Hack Google's Native Client and get $8,192

Google is challenging hackers to rip apart their ActiveX alternative called Google Native Client. Native Client allows users to run native x86 code on the web — something that has been deemed as extremely dangerous, especially from untrusted sources.

Google says this challenge is to make Native Client more secure, but I think this may also be a great way to gain some trust points for technologies like this. Winners of the challenge are awarded cash prizes — the grand prize is $8,192USD.

There are five cash prizes: The first prize is $8,192, the second prize $4,096, the third prize is $2,048, the fourth prize is $1,024 and the fifth prize is $1,024. All amounts are in USD.

If they can get through this challenge without any serious problems being reported, that’s a huge win for Google, and some pretty impressive marketing material. That type of marketing ammo can be used to possibly help future pushes to get this type of technology pre-installed in browsers.

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Surface computer

Surface computing is the term for the use of a specialized computer GUI in which traditional GUI elements are replaced by intuitive, everyday objects. Instead of a keyboard and mouse, the user interacts directly with a touch-sensitive screen. It has been said that this more closely replicates the familiar hands-on experience of everyday object manipulation.

Recent minor innovations in the surface computing field are attributed to Apple, Inc and to Microsoft Corporation. Apple had demonstrated surface computing interfaces intended for professional use since 2006, with no expected product release date. Microsoft unveiled plans for the Microsoft Surface in May 2007.

A surface computer is a computer that interacts with the user through the surface of an ordinary object, rather than through a monitor and keyboard.

The category was created by Microsoft with Surface (codenamed Milan), the surface computer from Microsoft which was based entirely on a Multi-Touch interface and using a coffee-table like design, and was unveiled on 30 May 2007. Users can interact with the machine by touching or dragging their fingertips and objects such as paintbrushes across the screen, or by setting real-world items tagged with special bar-code labels on top of it.

The Surface is a horizontal display on a table-like form. Somewhat similar to the iPhone, the Surface has a screen that can incorporate multiple touches and thus uses them to navigate multimedia content. Unlike the iPhone, which uses fingers' electrical properties to detect touch, the Surface utilizes a system of infrared cameras to detect input. Uploading digital files only requires each object (e.g. a Bluetooth-enabled digital camera) to be placed on the Surface. People can physically move around the picture across the screen with their hands, or even shrink or enlarge them. The first units of the Surface will be information kiosks in the Harrah's family of casinos.

Besides the microsoft-created devices, other computer firms have also entered the surface computing market. These include Mitsubishi Electric with its DiamondTouch.

Also receiving units will be T-Mobile, for comparing several cell phones side-by-side, and Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, which will use Surface to service lobby customers in numerous ways.

The Surface has a 3GHz Pentium 4 processor, 2GB of memory, an off the shelf graphics card, a scratch-proof spill-proof surface, a DLP projector, and 5 infrared cameras as mentioned above. However, the expensive components required for the interface also give the Surface a price tag of nearly $10,000.


Microsoft Surface

Phoenix Mars Lander’s mission site hacked

With the world’s eyes on the latest multimedia streaming straight from Mars, during the weekend the Phoenix Mars Mission’s site got hit twice, first by an Ukrainian web site defacer who posted a message at the site’s blog, and hours later, the Turkish “sql loverz crew 2008″ redirected the official mission’s site, as well as the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory site to a third-part location serving the defaced page. The Phoenix Mars Lander mission’s security staff are aware of the issue, and seem to have fixed it already, right before making an announcement - Hacker changes Phoenix Mars Lander Web site

A spokeswoman for the Phoenix Mars Lander mission says a hacker took over the mission’s public Web site during the night and changed its lead news story. Spokeswoman Sara Hammond says a mission update posted Friday was replaced with a hacker’s signature and a link redirecting visitors to an overseas Web site. Hammond says the site hosted by the University of Arizona has been taken off line while computer experts work to correct the problem.

