China hopes to cure Internet addicts at summer camp
SHANGHAI ( Reuters ) - China is launching an experimental summer camp for 40 youngsters to try to wean them off their Internet addiction, state media said on Tuesday.
The 10 - day program would accept youngsters aged between 14 and 22 once they had undergone a psychological test and evaluation, the China Daily said.
About 2. 6 million - - or 13 percent - - of China's 20 million Internet users under 18 are classed as addicts, state media have reported.
The youngsters at the summer camp would be treated for depression, fear, unwillingness to interact with others, panic and agitation.
It would appear to be offering a softer option than the Internet Addiction Treatment Centre near Beijing which uses a blend of therapy and military drills to treat children addicted to online games, Internet pornography and cybersex.
Concerned by a number of high - profile Internet - related deaths and juvenile crime, the government is now taking steps to stem Internet addictions by banning new Internet cafes and mulling restrictions on violent computer games.
According to government figures, there are currently 113, 000 Internet cafes and bars in China.
The newspaper cited the case of one student accepted to East China University of Science and Technology with high marks.
" He could not adjust to Shanghai campus life without burying himself in computer games, " the China Daily said. " He would play day and night, skipping classes and avoiding friends, until he was pulled out of the Internet cafe by a supervisor. "
In a joint effort with the camp, Shanghai's education commission has organized a volunteer group to patrol the city streets and stop minors entering Internet cafes.
Source
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
When cyberbullying hits teens
When cyberbullying hits teens
Internet attorney Eric J. Sinrod says online harassment for teenagers has become a distasteful buckle down of cyber - life.
By Eric J. Sinrod
I recently covered a tally that indicates that teenagers generally are taking some privacy steps to ice themselves from online risks.
Nevertheless, a recent data memo from the Pew Internet & American Life Project suggests that cyberbullying truly is a disagreement for teens.
Certainly, approximately one - third of teenagers on the Internet report that they have been targets of " speculative " online activities, such as receiving threatening messages, having their private e - mails or instant and text messages forwarded without consent, having an embarrassing photo posted without permission, or having rumors spread about them online. On top of this, girls are more likely than boys to be targets.
Mastery terms of raw numbers, 15 percent of teenagers state that they have had appropriate e - mail, contemporaneous messages or topic messages forwarded or sophic at sea permission; 13 percent claim that they have had rumors spread about them online; 13 percent have known a threatening or aggressive e - mail, instant message or text advice; 6 percent have had embarrassing photos of them posted online without consent; and 32 percent fall within in at least one of the four foregoing categories.
In terms of the cyberbullying gender gap, 38 percent of online girls statement being bullied when compared with 26 percent of online boys. Older teenage girls are the mightily likely to statement bullying, disguise 41 percent of online girls from the 15 to 17 age group reporting such experiences.
Moreover, teens who capitalization social - network sites comparable as MySpace further Facebook and teens who use the Internet on a daily blastoff also are expanded approaching to be victims of cyberbullying. Indeed, 39 percent of social - networking teens hold been bullied online when compared with 22 percent of online teens who do not usability cordial networks.
The most common form of cyberbullying is having someone take a private e - mail, instant message or subject message also forwarding it on to someone else or posting it publicly. The best advice for teens here is that they should not voice everything in their electronic communications that they would not longing the whole earth to see. Easier said than done, of course.
Because social - networking teens tend to experience more cyberbullying, teens could be advised not to participate in social - networking sites. However, such sites wholly have become standard communications mediums as teens and they may feel socially excluded if they do not participate. Thus, if they do participate, they should take best steps to protect their privacy - - such seeing interacting only with true, known " friends " - - by not disclosing much personally identifiable information, and by not joining mediocre groups.
While there is eminently multinational these days about threats to teens online, an interesting aspect of the memo is that 67 percent of teens jaw that bullying happens other offline than online, and only 29 percent state that bullying is more ulterior to happen online. Hence, while it is important to focus on and try to prevent malicious online conduct, we must not lose our focus predominance terms of warding off harassing conduct in the physical world utterly.
Source
Internet attorney Eric J. Sinrod says online harassment for teenagers has become a distasteful buckle down of cyber - life.
By Eric J. Sinrod
I recently covered a tally that indicates that teenagers generally are taking some privacy steps to ice themselves from online risks.
