Comment Re:MATLAB? (Score 1) 332
That's what I'd suggest MATLAB or Sage. Just because spreadsheets handle (or try to handle) numbers means they are the best tools for it.
Comment On "Smart" Phones (Score 1) 138
I think of them more as Modems that happen to have computing and voice messaging capability...
Submission + - Fujitsu's New Data Transfer Protocol 30 Times Faster than TCP (paritynews.com) 1
hypnosec writes: Japan based technology giant, Fujitsu, has announced a new data transfer protocol that is capable of transferring data up to 30 times faster than that of currently used Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The new technology, which is a proprietary, has been developed through a software-only approach and is based on User Datagram Protocol (UDP) that is used in streaming media. Even though UDP is a stateless protocol, Fujitsu’s technology has been developed such that it can differentiate between dropped packers and those which haven’t managed to reach the intended destination. Fujitsu carried out tests between US and Japan and the results were amazing – a 30 times improvement over TCP communications in data transfer throughput and a reduction in packet delivery latency to a sixth of previous levels.
Submission + - Copyright law claims first victim in NZ (nzherald.co.nz)
An anonymous reader writes: The first music pirate stung under new file-sharing laws has been fined $616 but "didn't realise" the actions were illegal.
The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) — which represents music studios — took an unnamed offender to the Copyright Tribunal last year for sharing songs on the internet — a track by Barbadian pop-star Rihanna on two occasions and the other by Nashville band Hot Chelle Rae.
In a decision released today, the tribunal found in RIANZ's favour and ordered the offender (who was a Telecom customer) to pay a penalty $616.57.
The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) — which represents music studios — took an unnamed offender to the Copyright Tribunal last year for sharing songs on the internet — a track by Barbadian pop-star Rihanna on two occasions and the other by Nashville band Hot Chelle Rae.
In a decision released today, the tribunal found in RIANZ's favour and ordered the offender (who was a Telecom customer) to pay a penalty $616.57.
Submission + - Does US Owe the World an Education at its Expense?
An anonymous reader writes: 'Right now, there are brilliant students from all over the world sitting in classrooms at our top universities,' President Obama explained to the nation Tuesday in his pitch for immigration reform. 'They are earning degrees in the fields of the future, like engineering and computer science...We are giving them the skills to figure that out, but then we are going to turn around and tell them to start the business and create those jobs in China, or India, or Mexico, or someplace else. That is not how you grow new industries in America. That is how you give new industries to our competitors. That is why we need comprehensive immigration reform." If the President truly fears that international students will use skills learned at U.S. colleges and universities to the detriment of the United States if they return home (isn't a rising tide supposed to lift all boats?) — an argument NYC Mayor Bloomberg advanced in 2011 ('we are investing millions of dollars [actually billions] to educate these students at our leading universities, and then giving the economic dividends back to our competitors – for free') — then wouldn't another option be not providing them with the skills in the first place?
Submission + - Reminder: Sign the Carmen Ortiz/SAaron Swartz petition. 2
MouseTheLuckyDog writes: Just a reminder for those pushing for the removal of Carment Ortiz. Sign the petition and get your friends to sign it too.
I believe the pettion was put up after the limit was raised to 100,000 and as of now it only has 50,600 and has recently been going up but very very slowly.
I believe the pettion was put up after the limit was raised to 100,000 and as of now it only has 50,600 and has recently been going up but very very slowly.
Submission + - Using Big Data to Tame Cancer (informationweek.com)
CowboyRobot writes: "According to the U.K.'s Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), Big data could turn cancer into a "manageable" disease. A new facility, the Tumor Profiling Unit, has been set up with $4.7 million (£3 million) of public donations to explore vast datasets of cancer samples to better understand how these cells can adapt to become resistant to treatment. What's still missing is an expansive DNA database to better identify which genes are responsible for which cancers. Such a database could lead to new treatment techniques. For example if we know that two types of cancer share the same genetic cause, a drug used for one may also be used for the other."
Submission + - Researcher Finds 40-50 Million Devices Hackable Due To UPnP Bugs (forbes.com)
Sparrowvsrevolution writes: H.D. Moore of Rapid7 has discovered a set of security flaws in three different implementations of the set of common (and notoriously troublesome) networking protocols known as Universal Plug and Play, or UPnP. For nearly the last six months, he's been scanning the Internet for devices made vulnerable by those UPnP bugs, and has discovered somewhere between 40 and 50 million routers, printers, servers and other devices susceptible to some sort of hacker compromise via the public Internet. At least some routers from every major vendor are vulnerable. And 23 million of the devices could be completely taken over and used as Linux machines capable of attacking the rest of a victim's internal network.
Moore recommends that users disable UPnP on their networking gear and other devices immediately, and that ISPs even go so far as to push new firmware to consumers' home routers.
Moore recommends that users disable UPnP on their networking gear and other devices immediately, and that ISPs even go so far as to push new firmware to consumers' home routers.
