Share | RSS | Gadgets | Home

« < 1 2 3 4 5 > »

DARPA Funding a $50 Drone-Droppable Spy Computer Jan 27 2012 22:56:00	Slashdot
DARPA Funding a $50 Drone-Droppable Spy Computer Sparrowvsrevolution writes "At the Shmoocon security conference, researcher Brendan O'Connor plans to present the F-BOMB, or Falling or Ballistically-launched Object that Makes Backdoors. Built from just the disassembled hardware in a commercially-available PogoPlug mini-computer, a few tiny antennae, eight gigabytes of flash memory and some 3D-printed plastic casing, the F-BOMB serves as 3.5"-by-4"-by-1" spy computer. With a contract from DARPA, O'Connor has designed the cheap gadgets to be spy... Read the full article on Slashdot »
North Star May Be Wasting Away Jan 27 2012 22:34:00	Slashdot
North Star May Be Wasting Away sciencehabit writes "The North Star, a celestial beacon to navigators for centuries, may be slowly shrinking, according to a new analysis of more than 160 years of observations. The data suggest that the familiar fixture in the northern sky is shedding an Earth's mass worth of gas each year." Read the full article on Slashdot »
Flaw In YouTube Takedown Process Exposed Jan 27 2012 22:14:00	Slashdot
Flaw In YouTube Takedown Process Exposed New submitter BraveThumb writes "One independent rap group found it impossible to post their song on YouTube. When they tried to put up their video, they were informed that the copyright belonged to Universal Music, even though the rap group wasn't signed to any label. Another group working with Universal had used the music in a video of their own, which then accidentally leaked online. YouTube's filtering software then blocked the original. The Hollywood Reporter shares what happened and conclu... Read the full article on Slashdot »
When Viruses Infect Worms Jan 27 2012 21:33:00	Slashdot
When Viruses Infect Worms An anonymous reader writes "Bitdefender reports that there exist viruses which, when they encounter other viruses, will merge and combine effects so that they create a new virus. 'A virus infects executable files; and a worm is an executable file. If the virus reaches a PC already compromised by a worm, the virus will infect the exe files on that PC — including the worm. When the worm spreads, it will carry the virus with it. Although this happens unintentionally, the combined features fro... Read the full article on Slashdot »
The ACTA Fight Returns: What Is At Stake & What You... Jan 27 2012 20:51:00	Slashdot
The ACTA Fight Returns: What Is At Stake & What You Can Do An anonymous reader writes "The reverberations from the SOPA fight continue to be felt in the U.S. and elsewhere, but it is the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement that has captured increasing attention this week. Several months after the majority of ACTA participants signed the agreement, most European Union countries formally signed the agreement yesterday (notable exclusions include Germany, the Netherlands, Estonia, Cyprus and Slovakia). Michael Geist has a full rundown on what is at stake a... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Bill Gates Gives $750M To AIDS Fund Jan 27 2012 20:29:00	Slashdot
Bill Gates Gives $750M To AIDS Fund redletterdave writes "Microsoft chairman and philanthropist Bill Gates pledged $750 million to the troubled global AIDS fund on Thursday and urged governments to continue their support to save lives. Since the fund was launched 10 years ago, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has given $1.4 billion to the charity, having already contributed $650 million prior to the latest donation. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria accounts for around a quarter of international financ... Read the full article on Slashdot »
FBI Building App To Scrape Social Media Jan 27 2012 20:08:00	Slashdot
FBI Building App To Scrape Social Media Trailrunner7 writes "The FBI is in the early stages of developing an application that would monitor sites such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as various news feeds, in order to find information on emerging threats and new events happening at the moment. The tool would give specialists the ability to pull the data into a dashboard that also would include classified information coming in at the same time. One of the key capabilities of the new application, for which the FBI has sent out a solici... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Russian Rocket Fleet Grounded Again Jan 27 2012 19:24:00	Slashdot
Russian Rocket Fleet Grounded Again Velcroman1 writes "Failed pressure chamber tests have forced Russia to postpone two manned launches to the International Space Station — echoing a 2011 situation that left the country's space transport vehicles grounded and led to speculation that scientists may be forced to abandon the orbiting space base. Six astronauts are currently aboard the ISS including two Americans: Commander Dan Burbank and Flight Engineer Don Pettit. 'There is plenty of margin for the current space station crew ... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Mars Rover Opportunity Turns 8 Jan 27 2012 19:01:00	Slashdot
Mars Rover Opportunity Turns 8 New submitter el borak writes "Never mind all the talk about the revival of the American auto industry. What may be the greatest car the U.S. has ever built is currently a tidy 78 million miles (125m km) away from this world — resting on the edge of Endeavour crater in the southern hemisphere of Mars. It was on January 25, 2004 that the rover Opportunity bounced down on Mars for a mission designed to last a minimum of three months and a maximum of just a year or two."Read more of this ... Read the full article on Slashdot »
ReDigi Defends Used Digital Music Market Jan 27 2012 18:41:00	Slashdot
ReDigi Defends Used Digital Music Market NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "ReDigi has fired back, opposing Capitol Records's motion for a preliminary injunction. In his opposition declaration, ReDigi's CTO Larry Rudolph explains in detail (PDF) how the technology employed by ReDigi's used digital music marketplace effects transfer of a music file without copying, but by modifying the record locator in an 'atomic transaction,' and how it verifies that only a single instance of a unique file can enter the ReDigi cloud system. ReDigi's opposit... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Man Who Downloaded Bomb Recipes Jailed For 2 Years Jan 27 2012 18:00:00	Slashdot
Man Who Downloaded Bomb Recipes Jailed For 2 Years chrb writes "Asim Kauser, a 25-year-old British man, has been jailed for two years and three months for downloading recipes on how to make bombs and the toxin ricin. Police discovered the materials on a USB stick Asim's father gave to them following a burglary at the Kauser family home. Asim pled guilty and claimed that he only downloaded the materials because he was curious. A North West Counter-Terrorism Unit spokesman said, 'I also want to stress that this case is not about policing people's ... Read the full article on Slashdot »
AT&T Threatening To Raise Rates After Merger Failure Jan 27 2012 17:18:00	Slashdot
AT&T Threatening To Raise Rates After Merger Failure An anonymous reader writes "In the quarterly earnings call following the defeat of his attempted acquisition of T-Mobile, AT&T's CEO Randall Stephenson was quick to lash out at the FCC, claiming that because his company was unable to acquire more spectrum to handle the explosion of mobile data users, AT&T would be forced to raise prices and take additional action against the highest data users. PCMag looked into the other side of the story, finding that 'The FCC spokesman ... pointed out... Read the full article on Slashdot »
America's Future Is In Software, Not Hardware Jan 27 2012 16:35:00	Slashdot