Nevertheless, a recent data memo from the Pew Internet & American Life Project suggests that cyberbullying truly is a disagreement for teens.
Certainly, approximately one - third of teenagers on the Internet report that they have been targets of " speculative " online activities, such as receiving threatening messages, having their private e - mails or instant and text messages forwarded without consent, having an embarrassing photo posted without permission, or having rumors spread about them online. On top of this, girls are more likely than boys to be targets.
Mastery terms of raw numbers, 15 percent of teenagers state that they have had appropriate e - mail, contemporaneous messages or topic messages forwarded or sophic at sea permission; 13 percent claim that they have had rumors spread about them online; 13 percent have known a threatening or aggressive e - mail, instant message or text advice; 6 percent have had embarrassing photos of them posted online without consent; and 32 percent fall within in at least one of the four foregoing categories.
In terms of the cyberbullying gender gap, 38 percent of online girls statement being bullied when compared with 26 percent of online boys. Older teenage girls are the mightily likely to statement bullying, disguise 41 percent of online girls from the 15 to 17 age group reporting such experiences.
Moreover, teens who capitalization social - network sites comparable as MySpace further Facebook and teens who use the Internet on a daily blastoff also are expanded approaching to be victims of cyberbullying. Indeed, 39 percent of social - networking teens hold been bullied online when compared with 22 percent of online teens who do not usability cordial networks.
The most common form of cyberbullying is having someone take a private e - mail, instant message or subject message also forwarding it on to someone else or posting it publicly. The best advice for teens here is that they should not voice everything in their electronic communications that they would not longing the whole earth to see. Easier said than done, of course.
Because social - networking teens tend to experience more cyberbullying, teens could be advised not to participate in social - networking sites. However, such sites wholly have become standard communications mediums as teens and they may feel socially excluded if they do not participate. Thus, if they do participate, they should take best steps to protect their privacy - - such seeing interacting only with true, known " friends " - - by not disclosing much personally identifiable information, and by not joining mediocre groups.
While there is eminently multinational these days about threats to teens online, an interesting aspect of the memo is that 67 percent of teens jaw that bullying happens other offline than online, and only 29 percent state that bullying is more ulterior to happen online. Hence, while it is important to focus on and try to prevent malicious online conduct, we must not lose our focus predominance terms of warding off harassing conduct in the physical world utterly.
Source
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Mysterious hexagon spotted on Saturn
First, Mars had a face, now Saturn has a hexagon. A strange hexagon shape over the north pole of Saturn was first spotted by the two Voyager spacecraft and has been revisited by the Cassini probe. The 26 years between sightings indicate it is likely a permanent feature on Saturn, according to NASA scientists. In fact, Cassini found a second hexagon, significantly darker than the original. This is the first time the feature has been captured on one image.
On NASA's Web site, Kevin Baines, atmospheric expert and member of Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said, "Saturn's thick atmosphere where circularly shaped waves and convective cells dominate is perhaps the last place you'd expect to see such a six-sided geometric figure, yet there it is."
This image was captured at night by Cassini's infrared mapping spectrometer. The red color indicates heat generated from the planet's interior.
Source
Teacher & Principal Caught on Tape Having Sex in School
A principal and a teacher at a suburban elementary school quit amid allegations they were caught on video having sex in the principal's office, authorities say.
In keeping with Cook County's reputation for bare-knuckle politics, the scandal broke after copies of the sex tape were mailed anonymously to parents this week, just days before a contested school board election.
The case has also created something of a mystery: Who planted the camera that recorded the action?
Leroy Coleman and Janet Lofton submitted their resignations after meeting with the district superintendent Thursday, said John Izzo, board attorney for the Sandridge Elementary School district, about 20 miles south of Chicago.
Izzo said that Coleman, the school's principal since 2005, wrote that he was quitting for health reasons. He said Lofton wrote that she was stepping down immediately "due to the illness of a family member."
A third school employee, teacher's aide Anjayla Reed, resigned Friday after the superintendent contacted her about allegations that she appears on a separate portion of the tape hugging and touching the principal, Izzo said. She gave no reason for her resignation.
Kim Grivakis, the mother of a 13-year-old girl and 11-year-old boy who attend the school, said she received a copy of the 21/2-hour DVD in the mail Wednesday. She organized a meeting Thursday with other parents to call for action from the school board.
Grivakis said she could identify Coleman and Lofton and Reed on the tape.
