to find exoplanets, somebody looking could stumble across this."
mikejuk writes "Every January, it is traditional to compare the state of programming language usage as indicated by the TIOBE index. So what's up and what's down this year? The top language is still Java, but it's slowly falling in the percentages. Objective-C experienced the most growth, followed by C# and C. JavaScript climbed back into the top 10, displacing Ruby. Python and PHP experienced the biggest drops. If you like outside runners, then cheer for Lua and R, which have just entered the top 20. However, I have to wonder why Logo is in the top 20 as well. I know programming education is becoming important, but Logo?"
gManZboy writes "Bill Gates fired off his famous Trustworthy Computing memo to Microsoft employees on Jan. 15, 2002, amid a series of high-profile attacks on Windows computers and browsers in the form of worms and viruses like Code Red and 'Anna Kournikova.' The onslaught forced Gates to declare a security emergency within Microsoft, and halt production while the company's 8,500 software engineers sifted through millions of lines of source code to identify and fix vulnerabilities. The hiatus cost Microsoft $100 million. Today, the stakes are much higher. 'TWC Next' will include a focus on cloud services such as Azure, the company says."
symbolset writes "The trial in which Oracle is suing Google over Android has been put on indefinite hold by the trial judge, until Oracle comes up with a credible methodology for figuring alleged damages. The trial was planned to start on or after March 19."
AuMatar writes "I've been a professional programmer for 10 years. The startup I work for was recently bought, and while I was offered a full-time job, I opted to accept only a six-month contract. At my most recent job, I was lead developer for a platform that shipped tens of millions of units, leading a team that spanned up to three geographical areas I've done everything from maintenance to brand new apps. About the only thing I haven't done is been lead architect on a large system. What else is there to look for in the next job so it won't just feel like the same challenges all over again? I'm not interested in starting my own company, so I'm looking for suggestions assuming I'll be working for someone else."
ananyo writes "Physicians in India have identified a form of incurable tuberculosis there, raising further concerns over increasing drug resistance to the disease (abstract). Although reports call this latest form a 'new entity,' researchers suggest that it is instead another development in a long-standing problem. The discovery makes India the third country in which a completely drug-resistant form of the disease has emerged, following cases documented in Italy in 2007 and Iran in 2009."
An anonymous reader writes "Car manufacturers at CES are showing off their future integration of mobile computing technologies and automobiles. Quoting CNN: 'As digital tech — and our expectations for it — becomes more mobile, carmakers are taking notice. Many automotive designers here seem to have taken inspiration from smartphones, with their promise of being always connected and their vast menu of apps for every purpose. ... Simply point your hand at them, and the icons open to show real-time information: when that bridge over there was built, what band is playing at that nightclub on the left, whether that new café up the street has any tables available. Wave your hand again, and you've made a restaurant reservation. ... All these advancements may make driving more interesting. Or they may spoil one of modern society's last refuges from the hyper-connected digital world. Either way, they are coming soon.'"
New submitter isoloisti writes "Hot on the heels of IBM's 'no more passwords' prediction, Wired has an article about provocative research saying that passwords are here to stay. Researchers from Microsoft and Carleton U. take a harsh view of research on authentication (PDF), saying, 'no progress has been made in the last twenty years.' They dismiss biometrics, PKI, OpenID, and single-signon: 'Not only have proposed alternatives failed, but we have learnt little from the failures.' Because the computer industry so thoroughly wrote off passwords about a decade ago, not enough serious research has gone into improving passwords and understanding how they get compromised in the real world. 'It is time to admit that passwords will be with us for some time, and moreover, that in many instances they are the best-fit among currently known solutions.'"
