A collection of stories from Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/ Copyright 2006 RoomforMilk.com. RoomforMilk is not affiliated with Slashdot.org. Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:15:30 EDT I have been 'provisioned' at the school where I work to teach a new Computer Science/Programming course. I'm supposed to be teaching everything from the very-very basics (i.e. where that myspace thing is in your computer monitor, and how it knows who your friends are) to the easy-advanced (i.e. PHP classes and Python/Google App Engine). I'm an experienced programmer, but I'm not sure where to start — I could easily assume that my students know something basic they don't. Are there any resources on the internet that could help me find a solid curriculum? What are your suggestions?" I'm sure many of us have gone through intro-level programming courses of some sort; what are some things your teacher or professor did that worked well, and what didn't work at all?Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25441 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/x4LgS2EC0Q8/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:05:00 EDT While the Apple rumours posted yesterday highlight some of the most commonly talked-about opinions, a writer for CNet UK sat down with Mahalo's Jason Calacanis, who told CNet he knew for a fact that Apple is developing fully networked LCD TV sets. As the writer points out, Apple dropped 'Computer' from its company name for a very good reason."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25440 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/00kkyBY3qPc/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:05:08 EDT An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from MarketWatch: "A one-megaton nuclear bomb detonated 250 miles over Kansas could cripple many modern electronic devices and systems in the continental US and take out the power grid for a long time. ... A solar storm similar to the one that occurred in 1859, which shorted out telegraph wires in the United States and Europe, could wreak havoc on electrical systems. Each of the above scenarios can create a powerful electromagnetic pulse that overloads electronic devices and systems. IAN staff and Frostburg State University physics and engineering professor Hilkat Soysal are teaming — through a $165,000 project recently approved by the Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) program — to create renewable energy-powered, electromagnetic pulse (EMP)-protected microgrids that could provide electricity for critical infrastructure facilities in the event of a disaster." Also available are an EMP threat assessment (PDF) written for the US Congress and an estimation of economic impact (PDF).Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25439 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/XIsKNj_3Hmg/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:05:04 EDT Discover Magazine is running a story detailing the search for planets like Earth orbiting other stars. While we've been able to locate a few "super earths" so far, none of them really compare in size or the potential for habitability with our own world. Fortunately, advances in data analysis and new space-based telescopes — such as Kepler, the James Webb Space Telescope, and the already-launched CoRoT (PDF) — have some astronomers predicting we'll find such an exoplanet by 2010, and a habitable one by 2012. Earth-based telescopes are also in the hunt, though the article notes, "even if a habitable Earth-like world is found first from the ground, it will most likely take a space observatory to search for the chemical signals that tell us what we really want to know: Is anything living out there? If the planet is one that can be observed transiting, it just might be possible to provide a hint of an answer in the next few years."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25438 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/9IwoFctnkqY/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:05:02 EDT With the news that Apple will be releasing new MacBook products on October 14th, speculation has begun on what exactly those new products will be. Tips of a manufacturing process involving lasers and a single 'brick' of aluminum are catching on, as is the idea of a sub-$1000 netbook-type device. More interesting might be the persistent rumors of an NVIDIA chipset adoption that would drastically increase gaming ability, allow MacBooks to improve their support for OpenCL and take advantage of the new Adobe CS4 software with GPU acceleration. Will NVIDIA's ailing chipset business get a shot in the arm next week?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25437 http://rss.slashdot.org:80/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/Nus83C40pBA/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:05:23 EDT Slashdot has one of the best discussion systems there is. It's grown and adapted over the years to meet various challenges and suit the needs of our users. A lot of time and effort has gone into it and we are always open to user input to help make it better. Some of our best ideas start as user suggestions and we appreciate the feedback. Of course they can't all be gems and sometimes the suggestions we get are unworkable or just bizarre. Here are a few of my favorite unhelpful, helpful suggestions.Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25436 http://rss.slashdot.org:80/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/FsKoMhXcDRY/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:05:22 EDT Engineers working on Windows 7 have admitted Vista's User Account Control was too intrusive, and are promising to tone it down in the forthcoming Windows 7. 'We've heard loud and clear that you are frustrated,' says Microsoft engineer Ben Fathi. 