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Businesses

Submission + - New Zealand turning Hobbits into cash, literally (cbsnews.com)

Submitted by
Curseyoukhan
Curseyoukhan writes: "With its economy struggling, New Zealand hopes to cash in on "The Hobbit" by turning it into actual cash. The nation is releasing special commemorative coins depicting characters from J.R.R. Tolkien's beloved book. The coin release coincides with the premiere of the first installment in Peter Jackson's film adaptation of the book. It is also part of a publicity campaign aimed to rebrand the country "100 percent Middle Earth.""

Submission + - Prince of Sealand dies (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by jdavidb
jdavidb writes: 46 years ago, occupying an abandoned WWII platform off the coast of Britain, Paddy Roy Bates declared independence, naming himself Prince of the Principality of Sealand. Today, Bates has passed away at 91.

Long time Slashdot readers will remember Sealand as the site of HavenCo, an unsuccessful data warehousing company that tried to operate from Sealand outside the reach of larger nations' legal structures. They may also remember plans that the Pirate Bay had at one time to buy Sealand.

Bates had moved to a care home a few years ago, naming his son Michael Regent of Sealand.
Linux

Submission + - Linux Developers Still Reject NVIDIA Using DMA-BUF (phoronix.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Many Linux laptop users are quick to bash NVIDIA over their lack of proper Optimus support. In August NVIDIA confirmed they were working on NVIDIA Optimus Linux support. As part of their Optimus Linux implementation they want to use DMA-BUF for the multi-GPU interactions just like the open-source drivers, so that they can all work together. Unfortunately, the developers of the linux kernel prevent NVIDIA to finish their implementation by not allowing non-GPL drivers to use this unified buffer sharing infrastructure.

Should NVIDIA use the F-word to respond to their intransigence ?
Security

Submission + - Conficker worm still being tracked, but evidence collection slows (networkworld.com)

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: The notorious malware known as the Conficker worm still infects computers, a sort of wild horse with no rider, but investigators appear no closer to finding its creator. Also known as "Downandup," Conficker was discovered in November 2008, exploiting a vulnerability in Windows XP that allowed remote file execution when file-sharing was enabled. Microsoft patched it a month later. At its peak, Conficker infected upwards of 7 million computers, and Microsoft still ranks Conficker as the second-most prevalent malware family on domain-joined computers. Security researchers with the Conficker Working Group along with vendors including Microsoft successfully cut off the Conficker's operators from the botnet, but the group is still working to try to find Conficker's master. The problem is that botnet operators have stayed away from Conficker and not tried to reclaim it, a welcome development but one that leaves researchers with a lack of fresh electronic leads. "Well, we sort of won in that regard," , said Jose Nazario, a malware researcher. "On the other hand, if they're not interacting with it, there's no more evidence coming in."
Businesses

Submission + - WikiLeaks Angers Supporters With Donation 'Paywall' For Leaked Material (forbes.com)

Submitted by
concealment
concealment writes: "As of Wednesday night, the secret-spilling site now shows a “paywall” to any visitor who clicks on one of its leaked documents, including the 13,374 emails from the private intelligence firm Stratfor that it published earlier in the day along with the teaser that the messages regarded presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

The pop-up message that blocks access to the site’s content shows a video parodying Barack Obama’s stump speeches and asking visitors to instead “vote for WikiLeaks” by making a donation to the site or buying its promotional gear like tote bags and hoodies."
Google

Submission + - Court rules book scanning is fair use, suggesting Google Books victory (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by
concealment
concealment writes: "Now a judge has ruled that the libraries who have provided Google with their books to scan are protected by copyright's fair use doctrine. While the decision doesn't guarantee that Google will win—that's still to be decided in a separate lawsuit—the reasoning of this week's decision bodes well for Google's case.

Most of the books Google scans for its book program come from libraries. After Google scans each book, it provides a digital image and a text version of the book to the library that owns the original. The libraries then contribute the digital files to a repository called the Hathitrust Digital Library, which uses them for three purposes: preservation, a full-text search engine, and electronic access for disabled patrons who cannot read the print copies of the books."
Hardware

Submission + - Google creating a "Nexus Call Center" for device support (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: One of the big complaints surrounding the Nexus 7 launch was the lack of customer support when dealing with the device. Google was not initially prepared to handle the volume of users that required support, which led to an increase in wait time for callers who needed solutions.

However, we’ve recently received word from a source that now Google is using a third party company to staff a call center for the release of the next Nexus devices.
Firefox

Submission + - Firefox 16 pulled due to Security Vulnerability

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Mozilla has removed Firefox 16 from it's installer page due to security vulnerabilities that, if exploited, could allow "a malicious site to potentially determine which websites users have visited"...one of temporary work-around, until a fix is released, is to downgrade to 15.0.1
Security

Submission + - Ultra sensitive sensor technology can detect human breathing

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: OKI recently developed a human-detecting sensor technology capable of distinguishing between large movements (for example, a person walking about a room) to minute movements like breathing. This technology can detect even the minute movements of otherwise motionless persons, making it suitable for use in various applications, including advance warnings of health problems. OKI is currently seeking to apply this technology to areas ranging from security to the monitoring of elderly or people requiring long-term care.
Security

