And yes... It's also searchable AND displayable without FLASH.
This technique just puts a FLASH "movie" over the original text. If you don't have FLASH, you will just see the original text without the "FLASH fonts"... no big deal.
If you search, the browser will find the text BEHIND the FLASH movie. Everything is fine man.
From Instant Messaging Planet: A new "multiple language" smart worm is spreading through Instant Messaging, checking system settings of IM clients and then sending messages in the appropriate language. The virus appears to be a new variant of the Kelvir instant messaging (IM) worm dubbed Kelvir.HI, propagating over a leading public IM network, said security firm Akonix.
Akonix says it is the first worm ever identified that intelligently checks system settings and delivers the worm in the proper language. "The rise of IM threats is mostly 2005 phenomena," Francis Costello, CTO at Akonix, said. "For the most part these social engineering attacks are pretty basics. Except this one."
Costello also said this form of advanced social engineering, where a virus discovers which language a user is working in, and then propagates itself in the same language, is a trend likely to continue. So far the worm has only been spotted on the MSN IM client.
"It figures if you're speaking French, your buddy is also speaking French," he said.
Earlier this month, the Akonix Security Center reported a total 42 new threats aimed at corporate IM systems in July, which is a 24 percent increase over the previous month.
The Akonix Security Center has classified the most recent worm as low risk and immediately used the industry's only real-time IM malware, SPIM and protocol update system to automatically push updates to customers for protection against this threat.
So far the smart worm has been spotted in 10 languages, delivering the same line: "haha i found your picture!" The languages are: English, Spanish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Swedish, Italian, Portuguese and Turkish. The virus moves once users click on the link in the message, a copy of the Spybot worm is automatically downloaded to their computer. Spybot is a backdoor program that, among other malicious activity, can end security applications, log keystrokes and receive remote commands, according to Akonix.
A COMPUTER worm called Sober hit the headlines last week, reigniting people's fears about viruses. But while many may fret about infected emails, hackers are increasingly turning to stealthier ways to spread malicious software. Their latest target is instant messaging (IM), a wildly popular alternative to email that allows groups of friends or colleagues to chat online in real time.
"Hackers look at IM and they see fertile new ground," says Jonathan Christensen of FaceTime Communications, an IM security firm based in Foster City, California. "Although email continues to be a target, malicious code writers have become more creative." Even Microsoft, which supplies a proprietary instant messaging service, agrees. "Instant messaging has become a popular target for malicious hackers," says a spokesperson.
IM viruses and worms are not new. In 2001 two IM viruses called Choke and Hello struck, albeit with limited impact. But back then just 141 million people were using IM to talk online. Today 863 million people chat this way, and in March 2004 the volume of IM spam, known as spim, began to skyrocket (New Scientist, 3 April 2004, p 22). But because instant messages from your account can only be sent to your approved contact lists of friends, security experts hoped that IM worms would never take off like email-based malware.
Now, despite these protections, IM worms are beginning to cause similar damage to their email counterparts. "The sweet spot for IM worms is right now," says Jon Sakoda of IM security company IMlogic in Waltham, Massachusetts.
On April 14, the UK-based news agency Reuters had to remove 60,000 clients from its Microsoft messaging service for 20 hours after it detected an attempted invasion by a worm called Kelvir. IMlogic reports a threefold increase in the number of new IM worms released in the first three months of this year compared with 2004. And during this month and last a new IM worm variant has appeared almost every day, according to FaceTime.
Kelvir and another widespread worm called Bropia were detected on 6 March and 19 January respectively. They both use a piece of publicly available code called an application programming interface (API) to infect Microsoft IM networks, and spread via messages that appear to come from a trusted friend, but actually contain malicious web links. Click on one and it automatically downloads a virus that gives a hacker remote control of your PC.
The links are embedded within casual, friendly or salacious comments depending on the worm variant. Hackers have even programmed some Kelvir worms to chat with the victim before sending the link, to persuade the recipient they are talking to a friend. The worm's stock responses are sent blindly, regardless of how the victim replies, so these "conversations" can seem fragmented and illogical. But this is not uncommon even in genuine IM chat, due to the short time delay between sending and receiving messages. "It always shocks me how well these social engineering attacks end up working," says Nicholas Weaver, a security expert at the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, California.
