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OCAU News |
The NSW police are getting a virtual shooting range. THE NSW Police Force will spend about $2 million on a virtual reality shooting range as senior officers blame a lack of training for recruits being frightened of firearms. The police academy at Goulburn has "only six lanes" available for live fire, according to a tender request for the new training simulator. In the past, recruits have used public shooting ranges to supplement their training. "The capacity of this [Goulburn] facility has been exceeded due to an increasing number of recruits," the tender document states.
MD5 is no longer secure. Security researchers demonstrated the first known application of a years-old theoretical attack against the MD5 hashing algorithm used by companies like Verisign and Thawte to issue SSL certificates. SSL certificates use hash codes generated by a variety of algorithms, including MD5, to verify their issuer’s identity. The hash code is an important feature of public-key cryptography, which SSL is based upon, as it is essential to protecting the secret, private code that CAs use to sign SSL certificates.
Flash and Safari have failed a privacy test. Third party plug-ins like Adobe Flash do a poor job of cleaning traces of your browser sessions, rendering private-browsing features somewhat useless, according to a new study by researcher Katherine McKinley. McKinley, a researcher at iSec Partners, created a tool for testing the functionality of clearing private data after a browser session and browsing in private mode and found that some browsers — most notably Apple’s Safari for Windows — do a poor job of wiping traces of a browser session.
A trojan is combating piracy. A new trojan popped up at several torrent sites a few weeks ago, one that blocks access to The Pirate Bay and Mininova, while informing its victims that “downloading is wrong.” The trojan edits the hosts file on Windows machines, and redirects the BitTorrent sites to localhost, making them impossible to load. The trojan in question (Troj/Qhost-AC) identified by anti-virus company Sophos, is a rather unusual one. It doesn’t seem to install spyware or traditional malware, but instead blocks access to the two most popular BitTorrent sites.
Audi have created the first 100% LED car. Of course we all know efficient LEDs will eventually find their way into every automobile, but the Audi R8 V12 takes the prize for being the first commercial vehicle to sport LEDs in everything. Headlights, running lights, turn signals—you name it there's an LED shining bright inside. And not just shining, but "smartly" shining and adapting to the driver's needs. "We're striving to create intelligent headlights and taillights which think and anticipate in the interest of enhancing a driver's safety and comfort."
Nanotechnology is being used to create better pictures. Researchers in Scotland have been given nearly half a million pounds to try to improve digital camera images. The team, lead by scientists at the University of Glasgow, are developing small nanostructures that would be used on light detecting image sensors. These new hi-tech chips would be used in camera equipment to produce sharper and more colourful images. The project is being funded by a £489,234 grant from the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council.
Have you seen the latest in portable consoles? Some Xbox 360 mods are the product of serious craftsmanship, some are rather silly, and some -- like this Suzuki automobile console / Xbox 360 game console hybrid -- really give one pause. This isn't the sort of thing that one spends moments / hours / weeks on, after which he reflects for a moment ("Aren't I rather clever?"), and then hides it safely in the closet (or sells it on eBay). No, this is an automobile.
Finally, this lego creation from the land of crazy. Lego Middle Earth brewery? Check. Lego beer, check. Drunk Lego knights and peasants, check (me included). Glowing Lego ogres, check. Half naked Lego pole dancer that actually moves her booty around? ASFFGGAGADGAFGDH!!!
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All original content copyright James Rolfe.
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