There’re At It Again

Anonymous Launched Attack

Hacking group Anonymous has recently started the attack it pledged for the 5th November. The group promised to target Australian government portals and big hitters like PayPal.
The hacktivists have embarked on a hacking spree which has threatened Facebook, NBC, PayPal and others. Local media reported that this spree was launched against systemic, global surveillance systems like TrapWire. The latter was the focus of a recent Wikileaks file drop earlier in 2012.

The experts point out that the vigilante-style nature of the hackers’ attack could be regarded by technologically un-savvy world governments as the event supposed to justify boosting surveillance and reducing civil liberties on the Internet, though that’s exactly what the hackers are fighting against.

The list of the companies allegedly victim to the attack includes ImageShack, PayPal, and Arcelor Mittal Steel. In addition, the Greek City website and the Ghana Consulate sites were also targeted, and VMware's ESX Server Kernel source code leaked. In the meantime, an attack against antivirus software developer Symantec is believed to be unrelated.

PayPal has made an announcement, saying that the company is currently investigating the issue, but thus far there’s no evidence that account details of any user have been compromised. However, the @AnonymousPress Twitter account claimed the opposite and linked to a post on PrivatePaste (which has since been taken down). In the event that the hack did happen, PayPal will face around 28,000 details being compromised.

The allegations are part of the hacktivists’ day of action on the 5th of November to coincide with Guy Fawkes Night. The suspicions were that the hacking collective will manage to take down the largest social network in the world in response to the social-games spammer Zynga’s plans to lay off its workforce. Hackers were also outraged by company’s actions against numerous developers which they see as devastating to the gaming industry. Anonymous urged Zynga to change its mind or face the consequences.

Anonymous has endured despite multiple attempts from the United States to shut the collective down. They also plan to coincide a march on Parliament with the Internet activism. By the way, “V for Vendetta” author Alan Moore supports the movement and has even released a single in support of the Occupy and Anonymous actions.

Bill’s TV dream??

Microsoft to Launch Cloud TV?

Well-known software giant seems to be drawing up the plans to launch its own cloud-based television service. According to job listings spotted by the media, Microsoft is looking for a development lead, senior software engineer, and software development engineer. The personnel is being hired to work on a “new Cloud-based TV platform”.

The software giant wants applicants to be experienced in different web technologies like HTML5, Javascript, C#, as well as frameworks, including .NET framework and jQuery. In addition, it’s clear that any cloud telly should be geared for mobile applications outside Windows 8, with listings demanding experience in mobile application development for iOS and Android aside from development with Windows 8, Windows RT and IE.

In the meantime, the press reports say that it isn’t the first time Microsoft is talking about television. Last time, the company’s ambitions have been postponed due doubts about such things as “core competency”. However, now, with Microsoft’s decision to copy Apple business model, a cloud-based TV operation pushing content to personal computers and mobile devices makes a lot more sense. This move would provide much needed content from behind a walled garden that the software giant would control.

In addition, it’s obvious that the Xbox system is proving to be its test bed. As the experts remind, for the last year Xbox has been offering expanded on-demand material and entertainment applications. Microsoft has even introduced the Xbox Music streaming service. However, no details about what the TV service will entail exactly are provided by the company thus far.

We Don’t Like You!

FBI against Private Sector ?

Federal agents are currently frustrated because a number of private companies keep getting in their way when the FBI is snooping – and are noticed to be holding back introduction of more sweeping surveillance of the Internet.

According to media reports, the FBI is seeking Homeland Security’s help to discover cases which they claim were “negatively impacted” by private sector. Some of the private companies are said to delay investigations inadvertently or fail to immediately bend over to surveillance requests by the Feds. For instance, Cricket Communications has irritated federal authorities because the company allegedly hindered an investigation due to technical problems on its network. They got in the way of a wiretap and location tracking.

In response, Cricket claimed that if requested disclosure was lawfully permitted, it would hand over data to the police, but otherwise it denies the request. In the meantime, the anxiety of the police about the efficiency of its information collection refers to its wider plan to appeal for major Internet companies to set back doors solely for the government surveillance.

As for the Homeland Security, they acknowledged that other private companies had also caused some problems for information gathering. The list of the mentioned companies includes T-Mobile, Comcast and MetroPCS. For instance, in Honolulu, Homeland Security complained that there are delays of up to 4 months from Cricket and T-mobile. The only company the Feds aren’t worrying about is Microsoft. The latter has been getting on the FBI’s good side by going as far as to finance “fusion centres”, i.e. hubs for the US surveillance.

Now….That’s A Pub-Crawl!

Herd of elephants go on drunken rampage after mammoth booze up

Fifty wild elephants went on a drunken rampage after downing 18 containers of mahua, a powerful alcoholic brew, in India.

The trunk and disorderly mammals ransacked a shop, three houses and ruined crops in the eastern village of Dumurkota, India.
Police say the gang of over-the-limit tuskers downed more than 500litres of  moonshine alcohol, managing to drink the place dry in a matter of minutes.
The unruly mob demolished dozens of houses in their desperate hunt for more booze after hoovering up the hard stuff in record time.
Local police officer Asish Samanat said the drunken elephants were more 'aggressive' than usual after their mammoth drinking session.
'Unfortunately these animals live in close proximity to man and they recognised the smell of the drink,' he explained.
'They were like any other drunk - aggressive and unreasonable but much, much bigger.'
Police and villagers eventually restored order by herding the elephants over a local river back to their normal migration route.
Officer Samanat added: 'They'll have one heck of a hangover.'

