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Technology

Submission + - Electrostatic Contamination in Your Devices (control.com)

Submitted by
interval1066
interval1066 writes: "I noticed earlier my Vizio lcd monitor output suddenly getting brighter, then dimming back down to "normal" after a second. I've generally made it a practice to blow the dust out of my devices 1) when I remember to do so 2) after about 3 or so years of use 3) when I can get inside the case. My monitor is very thin and difficult to open. When I did finally crack it open I didn't really notice a whole lot of dust, but I blew the thing out anyway and put it back together, and its doing ok, as far as I can tell.

I'd be interested in knowing other slashdotter's experience with maintaining their devices in this way and where possible. And I actually extending the life of my devices, or am I just wasting my time?"
Announcements

Submission + - Gandalf/Magneto To Officiate At Picard/Professor X Wedding (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by Freshly Exhumed
Freshly Exhumed writes: On the Jonathan Ross Show, Sir Ian McKellen, best known to SciFi fans as Magneto and/or Gandalf, revealed that he will be officiating at the wedding of his long time friend and fellow actor, Patrick Stewart, who will soon be marrying his jazz-singer fiance Sunny Ozell. Quipped McKellen: 'I’m going to marry Patrick...' 'How else do you put that? I’m going to officiate at his wedding.'
Democrats

Submission + - Internet Sales Tax Vote This Week In US Senate (cnet.com)

Submitted by
SonicSpike
SonicSpike writes: "From TFA: "Internet tax supporters are hoping that a vote in the U.S. Senate as early as today will finally give them enough political leverage to require Americans to pay sales taxes when shopping online.

Sens. Mike Enzi (R-Wy.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) are expected to offer an amendment to a Democratic budget resolution this week that, by allowing states to "collect taxes on remote sales," is intended to usher in the first national Internet sales tax.""
Google

Submission + - Google Keep Labelled "Delete" (techweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by
judgecorp
judgecorp writes: "The Google Keep note-keeping app has had a frosty reception. Analysts including Gartner have said its functionality is laughable compared to that of the rival Evernote (saying "it’s like saying MSFT Paint is a threat to Photoshop") and other users have rejected it on the grounds that after the death sentence on Reader, Google can't be trusted not to pull the plug on a service which people have come to rely on."
Privacy

Submission + - Twitter-shaming can cost you your job - whether you're giving or receiving (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
tsamsoniw
tsamsoniw writes: "Hoping to strike a blow against sexism in the tech industry, developer and tech evangelist Adria Richards took to Twitter to complain about two male developers swapping purportedly offensive jokes at PyCon. The decision has set into motion a chain of events that illustrate the impact a tweet or two can make in this age of social networking: One the developers and Richards have since lost their jobs, and even the chair of PyCon has been harassed for his minor role in the incident."
Education

Submission + - Kids Build Pill Dispenser to Win Raspberry Pi Award (channelbiz.co.uk)

Submitted by
judgecorp
judgecorp writes: "The first Raspberry Pi Awards have picked the best projects built by schoolchildren using the Raspberry Pi. The winners included a team of 8 to 11 year olds, who built a door-answering machine for elderly or disabled people, and a team of 12 to 16 year olds, who made an automated pill dispenser for forgetful patients. Other categories included adults, who built a wireless home power consumption system."
Google

Submission + - Post "Good Google", Who Will Defend The Open Web?

Submitted by
psykocrime
psykocrime writes: "The crazy kids at Fogbeam Labs have started a discussion about Google and their relationship with the Open Web, and questioning who will step up to defend these principles, even as Google seem to be abdicating their position as such a champion. Some candidates mentioned include Yahoo, IBM, Red Hat, Mozilla, Microsoft and The Wikimedia Foundation, among others. The question is, what organization(s) have BOTH the necessary clout and the required ethical principles, to truly champion the Open Web, in the face of commercial efforts which are clearly inimical to Open Source, Open Standards, Libre Culture and other elements of an Open Web?"

