OnStar Unintentionally Saves Some Lives

This article was written on December 09, 2005 by CyberNet.

OnStar possibly saved some lives, but not because of what it is supposed to be used for!

Two Michigan men were pulled over by police after an OnStar operator notified 911 that the mirror-mounted button in the men’s Cadillac Escalade had been pushed several times without any feedback from the passengers. Apparently the owner of the Escalade, Gavin Grant, was too drunk to drive, so he gave the keys to his ?more sober? buddy Brent Farmer, who subsequently blew a .30 (over three times the legal limit) when the police breathalyzed him. When asked why these two geniuses kept pressing the OnStar help button, Farmer told the cops that they were ?just messing around.? This being Farmer’s third-offense drunken driving arrest, at least now he’ll have to keep his messin? to the bus or sidewalk for awhile.

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Crazy tower design takes people in glass pods on a roller coaster loop

Crazy tower design takes people in glass pods on a roller coaster loop

The winner of Turkey’s Çanakkale Antenna contest was pretty damn crazy, but some of the runner-ups are even more insane. Like this 328-foot-high (100-meter) design that would have taken passengers in glass pods on a roller coaster loop.

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What the hell is this giant Russian car?

What the hell is this giant Russian car?

According to English Russia, a Russian guy designed this car using a 3D modeling software. Then he and his friends got a Nissan Maxima "as a source for some parts" and built it. Looks like an all-terrain batmobile to me.

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Apple Releases Patch for QuickTime Exploit

This article was written on May 02, 2007 by CyberNet.

Yesterday, Ryan pointed out a QuickTime bug that affected Java-Enabled browsers. The bug affected those using Firefox and Safari on Macs, and those using IE7 on Vista. Very few people were immune to this issue, and all it took was visiting a malicious website and the user’s computer could have been compromised.

Thankfully Apple got on the issue pretty quickly, and today they released QuickTime 7.1.6 which patches the bugs that were previously mentioned. Had it not been for the CanSec West Security Conference, this bug wouldn’t have been found, and Apple thanks Dino Dai Zovi, Tipping Point, and the Zero Day Initiative for reporting what could have caused some problems for users.

Also included with this release is support for Final Cut Studio 2, and display fixes for timecode and closed caption.

If you use QuickTime, I’d definitely take the time to download the update so that you don’t have to worry about the security of your computer being compromised.

Download QuickTime 7.1.6 here

Thanks anonymous tipster!

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Scientists get a shark’s eye view using wearable computers

Sure, Sharknado and Sharktopus are fun to watch with friends on a weekend, but they also prove that sharks still get a bad rap. Clearly, what we’ve learned about the animal’s behavior since Jaws came out isn’t nearly enough, so a group of researchers…

This must be the coolest city model ever made

This must be the coolest city model ever made

Chris Burden says his amazing Metropolis II—a gigantic retrofuturistic city model where thousands of slot cars race forever—is not just a city model. Of course it’s not. It’s a goddamn amazing jesuschrist look at that city model. It looks glorious in this short by Henry & Rel.

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Reddit wants you to decide who gets 10 percent of its ad revenue this year

This year Reddit is contributing more than memes to society, it’s passing out cash. In a blog post today the site announced plans to donate 10 percent of its advertising revenue for the year to non-profits. At the end of the year, the site plans to…

Raspberry Pi Chalks Up Sales Of 2.5M+ As It Turns Two — $10K Bounty Offered For Opening Its Blob

Happy Birthday Raspberry Pi! The low-cost Linux microcomputer has just turned two years old. And boy how it’s grown. Read More

This Week's Top Comedy Video: Idiotsitter

Look, it’s a rough economy. Harvard-educated Billie is left seeking babysitting jobs. And accepting them, even when the job isn’t exactly as straightforward as advertised.

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Opera 9.1 To Include Fraud Protection

This article was written on October 17, 2006 by CyberNet.

The Opera Backstage event going on in London today included an announcement that Opera 9.1 will include enhanced fraud protection, something that undoubtedly is needed in web browsers. So, how will this work and what will be different? Summed up, when you go to a new site for the first time, the browser will go back to Opera and check the database to see if it’s a trusted site.  If they know it’s a fraud site, you’ll receive a warning and you’ll be blocked from the site.

As far as the technical details, Opera says that your information will not be stored on their servers.  Additionally, “IP addresses are discarded and we don’t use cookies or other session information. No information goes directly to third parties, all communication goes through our own servers. Our servers get the trust information from a database supplied by GeoTrust, who have a long experience with anti-fraud solutions.”

I receive so many scam emails on a regular basis, and of course several from PayPal where I don’t even have an account. It’s great to see web-browsers integrating the fraud protection, and it would be nice to always know whether or not a site is verified in real-time.

If you’d like to read additional details about the Fraud Protection to be included with Opera 9.1, click here.

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