Other worms such as Gabby, which surfaced on 26 April, target AOL's Instant Messenger, gaining access to contact list addresses through a flaw in the software rather than using API. And in March, a spat broke out between IM virus writers (similar to turf wars between email virus writers) when the IM worm Fatso (otherwise known as Sumom or Serflog) contained expletives aimed at the writer of the worm Assiral, which in turn was designed to disable Bropia.
Graham Cluley, a security consultant at UK-based anti-virus firm Sophos, says that email still poses a bigger threat. "While IM viruses may be on the rise, I think there will always be more people with access to email," he says. He points out that the Sober worm that struck last week, which also gives hackers remote control acce
While the Yonah and Athlon 64 X2 systems consumed relatively similar power at idle, Yonah hardly eats up any more power under full load. In fact, a 2.0GHz Yonah under 100% load consumes less power than an Athlon 64 X2 3800+ at idle. Obviously Intel has the advantage of being on a much lower power 65nm process, but it won't be until the second half of next year before we see any Athlon 64 X2s at 65nm, so it is an advantage that Intel will have for quite some time.
Although we didn't consider it as such here today , Yonah will be quite impressive on notebooks. The thought of having such a cool running dual core processor in a notebook is honestly amazing, and the performance difference (especially for multitaskers) over what we have today will be significant. The other thing to keep in mind is that when you go from a single core to a dual core Pentium M notebook, you won't be giving up anything at all. On the desktop side, you normally give up clock speed for dual core support, but Yonah will be running at very similar frequencies to what Dothan is running at today. In other words, you won't be giving up single threaded performance in favor of multi-threaded performance - you'll get the whole package.
As a desktop contender, Yonah is a bit of a mixed bag. While its performance in content creation applications has definitely improved over the single core Dothan, it still falls behind the Athlon 64 X2 in a handful of areas. Intel still needs to improve their video encoding and gaming performance, but it looks like we may have to wait for Conroe and Merom for that.
Until a couple of years ago, ICQ was the only IM used here in Brazil. Since then, MSN catched and became the one to rule them all. And no one I know uses ICQ for real anymore...
Although it's a M$ product, I must praise it a little here. It has a very intuitive interface, but above all, its animated emoticons, its cool winks and its easy of use of add-ons such as webcams, microphones and even handwriting add a *LOT* to its FUN FACTOR.
I must admit I still miss the offline messages and the invisibility mode, but the "fun potential" of MSN is so higher that I am willing to spend more time having laughable conversations in it than during the old ICQ times...
For the first time in the history of planetary exploration, the MARSIS radar on board ESA's Mars Express has provided direct information about the deep subsurface of Mars.
First data include buried impact craters, probing of layered deposits at the north pole and hints of the presence of deep underground water-ice.
The subsurface of Mars has been so far unexplored territory. Only glimpses of the Martian depths could be deduced through analysis of impact crater and valley walls, and by drawing cross-sections of the crust deduced from geological mapping of the surface.
With measurements taken only for a few weeks during night-time observations last summer, MARSIS - the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding - is already changing our perception of the Red Planet, adding to our knowledge the missing 'third' dimension: the Martian interior.
First results reveal an almost circular structure, about 250 km in diameter, shallowly buried under the surface of the northern lowlands of the Chryse Planitia region in the mid-latitudes on Mars. The scientists have interpreted it as a buried basin of impact origin, possibly containing a thick layer of water-ice-rich material.
To draw this first exciting picture of the subsurface, the MARSIS team studied the echoes of the radio waves emitted by the radar, which passed through the surface and then bounced back in the distinctive way that told the 'story' about the layers penetrated.
These echo structures form a distinctive collection that include parabolic arcs and an additional planar reflecting feature parallel to the ground, 160 km long. The parabolic arcs correspond to ring structures that could be interpreted as the rims of one or more buried impact basins. Other echoes show what may be rim-wall 'slump blocks' or 'peak-ring' features.
The planar reflection is consistent with a flat interface that separates the floor of the basin, situated at a depth of about 1.5 to 2.5 km, from a layer of overlying different material. In their analysis of this reflection, scientists do not exclude the intriguing possibility of a low-density, water-ice-rich material at least partially filling the basin.
