Help, my computer’s toast!
What do you like to do in your spare time? Read a book, watch a movie? Well one Israeli hacker likes to experiment in the kitchen – using kitchen appliances to hack into computers.
Yep. You read it right.
At a recent international convention of hackers, Dror Shalev, left the audience speechless when he used a toaster to hack into a computer. In fact, he told them, any kitchen appliance could be used to attack your computer system. (Wonder if that includes an egg timer?)
Shalev, a security expert at Check Point – the place where hackers go straight, told the audience at Clubhack 2007 in India, that he got interested in trying this out when he read a senior scientist at Google assuring folks that there was no need to be afraid of a toaster at home.
So he developed some software, networked it with the toaster, and hey presto – a toaster that hacks into your files.
“As soon as the toaster is plugged, the software is activated before it breaks into the user’s computer system. The same software prototype can be networked with any home appliance for stealing Web secrets,” he told The Indian Express. “With wireless technology available, there is no need for connecting the appliance with the computer.”
Shalev warned that we shouldn’t just blindly trust anything in the world of the Internet.
“As the usage of computers and the Internet goes up, we will need to be cautious about every object in our surroundings,” he said, adding that we should only buy our home appliances from branded companies.
“If an appliance or home device comes as a gift, accept it only if it is from someone you trust,” he said.
All very well. But can it still make toast?
Leading Wikipedia editor to visit Israel
Filed under: Blogging, General, Life, Pop Culture, Technology
Thanks to our friends at Israel’s Consulate in New York, and the America- Israel Friendship League, and with a little help from yours truly at ISRAEL21c, one of Wikipedia’s leading editors will be coming to Israel in a week’s time.
Wikipedia’s David Shankbone is joining a half dozen American high tech and science reporters who are coming to visit some of the country’s science centers and receive some great story ideas – the latest developments at the Weizman Institute, the Technion, Google Israel, IBM Israel and some of the major personalities like Yossi Vardi will all be on the agenda.
As David Saranga, the spokesman at the consulate in New York, explained to The Jerusalem Post the rationale for bringing Shankbone: “More than once we have faced editors connected to Israel that appear on Wikipedia in English that do not represent the reality in Israel. We decided to initiate a visit by Shankbone to describe Israeli reality as it is.”
Heh heh, just wait till he experiences the reality of Friday night in the eye of Tel Aviv club and bar life that we have planned for the group with our host without compare Haggai. Wikipedia will have to come up with a new definition of ‘cool’.
Bees Do It
One of the other sites I write for when I’m not busy with Israelity is this one over here.
The other day I was reading through some entries on Celsias when I came across this one about CCD or Colony Collapse Disorder- a relatively new epidemic causing millions of bees to die off. It’s scaring U.S. politicians and agriculturalists because bee pollination is vital to the survival of numerous crops.
You can imagine how surprised I was when hitting this passage about CCD:
Recent research is looking closely at Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) as a cause…
What, we caused CCD too? Paranoia cast aside, IAPV is named thus for the Israeli who may have discovered the link to the virus causing CCD.
Wanna know more? Read here or watch this video. Over & Out.
Uncensored
Filed under: A New Reality, Blogging, Business, Technology
On Monday a whole bunch of writer/blogger types gathered in Herzeliya for a conference addressing Hate on the Web.
Liza who blogs here at Israelity and on her own site went on over and reports back that despite the seemingly ominous subject matter, the day was an inspiration.
One topic addressed, however, may loom a bit murky. That’s Google’s stance of no stance. I.e. Google has been very clear about the fact that they will NOT be censoring anti-semitic or racist Internet sites.
“Google cannot and will not censor the information which appears on its search engines. What is and isn’t proper internet content is for governments and courts to decide, not for us,” said Meir Brand, CEO of Google Israel Monday.
Brand spoke at a coference held by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in Herzliya, titled “Poisoning the Web – Hate on the Internet,” which included a special panel on Google’s refusal to censor anti-Semitic results that pop-up on its search engines.
Go here for more detail.
Do you think this is a cause for concern? Are YOU worried?
Lost in URL
Sometimes Hebrew to English translation mistakes can be really really funny. Or unfortunate. I guess it depends upon where you’re sitting while taking in the view.
The Tel Aviv wedding/bar mitzvah rapper who put up a website, for instance, was merely attempting to advertise his wares.
He should have had someone help him choose his URL, though. Big time.
See what I mean? No wonder he’s not getting Google traffic.
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