$100 Laptop

Working Model of $100 Laptop Steals MITX Spotlight

By Jim Rapoza June 8, 2006 At an event put on to honor the top technology innovations from Massachusetts companies, a technology designed for users far from the halls of MIT and Harvard stole all the thunder. At the MITX (Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange) What’s Next Forum and Technology Awards June 7 in Boston, Nicholas Negroponte, the co-founder of the MIT Media Lab, was inducted into the MITX Innovation Hall of Fame. But Negroponte used his time at the podium to talk about his current job as chairman of the One Laptop per Child association and its goal of putting what is commonly referred to as the $100 laptop into the hands of children in developing countries. Negroponte didn’t just talk about the association and its goals; he also brought the first working model of the $100 laptop. This working model sported many differences from the early prototypes that were seen previously. The biggest change is that the laptop no long features a directly attached crank for powering the laptop in areas without electricity—the crank has now been moved to the power supply. Quanta builds MIT’s $100 laptops. Read more here. Attendees were able to boot the $100 laptop, left on the podium after Negroponte’s speech, with a slimmed-down version of Fedora Linux, and give the system a quick trial run. read the rest here.

Stix

Red Hacker Alliance

The Chinese government has been financing hackers to break into US government and companies computers for years.  They have caused much damage to computers all over the US.  Today at the World Tribune there is a dsome iformation on who is doing the attacks.

‘Red Hackers Alliance’ seen behind attacks on U.S. sites

EAST-ASIA-INTEL.COM

Thursday, April 13, 2006

China’s information warfare expertise comes in part from a group called the “Red Hackers Alliance,” U.S. officials said.

Chinese-origin hackers are responsible for tens of thousands of computer attacks on U.S. government networks, the officials said.

The "Alliance" which identifies itself as “a network security research organization made up of Chinese patriotic hackers,” specializes in network security, “patriotic hacker training,” and software development, according to the group’s Internet site.

Unlike western private groups and networks which spread by word of mouth and clicks of the mouse, the "Alliance" operates like a government- or party-backed organization.

read the rest here.

Special to World Tribune.com

Stix

Good news for all the people pirating movies.

I would never tell anybody to break the law, but this is an amazing development in the technology of tranfering movies over the internet.  I got this from one of my friends on MySpace.com.

Movie downloads in minutes

p2p news / p2pnet: Online movie ‘pirates’ will be delighted by a new technology able to, "shrink a video so small that it becomes easy to distribute films over the Internet," as the Boston Globe describes it.

Euclid Discoveries’ EuclidVision uses "object-based compression" to identify individual objects shown in a video and then, "calculates the optimum level of compression for each of them," says the story.

A full-length movie needing 700 Mb of storage, "when compressed using MPEG-4 would use just 50 megabytes when compressed with EuclidVision".

Fourteen movies could fit on a standard CD and it would take an hour for someone with a 1.5 megabit-per-second broadband connection to download a 700-megabyte file, says the Boston Globe.

"But 50 megabytes would take less than five minutes."

Euclid Discoveries has filed 15 US patents on its compression system and is in discussions with a number of companies to bring it to market, says the story. And that could be good news for Hollywood, "which launched new services last week to sell downloadable copies of recent films. Reducing the size of these downloads could boost Internet movie sales."

Good news?

The Big Six movie studios’ MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) is already bleating endlessly about imaginary losses it says are down to the fact flics appear on the p2p networks, never mentioning that many ‘pirated’ movies show up online through the efforts of Hollywood insiders.

Imagine what’ll happen with mini-movies.

"The current generation of EuclidVision is designed for videoconferencing over telephone lines with limited bandwidth. Euclid Discoveries says its scientists compressed a 25-megabyte conference video to just over 8,000 bytes using MPEG-4, but EuclidVision did four times better, shrinking the file to about 1,800 bytes."

And Euclid Discoveries chief executive Richard Wingard believes the system will work even better with full-length movies.

”We believe that because it’s object based, the longer the video . . . the better we’ll do," the Boston Globe has him saying.

"That’s because the compression system can remember objects that appear frequently in the video, such as an actor’s face, and can store such images in memory after reading them from the disk just once. Thus, many objects need to be recorded just once in the digital file, instead of every time they appear in the film.

Defiitely stay tuned.

Stix

Bulliten

Thanks to Redstate and others for their dedication on getting this bill passed.  They are trying to keep our freedoms on the internet from being regulated.

“Seriously folks – it’s gameday. Get on the horn. ”

Friends,

We’ve been working for a long time on HR 1606 – The Online Freedom of Speech Act. It will come up for a vote on the floor of the House TOMORROW but as you read this – the campaign regulation community is hard at work – working the halls of Congress, lying about not only our bill – but "their" bill as well. And as far as their intentions go – well, I think it’s fair to say that when it comes to THEM bragging about protecting free speech – they are not to be trusted.

Of all the work you’ve done on this issue – no day is more important that today. Start with this list. Call the Republicans that wobbled last time 1606 was on the floor. And don’t stop there.

