Fighting phishing attacks with phishing tactics

Early findings by Carnegie Mellon University scientists suggest that people who are suckered by a spoof email into visiting a counterfeit Web site are also people who are ready to learn their lesson about phishing attacks. Phishing attacks have become a common method for stealing personal identification information, such as bank account numbers and passwords. Lorrie Cranor, associate research professor of computer science, said phishing often is successful because a number of people ignore educational materials that otherwise might help them recognize such frauds........
Source: Technology blog

Researcher traces history of the personal computer

Carbon paper? Punch cards? What are those? The Internet, personal computers, word processing and spreadsheets are so embedded in todays society that its hard to remember that just 35 years ago they didnt exist. Thomas Haigh, assistant professor of information studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), is among a very small number of computer experts in the world who are also historians, studying the role of technology in broader social change. These new experts are tracing how computers have changed business and society........
Source: Technology blog

Vocal Joystick uses voice to surf the Web

The Internet offers wide appeal to people with disabilities. But a number of of those same people find it frustrating or impossible to use a handheld mouse. Software developed at the University of Washington provides an alternative using the oldest and most versatile mode of communication: the human voice........
Source: Technology blog

Giving Computers Common Sense

Using a little-known Google Labs widget, computer researchers from UC San Diego and UCLA have brought common sense to an automated image labeling system. This common sense is the ability to use context to help identify objects in photographs. For example, if a conventional automated object identifier has labeled a person, a tennis racket, a tennis court and a lemon in a photo, the new post-processing context check will re-label the lemon as a tennis ball........
Source: Technology blog

Most Complex Silicon Phased Array Chip in the World

UC San Diego electrical engineers have developed the world's most complex "phased array" -- or radio frequency integrated circuit. This DARPA-funded advance is expected to find its way into U.S. defense satellite communication and radar systems. In addition, the innovations in this chip design will likely spill over into commercial applications, such as automotive satellite systems for direct broadcast TV, and new methods for high speed wireless data transfer........
Source: Technology blog

New computer program automates chip debugging

Fixing design bugs and wrong wire connections in computer chips after they've been fabricated in silicon is a tedious, trial-and-error process that often costs companies millions of dollars and months of time-to-market. Engineering scientists at the University of Michigan say it doesn't have to be that way. They've developed a new technology to automate "post-silicon debugging.".......
Source: Technology blog

Decades of cancer research into 2 years

Canadian scientists expect to accelerate the war on cancer by tapping into a global network of hundreds of thousands of people who volunteer their idle computer time to tackle some of the worlds most complex problems. The research team, led by Dr. Igor Jurisica at the Ontario Cancer Institute (OCI), and researchers at Princess Margaret Hospital and University Health Network, are the first from Canada to use the World Community Grid, a network of PCs and laptops with the power equivalent to one of the globes top five fastest supercomputers........
Source: Technology blog