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Monday, August 30, 2010

Weekly Ten (8-30-2010)

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 08:06 AM PDT

10 Latest News, Blogs, Tips, and Reviews that I find Interesting and Useful:


1. Massive solar storm to hit Earth in 2012 with 'force of 100m bombs'
Astronomers are predicting that a massive solar storm, much bigger in potential than the one that caused spectacular light shows on Earth earlier this month, is to strike our planet in 2012 with a force of 100 million hydrogen bombs.
More @ YahooNews

2. Hackers blind quantum cryptographers
Quantum hackers have performed the first 'invisible' attack on two commercial quantum cryptographic systems. By using lasers on the systems — which use quantum states of light to encrypt information for transmission — they have fully cracked their encryption keys, yet left no trace of the hack.
More @ Nature.com

3. Tracking the signal of emerging technologies
Last week the words of science fiction writer William Gibson ran rampant over the Twitter back channel at the inaugural NASA IT Summit when a speaker quoted his observation that "The future is here. It's just not evenly distributed yet."
More @ OreillyRadar

4. Hacking a code-protected hard disk

More @ HackaDay

5. Intel to Acquire Infineon's Wireless Division
The acquisition of Infineon's wireless division could help Intel grow faster in the high-volume smartphone market, where the company has minimal presence. Most smartphones today carry chips designed by rival Arm, and Intel has had its eye on the smartphone market as the volume of chips for mobile devices outpaces traditional CPUs that go into PCs.
More @ PCWorld

6. LHC computing grid pushes petabytes of data, beats expectations
The LHC isn't simply the most powerful particle accelerator ever created. Handling the huge amounts of data it produces has required the creation of one of the biggest computer grids on the planet.
More @ ArsTechnica

7. The Tragic Death of Practically Everything
Wired Editor in Chief Chris Anderson is catching flack for the magazine's current cover story, which declares that the Web is dead. I'm not sure what the controversy is. For years, once-vibrant technologies, products, and companies have been dropping like teenagers in a Freddy Krueger movie.
More @ Technologizer

8. LG's 31-inch OLED prototype to slice through IFA

More @ Engadget

9. How To Set Up A USB-Over-IP Server And Client With Ubuntu 10.04
This tutorial shows how to set up a USB-over-IP server with Ubuntu 10.04 as well as a USB-over-IP client (also running Ubuntu 10.04). The USB/IP Project aims to develop a general USB device sharing system over IP network.
More @ HowToForge

10. 8 Ways to Ensure Human Survival
Recently, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking announced that if humans didn't want to face extinction, our only option is to abandon planet Earth. In addition to the threats most species face, we humans also have the capability to destroy ourselves and/or our planet with thermonuclear weapons.
More @ Listverse

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Posted by z0ltrix at 12:07 PM 0 comments

Saturday, August 28, 2010

10 Best Hacker Movies (Films about Computer Hacking) of All Time

Posted: 28 Aug 2010 05:07 AM PDT

As a certified geek, it is always pleasing to see movies that involve computer hacking or hackers in action. Although most of these films don't always represent the real deal, some of them have what it takes to excite, amuse, and inspire those who are passionate about computers.

I have here my top 10 list or my all time favorite hacker movies or films that involve computer hacking. Feel free to share yours on the comment section later on:


10. Swordfish
If you are a big fan of Halle Berry and of course, computers, then this movie is for you. This action-packed film involves a high-tech robber/villain named Gabriel Shear (John Travolta) against Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman), a super hacker convicted by the FBI but who is trying to stay clean. Gabriel is the leader of a covert counter-terrorist unit called Black Cell who wants to steal $9.5 billion worth of money from a secret government slush fund (codenamed Swordfish). But since it's locked up behind a complicated encryption system, he offers the desperate Stanley $10 million to hack into the system and steal the money for him.



9. Track Down (aka Hackers 2)
Track Down, also known as Takedown or Hackers 2, is a film based on the book written by computer security expert Tsutomu Shimomura and journalist John Markoff, which tells the story of how they tracked down and helped the FBI arrest the most notorious computer hacker in the US -Kevin Mitnick. For several years, Mitnick had evaded Federal agents while breaking into numerous computers and gain access to sensitive and valuable information. When he hacked the system of Shimomura, it began a daring chase through cyberspace between two computer geniuses working on different sides of the law.



