Information Security & US & Life & Love & Fashion & Hacking & Passion

The number of people receiving unemployment benefits has reached an all-time record, the government said Thursday, as layoffs spread throughout the economy.

The Labor Department reported that the number of Americans continuing to claim unemployment insurance for the week ending Jan. 17 was a seasonally adjusted 4.78 million, the highest on records dating back to 1967.

A department analyst said that as a proportion of the work force, the tally of unemployment recipients is the highest since August 1983.

The total released by the department doesn't include about 1.7 million people receiving benefits under an extended unemployment compensation program authorized by Congress last summer. That means the total number of recipients is actually closer to 6.5 million people.

Meanwhile, the tally of Americans filing new jobless benefit claims rose slightly to a seasonally adjusted 588,000 last week, from a downwardly revised figure of 585,000 the previous week.

That's close to the 26-year high of 589,000 reached in late December, though the labor force has grown by about half since then.

The Labor Department's report comes as large corporations from virtually all sectors of the economy are announcing massive layoffs.

The interest rate on six-month U.S. Treasury bills dropped to its lowest level on record at the weekly Treasury auction, the government said Monday.

The Treasury Department said it auctioned $27 billion in six-month bills at a yield of 0.25 percent, an all-time low. That's down from a rate of 0.285 percent last week.

Treasury rates have fallen to historic lows as the worst financial crisis in 70 years has triggered a rush by investors to the safety of government securities. Higher demand for such securities pushes their yield, or interest rate, down.

The lower rates make it cheaper for the government to borrow money, just as the federal deficit is set to balloon due to the rising cost of aid to banks, increased spending on unemployment insurance and lower tax revenues.

The department also auctioned $26 billion in three-month bills at a yield of 0.05 percent, up slightly from last week's 0.04 percent. That matches the rate from two weeks ago and is the highest since three-month bills averaged 0.15 percent on Nov. 24.

Earlier this month, rates on the three-month bill fell to a record low of 0.005 percent.

The rates are known as discount rates because the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,998.75 while a six-month bill sold for $9,987.43. That equals an annualized rate of 0.051 percent for three-month bills and 0.254 percent for the six-month securities.

The DvLabs posting demonstrates how to dynamically analyze a 32-bit Windows binary file in WinDbg using hit tracing. Hit tracing is the process of dynamically tracking execution flow in order to narrow your field of focus when reverse engineering a binary file. This saves you from wasting time looking at uninteresting parts of the code.

While Cody Pierce focused on using WinDbg for hit tracing, we're going to show you how to use OllyDbg.

Implementing hit tracing in OllyDbg is rather straightforward.

• Set an INT3 breakpoint on every command within the region of interest.
• When a command with a breakpoint executes, OllyDbg removes the breakpoint and marks the instruction as a hit.

When dynamically reverse engineering a binary file, one problem with logging executed regions of code is that a lot of the code that gets logged (contains hits), we don't really care about, like GUI events. We'll call this UNINTERESTING CODE. The code we do want to focus on is INTERESTING CODE.

To solve the problem of highlighting only INTERESTING CODE we'll use a plugin that Moti wrote for OllyDbg "back in the day," called "OllySnake." This plugin overlays the built-in OllyDbg hit trace feature to filter out UNINTERESTING CODE.

So, how does the plugin work?

As an example, let's say that we want to narrow our focus to the notepad.exe code that handles the "About" command.

• First, we instruct OllyDbg to trace all events that occur when we execute notepad.exe (including the "uninteresting events," such as GUI events like mouse movements, etc.).
• Next, we save the hit trace snapshot.
• Now that we have a snapshot of the UNINTERESTING CODE, we click on the "About" menu item to trigger and log the INTERESTING CODE.
• Finally, we save a hit trace snapshot that includes both the UNINTERESTING CODE and the INTERESTING CODE.

Can you guess what we do next? We diff the two snapshots to find just the INTERESTING CODE!

SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- A Korean immigrant who lost his wife, two children and mother-in-law when a Marine Corps jet slammed into the family's house said Tuesday he did not blame the pilot, who ejected and survived.

