T.J. Walia's posterous

I just drove through this storm... not fun!!!


I spotted this on my way home.  It seemed a lot further north then where I was, but eventually went right over me.  Zero visibility, 
and lightning flashes were seen every few seconds.  The craziest storm I have ever been through in my life.

(download)

Hackers Break Into Police Computers. Officers didn't set a password!

Exclusive: An Australian Federal Police boast, on the ABC's Four Corners program, about officers breaking up an underground hacker forum, has backfired after hackers broke into a federal police computer system.

Security consultants say police appear to have been using the computer as a honeypot to collect information on members of the forum but the scheme came undone after the officers forgot to set a password.

Last Wednesday, federal police officers in co-operation with Victoria Police executed a search warrant on premises in Brighton, Melbourne, connected to the administrator of an underground hacking forum, r00t-y0u.org, which had about 5000 members.

Many details of the investigation were revealed for the first time on Four Corners last night.

After the raid, the federal police covertly assumed control of the forum and began using it to gather evidence about members.

"We can operate in a covert activity here fairly seamlessly with no harm to our members with continual and actual significant penetration," Neil Gaughan, national manager of the federal police's High Tech Crimes Operation, told Four Corners.

However, what the federal police did not know was that hackers had already cottoned on to their plan.

Police were monitoring the forum by logging into the account of the administrator they had raided, but this aroused suspicion among members who knew the raid had taken place.

A hacker broke into the federal police's computer system and, according to a source close to the investigation, accessed both police evidence and intelligence about federal police systems such as its IP addresses.

A spokeswoman for the federal police confirmed that the hacker broke into a computer system used in its investigation but denied that any evidence was compromised, saying the computer was not connected to other federal police systems.

"The AFP has identified a person whom [sic] has attempted to access the stand-alone computer system and we are currently working with our law enforcement partners regarding this matter," the spokeswoman said.

The hacker appears to have been provoked by a message published on the r00t-y0u.org site by the federal police, warning members they were under surveillance and that "all member IP addresses have been logged", with some arrests having already been made.

In two provocative messages published on anonymous document-sharing site pastebin.com, the hacker slammed the federal police for "making it sound like they can bust 'hackers', when all they have done is busted a COUPLE script kiddies". "Script kiddies" is hacker parlance for novice hackers.

The second of these messages contained several links to screenshots allegedly proving that the writer had access to the federal police's server.

These included shots of files containing fake IDs and stolen credit card numbers, as well as the federal police's server information.

The hacker then defaced the r00t-y0u.org website with the same message it had posted on the anonymous document-sharing site.

The federal police spokeswoman said: "The information posted on the http://pastebin.com website is information contained on a stand-alone [federal police] system designed specifically to be used in investigations such as this.

"The information consists of directory file names of previously compromised credentials. No information or files exist that have, or could have, been compromised."

The hacker wrote "I couldn't stop laughing" on seeing that the federal police's server was running Windows, which is known among hacker communities for being insecure. Police had also "left the MYSQL password blank".

"These dipshits are using an automatic digital forensics and incident response tool," the hacker wrote.

"All of this [hacking] had been done within 30-40 minutes. Could of been faster if I didn't stop to laugh so much."

Shaon Diwakar, a security consultant at Hack Labs in Sydney, explained how the hack occurred.

"The attacker has discovered that the server didn't have a password for its database application and he has logged on ... and, using a technique called SQL injection, he created a PHP file on the disk and browsed through that PHP file to get complete control of that particular server," he said.

Diwakar said the hacker would have had access to anything that was stored on the computer.

"When they took this action they should have known that they would have been a big target, so they should have taken more precautions," he said.

The federal police said it had yet to charge anyone over the r00t-y0u.org forum bust, but "numerous items" were seized and the investigation was ongoing.

It declined to comment further on the case.

What do you expect when officers forget to set a password??? You're dealing with hackers, not grade 1 kids!!!

