Computer Whiz Records Life as 'E-Memory'

Small but significant number of cases vulnerable

(NEWSER) - Oops. Now that millions of people have downloaded encrypted information like credit card and bank account numbers onto the Internet, a team of mathematicians and cryptographers have located a crucial flaw in online encryption. The flaw concerns the way the system generates random numbers to create a code critical to protecting digital information. In the system, randomly-generated prime numbers are used to create a public "key," which is used in a formula to encrypt information. The original, randomly generated numbers are kept secret. But in a small but significant number of cases, the random-number key generation system failed to work properly. The researchers found in certain cases that numbers were not truly random, making it possible to determine the secret keys used to generate the public key. The problem can only be fixed by software and Internet operations, not consumers. More»

Once again: 'Password' is not a good choice to beat hackers

(NEWSER) - Lots of people are still lousy at choosing computer passwords. Mashable picks up on the annual list of most-hacked passwords from SplashData. The usual suspects are still at the top:

1. password
2. 123456
3. 12345678
4. qwerty
5. abc123
6. monkey
7. 1234567
8. letmein
9. trustno1
10. dragon

Rumor mill heats up that company is going public soon

(NEWSER) - Here come the Facebook IPO rumors again. An insider tells Business Insider that employees expect the company to go public soon, possibly next month. "The IPO talk inside Facebook has ramped up the past 6 weeks and Zuckerberg repeatedly has said that it is 'coming,' which he *never* said in the history of Facebook," says the source's email. More»

The world shall at last know if the Babbage Analytical Engine would have worked

(NEWSER) - Quick when was the first programmable computer designed? If you said the early 19th century … well, you probably looked at the headline. But you might be right, and researchers in Britain are currently planning to test that theory. They’re about to spend 10 years and millions of dollars trying to build the Babbage Analytical Machine, a massive punch card computer dreamed up by eccentric mathematician Charles Babbage in the 1830s, the New York Times reports. More»

Tycoon started massive Computerland retail chain

(NEWSER) - A charming entrepreneur may have to give up his globe-trotting ways and pay an outstanding $100 million tax bill, the Wall Street Journal reports. Investigators have tracked down William H. Millard, the California tech mogul who founded the once-massive computer retailing chain ComputerLand, in the Grand Cayman Islands. Authorities of another island group say he owes them for time spent on the Pacific island of Saipan, where he enjoyed a stunning 95% tax rebate. More»