"Please pray for him not to suffer from this accident," a distraught Dong Yun Yoon told reporters gathered near the site of Monday's crash of an F/A-18D jet in San Diego's University City community.

"He is one of our treasures for the country," Yoon said in accented English punctuated by long pauses while he tried to maintain his composure.

"I don't blame him. I don't have any hard feelings. I know he did everything he could," said Yoon, flanked by members of San Diego's Korean community, relatives and members from the family's church. Watch Yoon discuss relatives' death »

Authorities said four people died when the jet crashed into the Yoon family's house while the pilot was trying to reach nearby Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. Another, unoccupied house also was destroyed.

Yoon named the victims as his infant daughter Rachel, who was born less than two months ago; his 15-month-old daughter Grace; his wife, Young Mi Yoon, 36; and her 60-year-old mother, Suk Im Kim, who he said had come to the United States from Korea recently to help take care of the children.

Fighting back tears, he said of his daughters: "I cannot believe that they are not here right now."

"I know there are many people who have experienced more terrible things," Yoon said. "But, please, tell me how to do it. I don't know what to do."

Marine Corps authorities said the pilot, whose name was not released, was hospitalized after he parachuted from the jet, and an investigation into the cause of the crash has been launched.

The jet had just performed landing training on a Navy aircraft carrier before the pilot reported having trouble, according to the Marine Corps. Authorities described the jet as disabled.

Three bodies -- those of two adults and an infant -- were recovered hours after the crash on Monday. The fourth body -- that of a child -- was recovered Tuesday as firefighters sifted through the rubble of the Yoon house.

Authorities said they did not expect to find any other victims of the crash.

Yoon's minister, Daniel Shin, told reporters the Yoon family had moved into the house a little more than a month ago. He said Yoon came to the United States in 1989 and had since become a naturalized citizen. Yoon works as manager of "a variety store -- a store where they sell a variety of things," Shin said.

Yoon's wife came to the United States about four years ago, Shin said.

Yoon spoke softly when he talked about his wife.

"It was God's blessing that I met her about four years ago. She was a lovely wife and mother," he said.

His voice fading, he added: "She loves me and babies. I just miss her so much."

The Marine Corps said Tuesday it would take "a minimum of five to seven working days" to clean up the crash site.

San Diego resident Ian Lerner said he was heading to lunch at a shopping center about a half-mile from the neighborhood of about 20 homes when he saw the jet flying low.

"It was, oh, gosh, maybe a couple of hundred feet off the ground. And it was quiet; I think the engine was off," Lerner said.iReport.com: See Lerner's photos

"Then all of a sudden, we saw the canopy of the jet explode and go up, and then we saw the pilot blast out of the plane and the parachute open," Lerner said. Watch a witness describe the pilot's main concern »

Another witness said the jet was flying at a low altitude and "just spiraled, right out of [the movie] 'Top Gun.' "

A photograph taken at the crash site showed the pilot, after ejection, sitting on the front lawn, making a call on his cell phone before he was taken to a hospital. Watch burning debris near crash site »

The pilot was the only occupant of the two-seat aircraft, according to the Marine Corps.

The Union-Tribune spoke with Steve Diamond, a retired naval aviator who said he found the pilot in a tree behind a house. He told the paper he helped the man, who Diamond said was a lieutenant in his 20s, down from the tree. See satellite photo showing crash site, airfield »

The pilot told him that after he lost power in one engine, it was decided he would try to get the jet to Miramar on the single working engine, Diamond told the paper.

The pilot was in communication with military air traffic controllers before the jet crashed about two miles from the airfield, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the pilot ejected moments before the crash and landed in a tree. Jason Widmer said he talked to the pilot, who said he had tried to steer the jet from the homes and into a brushy canyon.

"He was pretty shook up and pretty concerned if he had killed anyone," Widmer told San Diego 6. "He had seen his bird go into a house."

A retired general, a pilot who has flown for 40 years and more than 270 missions in Vietnam, said the decision to eject is up to the pilot. F/A-18D planes are very dependable, but any aircraft is subject to error.

That model has two engines, and it can operate with one engine. But if one engine malfunctions, it's possible that a blade can break off and fly into the other engine, causing it to malfunction, too. If both engines are inoperable and the plane descends below 10,000 feet, it's likely the pilot will soon lose control.

