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Daily News Brief: Hospitals Vulnerable to Deadly Hacks

One4yu2c — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 18:15:09 -0500

Hospital Hacks

Windows guru and Maximum PC blogger Mark Soper recently wrote about hackers exposing vulnerabilities inherent in FireWire ports, and prior to that, we learned that a can of compressed air could be used to compromise a system. Trumping them both in the fear factor arena, it now appears that monitoring defibrillators are susceptible to hacking. The problem stems from unencrypted transmissions from the defibrillator to the bedside monitor. If intercepted, hackers could then reprogram the device to stop working, or extract personally identifiable information, including your Social Security number. Read more on this potentially frightening development here.

GeForce Fans Mark Your Calendars

Two big dates are coming up for NVIDIA fans anticipating hoping for a high-end successor to the 8800 series. On March 18th, NVIDIA plans to release the GeForce 9800GX2, and then the 9800GTX on March 25th. Neither card will boast an architectural change, and will instead be based on the same 65nm G92 found on the 8800GT. Further borrowing old tricks from past releases, the GX2 will feature two PCBs sandwiched under a single heatsink (essentially a pair of 8800GTs), and might just be the heaviest videocard ever. Read more here.

Mac Office Updates

Owners of Office 2008 for Mac can now download the 12.0.1 update, made available yesterday. The 114MB download contains fixes that boost stability and performance, while also patching up a few security holes. Wait a tick - aren't Macs impervious to security threats? Damn those deceptive (yet amusing) Mac commercials!

Max Payne 3

It's been roughly five years since the last Max Payne game hit store shelves, and when pinged on whether another sequel could be in the works, a Take-Two representative told Shacknews "It's a little too early to comment on any particular title but we have a lot of interesting things going on." Pessimists will read that as a standard 'no comment,' while fans of the franchise and those holding a glass half full will point out the lack of denial in the response. Further fueling speculation, Take-Two referenced reviving past notable Rockstar properties, but wouldn't offer any specifics.

Dive Deep into YouTube

Google's YouTube today announced plans to give away tools allowing developers and programmers deeper access into the video sharing site. With the new tools and enhanced APIs, web developers gain a new level of flexibility, both in uploading videos and offering "chromeless" players without the traditional YouTube interface and branding. YouTube's end goal is for users to "engage the world of video and actively participate in the YouTube community wherever they are, whenever they want."

Free USB Key

In an effort to promote going green, IBM's giving away a free 512MB Solar USB key. The thumb drive ships "loaded with white papers, videos, and case studies about going green with IBM Systems Technology." Read more and request your eKit here.

Daily News Brief: Microchips to Require Activation

One4yu2c — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:14:21 -0600

Microchips Under Lock and Key

Software piracy typically gets all the attention, but hardware piracy is fast becoming a plague in the industry too. To prevent unscrupulous hacks from making counterfeit microchips from stolen blueprints and then selling them for pennies on the dollar, computer engineers at the University of Michigan and Rice University have developed a lock and key for chips. EPIC (Ending Piracy of Integrated Circuits) uses established cryptography methods, giving each chip a few extra switches that act like a combination lock. Manufacturers would need to contact the patent owner via phone or internet connection to activate the part. Read more here.

Blu-ray Player Pricing

If you're hoping to score a sub-$200 Blu-ray player now that HD-DVD's pulled out of the race, get cozy because you might have to wait a year. Or more. Gizmodo quoted Sony CEO Stan Glasgow as saying "I don't think $200 is going to happen this year. Next year $200 could happen." Instead, expect the cost of entry to hit $299 sometime in 2008, with third-party manufactured players unlikely any time soon.

HD-DVD Player Trade-In

Feeling burned about HD-DVD's untimely demise after you went out and picked up a player? Circuit City may have the salve you've been hoping for. The No. 2 electronics retailer is extending the return period on HD-DVD hardware from 30 days to 90 days for store credit. This could be the excuse you've been waiting for to snag a Playstation 3 console...

