The Lazy Genius

Teen Calls Bush’s Secret Phone; Creates Security Scare

Xavier Ashe — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:22:45 -0500

An Icelandic teen, MSNBC reports, figured out President Bush’s private phone number, and called it recently, leaving a message saying he was the president of Iceland and wanted Bush to call him back. When police visited the teen, after being alerted by Secret Service, he would not say how he learned the top-secret number. Big Head DC is speculating that he somehow deciphered the code from when Jenna Bush called her parents during a recent taping of the Ellen show.

From Big Head DC.

iPhone 1.1.1 to 1.0.2 downgrade instructions released!

Xavier Ashe — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 04:53:05 -0400

Well would you look at that, instructions are now available for downgrading your iPhone from 1.1.1 to 1.0.2. It won't downgrade your baseband, meaning so far you can't re-unlock an iPhone that's been 1.1.1-ified, but it's still 1.0.2 in all its third-party application glory. The iPhone Dev Team folks are working on a way to downgrade the new firmware to let people unlock their phones again, but for now AT&T users sitting pretty, and non-AT&T folks can at least do the WiFi thing. There's a video tutorial after the break.

Read - iPhone Dev Wiki instructions
Read - Hackint0sh thread where the magic happened

From Engadget.

How to Download iTunes Store Previews and Use Them As Ringtones - UPDATED AND WORKING

Xavier Ashe — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 15:21:38 -0400

Ok, so we know how to use your own ripped CD’s as ringtones on your iPhone but here is an updated way to download and use iTS previews with your iPhone - AKA FREE RINGTONES of your favorite songs.

Now, this isn’t for the feint of heart. It requires command-line access and Perl and only works on OS X.

Go on over to UNEASYsilence to get the instructions.

BSA to pay up to $1 million for piracy tips

Xavier Ashe — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 11:55:16 -0400

The Business Software Alliance announced on Monday the launch of its "Blow the Whistle" campaign and said it will offer up to $1 million as a bonus for employees that turn in their employers.

The campaign, which lasts until October 2007, rewards end users that tip off the the software industry's lobbying arm and offer evidence about companies that have installed unlicensed copies of software. Until the end of the campaign, the BSA will pay a bounty to informants based on the settlement with a maximum fee of $1 million, up from the normal top tip for tattlers of $200,000. Under the guidelines of the program, end users cannot have been the ones to install the software unless they were ordered to do so by a supervisor.

Will you be a rat? Read the full article on SecurityFocus.

New Computer Program to Reassemble Shredded Stasi Files

Xavier Ashe — Sat, 12 May 2007 10:58:15 -0400

Millions of files consigned to paper shredders in the late days of the East German regime will be pieced together by computer. The massive job of reassembling this puzzle from the late Cold War was performed, until now, by hand.

It's been years in the making, but finally software designed to electronically piece together some 45 million shredded documents from the East German secret police went into service in Berlin on Wednesday. Now, a puzzle that would take 30 diligent Germans 600 to 800 years to finish by hand, according to one estimate, might be solved by computer in seven.

Low tech decryption. Good article from Spiegel Online.

Fake Boarding Pass Maker in trouble agian

Xavier Ashe — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 09:49:15 -0500

Last month Security Fix reported that Chris Soghoian -- the Indiana University doctoral student who created an online boarding pass generator to demonstrate security holes in the Transportation Security Administration's "no-fly" list -- had been cleared of any wrongdoing by the FBI and the Justice Department.

Well, turns out the guy isn't out of the woods yet.

On Wednesday afternoon, Soghoian received a letter from the TSA informing him that the agency is conducting its own investigation into the allegation that he "attempted to circumvent an established civil aviation security program established in the Transportation Security Regulations." If Soghoian is ultimately found to have attempted said circumvention, the TSA said, he could be subjected to civil penalties of up to $11,000 per violation. That could be a steep fine: Something like 35,000 people viewed and possibly used the boarding pass generator during the less than 72 hours that it was live on his site in November.

