Free Republic

<p>Technically, Stephen Thaler has written more music than any composer in the world. He also invented the Oral-B CrossAction toothbrush and devices that search the Internet for messages from terrorists. He has discovered substances harder than diamonds, coined 1.5 million new English words, and trained robotic cockroaches. Technically.</p>

Democrats say their computers were infiltrated by GOP staffers WASHINGTON - Federal investigators reportedly have seized a staff computer in Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's office in a probe to find Republican aides who improperly accessed Democrats' memos on opposing judicial nominees. Nick Smith, a spokesman for Frist, R-Tenn., would not confirm or deny Friday if an office computer or hard drive was taken by investigators representing the office of the Senate Sergeant-At-Arms. "We're not commenting on the issue while it's under investigation," Smith said. The Boston Globe reported Thursday that federal experts studying any improper access of Democratic senators'...

German police are investigating after an angry man returned a computer he had just bought saying it was packed with small potatoes instead of computer parts. The store replaced the computer free of charge but became suspicious when he returned a short time later with another potato-filled computer casing, police in the western city of Kaiserslautern said Monday. "The second time he said he didn't need a computer any more and asked for his money back in cash," a police spokesman said. Police are now investigating the man for fraud.

Cupertino’s 64-bit desktop system and Panther OS mix beauty and exceptional performance Companies large and small routinely set their expectations of computer systems according the capabilities of Intel-based x86 computers and 32-bit Windows. We’re due for a shift in standards. Enter Apple, which got the bright idea of taking a pair of 64-bit IBM PowerPC CPUs, jacking them into server-class internal buses, and squeezing the whole thing into a desk-side tower chassis. The result, the Power Mac G5, delivers on the present need for rapid computing, deep multitasking, and responsive user interfaces — as well as the future need (current...

Blacksburg, VA — Dr. Srinidhi Varadarajan knew that he wanted to build a world-class supercomputer. Also, he wanted to solidify the position of Virginia Tech’s world-class computer science program. But with only a fraction of most supercomputing budgets to spend, it seemed like a hopeless dream. He crunched numbers, solicited every likely vendor, examined and ultimately discarded all possible options using other platforms and chips. Then in June of 2003, news of Apple’s Power Mac G5 hit the airwaves. At last, Varadarajan realized, he’d have as much 64-bit processing as he needed to power his dream, without overtaxing his budget....

InformationWeek Danish information security consulting firm Secunia is warning Microsoft Internet Explorer users of a vulnerability that could enable Internet fraudsters to create more-realistic and authentic-looking fake Web sites. Secunia says it has found an "input validation" error in Internet Explorer. By exploiting this vulnerability, known as a URL-spoofing vulnerability, attackers can display any URL name they wish in the address and status bars of IE. This flaw would make it appear to Internet users that they're visiting a banking Web site, for example, when that site is actually a front for fraudsters attempting to collect sensitive financial information. Secunia...

A newly discovered vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser could be a powerful new tool for scammers, allowing them to convincingly mask the real origin of Web pages used to trick targets into revealing sensitive information. Attackers could use a specially crafted URL to display a different domain name in the address bar than the Web page's actual location. This practice is known as "spoofing." Full article HERE

U.S. federal departments and agencies are showing some improvement in protecting their computer networks, but many--including the Department of Homeland Security--are failing, according to a government report released Tuesday. The report, prepared for the House of Representatives' Committee on Government Reform, found that almost all agencies improved their computer-security grade since last year. However, several key federal departments continued to fail to adequately protect their networks and earned an "F.""For too long now information security has taken a back seat in the collective conscience (sic) of our nation," said a statement from Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., the committee chairman. "We...

<p>Experts say home users with broadband services could be sending out 'spam' e-mails without knowing.</p> <p>LONDON (Reuters) - Security experts have identified what they suspect to be the biggest culprit behind that seemingly unceasing torrent of e-mail spam messages and computer virus outbreaks.</p>

Other Computer Terms Banned by Los Angeles County Los Angeles County recently asked vendors to stop using the term master/slave in product descriptions and labelling. Here are some other terms that they wanted changed and their alternatives. 11. SCSI - Cleanliness impaired 10. Killer App - Socially Maladjusted App 9. USB - USA 8. Floppy Drive - Erectile Dysfunction Drive 7. DIP Switches - Mentally Challenged Switches 6. HyperThreading - Attention Deficit Disability Threading 5. Heat Sink - He/Sheat Sink 4. Winmodem - Funmodem 3. ATAPI Device - Native American Device 2. Motherboard - Non-gender Specific Parentboard 1. Cancel/Retry/Abort -...