Submission + - Graphene and brain research to get around one billion euro in funding - each (gizmag.com)
cylonlover writes: The European Commission has announced two Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) Flagships that could each receive funding of a staggering one billion euro (US$1.3 billion) over a period of ten years. The “Graphene Flagship” and the “Human Brain Project” are large-scale, science-driven research initiatives designed to “fuel revolutionary discoveries” and provide major benefits for European society – hopefully creating new jobs and providing economic growth along the way.
The Graphene Flagship aims to get graphene out of the lab and into real world products and applications, while the Human Brain Project will attempt to gain a better understanding of our least understood organ so as to develop new treatments for brain diseases, build new computing technologies inspired by the architecture of the brain, and provide insights into what makes us human.
The Graphene Flagship aims to get graphene out of the lab and into real world products and applications, while the Human Brain Project will attempt to gain a better understanding of our least understood organ so as to develop new treatments for brain diseases, build new computing technologies inspired by the architecture of the brain, and provide insights into what makes us human.
Submission + - Halo4 Xbox update Microsoft disables controllers (youtube.com)
Stonefish writes: I have two xboxes, 5 controllers and recently purchased Halo4 for my childs birthday present, unfortunately Microsoft forces you to update the xbox firmware to play Halo4 so this was done. Afterwards I noticed that one of the MS controllers stopped working with this xbox however it still worked with the other xbox. Later the other xbox was updated with the new firmware and another controller, plus the one from the first xbox stopped working (now only 3 controllers work). I tried contracted xbox support and after a lot of being bounced around (wouldn't allow me to escallate) they finally gave me a references number of 1193769642 and told me to download the latest firmware and apply that to the xbox. I haven't done this because they said that they were unaware of any problem and I think there is a risk that the other controllers will stop working. The serial number on the controllers that stopped is the same x801769-707 75580276592599. Someone posted a URL demonstrating the same problem so it doesn't appear to be an isolated incident. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VtjL2bg7wWs. I also found out that MS included functionality in the update to block third party controllers however my controllers areMS branded. I only noticed this because I have two xboxes, has anyone else been bent over by microsofts mission to stop third party controller and assumed that the controller died?
Submission + - Whonix: Building an anonymous operating system (computerworld.com.au)
angry tapir writes: "Whonix is an attempt to build an open source operating system that puts a premium on privacy. It's based on Debian and Tor, but uses a novel virtual dual machine setup to sandbox applications so that even if there is an IP leak (either intentional or unintentional) a user's 'real' IP address should still be safe (with all the caveats that using Tor implies). I caught up with its creator Adrelanos to talk about how the project works and his future plans for the OS."
Submission + - Crypto collisions crash major hashes (scmagazine.com.au)
mask.of.sanity writes: Flaws have been found in cryptographic systems underpinning host of web applications including those offered by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and those based on Java among scores of others.
The attacks target weaknesses in the hash algorithms that permit multiple hash collisions to take place.
Ruby On Rails, Mozilla and others have moved to a new hash built by the researchers who found the hole. Java has not.
The attacks target weaknesses in the hash algorithms that permit multiple hash collisions to take place.
Ruby On Rails, Mozilla and others have moved to a new hash built by the researchers who found the hole. Java has not.
Submission + - Putting biotech threats in context (sagepub.com)
Lasrick writes: Great anecdote: " In 1998, President Bill Clinton read a novel about biological warfare that deeply disturbed him. In fact, the story reportedly kept him up all night. It’s one of the reasons that Clinton became personally invested in protecting the United States from bioterrorism threats." Article goes on to describe the two trajectories of bioweapons threats, and puts them both in perspective. A must-read for anyone, like Bill Clinton, who's ever spent a sleepless night after reading one of the many bioterrorism novels
Submission + - Turning SF's Bay Bridge into a Giant LED Display (xconomy.com)
waderoush writes: "It may be the biggest art hack ever: a project to install 25,000 individually addressable LED lights on the western span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. New York-based 'light sculptor' Leo Villareal was in San Francisco last week to test the vast 'Bay Lights' art installation, which will officially debut on March 5 and last for two years; Xconomy has photos and video of Villareal running the light show from his laptop. To optimize his algorithms and figure out which patterns would be most interesting or arresting, Villareal needed to experiment on the bridge itself, says Bay Lights director Ben Davis, who has raised $5.8 million for the project so far. 'This has never been done before in history — literally debugging software 500 feet in the air, in front of a million people,' says Davis."
Submission + - Purported Relativity Paradox Resolved (sciencemag.org)
sciencehabit writes: A purported conflict between the century-old theory of classical electrodynamics and Einstein's theory of special relativity doesn't exist, a chorus of physicists says. Last April, an electrical engineer claimed that the equation that determines the force exerted on an electrically charged particle by electric and magnetic fields—the Lorentz force law—clashes with relativity, the theory that centers on how observers moving at a constant speed relative to one another will view the same events. To prove it, he concocted a simple "thought experiment" in which the Lorentz force law seemed to lead to a paradox. Now, four physicists independently say that they have resolved the paradox.
