All about real world

Filippo Minelli's "Contradictions"

Wooster Collective

- 21 hours and 17 minutes ago

("Facebook", spray paint on scrap-yard, Bamako - Mali, 2008 )

("Microsoft", Paint on barrels, Bamako-Mali. 2008)

("Flickr", Paint on wall, Phnom Penh-Cambodia. 2007)

("Myspace", Paint on wall, Phnom Penh-Cambodia. 2007)

The more we see of Filippo Minelli's work, the more we've love it. We were really struck by his ongoing series "Contradictions" so we asked Filippo to tell us a bit about the images. We thought we'd share with you his response:

"All my "Contradictions" ongoing project has the same motivation/meaning. Technologies and the marketing behind them usually push the almost religious aspect of their evolution, as also said by Leander Kaheny in his "Cult of Mac" book, and the users are pushed to live in an intense way the abstraction from reality, living technologies only as an idea and sometimes without even knowing their real functions. And this aspect works for the social-networks too. The idealization connected with these experiences provokes a small-but-important detach of the perception of reality and what i want to do by writing the names of anything connected with the 2.0 life we are living in the slums of the third world is to point out the gap between the reality we still live in and the ephemeral world of technologies. It's a kind of reminder, for people like me which i'm an Apple user and also have social-network accounts that the real world is deeply far from the idealization we have of it, not only in the third world and even if technologies and globalization are good things. I hope it's clear and sorry for my italian-english" ;)"

You can see more of Filippo's work here.

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abstractions,real world,apple,facebook,evolution

Links for 2008-12-01 [del.icio.us]

Dion Hinchcliffe's Web 2.0 Blog

- 1 days and 1 hours ago

ul lia href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/30/facebook-google-myspace-data/"Biggest Battle Yet For Social Networks: You, Your Identity And Your Data On The Open Web/abr/ Facebook continues to make major and mostly proprietary moves as the battle for Web identity heats up. Most companies are following open standards but Facebook Connect is a creation of its own making. However, Google is actually making more interesting moves in this space in many cases and most folks aren#039;t even paying attention./li lia href="http://openstreetmap.org/"OpenStreetMap/abr/ A good example of the emerging open data movement, this one around location. Lots of challenges and opportunities as we create more and more of the data that we need on the edge of the network./li lia href="http://pyjs.org/"pyjamas/abr/ With Pyjamas you can now write your Ajax Web apps in Python for maintability. There are always lots of issues when doing this but Javascript just doesn#039;t scale up well when creating full blown apps in the browser./li lia href="http://www.socialcomputingmagazine.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=630"Implementing Enterprise 2.0 In The Real World | SocialComputingMagazine.com/abr/ Use list of post-hype best practices for Enterprise 2.0. Many of these will be familiar but I like the quot;safe-failquot; idea in point #2 very much, for example. To be emergent means that there will be much quot;course correctionquot; to get the right structure and flow./li lia href="http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2008/tc20081130_276152.htm"Open Source: The Model Is Broken - BusinessWeek/abr/ Provocative title but good analysis in the end: quot;Open source has simply become a means to an endâ€”it lowers economies of scale for software and in doing so, is prompting more innovative business models.quot;. The bottom line is that open source software has driven the multiples out of the software business and that the service and support model is a route that only a few will be able to take./li /ul

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open sources,businessweek,real world,bottom line,proprietary

Touchgrind

Critical link (SaaS integration : real-world problems, and how CIOs are solving them)

The Hills #416: Lauren/Justin Hookup?

ArenaFest Hopes to Lure the MySpace Set

Listening Post

- 1 days and 16 hours ago

Next summer, the youth of America will have a new entertainment option: ArenaFest, a music, fashion and sports circus for the indoor set that could convince social network denizens to go out and meet each other in the real world.

Unlike tours from the Rolling Stones, the Eagles and other boomer-oriented acts, which tend to charge upward of a hundred bucks per seat, ArenaFest will only costs $27.50. To attract the younger crowd, it will feature bands, extreme sports, social networking features, a modeling competition, a dating game, and videogame competitions on the venues' Jumbotron display.

Music, while not the sole focus of ArenaFest, will play a large role. Starting Monday, bands that want a chance to play in front of an estimated 100,000 fans at ten ArenaFest events can create a profile on Sellaband, a crowdsourced record label. 18 artists will be chosen from those that enter to play ten shows apiece at various ArenaFest events in their area, opening for a more established band.

"We've been pretty successful with helping bands fund their albums with the help of music lovers around the globe," Sellaband CEO Johan Vosmeijer told Wired.com. "Through experience, we found out that it's not complete without a live element to it. Ultimately, that's what all musicians, all bands want -- they want to be on stage, they want to play live." To make sure that the bands actually can play live, Sellaband will send scouts to hear them play a local show during one of the last levels of judging. The lucky winners will earn berths on the ArenaFest tour bus, giving them something like the authentic touring experience.

These bands, which will have to prove via Sellaband that they have a sizable draw, should attract the same sort of male-heavy audience that other music festivals tend to draw. To bring the fairer sex into the fold and make its dream of a real, live social network come true, ArenaFest will also include a modeling contest somewhat along the lines of a live "America's Next Top Model" and a dating game that will pair musicians, models and audience members. As in real life, Arenafest's rock stars will date models.

"We're launching the world's first live social network," explained Arena Works Entertainment CEO John Ossenmacher, who previously founded Arena Sports Network. "Typically, the demographic of an arena crowd is older, they have a lot of disposable income and they're either buying expensive NBA tickets or Celine Dion tickets, or Bono, or someone like that... we wanted to broaden that." That means bands, videogame and modeling competitions, dating shows and "wired" venues with interactive, social features, although Ossenmacher wouldn't go into detail about precisely what technology would be involved.

"We're doing some things to allow people to wirelessly interact with their surroundings as well as their social communities while they're at these events... some things we're doing things with different types of communication systems where, while music is being played, you can be doing stuff instantaneously with that music electronically." During the extreme sporting events, attendees will apparently be able to interact with the players' environment electronically as well.

The indoor aspect of the shows will allow for sophisticated equipment to be used without having it be subject to the elements. It also doesn't hurt that the boomers will be at outdoor venues during the summer, freeing up arenas for youth-oriented events. Unlike the boomers' seating-assigned events, ArenaFest will let audience members go wherever they want within the venue for the same $27.50 entry price.

The 91-event interactive festival will tour ten of the nation's major indoor arenas in the summer of 2009.

