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Businesses

Submission + - Insurance industry could screen-out Psychopaths from Senior Management

Submitted by Freshly Exhumed
Freshly Exhumed writes: Dr. Clive Boddy believes that increasingly fluid corporate career paths have helped psychopaths conceal their disruptive workplace behavior and ascend to previously unattainable levels of authority. Boddy points out psychopaths are primarily attracted to money, status and power, currently found in unparalleled abundance in the global banking sector. As if to prove the point, many of the world's money traders self identify as the "masters of the universe." Solution? Screening with psychological tests. Who would pay for it? The insurance industry, since such bosses-from-hell leave behind vast wakes of psychological wreckage, with payouts to victims usually the result.
Software

Submission + - No, Mozilla did not just kill Firefox x64 for Windows (geek.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Over at TheNextWeb, it’s been reported that Mozilla has “quietly killed” the 64-bit build of Firefox for Windows. TNW’s Emil Protalinski noted in his post that Firefox engineering manager Benjamin Smedberg ”had declared that the 64-bit version of Firefox for Windows would never see the light of day,” but that’s not actually the case. Indeed, the title of the related Bugzilla item tells a different story: “Disable windows 64 builds for now.”

Firefox x64 isn’t dead, it’s just going to disappear from the nightlies at some point in the near future. It will be back some time later in 2013.

Submission + - Google Maps Offering Indoor Floor Plans On Desktop

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Google has been making modifications to its mobile-based Google Maps feature with regular updates, offering a host of options for users. Nonetheless, the company hasn’t forgotten about the desktop version of the feature and now, per reports, Google has announced the introduction of indoor maps support for the desktop version of the Maps.
Facebook

Submission + - Facebook to Eliminate Voting on Privacy Changes (net-security.org)

Submitted by
Orome1
Orome1 writes: "Facebook has announced some proposed updates to their Data Use Policy (how user data is collected and used) and their Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (explains the terms governing use of their services). These updates include new tools for managing Facebook Messages, changes to how they refer to certain products, tips on managing one's timelines, and reminders about what's visible to other people on Facebook. Elliot Schrage, Facebook’s vice president of communications, public policy, and marketing, said: "We found that the voting mechanism, which is triggered by a specific number of comments, actually resulted in a system that incentivized the quantity of comments over their quality," he explained. "Therefore, we’re proposing to end the voting component of the process in favor of a system that leads to more meaningful feedback and engagement.""

Submission + - Fetuses Caught Yawning in 4D (reuters.com)

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: Reuters reports 4D scans have conclusively shown that fetuses do yawn. Understandable, eh? After all, all they get is cable.
Piracy

Submission + - Police raid home of 9-year-old Pirate Bay user, seize 'Winnie the Pooh' laptop (bgr.com) 1

Submitted by zacharye
zacharye writes: Copyright enforcement might be getting out of hand in Scandinavia. As anti-piracy groups and copyright owners continue to work with authorities to curtail piracy in the region, police this week raided the home of a 9-year-old suspect and confiscated her “Winnie the Pooh” laptop. TorrentFreak reports that the girl’s home was raided after local anti-piracy group CIAPC determined copyrighted files had been downloaded illegally at her residence. Her father, the Internet service account holder, was contacted by CIAPC, which demanded that he pay a 600 euro fine and sign a non-disclosure agreement to settle the matter. When the man did not comply, authorities raided his home and collected evidence, including his 9-year-old daughter’s notebook computer...
Government

Submission + - World Governments Object to New gTLDs like .wtf, .sucks, .baby, .amazon (paritynews.com) 3

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: ICANN is receiving more and more requests for new top level domains (gTLDs) and Governments around the world are busy registering their complaints and objections with the proposed names it has been noticed. Till date more than 200 objections have been raised against proposed gTLDs with Australia leading the pack with over 120 objections. Some of the other countries which are at the forefront of registering their objections include France, Germany and India. US and UK are near the bottom of the list with their fewer objections. ICANN’s “early warnings” about national objections to gTLDs serves as formal objections but it doesn’t mean that these domains will never be signed off. There is always room for discussions and mediation that would allow prospect registrants to keep on pursuing their claims. Australia has objected to names such as ‘.baby’, ‘.app’, ‘.beauty’ among other. It has also objected to names such as ‘.sucks’ and ‘.wtf’ stating that these names have “an overtly negative or critical connotation.”
Patents

Submission + - Apple ordered to share HTC deal details with Samsung (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes: A US judge has ordered Apple to disclose details of its patent-sharing deal with HTC to its rival, Samsung. Apple and HTC signed a 10-year licence agreement earlier this month, but did not make the details public.

