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Government

Submission + - Got questions for FDA on medical device security? Send 'em in! (secure-medicine.org) 1

Submitted by
chicksdaddy
chicksdaddy writes: "I will be moderating a federal panel that will brief the NIST ISPAB (Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board) on the recently published GAO report on medical device security.
Do you have a burning question about the security of medical devices (including implantable medical devices)? If so, please send them along or post as comments. Thanks!"

Submission + - Stolen Maple Syrup found and returned to strategic reserve (go.com)

Submitted by bmxeroh
bmxeroh writes: Remember the tragic maple syrup heist? Police have seized more than 600 barrels of maple syrup they say are related to the missing syrup. It was transported back to Quebec via a 16 tractor trailer, heavily guarded (and presumably heavily armed) convoy Wednesday.
Advertising

Submission + - US Television Network CW Embeds Smartphone in Magazine Ads (g4tv.com)

Submitted by Revotron
Revotron writes: Readers of Entertainment Weekly might be shocked to find their magazine is a good bit heavier than normal this week. US-based broadcaster CW placed an ad in Entertainment Weekly which uses a fully-functional 3G Android smartphone, a T-Mobile SIM card, and a specialized app to display short video advertisements along with the CW Twitter feed. Writers at Mashable were willing to geek out with a Swiss Army knife and a video camera to give us all the gory details as they tore it down piece-by-piece to discover the inner workings of CW's new ad.
Google

Submission + - FTC Releases Google Privacy Audit, Blacks Out The Details (securityledger.com)

Submitted by
chicksdaddy
chicksdaddy writes: "Google could tell you about its privacy practices except, well....they're private. That's the conclusion privacy advocates are drawing after the Federal Trade Commission took a black marker to an independent audit of the company's privacy practices before releasing it to the group EPIC in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Security Ledger is reporting that the FTC released a copy of a Price Waterhouse Coopers audit of Google that was mandated as part of a settlement with the FTC over complaints following a 2010 complaint by EPIC over privacy violations in Google Buzz, a now-defunct social networking experiment. However, the agency acceded to Google requests to redact descriptions of the search giant’s internal procedures and the design of its privacy program."

Submission + - ADTRAN releases technology allowing 100 Mbps LANs over legacy phone wiring (yahoo.com)

Submitted by
patrick_price
patrick_price writes: "Today, ADTRAN announced the release of a new technology called ActivReach—now available on its new NetVanta 1535P gigabit Ethernet switch—capable of delivering 100 Mbps (symmetric) Ethernet data connectivity and PoE over long distances (up to 1200 ft.) of existing 4-pair, 2-pair, or 1-pair of CAT5, CAT3, or legacy analog phone wiring. ActivReach allows for the delivery of VoIP or data connectivity no matter what type of existing cabling infrastructure is already in place. Furthermore, because the NetVanta 1535P supports both standard 10/100/1000Base-T and ActivReach, business can build networks using legacy-wiring today and upgrade to gigabit connectivity later once new cabling infrastructure is installed without replacing the switch."
Network

Submission + - Pisces vs Tor: Improved onion routing using Facebook & social media validati (patexia.com)

Submitted by
ericjones12398
ericjones12398 writes: "Imagine a future where Facebook could actually help you become more anonymous online. Where the more people you connect with online, the safer you are. Where your vast social network acts as a cushion between you and malicious users. If the team behind Pisces has its way, this unlikely scenario could actually become a reality."
China

Submission + - Will Your Next iPhone Be Built By Robots (itworld.com)

Submitted by
itwbennett
itwbennett writes: "Foxconn has ambitious plans to deploy a million-robot army on its assembly lines. But while robots already perform some basic tasks, when it comes to the more delicate assembly work, humans still have the edge. George Zhang, senior principal scientist with ABB, a major vendor of industrial robots, thinks Foxconn will eventually replace human workers for much of its electronic assembly, but probably not in time for the iPhone 6. For now, humans are still a cheaper and more practical choice."
Windows