Meet the latest group of script kiddies empowered by publicly obtainable remote SQL injection scanners, that each and every site that’s been affected in the past could have downloaded, and self-audited itself. The perspective that if you don’t take care of your site’s web application vulnerabilities, someone else would, fully applies here. No malware, or false information was distributed despite that the defacer linked to what looks like his homepage and therefore could have embedded malicious links or directly pointed the surfer to them.

And while this doesn’t seem to be what them wanted to achieve, in three of the most recent web site defacement incidents, we have defacers fully abusing the access they have. Last month for instance, Russian nuclear power websites were attacked and nuclear accident rumors spread using them, the Pro-Serbian hacktivists attacking Albanian web sites to spread propaganda messages, as well as a fake rumor for upcoming earthquake spread on the site of a Chinese seismological bureau.

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Super Antennas, Made From 'Invisible' Stuff

Metamaterials might be used to create a real-life invisibility cloak, or even a cloak of silence -- some day. The Pentagon is seeking short-term gains by using metamaterials for revolutionary new antennas with obvious commercial spin-offs.

In fact, this is back where metamaterials started, when Prof. Sir John Pendry found that bundles of carbon fiber did not reflect radar in the usual way. Metamaterials gain their special properties because of the way they are structured, rather than their composition. This entails having a structure on the same scale as the wavelengths involved, so a metamaterial to influence light is going to require nano-technology, whereas radio waves and microwaves work on a scale of centimeters so metamaterials to influence them are far more practical in the short term.

Which is why the Air Force has put out a call for "Applied Metamaterials for Antennas." The goal is to demonstrate materials could improve antennas by:

" Beam shaping and steering / lobe control; enhanced center frequency tuning range; enhanced bandwidth; reduction in antenna size/weight/thickness; and enablers for conformal, flexible antenna designs. The overall technical objective of this research is to develop improved metamaterials with low electrical losses and simultaneous control over permittivity and permeability in the 20MHz to 10GHz frequency range. "

What does that mean, in English? Better antennas which give an improved performance for the same size. In particular, this is about conformal antennas which are integrated into a surface -- rather than sticking out from it. These are useful for aircraft and UAVs; metamaterial antennas could provide 'em with better radar and communications.

There is plenty of commercial potential for this technology, too. A metamaterial antenna does not just mean improved radio reception from a smaller aerial. It also means mobile phones which can work from a fainter signal and which less power. The same goes for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other wireless devices.The future urban landscape might benefit when all TV aerials, satellite dishes and mobile phone masts are replaced with conformal antennas.

The Air Force's call for proposals on metamaterial development is for a three-year program which will also investigate optical metamaterials. No invisibility cloaks, alas. But they are considering "optical / IR beam steering, compact optical systems, mirrors, optical circuitry, interconnects, filters and limiter applications."

This kind of technology could lead to a drastic increase in the amount of data you can fit optical media like DVDs ; a flat metamaterial 'lens' can beat the diffraction limit which restricts the ultimate magnifying power of telescopes and other optical devices.

This is a fast-moving field and nobody knows how much further it will advance in the next three years. But the results will certainly be worth watching.



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Virus writers charged with copyright violation

Japan has arrested its first suspected virus writers, but in a strange twist the three suspected creators and distributors of a strain of P2P malware have been charged with copyright violation, in an arrest that recalls Al Capone's prosecution for tax evasion.

The trio were cuffed by cops in Kyoto on suspicion of involvement in a plot to infect users of the Winny P2P file-sharing network with a Trojan horse that displayed images of popular animé characters while wiping MP3 and movie files. The malware, called Harada is Japanese reports, is reckoned to be related to the Pirlames Trojan horse (http://www.sophos.com/pressoffice/news/articles/2007/02/pirlames.html) intercepting by net security firm Sophos in Japan last year.

According to local reports, the three men have confessed to their roles in unleashing the malware. One is said to have created the malware, while the other duo are reckoned to have offered the malware up to prospective marks on Winny. A lack of relevant computer crime law in Japan means that the group have been charged with copyright offences.

