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NASA

Submission + - Behind the scenes at NASA's Mission Control Center (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by
willith
willith writes: "I was recently given the opportunity to spend several hours on the floor of Historic Mission Operations Control Room #2, at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. MOCR2 was used to control almost manned Gemini and Apollo mission, including Apollo 11 & 13. More, my tour guide was none other than famous Apollo mission controller Sy Liebergot, one of the fellows behind the solution that saved Apollo 13. I go in-depth on the role of the flight controller during Apollo, and focus on how and why Mission Control functioned, and I spend a lot of time talking about the consoles and how they worked. The feature includes a ton of anecdotes and stories from Mr. Liebergot about mission control in general, and about what he did during Apollo 12 & 13 specifically. I also put together a supplemental report that goes through each and every station and describes their Apollo-era layout. I wrote this story to be the kind of thing I'd always wanted to read, but could never find online. There are also lots and lots of pictures of MOCR2!"
Privacy

Submission + - Judge to Newspaper - Reveal Name of Commenter (kansascity.com)

Submitted by
Andy Prough
Andy Prough writes: "A Kansas judge has ordered a Topeka newspaper to release the name of a commenter on one of its stories about the trial of Anceo D. Stovall for the murder of Natalie Gibson. Using the name "BePrepared", the commenter posted the following in response to a story about the ongoing trial on July 21 at 1:45pm: "Trust me that’s all they got in their little world, as you know, I have been there. Remember the pukes names they will do it for ever.” The problem? The court is convinced that "BePrepared" was a juror, and was not supposed to be accessing news about the trial before it ended on July 24th. The court wants BePrepared's name, address and IP address. The jury was ultimately unable to find Stovall guilty of 10 of the 11 charges against him — including murder. Both defense and prosecution lawyers appear to want a new trial, and if it turns out that BePrepared was a juror, they are more likely to get their wish."
Microsoft

Submission + - Malware Authors Quickly Create Fake Antivirus Just For Windows 8

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: When it comes to fake security products that are really just malware, October has been a very hectic month. First, we reported on how the FTC managed to shut down scareware that tricked 1 million users with names such as WinFixer, WinAntivirus, DriveCleaner, ErrorSafe, and XP Antivirus. Next, we noted how this did not faze cybercriminals whatsoever, as a new fake antivirus was discovered that changes its interface based on whether you’re running Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP. After all that, Windows 8 launched late last week. Sure enough, on the last day of October, those behind fake antivirus programs have created a Windows 8 flavor.
Idle

Submission + - In time for Halloween: 9 new tarantula species discovered (mongabay.com)

Submitted by Damien1972
Damien1972 writes: If you suffer from acute arachnophobia, this is the perfect Halloween discovery for you: a spider expert has discovered nine new species of arboreal tarantulas in the Brazil. Although tarantula diversity is highest in the Amazon rainforest, the new species are all found in lesser-known Brazilian ecosystems like the Atlantic Forest and the cerrado.
Books

Submission + - Zombie eBook Titles Double in One Year (beyond-black-friday.com)

Submitted by destinyland
destinyland writes: Every year on Halloween, this Kindle blogger counts the number of ebooks with the word "zombie" in their title that appear in the Kindle Store (like "Zombie Girl Invasion" and "Zombies Eat Lawyers.") And this year, the number of zombie titles "has doubled in less than a year." There are now 4,874 different ebooks in the Kindle Store with zombies in their title — as well as at least two interactive Kindle games which also contain the word zombie.
KDE

Submission + - KDE Plasma Active: The Mobile Interface That Works (linuxpromagazine.com)

Submitted by
jrepin
jrepin writes: "Bruce Byfield is not a fan of interfaces for mobile devices. At best, he finds them clumsy makeshifts, tolerable only because nothing better is available. The only exception is KDE's Plasma Active, which not only works well on tablets, but, with its recently released version 3.0, remains the only mobile-inspired interface he can tolerate on a workstation..What makes Plasma Active so well-designed?"
Science

Submission + - Flexible Circuits By The Slice (acs.org)

Submitted by
MTorrice
MTorrice writes: "Researchers have demonstrated a way to make high performance, flexible integrated circuits using almost exclusively standard equipment and materials already needed to make conventional chips. Such a method could allow electronics manufacturers to build new devices, such as smart medical implants and flexible displays, without needing to significantly overhaul current production protocols. The method, developed by researchers at the University of Texas, Austin, started with researchers patterning integrated circuits on silicon wafers using a standard production line. They then cut off the top 20 to 30 micrometers of the wafer using a thin wire—like slicing a block of cheese—to produce a thin, flexible platter of circuits."
Government

Submission + - Stolen cellphone databases switched on in US (networkworld.com)

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: U.S. cellphone carriers took a major step on Wednesday toward curbing the rising number of smartphone thefts with the introduction of databases that will block stolen phones from being used on domestic networks. The initiative got its start earlier this year when the FCC and police chiefs from major cities asked the cellular carriers for assistance in battling the surging number of smartphone thefts. In New York, more than 40 percent of all robberies involve cellphones and in Washington, D.C., cellphone thefts accounted for 38 percent of all robberies in 2011. It's been a particularly ugly year for iPhone thefts. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/100812-iphone-ipad-thefts-263110.html
Transportation

