Cyberwar costs only 1,600 dollars these days

So, back in 2007, Estonia was under a brutal denial of service attack and Estonia thought it was Russia's goverment authorizing the attack. So, it turns out in was just some mad dude, who lives in Estonia.
And what was the punishment, you ask?

And so it comes as quite a shock to THREAT LEVEL to learn that the attacker convicted today isn't a member of the Russian military, nor is he an embittered cyber warrior in Putin's secret service. He doesn't even live in Russia. He's an ethnic Russian who lives in Estonia, who was pissed off over that whole statue thing.

The court fined him 17,500 kroons, or $1,620 dollars, and sent him on his way.

I guess the costs of a Cyberwar that almost started World War III are dropping these days.

From Wired.com

Yes, I Will Sell My Soul For a Freebee

In an interesting development in Japan (where they have all the cool stuff), vending machines will start to give out drinks for free(as in beer), but not as in free beer. If you get my drift. Watch the 30 second adverstiment, get a free drink. Watch the 30 second advertisment, get a free drink. Rinse. Repeat.

Thirsty Japanese will soon be able to drink coffee or other non-alcoholic beverages at a low price or even for free -- as long as they watch a 30-second advertisement on the vending machines.

Vending machine operator Apex Corp. will start a service next month to turn its machines into a new medium for advertisers, who will pick up the partial or full cost of drinks.

If only this worked on my TV at home. I watch a lot of commericals and I'm always thirsty. Genius!
(via the Khaleej Times)Watch ads and drink for free in Japan
(found on Engadget)

Don't Look At That Billboard!

It is looking back!
A new technology has been developed that allows cameras mounted on billboards or advertisments to see if people are looking at them. Hopefully, we won't progress to the Minority Report level of advertisments where the ad will talk back to us. But right now the ads record how many people have looked at it, allowing advertisers to pay per eyeball? Also, it allows the advertisment to do something if an eye loses interest, for example show "YOU ARE A WINNER!!!!!!" in a million colors so that it gives me a seizure to look at it.

The developers behind the technology – dubbed Eyebox2 – believe it could have a range of possible applications, but should particularly interest advertisers. This is because it allows billboards to track people's attention and perhaps respond when it wanes.
Until now, eye-tracking systems have only worked over about half a metre.
"It's less accurate than those systems, but it is good enough to let us know whether you are looking at a display or billboard or not," says lead developer Roel Vertegaal from Queen's University in Ontario, Canada.

I'm going to be the first in line to buy the sunglasses that block this kind of nonsense. Freedom!
(via New Scientist) Tracking billboards could give you the eyeball

Mirror, Mirror In My House, What Purse Goes With This Blouse?

In an effort to get people to buy more shit that they don't need, a company has come up with mirrors that have RFID readers in them to read the RFID tags in clothes. These will mainly be in dressing rooms, so that the mirrors can tell you what some computer algorithm thinks will go great with that shirt.

Being demonstrated by the Paxar Corporation at the Material World show in Miami Beach, the magicmirror is intended to read the tags on clothing, and present the customer with accessories or coordinating items they might like to buy.

Being that I'm never in a dressing room, except save for a refridgerator-sized dressing room in Iceland, this does not effect me. However, I hope this technology doesn't get co-opted to overly flatter or overly tear apart our style choices. Also, and please no recording cameras in said mirror.
(via the Register) RFID mirror automatically insults your fashion sense

Code Words

Here at CB HQ, there are a few words that make our ears perk up like Pavlov's dogs at the sound of a bell. Those words are simple: nanites, Singularity, and anti-matter.
New information discovered by our world's intrepid scientists points to the fact that the BEST. SUPERNOVA. EVAR. was the result of anti-matter. They think this because the explosion showed so much more energy than the star held itself. To me, this smacks of "OMG! We can't see what caused this, it must have been. *gasp* ANTI-MATTER!". But, hey, they are the scientists, I'm just the dude that makes fun of them.

With 100 times the energy of a typical supernova explosion, SN 2006gy was simply too energetic to be explained by the explosion of a lightweight object like a white dwarf star, even if it were to collide with the core of a red giant, says team member Craig Wheeler of the University of Texas in Austin, US.

"That kind of explanation could not produce the energy we're seeing," he told New Scientist.

I don't mean to sound as skeptical as I do above, but as much as I love anti-matter, until I see it, I'm going to be skeptical. (Yes, I realize that you can't SEE anti-matter, but you get my point.)
(via New Scientist) Did antimatter 'factory' spark brightest supernova?

New "Peaceful" Hurting Gun Developed

Anti-violence just got a little more violent this morning as a new "gun" has been developed which has the ability to fire several different types of "peaceful" ow-you-just-hurt me alternatives.

The Anti-Violence Electrode Shock Gun (but you can call it Pain) is a multi-talented weapon that can be used with paint bullets, rubber bullets (we all know how anti-violent THEY are, don't we?), pepper spray, as well as the rather scary-sounding probe cartridges, which override the central nervous system and cause temporary incapacitation, rather like a Taser gun.

With all those options, who would choose turning this monster into a glorified painball gun? I think the shut-down-the-central-nervous-system option would be the most popular addon to this gun.
(via Gizmodo) The Anti-Violence Electrode Shock Gun: Anti-Violence = Everything But Death

All You Ever Needed to Know About Science and Techmology

Ali G drops some knowledge on our heads and asks some suits about Science and "Techmology". Respec? Respec.

New Idiot Tracking System Now in Place

Ever wonder if you could track those idiots on the Segways so that you wouldn't have to deal with them or the temptation of pushing them over?
Well now you can as a new company has put RFID tracking chips in Segways.
Now if there was only a way I could track them on the internet...

(via the Register)RFID-tracking Segways unleashed on hoi polloi