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Submission + - Is Too Much Computer Time Killing Kids' Ability to Learn?

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: A teacher's union in Northern Ireland is asserting that children spending too much time on computers are impairing their ability to learn. The asserted excessive computer use is being blamed for an inability to concentrate or socialize. As one teacher puts it, '... these gadgets are really destroying their ability to learn.' One question no one seems to be asking is whether the kids showing these symptoms are getting enough sleep.

Submission + - Declining LG's new ad-friendly Privacy Policy removes features from Smart TVs

Submitted by BUL2294
BUL2294 writes: Techdirt and Consumerist posted articles about a user in the UK who, after a firmware update to his 2-year old LG Smart TV, declined their new Privacy Policy, only to find that most Internet-connected features (e.g. BBC iPlayer, Skype) of the TV now no longer work. From the Techdirt article...

Does a manufacturer have the right to "brick" certain integral services just because the end user doesn't feel comfortable sharing a bunch of info with LG and other, unnamed third parties? LG certainly feels it has the right to do this. In fact, it makes no secret of this in its long Privacy Policy — a document that spends more time discussing the lack thereof, rather than privacy itself. The opening paragraph makes this perfectly clear.

To add, even declining the policy still results in non-specified information being sent to LG.

LG's policy of spying on the viewing habits of customers, along with sending filenames of videos stored on USB devices connected to TVs, was previously discussed on Slashdot.

Submission + - Cybercrime Attack Targets, Victims, Motivations And Methods

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Trustwave experts gathered the data from 691 breach investigations across 24 countries and found that criminals relied most on Java applets as a malware delivery method. The median number of days from initial intrusion to detection was 87 and the median number of days from detection to containment was seven. Upon discovery of a breach, 67 percent of victims were able to contain it within 10 days. When ranking the top ten victim locations, the United States overwhelmingly house the most victims at 59 percent, which was more than four times as many as the next closest victim location, the United Kingdom, at 14 percent. 96 percent of applications scanned in 2013 harbored one or more serious security vulnerabilities.

Submission + - Heartbleed Exposes Critical Infrastructure's Patch Problem (veracode.com)

Submitted by chicksdaddy
chicksdaddy writes: The good news about the Heartbleed vulnerability in OpenSSL is that most of the major sites that were found to be vulnerable to the flaw have been patched. (http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9247787/Most_but_not_all_sites_have_fixed_Heartbleed_flaw)

The bad news: the vulnerability of high-profile web sites are just the tip of the iceberg or – more accurately – the head in front of a very long tail of vulnerable web sites and applications. Many of those applications and sites are among the systems that support critical infrastructure. For evidence of that, look no further than the alert issued Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security’s Industrial Control System (ICS) Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT). The alert – an update to one issued last month – includes a list of 43 ICS applications that are known to be vulnerable to Heartbleed. (http://ics-cert.us-cert.gov/advisories/ICSA-14-135-05) Just over half have patches available for the Heartbleed flaw, according to ICS CERT data. But that leaves twenty applications vulnerable, including industrial control products from major vendors like Siemens, Honeywell and Schneider Electric.

Even when patches are available, many affected organizations — including operators of critical infrastructure — may have a difficult time applying the patch. ICS environments are notoriously difficult to audit because ICS devices often respond poorly to any form of scanning. ICS-CERT notes that both active- and passive vulnerability scans are “dangerous when used in an ICS environment due to the sensitive nature of these devices.” Specifically: “when it is possible to scan the device, it is possible that device could be put into invalid state causing unexpected results and possible failure of safety safeguards,” ICS-CERT warned.

Submission + - Why I'm Sending Back Google Glass (computerworld.com)

Submitted by Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: After using Google Glass for several weeks, Computerworld columnist Matt Lake had plenty of reasons to explain why he returned them, not the least of which was that they made him cross-eyed and avoid eye contact. Google Glass batteries also drain like a bath tub when using either audio or video apps and they run warm. And, as cool as being able to take videos and photos with the glasses may be, those shots are always at an angle. Of course, being able to do turn-by-turn directions is cool, but not something you can do without your smart phone's cellular data or a mobile hotspot. The list of reasons goes on... Bottom line, if Google Glass is in the vanguard of a future class of wearable computers, the future isn't the present.

Submission + - Learn Linux from Linus himself! (edx.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Linux Foundation has teamed up with MOOC provider edX to teach an introduction to Linux by none other than Linus Torvalds himself! Quoting the course description:

This course explores the various tools and techniques commonly used by Linux programmers, system administrators and end users to achieve their day-to-day work in a Linux environment. It is designed for experienced computer users who have limited or no previous exposure to Linux, whether they are working in an individual or Enterprise environment.

The course begins on August 1st. In addition to the free version of the course, a verified track available for students who want a credential with more weight (for a nominal price).

Submission + - World's Smallest Nanomotor Could Power Cell-Sized Nanobots for Drug Delivery (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: Scientists at the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas have built and tested what appears to be the world's smallest, fastest, and longest-running nanomotor yet – so small that it could fit inside a single cell. The advance could be used to power nanobots that would deliver specific drugs to individual living cells inside the human body.

Submission + - Close call at Newark spurs new runway rules (kmbc.com)

Submitted by Wanivasaes
Wanivasaes writes: United Express Flight 4100, an Embraer ERJ-145 operated by ExpressJet, was cleared to take off on runway 4R at the same time United Airlines Flight 1243, a Boeing 737, was landing on the intersecting runway 29 on April 24. The 737 flew 135 yards vertically and 50 yards laterally from the smaller regional jet.