Here are the relevant points:

• HR 1606 is a simple bill that simply puts into law the existing status quo. It preserves the system under which we operated for the 2004 elections – WHEN THERE WAS NO CORRUPTION OR SCANDAL. It’s supported by bloggers left and right.
• HR 4900 (also known as the CDT proposal) is NOT an acceptable alternative to HR 1606. It’s attractive, and while complicated it has a lot to like – and we can look at it after we pass 1606 – but this is the bottom line: if HR 1606 is not passed TOMORROW, the FEC will issue regulations for politics on the internet.
• The reformers regulators merely want to delay the process while the Commission will be forced to issue regulations.
• This is a TINY, TINY law. It does NOT open up a gaping loophole – and you can support BCRA and still believe that this little tiny section of American politics ought to be free. (don’t trust me – ask FEC Chairman Michael Toner)

Seriously folks – it’s gameday. Get on the horn. If you need the views of a democrat – check Bob Bauer. He’s all over it.

Update [2006-3-15 12:36:51 by krempasky]: – about an hour ago – the Chairman of the FEC announced a one-week pause in the final vote on regulations TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO HR 1606 tomorrow. It couldn’t be more clear: pass HR 1606 or face regulations on the internet. Period.

H/T to Wizbang

Stix

Vista to be released in November

Microsofts new Operating System Vista will be released in November. 

Microsoft Windows Vista

Posted By: Greg Randall(grandall@microsoft.com)
Date: March 13, 2006

This is the year… the year that Microsoft releases the newest version of Windows.  Yes, Vista will be released in November of this year.  So what is so compelling that our customers would want to spend money upgrading to the Vista operating system?  Let’s take a quick look at all that Vista offers a small business.

First, Vista is very easy to navigate and use.
When you start using Windows Vista, you will recognize familiar elements such as the Start menu, which is now faster, more streamlined, and more helpful than in previous versions of Windows. The Start menu features integrated desktop search through a new feature called Quick Search which can help you find and launch almost anything on your PC. Just type in a word, a name, or a phrase, and Quick Search can find the right file for you. But more than that, the new start menu makes it very easy for you to navigate across all of the installed applications on your PC. Eliminating the slow performing, cascading "All Programs" view, the new start menu can help you get something started more quickly than ever.

read the rest here.

Stix

Encryption Virus

Cryzip Trojan Encrypts Files, Demands Ransom By Ryan Naraine March 13, 2006

Virus hunters have discovered a new Trojan that encrypts files on an infected computer and then demands $300 in ransom for a decryption password.

The Trojan, identified as Cryzip, uses a commercial zip library to store the victim’s documents inside a password-protected zip file and leaves step-by-step instructions on how to pay the ransom to retrieve the files.

It is not yet clear how the Trojan is being distributed, but security researchers say it was part of a small e-mail spam run that successfully evaded anti-virus scanners by staying below the radar.

While this type of attack, known as "ransomware," is not entirely new, it points to an increasing level of sophistication among online thieves who use social engineering tactics to trick victims into installing malware, said Shane Coursen, senior technical consultant at Moscow-based anti-virus vendor Kaspersky Lab.

read the rest at Eweek.com.

remember to always keep anti-virus and firewalls up-to-date.  And also never download anything you do not know what it is.

Stix

Cool Desktop background

H/T to The Skipper

This is one of the coolest desktops I have seen in awhile. 

you can got download it here.

Stix

Oil Peak???

Are we going to run out of oil any time soon???  I think not.  But many people do.  Today in TCS Daily there is a good article about oil.  I believe that we are always going to finds new and innovative ways to extract oil from the Earth, and we will not run out of oil for a long time.  I also believe that when we evetually run out of oil, we will already have new technologoes in place to take the place of oil.  Right now we have Nuclear power, and we have cars that run on corn based gas.  So I do not think that all of the doom and gloom will come about because of peak oil as many believe.

Running Out of Oil? History, Technology and Abundance

By Max Schulz : BIO | 13 Mar 2006

Are we running out of oil? That’s what the doomsayers say. We are past our (Hubbert’s) peak and it’s downhill from here. War, famine, pestilence, perhaps even extinction – those are the apocalyptic scenarios posited by folks predicting the oil age is over and the era of stringency is nigh.

Whether we are running out of oil or not, one thing we’re certainly not short of is people who claim that we are. The good news about this bad news is that, historically, the doomsayers have always been wrong.

Almost since the first discoveries of oil in the U.S. in 1859, people have been saying we’re running out. In 1874, the state geologist of the nation’s leading oil producer, Pennsylvania, warned the U.S. had enough oil to last just four years. In 1914, the federal government said we had a ten-year supply. The government announced in 1940 that reserves would be depleted within a decade and a half. The Club of Rome made similar claims in the 1970s. President Carter famously predicted in 1977 that unless we made drastic cuts in our oil consumption, "Within ten years we would not be able to import enough oil — from any country, at any acceptable price." And so it goes today, where a slew of books and Web sites make fantastic claims about dwindling supplies of crude.

read the rest here.

