Now here's an interesting piece of hardware, as well as an interesting twist on network security. Israeli startup Yoggie Security Systems have managed to shoehorn an entire 520mhz Intel PXA270 computer system running Linux 2.6 and a suite of firewall and security applications........onto a USB key. It intercepts traffic of any kind (dialup, lan, GPRS, WiFi) on the host PC below the protocol layer, examines it, then passes it back along seamlessly to the host PC, via a USB 2.0 connection. LinuxDevices reports...
Yoggie Security Systems has squeezed a complete hardware firewall for Windows systems into a USB key sized form-factor. The "Yoggie Pico" runs Linux 2.6 along with 13 security applications on a 520MHz PXA270, a powerful Intel processor popular in smartphones and other high-end consumer devices.
The Yoggie Pico is a spectacularly miniaturized version of the company's original Yoggie Gatekeeper product (pictured at left), which shipped nine months ago and is also based on the Intel PXA270 processor. Both products aim to offload firewall functions to a separate device, in order to increase security and performance of the host PC, and save users from confusing security-related pop-up messages.
CEO Schlomo Touboul explains, "Internet security software running on Windows takes a lot of time to boot, and uses a lot of CPU to scan. It gets fatter and fatter with every update, and as a result, the Windows machine gets slower and slower. The idea of Yoggie is, 'Let's have a second computer, and screen traffic before it reaches the PC.'"
That's was too many "b's" in one phrase. Sigh. Consumer retail giant, Best Buy, is apparently now the target of a Civil Suit, brought to the fore by Conneticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. Apparently we're not the only people who've noticed Best Buy's retail locations use their own internal intranet for connectivity in it's stores. The Associated Press reports...
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Connecticut's attorney general announced a lawsuit Thursday against Best Buy Co. Inc., accusing the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer of deceiving customers with in-store computer kiosks and overcharging them.
The lawsuit accuses Best Buy of denying deals found at the company's Web site.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said store employees charged customers higher prices found on a lookalike internal Web site.
"Best Buy gave consumers the worst deal - a bait-and-switch-plus scheme luring consumers into stores with promised online discounts, only to charge higher in-store prices," Blumenthal said.
The complaint was dated May 18 to be served on the company, which must respond by June 13. The lawsuit, which seeks refunds for consumers, civil penalties, court costs, a ban on the practice and other remedies, would then be filed in Hartford Superior Court.
Geez, it's three days before I turn 40, and this little milestone comes up to remind me. I am so getting old! It's hard to believe it's been this long. I remember as a kid sneaking back into the theatre twice with my older brother to watch Star Wars on it's opening day.....30 Years Ago Today. Yes, today is the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars. Wired reports...
Star Wars. It’s the backbone of geek DNA, even more essential than an intricate knowledge of Linux or the inability to get a date. And now, 30 years after an independent filmmaker blew us away with the exploits of a Cinnabon-coifed princess, a wide-eyed farm boy, a scruffy-looking nerf herder and the baddest throat-crushing villain this side of Mos Eisley, we still can’t get enough.
Come with us as we take a cruise down hyperspace lane with Wired’s ongoing obsession with all things emanating from a galaxy far, far away. Gasp at the unmasking of director George Lucas, swoon at little-known production tidbits (Christopher Walken as Han Solo?!) and marvel as fans re-enact their favorite scenes with stop-motion animation and Lego figures. Because, hey, is there anyone out there who doesn't love Star Wars? You’d have to look pretty hard -- probably in a wretched hive of scum and villainy.
Now here's an unexpected pairing. Shares of Yahoo and Ebay this morning are both taking it on the chin today over more rumors of a proposed merger between the two giant companies. Yahbay? EHoo? God only knows. This could be little more than "analyst baiting." Seems though that everyone is out to try and blunt the juggernaut we know as Google. The Inquirer reports...
On TheStreet.com’s internet TV show (warning: video plays automatically), famous/infamous shares tipper Jim Cramer described NetApp as “obviously a really challenged company”.
No stranger to self-confidence, Cramer also came up with a modest proposal -- that Yahoo and Ebay merge.
"[Ebay CEO] Meg Whitman wants to run a larger company,” Cramer said. “They have a lot of cash and could easily absorb [Yahoo]. A merger by Ebay with Yahoo could really work."
