Commerce, Dave's Muse, Information, Media, Microsoft, Operating Systems, Security, Services, Software, Technical

Nokia Announces Linux-based Portable Internet Device

Nokia Announces Linux-based Portable Internet Device Nokia announced that its is developing a portable Internet device based on the open-source Linux operating system. Designed to take advantage of the wide distribution of accessible Wi-Fi networks, the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet features a widescreen display and an on-screen keyboard, a la a PDA on steroids. The device will also be able to connect to Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones as an alternative network connection source.

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Todd Cochrane
Commerce, Crime, Dave's Muse, Fair Use, Information, Politics, Services, Software, Technical

U.S. Homeland Security Shuts Down BitTorrent P2P Site

U.S. Homeland Security Shuts Down BitTorrent P2P Site Ten people suspected of involvement with the EliteTorrents webserver were served warrants by homeland security agents. According to the U.S. government agency, this is the first criminal enforcement action taken against violators of copyright law who use the BitTorrent peer-to-peer (P2P) file swapping software. The operation, codenamed D-elite, targeted administrators and content providers working through the EliteTorrents website.

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Todd Cochrane
1 Comment on U.S. Homeland Security Shuts Down BitTorrent P2P Site
Commerce, Crime, Dave's Muse, Fair Use, Media, Operating Systems, Security, Services, Software, Technical

FTC Kicks Off Operation Spam Zombies

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 35 government partners from more than 20 countries are targeting illegal spammers who take remote control of unwitting users' computers to serve as spam transmission zombies. By hijacking home and business computers, spam can be routed through them, thereby hiding the true source of the spam and making the enforcement of antispam laws more difficult.

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Todd Cochrane
Dave's Muse, Science, Software

Eureka! Hidden Text Revealed by Particle Accelerator

Eureka! Hidden Text Revealed by Particle Accelerator The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center has used a particle accelerator to create a highly-focused X-ray generator that is able to display hidden text that was authored by Archimedes, the Greek mathematician-scientist who was born in Syracuse in 287 BC.

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Todd Cochrane
Commerce, Crime, Dave's Muse, Information, Operating Systems, Security, Software, Technical

Hyper-Threading Vulnerability

Hyper-Threading technology, built into some Intel Pentium 4 central processing unit (CPU) microprocessors can be exploited by crackers and allow access to security keys. A description of the timing attack was presented Friday by a Colin Percival, a computer science researcher, at the BSDCan 2005 conference. Intel's Hyper-Threading (HT) algorithm enables Pentium CPUs to maximize the efficiency of the processing system. According to Intel's website, with HT technology "desktop users can experience greater system responsiveness and performance when multitasking. At home, users can encode audio and video at the same time, or run a virus scan in the background while continuing to play their favorite game. In the office, HT Technology enables IT managers to deploy PC services such as encryption, compression or backup technologies while minimizing the impact on PC user productivity. In addition, multitasking business workers can experience greater system responsiveness, enabling increased productivity. In summary, the Pentium 4 processor supporting HT Technology delivers a new level of performance and PC responsiveness for consumers and business professionals."

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Todd Cochrane