"It made me sick," Grivakis said. "It's very graphic. I can't tell you how graphic because I have two children standing right here."
A copy of the DVD viewed by The Associated Press shows a man and a woman hugging, kissing and engaged in various sex acts inside an office. A separate portion of the tape, apparently from a different time, shows another woman hugging and touching the same man.
The Cook County Sheriff's Department is investigating.
"At this point we don't know if a crime has been committed," department spokeswoman Penny Mateck said, adding that investigators had a copy of the video.
Lofton has an unlisted telephone number, and no listing could be found for Coleman or Reed.
Izzo said that that he had been told by a sheriff's official that Coleman and Lofton are on the tape. "They asked to look at pictures of the staff members and they identified them," he said of the investigators.
The school board attorney said Coleman and Lofton apparently did not know about the camera. "Somebody got access and planted a bug in a school office," Izzo said.
He said sheriff's investigators searched the office on Thursday and apparently did not find a camera.
Copies of the video, apparently taped in December and January from the date stamps on it, emerged just days before Tuesday's elections. Eight candidates are competing for four board slots.
"How come it took five days before the election?" said school board President Cheryl Ward said. "I think that is sick."
Source
In keeping with Cook County's reputation for bare-knuckle politics, the scandal broke after copies of the sex tape were mailed anonymously to parents this week, just days before a contested school board election.
The case has also created something of a mystery: Who planted the camera that recorded the action?
Leroy Coleman and Janet Lofton submitted their resignations after meeting with the district superintendent Thursday, said John Izzo, board attorney for the Sandridge Elementary School district, about 20 miles south of Chicago.
Izzo said that Coleman, the school's principal since 2005, wrote that he was quitting for health reasons. He said Lofton wrote that she was stepping down immediately "due to the illness of a family member."
A third school employee, teacher's aide Anjayla Reed, resigned Friday after the superintendent contacted her about allegations that she appears on a separate portion of the tape hugging and touching the principal, Izzo said. She gave no reason for her resignation.
Kim Grivakis, the mother of a 13-year-old girl and 11-year-old boy who attend the school, said she received a copy of the 21/2-hour DVD in the mail Wednesday. She organized a meeting Thursday with other parents to call for action from the school board.
Grivakis said she could identify Coleman and Lofton and Reed on the tape.
"It made me sick," Grivakis said. "It's very graphic. I can't tell you how graphic because I have two children standing right here."
A copy of the DVD viewed by The Associated Press shows a man and a woman hugging, kissing and engaged in various sex acts inside an office. A separate portion of the tape, apparently from a different time, shows another woman hugging and touching the same man.
The Cook County Sheriff's Department is investigating.
"At this point we don't know if a crime has been committed," department spokeswoman Penny Mateck said, adding that investigators had a copy of the video.
Lofton has an unlisted telephone number, and no listing could be found for Coleman or Reed.
Izzo said that that he had been told by a sheriff's official that Coleman and Lofton are on the tape. "They asked to look at pictures of the staff members and they identified them," he said of the investigators.
The school board attorney said Coleman and Lofton apparently did not know about the camera. "Somebody got access and planted a bug in a school office," Izzo said.
He said sheriff's investigators searched the office on Thursday and apparently did not find a camera.
Copies of the video, apparently taped in December and January from the date stamps on it, emerged just days before Tuesday's elections. Eight candidates are competing for four board slots.
"How come it took five days before the election?" said school board President Cheryl Ward said. "I think that is sick."
Source
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Watching movies on your head
Headplay has created the Personal Cinema System (PCS), a portable movie viewer/PC monitor.
Its principal component is a sun visor that sports a TV monitor under the brim for close, personal viewing.
The device will sell for $499.
Here is the visor itself. By staring directly into two independently focused eyepieces,
the mind "sees" a largish, rectangular movie screen, or virtual monitor, on top of a black background.
Source
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Strippers offer free shows for missing dog
Strippers offer free shows for missing dog
Strippers in Italy are offering a year's free entry to their show for anyone who finds their missing poodle.
The girls, who work at the Gilda 2 sex shop and strip club in Viareggio, made the offer as soon as their pampered poodle Gianni went missing.
One of the strippers said: "Since we made the offer we have had lots of responses, but so far none of the dogs we have been shown have turned out to be our little Gianni."
Source
Strippers in Italy are offering a year's free entry to their show for anyone who finds their missing poodle.
