Wishing the traffic light would change green? Now you can make it happen
“We created a program that allows a user to activate any button on the controller and then displays the results to the user. We also created a library of commands which enable scriptable attacks. We tested this code in the field and were able to access the controller remotely.“
A report in Ars technica appeared this week demonstrating how easy it is to hack the traffic light system in one U.S. city. The undisclosed city traffic lights system was hacked by a group of researchers testing the security of such systems. It appears they got in very easily. Read more on it here.
“Lizard Squad” attack Sony PSN network and cause a plane to divert
“Sony, yet another large company, but they aren’t spending the waves of cash they obtain on their customers’ PSN service” – @LizardSquad
Hackers known as “Lizard Squad” managed to divert an American Airlines flight by making flase claims of explosives on board. The flight was going to San Diego when it had to be diverted to Phoenix because of the bomb scare. The hackers had already been targeting the networks of PlayStation in North America. The reasons for the attacks: the quote above. Read more on the story here.
A Computer to Predict Your Questions
“It is taught. So it doesn’t have all the limitations of conventional systems that are based on rules.” – Steve Gold, IBM vice president for the Watson platform
IBM Watson machine has been mentioned on Quotes of the Week before for its ability to attend and summarise meetings. Now some of Watson’s capabilities have been utilised to analyse big data for large companies. Watson Discovery Advisor has been utilised so far by a number of large pharmaceutical companies to gain insights that would otherwise take a number of months of regular data analysis to complete. Read about it here
The source of the “Book Burners” Controversy
“The real reason the book burners want to suppress it is that they don’t want there to be any standards at all.” – Anonymous
The original article published by Professional Tester Magazine on August 20th that caused a lot of anger in the software testing community last week. The article was in relation to the development of new standards for software testing. Titled “ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 Software Testing” the standards are near completion. However many in the testing industry are opposed to that standards and a petition to suspend the standards has been launched and can be found here.
Watching Them, Watching You
“I found myself wishing for TV sports-style features like instant replays and telestrator analysis to help break down the too-fast-to-follow action” – Kyle Orland
If you haven’t heard of Twitch, it is the latest phenomenon of internet watching that extends all the way back to the first webcam. The concept is simple, you watch others playing video games. The games can extend from FIFA 14 to Pokemon to Hearthstone. Some of the broadcasters on the website are now earning money from their videos through advertising. It is a fascinating concept and in this article, Kyle Orland, offers an guide for newcomers to the site.