Neglected dog 'worst ever seen' - This is really sad folks, please read.

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I can't believe how cruel people can be. I hope the person who did this is put behind bars for a long time. I wish I could give that person a piece of my mind!!! I'm a dog owner, and don't understand how people could do this??? I don't even have words to express my frustration!!!
This is really sad.

Man builds toothpick city - thanks @charlesyeo

Not only does this require talent, but a lot of patience too. 34 Years to be exact. Incredible!!!

@BarackObama the new Hero? Barack takes on Darth Vader!!!

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The Obama Doll!!! I wish I could translate the text on the site to see what it is they're saying. It seems like this Obama Action figure is the new Hero in town taking on Darth Vader. It seems like you can dress him up, remove his jacket & tie for "casual Fridays", or make him a Ninja. Wonder if it'll be in stores, or if it's just a one-off??

SEARCH SHOWDOWN: Microsoft’s Plan to Win the Search War

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To Bing or not to Bing!

I've been using bing for over 3 weeks now, and it's really a tossup between the two. I've noticed searching for specific files in Bing is a lot more useful then Google. In bing if you use the "Contains:" attribute, you can place a file type extension after the colon, and that will narrow your search to that specific filetype. Yes, Google too can do this ("filetype:" parameter), but what Google does is it searches directly for that file, whereas Bing will find a page with that file name being specified. Huge difference here because results will be different, and I've found bing to be more effective here.

iPhone 3GS for $99??

iPhone(Credit: CNET)

The latest Apple rumor is that the iPhone 3G will soon be replaced by a low-priced 8GB iPhone 3GS. Apparently, Rogers Wireless in Canada sent out a memo that implies the $99 iPhone 3G pricing announced at WWDC earlier this summer was to get rid of inventory to make way for the faster 3GS. Though nobody knows what the price might be on the new iPhone (or even if this rumor is true), it would be exciting to see a smaller 3GS for those who don't need all the space. While we wait to see what the next thing out of Apple might be, let's check out this week's apps.

This week's apps are both games including a recently discovered word game and a tower defense game in which you'll defend planets from invading aliens.

BookWorm

Added challenges like burning tiles and bonus books make this game highly addictive.

(Credit: CNET)

Bookworm ($2.99), by Popcap Games, is a word game in which you tap the screen to select adjacent letter tiles to make words. A cartoon drawn bookworm sits on top of the gameplay area and the idea is that as you complete words you are feeding the hungry bookworm while also getting points. You can play the game in Classic mode (no timer) or a timed version to add to the challenge. I've reviewed a similar game before called WordsWorth, but Bookworm has some unique features that definitely make it worth checking out.

What makes Bookworm especially fun are the added challenges you need to contend with as you make words. Flaming tiles will appear that slowly burn downward through your stack of letters if you don't use them quickly. If a flaming tile reaches the bottom, your library burns and the game ends. My favorite feature is the special collections--when you select certain words like "Red," for example, the game pauses briefly to show you a list of color names that give added bonuses as you cross them off the list. There are several categories of special collections and the effect is that you start to search for words that will complete your categories. On the start-up screen you can view your bonus book list to see which categories your working on and view stats for your overall gameplay. Anyone who likes word games will like the basic play of Bookworm, but the added features and challenges make this game worth the money.

Star Defense

Make sure to upgrade your towers as you go or you won't stand a chance

(Credit: CNET)

Star Defense ($1.99) from Ngmoco (makers of Rolando) is a tower defense type of game where you're job is to defend planets from an alien onslaught. The graphics are great for an iPhone game and the sounds and music add to the feeling of battling an endless alien invasion. Like other tower defense games, you have several gun towers to choose from, with some of them better at taking out certain types of enemies. You'll quickly realize that a good mix of towers is the best strategy, but as you try harder levels, you'll also have to manage the money you get from kills and upgrade your towers to make them more effective. Like other tower defense games, you'll need to beat a certain number of waves of enemies to complete a level.