Google Relaxed Over Android

Speaking Wednesday at the O'Reilly ETech conference, Google developer Dan Morrill shrugged off concerns about carriers building Android distributions that are incompatible with one another, and he isn't losing any sleep at night over security problems either. Morrill did acknowledge the increased risk of attack to Android-powered phones, but said the risk will be small, and ultimately outweighed by Android's advantages. Read more here.

Pentagon Attack Reassessed

After hackers attacked the Pentagon late last June, Gates eased concerns by saying there was "no anticipated adverse impact on ongoing operations." It appears the early prognosis may have been wrong. GovernmentExecutive.com quoted Dennis Clem, a top Defense Department of technology official, as saying "The breach continues to pose a threat," noting that the hackers stole "an amazing amount" of information. Clem didn't comment if the source of attack was ever identified or what specific information was stolen as a result of the fast spreading email worm.

Crysis Patch 1.2

Crytek's second patch for the hit game Crysis became available yesterday, affording several improvements in mod support, multiplayer, weapons balance, AI, and much more. A handful of tweaks include:

Added mod loader to main menu
Increased damage of most player-fired weapons and decreased damage of most AI-fired weapons
Added auto team balance
Team killed players no longer drop their weapon
Improved vehicle handling under braking and boosting

Download the 360MB patch and catch the full changelog of changes here.

Playmobil Security Check Point on Amazon

We're not sure which amuses us most - the toy itself, the customer reviews, or the list of items that customers of the Playmobil Security Check Point also purchased.

Have a Phun Weekend

No plans for the weekend? You can still have fun, with Phun! This nifty program brings back memories of The Incredible Machine, only there are no levels to clear, and you create obstacles and gadgets on the fly. View a video of this tantalizing time waster in action here.

Daily News Brief: Piracy Stings Nintendo

One4yu2c — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:32:47 -0600

Piracy Costs Nintendo $975 Million

Oh, the bitter sweetness of success. Nintendo can barely up keep with demand for the hot selling Wii console, and the DS remains a popular handheld. But it's not all fun and games. According to Jodi Daugherty, Nintendo of America's senior director of anti-piracy, the company, along with its publishers and developers, took a $975 million sales hit in 2007 directly related to international piracy. Yikes! Looking to reduce that number, Daugherty stated "Nintendo will continue to work with governments around the world to aggressively curtail this illegal activity."

Are Tech Careers Lucrative?

If you answered either yes or no, you're right! This past year saw stalwarts like CompUSA shut their doors, a reduction in overtime pay, and mass layoffs aimed at restructuring. At the other end of the spectrum, tech salaries in 2007 reached a record high. According to data collected by IT staffing firm Yoh, average hourly wages hit $32.39 last October. Jim Lanzalotto, Yoh's VP of marketing and strategy, said he is "cautiously optimistic" that wages will continue grow in 2008.

GeForce 8 Getting PhysX

Physics processing remains a hot topic when discussing the future of videocards, particularly since NVIDIA acquired AGEIA. Answering some of the questions raised, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang held a question-and-answer session during a fourth-quarter conference call. Huang said we can expect to see the PhysX engine ported onto CUDA (Computer Unified Device Architecture), a programming interface built into all GeForce 8 GPUs. Looking longer-term, Huang hopes the integration will prompt gamers to invest in higher end videocards, SLI, and even tri-card setups. We can already hear 'W00ts' emanating from the power supply industry...

Duke Nukem Forever

Admit it - you feel a tingle every time news surfaces with a DNF update. We do too, but we also get a tingle before breaking wind. Take from that what you will, but not everyone's amused with DNF's speculative buzz. Reacting to a news story claiming 3D Realms had confirmed a late 2008 release, the developer's boss Scott Miller called the news outlet "lying bastards," according to a Next-Gen.biz article. The original news source posted an update following Miller's comments, but the drama continues. Read more here.

