project

Hackers have often carried hidden agendas ranging from self-satisfaction to illegal monetary gain through identity theft. A new research project recently conducted in the U.S. shows that hackers have the power to cause much more damage to everyday ... people...including murder. Oh my gosh! How so? It's because many people walk around with heart defibrillators and pacemakers. If hackers really wanted to, they could gain wireless access to both of these devices. The research team was successful in reprogramming a combination defibrillator/pacemaker to shut down and deliver jolts of electricity that ... (view more)

Project Dakota Project Dakota is an easy way to update Windows XP. It's an ISO to burn to CD that contains all the updates found on the Windows Update Website, including Service Pack 2, with small standalone programs that run the updates in the ... order specified by Microsoft. http://www.theatticnetwork.net/about.php Shock Searchlight Cool effect are produced by Shock Searchlight, which dims everything on screen except the selected Window. http://www.docs.kr/ (view more)

Google is launching an ambitious project to become the Internet's leading source of information on just about every subject. Their plans appear to be a direct attack on Wikipedia's popularity. According to a blog by Google's Vice President of ... engineering, the company wants to make it easier for experts to share knowledge. They plan to do this through a project titled 'knol' (a term they are also using to refer to each entry). The idea is for Google to take care of the hosting and formatting, leaving the experts to concentrate on the information. The goal is for the 'knol' to be "the first ... (view more)

Microsoft has announced they will soon be testing Windows XP on the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) "$100 laptop". It's all part of a project to produce computers so cheaply that it can be donated to children in the developing world. Despite the ... nickname, the machine currently costs $188 to produce. Known as the XO, it's designed to be sturdy enough to work under a variety of conditions such as in extremely warm or cold countries. (Source: laptopgiving.org ) James Utzschneider of Microsoft says he'll be meeting the team behind the XO this week. He says reports that Windows already works ... (view more)

Whenever the term "artificial intelligence" comes up, it tends to make some people nervous. It reminds them of the wayward computer, HAL, in the movie "2001 Space Odyssey" or cars that tell you in an annoying tone that your door is open. But, little ... by little, artificial intelligence is creeping into our day-to-day lives. Soon it will be on your desktop. A new product called "Smart Desktop" will shortly be released from Seattle-based Pi Corporation. Designed to work with Microsoft Windows, Smart Desktop will aid the user by attempting to "understand" what they are working ... (view more)

Is the truth really out there? Or, is it just a bunch of wiener aliens? Regardless, X-Files fans (and just about anyone else) will be interested in a recently launched California project, which actively searches outer space for signs of ... intelligence. The search, led by astronomer Dr. J. R. Forster, officially began on Thursday with the activation of a radio telescope array. The project, funded by the University of California, Berkeley, is now probing the universe with 42 individual radio dishes collectively referred to as the Allen Telescope Array (ATA). Eventually, Forster and his team hope ... (view more)

The European Union's executive branch has approved a grant of 120 million euros (about $166 million US) to help fund the German government's next-generation Internet search engine, code-named Theseus. (Source: arstechnica.com ) The grant will be ... distributed among different companies, including SAP AG and Siemens AG, as they begin research on the Theseus project. The project aims to develop "new search technologies for the next generation Internet," including "semantic technologies which try to recognize the meaning of content and place it in its proper context." Semantic technologies are ... (view more)

Most of Mozilla's efforts have seemed to center around beefing up its Firefox browser. However, Mozilla now plans to enter a new realm by releasing a social networking project -- a Firefox plugin called the Coop. The Coop will allow users to add ... friends directly to Firefox, and share information directly through the browser instead of via email. In essence, Mozilla is aiming to make interaction more direct. (Source: franticindustries.com ) On the Coop's project page, Mozilla describes how the Coop will work. The page explains that the Coop will "let users keep track of what their friends are ... (view more)

One of the men responsible for the creation of Wikipedia.org is now trying to turn the tables against the website he helped bring to fruition. Larry Sanger promises that his new venture, Citizendium.org, "aims to improve on [the Wikipedia] model by ... adding 'gentle expert oversight' and requiring contributors to use their real names." (Source: citizendium.org ) "If there's going to be a free encyclopedia, I'd like there to be a better free encyclopedia," Sanger said. "It has bothered me that I helped to get a project started, Wikipedia, that people are misusing in this way, and yet the project ... (view more)

Although Google pulled the plug on its Google Answers service in November, not everyone who worked on the project was quite as willing to toss their service in the trash. A group of researchers who worked on the Google Answers project have decided ... to reincarnate the service into a similar one called Uclue. Uclue is definitely reminiscent of Google Answers. It allows users to ask a question and set a price, ranging from $5 to $250, in return for having their question answered. Although Google eliminated Google Answers when the service failed to rake in solid traffic, the researchers who worked ... (view more)