Breaking News Thread Version 2.0

[Colorado700R]

http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/28/us-air-force-says-decision-making-attack-drones-will-be-here-by/

US Air Force says decision-making attack drones will be here by 2047

Leave it to the military to dream big. In its recently released "Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Plan 2009-2047" report, the US Air Force details a drone that could fly over a target and then make the decision whether or not to launch an attack, all without human intervention. The Air Force says that increasingly, humans will monitor situations, rather than be deciders or participants, and that "advances in AI will enable systems to make combat decisions and act within legal and policy constraints without necessarily requiring human input." Programming of the drone will be based on "human intent," with real actual humans monitoring the execution, while retaining the authority and ability to override the system. It's all still extremely vague, with literally no details on exactly how this drone will come into existence, but we do know this: the Air Force plans to have these dudes operational by 2047. We're just holding out to see what those "classified" pages are all about. [Warning: read link is a PDF]

Skynet bitches !!!


dun dunt dunt, dun dunt dunt.

[Krandall]

crazy they can give it a sort of "AI" 

[Colorado700R]

All AI truly is in this function is the longest list of If/Then statements you've ever seen.  Decisions are made by automated program reactions to these if thens.  therefore reacting accordingly to the sensor inputs

[Krandall]

would be interesting to see. that list wold have to be HUUUUUUUUGE

[Krandall]

Windows 7 Ultimate activation cracked with OEM master key (Updated)


http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/07/windows-7-ultimate-activation-cracked-with-oem-master-key.ars


Windows 7 Ultimate has been cracked. The pirate milestone, reached almost three months before Windows 7 is set to hit General Availability on October 22, 2009, was achieved via OEM instant offline activation that passes Windows Genuine Advantage validation and keeps the operating system permanently activated. Previous cracks weren't as solid: while they may be working now, they can easily be disabled by Microsoft. This one won't be so easy.

Both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate can now easily be activated, according to My Digital Life. For Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Home Basic, and Windows 7 Starter, the OEM-System-Locked Preinstallation (SLP) keys haven't been leaked, so they cannot be OEM-activated yet. It won't be long before easy-to-use Windows 7 activation toolkits start appearing in the wild.

The story begins with a Windows 7 Ultimate OEM DVD ISO from Lenovo leaking to a Chinese forum. The boot.wim file was then used to retrieve the OEM-SLP product key and OEM certificate for Windows 7 Ultimate. The SLP is a procedure used by Microsoft to preactivate the Windows operating system for mass distribution by major OEMs. Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 use SLP version 2.1, which is backwards-compatible with version 2.0, the version Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 use. As such, after the OEM certificate and OEM product key were extracted, it was discovered that Windows 7 uses the same digitally signed OEM certificate, which has an .xrm-ms extension, that Vista uses.

The extracted Windows 7 Ultimate OEM-SLP product key can be used to activate an installed Windows 7 Ultimate system, and since the product key appears to be a master OEM-SLP product key for Windows 7 Ultimate, it can activate Windows 7 Ultimate from any OEM. Furthermore, even if the user already has a retail version of Windows 7 Ultimate installed, it can be converted to an OEM version with two simple commands, and then activated.

This is a major breakthrough for the Windows piracy world and a huge blow to Microsoft. Even if it was imminent, the fact that it has occurred so soon means pirates will have activated copies of Windows 7 a good week before even MSDN and TechNet subscribers get their hands on the RTM build on August 6, not to mention all the other groups Microsoft plans to give the build to. The Windows 7 RTM and Windows Server 2008 RTM build was compiled on July 13, 2009 and the official announcement was made on July 22, 2009.

Update
"We're aware of reports of activation exploits that attempt to circumvent activation & validation in Windows 7, and we can assure customers that Microsoft is committed to protecting our customers and partners from counterfeit and pirated software," a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars. "Microsoft strongly advises customers not to download Windows 7 from unauthorized sources and downloading Windows 7 from peer-to-peer Web sites is piracy, and exposes users to increased risks - such as viruses, Trojans and other malware and malicious code—that usually accompany counterfeit software. These risks can seriously harm or permanently destroy data and often expose users to identity theft and other criminal schemes."

