Worm could bring down US power grid

The idea of hackers bringing down power grids may sound like a far-fetched plot from the current series of 24, but a security firm insists it’s a genuine threat.

The threat is now a possibility because of the use of a technology known as Smart Grids. This involves around two million devices, largely wireless, which send data back and forth between power stations and homes. The idea is to better manage demand for electricity based on the actual needs customers have at any moment.

Unfortunately security researchers at Seattle-based IOActive say they’ve proven the devices are vulnerable to hacking. Using equipment costing $500 they were able to create a worm virus which spread rapidly across the meters in the network.

Naturally the researchers didn’t do any serious damage: according to PCWorld they simply tweaked the meters so that their LCD screens displayed the word ‘pwned’ rather than the meter readings. But the researchers believe a similar technique would allow hackers to either remotely shut down the supply to customers, or send bogus increased demands for power to a station causing blackouts. Such an attack could cause a knock-on effect to other stations in the network.

The firm has passed on its findings to officials and is not making the precise details public. However, it’s thought the technique involved exploiting a bug in a chip used in the meters.

A malicious attack on the electricity network may seem unthinkable, but last year the National Journal claimed Chinese military and government officials may have been behind two blackouts in 2003. It reports a theory that a Chinese hacker who was intending to gather data on power systems had either made a mistake or got carried away and wound up triggering the blackout.



What’s in the Box?: An Half-Life 2 Inspired Short

Unfortunately, I can’t tell you much about this short film because there’s almost no details around. The only thing I know is that, just like Escape From City 17, this is another amateur-made half-life 2 inspired flick that looks pretty darn promising. Enjoy!



Apple coding hides mystery device

Apple is planning to release an iProd. And no, that is not a typo.

The device is one of four works-in-progress which have been exposed by those folks who enjoy nosing around the coding of the iPhone operating system (as opposed to, say, making phone calls or listening to music). They’ve noticed the upcoming third edition of the system includes support for four new devices:

  • iPhone3,1
  • iPod3,1
  • iFPGA
  • iProd0,1

The iPhone and iPod references are self-explanatory, though it’s worth noting that in Apple’s numbering system these indicate new generation models: the 3G iPhone was known as iPhone2,1 which means these new devices should have some major changes.

IFPGA appears to refer to “field-programmable gate array”, which is a type of computer chip which can be configured after manufacture. This doesn’t exactly sound like something that will be on sale to the public, which may explain why it has no version number.

The iProd is clearly a work in progress as Apple labels the first edition of a product to go on sale as 1,1. Unfortunately that means the name may not necessarily give any insight into what it will actually be, so we’re probably not talking about a device which lets you round up cattle while listening to music. The most likely explanation is that ‘Prod’ refers to ‘prototype device’ and is being used as a generic name to protect the secrecy of a major product in development.

The most popular theory at the moment is that it’s a tablet computer along the lines of a giant iPod touch which aims to bridge the gap between the iPhone and the Macbook. Apple has already received a patent for a device along these lines.

There are also rumours the iProd will be an iPod touch with a high-definition screen (which seems fairly pointless given its size), or that it will be a Nano edition of the iPhone (a case for which is apparantly in development in China).

A Geek Shanty

The old sea shanty music form has been updated for the computer age, perfect to sing on those days when nothing goes right. Music by Da Vinci’s Notebook.

[via b3ta]

2009 Hugo Award Nominations

By Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

hugoThere are two major literary awards in the science fiction and fantasy genre–the Nebulas, given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and the Hugos, voted on by the members of Worldcon (which will be held this August in Montreal). The Hugo nominees were announced yesterday, and I always consider them a great reading list if you’re interested in genre fiction.

As usual, Asimov’s dominates the novella/novelette/short story categories, and there are some familiar names, like Nancy Kress, Mike Resnick, and Michael Swanwick. The graphic novel category includes some Vertigo favorites like Fables and Y: The Last Man, as well as the first comic offering in Jim Butcher‘s Dresden Files series. Interestingly, there are two young adult novels up for best novel, Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother (available for free download) and Neil Gaiman‘s The Graveyard Book, in the company of a GAS favorite, Anathem, by Neal Stephenson.

The long-form dramatic presentation category is favoring comics-based movies like The Dark Knight, Iron Man, and Hellboy II. And as for the past few years, up for short form are episodes of Battlestar Galactica (“Revelations”) and Doctor Who (“Turn Left” and “Silence in the Library”), as well as Lost (“The Constant”) and Joss Whedon’s Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. (Of course, “Silence in the Library” is probably the favorite – DW episodes penned by Stephen Moffat have taken the award three years in a row.)

