hacker

Buzz Out Loud 777: Eight-letter word for fail: Scrabble

On today's show, we discover that it's hard to stand out in an orgy, only about a quarter of things Molly says are words, and EA poops all over you. That's just the kind of show we have when Rafe Needleman fills in for Tom.

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 777/b>

Happy birthday, NASA! http://science.slashdot.org/science/08/07/29/2120225.shtml

EA: Hack took Facebook Scrabble down http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10002363-36.html

Garmin delays Nuvifone http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121742654018296961.html

Dell tests player to renew iPod battle … Read more

NASA hacker loses latest extradition fight

On Wednesday, a 42-year-old UFO enthusiast lost his bid in a British court to fight extradition to the U.S. on charges he hacked into several U.S. military bases and even NASA.

Gary McKinnon has been fighting extradition for nearly six years, and his latest setback occurred in the British House of Lords. McKinnon admits breaking into U.S. databases in order to uncover evidence of secret UFO documents. His supporters contend that if deported to the U.S. for trial, McKinnon could be portrayed as a terrorist, seeking military secrets in general.

At the heart of Wednesday's … Read more

EA: Hack took Facebook 'Scrabble' down

The saga continues: Electronic Arts, which handles digital versions of the board game Scrabble for North American parent company Hasbro, has claimed that malicious hackers were responsible for the disappearance of its Facebook application on Tuesday.

The game had crashed on the same day that the creators of Scrabulous, a popular imitation game, blocked access to North American visitors after a legal complaint from Hasbro. With the real Scrabble inaccessible, irritated fans assumed that there was a server problem--the game is in beta, after all--and filled the application's discussion wall with angry comments.

But the real problem, EA has … Read more

Hacker team releases iPhone 2.0 jailbreak

A little more than a week after the release of Apple's iPhone 3G, an unofficial development team has announced the release of software that "jailbreaks" the new device, allowing unauthorized third-party applications to be loaded.

In a post titled "Thanks for waiting," the self-dubbed iPhone Dev Team announced the release of Pwnage 2.0, which also allows unauthorized third-party applications to be loaded on older iPhones and iPod Touchs running the iPhone 2.0 operating system. In hacker jargon, to "pwn" means "to compromise" or "to control."

While the … Read more

HOPE conference highlights everyday hacking

Updated July 18, 7:52 AM PDT with more details about live radio broadcast

NEW YORK--From sessions on how-to create fluorescent mice and crack safes to discussions on losing your privacy in a taxi and complaints about Wikipedia, the Last HOPE conference starting here Friday has something for just about everyone.

The conference is the brainchild of Emmanuel Goldstein, aka Eric Corley, who publishes the notorious 2600 magazine. Corley has seen the community grow from its early days in the1980s with kids going to jail for breaking into the AT&T network, to millions of regular citizens skirting the … Read more

The 404 134: Where the interns broke the studio

CNET interns Jeff and Jeremy give the Webcam a premature Fourth of July fireworks show and fuzzify the viewers, but we'll forgive them this time. In other news, we also take apart the Great Firewall of China, beg for Rush Limbaugh's scraps, voraciously consume watermelon with a vengeance, hack a few ATMs across the country, and question Wilson's stubborn refusal to see GOOD MOVIES.

EPISODE 134 Download today's podcast

OurSignal puts the follies of social news all in one place

On Wednesday morning, I read about a new site called OurSignal, which mashes up the top headlines from Digg, Reddit, Delicious, and HackerNews, promising to show a more diverse array of what the Web's recommending. Kind of like OriginalSignal for social news.

Unfortunately, when I loaded up OurSignal, staring me in the face was "Goatse In Spore," a reference to an extremely crude graphical Web meme (don't Google it, please). Not exactly the kind of top headline I was looking for.

The concept is kind of cool: "warm" colors mean a story is gaining … Read more

First Look video: ZoneAlarm

Every computer user needs security software to keep him or her safe on the Web. Along with antispyware and antivirus programs, a good software firewall is a must-have to keep hackers away from your data. Firewalls also are useful for determining which programs are making contact with outside sources. If you're looking for a solid software firewall, look no further than ZoneAlarm .

For a quick rundown of how the ZoneAlarm firewall protects your computer, check out this First Look with CNET Download.com's Jason Parker.

Networking with hackers

On Facebook, you can poke your friends and test your movie compatibility. On the House of Hackers social network, members share information about securing computer systems, exploiting vulnerabilities, and all sorts of things related to hacker culture.

Some people think of hackers as the bad guys who break into computer networks and steal data. In actuality, the term can be applied not just to people who circumvent computer security, but to home computer builders like Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, open-source programmers, and people who in general like to tinker with technology, test the limits of information systems, and think outside … Read more