By Steve Huff 10/12/12 5:13pm

Hack Hack Hack Hack It Apart

The Sun. Totally hackable. (Flickr/DBduoPhotography)

Researchers Discover Software Controlling Solar Power Plants Is Totally Hackable

On the heels of Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta scaring the crap out of everyone regarding cyberattacks, SophosLabs’ NakedSecurity blog linked to a Homeland Security alert which warns that hackers could take control of solar energy plants.

Plant administrators use the vulnerable software to control energy-generating solar plants. However the programming wasn’t written with security in mind; it’s a swiss cheese of SQL injection holes: Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 7/23/12 7:00am

Linkages

London calling. (Photo: flickr.com/anniemole)

Booting Up: Decadent Tech Party Edition

Turns out Twitter’s mobile ads are more engaging than Facebook’s. [VentureBeat]

Amazon is opening a new “digital media development” office in London, which is likely to focus on streaming TV. Naturally, it is located in techie Shoreditch rather than the traditionally bookish environs of Charing Cross. [Telegraph]

The company arrives just in time for the tech talent wars to hit Europe. [TechCrunch]

“One industry party I attended had a jungle theme. This included a real, 600-pound tiger in a cage and a monkey that would pose for Instagram photos.” [New York Times]

Lots of users are less than thrilled about Google’s acquisition of Sparrow. [GigaOm]

Meanwhile, in cleantech: Researchers at UCLA have developed a transparent solar cell. Dare we dream of window-unit solar panels? [Engadget]