All closed source code is invariably poorly written, containing bugs, mistakes, design flaws and security issues from beginning to end. For every ten lines of code there is a disaster waiting, and when that disaster comes to pass you'll be lucky if the system even reports it. Within the cloak of secrecy afforded by closed source code programmers ( Read more... )

"His vision was spherical, as though a single retina lined the inner surface of a globe that contained all things, if all things could be counted. And here things could be counted, each one."


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Loose lips sink ships... and allow the enemy to develop better IEDs (improvised explosive devices) according to Prez. Dubya and the Pentagon who are attempting to dissuade the media from reporting on technical developments in ant-IED technology.

Reporter and blogger Noah Shachtman has been told by a U.S. Colonel that his reporting on the ( Read more... )

The guys at Penny Arcade may have caught a brief glimpse into the brave new world of the professional shill. This ominous missive was received from a fan claiming to have been interviewed for a "guerilla marketing business" in San Francisco:

I was told that if I accepted the job, I was to have at LEAST 50 identities on as many forums as I could ( Read more... )

A couple of interesting things from this article on the lighter side of science this year (via Fortean Times). First the collision of biology and politics:
"The guardians of animal nomenclature had mixed feelings over a proposal to name three newly-discovered species of slime-mould beetle after US President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney ( Read more... )

Just in case you thought the SiW philosophy was getting a little theoretical:

"It seems that many if not all IT Auditors, CSOs, and IT security staff, live daily with the fear of the "never expiring password" being exposed. It is the unspoken taboo - the wide open back door in every corporate network today. It is virtually certain that there is not ( Read more... )

No details on this one, just a (rather extreme) analogy ( Read more... )

The SNEP and SCPP (a "civil company of the phonographic producers" trans.) is in the process of lobbying the French government for a change in the law that will ban open software.

SNEP and SCPP have told Free Software authors: "You will be required to change your licenses." SACEM add: "You shall stop publishing free software," and warn they are ( Read more... )

It was recently revealed that Sony have been surreptitiously installing rootkits on the PCs of legitimate CD buyers. The rootkit software conceals files and running processes from the user and from scanning, anti-viral, administration and debugging systems. The intention is to run DRM services on the legal purchaser's machine to prevent them ( Read more... )

Answer honestly: why would you not want your family to know where you are?

Microsoft researchers are working on a wall mounted display wich will allow busy families to keep track of each other. Researchers have christened it as the "whereabout clock". They agree to being partially inspired by Harry Potter novels. The whereabout clock's screen uses ( Read more... )