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Security

Submission + - Two FreeBSD Project Servers Hacked (paritynews.com)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: The FreeBSD project has suffered a security breach whereby hackers have successfully compromised servers that were part of the infrastructure used to build third-party software packages. The Security team over at the FreeBSD project is of the opinion that hackers were able to gain access to the servers using legitimate SSH keys and not by exploiting any operating system vulnerabilities. Instances of intrusion were first detected on November 11. FreeBSD project, through a message on public announcements mailing list said that the security breach hasn’t affected the project’s core components like kernel or system libraries but, has only affected third-party software packages being distributed by the project.
Intel

Submission + - Intel CEO Paul Otellini to Retire in May (businesswire.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Intel Corporation today announced that the company’s president and CEO, Paul Otellini, has decided to retire as an officer and director at the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting in May, starting an orderly leadership transition over the next six months. Otellini’s decision to retire will bring to a close a remarkable career of nearly 40 years of continuous service to the company and its stockholders.

“Paul Otellini has been a very strong leader, only the fifth CEO in the company’s great 45-year history, and one who has managed the company through challenging times and market transitions,” said Andy Bryant, chairman of the board. “The board is grateful for his innumerable contributions to the company and his distinguished tenure as CEO over the last eight years.”
Space

Submission + - Astronomers get picture of nearby exoplanet

Submitted by
The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: "While nearly a thousand planets are known to orbit other stars, getting direct pictures of them is extremely difficult due to the glare from their host stars. Fewer than a dozen images of exoplanets exist. However, we can now add one more to the list: Kappa Andromedae b, or Kap And b for short. It's about 170 light years away, and orbits Kappa And, a massive star bright enough to see with the naked eye. One hitch: its mass puts it right at the upper limit for a planet, and it may edge into brown dwarf territory. Further observations are needed to pin its mass down."

Submission + - The cutting edge of short range ballistic missile defense systems (wired.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A new Israeli missile defense system can lock onto oncoming missiles, compute trajectory, and blow oncoming Hamas missiles out of the sky — all in less than 20 seconds. The operation of the system requires a high degree of tech wizardry, some attributed to video game playing. Colonel Zvika Haimovich, commander of the Israel Air Force’s Active Defense Wing has this to say about its operators:

My Iron Dome operators are all fighters, and sure, many of them probably played PlayStation and computer games in their teens before they got to my unit...Being a techie is no longer something to be ashamed of, no longer a dirty word, in the IDF. These teenagers who get drafted into the army need to be able to thrive in a technological environment"
Science

Submission + - U.S. says exascale unlikely before 2020-22 because of budget woes (computerworld.com)

Submitted by dcblogs
dcblogs writes: The U.S. Dept. of Energy is now targeting 2020 to 2022 for an exascale system, two to four years later than earlier expectations. William Harrod, research division director in the advanced scientific computing in the DOE Office of Science, previewed its planned Exascale Computing Initiative report at the SC12 supercomputing conference last week. "When we started this, [the timetable was] 2018; now it's become 2020 but really it is 2022," said Harrod. DOE will soon release its report on its Exascale Computing Initiative as part of effort to get funding approved in the FY 2014 budget. But current fiscal problems in Congress, the so-called fiscal cliff in particular, makes Harrod pessimistic about funding for next year. "To be honest, I would be somewhat doubtful of that at this point in time," he said. "The biggest problem is the budget," said Harrod. "Until I have a budget, I really don't know what I'm doing," he said. DOE has not said how much money it will need, but analysts say billions of dollars will needed to develop an exascale system. A major research effort is needed because of power, memory, concurrency and resiliency challenges posed by exascale. Data transport may be the leading problem. In today's systems, data has to travel a long way which uses up power. Datasets are "being generated are so large that it's basically impractical to write the data out to disk and bring it all back in to analyze it," said Harrod. "We need systems that have large memory capacity. If we limit the memory capacity we limit the ability to execute the applications as they need to be run," he said.
Crime

Submission + - Murder suspect/fugitive John McAfee launches blog, offers $25K reward (networkworld.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The IT security pioneer John McAfee has launched a blog to document his life on the lam, as Belize police chase him down for suspicion of killing a neighbor. McAfee is using the blog to state his case, raise suspicions about Belize authorities and to offer a $25K reward to find the real killer or killers.
Politics

