Invisibility Cloak - Harry Potter Fantasy or Fact

Invisibility Cloak is this a Harry Potter fantasy of fact? The Harry Potter series of books described a invisibility cloak that Harry and his friends used to sneak around Hogwarts school when they where supposed to be in bed, but now some University of California Scientists at Berkeley may be about to make  the fantasy a reality.

The scientists at Berkerly are working on the invisibility cloak by creating a type of material that refracts light in a way that light is not reflected and seen. The material referred to as metamaterials is what allows the invisibility cloak to become a reality. Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, whose work is funded by the American military, have developed a material that can bend light waves around an object, making it appear invisible.

"In the case of invisibility cloaks or shields, the material would need to curve light waves completely around the object like a river flowing around a rock," says Xiang Zhang, project leader.

This discovery has  far reaching benefits and concerns. The benefits could come from military uniforms which could be worn on the battlefield allowing the soldier to move about virtually undetected by the enemy. I’m sure there are soldiers in Iraq at the moment who would love to get their hands on an Invisibility Cloak or any other material that would reduce the ability of Iraqi insurgents to take aim at them.

It will be interesting to see what other uses scientists come up with for the use of metamaterials. Now that a feasible use has been developed for these metameterials, then there are other discoveries the will soon follow.

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Webcam Hacker Spy uses spyware to spy on victims

I saw this story come across the wire today and it peeked my interest. Apparently your webcam may not be as private as you think. A 47 year old computer technician has been convicted for installing spyware on people computers and then use that spyware to view the activities of the unspecting victims remotely. There is a lot of different remote control software on the market some even sold commercially for valid purposes. This webcam hacker spy used a Trojan horse spyware program which open a back door into people computers and then he would spy on them take pictures.

He was finally caught when  he was able to infect a 17 year old girls  computer and then as he was watching, I guess she was not showing him enough. He then emailed her and attempted a blackmail scheme to get her to strip naked for the webcam. She refused and called the police. Who where able to track down the webcam hacker spy. Now this guy was supposed to be a hacker spy who was also a computer technician, but he left himself wide open to discovery. There are ways to hide your identity on the net, but it seems he did not even try to hide himself. Sounds like a stupid webcam computer hacker spy to me.

Spyware is a serious problem and whether or not you want to be violated by other webcam hacker spy’s or even if you don’t even have a webcam, you need to ensure you have updated spyware detection and virus protection software. There are quite a few good spyware detection programs available, but you should get one that offers free updates. Several of the programs such as Norton try to keep you locked into a subscription model where they keep getting money from you, but this provides a false sense of security because once your subscription runs out and if you do not renew then you are left open to new spyware programs and viruses. I personally like Grisoft’s AVG program. It works great and they even have a free version. The paid version has some more bells and whistles, but the free version would work for a lot of people.

Spyware Definition

Spyware is computer software that is installed surreptitiously on a personal computer to intercept or take partial control over the user’s interaction with the computer, without the user’s informed consent.

While the term spyware suggests software that secretly monitors the user’s behavior, the functions of spyware extend well beyond simple monitoring. Spyware programs can collect various types of personal information, such as Internet surfing habit, sites that have been visited, but can also interfere with user control of the computer in other ways, such as installing additional software, redirecting Web browser activity, accessing websites blindly that will cause more harmful viruses, or diverting advertising revenue to a third party. Spyware can even change computer settings, resulting in slow connection speeds, different home pages, and loss of Internet or other programs. In an attempt to increase the understanding of spyware, a more formal classification of its included software types is captured under the term privacy-invasive software.

In response to the emergence of spyware, a small industry has sprung up dealing in anti-spyware software. Running anti-spyware software has become a widely recognized element of computer security best practices for Microsoft Windows desktop computers. A number of jurisdictions have passed anti-spyware laws, which usually target any software that is surreptitiously installed to control a user’s computer.