Global hacker ring exposed — what it means

Boing Boing:

“The CBC’s SearchEngine podcast delved into the GhostNet story that broke yesterday, in which the University of Toronto’s CitizenLab discovered and revealed a spy-ring (apparently of Chinese origin) that was gathering intelligence from sensitive government, military and NGO computers in over 100 countries. CitizenLab’s researchers managed to gain access to the control server for these spy-trojans, and got an unprecedented look at the extent to which these machines were compromised (for example, they saw the spymasters activating the cameras on compromised machines and watching meetings and other sensitive communications).

SearchEngine and CitizenLab went well beyond the news coverage and had a fascinating discussion about what this means: how it signals a turning point in the ongoing militarization of cyberspace, and whether this demands a comparable peace movement for the Internet. It was one of the most fascinating things I’ve heard said about the Net this year, and I think I’ll be listening to it again, just to get a good crack at it.”

Podcast #27: exposing the world’s biggest cyberspy ring

MP3 Link

iBoy: the awesome Game Boy iPhone case

Offworld:

“Lazy web request time: thatgirlssite doesn’t know where the above iPhone case comes from, but it’s out there in the wilds of Japan somewhere, and would go so perfectly with Rob Sheridan’s iGameboy Springboard theme that we need to put our collective heads together to find a source to buy it.”

Cool Iphone Case [thatgirlssite, roundabout via LuciferJackass]

Previously:
iGameboy: Gameboy custom theme for iPhone – Boing Boing Gadgets

Honda’s ASIMO could be thought controlled

I have a feeling the robots are not going to like being thought-controlled…

Engadget:

“Sorry, that’s not actually Dark Helmet, it’s a researcher demonstrating the latest Brain Machine Interface (BMI) cooked up for robotics. While it’s not looking too portable, it’s a far nimbler setup than the original MRI Scanner first concocted by Honda to control robots in near real-time back in 2006. This time, Honda Research Institute in coordination with Advanced Telecommunications Research (ATR) and Shimadzu Corporation have achieved robotic thought control using a sensor cap to measure electrical potential on the scalp and cerebral blood flow. While we’ve seen much of this BMI tech applied to video games in the past, Honda claims its technology achieves the world’s highest accuracy at 90% without special training. Impressive, even though it’s clearly R&D work for now. Check the video after the break.”

[Via Akihabara News]

Continue reading Honda’s ASIMO could be thought controlled in Spaceballs 2

NDA! Laptop Lauren can’t say what she thinks of that $700 HP

Way to ruin something good, Microsoft….

Boing Boing:

“Though I thought Microsoft’s ad featuring Lauren De Long was its best yet, its reality TV scenario set off the internet BS alarms. Seth Weintraub found that the HP laptop she selected is junk with terrible reviews. Even the pretty star, presented as a random consumer given an impromptu shopping challenge, turns out to be a SAG actress doing a standard TV ad: Lauren’s under NDA not to talk about her experience.” [Gizmodo]

Skype Now Available in App Store

iPhone Alley:

“Today Skype, Inc released the official version of Skype for the iPhone. Available for free, Skype for iPhone [App Store] allows users to make voice calls while connected to Wi-Fi as well as send instant messages over the cell network. Similar to the desktop vesion, voice calls to other Skype users are free, although you can make and receive voice calls from landlines if you pay for the necessary services.

Voice calls are supported on the second generation iPod touch (microphone required) and the iPhone.”

Apple used a jailbroken iPhone in one of their patents!

HAHAHAHA….classic!

iPod Touch Fans:

Quote:

Originally Posted by engadget Uh oh Apple — it looks like even your attorneys are dirty, thieving jailbreakers. Tipster a|e§ was poring through that iPhone biometric security patent application we posted earlier and noticed that the images show a jailbroken phone, complete with Installer.app, SMBPrefs, and the iWood Realize theme from the iSpazio repository. We’re guessing the fine folks at Kramer, Levin Naftalis & Frankel are going to have some ’splainin to do on Monday morning — but at least they get to run apps in the background.

[Source]

Crabs Feel Pain and Remember It

Uh oh…let’s hope they never mutate…

Neatorama:

Not so good news for crustacean lovers.  According to a research from Queen’s University Belfast researchers, crabs not only feel pain, but also remember it.  Professor Bob Elwood and Mirjam Appel, whose study was published in the journal Animal Behavior,  used electric shocks on hermit crabs to determine their response to unpleasant external stimuli.

Wires were attached to shells to deliver the small shocks to the abdomen of the some of the crabs within the shells.

The only crabs to get out of their shells were those which had received shocks, indicating that the experience is unpleasant for them. This shows that central neuronal processing occurs rather than the response merely being a reflex.

Crabs that had been shocked but had remained in their shell appeared to remember the experience of the shock because they quickly moved towards the new shell, investigated it briefly and were more likely to change to the new shell compared to those that had not been shocked.

Professor Elwood said: “There has been a long debate about whether crustaceans including crabs, prawns and lobsters feel pain.

“We know from previous research that they can detect harmful stimuli and withdraw from the source of the stimuli but that could be a simple reflex without the inner ‘feeling’ of unpleasantness that we associate with pain.

“This research demonstrates that it is not a simple reflex but that crabs trade-off their need for a quality shell with the need to avoid the harmful stimulus.

“Such trade-offs are seen in vertebrates in which the response to pain is controlled with respect to other requirements.

Link

That Jean-Luc Picard

LOL…

Pirate Bay To Offer VPN For $7 a Month

Slashdot: “Death Metal sends along an Ars Technica piece about The Pirate Bay’s plans for a virtual private network service to help ensure its users’ privacy. “The Pirate Bay is planning to launch a paid VPN service for users looking to cover their tracks when torrenting. The new service will be called IPREDator, named after the Swedish Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED) that will go into effect in April. IPREDator is currently in private beta and is expected to go public next week for €5 per month. … IPREDator’s website says that it won’t store any traffic data, as its entire goal is to help people stay anonymous on the web. Without any data to hand over, copyright owners won’t be able to find individuals to target. … The question remains, however, if any significant portion of The Pirate Bay’s users will decide to fork over 5 per month solely to remain anonymous. It seems more likely that the majority either won’t care, or will simply start looking for lesser-known torrent trackers to use.”

Where The Wild Things Are Trailer

Have to say, this looks like a very cool take on one of my favorite childhood books….

more about "Where The Wild Things Are Trailer", posted with vodpod