Submission + - Apple ban "Sweatshop themed" game from app store (pocketgamer.co.uk)

Submitted by danhuby
danhuby writes: Apple have removed sweatshop-themed game Sweatshop HD by UK developers LittleLoud from their app store citing clause 16.1 — "Apps that present excessively objectionable or crude content will be rejected.". According to the PocketGamer article, Littleloud's head of games, Simon Parkin, told Pocket Gamer that "Apple removed Sweatshop from the App Store last month stating that it was uncomfortable selling a game based around the theme of running a sweatshop."
Security

Submission + - BBC Twitter Accounts Hacked by Pro-Assad Syrian Electronic Army (ibtimes.co.uk)

Submitted by
DavidGilbert99
DavidGilbert99 writes: "Following BBC Weather on Twitter seems like it wouldn't throw up too many surprises, possibly news of the odd blizzard now and again. But today, the account's 60,000 follower got a little more than "chance of a light drizzle" when the pro-Assad Syrian Electronic Army hacked the account, along with a couple of other BBC accounts in an apparent protest at what it sees as reports which don't show the Syrian regime in the best light."
Government

Submission + - Are 3-D Printed Guns Really Legal? (itworld.com) 1

Submitted by
jfruh
jfruh writes: "Defense Distributed, a U.S. nonprofit that aims to make plans for guns available owners of 3-D printers, recently received a federal firearms license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobocco and Firearms. That license doesn't cover semi-automatic weapons and machine guns, though — and there are questions about whether the legislation that defines that license really apply to the act of giving someone 3-D printing patterns. Experts on all sides of the issue seemd to agree that no clarification of the law would happen until a high-profile crime involving a 3-D printed weapon was committed."

Submission + - Making your own phone is easier than you might think (newscientist.com)

Submitted by
Big Hairy Ian
Big Hairy Ian writes: "Our reporter builds a handcrafted cellphone using widely available parts and online instructions

SUDDENLY, my phone rings. It chirps out a tinny version of what sounds like the Christmas carol Angels We Have Heard on High. I am giddy with amazement.

On the fifth floor of the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, David Mellis has just plugged in the mobile phone I spent all afternoon soldering together. That's right: I just built a cellphone. By hand.

Mellis is a graduate student in the High-Low Tech lab, a group of engineering evangelists trying to bring technology know-how to people who perhaps thought it was out of reach. In 2005, he helped found Arduino, a company that makes easy-to-program microprocessors and sells them on simple circuit boards. The idea is to help people make electronic products without needing a degree in computer science.

They're popular among hobbyists, hackers and the sort of people who end up working at the Media Lab but they're hardly mainstream. Mellis wondered if he could take the idea further."
Security

Submission + - New OS X Trojan Adware Injects Ads Into Chrome, Firefox, Safari

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A new trojan specifically for Macs has been discovered that installs an adware plugin. The malware attempts to monetize its attack by injecting ads into Chrome, Firefox, and Safari (the most popular browsers on Apple's desktop platform) in the hopes that users will generate money for its creators by viewing (and maybe even clicking) them. The threat, detected as "Trojan.Yontoo.1" by Russian security firm Doctor Web, is part of a wider scheme of adware for OS X that has "been increasing in number since the beginning of 2013," according to the company.
Android

Submission + - Critical Samsung Android Phone Vulnerabilities (net-security.org)

Submitted by Orome1
Orome1 writes: Tired of waiting for Samsung to fix a string of critical flaws in their smartphones running Android, Italian security researcher Roberto Paleari has decided to inform the public about the seriousness of the matter and maybe make the company pick up the pace. Mindful of the danger that the vulnerabilities present to the users if they are exploited by malicious individuals, he decided not to share any technical details, but to just give a broad overview of what their misuse would allow. This includes a silent installation of highly-privileged applications with no user interaction and an app performing almost any action on the victim's phone.
EU

Submission + - EU research suggests online music piracy does not harm legitimate sales (europa.eu)

Submitted by
waterbear
waterbear writes: "Two researchers at the European Commission's 'in-house science service' IPTS, Luis Aguiar and Bertin Martens, report results of their study http://ipts.jrc.ec.europa.eu/publications/pub.cfm?id=6084 of "the effects of illegal downloading and legal streaming on the legal purchases of digital music". Among their conclusions is that Internet users do not seem to view illegal downloading as a substitute for legal digital music. They find that a 10% increase in clicks on legal streaming websites leads to up to a 0.7% increase in clicks on legal digital purchase websites, but a 10% increase in clicks on illegal downloading websites leads only to a 0.2% increase in clicks on legal purchase websites. A BBC report http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21856720 of this research summarizes that "music web piracy does not harm legitimate sales", and also says that music industry reaction to the report is heavily critical, calling it "flawed and misleading"."