Submission + - Self-Driving Car Faces Off Against Pro on Thunderhill Racetrack

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Rachel Swaby writes that a self-driving car and a seasoned race-car driver recently faced off at Northern California's three-mile Thunderhill Raceway loop. The autonomous vehicle is a creation from the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (CARS). "We tried to model [the self-driving car] after what we've learned from the best race-car drivers," says Chris Gerdes. So who won? Humans, of course. But only by a few measly seconds. "What the human drivers do is consistently feel out the limits of the car and push it just a little bit farther," explained Gerdes. "When you look at what the car is capable of and what humans achieve, that gap is really actually small." Because the self-driving car reacts to the track as if it were controlled in real time by a human, a funny thing happens to passengers along for the ride. Initially, when the car accelerates to 115 miles per hour and then breaks just in time to make it around a curve, the person riding shotgun freaks out. But a second lap looks very different. Passengers tend to relax, putting their faith in the automatically spinning wheel. "We might have a tendency to put too much confidence in it," cautioned Gerdes. "Watching people experience it, they'll say, oh, that was flawless." Gerdes reaction: "Wait wait! This was developed by a crazy professor and graduate students!""
Science

Submission + - Early therapy can change brains of kids with autism (cnn.com)

Submitted by
concealment
concealment writes: "As the number of children with autism has risen dramatically over the past couple of decades, experts have learned that the earlier a child gets diagnosed, the earlier specialized therapy can be initiated, which can significantly improve outcomes.

Now researchers have been able to show that a particular type of behavioral therapy called the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) not only improves autism symptoms, but actually normalizes brain activity and improves social behavior."
Windows

Submission + - Acer delays Windows RT tablets over Surface concerns (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes: Taiwanese computer maker Acer has put back the launch of its Windows RT tablets following mixed reviews for Microsoft's own Surface device which is powered by the new operating system.

Acer said it was now unlikely to distribute the product before April.

Windows RT appears similar to the full Windows 8 system and is designed to run on ARM-based processors.

Unlike Windows 8, Microsoft only allows Windows RT to install third-party software from its own online store, and the apps can only run via the system's touch interface and not in the traditional desktop mode.

However, in return for this trade-off Windows RT computers are likely to offer longer battery life and cheaper prices.
IBM

Submission + - Watson Goes to Medical School (nytimes.com)

Submitted by Kwyj1b0
Kwyj1b0 writes: I.B.M's Watson is headed to the Cleavland Clinic for training. Clinicians and students answer and correct Watson, in an attempt to crowdsource its education. One possible benefit is to help doctors keep up to date with incoming research.
Government

Submission + - NASA teams to build gyroscopes 1,000X more sensitive than current systems (networkworld.com) 3

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "NASA today said it would work with a team of researchers on a three-year, $1.8 project to build gyroscope systems that are more than 1,000 times as sensitive as those in use today. The Fast Light Optical Gyroscope project will marry researchers from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center; the US Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center and Northwestern University to develop gyroscopes that could find their way into complex spacecraft, aircraft, commercial vehicles or ships in the future."

Submission + - NYC Data Centers Struggle to Recover After Sandy (slashdot.org)

Submitted by
Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: "Problems in New York’s data centers persisted through Wednesday morning, with hosting companies and other facilities racing against time to keep generators humming as water was pumped out of their facility basements. The fight now is to keep those generators fueled while pumps clear the basement areas, allowing the standard backup generators to begin operating. It’s also unclear whether the critical elements of infrastructure (power and communications) will both be up and running in time to restore services. The following is a list of some of the data centers and services in the area, and how they’re faring:"
Firefox

Submission + - Firefox: browser ballot glitch cost us 9m downloads (pcpro.co.uk) 2

Submitted by
nk497
nk497 writes: "Microsoft's failure to include the EU browser ballot in Windows 7 SP1 cost Mozilla as many as 9 million Firefox downloads, the organisation's head of business affairs revealed. Harvey Anderson said daily downloads of Firefox fell by 63% to a low of 20,000 before the ballot was reinstated, and after the fix, downloads jumped by 150% to 50,000 a day. Over the 18 months the ballot was missing, that adds up to six to nine million downloads — although it's tough to tell if the difference has more to do with Chrome's success or the lack of advertising on Windows systems.

The EU is currently investigating the "glitch", and Microsoft faces a massive fine for failing to include the screen, which offers download details for different browsers to European Windows users, as part of measures ordered by the EU to balance IE's dominance."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft sued over Windows Live Tiles (cnet.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft is already facing lawsuits related to the just-launched Windows, with an operating
system technology designer accusing Microsoft of ripping of its patent for "tiles."

SurfCast, in a complaint filed yesterday in a U.S. District Court in Maine, said Microsoft infringes
one of its four patents — No. 6,724,403 — by "making, using, selling, and offering to sell devices
and software products" covered by SurfCast's patent. That includes mobile devices using the
Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8 operating systems as well as PCs using Windows 8/RT.
Google

Submission + - Google loses Australia 'gangland' defamation lawsuit (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
concealment
concealment writes: "A jury in Australia has found Google liable for damages after a complaint that its search results had linked a local man to gangland crime.

As a result of the attack Mr Trkulja said that entering his name into Google Images brought up images of other people beneath which his name appeared.

He said some of these figures were allegedly murderers and one a drug trafficker. In addition the caption "Melbourne Crime" appeared beneath several of the photos, including one of Mr Trkulja himself, which he had alleged might lead users to believe he was a criminal."

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