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Phishing Up the River
June 11 2007 we’ll know whether or not an AOL phisher will be facing 101 years in prison for his crimes. Jeffrey Brett Goodin, was convicted Friday of operating a sophisticated phishing scheme that involved sending e-mails posing as AOL’s billing department to trick people into giving up their credit card information. He then used the credit card data to make purchases.
The Goodin conviction is the first by a jury under the Can-Spam Act of 2003/ Goodin was convicted on multiple counts in addition to the Can-Spam conviction, including wire fraud, unauthorized use of credit cards, misuse of the AOL trademark and attempted witness harassment, prosecutors said.
Skype Peer2Peer TV
In an anticipated move, the founders of Skype have unveiled a peer-to-peer television service that will be, you heard it here: free.
“Joost” is the official release name, and will be ready to compete with YouTube and IPTV services sometime mid-2007. With Kazaa and Skype already under their belt, Joost could be the hat-trick for controversial yet successful ventures.
Arr! Avast Ye Matey, There be Copyright Free Land Ahoy
One of the world’s most popular websites for finding music, movies and software for illegal download could buy its own “island” in a bid to avoid copyright laws.
The controversial website – http://www.thepiratebay.org – is currently based in Sweden. It was shut down by police in May 2006 but reopened using servers in the Netherlands before returning to Sweden in June 2006.
On Friday, those behind the Pirate Bay established a new website – http://www.buysealand.com. This hosts discussion forums and aims to secure donations in order to buy Sealand, a former British naval platform 10 kilometres from the eastern coast of Britain.
“It’s not only about Pirate Bay, it’s more about having a nation with no copyright laws,” says one of those behind the site, who gave his name only as Peter.
Source: New Scientist Tech
Please forgive my attempt at pirate speak, I’ll leave that for Sept 19 – Talk Like a Pirate Day
Who ya’ gonna call?
Recently, videos popped up on YouTube that appear to show a demo of a Ghostbusters video game. The footage was credited to Zootfly, a developer probably best known for their work on Panzer Elite Action.
Source: Destructoid
US Gaming Console Sales Results
Video game consoles sold well during the holiday season, but the biggest splash wasn’t made by any of the hot new boxes on the market. Sony’s Playstation 2 — an old timer compared to the Xbox 360, Wii and Playstation 3 — outsold all of the competition. Supply glitches affecting the newest consoles and the PS2’s lower price point were likely contributing factors.
Americans bought 1.4 million PlayStation 2s during the period. That was more than the Xbox 360, which sold 1.1 million units; the Nintendo Wii, which sold 604,000; and the PlayStation 3, which sold 491,000.
Source: Linux Insider
Leather Bound Laptop
Asus announces leather-bound W6Fp laptop.
Source: Engadget
Asus may not be ready to provide many specs on its new Lamborghini laptop just yet, but the company’s more than happy to spill the details on another of its latest rock solid, heart touching laptops, the W6Fp. As with its Lambo brethren, the W6Fp comes wrapped in leather for your typing pleasure, along with what look to be nearly desktop-sized keys for some additional comfort. Specs-wise, you’ll get a 13.3-inch WXGA display, a 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo T5600 processor, Intel 945GM Express integrated graphics, 1GB of memory (up to 1.5GB), a 120GB hard drive, DVD super multi drive, and, of course, Windows Vista (Home Premium edition by default). Rounding out the laptop are built in Bluetooth and WiFi, and a battery that’ll give you just 2.7 hours of juice on a charge, although you can nearly double that if you pop in the extra “bulk battery” included with the system. Look for this one to hit Japan at the end of the month for about 249,800 Yen, or just over $2,000.
2Moons Beta
Acclaim Games is pleased to announce the start of Closed Beta testing for 2Moons, a totally brutal Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) that is FREE to download and play on a PC. With the tagline “No mercy for the weak, no pity for the dying, no tears for the slain”, 2Moons was designed exclusively for Adult gamers age 17 and over, featuring extreme fantasy violence, profanity, an epic story, and heart-pumping action.
Since Closed Beta email registration began in August 2006, without any marketing, over 100,000 gamers have already signed up to participate via the official 2Moons website at http://www.2MoonsGame.com.
