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Today's Topics:
1. Cassini Finds Possible Origin Of One Of Saturn's Rings
(Greg Williams)
2. In Silicon Valley, Millionaires Who Don't Feel Rich
(Monty Solomon)
3. Hacking The iPhone (Monty Solomon)
4. DISH Network Releases HDTV DVR with Unlimited Storage
(Monty Solomon)
5. iPhone Hacker Slams Apple Security (Monty Solomon)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sun, 05 Aug 2007 13:14:55 -0400
From: Greg Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Cassini Finds Possible Origin Of One Of Saturn's
Rings
To: medianews@twiar.org
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
Cassini Finds Possible Origin Of One Of Saturn's Rings
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070803113335.htm
Science Daily ? Cassini scientists may have identified the source of one
of Saturn's more mysterious rings. Saturn's G ring likely is produced by
relatively large, icy particles that reside within a bright arc on the
ring's inner edge.
The particles are confined within the arc by gravitational effects from
Saturn's moon Mimas. Micrometeoroids collide with the particles,
releasing smaller, dust-sized particles that brighten the arc. The
plasma in the giant planet's magnetic field sweeps through this arc
continually, dragging out the fine particles, which create the G ring.
The finding is evidence of the complex interaction between Saturn's
moons, rings and magnetosphere. Studying this interaction is one of
Cassini's objectives. The study is in the Aug. 2 issue of the journal
Science and was based on observations made by multiple Cassini
instruments in 2004 and 2005.
"Distant pictures from the cameras tell us where the arc is and how it
moves, while plasma and dust measurements taken near the G ring tell us
how much material is there," said Matthew Hedman, a Cassini imaging team
associate at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and lead author on the
Science paper.
Saturn's rings are an enormous, complex structure, and their origin is a
mystery. The rings are labeled in the order they were discovered. From
the planet outward, they are D, C, B, A, F, G and E. The main rings --
A, B and C from edge-to-edge, would fit neatly in the distance between
Earth and the moon. The most transparent rings are D -- interior to C --
and F, E and G, outside the main rings.
Unlike Saturn's other dusty rings, such as the E and F rings, the G ring
is not associated closely with moons that either could supply material
directly to it -- as Enceladus does for the E ring -- or sculpt and
perturb its ring particles -- as Prometheus and Pandora do for the F
ring. The location of the G ring continued to defy explanation, until now.
Cassini images show that the bright arc within the G ring extends
one-sixth of the way around Saturn and is about 250 kilometers (155
miles) wide, much narrower than the full 5,955-kilometer width (3,700
miles) of the G ring. The arc has been observed several times since
Cassini's 2004 arrival at the ringed planet and thus appears to be a
long-lived feature. A gravitational disturbance caused by the moon Mimas
exists near the arc.
As part of their study, Hedman and colleagues conducted computer
simulations that showed the gravitational disturbance of Mimas could
indeed produce such a structure in Saturn's G ring. The only other
places in the solar system where such disturbances are known to exist
are in the ring arcs of Neptune.
Cassini's magnetospheric imaging instrument detected depletions in
charged particles near the arc in 2005. According to the scientists,
unseen mass in the arc must be absorbing the particles. "The small dust
grains that the Cassini camera sees are not enough to absorb energetic
electrons," said Elias Roussos of the Max-Planck-Institute for Solar
System Research, Germany, and member of the magnetospheric imaging team.
"This tells us that a lot more mass is distributed within the arc."
The researchers concluded that there is a population of larger,
as-yet-unseen bodies hiding in the arc, ranging in size from that of
peas to small boulders. The total mass of all these bodies is equivalent
to that of an ice-rich, small moon that's about 100 meters wide (328
feet wide).
Joe Burns, a co-author of the paper from Cornell University and a member
of the imaging team, said, "We'll have a super opportunity to spot the G
ring's source bodies when Cassini flies about 600 miles from the arc 18
months from now."
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the
European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for
NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter and
its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at the
laboratory. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute,
Boulder, Colo. The magnetospheric imaging instrument team is based at
Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, Md.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by National
Aeronautics And Space Administration.
--
Gregory S. Williams
gregwilliams(at)knology.net
k4hsm(at)knology.net
http://www.etskywarn.net
http://www.twiar.org
http://www.icebearnation.com
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2007 14:19:54 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] In Silicon Valley, Millionaires Who Don't Feel
Rich
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
In Silicon Valley, Millionaires Who Don't Feel Rich
By GARY RIVLIN
The New York Times
August 5, 2007
MENLO PARK, Calif. - By almost any definition - except his own and
perhaps those of his neighbors here in Silicon Valley - Hal Steger
has made it.