Leave it to the marketing genius's to come up with a sex toy that plugs into your iPod. Ann Summers, notable purveyor of "adult toys" ahem, has come up with a sex toy that "vibrates to the rhythm" of your favorite iPod tunes. Apparently Apple isnt too happy about this. NewsOfTheWorld reports...
COMPUTER giants Apple are really worked up—over an Ann Summers sex toy that hooks up to your iPod.
Women all over Britain are saying yes, yes, yes to the £30 iGasm that plugs into a music player and delivers good vibrations that pulse to the beat.
But shocked iPod bosses are iRate—demanding stores take down all posters for the gadget or risk a fight in the iCourt.
Some people need to really understand where the legal system stands on open Wi-Fi networks. Routinely when driving around we find oodles of open access points, and this is far from a big city we live in. But, don't assume when you find an open hotspot that you can do whatever you like. A Michigan man got stuck with 40 hours of community service and a $400 fine for Wi-Fi access from a parking lot. ArsTechnica reports...
A Michigan man is being prosecuted for using a cafe's free WiFi... from his car. Sam Peterson was arrested under a Michigan law barring access to anyone else's network without authorization, according to Michigan TV station WOOD. Since the cafe's WiFi network was reserved for customers, and Peterson never came into the cafe, he was essentially piggybacking off of the open network without authorization.
It looks like those frisky swedish scofflaws that run ThePirateBay, the worlds largest public torrent network and public torrent tracker, want to give Youtube a run for their money. Yes, that's right a PirateBay sponsored streaming video site. And it will be called TheVideoBay.org. (dont bother going to the URL yet...it's a closed beta). From The PirateBay blog...
Oh, and the surprise that's coming... it's still not what people think it is... it's been speculations on it being Playble.com or the video somewhat secret video site.
But, as a treat I can tell you - YES - we're going to do a video streaming site. It's true. It's in the works being done right now and as usual we put a bit of Pirate Bay mentality behind every project we do.
Entertainment giant Nintendo seemingly can do no wrong if recent figures from NPD and Media Create are any indication. NPD shows the U.S. Market with $838.6 million in combined hardware/software sales for the month of April, a 20% increase year over year. The interesting bit is looking at the actual hardware breakdown for April...
Nintendo DS 471k
Wii 360k
PlayStation 2 194k
PlayStation Portable 183k
Xbox 360 174k
Game Boy Advance 84k
PlayStation 3 82k
GameCube 13k
Nintendo's dominance extends equally to Japan as well according to Media Create statistics...
It's ironic that after all of these years, licensing authorities like the AACS still don't understand the tenacity of hackers, programmers, and consumers intent on doing as they see fit with the content they pay for. A week before the official rollout of new "MKB's" designed to protect new high-definition media, Slysoft releases an update to AnyDVD-HD that can already bypass it. BetaNews reports...
The cat and mouse game continued Thursday between the movie industry and those wanting open access to the content they purchase. Software vendor Slysoft released an update to its popular AnyDVD HD program that copies the latest HD DVD and Blu-ray titles - bypassing the newest AACS copy protection.
Like CSS is for DVD, AACS (view specs) keeps high-definition discs encrypted such that they cannot be copied. Two main keys are utilized by the standard: a device key used by hardware and software players, a volume key stored on each movie title that can be used to decrypt its contents.
Though still under the gun for potential copyright infringement, Google has at least dodged one bullet in the civil suit brought against them by mobile content provider Perfect 10. The U.S. 9th circuit Court reveresed a preliminary injunction by a lower court against google in the case, saying it's thumbnail sized index photo's were "ok". Reuters reports...
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A federal appeals court lifted a preliminary injunction on Wednesday against Google Inc. from showing thumbnail-size photos from sexually explicit sites, but said the company might be liable for allowing links to sites displaying unauthorized photos.
The case is the latest in which courts are seeking to strike a balance between fostering the free flow of information on the Internet and protecting copyrighted content.
A lower court had found that Google's thumbnail images violated the copyright of adult magazine and Web publisher Perfect 10 Inc., but said the Internet search firm was probably not responsible for displays of the underlying images from Perfect 10's Web site.
