My concern is that blocking sites (for any reason) causes end users to try to find a workaround. Some of the “bypass tools” have been built into browsers, some are available from the State Department or from Harvard – until all those sites are blocked too. (Treating symptoms is easy – cures are difficult.)

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/01/websites-dark-in-revolt/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

A SOPA/PIPA Blackout Explainer

This has been done before and if the crooks can find another poorly secured bank, it will happen again.

Hackers Steal $6.7M In Bank Cyber Heist

"A perfectly planned and coordinated bank robbery was executed during the first three days of the new year in Johannesburg, and left the targeted South African Postbank — part of the nation's Post Office service — with a loss of some $6.7 million. The cyber gang behind the heist was obviously very well informed about the post office's IT systems, and began preparing the ground for the heist a few months before, by opening accounts in post offices across the country and compromising an employee computer in the Rustenburg Post Office."

[From the article:

Once the offices were closed for the New Year holidays, the gang put their plan in motion. They accessed the computer from a remote location and used it to break into Postbank's server system and transfer money from various accounts into the ones they opened.

Having also raised the withdrawal limits on those accounts, money mules had no problem withdrawing great amounts of money from ATMs in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State during the next few days, stopping completely when the offices were opened again on January 3.

Another attempt to treat symptoms? If teachers can't teach, should librarians do their job?

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/029285.html

January 17, 2012

LLRX - National Digital Library System - Early Childhood Education and Family Literacy

Via LLRX: David H. Rothman's latest commentary on the DPLA states his position clearly: Priority One of a national digital library system should be early childhood education, bolstered by family literacy. Other areas also count, but early childhood education is dearest to him and among those especially likely to give the taxpayers the most for their investment. We could use tablet computers and good old-fashioned tutoring and mentoring from librarians, educators, and volunteers to help the disadvantaged--parents as well as children.

Geeky stuff

http://www.wired.com/cloudline/2012/01/microsoft-pitches-private-cloud-to-it-with-system-center-2012/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

Microsoft Pitches Private Cloud To IT With System Center 2012

Microsoft’s System Center 2012 is available today as a Release Candidate, the last milestone before a final release. Along with Hyper-V and Windows Server, the upgraded System Center forms the key building blocks for Microsoft’s private cloud strategy, providing management tools for desktops, mobile devices, both physical and virtual servers, and a mix of resources across private data centers and public clouds such as Windows Azure.

While Release Candidates for some pieces of System Center 2012 were already out, as of today all eight components of the suite are free for anyone to download at this link, with final versions out in the first half of 2012.

Attention TSA agents! (Just saying...)

Wikisensor: Measure A Level Of Radiation Using iPhone

www.wikisensor.com

Not everyone wants their copyrighted material locked up...

Listen To Full Length Music Albums For Free With Bandcamp

… Things are changing, and artists have amazing tools for reaching listeners directly these days.

We, as listeners and fans, only stand to gain. One of the best tools on the scene today, for artists and listeners both, is Bandcamp. We have mentioned Bandcamp before, when Tina listed the site as one of 5 Resources Used To Find Free MP3 Albums For Sound Sunday. Today, I’d like to take you in for a closer look at the site from the listener perspective.

Are you a Guru? This site is new enough that you can be the first in a category...

http://www.meetoou.com/

meetOOu

a live video chat marketplace that connects anybody that wants to learn, seek advice, or get a service, from somebody willing to provide it. We call our experts and service providers “gOOrus”

Users can search a database of gOOrus that teach a variety of subjects and learn from those them directly!

… meetOOu also allows anyone to sign up as an expert that can charge a specific rate for their knowledge!

Our Mission is two fold.

First, we want to allow any user to learn anything they want, anytime.

Second, we want to give every person the opportunity to make money doing the things they already know and love.

A perfect bookend to the first article in today's blog. How do you tell the difference between blocked data and the results of a weak search?

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/029286.html

January 17, 2012

LLRX - Deep Web Research 2012

Via LLRX - Deep Web Research 2012: Marcus P. Zillman's extensive research over the years into the "invisible" or "deep" web indicates that it covers somewhere in the vicinity of 1 trillion plus pages of information located throughout the Internet in various files and formats that current search engines either cannot locate, or have difficulty accessing. The current search engines find hundreds of billions of pages at the time of this publication. His guide provides extensive and targeted resources to facilitate both a better understanding of the history of deep web research as well to effectively and productively search for and locate these often undiscovered but critical documents.