Hugh Pickens writes "NBC reports that airport travelers left behind $409,085.56 in loose change at security checkpoints in 2010, providing an additional source of funding for the Transportation Security Administration. 'TSA puts (the leftover money) in a jar at the security checkpoint, at the end of each shift they take it, count it, put it in an envelope and send it to the finance office,' says TSA spokesperson Nico Melendez. 'It is amazing. All that change, it all adds up.' Melendez adds that the money goes into the general operating budget for TSA that is typically used for technology, light bulbs or just overall general expenses. Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) has introduced legislation that would direct the TSA to transfer unclaimed money recovered at airport security checkpoints to the United Service Organizations (USO), a private nonprofit that operates centers for the military at 41 U.S. airports. The recovered change is not to be confused with the theft that occurs when TSA agents augment their salary by helping themselves to the contents of passengers' luggage as it passes through security checkpoints. For example in 2009, a half dozen TSA agents at Miami International Airport were charged with grand theft after boosting an iPod, bottles of perfume, cameras, a GPS system, a Coach purse, and a Hewlett Packard Mini Notebook from passengers' luggage as travelers at just this one airport reported as many as 1,500 items stolen, the majority of which were never recovered."
Gimble writes "The BBC reports that UK student Richard O'Dwyer has lost a legal battle to block his extradition to the U.S., where he faces copyright infringement charges for running a file sharing site (ruling). O'Dwyer operated the site 'TV-Shack' from 2007 until 2010, which didn't offer any files itself, but posted links to streams and files hosted elsewhere. O'Dwyer was first arrested in June last year by British police acting on information from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The domestic investigation was subsequently dropped, but Mr. O'Dwyer was re-arrested in May on an extradition warrant to face charges in America."
msmoriarty writes "We knew Windows Server 8 was going to be a departure for Microsoft, including an 'optional' GUI, but in a blog post made earlier this week, the Windows Server team said that working without the GUI will be the 'recommended' method, and is telling developers not to assume a GUI will be present. According to Windows consultant and author Don Jones, this is a big hint to Windows admins that they better get used to not having a GUI in future releases. From the article: 'I'm well aware that many Windows admins out there aren't looking forward to a GUI-less server operating system from Microsoft. ... I'm sure Microsoft has, too.They're proceeding anyway. We have two choices: adapt or die.'"
An anonymous reader sends in an interesting story from Mocality, a company that painstakingly built a business directory in Kenya. When they discovered that somebody was systematically harvesting the contact information they'd collected (and after a few very odd phone calls from confused Kenyan business owners), they set up a sting to see what was really going on. They swapped out the phone numbers listed for a few businesses with phone numbers in their own call centers, and then waited to see who called. Mocality was shocked to discover it was Google Kenya, who falsely claimed a business collaboration with Mocality, and then lied about Mocality's business practices.
The Makerbot Replicator is a personal 3D printer, which can create three-dimensional objects through connecting and layering successive cross sections of material. The new version is bigger, better, and easier to set up than earlier MakerBots. In this video Tim made at CES, MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis shows us how wonderful a device it is, and tells us why every child (and most adults) should have a MakerBot.
snydeq writes "Poorly documented code? Chances are the problem lies not in your programmers, but in your process, writes Fatal Exception's Neil McAllister. 'Unfortunately, too few developers seem to do a good job of documenting their code. Encouraging them to start can be a difficult challenge — but not an impossible one,' McAllister writes, adding that to establish a culture of documentation managers should favor the carrot before the stick. 'Like most people, programmers respond better to incentives than to mandates. Simple praise can go a long way, but managers may find other ways to reward developers. Are your developers occasionally on-call for weekend support duties or late-night update deployments? Consider giving them a break if they volunteer to pick up some extra documentation burden. Of course, financial incentives work, too.'"
Steve Gibson, copyright-troll Righthaven's chief executive, said Friday that he is "fully cooperating" with a Nevada State Bar inquiry into him and two former Righthaven lawyers. The bar, which supervises lawyers, has declined to divulge the allegations. But a Nevada federal judge this summer called Righthaven's litigation efforts "disingenuous, if not outright deceitful."
This guide will help you get set up with everything you need to stay bulletproof ? and provide you with a rebuttal for Apple fanboy smugness.
Scientists in northern Europe are scrambling to learn more about a new virus that causes fetal malformations and stillbirths in cattle, sheep, and goats. For now, they don't have a clue about the virus's origins or why it's suddenly causing an outbreak.