America's Future Is In Software, Not Hardware New submitter tcjr2006 writes "Obama's State of the Union focused on the return of manufacturing jobs to America. This New Yorker story makes the case that the manufacturing jobs aren't going to come back, and he should be focusing on software. Quoting: 'Yes, there are industries where manufacturing jobs can be brought back to America through proper tax incentives and training programs. But maybe he should have talked more about the things that he could do to keep software jobs here. He spoke of... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Iwata Confirms Nintendo Network, New Wii U Controller F... Jan 27 2012 15:52:00	Slashdot
Iwata Confirms Nintendo Network, New Wii U Controller Functions New submitter DeanCubed writes "In a Nintendo investor meeting, CEO Satoru Iwata confirmed a new Nintendo Network for the company's 3DS and upcoming Wii U game systems. This includes multiple user accounts per console (not tied to hardware, a first for Nintendo) and digitally distributed retail software releases for their online store. Iwata also noted that the Wii U's tablet controller will feature NFC (Near Field Communication) functionality, allowing the ability to use figurines and cards to ... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Close Approach By Asteroid 2012 BX34 Jan 27 2012 15:38:00	Slashdot
Close Approach By Asteroid 2012 BX34 An anonymous reader writes with news that asteroid 2012 BX34, 11 meters wide, is in the process of passing within 60,000km of Earth — about a fifth of the distance between the Earth and the Moon. At that size, the asteroid would pose no danger even if it hit the Earth's atmosphere. Read the full article on Slashdot »
Graphene Membranes Superpermeable to Water Jan 27 2012 15:12:00	Slashdot
Graphene Membranes Superpermeable to Water Dr Max writes "Not only is graphene the strongest, thinnest and best conducting material known to man, it is now shown to have superpermeability with respect to water as well. This allows a membrane made with graphene to pass water right through it (PDF), while another atom or molecule (even helium) gets blocked. 'The properties are so unusual that it is hard to imagine that they cannot find some use in the design of filtration, separation or barrier membranes and for selective removal of water,... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Judge Denies Dismissal of No-Poach Conspiracy Case Jan 27 2012 14:30:00	Slashdot
Judge Denies Dismissal of No-Poach Conspiracy Case theodp writes "Testifying before Congress in 2007, Google's HR chief stated: 'We make great efforts to uncover the most talented employees we can find.' But according to the U.S. Dept. of Justice, Google actually went to some lengths to avoid uncovering some of tech's most talented employees, striking up agreements with Apple, Intel, and other corporations to avoid recruiting each other's employees. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh ruled that Google, Apple, Intel, Adobe, Disney, Pixa... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Scientists Organize Elsevier Boycott Jan 27 2012 13:47:00	Slashdot
Scientists Organize Elsevier Boycott An anonymous reader writes "The academic publisher Elsevier has attracted controversy for its high prices, the practice of bundling journals for sale to libraries and its support for legislation such as SOPA and the Research Works Act. Fields medal-winning mathematician Tim Gowers decided to go public with a blog post describing how he'll no longer have anything to do with Elsevier journals, and suggesting that a public website where mathematicians and scientists could register their support for... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Pentagon Drafts Kids To Build Drones and Robots Jan 27 2012 13:05:00	Slashdot
Pentagon Drafts Kids To Build Drones and Robots MrSeb writes "In a world where warfare is fast becoming fielded by remote controlled and autonomous robots, innovation is the key to victory. The most technologically advanced superpower can see more, plan better, and attack from further away than its inferior adversaries. What better way to revolutionize the drone and robotics industry than use the brilliant minds of our children? That's what DARPA and the Defense Department's research and development arm thinks, anyway. The Manufacturing Exper... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Ask Slashdot: Techie Wedding Invitation Ideas? Jan 27 2012 10:21:00	Slashdot
Ask Slashdot: Techie Wedding Invitation Ideas? Qa32 writes "I am getting married in a few months and being a hardcore techie I wanted to come up with some novel way of making my wedding invite that will truly have even my mom say, 'wow, that was cool.' Has anyone out there done anything similar, or have you thought of something similar you'd like to share? I already have a few: have QR codes, have some basic embedded circuit/plate with wire leads that maybe plays a song when you connect a battery, have a way to turn up a display LCD, etc." ... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Team Creates Footwear Recognition System Jan 27 2012 08:59:00	Slashdot
Team Creates Footwear Recognition System Zothecula writes "Facial recognition might be all the rage in giving computer systems the ability to ascertain the identity of individuals — what with most people having different facial features and all. But a team from the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany, has taken a different approach to identify users of touch-based tabletop computers like Microsoft's Surface. Instead of focusing on the face, the team has looked in the opposite direction to develop a system known as Bootst... Read the full article on Slashdot »
EU ACTA Chief Resigns Jan 27 2012 07:55:00	Slashdot
EU ACTA Chief Resigns bs0d3 writes "The EU ACTA chief has resigned, saying, 'This agreement might have major consequences on citizens' lives, and still, everything is being done to prevent the European Parliament from having its say in this matter. That is why today, as I release this report for which I was in charge, I want to send a strong signal and alert the public opinion about this unacceptable situation. I will not take part in this masquerade.' 22 EU members signed the controversial ACTA treaty Thursday in To... Read the full article on Slashdot »
1st 'Super Wi-Fi' Net Goes Live In North Carolina Jan 27 2012 05:45:00	Slashdot
1st 'Super Wi-Fi' Net Goes Live In North Carolina alphadogg writes "Lucky residents of Wilmington, N.C., will be the first in the nation to have access to a 'Super Wi-Fi' network. Officials from New Hanover County, N.C., announced Thursday that they had become the first in the United States to deploy a mobile data network on so-called 'white spaces' spectrum that the FCC first authorized for unlicensed use in 2008." Read the full article on Slashdot »
Twitter Can Now Block Tweets In Specific Countries Jan 27 2012 03:22:00	Slashdot
Twitter Can Now Block Tweets In Specific Countries itwbennett writes "In a blog post on Thursday, Twitter announced that it can now block individual Tweets in specific countries, while leaving them visible in other countries. 'We try to keep content up whenever and wherever we can, and we will be transparent with users when we can't,' the blog said. Twitter will publish requests it receives to block content through its partnership with Chilling Effects." Read the full article on Slashdot »
Scientists Create World's First Atomic X-Ray Laser Jan 27 2012 01:00:00	Slashdot
Scientists Create World's First Atomic X-Ray Laser New submitter newmission33 writes "Government researchers have created the fastest, purest X-ray laser pulses ever achieved, and have fulfilled a 1967 prediction that an atomic scale X-ray laser could be made in the same manner as visible-light lasers, according to a statement released Wednesday. Researchers at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory used the Linac Coherent Light Source to aim a powerful X-ray source beam, a billion times brighter than any previous source, at a capsule of neon ... Read the full article on Slashdot »
