Free Republic

The prop used by the character Han Solo in the original Star Wars movie was lost for decades. It was recently rediscovered, re-assembled, and sold at auction at Rock Island Auction Company. The price, as bid, was $900,00. With the buyer’s fees, the total amount came to $1,057,500. As one of the auctioneers quipped, that is a record price paid for a blaster!The following video shows the bidding at Rock Island Auction Company. It is fast. It is pricey. It only lasts two minutes and 59 seconds.Interested bidders from all over the world were willing to pay a lot of...

The blaster that helped the Rebel Alliance finally take down the Empire could soon be yours. Han Solo’s DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol from the original Star Wars trilogy will be sold next month by Rock Island Auction Company. The weapon isn’t just a lovingly crafted replica, either. It’s the actual prop that was wielded by Harrison Ford on the set of the original film in the franchise... Here's the auction page: Lot 1247: Documented Mauser Broomhandle “DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol” Prop

CORUSCANT—Emperor Sheev Palpatine has made a new push for blaster control in an effort to bring peace to the galaxy. “We live in a world where the common rogue feels he can just shoot first whenever he feels like it,” Palpatine said in a speech at the former headquarters of the Galactic Senate. “This violence has to end.” Palpatine was also dismissive of the idea that people need blasters in case they have to overthrow the Empire if it turns tyrannical. “It’s just a ridiculous idea that a rebellion armed with blasters could do anything about us,” he said. “You’d...

Star Wars has become a pop-culture phenomenon, Harrison Ford who portrays Han Solor is a very popular one. When one think of Han, we can imagine him quick drawing the iconic blaster pistol. Youtuber Slingshot Channel guy, Joerg Sprave, liked the weapon so much that he made a functioning rubber-band replica. Who knew it was based on the real Mauser C96 which shot a 7.63x25mm (almost a 9mm)? Sprave did a great job of recreating the look of Han’s blaster right down to the weathering marks. Yes, this toy isn't a real gun, but if you’re a fan of Star...

A federal judge on Friday sentenced a 19-year-old Minnesota man to 18 months in prison for unleashing a variant of the MSBlast worm. Jeffrey Lee Parson, 19, of Minnesota was ordered to serve his time in a minimum security prison and participate in 10 months of community service. FBI agents arrested Parson at his home in Hopkins, Minn., in August 2003, just two weeks after his "MSBlast.B" variant began to tunnel into Microsoft Windows-based computers. His variant of the worm infected approximately 48,000 computers that had not yet applied an earlier released patch. Parson pleaded guilty last summer in a...

Jeffrey Lee Parson, the Hopkins teenager who unleashed an Internet worm that infected an estimated 48,000 computers and caused more than $1 million in damage, should be sentenced to 37 months in prison, according to a formal recommendation made by federal prosecutors Tuesday. Parson's sentencing is scheduled for Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Parson, 19, who was arrested during his senior year at Hopkins High School, pleaded guilty in August to releasing the widely publicized Internet virus. "Parson's worm was not an aberrant moment in a young person's life, but instead was just the latest in a string...

I have 2 computer problems:1) Compaq Presario 2140 laptop. XP Pro. Dial-up modem will not work - when I try, I get the "no dial tone" message. Phone line is securely in place. Phone line works, and desktop computer dial-up using same line also works. Any suggestions?2) Dell 8400 Desktop. XP Pro. I have Spyware Blaster downloaded, but cannot get updates. When I try, message pops up saying problem reaching server, try back later, blah, blah, blah. Uninstalled and re-installed, but no luck. Then downloaded Spyware Guard. When first tried to download update, box popped up with 3 options (think...

After watching Microsoft stock fall despite this year's tech rally, Microsoft shareholders sharply questioned Chairman Bill Gates and Chief Executive Steve Ballmer during the company's annual meeting yesterday in Bellevue. Investors in general are more skeptical after recent corporate scandals and, after three relatively weak years for Microsoft's stock, there were few cheers from the crowd of 1,250 at Meydenbauer Center. Shareholders did not go so far as to throw out any board members, all of whom were re-elected yesterday, and they approved changes to the stock-option plan that Ballmer proposed in July. But they asked when the company will...

Flaws threaten Microsoft SEATTLE — Microsoft Corp.'s offer this week of cash bounties for informants who help it collar virus-writers reflects more than just an escalation of the war on those who would exploit the dominant power in software. The campaign reveals just how much of a threat to Microsoft's bottom line security flaws now represent. When the Blaster worm hobbled hundreds of thousands of computers around the world in August — only the latest plague to exploit a flaw in Windows operating systems — it also hurt Microsoft's ability to book new contracts with corporate customers. For the first...

Blaster, Slammer, Sobig, Lovsan - if these words are familiar to you, you might have been one of this year's victims of various and vicious PC security attacks. Just Friday, appropriately enough on Halloween, yet another monster reared its ugly head as computer security experts warned of a potentially troublesome new e-mail worm, Mimail.C, slowly spreading among both corporate and home e-mail users. This latest threat is a variant of the W32.Mimail worm that surfaced in August and comes as an e-mail message with "our private photos" in the subject line and an attached .zip archive file called "photos.zip." Infection...