'You find the prompts too frequent, annoying, and confusing. We still want to provide you control over what changes can happen to your system, but we want to provide you a better overall experience.' According to Fathi, when Vista first launched, 775,312 unique applications were producing prompts — so some may be annoyed that it won't be scrapped entirely, but at least Microsoft is listening. The comments echo those of Steve Ballmer, who admitted at a conference in London that 'the biggest trade-off we made was sacrificing security for compatibility. I'm not sure the end-users really appreciated that trade-off.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25435 http://rss.slashdot.org:80/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/deW9k_D0n2o/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:05:21 EDT If you're going to market your expertise by inviting 1,200 IT professionals to a seminar about securing data and protecting personal information, it's probably a good idea to protect the personal information of those you invite. On Tuesday, Verizon forgot that advice and blasted each of the 1,200 email addresses to everyone on the list ... and they did it 17 times."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25434 http://rss.slashdot.org:80/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/Q9iPbegsAz0/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:05:20 EDT It appears that Verizon is going to start double-dipping by charging both consumers AND content providers for SMS text messages. Verizon has informed content partners that it will levy a $.03 charge for messages sent to customers, effective November 1. From RCRWireless: 'Countless companies could be affected by the new fee, from players in the booming SMS-search space (4INFO, Google Inc. and ChaCha) to media companies (CNN, ESPN and local outlets) to mobile-couponing startups (Cellfire) to banks and other institutions that use mobile as an extension of customer services.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25433 http://rss.slashdot.org:80/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/m2EsxQ7LwLs/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:05:18 EDT Blizzcon is officially underway today, starting with a presentation showcasing the Worldwide Invitational tournament held earlier this year. A company spokesman went on to talk about the tournaments being held for World of Warcraft 3v3 Arena, Warcraft 3, and Starcraft 2, followed by word that Starcraft 2 was not yet ready for beta, but that Blizzcon attendees would be included in the first round of testers when the beta program starts. The big news of the presentation, though, was the unveiling of the Wizard class — the third such class to be announced, along with the previously mentioned Barbarian and Witch Doctor. Read on for some more details.Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25432 http://rss.slashdot.org:80/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/q68Rr6hqFYM/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:05:17 EDT Scientists at the University of Dayton have created a peel-on, peel-off glue which mimics the wall-climbing abilities of Spiderman. The substance, based on the feet of the Gecko lizard, is three times stickier than existing adhesives. The material is so strong that a 4×4mm pad would be enough to hold a 1.5kg object such as hardback book. However, it's likely too expensive for consumer use: one British scientist calculates that a single Post-it note using the glue would cost around a thousand dollars." We've mentioned the possibilities of synthetic gecko technology several times before, including as applied in this wall-climbing robot; commercial applications have seemed just around the corner for a while now.Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25431 http://rss.slashdot.org:80/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/9EVVvZ9QTZ0/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:05:15 EDT The university I attend is currently looking to change the way in which is provides its students with an email service. In the past they used a legacy mail system which can no longer fit their needs. A committee has narrowed the possibilities down to three vendors: Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo. Representatives from these three vendors will be coming to our college and giving a presentation on the advantages of their systems. We're looking at other services these companies provide such as calendaring and integration with existing software that our university runs. What questions would Slashdot readers ask during these Q&A sessions? Which of these three companies would you recommend? Why? What advantages would each have that college-level students would take advantage of? What other aspects should we consider when making our decision?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25430 http://rss.slashdot.org:80/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/SMM8kaYXWiM/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:05:13 EDT I'd like to file a bug report on the US educational system. The New York Times reports on a recent study that shows the US fails to encourage academic talent as a culture.'"There is something about the culture in American society today which doesn't really seem to encourage men or women in mathematics," said Michael Sipser, the head of M.I.T.'s math department. "Sports achievement gets lots of coverage in the media. Academic achievement gets almost none."' While we've suspected that the US might be falling behind academically, this study shows that it is actually due to cultural factors that are devaluing the success of our students. I suspect there's a flaw in the US cultural system that prevents achievement on the academic front as valuable. Could anyone suggest a patch for this bug or is this cause for a rewrite?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25429 http://rss.slashdot.org:80/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/VJ78KEdyxOU/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:05:12 EDT Justin Voskuhl, a Google engineer, in a 2-fold bid to fight boredom and figure out something to cover a large barren wall in his living room, one weekend developed a Java program using an annealing algorithm to figure out the best layout and colors of Lego blocks to reproduce a source image exclusively in Lego blocks inside a frame. He plans to release the source code soon. I probably would have just painted the wall ..."