Monthly Archives: April 2009

News From All Over

Posted on April 1, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

Conficker Worm Strike Reports Start Rolling In – Security Fix

Reports are trickling in about the impact from the Conficker worm, as infected systems passed zero hour at midnight and began downloading additional malicious components.

Here's a quick roundup of some of the more notable incidents caused by Conficker so far, according to published reports:

– A nuclear missile installation near Elmendorf Air force Base outside of Anchorage, Alaska briefly went on a full-scale military alert after technicians manning the bunker suspected that several of their control systems were infected with Conficker.

According to wire reports, the remote facility temporarily moved to Defense Condition (Defcon) 3 in the pre-dawn hours, but quickly backed down from that posture. An airman at the installation who asked not to be identified blamed the mishap on “way too much caffeine” consumed by occupants inside the secluded underground control room.

Innovation in England:

Consolidating its position at the cutting edge of new media technology, the Guardian today announces that it will become the first newspaper in the world to be published exclusively via Twitter, the sensationally popular social networking service that has transformed online communication

Gmail Autopilot is Google's latest step in its plan towards world email domination. Basically, it pulls sample text from emails you've sent before and offers you a draft reply to email piling up in your inbox. They suggest you can even send them out without reading them, but won't allow endless loops:

What happens if a sender and recipient both have Autopilot on?

Two Gmail accounts can happily converse with each other for up to three messages each. Beyond that, our experiments have shown a significant decline in the quality ranking of Autopilot's responses and further messages may commit you to dinner parties or baby namings in which you have no interest.

Qualcomm is spreading out from its tech roots into bio-engineering

It appears, however, that Qualcomm may face competition from Amazon.com, which unveiled plans for a much more practical version of a similar service

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ICANN Really Has Changed (Not)

Posted on April 1, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

ICANN has released a short list of candidates to replace Paul Twomey, who recently resigned as its President and CEO.

I'm amazed to report that I made the list. Not that there's any chance I'll get the job, of course.

Update: It's an April Fools joke, of course. ICANN's rate of change is measured on a nano scale….

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True or False

Posted on April 1, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

My favorite part of WaitWait Don't Tell Me is “Bluff The Listener” in which the three panelists each tell us an absolutely ridiculous story…one of which is true. I get it wrong about half the time.

So here, today, are some stories from the news, the blogs, or nowhere, one or more of which might be made up. Guess which are true and which are false. Answers below.

  1. “The International Space Station, once a place where astronauts would share food and facilities, is said to be embroiled in a Cold War-like stand-off after a Russian cosmonaut complained he is no longer allowed to use a US toilet or the US gym machine. Gennady Padalka, a veteran Russian cosmonaut, says that space officials from Russia, the United States and other countries now require cosmonauts and astronauts to eat their own food and follow stringent rules on access to other facilities, including lavatories. Padalka, who will be the station's next commander, says the arguments date back to 2003, when Russia started charging other space agencies for the resources used by their astronauts and other partners in space station responded in kind.”
  2. Hours before the polls closed, Republican Jim Tedisco, candidate in the special Congressional election in upstate NY (NY-20, traditionally a heavily Republican district, but one where Obama did well) filed an ex parte motion, the effect of which would be to investigate and overturn the election results if he lost. He also asked for an injunction against the results being certified — even before knowing what they were.
  3. My credit card company printed the following helpful message on my latest credit card statement.

    Helpful Tip to help prevent you from missing a Due Date. Pay your bill once you receive it. If it's paid then you can't miss the due date! Paying bills before the due date prevents the risk of late fees and extra finance charges.

    After insulting my intelligence in this way, it tried to sell me various financial products because I am a “valued cardmember”.

  4. A law prof recently blogged the following bad job interview experience:

    Though I was only going to spend one night in a hotel, because I was flying in one morning and leaving the following night, I was given a confirmed reservation for three nights, and told just to “ignore this, it’s a billing issue.” When I checked in, I found myself housed in party suite outfitted with an enormous hot tub. It reeked of cigarette smoke, and the bed spreads were crusty with, uh, DNA.

  5. Supporters of Norm Coleman, still behind in the ballot counts, suggested they could draw out legal challenges for months or years in order to keep Minnesota from having two Senators.
  6. Wells Fargo Bank in California is now offering payday loans to customers whose paychecks are routinely direct-deposited. For $2 for each $20 advanced until the next payday, which equates to an Annual Percentage Rate (APR) of 120%.
  7. A furious wife has called in divorce lawyers after spotting her husband's distinctively damaged car on Google Street View. It was parked outside another woman's house; he said he'd been out of town on business.
  8. South Florida Daily Blog linked to this post.

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