You can read a scanned copy of the TSA letter at Soghoian's site.

From Security Fix.

Wireless Video Scanner

Xavier Ashe — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 20:20:31 -0500

[aboxman] brought this nice wavecom jr mod to my attention. I first ran across scanning for wireless video signals a couple years ago when the X10 version came out. People were surprised at just how many video signals were flying through the air.This little project results in a unit that can scan a wide 2.3 to 2.7Ghz range. Of course, if you're across the pond, you might want a european version.

Ooh, I found my next project! From Hack-a-Day.

6 DMCA new exemptions - good and bad...

Xavier Ashe — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 19:51:57 -0500

Copy protection on games for which there is no longer support from any publisher is no more. Under the new DMCA laws, copy protection can legally be cracked is the copyright holder no longer has any interest in the game.

This means that old school games can now be preserved, and there shouldn't be any legal ramifications to the individual or group who does so.

Other alterations to the laws included allowing cell phone software to be cracked to allow for use on other service providers, allowing blind people to use third-party software to read copy-protected books, and allowing educators to make DVD scene compilations.

The new laws will begin on Monday and last for three years.

From GWN. [via] EFF has more details about all 6 changes in the DMCA code:

1. Audiovisual works included in the educational library of a college or university’s film or media studies department, when circumvention is accomplished for the purpose of making compilations of portions of those works for educational use in the classroom by media studies or film professors.

2. Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and that require the original media or hardware as a condition of access, when circumvention is accomplished for the purpose of preservation or archival reproduction of published digital works by a library or archive. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.

3. Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete. A dongle shall be considered obsolete if it is no longer manufactured or if a replacement or repair is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.

4. Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing ebook editions of the work (including digital text editions made available by authorized entities) contain access controls that prevent the enabling either of the book’s read-aloud function or of screen readers that render the text into a specialized format.

5. Computer programs in the form of firmware that enable wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telephone communication network, when circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network.

6. Sound recordings, and audiovisual works associated with those sound recordings, distributed in compact disc format and protected by technological protection measures that control access to lawfully purchased works and create or exploit security flaws or vulnerabilities that compromise the security of personal computers, when circumvention is accomplished solely for the purpose of good faith testing, investigating, or correcting such security flaws or vulnerabilities.

Certification Top 10 Lists Revisited

Xavier Ashe — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 22:40:11 -0400

When a story like this ran in 2003, it prompted more responses and controversy than we imagined. Although we try to be clear that the order of appearance in any given list indicates nothing about relative ranking or merit, that aspect of things provokes comment, as does the inclusion of some little-known credentials or the omission of better-known ones.

But given that there are more than 850 certifications and more than 200 certification programs in today’s IT certification landscape, we hope to help our readers distinguish good ones from mediocre or bad ones, winners from losers and up-and-comers from programs in their declining phase. So remember, you can go out and analyze the marketplace for yourself and plow through the numerous interest, salary and popularity surveys to try to figure out this stuff for yourself. While you’re at it, it’s also important to pay attention to what’s showing up in classified job ads and online postings to determine where the real action is.

As in the previous survey, we tried to develop a rough consensus about what’s hot and where the action appears to be in today’s highly fragmented IT job market. We can’t dispute that these lists draw heavily on the author’s knowledge, experience and observations, thus they must also reflect his preferences (and possibly even biases.) As in the previous collection of lists, each is labeled by category, along with a short discussion of what characteristics made credentials most suited for inclusion.