"The FAA has investigated the recent air traffic incident at Newark and has taken steps to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future," according to a statement from the agency. Runway 29 is no longer used for arriving flights when planes are taking off on the intersecting runway 4R.

Submission + - These Brakes Are How You Stop The 1,000 MPH Bloodhound SSC

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: The problem: How do you stop the 1,000 mph Bloodhound SSC? The solution: Apparently you use steel rotors from AP Racing, which managed to absorb 4.6 kilowatts of energy on a test stand without failing although the Bloodhound team hasn't spun them up to the full 10,000 rpm just yet. During testing, a set of carbon rotors from a jet fighter shattered under the stress during a half-speed, 5,000-rpm test, thus the team switched to steel rotors. It's like stopping a bus from 160 mph on a wet road. That's how the engineers behind the Bloodhound SSC—the British land-speed record car designed to break the 1,000-mph barrier—described the task of stopping their creation once it's finished breaking the sound barrier. We'll have to wait to see if the steel rotors can handle the full 10,000 rpm run, but until then, it looks like steel is stronger than carbon when it comes to some instances.

Submission + - Is It Really GPS If It Doesn't Use Satellites?

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: GPS was originally developed by the military but now it's in your smartphones, and soon, possibly your watches. Now the British military is developing something called quantum compass. The concept is a GPS-style navigation for submarines that doesn't use satellites. The quantum compass uses the movements of super-cooled subatomic particles to pinpoint a vessel's location. These particles, stored in a vacuum, react to the Earth's magnetic field. The movements caused by this interaction can be used for location positioning. At the moment, the Ministry of Defense's prototype resembles a "1-meter long shoe box", so the next step is to miniaturize it. It could then be used by individual soldiers, as well as huge ships and submarines. Not only is it useful, but it's secure too—the technology is apparently interference-proof. Is this the future of navigation systems, or the reinvention of the compass? Possibly both.

Submission + - US Navy wants smart robots with morals, ethics (networkworld.com)

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes: he US Office of Naval Research this week offered a $7.5m grant to university researchers to develop robots with autonomous moral reasoning ability. While the idea of robots making their own ethical decisions smacks of SkyNet — the science-fiction artificial intelligence system featured prominently in the Terminator films — the Navy says that it envisions such systems having extensive use in first-response, search-and-rescue missions, or medical applications.

Submission + - Grace Hopper, UNIVAC, and the First Programming Language

Submitted by M-Saunders
M-Saunders writes: It weighed 13 tons, had 5,200 vacuum tubes, and took up a whole garage, but the UNIVAC I was an incredible machine for its time. Memory was provided by tanks of liquid mercury, while the clock speed was a whopping 2.25 MHz. The UNIVAC I was one of the first commercial general-purpose computers produced, with 46 shipped, and Linux Voice has taken an in-depth look at it. Learn its fascinating instruction set, and also check out FLOW-MATIC, the first English-language data processing language created by American computing pioneer Grace Hopper.

Submission + - EFF: Amazon, AT&T, And Snapchat Most Likely To Rat On You To The Gov't (itworld.com) 1

Submitted by jfruh
jfruh writes: The EFF has released its annual "Who Has Your Back" report, which uses publicly available records to see which web companies do the most to resist government demands for your personal data, by requiring warrants and being transparent about requests received. Social media giants Facebook and Twitter scored quite well; Snapchat was at the botto of the list, and Amazon and AT&T didn't do much better.

Submission + - The Electric Tractor - Is this the Zero Emission Vehicle Killer App? 1

Submitted by AttillaTheNun
AttillaTheNun writes: Steve Heckeroth has a long and storied history as an innovator in the Electric Vehicle (EV) industry, focusing initially on passenger vehicles (including a converted porsche spider). Numerous obstacles that have stalled development in this area, primarily in the form of regulatory lobbyists and patent control by the entrenched players led him to pursue an industry in which the primary technical limitation in the passenger vehicle domain — battery weight — becomes an advantage, in the form of additional traction. He soon became the largest electric tractor manufacturer in the world, and continues to innovate in this field. An example of his work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

While the media and investor focus is on Elon Musk's attempt to disrupt the passenger vehicle industry, could farm machinery be the thin edge of the wedge towards an EV breakthrough?

Submission + - New Documentary Reveals How the NSA's Mass Surveillance Program Started

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: FRONTLINE has come out with a new two-part documentary called 'United States of Secrets' which reveals the events within the U.S. government and within the NSA itself that led to the eventual implementation of a domestic mass surveillance program. The film-makers interviewed high-ranking members of the Bush and Obama administrations, members of Congress, high-ranking members of the Justice Department, high-ranking members of the NSA, whistleblowers who preceded Edward Snowden, and journalists from various newspapers, including those who worked with Snowden as well as those who penned NSA leaks prior to Snowden. This is a non-partisan film that provides a glimpse into the bureaucratic inner workings of the U.S. government--in particular, the executive branch-- in an attempt to explain how an agency with strict regulations preventing it from spying on U.S. citizens suddenly acquired unfettered and entrenched powers to do just that. Part 1 of the film aired May 13. Part 2 will air May 20.

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I think there's a world market for about five computers. -- attr. Thomas J. Watson (Chairman of the Board, IBM), 1943

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