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Linux

Submission + - Ext4 scare was a tempest in a teacup: almost all of the userbase safe (gmane.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: It turns out the ext4 problem only affects users of some very obscure mount options, and even them it depends on specific conditions to show up. If you DON'T use the mount options "journal_async_commit" or "journal_checksum", which are NEVER enabled by default (not by the system, and not by the distros), you will not see any corruption.
Games

Submission + - Valve: Linux has everything they need (ubuntuvibes.com)

Submitted by dartttt
dartttt writes: In a presentation at Ubuntu Developer Summit currently going on in Denmark, Drew Bliss from Valve said that Linux is more viable than Windows 8 for gaming. Windows 8 ships with its own app store and it is not an open platform anymore and Linux has everything they need: good OpenGL, pulseaudio, OpenAL and input support.
Supercomputing

Submission + - Titan: World's Fastest Supercomputer at 20 petaflops Unveiled (paritynews.com)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: The Oak Ridge National Laboratory has unveiled a new supercomputer – Titan, which it claims is the world’s most powerful supercomputer that is capable of 20 petaflops of performance. The Cray XK7 supercomputer contains a total of 18,688 nodes and each node is based on a 16-core AMD Opteron 6274 processor and an Nvidia Tesla K20 Graphical Processing Unit (GPU). To be used for researching climate change and other data-intensive tasks, the supercomputer is equipped with more than 700 terabytes of memory.
Iphone

Submission + - AT&T, Google, Starbucks Back 'PMA' Wireless Power Ecosystem and Open Standar (powermatters.org)

Submitted by IPAQ2000
IPAQ2000 writes: AT&T, Google and Starbucks today announced that they have joined the Power Matters Alliance (PMA). Founded by Powermat Technologies and Procter & Gamble, the PMA’s Honorary Chairman is Google’s Vint Cerf – one of the fathers of the Internet — and its board now also includes AT&T, Duracell, Google and Starbucks. The US Government’s Energy Star and Federal Communications Commission – both PMA members — are board observers.
Science

Submission + - Ancient tsunami devastated Lake Geneva shoreline (nature.com) 3

Submitted by ananyo
ananyo writes: In ad 563, more than a century after the Romans gave up control of what is now Geneva, Switzerland, a deadly tsunami on Lake Geneva poured over the city walls. Originating from a rock fall where the River Rhône enters at the opposite end of the lake to Geneva, the tsunami destroyed surrounding villages, people and livestock, according to two known historical accounts.
Researchers now report the first geological evidence from the lake to support these ancient accounts. The findings suggest that the region would be wise to evaluate the risk today, with more than one million inhabitants living on the lake's shores, including 200,000 people in Geneva alone.
The researchers cannot say exactly what created the tsunami (nothing suggests it was an earthquake), but they propose that the falling rock caused an accumulated heap of sediment in the Rhône delta to collapse. This would have launched the wave and carried the sediment from the delta to the centre of the lake, where the researchers detected it. The researchers used the geological information gathered in the study to recreate how the wave might have behaved. Their model predicted that a 13-metre-high wave would have hit Lausanne 15 minutes after the rock fall, with an 8-metre-high wave reaching Geneva after 70 minutes.
Science

Submission + - Israeli Scientists Find Way to See Through Frosted Glass (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: Taking a shower while secure in the knowledge that no one can see through the curtains may soon be a thing of the past. Researchers Ori Katz, Eran Small and Yaron Silberberg of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, have developed a method for de-scattering light to form coherent images in real time. In other words, they have found a way to look through shower curtains, frosted glass and other image-blurring materials. The technique may one day aid scientists in seeing through living tissue or around corners.
Science

Submission + - Petition for Alan Turing on £10 note breaks 20,000 signatures (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by
concealment
concealment writes: "A petition to get British wartime crypto-boffin Alan Turing on the next ten-pound note has broken 20,000 signatures on the government's e-petition site.

At least 23,157 people have signed the pledge that praises his contribution to computer science, the nation and the world, and calls for Turing to replace Charles Darwin when the notes come up for a redesign.

After the petition passed the 10,000 mark the Treasury confirmed that Turing is on the list of people suggested by the public and is under consideration for inclusion on banknotes."
Government

Submission + - Showdown Set on Bid to Give UN Control of Internet (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: When delegates gather in Dubai in December for an obscure UN agency meeting, the mother of all cyber diplomatic battles is expected, with an intense debate over proposals to rewrite global telecom rules to effectively give the United Nations control over the Internet.

Russia, China and other countries back a move to place the Internet under the authority of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a UN agency that sets technical standards for global phone calls.
While US officials have said placing the Internet under UN control would undermine the freewheeling nature of cyberspace, some have said there is a perception that the US owns and manages the Internet.