Submission + - Spying Case: Floppy Drive not dead yet! (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The details of a Canadian Spying case are coming to light; including the method of copying the sensitive data from the "secured" computer linking five countries and the russian handlers. Copy Data into Notepad -> Save File to Floppy Drive -> USB Key -> ??? -> Profit. For $3000/mo in prepaid credit cards and wire transfers.
Privacy

Submission + - Blogger and Privacy International Say Ubuntu Amazon Ads Break EU Law (omgubuntu.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: At least one blogger and Privacy International say new Amazon Ads in Ubuntu likely violated EU Data Protection laws. Many users have pointed out the clear privacy concerns while Canonical Community Manager Jono Bacon has mostly downplayed those fears.
ISS

Submission + - SpaceX Dragon's hatch opened a day early (gizmag.com)

Submitted by cylonlover
cylonlover writes: The hatch of SpaceX’s unmanned Dragon cargo spacecraft has been opened by the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) a day early. The opening was originally scheduled for tomorrow, but SpaceX’s twitter feed announced, “At 1:40PM ET, astronauts opened Dragon's hatch, one day ahead of schedule. Success!” SpaceX later issued an image of the crew looking inside the Dragon. They are wearing masks to protect themselves against any contaminants or loose debris that may have been caused by the launch. After inspection, the crew will begin the task of unloading 905 kg (1,995 lbs) of supplies including rations, vehicle hardware, experiments, and an ultra-cold freezer for storing scientific samples.
Facebook

Submission + - Facebook Confirms Data Breach (thenextweb.com)

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes: A researcher by the name of Suriya Prakash has claimed that the majority of phone numbers on Facebook are not safe. It’s not clear where he got his numbers from (he says 98 percent, while another time he says 500 million out of Facebook’s 600 million mobile users), but his demonstration certainly showed he could collect countless phone numbers and their corresponding Facebook names with very little effort.

Facebook has confirmed that it limited the Prakash’s activity but it’s unclear how long it took to do so. Prakash disagrees with when Facebook says his activity was curtailed.
Media

Submission + - WikiLeaks Experiments With A Donation "Paywall" (forbes.com)

Submitted by Sparrowvsrevolution
Sparrowvsrevolution writes: Information may want to be free, but WikiLeaks would actually rather that you paid for it. On Wednesday night the group briefly implemented a donate-what-you-want "paywall" for the material posted on the site, showing users a pop-up video interstitial that asked for payments if they clicked on any links to documents. The move--demanding payment for information that alleged sources like hacker Jeremy Hammond and Bradley Manning face prison time for sending to the site--didn't go over well: From various twitter feeds, the hacker Anonymous declared WikiLeaks "moneywhoring" and "pathetic" and threatened to launch attacks against the group. After initially defending the paywall, WikiLeaks dropped it a few hours later without comment.
Linux

Submission + - Behind the scenes: Why Nokia killed MeeGo (taskumuro.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Press and users praised Nokia N9, the company's first MeeGo smartphone for sale. After only a few months, CEO Stephen Elop announced the end of MeeGo. Muropaketti reveals the reasons behind the scenes and the effect of the decision: wrong SoC with no support for 4G was one of the problems resulting eg. Nokia canceling their MeeGo tablet — even after Elop had praised it.

Also the article reveals that the MeeGo project was actually going to die by itself, not because of Elop. The major problems were there already and the bad decisions were made before the Elop-era. One big deal was competition: Symbian was bringing in money, Nokia's excecutives didn't want to kill a milking cow by providing a competitor in-house.
HP

Submission + - Lenovo takes top spot from HP as PC market slumps (computerworld.com.au)

Submitted by
angry tapir
angry tapir writes: "Lenovo has taken the crown from Hewlett-Packard to become the world's top seller of PCs, research firm Gartner said in a study released this week. Lenovo took the top spot during a quarter in which PC shipments dropped overall due to a weak economy and pressure from mobile devices. Of the top four PC vendors, only Lenovo was able to grow its shipments. Its PC sales increased by almost 10 percent to 13.77 million units, giving it 15.7 percent of the market, Gartner said."
Earth

Submission + - Where has all the Xenon gone? (nature.com)

Submitted by
LucidBeast
LucidBeast writes: "Xenon the second heaviest of the noble gasses is only found in trace amounts in the atmosphere. Atmosphere contains less Xenon than other lighter noble gasses. Missing Xenon has perplexed scientists and it has been speculated that it is hiding in the earths mantle. Now a group at the University of Bayreuth in Germany think that they might found the answer. I turns out that Xenon does not dissolve easily into Magnesium silicate perovskite, thus it cannot hide there. And because it had no place to hide it is now gone forever."
Science

Submission + - Stem Cells Safe for Rare Brain Disorder (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Four young boys with a rare, fatal brain condition have made it through a dangerous ordeal. Scientists have safely transplanted human neural stem cells into their brains. Twelve months after the surgeries, the boys have more myelin—a fatty insulating protein that coats nerve fibers and speeds up electric signals between neurons—and show improved brain function, a new study in Science Translational Medicine reports. The preliminary trial paves the way for future research into potential stem cell treatments for the disorder, which overlaps with more common diseases such as Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis.

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