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Government

Submission + - Homeland Security Stole Michael Arrington's Boat (uncrunched.com) 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Michael Arrington, founder of TechCrunch, lives near Seattle and bought a boat there. He ordered it from a company based near him, but across the border in Canada. Yesterday, the company tried to deliver it to him, and it had to clear customs. An agent for the Department of Homeland Security asked him to sign a form. The form contained information about the bought, including its cost. The price was correct, but it was in U.S. dollars rather than Canadian dollars. Since the form contained legal warnings about making sure everything on it is true and accurate, Arrington suggested to the agent that they correct the error. She responded by seizing the boat. 'As in, demanded that we get off the boat, demanded the keys and took physical control of it. What struck me the most about the situation is how excited she got about seizing the boat. Like she was just itching for something like this to happen. This was a very happy day for her. ... A person with a gun and a government badge asked me to swear in writing that a lie was true today. And when I didn’t do what she wanted she simply took my boat and asked me to leave.'
Android

Submission + - Pwnie Express releases network hacking Kit (wired.com)

Submitted by puddingebola
puddingebola writes: From the article, "The folks at security tools company Pwnie Express have built a tablet that can bash the heck out of corporate networks. Called the Pwn Pad, it’s a full-fledged hacking toolkit built atop Google’s Android operating system.
Some important hacking tools have already been ported to Android, but Pwnie Express says that they’ve added some new ones. Most importantly, this is the first time that they’ve been able to get popular wireless hacking tools like Aircrack-ng and Kismet to work on an Android device."

Pwnie Express the price is $795.
Businesses

Submission + - For Businesses College Degree Is the New High School Diploma

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "The NY Times reports that a college degree is becoming the new high school diploma: the new minimum requirement for getting even the lowest-level job with many jobs that didn’t used to require a diploma — positions like dental hygienists, cargo agents, clerks and claims adjusters — increasingly requiring a college degree. From the point of view of business, with so many people going to college now, those who do not graduate are often assumed to be unambitious or less capable. “When you get 800 résumés for every job ad, you need to weed them out somehow,” says Suzanne Manzagol. A study by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce found that more than 2.2 million jobs that require a minimum of a bachelor’s degree have been created (PDF) since the 2007 start of the recession. At the same time, jobs that require only a high school diploma have decreased by 5.8 million in that same time. “It is a tough job market for college graduates but far worse for those without a college education,” says Anthony P. Carnevale, co-author of the report. “At a time when more and more people are debating the value of post-secondary education, this data shows that your chances of being unemployed increase dramatically without a college degree.” Even if they are not exactly applying the knowledge they gained in their political science, finance and fashion marketing classes, young graduates say they are grateful for even the rotest of rote office work they have been given. “It sure beats washing cars,” says Georgia State University graduate Landon Crider, 24, an in-house courier who, for $10 an hour, ferries documents back and forth between the courthouse and his company's office."
Canada

Submission + - First asteroid-tracking satellite will be Canadian (gizmag.com)

Submitted by cylonlover
cylonlover writes: In the wake of the meteor blast over Russia and the close quarter fly by of asteroid 2012 DA14 last week, many people's thoughts have turned to potential dangers from above. It is timely then that the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) will next week launch NEOSSat (Near-Earth Object Surveillance Satellite), the world’s first space telescope for detecting and tracking asteroids, satellites and space debris.

Submission + - Lights, cameras, reaction: Resistance builds against red-light cameras (blogspot.pt)

Submitted by
quantr
quantr writes: ""Red light cameras are one piece of a growing network of automated traffic enforcement. Cameras now monitor speed, bus and high-occupancy-vehicle lanes and intersections with stop signs. Proponents like Lanier say they help to deter accidents, nab violators and allow states and municipalities to keep an eye on the roads for less.