NPD Introduces Subscription Tracking

We've longed complained that PC gaming sales numbers don't show the overall picture, as they ignore both subscription based sales and digital downloads. We even made mention of it yesterday, but what a difference a day makes. Today we learned the NPD Group is introducing subscription tracking in the form of quarterly Subscription Reports. Said Martin Zagorsek, NPD's vice president, this move represents "an important step towards NPD's ultimate goal of providing a truly complete view of the North Amercian PC game and video game markets." Here's hoping the next step includes digital downloads.

Walmart May Be Going Blu

Not that HD-DVD needs any more nails in its coffin, but Walmart's latest announcement may have sealed the casket. According to a CNN Money report, the retail giant will phase out all HD-DVD movies and hardware in its 4,000 Walmart and Sams Club stores by June. Combined with the mass exodus of support from both studios and other retailers, it's hard to imagine HD-DVD mounting a comeback, and there's talk of Toshiba throwing in the towel.

Daily News Brief: Noise Cooling - Next Big Thing?

One4yu2c — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:54:41 -0600

Noise Cooling

Enthusiasts bored with air, water, and even phase change cooling may soon be able to add a new method to their heat dissipating repertoire. New Scientist reports that sound waves can boost the efficiency of liquid cooling techniques by almost 150 percent, which could bode well for the future of computing. The technology focuses on dislodging bubbles with sound waves before than can coalesce into a film that forms over hot surfaces, thus creating an insulator. Ari Glezer and his colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology found that projecting frequencies near 1 kilohertz across fluid was enough to combat the bubbles.

IBM Buying AMD?

Whether true or not, Wall Street was abuzz amid speculation that IBM may decide to buy the chip maker. Neither IBM nor AMD would comment on the rumor, and analysts remain skeptical that a takeover is looming. Nonetheless, Wednesday trading saw AMD shares jump 55 cents to $7.39, representing an 8 percent hike. This isn't the first time IBM's been mentioned in takeover rumors with AMD, but with shares being so low, some analysts see it as a good time to seriously consider the venture.

Windows 7 in 2009?

While on the subject of rumors, one of the hotter ones floating around is that Vista's successor - known as Windows 7 - may see a release next year instead of in 2010. Early builds have purportedly begun popping up around the net, with at least one site claiming to have seen a roadmap. But assuming Microsoft really is on target for an early release, should they unleash their next OS so soon? Read Arstechnica's opinion here.

New Blu-ray Module

Blu-ray appears to have HD-DVD trumped at every angle, save for pricing, which has helped keep the underdog alive in the high definition format war. That could be about to change. With the help of Nichia of Japan, Sony has developed the world's smallest Blu-ray reader/writer module. The new laser unit measures just 3mm thick and is expected to lead the way towards miniaturized hardware in Blu-ray drives. But the real upside here is the potential cost savings associated with a simpler manufacturing process, which could ultimately hand HD-DVD its final blow.

A Chair that Walks!

Still rolling around your home office in your computer chair outfitted with tiny wheels? How antique! If you have a spare $22,000 lying around (and who doesn't?), consider modernizing your environment with a chair that walks! The Walking Chair from Vienna-based design studio Walking Things comes with eight steel and chrome plated legs, but apparently isn't suitable for sitting on. Perhaps in version 2...

Charter Flushes Customer Emails

Whoops! Officials at Charter Communications think a software error during routine maintenance may have inadvertently caused the ISP to delete the contents of 14,000 customer email accounts. Worse yet, a Charter spokeswoman said the messages, photos, and other attachments that were flushed are not retrievable. To help affected customers cope with the missing Viagra solicitations and authentic Rolex offers, Charter issued a $50 credit to everyone involved.

Data Center Bling

Chris Adcock often posts a bit of bling at the end of his Mod blogs, and today we're sharing the love with the Daily News Brief faithful. Our news bling shows what a data center looks like after careful, and perhaps artsy, cable management is applied. Pretty wicked.