Category Archives: Tech

Technology in general

Bush agenda crippling NASA, forecasters

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CNN.com – NASA satellites feel budget crunch – Mar 6, 2006

The Bush administration’s agenda of returning manned missions to the moon is draining critical funding from NASA’s earth science programs. According to the article above, this could cause the loss of data critical to weather forecasting and early warning systems. Many of the satellites being used currently are old and in need of replacement, and some are quite literally on the brink of failure. I wish I could see the logic behind another manned mission to the moon. While there is certainly more to be learned, I can’t help but feel this program is a knee-jerk reaction to the Chinese Space program. I’m also reminded of the Katrina disaster when I see politicians changing NASA’s mission with little to no regard for the consequences.

Safari vulnerability reveals design flaws in OS X

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heise online – Apple Safari Browser Automatically Executes Shell Scripts

With the switch to Intel, Apple is suddenly finding itself the target of added scrutiny by security researchers. This latest flaw is actually 2 separate features that are, IMO design flaws that should never have made it into the production version of the OS. Apple, much like Microsoft decided their browser should automatically open certain “safe” file types. Problem is, there is no such thing as a safe file type. The second issue results from 2 features: Apple’s decision to allow the OS to automatically execute scripts, and binary metafiles that are created when you change the extension of a file. (OS X does this so that it still knows what the file is.) Michael Lehn (a Ph.D student at the University of Ulm in Germany) figured out that if you changed the extension of a script on a Mac to .jpg (or something else the browser would try to render) and then edited it to remove the shell definition, the file would be downloaded and automatically executed. There’s a reason this doesn’t happen on BSD. Apple’s OS team really needs to look harder at the implications of its design decisions.

IBM makes 30nm chip tech breakthrough

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cooltech.iafrica.com | tech news IBM makes chip breakthrough

IBM researchers have come up with a process that has allowed them to create silicon chips at 30nm. This is quite impressive as the theoretical limit on optical microlithography was 32nm. Chipmakers can keep prices low for the near future as they won’t have to make major investments in new process technology as quickly as once thought. So what does this mean for you and me? It means computers, videogame consoles and multimedia devices can continue to get faster, cheaper, require less power and produce less heat. Sounds good to me.