Donald Melanson
There’s not much in the way of official statements on this one just yet, but itp.net is reporting that a recently pushed out 
update for all BlackBerry users on the UAE-based carrier Etisalat is not a “performance enhancement patch” as advertised, but rather some spyware that could potentially give Etisalat the ability to keep an eye on its customers’ messages. The first suspicions about the update apparently arose when users noticed dramatically reduced battery life and slower than usual performance from their phones, which led to a bit of detective work from programmer Nigel Gourlay, who pegged the software down as coming from electronic surveillance company SS8. While it’s not switched on by default, the software can reportedly let Etisalat flip the switch on phones one by one and monitor their emails and text messages — or it could if it hadn’t completely bogged down the network. Apparently, the software wasn’t designed for such a large scale deployment, which resulted in the slowdown and battery drain as some 100,000 BlackBerrys constantly tried and failed to sign in to the one registration server for the software.
[Via The Register]
Categories: Politics
Intellipoop.com
Quote: I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Categories: Famous Quotes
Ever want to mix beats? Making music is easier than I ever thought it would be. I recently got Sonic Producer and now I can make my own music from my computer without any musical experience at all! There are plenty of online tutorials to get you started, and here’s the best part – you pay only $30, just one time, and you get lifetime access to this awesome toy. I give this one FIVE STARS AND TWO THUMBS UP! Well worth the one time investment. Check it out, take a look around and see what I’m talking about.
Categories: internet
“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy”. — James Madison.
Bloglines | My Feeds (337).
Categories: Famous Quotes
Tagged: government, oppression, tyranny, war
Bloglines | My Feeds (337)
“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy”. — James Madison.
Categories: Famous Quotes
Tagged: tyranny, war
Gizmodo, the Gadget Guide
This RC helicopter is a scale model of a Russian Mi-24 chopper, a monstrous beast that’s 55 feet long. The scale version looks about 1/8th the size, and still scares the crap out of us. Check out the video below. More »
Categories: Gadgets
The Stinger is one of those striking vehicle concepts that had a decent chance of ending up on the pages of Giz. After all, it’s “adaptive and robust just like an insect.” But 1) fuel-cell powered eco-friendly vehicles built with renewable resources are a dime a dozen—inside the minds of optimistic design students and 2) I can’t figure out where I’d put my butt.
Bloglines | My Feeds (489).
Categories: Gadgets
Tagged: concept, motorcycle, vehicle
Working on some final touches to get the site live. Still a few minor bugs, but it should be up and running soon!
Categories: internet