"It isn't illegal to write viruses in Japan, so the author of the Trojan horse has been arrested for breaching copyright because he used cartoon graphics without permission in his malware," explained Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Because this is the first arrest in Japan of a virus writer, it's likely to generate a lot of attention and there may be calls for cybercrime laws to be made tighter."

Due to the lack of applicable cybercrime laws, the authors of the malware face much the same fate as the coder who developed Winny. Isamu Kaneko, Winny's author, was fined by a Japanese court in December 2006 for copyright offences. ®


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Arduino

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments. Arduino can sense the environment by receiving input from a variety of sensors and can affect its surroundings by controlling lights, motors, and other actuators. The microcontroller on the board is programmed using the Arduino programming language (based on Wiring) and the Arduino development environment (based on Processing). Arduino projects can be stand-alone or they can communicate with software on running on a computer (e.g. Flash, Processing, MaxMSP). The boards can be assembled by hand or purchased preassembled; the software can be downloaded for free. The hardware reference designs (CAD files) are available under an open-source license, you are free to adapt them to your needs. Arduino received an Honory Mention in the Digital Communities section of the 2006 Ars Electronica Prix. Credits

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Double jeopardy ..

In India, protection against double jeopardy is a Fundamental Right guaranteed under Article 20 of the Constitution of India. Accordingly no person can be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once. Right to Freedom in the Constitution of India. The provision enshrines the principle that a person cannot be tried twice for the same offense by any equally competent court. Thus a person cannot be tried for an offense for which he has been tried and convicted. Double Jeopardy involves the concept of Autrefois Acquit or Autrfois Convict. Autrfois acquit means again acquit and autrefois convict means again convict. The Constitution of India under article 20(3) only provides for autrefois convict. Thus in India if a person is acquitted once he can be tried twice. But if a person is prosecuted and punished then he can't be prosecuted again.

Broadband to go free in 2 years ....

NEW DELHI: The government proposes to offer all citizens of India free, high-speed broadband connectivity by 2009, through the state-owned telecom service providers BSNL and MTNL. While consumers would cheer, the move holds the potential to kill the telecom business as we know it. You have heard of free municipal broadband — many cities in the US have drenched themselves in wireless broadband connectivity which is freely accessible to residents. The idea is to boost economic activity in general.

The government of India plans to achieve free broadband connectivity at a speed of 2 MB per second across the country, with a similar goal. Senior government officials expect to be able to achieve this goal spending only a portion of the corpus of the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF). All telecom operators contribute 5% of their revenues every year to USOF. It is estimated that the unutilised sum from the USOF has touched Rs 9,194.12 crore by March, 2007-end.

The current technological trend is for voice calls also to shift to the internet, using voice over internet protocol (VOIP). The quality of VOIP calls, patchy to start off with, has been improving steadily over the years and by 2009, is likely to be as good as current analogue calls that establish a circuit between the calling and called parties. When that happens, revenue streams from calls would dry up and telecom companies would need to develop value-added applications to make money from the connectivity they provide for free or virtually free. The department of telecom (DoT) will be taking a series of steps to make its plans for free broadband a reality. These include, using the USOF to set an extensive optic cable network across the country, opening up the long-distance sectors to further competition, allowing free and fair access to cable landing stations, permitting the resale of bandwidth, setting up web hosting facilities within the country and asking all internet service providers to connect to the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI). With international bandwidth rates in India being between two-to-five times higher than the global standards, the DoT will also go all out to break the monopoly of existing national and international distance players in a bid to induce cut throat competition in this sector. “India has only a handful of NLD/ILD operators while small countries such as Singapore and Taiwan have over 30 and 60 long distance operators respectively.

With limited players, they control the bandwidth gateways and form a cartel and this ensures that tariffs remain high. The entry of new players such as AT&T, British Telecom amongst others has started creating an impact,” the government source added. Importantly, the ground work for this project is already being laid. This comes as telecom regulator Trai had recently proposed that access to submarine cables be made cost-based and independent companies be given free and fair access to cable landing stations. (Cable landing stations connect submarine telecom cables with data and voice networks in the country.) Additionally, Trai had also recommended that bandwidth resale be permitted in India.