Practicing late into the night, his focus wanes. Things aren't clicking; he decides to pack up his bag. It will be sun-up in four hours. The walk home is always the same. Will he ever make it to the big show? Test his talent against the pros? There are hundreds of others in his neighborhood, thousands in this damn city and millions more across the world. Everyone chasing those three letters. Hard work, and a lot of luck, is his only way out of the ghetto. NBA or IPO? Your chances of getting there are about the same. But we do this for the love of the game. Right?
So Navy personnel don't exactly have the best track record where vices and unseemliness are concerned. Now, the Navy might be looking to change that -- while helping prevent mental health conditions like chronic stress and PTSD at the same time: The Office of Naval Research is asking for ideas that'd "enhance decision-making abilities," "devel[op] small unit leaders," and "improve psychological ... and social resilience skills."
Families should see this movie, not because it's out in 3D, but because it's one of the greatest films of all time.
On this episode of the Game|Life podcast, we continue our discussion of the State of the Game as we enter the futuristic-sounding year 2012. On last week's show, we talked about ... well, we talked about mostly but then we moved on to a discussion of the portable videogaming market and how it will continue to be impacted by and defend itself from mobile games.
Kim Jong Il may be dead, but his legacy in North Korea lives on through the nuclear program he left behind. New satellite images now offer a more detailed view of the work that went into North Korea's nuclear facilities in Kim's final years.
Browser makers have tapped everything from The Beach Boys to Godzilla to name their offerings. If you've ever wondered why Safari is named Safari or what Opera has to do with singers, we've got your answers.
From upside-down geese to dueling sparrows and clumsy beetles, these amateur high-speed videos provide stunning glimpses of animal behaviors usually hidden in a blur of motion.
Flattening budgets could scuttle the Navy's six-year-old plan to boost its combat fleet from today's 285 warships to 313. But don't panic. Far from resulting in a "hollowing" of the Navy, as GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney has claimed, the funding cuts will most likely produce a future Navy that's the same size as today's.
A TSA federal air marshal was arrested in December for allegedly striking a female Occupier, stealing her phone and fleeing. Now the TSA is investigating, but it's still unclear why he was there in the first place.
Rupert Murdoch, one of Twitter?s newest media darlings, has unburdened himself on one of the worst bets of the post dot-com boom: News Corp?s ill-fated purchase of MySpace.
This year, the kids don't want tablets to play with. They want toys that play with their tablets.
These battery cases not only boost your iPhone's staying power, but also provide extra protection and some enhanced functionality.
editors volunteer to test Enzyte for you. Results: Pump up the volume with a stiff shot of horny goat weed.
How close to doom did we really come when an asteroid's path seemed to head for Earth in a collision course? Film at 11.
Automakers are racing the put the in automobile as they connect our vehicles to the cloud and increasingly blur the line between cars and consumer electronics.
For the first time, it looks like the U.S. might have a real shot at ending its longest war through negotiating peace with the Taliban. But peace talks might break down before they even get started. The Taliban want five of their fighters freed from Guantanamo Bay -- a move that may be way too controversial for an election year.
The next generation of videogames is finally coming, although it isn't arriving all at once. Instead of mounting a shock-and-awe campaign, next-gen gaming is sneaking up on us. 2012 is likely to see an industry still taking baby steps forward.
Google's daily brainteaser helps hone your search skills.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) said Thursday he is having second thoughts on a major provision of a bill he is sponsoring that would force changes to internet infrastructure to fight online copyright infringement. The legislation under the Protect IP Act mandates that ISPs alter records in the net's system for looking up website names, known as DNS, so that users couldn't navigate to the site.
On Tuesday, Google announced something called Search, plus Your World (SPYW). It marked a startling transformation of the company?s flagship product, Google Search, into an amplifier of social content. Google?s critics?as well as some folks generally well intentioned towards Google?have complained that the social content it amplifies is primarily Google?s own product, Google+. They have a point.
Google's offline Gmail app for Chrome can now store up to a month's worth of email so you can read and reply to email even when there's no internet to be found.
The Defense Department's networks, as currently configured, are "not defensible," according to the general in charge of protecting those networks. And if there's a major electronic attack on this country, there may not be much he and his men can legally do to stop it in advance.