Submission + - FedEx CIO Sees Analytics, Sensors, Windows 8 as the Future (slashdot.org)

Submitted by
Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: "According to FedEx CIO Rob Carter, that need to analyze events in real time has resulted in an effort to “radically” decompose monolithic applications into sets of core granular services, which the company will then mash into any number of analytics applications. The ultimate goal: a matrix of IT services that functions with the speed and flexibility of a brain, freeing FedEx from a system dependent on files strewn across any number of databases kept on disk storage systems too slow to support advanced, real-time analytic applications.

Much of FedEx’s data comes from sensors, including a new SensaWare service that involves placing active sensors inside boxes containing high-value merchandise. Rather than wait to be scanned, these sensors actively send out telemetry data covering everything from the package’s traveling speed to whether any light has penetrated its packaging (the latter would suggest some sort of issue has occurred).

Longer term, Carter expects to make all that data more readily available via application programming interfaces (APIs) that would allow customers to apply their own analytics applications against the data. Within FedEx, the company’s applications are all connected to a common message bus that allows applications to publish and subscribe to any source of relevant data.

Those capabilities will prove critical as modern enterprise applications evolve to broker data between services. In fact, it’s a core capability embedded in Windows 8. “This is one reason we’re actually excited about a new Windows platform in a very long time,” Carter said. Because the operating system now manages the brokering between sources of data, the complexity of building composite applications that access multiple data should be significantly reduced."
Science

Submission + - Humans Have Been Responsible for Greenhouse Gases Since the Roman Empire (medicaldaily.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: At this point, greenhouse gas emissions, and humans' culpability for them, are as close to a fact as science can get. Researchers had assumed that humans' role in creating greenhouse gases began in during the Industrial Revolution. But Celia Sapart, from the Netherlands' Utrecht University, and her colleagues have found evidence that humans have played a role in the creation of greenhouse gas emissions since the time of the Roman Empire.
What's more, they believe that their findings may mean that scientists should rethink climate change models that did not take human involvement into consideration before the nineteenth century.

Submission + - Recording of Recently Shut Down Telemarketers in Action (wordpress.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Just yesterday, the FTC, in conjunction with other government agencies, shut down an international telemarketing scam. A recent video has surfaced showing them in action, trying to scam one of the principals of a Canadian web start-up. Watch the scammers lie through their teeth to convince their "victim" that they need to buy a lifetime subscription to their anti-virus product.
Microsoft

Submission + - The website for B&N's new Nook Media sub already belongs to someone else (the-digital-reader.com)

Submitted by Nate the greatest
Nate the greatest writes: Do you remember when Netflix decided to spin off the DVD service as Qwikster, only they forgot to check the related Twitter account first? B&N didn't quite goof that badly today, but they came close. It turns out NookMedia.com is registered to a Swedish software developer, and so is the Twitter handle. Mattias Hallqvist could not be reached for comment so we don't know yet of he likes being the new face of B&N ebook efforts.
Open Source

Submission + - Linux 3.7 Kernel to Support Multiple ARM Platforms (paritynews.com)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: The yet to be released Linux 3.7 kernel is getting exciting by the day prior to its release as it has been announced that the kernel will be supporting multiple-ARM System on Chips (SoCs) / platforms. Up until now there is a separate Linux kernel build for each of the ARM platform or SoCs, which is one of the several problems when it comes to ARM based Linux. The merging of ARM multi-platform support into Linux 3.7 will now put an end to this problem thus enabling the new kernel to not only target multiple platforms but, also be more in line with its x86 counterpart.
Hardware

Submission + - Grip UI may be the cure for huge smartphones screens (extremetech.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: At CEATEC Japanese telecom NTT Docomo is showing off a new user interface dubbed "Grip UI". As the name implies, Grip UI runs on a smartphone that’s equipped with side-mounted pressure sensors. One of Docomo’s goals for Grip UI is to add ways for users to control cell phones with just one hand. With modern phones you’re generally limited to using your thumb for navigation and selection. The trend towards longer, wider phones actually makes this a bigger problem and Grip UI could help solve it.
Space