US Plummets On World Press Freedom Ranking Jan 27 2012 00:15:00	Slashdot
US Plummets On World Press Freedom Ranking Jeremiah Cornelius writes "Reporters Without Borders released its 2011-2012 global Press Freedom Index. The indicators for press freedom in the U.S. are dramatic, with a downward movement from 27th to 47th in the global ranking, from the previous year. Much of this is correlated directly to the arrest and incarceration of American journalists covering the 'Occupy' protest movements in New York and across the country. 'This is especially troubling as we head into an election year which is sure to... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Pac-Man Is NP-Hard Jan 26 2012 23:33:00	Slashdot
Pac-Man Is NP-Hard MrSeb writes "An Italian researcher with a penchant for retro games — or perhaps just looking for an excuse to play games in the name of science! — has used computational complexity theory to decide, once and for all, just how hard video games are. In a truly epic undertaking, Giovanni Viglietta of the University of Pisa has worked out the theoretical difficulty of 13 old games, including Pac-Man, Doom, Lemmings, Prince of Persia, and Boulder Dash. Pac-Man, with its traversal of spac... Read the full article on Slashdot »
11 New Multi-Planet Star Systems Discovered Jan 26 2012 22:50:00	Slashdot
11 New Multi-Planet Star Systems Discovered astroengine writes "The number of known multi-planetary star systems has just tripled. What's more, the Kepler space telescope science team has just announced that they have doubled the number of confirmed exoplanetary sightings made by the observatory. Some of the newly discovered worlds are only 1.5 times the size of Earth, while others are bigger than Jupiter. Fifteen exoplanets are between Earth and Neptune in size, but further observations will be needed to determine if any have a rocky sur... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Railroad Association Says TSA's Hacking Memo Was Wrong Jan 26 2012 22:09:00	Slashdot
Railroad Association Says TSA's Hacking Memo Was Wrong McGruber writes "Wired reports that the American Association of Railroads is refuting the U.S. Transportation Security Administration memorandum that said hackers had disrupted railroad signals. In fact, 'There was no targeted computer-based attack on a railroad,' said AAR spokesman Holly Arthur. 'The memo on which the story was based has numerous inaccuracies.' The TSA memo was subject of an earlier Slashdot story in which Slashdot user currently_awake accurately commented on the true nature of... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Jailbreaking Could Soon Become Illegal Again Jan 26 2012 21:25:00	Slashdot
Jailbreaking Could Soon Become Illegal Again Diggester writes "Back in July 2010, the United States government approved a few exemptions in a federal law which made jailbreaking/rooting of electronic devices (iPhones and Android devices) legal. The court ruling stated that every three years, the exemptions have to be renewed considering they don't infringe any copyrighted material. The three-year period is due to expire and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is looking to get the exemptions renewed. In order to do so, they have filed... Read the full article on Slashdot »
For Sinclair Fans, The ZX81 Lives On Jan 26 2012 20:41:00	Slashdot
For Sinclair Fans, The ZX81 Lives On An anonymous reader writes "The ZX81 Museum was set-up to preserve and showcase a private collection of original Sinclair branded ZX81 hardware, software and literature. The museum has since expanded to include ZX81 software from other publishers of the time and a variety of other ZX81 peripherals and reference books. The collection dates from 1981 to 1983 and features the complete Sinclair-branded software series. The activities of the museum are regularly reported via Twitter, along with updat... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Yahoo's Project To Disrupt Mobile Publishing Jan 26 2012 20:00:00	Slashdot
Yahoo's Project To Disrupt Mobile Publishing waderoush writes "Right now, content publishers who want to reach readers through dedicated mobile apps have to hire a separate engineering team to build each app — one for iOS (based on Objective-C), another for Android (Java), a third for Windows Phone (C#), etc. Yahoo's Platform Technology Group is working on an alternative: a set of JavaScript and HTML-based tools that would handle core UI and data-management tasks inside mobile apps for any operating system, moving developers closer t... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Object Lesson in Non-Transparency At Energy.gov Jan 26 2012 19:19:00	Slashdot
Object Lesson in Non-Transparency At Energy.gov Harperdog writes "Dawn Stover recounts her attempts to access information at energy.gov, the U.S. Energy Department's 'cutting-edge, interactive information platform,' which apparently isn't any of those things. Especially frustrating were her attempts to locate important documents related to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. An interesting read for anyone interested in true government transparency." Read the full article on Slashdot »
Xbox 720 Might Reject Used Games Jan 26 2012 18:36:00	Slashdot
Xbox 720 Might Reject Used Games silentbrad writes "Online passes are a recent staple in staving off used sales. Limiting what used buyers can access is a protective measure for publishers, much to the chagrin of parts of the gaming community. Chris Kohler of Wired argues that the death of used games is inevitable, and passes are the first step toward something exactly like a native anti-used game something integrated into consoles. He notes, of course, that digital is the future of buying games, but in the meantime we may be l... Read the full article on Slashdot »
ACTA Signed By 22 EU Countries Jan 26 2012 17:54:00	Slashdot
ACTA Signed By 22 EU Countries First time accepted submitter azrael29a writes "22 EU members signed the controversial ACTA treaty today in Tokyo. However, the signatures of the EU member states and the EU itself will count for nothing unless the European Parliament gives its approval to ACTA in June." Read the full article on Slashdot »
Top Google Executives Approved Illegal Drug Ads Jan 26 2012 17:12:00	Slashdot
Top Google Executives Approved Illegal Drug Ads Hugh Pickens writes "PC Magazine reports that the U.S. government used convicted con artist David Whitaker, owner of an online business selling steroids and human growth hormone to U.S. consumers, to help federal agents in a sting operation against Google when he began advertising with Google with advertisements that included the statement 'no prescription needed,' clearly violating U.S. laws. Google's settlement with the U.S. government for $500 million blamed AdWords sales by Canadian pharmaci... Read the full article on Slashdot »
WikiLeaks Cable: NASDAQ Folded To Chinese Pressure Jan 26 2012 16:30:00	Slashdot
WikiLeaks Cable: NASDAQ Folded To Chinese Pressure jjp9999 writes "A WikiLeaks cable reveals that the NASDAQ folded to pressure from the Chinese regime and kicked out a U.S.-based Chinese TV network, NTD TV. The Chinese Communist Party has been trying to block this station for years now, since it's one of the few major Chinese media that refuses to censor its content. Although they're blocked in Mainland China, they broadcast in with satellites. The timing of the incident aligns well with other actions launched by the CCP against the TV station.... Read the full article on Slashdot »
O2 Fixes 'Accidental' Leak of Phone Numbers Jan 26 2012 16:09:00	Slashdot
O2 Fixes 'Accidental' Leak of Phone Numbers judgecorp writes "British mobile operator O2 says it has stopped sharing users phone numbers with all websites, and says the breach was an accident. Yesterday, users found that the operator was automatically passing their mobile numbers to any site they visited, while using O2's mobile network," Read the full article on Slashdot »
