Didier Stevens recently took a closer look at some Internet Explorer malware that he had uncovered and found that most antivirus products that it was tested against failed to identify the malware through one of the most basic and straight forward obfuscation techniques — the null-byte. With enough null-bytes between each character of code, it is possible to fool all antivirus products (though additional software will trap it), yet Internet Explorer was quite happy to render the code. Both the antivirus / anti-malware companies and Microsoft’s IE team have something to answer for — via Slashdot
Retrodata, a data-recovery company, has just issued a warning for Apple MacBook owners with Seagate hard drives that were manufactured in China and have a firmware version of 7.01. Apparently these have a fatal flow that cause their read/write heads to fail mechanically, scratching up the hard drive surface as pictured and making data unrecoverable (even by professionals such as themselves). If you’ve got a MacBook, you should check to see if your internal drive is a Seagate and back up your data accordingly — via Gizmodo
DirectRevenue/Best Offers, a company notorious for using underhanded tactics to get its spyware on millions of computers, has gone out of business. The company was also known for its use of aggressive pop up ads. Last February the company was fined over a million dollars by the FTC for its shady practices
The BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, is to launch a further 30 channels internationally, as well as a high-definition outlet and an on-demand service in the United States, as part of the next stage of its aggressive expansion plan. The launches, which will be based on four thematic brands — BBC Entertainment, with shows such as Doctor Who; BBC Knowledge, featuring programmes such as Top Gear; BBC Lifestyle, with What Not To Wear; and children’s outlet CBeebies, featuring the Teletubbies — come on top of 21 channels it already plans to launch before the end of this financial year
A new type of carbon fibre, developed at the University of Cambridge, could be woven into super-strong body armour for the military and law enforcement. The researchers say their material is already several times stronger, tougher and stiffer than fibres currently used to make protective armour. The lightweight fibre, made up of millions of tiny carbon nanotubes, is starting to reveal exciting properties
In the wake of the OiNK takedown, many thousands of people started to panic today when they tried to access EZTV and instead got directed to Google. But there is no need to worry, EZTV is alive and well and now available via two new domains — www.eztv.it and www.eztv.nl
Researchers have developed a low-cost, low-power computer memory that could put terabyte-sized thumb drives in consumers’ pockets within a few years. Thanks to a new technique for manipulating charged copper particles at the molecular scale, researchers at Arizona State University say their memory is, bit-for-bit, one-tenth the cost of — and 1,000 times as energy-efficient as — flash memory, the predominant memory technology in iPhones and other mobile devices
The Pirate Bay is currently working on an OiNK replacement in an attempt to bring the hundreds of thousands of music albums back online that disappeared during the raid. The replacement will be released within a week and on the BOiNK.cd
The One Laptop Per Child Project (OLPC) is toying with a novel source of power for its low-cost XO laptops: cows. We plan to drive a dynamo (taken from an old Fiat) through a system of belts and pulleys using cows/cattle,
wrote OLPC’s Arjun Sarwal, in an e-mail dated 21 October and posted to one of the group’s discussion lists. Sarwal and others are now finalising the design of the cow-powered generator
Microsoft has made progress in getting its Windows software to work on a low-cost laptop computer for poor children that currently runs on rival Linux software. The company is now working to adapt a basic version of Windows XP so it is compatible with the nonprofit One Laptop Per Child Foundation’s small green-and-white XO laptop
A paper published in 1955 by Homer Jacobson, a chemistry professor at Brooklyn College. The paper, entitled Information, Reproduction and the Origin of Life
, speculated on the chemical qualities of earth in the Hadean time, billions of years ago when the planet was beginning to cool down to the point where, as Dr Jacobson put it, one could imagine a few hardy compounds could survive
. Nobody paid much attention to the paper at the time, but today it is winning Dr Jacobson acclaim that he does not want — from creationists who cite it as proof that life could not have emerged on earth without divine intervention. So after 52 years, he has retracted the paper. Dr Jacobson’s retraction is in the noblest tradition of science
, Rosalind Reid, editor of American Scientist, wrote in its November-December issue, which has Dr Jacobson’s letter. His letter shows, Ms Reid wrote, the distinction between a scientist who cannot let error stand, no matter the embarrassment of public correction
, and people who cling to dogma
— via Slashdot
Dr Larry Roberts, co-founder of the ARPANET and inventor of packet switching, predicts the Internet is headed for a major crisis. Internet traffic is now growing much more quickly than the rate at which router cost is decreasing, Roberts says. At current growth levels, the cost of deploying Internet capacity to handle new services like social networking, gaming, video, VOIP, and digital entertainment will double every three years, he predicts, creating an economic crisis. Of course, Roberts has an agenda. He’s now CEO of Anagran Inc, which makes a technology called flow-based routing that, Roberts claims, will solve all of the world’s routing problems in one go — via Slashdot
The UK computer agency Becta is advising schools not to sign licensing agreements with Microsoft because of alleged anti-competitive practices. The government agency has complained to the Office of Fair Trading. It says talks with Microsoft have not resolved fundamental concerns
about academic licensing and about Office 2007 and the Vista operating system
MySQL has published their software roadmap out through 2009 and it includes an injection of code from Google. Google remains relatively secretive about how their systems work but they are one of the largest users of MySQL. Earlier this year Google signed a Contributor License Agreement which provides a framework for them to contribute code to MySQL
Some Neanderthals were probably redheads, a DNA study has shown. Writing in Science journal, a team of researchers extracted DNA from remains of two Neanderthals and retrieved part of an important gene called MC1R. In modern people, a change — or mutation — in this gene causes red hair, but, until now, no one knew what hair colour our extinct relatives had. By analysing a version of the gene in Neanderthals, scientists found that they also have sported fiery locks
Microsoft has beat out Google and Yahoo for a 1.6% stake in Facebook. The investment will cost Microsoft $240 million valuing the total site at somewhere around $15 billion
A Melbourne PhD student has developed technology to make broadband internet up to 200 times faster without having to install expensive fibre optic cables. Harnessing the potential power of telephone lines and DSL broadband, the technology will deliver internet speeds up to 250 megabits per second, compared with current typical speeds of between one and 20 megabits per second. Dr John Papandriopoulos, who has patent applications for the technology being processed in the US and Australia, won one of Melbourne University’s top academic prizes yesterday, a Chancellor’s Prize for Excellence in the PhD
Samsung has announced that it has developed the world’s first
64Gb (8GB) NAND flash memory chip
using a 30nm production process, which opens the door for companies to produce memory cards with up to 128GB capacity
US-made censorware is being used to oppress the people in many countries, including Burma. That in itself may not be surprising, but a more interesting point is that according to lawyers it appears to be legal — in spite of all the economic sanctions against the country, and even though people know it will be used to hush up any mention of things like attacks on peaceful protesters — via Slashdot
IBM plans to announce microprocessor chipsets that can wirelessly transmit high-definition video at extremely high speeds. IBM will do this by teaming with MediaTek to launch a joint initiative to develop these ultra fast chipsets. The companies will be developing millimeter wave (mmWave) radio technology — the highest frequency portion of the radio spectrum — 60 gigahertz rather than 2.4 gigahertz — and digital chipsets that enable at least 100 times higher data rates than current Wi-Fi standards — via Slashdot
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