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The 404 260: Where you can take it two ways

Major props to Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III of U.S. Airways Flight 1549 for ditching the plane in the Hudson River after a double-engine failure and flying over the George Washington Bridge. Jeff Bakalar remains frightened for his life by flying.

In addition, the Watchmen movie debacle is settled between Warner Bros. and Fox, giving Justin Yu an early birthday present. Speaking of which, Wilson Tang will be joining the soon-to-be 25-year-old Mr. Yu for an Asian karaoke lovefest. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Rickrolls the Interwebs about a year and a half way too late, but … Read more

Web videos of Oakland shooting fuel protests

More than 100 people were arrested in downtown Oakland on Wednesday night when a protest turned violent, fueled at least in part by videos that quickly spread online of a subway policeman fatally shooting an unarmed man while he was lying on the ground restrained by another officer.

The case--and the overall intense community response to it--highlights the impact technology can have on news events. The devices people carry in their pockets give them the ability to turn what would normally be a case played out in the courtroom into one in which anyone with an Internet connection can serve … Read more

London transit cards cracked and cloned

Last week a Dutch researcher rode free on the London transit system, having hacked the public transit system's card system; he used a clone of a paying passenger's transit cards. His point? The transit smartcards, which are used my millions worldwide, are vulnerable to attack.

Dr. Bart Jacobs of Radboud University in Holland used an ordinary laptop to show how to clone the Mifare Classic smartcard used in London's Oyster transit card. The Mifare Classic smartcard is used for worker access cards as well.

Once he obtained the key used by the London transit system, Dr. Jacobs … Read more