Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Proposed HTTP Status Code for Censored Websites: 451
June 22nd, 2012Via: Guardian: Ray Bradbury’s fiction looks set to enter the structure of the internet, after a software developer has proposed a new HTTP status code inspired by Fahrenheit 451. Tim Bray, a fan of Bradbury’s writing, is recommending to the Internet Engineering Task Force, which governs such choices, that when access to a website is […]
The Case Against Autonomous Killing Machines
June 22nd, 2012Via: io9: In his conversation with io9, Wallach seemed frustrated that some people see this issue as something that’s too futuristic to care about. “We’re at a potential inflection point in the development of autonomous weaponry,” he said. “That inflection point won’t last for a long period of time, and if we wait too long, […]
Android App Steals Contactless Credit Card Data
June 21st, 2012Via: SC Magazine: A German penetration tester has posted to the Google store an Android application capable of siphoning credit card data from contactless bank cards. The app, dubbed paycardreader, will skim card numbers and expiry dates, along with transactions and merchant IDs, and was successfully tested against a German PayPass Mastercard. Developer Thomas Skora, […]
IDair’s New Fingerprint Reader Captures Prints from 6 Meters Away
June 21st, 2012Via: Huntsville Times: Forget the key card to your office building? Just wave your hand at the door, and you’re in. “You don’t have to stop at a station. Nobody checks your ID. You just walk through,” explains Clemson-educated physicist Joel Burcham of his new Huntsville company called IDair. IDair makes a machine that Burcham […]
Reddit Cofounder Says Site Was Built By Horde of Fake Accounts
June 21st, 2012Have you ever wondered how Reddit’s shit-for-brains Hive Mind formed? Read on. Via: Slashdot: “How, exactly, did Reddit get so big? Well, according to Reddit cofounder Steve Huffman, in the early days the Reddit crew just faked it ’til they made it.’ In a video for Udacity, Huffman describes how the first Redditors populated the […]
‘Checkpoint of the Future’ Takes Shape at Texas Airport
June 21st, 2012Via: USA Today: After checking their luggage, passengers would identify themselves not with driver’s licenses and paper boarding passes, but by scanning fingerprints or irises to prove they have an electronic ticket.
Acxiom Corp
June 21st, 2012Via: The Week: What is Acxiom Corp., and what does it do? The company fits into a category called database marketing. It started in 1969 as an outfit called Demographics Inc., using phone books and other notably low-tech tools, as well as one computer, to amass information on voters and consumers for direct marketing. Almost […]
NSA Claims It Would Violate Americans’ Privacy To Say How Many Of Us It Spied On
June 20th, 2012Via: Network World: How many Americans had their privacy violated via the NSA warrantless wiretap powers granted under the FISA Amendment Act of 2008? The NSA Inspector General said they can’t tell us as that would violate Americans’ privacy.
U.S., Israel Developed Flame Computer Virus
June 20th, 2012Via: Washington Post: The United States and Israel jointly developed a sophisticated computer virus nicknamed Flame that collected intelligence in preparation for cyber-sabotage aimed at slowing Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon, according to Western officials with knowledge of the effort. The massive piece of malware secretly mapped and monitored Iran’s computer networks, sending […]
Fujitsu Cracks ‘Next Generation’ Encryption Standard in 148 Days
June 19th, 2012Via: Tech Week Europe: Fujitsu Laboratories said on Monday it has successfully cracked a next-generation cryptography standard known as pairing-based cryptography, breaking a world record. Fujitsu and its partners, Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) and Kyushu University, took 148.2 days to carry out a cryptanalysis of the 278-digit (923-bit) pairing-based cryptography, […]