The head of the ITU, Hamadoun Toure, claims his agency has "the depth of experience that comes from being the world's longest established intergovernmental organization." But Harold Feld of the US-based non-government group Public Knowledge said any new rules could have devastating consequences. Some are concerned over a proposal by European telecom operators seeking to shift the cost of communication from the receiving party to the sender. This could mean huge costs for US Internet giants like Facebook and Google.

"There is no Internet central office. Its openness and decentralization are its strengths," Terry Kramer, the special US envoy for the talks, said, reminding that Washington is opposing proposals by Russia, China and others to expand the ITU's authority to regulate the Internet.

Paul Rohmeyer, who follows cybersecurity at the Stevens Institute of Technology, pointed to a "sense of anxiety" about the meeting in part because of a lack of transparency. He said it was unclear why the ITU is being considered for a role in the Internet.
Education

Submission + - Are teachers headed for obsolescence: OLPC children teach themselves (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by dstates
dstates writes: One Laptop Per Child reports encouraging results of a bold experiment to reach the millions of students worldwide who have no access to primary school. OLPC delivered tablets to two Ethiopian villages in unmarked boxes without instructions or instructors. Within minutes the kids were opening the boxes and figuring out how to use the Motorola Zoom tablets, within days they were playing alphabet songs and withing a few months how to hack the user interface to enable blocked camera functionality. With the Kahn Academy and others at the high school level and massive open online courses at the college level, the teaching profession is under assault as never before.
Patents

Submission + - Cisco CEO Blasts Patent Trolls and Patent Abuse (techdirt.com)

Submitted by AlphaWolf_HK
AlphaWolf_HK writes: At the recent Gartner Symposium Expo, Cisco CEO John Chambers had a few words to say about patent trolls: "It is a mess; There are patent trolls everywhere," said Chambers, noting that patent problems impose huge costs on every company. He didn't stop there though, he also suggested that companies stop suing their peers. Speaking to the audience, he said for "his peers" in the room, "you shouldn't be suing your peers." He also adds that patent litigation slows down innovation. He recommends throwing out the whole patent system, and starting from the beginning. Cisco's official stance (outside of John Chambers) is that we are really in need of patent reform, with specific ideas at eliminating patent trolls and patent shopping.

Also of interest, is Cisco's ongoing patent war with Tivo, (who many argue is also a patent abuser) by fighting Tivo's patents with their own patents, a la Samsung vs Apple.
Science

Submission + - Hurricane Sandy Is 'Meteorologically Mind-Boggling,' Scientists Say

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Scientists have been following and projecting Sandy's path with all the tools at their disposal: ocean buoys, radar and satellite imagery, and computer modeling. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also gathers information from special reconnaissance aircraft, which fly over hurricanes and can drop instruments into them to measure wind speeds, air pressure, temperature, and altitude. The latest data gathered on Hurricane Sandy point to an unprecedented and mighty tempest, scientists say.
Books

Submission + - Funding models for a free e-book? (teachrdan.com)

Submitted by
danspalding
danspalding writes: "I'm an adult education teacher in SF who wrote an e-book about how to teach adults, called "How to Teach Adults." It will be available to download for free in January 2013. I Kickstarted enough money for editing, design and publicity, but not enough to pay me anything up front. I'm considering making a $1, $10 and $25 version available from Amazon as a way for folks to donate money to me, as well as a straight up PayPal link on my site. (Although I hate PayPal.) Is it possible to produce quality material for teachers to download for free in a way that's economically sustainable? Might readers accidentally pay for a copy without realizing there's a free download and get pissed off? And where should I host the free-to-download version?"
IBM

Submission + - IBM Reports Carbon Nanotube Chip Breakthrough (nytimes.com)

Submitted by yawaramin
yawaramin writes: IBM has apparently made a breakthrough in arranging carbon nanotubes into the logic gates necessary to make a chip. This should help miniaturise and speed up processors beyond what today's silicon-based technologies are capable of. The article notes though that perfecting the carbon nanotube technology could take up the rest of this decade.
Privacy

Submission + - Journalist arrested in Greece for publishing list of possible tax-evaders

Submitted by kyriacos
kyriacos writes: The Greek government is charging journalist Kostas Vaxevanis with violation of the data privacy law. While more and more austerity measures are being taken against the people of Greece, there is still no investigation of tax evasion for the people on this list by the government. The list has been in the possession of the Greek government since 2010. More information here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20116548
The Military

