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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."
Science

Submission + - D&D Monster Study Proves Eyes Have It (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: The dungeon is pitch black—until the dungeon master blazes a torch, confirming your worst fears. A Beholder monster lurches at you, its eyeballs wriggling on tentacular stems. As you prepare to wield your Vorpal sword, where do you focus your gaze: at the monster's head or at its tentacle eyes? Such a quandary from the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons may seem like a meaningless trifle, but it holds within it the answer to a tricky scientific question: Do people focus their gaze on another person's eyes or on the center of the head? In fact, a father-son team has used D&D monsters to show that most people will look to another creature's eyes, even if they’re not attached to a head.
Mars

Submission + - Curiosity Completes First Soil Analysis, Finds Volcanic Soils (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has completed its first soil analysis of the Red Planet. The unmanned explorer used an advanced, miniaturized X-ray diffraction instrument that is part of the Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument (CheMin) of its internal laboratory. The soil, collected at a site designated “Rocknest” in Gale Crater, reveals that Martian soil is a weathered volcanic type similar to soils found in the Hawaiian Islands.
Science

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Was Sandy good for New York and the people? 4

Submitted by maroberts
maroberts writes: Whilst sadly more than 40 people have died as a result of Storm Sandy, my colleagues and I are debating whether the storm is actually beneficial in terms of employment and mortality rate. For instance, we argue that deaths from murders and traffic incidents will be way down, as will injuries from the same.

Similarly all the renovation work will be a source of jobs for less skilled manual workers, and we will genuinely witness income flowing from rich to poor. Insurance companies will pay out, reducing their dividends.

So overall, should the US be wishing for more or less bad weather?
Australia

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

Submitted by another random user
another random user 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.

Milorad Trkulja had alleged that the US firm's image and web results had caused harm to his reputation.

The 62-year-old had said the site had refused to remove the material when asked. He had previously won a related case against Yahoo.

Google has not commented on the verdict and might still appeal. The judge is expected to set the level of damages owed within a fortnight.
Power

Submission + - Is Wireless Power Over Distance Just A Parlor Trick? (computerworld.com)

Submitted by Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: Companies like U.S.-based WiTricity and China-based 3DVOX Technology claim patents and products to wirelessly powering anything from many feet away — from smart phones and televisions to electric cars by using charging pads embedded in concrete. But more than one industry standards group promoting magnetic induction and short-distance resonance wireless charging say such technology is useless; Charging anything at distances greater than the diameter of a magnetic coil is an inefficient use of power. For example, Menno Treffers, chairman of the Wireless Power Consortium, says you can broadcast wireless power over six feet, but the charge received will be less than 10% of the source. WiTricity and 3DVOX, however, are fighting those claims with demonstrations showing their products are capable of resonating the majority of source power.
Iphone

Submission + - Apple has lost a trial for the name iFone in México (aristeguinoticias.com)

Submitted by
omar_armas
omar_armas writes: "The mexican company iFone registered its trademark in 2003 and offers call center services. In 2009 Apple asked the Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Intelectual(IMPI) to ban the name given the similarity to the iPhone brand. The judge has rule in favor of iFone and now Apple should face a fine and a iFone is expected to ask for damages in court."
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Army of IT Darkness: The 7 Scariest Monsters In Tech (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
snydeq
snydeq writes: "'They're the stuff that nightmares are made of, the rude beasts that haunt IT pros' dreams and make them wake up in a cold sweat. Look closely and you'll start to see them everywhere.' From Warewolves to Keyboard Zombies to Frankenhackers, these seven IT hellions can turn your tech department into a horror show — quick."
EU

Submission + - Mozilla misses out on 6-9 million downloads due MS browser choice glitch (wordpress.com)

Submitted by Dupple
Dupple writes: Most recently the EC sent a statement of objections to Microsoft for failing to include the browser-choice screen as promised. Our data suggests that the absence of the browser choice screen had the following impact:

Daily Firefox downloads decreased by 63% to a low of 20,000 just prior to the fix;
After the fix, Firefox downloads increased 150% to approximately 50,000 per day; and
Cumulatively 6 to 9 million Firefox browser downloads were lost during this period.

More here

http://www.zdnet.com/firefox-lost-6-9-million-downloads-in-eu-browser-choice-glitch-7000006670/
Privacy

Submission + - Police cameras allowed on private property without warrant (upi.com)

Submitted by sbinning
sbinning writes: A federal judge has ruled that police officers in Wisconsin did not violate the Fourth Amendment when they secretly installed cameras on private property without judicial approval. The property in question was heavily wooded, with a locked gate and "no trespassing" signs to notify strangers that they were unwelcome.
Patents

Submission + - Let's Go Back to Patenting the 'Solution,' Not the 'Problem' (wired.com)

Submitted by
concealment
concealment writes: "Functional claiming of software inventions is arguably responsible for most of the well-recognized problems with software patents today. Software patentees have increasingly been claiming to own the function of their program itself – not merely the particular way they achieved that goal.

Since patentees have regained the ability to claim ownership not of what they built, but of what it does, they have brought suits purporting to own everything from international electronic commerce to video-on-demand to voice over the Internet to emoticons to means of hedging commodity risk. Mind you, the claims aren’t that defendants used their method of implementing electronic commerce or video on demand: the argument is that defendants used the idea itself."
China

Submission + - China is building a 100-petaflop supercomputer (in 2015) (itworld.com) 1

Submitted by
concealment
concealment writes: "As the U.S. launched what's expected to be the world's fastest supercomputer at 20 petaflops, China is building a machine that is intended to be five times faster when it is deployed in 2015.

China's Tianhe-2 supercomputer will run at 100 petaflops (quadrillion floating-point calculations per second), according to the Guangzhou Supercomputing Center, where the machine will be housed.

Tianhe-2 could help keep China competitive with the future supercomputers of other countries, as industry experts estimate machines will start reaching 1,000-petaflop performance by 2018."
Idle

Submission + - Buddhist monk is the world's happiest man (nydailynews.com)

Submitted by
concealment
concealment writes: "Tibetan monk and molecular geneticist Matthieu Ricard is the happiest man in the world according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin. The 66-year-old’s brain produces a level of gamma waves — those linked to consciousness, attention, learning and memory — never before reported in neuroscience.

The scans showed that when meditating on compassion, Ricard's brain produces a level of gamma waves — those linked to consciousness, attention, learning and memory — "never reported before in the neuroscience literature", Davidson said.

The scans also showed excessive activity in his brain's left prefrontal cortex compared to its right counterpart, giving him an abnormally large capacity for happiness and a reduced propensity towards negativity, researchers believe.

Research into the phenomenon, known as "neuroplasticity," is in its infancy and Ricard has been at the forefront of ground-breaking experiments along with other leading scientists across the world."

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