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Submission + - Boston Bomb-Squad Strikes Again

Submitted by Brian
Brian writes: Boston Police discover (and destroy) the latest pseudo-threat. This time it's not an animated LED sign, but something far, far more nasty — A Traffic Counter. You know, the little boxes that the city (!) places on a roadside to measure the number of cars that pass in a given amount of time. Wow.

Link
via BoingBoing.
United States

Journal SPAM: Immigration Follow Up

Journal by stoolpigeon
Here's another msnbc article. This one is about identity theft and what they have pieced together about one person who had her identity stolen and it has been used by various illegal aliens, in order for them to gain employment.
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Your Swiss Army Knife is Inadaqate, and so are You

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: These are sold out for Xmas, but here is a review of the Utimate Swiss Army Knife: it has every blade and tool ever put in a knife. It weighs over 2lbs, and costs over 500 British pounds. And you though you were bad because you got a PS3 and a Wii for Xmas...

http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/consumer/story /0,,1965050,00.html
Robotics

Submission + - Life without a pulse: Quebec man receives mechanic

Submitted by mikegross9
mikegross9 writes: Surgeons in Montreal have implanted a long-term mechanical heart in a 65-year-old man , the first Canadian to receive the HeartMate II device. The turbine heart provides a constant blood flow, making Gérard Langevin of Coteau-du-Lac, Que., the only living Canadian with no pulse. On Wednesday, doctors announced he is going home from hospital.

Bruce Schneier Blasts Politicians, Media 562

Posted by kdawson from the fear-and-security-theater dept.
An anonymous reader writes, "In his latest newsletter, security author Bruce Schneier delivered a scathing critique of politicians and the media for promoting fear and ultimately doing exactly what the terrorists want. Citing several cases of false alarms, Schneier writes: 'Our politicians help the terrorists every time they use fear as a campaign tactic. The press helps every time it writes scare stories about the plot and the threat... Our job is to think critically and rationally, and to ignore the cacophony of other interests trying to use terrorism to advance political careers or increase a television show's viewership.' Are the terrorists laughing at us?"

China Bans Running Your Own Email Server 304

Posted by Zonk from the too-many-of-those-around-anyway dept.
Erwin_D writes "Under the guise of banning spam, China has ruled that running your own e-mail server has been banned, unless you have a license. To qualify for such a license, an 'e-mail service provider' must abide by some chilling rules: all e-mail must be stored for two months, and e-mail with discussing vaguely defined subject as network security or information security may not be transmitted. While the rules contains all the good measures we would all like to see to combat spam, such as prohibiting open relays and outlawing zombie network, the law is also geared toward controlling free speech. From the article: 'I believe that the intent to have an antispam regulation was a good one ... Unfortunately, it seems like during the policy formulation process, it got hijacked and went to one extreme.'"

The Looming Battle Over Online Gambling 245

Posted by Zonk from the wto-is-only-good-when-its-convenient dept.
Kadin2048 writes "According to an recent Ars Technica article, the US is headed on a 'collision course' with the WTO over off-shore Internet gambling, if a bill currently in the House of Representatives passes. The 'Internet Gambling Prohibition Act,' (PDF) which updates the 'Wire Act' to prohibit Internet gambling regardless of whether the servers are located in the US or outside of it, is in direct contravention of a WTO ruling. Proponents of the bill claim that it was narrowly defeated in previous incarnations due to the influence of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. However it seems as though some of Abramoff's biggest clients -- brick and mortar casinos -- are really the big winners from passage of this bill, since it does not prohibit gambling in person, only online."

A Report on Swearing in Online Games 324

Posted by Zonk from the oh-$%#& dept.
A Next Generation article references an informal study done on the frequency of swearing on Xbox Live. From the study: "When you logon to Xbox live more often then not you will be greeted by a 14 year old that learned a new word on the playground that day, or maybe it's the drunken 24 year old who hates black people, gays and anyone who isn't in his frat. No matter who you are if you have played on live you have run into cursing and lewdness. If you look at the rating for the game you can see that it is intended for ages 17+ but parents don't care/understand/listen so lots of underage kids have [Halo 2]." Warning: links contain profanity.

Domestic Spying Records Ordered Released 257

Posted by Zonk from the let's-get-to-the-bottom-of-this dept.
CokoBWare wrote to mention an eWeek report on the NSA's domestic spying program. A federal judge has ordered the Department of Justice to release records from the program by March 8th. From the article: "In ordering the Justice Department to expedite the FOIA request processing, Judge Henry Kennedy Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, said that the department's opinion that it could determine how much time is needed was 'easily rejected ... Under DOJ's view of the expedited processing provisions of FOIA, the government would have carte blanche to determine the time line for processing expedited requests,'"
Google

Search Engine For Coders to Launch 149

Posted by Zonk from the sounds-codetacular dept.
karvind writes "According to Wired, 'Krugle' is set to next month. The search engine indexes programming code and documentation from open-source repositories like SourceForge, and includes corporate sites for programmers like the Sun Developer Network. The index will contain between 3 and 5 terabytes of code by the time the engine launches in March. According to article, Krugle also contains intelligence to help it parse code and to differentiate programming languages, so a PHP developer could search for a website-registration system written in PHP simply by typing 'PHP registration system.'" Update: 02/17 21:04 GMT by Z : Summary edited for accuracy.

Segway Inventor Turns To Environment 439

Posted by Zonk from the making-sure-we-still-have-one dept.
MBCook writes "CNN has an article in which they talk about Dean Kamen's latest inventions designed to provide water to rural villages. His goal is also to provide electricity and opportunities for entrepreneurship. From the article: 'Eighty percent of all the diseases you could name would be wiped out if you just gave people clean water,' says Kamen. 'The water purifier makes 1,000 liters of clean water a day, and we don't care what goes into it. And the power generator makes a kilowatt off of anything that burns.'"
IBM

Keeping the OS/2 Flame Alive 316

Posted by Zonk from the burn-baby-burn dept.
nanday writes "Ever wondered what happened to OS/2? With IBM officially abandoning the operating system last year, users are relying on a third party version of OS/2 -- and, increasingly, using free and open source software to keep it alive." From the article: "According to Haverblad, the main reason that users stay with OS/2 is for 'features that Windows and Linux don't have yet.' He singles out the REstructured eXtended eXecutor (REXX), an interpreted programming language known for its ease of use, a 'rock solid kernel,' 'excellent multitasking,' and low system requirements. Haverblad also claims a lack of viruses and spyware and, referencing a report on OS/2 Warp Server by Secunia, fewer security vulnerabilities." Newsforge is also an OSTG site.

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