Topic: COMPUTER - on August 6, 2007 at 10:50:00 AM CEST
Hacking for hijinks
This is my second Defcon and there are plenty of high jinks but you'd be hard pressed to find any lawlessness. There was the year the ATMs were reprogrammed to display the Defcon logo. And there's always a lot of drinking and stupid network tricks. But nothing that's actually lawless.
I mean, there's nothing actually illegal about reprogramming your car's engine control unit to tell the garage's computerised emissions testing system that your car is well within the limits, is there? A paltry $100 worth of hardware will open your car right up to reprogramming via a USB port on your PC. Give it a power boost, explained Aaron Higbee, by reflashing the car's firmware. ("I recycle, I promise you.") Though, he warned, care is necessary. ("This is your piston. This is your piston on the wrong commit changes.")
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Topic: History - on August 6, 2007 at 10:35:00 AM CEST
Aztec leader's tomb found
Mexican archaeologists using ground-penetrating radar have detected underground chambers they believe contain the remains of Emperor Ahuizotl, who ruled the Aztecs when Columbus landed in the New World. It would be the first tomb of an Aztec ruler ever found.
The find could provide an extraordinary window into Aztec civilization at its apogee. Ahuizotl (ah-WEE-zoh-tuhl), an empire-builder who extended the Aztecs' reach as far as Guatemala, was the last emperor to complete his rule before the Spanish Conquest.
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Topic: WEB - on August 6, 2007 at 10:10:00 AM CEST
The Pirate Bay To Relaunch Suprnova.org
Legendary BitTorrent site Suprnova.org is about to make it's return. The owner of the domain has transferred the domain to The Pirate Bay who will launch the site this week and maintain the original sites design.
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Topic: NEWS english - on August 6, 2007 at 10:06:00 AM CEST
Italian rescue dogs
Scores of specially trained dogs have been deployed as lifeguards on Italy's busiest beaches this summer.
The dogs, mostly of the Newfoundland or Labrador breeds, are trained to jump out of helicopters and boats and swim to the rescue of struggling swimmers.
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Topic: CARS - on August 6, 2007 at 10:05:00 AM CEST
The DeLorean is Coming Back
Deloreans are still quite popular these days, especially considering they were a fairly short-lived and limited brand that went out of production way back in 1982. Of course the movie Back to the Future can claim most of the credit for the cult following the car received, but the gull-wing doors and space-age design is what got it chosen for the movie in the first place. And now the thousands of refurbished and rebuilt DeLoreans on the roads will have to share the street with new models, because the DeLorean is going back into production.
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Topic: MUSIK - on August 6, 2007 at 10:02:00 AM CEST
Nothing compares 2 Prince
You could accuse Prince of many things - hubris, say, or self-indulgence - but you could never accuse him of being stingy. He makes his contemporaries look like pusillanimous amateurs. He gives his albums away with gig tickets or newspapers. His recorded output is practically unquantifiable, given all his aliases, unreleased tracks and bootlegs. On the first night of his run of 21 gigs at London's O2 Arena - from which he has banned all photographers - he clocks on at 8.30pm with the opening guitar notes of his most famous song, 'Purple Rain'. Everyone is instantly putty in his hands. He finally clocks off just before 3am, when he flings the salmon pink jacket he's been waving like a lasso up into the air, crowning a brass instrumental of 'Down by the Riverside'.
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