These Closed Beta testers will be given an exclusive & confidential first look at the game, and are asked to report bugs and issues, and to make suggestions to the development team.
2Moons was designed to be easy for any player to get into and enjoy right away. Featuring elements of traditional role-playing games and arcade-style fighting action, 2Moons will appeal to a broad range of players who seek a thrilling, action-packed gaming experience in an exciting story. The game story is set in an aggressive, dangerous, and visually stunning world and was written by writer Henry Jones.
2Moons Site *note you will be prompted to install something upon visiting this site. Do so at your own risk.
Dodge that Stray Bullet
Stray Bullet Games has begun an exciting new era with the development of a new massively multiplayer online (MMO) game. The new project is based on an original intellectual property conceived in-house, and while the concept phase is ongoing we are actively developing a proof of concept prototype.
With this new project, Stray Bullet is committed to creating a fully-realized, ongoing online conflict that combines furious action with tactical and strategic game play. In the game to come characters, guilds, and global factions will engage in meaningful, exciting, and fun mass combat. To realize this vision the team is drawing upon our experience, the lessons learned developing and supporting Shadowbane, and is looking outside the MMO genre to strategy and tactical games for inspiration.
NeXtBox360
Paul Thurrott’s most recent edition of “Windows Weekly” states that a new Xbox360 is slated for release late 2007 with the ability to use IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) along with a larger hard drive.
But does it make coffee?
Technology & The Return Of Shame
While camera phones and broadband have made busting perverts and criminals a new hobby, there’s also a growing interest in documenting less severe social transgressions, posting them online, and then letting the Internet community heap their righteous scorn upon them. Sites are springing up that focus on busting bad drivers, dog-owners who fail to pick up dog poop, or even obnoxious cellphone users. The new trend represents “a return to shame as a check on social behavior,” according to one academic, who suggests that shame became a less powerful social force as we spent more time isolating ourselves in cars or impersonal cities and suburbs.
The bad drivers, dog poop leavers, and cellphone chatters aren’t amused; one targeted crappy driver — clearly new to this whole Internet thing — complains that “you can just go online and say whatever you want whether it’s factual or not.” Of course the social shame concept only works if people in your community (and the jerk who annoyed you) visit the website in question and care about what you think. Cyber-shame is most effective when you’re part of a social system. For instance it’s successful at Yahoo, where employees post photos of poor campus parking to shame people to action, but less effective in a social vaccuum. Posting pictures of dog poop to a niche blog in the hopes of enacting social justice might make you feel good, but if you really want someone to stop annoying you, you may just have to — god forbid — actually walk up and talk to them.
Via Techdirt
Hybrid Storage Alliance
The Hybrid Storage Alliance exists to promote and educated industry enablers and influencers about the benefits and advantages of Hybrid HDDs.
A new breed of hard disk drives has emerged enabled by dramatic shifts in two industry vectors which intersect in the realm of storage solutions. First, falling unit prices of non-volatile memory (or Flash) has facilitated its usage as a viable storage option while offering intrinsic benefits of faster system and application response time. Secondly, Microsoft’s integration of SuperFetch in Windows Vista enhances user experience when paired with this new type of hard disk drive. Hybrid hard disk drives meld the benefits of Flash technology with the high capacity and cost advantages realized by hard disk drive technology.
Features and benefits include increased power efficiency resulting in extended battery life. Because a hybrid solution will power down the drive spindle motor and operate out of the solid state cache for longer periods of time, the power consumption required by the drive is greatly reduced. O.S. and Applications launch from the solid state flash enabling a very fast system response time for users who don’t like the boot and resume time wait of today’s laptop PCs. Mobility and speed drive the need for a more durable drive and because hybrid drives actually spin down and the mechanical components stop moving, the drive operates at a higher shock tolerance mode.
With industry leaders such as Fujitsu, Hitachi, Samsung, Seagate, Toshiba, and Western Digital involved, this alliance could actually produce something worthwhile!
The Top 100 Science Stories of 2006
Ok I realize this is not technically ‘tech’ but the science of tech is still of interest.
Every year, DISCOVER digs through reams of newspapers and gigabytes of Web sites to find the 100 most important and interesting science stories of the year. Here is the latest installment, chronicling everything from alien planets (#45) to “yeti” crabs (#86).
