Last March, Kyle Dubois, 18, put an alligator clamp on one of his nipples, with a classmate placing the clamp on his other nipple, while a third classmate plugged the cord into the wall. For three seconds, Dubois endured the electrical shock, dropping him to the floor and stopping his heart. The teacher, Thomas Kelley, said he was talking with another student when Dubois shocked himself.
The teacher was busy with another student when this dumbass decided this would be fun. Now the student’s family is suing the teacher and school for damages. Sorry Darwin, this kid just fell out of your reaches at the last moment. Looks like you should have nabbed the parents, too.
via Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Student who electrocuted his nipples sues teacher and school for not warning him it was dangerous.
Chrome 6 arrives with an updated user interface, better syncing tools that include support for web form data and extensions, and — as should be expected with every new browser release these days — increased speed and numerous bug fixes.
I first started using Chrome because FireFox did not work well with a netbook for its size. I fell in love after that. Chrome just loads faster – I can open Chrome three times before FireFox pokes open. Not to mention I appreciate the syncing of bookmarks without any extra extensions.
Now a new version of Chrome, Chrome 6, is rolling out. I have been wanting extension syncing and web-form syncing very badly. Turns out I get my wish!
via Chrome 6 Arrives, Just in Time for Cake | Epicenter | Wired.com.
Recently Sony was able to get a ban placed on three Aussie gadget makers who created a mod chip to jailbreak the PS3. It didn’t last very long for an open-source diy version hit the web.
Called PSGroove, it comprises software that can be downloaded and run on a specific type of USB Flash drive and used in much the same way the PSJailbreak dongle can.
Specifically, it will allow a shop-bought PS3 to operate as a developer console and run unsigned applications and games.
I am not fluent in legalese, but if this source code was posted as open source, and under a free license, Sony can’t just sue the crap out of the publisher for charging money to ‘illegally’ modifying their product. Not to mention, it’s going to spread like crazy.
Unfortunately it is available as-is without any binaries. You must compile the program yourself and install it onto a USB drive. Currently it does not allow pirated games to be played as PSGroove is aimed at homebrew nerds who want to play with geeky hardware. It shouldn’t take long before someone hacks up this code to open that availability.
via Open source PS3 hack code posted • reghardware.
Darpa’s new project is called CINDER, for Cyber Insider Threat. It’s lead by a legendary hacker-turned-Darpa-manager. CINDER may have preceded Pfc. Bradley Mannings’ alleged disclosure of tens of thousands of documents about the Afghanistan war from Defense Department servers. But the idea is to find someone just like him. By hunting for poker-like “tells” in people’s use of Defense Department computer networks, Darpa hopes to find indications of indicate hostile intent or potential removal of sensitive data. “The goal of CINDER will be to greatly increase the accuracy, rate and speed with which insider threats are detected and impede the ability of adversaries to operate undetected within government and military interest networks,” according to the defense geeks’ request for contractor solicitations on the project.
Last month WikiLeaks dropped about 77,000 government documents involving Afghanistan. Now the government is pissed and there is a whole different situation over that. This new Darpa operation called CINDER basically is being serviced to monitor network activity for big data movements or data mining. Unfortunately any half-twit would always take extreme precaution when snooping through where you are not supposed to. It is hard enough to distinguish normal traffic usage from abnormal without skimming through logs with hours of personnel time. Yet they some how plan to create a system of algorithms to monitor the Pentagon’s networks? Good luck.
via Darpa’s Star Hacker Looks to WikiLeak-Proof Pentagon | Danger Room | Wired.com.
The University of Arkansas is the first university in the country to equalize marijuana and alcohol penalties. Even those liberals in California (who are on the verge of legalizing pot altogether) ain’t got nothin’ on us hillbillies in Arkansas!
Just last year a misdemeanor pot possession on the University of Arkansas, which consists of an ounce or less, resulted in a mental health evaluation, 50 hours community service, suspended parking privileges for one year, one year probation and a $200 fine.
Students for Sensible Drug Policy on the University of Arkansas campus got the front office to reduce that penalty to the same as a misdemeanor alcohol offense, which is a drug education class, 15 hours community service and a $50 fine.
via University of Arkansas decriminalizes Marijuana – almost « The Unofficial News for Roger’s Northwest Arkansas.
I have been shopping for an MP3 player (MP4 or whatever you want to call them now). I did not want to go for a Zune and not an iPod. Zune’s future to me has always been shaky and it’s not worth buying a featureless device just so it can sync to my XBOX360. I also did not want to get trap into Apple’s lair. I love using my Mac for graphics but that’s it. The company can others wise rot in hell.
I was thinking about getting an Archos media tablet because it runs Android and has some great features – also it’s the size of an iPod touch. Yeah, turns out there are extra plugin fees to activate your Android features and apps. Not to mention, reviews were completely all over the board for Archos.
Now a main-brand company has released an iPod competitor based off of the Android OS. There is no official confirmation about what version, but retailers are saying it is 2.1. Music can by sync’d over Bluetooth or USB. It supports location based services (Foursquare I am assuming, and Facebook Places).
Product should drop in stores in October. Price roughly at $315 for a 16gb model.
via Philips GoGear Connect is a legitimate Android-based iPod touch competitor — Engadget.
Good news for Gmail users who are deluged by messages and overwhelmed by which ones to tackle first. Google on Monday night announced a new Gmail feature in beta called Priority Inbox, which sorts your incoming e-mail into three sections, “important and unread,” “starred,” and “everything else.”
I think this is a pretty good idea. Currently I just have all important contacts & bill notifications automatically get starred, makes it easier to find them when I need to; but, it doesn’t help me notice them right away if there is 45 emails in my inbox.
The feature will begin to be rolled out by tonight, and more users will see it as the week goes on. To activate this Beta feature, look at the menu in the upper right for “New! Priority Inbox”
via Gmail ‘Priority Inbox’ aims to sort out bologna | Webware – CNET.
Quantum cryptography is often touted as being perfectly secure. It is based on the principle that you cannot make measurements of a quantum system without disturbing it. So, in theory, it is impossible for an eavesdropper to intercept a quantum encryption key without disrupting it in a noticeable way, triggering alarm bells.
And some hackers still managed to pull it off. The hackers used lasers to crack the encryption keys and left no trace of any manipulation. The hackers are not some normal black hats, but researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The researchers were able to eavesdrop and decrypt the signal by blinding the receiver with a 1-milliwatt laser.
Vadim Makarov, the lead researcher even posted a link to their web site showing how they did the hack.
via Hackers blind quantum cryptographers : Nature News.
The Pirate Bay – Away From Keyboard is a documentary on the founding of The Pirate Bay raising money on Kickstarter. I kicked in some money after hearing about it from Peter “brokep” Sunde. The filmmakers have been shooting for two years and are looking for $25,000 to finish the film (they’re over $22K as I type this): “This campaign starts exactly one month before the Court of Appeal hearings start in The Pirate Bay trial in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2009 the founders of The Pirate Bay were convicted to 1 year in jail and to pay damages of around 4 million dollars for having ‘assisted in making copyrighted content available’. The precedent in the Pirate Bay case will have consequences for the future of the internet. We will cover the upcoming trial closely.”
via Pirate Bay documentary raising money on Kickstarter – Boing Boing.
