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+ - WhatsApp verfication check flaw->

Submitted by rvw
rvw (755107) writes "Using a prepaid phone without credit, you can take over another WhatsApp account. During installation WhatsApp asks you to enter your mobile phone number and sends out an SMS to verify the number. Because the SMS is not sent, but is accessible, you can send the SMS via a mobile service, using another phone number. The account is then linked to your phone, and will be disabled on the other phone."
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+ - TSA: Nailclippers are more dangerous than guns.-> 1

Submitted by HungryHobo
HungryHobo (1314109) writes "When faced with hundreds of soldiers on a military charter carrying assault rifles,pistols and machine guns the TSA personnel decided that while all the guns weren't dangerous the nail clippers one soldier was carrying needed to be confiscated in case he used them to take over the plane.


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Comment: Re:i don't want to say "i told you so" (Score 0) 334

by randyleepublic (#32261748) Attached to: Gulf Oil Spill Nearing Loop Current

i want you to listen to reason: we need to get off oil now, or we will suffer

I know you and I disagree on a lot of political topics, but I'm 100% with you here. I'm a greedy capitalist who's far more interested in my own lifestyle than in a spotted owl, but I want us to get off oil and onto something long-term sustainable, and ASAP. I'd happily encourage Congress to fund a Manhattan Project-style national security-motivated investment to make it happen. Forget about carbon dioxide and all that (even if I do think those things are important) - I just don't want to depend on the good graces of countries who hate us to keep my country running.

Either we invest in alternative energy development now and eat the research costs for the next X years until it comes online, or we wait until gas gets ludicrously expensive and then start research - and then wait X years after that until we can use it. Maybe if we'd taken this stuff seriously in the 70s and 80s, X would almost be up and we'd have viable alternatives available today. Thanks, previous generation.

We are slaves. That is why the "previous generation" fucked us. You don't understand this. You don't have to. All you need to understand is one simple subject: Fractional Reserve Banking. That is the yoke that binds us. All we need do is end the practice of FRB, and we will be free.

Comment: Re:Patent titles in the summary are meaningless (Score 2, Insightful) 243

by VortexCortex (#32261554) Attached to: Microsoft Sues Over Patents

The problem with ideas is that they seem obvious in hindsight. Prior to that, clearly nobody had implemented it.. so the idea couldn't have been that obvious

You're saying: because something hasn't been implemented yet means it must not be obvious?

I'm saying: Perhaps M$ just got to the patent office first with an obvious idea... (much like the Bell's Telephone)

Since the patent examiners are not professionals skilled in the art It's obvious that they aren't qualified to make the non-obvious distinction, or else we wouldn't have so many of these obvious patents.


FYI Menus existed in 1995. Menus on a webpage == fnck!ng obvious esp. to any professional skilled in the art of making menus and web pages.

Comment: Re:This can't work as it stands (Score 1) 41

by LongearedBat (#32261442) Attached to: Law Professors Developing Patent License For FOSS


- DPL's allowed other businesses to use the patents in return for licence fees (or for free, to protect from patent trolls)
- the original patent owner retains the right to add the patent to other DPL's

It seems that a DPL would become a business entity in it's own right.

A scoring system might be tricky to design/define, but I think doable. Different DPL's might also use different scoring systems.

Comment: This still existed? (Score 1) 144

by esten (#32261382) Attached to: Foldit Player May Have Created a Useful Protein

I heard about this when it was first announced and cannot believe it still exists/people are still playing this "game"

Anyway this is probably more of a PR smoke then an actual discovery. Drug companies burn through lots of computer time to find potential drug targets most of which do not work. I would expect that a protein (much larger and more complicated then developed drugs) would make the likelihood of its synthesis and folding into the desired structure even less likely to work.

Comment: Re:The main danger is (Score 1) 357

by matfud (#32261292) Attached to: Scientists Question Safety of New Airport Scanners

They take far more than 30 seconds. The last time I went through one was probably 2 years ago at LHR. You got pulled out of the queue at random.It was optional at the time (go through it or get strip searched) It took about 3 mins but at least you got to jump the queue. Unless the technology has improved a lot then it is still going to take far too long to get everybody going through one.
Spread your legs and put your feet on the dots. raise your arms and put your hands on the yellow dots. Wait a while. Now turn around and do similar. All after you have removed any belongings from yourself.

Comment: Re:There are better, quicker ways to phobia relief (Score 1) 126

by DEmmons (#32261200) Attached to: Using Augmented Reality To Treat Cockroach Phobia
the taste is just as bad as the smell. guts got in my mouth once when i swatted one too enthusiastically. you must be / have been in southeast asia too - the millipedes are pretty impressive, though not scary. the ~10 inch centipedes, though, are the worst. one crawled into bed with someone i used to know and sent them to the hospital. can't believe how fast and aggressive they are.

and yet, for some reason, i love it here!