<p>Investigators have arrested a juvenile in connection with the release of a variant of the "Blaster" computer worm, which crippled thousands of computers worldwide last month.</p> <p>It was the second arrest stemming from the release of variants of the worm, but detectives have yet to determine who created the main version.</p>

With the Blaster worm seeming to be under control, alleged virus-author Jeffrey Parson under house arrest in Minnesota, and hacker Adrian Lamo under the watchful eye of the feds, business-technology managers may have enjoyed a few hours of peace and quiet last week. But it was short-lived. On Sept. 10, Microsoft issued a security bulletin warning of three new critical vulnerabilities in the Windows operating system, sending systems administrators rushing to patch their computers. It's become an all-too-common scenario--and one that's causing some businesses to re-evaluate their heavy reliance on Microsoft products. A year-and-a-half after Bill Gates declared that...

MINNEAPOLIS, Sep 02, 2003 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- A high school senior charged with modifying a version of the Internet worm that crippled computer networks worldwide said the federal government has exaggerated its case against him, and disputed media coverage that portrayed him as a computer-savvy loner. "I have a very supportive, close group of friends. I'm not reckless, I don't do drugs, smoke or drink. This is the first time I have ever had a run-in with the law. It's hurtful to see the accounts of me. I'm not depressed, embarrassed about my weight, or a misfit," Jeffrey...

Worm Suspect Said Just a Normal, Fun-Loving Teen Sat Aug 30, 6:28 PM ET By Todd Melby HOPKINS, Minn. (Reuters) - A friend of a Minnesota high school student charged with unleashing a new strain of the Blaster Internet worm that infected computers around the world described him on Saturday as "just a kid" who is likely innocent. Mike Heldt, who once worked with suspect Jeffrey Lee Parson, 18, at a local movie theater, told Reuters he and Parson like to shoot billiards, rent movies, play video games and "just sit around and joke like other kids." "I don't think...

An 18-year-old Hopkins High School student was arrested and charged Friday with creating one of the variants of the "Blaster" computer worm that contributed to crippling attacks on thousands of unprotected home and business computers this month. Jeffrey Lee Parson, a senior at Hopkins High School, was arrested without incident by FBI and U.S. Secret Service agents in a raid at 7:20 a.m. at his family's townhouse, FBI Special Agent Paul McCabe said. Parson's arrest capped an investigation spanning more than two weeks. It started at Microsoft headquarters outside Seattle, led to San Diego, hop scotched to Texas and ended...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The FBI have arrested a Minnesota teenager suspected of making a copycat variant of the devastating Blaster Internet worm. Jeffrey Lee Parson, 18, of Hopkins, Minnesota, a middle- class suburb west of Minneapolis, was arrested on one count of intentionally causing or attempting to cause damage to a computer, according to a St. Paul district court clerk.

Gates blames SoBig on customer updating process DETROIT, Michigan (AP) -- Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, known for helping to make the computer a common tool, said Thursday that new breakthroughs in information technology are on the horizon despite the economic difficulties facing the industry. "It's an exciting time to be involved in digital software," Gates said during a speech to the Detroit Economic Club at the Cobo Center. "The same kind of excitement I had when I started Microsoft at age 17 I still have today." Gates envisions that by the end of the decade people no longer will need...

WASHINGTON - U.S. cyber investigators arrested a Minnesota teenager Friday who the FBI (news - web sites) said has admitted unleashing one version of a damaging virus-like infection weeks ago on the Internet. Related Quotes CLDMSFTSYMCDJIANASDAQ^SPC 25.3526.4357.169387.331805.491004.05 -0.05-0.08+0.66+13.12+5.31+1.21 delayed 20 mins - disclaimerQuote Data provided by Reuters   A court official identified the teenager as Jeffrey Lee Parson, 18, of Hopkins, Minn., known online as "teekid." A U.S. official in Washington also confirmed an arrest was made early Friday. Court papers said FBI and Secret Service agents searched Parson's home on Aug. 19 and seized seven computers, which are still being...

Authorities Arrest Minnesota Teen In Internet Attack 18-Year-Old Hacker Allegedly Behind Computer Mayhem UPDATED: 11:49 a.m. EDT August 29, 2003 WASHINGTON -- A Minnesota teenager known online as "teekid" has been arrested for unleashing the "Blaster" infection on the Internet weeks ago. A Minnesota court official has identified the 18-year-old as Jeffrey Parson, who is to make a court appearance Friday in St. Paul. More details are expected to be disclosed later by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle, which has been leading the investigation. A witness reportedly saw the teen testing the infection and called...

An 18-year-old computer hacker has been identified as the person behind the damaging Blaster computer virus that swept the globe, the FBI has said. The agency is not naming the American teenager but further details are expected to be released in the near future and he is expected to be arrested. He is accused of writing one version of the worm-like virus. Different versions of the worm, also called LovSan, hit around 500,000 computer networks worldwide this month in one of the worst outbreaks this year. All the Blaster variants took advantage of, and highlighted a flaw in Microsoft Windows...