Week in tech: more HBGary fallout, rooting your Nook Color, and more

Week in tech: more HBGary fallout, rooting your Nook Color, and more

Week in tech: more HBGary fallout, rooting your Nook Color, and more

By Ars Staff | Last updated about 14 hours ago

Stian Elkeland

Black ops: how HBGary wrote backdoors for the government: The attacks last week by Anonymous on security firm HBGary have yanked back the curtain on the dark world of government-sponsored malware. Where does the US military get its custom rootkits? It buys them—and the 0-day exploits that deliver them—from private security firms.

How to root a Nook Color to transform it into an Android tablet: The Nook Color has the potential to be a compelling low-cost tablet. In this tutorial, we will discuss how to root the Android-based device in order to expose its hidden power. In the process, you'll learn how to use the awesomely named "Auto-Nooter" (just don't get it near your pants).

How the atom bomb helped give birth to the Internet: The interstate highway system isn't the only society-altering network that we can thank the atom bomb for. The Internet, as well, owes its existence in part to the threat of all-out nuclear war between the US and USSR.

Everything that can go wrong with Windows Phone 7 update does: One of the great promises of Windows Phone 7 was that updates would be available to all. The first update has shipped and not only is it not available to all—it'll brick your phone too.

Why I don't care very much about tablets anymore: With all of the new tablets coming out this year, you might think everyone at the Orbiting HQ would be excited. But one staffer isn't. Here are four reasons why he just can't get jazzed about new tablets.

Why anime fans pirate the shows they love: Anime distributor FUNimation does everything it can think of to market shows to fans, even throwing them up on Hulu for free viewing. So why does anime piracy continue? Our piratical focus group has the answer: it's all about the fansubs.

Empty suit: the chaotic way Anonymous makes decisions: In a group that claims to have no leaders, it can be impossible to know when "official" pronouncements are made. As the recent troll war between Anonymous and the Westboro Baptist Church shows, this can be a real weakness for the freewheeling hackers. But it's also a source of strength.

Windows Phone Marketplace bans the GPL, and the App Store should too: A developer has finally noticed a condition tucked away in Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Marketplace developer agreement: it bans GPL-licensed software. Apple's App Store doesn't. But it should.

Ask Ars: Ergonomic Keyboards 101: In its first-ever video installment, Ask Ars talks you through the basics of ergonomic keyboards.

Piracy once again fails to get in way of record box office: MPAA interim head Bob Pisano wants you to know that "it's impossible to compete with free." Still, worldwide box offices revenues set yet another record in 2010, growing by 8 percent.