Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Why the Stuxnet worm is like nothing seen before

Stuxnet is a Windows-specific computer worm first discovered in June 2010 by VirusBlokAda, a security firm based in Belarus. It is the first discovered worm that spies on and reprograms industrial systems. It was specifically written to attack Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. Stuxnet exploits the known windows vulnarabilities and implants the malicious code on target system which then reprograms the programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and hide the changes. It is the first-ever computer worm to include a PLC rootkit.  Furthermore the worm's probable target has been said to have been high value infrastructures in Iran using Siemens control systems. It has also been said that the infestation by this worm might have delayed the start up of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant. Kaspersky Labs has released a statement that Stuxnet will lead to creation of a new arms race in the world, while noting that the infections in Iran are off the charts. Stuxnet could make Iran the first victim of cyber warfare in history.


More about Stuxnet

Friday, September 24, 2010

Mozilla SeaBird

Mozilla jumps into the mobile world with its new seabird mobile phone experiment as part of Mozilla labs "Concept Series". Concept Series is an open forum hosted by Mozilla labs.

 This will have an in-built pico projector which can beam keyboard on to a flat surface, along with touch screen and blue-tooth dongle this will change the way user interacts with his mobile.

  Mozilla in its website says that  
"Seabird is not a Mozilla or Mozilla Labs project but part of the Mozilla Labs Concept Series. The Concept Series provides a place for the wider community to create and collaborate on projects which push the boundaries of the Web and the browser."





http://mozillalabs.com/conceptseries/2010/09/23/seabird/
http://mozphone.com/

Also checkout the website of Billy May Concept Series community member who created this project.
http://www.billy-may.com/

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Why is Impressionist painting so popular?


Interesting article on why impressionist paintings are so popular.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727781.300-brainhacking-art-making-an-emotional-impression.html

"The crude brush strokes delay our conscious response and engage the brain's emotional centers"

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Large Hadron Collider again in news

A Tour of the Subatomic Zoo: A Guide to Particle Physics (Volume 0)Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider have seen hints of quark-gloun plasma, this state of matter thought to have filled the universe few nano secs after bing bang.


 
http://cms.web.cern.ch/cms/News/2010/QCD-10-002/index.html