"The detection of a large buried impact basin suggests that MARSIS data can be used to unveil a population of hidden impact craters in the northern lowlands and elsewhere on the planet," says Jeffrey Plaut, Co-Principal Investigator on MARSIS. "This may force us to reconsider our chronology of the formation and evolution of the surface."
MARSIS also probed the layered deposits that surround the north pole of Mars, in an area between 10 and 40 East longitude. The interior layers and the base of these deposits are poorly exposed. Prior interpretations could only be based on imaging, topographic measurements and other surface techniques.
Two strong and distinct echoes coming from the area correspond to a surface reflection and subsurface interface between two different materials. By analysis of the two echoes, the scientists were able to draw the likely scenario of a nearly pure, cold water-ice layer thicker than 1 km, overlying a deeper layer of basaltic regolith. This conclusion appears to rule out the hypothesis of a melt zone at the base of the northern layered deposits.
To date, the MARSIS team has not observed any convincing evidence for liquid water in the subsurface, but the search has only just begun. "MARSIS is already demonstrating the capability to detect structures and layers in the subsurface of Mars which are not detectable by other sensors, past or present," says Giovanni Picardi, MARSIS Principal Investigator.
"MARSIS holds exciting promise to address, and possibly solve, a number of open questions of major geological significance," he concluded.
Slashdot Mirror
- Look mommy, another nifty flash movie!
- How does it look like honey?
- Ah nevermind, it's just text. It says SLASHDO-
- OH... WHERE HAVE I FAILED?
And yes...
It's also searchable AND displayable without FLASH.
This technique just puts a FLASH "movie" over the original text. If you don't have FLASH, you will just see the original text without the "FLASH fonts"... no big deal.
If you search, the browser will find the text BEHIND the FLASH movie. Everything is fine man.
IMO, this is indeed a Good Thing (TM).
The text can be highlighted.
Check out this example page.
You can turn sIFR on and off to see the difference:
sIFR Example
From Instant Messaging Planet:
A new "multiple language" smart worm is spreading through Instant Messaging, checking system settings of IM clients and then sending messages in the appropriate language. The virus appears to be a new variant of the Kelvir instant messaging (IM) worm dubbed Kelvir.HI, propagating over a leading public IM network, said security firm Akonix.
Akonix says it is the first worm ever identified that intelligently checks system settings and delivers the worm in the proper language. "The rise of IM threats is mostly 2005 phenomena," Francis Costello, CTO at Akonix, said. "For the most part these social engineering attacks are pretty basics. Except this one."
Costello also said this form of advanced social engineering, where a virus discovers which language a user is working in, and then propagates itself in the same language, is a trend likely to continue. So far the worm has only been spotted on the MSN IM client.
"It figures if you're speaking French, your buddy is also speaking French," he said.
Earlier this month, the Akonix Security Center reported a total 42 new threats aimed at corporate IM systems in July, which is a 24 percent increase over the previous month.
The Akonix Security Center has classified the most recent worm as low risk and immediately used the industry's only real-time IM malware, SPIM and protocol update system to automatically push updates to customers for protection against this threat.
So far the smart worm has been spotted in 10 languages, delivering the same line: "haha i found your picture!" The languages are: English, Spanish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Swedish, Italian, Portuguese and Turkish. The virus moves once users click on the link in the message, a copy of the Spybot worm is automatically downloaded to their computer. Spybot is a backdoor program that, among other malicious activity, can end security applications, log keystrokes and receive remote commands, according to Akonix.
From New Scientist:
A COMPUTER worm called Sober hit the headlines last week, reigniting people's fears about viruses. But while many may fret about infected emails, hackers are increasingly turning to stealthier ways to spread malicious software. Their latest target is instant messaging (IM), a wildly popular alternative to email that allows groups of friends or colleagues to chat online in real time.
"Hackers look at IM and they see fertile new ground," says Jonathan Christensen of FaceTime Communications, an IM security firm based in Foster City, California. "Although email continues to be a target, malicious code writers have become more creative." Even Microsoft, which supplies a proprietary instant messaging service, agrees. "Instant messaging has become a popular target for malicious hackers," says a spokesperson.
