Earliest Stage of the Emerging Malware Industry
Excellent overview of the industry that Storm and Nugache are “the Model T’s” of. Sidenote: This stuff is really conceptually applicable to thinking on warfare.
NY Emergency Responder Network Fails
AP –
A $2 billion radio network intended to connect emergency responders throughout the state failed its first major test, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
Buffalo chose to opt out of the system following what officials said were problems so severe that radios did not work in about half of the state’s second largest city, the New York Times reported.
Energy Harvesting Mini Spy Planes
NewScientistTech – Miniaturize and automate these, let them talk to each other and you would have perpetually airborne surveillance swarms living off the decay of obsolete power grids. But until then:
The idea comes from the US Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) in Dayton, Ohio, US, which wants to operate extended surveillance missions using remote-controlled planes with a wingspan of about a metre, but has been struggling to find a way to refuel to extend the plane’s limited flight duration.
So the AFRL is developing an electric motor-powered micro air vehicle (MAV) that can “harvest” energy when needed by attaching itself to a power line. It could even temporarily change its shape to look more like innocuous piece of trash hanging from the cable.
As an aside: It is kind of bizarre to think that headlines like this one will be common place in the next decade or two.
TheCityFix
Interesting (new?) blog on urbanization.
Itemized FY08 Defense Budget
Here. Unsurprisingly, lots of stuff that doesn’t look all that useful.