The girls, who work at the Gilda 2 sex shop and strip club in Viareggio, made the offer as soon as their pampered poodle Gianni went missing.
One of the strippers said: "Since we made the offer we have had lots of responses, but so far none of the dogs we have been shown have turned out to be our little Gianni."
Source
Hack lets intruders sneak into home routers
Hack lets intruders sneak into home routers
Ability to change the settings of poorly configured home routers could put home networks at risk of serious attack.
By Joris Evers
If you haven't changed the default password on your home router, let this recent threat serve as a reminder.
Attackers could change the configuration of home routers using JavaScript code, security researchers at Indiana University and Symantec have discovered. The researchers first published their work in December, but Symantec publicized the findings on Thursday.
The researchers found that it is possible to change the DNS, or Domain Name System, settings of a router if the owner uses a connected PC to view a Web page with the JavaScript code. This DNS change lets the attacker divert all the Net traffic going through the router. For example, if the victim types in "www.mybank.com," the request could be sent to a similar-looking fake page created to steal sensitive data.
"I have been able to get this to work on Linksys, D-Link and Netgear routers," Symantec researcher Zulfikar Ramzan said. "You can create one Web site that is able to attack all routers. My feeling is that it is just a matter of time before phishers start using this."
After a router's DNS setting is changed, all computers connected to the device will use the DNS server set up by the attacker to find their way on the Internet. DNS functions like the phonebook of the Internet, mapping text-based addresses such as www.news.com to actual numeric Internet Protocol addresses of a Web site.
The attack works on any type of home router, but only if the default router password hasn't been changed, Ramzan said. The malicious JavaScript code embedded on the attacker's Web page logs into the router using the default credentials--often as simple as "admin" and "password"--and changes the settings.
"One of the issues is that the set-up steps in the router don't prompt you to change the password," Ramzan said. As a result, many people never properly configure their networking gear, he said.
In crafting their proof-of-concept attack code, Ramzan and researchers at Indiana University built upon earlier research that showed how JavaScript could be used for malicious purposes. Jeremiah Grossman, chief technology officer at WhiteHat Security, demonstrated how JavaScript let outside attackers target internal corporate networks.
Grossman is impressed by the Symantec and Indiana University work. "This is very dangerous stuff and could be highly effective if used in the wild," he said.
Router makers already know of the problems with default passwords as well as other security concerns, they said. Linksys, for example, recommends that customers change the default password during the installation procedure, said Karen Sohl, a representative for the company, a division of Cisco Systems. "We are aware of this," she said.
On its Web site, Linksys warns users that miscreants are taking advantage of the default passwords. "Hackers know these defaults and will try them to access your wireless device and change your network settings. To thwart any unauthorized changes, customize the device's password so it will be hard to guess," the company states.
Still, although Linksys' software recommends the password change, consumers can either plug in their router without running the installation disk or bypass the change screen, keeping the defaults. The company offers detailed information on how to change the router password on its Web site. Netgear and D-Link also recommend password changes.
Source
Ability to change the settings of poorly configured home routers could put home networks at risk of serious attack.
By Joris Evers
If you haven't changed the default password on your home router, let this recent threat serve as a reminder.
Attackers could change the configuration of home routers using JavaScript code, security researchers at Indiana University and Symantec have discovered. The researchers first published their work in December, but Symantec publicized the findings on Thursday.
The researchers found that it is possible to change the DNS, or Domain Name System, settings of a router if the owner uses a connected PC to view a Web page with the JavaScript code. This DNS change lets the attacker divert all the Net traffic going through the router. For example, if the victim types in "www.mybank.com," the request could be sent to a similar-looking fake page created to steal sensitive data.
"I have been able to get this to work on Linksys, D-Link and Netgear routers," Symantec researcher Zulfikar Ramzan said. "You can create one Web site that is able to attack all routers. My feeling is that it is just a matter of time before phishers start using this."
After a router's DNS setting is changed, all computers connected to the device will use the DNS server set up by the attacker to find their way on the Internet. DNS functions like the phonebook of the Internet, mapping text-based addresses such as www.news.com to actual numeric Internet Protocol addresses of a Web site.
The attack works on any type of home router, but only if the default router password hasn't been changed, Ramzan said. The malicious JavaScript code embedded on the attacker's Web page logs into the router using the default credentials--often as simple as "admin" and "password"--and changes the settings.