8. Antitrust
Antitrust is a fictional story of two idealistic computer whiz kids who are best friends. After graduating from Stanford, Milo and Teddy are offered jobs at NURV, a giant Portland company headed by CEO Gary Winston, and is on the brink of completing a global communication system. Milo accepts the job while Teddy declined and continues to work on a media compression program he wants to release for free. Winston takes a personal interest in Milo, whose genius can help NURV meet its launch date, and Milo responds with intelligence and hard work. But when Teddy meets with tragedy, Winston's irrational remark makes Milo suspicious. So he decides to investigate Winston and his company.



7. Sneakers
Sneakers is a star-studded film that tells the story of Martin Bishop (Robert Redford), head of a group of experts who specialize in testing security systems. When he is bribed by Government agents into stealing a top secret black box, the team find themselves involved in a game of danger and conspiracy. After getting the box, they discover that it has the capability to decode every existing encryption system around the world. The problem is that the agents who hired them didn't work for the Government after all.



6. Die Hard 4: Live Free or Die Hard
The fourth instalment in the Die Hard series is geeky enough for me to be included on this list. The story revolves around a group of super hackers/cyber terrorists who plan to hack FBI computers and takes over several U.S. technology infrastructures. Thanks to Bruce Willis' immortality and the aid of non-evil computer geeks headed by Justin Long (aka The Mac Guy), the movie has a happy ending.



5. The Net
Angela Bennett (Sandra Bullock) is a young and beautiful computer expert who becomes involved in a web of computer espionage. Only hours before she leaves for vacation, she discovers secret information on the disk she has received from a friend that turns her life into a living nightmare. Her records are erased from existence and she is given a new identity so she struggles to find out why this has happened to her.



4. Hackers
I think this movie is really popular among geeks for two reasons: Angelina Jolie and well, it is a story about hackers. The film follows the adventures of a group of gifted high school hackers and their involvement in a corporate extortion conspiracy. The lead character, Dade "Zero Cool" Murphy (Jonny Lee Miller), is arrested by the US Secret Service for writing a computer virus, banning him from using a computer until he turns 18. Years later, he and his hacker friends discover a plot to unleash a dangerous computer virus allowing them to use their computer skills to find the evil computer genius behind the virus while being pursued by the Secret Service.



3. Tron
Tron is an action-filled science fiction film that tells the story of a hacker who is literally abducted into the world of computer and forced to participate in gladiatorial games where his only chance of escape is the help of a heroic security program. The movie has been described by a film critic as "a technological sound-and-light show that is sensational and brainy, stylish, and fun".



2. The Matrix (Trilogy)
An all time list of movies about hacking is never complete without including The Matrix. Its trilogy is a mainstream success, so I presume that you have seen at least one instalment or know something about The Matrix. But for those of you who are clueless, the film tells the story about a computer hacker known as Neo (Keanu Reeves) who learns from mysterious underground hackers about the real nature of his existence and his main role in the war against the controllers of it.



1. WarGames
WarGames is a film about a young hacker who unknowingly gains access to WOPR, a United States military supercomputer programmed to predict possible after-effects of nuclear war. He gets WOPR to run a nuclear war simulation, initially perceiving it to be a computer game, which caused a national nuclear missile scare and nearly initiates World War III.



If you would like to share your favorite movies about hackers or hacking, please do so via comment.

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Posted by z0ltrix at 12:15 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

15 (More) Awesome Conky Configurations

Posted: 25 Aug 2010 03:34 AM PDT

You may have already seen our list of awesome Conky scripts or configurations, and perhaps applied or used some of them on your own Linux desktop. Since that collection was quiet popular, I decided to scour the web once again to gather more Conky scripts that I could share with all of you. Now, here is another list of some of the most excellent and unique conky configurations that you could freely use. Enjoy!


WhiteCircles by WindGarbin



Full Screen by arpbook



WOW Light WorldWide by J3RI3L



Conky by Bruce



Conky by taklertamas



RenjiConky by tsompanis



Conky by vsv



A New Start by alecive



SpaceShip by WindGarbin



Conky by rahulthewall



Black Column by arpbook



Conky by naaamo2004



Conky Arch Theme by belhor



Conky Lucid Blue by djspider



Conky Flavours



If you would like to share with us your own Conky setup, please do so by providing us a link or two via comment.

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Posted by z0ltrix at 12:08 PM 0 comments
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