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| Notice: GeekPress is back up and running, thanks to Paul! It's still a not-so-serious tech news blog, but the format is significantly looser. Diana, having given up programming for philosophy, has her own philosophical blog NoodleFood. More of her work can be found at DianaHsieh.com. |
| How to Succeed In Life Without Really Trying |
| 12:26:53 am mst / 28 January 2001 found by diana / filed in internet / source X-Entertainment 155 hits / 0 comments / 1 e-mail |
| Matt tries to convince us that selling junk on eBay is a great way to make some cash on the side, largely due to the gullibility and impulsiveness of eBay buyers. (Thanks to Fark for the link.) |
| I'm not buying it, I tell ya! |
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| E-mail scam masquerading as PayPal |
| 9:20:55 am mst / 28 January 2001 found by paul / filed in security / source Politech 20 hits / 1 comment / 2 e-mails |
| Declan McCullagh found an e-mail circulating around the internet that purports to be a message from PayPal informing the reader that he or she has received $200. When unwary users click on the link, they are then re-directed towards a fake PayPal site that asks for the user password and other valuable account information. (The site is apparently no longer up.) |
| PayPal has also responded to Declan, indicating some of the steps they are taking to protect users. |
| read 1 comment |
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| 12-year old CEO joins Canadian trade mission |
| 10:12:22 am mst / 28 January 2001 found by paul / filed in business / source Newsbytes 58 hits / 1 comment / 0 e-mails |
| Keith Peiris, the 12-year old CEO and founder of Cyberteks, will be joining Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien and other business leaders on their upcoming trade mission to China. He is trying to decide whether he should sell his award-winning web design firm to Hong Kong or American investors for millions of dollars. |
| I hope he doesn't miss too much school. Otherwise his grades might suffer, and he might have a hard time getting into a good college and being successful in life... |
| read 1 comment |
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| Geese forced off lake with laser weapons |
| 1:44:05 pm mst / 28 January 2001 found by paul / filed in science / source IOL 71 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Scientists at the US Department of Agriculture have started using laser weapons to drive away geese from an overpopulated lake in Pennsylvania. The results were mixed -- although the geese fled, they also quickly returned later that afternoon. |
| Next time, they should just set the lasers to "dematerialize"... |
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| Beware the ManHunt |
| 3:11:06 pm mst / 28 January 2001 found by paul / filed in security / source Forbes 33 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| A nice article on the ManHunt system from Recourse Technologies. The system is a sophisticated "honey pot" server designed to lure in and trace malicious crackers. Unlike many honey pots, the ManHunt system updates frequently to simulate a more realistic environment. As the company president explained, "A hacker can read e-mails calling for a marketing meeting or a back-office tryst. When he comes back the next day he will find minutes of the meeting and a love note on how good the tryst was." As a result, studies have shown that hackers stay 30% longer and come back more often than with rival honey pots. |
| It must be fun having the job of making up juicy tidbits to incorporate into the fake server: "No sir, I'm not goofing off watching soap operas in the middle of the day -- I'm doing valuable research for the ManHunt project..." |
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| Plastic tanks |
| 4:54:15 pm mst / 28 January 2001 found by paul / filed in inventions / source The Times 90 hits / 1 comment / 1 e-mail |
| The British army is field testing plastic battle tanks to replace the current steel versions. The special composite material makes the tanks faster, lighter, and more fuel-efficient, plus they are nearly invisible to radar. |
| But will they sound as ominous and intimidating as an old-fashioned steel tank or will they just sound cheap and wimpy? |
| read 1 comment |
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| Travel destinations for the "Hacker Tourist" |
| 8:54:06 pm mst / 28 January 2001 found by paul / filed in culture / source kuro5hin 48 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Kuro5hin has an interesting discussion thread on places to visit for geek tourists on vacation. Some of the recommendations include Bletchley Park, Arecibo, and crayon factories. |
| If you're lucky enough to know someone at the MIT Media Lab who can give you an insider's tour, that's also a great place to visit! |
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