Entropy

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The latest twist that is the share killing saga of the Microsoft Yahoo buyout hit us today - with news that Yahoo is close on closing a deal to merge with AOL.

“The latest twist: The WSJ is reporting that Yahoo is close to signing a deal to combine with AOL.

This at the same time that Yahoo is doing a limited test to place Google ads in its search results. Meanwhile, News Corp, which Yahoo once hoped would be its white knight, is said to be turning on Yahoo and talking to Microsoft about joining its bid. Obviously a lot of balls are up in the air right now, and anything is possible.”

A recent vulnerability in phpBB (forum software) has led to the years biggest single hack (afaik). ItNews and Slashdot have updates/commentary on it. Unfortunately for the hackers, but fortunately for the public it appears that instead of exploiting some browser problem (the wisest move in my opinion) it tries to trick the user into installing software.

Researchers at McAfee estimated that the attack has been active for roughly one week, and in that time frame has managed to place itself on roughly 200,000 web pages. Most of the infected pages are running the phpBB forum software, said McAfee. The compromised pages are embedded with a Javascript file that links to the site hosting the attack.

The infected pages bring up what appears to be a pornographic web site. Upon loading the page, a ‘fake codec’ social engineering attack is attempted. The user is told that in order to view the movie on the page, a special video codec must be installed.

If this isn’t the best idea ever then I’ll hand in my best idea ever deciding badge immediately.

A slashdot user writes in to tell about Infoworld’s 7 Dirtiest Jobs in IT. As they explain, working in IT isn’t always pretty and this is the list of the worst of them. From your stock-standard black ops to dealing with legacy systems, its got them.

Unfortunately, dirty jobs — whether you’re being chained to a help desk, hacking 30-year-old code, finding yourself wedged between warring factions in the conference room, or mucking about in human effluvia — are necessary to make nearly every organization tick. (Well, maybe not the human effluvia part.)

The good news? Master at least one of them, and you’re pretty much guaranteed a job with somebody. We don’t guarantee you’ll like it, though.

Researches are currently (and have been for some time) discussing a “clean slate” for the internet. Things are changing, there are no more space constrictions, processing power is plentiful as is bandwidth - the internet is no longer relevant to the mediums it works on.

The idea may seem unthinkable, even absurd, but many believe a “clean slate” approach is the only way to truly address security, mobility and other challenges that have cropped up since UCLA professor Leonard Kleinrock helped supervise the first exchange of meaningless test data between two machines on Sept. 2, 1969.

The idea is even getting traction from many of the people involved in the initial internet design process —

Even Vinton Cerf, one of the Internet’s founding fathers as co-developer of the key communications techniques, said the exercise was “generally healthy” because the current technology “does not satisfy all needs.”

Read more on the plans at Yahoo

NS has an article about a company that intends to start selling servers that are swimming in oil!

The microprocessors inside servers and desktop computers are normally cooled using fans that blow air across the components. But UK a company called Very-PC hopes to see a much more radical, oil-based alternative, take off instead.

Technically this is a sound idea, and with the recent drive on “green” companies and players like IBM, Google and Microsoft investing big in power cuts you can understand the company benefits –

“It is possible to cut power consumption in half,” managing director Peter Hopton told New Scientist. “You don’t need to drive inefficient fans, or the usual air conditioning.”

New Scientist: Chilled oil bath may cool hot processors

Slashdot’s got the news saying that sun spots have reached a thousand year peak. More good news for our dying world…

“Researchers at the Institute for Astronomy in Zurich are reporting that solar sunspot activity is at a 1000-year peak. Records of sunspots have been kept since 1610. The period between 1645 and 1715 (known as the Maunder Minimum) was a period of very few sunspots. Researchers extended the record by measuring isotopes of beryllium (created by cosmic rays) in Greenland ice cores. Based on both observations and ice core records, we are now at a sunspot peak exceeding solar activity for any time in the past thousand years.”

Sunspots Reach 1000-Year Peak

“From the poles to the tropics, the earth’s climate and ecosystems are already being shaped by the atmospheric buildup of greenhouse gases and face inevitable, possibly profound, alteration, the world’s leading scientific panel on climate change said Friday.”

Obviously I’m more than a healthy amount paranoid - but the recent report on Global Warming is sparking a lot of chatter.

TheLedger.com has the article.

Ban for decisive efforts to alleviate impact of global warming

New York, April 8. (PTI): Expressing concern over experts warning of major adverse impact of global warming on the earth’s natural system, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appealed to all nations to make “decisive efforts” to alleviate its consequences.

The report released in Brussels by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said that warmer global temperatures are causing profound changes in many of the earth’s natural systems.

Approximately 20-30 per cent of plant and animal species assessed so far are likely to be at an increased risk of extinction if increases in global average temperature exceed 1.5-2.5 degrees centigrade.