This is from CertMag.com and is getting a good bit of coverage. Go and see where your certs fit and plan you next few. Here's the winners:

Best Hands-On Programs: Certified Professional Information Technology Consultant (CPITC)
Best Supporting Materials: (ISC)2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
Best Specialty Certifications: Brocade Certified SAN Designer (BCSD)
Toughest Recertification Requirements: Cisco Certifications
Best Vendor-Neutral Credentials: Building Industry Consulting Services International (BiCSi)
Most Technically Advanced Programs: (ISC)2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
Best New Programs or Certs: (ISC)2 Associate Program
Best Entry-Level Certifications: Certified Wireless Network Administrator (CWNA)

Toolkit to Disable Automatic Delivery of Internet Explorer 7

Xavier Ashe — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 13:55:37 -0400

To help our customers become more secure and up-to-date, Microsoft will distribute Internet Explorer 7 as a high-priority update via Automatic Updates for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 soon after the final version of the browser is released (planned for fourth quarter 2006). Microsoft is making a non-expiring Blocker Toolkit available for those organizations that would like to block automatic delivery of Internet Explorer 7 to machines in environments where Automatic Updates is enabled.

Note:

The Blocker Toolkit will prevent machines from receiving Internet Explorer 7 as a high-priority update via Automatic Updates and the “Express” install option on the Windows Update and Microsoft Update sites. The Blocker Toolkit will not expire.
The Blocker Toolkit will not prevent users from manually installing Internet Explorer 7 as a Recommended update from the Windows Update or Microsoft Update sites, from the Microsoft Download Center, or from external media.
Organizations do not need to deploy the Blocker Toolkit in environments managed with an update management solution such as Windows Server Update Services or Systems Management Server 2003. Organizations can use those products to fully manage deployment of updates released through Windows Update and Microsoft Update, including Internet Explorer 7, within their environment.

See the "Additional Information" section below for detailed instructions on configuring and deploying the Blocker Toolkit. The same information is also provided in the Help file included in the download.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions can be found here.

So if you don't want to be forced to run IE 7, download this toolkit from Microsoft.

Nintendo DS Homebrew how-to

Xavier Ashe — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 22:52:28 -0400

Intrigued by the notion of playing old school games on your DS but don't know where to begin? Would you like to use your DS as a map or check out a free browser? Never fear -- no matter how technically challenged you may be, there's a solution for you. This time, it comes in the form of a beginner-friendly guide to checking out homebrew options for your very own Nintendo DS.

The guide takes you step by step through the process of preparing to use homebrew apps. After all, understanding is one thing -- actually taking the plunge is another, and the guide is very helpful when it comes to recommendations on what to get and what to do with it once you have it. While this guide covers the basics about preparing for homebrew and looping around the built-in protections, it doesn't get into applications. Baby steps, people. They're saving those things for future guides. So if you're looking to get started but haven't a clue what to do, check it out.

Awesome Guide from S0rethumbs. I know what I am doming with my DS tonight! [via]

How To: Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

Xavier Ashe — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 13:35:53 -0400

Sure, the odds are slim that you'd ever be faced with an atomic device ticking down to zero. But think of how Jack Bauer it'd be if you were. And then who're you going to trust? Us or some do-gooder rock band?

Very important information from Wired.

If these tips don't work, give us a call and let us know what we got wrong.

How to use your PC and Webcam as a motion-detecting and recording security camera

Xavier Ashe — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 14:21:32 -0400

This tutorial will take you step-by-step through setting up your PC and Webcam to act as a motion-detecting and recording security camera system. And the software required to do this is open source (free).

6 Reasons to set up a motion activated web-cam

Maybe you live in a questionable (at best) part of East Vancouver and you’ve already been broken into (while you were doing the dishes). It would be helpful next time to have pictures of the intruder.
Maybe you’re trying to prove to your landlord that some of the more questionable members of the general East Vancouver public are using the pathway between your building and the one next door as a shortcut between streets. Often with very large bags of cans (it’s a Vancouver thing). Loudly. At all hours of the day and night.
Perhaps you want to catch someone using your PC after you’ve asked them repeatedly not to use it (because they seem to go out of their way to install spyware, toolbars you don’t want, and leave behind Britney Spears mp3s on your desktop)
You’re bored?
You want to get pictures of the pretty birdies eating from your new bird feeder.
Yeah I know what you were expecting here, that’s lewd. Get your mind out of the gutter, this is a family site.