Submission + - New study shows Universe still expanding on schedule 1

Submitted by
The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: "A century ago, astronomers (including Edwin Hubble) discovered the Universe was expanding. Using the same methods — but this time with observations from an orbiting infrared space telescope — a new study confirms this expansion, and nails the rate with higher precision than done before. If you're curious, the expansion rate found was 74.3 +/- 2.1 kilometers per second per megaparsec — almost precisely in line with previous messureents."
Books

Submission + - Google, Book Publishers Settle Seven Year-Long Scanning Lawsuit (ibtimes.com)

Submitted by
redletterdave
redletterdave writes: "After seven long years of litigation, Google Inc. and the Association of American Publishers have reached an agreement to settle over the search giant’s book-scanning project, which will allow publishers to choose whether or not they want their books, journals and publications digitized by Google and accessed via its Google Library Project. The agreement, according to the two companies, acknowledges the rights and interests of copyright holders, so US publishers can choose to remove their books and journals digitized by Google for its Library Project, or choose to keep their publications available. For those that keep their works online with Google, those publishers will be able to keep a digital copy for their own use and sell their publications via the Google Play marketplace."

Submission + - Best Open Communications Set Up for my Office

Submitted by earthwormgaz
earthwormgaz writes: Hello Slashdot, I've started at a small company and our phone system is crusty, old and awful. We've got email hosted elsewhere on POP/IMAP, and we've got no groupware. The server here is Windows small business whatever it is and Exchange isn't set up, but I've put CentOS on it in a VM, and I'd like to do everything using open standards and open source where possible.

I've been looking at SOGO — http://www.sogo.nu/english.html
And these phones — http://www.avaya.com/uk/product/ip-office

What are my chances of getting all this stuff working together? What other suggestions have people got a for a small office and communications?
Hardware

Submission + - The CIA and Jeff Bezos bet $30 million on quantum computing company (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The CIA's investment fund, In-Q-Tel, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos have invested $30 million in a Canadian company that claims to build quantum computers, reports Technology Review in a detailed story on why that startup, D-Wave, appears to be attracting serious interest after years of skepticism from experts. A spokesman for In-Q-Tel says that intelligence agencies "have many complex problems that tax classical computing architecture", a feeling apparently strong enough to justify a bet on a radically different, and largely unproven, approach to computing.
Transportation

Submission + - We Don't Need More Highways

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "When it comes to infrastructure, politicians usually prefer shiny new projects over humdrum repairs. A brand-new highway is exciting: There’s a ribbon-cutting, and there’s less need to clog up existing lanes with orange cones and repair crews. So it’s not surprising that 57 percent of all state highway funding goes toward new construction, often stretching out to the suburbs, even though new roads represent just 1.3 percent of the overall system. Now Brad Plumer writes in the Washington Post that many transportation reformers think this is a wrong-headed approach and that we should focus our dollars on fixing and upgrading existing infrastructure rather than continuing to build sprawling new roads). UCLA economist Matthew Kahn and the University of Minnesota’s David Levinson made a more detailed case for a “fix-it first” strategy. They noted that, at the moment, federal highway spending doesn’t get subjected to strict cost-benefit analysis, and governments often build new roads when they arguably shouldn’t (PDF). And that’s to say nothing of data suggesting that poor road conditions are a “significant factor” in one-third of all fatal crashes, and cause extra wear and tear on cars. "When a highway gets clogged, states find it more palatable to simply build new lanes rather than, say, put in place congestion fees — even though research has found that widening highways does little to alleviate traffic jams," concludes Plumer. "There’s a strong policy case that we could stand to build fewer new highways out to the suburbs, at least for the time being.""

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