There are several other categories, including the John W. Campbell award for Best New Writer, which can be one to keep an eye on; past winners have included Orson Scott Card, Karen Joy Fowler, and Cory Doctorow.

[Image Source: Flickr]

Carl Sagan on The Drake Equation

The Drake equation (also sometimes called the “Green Bank equation”, the “Green Bank Formula,” or often erroneously labeled the “Sagan equation”) is a famous result in the fields of exobiology and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).

This equation was devised by Dr. Frank Drake (now Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz) in 1960, in an attempt to estimate the number of extraterrestrial civilizations in our galaxy with which we might come in contact. The main purpose of the equation is to allow scientists to quantify the uncertainty of the factors which determine the number of such extraterrestrial civilizations. Source.

Klein Bottle House Looks like a Crashed UFO

Designed by McBride Charles Ryan, the Klein Bottle experimental house has first started as a sphere, but as shown in the picture above, was deconstructed to provide functional living space to its inhabitant. The green geeks among you will be pleased to learn that the structure also features a rain water collection system and a multitude of solar panels. Given the chance, would you be interested in living in a house that looks like this?

[Via Dornob]

Feature: The Diet Coke & Mentos Saga of the EepyBirds

Two of my favorite people to interview – ever- are Fritz Grobe and Stephen Yoltz of Eepybird.com, a performance troupe based in Maine. If you’re anything like 40 million other people in the world, you know these guys from “The Diet Coke & Mentos Experiments” – a recreation of the Bellagio Fountains using nothing but Diet Coke & Mentos.

And while watching the Diet Coke & Mentos fountain is cool, cooler still are the minds behind the viral video sensation.

I first interviewed them at a show they produced at Maker Faire Austin 2007 – which is when the first part of this two-part video was filmed, and then again at Maker Faire Austin 2008, which is when the second half was filmed. In it they talk about the process behind both “Mentos” and the newer “Post-It” projects, including when 3M (the maker of Post-it notes) showed up at their house in the woods of Maine with two tons of post-it notes, when they went to Castile, Spain to set a world record – and about their rivalry with a business school in Riva, Latvia.

All from Diet Coke & Mentos.

If you’re just interested in skipping the interviews and seeing a high definition, live-before-an-audience version of Diet Coke & Mentos, you’ll find two opportunities to skip ahead, one at 2:40 of the first video, and the other at 7:32 of the second video.

But really – these guys are insane geniuses, and little, to date, has been asked about the methods to their madness. Hopefully, you’ll be inspired by it. Or entertained, at least.

If you’d like to see the videos in full HD resolution (well worth it!), just hit this link for part 1, and this one for part 2. The links will take you to the videos’ high-def pages on YouTube.

The Diet Coke & Mentos Saga of the EepyBirds – Part 1 (2007)

The Diet Coke & Mentos Saga of the EepyBirds – Part 2 (2008)

[Picture source: Flickr]

Students Turn To Computer Science To Beat Recession

Enrolment in computer science courses in American universities was up 6.2% last year, the first annual rise since 2002. It appears students believe computing is one of the few safe areas in an economic slowdown.

There’s also a rise in the number of jobs available for teaching computer courses in universities, though the report authors warn this might not last.

The number of students who graduated with a computer science degree was down 10%, though of course those students made their course choices several years ago; 2006-7 saw a 20% fall on the previous year, so the increase in new students may be part a trend that started some time back.

There’s also evidence that students today don’t just see  computing as a useful part of their education, but rather a key career choice. For both the total number of students and the average number of students per course, the rises are highest among those who have computing science as a major rather than a minor subject.

The figures come from the Computing Research Association (CRA), a non-profit group which brings together university computer departments, the computer industry and government. One of its aims is to broaden diversity in the computing industry, but the figures show that’s a slow process. Just 11.8% of people earning a bachelor degree in computing were female, while roughly two-thirds were white.

The study involved surveying 192 universities and covered computer science departments with around 12,500 students. That’s roughly a fifth of those in the country so the raw figures may not be reliable, but the sample size is certainly big enough to establish trends.

The CRA says the figures are good news for employers as it’s easier to recruit American college graduates than to hire staff from overseas and have to make their case for getting the necessary work visas.

And the Department for Labor says the IT industry should be among the quickest to recover from the slowdown, predicting staff levels across the industry will be up by a third next year, with demand for application programmers doubling.