Good stuff from Simplehelp.

Netcool + Tivoli: delivering service management innovation

Xavier Ashe — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 13:29:29 -0400

The acquisition of Micromuse by IBM marks a major milestone in the growth of IBM Tivoli software because it significantly strengthens our service management software portfolio for enterprises of any size. The Tivoli and Netcool product integration white paper for enterprises, "Netcool + Tivoli: Delivering Service Management Innovation" is now available.

The primary audience of "Netcool + Tivoli: Delivering Service Management Innovation" is Netcool and Tivoli enterprise customers. Service provider customers will be addressed in a separate paper. This paper will help clarify many questions your customers and prospects may have about Netcool and Tivoli service management product portfolio integration. The paper discusses the efforts in progress to deliver an enhanced end-to-end IBM Service Management portfolio within each major enterprise operational management category that contains Netcool products. The white paper also addresses:

Benefits associated with the combined Netcool and Tivoli portfolio.
Safeguards in place to help protect, optimize, and extend investments in Netcool and Tivoli products.
Short- and long-term plans to deliver a converged product portfolio.

So the log awaited "roadmap" is publically available. Look for another paper soon if you a service provider. It's public confirmation that Tivoli Security Operations Manager will replace Tivoli Risk Manager. See the PDF for details.

DSAmp - Control Winamp from your DS

Xavier Ashe — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 14:31:22 -0400

The DS is a wonderful machine, capable of interacting with a PC in imaginative ways. Now, the clever homebrew community, has come up with a way for the DS to control Winamp. Should any of you DIY-ers out there wish to film yourself giving this a go, send us a link and like Doc Holliday, we'll make you famous.

Now how about someone coming up with a way to stream music or video from Winamp onto the DS?

From DS Fanboy.

Copying of HD DVD and Blu-ray successful

Xavier Ashe — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 17:16:14 -0400

The solution was surprisingly low-tech: the user simply hit the PrintScreen key. The screen capture feature of the operating system allowed each frame to be digitally captured exactly as it was displayed on-screen. Since it would be impractical to sit around advancing movies frame by frame and hitting PrintScreen all day, a script was used to automate the process. Each frame resulted in a 2 MB image. The computers used were fast enough to capture 30 frames per second, enabling real-time capturing of the movies without dropped frames. For a 90-minute movie, this is 162,000 frames, or approximately 324 GB in total storage, so if you try this, make sure you have lots of free hard disk space! The sound tracks must be captured separately and then re-synched with the video, so this is by no means a trivial process.

The magazine said that it has verified the capability with Sony's first Blu-ray PC (the VGC-RC 204) as well as Toshiba's HD DVD-equipped notebook, the Qosmio G30. Both of these computers use a new HD version of the popular WinDVD playback software to display high-definition movies. The "security" issue has been confirmed by Toshiba, and the company plans to issue a software and graphics driver update that will presumably disable the PrintScreen functionality. According to Toshiba, this version of WinDVD does not violate the security stipulations in the AACS license agreement, therefore the software update should be optional for users. However, in theory new movies could switch license keys, requiring a software update to restore movie playback functionality.

Still, the old adage remains true: if a computer can display something, some sort of software can capture it. If it's not PrintScreen, it might very well be something else.

Read the full article on ArsTechnica.

How readable is your site?

Xavier Ashe — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 17:11:25 -0400

This service analyses the readability of all rendered content. Unfortunately, this will include navigation items, and other short items of content that do not make up the part of the page that is intended to be the subject of the readability test. These items are likely to skew the results. The difference will be minimal in situations where the copy content is much larger than the navigation items, but documents with little content but lots of navigation items will return results that aren't correct.