[Peelz]

geek status confirmed.

Headache by paragraph 3.

[Krandall]

In a nutshell for you non-techy's......


All windows keys are based off of one "Master" key alogrythm.. So. One key creates all of the keys people get.... Well..... Somehow hackers figured out what the master key is... Windows CANT disable this master key, because it would take all its "children" keys down with it.

sucks for windows. Rocks for pirates

[Peelz]

I got it. But it was so wordy

Windows master key has been cracked. <that should have been the post
done, end of discussion.

NERDZ! 

[Hefe]

nice!

[Krandall]

I got it. But it was so wordy

Windows master key has been cracked. <that should have been the post
done, end of discussion.

NERDZ! 

[Krandall]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090731/ap_on_re_us/us_new_gi_bill
New GI Bill sending veterans to school this fall

WASHINGTON – Spc. Marco Reininger started the year on the dusty streets of Afghanistan. He'll end it on the campus of Columbia University with the government picking up a large chunk of the $100,000 tab for tuition.

The Post-9/11 GI Bill rolls out on Saturday, just in time for the fall semester for veterans of the recent wars. Reminiscent of the GI education benefits signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt two weeks after D-Day in 1944, the measure is aimed at transforming the lives of a new generation of veterans.

President Barack Obama on Monday will attend a rally at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., in celebration.

In the next decade, $78 billion is expected to be paid out under the new GI Bill, which is the most comprehensive education benefit offered since World War II.

Many veterans who served after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks are eligible for full tuition and fees for four years at a state university, a monthly housing stipend and up to $1,000 annually for books. Among those covered are members of the Guard and Reserve who spent three months or more activated for war service, giving them vastly improved benefits.

If they opt to attend a private institution or graduate program, they'd get up to as much as if they attended a public school in the state. About 1,100 schools and colleges are offering additional scholarships for veterans that the VA is matching under a Yellow Ribbon program.

Many veterans say they can't help but be thankful.

"It definitely makes it more valuable," Reininger, 25, a member of the New York Army National Guard, said of his combat experience. "Without that deployment, I couldn't be eligible for anything."

By 1947, nearly half of all college students in America were veterans. The program cost $14.5 billion, and more than half of the nation's 15 million World War II veterans participated in some sort of educational program.

One of them was Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., 85, the child of immigrants from hard-scrabble Paterson, N.J., who fought in Europe at age 18. The GI Bill paid for him to go to Columbia University.

"In a way, I'm not even sure I would've gone to college," Lautenberg said. "The horizon was so limited. I couldn't think in terms of the future."

Lautenberg signed on early to the new GI Bill legislation, which was authored by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., 63, a Vietnam veteran whose Marine son fought in Iraq.

Webb attended the U.S. Naval Academy before his war service and Georgetown University's law school afterward. He said paying for education sends a signal about the value of military service and helps veterans with readjustment issues.

"There's a tremendous downstream effect on the emotional well-being on the people who have served if you treat them right," he said.

Webb said he's had success convincing others in Congress of the need for the new GI Bill by showing that when inflation is considered, veterans from the current wars are receiving about 15 percent of what some World War II veterans had received.

Aubrey Arcangel, 27, an Iraq veteran who attends City College of New York, recalls chatting with some of his Army buddies in Iraq worried about finding a job in the recession, and telling them about the new benefit.

"They were worried about getting out and looking for a job, and I said, 'Listen, this new GI Bill will do good for you,'" Arcangel said.

The legislation didn't pass without a fight. Some lawmakers complained about the cost, and the Pentagon expressed concerns that many troops would leave the military to attend college. A popular benefit was added that allowed members of the military to transfer the benefit to spouses or children.

It's anticipated that 485,000 veterans or their family members could participate in the first year. About 112,000 claims have been processed so far, and more than 1 million callers have flooded a VA call center this year with questions.