See Also:

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mondays,sports,demographic,real world,music

[App Store Release] Action Bowling Lite

Nikon's D3X Pro-Level DSLR Goes All Official With an $8,000 Price Tag [Nikon D3x]

Gizmodo

- 1 days and 21 hours ago

pimg src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/12/25442_D3X_front.jpg" width="640" height="544" style="display:block;float:none;" /The a href="http://gizmodo.com/5099189/nikon-d3x-24mp-dslr-rumors-solidify-around-dec-1"rumors/a pointed pretty firmly to it, and then some leaked a href="http://gizmodo.com/5099857/nikon-d3x-specs-leaked-a-mighty-flagship-cometh"specs/a detailed what it'd be like, but now Nikon's new pro-level D3X DSLR has arrived officially. Touting it as a 24-megapixel "Digital Masterpiece," with exceptionally low noise sensor, 5fps full-frame shooting speed and with file sizes of 138MB, Nikon's saying the camera's available now for an estimated selling price of $8,000 for the body only. Full press release below.script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" galleryPost('d3x', 3, ''); /script/p blockquote pMELVILLE, N.Y. (Nov. 30, 2008) â€“ Nikon Inc. today announced the D3X, an FX-format digital SLR featuring extreme 24.5-megapixel resolution and superb low-noise capabilities, which provides professional photographers with commercial-quality image performance in a familiar and extraordinarily versatile D-SLR form factor. In conjunction with the groundbreaking Nikon FX-format D3, the D3X tops off a collection of flagship level, rugged, professional caliber digital single lens reflex cameras engineered to excel in all types of professional photographic disciplines from photojournalism and sideline sports, to commercial in-studio applications./p pThe foundation of the enhanced performance of the D3X is its FX-format, 24.5-megapixel (6048 x 4032) CMOS sensor providing commercial, high fashion, fine art and landscape photographers with the extreme resolution, dynamic range, color depth, detail and sharpness that clients demand. Whether creating catalogs, magazine covers, billboards or gallery prints, the large 5.49-micron pixel size and high signal to noise ratio produces vibrant images with breathtaking image fidelity while reducing lost highlights and shadows, and ensuring smoother tone reproduction with minimized noise. With full resolution shooting speeds of up to five frames-per-second (fps), and 14-bit files, that when processed are approximately 138 MB, the D3X offers today's photographic artists an extreme level of performance and versatility ready for demanding assignments in the studio or on location./p p“In 2007, the 12.1-megapixel FX-format D3 delivered groundbreaking digital SLR image quality, coupled with incomparable high ISO, low noise performance and high-speed handling. In doing so, the D3 broke photographic barriers, enabling photographers to work in ways never before possible,” said Edward Fasano, general manager for Marketing, SLR Systems Products at Nikon Inc. “Now, the new 24.5-megapixel FX-format D3X D-SLR provides the extreme resolution and high dynamic range capabilities needed to meet the extraordinary needs of photographic disciplines such as high fashion, commercial advertising and fine art. The D3X delivers this remarkable capability while fitting seamlessly within the Nikon system, taking full advantage of Nikon’s world-renowned collection of NIKKOR lenses and Speedlights.”/p pImage Quality Takes Center Stagebr To re-emphasize the importance of image quality above all else, the D3X delivers an incredible level of digital SLR performance to provide photographers with extremely high resolution, exceptional dynamic range, phenomenal total gradation and outstanding color reproduction. Image files can be recorded as TIFF, JPEG or NEF (RAW) formats in either 12- or 14-bit compressed or uncompressed formats, and recorded to UDMA compatible CompactFlashâ„¢ cards for optimum speed. Photographers can save image files directly to the dual card slots as overflow, backup, or as separate file formats to different cards. Building on the D3X's flexibility, users have the creative option to shoot in the 5:4 crop mode with 20.4-megapixel resolution, the ideal format for creating 8 x 10-inch portraits. While using DX-format lenses, faster continuous shooting of up to seven frames per second can be achieved at a resolution of 10.5 megapixels./p pThe exceptionally low noise of the D3X is essential to any professional commercial application, and it provides photographers with an ISO range of 100 to 1600, expandable to 50 (Lo-1) and 6400 (Hi-2). The ultra smooth tones and lack of grain at ISO 1600 as well as at low sensitivity settings result in smooth, natural skin tones and exacting detail that, before the D3X, required larger and far costlier studio-bound camera systems./p pAdvanced Technologies, Meticulously Executedbr In a commercial setting or on location, imaging professionals need high performance in both speed and processing. The Nikon D3X can shoot at up to five fps at full resolution or up to seven fps in DX crop mode, allowing photographers to catch the split-second difference in a model’s expression or capture all of the action in a sequence. Just like the D3, the D3X achieves a start-up time of a mere 0.12 seconds and a shutter release time lag of 0.04 seconds./p pThe D3X’s speed, as well as high levels of performance, leverages Nikon core technologies including a newly enhanced EXPEEDâ„¢ Image Processing System, specially designed for the D3X to provide superior image quality, faster processing speeds and lower power consumption. This advanced system is able to achieve extremely precise color reproduction for a broad spectrum of hues, in addition to vivid saturation and smooth gradation. What’s more, Nikon’s advanced noise processing function is engineered to minimize noise at all sensitivities and operate seamlessly without interfering with other image color parameters./p pThe D3X also features Nikon’s exclusive Scene Recognition System, which continuously analyzes information from the 1,005-pixel RGB light sensor, to further refine auto exposure, auto white balance and autofocus calculations. This results in flattering portraits and awe-inspiring landscapes that portray accurate color and fine details. Nikon's exclusive 3D Color Matrix Metering II helps ensure accurate exposures, even in the most challenging lighting conditions. Instantly evaluating each scene before capture, input data from the system's sensor is automatically referenced against an internal database of more than 30,000 images derived from actual photographs to calculate correct exposure values. Active D-Lighting, used in combination with 3D Matrix Metering II, helps to determines proper exposure, and creates realistic contrast while compensating for lost shadows and highlights. Prior to shooting, users can choose from Extra High, High, Normal, Low or Off settings, as well as an Auto mode./p pAdditionally, the D3X features Nikon’s exclusive Multi-CAM 3500FX focus module, with 51 AF points, 15 cross type sensors and 36 horizontal sensors that easily track and lock onto moving subjects, delivering the same fast and accurate AF performance that helped make the D3 immediately successful. Users can select any of the AF points, making it easy to consistently attain accurate focus right on a subject’s eyes, frame after frame. Additionally, three AF-area modes â€“ Single point, Dynamic-area AF and Auto-area AF â€“ are available to maximize the use of the 51 focus points by selecting the most suitable one to match subject conditions. AF is also available in one of two Live View modes optimized for the studio, including a phase detection handheld mode and a tripod mode. This feature allows the user to zoom in up to 27x on the LCD screen to ensure critical focus. While in Live View, the graphic indication of a virtual horizon is also available, making it easier than ever to confirm camera orientation./p pTo further ensure each photographer's ability to balance their personal style, Nikon’s Picture Control System enables users to adjust their images to pre-set parameters such as Standard, Neutral, Vivid and Monochrome that apply tweaks to image sharpening, tone compensation, brightness, overall tone and saturation. Photographers have creative control over these image parameters with the use of up to nine available customizable presets./p pSynchronizing Both Form and Functionbr Engineered for real-world functionality, the D3X retains a rugged shell with moisture, dust and shock resistance that has become a hallmark of flagship Nikon D-SLRs, while preserving the usability and ergonomics that allow the camera to remain an extension of the photographer’s vision. Attention to detail goes so far as to include a self-diagnostic shutter system that is tested to exceed 300,000 cycles for maximum durability and longevity. The camera’s body also maintains the resilient magnesium alloy construction and form factor of the D3, promoting consistent Nikon system synergy./p pA bright and accurate viewfinder offers 100 percent coverage with 0.7x magnification. The body also houses Nikon’s acclaimed 3.0-inch super density LCD screen, now relied upon by so many photographers. The high-resolution 920,000-dot screen is viewable at wide angles up to 170 degrees, and will allow photographers to quickly zoom in to confirm critical focus. Users can also output the video signal to an external display via HDMI to allow client viewing. Thanks to incredibly efficient internal circuitry, the D3X can capture up to 4400* shots per single charge of the camera’s Lithium ion battery./p pSystem Strength Withstands the Test of Timebr The D3X is fully compatible with Nikon’s Creative Lighting System (CLS) to give photographers a mobile lighting solution that is easy to manage. To further enhance mobility, the D3X is compatible with Nikon’s GP-1 GPS receiver to gather information such as latitude, longitude, altitude and date of shooting. Photographers can easily shoot tethered via USB, or use the WT-4a wireless transmitter to send images wirelessly when speed and mobility are essential. D3X users will also enjoy the system strength of more than 50 genuine NIKKOR lenses that provide outstanding sharpness and high resolution across a broad range of focal lengths./p pPrice and Availabilitybr The Nikon D3X will be available at Nikon Authorized Professional Dealers starting December 2008, and will be available for an estimated selling price of $7999.95.**/p p* Based on CIPA Standardsbr ** Estimated selling price listed is only an estimate. Actual prices are set by dealers and are subject to change at any time./p /blockquote p[a href="http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Digital-SLR/25442/D3X.html"Nikon/a]/p br style="clear: both;"/ a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=90a7f8c637103dbe5aa27794bf3dba4ep=1"img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=90a7f8c637103dbe5aa27794bf3dba4ep=1"//a img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=90a7f8c637103dbe5aa27794bf3dba4e" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=VU3iAJrJ"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?d=120" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=SCK7uts6"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=jRcIkIR2"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?i=jRcIkIR2" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=2UVEO8vs"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?i=2UVEO8vs" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~4/qcHsBYSPfCs" height="1" width="1"/