What sets Star Defense apart from other tower defense games is the interface and level design. Your available towers are on the right side of the screen, making it easy to drag and drop them into position. The planets are in full 3D, so you'll need to swipe your finger to rotate the planet to get to where the action is. Not being able to see the entire path at one time adds an extra element to the gameplay because sometimes you'll find yourself rotating the planet frantically, trying to place towers that will kill escaped enemies. To make it more challenging, the paths travel around each planet in different ways, so you'll need to consider the best placement for each tower. Overall, Star Defense is an excellent addition to the tower defense genre, with enough of a variation on gameplay to make it worthy of your download.

What's your favorite iPhone app? Do you have a word game on your iPhone that's better than Bookworm? What's your secret for playing the harder difficulty levels in Star Defense? Let me know in the comments!

The iPhone 3G is is sold out at every cell phone provider across the nation, what will happen with a $99 iPhone 3GS? Apple better make enough of these units to meet demands.

Digital Home - North Americans pay some of the highest mobile phone rates

North Americans pay some of the highest mobile phone ratesA recent OECD report which compared the price of mobile phone service among OECD countries has concluded that consumers in Canada, Spain and the United States paid some of the highest mobile phone rates in the world.

The lowest rates were found in Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden.

 

To compare prices across the thirty OECD countries, the report calculated and compared wireless phone rates for low, medium and high usage consumers.

The OECD Communications Outlook says between 2006 and 2008 mobile phone call prices fell on average by 21% for low usage consumers, 28% for medium usage and by 32% for subscribers with the highest consumption patterns.

In comparing 30 countries, Canada ranked 20th among light users, 28th among medium users and 19th among heavy users. The United States ranked 30th, 30th and 25th respectively. Spain ranked 29th, 29th and 30th respectively.

The following is a brief overview of the results.

Low Usage

Comparing prices on a medium-use basis for a package of 360 voice calls, 396 short texts (SMS), and eight multimedia (MMS) messages, the survey found monthly prices ranged from $4.5 to $24 US dollars across countries as of August 2008. The OECD average was $163 annually or about $13.50 per month.

In the low use category Canadians ranked 20th at just over $16 a month while the Americans ranked last with expenditures of $23 a month. The OECD estimates the low usage Canadian spent $195 a year vs. $279 for an American. Light users in Denmark spent the least, $4.50 per month.

Medium Usage

Comparing prices on a medium-use basis for a package of 780 voice calls, 600 short texts (SMS), and eight multimedia (MMS) messages, the survey found monthly prices ranged from $11 to $53 US dollars across countries as of August 2008. The OECD average was $317 annually or about $26.50 per month.

In the medium use category, Canadians spent $42 a month and ranked 28th while the Americans ranked last with monthly expenses of $53. The OECD estimates the medium usage Canadian spent $563 a year vs. $635 for an American. Medium users in Denmark spent the least, $11 per month.

High Usage

Comparing prices on a high-use basis for a package of 1680 voice calls, 600 short texts (SMS), and 12 multimedia (MMS) messages, the survey found monthly prices ranged from $15 to $80 US  across countries as of August 2008.  The OECD average was $489 annually or about $40.75 per month.

In the high use category, Canadians spent $47 a month and ranked 19th while the Americans ranked 25th with monthly expenditures of $53. The OECD estimates the high usage Canadian spent $563 a year vs. $635 for an American. Heavy users in Denmark spent the least, $15 per month.

 

Discuss and learn more

Discuss this story in our Canadian Mobile Phone forum in the Digital Forum. Membership in the Digital Forum is free and with more than 750,000 visitors a month, there is always something new and interesting to discuss.

 

 

I couldn't agree any more... I pay extra just to get free incoming calls on my Rogers phone. When I traveled to India almost 2 years ago, they had free incoming (even on pay-as-you-go plans). This is just a ripoff!!!

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