Intel’s Proteus security software starts out by getting to know you better—understanding your habits and network demands—using those statistical guidelines to clamp down on stuff that, let’s face it, doesn’t really sound like You. At least, not the You that Proteus has grown to love. This kind of learning really helps when trying to protect company-owned portables: Not surprisingly, typical behavior at work and typical behavior at home turn out to be two very different things.

Many security programs simply trigger an alarm when bandwidth demands exceed a certain point. They have the ability to be dumb, and might not know that it was you who wanted to download four movies at once, or send picture e-mail to 100,000 of your closest friends. This thing sees what you’re doing and how you’re doing it, and can safely say more frequently that some bizarre behavior is acceptable—though maybe not to your boss.

The software also watches for regular pings to personal across the net. By seeing not just the location but determining the intervals of the calls “home,” Proteus can even figure out which malware is in use.

The reason this is so effective is that it differentiates systems that otherwise look identical. Corporate laptops all look the same, software wise, right? If someone can crack one, they can crack them all. If Proteus gets deployed, hackers have a much harder time with the old virtual B&E. Even when, state, a spambot was in place, it would have to know when each user would typically be in the mood for more bandwidth in order to fool Proteus.

Since this comes from Intel, word is that the company is trying to figure out a way to hardwire this stuff right into the chips, rather than let it be some subscription program that pops up every so often to scare you with over-the-top allegations of your system’s vulnerability. [Technology Review]

Via [Gizmodo]

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OK, this is really rad. Some students at a British high-school wanted to wear colored nail polish, but their school prohibited any kind of make up. They found the ban to be unfair so they came up with a novel approach that would keep them out of detention, but grant them to wear their blood-red fingertips. They […]

OK, this is really rad.

Some students at a British high-school wanted to wear colored nail polish, but their school prohibited any kind of make up. They found the ban to be unfair so they came up with a novel approach that would keep them out of detention, but allow them to wear their blood-red fingertips.

They invented nail polish that disappears when its not in the sun.

Much like G.I. Joe’s Zartan, the polish is bright red in the sunlight, but fades to an almost invisible say indoors.

This wasn’t some large cosmetics company that came up with this idea and perfected the implementation, it was school-age girls in the UK.

I love this kind of stuff.

‘Vanishing’ colour gives schoolgirls chance to beat ban on nail varnish [Daily Mail]

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Via [crunchgear]

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Remember this morning when I posted about Sony charging $50 to not install bloatware on new Computers? Looks like Sony realized how jackassy it made them look, as it’s going to be free as of tomorrow. Here’s the full quote:

“Starting March 22, Sony will offer Fresh Start free of charge. We want VAIO users to have the best experience possible with our Personal computers, and we believe Fresh Begin will help ensure that happens right out-of-the-box.”

Huzzah!

Via [Gizmodo]

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Oh, Martha, is there anything you can’t do? You crochet doileys, make butter cake, and fire custom dildos for your friends in your outdoor kiln — all before 5am! Now you have a MacBook Air and you just love it! And you love Windows to! What’s a woman to do? Run Paralells! And you […]

Oh, Martha, is there anything you can’t do? You crochet doileys, make butter cake, and fire custom dildos for your friends in your outdoor kiln — all before 5am! Now you have a MacBook Air and you just love it! And you love Windows to! What’s a woman to do? Run Paralells! And you even know what that is! But you don’t want to because you want to be well-versed in Windows! OK! And your dog loves the MacBook Air as well!

I also use an HP laptop on a regular basis because I like to be well versed on both platforms and be able to multi-task. Both computers sit side by side on my desk in my kitchen and having them right there together is very convenient for me.

Oh gosh.

My new MacBook Air [MarthaStewart]

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Via [crunchgear]

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It’s a pen, touchpad stylus, LED flashlight, laser pointer and UV banknote checker. In one. Handy for… well, all those things. Available for $11. That is all. [Gadget4All via Red Ferret]

Via [Gizmodo]

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I’ve been dreading this motion picture since I first heard of it, but something about this leaked image of Snake-Eyes makes me think it’ll be alright. I mean, look at him. That’s Snake-Eyes. When I got this in my inbox, I knew who it was before I read the email. This is Snake-Eyes. This is awesome, please […]

I’ve been dreading this motion picture since I first heard of it, but something about this leaked image of Snake-Eyes makes me think it’ll be alright.

I mean, look at him. That’s Snake-Eyes. When I got this in my inbox, I knew who it was before I read the email. This is Snake-Eyes. This is awesome, please don’t let them muck it up.

I’m worried because the plot’s odd (the Real American Hero’s based out of Belgium), and Cobra Commander is in his 20s (really) but the team behind it is solid, so I remain optimistic. Hopefully I’m as pleasantly surprised as I was with Transformers, but I refuse to hold my breath.

Thanks goes to Evan for the tip!

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Via [crunchgear]

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Breville is selling this $130 high tech toaster. For that price, you get a stainless steel case, an LED indicator and slider that is as smooth as a DJ mixer’s cross fader, motorized lifts and clamps that are capable of 7 pounds of lift (yes), and electrical elements that are rated to last 90 years.

The LEDs are a nice touch, because they double as a countdown timer, but the elements are surprisingly strong. I burned my cheap wheat grain, despite the “look and check” function. It’s not the toaster’s fault, I just underestimated the power of this thing. And also the bell is kind of not loud enough for my tastes. For $130, its a nice toaster, but how about reducing the totally unnecessary lift power in the motors and giving me some sort of burn detector. Also, Wilson has used some Breville gear before, and although the build quality looks amazing, he’s said that they break eventually. Something about being too high tech for their own good. But these are supposedly sturdier and have a 1 year warranty, so take comfort in that. [Music by the King]

Via [Gizmodo]

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Another day, another patent lawsuit for Apple. This time they’re being sued by the firm Mirror Worlds. The patents at issue deal with a “document stream operating system,” which means files are stored in a chronologically ordered stream, and whoa, are archived automatically. Sounds like Time Machine, even though the suit doesn’t name Time Machine explicitly. In fact the whole suit’s rather vague, except they state that Apple knew about their patents back in 2001. But like most patent suits, this one will probably go quietly into the night. [Ars, USPTO]

Via [Gizmodo]

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