Second Life online game hacked, user data compromised

Author: Amber Maitland

11 September 2006 - Second Life, the online game that lets people play out fantasy lives in a fantasy world, has suffered a zero-day attack that compromised the personal data of its hundreds of thousands of users.

Its 650,000 users were notified via email that they must reset their passwords in order to re-access their avatars, or online alter egos.

The hack was discovered on 6 September and was shut down the same day; however, Linden Labs, the company behind Second Life, has said that unencrypted information, include Second Life account names, real life names, and contact information, as well as encrypted account passwords and payment information, was compromised.

Unencrypted credit card information, stored on a different database, has not been compromised.

Second life “residence” design avatars for themselves, and are able to interact with other participants, as well as buy and sell land and set up business using Linden Dollars, which can actually be exchanged for real currency.

The canny businessmen behind the virtual world have even managed to sell virtual space to major multinational companies like Coca-Cola.

Toshiba's triple-layer HD DVD / DVD discs

Author: Thomas Ricker

You know we likey our Blu-ray and HD DVD tech 'round here, but we heart hybrid capabilities even more. So today's announcement from Toshiba and Memory Tech of a triple-layer twin format HD DVD / DVD disc has certainly caught our attention.

The new disc is capable of either a dual-layer 30GB HD DVD and single-layer 4.7GB configuration, or single-layer 15GB HD DVD and dual-layer 8.5GB DVD. The resulting disc can be manufactured on the same HD DVD production lines with little modification and conceivably play either HD or DVD films (without flipping the disc) when fed into a regular ol' DVD or new fangled HD DVD player.

As our hi-def bros over at HD Beat rightly point out, the DVD TWIN standard is already in use by our Japanese overlords, albeit, in its lessor dual-layer format. The next step is for Tosh to present the new format to the DVD forum who, with any luck, will slap Toshiba up side the head and get 'em focused on the HD DVD / Blu-ray hybrid we're all waiting for.