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Google

Submission + - YouTube Launches Face Blur Tool To Protect Protesters (techweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by
judgecorp
judgecorp writes: "YouTube has added a tool which automatically detects and anonymises faces in uploaded videos. YouTube parent Google says it is intended to allow dissidents in places like Syria to share videos without risking reprisals form the government — but it warned that this is not an exact science, so users should check videos through before making them public."
Science

Submission + - Is it time to start an Olympic games for enhanced athletes? (nature.com)

Submitted by
ananyo
ananyo writes: "With the Olympics due to kick off on 27 July in London, Nature has taken a look at how far science would be able to push human athletic abilities if all restrictions on doping were lifted. The article mentions anabolic steroids (up to 38% increase in strength), IGF-1 (4% increase in sprinting capacity), EPO/blood doping (34% increase in stamina), gene doping and various drugs and supplements, as well as more 'extreme' measures such as surgery and prosthesis. Hugh Herr, a biomechanical engineer at MIT, says performance-enhancing technologies will one day demand an Olympics all their own. But is that time already upon us? And would slashdotters be interested in watching the 'enhanced Olympics' if they were staged?"

Submission + - Asking Slashdot: Converting an SUV into an hybrid diesel-electric (indiegogo.com) 6

Submitted by
joaommp
joaommp writes: "So, my team has started a project to convert an SUV into an hybrid diesel-electric vehicle — basically, an electric vehicle with a diesel engine working as a range extender. We've now setup a campaign on Indiegogo to help with the project costs (we are a non-profit team) and later we'd like to, if the project is successful, be able to provide conversion kits and additional kits for elements of the transformation, like the HUD, for example. Why an SUV conversion? Because a lot of people like SUVs (sense of safety, overcompensation, etc) but they're un-economic and environment unfriendly. I'd like to ask all slashdotters if they have any advice or tips for this project. We already have the project well defined but more input is greatly appreciated before we begin tearing apart the beast. So, if you could help providing additional advice and information, it would be awesome."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft's Windows 8: tragic mistake or stroke of genius? (sciencefictionworld.com) 1

Submitted by
bowman9991
bowman9991 writes: "When Windows 8 hits 26 October with multiple new tablets, PC desktop machines and ultra-books (and a new version of Microsoft Office), PC users everywhere will suddenly be faced with Microsoft's radically designed "Metro" user interface. Have Microsoft made a massive mistake by introducing an operating system that appears at first glance to be focused on touch and tablets when the majority still use non-touch machines? Or have they built a software system that will impress and thrive on any hardware form factor? Windows Vista or the greatest unified software master stroke of the 21st century?"
Ubuntu

Submission + - Ubuntu Unity Ported To Fedora Using openSUSE (muktware.com)

Submitted by sfcrazy
sfcrazy writes: The general tendency within the open source community is to a whole new wheel to push your own cart. A majority of open source projects are suffering from duplication. Luckily, we just noticed a great example of such collaboration (or using resources by different competing projects) within the distro community. Ubuntu's popular Unity shell is being ported to Fedora(the distro which leads the development of Gnome shell and its also the breeding ground of many latest technologies which are used by the rest of the GNU/Linux world). Interestingly developers users openSUSE's build service to create this port. openSUSE leads the development of Gnome and KDE along with LibreOffice.
Data Storage

Submission + - The DVD that "lasts forever" (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by
Barence
Barence writes: "A company called Millenniata has developed a new type of optical disc, which it claims is “the first ever permanent file backup disc that lasts forever”. The M-Disc shares the same shape and capacity as a standard DVD, and can be read by any existing DVD drive, but "cannot be overwritten, erased, or corrupted by natural processes".

The M-Disc effectively does away with the degradable organic layer of existing optical discs, replacing it with a layer of “chemically stable and heat-resistant materials” that remains solid at temperatures up to 500C. Using a much higher-powered laser, the innermost layers are burned away to leave a physical pit, the surrounds of which then cool to form a rock-like polycrystalline structure. It’s “the modern, digital equivalent of engraving data, literally, in stone”."
Space

Submission + - VARIES project proposes antimatter starship mission (gizmag.com)

Submitted by cylonlover
cylonlover writes: As Douglas Adams said, “Space is Big. Really Big." And that’s the major obstacle for traveling between the stars. But a new proposal published in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society promises to shrink that distance just a bit. Physics and technology consultant Richard Obousy claims that an antimatter starship that creates its own fuel from the vacuum of space itself would be capable of making a return journey to the nearest star and back within one lifetime.
Privacy

Submission + - Senator rasies facial recognition regulation (techworld.com.au)

Submitted by
angry tapir
angry tapir writes: "The U.S. Congress may need to pass legislation that limits the way government agencies and private companies use facial recognition technology to identify people, according to U.S. Senator Al Franken, who chairs the US Senate Judiciary Committee's privacy subcommittee. The growing use of facial recognition technology raises serious privacy and civil liberties concerns, according to the senator, who has called on the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Facebook to change the way they use facial recognition technology."

Submission + - Australian consumer group wants geo-IP blocking banned (delimiter.com.au)

Submitted by daria42
daria42 writes: Live outside the US? Then you're probably used to being blocked from watching Hulu, frustrated by not being able to buy the eBooks you want from Amazon and most of all, annoyed about paying significantly higher prices than Americans for exactly the same software, games and content online, all based on your IP address. This week Australian consumer group Choice called for an Australian ban on geo-IP-blocking, saying it created significant barriers to the free flow of goods and services. Maybe other countries' consumer groups should follow suit, in the quest for a fair go?