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supers,lighting systems,masterpiece,sensors,cameras

Nikon's D3X Masterpiece DSLR Goes Official With An $8,000 Price Tag [Nikon D3x]

Gizmodo

- 1 days and 21 hours ago

pimg src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/12/25442_D3X_front.jpg" width="640" height="544" style="display:block;float:none;" /The a href="http://gizmodo.com/5099189/nikon-d3x-24mp-dslr-rumors-solidify-around-dec-1"rumors/a pointed pretty firmly to it, and then some leaked a href="http://gizmodo.com/5099857/nikon-d3x-specs-leaked-a-mighty-flagship-cometh"specs/a detailed what it'd be like, but now Nikon's new pro-level D3X DSLR has arrived officially. Touting it as a 24-megapixel "Digital Masterpiece," with exceptionally low noise sensor, 5fps full-frame shooting speed and with file sizes of 138MB, Nikon's saying the camera's available now for an estimated selling price of $8,000 for the body only. Full press release below.script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" galleryPost('d3x', 3, ''); /script/p blockquote pMELVILLE, N.Y. (Nov. 30, 2008) â€“ Nikon Inc. today announced the D3X, an FX-format digital SLR featuring extreme 24.5-megapixel resolution and superb low-noise capabilities, which provides professional photographers with commercial-quality image performance in a familiar and extraordinarily versatile D-SLR form factor. In conjunction with the groundbreaking Nikon FX-format D3, the D3X tops off a collection of flagship level, rugged, professional caliber digital single lens reflex cameras engineered to excel in all types of professional photographic disciplines from photojournalism and sideline sports, to commercial in-studio applications./p pThe foundation of the enhanced performance of the D3X is its FX-format, 24.5-megapixel (6048 x 4032) CMOS sensor providing commercial, high fashion, fine art and landscape photographers with the extreme resolution, dynamic range, color depth, detail and sharpness that clients demand. Whether creating catalogs, magazine covers, billboards or gallery prints, the large 5.49-micron pixel size and high signal to noise ratio produces vibrant images with breathtaking image fidelity while reducing lost highlights and shadows, and ensuring smoother tone reproduction with minimized noise. With full resolution shooting speeds of up to five frames-per-second (fps), and 14-bit files, that when processed are approximately 138 MB, the D3X offers today's photographic artists an extreme level of performance and versatility ready for demanding assignments in the studio or on location./p p“In 2007, the 12.1-megapixel FX-format D3 delivered groundbreaking digital SLR image quality, coupled with incomparable high ISO, low noise performance and high-speed handling. In doing so, the D3 broke photographic barriers, enabling photographers to work in ways never before possible,” said Edward Fasano, general manager for Marketing, SLR Systems Products at Nikon Inc. “Now, the new 24.5-megapixel FX-format D3X D-SLR provides the extreme resolution and high dynamic range capabilities needed to meet the extraordinary needs of photographic disciplines such as high fashion, commercial advertising and fine art. The D3X delivers this remarkable capability while fitting seamlessly within the Nikon system, taking full advantage of Nikon’s world-renowned collection of NIKKOR lenses and Speedlights.”/p pImage Quality Takes Center Stagebr To re-emphasize the importance of image quality above all else, the D3X delivers an incredible level of digital SLR performance to provide photographers with extremely high resolution, exceptional dynamic range, phenomenal total gradation and outstanding color reproduction. Image files can be recorded as TIFF, JPEG or NEF (RAW) formats in either 12- or 14-bit compressed or uncompressed formats, and recorded to UDMA compatible CompactFlashâ„¢ cards for optimum speed. Photographers can save image files directly to the dual card slots as overflow, backup, or as separate file formats to different cards. Building on the D3X's flexibility, users have the creative option to shoot in the 5:4 crop mode with 20.4-megapixel resolution, the ideal format for creating 8 x 10-inch portraits. While using DX-format lenses, faster continuous shooting of up to seven frames per second can be achieved at a resolution of 10.5 megapixels./p pThe exceptionally low noise of the D3X is essential to any professional commercial application, and it provides photographers with an ISO range of 100 to 1600, expandable to 50 (Lo-1) and 6400 (Hi-2). The ultra smooth tones and lack of grain at ISO 1600 as well as at low sensitivity settings result in smooth, natural skin tones and exacting detail that, before the D3X, required larger and far costlier studio-bound camera systems./p pAdvanced Technologies, Meticulously Executedbr In a commercial setting or on location, imaging professionals need high performance in both speed and processing. The Nikon D3X can shoot at up to five fps at full resolution or up to seven fps in DX crop mode, allowing photographers to catch the split-second difference in a model’s expression or capture all of the action in a sequence. Just like the D3, the D3X achieves a start-up time of a mere 0.12 seconds and a shutter release time lag of 0.04 seconds./p pThe D3X’s speed, as well as high levels of performance, leverages Nikon core technologies including a newly enhanced EXPEEDâ„¢ Image Processing System, specially designed for the D3X to provide superior image quality, faster processing speeds and lower power consumption. This advanced system is able to achieve extremely precise color reproduction for a broad spectrum of hues, in addition to vivid saturation and smooth gradation. What’s more, Nikon’s advanced noise processing function is engineered to minimize noise at all sensitivities