Submission + - Open Standards reaching critical mass in Europe

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: European countries are one by one adopting Open Standards through Government ICT policies. Belgium, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Portugal have published standards lists. Denmark has adopted ODF and PDF/A and the UK, amid controversy and fighting seems committed to Open Standards as well. Is the European wide adoption reaching critical mass? What is the situation in the US?
Piracy

Submission + - How RapidShare Plans To Avoid MegaUpload's Fate (readwrite.com)

Submitted by
concealment
concealment writes: "On November 27, RapidShare will start putting a tight cap on outbound downloads for its free users. Paid members will still have 30 gigabytes in outbound downloads per day, but everybody else will be capped at one gigabyte. The change is expected to further deter pirates from using RapidShare to distribute copyright material on a large scale."
Google

Submission + - Google after antitrust: The good, the bad, and the ugly (cnet.com)

Submitted by
concealment
concealment writes: "Google has had regulatory run-ins before. It overpowered objections and acquired DoubleClick, AdMob, and ITA, but it knuckled under when the U.S. Justice Department threatened to sue over a Google-Yahoo search-ad deal.

But unlike the earlier antitrust fights, today's investigations are aimed at Google's heart: search and search advertising. After more than a year of investigation in both the EU and the United States, it appears regulators are ready to make a move, and most expect action by the end of the year. FTC Chairman Jonathan Leibowitz is pushing Google to make a settlement offer "in the next few days" or face a lawsuit, Bloomberg reported last week."
Medicine

Submission + - Nanoparticles Stop Multiple Sclerosis In Mice (medicalnewstoday.com)

Submitted by HangingChad
HangingChad writes: Scientists have used nanoparticles covered in proteins to trick the immune system to stop attacking myelin and halt the progression of multiple sclerosis in mice.

The nanoparticles, about 200 times thinner than a human hair, are made from the same material as dissolving stitches. Scientists compare the process an immune system "reboot". The process keeps the immune system from treating myelin as an alien invader and to stop attacking it.
Space

Submission + - Ariane 5 has no chance says SpaceX CEO (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Dupple
Dupple writes: "I don't say that with a sense of bravado but there's really no way for that vehicle to compete with Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. If I were in the position of Ariane, I would really push for an Ariane 6."

Ariane's future will be a key topic this week for European Space Agency (Esa) member states.

They are meeting in Naples to determine the scope and funding of the organisation's projects in the next few years, and the status of their big rocket will be central to those discussions.
Crime

Submission + - Dutch police solves murder by asking for DNA from citizens (dutchnews.nl) 1

Submitted by muttoj
muttoj writes: Police in Friesland have arrested a local man in connection with the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl in 1999.

The man was picked up following the mass dna testing of men living close to the field where Marianne Vaatstra's body was found.

According to television crime reporter Peter R de Vries, who has been central to keeping the case open, the dna match is 100%. ‘In ordinary words, you could say ‘the case is solved’', De Vries told Nos radio.

Farmer

The suspect is said to be a white, 44-year-old man from Friesland. ‘It is a farmer with his own company,’ De Vries said.

Nearly 6,600 men voluntarily gave a dna sample in a last ditch attempt to solve the murder earlier this year.

The decision to launch the dna appeal came after De Vries in May broadcast information about a Playboy cigarette lighter found in Vaatstra's bag which contains dna traces that match the traces found on the schoolgirl's body.

Tip-offs following the broadcast showed the lighter was on sale in the local area at the time, including in the village of Zwaagwesteinde where she lived.

Police are due to give a news conference about the arrest later on Monday.

Many comments where made on /. when the police asked for DNA from citizens: http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/09/06/1759257/dutch-police-ask-8000-citizens-to-provide-their-dna
Moon

Submission + - Roaming robot may explore mysterious Moon caverns (nature.com)

Submitted by
ananyo
ananyo writes: "William 'Red' Whittaker often spends his Sundays lowering a robot into a recently blown up coal mine pit near his cattle ranch in Pennsylvania. By 2015, he hopes that his robot, or something like it, will be rappelling down a much deeper hole, on the Moon.
The hole was discovered three years ago when Japanese researchers published images from the satellite SELENE1, but spacecraft orbiting the Moon have been unable to see into its shadowy recesses. A robot might be able to “go where the Sun doesn't shine”, and send back the first-ever look beneath the Moon's skin, Whittaker told attendees at a meeting of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) programme in Hampton, Virginia, last week.
And Whittaker is worth taking seriously-his robots have descended into an Alaskan volcano and helped to clean up the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. There's a video of the rover with the story (unfortunately not showing it spelunking)."