But critics of red light programs worry about the Big Brother aspect of using cameras instead of cops. Many also say cameras, which are generally run by private companies, have spread not because they make streets safer, but because they mean profit for cities and companies.
“What the issue really comes down to is these companies are ripping people off by hundreds of millions of dollars, in the name of caring about our safety and our health and our kids,” said New Jersey Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, who has introduced anti-red light camera legislation to the state Legislature.
Recent news stories have fueled opposition. In Chicago, an alleged pay-to-play scandal led the mayor to ban one company from bidding for future contracts. Millions were spent on pro-camera lobbying in Florida and other states. In Iowa, doubts about the constitutionality of using cameras as traffic enforcers led a state senator to introduce a bill to ban red-light cameras – a move already taken by at least nine other states.""

Submission + - AL-Qaeda's 22 tips and tricks to dodge drones (ap.org) 3

Submitted by Dr Max
Dr Max writes: Ever wondered how AL-Qaeda operate under the ever watchful eye of the US army? Well here is a list of 22 of there tips and tricks on pulling a fast one. Most of it consists of the obvious like stay in the shadows, or under thick trees, with zero wireless communication; However there is also some less obvious solutions like the $2595 Russian "sky grabber" which can track the drones, or covering your roof and car with broken glass (not really sure why). They also claim good snipers can take out the reconnaissance drones which fly at a lower level. Now the question is, will all this still be relevant during the robo-apocalypse?

Submission + - Flu shot doing poor job of protecting older people (yahoo.com)

Submitted by
Gunilla
Gunilla writes: "It turns out this year's flu shot is doing a startlingly dismal job of protecting older people, the most vulnerable age group.

The vaccine is proving only 9 percent effective in those 65 and older against the harsh strain of the flu that is predominant this season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.

Health officials are baffled as to why this is so. But the findings help explain why so many older people have been hospitalized with the flu this year.

Despite the findings, the CDC stood by its recommendation that everyone over 6 months get flu shots, the elderly included, because some protection is better than none, and because those who are vaccinated and still get sick may suffer less severe symptoms...Read more:
http://news.yahoo.com/flu-shot-doing-poor-job-protecting-older-people-232338537.html"
Programming

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Language With Access-Controlled Sandboxes

Submitted by ari_j
ari_j writes: I often find myself in need of a programming or scripting language with good access control. For instance, a multi-user game where each user's code and data should have only the access to other users' code and data that is expressly granted. Basically, I want the kind of access control one would expect from a good database system except I want that access control to apply to objects and method calls rather than to tables, rows, and columns. I also tire of rolling my own language. What are my turnkey or near-turnkey options?
Canada

Submission + - McGill University joins the MOOC platform EdX (technapex.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Harvard and MIT’s online learning consortium edX has announced the addition of six new universities to join their MOOC (Massive Online Open Courses) platform. Among them, McGill University (located in Montreal, Québec) will contribute with their McGillX courses in areas ranging from science to public policy.
Science

Submission + - Here's how the sequester's set to kick in at each federal research agency (acs.org) 1

Submitted by
carmendrahl
carmendrahl writes: "Unless Congress and the White House act before March 1, the automatic across-the-board spending cuts known as the sequester will kick in. And federal agencies are bracing for the fiscal impact. Federal agencies and the White House are releasing details about how these cuts will affect their operations. If the cuts take effect, expect fewer inspections to the food supply, cuts to programs that support cleanups at former nuclear plants, and plenty of researcher layoffs, among other things."
Medicine