IM viruses and worms are not new. In 2001 two IM viruses called Choke and Hello struck, albeit with limited impact. But back then just 141 million people were using IM to talk online. Today 863 million people chat this way, and in March 2004 the volume of IM spam, known as spim, began to skyrocket (New Scientist, 3 April 2004, p 22). But because instant messages from your account can only be sent to your approved contact lists of friends, security experts hoped that IM worms would never take off like email-based malware.
Now, despite these protections, IM worms are beginning to cause similar damage to their email counterparts. "The sweet spot for IM worms is right now," says Jon Sakoda of IM security company IMlogic in Waltham, Massachusetts.
On April 14, the UK-based news agency Reuters had to remove 60,000 clients from its Microsoft messaging service for 20 hours after it detected an attempted invasion by a worm called Kelvir. IMlogic reports a threefold increase in the number of new IM worms released in the first three months of this year compared with 2004. And during this month and last a new IM worm variant has appeared almost every day, according to FaceTime.
Kelvir and another widespread worm called Bropia were detected on 6 March and 19 January respectively. They both use a piece of publicly available code called an application programming interface (API) to infect Microsoft IM networks, and spread via messages that appear to come from a trusted friend, but actually contain malicious web links. Click on one and it automatically downloads a virus that gives a hacker remote control of your PC.
The links are embedded within casual, friendly or salacious comments depending on the worm variant. Hackers have even programmed some Kelvir worms to chat with the victim before sending the link, to persuade the recipient they are talking to a friend. The worm's stock responses are sent blindly, regardless of how the victim replies, so these "conversations" can seem fragmented and illogical. But this is not uncommon even in genuine IM chat, due to the short time delay between sending and receiving messages. "It always shocks me how well these social engineering attacks end up working," says Nicholas Weaver, a security expert at the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, California.
Other worms such as Gabby, which surfaced on 26 April, target AOL's Instant Messenger, gaining access to contact list addresses through a flaw in the software rather than using API. And in March, a spat broke out between IM virus writers (similar to turf wars between email virus writers) when the IM worm Fatso (otherwise known as Sumom or Serflog) contained expletives aimed at the writer of the worm Assiral, which in turn was designed to disable Bropia.
Graham Cluley, a security consultant at UK-based anti-virus firm Sophos, says that email still poses a bigger threat. "While IM viruses may be on the rise, I think there will always be more people with access to email," he says. He points out that the Sober worm that struck last week, which also gives hackers remote control acce
IT: "Hi! It's nice to meet you!"
ME: "Who are you?"
IT: "LOL! Of course I am not a virus! By the way, click here!"
Yeah, sure thing they are evolving...
From the article:
While the Yonah and Athlon 64 X2 systems consumed relatively similar power at idle, Yonah hardly eats up any more power under full load. In fact, a 2.0GHz Yonah under 100% load consumes less power than an Athlon 64 X2 3800+ at idle. Obviously Intel has the advantage of being on a much lower power 65nm process, but it won't be until the second half of next year before we see any Athlon 64 X2s at 65nm, so it is an advantage that Intel will have for quite some time.
Although we didn't consider it as such here today , Yonah will be quite impressive on notebooks. The thought of having such a cool running dual core processor in a notebook is honestly amazing, and the performance difference (especially for multitaskers) over what we have today will be significant. The other thing to keep in mind is that when you go from a single core to a dual core Pentium M notebook, you won't be giving up anything at all. On the desktop side, you normally give up clock speed for dual core support, but Yonah will be running at very similar frequencies to what Dothan is running at today. In other words, you won't be giving up single threaded performance in favor of multi-threaded performance - you'll get the whole package.
As a desktop contender, Yonah is a bit of a mixed bag. While its performance in content creation applications has definitely improved over the single core Dothan, it still falls behind the Athlon 64 X2 in a handful of areas. Intel still needs to improve their video encoding and gaming performance, but it looks like we may have to wait for Conroe and Merom for that.
Until a couple of years ago, ICQ was the only IM used here in Brazil.
Since then, MSN catched and became the one to rule them all.