Stix

Cell Phone Trojans

Looks like the hackers have found a way to get to cell phones that are jave enabled.  Do not download anything to your phone unless you know what it is.  Just as with regular internet.  Always have up-to-date anti-virus and firewalls at all times. 

Security Watch: Apple Update Plugs 20 Security Holes Top Threat: RedBrowser Executive Summary Name: J2ME/RedBrowser.a (McAfee) Affects: Mobile phones running Java (J2ME – Java 2 Micro Edition) with MIDP 1.0 API and optional CLDC 1.0 WMA What it does: J2ME/RedBrowser.a is a Trojan horse program for mobile phones running Java 2 Micro Edition. It purports to access WAP Web pages through the SMS system. In fact, what it does is send SMS messages to premium rate numbers, with the charges presumably going to the attacker or some RedBrowser.A may be just a proof of concept and not actually present in the wild. It reached anti-virus companies directly from researchers, not from customer reports. Even if it is not present in the wild, it does represent an advance in social engineering techniques. There is no obvious way for software to determine that premium charges are being incurred. Furthermore, it has only been seen in the Russian language so far. J2ME is popular, but, in fact, only newer J2ME phones are vulnerable. Thanks to F-Secure for determining that support for the newer, optional CLDC 1.0 WMA is required. According to McAfee, the following phones are affected: Nokia 6681 Sony-Ericsson W800i Blackberry 8700c The Trojan arrives as a JAR file named "redbrowser.jar". According to McAfee, the startup page (in Russian) translates to the following: "Carefully read following description of RedBrowser program This program allows viewing WAP pages without GPRS connection. RedBrowser connects to SMS server of your operator (MTS, BEELINE, MEGAFON). Page is loaded by receiving encoded SMS. First 5Mb (650 SMS) of traffic are provided free of charge in test mode. ATTENTION!!! Program RedBrowser works ONLY on above mentioned cellular operators." Before the messages are actually sent, the user is asked to approve the process, but no indication is given that premium charges are being incurred. How to avoid it: Never install unknown and untrusted software. Software with a potentially illegal gimmick, such as RedBrowser, is a favorite technique of malware writers, so avoid it. And run anti-virus software for phones. How to remove it: Anti-virus software can usually disinfect the system with these type of trojans. Some system software, such as the Symbian application manager, can remove it as well. PC Mag Stix

Viruses

From NetworkWorld newsletter.

Today’s roundup of virus alerts:

Trj/Briz.A — A custom virus written for hackers to steal personal data, particularly banking information, from an infected machine. The virus also tries to disable anti-virus applications. (Panda Software)

Troj/Banker-AKW — Another virus targeting banking information. This one is installed as "iewq32.exe" in the Windows System directory. (Sophos)

Troj/Torpig-AI — A Trojan that logs keystrokes, steals e-mail login information and connects with remote machines via HTTP. It drops a number of files in "<Common Files>\Microsoft Shared\Web Folders\", including "ibm00001.exe". (Sophos)

W32/Alcra-E — A virus that spreads through peer-to-peer networks disguised as a Windows Media file. Upon infecting a host, it will display the error message "Message text: Codec Error : 60034 Please Check Codec Exists". It installs a number of files on the infected host, including "\MsMovies\MsMovies.exe" in the Program Files folder. (Sophos)

Troj/Banload-RT — This Trojan is installed as "xsmith.scr" in the Windows System folder and displays the error message "Erro de Leitura do Arquivo.Endereco Invalido fff:0d5f". No word on what malicious purposes it can be used for. (Sophos)

Troj/FeebDl-G and H — An HTML file that can be used to download additional malicious code from remote sites. It installs "userinit.exe" in the Recycled folder. (Sophos)

W32/Tilebot-DL — A Trojan that spreads through network shares by exploiting weak passwords and known Windows vulnerabilities. It places "SAMSvc.exe" in the Windows System folder and communicates with remote sites via HTTP. (Sophos)

Troj/Clagger-H — A new e-mail worm that spreads through a message claiming to be from PayPal and titled "Your Account Temporally Limited". It tries to download "suhoy.exe" to the Windows System folder. (Sophos)

Troj/Spywad-AE — A downloader application that connects with remote servers via HTTP. It drops "winstall.exe" in the root directory. (Sophos)

W32/Maslan-J — Another virus that tries to overwrite a number of file types on the infected host. It’s installed as a randomly named file in the Windows System folder. (Sophos)

Troj/Bancos-PV — A password stealing Trojan that is installed as "sampaerio.exe" in the Windows System directory. No word on how it spreads between machines. (Sophos)

Troj/LdPinch-FC — Another password stealing Trojan. This one gathers data through keystroke logging and the collection of other system information. An attacker can access the captured data through a backdoor. It is installed as "ield.dll" in the Windows System folder. (Sophos)

Stix