and operate seamlessly without interfering with other image color parameters./p pThe D3X also features Nikon’s exclusive Scene Recognition System, which continuously analyzes information from the 1,005-pixel RGB light sensor, to further refine auto exposure, auto white balance and autofocus calculations. This results in flattering portraits and awe-inspiring landscapes that portray accurate color and fine details. Nikon's exclusive 3D Color Matrix Metering II helps ensure accurate exposures, even in the most challenging lighting conditions. Instantly evaluating each scene before capture, input data from the system's sensor is automatically referenced against an internal database of more than 30,000 images derived from actual photographs to calculate correct exposure values. Active D-Lighting, used in combination with 3D Matrix Metering II, helps to determines proper exposure, and creates realistic contrast while compensating for lost shadows and highlights. Prior to shooting, users can choose from Extra High, High, Normal, Low or Off settings, as well as an Auto mode./p pAdditionally, the D3X features Nikon’s exclusive Multi-CAM 3500FX focus module, with 51 AF points, 15 cross type sensors and 36 horizontal sensors that easily track and lock onto moving subjects, delivering the same fast and accurate AF performance that helped make the D3 immediately successful. Users can select any of the AF points, making it easy to consistently attain accurate focus right on a subject’s eyes, frame after frame. Additionally, three AF-area modes â€“ Single point, Dynamic-area AF and Auto-area AF â€“ are available to maximize the use of the 51 focus points by selecting the most suitable one to match subject conditions. AF is also available in one of two Live View modes optimized for the studio, including a phase detection handheld mode and a tripod mode. This feature allows the user to zoom in up to 27x on the LCD screen to ensure critical focus. While in Live View, the graphic indication of a virtual horizon is also available, making it easier than ever to confirm camera orientation./p pTo further ensure each photographer's ability to balance their personal style, Nikon’s Picture Control System enables users to adjust their images to pre-set parameters such as Standard, Neutral, Vivid and Monochrome that apply tweaks to image sharpening, tone compensation, brightness, overall tone and saturation. Photographers have creative control over these image parameters with the use of up to nine available customizable presets./p pSynchronizing Both Form and Functionbr Engineered for real-world functionality, the D3X retains a rugged shell with moisture, dust and shock resistance that has become a hallmark of flagship Nikon D-SLRs, while preserving the usability and ergonomics that allow the camera to remain an extension of the photographer’s vision. Attention to detail goes so far as to include a self-diagnostic shutter system that is tested to exceed 300,000 cycles for maximum durability and longevity. The camera’s body also maintains the resilient magnesium alloy construction and form factor of the D3, promoting consistent Nikon system synergy./p pA bright and accurate viewfinder offers 100 percent coverage with 0.7x magnification. The body also houses Nikon’s acclaimed 3.0-inch super density LCD screen, now relied upon by so many photographers. The high-resolution 920,000-dot screen is viewable at wide angles up to 170 degrees, and will allow photographers to quickly zoom in to confirm critical focus. Users can also output the video signal to an external display via HDMI to allow client viewing. Thanks to incredibly efficient internal circuitry, the D3X can capture up to 4400* shots per single charge of the camera’s Lithium ion battery./p pSystem Strength Withstands the Test of Timebr The D3X is fully compatible with Nikon’s Creative Lighting System (CLS) to give photographers a mobile lighting solution that is easy to manage. To further enhance mobility, the D3X is compatible with Nikon’s GP-1 GPS receiver to gather information such as latitude, longitude, altitude and date of shooting. Photographers can easily shoot tethered via USB, or use the WT-4a wireless transmitter to send images wirelessly when speed and mobility are essential. D3X users will also enjoy the system strength of more than 50 genuine NIKKOR lenses that provide outstanding sharpness and high resolution across a broad range of focal lengths./p pPrice and Availabilitybr The Nikon D3X will be available at Nikon Authorized Professional Dealers starting December 2008, and will be available for an estimated selling price of $7999.95.**/p p* Based on CIPA Standardsbr ** Estimated selling price listed is only an estimate. Actual prices are set by dealers and are subject to change at any time./p /blockquote p[a href="http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Digital-SLR/25442/D3X.html"Nikon/a]/p br style="clear: both;"/ a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=90a7f8c637103dbe5aa27794bf3dba4ep=1"img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=90a7f8c637103dbe5aa27794bf3dba4ep=1"//a img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=90a7f8c637103dbe5aa27794bf3dba4e" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=8V2Nuoqw"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?d=120" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=x1C6toSG"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=MDmRQct9"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?i=MDmRQct9" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=WPxtdWiw"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?i=WPxtdWiw" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~4/ejiIf_zqb5w" height="1" width="1"/

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supers,lighting systems,masterpiece,sensors,cameras