Submission + - Targeting the President's DNA 2

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "The Atlantic reports that experts in genetics and microbiology are convinced we may be only a few years away from the development of advanced, genetic bio-weapons able to target a single human being based on their DNA. The authors paint a scenario of the development of a virus that causes only mild flu in the general population but when the virus crosses paths with cells containing a very specific DNA sequence, the sequence would act as a molecular key to unlock secondary functions that would trigger a fast-acting neuro-destructive disease that produces memory loss and, eventually, death. The requisite equipment including gene sequencers, micro-array scanners, and mass spectrometers now cost over $1 million but on eBay, it can be had for as little as $10,000. According to Ronald Kessler, the author of the 2009 book In the President’s Secret Service, Navy stewards gather bedsheets, drinking glasses, and other objects the president has touched—they are later sanitized or destroyed—in an effort to keep would-be malefactors from obtaining his genetic material. However no amount of Secret Service vigilance can ever fully secure the president’s DNA, because an entire genetic blueprint can now be produced from the information within just a single cell. How to protect the President? The authors propose open-sourcing the president’s genetic information to a select group of security-cleared researchers who could follow in the footsteps of the computer sciences, where “red-team exercises,” are extremely common practices so a similar testing environment could be developed for biological war games. "Advances in biotechnology are radically changing the scientific landscape. We are entering a world where imagination is the only brake on biology," write the authors. "In light of this coming synbio revolution, a wider-ranging relationship between scientists and security organizations—one defined by open exchange, continual collaboration, and crowd-sourced defenses—may prove the only way to protect the president.""
Software

Submission + - Researchers Develop Surveillance System that can Watch & Predict (paritynews.com)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: Carnegie Mellon university researchers have developed a surveillance system that can not only recognize human activities but can also predict what might happen next. Researchers, through the Army-funded research dubbed Mind's Eye, have created intelligent software that recognizes human activities in video and can predict what might just happen next; sounding an alarm if it detects anomalous behavior. The high-level artificial visual intelligence system that has been presented in the paper, titled “Using Ontologies in a Cognitive-Grounded System: Automatic Action Recognition in Video Surveillance," focuses on artificial intelligence cognitive engine that automatically detects and interprets a person's actions using a surveillance feed.

Submission + - Imran Khan detained by US customs over opposition to drone strikes (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by Serious Callers Only
Serious Callers Only writes: Imran Khan was detained yesterday by US officials for questioning on his views on United States drone strikes in Pakistan. Glenn Greenwald writing for the guardian: "On Saturday, Khan boarded a flight from Canada to New York in order to appear at a fundraising lunch and other events. But before the flight could take off, US immigration officials removed him from the plane and detained him for two hours, causing him to miss the flight. On Twitter, Khan reported that he was "interrogated on [his] views on drones" and then added: "My stance is known. Drone attacks must stop." He then defiantly noted: 'Missed flight and sad to miss the Fundraising lunch in NY but nothing will change my stance.'"
Databases

Submission + - Vermont cops replace clunky records management system with open-source solution (7dvt.com) 1

Submitted by McGruber
McGruber writes: Alternative weekly newspaper, Seven Days, Vermont's Independent Voice [http://www.7dvt.com/], has a fascinating article about Valcour, the Burlington, Vermont Police Department's open-source integrated dispatch and records management system [http://www.7dvt.com/2012burlington-pds-computer-system-was-clunky-and-costly-so-chief-mike-schirling-built-new-one].

Prior to Valcour's going live on October 1, 2011, Burlington polce were spending more than a third of their time on paperwork and data entry — writing reports on crime when they could be out fighting it. The department’s former records management system, called New World, made analyzing crime stats and patterns extremely difficult and time-consuming. According to the article:

Deputy Chief Jennifer Morrison helped design and implement Valcour. She cops to having 'zero' experience designing software, but says the genius of Valcour is its simplicity. At any given time, an officer or dispatcher can log into the system and see a dashboard showing everything that’s happening in the city — and neighboring jurisdictions — including every officer on duty, every call for service, who’s involved and what’s occurring. "

The article also describes how much money the police department is saving by having replaced the proprietary software it used to use — the savings can buy a lot of donuts.
Canada

Submission + - US and Canada Launch Joint Cybersecurity Plan (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: Canada and the United States announced Friday they were launching a joint cybsersecurity plan that aims to better protect critical digital infrastructure and improve the response to cyber incidents.

Under the action plan, the US Department of Homeland Security and Public Safety Canada will cooperate to protect vital cyber systems and respond to and recover from any cyber disruptions, by improving collaboration on managing cyber incidents between their respective cyber security operation centers, enhancing information sharing and engagement with the private sector and pursuing US-Canadian collaboration to promote cyber security awareness to the public.

The news came after earlier in the week Canadian Auditor General Michael Ferguson warned that Canada has made only "limited progress" over the past decade to safeguard electrical grids, telecommunications infrastructure, banking systems, manufacturing and transportation, as well as its own computers. Earlier this month, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that the U.S. has drafted new rules for the military that would enable it to move aggressively against digital attacks. The amended rules of engagement underline the need to defend Defense Department computer networks, "but also to be prepared to defend the nation and our national interests against an attack in or through cyberspace," he said. Panetta also called on Congress this week to adopt proposed cyber security legislation and demanded Congress take action after November elections to ensure stable funding for the US military.

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