Submission + - Doctors Identify Overused and Unnecessary Medical Procedures

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "The LA Times reports that in a new report aimed at improving healthcare and controlling runaway costs a coalition of leading medical societies has identified nearly 100 medical procedures, tests and therapies that are overused and often unnecessary. The medical interventions — including early caesarean deliveries, CT scans for head injuries in children and annual Pap tests for middle-aged women — may be necessary in some cases, the physician groups say but often they are not beneficial and may even cause harm. "We are very concerned about the rapidly escalating cost of healthcare," says Dr. Bruce Sigsbee. "This is not healthy for the country, and something has to be done." Each of the specialty medical societies has provided a list of five procedures that physicians and patients should question about the overuse of medical tests and procedures that provide little benefit and in some cases harm. For example, despite the popularity of early caesareans, there is growing evidence that babies born before 39 weeks' gestation have higher risks of learning disabilities and even death. American doctors also order nearly twice as many CT and MRI exams as doctors in other industrialized countries and they perform more knee replacements and deliver more babies by caesarean section. A growing number of experts have concluded that much medical care in the U.S. is wasteful and even dangerous for patients. A 2012 report from the independent Institute of Medicine estimated total waste in the system at 30%, or $750 billion a year. "Millions of Americans are increasingly realizing that when it comes to healthcare, more is not necessarily better," says Dr. Christine K. Cassel."
Google

Submission + - RIAA: Anti-piracy Downranking by Google Not Yielding Results (paritynews.com)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), the trade group of the top three recording labels in the US, has claimed that Google’s anti-piracy measures of downranking pirate sites is not yielding any results and that the accused sites are constantly appearing at the top of Google’s search results. In a blog post the RIAA questioned the success of Google’s strategy of demoting piracy websites and said, "We have found no evidence that Google’s policy has had a demonstrable impact on demoting sites with large amounts of piracy."
Chrome

Submission + - The Chromebook Pixel is real, and expensive (theverge.com)

Submitted by Lirodon
Lirodon writes: Just when you thought Google's rumored Chrome OS laptop, the Chromebook Pixel, was an elaborate fake, think again. This high-end Chromebook with a 12.85-inch high resolution touchscreen (available in both Wi-Fi only and Verizon LTE versions) and an Intel Core i5 processor under the hood is super fancy, and also super expensive: starting at $1299. Would you want to pay that much for what is essentially a premium netbook? Critics are divided...

Submission + - The Deat of Slashdot (dailycaller.com) 2

Submitted by OhSoLaMeow
OhSoLaMeow writes: From the Daily Caller:
"A recently introduced bill in the Illinois state Senate would require anonymous website comment posters to reveal their identities if they want to keep their comments online. The bill, called the Internet Posting Removal Act, is sponsored by Illinois state Sen. Ira Silverstein. It states that a “web site administrator upon request shall remove any comments posted on his or her web site by an anonymous poster unless the anonymous poster agrees to attach his or her name to the post and confirms that his or her IP address, legal name, and home address are accurate.”
This could be the death of Slashdot: No more ACs.
Security

Submission + - CAPTCHA Using Ad-Based Verification (yahoo.com)

Submitted by mk1004
mk1004 writes: Yahoo news has an article explaining how the text-based CAPTCHA is giving way to ad-based challenge/response. It's claimed that users are faster at responding to familiar logos, shortening the amount of time they spend proving that they are human.
Space

Submission + - Dennis Tito to do Mars Flyby in 2018 2

Submitted by OlRickDawson
OlRickDawson writes: Space.com is reporting that Dennis TIto wants to be the first person to take a trip to Mars.The 501 day trip will take place in 2018, with no word as to the cost yet. The details will be released in a conference on February 27th.
Sony

Submission + - Official: Playstation 4 will play used games (eurogamer.net)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Quenching some rumors 'Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida has told Eurogamer that PlayStation 4 will not block the use of second-hand games, contrary to various reports, speculation and even a Sony patent unearthed last month.'
Software

Submission + - Microsoft, BSA and Others Push for Appeal on Oracle vs. Google Ruling (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by sl4shd0rk
sl4shd0rk writes: In 2012, Oracle took Google to court over the use of Java in Android. Judge William Alsup brought the ruling that the structure of APIs could not be copyrighted at all. Emerging from the proceedings, it was learned that Alsup himself had some programming background and wasn't bedazzled by by Oracle's thin arguments on the range-checking function. The ruling came, programmers rejoiced and Oracle vowed Appeal. It seems that time is coming now, nearly a year later, as Microsoft, BSA, EMC, Netapp, et al. get behind Oracle to overturn Alsup's ruling citing "destabilization" of the "entire software industry".

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