This Little Piggy Bank Became a Videogame

Wired Top Stories

- 2 days and 2 hours ago

img src='http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1612/pl_games_stack_t.jpg'/img: p Since the arcade heyday of citeSpace Invaders/cite and citePac-Man/cite, coin-op machines have coaxed kids into forking over their pocket change. But once it's GAME OVER, what are you left with? Empty pockets and your initials on the high-score table? That won't buy those Warhammer figurines. /ppWell, now one of the hottest toy trends out of thrifty Japan is piggy banks that turn stockpiling yen into a game. In 2006, the Tomy company launched its Jinsei Ginko ("Life Bank"), a coin repository with an electronic version of the board game Life. It was such a hit that today there's a range of increasingly sophisticated banks, tailored for both genders and encompassing several genres. /ppHere's a look at a few piggys that are gobbling up the nation's yen, and the gameplay you get when you drop some dough. /p img src='http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1612/white_bank1_t.jpg'/img: p This high-tech piggy bank started it all. The LCD screen is inhabited by a stick-figure avatar who can have various jobs like businessman or musician or president. He is your pet, sort of like a Tamagotchi that you have to feed with yen. /p p Let's play it safe, join the work force as a corporate warrior. Our young salaryman starts out in a one-room dilapidated apartment, eating bowls of cheap noodles. Five days in, he has only saved a mere 500 yen. Pathetic. /pimg src='http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1612/white_bank2_f.jpg'/img: p Work, work, work. Endless! Our businessman races back into his office, briefcase in tow, only to end up hunched over a desk late into the night. /p img src='http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1612/white_bank3_f.jpg'/img: p Here comes the bride, the stick figure bride! (Isn't she a knock out?) We've dumped thousands of yen into the Jinsei Ginko, and our avatar is moving up in the virtual world. With enough money in the bank and ample stick-figure charm, the salaryman is able to convince a fetching young lady to accept his hand in marriage. /p img src='http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1612/white_bank4_f.jpg'/img: p As you move closer to maxing out the bank at 100,000 yen, your avatar moves out of his urban shoebox into a penthouse apartment with a beautiful view of the city. Raise your glass, salaryman-san. You've hit the 2-bit LCD big time! /p img src='http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1612/tower_bank1_t.jpg'/img: p The worst part of Japanese RGPs is grinding through the damn game, looking for money. Here's a thought: Look in your wallet! Instead of using in-game currency, BankQuest uses emyour/em coins. /p p Still wet behind the ears, our hero enters the Tower, but he's brought an ax to a sword fight mdash; not to mention a stupid-looking hat. Let's plunk some cold hard cashola into the bank so we can level up. Whenever players put change into this role-playing lock box, the gargoyle's mouth glows red and the in-game hero gets credit. /p img src='http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1612/tower_bank2_f.jpg'/img: p Once you've converted real money into virtual money, your avatar can buy weapons, armor and even health mdash; regeneration potions in the village shops outside the castle walls. "Welcome!" says the shopkeeper. /pimg src='http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1612/tower_bank3_f.jpg'/img: p As you toggle through the goods in the shop, you'll spot cool merch like this blade that looks like it could cut a swath through hundreds of tiny LCD monsters. Must-have. /pimg src='http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1612/tower_bank4_f.jpg'/img: p Back in the Tower, our hero's brandishing his new gleaming sword and fancy hairdo. Just like in a standard RPG, leveling up changes the characters' appearance, and right now you look pretty darn good. /pimg src='http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1612/tower_bank5_f.jpg'/img: p Just like in any standard RPG, enemies pop up asking for a butt-whoppin'. Ack! There's a globby one. But with a badass sword in hand, that monster is so toast. The hero roams dungeons killing monsters and amassing treasure before he faces down the final boss, the dastardly spendthrift Devil Warudollar (emwaru/em means "bad"). /p img src='http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1612/heart_bank_hunk_t.jpg'/img: p Why drain your purse on dates with real men? Following schmaltzy romance novel plot lines, Ikemen Bank is a vault you can fall in love with. Literally. This heart-shaped vault is a emrenai/em (dating game) that lets frugal gals find romance while saving money. emIkemen/em is Japanese slang for "handsome guy," and there are five hunky suitors to select from: the cool dude, the TV star, the rich kid, the buff athlete and the sugar daddy. Just look at that dreamboat. He's so, well, dreamy. /pimg src='http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1612/heart_bank_rice_t.jpg'/img: p Cool guy is hungry, and when cool guy is hungry, you damn well better feed him. Tonight's din-din is a traditional meal. "Delicious!" he says, emptying another bowl of rice. /pimg src='http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1612/heart_bank_holdclose_t.jpg'/img: p What. An. Evening. Tonight was truly a date to remember forever and ever. That is, until the next one. But before parting, cool guy pulls you close, whispering sweet nothings. Each time a coin is inserted, he'll say things like "I want to smooch," or "You really look great today," or "Let me give you a shoulder rub." Swoon! /pimg src='http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1612/heart_bank_sayonara_t.jpg'/img: p Great date aside, you're totally busy with real world stuff! And you totally forget to insert money into your Ikemen Bank for a whole working week. Your greedy hunk writes you a letter that simply says, "emSayonara/em." No translation needed. /pbr style="clear: both;"/ a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v3:2c57fdaa67026c727731d01fed441262:613lc78hik1NULFov2dZuXax%2BoS6oFREi6qD2oI8H5OKGVDe7BrwH0Me2v8Q9goojR%2FROf38DJ%2Fc6A%3D%3D'img border='0' title='Add to Facebook' alt='Add to Facebook' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/facebook.gif'//a a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v3:c4e1cf2b0866451d525fa29e1e9195ed:1o%2Bsgx5ysTxyLikMBLGnFrsl7lb%2F%2Fu0xzWk8oKBwFMUu1zsBAMuBYTPRdIznqvMT4b%2FwxlLNOzH3'img border='0' title='Add to Reddit' alt='Add to Reddit' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/reddit.png'//a a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v3:a529d7f28be5ec78d6874abf084feae3:08gOUcR%2BvkNVEf9kXhBNZo%2BgwGBxbvwb0P6QQvHQbYx6cYp0td76C11zIpCt1bhgYO6umlVPhN0U'img border='0' title='Add to digg' alt='Add to digg' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/digg.gif'//a a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v3:0b6590178278dc967e63e66c49346ee7:syqbZ4wvguFbFd8ShgU5cVFwcy2v%2FJEzCgkPKo%2BnRZ5PsDk5%2B2mDLsPtifrxcLTsFPYvPa7Ke2yI'img border='0' title='Add to Google' alt='Add to Google' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/google.png'//a br style="clear: both;"/ a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=b4b35ae1016f5298984a0ee52bcdec06p=1"img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=b4b35ae1016f5298984a0ee52bcdec06p=1"//a img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=b4b35ae1016f5298984a0ee52bcdec06" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/ pa href="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/index?a=geW5eI"img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/index?i=geW5eI" border="0"/img/a/pimg src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~4/471672380" height="1" width="1"/

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Secret Geek A-Team Hacks Back, Defends Worldwide Web