Mr. Steger, 51, a self-described geek, has banked more than $2
million. The $1.3 million house he and his wife own on a bluff
overlooking the Pacific Ocean is paid off. The couple's net worth of
roughly $3.5 million places them in the top 2 percent of families in
the United States.
Yet each day Mr. Steger continues to toil in what a colleague calls
"the Silicon Valley salt mines," working as a marketing executive for
a technology start-up company, still striving for his big strike.
Most mornings, he can be found at his desk by 7. He typically works
12 hours a day and logs an extra 10 hours over the weekend.
"I know people looking in from the outside will ask why someone like
me keeps working so hard," Mr. Steger says. "But a few million
doesn't go as far as it used to. Maybe in the '70s, a few million
bucks meant 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,' or Richie Rich
living in a big house with a butler. But not anymore."
Silicon Valley is thick with those who might be called working-class
millionaires - nose-to-the-grindstone people like Mr. Steger who,
much to their surprise, are still working as hard as ever even as
they find themselves among the fortunate few. Their lives are rich
with opportunity; they generally enjoy their jobs. They are amply
cushioned against the anxieties and jolts that worry most people
living paycheck to paycheck.
But many such accomplished and ambitious members of the digital elite
still do not think of themselves as particularly fortunate, in part
because they are surrounded by people with more wealth - often a lot
more.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/technology/05rich.html?ex=1343966400&en=37185230cd0560aa&ei=5090
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2007 00:43:43 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Hacking The iPhone
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
The Black Hat Conference
Hacking The iPhone
Andy Greenberg, 08.04.07, 2:02 PM ET
LAS VEGAS -
Don't say you weren't warned, iPhone fans. Even when the prerelease
fervor surrounding Mac's mobile messiah-phone was at its highest,
security researchers were warning that it would be vulnerable to
exploitations like data theft and hijacking.
Last Thursday, Charlie Miller proved them right. In a presentation at
the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, a gathering of cyber-security
researchers, Miller detailed how he had hacked and hijacked the
iPhone by exploiting a vulnerability in its Web browser.
For iPhone owners, the talk wasn't as foreboding as it might have
been. Apple had released a patch for Miller's exploit just days
before. But Miller, a researcher at Independent Security Evaluators,
says Apple's patch was only possible because he had informed the
company of the vulnerability weeks before he presented it to Black
Hat's hacker audience. And, he says, it would only be a matter of
time and effort to find an equally powerful backdoor into the phone.
Though there has yet to be any documented criminal hijacking of the
iPhone outside of a lab, Miller says his research shows the relative
ease of hacking smart phones, as well as Macs in general. He spoke
with Forbes.com about the iPhone's vulnerabilities, Apple's
short-lived patch and the company's undeserved reputation for
building secure computers.
...
http://www.forbes.com/security/2007/08/04/iphone-apple-mac-tech-cx_ag_0804miller.html
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2007 00:47:28 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] DISH Network Releases HDTV DVR with Unlimited
Storage
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
DISH Network Releases HDTV DVR with Unlimited Storage
By Chris Boylan
Sun, 15 Jul 2007, 18:53:00
The main problem with DVRs (Digital Video Recorders) is that they
eventually run out of storage. Thirty hours of high definition
recording capability seems like a lot until you tape a few episodes
of "LOST," "HEROES," "The Office" and maybe a high definition movie
or two. Then suddenly, the recording time starts dwindling and you
find yourself forced to catch up on your backlog of shows or risk
having them deleted without being watched.
Sure, manufacturers can include larger and larger internal hard
drives, but eventually you'll be faced with the necessity of deleting
your favorite shows. DISH Network has found a simple but obvious
solution to this dilemma: swappable external hard drives.
DISH Network's soon-to-be-released ViP722 HD DVR as well as its
current ViP622 HD DVR will have their USB ports enabled later this
Summer via a firmware upgrade. This will give the recorders the
ability to record and playback high definition and standard
definition content from their internal hard drives as well as from an
external hard drive connected via USB.
...
http://www.bigpicturebigsound.com/printer_dish-network-vip722-dvr-1160.shtml
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2007 00:51:25 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] iPhone Hacker Slams Apple Security
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
iPhone Hacker Slams Apple Security
By David Raikow, CMP Channel
3:09 PM EDT Fri. Aug. 03, 2007
In a Thursday presentation at the Black Hat Briefings conference,
security researcher Charles Miller spelled out a wide variety of
security problems in the Mac OS X operating system and Apple's Safari
browser that allowed him to devise the first publicly disclosed
attack on the iPhone.
According to Miller, his attack is not an isolated incident, and
should not be viewed as the inevitable result of the kinds of bugs
found in all software. Rather, he said, it was just one symptom of
flawed Apple security practices that have left the entire OS X
platform vulnerable on both the Mac and the iPhone.
...
http://www.crn.com/security/201202993
------------------------------
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