NASA Releases New High-Definition Image of Earth Jan 26 2012 15:48:00	Slashdot
NASA Releases New High-Definition Image of Earth New submitter klchoward writes "Working for NOAA, I have been really pleased to see the weather data from the new Suomi NPP satellite coming into our computer models already but have been blown away by its capability to take stunning high-definition images of our planet. See the article at Huffington Post or go straight to the image at NASA's website." Reader derekmead has some images from further afield, too: these beautiful images of Mars come from NASA's High Resolution Imaging Science Experi... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Hawaiian Bill Would Force ISPs to Track Users' Web Hist... Jan 26 2012 15:07:00	Slashdot
Hawaiian Bill Would Force ISPs to Track Users' Web Histories For 2 Years New submitter mazinger writes "In Hawaii, a bill has been proposed to retain data on Internet users and the sites they visit. Apparently, there is also no requirement for a warrant to obtain the information from service providers. The bill affects not only ISPs but also coffee shops and anyone providing Internet access." Read the full article on Slashdot »
Stanford Online Courses Delayed; More Time To Sign Up Jan 26 2012 14:43:00	Slashdot
Stanford Online Courses Delayed; More Time To Sign Up mikejuk writes "Online Computer Science classes that have attracted tens of thousands of students have been put back for a couple of weeks. Is this on account of Sebastian Thrun's resignation from Stanford? Whatever the reason, providing certificates for online students seems to be a real point of contention. James Plummer, dean of Stanford's School of Engineering, said 'I think it will actually be a long time, maybe never, when actual Stanford degrees would be given for fully online work by any... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Symantec Tells Customers To Stop Using pcAnywhere Jan 26 2012 14:24:00	Slashdot
Symantec Tells Customers To Stop Using pcAnywhere Orome1 writes "In a perhaps not wholly unexpected move, Symantec has advised the customers of its pcAnywhere remote control application to stop using it until patches for a slew of vulnerabilities are issued. If the attackers place a network sniffer on a customer's internal network and have access to the encryption details, the pcAnywhere traffic — including exchanged user login credentials — could be intercepted and decoded. If the attackers get their hands on the cryptographic key ... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Candidate Gingrich Pushes a Moon Base, Other Space Init... Jan 26 2012 13:42:00	Slashdot
Candidate Gingrich Pushes a Moon Base, Other Space Initiatives New thomas.kane writes "Newt Gingrich announced yesterday, while visiting Florida's Space Coast, a visionary plan for the future of space travel. He suggested a combination of the current private incentives and a government funded section, developing a moon base, commercial near earth orbit, and continuous propulsion systems to better reach Mars." "Visionary" seems an awfully positive spin on it; Gingrich is not the first President or presidential candidate to propose revisiting the moon —... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Foreign Data Unsafe From US Patriot Act, Says American ... Jan 26 2012 13:05:00	Slashdot
Foreign Data Unsafe From US Patriot Act, Says American Law Firm natecochrane writes "A prestigious law firm warns non-U.S. businesses their data is unsafe from costly and invasive raids by American law enforcement even if they host their data in their own countries. The wide interpretation of the USA Patriot Act ensures U.S. cops can legally demand data from almost anyone, anywhere for any reason and countries and their citizens are largely powerless to resist. The advice has resonance with the arrest this week of Kim 'Dotcom' on alleged copyright violations... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Zynga Accused of Cloning Hit Indie iPhone Game Tiny Tower Jan 26 2012 10:36:00	Slashdot
Zynga Accused of Cloning Hit Indie iPhone Game Tiny Tower FrankPoole writes "Indie iPhone game developer Nimblebit is accusing social games giant Zynga of ripping off its popular mobile title Tiny Tower. Nimblebit's Ian Marsh got word out about the similarities between Dream Heights and Tiny Tower with an image that's still making the Twitter rounds. The image is made up of screenshots showing how Dream Heights' interface and gameplay mechanics appear strikingly similar to Tiny Tower's." Read the full article on Slashdot »
OzLog: Unlimited Private Data Retention For Australia? Jan 26 2012 09:22:41	Slashdot
OzLog: Unlimited Private Data Retention For Australia? AHuxley writes "Australia would like to follow the EU down the 'European Directive on Data Retention' path. Law enforcement agencies may have the option to request a log of all a users of interest telco usage without any review or time limits. From the article: 'The proposal — known popularly as ‘OzLog’ — first came to light in June 2010, when AGD confirmed it had been examining the European Directive on Data Retention (PDF) to consider whether it would be beneficial for Australia to adopt a similar regime. The directive requires telcos to record data such as the source, destination and timing of all emails and telephone calls – even including internet telephony.'" Read the full article on Slashdot »
OzLog: Unlimited Private Data Retention For Australia? Jan 26 2012 08:00:00	Slashdot
OzLog: Unlimited Private Data Retention For Australia? AHuxley writes "Australia would like to follow the EU down the 'European Directive on Data Retention' path. Law enforcement agencies may have the option to request a log of all a users of interest telco usage without any review or time limits. From the article: 'The proposal — known popularly as ‘OzLog’ — first came to light in June 2010, when AGD confirmed it had been examining the European Directive on Data Retention (PDF) to consider whether it would be beneficial for ... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Non-Copied Photo Is Ruled Copyright Infringement Jan 26 2012 05:24:00	Slashdot
Non-Copied Photo Is Ruled Copyright Infringement An anonymous reader writes "A UK judge ruled that a photograph inspired by another photograph, but clearly different from it, infringes the original photo's copyright. The two photographs were shot in the same location, have the same subject, and use the same distinctive post-processing treatment. However, the angle and composition are different. From the article: '[The judge] said a difficult decision hinged on a "qualitative assessment of the reproduced elements." He defined Fielder's image a ... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Chromium-Based Spinoffs Worth Trying Jan 26 2012 02:55:00	Slashdot
Chromium-Based Spinoffs Worth Trying snydeq writes "InfoWorld's Serdar Yegulalp takes an in-depth look at six Chromium-based spinoffs that bring privacy, security, social networking, and other interesting twists to Google's Chrome browser. 'When is it worth ditching Chrome for a Chromium-based remix? Some of the spinoffs are little better than novelties. Some have good ideas implemented in an iffy way. But a few point toward some genuinely new directions for both Chrome and other browsers.'" Read the full article on Slashdot »
Revolutionary Wants Technology To Transform Libya Jan 26 2012 01:03:00	Slashdot
Revolutionary Wants Technology To Transform Libya pbahra writes in with the story of Khaled el Mufti, the network-security engineer who was in charge of providing telecommunications for the Libyan revolution. "It isn't often you get the chance to meet a real revolutionary. It is a term cheapened by misuse, but Khaled el Mufti is a revolutionary. It is no exaggeration to say that the role he played in the Libyan uprising last year was crucial; had he and his telecoms team failed, it isn't hard to think that Col. Muammar Gadhafi might still be in... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Autonomous Vehicles and the Law Jan 26 2012 00:17:00	Slashdot