Wired Top Stories

- 2 days and 2 hours ago

!-- pageType= magazinewide slug= ff_kaminsky section= techbiz subsection= people headline= Secret Geek A-Team Hacks Back, Defends Worldwide Web authorName= Joshua Davis creditType= photo credit= John Keatley caption= TBD -- pstrongIn June 2005,/strong a balding, slightly overweight, perpetually T-shirt-clad 26-year-old computer consultant named Dan Kaminsky decided to get in shape. He began by scanning the Internet for workout tips and read that five minutes of sprinting was the equivalent of a half-hour jog. This seemed like a great shortcutmdash;an elegant exercise hackmdash;so he bought some running shoes at the nearest Niketown. That same afternoon, he laced up his new kicks and burst out the front door of his Seattle apartment building for his first five-minute workout. He took a few strides, slipped on a concrete ramp and crashed to the sidewalk, shattering his left elbow./p pHe spent the next few weeks stuck at home in a Percocet-tinged haze. Before the injury, he'd spent his days testing the inner workings of software programs. Tech companies hired him to root out security holes before hackers could find them. a href="http://www.doxpara.com/?page_id=1159"Kaminsky/a did it well. He had a knack for breaking thingsmdash;bones and software alike./p pBut now, laid up in bed, he couldn't think clearly. His mind drifted. Running hadn't worked out so well. Should he buy a stationary bike? Maybe one of those recumbent jobs would be best. He thought about partying in Las Vegas ... mmm, martinis ... and recalled a trick he'd figured out for getting free Wi-Fi at Starbucks./p pAs his arm healed, the details of that Starbucks hack kept nagging at him. He remembered that he had gotten into Starbucks' locked network using the domain name system, or DNS. When someone types google .com into a browser, DNS has a list of exactly where Google's servers are and directs the traffic to them. It's like directory assistance for the Internet. At Starbucks, the port for the low-bandwidth DNS connectionmdash;port 53mdash;was left open to route customers to the emPay for Starbucks Wi-Fi/em Web page./p pSo, rather than pay, Kaminsky used port 53 to access the open DNS connection and get online. It was free but super-slow, and his friends mocked him mercilessly. To Kaminsky that was an irresistible challenge. After weeks of studying the minutiae of DNS and refining his hack, he was finally able to stream a 12-second animated video of Darth Vader dancing a jig with Michael Flatley. (The clip paired the Lord of the Sith with the Lord of the Dance.)/p pThat was more than a year ago, but it still made him smile. DNS was the unglamorous underbelly of the Internet, but it had amazing powers. Kaminsky felt drawn to the obscure, often-ignored protocol all over again./p pMaybe the painkillers loosened something in his mind, because as Kaminsky began to think more deeply about DNS he became convinced that something wasn't right. He couldn't quite figure it out, but the feeling stuck with him even after he stopped taking the pain pills. He returned to work full time and bought a recumbent stationary bike. He got hired to test the security of Windows Vista before it was released, repeatedly punching holes in it for Microsoft. Still, in the back of his mind, he was sure that the entire DNS system was vulnerable to attack./p pThen last January, on a drizzly Sunday afternoon, he flopped down on his bed, flipped open his laptop, and started playing games with DNS. He used a software program called Scapy to fire random queries at the system. He liked to see how it would respond and decided to ask for the location of a series of nonexistent Web pages at a Fortune 500 company. Then he tried to trick his DNS server in San Diego into thinking that he knew the location of the bogus pages./p pSuddenly it worked. The server accepted one of the fake pages as real. But so what? He could now supply fake information for a page nobody would ever visit. Then he realized that the server was willing to accept more information from him. Since he had supplied data about one of the company's Web pages, it believed that he was an authoritative source for emgeneral/em information about the company's domain. The server didn't know that the Web page didn't existmdash;it was listening to Kaminsky now, as if it had been hypnotized./p pWhen a href="http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/06/dayintech_0623"DNS was created/a in 1983, it was designed to be helpful and trustingmdash;it's directory assistance, after all. It was a time before hacker conventions and Internet banking. Plus, there were only a few hundred servers to keep track of. Today, the humble protocol stores the location of a billion Web addresses and routes every piece of Internet traffic in the world./p pSecurity specialists have been revamping and strengthening DNS for more than two decades. But buried beneath all this tinkering, Kaminsky had just discovered a vestige of that original helpful and trusting program. He was now face-to-face with the behemoth's almost childlike core, and it was perfectly content to accept any information he wanted to supply about the location of the Fortune 500 company's servers./p !-- pagebreak -- div class="wide_img" img src="http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1612/ff_kaminsky2_f.jpg" alt="" div class="wide_caption" div class="wide_caption_txt" Paul Vixie organized experts from around the world to address the DNS security flaw. br/ emPhoto: John Keatley/em /div /div /div br/ br/ pKaminsky froze. This was far more serious than anything he could have imagined. It was the ultimate hack. He was looking at an error coded into the heart of the Internet's infrastructure. This was not a security hole in Windows or a software bug in a Cisco router. This would allow him to reassign any Web address, reroute anyone's email, take over banking sites, or simply scramble the entire global system. The question was: Should he try it?/p pThe vulnerability gave him the power to transfer millions out of bank accounts worldwide. He lived in a barren one-bedroom apartment and owned almost nothing. He rented the bed he was lying on as well as the couch and table in the living room. The walls were bare. His refrigerator generally contained little more than a few forgotten slices of processed cheese and a couple of Rockstar energy drinks. Maybe it was time to upgrade his lifestyle./p pOr, for the sheer geeky joy of it, he could reroute all of .com into his laptop, the digital equivalent of channeling the Mississippi into a bathtub. It was a moment hackers around the world dream ofmdash;a tool that could give them unimaginable power. But maybe it was best simply to close his laptop and forget it. He could pretend he hadn't just stumbled over a skeleton key to the Net. Life would certainly be less complicated. If he stole money, he'd risk prison. If he told the world, he'd be the messenger of doom, potentially triggering a collapse of Web-based commerce./p pBut who was he kidding? He was just some guy. The problem had been coded into Internet architecture in 1983. It was 2008. Somebody must have fixed it by now. He typed a quick series of commands and pressed enter. When he tried to access the Fortune 500 company's Web site, he was redirected to an address he himself had specified./p p"Oh shit," he mumbled. "I just broke the Internet."/p pstrongPaul Vixie/strong, one of the creators of the most widely used DNS software, stepped out of a conference in San Jose. A curious email had just popped up on his laptop. A guy named Kaminsky said he'd found a serious flaw in DNS and wanted to talk. He sent along his phone number./p pVixie had been working with DNS since the 1980s and had helped solve some serious problems over the years. He was president of the a href="https://secure.isc.org/"Internet Systems Consortium/a, a nonprofit that distributed BIND 9, his DNS software. At 44, he was considered the godfather of DNS. If there was a fundamental error in DNS, he probably would have fixed it long ago./p pBut to be on the safe side, Vixie decided to call Kaminsky. He picked up immediately and within minutes had outlined the flaw. A series of emotions swept over Vixie. What he was hearing shouldn't be possible, and yet everything the kid said was logical. By the end of the third minute, Vixie realized that Kaminsky had uncovered something that the best minds in computer science had overlooked. This affected not just BIND 9 but almost all DNS software. Vixie felt a deep flush of embarrassment, followed by a sense of pure panic./p p"The first thing I want to say to you," Vixie told Kaminsky, trying to contain the flood of feeling, "is never, ever repeat what you just told me over a cell phone."