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Stories from May 7, 2013
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1.Git? tig (atlassian.com)
499 points by stefans on May 7, 2013 | 110 comments
2.Two.js (jonobr1.github.io)
488 points by jgv on May 7, 2013 | 62 comments
3.The story around the Linode hack (straylig.ht)
357 points by foofoobar on May 7, 2013 | 169 comments
4.Judge Wright issues Prenda Law order (popehat.com)
350 points by faithful_droog on May 7, 2013 | 82 comments
5.John Carmack starting port of Wolf 3D in Haskell (twitter.com/id_aa_carmack)
330 points by bobfunk on May 7, 2013 | 137 comments
6.Our Solar System Isn't Normal (npr.org)
300 points by sajid on May 7, 2013 | 101 comments
7.Tailgating YC (techrotica.tumblr.com)
298 points by mbellotti on May 7, 2013 | 122 comments
8.Iron Ring (wikipedia.org)
277 points by DanI-S on May 7, 2013 | 187 comments
9.CSS Zen Garden is 10 Years Old Today (mezzoblue.com)
264 points by youngerdryas on May 7, 2013 | 50 comments
10.Pizza Compass (pizza-compass.com)
213 points by briangonzalez on May 7, 2013 | 117 comments
11.Nginx security advisory (CVE-2013-2028) (nginx.org)
192 points by _vvdf on May 7, 2013 | 54 comments
12.Inequality and Mass Transit in the Bay Area (dangrover.github.io)
184 points by dangrover on May 7, 2013 | 133 comments
13.Discover Meteor (discovermeteor.com)
182 points by ninthfrank07 on May 7, 2013 | 78 comments

Here's an attempt at an explanation/translation:

HTP ("Hack The Planet") is a group that likes to break into things. Another (unnamed) group of people impersonated a third group of people ("ac1db1tch3z") and tried to cause trouble for HTP.

The impersonators located HTP by examining one of HTP's botnets (a collection of compromised computers that are used to launch things like denial of service attacks). Botnets have to receive instructions (e.g., targets to attack) from somewhere, so it's likely that the impersonators followed the path taken by commands to the botnet, and found the network(s) that HTP uses to organize themselves.

HTP realized this, and wanted to get back at the impersonators. They found out that the impersonators used an IRC channel (chat room) hosted on a network called SwiftIRC. If HTP could break into SwiftIRC (which is hosted on Linode), they could cause all sorts of trouble for the impersonators. So HTP decided to break into Linode, so they could break into SwiftIRC, so they could break into the group of impersonators.

To break into Linode, HTP broke into their domain name registar (name.com). They planned to secretly take control of linode.com, and replace it with a version of linode.com would look and feel and work correctly, but had one additional feature -- it would collect the login information that people typed in. HTP probably hoped to gain the login for SwiftIRC directly, or collect the logins for Linode admins and obtain SwiftIRC's login from there.

But, before they enacted the domain takeover (a maneuver that would likely be somewhat difficult to employ without being noticed), an HTP member discovered a new vulnerability in ColdFusion, the server software used by Linode. The ability to discover a new exploit on demand implies a high level of skill within the group. Using this exploit, HTP obtained direct access to Linode. They proceeded to gain access to SwiftIRC, as well as other sites hosted on Linode, including a well-known security site, nmap.org

The FBI apparently had a mole in HTP, and they alerted Linode that HTP had access to nmap.org. This posed a bit of a problem for HTP: if it became public knowledge that they had obtained access to Linode, then perhaps they wouldn't have time to go after the impersonators using their newfound access to SwiftIRC. So, HTP tried to strong-arm Linode into staying quiet until May 1st. HTP had obtained the customer information and credit cards of all the Linode customers. HTP threatened to widely publish all this sensitive information if Linode didn't stay quiet. If Linode complied, then HTP would just delete all the info.

Linode, though, was forced by the FBI to announce that they'd been broken into. HTP told Linode to just publicly acknowledge that HTP was the group that broke into Linode, and they'd delete the sensitive info. Linode did so (https://blog.linode.com/2013/04/16/security-incident-update/).

HTP conducted an internal investigation to determine which group member(s) were working with the FBI. HTP broke into the mole's computer and turned on their webcam, and saw an FBI employee looking over the shoulder of the mole. They kicked the mole out of the group, so the FBI doesn't have access to HTP anymore.

(Remember, this is the story according to HTP.)

15.Traffic From Syria Disappears From Internet (umbrella.com)
170 points by joshstrange on May 7, 2013 | 136 comments
16.You don’t have to feel guilty for oversleeping (42floors.com)
157 points by kdivvela on May 7, 2013 | 106 comments
17.Andrew Ng and the Quest for the New AI (wired.com)
147 points by ivoflipse on May 7, 2013 | 70 comments
18.Coinbase Nabs $5M in Biggest Funding for Bitcoin Startup (wsj.com)
152 points by conesus on May 7, 2013 | 115 comments
19.Why I am always on the lookout for a PayPal alternative (yash.info)
144 points by yashg on May 7, 2013 | 73 comments
20.Interviewing in Silicon Valley (symbo1ics.com)
143 points by reikonomusha on May 7, 2013 | 113 comments
21.Writing Effective Welcome Emails (vinaysahni.com)
132 points by veesahni on May 7, 2013 | 75 comments

I would argue the exo-planets we have found so far are a very biased sample. We don't have great technologies for detecting solar systems like ours. And at least the first few years of planet hunting we'll tend to find a lot of large giants orbiting close to their stars since they're the easiest to find.
23.The Food-Truck Business Stinks (nytimes.com)
117 points by wallflower on May 7, 2013 | 144 comments
24.Automated License Plate Readers Threaten Our Privacy (eff.org)
115 points by fstutzman on May 7, 2013 | 88 comments
25.Linguists identify 15,000-year-old ‘ultraconserved words’ (washingtonpost.com)
108 points by tokenadult on May 7, 2013 | 56 comments
26.Firefox's Inspector Tool as 3D Modeler (tildehash.com)
110 points by ivank on May 7, 2013 | 11 comments
27.Eighteen months of Django (dangoldin.com)
104 points by dangoldin on May 7, 2013 | 83 comments
28.Judge Asks IRS, Feds to Investigate Copyright-Trolling Attorneys (arstechnica.com)
105 points by justinlink on May 7, 2013 | 1 comment
29.Django REST framework 2.3 released: ViewSets and Routers (django-rest-framework.org)
103 points by tomchristie on May 7, 2013 | 36 comments
30.Teacher 'powerless' to stop ex-girlfriend's cyberstalking (cbc.ca)
99 points by valtron on May 7, 2013 | 126 comments

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