Autonomous Vehicles and the Law Hugh Pickens writes "Google's autonomous cars have demonstrated that self-driving vehicles are now largely workable and could greatly limit human error, but questions of legal liability, privacy and insurance regulation have yet to be addressed. Simple questions, like whether the police should have the right to pull over autonomous vehicles, have yet to be answered and legal scholars and government officials warn that society has only begun wrestling with laws required for autonomous vehicles. T... Read the full article on Slashdot »
HP To Open Source WebOS Jan 25 2012 23:32:00	Slashdot
HP To Open Source WebOS First time accepted submitter pscottdv writes "This year the artists formerly known as Palm had quite a rough few months with HP dumping the hardware side of their own webOS mobile computing platform – their most recent move, having been announced just last month, is live today: open sourced webOS for all. While the actual main product which will be known as Open webOS 1.0 will not be released until September, they've already got the Enyo piece of the pie available today."Read more of ... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Exploits Emerge For Linux Privilege Escalation Flaw Jan 25 2012 22:46:00	Slashdot
Exploits Emerge For Linux Privilege Escalation Flaw angry tapir writes "Linux vendors are rushing to patch a privilege escalation vulnerability in the Linux kernel that can be exploited by local attackers to gain root access on the system. The vulnerability, which is identified as CVE-2012-0056, was discovered by Jüri Aedla and is caused by a failure of the Linux kernel to properly restrict access to the '/proc//mem' file." Read the full article on Slashdot »
The Web's Worst Privacy Policy Jan 25 2012 22:05:00	Slashdot
The Web's Worst Privacy Policy Sparrowvsrevolution writes "With much of the web upset over about Google's latest privacy policy changes, it's helpful to remember it could be much worse: A search engine called Skipity offers the world's worst privacy policy (undoubtedly tongue-in-cheek), filled with lines like this: 'You may think of using any of our programs or services as the privacy equivalent of living in a webcam fitted glass house under the unblinking eye of Big Brother: you have no privacy with us. If we can use any of ... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Book Review: The Tangled Web Jan 25 2012 21:22:00	Slashdot
Book Review: The Tangled Web brothke writes "In the classic poem Inferno, Dante passes through the gates of Hell, which has the inscription abandon all hope, ye who enter here above the entrance. After reading The Tangled Web: A Guide to Securing Modern Web Applications, one gets the feeling the writing secure web code is akin to Dante's experience." Read below for Ben's review. Read the full article on Slashdot »
Turning the Hayden Planetarium Into a Giant Videogame Jan 25 2012 20:40:00	Slashdot
Turning the Hayden Planetarium Into a Giant Videogame pigrabbitbear writes "Remember your first visit to the planetarium? Neil DeGrasse Tyson does — it was what inspired him to become an astrophysicist in the first place. That same planetarium, now under Tyson's direction, is currently undergoing a transformation the likes of which Neil's young self couldn't have possibly imagined: It's becoming a giant videogame." Read the full article on Slashdot »
Canadian SOPA Could Target YouTube Jan 25 2012 19:58:00	Slashdot
Canadian SOPA Could Target YouTube bs0d3 writes "The music industry is seeking over a dozen changes to Canadian anti-piracy bill C-11, including website blocking, Internet termination for alleged repeat infringers, and an expansion of the "enabler" provision that is supposedly designed to target pirate sites. Meanwhile, the Entertainment Software Association of Canada also wants an expansion of the enabler provision along with further tightening of the already-restrictive digital lock rules. It's concerning that some of these exp... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Android Kinect Projector Interface Jan 25 2012 19:36:00	Slashdot
Android Kinect Projector Interface An anonymous reader writes "A guy who goes by the online handle DDRBoxman decided it would be fun to blow up his Samsung Galaxy Nexus display onto the wall by connecting his phone to a projector. He then connected the whole thing to a PC and, thanks to Microsoft's open-source Kinect platform for Windows, he was able to create a custom ROM that mapped out the phone interface to the Kinect sensors. Pretty neat!" Read the full article on Slashdot »
Federal Judges Wary of Facebook, Twitter Impact On Juries Jan 25 2012 19:15:00	Slashdot
Federal Judges Wary of Facebook, Twitter Impact On Juries coondoggie writes "The impact of social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Google+ and others on federal juries is a concern that judges are frequently taking steps to curb. According to a study 94% of the 508 federal judges who responded said they have specifically barred jurors from any case-connected use of social media." Read the full article on Slashdot »
MIT Media Lab Rolls Out Folding Car Jan 25 2012 18:33:00	Slashdot
MIT Media Lab Rolls Out Folding Car kkleiner writes "You think European cars are small now, wait till the Hiriko takes to the roads in Spain's northern Basque country. The two-seater is about the size of a SmartCar, but when parked, the car can actually fold. After folding the car takes up about a third of a normal parking space. The Hiriko, Basque for 'urban car,' folds as the rear of the car slides underneath its chassis. Every square foot counts." Read the full article on Slashdot »
Firefox Javascript Engine Becomes Single Threaded Jan 25 2012 18:10:00	Slashdot
Firefox Javascript Engine Becomes Single Threaded An anonymous reader writes with news about work on Mozilla's Javascript engine. Quoting Mozilla engineer Luke Wagner's blog: "With web workers in separate runtimes, there were no significant multi-threaded runtime uses remaining. Furthermore, to achieve single-threaded compartments, the platform features that allowed JS to easily ship a closure off to another thread had been removed since closures fundamentally carry with them a reference to their original enclosing scope. Even non-Mozilla Spide... Read the full article on Slashdot »
States Using Cloud Based Voting System For Overseas Cit... Jan 25 2012 17:49:00	Slashdot
States Using Cloud Based Voting System For Overseas Citizens gManZboy writes "If a ballot was lost in the cloud, would anyone know? Several states are using an online balloting website based on Microsoft's Azure cloud-computing platform to allow U.S. voters living overseas to cast their votes via the Web in 2012 primary elections. In addition to a now complete Florida primary, Virginia and California will use the system for their primaries, and Washington state will use it for its caucus. To ensure the ballots are from legitimate voters, people use unique... Read the full article on Slashdot »
KDE 4.8 Released Jan 25 2012 17:30:00	Slashdot
KDE 4.8 Released jrepin writes "The KDE community has released version 4.8 of their Free and open source software bundle. The new version provides many new features, improved stability, and increased performance. Highlights for Plasma Workspaces include window manager optimizations, the redesign of power management, and integration with Activities. The first Qt Quick-based Plasma widgets have entered the default installation of Plasma Desktop, with more to follow in future releases. KDE applications released tod... Read the full article on Slashdot »
2012 Japan Prize Honors Magnet Creator and Cancer Resea... Jan 25 2012 17:11:00	Slashdot
