NB: what is it about small and local news sites, usually TV stations, but also newspapers and such, which cannot <i></i>* CLEARLY <i></i>* indicate <i>where</i> in the world they are?<p>"Ocean Beach" is a pleasantly anonymous place name (I can think of several neighborhoods matching this, the U.S. Gazetteer of Places identifies it as Ocean Beach, NY), affording very little by way of actual location.<p>In an age before widespread Internet use, I experienced similar frustrations while listening to clear channel AM radio broadcasts in the back country. It wasn't uncommon to pull in strong signals from hundreds to a thousand miles away. And while there's something delightfully surreal in listening to the mundania of local traffic and news reports, if you happen to be in a wilderness location trying to find a reliable weather forecast, "area conditions" doesn't do much for you.
"At age 1, Kristoffer got past the toddler lock screen on a cell phone by holding down the home key."<p>Not to be "that guy" or anything but I suspect it is pretty normal for a child to hold down a button.<p>First, what kind of lousy lock wouldn't safeguard against, what was likely either the only or one of a few buttons, being held down?<p>Second, sounds like proud father has made at least a few false connections. He is a geeky equivalent of a creationist museum tourist.
Wow. This is the mavis beacon typing tutor hack.<p>Years ago (jesus, has it been 15 years?), I was in computer class on the old Macintoshes they had with Mavis Beacon Typing Tutor. We were supposed to type out the sentences we read to increase our typing speed, and learn the home row. I hated home row, and insisted that hunt-and-peck was more comfortable for me. But the teacher was adamant I use home row only, which was annoying. I was also not very fast at either form of typing.<p>I discovered by accident that if I hit the spacebar for each letter in each word, the program interpreted it as a successful spelling. All I had to do was keep typing the spacebar to complete the words. So i'd put my fingers on the home row, moving my fingers up and down, and pressing the spacebar with my thumb. I got 120 words per minute.
So I told this story to my wife, because at first I was a little envious (wishing my boy did this)...then her being the devil's advocate made me realize something...if a 5-year-old can bypass Xbox's verification by <i>pressing space keys and enter</i> then it says volumes about Xbox's verification checks.<p>Who was sleeping at the wheel when Xbox didn't add empty strings to password verification checks?
On another note, the whitehat bounty seems ridiculously low, if we're to take him as a peer:<p><pre><code> Kristoffer will receive four games, $50 and a year-long
subscription to Xbox Live from Microsoft.</code></pre>
As I read the article I kept expecting the part where he was suspended from school for the rest of the semester for breaking the school's zero tolerance policy on "cyber attacks" or something.
It's really refreshing to see a family embrace their son's inventiveness and tenacity rather than reprimand the kid for breaking past the parental controls
what level of crime is this? Does this count as computer trespass in NY? If so, that's a class E felony.<p><pre><code> § 156.10 Computer trespass.
A person is guilty of computer trespass when he or she knowingly uses,
causes to be used, or accesses a computer, computer service, or computer
network without authorization and:
1. he or she does so with an intent to commit or attempt to commit or
further the commission of any felony; or
2. he or she thereby knowingly gains access to computer material.
Computer trespass is a class E felony.
</code></pre>
<a href="http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/LAWSSEAF.cgi?QUERYTYPE=LAWS+&QUERYDATA=$$PEN156.10$$@TXPEN0156.10+&LIST=LAW+&BROWSER=BROWSER+&TOKEN=03545439+&TARGET=VIEW" rel="nofollow">http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/LAWSSEAF.cgi?QUERYTYPE=LAW...</a>
Oh sure. When he bypasses child locks he gets rewarded by his parents and Microsoft. When I bypassed child locks and parental controls when I was younger, I got in trouble and my computer taken away. :D
This is indicative of disorganized program structure. Form validation shouldn't be unique to separate forms; they should all be piped through the same place, where validation is done.
When I was 5 years old all I could do was sort Duplo blocks by color, and I don't even have a memory of it :(. I get sort of jealous if I see how smart small kids can be.
I don't think its that surprising, kids have all the time in the world. When I was a kid I worked on cracking the Fridge lock.. Perhaps my time was poorly spent.
Sennnsatioonal!!!<p>> At age 1, Kristoffer got past the toddler lock screen on a cell phone by holding down the home key.<p>... uh ... pretty sure because that's because he watched his father doing in order to use the phone.
Maybe I'm just cynical, but given that the father is a security researcher, does anyone else think that he himself found the vulnerability but concocted the story to get some free press?