Important Mac OS X Security Advisory Mac OS X Security Advisory Vulnerability: Malicious DHCP response can grant root access Affected Software Mac OS X 10.3 (all versions through at least 26-Nov-2003) Mac OS X Server 10.3 (all versions through at least 26-Nov-2003) Mac OS X 10.2 (all versions through at least 26-Nov-2003) Mac OS X Server 10.2 (all versions through at least 26-Nov-2003) Probably earlier versions of Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server Possibly developer seeded copies of future versions of Mac OS X Abstract A series of seemingly innocuous default settings can cause an affected Mac OS...

Vanity alert... I use Windows XP Home. This annoyance began last week: When I click on the scrollbar with the mouse, the display drops down two screens instead of one. If I hit the "page down" key instead, it behaves normally, dropping down one screen. My wife, at her workplace, uses Windows XP Professional and has the same problem. I read on a tech thread that perhaps a Windows Critical Update that was uploaded last week might be the cause of this? Wonder if anyone else noticed a problem or has a cure?

The Feds Love Linux Erika Brown, 06.20.03, 8:20 AM ET NEW YORK - Three weeks ago, John P. Stenbit, chief information officer of the U.S. Department of Defense, issued an agencywide memo that has Linux lovers rejoicing. The brief outlined the DOD's policy on acquiring, using and developing open-source software, including the Linux operating system. By creating an official policy, the DOD is "outing" open source, a technology that was stuck in government limbo, neither condoned nor outlawed. "People used to think they'd get fired if they talked about it. It was 'Don't ask, don't tell,'" says Tony M. Stanco,...

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...

Microsoft placed a $250,000 bounty on the respective heads of the MSBlaster and So.Big virus writers as part of a $5 million program it launched here on Wednesday with the FBI, Secret Service and Interpol to fight cybercrime. The reward program, sponsored by Microsoft and backed by those law enforcement agencies, represents the first major partnership between the private sector and government officials to hunt down, capture and prosecute hackers and virus writers.At a press conference today at the National Press Club in Washington, Microsoft's top attorney pledged to press prosecution of suspected virus writers and reward those who turn...

Suspect Admits 48 Seattle-Area Killings (AP) Gary Ridgway in court on Wednesday November 5, 2003 in the King County Courthouse in Seattle... Full Image SEATTLE (AP) - Gary Ridgway, the former truck painter long suspected of being the Green River Killer, admitted in court Wednesday to 48 murders. "I killed so many women I have a hard time keeping them straight," he said in a confession read aloud by prosecutors. "I wanted to kill as many women as I thought were prostitutes as I possibly could," Ridgway said in the statement. Some relatives of victims wept quietly in the courtroom....

Video Games Are Addictive as Work - Scientists Some evidence exists that games stimulate the same areas in the brain as alcohol and other drugs, psychologists, sociologists and others were told at the world's first interdisciplinary games conference here. But unlike the addictive substances, there is no medicine to deal with compulsive gaming behavior, they heard. "Is (the popular online game) Everquest addictive? Well, it's no more addictive than school or work. The time invested in those also make them addictive," said Florence Chee, a research student at Simon Fraser University in Canada. Scientific interest in the multibillion dollar computer...

The body of the note says, "Will meet tonight as we agreed, because on Wednesday I don't think I'll make it, so don't be late. And yes, by the way here is the file you asked for. It's all written there. See you. blkbsxos" Attached to the note is a file "readnow.zip" I have the latest Symantec definitions, but the note still got through. Is this file a virus, or a hoax?

<p>Software used by an electronic voting system manufactured by Sequoia Voting Systems has been left unprotected on a publicly available server, raising concerns about the possibility of vote tampering in future elections.</p> <p>The software, made available at ftp.jaguar.net, is stored on an FTP server owned by Jaguar Computer Systems, a firm that provides election support to a California county. The software is used for placing ballots on voting kiosks and for storing and tabulating results for the Sequoia AVC Edge touch-screen system.</p>

IT forensics firm Vogon has explained how its work helped clear a man accused of storing child pornography on his computer by proving his PC was contaminated by Trojan horse infection capable of downloading illicit images onto his machine. Julian Green was arrested in October 2002 after police raided his home and found 172 indecent pictures of children on his hard drive. His solicitor, Chris Bittlestone of South Devon law firm Kitson Hutchings, called in one of Vogon International's forensic investigators, Martin Gibbs, to help.A clone of Green's hard drive was sent to Vogon International in Bicester, where it was...