The Readablity Test by Juicy Studio. Here are my results:

Reading Level Results
Summary	Value
Total sentences	926
Total words	5261
Average words per Sentence	5.68
Words with 1 Syllable	3039
Words with 2 Syllables	1154
Words with 3 Syllables	640
Words with 4 or more Syllables	428
Percentage of word with three or more syllables	20.30%
Average Syllables per Word	1.71
Gunning Fog Index	10.39
Flesch Reading Ease	56.68
Flesch-Kincaid Grade	6.76

That puts me somewhere in between Time, Newsweek, and the Wall Street Journal.

DOS with your Cell phone!

Xavier Ashe — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 09:10:52 -0400

Just when I thought I had seen every cool way to DOS a computer, Rickard Liljeberg finds the coolest yet.

Apparently if you stick a cell phone near the CD-ROM of a Dell Optiplex GX520 and receive a SMS/text message, the machine will go into suspend mode!

Imagine the pranking possibilities.

If you read through the comments of the site, Richard states that a few folks from Dell have already viewed his page.

Here's a link to the video, or please visit the blog entry to read more.

Found on A Day in the Life of an Information Security Investigator.

SecureDVD

Xavier Ashe — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 08:27:48 -0400

SecureDVD is a live DVD collection featuring the 10 Best Security Live CD Distros (Pen-Test, Forensics & Recovery) as per Darknet (see article here) on one single DVD.

The live DVD collection features the following security based live distributions (click names for further information):

Get the SecureDVD here.

Who wants a 50 Mbit connection at home?

Xavier Ashe — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 08:46:12 -0400

Verizon today introduced the fastest Internet connection speeds in the country for consumers and small businesses -- up to 50 megabits per second (Mbps) downstream and 10 Mbps upstream. The new speeds complement the Verizon FiOS Internet speed increases introduced in May of up to 20 Mbps downstream / 5 Mbps upstream and up to 10 Mbps downstream / 2 Mbps upstream for customers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Residential customers who want to determine whether they can order FiOS Internet Service can call 888-GET FIOS (888-438-3467) or visit Verizon's FiOS Web site at www.verizonfios.com. Small businesses can call 877- FIOS BIZ (877-346-7249) to determine if they qualify for FiOS Internet Service for Business or visit www.verizon.com/fiosinternet/ for more information and current promotions.

Verizon offers FiOS Internet and FiOS TV services over its advanced, fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network -- the only network that currently brings fiber-optic technology directly to homes and businesses on a widespread scale. The company is currently building its FTTP network in more than half of the states where it offers landline communications services, including more than 200 communities in the tri-state area.

Wow.... The 50/10 deal is only $350 a month. That's pretty awesome. From Yahoo Finance. [via]

Virtual PC is Now a Free Download

Xavier Ashe — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 17:45:12 -0400

Whether Microsoft virtualization technology is an important component of your existing infrastructure or you're just a Virtual PC enthusiast, you can now download Virtual PC 2004 Service Pack 1 absolutely free. The Microsoft Virtual PC team will also be offering the free download of Virtual PC 2007, with support for running Windows Vista in a virtual machine in 2007.

Get More information at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx

Guess they couldn't compete with the free VMware player. But VMware Server is free too, and phenomenally better, IMHO. Found on the Microsoft Upstate New York Technology Team Blog.

Scott NcNealy Quits...

Xavier Ashe — Mon, 01 May 2006 09:47:07 -0400

Scott McNealy has resigned his position as CEO of Sun Microsystems. His resignation, which has been rumored for months, comes in the wake of the company's reporting disappointing earnings for the third quarter of the fiscal year. Sun announced losses of US$217 million, or 6¢ per share, on revenues of US$3.18 billion. It's a serious downturn from last year, which saw a loss of US$28 million during the same quarter.

McNealy was one of the cofounders of Sun in 1982, and took over the CEO role in 1984. He will stay on as Chairman of the Board, while current president Jonathan Schwartz will step into the CEO office.

Read the full article on Ars Technica. Check the humorous "Strategic Options" illustration by Jeremy Reimer:

We're too late...