When the pilot pulls a ring-like lever, a series of automatic actions is set off: The pilot's harness comes loose, and he is pushed through a canopy, which is rigged to facilitate him breaking through it without causing injury. A pilot can opt to manually activate his parachute, but if he doesn't, the parachute will open on a timer.

The plane would crash randomly once the pilot is no longer in control. See photos of fiery crash site »

Inside a house in the neighborhood, Robert Johnson sat in his living room with his daughter, Heather Certain, and her 2-year-old son, Nicholas, according to the Union-Tribune. They heard the explosion and then saw a giant fireball in the picture window facing their front yard, the newspaper reported. They ran out of the house. Watch aerial footage of crash site »

"The house shook like an earthquake," Johnson said. "I saw the flames right there in front of my house."

When the Super Bowl festivities roll into Tampa late next month, the party blitz and corporate spending that surround the big day may take a hit because of the economic crisis.

Sponsors have been slower to commit. Companies are scaling back plans, carefully watching expenses, bringing fewer guests and pushing back travel bookings. The private party circuit will be missing a few staple destinations, including the annual Sports Illustrated fete.

"The decision making process is just a little slower," Reid Sigmon, executive director of the host committee, said of the efforts to attract sponsors. The committee has reached about 80 percent of its sponsorship goal - a level it has been stuck at since October.

"A lot of companies are kicking the tire, so to speak," he said.

Even so, the Feb. 1 game will sell out. And, to be sure, there will still be plenty of star-studded events: Maxim, ESPN The Magazine, and Penthouse all said they have parties in the works. The Lingerie Bowl, a televised alternative halftime event featuring semi-dressed models, will hold three games and a red-carpet affair. Beer giant Anheuser-Busch (nyse: BUD - news - people ) is sponsoring concerts and other events.

And there will be a bevy of official NFL activities, including the weeklong NFL Experience, which features interactive games and autograph sessions.

The host committee is hoping for 100,000 visitors, the same as in 2001 when Tampa last had the game, but NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the number may drop.

The average price of U.S. gasoline fell 22 cents a gallon during the past two weeks, bringing it to its lowest level in nearly five years, according to a national survey released Sunday.

The average price of regular gasoline Friday was $1.75 a gallon, oil industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said. The price of mid-grade was $1.90 a gallon and the price of premium was $2.02 a gallon.

The last time gas was cheaper was on March 2004, Lundberg said, when the national average for regular was $1.74 a gallon. The all-time high was on July 11, 2008, when the price peaked at $4.11 a gallon.

Of cities surveyed, the nation's lowest price was $1.46 in Cheyenne, Wyo. The highest was $2.54 in Anchorage, Alaska, and the highest in the continental United States was $2.10 on New York's Long Island.

Ten spots where folks have enough money for everyday expenses, and 10 where daily budgets eat up a sizable chunk of incomes.

Shares of Tiffany & Co. slipped to a multi-year low before rebounding on Friday, after an analyst warned that softening consumer spending and declining tourism will hurt the jeweler this year and in 2009.

Tiffany shares rose $1.62, or 9.1 percent, to close at $19.48, after setting a nine-year low of $16.75 earlier in the session.

Tiffany, which posts third-quarter results next week, is being hurt by a slowdown in luxury spending in the U.S. and declining tourism, according to Cowen & Co. analyst Laura Champine.

Champine, who rates the stock "Underperform," also expects a weak economy to hurt results in Japan, Europe and emerging markets.

Looking specifically at Japan, Champine said Tiffany's expectation for same-store sales in the country to decline in the mid-single digits "could be bullish," as Champine expects Japanese consumers will scale back on spending.

"We believe the company's outlook for a low-double-digit increase in total sales dollars for the entire Asia region, including Japan, is unlikely," Champine wrote in a client note.

Champine also said economic data in the U.K. has been weak, and this country accounts for about half of Europe's sales.

"We expect a deteriorating outlook for the company's fiscal 2009 European results," Champine wrote.

