- Hadoop Hits 1.0 — open source distributed computation engine, heavily used in big data analysis, hits 1.0.
- Sparse and Low-Rank Approximation Wiki — interesting technique: instead of sampling at 2x the rate you need to discriminate then compressing to trade noise for space, use these sampling algorithms to (intelligently) noisily sample at the lower bit rate to begin with. Promises interesting applications particularly in for sensors (e.g., the Rice single pixel camera). (via siah)
- Rise of Printer Malware — firmware attacks embedded in printed documents. Another reminder that not only is it hard to write safe software, your mistakes can be epically bad. (via Cory Doctorow)
- Electric Circuits and Transistors Made From Cotton — To make it conductive, the researchers coated cotton threads in a variety of other materials. To make conductive “wires,” the team coated the threads with gold nanoparticles, and then a conductive polymer. To turn a cotton wire into a semiconductor, it was dipped in another polymer, and then a further glycol coating to make it waterproof. Neat materials hack that might lend a new twist to wearables.
"malware" entries
Four short links: 30 December 2011
Hadoop 1.0, Approximation Wiki, Printer Firmware Attacks, and Cotton Circuits
Four short links: 19 July 2011
Async Javascript, PDF Malware, 2D Games, and Reinventing Textbooks
- Tame.js — async programming library for use with node.js and other V8 projects. (via Hacker News)
- The Rise of PDF Malware (Symantec) — detailed whitepaper showing the incident rate, techniques, and evasion techniques of PDF malware. Despite the fact that the number of PDF CVEs [Common Vulnerability/Exposure] are close to Microsoft Office’s numbers, the amount of nonunique PDF attacks Symantec has seen have increased dramatically, which shows that the PDF file format is being targeted more often within the last two years.
- cocos-2d — iPhone 2d game framework. (via Chuck Toporek)
- Nature’s Biology Textbooks — Nature changing the textbook publishing model, trialling in California. 50+ authors write the ebook, filtered through a (hard-working, I’m guessing) editor. This beats Kindle textbook rentals hands down. Another article says of the Nature trial: each school will be testing a different licensing and access model, which I hope for some includes printing out because Princeton’s Kindle trial showed (PDF) that ebooks don’t measure up to print books for annotation and some other key uses. (via The Daily News)
Four short links: 3 March 2011
Chinese Maps, Ops Standards, Android Malware, and Free Fonts
- Guangzhou City Map — Chinese city maps: they use orthographic projection (think SimCity) and not satellite images. A nice compromise for usability, information content, and invisible censorship. (via Hacker News)
- Broken Windows, Broken Code, Broken Systems — So, given that most of us live in the real world where some things are just left undone, where do we draw the line? What do we consider a bit of acceptable street litter, and what do we consider a broken window? When is it ok to just reboot the system, and when do you really need to figure out exactly what went wrong?
- Android Malware — black hat copied apps, added trojans, uploaded to Android Marketplace. Google were slow to respond to original developer’s claims of copying, quick to react to security guy’s report of malware. AppStores are not magic moneypumps in software form, no more than tagging, communities, or portals were. User contributions need editorial oversight.
- The League of Movable Type — a collection of open source fonts, ready for embedding in your web pages.
Please Update Your Browser
A research study released last week measures the proportion of web users running the most updated and secure browsers. With drive-by-downloads increasingly popular with malware distributors, web surfing with an older version of a browser is getting riskier. The study is based on data from Google's search and web application server logs over an 18 month period (Jan-07 to Jun-08),…
Malware Centers and Offshoring
Most studies place China, Brazil, and Russia among the leading sources of conventional and web-based malware. Depending on the type of malware involved, there is a good chance that one of these three countries is among the leading suppliers. Malware from these countries reflect local Internet usage patterns. In Brazil, 75% of regular Internet users access online banking services so…