Xavier Ashe — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 16:11:55 -0400

A new law in Georgia on private investigators now extends to computer forensics and computer incident response, meaning that forensics experts who testify in court without a PI license may be committing a felony.

In the U.S. television show "Medium," Patricia Arquette's character uses her "special psychic skills" to help solve crimes. If a new law passed by the Georgia legislature but not yet signed by the Governor goes into effect, not only could Miss Arquette's character face legal troubles, but thousands of computer security consultants would face the very real threat of jail time - simply for plying their trade.
...
According to the legislature, a Private Investigator is any person who is in the business of obtaining or furnishing, or accepting employment to obtain or to furnish, information with reference to:

(A) Crimes or wrongs done or threatened against the United States of America or any state or territory thereof;

(B) The background, identity, habits, conduct, business, employment, occupation, assets, honesty, integrity, credibility, knowledge, trustworthiness, efficiency, loyalty, activity, movement, whereabouts, affiliations, associations, transactions, acts, reputation, or character of any person;

(C) The location, disposition, or recovery of lost or stolen property;

(D) The cause or responsibility for fires, libels, losses, accidents, damage, or injury to persons or property;

(E) The securing of evidence in the course of the private detective business to be used before any court, board, officer, or investigating committee; or

(F) The protection of individuals from serious bodily harm or death.

In addition to the aforementioned services, "private detective business"" shall also mean providing, or accepting employment to provide, protection of persons from death or serious bodily harm."

Typical "Magnum PI" kind of stuff. The problem is that the statute is written so broadly as to include almost all types of computer forensics and computer incident response – at least when done by outside consultants. After all, when do you need computer forensics, or incident response? Typically, you call in a computer forensics expert when you suspect something "bad" has happened. Thus, you retain the expert to furnish information with respect to possible crimes or wrongs (the phrase against the United States or any State or territory doesn't mean that the State is the victim of the crime, just that it violates the state law.)

You also retain forensic experts to collect evidence about damages and loss to you – from computer viruses, worms, attacks, and so on. You want to know what happened, how it happened, why it happened, and how to prevent it from happening again. You want to know the, "cause and responsibility for ... losses and damage to ... property." Namely, this applies to your computer network and the information contained in it. You also want the information collected in a way so that it can be used in court or by other investigators later on, even if you do not intend to pursue a civil or criminal case. If information is stolen, you want to know the "location, disposition and [ensure the] recovery of lost or stolen property" namely the intellectual property stored on the computer. For all of these things, you would typically hire not a gumshoe, but a forensic expert. Unfortunately, under this new law that forensic expert would be committing a felony.

Complete coverage on Security Focus.

Registry Key to disable USB Storage devices

Xavier Ashe — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 19:45:24 -0400

Once in a while I have a friend, or customer that needs to keep people from using the USB ports to copy data off of a system.

It is easy to lock a machine down, disable the floppy, and cdrom in the bios. Many times when you try to disable USB - it disables it entirely. This can be a real pain on newer laptops or systems that don't even have a PS2 interface for the mouse or keyboard.

There is a simple registry change that will keep the USB storage drivers from starting when the system boots. Keeps people from walking up to a PC and copying data off with a USB key, but allows you to keep your scanner, keyboard, and mouse working.

As always - back your system up before messing around in the registry.
Just open regedit and browse to this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\UsbStor

Notice the value 'Start'
Switch this value to 4, and USB storage devices are disabled.
Switch this value to 3, and USB storage devices are enabled.

From IntelliAdmin, who also has a little util for those scared of regedit. I believe this is much more effective than the Group Policy I posted about.

Remove the 100 song cap on your iTunes phone

Xavier Ashe — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 22:12:58 -0400

If you are one of the few to have an iTunes Music Phone (ROKR, SLVR) it is more then frustrating to have a 100 song limit on the phone. What is with THAT restriction? A patch was developed to remove that 100 song cap, and make the new limit 1000 songs. Now if they could only find a way to make the USB 1.0 port a USB 2.0 port we are good to go!

