Morning Xtra: Highrise Escapes, Reviving Old TVs, Zombie Flicks
Using a fishing reel to escape from buildings
Watching the tragic loss of life at the World Trade Center inspired San Francisco inventor Kevin Stone to come up with a simple rescue tool to evacuate people from high-rises. His creation, called the Rescue Reel, is inspired by a fishing reel and allows people to descend safely from a 100-story building in about a minute. [From: Popular Science]
Fingerprint-erasing cancer medication
U.S. immigration officials detained a Singaporean man for four hours at an airport last December because they couldn't take his fingerprints. Far from being a terrorist employing some super-secret spy tech, the poor fellow was just a cancer patient suffering the side effects of chemotherapy. His medication, called capecitabine, causes inflammation and peeling on the hands and feet, which wiped out his fingerprints. [From: Yahoo! News]
Pre-Vista versions of Windows vulnerable to attack
Microsoft yesterday issued a warning that earlier versions of Windows are vulnerable to attack just by visiting certain malicious Web sites. A component of the operating system, called DirectShow, could allow a specially crafted QuickTime video file to take control of a computer. Like most threat alerts, this is a theoretical danger. But as Microsoft hasn't come up with a fix yet, that's one more reason not to click on mysterious Web links. [From: betanews]
Hiding messages inside Internet traffic
Researchers from the Warsaw University of Technology have figured out a way to secretly transmit messages over the Internet. The technique, called Retransmission Steganography, slips secret messages into the normal back-and-forth housekeeping communications that the Internet uses to verify that data packets have been received. The researchers say that the technique could also be used with other networking technologies, such as Wi-Fi. [From: The Register]
In praise of retro TV
The New York Times screen hound Eric A. Taub points out that old tube TVs aren't so bad, after all. In particular, they do a better job of showing standard-def video than many HD sets (not so surprising since, after all, they were expressly designed for that purpose). With much of our TV programming still in SD, bringing up an old TV from the basement might not be such a bad idea. Of course, you'll need to hook it up to a digital converter box after June 12. [From: New York Times]
Microsoft's new Web search machine goes "Bing"
Joining the long, decimated list of would-be "Google-killers," Microsoft introduced a new search engine this week called "Bing." Like some other challengers, Bing attempts to provide more-relevant results than blindly stabbing with keywords. Instead, it guides search results based on the kind of topic you are researching (shopping, news, sports, etc...). TechCrunch, which has been testing the tech, gives it a thumbs up. And as Monty Python taught us, a machine that goes "Bing" must be something impressive. [From: TechCrunch]
Can you copyright a Tweet?
A discussion has popped up on Web site The Awl about whether the (max) 140-character missives on Twitter are bits of literature that can be protected by copyright. Maybe it's still too early to think about that. Or maybe it's time to combat information overload, and save money printing newspapers, by converting all old media over to the Twitter format. [From: The Awl]
The cheapest movie ever?
The phrases "low-budget" and "zombie movie" are already inextricably linked. But a new flick called "Colin" shows just how low you can go. The undead tale was apparently produced for a mere $70, plus a lot of favors from friends and one professional Hollywood make-up artist. [From: io9]
Social network sites becoming cesspools of malware
Beware "friends" on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, says security firm Kaspersky. They have already tracked over 25,000 samples of malicious code spreading on the sites and estimate that up to 100,000 may be out there. This marks a move away from targeting software vulnerabilities and towards our personal vulnerabilities. The new attacks rely on "social engineering," such as sending bogus invites with Web links that lead to malware-infested sites. [From: SearchSecurity.com]
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