There are concerns that universities and the VA could be overwhelmed, in part, because the benefit is complex. And, there are complaints that veterans attending private schools in states that kept their public tuition low face a major disparity in what they receive.

Keith M. Wilson, education service director at the VA, said agency officials are working with Congress on solutions to potential problems, but the agency overall feels good about its ability to execute the program.

"There's certainly going to be things that will not go as expected. We would expect to be able to learn from those situations and correct them quickly and move on," Wilson said.

Veterans from the nonprofit Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, which aggressively lobbied for the bill, are back on Capitol Hill pushing for what they call a GI Bill fix. Among other things, it would seek to solve the disparity in tuition amounts covered and grant new benefits for vocational programs. It would also provide a living allowance for those who live too far from a university and take classes online.

"The benefit is fantastic, it's transformative, it's historic, but we also have serious concerns about where it stands right now," said Paul Rieckhoff, the group's executive director and founder.

Iraq veteran Isaac Pacheco, 27, from Union, Ky., a Marine in the Individual Ready Reserve who is publications editor at AMVETS, said he's grateful for the thousands of dollars he's receiving to help pay for a graduate program this fall at Georgetown University.

"Veterans are a really valuable resource to the learning pool, to the marketplace of ideas, so they're going to bring a lot of valuable experience to these universities," Pacheco said.

[Krandall]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_cash_for_clunkers

Administration: Clunker deals could end by Friday


WASHINGTON – The government's wildly popular "cash for clunkers" program, offering $4,500 rebates to customers who trade in gas guzzlers, is likely to end Friday if the Senate doesn't approve $2 billion more for it, the White House says.

"If it doesn't happen this week, it's unlikely that we'll make it to the weekend with a program that can continue," said President Barack Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs.

He said Monday the $2 billion would fund the program through September.

The House approved the money by a nearly 3-to-1 margin last Friday before recessing for the month of August.

But the legislation faces a tougher fight in the Senate, where conservatives deride it as the latest in a series of taxpayer bailouts for the auto industry and environmentalists want to wring out more fuel efficiency. The Senate plans to take a four-week recess beginning Friday, after it votes this week on Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the average fuel economy of new vehicles purchased through the program is 9.6 miles per gallon higher than for the vehicles traded in for scrap. Buyers of new cars and trucks that get 10 mpg better than their trade-ins get the $4,500 rebate. People whose cars get between 4 mpg and 10 mpg better fuel efficiency qualify for a smaller $3,500 rebate.

LaHood said some 80 percent of the traded-in vehicles are pickups or SUVs, meaning many gas-guzzlers are being taken off the road. The Ford Focus is a leading replacement vehicle.

Ford Motor Co. reported its first U.S. sales increase in nearly two years on Monday, and other major automakers said sales showed signs of stability. Chrysler Group LLC posted a smaller year-over-year sales drop compared with recent months, also helped by "clunkers" deals.

"The program is working the way Congress intended it to work," he asserted on MSNBC. But it was not intended to run out of money nearly so quickly, nor create such confusion at dealerships.

The administration pressed hard for an additional $2 billion after serving notice over the weekend that the program could expire as early as this week unless the Senate acts.

Senate Republicans appeared to be in no rush Monday. "We were told this program would last for several months," GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said in remarks prepared for a Senate floor speech. "It ran out of money in a week, prompting the House to rush a $2 billion extension before anybody even had time to figure out what happened to the first billion."

McConnell said, "It's not a bad idea to look for a second opinion. All the more so if they say they're in a hurry."

The administration collected information on 80,500 vehicle transactions logged into the government's operating system through Saturday afternoon. An official said the fuel efficiency improvements would save a typical customer $700 to $1,000 a year in fuel costs. The new vehicles were getting 25.4 miles per gallon on average, a 61 percent increase over the models traded in, said the official, speaking on condition on anonymity because the figures had not been released.