Submission + - Wrong fuel stops presidential Beast (cnn.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Fueling your car with the wrong type of fuel happens even to POTUS :-D, this happens when you put Gasoline instead for Diesel in the tank....
Earth

Submission + - Why Earth Hour Still Matters (greenprophet.com)

Submitted by An dochasac
An dochasac writes: Earth Hour's simple suggestion to turn off your lights for one hour on Saturday March 23rd has grown into an international social movement powerful enough to have become controversial. Writing for Slate Magazine, Bjørn Lomborg argued that it is a waste of time and energy. Thankfully it is still legal to do something that at the very least gives us a better view of a starry night sky, of comet Panstarrs and of our own potential to change the world. Here is why Earth Hour still matters.
Digital

Submission + - Belkin completes Acquisition of Linksys (varindia.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Belkin has announced completion of its acquisition of Linksys. Linksys' technologies, including its routers and the popular and innovative Smart Wi-Fi portfolio and services, will be managed and maintained as a separate brand and product portfolio.

“Linksys has a rich heritage, a passionate customer base and a wide product line, all of which fuelled our decision to acquire the company and our plan to maintain the Linksys brand,” said Chet Pipkin, CEO, Belkin. “The Linksys’ portfolio will continue to exist and evolve to include even richer user experiences and network management functionality. Smart Wi-Fi is an innovative and easy way for consumers to stay connected to their home network and we look forward to continue investing in it by adding more features and products.”

Linksys’ customers and retailers will continue to see new Linksys’ products come to market in the near future, starting with several announcements in the spring time frame. By maintaining the Belkin and Linksys brands in home networking, Belkin aims to address a broader range of consumers with distinct networking solutions and will create the premier ecosystem for mobile devices and smart homes.

Support for Linksys’ products remains available through the existing Linksys support channels. For service, Linksys customers should go to the support page on the Linksys’ website. All valid warranties will be honoured for current and future Linksys’ products.

“A lot of exciting things are happening in today’s connected lifestyle segment, and we are honoured to continue the Linksys brand and enable new connected experiences,” added Pipkin. “Linksys and Belkin are now one team. We are ready to do fantastic things as a team and deliver products that delight consumers and support the increasingly connected, mobile world.”
United States

Submission + - Declassified LBJ Tapes Accuse Richard Nixon of Treason

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "After the Watergate scandal taught Richard Nixon the consequences of recording White House conversations none of his successors has dared to do it. But Nixon wasn't the first. He got the idea from his predecessor Lyndon Johnson, who felt there was an obligation to allow historians to eventually eavesdrop on his presidency. Now David Taylor reports on BBC that the latest set of declassified tapes of President Lyndon Johnson's telephone calls show that by the time of the Presidential election in November 1968, LBJ had evidence the Nixon had sabotaged the Vietnam war peace talks — or, as he put it, that Nixon was guilty of treason and had "blood on his hands". It begins in the summer of 1968. Nixon feared a breakthrough at the Paris Peace talks designed to find a negotiated settlement to the Vietnam war that he knew would derail his campaign. Nixon therefore set up a clandestine back-channel to the South Vietnamese involving Anna Chennault, a senior campaign adviser. In late October 1968 there were major concessions from Hanoi which promised to allow meaningful talks to get underway in Paris. This was exactly what Nixon feared. Chennault was despatched to the South Vietnamese embassy with a clear message: the South Vietnamese government should withdraw from the talks, refuse to deal with Johnson, and if Nixon was elected, they would get a much better deal. Meanwhile the FBI had bugged the ambassador's phone and transcripts of Chennault's calls were sent to the White House. Johnson was told by Defense Secretary Clark Clifford that the interference was illegal and threatened the chance for peace. The president gave Humphrey enough information to sink his opponent but by then, a few days from the election, Humphrey had been told he had closed the gap with Nixon and would win the presidency so Humphrey decided it would be too disruptive to the country to accuse the Republicans of treason, if the Democrats were going to win anyway. In the end Nixon won by less than 1% of the popular vote, escalated the war into Laos and Cambodia with the loss of an additional 22,000 American lives, and finally settled for a peace agreement in 1973 that was within grasp in 1968."
Science

Submission + - New Drug May Reverse Autism Symptoms (thefutureofthings.com)

Submitted by
Iddo Genuth
Iddo Genuth writes: "Researchers from the University of San Diego in California have used a newly discovered function of an existing drug, to reinstate cell communications in a mouse model of autism, reversing the symptoms of the disorder and giving hope for millions of children worldwide."

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