Submission + - JavaScript for the Rest of Us (babylscript.com)

Submitted by
my2iu
my2iu writes: "The JavaScript programming language is both widely available and very powerful. Unfortunately, since only 6% of the world's population are native English speakers, the other 94% of the world are forced to learn English before they can start using JavaScript. Babylscript is an open source project that aims to translate JavaScript to all the world's languages, including French, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic. The project has recently completed its 12th translation, enough so that the native languages of over 50% of the world's population are now supported!"
Programming

Submission + - Will Parallel Code Ever Be Embraced? (drdobbs.com)

Submitted by
CowboyRobot
CowboyRobot writes: "Andrew Binstock at Dr. Dobb's has an essay in which he argues "The advent of the many-core era is not going to push developers to write more parallel code. That hasn't happened as we've gone from 1- to 2- to 4- to 8-core processors, has it? Writing parallel code is not the problem. So, let's stop trying to fix it." He suggests the solution is to "scale out" with more processes instead of scaling up with more threads per process. Does this make sense?"
Microsoft

Submission + - Red Hat Won't Say if Microsoft Is Keeping Them From Fedora ARM on Windows RT (phonenews.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Adding fuel to the Windows Restrictive Boot scandal, Red Hat has gone into lockdown mode. The company now won't answer if Microsoft is locking them out of Windows-on-ARM, or Windows RT from Fedora releases. Evidence shows that Fedora may have agreed to not release an ARM version of Fedora on Windows RT desktop/tablets, in order to gain UEFI Secure Boot certification on x86 machines.

If so, Microsoft may be repeating the same antitrust situations that got them sued by the feds in the 1990s. And, for the exact same reasons, now that their settlement with the US DoJ has lapsed...

Submission + - Thailand begins One Tablet Per Child (bangkokpost.com)

Submitted by societyofrobots
societyofrobots writes: Thailand has now put the first 50,000 of a planned 800,000 tablets into the hands of elementary students. Each tablet costs only $80/unit, runs Android ICS, and was manufactured in China. Opponents claim it to be a very expensive populist policy to 'buy votes', while proponents argue it could bypass the root causes of poor education in the country: outdated books and unskilled teachers. Is this the future of education in developing nations?

Submission + - Pay-by-Voice could leap frog Pay-by-Smartphone (nytimes.com)

Submitted by
circletimessquare
circletimessquare writes: "While the world waits for a smartphone wallet, that idea might have already been made quaint by the company called Square that bought us the little Credit Card swiper that attaches to your iPhone audio jack: pay by just announcing your voice. 'You walk into a shop or cafe. The cashier knows that you’re on the premises, because your name and thumbnail photo appear on his iPad screen. He rings up your items by tapping them on the iPad. And now the magic moment: To pay, you just say your name. The cashier compares your actual face with the photo on the iPad’s screen, taps O.K., and the transaction is complete. No cash, no cards, no signatures — you don’t even have to take the phone out of your pocket.' A number of hacks seem apparent. David Pogue's New York Times article also summarizes nicely the state of play in novel electronic payment methods."
Space

Submission + - Up close with the Enterprise shuttle at the Intrepid Museum (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: As you probably remember from a few weeks ago, the Space Shuttle Enterprise was flown on the back of a 747 to New York City where it was then delivered to the USS Intrepid. As sad as it was to see a space shuttle retired (and NASA take a major step down in the space flight abilities) this was one of the most amazingly geektastic events in recent memory. Now the shuttle is on top of the aircraft carrier’s flight deck, living in its very own pavilion. As of tomorrow it will go on display as part of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, but today we got a sneak peek at the shuttle.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Office 2013 not compatible with Windows XP, Vista (paritynews.com) 2

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: The newly unveiled productivity suite from Microsoft, Office 2013, won’t be running on older operating systems like Windows XP and Vista it has been revealed. Office 2013 is said to be only compatible with PCs, laptops or tablets that are running on the latest version of Windows i.e. either Windows 7 or not yet released Windows 8. According to a systems requirements page for Microsoft for Office 2013 customer preview, the Office 2010 successor is only compatible with Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2012. This was confirmed by a Microsoft spokesperson. Further the minimum requirements states that systems need to be equipped with at least a 1 GHz processor and should have 1 GB of RAM for 32-bit systems or 2 GB for 64-bit hardware. The minimum storage space that should be available is 3 GB along with a DirectX 10-compatible graphics card for users wanting hardware acceleration.
Google

Submission + - Could Google Fiber Save Network Neutrality? (northmobilepost.com)

Submitted by
nmpost
nmpost writes: "Could Google Fiber be the savior of network neutrality? Some speculate that the program is Google’s answer to attacks on network neutrality by the big internet providers like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T. These companies complain about the price of upgrading and maintaining their network, and want to charge websites like Google extra money to allow customers fast access to its sites. This practice would violate the long held spirit of the internet, where all data traffic is treated equally. Google may be out to prove that fast networks can be built and maintained at reasonable prices."
China

Submission + - Details of Chinese Moon Rocket Emerge (yahoo.com)

Submitted by
MarkWhittington
MarkWhittington writes: "AmericaSpace has published the results of a study of Chinese rocket development by Charles Vick, a noted expert on the Russian and Chinese space programs who works for GlobalSecurity.org, using Chinese language sources.

Of note are the developing concepts for a super heavy launch vehicle designated as the CZ9 or Long March 9, capable of taking Chinese astronauts to the moon and points beyond."

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