It's lunchtime again...

...And so time for more newsbits. Yes, still playing catchup here.

Is the Botnet Battle Already Lost?

Researchers are finding it practically futile to keep up with evolving botnet attacks. 'We've known about [the threat from] botnets for a few years, but we're only now figuring out how they really work, and I'm afraid we might be two to three years behind in terms of response mechanisms,' said Marcus Sachs, a deputy director in the Computer Science Laboratory of SRI International, in Arlington, Va. There is a general feeling of hopelessness as botnet hunters discover that, after years of mitigating command and controls, the effort has largely gone to waste. 'We've managed to hold back the tide, but, for the most part, it's been useless,' said Gadi Evron, a security evangelist at Beyond Security, in Netanya, Israel, and a leader in the botnet-hunting community. 'When we disable a command-and-control server, the botnet is immediately re-created on another host. We're not hurting them anymore.' There is an interesting image gallery of a botnet in action as discovered by security researcher Sunbelt Software.

Google Campus to Become Solar-powered

Reuters is reporting that Google is equipping its headquarters with a solar panel 'capable of generating 1.6 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power 1,000 California homes.' This will make Google's Mountain View campus the largest solar-powered office complex in the United States.

Now that is very cool. Maybe a trend to come? My old company, NEGT, operated a wind generating farm out in Mountain View, it was pretty large but not effective in regards to the ratio of space used to power generated...

Sun To Unveil Project Blackbox

Now here's another really cool idea:

A year ago, Google's secret plans for a portable data center in a shipping container were being revealed by Robert X. Cringely. Sun Microsystems is about to officially unveil its 'data center in a box' concept. Project Blackbox will involve the full-scale production of data centers in 20-foot-long cargo shipping containers.

From the article:

The idea eliminates several major hurdles facing data center customers: finding an appropriate site, arranging the servers and cooling mechanisms in the most efficient manner, and waiting for construction to be complete. The company is touting energy efficiency as a crucial benefit of the confined space, as its patented cooling features can more accurately target hot spots than in giant warehouses. The box can hold hundreds of servers and save thousands of dollars per year in energy costs, the company said.

Yes, but will there be room in the back of the trailer to park KITT?

Listening for Cancer Cells

According to researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia, it's now possible to detect skin cancer cells present in blood samples by listening to the sound of melanoma cells. The scientists have used a method named photoacoustic detection, which uses a laser to make cells vibrate and ultrasound techniques to pick the sound of cancerous cells. This technique is so precise that it's possible to identify the spread of cancer even if there are only ten melanoma cells in a blood sample. Still, large clinical tests must be done before this method can be widely used.

That's simply amazing. Wonder what this will do for other types of cancer research? Right now the methods my wife must undergo every few months to check for any new cancer growth is pretty painful, though at least not invasive.

How Warcraft Really Does Wreck Lives

There's a great blog post about how World of Warcraft can ruin lives, it's written by a person that was for a long time a member of the largest council on what is now one of the oldest guilds in the world.

Last story for today. This is a "cautionary tale about the pull an escape from reality can have on you." Familiar theme for many people, I know I've discussed such before. I do find the escape within WoW to be strongly addictive, but not to the point (I don't believe) that I've neglected my family or my job. Perhaps my sleep though... Note the author began with some different circumstances - essentially much more free time to devote to the game, which may have turned into a lack of control or moderation which would be harder to obtain.

I may be able to justify my own WoW experience as different from many others who have been well and truely addicted to WoW. I am able to go away for a weekend and not get the "shakes" when not playing. Do I think about it? Sure, I daydream about the escapist world I left behind, but I have an active imagination, and I would do the same with books I was reading at the time. I am also able to work on tasks that need done, whether they be house chores or time with the kids (not a task per se, but you understand what I mean) - and not feel cheated out of WoW time, or long to be back at my computer.

Also, though I have dived into the game with both feet, my highest level character is only a lvl 40. Many people which have played for a few months as I have, at least have a lvl 60. If not a few. But I do play the game for enjoyment, not levelling. And I still take time off to play other games with my clan buddies.

So by his description, I'm not nearly hardcore enough, and that suits me just fine:

What does this mean? Well, to our average "serious" player this equates to anywhere between 12 hours (for the casual and usually "useless" player) to honestly 10 hours a day, seven days a week for those "hardcore" gamers. During my stint, I was playing about 30 hours a week (and still finding it hard to keep up with my farming) and logging on during my work day in order to keep up with all the guild happenings and to do my scheduling and tracking for the raids.

I'm not being down on this article though, far from it. This is an excellent read, and anyone who is a gamer, especially with MMOs, should read and understand the pitfalls of doing anything to the extreme.

The game also provides people with a false sense of security, accomplishment, and purpose. Anyone can be a superhero here if they have the time to put in.

There's a follow-up to the article, with clarifications on authorship and some of the more interesting/bizarre comments.

In the end he does make the point that "WoW did a lot of things right," and that he met some great people in the game. Perhaps I should lay this out in the open, and in plain terms: Don't read this as a condemnation of WoW, or any type of gaming. Read it as an advisory against taking anything, be it gaming or social activities or whatever, to extremes.

I agree that moderation and self-control are the keys here. There are ways to enjoy the game for less than 10 hours a week. But I also think that the amount of time required for the very highest levels of endgame raiding can not be balanced with a healthy lifestyle. Before you crucify me, yes, there are exceptions. There are exceptions to every rule. But you're probably not one of them.