Boston Dynamics create Bio Dog.

Boston Dynamics has created BigDog the robotic pack mule which according to them is "the most advanced quadruped robot on Earth!" BigDog can carry four infantry backpacks while keeping its balance over different type of terrains. The following freaky video (28MB WMV) shows BigDog walking through mud, over slippery snow, over rocks, up a hill, and even keeps itself from toppling over when it's being kicked! BigDog stands about waist high, can carry 165 lbs (75 kg), can walk through most terrain and can always keep its balance. The on-board computer controls locomotion, monitors external & internal sensors and keeps itself balanced. A gasoline engine powers BigDog's hydraulic system for actuating the hydraulically controlled legs.

Chromet Robot !

The Choromet is expected to be available from General Robotics in September, with price which is less then five grands. The Choromet is about 13-3/4 inches tall, and is capable of walking upright on two legs. Four companies in Japan have created a relatively low-cost, user-programmable humanoid robot targeting educational and research applications. The HRP-2m Choromet uses technology from Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), and is user-programmable thanks to open software running on a user-space real-time Linux implementation. AIST hopes Choromet's ability to run software-based movement programs on a real-time Linux platform will enable researchers and schools to experiment with the effectiveness of humanoid robot motion pattern applications. The Choromet is based on several technologies developed by AIST, including A business-card sized SBC (single board computer) 240MHz SH-4 processor, 32MB of RAM, "ARTLinux," an operating system that provides a user-space real-time Linux environment. Humanoid motion application software based on OpenHRP (Humanoid Robotics Project) Some other Choromet features are: Triaxial force sensors on legs, Accelerometer and gyroscope in trunk, and real-time sensor feedback. More info at http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS8377820601.html

What Do You Hate About Backing Up Your Data ?

Backup is one of those things that we rarely think about until it is far too late. It’s usually a task that’s somewhere buried on your to-do list. It may even be a high priority task on your list, but somehow weeks and months pass and still, no backup. Could it be because too much pain is associated with the process? Or maybe it’s just being a bit lazy? Or more likely, we are all too busy and just don’t make the time.

Here, we take a look at some of the painful aspects of backing up our PCs and laptops and how we can easily overcome that pain to make sure we don’t end up losing our valuable data.

Method

The first issue is determining how you will back up your data. Online? Off site? Off line? All of the above? And within each of those options are again many other options! First, here’s the bad news; you really should be doing all of the above. Three times the work you say! Not quite. Fortunately, with a little initial investment in time and money, you can setup these solutions relatively painlessly with the result being safe, secure data.

You can back up off site two ways: 1) Use a web-based service provider or 2) use a portable backup drive and physically move it off site. We recommend option 1, because it will save more of your time; however, if you prefer more control of your data and don’t mind the extra time involved, option 2 works just fine.

Since external drives are inexpensive, it’s also a good idea to maintain an on-site backup, giving you the advantage of speedy recovery when data is lost. While you can back up to a USB or FireWire hard drive attached to one of your PCs, a much more convenient solution is a network storage device, often referred to as Network Attached Storage (NAS).
A NAS, like Western Digital’s My Book World Edition, connects directly to your home network and allows for easy backup of any computer connected to the network.
Time

Now that you have your backup method ready to go, how to remember to back up? You have two options: 1) Setup an annoying reminder to tell you to back up every few hours or 2) automate it and forget it. You can guess that we prefer option 2.

Most on-line services will have this feature available, but you have to be connected to the Internet for it to work, and it can be slow. That is why we like the NAS solution so much. Devices like WD’s My Book World Edition backs up your systems as soon as you connect to your home network, even if you have no Internet access. With this particular product, you don’t have to remember anything – it backs up automatically every time you save a file.
What Do You Hate About Backing Up Your Data?

Now that you have automated the procedure, time no longer becomes an issue. That said, it’s a good idea to periodically check your back ups to make sure your data is indeed being backed up.

Are Hackers Working For The Mob ?

Hackers stole more data last year than in the previous four years, according to new research.

In its 2009 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), Verizon investigated 90 data breach cases that exposed a 285 million records, which is equivalent to nine records per second. This figure is far greater than the 230 million records recorded as breached in the five years combined from 2004 to 2008.

The study looked only at breaches involving attacks that resulted in compromised records being used in a crime. Verizon Business found that organised crime was behind 90 percent of all breaches which involved compromised records.

Market saturation has driven down the price of credit card details on the black market. Details that were valued at around $10 to $16 per record in mid-2007, are now sold for less than 50 cents per record today.

As a result, personal identification numbers (PIN) fraud has exploded as criminals are targeting financial firms to steal PINs and together with associated credit and debit accounts. Financial firms accounted for 93 percent of the over 285 million records compromised.

"Financial services firms were singled out and fell victim to some very determined, very sophisticated, and--unfortunately--very successful attacks in 2008," said the report.

The report also found most data breaches originate from external threats, rather than internal, with 74 percent of breaches caused by external sources.

Hacking is the leading cause of data breaches for the fifth year running, involved in 94% of cases that led to breached records. Malware was involved in over one-third of the cases investigated and contributed to nine out of 10 of all records breached. SQL injection was the favourite type of attack, used in 79% of cases were records were compromised.

But most breaches resulted from a combination of events rather than a single action, the report found, with 64 percent of breaches attributable to hackers using a combination of methods.

Matthijs van der Wel, manager principal forensics EMEA, at Verizon Business Security Solutions, outlined the typical scenario for data losses. "The end user makes a mistake. The attacker takes advantage of some mistake committed by the victim company, hacks into the network, perhaps using an SQL injection attack, and installs malware on a system to collect data."