Industry analysts estimate that these two steps by Trai alone will lead to a 30% reduction in bandwidth costs, when implemented. In a related move, the DoT will also issue norms which mandate Indian companies, including state-owned BSNL and MTNL to begin large scale web hosting services. “This is because, most of the internet traffic generated in India is currently routed out of the country and re-routed back, resulting in the increased use of international bandwidth,” the government source said. Additionally, the plan also includes asking all internet service providers to connect their networks to NIXI. This will also ensure that internet traffic, originating and destined for India, is routed within India resulting in optimum domestic bandwidth utilisation. Currently, the very purpose of establishment of NIXI has not been served as only 27 ISPs out of 135 operational ISPs have joined it, the source explained.

Supreme Court sets a price for ragging ..

17 May, 2007 NEW DELHI : -

Ragging could well become a crime of the past. In the strictest measures yet to curb the menace, the Supreme Court on Wednesday warned senior students that if they harass freshers physically or mentally, they would be booked by the police, expelled from college and denied future admissions. Among a slew of directions issued by the court to stamp out ragging, many were aimed at making educational institutions directly responsible for acting against the culprits. These included mandatory registration of FIRs by the institutions whenever a ragging incident comes to light. The punishment "should be exemplary and justifiably harsh to stop recurrence of the ugly incidents", said a Bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and S H Kapadia. More anti-ragging measures would be considered in September, the court said. Its interim directions were based on the recommendations of a committee headed by former CBI director R K Raghavan, who was tasked with finding ways and means to stop ragging in educational institutions. First and foremost, the court took into account the general tendency among institutions to sweep ragging incidents under the carpet in the fear that it would damage its reputation, an act which often emboldens the perpetrators to hunt for fresh prey among freshers. Directing all institutions to set up anti-ragging squads, the Bench said though the victim and his parents were free to approach police to lodge a report against the erring seniors, it was obligatory on the part of the educational institutions to lodge FIRs on ragging incidents without delay. "Failure or delay on the part of the college authorities or management to report the ragging incident to police would make them liable for culpable negligence," the Bench said, indicating that they could also be prosecuted for negligence to bring the guilty to book. Non-reporting of ragging incidents to police could also make an institution liable for reduction in government grants, it said. The court made it clear that the police should make prompt investigations and chargesheet the accused while the courts should fast-track the trial in ragging cases, thus plugging the loophole in the justice delivery system which many exploit to delay trials.

DNA computing

DNA computing is a form of computing which uses DNA and molecular biology, instead of the traditional silicon-based computer technologies.
This field was initially developed by Leonard Adleman of the University of Southern California. In 1994, Adleman demonstrated a proof-of-concept use of DNA as a form of computation which was used to solve the seven-point Hamiltonian path problem. Since the initial Adleman experiments, advances have been made, and various Turing machines have been proven to be constructable.
There are works over one dimensional lengths, bidimensional tiles, and even three dimensional DNA graphs processing.
On April 28, 2004, Ehud Shapiro, Yaakov Benenson, Binyamin Gil, Uri Ben-Dor, and Rivka Adar at the Weizmann Institute announced in the journal Nature that they had constructed a DNA computer. This was coupled with an input and output module and is capable of diagnosing cancerous activity within a cell, and then releasing an anti-cancer drug upon diagnosis.
DNA computing is fundamentally similar to parallel computing in that it takes advantage of the many different molecules of DNA to try many different possibilities at once.
For certain specialized problems, DNA computers are faster and smaller than any other computer built so far. But DNA computing does not provide any new capabilities from the standpoint of computational complexity theory, the study of which computational problems are difficult. For example, problems which grow exponentially with the size of the problem (EXPSPACE problems) on von Neumann machines still grow exponentially with the size of the problem on DNA machines. For very large EXPSPACE problems, the amount of DNA required is too large to be practical. (Quantum computing, on the other hand, does provide some interesting new capabilities).