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Technology

Submission + - Kinect hacked to let blind navigate (techcrunch.com)

phaedrus5001 writes: From the article:"The Kinecthesia is a Kinect wired to a set of motors that allows the blind to navigate a room or open space, relying on feedback through the motors to assess objects in their path. The project, created by University of Pennsylvania students Eric Berdinis and Jeff Kiske, is worn like a belt and can sense objects in 3D space."
Here's the link to the project's homepage if you want more information on the specs and how it works.

Security

Submission + - Vulnerabilities in prison SCADA systems (arstechnica.com)

phaedrus5001 writes: From the article: "Researchers have demonstrated a vulnerability in the computer systems used to control facilities at federal prisons that could allow an outsider to remotely take them over, doing everything from opening and overloading cell door mechanisms to shutting down internal communications systems.
The researchers began their work after [John] Strauchs was called in by a warden to investigate an incident in which all the cell doors on one prison's death row spontaneously opened."

Crime

Submission + - No Criminal Charges for 'Whip It' Judge 5

theodp writes: Federal prosecutors will not charge a Texas judge seen lashing his teenage daughter with a belt on a YouTube video taken seven years ago and posted online last week, closing the door on the possibility of criminal charges in the case. The viral video, uploaded by now 23-year-old Hillary Adams, shows her father, Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams, whipping her with a belt for downloading music when she was 16 (full video, requires login). 'F*****g computers,' the judge tells his now ex-wife on the video. 'I told you I didn't want one in the god damn house. See all the problems they cause?' Hey, when a problem comes along, you must Whip It, right? Judge Adams issued a statement asserting that his daughter released the tape to retaliate against him for withdrawing his financial support. 'If the public must know, just prior to the YouTube upload, a concerned father shared with his 23-year-old daughter that he was unwilling to continue to work hard and be her primary source of financial support, if she was going to simply 'drop out' [from college] and strive to achieve no more in life than to work part time at a video-game store,' said the statement released by Adams' attorney.
Linux

Submission + - Linux Mint 12 Based on Customised Gnome 3 Desktop (ubuntuvibes.com)

dartttt writes: "Linux Mint 12 'Lisa' will come with its own customized desktop and it will be based on Gnome 3. The core desktop will be based on a series of Gnome Shell extensions called “MGSE” (Mint Gnome Shell Extensions) that will provide a layer on top of Gnome 3. MGSE also includes additional extensions such as a media player indicator, and multiple enhancements to Gnome 3. Thus Linux Mint 12 will be more like a hybrid desktop balancing traditional desktop and new modern technologies.

http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1851"

Cloud

Submission + - Vmware, a falling giant? (arstechnica.com)

Lashat writes: According to Ars Technica "A new survey seems to show that VMware's iron grip on the enterprise virtualization market is loosening, with 38 percent of businesses planning to switch vendors within the next year due to licensing models and the robustness of competing hypervisors."

What do /.ers say about moving away from what is IMHO the most stable and feature rich vm architecture available? Full disclosure:I am not clear on how the licensing has changed since that is not my department.

Security

Submission + - Anonymous Cancels Drug-Ring Attack (infoworld.com) 1

snydeq writes: "Anonymous supporters have backed off threats to expose Zeta drug gang collaborators, an operation launched in early October as a retaliation for an alleged kidnapping of an Anonymous follower by the Mexico-based drug gang. Members of Anonymous had posted a video claiming the group could identify journalists, police officers, and taxi drivers who collaborate with the Zeta crime syndicate. Zeta has not shied away from targeting its online critics. In September the crime group hung two people from an overpass warning bloggers and "online snitches" to beware. The decapitated body of another social-media reporter was found later with a similar warning. Worried about the impact on both misidentified people and Anonymous followers, other supporters of the Anonymous movement worked to dismantle the operation over the weekend. In effect, the group canceled the attack, according to online news site Milenio."

Submission + - 1 MW E-Cat Cold Fusion Test Completed (pesn.com) 4

sanosuke001 writes: "Andrea Rossi's E-Cat 1MW Cold Fusion test completed in Italy with 30+ attendees including Professors from the University of Bologna, the Associated Press, NyTeknik, Focus.it, and additional physicists. The test failed to reach the 1 MW load goal, however, reached 479 kWh in looped mode. Some skepticism is still warranted as the prospective customer, although satisfied with the test, remains anonymous. According to an article at Wired (http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-10/29/rossi-success), there has been some speculation that the covert customer could be DARPA. Also, the generator used to initialize the E-Cat device was apparently connected for the entirety of the test but assured that its output was turned off. I, for one, have a little hope in this being real but take it with a very large grain of salt."
AI

Submission + - Scientists create massively parallel computer from (extremetech.com)