Champine said it's likely Tiffany will forecast an outlook for fiscal 2009 below Wall Street expectations next week when reporting quarterly results.

Shares of Tiffany have declined 61.2 percent so far this year.

(CNN) -- The second grenade attack in three days targeted protesters occupying the Thai prime minister's compound in Bangkok early Saturday, local officials said.

The 3 a.m. blast injured eight people, one of them seriously, according to Erawan Rescue Center in Bangkok. The blast comes less than two days after a grenade was fired into the compound, killing one person and wounding 23 others.

One of the key protest leaders, Chamlong Srimuang, said the grenade was launched from the headquarters of the Bangkok Metropolitan police about 500 feet (150 meters) away, The Associated Press reported.

"The grenade was fired from the (police) headquarters. This proves the attackers were government security forces or bad guys who are supported by the government," AP quoted Chamlong as saying at the protest site.

The blast on Thursday was the first fatal assault since supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) seized the Thai government house in August. Other anti-government protesters have been killed in street demonstrations organized by the PAD against the current government.

Protesters claim that the current administration, while democratically elected, acts as a proxy government for one-time Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a bloodless coup in 2006.

He returned to Thailand after the People Power Party (PPP) swept to power the following year.

The protesters have held almost daily demonstrations since May. They seized the government house in August, fortifying it with sandbags, ties and shells of burned-out vehicles.

The PAD had demanded the ouster of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej -- which the country's constitutional court granted in September, saying he'd violated the constitution by appearing as a paid guest on a television cooking show.

But the PPP responded by replacing him with Thaksin's brother-in-law, further inflaming protesters.

Israeli President Shimon Peres (R), his son Chemi Peres (C) and visiting Steven A. Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft Corporation, during Ballmer's stopover in Israel to officially inaugurate the company's R&D center

The number of résumés being e-mailed to Jobinfo, a leading Israeli high-tech recruitment company, has jumped by more than 50% in the past few weeks. Most are from recently laid-off workers in an industry that until not long ago was facing a manpower shortage. Several thousand have lost their jobs since the beginning of this month, and the number grows daily as the global recession starts to bite into Israel's largest export industry.

Local powerhouses like software billing company Amdocs (DOX), telecom software provider Comverse Technologies (CMVT.F), and optical inspection company Orbotech (ORBK) already have announced plans to trim hundreds from their workforces. The situation at the country's 2,000-odd startups is not much better.

"It's not as bad as 2001 yet, but if the current momentum continues we'll soon get there," predicts Ilana Achimeir, the chief executive of Jobinfo. The recruitment company also is being inundated with e-mails from high-tech workers whose companies have not yet cut back but are rumored to be on shaky ground.

Teach for Israel?

In an effort to cope with the rise in unemployment and a sharp drop in growth, Israeli Finance Minister Ronni Bar-On announced a $5.5 billion government stimulus plan on Nov. 19 that includes $100 million in new R&D funds for the high-tech industry. The plan also provides incentives for fired high-tech workers—many of whom are unlikely to find other jobs in industry—to be hired as teachers in science, math, and computers.

Until this summer the major concern of the local high-tech industry was the strength of the shekel (BusinessWeek.com, 7/23/08). But since peaking in July, the currency has dropped by more than 20% against the U.S. dollar. Nowadays the emphasis is focused instead on falling sales.

In October, Israeli high-tech exports fell more than 18% on an annualized basis—the first such drop in years. (High-tech exports accounted for 41% of Israel's $31 billion in industrial exports in the first nine months.) A survey by Bank Hapoalim (POLI.TA) predicts the downward trend will continue in the months to come, as global recession suppresses demand in Israel's major export markets, the U.S., Western Europe, and the Far East.

Even companies still holding their own are being far more cautious because of continued uncertainty. "As part of a consolidation following an acquisition, we've closed an R&D facility in France, cut back at our Swiss operation, and imposed an across-the-board wage freeze in an effort to cut costs," says Eli Ayalon, chairman and CEO of DSP Group (DSPG), a leading chipmaker for cordless devices from consumer-electronics giants such as Panasonic (PC) and Uniden (6815.T). The Herzliya-based company implemented the cost-savings measures even though it reported record results for the third quarter.