A little-known capability in Google’s search engine has helped security vendor Websense uncover thousands of malicious Web sites, as well as several legitimate sites that have been hacked. By taking advantage Google’s binary search capability, Websense has created new software tools that can sniff out malware using the popular search engine. Websense researchers Googled for strings that were used in known malware like the Bagel and Mytob worms and have uncovered about 2,000 malicious Web sites over the past month
Researchers at Microsoft this week released a new report and tool aimed at preventing Web spammers from exploiting Internet search engines to drive traffic to spam URLs. The tool, called the Strider Search Defender, identifies spam URLs that are being distributed through social networking, forum and blog-hosting Web sites, and can prevent those URLs from being indexed by search engines, said Yi-Min Wang, group manager of the Cybersecurity and Systems Management Research Group in Microsoft Research
Suspended animation tests have been successfully carried out with pigs. The pig that was the subject of the article was kept in suspended animation for two hours, and Duggan and his team have successfully suspended hundreds of pigs for an hour at a time. It’s still a far cry from a spaceship filled with sleep pods, but would be just the ticket for doctors who need to buy extra time to save lives — via Slashdot
According to the World Conservation Union, the West African black rhinoceros has likely gone extinct and Africa’s northern white rhino could soon follow
People stopping to smell the roses can now take that sweet floral fragrance home with them or even send it to a faraway grandmother thanks to a new gadget in Japan that records and replicates the world’s odours. Creator Takamichi Nakamoto says the technology will have applications in food and fragrance industries where companies want to replicate odours — via Warren Ellis
Australian scientists have found the strongest evidence so far that bacteria play a key role in forming gold grains and nuggets. They have found bacteria that remove gold from the soil and deposit pure grains of it around them
Northrop Grumman forecasting development of a laser shield bubble for airports and other installations in the United States within 18 months. The system will be called Skyguard — a joint venture with Israel and the US Army. It will have the capability to generate a shield five kilometres in radius
The Australian government has announced it wants cross media ownership laws and restrictions on foreign ownership removed by 2007
Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have discovered that under certain conditions, some very common bacteria can form nanowires. These bacteria were able to produce nanowires as small as 10 nanometers in diameter, but which can reach hundreds of microns in length. What is interesting here is that these nanowires are electrically conductive ones. This means that bacteria could be used to build microbial fuel cells or bacteria-powered batteries. As one researcher said, Earth appears to be hard-wired
European regulators have hit Microsoft with a $357.3 million fine, citing the software giant’s continued noncompliance with its landmark 2004 antitrust ruling
The British music industry has stepped up its campaign against illegal file-sharing, demanding that two ISPs suspend 59 accounts it believes are being used to swap copyrighted songs
Vodaphone has quietly disabled the DRM on the mobile episodes of 24 it sells; now those videos can be copied to iPods and PCs — via Boing Boing
Citing irreparable injury to the creative artistic expression in the copyrighted movies
, an appeals judge has ruled that producing, selling or renting edited versions of motion pictures violates US copyright law — via Boing Boing
Microsoft will no longer issue security updates or provide support for Windows 98 and Windows ME, which could lead users to trying alternative operating systems such as Linux. Especially with Microsoft’s plan to release software that turns older PCs into more modern and secure systems, but in the process also makes them less than full-fledged computers
Ah, the delightful, if terrifying Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest is upon us again. This year’s winner, Jim Guigli, cited his sixty submissions to this year’s contest as a constructive outlet for his dementia. Detective Bart Lasiter was in his office studying the light from his one small window falling on his super burrito when the door swung open to reveal a woman whose body said you’ve had your last burrito for a while, whose face said angels did exist, and whose eyes said she could make you dig your own grave and lick the shovel clean
Tony Blair’s flagship identity cards scheme is set to fail and may not be introduced for a generation, according to leaked Whitehall e-mails from the senior officials responsible for the multi-billion-pound project — via Charlie’s Diary
A Swiss scientist says magnets may one day drag genes around the body in a novel form of gene therapy. The magnets would be attracted to iron oxide nanoparticles attached to the genes, a concept that has been tested in sheep
China launched a Web site, www.linese.com, offering free Chinese lessons and materials to promote the study and use of the language abroad
Kyle MacDonald, the guy trying to trade a red paperclip for a house, has succeeded in his quest. His recently traded a KISS Snowglobe in exchange for one afternoon with Alice Cooper. He in turn traded the snowglobe to an enthusiastic snowglobe collector, for a role in a movie. Now, the town of Kipling, Saskatchewan in Canada, located about two hours east of Regina with a population of 1,100, has offered MacDonald a farmhouse in exchange for the role in the movie
Claims that China harvests organs from live Falun Gong prisoners without consent — then destroys their remains — are real, according to a report from a human rights lawyer and a former MP in Canada. The document cites an organ price published online for a transplant centre in Shenyang City, China. Corneas are $30,000 US, kidneys $62,000 US, livers $130,000 US and lungs up to $170,000 US, which would make this a most profitable trade — via Boing Boing
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