2012 Japan Prize Honors Magnet Creator and Cancer Researchers alphadogg writes with an excerpt from a Network World article: "The 2012 Japan Prize, one of the world's most prestigious science and technology honors, has been awarded to three American medical experts who are fighting cancer as well as to a Japanese inventor whose magnet technology has implications for energy conservation. In years past, the prize (which comes with a $650K purse) has honored computing accomplishments, including last year, when Unix inventors Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson we... Read the full article on Slashdot »
XBMC Running On Raspberry Pi Jan 25 2012 16:51:00	Slashdot
XBMC Running On Raspberry Pi jones_supa writes "The Raspberry Pi Foundation has a news release about Raspberry Pi running XBMC smoothly, turning the board into a media center the size of deck of cards. Looking at Pi's low price, small size and hardware 1080p support, this could make an interesting HTPC project. Included is a video demonstration of the setup. For this to be possible, the XBMC team created a customized version that targets the beefier Raspberry Pi model." Read the full article on Slashdot »
Cinnamon Gnome-Shell Fork Releases Version 1.2 Jan 25 2012 16:29:00	Slashdot
Cinnamon Gnome-Shell Fork Releases Version 1.2 New submitter Novin writes with exciting news from the Cinnamon project. Quoting the release announcements: "Cinnamon 1.2 is out! All APIs and the desktop itself are now fully stable! I hope you'll enjoy the many new features, the desktop effect, desktop layouts, the new configuration tool, the applets, changes, bug fixes, and improvements that went into this release. This is a huge step forward for Cinnamon." The release reintroduces desktop effects, fixes a slew of bugs, and introduces a new ... Read the full article on Slashdot »
New EU Legal Privacy Framework: We're Not Kidding Jan 25 2012 15:48:00	Slashdot
New EU Legal Privacy Framework: We're Not Kidding An anonymous reader writes "Viviane Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission announced today a new regulation for data privacy in Europe (PDF) in replacement of a 1995 Directive. Recently, privacy laws have been under a lot of criticism for their practical inability to ensure a high level of protection to EU citizens. The new data privacy framework will bring a lot of changes: 24 hours security breach notifications, mandatory security assessments, end of notifications to local data priv... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Corporate Boardrooms Open To Eavesdropping Jan 25 2012 15:10:00	Slashdot
Corporate Boardrooms Open To Eavesdropping cweditor writes "One afternoon this month, a hacker toured a dozen corporate conference rooms via equipment that most every company has in those rooms: videoconferencing. Rapid7 says they could 'easily read a six-digit password from a sticky note over 20 feet away from the camera' and 'clearly hear conversations down the hallway from the video conferencing system.' With some systems, they could even capture keystrokes being typed in the room. Teleconferencing vendors defended their security, say... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Google Consolidates Privacy Policies Across Services Jan 25 2012 14:28:00	Slashdot
Google Consolidates Privacy Policies Across Services parallel_prankster writes "The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Google will require users to allow the company to follow their activities across e-mail, search, YouTube, and other services; a radical shift in strategy that is expected to invite greater scrutiny of its privacy and competitive practices. The information will enable Google to develop a fuller picture of how people use its growing empire of Web sites. Consumers will have no choice but to accept the changes. The policy will take... Read the full article on Slashdot »
The Chevy Segway Keeps On Rolling (Video) Jan 25 2012 13:49:00	Slashdot
The Chevy Segway Keeps On Rolling (Video) Back in 2009 G.M. and Segway talked about the P.U.M.A., or Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility vehicle. Now it's the EN-V, which stands for Electric Network Vehicle. G.M. (along with partner Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) debuted the thing in Shanghai in 2010, then displayed it at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show in 2011, and now they're showing it off at auto shows, no doubt hoping to get a lot of buzz going for this two-wheeled wonder, which is supposed to be so loaded ... Read the full article on Slashdot »
The High-Radiation Lives and Risks of Nuclear-Nomad Sub... Jan 25 2012 13:08:00	Slashdot
The High-Radiation Lives and Risks of Nuclear-Nomad Subcontractors Harperdog writes "Gabrielle Hecht has an interesting piece on the subcontracted workers of the nuclear energy industry, in Japan and elsewhere. These workers face far more exposure to radiation than salaried workers; in Japan, 90% of the nuclear workforce is contracted. This is an eye-opening look at a practice that 'carries exceptional risks and implications. And until these are recognized and documented, complex social and physiological realities will continue to be hidden.' A good read, but I... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Australia Likely To Get 18+ Game Rating Jan 25 2012 10:40:00	Slashdot
Australia Likely To Get 18+ Game Rating hypnosec writes "Australia is set to update the age rating system for video games, adding a new 18+ category which should allow for the more violent games to be sold in the country. The current maximum age rating for a console or PC game is 15+. If a title didn't meet the specifications for this age it was denied a rating and was therefore not allowed to go on sale. This didn't necessarily mean the game never hit the shelves, but it could only do if tweaks were made to remove some of the most vi... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Piratbyran Co-Founder Says Stop DDoSing Polish Sites Jan 25 2012 07:38:00	Slashdot
Piratbyran Co-Founder Says Stop DDoSing Polish Sites bs0d3 writes "Since the news was released that Poland will sign ACTA later this month, activists have taken to the streets in protest. Also, Anonymous has aimed their DDoS cannons at Polish websites. A government minister admitted the government had failed to fully consult the public on the issue. Piratbyran Co-Founder Marcin de Kaminski has been following the issue on ACTA in Poland, and agrees with activists that Anonymous' DDoS is hurting the situation. Now the Polish government is trying to ... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Google's SPDY Could Be Incorporated Into Next-Gen HTTP Jan 25 2012 04:41:00	Slashdot
Google's SPDY Could Be Incorporated Into Next-Gen HTTP MojoKid writes "Google's efforts to improve Internet efficiency through the development of the SPDY (pronounced 'speedy') protocol got a major boost today when the chairman of the HTTP Working Group (HTTPbis), Mark Nottingham, called for it to be included in the HTTP 2.0 standard. SPDY is a protocol that's already used to a certain degree online; formal incorporation into the next-generation standard would improve its chances of being generally adopted. SPDY's goal is to reduce web page load tim... Read the full article on Slashdot »
US Embassy Sanctioned Lawsuit Against Aussie ISP iiNet Jan 25 2012 01:45:00	Slashdot
US Embassy Sanctioned Lawsuit Against Aussie ISP iiNet New submitter Elenor writes with this story (excerpted) from TorrentFreak, another nugget gleaned from the cables made public by WikiLeaks: "The Canberra Wikileaks cables have revealed that the U.S. Embassy sanctioned a conspiracy by Hollywood studios to target Australian communications company iiNet through the local court-system, with the aim of establishing a binding common-law precedent which would make ISPs responsible for the unauthorised file-sharing of their customers. Both the location,... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Amateur UAV Pilot Exposes Texas River of Blood Jan 25 2012 00:39:00	Slashdot