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25428 http://rss.slashdot.org:80/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/APnODawr_rk/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:05:11 EDT Sprint's newly launched Xohm service is now offering America's first WiMax network. Computerworld's Brian Nadel went to Baltimore to try it out, and he reports that Xohm delivered data smoothly to a car moving at highway speeds, played YouTube videos flawlessly, and on average, pushed through more than 3Mbit/sec., compared with 1.3 Mbit/sec. for the AT&T network Brian used as a comparison. But right now, coverage is only planned in a few US cities; if Sprint isn't able to ramp up its coverage quickly, it may lose its advantage."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25427 http://rss.slashdot.org:80/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/YsaFbvMXj3E/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:05:09 EDT Our wonderful government here in the UK has decided we're not being surveilled enough, and agreed to spend £12 billion on a programme to monitor every Briton's phone calls, e-mails, and internet usage. According to various sources, upwards of £1 billion has already been spent on the uber-database. Rationale? Terrorism, of course (no prizes for guessing). Needless to say, not everyone is as happy as Larry over this: Michael Parker pointed out how us Brits are being 'stalked.' I'm just looking forward to when the data gets lost."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25426 http://rss.slashdot.org:80/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/AbDhRO38SWc/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:05:07 EDT Seems like nobody can keep their data under wraps these days. On the heels of the World Bank piece about massive penetrations of their servers, the British Ministry of Defense has lost a hard drive with the personal details of 100,000 serving personnel in the British armed forces, and perhaps another 600,000 applicants. This comes on the heels of the MoD losing 658 of its laptops over the past four years and 26 flash drives holding confidential information. Apparently the MoD outsources this stuff to EDS, which is under fire for not being able to confirm that the data was or was not encrypted."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25425 http://rss.slashdot.org:80/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/EfROrIrKH7M/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:05:06 EDT While the Apple rumours posted yesterday highlight some of the most commonly talked-about opinions, a writer for CNet UK sat down with Mahalo's Jason Calacanis, who told CNet he knew for a fact that Apple is developing fully networked LCD TV sets. As the writer points out, Apple dropped 'Computer' from its company name for a very good reason."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25424 http://rss.slashdot.org:80/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/00kkyBY3qPc/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:05:05 EDT An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from MarketWatch: "A one-megaton nuclear bomb detonated 250 miles over Kansas could cripple many modern electronic devices and systems in the continental US and take out the power grid for a long time. ... A solar storm similar to the one that occurred in 1859, which shorted out telegraph wires in the United States and Europe, could wreak havoc on electrical systems. Each of the above scenarios can create a powerful electromagnetic pulse that overloads electronic devices and systems. IAN staff and Frostburg State University physics and engineering professor Hilkat Soysal are teaming — through a $165,000 project recently approved by the Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) program — to create renewable energy-powered, electromagnetic pulse (EMP)-protected microgrids that could provide electricity for critical infrastructure facilities in the event of a disaster." Also available are an EMP threat assessment (PDF) written for the US Congress and an estimation of economic impact (PDF).Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25423 http://rss.slashdot.org:80/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/XIsKNj_3Hmg/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:05:01 EDT Seems like nobody can keep their data under wraps these days. On the heels of the World Bank piece about massive penetrations of their servers, the British Ministry of Defense has lost a hard drive with the personal details of 100,000 serving personnel in the British armed forces, and perhaps another 600,000 applicants. This comes on the heels of the MoD losing 658 of its laptops over the past four years and 26 flash drives holding confidential information. Apparently the MoD outsources this stuff to EDS, which is under fire for not being able to confirm that the data was or was not encrypted."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25422 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/EfROrIrKH7M/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 06:05:00 EDT Our wonderful government here in the UK has decided we're not being surveilled enough, and agreed to spend £12 billion on a programme to monitor every Briton's phone calls, e-mails, and internet usage. According to various sources, upwards of £1 billion has already been spent on the uber-database. Rationale? Terrorism, of course (no prizes for guessing). Needless to say, not everyone is as happy as Larry over this: Michael Parker pointed out how us Brits are being 'stalked.' I'm just looking forward to when the data gets lost."