Hackers. I forgive you. I know that, for some reason, you decided to attack the former I Am Nerd website which made me recreate everything from scratch...but I forgive you. You stuck it to the Apple fanboys--and that made me happy.


Allow me to explain:

At the CanSecWest "PWN 2 OWN" hacking contest, hackers where offered a sizable prize if they could hack one of three laptops. The first laptop was a Fujistu running Vista, the second laptop was a MacBook Air, and the last laptop was a Sony Vaio with Ubuntu installed.

The rules stated they had 3 days to complete the task, with the $20,000 cash prize declining each day. On the first day, hackers were only allowed to attack the computers over the network. The second day the rules where relaxed to allow the target computers to browse to e-mails or websites. On the third day, the hackers were allowed to use 3rd-party applications to do their dirty deeds for them.

All three computers beat out the hackers on the first day. But when day two came around and the rules where relaxed, the MacBook Air went down in (count 'em) TWO MINUTES by way of an exploit in Apple Safari. The winner, Charlie Miller, brought home the hacked Air as well as a $10,000 prize.

As far as the other two machines, the Vista computer didn't go down until the last day of the contest and the Ubuntu box went unscathed.

Some of the show's 400 attendees had found bugs in the Linux operating system, she said, but many of them didn't want to put the work into developing the exploit code that would be required to win the contest.

Earlier, Miller said that he chose to hack the Mac because he thought it would be easiest target. Vista hacker Macaulay didn't dispute that assertion: "I think it might be," he said.


[Vista, MacBook Out--Only Linux Left in Hacking Contest via PC World]

If you're a Vista hater (which is everyone on Earth but me I think), today is a day to rejoice! Vista service pack one is out today! So all you haters can take a break. People seem to be very happy with it, reporting that the OS is much more responsive and copying times have been shortened. Everything addressed in the SP can be found in the release notes.

You can head over to Microsoft Update and download the 434.5 MB file if it's not showing up in your Windows Update (which is happening to me). Of the people it does appear for, they're saying the file is only around 125 MB. I have no idea why there's such a big difference there, so you may want to just go to Microsoft Update just to be safe. I'm a little paranoid on downloading it, but the worst thing I've heard is someone getting a blue screen because of an external hard drive. (Which is solved by unplugging it.) So... good luck!

Most of you have probably seen this already, but for those who haven't I have a special treat: a walking, running, jumping robot.

Here's the skinny:
BigDog is the alpha male of the Boston Dynamics family of robots. It is a quadruped robot that walks, runs, and climbs on rough terrain and carries heavy loads. BigDog is powered by a gasoline engine that drives a hydraulic actuation system. BigDog's legs are articulated like an animal’s, and have compliant elements that absorb shock and recycle energy from one step to the next. BigDog is the size of a large dog or small mule, measuring 1 meter long, 0.7 meters tall and 75 kg weight.


Curious NOW? Go watch the video after the jump.

I've gotten some personal crap from my friends for shopping at the local Publix "meglomart" instead of the wholesome Whole Foods grocery store that's only a half block further away. Usually the conversation goes something like this:

THEM: "How can you buy that CRAP at Publix, it's full of carcinogens! You need to buy ORGANIC!"

ME: "Just because it says 'organic' doesn't mean it is...and it doesn't mean it's that much better for me."


Well, I hope you're reading this, hippies, because it turns out I'm right. The Consumerist has a post citing a report from the Organic Consumers Association that tested "organic" personal care products for a byproduct called "1,4-dioxane". Apparently this human carcinogen (so says the EPA) has been found to cause cancer in lab animals. Good times!

FTA:
The study found that products that were actually certified USDA Organic were free of the 1,4-dioxane. Others... not so much.

Some of the Leading Brands Found to Contain 1,4-Dioxane:
JASON Pure Natural & Organic
Giovanni Organic Cosmetics
Kiss My Face
Nature's Gate Organics
365, Whole Foods House Brand
Seventh Generation


Remember to look for the USDA Organic seal, kiddies. Or maybe you should just get off your high horse and realize EVERYONE's out to sell you shit and they'll pretend to be whatever they need to in order to do it.

The Mac finally gets a virus... but it doesn't do anything bad. Damn. But the effect of The Newton Virus is still cool. All you have to do is wait for some crazy Mac user to leave their computer and stick the little Plug 'n' Play USB into a port and take it back out. Upon returning they'll get a nice surprise of everything on the screen falling down. You can even tilt the laptop and the heap of icons and windows roll around. The USB stick even has a crazed black Mac apple that looks like it's out for blood.

Link to the original story over at Gizmodo.

New Scientist has [an older] post about a "tele-operated mobile internet robot" that was created from Lego Technics (my personal favorite) pieces, a low cost micro-controller, and an old cell phone.

Right now, the robot can share its cell phone site via the web but the creator, Jatinderjit Singh, plans to also implement a infrared sensor to help track humans as well as a 2D distance mapping system by way of a laser pointer. More details can be found here.

Apparently, simply combining a few letters and numbers isn't enough for Phillips; they're calling their new cell phone the 9@9j.

Not only does it have a strange name, but it also allows you to use.. AAA batteries as backup power? Huh. Somehow, I think that AAA batteries aren't a staple in someone's backpack in the case that they can magically say, "Oh, my phone battery is dying, I'll just insert one of my spare AAAs."

Granted, if it was an emergency, a lot of corner stores have batteries, usually hanging at the end of their junk food aisle. On second inspection though, 90% of the time, I only see AA batteries.

via TechDigest

I'm sure these are probably older than dirt, but it was only recently shared with me (thanks Chan) so I thought I'd share it with you.


Behold, an Atheist's nightmare--peanut butter and bananas!