Clipmarks | ruralart's 'computer' clips

Major Internet Security Issue

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 03:31:24 GMT

clipped by: ruralart
clipper's remarks: This is really scary. Hope they find a patch quickly!

Internet Security Patch May Not Do the Job

SAN FRANCISCO — Faced with the discovery of a serious flaw in the Internet’s workings, computer network administrators around the world have been rushing to fix their systems with a cobbled-together patch. Now it appears that the patch has some gaping holes.

On Friday, a Russian physicist demonstrated that the emergency fix to the basic Internet address system, known as the Domain Name System, is vulnerable and will almost certainly be exploited by criminals.

The flaw could allow Internet traffic to be secretly redirected so thieves could, for example, hijack a bank’s Web address and collect customer passwords.

“They are relying on infrastructure that was not intended to do what people assume it does,” said Clifford Neuman, director of the Center for Computer Systems Security at the University of Southern California. “What makes this so frustrating is that no one has been listening to what we have been saying for the past 17 years.”

Tags: internet, identity theft

Randy Pausch links

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:02:55 GMT

clipped by: ruralart
clipper's remarks: Great links.

Clip Source: well.blogs.nytimes.com

It was the power of the Internet that propelled computer science professor Randy Pausch to fame around the world after his inspiring last lecture and helped launch his best-selling book. So it seems a fitting tribute to document the many links, videos and other items that make up his online legacy.

A Google search of Dr. Pausch’s “The Last Lecture” generates more than 9 million links and counting. Here are some of the best.

“The Last Lecture” discussion guide: A guide to the book for parents, educators and book clubs.

“The Time Management Lecture”: Despite the hype about “The Last Lecture,” Dr. Pausch’s favorite lecture was this one.

The Alice Project: Educational software that teaches computer programming to children, and the project that Dr. Pausch viewed as his professional legacy.

Carnegie Mellon graduation speech: A six-minute talk to the university’s class of 2008, an event described by Dr. Pausch as “the perfect day.'’

Randy Pausch and his family (Randy Pausch)

Planetarium for your computer

Tue, 06 May 2008 00:46:08 GMT

clipped by: ruralart
clipper's remarks: This looks really neat - enjoy!

Clip Source: www.stellarium.org

Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.
It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go. view screenshots

Sourceforge

Sourceforge is the central website where we collaborate on Stellarium, and where you can be heard too!

Tags: planetarium, computers, stars, space, astronomy