The data were aimed at appeasing lawmakers such as Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, who have questioned whether the program's environmental benefits go far enough.

"We're encouraging senators to listen to their car dealers and the people they represent," LaHood said. "If they do that, it will pass the Senate."

The administration has been coy about just how long dealers would be reimbursed for rebates of up to $4,500 per vehicle, after saying Sunday that the program would have to be suspended if the Senate failed to act.

Fierce lobbying for the program came from other quarters: The National Automobile Dealers Association and the American International Automobile Dealers contacted thousands of dealerships, telling them to bombard the Senate with phone calls and e-mails.

"This is the one true stimulus that seems to be working out of all the things that have been tried in the last few months," said Cody Lusk, president of the international group.

The Senate narrowly approved the initial money in June. But some lawmakers who voted for the plan, including Feinstein and Collins, have said the additional dollars should push consumers to buy more fuel-efficient vehicles and allow people to buy fuel-efficient used vehicles. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., has said he was concerned with the way the House paid for the extension, shifting $2 billion from a renewable energy loan program.

[Peelz]

Yeah I read that Randy. Aargh

[disco]

College Grad?  Can't find a job?  Sue your college!  lol

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/03/new.york.jobless.graduate/index.html

Alumna sues college because she hasn't found a job

NEW YORK (CNN)  -- A recent college graduate is suing her alma mater for $72,000 -- the full cost of her tuition and then some -- because she cannot find a job.
Trina Thompson has sued her alma mater, Monroe College of New York.

Trina Thompson, 27, of the Bronx, graduated from New York's Monroe College in April with a bachelor of business administration degree in information technology.

On July 24, she filed suit against the college in Bronx Supreme Court, alleging that Monroe's "Office of Career Advancement did not help me with a full-time job placement. I am also suing them because of the stress I have been going through."

The college responded that it offers job-search support to all its students.

In her complaint, Thompson says she seeks $70,000 in reimbursement for her tuition and $2,000 to compensate for the stress of her three-month job search.

As Thompson sees it, any reasonable employer would pounce on an applicant with her academic credentials, which include a 2.7 grade-point average  and a solid attendance record. But Monroe's career-services department has put forth insufficient effort to help her secure employment, she claims.

"They're supposed to say, 'I got this student, her attendance is good, her GPA is all right -- can you interview this person?' They're not doing that," she said.

Thompson said she has fulfilled her end of the job-search bargain, peppering companies listed on Monroe's e-recruiting site with cover letters, résumés and phone calls. But no more than two employers have responded to her outreach, and those leads have borne no fruit.

Her complaint adds, "The office of career advancement information technology counselor did not make sure their Monroe e-recruiting clients call their graduates that recently finished college for an interview to get a job placement. They have not tried hard enough to help me."

She suggested that Monroe's Office of Career Advancement shows preferential treatment to students with excellent grades. "They favor more toward students that got a 4.0. They help them more out with the job placement," she said.

Monroe College released a statement saying that "while it is clear that no college, especially in this economy, can guarantee employment, Monroe College remains committed to working with all its students, including Ms. Thompson, who graduated only three months ago, to prepare them for careers and to support them during their job search."

Thompson says she has not hired an attorney to represent her because she cannot afford one. When she filed her complaint, she also filed a "poor person order," which exempts her from filing fees associated with the lawsuit.

Asked whether she would advise other college graduates facing job woes to sue their alma maters, Thompson said yes.

"It doesn't make any sense: They went to school for four years, and then they come out working at McDonald's and Payless. That's not what they planned."

Her complaint adds, "The office of career advancement information technology counselor did not make sure their Monroe e-recruiting clients call their graduates that recently finished college for an interview to get a job placement. They have not tried hard enough to help me."

Maybe your dumb butt should have tried a little harder in class.   

[Peelz]

holy f**king $hit!!!!

Ridiculous. That is one thing I would change about our society. We are litigation crazy. Like a fat f*ck that trips and falls, sues the store. No possible way it can be your fat ass that made you fall.