"One of the issues is that the set-up steps in the router don't prompt you to change the password," Ramzan said. As a result, many people never properly configure their networking gear, he said.
In crafting their proof-of-concept attack code, Ramzan and researchers at Indiana University built upon earlier research that showed how JavaScript could be used for malicious purposes. Jeremiah Grossman, chief technology officer at WhiteHat Security, demonstrated how JavaScript let outside attackers target internal corporate networks.
Grossman is impressed by the Symantec and Indiana University work. "This is very dangerous stuff and could be highly effective if used in the wild," he said.
Router makers already know of the problems with default passwords as well as other security concerns, they said. Linksys, for example, recommends that customers change the default password during the installation procedure, said Karen Sohl, a representative for the company, a division of Cisco Systems. "We are aware of this," she said.
On its Web site, Linksys warns users that miscreants are taking advantage of the default passwords. "Hackers know these defaults and will try them to access your wireless device and change your network settings. To thwart any unauthorized changes, customize the device's password so it will be hard to guess," the company states.
Still, although Linksys' software recommends the password change, consumers can either plug in their router without running the installation disk or bypass the change screen, keeping the defaults. The company offers detailed information on how to change the router password on its Web site. Netgear and D-Link also recommend password changes.
Source
Monday, March 5, 2007
Pirates crack Vista at last
It's official: Pirates crack Vista at last
* 4th March 2007
* James Bannan
* Vista
A genuine crack for Windows Vista has just been released by pirate group Pantheon, which allows a pirated, non-activated installation of Vista (Home Basic/Premium and Ultimate) to be properly activated and made fully-operational.
Unlike cracks which have been floating around since Vista RTM was released in late November, this crack doesn’t simply get around product activation with beta activation files or timestop cracks - it actually makes use of the activation process. It seems that M'zoft has allowed large OEMs like ASUS to ship their products with a pre-installed version of Vista that doesn’t require product activation – apparently because end users would find it too inconvenient.
OEM EmulationOEM Emulation
This version of Vista uses System-Locked Pre-Installation 2.0 (SLP 2.0). It allows the “Royalty OEMs” to embed specific licensing information into the operating system which Vista can activate without having to go back to M'zoft for verification. The licensing components include the OEM’s hardware-embedded BIOS ACPI_SLIC (which has been signed by M'zoft), an XML certificate file which corresponds to this ACPI_SLIC and a specific OEM product key.
Pantheon released a bundle which includes the certificate files from ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo along with OEM product keys for Vista Home Basic, Home Premium and Ultimate, and an emulator which allows the BIOS ACPI_SLIC driver for any manufacturer to be installed without requiring the system to be physically running that hardware. For example, you can install the ASUS certificate information on any machine, not just an ASUS.
And yes, the crack most certainly works. You end up with an activated, legitimate copy of Vista which passes all the Windows Genuine Advantage checks.
The release of this crack does make a bit of a mockery of the whole volume activation process. I was beginning to think the new activation process introduced with Vista might spell the end of easy and large-scale Windows piracy, and if the only way to activate Vista was to have it communicate directly with M'zoft, then that just might have been a possibility. But allowing such a workaround to OEMs just because their users might not like it has introduced a weakness into the system. Pirate groups are well known for exploiting any weakness no matter how small (as evidenced by the cracking of KMS), so once this activation process became known it was only a matter of time.
As the crack is tied to specific product keys, it remains to be seen whether M'zoft will be able to do anything about shutting out machines activated using this method. But their work will be made much more difficult now that such machines have completely bypassed the online activation process, and are connecting as legitimate copies of Windows.
Source
Xbox 360 memory grows
Xbox 360 memory grows
Microsoft to offer a 512MB memory unit for the video game and entertainment system, simultaneously drop price of original 64MB unit.
Microsoft on Monday announced plans to offer a 512-megabyte memory unit for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system. It also plans to increase the official size limit of Xbox Live Arcade games from 50MB to 150MB. Microsoft plans to sell the 512MB Memory Unit, available worldwide beginning April 3, for $49.99 in North America.
The unit will come preloaded with the Xbox Live Arcade game "Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved," from developer Bizarre Creations, for a limited time, Microsoft said. The original 64MB Memory Unit will simultaneously drop in price from $39.99 to $29.99.
Source
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