While I don’t necessarily agree with the number one ranking story’s placement, I will concede there are quite a few amazing stories on that list. We’ve come a long way, baby!
Infinite Memory….Infinite I Say!
USB drives are pretty ambiguous these days and you can get them in some pretty big capacities. In fact, they’re so cheap that you can get a gigabyte of storage for $15, and two for as low as $25. Once you get past the 4 GB mark though, prices sky rocket and the selection becomes pathetic. To solve this, a pretty simple and cool solution was concocted: have thumb drives connect together, forming little snakes of thumb drives. This is definitely one of those “why didn’t I think of that and patent it then sell it for millions†inventions.
The lovely little picture pretty much explains it all. You stick the male connector of one USB drive into the female connector of another, and then the first USB drive has more capacity, that of the newly added one. So, conceivably you could get one uber-geeky USB drive. Maybe a chain of 10 or so 2 GB sticks, of course, it won’t exactly be pocketable anymore, but it’s cool nonetheless. Not to mention, all of them are bright and vibrant colors, the kind of color that make you smile. And, they’re bendable! Colorful + linkable + bendy = awesome.
Via Coolest Gadgets
Sadly, this is just a concept design at this point, but I’m sure it won’t stay a concept for long. Some company will hopefully buy the rights to this idea, and implement it in their next line of USB drives
Vulnerability Challenge
Both Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft Windows dominate their respective markets, and it is not surprising that the decision to update to the current release of Internet Explorer 7.0 and/or Windows Vista is fraught with uncertainty. Primary in the minds of IT security professionals is the question of vulnerabilities that may be present in these two groundbreaking products.
To help assuage this uncertainty, iDefense Labs is pleased to announce the Q1, 2007 quarterly challenge. iDefense will pay $8,000 for each submitted vulnerability that allows an attacker to remotely exploit and execute arbitrary code on either of these two products. Only the first submission for a given vulnerability will qualify for the award, and iDefense will award no more than six payments of $8,000. If more than six submissions qualify, the earliest six submissions (based on submission date and time) will receive the award. The iDefense Team at VeriSign will be responsible for making the final determination of whether or not a submission qualifies for the award.
National Conference for Media Reform
The National Conference for Media Reform is for anyone who is concerned about the state of our media and committed to working for change. This energizing weekend presents ideas and strategies for winning the fight for better media and connects
you with thousands of media reformers from across the nation.
The conference kicks off on Friday, January 12, 2007 in Memphis, Tennessee. You can register on-site in Memphis at the Cook Convention Center, Ballroom Level, Thursday 5 to 8 p.m. and all day Friday and Saturday.
If you can’t make it to Memphis, stay tuned to this site for live video streams of the plenaries and keynote session as well as the Friday night concert and rally.
Shatner Leaks Trek XI Details
William Shatner revealed to SCI FI Wire that the upcoming 11th Star Trek movie will indeed, as rumored, deal with the early years of Capt. James T. Kirk and Spock—and that he will definitely appear in the movie if director J.J. Abrams can find a place to use him. Shatner, who originated the role of Kirk in the original Trek series and several subsequent films, said in an interview that he was invited to meet with Abrams (Mission: Impossible III), who is also co-writing the movie.
Sony Takes Bow For Technology Emmy It Didn’t Win
Earlier this week Sony proudly announced that the company had won a Technology and Engineering Emmy Award for their motion sensitive SIXAXIS PS3 wireless game controller. Gamers were dumbfounded, since it’s the Nintendo Wii controller that first made strides in innovative motion sensitivity, and it’s debated that the SIXAXIS’s less sexy motion sensitivity was included as a late development cycle rush job in response (at the cost of force-feedback).
Someone decided to ask the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences what the hell was going on, and apparently Sony won no such honor. The award Sony received was actually for their dual shock analog controller, released years ago. Sony took most of today to address the award hallucination as people debated whether the company was just confused, or was intentionally misleading the public in order to re-inflate what has been a difficult launch cycle for their PS3 game system. Ultimately the company issued a brief statement that blamed the mixup on “miscommunication between the two organizations.”