Amateur UAV Pilot Exposes Texas River of Blood Presto Vivace writes "Carlton Purvis of Security Management News reports that a tip from an amateur UAV enthusiast 'is what led Texas authorities to open a major criminal investigation into the waste practices of a Dallas meat packing plant.' The photo shows a river of blood." Read the full article on Slashdot »
Apple Announces Most Profitable Quarter in History Jan 24 2012 23:39:00	Slashdot
Apple Announces Most Profitable Quarter in History zacharye writes with an except from an article over at BGR about Apple's quarterly results: " Disappointing' though it may have been to some, the iPhone 4S propelled what is now confirmed to have been the most profitable quarter any technology company has ever recorded. Apple on Wednesday reported record earnings for the December quarter, revealing a profit of $13.06 billion on revenue that surpassed $46 billion. Among technology companies, Apple's fiscal first quarter represents the most profit... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Julian Assange To Host Talk Show Jan 24 2012 22:53:00	Slashdot
Julian Assange To Host Talk Show An anonymous reader writes "Julian Assange has announced he will host a talk show: 'Through this series I will explore the possibilities for our future in conversations with those who are shaping it,' Assange said in his announcement late Monday. 'Are we heading towards utopia or dystopia, and how we can set our paths? This is an exciting opportunity to discuss the vision of my guests in a new style of show that examines their philosophies and struggles in a deeper and clearer way than has been ... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Apple's iBooks EULA Drawing Ire Jan 24 2012 22:10:00	Slashdot
Apple's iBooks EULA Drawing Ire An anonymous reader writes in with one of many articles about the iBooks EULA, this time questioning whether it is even enforceable. Quoting: "The iBooks Author EULA plainly tries to create an exclusive license for Apple to be the sole distributor of any worked created with it, but under the Copyright Act an exclusive license is a 'transfer of copyright ownership,' and under 17 U.S.C. 204 such a transfer 'is not valid unless an instrument of conveyance, or a note or memorandum of the transfer, i... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Psychics Say Apollo 16 Astronauts Found Alien Ship Jan 24 2012 21:55:00	Slashdot
Psychics Say Apollo 16 Astronauts Found Alien Ship astroengine writes "A group called Transception Incorporated, self-described as an Austin, Texas-based psychic R&D operation, sent a letter (PDF) to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden that nominates the Apollo 16 crew for the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. Why? Well, a variety of 'shipwreck elements' on the Moon — described as 'structures, people/aliens, biological technology, and their plight' — were reportedly 'seen' through remote viewing (PDF) by six experts at Transcepti... Read the full article on Slashdot »
The Google+ Name Game Continues Jan 24 2012 21:28:00	Slashdot
The Google+ Name Game Continues theodp writes "'Sticks and stones will break my bones,' the old nursery rhyme goes, 'but names will never hurt me.' Unless, of course, you're on Google+. While touting what it calls a move toward a more inclusive naming policy for Google+, the search giant's Name Policy would still make Sister Aloysius Beauvier smile. Names like 'Doctor Stan Livingston,' 'Bill Smithwick DDS,' and 'Rev. Jim Copley, S. P.' are cited as examples of violations that could cost you your Google+ privileges. And since n... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Apple Has Spent More Than $100 Million Suing Android Ma... Jan 24 2012 21:02:00	Slashdot
Apple Has Spent More Than $100 Million Suing Android Manufacturers Diggester writes with an excerpt from an article at Gizmocrazed about the absurd amount of money Apple has spent suing HTC et al: "The never-ending war on Android has cost Apple more than $100 million, according to latest estimates. While a huge chunk of that money was spent (read wasted) in claims against HTC. So far, 84 claims have been filed against different Android manufacturers (HTC, Samsung, etc.) for patent infringements, out of which only 10 were proved to have been infringed and only o... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Pirate Party Releases Book of Pirate Politics Jan 24 2012 20:46:00	Slashdot
Pirate Party Releases Book of Pirate Politics ktetch-pirate writes "If the SOPA/PIPA blackouts were a wakeup call to many people, then the U.S. Pirate Party has released a book that might help explain some of the issues. The book covers issues such as Corporate Personhood, the 4th Amendment, the history of copyright, and how DRM laws are made. There are even cartoons from Nina Paley throughout to add a bit of humor. DRM-free eBook versions are available to download from the book's site, or you can buy a paperback edition from Amazon for ten... Read the full article on Slashdot »
CRTC Says Rogers Violating Federal Net Neutrality Rules Jan 24 2012 20:05:00	Slashdot
CRTC Says Rogers Violating Federal Net Neutrality Rules beaverdownunder writes "A Canadian CRTC investigation in partnership with Cisco has found that Rogers Communications has violated federal net-neutrality rules by throttling connections related to P2P applications. Rogers has until noon on February 3rd to reply to the accusations or face a hearing." Quoting the letter sent to Rogers: "On the basis of our evidence to date, any traffic from an unidentified time-sensitive application making use of P2P ports will be throttled resulting in noticeable... Read the full article on Slashdot »
MPAA-Dodd Investigation Petition Reaches Goal Jan 24 2012 19:41:00	Slashdot
MPAA-Dodd Investigation Petition Reaches Goal An anonymous reader writes "The petition on 'We the People' website petitioning the administration to investigate Chris Dodd for corruption has reached the required 25,000 votes in two days: now the government has to officially respond to the petition. The petition ... stemmed from Chris Dodd's statement that tried to portray campaign donations as quid-pro-quos for SOPA/PIPA votes." Read the full article on Slashdot »
Microsoft Names Reputed Head of Kelihos Botnet Jan 24 2012 19:23:00	Slashdot
Microsoft Names Reputed Head of Kelihos Botnet wiredmikey writes with an update on Microsoft's takedown of the Kelihos botnet. From the article: "Microsoft is not just taking down botnets; it is taking them down and naming names. In an amended complaint [PDF] filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Microsoft named a man from St. Petersburg, Russia, as the alleged head of the notorious Kelihos botnet. Naming names can be a risky business. Previously, Microsoft alleged Dominique Alexander Piatti, dotFREE Group... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Georgia Bill Would Prohibit Subsidies For Municpal Broa... Jan 24 2012 18:42:00	Slashdot
Georgia Bill Would Prohibit Subsidies For Municpal Broadband McGruber writes "The Associated Press has the news that Georgia State Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers is sponsoring a bill that 'would prevent public broadband providers from paying for communication networks with tax or government revenue.' Senator Rogers claims that 'The private sector is handling this exceptionally well.' Local government officials disagree. Georgia Municipal Association spokeswoman Amy Henderson says 'When cities were getting involved in broadband, it was because private ... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Ask Slashdot: Choosing Anonymous Proxies? Jan 24 2012 18:03:00	Slashdot