Submission + - Jolla to unveil Sailfish OS on November 21st (jollatides.com)

Submitted by ryzvonusef
ryzvonusef writes: Jolla, as it has been discussed previously, is the phoenix that claims to be rising from the ashes of Nokia's MeeGo plans.

Their iteration of the MeeGo OS, known as "Sailfish OS" will be revealed, alongside an SDK, on a two-day SLUSH event in Helsinki.

This is to hoping that the umpteenth raising of this rocky platform will prove fruitful. Will you be interested in buying and developing for it?
Nintendo

Submission + - Nintendo's WiiU console susceptible to old Wii Homebrew Hacks (youtube.com)

Submitted by
EGSonikku
EGSonikku writes: "While not a hack of the WiiU directly, it is possible to use original Wii homebrew on the WiiU by booting into "Wii Mode" and using Comex's "Stack Smash" exploit. It is surprising that Nintendo didn't patch this "ancient" exploit, but WiiU owners may appreciate being able to use all their old homebrew and emulators on their new WiiU console."
Government

Submission + - How Airport Security Is Killing Us (businessweek.com)

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes: This week marks the beginning of the busiest travel time of the year. For millions of Americans, the misery of holiday travel is made considerably worse by a government agency ostensibly designed to make our journeys more secure. Created in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Transportation Security Administration has largely outlived its usefulness, as the threat of a terrorist attack on the U.S. homeland continues to recede. These days, the TSA’s major role appears to be to make plane trips more unpleasant. And by doing so, it’s encouraging people to take the considerably more dangerous option of traveling by road.

According to one estimate of direct and indirect costs borne by the U.S. as a result of 9/11, the New York Times suggested the attacks themselves caused $55 billion in “toll and physical damage,” while the economic impact was $123 billion. But costs related to increased homeland security and counterterrorism spending, as well as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, totaled $3,105 billion. Mueller and Stewart estimate that government spending on homeland security over the 2002-11 period accounted for around $580 billion of that total.

If Americans really care about saving lives this Thanksgiving travel season, for goodness’ sake, don’t beef up airport security any further. Slashing the TSA will ensure that more people live to spend future holidays with loved ones.
Businesses

Submission + - Unresolved Issues Swirl Around Securing Mobile Payments (banktech.com)

Submitted by
CowboyRobot
CowboyRobot writes: "While many mobile payments startups are using both traditional and nontraditional authentication methods, regulatory uncertainty still exists around liability for fraud attacks on customers using mobile payments. Although there haven't been any public attacks from fraudsters on alternative mobile payments providers such as Square, LevelUp or Dwolla, anecdotal stories are already circulating among security experts and regulators of such attacks. One thing that still has to be worked out in this area is regulatory oversight. "The regulators are not yet clear who owns the regulatory oversight for these environments. These technologies tend to fall through the cracks even in terms of card-present or card-not-present.""

Submission + - On the road, mobile communications and power station

Submitted by loggiew
loggiew writes: I am going on the road for a while with a popup camper and I can't bear to live without the net. Power is a huge issue. I'm IT. Just like you, I cannot live without. I've decided to start with a Raspberry Pi. I've been looking at the modules for interconnecting arduinos and additional modules like a cell radio.

http://www.cooking-hacks.com/index.php/gprs-sim900-shield-for-raspberry-pi.html

With that and the 720p developer glasses below for $300, I'm estimating I can get the power consumption for my PC work down bellow 10 watts with a full home theater.
http://www.oculusvr.com/
Or this:
http://store.sony.com/p/Wearable-HDTV/en/p/HMZT1

With solar panel prices through the floor and computer power consumption at an all time low, I'm planning to install ipfire and asterisk on this device. Full VoIP, routing, cell access, and the ability to cluster arduino/PI combo's for very low power means I should have all the computing power I need. What would you do with it? 3g/4g/satalite options available and a remote server available, what crazy ideas can we do to trick out my truck?

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