Movie Gadget Friday: Weird Science

hackers posts


Apparently some shady hackers and cyber-criminals have recently started offering upwards of $30,000 for the Nokia 1100 which were manufactured at a specific plant in Bochum, Germany. You may ask yourself, "why?" Well, beyond the obvious answer (style), certain makes of the super-popular handset can apparently be reprogrammed to use someone else's phone number, allowing them to receive text messaged bank passwords (common in parts of Europe), thus making it much, much easier to steal people's money. The software flaw has been pointed out by Ultrascan Advance Global Investigations, who were contacted by police who had noted the curiously high offering prices on the old-timey candybar. Nokia has contended that it has not identified any software problems which would allow such use, so it's hard to say what exactly is going on at this point, but we'll let you know if we hear anything concrete.
Hey, hackers! Now that we've got the attention of millions upon millions of incredibly talented individuals, here's your next challenge. India's Airtel -- which is offering Apple's iPhone 3G at a near-stratospheric price -- has claimed that "even the most deadly hackers on the planet won't be able to crack the codes that support the iPhone's Airtel applications with rival company SIMs." Just so you know, it appears that Airtel worked with Apple to develop "operator-specific iPhone applications," which is an interesting tidbit in and of itself. But let's focus on the task at hand here, and that's proving that making ridiculous claims about impenetrability always comes back to bite ya.Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment:

The better part of a trade show keynote and six months of anticipation preceded the iPhone's launch, but a casual post on Apple's Web site signaled its relaunch as a platform supported by third-party native applications. Apple's attempt to protect the security of a wireless network by encouraging Web 2.0-based applications taking advantage of Ajax technologies could not realistically mimic the capabilities provided by native applications, at least without some way to provide offline functionality using developing technologies such as Google Gears. Furthermore, there were a host of utilities that have evolved on other smartphones (such as system-wide search or alternative input methods) that were beyond the scope of such an approach.
So, come February, Apple will return to its PC heritage and extend its party to third parties. Developers get their iPhone. Users get their applications. And normally reticent bloggers emerge from their keyboards and podcasting microphones like woodland creatures after a storm, just a little more likely to share their timid opinions with the world. Unfortunately, the rationale of all iPhone hackers cannot be swept away as easily as a fingertip switches among open Web sites in the iPhone's Safari browser.
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment:
I glanced at the clock, 1:36 PM. Perhaps I should not have gotten my hopes up. For weeks I'd been exchanging e-mail with an elite hacker who promised to speak with me about the latest attempt to free hardware from the shackles of manufacturers that bind it, sticking it to such companies by making their products more desireable.
Just then, Skype lit up like a flaming notebook battery. It was the notorious hacker 5m0kNcR4K. A shadowy figure in the videoconferencing window spoke in a disguised voice.
"I'm in ur Skype, grantin' ur interview. Do not try to identify me. By using advanced digital video effects, I have pixelated my facial image, put myself in silhouette, and added a big blue dot in front of my face."
"What video effect makes it look like you have bunny ears?"
"Oh, that's just a mask I picked up at Party City."
"We could have just spoken by phone, you know. Or just used VOIP. Besides, I thought we were set to talk at 1 PM."
"I thought 13:37 would be more appropriate."
Hide away that soldering iron, Nintendo is on to you crazy kids. The company has issued a press release "in support of" recent raids by US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents, which executed 32 search warrants in 16 states to weed out those responsible for the distribution of "illegal modification chips." Apparently this is the largest enforcement action taken against video game piracy, and Nintendo has been working hand in hand with the Department of Homeland Security to pull it off. Since April, Nintendo claims to have seized more than 91,000 counterfeit (er, "backup") Wii discs globally. Of course, the whole issue of whether mod chips, when used harmlessly to enable homebrew and backups, should be illegal in the first place is still a sticky issue (the DMCA seems to frown on the idea), but it looks like if you are indeed trading in the illicit stuff, Nintendo and the fuzz are hoping to track you down for a little chat.









