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Music

Submission + - Humble Bundle: Linux Users Pay Most For Music Too (humblebundle.com) 2

Submitted by dylan_-
dylan_- writes: It's well known that in the various game Humble Bundles — pay whatever you want for a variety of games — Linux users have consistently been the ones who voluntarily pay the most. Some have attributed this to the lack of games on Linux but the latest Bundle is for music rather than games and the trend continues. Linux users paying an average of $11.95, Mac $9.92 and Windows $7.50. Perhaps the old complaint of it being more expensive to hire Linux sys-admins is correct, meaning they tend to earn more and leaving Linux users with more disposable income?
Android

Submission + - Custom Android ROM Developers get OTA Update Capabilties like Carriers (xda-developers.com) 1

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: A new service dubbed OTA Update Center has been launched that enables Android ROM developers to provide over-the-air (OTA) updates of their ROMs in a centralized and easy fashion. Custom ROM developers had very little at their disposal when it came to providing updates and when any user with such a ROM did want to apply an update, he/she was required to reinstall the new ROM from scratch that often involved deletion of backup, installation of new ROM, restoration of data. This was a lengthy process and often a deterrent when it came to updating the ROM. Also, the developers were required to have their own infrastructure whereby they would be required to host their own servers and have the required bandwidth to serve scores of downloads. The OTA Update Center changes this and provides a free to use service that is easy and noon-friendly to use. The website reads, “This project is especially for the rom devs around, to be able to implement an easy to use, and free OTA Update app.”
The Internet

Submission + - U.S. Broadband Adoption of 10 Mbps and Higher Nearly Doubles in a Year (enterprisenetworkingplanet.com)

Submitted by darthcamaro
darthcamaro writes: ok we all know that the U.S. doesn't have the fastest broadband in the world, but it is gaining 'fast' (pun intended). The latest Akamai State of the Internet report pegs U.S. adoption of High Broadband, that is broadband with access of 10 Mbps at 15 percent. While that number may not seem high, it's 95 percent higher than it was this time last year.
Google

Submission + - Google Smacked With $22.5M Fine Over Safari Privacy Violation (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: The US Federal Trade Commission fined Google $22.5 million for violating the privacy of people who used rival Apple's Safari web browser even after pledging not to do so. The FTC said Google had agreed with the commission in October 2011 not to place tracking cookies on or deliver targeted ads to Safari users, but then went ahead and did so.

"For several months in 2011 and 2012, Google placed a certain advertising tracking cookie on the computers of Safari users who visited sites within Google's DoubleClick advertising network," the FTC said in a statement. "Google had previously told these users they would automatically be opted out of such tracking."

While Google agreed to the fine, it did NOT admit it had violated the earlier agreement.
Security

Submission + - New State-Sponsered Malware "Gauss" making the rounds (wired.com)

Submitted by
EliSowash
EliSowash writes: "A newly uncovered espionage tool, apparently designed by the same people behind the state-sponsored Flame malware that infiltrated machines in Iran, has been found infecting systems in other countries in the Middle East, according to Kaspersky researchers. Gauss is a nation state sponsored banking Trojan which carries a warhead of unknown designation. Besides stealing various kinds of data from infected Windows machines, it also includes an unknown, encrypted payload which is activated on certain specific system configurations. Just like Duqu was based on the “Tilded” platform on which Stuxnet was developed, Gauss is based on the “Flame” platform."
Education

Submission + - For-Profit Colleges Only a Con Man Could Love (villagevoice.com)

Submitted by Dr Herbert West
Dr Herbert West writes: From the Village Voice "You might not know it, but you're sitting on $117,000. That's basically how much every American is potentially worth in government student aid. Want to attend grad school? Throw in another $114,000."

Between student-aid and GI Bill programs, most for-profit schools receive 90 percent of their revenue from the American taxpayer, which means that even a school with no accreditation has little or no stake in seeing students graduate-- they get paid regardless. Nearly 80 percent of students won't complete their program within six years—almost double the failure rate at traditional schools. You'd think that might be due to the fact that kids today are lazy good-for-nothings-- however, Bridgepoint Education/University of the Rockies (owned by Warburg Pincus, a New York private-equity firm) just 50 full-time faculty members are available to teach 90,000 online students. This is at a school that received its accreditation simply by buying up a Franciscan college in Clinton, Iowa.

Unsurprisingly, three-quarters of all for-profit students are enrolled at schools owned by Wall Street banks and private-equity firms such as Goldman Sachs.

I know I was raised to believe that a college education was key to some measure of financial independence and success-- increasingly it's looking like a predatory scam designed to keep the most vulnerable members of society in a debt spiral without even a degree to show for it.