Of course it goes without saying that this hack, along with any other is not supported by Motorola, and has the potential for bad mojo on your phone. Although I have found no reports of any problems, it is important to be aware of this fact. With that said, lets blast the 100 song cap off of this phone.

Get the Hack over on UNEASYsilence.

Blingo on

Xavier Ashe — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 09:00:00 -0400

Do you have a mobile phone with web browsing capability? Now you can use Blingo even when you're on the go. Need to look up an address? Want to check the weather? Wondering whether your local malt shop is open for a quick after-dinner dessert? Find their web site using Blingo!

Just point your phone's web browser at mobile.blingo.com and you'll have the full power of Blingo Web Search in the palm of your hand.

We know what you're wondering, and the answer is yes, you can win a prize even when you use Blingo from your phone.

Nice... I use my Blackberry on a daily basis. Join Blingo today and win prizes while you get google search results. I am up to two free movie tickets.

The Evolution Of Spy Tools

Xavier Ashe — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 12:10:22 -0400

Real spies may tell you that their lives are nothing like what you’d see in a Hollywood movie, but don’t be fooled: They’ve still got some pretty cool gadgets.

And aside from the relatively recent tools that monitor electronic correspondence, most of those gizmos have been around for a pretty long time. Spies claim that theirs is the second-oldest profession, and basic espionage needs haven’t changed: looking and listening, getting the information they need, and smuggling it back home.

What has changed is the way those spy gadgets work. As technology advances and enemies get smarter, spies have had to constantly re-invent the tools of their trade.

Neet article on Forbes.com.

PassMe Nintendo DS Mod Chip

Xavier Ashe — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 21:13:37 -0500

PassMe is a device designed by Natrium42 based off of the first DS passthrough made by DarkFader using an FPGA dev kit. It redirects the DS to a GBA Flash cart, so you can run your own program (roms) on the Nintendo DS. For PassMe to work it requires the use of a commercial NDS cart (for authentication) and a GBA Flash cart to hold your DS programs.

PassMe gives you the ability to test your programs on the DS hardware, not just in an emulator and allows you to download demo's from the internet and play them on your DS. Initially.

PassMe DID NOT work with Commercial ROM dumps, but only until Golden Sun Team (GST) released specially patched NDS roms that DO work with Pass Me and NeoFlash Magic Key (passme clone). Some sites that sell PassMe still say that commercial nds roms will not work with it just to get NINTENDO and theESA off their back.

Posted on Gameboy-Advance.net.

LA Police to Test GPS Darts During Car Chases

Xavier Ashe — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 12:57:04 -0500

Police officers in Los Angeles, Calif., the "car-chase capital of the world," are testing a Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled dart as part of the Los Angeles Police Department’s strategy to end high-speed pursuits, the Associated Press (AP) reports.

The "dart" would be fired from a police car onto a fleeing vehicle, where it would stick, allowing officers to follow the vehicle at a safer distance.

"Instead of us pushing them doing 70 or 80 miles and hour, this device allows us not to have to pursue the car," William J. Bratton, LA’s chief of police, told the AP. "It allows us to start vectoring where the car is."

How cool is that... reminds me of James Bond. From CSO Online.com.

Treo650 Bluetooth Dial Up Networking Hack

Xavier Ashe — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 15:22:13 -0500

When PalmOne released the Treo 650 smartphone for Sprint PCS and Cingular, they had to obey the carries requests to disable the DUN (Dial Up Networking) profile for bluetooth. Why they did this is a matter of debate, but regardless the functionality was already there. They just disabled it. Thus I set out of figure out how they disabled it and how to fix it.

Once digging threw the files in the 650's ROM I quickly found the "btmanager" overlays which showed the DUN option proving that it was built in. I then referenced the control to the "btmanager.prc" code and found where it was called. While tracing threw I found a subroutine that did nothing other than "hide" the control. So I just eliminated the two calls to this routine by "NOPing" them.

Read the full article on I-Hacked.com.