Ask Slashdot: Choosing Anonymous Proxies? bradley13 writes "There are lots of anonymous proxies out there, and anyone concerned about their privacy probably uses one for at least some of their web browsing. The Megaupload story highlights the fact that having servers in the USA is not a great idea. There are also other countries one may not want to trust. Oddly, very few proxy services mention where their equipment is located. What anonymous proxy services do you use? What criteria do you use to select them? How paranoid are you, and fo... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Embryonic Stem Cell Retinal Implants Seem Safe, So Far Jan 24 2012 17:40:00	Slashdot
Embryonic Stem Cell Retinal Implants Seem Safe, So Far An anonymous reader writes "A biotechnology company said Monday that results from the world's first human trial using embryonic stem cells to treat eye diseases suggested that the new procedure appears to be safe four months after the cells were injected into the eyes of two blind patients. The study also describes visual improvements in patients, and experts said the findings hold promise for treating blindness in patients with currently incurable conditions like age-related macular degeneratio... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Fighting Rogue Access Points At linux.conf.au Jan 24 2012 17:22:00	Slashdot
Fighting Rogue Access Points At linux.conf.au An anonymous reader writes "Last week's linux.conf.au saw the return of the rogue access points. These are Wi-Fi access points which bear the same SSID as official conference hotspots. Often it might be a simple mistake, but sometimes it's more nefarious. To combat the attacks this year, conference organisers installed a Linux-based Wi-Fi 'intrusion prevention and detection system' supplied by sponsor Xirrius." At most conferences I've been to, I'd be grateful just to be able to get on any acces... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Mozilla Releases Rust 0.1 Jan 24 2012 17:00:00	Slashdot
Mozilla Releases Rust 0.1 MrSeb writes "After more than five years in the pipeline, Mozilla Labs and the Rust community have released the first alpha of the Rust programming language compiler. The Rust language emphasizes concurrency and memory safety, and — if everything goes to plan — is ultimately being groomed to replace C++ as Mozilla's compiled language of choice, with Firefox (or parts of it) eventually being re-written in Rust." Read the full article on Slashdot »
Pirate Bay To Offer Physical Item Downloads Jan 24 2012 16:39:00	Slashdot
Pirate Bay To Offer Physical Item Downloads lukehopewell1 writes "The Pirate Bay is offering users the chance to download and print out real objects using 3D printers in what the pirate site is hailing as 'the future.'" Amir Taaki mentions that among the new "physibles" uploaded to the Pirate Bay are "plans for a tabletop replica for a Warhammer 40k dreadnought that got taken down in December with a DMCA request." Downloadable 3D models have been around for a while; MakerBot users are probably all familiar with the Thingiverse. Couple TPB... Read the full article on Slashdot »
VirtualBSD 9.0 Released Jan 24 2012 16:17:00	Slashdot
VirtualBSD 9.0 Released ReeceTarbert writes "VirtualBSD 9.0 is a desktop-ready FreeBSD 9.0-RELEASE built around the XFCE Desktop Environment for good aesthetics and usability, and is distributed as a VMware appliance (that can also be made to work with VirtualBox) so even non techies can be up and running in minutes. The most common applications, plugins and multimedia codecs are ready since the first boot and chances are that you'll find VirtualBSD very functional right out of the box. However, it should be noted that... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Princeton Team Casts More Doubt On Arsenic DNA Claims Jan 24 2012 15:56:00	Slashdot
Princeton Team Casts More Doubt On Arsenic DNA Claims An anonymous reader writes "A team of researchers reports they can't reproduce the most important claim from 2010's controversial 'arsenic bacteria' paper — they find no arsenic in the bug's DNA. Meanwhile, other scientists are looking at different aspects of the bug and at arsenic in biology in general." Read the full article on Slashdot »
Ask Slashdot: Tips On 2D To Stereo 3D Conversion? Jan 24 2012 15:39:00	Slashdot
Ask Slashdot: Tips On 2D To Stereo 3D Conversion? An anonymous reader writes "I'm interested in converting 2D video to Stereoscopic 3D video — the Red/Cyan Anaglyph type in particular (to ensure compatibility with cardboard Anaglyph glasses). Here's my questions: Which software(s) or algorithms can currently do this, and do it well? Also, are there any 3D TVs on the market that have a high quality 2D-to-3D realtime conversion function in them? And finally, if I were to try and roll my own 2D-to-3D conversion algorithm, where should I star... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Solar Eruption Triggers Strongest Radiation Storm Jan 24 2012 15:13:00	Slashdot
Solar Eruption Triggers Strongest Radiation Storm ForgedArtificer writes "A recent eruption on the sun will be exposing Earth to the strongest radiation storm seen since 2005. [The storm] will potentially disrupt communications and put high-flyers at risk of radiation exposure." Says Spaceweather.com: "On the NOAA scale of radiation storms, this one ranks S3, which means it could, e.g., cause isolated reboots of computers onboard Earth-orbiting satellites and interfere with polar radio communications." According to the Christian Science Monitor... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Ubuntu 12.04 To Include Head-Up Display Menus Jan 24 2012 14:31:00	Slashdot
Ubuntu 12.04 To Include Head-Up Display Menus For the first few years of its existence, it would have been fair to say that Canonical was essentially polishing, packaging and publishing Debian Linux (and Gnome) to create the base Ubuntu desktop, to great acclaim. For the past few years, though, the company has pushed new looks and new applications (cf. Unity and Ubuntu TV), and refused to stick with prettifying existing interfaces. Now, Barence writes with this excerpt from PC Pro: "Ubuntu is set to replace the 30-year-old computer menu sys... Read the full article on Slashdot »
AT&T Caps Netflix Streaming Costs At $68K/Yr Jan 24 2012 13:50:00	Slashdot
AT&T Caps Netflix Streaming Costs At $68K/Yr theodp writes "What would you say if you went to join a gym and were told that it could cost you anywhere from $360 a year to $68,000 a year for the exact same usage? Don't be ridiculous, right? Well, that's really not so different from what the potential costs of streaming video on an AT&T smartphone are. According to AT&T's Data Usage Calculator, 1,440 minutes worth of streaming video consumes 2.81GB, which — if you manage to keep Netflix fired up all day and night — would ... Read the full article on Slashdot »
Timothy Lord Looks at Gas and Electric Smart Cars (Video) Jan 24 2012 13:09:00	Slashdot
Timothy Lord Looks at Gas and Electric Smart Cars (Video) While he was at the International Auto Show in Detroit, Timothy Lord looked at the Tesla Model S, then the CODA electric car. Now he shows us the latest Smart (brand) gas and electric vehicles, including a "concept car" he doesn't think will make it into production. Read the full article on Slashdot »
Why We Should Teach Our Kids To Code Jan 24 2012 10:16:00	Slashdot
Why We Should Teach Our Kids To Code An anonymous reader writes "An article by Andy Young in The Kernel makes the case that lessons in programming should be compulsory learning for modern school kids. He says, 'Computers help us automate and repeat the many complicated steps that make up the search for the answer to some of our hardest problems: whether that's a biologist attempting to model a genome or an office administrator tasked with searching an endless archive of data. The use of tools is a big part of what make us human, an... Read the full article on Slashdot »

« < 1 2 3 4 5 > »