Samsung, which is also involved in various patent disputes with Apple, asked the courts to tell Apple to furnish the information. It said it was "almost certain" the deal covered some of the patents at the centre of its dispute with Apple.

The court ordered Apple to produce a full copy of the settlement agreement "without delay", subject to an "attorneys' eyes only" designation, meaning it will not be made public.
Technology

Submission + - Cloaking technology could protect offshore rigs from destructive waves (gizmag.com)

Submitted by cylonlover
cylonlover writes: Recent years have seen much progress in the development of invisibility cloaks which bend light around an object so it can't be seen, but can the same principles be applied to ocean waves that are strong enough to smash steel and concrete? That's the aim of Reza Alam's underwater “invisibility cloak.” The assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, recently outlined how to use variations of density in ocean water to cloak floating objects from dangerous surface waves.

Submission + - GNOME 3 to support a "classic" mode

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: LWN.net is reporting that GNOME developer Matthias Clasen has announced that, with the upcoming demise of "fallback mode," the project will support a set of official GNOME Shell extensions to provide a more "classic" experience. "And while we certainly hope that many users will find the new ways comfortable and refreshing after a short learning phase, we should not fault people who prefer the old way. After all, these features were a selling point of GNOME 2 for ten years!"
The Military

Submission + - Why Iron Dome Might Only Work For Israel (thediplomat.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Many this week have declared Israel's American financed Iron Dome rocket defense system a success. Some have even gone so far to declare it a vindication of Ronald Reagen's 1980's Star Wars missile defense system. Pundits have even gone so far to assume the system could be sold to other nations. However, the Iron Dome may not be the game changer many are making it out to be.

Taking out unsophisticated rockets is quite different than advanced missiles: "...the technical and strategic challenges of shooting down ballistic missiles differ considerably from those of shooting down unguided rockets. BMD shares with rocket defense some common technological ground; both require fast reaction time and impressive sensor capabilities, and the Iron Dome project has benefited from technical work on missile defense. However, ballistic missiles in flight behave differently from unguided, sub-atmospheric rockets."
Privacy

Submission + - UK to use "Risk-Profiling Software" to Screen all Airline Passengers and Cargo (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by dryriver
dryriver writes: The BBC reports: 'The UK branch of an American company — SAS Software — has developed a hi-tech software programme it believes can help detect and prevent potentially dangerous passengers and cargo entering the UK using the technique known as "risk profiling". So, what exactly is risk profiling and can it really reduce the risk of international terrorism? Risk profiling is a controversial topic. It means identifying a person or group of people who are more likely to act in a certain way than the rest of the population, based on an analysis of their background and past behaviour — which of course requires the collection of certain data on people's background and behaviour to begin with. When it comes to airline security, some believe this makes perfect sense. Others, though, say this smacks of prejudice and would inevitably lead to unacceptable racial or religious profiling — singling out someone because, say, they happen to be Muslim, or born in Yemen. The company making the Risk-Profiling Software in question, of course, strongly denies that the software would single people out using factors like race, religion or country of origin. It says that the programme works by feeding in data about passengers or cargo, including the Advanced Passenger Information (API) that airlines heading to Britain are obliged to send to the UK Border Agency (UKBA) at "wheels up" — the exact moment the aircraft lifts off from the airport of departure. Additional information could include a combination of factors, like whether the passenger paid for their ticket in cash, or if they have ever been on a watch list or have recently spent time in a country with a known security problem. The data is then analysed to produce a schematic read-out for immigration officials that shows the risk profile for every single passenger on an incoming flight, seat by seat, high risk to low risk.'

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