Booted?

Car stolen in Edinburgh with owner in boot

A 62-year-old man thwarted a car theft by jumping into the boot as it was being stolen.

The Vauxhall Astra was targeted by two teenage thieves while the man unloaded the boot in Lochend Road, Edinburgh.

BBC News reports that the owner quickly jumped inside before the pair drove off at high speed. The vehicle was then involved in a number of collisions with other cars.

The man managed to call the police from the boot of his car before the thieves abandoned it near a school and ran off.

The pair were described as being white and in their mid-teens. One was wearing a black, long-sleeved T-shirt, while the other was wearing a white T-shirt.

A Lothian and Borders Police spokesman said: "The youths responsible for this vehicle theft put not only their own lives in danger, but the lives of other motorists and pedestrians and we are keen to trace them as soon as possible."

Bad Luck???

Man has heart attack, confesses murder, survives

A man who confessed to a murder on his deathbed has survived and will now serve a life prison sentence.

James Washington from Nashville, thinking he was going to die as he was suffering a heart attack, was clearing his conscience.

He confessed to killing Joyce Goodener in July 1995, reports WSMV.

However, Washington - who was already in prison for a different crime - survived the scare and has since been found guilty of the murder.

Prison guard James Tomlinson recalled to the jury: "He kind of got as best as he could, motioned and said, 'I have something to tell you. I have to get something off my conscience and you need to hear this'.

"He said, 'I killed somebody. I beat her to death'."

Washington had tried to retract his statement in court before the verdict was delivered.

You Can’t Eat That….Neigh!!

Facing court, man who fed a sausage roll to police horse

A man who fed a sausage roll to a police horse has been accused of behaving in a “threatening or abusive manner”.

In a rare case, Francis Kelly was charged with causing a breach of the peace in Glasgow earlier this year.
Authorities say the 41-year-old broke the law when he ignored police warnings and gave the pastry to the animal.
But friends of Mr Kelly said tonight that he had done nothing wrong. He gave it a sausage roll because he thought the animal “looked hungry”.
Critics said the case was a waste of money and questioned why it was being brought before the courts next year.
Prosecutors will allege that Mr Kelly behaved in a “threatening or abusive manner” by attempting to feed meat to the horse.
The court will also be told that he “adopted an aggressive stance” towards officers when told to put the food away.
Court papers say the incident occurred in the city’s south on Sept 26.
It was, however, unclear tonight why the police horses were in the area or when he initially came into contact with the animals.
Mr Kelly, from the Govanhall district of Glasgow, was unavailable for comment tonight.
He is said to deny the charge. A source close to the case insisted that he would be fighting the accusation.
“His view is simply that he thought the horses looked hungry — daft as that sounds,” the source said.
Critics tonight took to social networking internet sites to express their anger at the case.
Many said the case was a “waste of money” and showed the world had “gone mad”.
“Seriously, is a man to stand trial for feeling a police horse a sausage roll … the world has gone mad,” Michelle McLaughlin said on the Twitter microblogging website.
Another user called “Lorraine M”, said: “Meanwhile in Glasgow.. Man stands trial for trying to feed sausage roll to a Police Horse. Yes you read right.”
Jack Harvey added: “Apparently the officer who charged the man said he heard the horse clearly say 'neigh' when offered the sausage roll. #SausageRollGate.”

Unemployed…Get A Tan!!

Free spray tans for the unemployed

Jobless people in the worst unemployment blackspot in Wales are being offered free spray tans to help boost their confidence.

Under the scheme in Aberdare, Job Centre staff are sending candidates for tans and makeovers at the town's Well-being and Training Academy.
The town suffers from an unemployment rate of 9.6% - but critics have questioned whether a free fake tan is the best way of helping.
Sarah Sweeden, director of the Academy, said they were happy to give the makeover and free spray tans to genuine jobseekers.
She said: "We want to give people that extra confidence - or that Gok Wan makeover - to give people the incentive to find work.
"It will recognise those who are doing their utmost to find unemployment by giving them a beauty treatment."
Job Centre staff will only send candidates for the treatment if they are seen to be serious about finding work. It is not paid for by the Job Centre or council.
The Academy is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company which aims to help people get back to work by improving their fitness, appearance, nutrition and confidence.
But Plaid Cymru councillor Pauline Jarman complained: "I don't know any employer that would be impressed if you turned up tanned.
"They'd be more inclined to be impressed if you had the skills and experience to undertake the job that's been advertised."

Piss…….Take?

Pizza delivery man urinates on woman's door after no tip

A pizza delivery man has been fired after urinating on a woman's door when he wasn't tipped.

The man was delivering a Pizza Hut order to Chloe Teply in Des Moines, Iowa on Thursday night (November 1) when the customer claimed she couldn't afford to tip.

Teply told KCCI: "It's just one of those things where unfortunately I don't have the money."

After the delivery, the man was then caught on security cameras unzipping his trousers and peeing on her door.

Teply continued: "I was like, 'Hmm, who was at my door that might be upset with me?' and it kind of hit me that it was the pizza delivery guy."

The delivery man, having been let go by his manager, later called Teply to apologise, and then on Saturday morning (November 3) cleaned her door.