Via Techdirt
WinExpose Discontinued
MatÃas aka matonga the developer of WinExpose has announced on the AquaSoft forums that he will discontinue developing WinExposé. However, he will soon publish the latest version, plus the source code, probably under the GPL.
WinExposé is a clone of Mac OS X’s Exposé, but for Microsoft Windows. You can view this extremely useful app at the WinExposé site.
Congress Revisits Net Neutrality
The 110th Congress tipped its hand late Tuesday as to which way it is leaning with the reintroduction of a bill that would bar telecommunications carriers from charging commercial tolls on the Internet, in effect making Net neutrality the law in the United States.
It will be the second go-around for the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2007, which was introduced in bipartisan fashion by Senators Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), among others.
The bill, which was introduced in committee in May last year, will reignite last year’s very divisive Net neutrality debate, but this time supporters of the bill believe they have the upper hand since this Congress, unlike the last one, is controlled by Democrats.
The bill also follows another Internet-related bill introduced Monday in the House of Representatives by Chris Smith (R-New Jersey). The legislation reignites a debate that started last year. It blocks U.S. companies from cooperating with repressive regimes.
Rapid Prototyping at Home
New Scientist Tech tells us that a cheap self-assembly device capable of fabricating 3D objects has been developed by US researchers. They hope the machine could kick start a revolution in home fabrication – or “rapid prototyping” – just as early computer kits sparked an explosion in home computing.
Rapid prototyping machines are already used by designers, engineers and scientists to create one-off mechanical parts and models. These create objects by depositing layer upon layer of liquid or powdered material.
These machines typically cost from $20,000 to $1.5 million, says Hod Lipson from Cornell University, US, who launched the Fab@Home project with PhD student Evan Malone in October 2006.
The standard version of their Freeform fabricator – or “fabber” – is about the size of a microwave oven and can be assembled for around $2400 (£1200). It can generate 3D objects from plastic and various other materials. Full documentation on how to build and operate the machine, along with all the software required, are available on the Fab@Home website, and all designs, documents and software have been released for free.
Google Earth 4 – What’s New?
Google Earth is now on its fourth incarnation. Seeing 3D terrain and buildings is one of the coolest features of Google Earth. They’ve added higher-quality terrain data for many mountainous regions, as well as support for “textured” 3D buildings–meaning bricks look like real bricks, glass looks like real glass, and overall, the world looks more like the real world. It’s just one more step on the path of creating a life-like 3D model of the whole planet.
Taking Real Cash Game Economy to the Next Level
Project Entropia Universe offers virtual entrepreneurs the opportunity to become real bankers in cyberspace.
Five virtual banking licenses are to be auctioned off in the Entropia Universe. These two-year exclusive licenses will integrate real world banking systems into the virtual Entropia Universe and will be open for bids from mid January, 2007.
Apple Announces iPhone, Apple TV at MacWorld
Apple announced today the device the world was waiting for: the iPhone. The iPhone is a phone/iPod/Blackberry all-in-one set for store shelves this June. The iPhone will come in two flavors: a 4Gb ($499) and a 8Gb ($599) version both with 2-year contracts from Cingular.
Steve didn’t stop there, he also premiered Apple TV, which he displayed briefly at the Showtime event in September:
It’s real folks: we got 802.11 b/g AND 802.11n, USB 2.0, Ethernet, WiFi, HDMI, bunch of standard outs, plus a 40GB hard drive — all powered by an Intel CPU.
To Boldly Go….
The Vanishing Point is a puzzle challenge spanning the globe with prizes that take you beyond it, including a trip to see the ultimate vista.
Each week, twelve puzzles are posted along with footage of spectacular real world events around the globe. Every puzzle has a piece hidden in a live event. You have to find puzzle pieces disguised in the real world to complete each challenge.
Why? you ask? The Grand Prize is a TRIP TO SPACE….how can you possible not want to go there!?!
Nanoscopic Coax
When I first saw this statement: “The trick is to shrink a coaxial cable by a factor of 10,000 so the diameter is smaller than the wavelength of visible light.” my first thought was, “Oh, is that all?”
Seriously, the article over at New Scientist Tech is certainly interesting with reference to carbon nanotube technology you can assume this isn’t exactly available at your tech store today, but soonâ„¢ !