Daily Archives: May 20, 2011

Sony Hacked Again!

May 20, 2011   Jacob Blanchard   No comments

An intruder has broken into So-net, an internet service provider subsidiary of Sony, and stolen $1200 worth of virtual tokens. F-Secure, a security firm, also discovered a phishing site on a Sony server in Thailand.

The intruders illegally redeemed points from around 130 accounts. An additional 73 accounts were breached, but no points were taken from them.

“Basically this means that Sony has been hacked, again,” Mikko Hypponen, F-Secure’s chief research officer, noted in the blog post. “Although in this case the server is probably not very important,” he added.

Although this breach is mild compared to the attack on Playstation Network and Sony Entertainment Online last month that compromised the data of 100 million account holders, it is still embarrassing. An intruder used one IP address to attempt to access an account 10,000 times, and none of the many attempts were flagged.

Sony is still repairing its system. They hope to fix the loopholes and programming gaps that allowed hackers to attack.

 

Contains information from Computer World.
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Apple Stimulates Fan’s Brain Like Religion

May 20, 2011   Jacob Blanchard   No comments

Do you know someone who is an Apple fanatic? Someone who preaches about Apple products, and defends them fiercely in arguments?

A recent MRI scan of Alex Brooks, editor of World of Apple, shows that for him, the brand stimulates the same parts of the brain that religious imagery stimulates for people of faith.

Does this mean that Apple is some kind of new religion? Not quite.

But modern technology is able to give us sensations that, in the past, were provided by faith and community. Mobile phones and social networks opportunities to indulge the basic human need to communicate. And by tapping into our basic needs, like gossip, religion or sex, brands like Apple can become very important to some people.

 

Contains information from The Consumerist.
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Super 8: Super Mystery

May 20, 2011   Jennifer Mika   2 Comments

Super 8

From producer Steven Spielberg comes a science-fiction mystery about a group of friends who uncover a secret kept hidden by the government. It’s the summer of 1979 in a small town in Ohio. A group of friends set out to the town’s train tracks to film their own zombie moving using a Super 8 camera. However, they become witnesses to a devastating train crash as a truck deliberately collides into the oncoming train. As metal screeches and smoke fills the air, something makes itself known and emerges from the wreckage – something inhuman. They soon suspect that it was not an accident as people begin to disappear and unexplainable events occur. The town’s Deputy tries to uncover the truth, but the government will not let up, as they are trying to hide something more terrifying and unreal than any of them could ever believe.
Super 8 is directed and written by J.J. Abrams, also the creator of Cloverfield and the latest Star Trek. Super 8 has high expectations as many are comparing it to E.T. With light humor, action, and mystery this film is a must see of the summer. The cast includes Elle Fanning, Amanda Michalka, and Kyle Chandler. The film has not yet been rated, but is expected to be in theaters June 10.

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Heat Hustle Shuts Down the Bulls

May 20, 2011   Alexa Diaz   1 Comment

Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Chicago Bulls and the Miami Heat on Sunday May 14th ended in a tremendous victory for the Bulls. The game was tied at half time, and the 3rd and 4th quarters determined the game as the Bulls came back strong and ready to win it and Miami could not keep up with their sudden fire.

In Game 2 though, the Bulls were not able to stop a late surge by LeBron James, and saw their defeat.

After half time, the Bulls came back weak. They were down by 11 in the third quarter, but were able to tie the game with 7:16 left on the clock. Despite this, as the game went on, they missed shots and wasted opportunities. This struggle lead them to score only 10 points in the fourth quarter and to an 85-75 loss.

The Bulls shot only 34% and were 4 for 16 in the final 12 minutes. The nerves caught up to the star of the Bulls, Derrick Rose, who was just 7 for 23 shooting, missing all of his attempts in the fourth quarter, and making only two points – on free throws.

About his performance as well as his team’s, Rose said, “If anything, they closed down the lane, but I missed a lot of layups. Shots I normally hit just weren’t falling. Everybody was just missing shots that are normally just easy for us.”

The Bulls did succeed in keeping the Heat under control for the first 7 minutes and a half of the final quarter, as they kept the three stars Wade, James and Bosh scoreless. With several chances to take the lead though, the Bulls misfired and James took over with a 3-pointer and then another jumper.

The Bulls were not able to keep their defense strong enough against James and Wade, and allowed them to get inside the lane and head to the rim or draw fouls.

In the first seven minutes of the second half, Chicago got seven offensive rebounds, and then only two in the remaining time of the half. They also missed 14 of their 18 field goal attempts, and with this set the tone for the night and were not able to recover.

For Game 3, the Bulls will have to get into a shooting flow, not get stuck like they did in Game 2. In Game 2 for the Bulls, Luol Deng was 5 for 15, Carlos Boozer 3 for 10 and Kyle Korver just 1 for 7. The Heat instead got better scores from its stars, as James finished with 29 – 14 more than Game 1 – and Wade, who scored 24 after scoring 18 in the opener.

Game 3 is a long way off – Sunday night. About this, Korver said, “Trust me, we would rather play right away especially after a loss like this.”

The Bulls now head to Miami with the Eastern Conference Finals tied at 1-1 and the Heat finally with home court advantage.

 

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Higher Gas and Airfare Prices Won’t Be Enough to Stop People from Travelling for Memorial Day

May 20, 2011   Alexa Diaz   1 Comment

According to a study released Thursday by AAA, many Americans will still travel for Memorial Day despite increases in prices of gas and airfares, but will be spending less than they did in 2010 on other travelling expenses.

AAA has been said to expect 34.9 million people to travel either on highways or airplanes during the final weekend of May. This number shows a small increase from the 34.8 million who traveled during the same weekend last year.

In response to this boost in numbers of people travelling despite price increases, AAA Regional President Brad Roeber said to USA Today, “Memorial Day travel experienced a gain of more than 14% in 2010, and this year we expect to add slightly to that gain due to an increase in air travel and an improvement in the overall domestic economic picture.” To compensate for the rise in prices, people will cut down other areas of their travel budgets. Last year the median spending expected was $809; this year it’s down to $692.

AAA has stated that gas prices will average around $3.91 a gallon during the long weekend, 37.2% higher than last year.

According to USA Today, around 2.93 million leisure air travelers will fly during the holiday weekend. Last year it was lower at 2.63 million. Other travelers are expected to travel by other modes, including trains, buses and on the water.

According to AAA’s Leisure Travel Index, Memorial Day holiday airfares are expected to be 14% higher than last year with an average lowest round-trip rate of $201.

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History Portrayal in the Future

May 20, 2011   Nicole Scott   1 Comment

As we all are aware, within the past decade alone, our country, along with the world has marked some of the biggest historical moments to date. We can not deny the fact that history books and the way history is portrayed, most likely in every country, seems to be in the countries benefit because it is from their views. Did anyone ever stop and think about why this is? With the 9/11 situation still sketchy and the killing of Bin Laden, I can only imagine how that will be portrayed in history books.

The bias view given from historical documents forms a sign of patrionism, yes, but leaves the people ignorant to truth. If we knew the truth, would we disown our country? I dont think so, I believe that we would respect the honesty from our country to be open and real with us. “Whitewashing” away the truth is not saving us from anything but the truth, which in result is only damaging us.

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