Submission + - Brazilian telephony operator TIM drops calls on purpose (uol.com.br)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A recently produced report by the Brazilian Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ANATEL) confirms what many clients — myself included — have long suspected, TIM disconnects its customer calls on purpose. TIM offers voice plans charged either by minute or by call, the latter appeals to a larger audience because one call, regardless of its duration, costs only 25 cents even if it's long distance. However the report discovered that these calls have a drop rate 300% higher than those charged by minute which strongly suggests that they are disconnected on purpose, to maximize profits. More details (in Portuguese) here: http://g1.globo.com/parana/noticia/2012/08/tim-derruba-os-sinais-de-clientes-de-forma-proposital-aponta-relatorio.html

Submission + - TextMate 2 released as open source (macromates.com)

Submitted by DaBombDotCom
DaBombDotCom writes: Allan Odgaard, the author of the popular text editor for Mac OS X, TextMate has posted on his blog:

"Today I am happy to announce that you can find the source for TextMate 2 on GitHub.

I’ve always wanted to allow end-users to tinker with their environment, my ability to do this is what got me excited about programming in the first place, and it is why I created the bundles concept, but there are limits to how much a bundle can do, and with the still growing user base, I think the best move forward is to open source the program.

The choice of license is GPL 3. This is partly to avoid a closed source fork and partly because the hacker in me wants all software to be free (as in speech), so in a time where our platform vendor is taking steps to limit our freedom, this is my small attempt of countering such trend."
Open Source

Submission + - Ouya Opens Pre-Orders After Gaining $8.6 Million in Kickstarter Funds (pcmag.com)

Submitted by Chameleon Man
Chameleon Man writes: "Early this morning, the Android-based Ouya console ended its run on Kickstarter with nearly $8.6 million in user donations. In recent weeks, the company has secured a number of content partners for the device, but now it's time to see if Ouya can really deliver. Interested buyers can now pre-order an Ouya on the company's website. In the U.S., one console and one controller will cost $109, one console plus two controllers will be $139, and one console and four controllers will be $199. All orders include a $10 shipping charge." Here's to hoping that an open-source console can gain a foothold in an already competitive market.
Science

Submission + - Flickr photo leads to new insect discovery (mongabay.com) 1

Submitted by rhettb
rhettb writes: Scientists have discovered a previously unknown species of lacewing insect after stumbling upon a series of photos posted on Flickr, according to a paper published in the journal ZooKeys. Entomologist Shaun Winterton first found evidence of the species when he randomly stumbled upon a set of photos posted by Hock Ping Guek, a Malaysian photographer. Winterton recognized the insect as a potentially new species, but needed to collect field specimen in order to formally describe it. About a year later, an individual was collected at the same site, enabling Winterton to write up the description in ZooKeys. Hock is a co-author on the paper.
Businesses

Submission + - The Apple vs. Samsung Trial is Already Over

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Jared Newman writes that it seems that the purpose of Apple's trial against Samsung escapes most people — it isn’t about getting compensation for products that were released in 2007, it’s about protecting the products that Apple will release in 2013 and 2015 and beyond — and Apple has already won that fight. Earlier this year, Ron Amadeo of Android Police analyzed the design of Samsung’s Galaxy S III and called it “the first smartphone designed entirely by lawyers,” because it avoids nearly all of Apple’s trade dress claims against earlier products. "Unlike Samsung’s previous Galaxy S phones, the S III doesn’t have a perfectly rectangular shape with uniformly rounded corners, and size of the bezels on each side of the screen are not equal," writes Newman. "Samsung also abandoned the colorful square app icons found in earlier versions of its software and removed the stationary app tray from the phone’s app list." Win or lose, Samsung’s reputation is getting dinged in this trial. That’s why you see Conan O’Brien poking fun at Samsung, and not Apple, in a comedy skit. As Jim Dalrymple notes, $2.5 billion is chump change for Apple and in the big scheme of things, it’s not even that much for Samsung, which made $5.9 billion in profits last quarter alone. The bigger issue in this case is whether Samsung can continue to make its products look like Apple’s. "If Samsung has any pride, it’ll keep producing designs that don’t invite accusations of copying," writes Newman. "Recent products suggest that Samsung has already moved beyond that. The legal pressure has already been applied. In the future, may the best product win.""
Power

Submission + - US Freezes Nuclear Power Plant Permits Because of Waste Issues (cnn.com)

Submitted by KindMind
KindMind writes: All permits for new plants and license extensions for existing plants are being frozen. From the article:

"The U.S. government said it will stop issuing permits for new nuclear power plants and license extensions for existing facilities until it resolves issues around storing radioactive waste. The government's main watchdog, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, believes that current storage plans are safe and achievable. But a federal court said that the NRC didn't detail what the environmental consequences would be if the agency is wrong."

The NRC says that "We are now considering all available options for resolving the waste issue, But, in recognition of our duties under the law, we will not issue [reactor] licenses until the court's remand is appropriately addressed."

Affected are 14 reactors awaiting license renewals, and an additional 16 reactors awaiting permits for new construction.
Education

Submission + - In Hacker Highschool, students learn to redesign the future (opensource.com)

Submitted by
caseyb89
caseyb89 writes: "Hacker Highschool is an after school program that teaches students the best practices of responsible hacking. The program is open source, and high schools across the country have begun offering the free program to students. Hacker Highschool recognized that teens are constantly taught that hacking is bad, and they realized that teens' amature understanding of hacking was the cause of the biggest issues. The program aims to reverse this negative stereotype of hacking by encouraging teens to embrace ethical, responsible hacking."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft and NYPD Pair for Data-Fed Monitoring System (slashdot.org)

Submitted by
Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: "New York City is partnering with Microsoft on an analytics platform that can collect and analyze public-safety data in real time, with an eye toward helping police uncover potential threats.