MrSeb writes: "A group of Japanese scientists have built a massively-parallel, brain-like computer out of an organic molecule called DDQ. This computer, which is built from 300 DDQ “neurons,” has successfully calculated how heat diffuses through a medium, and the mutation of normal cells into cancer cells. The work of Anirban Bandyopadhyay and his team from the National Institute for Materials Science in Tsukuba, Japan, revolves around a molecule called 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-p-benzoquinone, or DDQ for short. DDQ is a ring molecule that can connect with up to six neighboring DDQ molecules. Most importantly, each DDQ molecule can be programmed into four different states, each conducting electricity differently. 300 DDQ molecules are placed on a gold substrate, and their conductive states and connections to other molecules are programmed using a scanning tunneling microscope. The end result is a cellular automaton of 300 neuron-like molecules that can perform calculations in a massively parallel way. It is another characteristic of DDQ "brains" that is most intriguing: When a DDQ molecule changes state, the change ripples down through the molecules that it's connected to, destroying old bonds and creating new circuits as it goes — much like a neuron making new synapse connections. This could eventually lead to emergent computing, where the DDQ brain can react to external stimuli and evolve over time."
Censorship

Submission + - Disatrous IP Legislation is back - and worse than (eff.org)

geekgirl09 writes: Today Representative Lamar upped the ante, introducing legislation, called the Stop Online Piracy Act, or "SOPA," that would not only sabotage the domain name system but would also threaten to effectively eliminate the DMCA safe harbors that have spurred much economic growth and online creativity.

As with its Senate-side evil sister, PROTECT-IP, SOPA would require service providers to “disappear” certain websites, endangering Internet security and sending a troubling message to the world.

But it gets worse. Under this bill, service providers (including hosting services) would be under new pressure to monitor and police their users’ activities.

Security

Submission + - NSA Says Gov't is Working to Push Attack Data to I (threatpost.com)

Trailrunner7 writes: The commander of the U.S. Cyber Command said that the federal government is working on a system now that would allow it to work with ISPs and others to help stop ongoing attacks against government and private networks by pushing intelligence and attack signatures to them.

To help defend against attacks such as the onea that hit RSA and DigiNotar, as well as other, more mundane yet still damaging, ones, Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the NSA and commander of the U.S. Cyber Command said that the government is testing out a system now that has the capability to push real-time attack signatures and other information to ISPs and other organizations in key positions n order to head off ongoing operations.

"The adversary has all the advantage. They can scan and wait and if you make a mistake, they get in," Alexander said. "That's the dynamic we have to change. The intent would be to push signatures to the ISPs and if anything bad happens, we can update it dynamically with what we see. That's a huge step forward and we're having success with that. We need to communicate dynamically with our systems and our allies."

Cloud

Submission + - Tor anonymizing network Compromised by French rese (thehackernews.com)

An anonymous reader writes: French researchers from ESIEA, a French engineering school, have found and exploited some serious vulnerabilities in the TOR network. They performed an inventory of the network, finding 6,000 machines, many of whose IPs are accessible publicly and directly with the system’s source code. They demonstrated that it is possible to take control of the network and read all the messages that circulate.

But there are also hidden nodes, the Tor Bridges, which are provided by the system that in some cases. Researchers have developed a script that, once again, to identify them. They found 181. "We now have a complete picture of the topography of Tor," said Eric Filiol.

Read More at "The Hacker News" — http://thehackernews.com/2011/10/tor-anonymizing-network-compromised-by.html

Submission + - Wikileaks shutting down due to lack of money (marketwatch.com)

stevegee58 writes: The financial blockade by financial firms like Bank of America, Visa, MasterCard, Western Union, and PayPal has finally caught up with Wikileaks.

Due to lack of funding Wikileaks has announced on its web site that they're temporarily ceasing publication.

Submission + - Lying About Your Military Record Ruled Free Speech

Hugh Pickens writes writes: ""I'm a retired Marine of 25 years," said Xavier Alvarez soon after he was elected to the board of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District in Claremont, CA. "Back in 1987, I was awarded the congressional Medal of Honor." Alvarez's lie about the Medal of Honor put him in violation of the Stolen Valor Act of 2005, a law passed by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush that prohibits anyone from falsely claiming "to have been awarded any decoration or medal authorized by Congress for the armed forces of the United States." Alvarez's "semper fraud" led to a criminal conviction, which was later thrown out by the US. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco which found that the Stolen Valor Act was an unconstitutional restriction of free speech. Now the US Supreme Court has agreed to to decide whether the Constitution's free speech clause protects people who falsely claim to have been awarded military medals. Jonathon Turley writes in the LA Times that however distasteful, with the Stolen Valor Act, Congress has made it possible to jail someone simply for telling a lie. "The Alvarez case could establish a legal principle that would allow Congress to criminalize virtually any fib, which could lead to a sweeping new form of regulating speech in the United States," writes Turley. "Giving the government such power would allow it to target "liars" who it portrays as endangering or dishonoring society.""

Submission + - Adobe admits to using 'synthetic' deblur images in (dpreview.com) 1

ColdWetDog writes: Adobe has admitted an image used in its 'image deblur' presentation was artificially blurred for the purposes of the demonstration. The company said the blur on the image was 'more complicated than anything we can simulate using Photoshop's blur capabilities.' It described the move as 'common practice in research' and defended the use of the image because 'we wanted it to be entertaining and relevant to the audience.' The other images shown were the result of camera shake, it said.

Adobe has photoshopped Photoshop.

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