And no one I know uses ICQ for real anymore...
Although it's a M$ product, I must praise it a little here.
It has a very intuitive interface, but above all, its animated emoticons, its cool winks and its easy of use of add-ons such as webcams, microphones and even handwriting add a *LOT* to its FUN FACTOR.
I must admit I still miss the offline messages and the invisibility mode, but the "fun potential" of MSN is so higher that I am willing to spend more time having laughable conversations in it than during the old ICQ times...
Well, just my 2 cents.
From ESA:
For the first time in the history of planetary exploration, the MARSIS radar on board ESA's Mars Express has provided direct information about the deep subsurface of Mars.
First data include buried impact craters, probing of layered deposits at the north pole and hints of the presence of deep underground water-ice.
The subsurface of Mars has been so far unexplored territory. Only glimpses of the Martian depths could be deduced through analysis of impact crater and valley walls, and by drawing cross-sections of the crust deduced from geological mapping of the surface.
With measurements taken only for a few weeks during night-time observations last summer, MARSIS - the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding - is already changing our perception of the Red Planet, adding to our knowledge the missing 'third' dimension: the Martian interior.
First results reveal an almost circular structure, about 250 km in diameter, shallowly buried under the surface of the northern lowlands of the Chryse Planitia region in the mid-latitudes on Mars. The scientists have interpreted it as a buried basin of impact origin, possibly containing a thick layer of water-ice-rich material.
To draw this first exciting picture of the subsurface, the MARSIS team studied the echoes of the radio waves emitted by the radar, which passed through the surface and then bounced back in the distinctive way that told the 'story' about the layers penetrated.
These echo structures form a distinctive collection that include parabolic arcs and an additional planar reflecting feature parallel to the ground, 160 km long. The parabolic arcs correspond to ring structures that could be interpreted as the rims of one or more buried impact basins. Other echoes show what may be rim-wall 'slump blocks' or 'peak-ring' features.
The planar reflection is consistent with a flat interface that separates the floor of the basin, situated at a depth of about 1.5 to 2.5 km, from a layer of overlying different material. In their analysis of this reflection, scientists do not exclude the intriguing possibility of a low-density, water-ice-rich material at least partially filling the basin.
"The detection of a large buried impact basin suggests that MARSIS data can be used to unveil a population of hidden impact craters in the northern lowlands and elsewhere on the planet," says Jeffrey Plaut, Co-Principal Investigator on MARSIS. "This may force us to reconsider our chronology of the formation and evolution of the surface."
MARSIS also probed the layered deposits that surround the north pole of Mars, in an area between 10 and 40 East longitude. The interior layers and the base of these deposits are poorly exposed. Prior interpretations could only be based on imaging, topographic measurements and other surface techniques.
Two strong and distinct echoes coming from the area correspond to a surface reflection and subsurface interface between two different materials. By analysis of the two echoes, the scientists were able to draw the likely scenario of a nearly pure, cold water-ice layer thicker than 1 km, overlying a deeper layer of basaltic regolith. This conclusion appears to rule out the hypothesis of a melt zone at the base of the northern layered deposits.
To date, the MARSIS team has not observed any convincing evidence for liquid water in the subsurface, but the search has only just begun. "MARSIS is already demonstrating the capability to detect structures and layers in the subsurface of Mars which are not detectable by other sensors, past or present," says Giovanni Picardi, MARSIS Principal Investigator.
"MARSIS holds exciting promise to address, and possibly solve, a number of open questions of major geological significance," he concluded.
This sounds very interesting!
Click here for an audio interview about the finding.
Now admit it. You really have a small one!
And suddenly my 1+ inch nose becomes the most desired part of my body!
Isn't this exactly the kind of security that Reiser4 wants to address via its plugins system, while also adding more speed to the filesystems?
So... which one is better?
viiv or emacsscame?
No flamewar intentions.
Karma burn mode on!
From the article:
- It also will ensure the products will work[...]
- All will run Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media Center operating system.
Hmmm... something feels really paradoxical here...
So now when I lose my sunglasses (which happens a LOT), I've also lost my 256MB mp3 player? No thanks.
Put some Celine Dion musics in it and people will return it to you in no time.