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25421 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/AbDhRO38SWc/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:05:01 EDT Sprint's newly launched Xohm service is now offering America's first WiMax network. Computerworld's Brian Nadel went to Baltimore to try it out, and he reports that Xohm delivered data smoothly to a car moving at highway speeds, played YouTube videos flawlessly, and on average, pushed through more than 3Mbit/sec., compared with 1.3 Mbit/sec. for the AT&T network Brian used as a comparison. But right now, coverage is only planned in a few U.S. cities; if Sprint isn't able to ramp up its coverage quickly, it may lose its advantage."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25420 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/YsaFbvMXj3E/article.pl Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:05:01 EDT Justin Voskuhl, a Google engineer, in a 2-fold bid to fight boredom and figure out something to cover a large barren wall in his living room, one weekend developed a Java program using an annealing algorithm to figure out the best layout and colors of Lego blocks to reproduce a source image exclusively in Lego blocks inside a frame. He plans to release the source code soon. I probably would have just painted the wall ..."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25419 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/APnODawr_rk/article.pl Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:05:01 EDT Scientists at the University of Dayton have created a peel-on, peel-off glue which mimics the wall-climbing abilities of Spiderman. The substance, based on the feet of the Gecko lizard, is three times stickier than existing adhesives. The material is so strong that a 4×4mm pad would be enough to hold a 1.5kg object such as hardback book. However, it's likely too expensive for consumer use: one British scientist calculates that a single Post-it note using the glue would cost around a thousand dollars." We've mentioned the possibilities of synthetic gecko technology several times before, including as applied in this wall-climbing robot; commercial applications have seemed just around the corner for a while now.Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25418 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/9EVVvZ9QTZ0/article.pl Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:05:19 EDT The university I attend is currently looking to change the way in which is provides its students with an email service. In the past they used a legacy mail system which can no longer fit their needs. A committee has narrowed the possibilities down to three vendors: Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo. Representatives from these three vendors will be coming to our college and giving a presentation on the advantages of their systems. We're looking at other services these companies provide such as calendaring and integration with existing software that our university runs. What questions would Slashdot readers ask during these Q&A sessions? Which of these three companies would you recommend? Why? What advantages would each have that college-level students would take advantage of? What other aspects should we consider when making our decision?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25417 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/SMM8kaYXWiM/article.pl Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:05:13 EDT I'd like to file a bug report on the US educational system. The New York Times reports on a recent study that shows the US fails to encourage academic talent as a culture.'"There is something about the culture in American society today which doesn't really seem to encourage men or women in mathematics," said Michael Sipser, the head of M.I.T.'s math department. "Sports achievement gets lots of coverage in the media. Academic achievement gets almost none."' While we've suspected that the US might be falling behind academically, this study shows that it is actually due to cultural factors that are devaluing the success of our students. I suspect there's a flaw in the US cultural system that prevents achievement on the academic front as valuable. Could anyone suggest a patch for this bug or is this cause for a rewrite?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25416 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/VJ78KEdyxOU/article.pl Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:05:01 EDT It appears that Verizon is going to start double-dipping by charging both consumers AND content providers for SMS text messages. Verizon has informed content partners that it will levy a $.03 charge for messages sent to customers, effective November 1. From RCRWireless: 'Countless companies could be affected by the new fee, from players in the booming SMS-search space (4INFO, Google Inc. and ChaCha) to media companies (CNN, ESPN and local outlets) to mobile-couponing startups (Cellfire) to banks and other institutions that use mobile as an extension of customer services.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25415 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/m2EsxQ7LwLs/article.pl Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:05:09 EDT Blizzcon is officially underway today, starting with a presentation showcasing the Worldwide Invitational tournament held earlier this year. A company spokesman went on to talk about the tournaments being held for World of Warcraft 3v3 Arena, Warcraft 3, and Starcraft 2, followed by word that Starcraft 2 was not yet ready for beta, but that Blizzcon attendees would be included in the first round of testers when the beta program starts. The big news of the presentation, though, was the unveiling of the Wizard class — the third such class to be announced, along with the previously mentioned Barbarian and Witch Doctor. Read on for some more details.Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25414 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/q68Rr6hqFYM/article.pl Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:05:01 EDT If you're going to market your expertise by inviting 1,200 IT professionals to a seminar about securing data and protecting personal information, it's probably a good idea to protect the personal information of those you invite. On Tuesday, Verizon forgot that advice and blasted each of the 1,200 email addresses to everyone on the list ... and they did it 17 times."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25413 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/Q9iPbegsAz0/article.pl Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:05:01 EDT With the news that Apple will be releasing new MacBook products on October 14th, speculation has begun on what exactly those new products will be. Tips of a manufacturing process involving lasers and a single 'brick' of aluminum are catching on, as is the idea of a sub-$1000 netbook-type device. More interesting might be the persistent rumors of an NVIDIA chipset adoption that would drastically increase gaming ability, allow MacBooks to improve their support for OpenCL and take advantage of the new Adobe CS4 software with GPU acceleration. Will NVIDIA's ailing chipset business get a shot in the arm next week?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25412 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/Nus83C40pBA/article.pl Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:05:11 EDT Slashdot has one of the best discussion systems there is. It's grown and adapted over the years to meet various challenges and suit the needs of our users. A lot of time and effort has gone into it and we are always open to user input to help make it better. Some of our best ideas start as user suggestions and we appreciate the feedback. Of course they can't all be gems and sometimes the suggestions we get are unworkable or just bizarre. Here are a few of my favorite unhelpful, helpful suggestions.Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25411 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/FsKoMhXcDRY/article.pl Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:05:07 EDT Engineers working on Windows 7 have admitted Vista's User Account Control was too intrusive, and are promising to tone it down in the forthcoming Windows 7. 'We've heard loud and clear that you are frustrated,' says Microsoft engineer Ben Fathi. 'You find the prompts too frequent, annoying, and confusing. We still want to provide you control over what changes can happen to your system, but we want to provide you a better overall experience.' According to Fathi, when Vista first launched, 775,312 unique applications were producing prompts — so some may be annoyed that it won't be scrapped entirely, but at least Microsoft is listening. The comments echo those of Steve Ballmer, who admitted at a conference in London that 'the biggest trade-off we made was sacrificing security for compatibility. I'm not sure the end-users really appreciated that trade-off.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25410 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/deW9k_D0n2o/article.pl Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:05:01 EDT Wikimedia, the organization that runs Wikipedia and associated sites, has moved its server infrastructure entirely to Ubuntu 8.04 from a hodge-podge of Ubuntu, Red Hat, and various Fedora versions. 400 servers were involved and the project has been going on for 2 years. (There's also a small amount of OpenSolaris on the backend. All open source!)"Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25409 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/TjWge7QUxYI/article.pl Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:05:14 EDT JagsLive sends in a Fox News report on large-scale and possibly ongoing security breaches at the World Bank. "The World Bank Group's computer network — one of the largest repositories of sensitive data about the economies of every nation — has been raided repeatedly by outsiders for more than a year, FOX News has learned. It is still not known how much information was stolen. But sources inside the bank confirm that servers in the institution's highly-restricted treasury unit were deeply penetrated with spy software last April. Invaders also had full access to the rest of the bank's network for nearly a month in June and July. In total, at least six major intrusions — two of them using the same group of IP addresses originating from China — have been detected at the World Bank since the summer of 2007, with the most recent breach occurring just last month. In a frantic midnight e-mail to colleagues, the bank's senior technology manager referred to the situation as an 'unprecedented crisis.' In fact, it may be the worst security breach ever at a global financial institution. And it has left bank officials scrambling to try to understand the nature of the year-long cyber-assault, while also trying to keep the news from leaking to the public."Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25408 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/APQwu3yv2QA/article.pl Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:05:02 EDT Barence sends word of research out of Carnegie Mellon University calling for changes in the way Web sites present privacy policies. The researchers, one of whom is an EFF board member, calculated how long it would take the average user to read through the privacy policies of the sites visited in a year. The answer: 200 hours, at a hypothetical cost to the US economy of $365 billion, more than half the financial bailout package. Every year. The researchers propose that, if the industry can't make privacy policies easier to read or skim, then federal intervention may be needed. This resulted in the predictable cry of outrage from online executives. Here's the study (PDF).Read more of this story at Slashdot. http://www.roomformilk.com/launch/25407 http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/E3weeX1zgzc/article.pl Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:05:01 EDT