Friday, February 15, 2013

Perhaps you could start with Grover's Mill, NJ?
Hackers can easily breach Emergency Alert Systems
Hackers broke into several television stations' Emergency Alert Systems this week and broadcast that zombies were "rising from their graves" and "attacking the living."
While a comical hoax, security consultancy firm IOActive warns that this type of behavior is dangerous and not that hard for hackers to do, according to Computerworld. This week it's zombies, but next time it could be something that might make people really panic, such as an anthrax or terrorist attack.


For my Ethical Hackers...
Some sleight of hand will allow iOS 6.1 hackers to access your phone application, listen to your voice mails, and place calls.
A YouTube video showing users how to “bypass iPhone 5 passcode” on Apple’s latest iOS releases, including iOS 6.1, has been published. The person who uploaded the video shows how anyone can access the phone application on a passcode-protected iPhone.
Read more on CNET.


What are the odds in Vegas?
California County Inching Toward Drone Deployment?
Will Alameda County become California’s first local government to deploy a drone?
If the decision were up to dozens of angry residents and several civil rights groups, the answer would be a resounding “No.” They urged the Bay Area county’s leaders, in a public hearing sometimes filled with acrimony Thursday, to squash a plan by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department to deploy up to two small, lightweight drones.
“We oppose the use of public resources to buy machines to surveil its citizens,” Michael Seigel, a member of Alameda County Against Drones, said to rousing applause by many of the 150 people in attendance before the Alameda County Board of Supervisors’ Public Protection Committee.
Moments later, Sheriff Gregory Ahern said: “We object to the term surveil. We have no intention of doing that.”
Outbursts from the audience suggested they did not believe that the drones would be used for more than the stated goals of search-and-rescue, firefighting, bomb-detection and, among other things, crime-scene preservation.
At one point during the hours-long hearing, an Alameda County sheriff’s official said the drones, which the department labeled ”small unmanned aircraft systems,” would only focus on nothing smaller than felony investigations.
Later on, however, Sheriff Ahern said: “I don’t want to lock myself into just felonies.”


For my f.. f.. forensics students.
"Researchers at the University of Erlangen demonstrate how to recover an Android phone's confidential content, with the help of a freezer and FROST, a specially-crafted Android ROM. Quite an interesting set of pictures, starting with wrapping your Android phone in a freezer bag."
[From the paper:
We present FROST, a tool set that supports the forensic recovery of scrambled telephones. To this end we perform cold boot attacks against Android smartphones and retrieve disk encryption keys from RAM.


Something for professors who don't want to be in the same room as lawyers?
February 14, 2013
Distance Learning in Legal Education: A Summary of Delivery Models, Regulatory Issues, and Recommended Practices
"The Working Group for Distance Learning in Legal Education is pleased to have the opportunity to present this Blue Paper - Distance Learning in Legal Education: A Summary of Delivery Models, Regulatory Issues, and Recommended Practices - A Summary of Delivery Models, Regulatory Issues, and Recommended Practices. This Blue Paper is intended to provide law schools and interested parties a summation of distance learning opportunities, tools, and considerations. Unlike other sectors in higher education, law schools have little experience with distance learning or online education. Recent technological advances, as well as economic exigencies, have lead several law schools to contemplate launching one or more online programs. To date, a handful of schools have distance learning LLM programs and a few offer non-JD masters programs. As the American Bar Association considers loosening distance learning restrictions, and traditional law schools consider diversifying beyond their JD program, distance learning becomes one intriguing option. This Blue Paper attempts to guide those schools beginning to explore distance learning opportunities. We recognize three fundamental questions, and attempt to provide a discussion—if not answers—to each." [April M. Barton]


Sometimes you are handed the straight line and the punch line and all you need to do is shut up!
Chubby Checker sues Hewlett-Packard over app to measure penis size
Rock'n'roll pioneer Chubby Checker is suing two computer companies for allowing his name to be used as the title of an app that guesses the size of a man's penis.
Checker's lawyers are seeking half a billion dollars for the "irreparable damage and harm" caused by the Chubby Checker, an app for Hewlett-Packard's Palm OS platform. "This lawsuit is about preserving the integrity and legacy of a man who has spent years working hard at his musical craft and has earned the position of one of the greatest musical entertainers of all time," explained lawyer Willie Gary.


Perhaps my students would find it amusing? Or antiquated.
Adobe releases source code for 1990 version of Photoshop
… All the code is here with the exception of the MacApp applications library that was licensed from Apple. There are 179 files in the zipped folder, comprising about 128,000 lines of mostly uncommented but well-structured code. By line count, about 75% of the code is in Pascal, about 15% is in 68000 assembler language, and the rest is data of various sorts.


There might be something here for textbooks or professional journals.
Concept Video Shows The Book Of The Future
We are seeing a big push into interactive publishing. From iPads to Chromebooks to mobile devices … the future of books is a hot topic right now. There are places like Boundless offering free customized open source textbooks and even textbook publishers building entire iTunes U for classes. The book of the future is being written right now, it seems.
In the above video, design consultancy IDEO shares their vision for the future of the book. It’s an interesting take on what the new experience of reading might entail.
Read more about the book over at IDEO’s official website.


I often ask my students what Apps they use...
The 16 Apps And Tools Worth Trying This Year
With classrooms growing increasingly more technology-oriented, it makes sense that developers latch onto the education sector when creating inspired new applications. The past year (roughly speaking) saw many different launches aiming to keep students (and, in some cases, teachers) better prepared and informed for whatever academia hurls their way.


For my amusement...
… A proposed bill in Oregon would require that high school students take college credits in order to graduate.
… Textbook app-maker Kno unveiled “Advance,” its new publishing platform that promises to turn any PDF into “an interactive e-book in minutes at no cost.”
… “The Most Thorough Description (to date) of University Experience with MOOC.” The report (PDF) addresses Duke’s creation of a course on the Coursera platform. Among the findings: “Over 600 hours of effort were required to build and deliver the course, including more than 420 hours of effort by the instructor.” “At the time of enrollment, one-third of enrolled students held less than a four year degree, one third held a Bachelors or equivalent, and one-third held an advanced degree.” Read the whole thing.

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