First Impressions Inside the Project Holodeck VR Game World

Hesh writes “The space-pirates themed Project Holodeck game is a VR game that is initially targeted for the Oculus Rift and will marry VR with a world so interactive and immersive that it feels like you can reach out and touch it. Ben Lang over at RoadToVR recently got a chance to sit down with the team and try it out. He came out extremely impressed with how immersive the experience was: ‘…at one point I needed to set the Razer Hydra controllers down to adjust my helmet and I nearly tried to set them down on a virtual table next to me. There was no table in real life — had I not quickly realized what I was about to do, I would have dropped the controllers straight onto the floor below.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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First Impressions Inside the Project Holodeck VR Game World

Widespread Compromise Of Yahoo-Backed Email In New Zealand

First time accepted submitter Bitsy Boffin writes “Xtra, the largest ISP in New Zealand, which outsources email provision to Yahoo, has in the last two days been subject to a widespread email compromise, causing potentially thousands of accounts to send spam messages to every address in their webmail address books. Discussion at Geekzone centers around this potentially being a continuation of the Yahoo XSS exploit. While Telecom NZ, the owners of Xtra internet service provider indicate that the problem was “resolved”, reports of spam from its members continue unabated. Telecom NZ are advising those affected to change their passwords.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Widespread Compromise Of Yahoo-Backed Email In New Zealand

Over the Antarctic, the Smallest Ozone Hole In a Decade

hypnosec writes “The ozone layer seems to be on a road to recovery over Antarctica; according to Europe’s MetOp weather satellite, which is monitoring atmospheric ozone, the hole over the South Pole in 2012 was the smallest it’s been in the last 10 years. The decrease in size of the hole is probably the result of reduction in the concentration of CFCs, especially since the mid-1990s, because of international agreements like the Montreal Protocol.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Over the Antarctic, the Smallest Ozone Hole In a Decade

Linux Foundation’s Secure Boot Pre-Bootloader Released

hypnosec writes “The Linux Foundation’s UEFI Secure Boot pre-bootloader for independent Linux distros and software developers has finally been released. Announcing the release of the secure boot system James Bottomley noted that the signed pre-bootloader was delivered by Microsoft on February 6th. Bottomley has released two validated files PreLoader.efi and HashTool.efi. Bottomley has also created a bootable mini-USB image that provides “an EFI shell where the kernel should be and uses Gummiboot to boot.” Just last week the pre-bootloader had to be rewritten to accommodate booting of all versions of Linux.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Linux Foundation’s Secure Boot Pre-Bootloader Released

E-Mail Hack Exposes Bush Family Pictures, Correspondence

New submitter rHBa sends this article about another high-profile email account breach: “The apparent hack of several e-mail accounts has exposed personal photos and sensitive correspondence from members of the Bush family, including both former U.S. presidents. The posted photos and e-mails contain a watermark with the hacker’s online alias, ‘Guccifer.’ … Included in the hacked material is a confidential October 2012 list of home addresses, cell phone numbers, and e-mails for dozens of Bush family members, including both former presidents, their siblings, and their children. … Correspondence obtained by the hacker indicates that at least six separate e-mail accounts have been compromised, including the AOL account of Dorothy Bush Koch, daughter of George H.W. Bush and sister of George W. Bush. Other breached accounts belong to Willard Heminway, 79, an old friend of the 41st president who lives in Greenwich, Connecticut; CBS sportscaster Jim Nantz, a longtime Bush family friend; former first lady Barbara Bush’s brother; and George H.W. Bush’s sister-in-law. ” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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E-Mail Hack Exposes Bush Family Pictures, Correspondence

Ants Use Sound To Communicate

sciencehabit writes “A new study shows that ant pupae—a stage between larvae and adult—can communicate via sound, and that this communication can be crucial to their survival. The young insects have a specialized spike along their abdomen that they stroke with one of their hind legs, similar to dragging the teeth of a comb along the edge of a table. This noise serves primarily as an emergency beacon, allowing the ants to shout for help when being threatened by a predator.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Ants Use Sound To Communicate

Parcel Sensor Knows When Your Delivery Has Been Dropped

First time accepted submitter Hamsterdan writes “If you’re tired of finding that your stuff has been smashed during shipping after opening your package, this device is for you. ‘Called DropTag, the gadget combines a battery, a low-energy Bluetooth transmitter, an accelerometer and a memory chip. Stuck on a parcel as it leaves an e-commerce warehouse, it logs any g-forces above a set risky shock level that it experiences. The idea is that when the courier puts it in your hands, you turn on Bluetooth on a smartphone running a DropTag app and scan it before you sign for it.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Parcel Sensor Knows When Your Delivery Has Been Dropped

Ask Slashdot: Open-Source Forensic Surveillance Analysis Software?

McBooCZech writes “I am trying to set up a surveillance system. It is not intended to build a real-time on-line surveillance system to watch a wall of monitors on a 24/7 basis. The main scope is to record video (24/7) from the fixed cameras around our facility and when needed, get back to pre-recorded video and check it for particular event(s). Of course, it is possible to use a human to fast forward through video using a DVR-type FF function for short video sequences. Unfortunately, for long sequences (one week), it is not acceptable solution. I was searching online the whole weekend for the open source software for analysis of pre-recorded video in order to retrieve events and data from recorded video but had no luck. So I ask you, Slashdotters: Can you provide some suggestions for forensic software to analyze/find specific events in pre-recorded video? Some examples of events: ‘human entering restricted zone,’ ‘movement in the restricted zone,’ ‘light in the restricted zone.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Ask Slashdot: Open-Source Forensic Surveillance Analysis Software?

Kaspersky Update Breaks Internet Access For Windows XP Users

An anonymous reader writes “Yesterday afternoon, Kaspersky Labs released a definition update that blocked all Internet and Intranet access on Windows XP workstations. While there has been no official communication from Kaspersky, their forum is lit up with angry customers relying on each other to find a fix.” Update: 02/05 16:42 GMT by T : Thanks to an anonymous reader, who says that Kaspersky has issued a statement, and a fix (though the fix takes some manual labor to implement). Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Kaspersky Update Breaks Internet Access For Windows XP Users

Leaked: Obama’s Rules For Assassinating American Citizens

cathyreisenwitz writes “For over a year now journalists, civil liberties advocates, and members of Congress have been asking the Obama administration to release internal memoranda from the Office of Legal Counsel justifying Obama’s targeted killing program. While the White House continues to deny that such memos exist, NBC is reporting that it has acquired the next best thing: A secretish 16-page white paper from the Department of Justice that was provided to select members of the Senate last June.” Spencer Ackerman at Wired says the leaked rules “[trump] traditional Constitutional protections American citizens enjoy from being killed by their government without due process” by redefining the concept of “imminence.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Leaked: Obama’s Rules For Assassinating American Citizens