There is no denying the fact that open source software are the prime tools for hacking (and cracking). In this example, see how you can use Linux to eavesdrop on a conversation between someone using a Bluetooth headset and another person.



I wonder how you can make this more secure considering that almost all Bluetooth hands-free headsets use a default PIN.

I have a Jabra headset but I rarely use it anymore since I look like a dork whenever I use one. Besides, my wife hates it! :)

How about you? DO you have a bluetooth headset? Have you been assimilated by the Borg? ha-ha-ha See full article.

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See our story on this Belmont, Calif., implantable-lens maker in today’s daily briefing at VentureBeat Life Sciences.

If you have not heard of the news about Google using Linux, where have you been? ha-ha-ha. Anyway, it was rumoured that Google will be releasing its own Ubuntu-based Linux distribution and when gOS was previewed, everyone thought that was it. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), it is in no way associated with Google. So what is this gOS and what makes it different? See full article.

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By default, most Linux distributions still retain its uber-geekiness by showing each and every detail of the boot process, e.g., what hardware are detected, services that are started, etc. Frankly, I think this is only necessary on first boot, right after you install it or when you first run the installer, so you know that every hardware is detected properly and every service is started. Subsequent boot, however, should be as simple and as elegant as viewing a photo whilst waiting for the system to come up.



If you are sick of seeing the console dump, try this tip of adding "sexy" boot images to replace that screen dump. You can even create your own images. Neat, huh?

Image from Flickr:WhaleSalad. See full article.

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A friend of mine just got an office-issued black Macbook and he mentioned dual-booting it with Mac OS X and Ubuntu via ReFiT. Whilst there is nothing wrong doing it, I just do not see the point unless you really hate using the BSD-based Mac OS X and its eye-candy. Ironic, but Linux is being beefed up with more eye-candy as well.



Anyway, if you have a Macbook and wish to run Ubuntu natively, you might want to check out these two documents. Remember that not all features are natively supported, specially if you have the latest Macbooks.

Again, I do not see the point when Linux runs just fast as a guest OS on VMWare Fusion. Oh well, to each his own! :)

Image from Flickr:Galaygobi. See full article.

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Businessworld has an article on the challenges facing hydelpower projects in India. While India is reeling under a huge power shortage, hydro accounts for just a fourth of the total installed capacity of around 100,000 mega watts (MW). India’s progress on the hydro front has, after the initial spurt, been tepid. Till now, only 21 per cent of the potential hydro capacity is developed. ...

Google is about to include some controversial new features in your GMail account: updates on activities by your Gmail contacts.

The coming feature is being reported by Google Operating System, which is a reliable blog that follows Google.

According to that blog, the updates will be shown in the chat box on the left of your GMail account, and will reveal online actions taken by your contacts even if you haven’t explicitly chosen them as your “friends.” We haven’t seen the feature yet.

The news emerges after concerns Google is already violating our privacy by sharing things about what we do without explicitly asking our permission. See our coverage about the Google Reader controversy.

It’s not clear what kind of updates you will receive in GMail, but they’re probably the latest actions of your contacts from different Google services, such as photos they may have added in Google’s photo service, Picasa, or changes they’ve made to their personal profiles — though this is speculation.

GMail’s code suggests that you’ll be able to delete the updates you don’t like, reply by email or post a comment. However, yet again, the report suggests this will be an opt-out, rather than an opt-in. We’ll reserve judgment until we see the features. But if true, Google is moving too quickly to try to be like Facebook. Facebook’s continuous feed gives you updates about friends you’ve accepted and that’s ok because Facebook has always been a social network. What’s jarring about such a move by Google is that for many of us GMail has been a professional utility feature. Our address book is filled with contacts that may not be our friends. If this feature comes as reported, this could be a creepy new year from Google. Let’s hope it isn’t, and that Google makes this an opt-in feature from the outset.

We’ve requested comment from Google, and will update accordingly.

Scott echoes a point I made just a few days ago in my predictions post… email is the ultimate social network but the lack of contact granularity makes it problematic as a social network. I also think that just trying to mimic Facebook feeds through an email UI introduces more problems than benefits. By way of background on this, here’s an interesting post that goes into some detail about what is happening to Gmail.

Not everyone I get email from or send to is a “friend”.

I don’t want more email to inform me of what my email friends are doing.

Email is one-to-one or one-to-many, does making it many-to-many break it?

Google has been quietly rolling out social features across all of its services based on Gmail contacts. While Google still has to overcome some of its social tone-deafness (e.g. automatically adding contacts without asking), this move makes perfect sense. For people over 30 (and probably even over 25) email IS the social graph.

[From Email And Cellphone Contacts Are The Real Social Graph - Publishing 2.0]

TypeMock,   a semi veteran Israel-based startup, raised a first round from Evolution Venture Capital Fund.

TypeMock has developed unit testing softeware that saves users the need to ‘refactor’ and ‘restructure’ code in order to make it testable, self reported to be at “speed times”.

TypeMock was founded by CTO Eli Lopian in 2004 and officially launched its product in 2006. Some of its clients include big cos like Reuters and Wells Fargo. The main difference I’ve spotted between Typemock and other unit testing software is the openness — It appears that TypeMock has a large community of developers and an active support forum, where as competitors such as SourceForge offer more ‘corporate’ solutions.

According to Globes, Evolution Fund was interested in TypeMock because of its business model, which includes online sales and distribution. TypeMock reported several hundred thousand dollars in US and European sales in 2007.

Evolution Fund is a relatively new player in the Israeli VC arena, currently managing four other protfolio companies: Etherwaves , MusicPump, SpendM, and WhiteSmoke.  The fund has $20 million under management and is led by managing partner Ram Vromen. Evolution has made small investments of up to $1.5 million so far and its planning to make four or five more investments next year.Want to give it a ride? A free edition of TypeMock is available for download.  

The Give One, Get One program of the One-Laptop-Per-Child (OLPC) is about to end tomorrow and I have yet to get my hands on one.



My main contention is WHY is it only available in North America? I mean, I may be living in a developing country (aka third world) but there are some people here who can afford to buy one and give one to a child here. Why can't the OLPC devise a way to let those who can afford buying one from the Philippines to give one to a child in the same country? I know that the program prefers hooking up with national governments but at the rate things are going here in the Philippines, I highly doubt if Microsoft will allow a Linux-running XO laptop to invade its turf via the gov't route. Oh well. See full article.

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