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Linux

Submission + - Denial-of-Service Attack Found In Btrfs File-System (phoronix.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: It's been found that the Btrfs file-system is vulnerable to a Hash-DOS attack, a denial-of-service attack caused by hash collisions within the file-system. Two DOS attack vectors were uncovered by Pascal Junod that he described as causing astonishing and unexpected success. It's hoped that the security vulnerability will be fixed for the next Linux kernel release.
Google

Submission + - Imagine if Google Had Been Developed in the 1960s

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Jennifer O'Mahony writes in the Telegraph about Google parody web sites including one by Designer Norbert Landsteiner that allows users to imagine what google would be like if it had been invented in the era of 'Mad Men' complete with a punch card machine, magnetic tape unit and central processor using Job Control Language (JCL), a scripting language used on IBM 360 mainframe operating systems to instruct the system on how to run a batch job or start a subsystem. To complete the theme, the search engine is quite noisy, with typewriter key clicks and bells, and constant printing and paper-loading noises. Landsteiner says the goal of the project is to “explore distances and heroism in user interfaces.” Another Landsteiner project re-imagines Google as as a BBS terminal in the 1980s."
The Internet

Submission + - The State of in-flight Wifi (informationweek.com)

Submitted by
CowboyRobot
CowboyRobot writes: "Byte magazine gives a run-down of the current state of Internet access on airplanes. "All of the services function in basically the same way. They provide connectivity to the public Internet via a Wi-Fi hotspot accessible from the cabin of the aircraft. This in-cabin network may also be used to provide in-flight entertainment services ranging from television network feeds to movies and canned TV shows available from an on-board media server connected to the network. In the U.S., the Internet connectivity is available when the aircraft is above 10,000 feet and is turned off during take-offs and landings... Gogo, the current market leader, provides connectivity to aircraft via a network of 250 dedicated cell towers that it has built nationwide. Fundamentally, it offers the same type of connectivity you would expect to see on a standard 3G capable phone. The connection is limited in speed to just over 3 Mbps — and all users on the plane share this one connection.""

Submission + - Lit Motors C-1: Electric Motorcycle That Won't Fall Over (greencarreports.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The trouble with motorcycles, as anyone who has ever suffered road rash will tell you, is that falling off is actually rather painful.
You have to try much harder to fall off a car, but those aren't without issues either--they're rather heavy, and that makes them relatively inefficient.

The Lit Motors C-1 seems to fix both those issues in one vehicle, combining the comfort and topple-resistance of a car, with the excitement and efficiency of a motorcycle.

And it's really, really cool.
AMD

Submission + - AMD Radeon Performance Preview On Linux 3.8 (phoronix.com)

Submitted by skade88
skade88 writes: If you are like me, the proud owner of a Radeon card, and feeling left out of the Linux graphics driver revolution that swept Nvidia cards recently, then stay tuned! There might be hope for us seeing better graphics performance in the Linux 3.8 kernel! Phoronix has a great preview in store of all of us!

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Setting up a summer camp tech center (frenchwoods.com) 1

Submitted by michaelknauf
michaelknauf writes: I'm running a large summer camp that's primarily concerned with performing arts: music, dance, circus, magic, theater, art, and I want to add some more tech into the program. We already do some IOS game design with Stencyl, we have an extensive model railroad and remote control car program and a pretty big computer lab (about 100 apple machines) Our program provides all materials as part of tuition, so I've stayed away from robotics as a matter of cost, but I'd love to buy a 3d printer and do classes with that and the Arduino is cheap enough to make some small electronics projects sensible... where do I find the sort of people who could teach such a program as a summer gig? What projects make sense without spending too much cash on a per project basis but would be cool fun for kids and would teach them?
Android

Submission + - California sues Delta Air Lines over mobile privacy (ca.gov)

Submitted by mrheckman
mrheckman writes: California is suing Delta Air Lines for violation of California's on-line privacy law. Delta failed to "conspicuously post a privacy policy within their mobile app that informs users of what personally identifiable information is being collected and what will be done with it" after a 30-day notice. Delta's app collects "substantial personally identifiable information such as a user’s full name, telephone number, email address, frequent flyer account number and pin code, photographs, and geo-location". Why is it we still can't control what permissions an app has on our phones? It's absurd and disturbing that an app for checking flights and baggage demands all of those permissions.
News

Submission + - People are living longer, with more disabilities than ever (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by skade88
skade88 writes: Worldwide people are living longer. Their lives are starting to look more like the lives of Americans, too much food is the problem, death in childhood is becoming less common etc... Yet with a population that lives through what would once have killed us, disabilities are starting to become the norm. The research has a good glimpse into the new emerging world we find ourselves in.
Government

Submission + - New Explain This! series is on recent US Subcritical nuclear explosions (thebulletin.org)

Submitted by Lasrick
Lasrick writes: Earlier this month, the US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced that it had conducted a subcritical experiment with plutonium in an underground tunnel 300 meters below the Nevada National Security Site (formerly, the Nevada Test Site), about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The Bulletin's first installment in this new series explains what the tests were and whether the government provided the transparency it seeks from Russia and China on similar testing. The series is sort of a Bill Nye for adults.