/p pVixie knew how easy it was to eavesdrop on a cell signal, and he had heard enough to know that he was facing a problem of global significance. If the information were intercepted by the wrong people, the wired world could be held ransom. Hackers could wreak havoc. Billions of dollars were at stake, and Vixie wasn't going to take any risks./p pFrom that moment on, they would talk only on landlines, in person, or via heavily encrypted email. If the information in an email were accidentally copied onto a hard drive, that hard drive would have to be completely erased, Vixie said. Secrecy was critical. They had to find a solution before the problem became public./p !-- pagebreak -- pstrongAndreas Gustafsson/strong knew something was seriously wrong. Vixie had emailed the 43-year-old DNS researcher in Espoo, Finland, asking to talk at 7 pm on a hardwired line. No cell phones./p pGustafsson hurried into the freezing March eveningmdash;his only landline was the fax in his office a brisk mile walk away. When he arrived, he saw that the machine didn't have a handset. Luckily, he had an analog phone lying around. He plugged it in, and soon it let off an old-fashioned metallic ring./p pGustafsson hadn't spoken to Vixie in years, but Vixie began the conversation by reading aloud a series of numbersmdash;a code that would later allow him to authenticate Gustafsson's emails and prove that he was communicating with the right person. Gustafsson responded with his own authenticating code. With that out of the way, Vixie got to his point: emFind a flight to Seattle now/em./p pa href="http://tools.ietf.org/id/draft-wijngaards-dnsext-resolver-side-mitigation-00.txt"Wouter Wijngaards/a got a call as well, and the message was the same. The Dutch open source programmer took the train to the airport in Amsterdam, got on a 10-hour flight to Seattle, and arrived at the Silver Cloud Inn in Redmond, Washington, on March 29. He had traveled all the way from Europe, and he didn't even know why. Like Gustafsson, he had simply been told to show up in Building Nine on the Microsoft campus at 10 am on March 31./p pIn the lobby of the Silver Cloud, Wijngaards met a href="http://www.enyo.de/fw/"Florian Weimer/a, a German DNS researcher he knew. Weimer was talking with Chad Dougherty, the DNS point man from Carnegie Mellon's Software Engineering Institute. Wijngaards joined the conversationmdash;they were trying to figure out where to have dinner. Nobody talked about why some of the world's leading DNS experts happened to bump into one another near the front desk of this generic US hotel. Vixie had sworn each of them to secrecy. They simply went out for Vietnamese food and avoided saying anything about DNS./p pstrongThe next morning,/strong Kaminsky strode to the front of the conference room at Microsoft headquarters before Vixie could introduce him or even welcome the assembled heavy hitters. The 16 people in the room represented Cisco Systems, Microsoft, and the most important designers of modern DNS software./p pVixie was prepared to say a few words, but Kaminsky assumed that everyone was there to hear what he had to say. After all, he'd earned the spotlight. He hadn't sold the discovery to the Russian mob. He hadn't used it to take over banks. He hadn't destroyed the Internet. He was actually losing money on the whole thing: As a freelance computer consultant, he had taken time off work to save the world. In return, he deserved to bask in the glory of discovery. Maybe his name would be heralded around the world./p pKaminsky started by laying out the timeline. He had discovered a devastating flaw in DNS and would explain the details in a moment. But first he wanted the group to know that they didn't have much time. On August 6, he was going to a hacker convention in Las Vegas, where he would stand before the world and unveil his amazing discovery. If there was a solution, they'd better figure it out by then./p pBut did Kaminsky have the goods? DNS attacks were nothing new and were considered difficult to execute. The most practical attackmdash;widely known as a href="http://www.secureworks.com/research/articles/dns-cache-poisoning/"cache poisoning/amdash;required a hacker to submit data to a DNS server at the exact moment that it updated its records. If he succeeded, he could change the records. But, like sperm swimming toward an egg, whichever packet got there firstmdash;legitimate or maliciousmdash;locked everything else out. If the attacker lost the race, he would have to wait until the server updated again, a moment that might not come for days. And even if he timed it just right, the server required a 16-bit ID number. The hacker had a 1-in-65,536 chance of guessing it correctly. It could take years to successfully compromise just one domain./p pThe experts watched as Kaminsky opened his laptop and connected the overhead projector. He had created a "weaponized" version of his attack on this vulnerability to demonstrate its power. A mass of data flashed onscreen and told the story. In less than 10 seconds, Kaminsky had compromised a server running a href="http://www.isc.org/index.pl?/sw/bind/view/?release=9.3.2-P2"BIND 9/a, Vixie's DNS routing software, which controls 80 percent of Internet traffic. It was undeniable proof that Kaminsky had the power to take down large swaths of the Internet./p pThe tension in the room rose as Kaminsky kept talking. The flaw jeopardized more than just the integrity of Web sites. It would allow an attacker to channel email as well. A hacker could redirect almost anyone's correspondence, from a single user's to everything coming and going between multinational corporations. He could quietly copy it before sending it along to its original destination. The victims would never know they had been compromised./p pThis had serious implications. Since many "forgot my password" buttons on banking sites rely on email to verify identity, an attacker could press the button, intercept the email, and change the password to anything he wanted. He would then have total access to that bank account./p p"We're hosed," Wijngaards thought./p !-- pagebreak -- pIt got worse. Most Internet commerce transactions are encrypted. The encryption is provided by companies like VeriSign. Online vendors visit the VeriSign site and buy the encryption; customers can then be confident that their transactions are secure./p pBut not anymore. Kaminsky's exploit would allow an attacker to redirect VeriSign's Web traffic to an exact functioning replica of the VeriSign site. The hacker could then offer his own encryption, which, of course, he could unlock later. Unsuspecting vendors would install the encryption and think themselves safe and ready for business. A cornerstone of secure Internet communication was in danger of being destroyed./p pa href="http://david.ulevitch.com/"David Ulevitch/a smiled despite himself. The founder of OpenDNS, a company that operates DNS servers worldwide, was witnessing a tour de forcemdash;the geek equivalent of Michael Phelps winning his eighth gold medal. As far as Ulevitch was concerned, there had never been a vulnerability of this magnitude that was so easy to use. "This is an amazingly catastrophic attack," he marveled with a mix of grave concern and giddy awe./p pstrongIt was a difficult flight/strong back to San Francisco for a href="http://www.nominum.com/company/executives_wilbourn.php"Sandy Wilbourn/a, vice president of engineering for Nominum, a company hired by broadband providers to supply 150 million customers with DNS service. What he heard in Redmond was overwhelmingmdash;a 9 out of 10 on the scale of disasters. He might have given it a 10, but it was likely to keep getting worse. He was going to give this one some room to grow./p pOne of Wilbourn's immediate concerns was that about 40 percent of the country's broadband Internet ran through his servers. If word of the vulnerability leaked, hackers could quickly compromise those servers./p pIn his Redwood City, California, office, he isolated a hard drive so no one else in the company could access it. Then he called in his three top engineers, shut the door, and told them that what he was about to say couldn't be shared with anyonemdash;not at home, not at the company. Even their interoffice email would have to be encrypted from now on./p pTheir task: Make a change to the basic functioning of Nominum's DNS servers. They and their customers would have to do it without the usual testing or feedback from outside the group. The implementationmdash;the day the alteration went live to millions of peoplemdash;would be its first real-world test./p pIt was a daunting task, but everyone who had been in Redmond had agreed to do the same thing. They would do it secretly, and then, all together on July 8, they would release their patches. If hackers didn't know there was a gaping DNS security hole before, they would know then. They just wouldn't know exactly what it was. Nominum and the other DNS software vendors would have to persuade their customersmdash;Internet