Tuesday, 10. January 2012

Stephen Hawking's New PC


How did you come to be the guy who helps Stephen Hawking? Another engineer who was already working on this project transitioned it over to me back in 2001, and I've been running with it ever since. It's not my full-time job. I'm an application engineer supporting mobile and desktop chipsets.

What technology does Stephen use? The computer is made up of three parts: a Lenovo X220 tablet PC, a custom black box containing various peripherals and the hardware voice itself. The computer features an Intel Core i7 processor along with a forward-facing webcam, which Stephen uses to place phone calls using Skype.

freepress.intel.com

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Punching through The Great Firewall of T-Mobile


T-Mobile UK are moving towards a mobile network which works (technically) in a very similar manner to the Great Firewall of China. I've been using them for mobile Internet access for over a year now, and recently received a second SIM card. When using this new SIM card for Internet access, I've experienced some very odd network traffic.

Both SIM cards are PAYG and both have had their default content block removed. I do not know why they behave differently, but it seems like T-Mobile may be in the middle of rolling out some related changes; There is a quote regarding this from a T-Mobile rep, that I will come to later.

grepular.com

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Snoop Dogg wegen Marihuana verhaftet - trotz Rezept


Texanische Polizisten haben US-Rapper Snoop Dogg (40) am Wochenende vorübergehend festgenommen, weil in seinem Tour-Bus Marihuana gefunden wurde. Der Musiker besitzt eigentlich ein ärztliches Rezept für die medizinische Verwendung.

derstandard.at

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Snoop Dogg ARRESTED FOR WEED


Snoop Dogg isn't the only canine with a nose for weed ... TMZ has learned the rapper was ARRESTED in Texas this weekend after a drug-sniffing dog uncovered marijuana on his tour bus.

Law enforcement sources tell us ... Snoop's tour bus was stopped at a border patrol checkpoint in Sierra Blanca -- a small town in West Texas where Willie Nelson was popped for weed back in 2010.

tmz.com

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Picasso painting stolen from Greek gallery


A Picasso painting, given to the Athens National Gallery by the artist himself, was stolen on Monday along with two other valuable works of art.

Picasso's Woman's Head was given to Greece in 1949 in recognition of the country's resistance to Nazi Germany.

In a statement, police said a Mondrian painting and a sketch by Italian artist Guglielmo Caccia had also been stolen.

bbc.co.uk

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Wulff bricht sein Versprechen


Bundespräsident Christian Wulff kündigte im TV-Interview Transparenz an. Er werde die 400 Fragen und Antworten zu seiner Kredit- und Medienaffäre veröffentlichen, sagte er. Doch jetzt verweigert sein Anwalt laut einem Zeitungsbericht die zugesagte Herausgabe.

Die detaillierten Fragen und Antworten zu den Affären des Bundespräsidenten Christian Wulff bleiben unter Verschluss. Das teilte dessen Anwalt Gernot Lehr dem "Tagesspiegel" mit. "Der im Mandantenauftrag geführte Schriftverkehr zwischen Anwälten und Dritten fällt unter die anwaltliche Verschwiegenheitspflicht", sagte Lehr der Zeitung.

spiegel.de

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US-Großbanken schmieden Allianz gegen Hacker


Amerikas Finanzbranche fürchtet einen Großangriff aus dem Cyberspace. Experten von Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs und Co. fahnden jetzt gemeinsam nach Strategien gegen Hacker. Die Attacken werden für die Geldindustrie zu einer ernsten Bedrohung.

Aktion Aurora war nur der Anfang. Vor gut neun Monaten sollen sich Hacker unter anderem Zugriff zum Computernetzwerk von Morgan Stanley verschafft haben. Sie pflanzten offenbar Schadsoftware in das Netzwerk der Großbank ein, mit deren Hilfe sich geheime Daten und interne Kommunikationen ausspähen lassen. Der Fall birgt Brisanz: Die Bank berät Unternehmen bei milliardenschweren Übernahmen. Verschwiegenheit ist dabei oberste Pflicht.

spiegel.de

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Geeks to Testify (Finally!) About SOPA Blacklisting Implications


Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California), a major opponent of the Stop Online Piracy Act, announced Monday he is bringing in the techies to hold a public hearing highlighting the online security implications of a proposed bill that would force changes to internet infrastructure to fight online copyright infringement.

The announcement came three weeks after a markup of SOPA in the House Judiciary Committee was abruptly postponed amid concerns over its blacklisting element, which lets the attorney general order changes to core internet infrastructure in order to stop copyright infringement.

wired.com

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Iran Mounts New Web Crackdown


Iran is mounting new clampdowns on Internet expression, including rules that will impose layers of surveillance in the country's popular Internet cafes, as Tehran's political establishment comes under increasing strains from economic turmoil and threats of more international sanctions.

In the most sweeping move, Iran issued regulations giving Internet cafes 15 days to install security cameras, start collecting detailed personal information on customers and document users' online footprints.

Until now, Iran's cybercafes have been a youth-culture mainstay of most towns and neighborhoods, used not only by activists but also by other Iranians who believe the security of their home computers is already compromised.

wsj.com

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Carla Bruni accused of giving AIDS charity money to friend


Bruni is an ambassador for the charity and leads the Born HIV Free campaign, launched in 2010 to raise funds to guard mothers and children from AIDS.

On Friday French political magazine Marianne claimed the 44-year-old wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy gave the whopping amount to companies owned by Julien Civange, a 43-year-old music entrepreneur, including nearly 500,000 pounds paid directly to Civange and his four colleagues for publicising the charity.

newstrackindia.com

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Bundespolizei-Beamter überwacht Tochter: Was kann da schiefgehen?


Ein spektakulärer Hackerangriff auf die Bundespolizei geht nach SPIEGEL-Informationen offenbar auf ein kompliziertes Vater-Tochter-Verhältnis zurück. Kölner Fahnder ermitteln gegen einen hohen Beamten der Bundespolizei aus Frankfurt am Main.

spiegel.de netzpolitik.org Die No-Name-Crew im Interview

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Paybacks are hell: Parental spying prompts infiltration of German police system


Der Spiegel published a story in yesterday's edition of their magazine that the hack on the German police surveillance system "Patras" was prompted by a senior officer spying on his daughter's internet activities.

The Patras system is used by the police to track suspects using so-called "silent" SMSs and GPS tracking devices planted on automobiles.

It appears that a senior policeman from Frankfurt am Main installed spyware onto his daughter's computer to keep an eye on her online activities.

nakedsecurity.sophos.com German police GPS hacked after Trojan backfires

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