The Domain Awareness System will draw data from 911 calls, previous crime reports, license-plate readers, law-enforcement databases, environmental sensors, and roughly 3,000 closed-circuit cameras. It will rely on the New York City Wireless Network (NYCWiN), a high-speed wireless broadband infrastructure that allows city agencies to rapidly transmit data, and used for everything from emergency response to reading meters.

Mayor Bloomberg argued that the system isn’t an example of Big Brother overstepping the line. “What you’re seeing is what the private sector has used for a long time," he told Gothamist. "If you walk around with a cell phone, the cell phone company knows where you are We’re not your mom and pop’s police department anymore.”"

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Simple way to backup 24TB of data onto USB HDDs ? 3

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Hi there ! I'm looking for a simple solution to backup a big data set consisting of files between 3MB and 20GB, for a total of 24TB, onto multiple hard drives (usb, firewire, whatever) I am aware of many backup tools which split the backup onto multiple DVDs with the infamous "insert disc N and press continue", but I haven't come across one that can do it with external hard drives (insert next USB device...). OS not relevant, but Linux (console) or MacOS (GUI) preferred... Did I miss something or is there no such thing already done, and am I doomed to code it myself ?

Submission + - ISPs Throttling BitTorrent Traffic, Study Finds (paritynews.com)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: A new report by an open source internet measurement platform, Measurement Lab, sheds light onto throttling of and restriction on BitTorrent traffic by ISPs (Internet Service Provider) across the globe. The report by Measurement Lab reveals that hundreds of ISPs across the globe are involved into throttling of peer-to-peer traffic through and specifically BitTorrent traffic. The Glasnost application run by the platform helps in detecting whether ISPs shape traffic and tests can be carried out to check whether the throttling or blocking is carried out “on email, HTTP or SSH transfer, Flash video, and P2P apps including BitTorrent, eMule and Gnutella”. Going by country, United States has actually seen a drop in throttling compared to what it was back in 2010. Throttling in US is worst for Cox at 6 per cent and best for Comcast, Verizon, AT&T and others at around 3 per cent. United Kingdom is seeing a rise in traffic shaping and BT is the worst with 65 per cent. Virgin Media throttles around 22 per cent of the traffic while the least is O2 at 2 per cent. More figures can be found here.

Submission + - 6502 Decompiler (indiegogo.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A crowdfunding project at Indiegogo aims to produce a decompiler for 6502 machine code that is supposed to help in gaining new insights into software history. An alpha version can be tried online, with several examples such as Super Mario Bros and Attack of the Mutant Camels.
Math

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: How Many of You Actually Use Math? 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: I'm a high school student who is interested in a career in a computer science or game development related position. I've been told by teachers and parents that math classes are a must for any technology related career. I've been dabbling around Unity3D and OGRE for about two years now and have been programming for longer than that, but I've never had to use any math beyond trigonometry (which I took as a Freshman). This makes me wonder: will I actually use calculus and above, or is it just a popular idea that you need to be a mathematician in order to program? What are your experiences?
Security

Submission + - Secret Security Questions are a Joke

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Rebecca Rosen writes that when hackers broke into Mat Honan's Apple account last week, they couldn't answer his security questions but Apple didn't care and issued a temporary password anyway. This was a company disregarding its own measure, saying, effectively, security questions are a joke and we don't take them very seriously. But even if Apple had required the hackers to answer the questions, it's very likely that the hackers would have been able to find the right answers. "The answers to the most common security questions — where did you go to high school? what is the name of the first street you lived on? — are often a matter of the public record," writes Rosen, "even more easily so today than in the 1980s when security questions evolved as a means of protecting bank accounts." Part of the problem is that a good security question is hard to design and has to meet four criteria: A good security question should be definitive — there should only be one correct answer; Applicable — the question should be possible to answer for as large a portion of users as possible; Memorable — the user should have little difficulty remembering it; and Safe — it should be difficult to guess or find through research. Unfortunately few questions fit all these criteria and are known only by you. "Perhaps mother's maiden name was good enough for banking decades ago, but I'm pretty sure anyone with even a modicum of Google skills could figure out my mom's maiden's name," concludes Rosen. Passwords have reached the end of their useful life adds Bruce Schneier. "Today, they only work for low-security applications. The secret question is just one manifestation of that fact.""
Businesses

Submission + - Scrum/Agile Now Used To Manage Non-Tech Projects (itworld.com)

Submitted by
jfruh
jfruh writes: "Agile and, in particular, Scrum, have been popular project management methods for software development for more than a decade, and now its use is spreading well beyond software. For example, NPR is using Agile for faster, cheaper development of new radio programs. 'I was looking for some inspiration and found it one floor up inside our building (where Digital Media sits),' says NPR vice president of programming Eric Nuzum. NPR has used this 'Agile-inspired' approach to create several new programs, including TED Radio Hour, Ask Me Another, and Cabinet of Wonders."

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