service providers from regional players such as Cablevision to giants like Comcastmdash;to upgrade fast. It would be a race to get servers patched before hackers figured it out./p pThough the Redmond group had agreed to act in concert, the patchmdash;called the source port randomization solutionmdash;didn't satisfy everyone. It was only a short-term fix, turning what had been a 1-in-65,536 chance of success into a 1-in-4 billion shot./p pStill, a hacker could use an automated system to flood a server with an endless stream of guesses. With a high-speed connection, a week of nonstop attacking would likely succeed. Observant network operators would see the spike in traffic and could easily block it. But, if overlooked, the attack could still work. The patch only papered over the fundamental flaw that Kaminsky had exposed./p pstrongOn July 8, Nominum,/strong Microsoft, Cisco, Sun Microsystems, Ubuntu, and Red Hat, among many others, released source port randomization patches. Wilbourn called it the largest multivendor patch in the history of the Internet. The ISPs and broadband carriers like Verizon and Comcast that had been asked to install it wanted to know what the problem was. Wilbourn told them it was extremely important that they deploy the patch, but the reason would remain a secret until Kaminsky delivered his talk in Las Vegas./p pEven as Kaminsky was giving interviews about the urgency of patching to media outlets from the citeLos Angeles Times/cite to CNET, the computer security industry rebelled. "Those of us ... who have to advise management cannot tell our executives 'trust Dan,'" wrote a href="http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/dailydave/current/0090.html"one network administrator/a on a security mailing list. On one blog, an anonymous poster wrote this to Kaminsky: "You ask people not to speculate so your talk isn't blown but then you whore out minor details to every newspaper/magazine/publishing house so your name can go all over Google and gain five minutes of fame? This is why people hate you and wish you would work at McDonald's instead."/p !-- pagebreak -- pWith a backlash building, Kaminsky decided to reach out to a few influential security experts in hopes of winning them over. He set up a conference call with a href="http://securosis.com/about/"Rich Mogull/a, founder of Securosis, a well-respected security firm; researcher a href="http://www.theta44.org/main.html"Dino Dai Zovi/a; and a href="http://www.matasano.com/team/"Thomas Ptacek/a, a detractor who would later accuse Vixie and Kaminsky of forming a cabal./p pThe call occurred July 9. Kaminsky agreed to reveal the vulnerability if Mogull, Dai Zovi, and Ptacek would keep it secret until the Vegas talk August 6. They agreed, and Kaminsky's presentation laid it out for them. The security experts were stunned. Mogull wrote, "This is absolutely one of the most exceptional research projects I've seen." And in a blog post Ptacek wrote, "Dan's got the goods. emIt's really f'ing good/em."/p pAnd then, on July 21, a complete description of the exploit appeared on the Web site of Ptacek's company. He claimed it was an accident but acknowledged that he had prepared a description of the hack so he could release it concurrently with Kaminsky. By the time he removed it, the description had traversed the Web. The DNS community had kept the secret for months. The computer security community couldn't keep it 12 days./p pAbout a week later, an ATamp;T server in Texas was infiltrated using the Kaminsky method. The attacker took over google.commdash;when ATamp;T Internet subscribers in the Austin area tried to navigate to Google, they were redirected to a Google look-alike that covertly clicked ads. Whoever was behind the attack probably profited from the resulting increase in ad revenue./p pEvery day counted now. While Kaminsky, Vixie, and the others pleaded with network operators to install the patch, it's likely that other hacks occurred. But the beauty of the Kaminsky attack, as it was now known, was that it left little trace. A good hacker could reroute email, reset passwords, and transfer money out of accounts quickly. Banks were unlikely to announce the intrusionsmdash;online theft is bad PR. Better to just cover the victims' losses./p pstrongOn August 6,/strong hundreds of people crammed into a conference room at Caesars Palace a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-SSVxsH7vw"to hear Kaminsky/a speak. The seats filled up quickly, leaving a scrum of spectators standing shoulder to shoulder in the back. A group of security experts had mockingly nominated Kaminsky for the a href="http://pwnie-awards.org/2008/awards.html"Most Overhyped Bug award/a, and many wanted to know the truth: Was the massive patching effort justified, or was Kaminsky just an arrogant, media-hungry braggart?/p pWhile his grandmother handed out homemade Swedish lace cookies, Kaminsky took the stage wearing a black T-shirt featuring an image of Pac-Man at a dinner table. He tried for modesty. "Who am I?" he asked rhetorically. "Some guy. I do code."/p pThe self-deprecation didn't suit him. He had the swagger of a rock star and adopted the tone of a misunderstood genius. After detailing the scope of the DNS problem, he stood defiantly in front of a bullet point summary of the attack and said, "People called BS on me. This is my reply."/p pBy this time, hundreds of millions of Internet users were protected. The bomb had been defused. The problem was, there was little agreement on what the long-term solution should be. Most discussion centered around the concept of authenticating every bit of DNS traffic. It would mean that every computer in the worldmdash;from iPhones to corporate server arraysmdash;would have to carry DNS authentication software. The root server could guarantee that it was communicating with the real .com name server, and .com would receive cryptological assurance that it was dealing with, say, the real Google. An impostor packet wouldn't be able to authenticate itself, putting an end to DNS attacks. The procedure is called a href="http://www.dnssec.net/"DNSSEC/a and has high-profile proponents, including Vixie and the US government./p pBut implementing a massive and complicated protocol like DNSSEC isn't easy. Vixie has actually been trying to persuade people for years, and even he hasn't succeeded. Either way, the point might turn out to be moot. Kaminsky ended his Las Vegas talk by hinting that even darker security problems lay ahead. It was the type of grandstanding that has made him a polarizing figure in the computer security community. "There is no saving the Internet," he said. "There is postponing the inevitable for a little longer."/p pThen he sauntered off the stage and ate one of his grandma's cookies./p pemContributing editor Joshua Davis/em(a href="http://www.joshuadavis.net"www.joshuadavis.net/a) emwrote about the rescue of the a href="/science/discoveries/magazine/16-03/ff_seacowboys"/afoundering Cougar Ace in issue 16.03./em/pbr style="clear: both;"/ a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v3:2440041967a5080eed3b2e028c523b47:a86LZtGDbU8osVSIrxV1PFlw7pm5tvcZL2p5JzaIEXcmazG%2FOS%2BC2LrGWGUABFvTOX4dkXkq1krhAg%3D%3D'img border='0' title='Add to Facebook' alt='Add to Facebook' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/facebook.gif'//a a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v3:67b0d7468c2ef7fd70000364ace0efde:6tTH0J1MtWaybPCAtyS8MXn%2Fjti8ZTAKWodRzBLf5kecGWAt3ZuZtIsP%2Fk7w3v130yexYqmNDV9w'img border='0' title='Add to Reddit' alt='Add to Reddit' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/reddit.png'//a a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v3:7846052528f145efe484cf50dae37255:k9NbsrnIxGwpmdNP%2BUuf8IRVRF%2BOjcF%2FECqqllE7NNlA%2FO9pb7K8GBQlBPoLfgAH90PSuIe5MY%2BZ'img border='0' title='Add to digg' alt='Add to digg' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/digg.gif'//a a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v3:7a032bbfe924662c4e2494c598eae2c3:7uWjO2lLqMpadz5ADBEnMeo0pDd3int9IIlUsvppvBX5517yqEMWk0Y9shvCdk%2BWPs9Z2Gy57mQY'img border='0' title='Add to Google' alt='Add to Google' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/google.png'//a br style="clear: both;"/ a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=ea67ea42add425d2f0f5016f1a176661p=1"img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=ea67ea42add425d2f0f5016f1a176661p=1"//a img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=ea67ea42add425d2f0f5016f1a176661" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/ pa href="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/index?a=6NKR0K"img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/index?i=6NKR0K" border="0"/img/a/pimg src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~4/471672381" height="1" width="1"/

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