Submission + - Raspberry Pi Model A, First Photos and Video (adafruit.com)

Submitted by
coop0030
coop0030 writes: "The first photos and videos of the Model A production samples are now available. The Raspberry Pi Model A is the newest low-cost computer from the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Compared to the popular Model B, the Model A forgoes the Ethernet Controller, has 256MB of RAM, and has a single USB port. A benefit of the missing Ethernet controller is that power consumption is reduced. This allowed them to reach their goals of a low-cost $25 computer. The release date is for sometime early in 2013."
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Automation is making unions irrelevant (computerworld.com) 1

Submitted by dcblogs
dcblogs writes: Michigan lawmakers just approved a right-to-work law in an effort to dismantle union power, but unions are already becoming irrelevant. The problem with unions is they can’t protect jobs. They can’t stop a company from moving jobs overseas, closing offices, or replacing workers with machines. Indeed, improvements in automation is making the nation attractive again for manufacturing, according to U.S. intelligence Global Trends 2030 report. The trends are clear. Amazon spent $775 million this year to acquire a company, Kiva Systems that makes robots used in warehouses. Automation will replace warehouse workers, assembly-line and even retail workers. In time, Google’s driverless cars will replace drivers in the trucking industry. Unions sometimes get blamed for creating uncompetitive environments and pushing jobs overseas. But the tech industry, which isn’t unionized, is a counterpoint. Tech has been steadily moving jobs overseas to lower costs.
United Kingdom

Submission + - No Charges in UK for Gary McKinnon (bbc.co.uk) 1

Submitted by clickclickdrone
clickclickdrone writes: Computer hacker Gary McKinnon, who is wanted in the US, will not face charges in the UK, the Crown Prosecution Service has said.

Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer QC said the chances of a successful conviction were "not high".

He announced the decision some three months after Home Secretary Theresa May stopped the extradition.

Mr McKinnon, 46, admits accessing US government computers but says he was looking for evidence of UFOs.

The US authorities tried to extradite him to face charges of causing $800,000 (£487,000) to military computer systems and he would have faced up to 60 years in prison if convicted.
Security

Submission + - Now Even Dumb Hackers Can Make Crime Pay (cio.com)

Submitted by
Curseyoukhan
Curseyoukhan writes: "The stereotypical hacker, regardless of hat color, is a smart, nerdy, computer wizard. And while many real-life hackers probably fit the bill, not all of them are smart or nerdy. This week ExploitHub, whose motto is “Helping security professionals test MORE vulnerabilities, FASTER,” allowed a group calling itself the "Inj3ct0r Team" to test whether ExploitHub itself was vulnerable. The group quickly determined that it was."
Lord of the Rings

Submission + - Why The Hobbit's 48fps Is a Good Thing (slate.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Last year, when we discussed news that The Hobbit would be filmed at 48 frames per second, instead of the standard 24, many were skeptical that format would take hold. Now that the film has been released, an article at Slate concedes that it's a bit awkward and takes a while to get used to, but ends up being to the benefit of the film and the entire industry as well. 'The 48 fps version of The Hobbit is weird, that’s true. It’s distracting as hell, yes yes yes. Yet it’s also something that you’ve never seen before, and is, in its way, amazing. Taken all together, and without the prejudice of film-buffery, Jackson’s experiment is not a flop. It’s a strange, unsettling success. ... It does not mark the imposition from on high of a newer, better standard—one frame rate to rule them all (and in the darkness bind them). It’s more like a shift away from standards altogether. With the digital projection systems now in place, filmmakers can choose the frame rate that makes most sense for them, from one project to the next.'
Social Networks

Submission + - The Web We Lost - Anil Dash (dashes.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Anil Dash has an insightful post about cutting through the social media hype to see all of the social functionality that we've lost on the web over the past decade. 'We've lost key features that we used to rely on, and worse, we've abandoned core values that used to be fundamental to the web world. To the credit of today's social networks, they've brought in hundreds of millions of new participants to these networks, and they've certainly made a small number of people rich. But they haven't shown the web itself the respect and care it deserves, as a medium which has enabled them to succeed. And they've now narrowed the possibilites of the web for an entire generation of users who don't realize how much more innovative and meaningful their experience could be. ... We get bullshit turf battles like Tumblr not being able to find your Twitter friends or Facebook not letting Instagram photos show up on Twitter because of giant companies pursuing their agendas instead of collaborating in a way that would serve users. And we get a generation of entrepreneurs encouraged to make more narrow-minded, web-hostile products like these because it continues to make a small number of wealthy people even more wealthy, instead of letting lots of people build innovative new opportunities for themselves on top of the web itself.'
Biotech

Submission + - Fast DNA origami opens way for nanoscale machines (nature.com)

Submitted by
ananyo
ananyo writes: "DNA strands can be coaxed to fold up into shapes in a matter of minutes, reveals a study published in Science. The finding could radically speed up progress in the field of DNA origami.
DNA origami involves using short DNA strands to hold a longer, folded strand in place at certain points, like sticky tape. Until now, assembling the shape has involved heating the DNA and allowing it to cool slowly for up to a week. But researchers at the Technical University of Munich in Germany have worked out that for most of the cooling period, nothing happens. But when a crucial temperature is reached, the whole structure forms suddenly (abstract).
The researchers now aim to design nanostructures with optimal folding temperatures close to 37 C, the temperature at which mammalian cell cultures are grown, so that DNA machines could one day be used in biological settings."
Linux

Submission + - Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition Heading to the Raspberry Pi (bit-tech.net)

Submitted by Blacklaw
Blacklaw writes: Scott Brooks, a server-side architecture developer and system administrator at Beamdog is taking the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition source code and attempting to compile a Linux version tweaked to run on the £30 Raspberry Pi — a computer which, it must be noted, costs less than did the original boxed Baldur's Gate game at launch.

Speaking to the Raspberry Pi Foundation via Twitter, Brooks confirmed his plans: 'First attempt at compiling Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition on our Raspberry Pi,' wrote Brooks. 'Step 1: sort out all the dependencies.'

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