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NASA

Submission + - Milky Way is Surrounded by Halo of Hot Gas (spaceindustrynews.com)

Submitted by littlesparkvt
littlesparkvt writes: Data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory was used to estimate that the mass of the halo is comparable to the mass of all the stars in the Milky Way galaxy. If the size and mass of this gas halo is confirmed, it could be the solution to the ”missing-baryon” problem for the Galaxy.
Crime

Submission + - FTC short-circuits privacy-invading computer spy ring (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "The Federal Trade Commission today said it settled a case that involved seven rent-to-own PC firms and a software vendor which worked together to spy on consumers using the rented computers. The software captured screenshots of confidential and personal information, logged computer keystrokes, and in some cases took webcam pictures of people in their homes, all without owner notice or consent."
Space

Submission + - The deepest picture of the Universe ever taken: the Hubble Extreme Deep Field

Submitted by
The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: "Astronomers have unveiled what may be the deepest image of the Universe ever created: the Hubble Extreme Deep Field, a 2 million second exposure that reveals galaxies over 13 billion light years away. The faintest galaxies in the images are at magnitude 31, or one-ten-billionth as bright as the faintest object your naked eye can detect. Some are seen as they were when they were only 500 million years old."
IOS

Submission + - First Take On iOS 6's Passbook: Meh (itworld.com)

Submitted by
jfruh
jfruh writes: "In all the excitement over new iOS 6 features — including controversy over the quality of the news Maps app — one Apple-touted new feature, Passbook, hasn't gotten much attention. This review from Kevin Purdy helps explain why. There's nothing particularly wrong with it, exactly, but it can be clunky to set up new merchant payment apps with it, and once you do, you don't get a payment experience that's any more convenient than just paying with your credit card or good old-fashioned cash."

Submission + - QuNeo Stress Test Video Going Viral: Just Add Beer (youtube.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A stress test video of the QuNeo MIDI controller featuring a beer shower and a precipitous fall, is going viral on YouTube. Conducted by djtechtools.com, the test evaluates the durability of the latest product from Keith McMillen Instruments. The QuNeo is a totally sexy and disruptive music controller for digital DJ/EDM/Producer types, and was the #1 most funded music tech project in KickStarter history (backers included Herbie Hancock, Richie Hawtin, Matt Black of Ninja Tune, and even Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones).
Science

Submission + - Now, Einstein's brain is an interactive iPad app (indianexpress.com)

Submitted by puddingebola
puddingebola writes: From the article, "After Einstein's death, a pathologist named Thomas Harvey performed an autopsy, removing the scientist's brain, hoping that future researchers could discover the secrets behind his genius. However, as the tissue was preserved before modern imagingtechnology, it may be difficult to figure out exactly where in Einstein's brain each slide originated. The new app organises the slides into general brain regions, however, it does not map them with precision to an anatomical model."
Cloud

Submission + - Pros and Cons of using Ganeti as a virtualization platform (linux.com)

Submitted by ramereth
ramereth writes: Building an open source based private cloud using the platforms available can sometimes induce rage face with their complexity. Ganeti has been around as a virtualization platform for many years, but doesn't tend to get as much attention as other platforms do. Its simplicity in installation, maintenance, and architecture offer some sanity to some small IT departments looking for an alternative. Ganeti's Pros and Cons enable it to fill a specific niche in high performance and hardware failure tolerance environments. The platform has been key to expanding and stabilizing virtualization at the OSU Open Source Lab which uses it to host hundreds of open source projects and powers projects such as the Python Software Foundation, phpBB, and OSGeo to name a few.

Submission + - Defending a Patent Troll - can anyone help or recommend an affordable attorney? (pandodaily.com) 1

Submitted by trollfood
trollfood writes: The troll suit against my web site got itself "consolidated" with PayPal, Amazon, Adobe, and a half dozen other megacorporations. I'm one guy, and I "just get by" from my site, and the tiny part of it they sued me for is quite obviously not infringing, and earns only a few coffee's worth of daily income anyhow.

Can anyone recommend an *affordable* attorney?

Are you, or anyone you know, interested in getting into patent defence in the Eastern District of Texas? If you're able to do me a sweet deal on fees, you will get to join the 48-attorney (no joke) joint defence group, and enjoy full uncensored first-hand inside access to an enormous troll suit: you'll learn how to attack patents, how to attack trolls, and the intimate details of how the worlds most famous patent court works... all while winning my case for me (*should* be easy, since noninfringement is quite obvious).

Surely that experience is worth something to someone? It would look good on a CV probably? If nothing else, saving one good guy (me) from being eaten by trolls is (IMHO!) a fight to be proud of taking on :-)

All help/suggestions gratefully received!
Java

Submission + - 1 Billion at Risk from Java Vulnerability (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
jcatcw
jcatcw writes: "Just as Oracle is ramping up for the September 30 start of JavaOne 2012 in San Francisco, researchers from the Polish firm Security Explorations disclosed yet another critical Java vulnerability that might "spoil the taste of Larry Ellison's morning ... Java." According to Security Explorations researcher Adam Gowdiak, who sent the email to the Full Disclosure Seclist, this Java exploit affects one billion users of Oracle Java SE software, Java 5, 6 and 7. It could be exploited by apps on Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera and Safari. Wow, thanks a lot Oracle."

Submission + - "I'm Lovin' It": Fast-Food Logos 'Imprinted' in Children's Brains, Study Says (medicaldaily.com) 1

Submitted by bbianca127
bbianca127 writes: A study has found that fast-food logos are branded into the minds of children at an early age, perhaps fueling the U.S.'s obesity epidemic. The study showed children 60 logos from popular food brands and 60 logos from popular non-food brands. Researchers found that, when shown images of fast-food brands, the parts of kids' brains linked with pleasure and appetite lit up. This is concerning because marketers tap into those portions of the brain long before children develop self-control, and most foods marketed to kids are high in calories, sugar, sodium, and fat.

Submission + - This Machine Kills Secrets by Andy Greenberg

Submitted by
sgt_doom
sgt_doom writes: "Privacy on the Internet can be a life or death proposition: whether it was Yahoo's Jerry Yang outing a Chinese pro-democracy activist to the Chinese government, the secret police of Bahrain disappearing protesters, or the lengthy incarceration and sleep-deprivation torture of Bradley Manning, the outcomes can be enormous.

Greenberg has exhaustively researched the story — and the back story -- providing the reader with the ultimate bird's eye view of the unfolding story of WikiLeaks, Internet privacy and the corporate and governmental battles waged against them; this is one kick ass piece of work!

From cryptography and cipherpunks to the extreme efforts of hacktivists, Greenberg delivers mightily.

Highly recommended!"

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