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Submission + - Lost smartphones usually probed for private data (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by innocent_white_lamb
innocent_white_lamb writes: Security software company Symantec dropped 10 phones in each of six Canadian cities and waited to see if they would be returned. Among the questions that Symantec wanted to answer with the study was how persistent people would be in poking around a found phone.

The odds of having a lost cellphone returned are just a little better than 50/50, while the chances of it being probed by its finder are close to 100 per cent, according to the results of the experiment. Each phone was preloaded with icons for phoney apps designed to tempt the finders into tapping on them. Tracking software recorded what they couldn't resist peeking at.

Submission + - The Mystery of the 'Only Camera to Come Back from the Moon' (vice.com)

Submitted by Daniel_Stuckey
Daniel_Stuckey writes: After a furious bidding war in Vienna on Saturday, a Japanese camera collector has bought a Hasselblad camera for $910,000 in a record-setting auction of what's been widely called the "only camera to come back from the moon."

But contrary to claims repeated across the Internet on Monday, this isn't the only camera to come back from the moon. In fact, some think it may have never landed on the moon at all. And because of rules surrounding most NASA property, its sale may actually violate US law.

One thing we know for sure, maybe: the 70mm Hasselblad 500 is one of fourteen cutting-edge cameras that astronauts used in orbit around the moon and on the lunar surface during the Apollo program. All of the images we have from those moon missions were taken by these machines, which were either mounted inside the command module that circled the moon or were attached to space suits at the chest.

This particular camera was, reports the Verge, among many other sources, "used on the moon during the Apollo 15 mission in 1971," and "is special in the fact that it's returned to Earth." That's because astronauts were often instructed to jettison their cameras on the lunar surface in order to save precious kilograms during the return trip.

Comment Re:choice doesn't *require* bad defaults (Score 3, Insightful) 361

by mattytee (#45146231) Attached to: Is Choice a Problem For Android?

You realize what you are saying is equivalent to saying a new windows app needs to be test on every version of windows, and on every machine combination, right?

As the main build guy at a small software company, I can attest that this is necessary.

We run automated testing on XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. As far as "every machine combination," yes and no. If your software is built for 32 and 64 bit systems, you need to test XP32, XP64, Vista32, Vista64, Win7-32, Win7-64, etc.

We also run on Linux and test on every distribution we support. Here, it's mainly glibc differences that cause the breaks. We build to the lowest common denominator, and you'd be surprised how often something works fine on RHEL4 but is broken on RHEL6 due to library differences.

We have seen lots of issues from the same code that are only reproducible on one version of Windows or one version of Linux.

If you're doing it seriously, test seriously or your product will suffer.

Submission + - HALE Dreamer: The Difference Between Android and Apple Accessories (kickstarter.com)

Submitted by JoeBorn
JoeBorn writes: One of the little discussed factors in the Apple v Android debate is the accessory ecosystem. Apple has fostered a robust ecosystem with a set of standards, a "MFi" verification program and reference designs. The Android ecosystem has little of that, but also none of the restrictions that go with it, this puts more work on the startups that want to get into the Android accessory space, but also gives them more freedom to innovate. HALE devices has created an alarm dock that includes an integrated Do Not Disturb feature, based on their own set of standards. Is this an area that hurts or helps Android?
Piracy

Submission + - RIAA: Google Failing to Demote Pirate Websites (slashdot.org)

Submitted by
Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: "The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) claims that Google has failed in its attempt to lower the search-results rankings of so-called “pirate” Websites. “We have found no evidence that Google’s policy has had a demonstrable impact on demoting sites with large amounts of piracy,” read the report’s summary (PDF). “These sites consistently appear at the top of Google’s search results for popular songs or artists.” Last August, Google indicated that it would start lowering the search-result rankings of Websites with high numbers of “valid” copyright removal notices. “This ranking change should help users find legitimate, quality sources of content more easily—whether it’s a song previewed on NPR’s music website, a TV show on Hulu or new music streamed on Spotify,” Amit Singhal, Google’s senior vice president of Engineering, wrote in a corporate blog posting at the time. Google, which receives millions of copyright removal notices every month, also offers a counter-notice tool for those who believe their Websites have been unfairly targeted for copyright violations."
Cellphones

Submission + - White House Petition To Make Unlocking Phones Legal Passes 100,000 Signatures

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A White House petition to make unlocking cell phones legal again has passed the 100,000 signature mark. Passing the milestone means the US government has to issue an official response. On January 26th, unlocking a cell phone that is under contract became illegal in the U.S. Just before that went into effect, a petition was started at whitehouse.gov to have the Librarian of Congress revisit that decision. "It reduces consumer choice, and decreases the resale value of devices that consumers have paid for in full. The Librarian noted that carriers are offering more unlocked phones at present, but the great majority of phones sold are still locked."

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"Who alone has reason to *lie himself out* of actuality? He who *suffers* from it." -- Friedrich Nietzsche

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