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Software

Opera Launches Facial Gesture Capability 199

Posted by CmdrTaco from the because-they-can dept.
cstrep writes "Eight years ago, Opera introduced Mouse Gestures as a way to speed up your interaction with the browser, and focus on what's important: Content. In 2005, Voice Navigation was introduced, and more recently we've worked with Nintendo to create a browser that takes full advantage of the 'Wiimote' and later, the touchscreen in the DSi. Today Opera introduces Face Gestures, a revolutionary technology designed to make interacting with Opera easier on computers with cameras. Face Gestures lets you perform frequent browsing operations with natural and easy to make face gestures. By using an internal technology dubbed 'Face Observation Opera Language,' we are able to recognize pre-determined facial expressions and match them to commands on the Opera browser."
The Courts

Internet-Caused Mistrials Are On the Rise 414

Posted by kdawson from the jurors-with-blackberrys dept.
The NYTimes is running a tip-of-the-iceberg story about how the age of Google is resulting in more mistrials as the traditional rules of evidence, honed over many centuries, collide with the always-on Internet. Especially when jurors carry the always-on Internet in their pockets. (We discussed one such case recently.) "The use of BlackBerrys and iPhones by jurors gathering and sending out information about cases is wreaking havoc on trials around the country, upending deliberations and infuriating judges. ... Jurors are not supposed to seek information outside of the courtroom. They are required to reach a verdict based on only the facts the judge has decided are admissible, and they are not supposed to see evidence that has been excluded as prejudicial. But now, using their cellphones, they can look up the name of a defendant on the Web or examine an intersection using Google Maps, violating the legal system's complex rules of evidence."
Perl

Apple's Mac OS X Update Breaks Perl 264

Posted by CmdrTaco from the how-will-i-regex-now dept.
mir writes "It looks like if you use CPAN to install modules, Apple's latest security update might just have broken your Perl. According to Tatsuhiko Miyagawa 'The Security Update brings (old) IO.bundle with version 1.22 but your IO.pm has been updated to the latest 1.23 on CPAN shell. (But hey, 1.23 was released in 2006...Why do you bring that ancient version back, Apple!?)'."
Security

Submission + - Conficker/Downadup mitigation

Submitted by
XenoPhage
XenoPhage writes: "I'm working on possible mitigation scenarios for a potential Conficker/Downadup outbreak. One of the ideas we have is to "poison" our own DNS caches, effectively redirecting any infected clients to a local server. The thought is that this would help identify infected systems as well as prevent them from receiving updated instructions from command and control. The question is, however, how to do this, as well as what possible side effects will we encounter. Is this method absolutely taboo and should be avoided at all costs, or is this a valid method of detection/mitigation?"

Comment Re:Seriously... (Score 1) 693

by XenoPhage (#26432183) Attached to: iTunes DRM-Free Files Contain Personal Info

I don't see the problem. I didn't want them to remove DRM so I could ignore the copyright on the music, I wanted them to remove it so I could use it on any device I wanted to listen to it on. They did that; now I can, as far as I'm concerned, we're all good now.

I completely agree. Since the announcement of this change, I have seriously considered purchasing digital music via itunes rather than buying CDs. The way I see it, if I can choose the songs I want rather than getting stuck with an entire CD, I'm more likely to buy more music. It's definitely a win for the music industry this way.

Presumably, without the DRM, I can convert these files to the format of my choice? Though I don't think I'll have to as I'm pretty sure rockbox plays AAC...
Biotech

Most of Woolly Mammoth Genome Reconstructed 245

Posted by samzenpus from the I-want-a-cave-bear dept.
geekmansworld writes "From the Washington Post, 'An international team of scientists has reconstructed more than three-quarters of the genome of the woolly mammoth using DNA extracted from balls of hair, the first time this has been accomplished for an extinct species.' Who wants a pet mammoth?"
Sci-Fi

Michael Crichton Dead At 66 388

Posted by samzenpus from the velociraptors-confirm-it dept.
Many readers have submitted stories about the death of Michael Crichton. The 66-year-old author of Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain died unexpectedly Tuesday "after a courageous and private battle against cancer," a press release said. In addition to writing, he also directed such sci-fi classics as Westworld and Runaway. Crichton was married five times and had one child.
Politics

Who Do Warcraft Players Want As President? 82

Posted by samzenpus from the give-the-orcs-a-voice dept.
I'm not sure how many electoral votes Azeroth has, but it could be a key battleground state.

Researchers Decentralize BitTorrent 262

Posted by CmdrTaco from the only-a-matter-of-time dept.
A Cow writes "The Tribler BitTorrent client, a project run by researchers from several European universities and Harvard, is the first to incorporate decentralized search capabilities. With Tribler, users can now find .torrent files that are hosted among other peers, instead of on a centralized site such as The Pirate Bay or Mininova. The Tribler developers have found a way to make their client work without having to rely on BitTorrent sites. Although others have tried to come up with similar solutions, such as the Cubit plugin for Vuze, Tribler is the first to understand that with decentralized BitTorrent search, there also has to be a way to moderate these decentralized torrents in order to avoid a flood of spam."
Earth

Alternatives to Daylight Saving Time? 755

Posted by timothy from the even-ben-franklin-made-some-whoppers dept.
Wellington Grey writes "Daylight saving time almost upon us. The arguments about its possible benefits and drawbacks come up twice every year. Does it save energy or lives? Possibly, but it does definitely cause a great deal of inconvenience. My question is this: what do you think would be the best possible system to replace DST with? What is the best way for humans to deal with the inconsistent amount of light over the year and still foster coordination over disparate time zones?"
Image

Schneier on Security Screenshot-sm 204

Posted by samzenpus from the protect-ya-neck dept.
brothke writes "There is a perception in both the private and government sector, that security, both physical and digital, is something you can buy. Witness the mammoth growth of airport security products following 9/11, and the sheer number of vendors at security conferences. With that, government officials and corporate executives often think you can simply buy products and magically get instant security by flipping on the switch. The reality is that security is not something you can buy; it is something you must get." Keep reading for the rest of Ben's review.
Programming

New Contestants On the Turing Test 630

Posted by CmdrTaco from the game-on dept.
vitamine73 writes "At 9 a.m. next Sunday, six computer programs — 'artificial conversational entities' — will answer questions posed by human volunteers at the University of Reading in a bid to become the first recognized 'thinking' machine. If any program succeeds, it is likely to be hailed as the most significant breakthrough in artificial intelligence since the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997. It could also raise profound questions about whether a computer has the potential to be 'conscious' — and if humans should have the 'right' to switch it off."

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