Comment Scientists/Democrats (Score 1) 4
So THAT's where all the global warming FUD is coming from!
Submission + - Majority of US Scientists Identify as Democrats (people-press.org) 4
Ripit writes: According to a Pew Research poll released on July 9, 2009, US scientists overwhelmingly identify themselves as Democrats. 55% of scientists say they are Democrats, compared to 35% of the general population. Only 6% of scientists say they are Republicans, compared to 23% of the general population. Surprisingly, scientists identified themselves as independents less often than the population as a whole, 32% to 34%, respectively.
Submission + - AT&T Tries Scare Tactic to Keep Landline Custo
adeelarshad82 writes: AT&T has a new message for its copper-wire customers: Keep your landline, or put your loved ones in peril. At least, that seems to be the idea behind a new Home Base campaign, which lists the reasons why it believes having a home phone is important. It comes on the heels of a Verizon ad aimed at getting non-Verizon landline customers to ditch their wires in exchange for wireless.
IBM Claims Breakthrough In Analysis of Encrypted Data 199
An anonymous reader writes "An IBM researcher has solved a thorny mathematical problem that has confounded scientists since the invention of public-key encryption several decades ago. The breakthrough, called 'privacy homomorphism,' or 'fully homomorphic encryption,' makes possible the deep and unlimited analysis of encrypted information — data that has been intentionally scrambled — without sacrificing confidentiality." Reader ElasticVapor writes that the solution IBM claims "might better enable a cloud computing vendor to perform computations on clients' data at their request, such as analyzing sales patterns, without exposing the original data. Other potential applications include enabling filters to identify spam, even in encrypted email, or protecting information contained in electronic medical records."
Submission + - Eureka high temperature solar power tower
spencertk writes: Abengoa's newest test scale solar power tower operates at higher temperatures and is much more efficient than their existing systems. Some great pics here: http://earth2tech.com/2009/06/19/photos-abengoas-next-gen-solar-power-tower-eureka/ and more details of the internals of the receiver here: http://www.abengoasolar.com/sites/solar/en/abengoa_solar_nt/current_projects/tower/index.html — To top it off it uses the Brayton cycle (instead of Rankine) to heat compressed air to drive a turbine directly. To make that work you need a big delta-T hence the high temperature design.
Submission + - Opera Unite: the First Anti-Cloud Computing App? (computerworlduk.com)
Glyn Moody writes: "Open source warfare teaches us that huge, centralised resources like oil pipelines and electricity grids are extremely vulnerable to repeated low-cost attacks that can cripple an economy. And yet the currently-fashionable cloud computing aims to turn processing power into a kind of electricity, available on demand, powered by huge server farms. Is this wise? Wouldn't it be better to build on the new Opera Unite, which puts the Web server into the browser, dispersing computing as widely as possible to make it more resilient?"
Administration Wants To Scale Back Real ID Law 317
The Washington Post is running a story on the Obama Administration's attempt to get a scaled-back version of Bush's Real ID program passed and implemented. We've been discussing the Real ID program from its earliest days up through the states' resistance to its "unfunded mandate." "Yielding to a rebellion by states that refused to pay for it, the Obama administration is moving to scale back a federal law passed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that was designed to tighten security requirements for driver's licenses... Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano wants to repeal and replace the controversial, $4 billion domestic security initiative known as Real ID... The new proposal, called Pass ID, would be cheaper, less rigorous, and partly funded by federal grants, according to draft legislation that Napolitano's Senate allies plan to introduce as early as tomorrow. ...the Bush administration struggled to implement the 2005 [Real ID] law, delaying the program repeatedly as states called it an unfunded mandate and privacy advocates warned it would create a de facto national ID."
The Birth and Battle of Conficker 239
NewScientist has an interesting look back at the birth of the Conficker worm and how this sophisticated monster quickly grew to such power and infamy. "Since that flurry of activity in early April, all has been uneasily quiet on the Conficker front. In some senses, that marks a victory for the criminals. The zombie network is now established and being used for its intended purpose: to make money. Through its peer-to-peer capabilities, the worm can be updated on the infected network at any time. It is not an unprecedented situation. There are several other large networks of machines infected with malicious software. Conficker has simply joined the list. The security community will continue to fight them, but as long as the worm remains embedded in any computer there can be no quick fixes."
Asus Slaps Linux In the Face 644
vigmeister writes "From Techgeist, 'Linux just got a major slap in the face today from Asus. One of the highlights of Linux going mainstream was the wildly popular Asus Eee PC preinstalled with a customized Linux distro geared towards web applications. While I personally never got what the big deal was, I was still happy for all the Linux people out there waiting for this day, but it looks like the cause for celebration won't be lasting much longer.
Asus and Microsoft have teamed up and have made a site called 'It's Better With Windows.' The page touts how easy it is to get up and ready with Windows on an Asus Eee PC, while slyly stating that you won't have to deal with an 'unfamiliar environment' and 'major compatibility issues.' While it is silly to state such a thing since Asus built the Linux distribution specifically for the Eee PC, I give Microsoft two points for snarky comments.'"
Submission + - First major overhaul of US patent law in 50 years (goodgearguide.com.au)
angry tapir writes: "US lawmakers have reintroduced legislation that would mark the first major overhaul of U.S. patent law in more than 50 years. The legislation (PDF), introduced in the US Senate, is very similar to the Patent Reform Act of 2007, which died on the Senate floor last year. If passed, the 2009 version would change the way the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office works, bring U.S. patent law in line with global laws, and introduce so-called "reasonable royalty" provisions, which change the way damages are calculated and would reduce the likelihood of massive payouts for some patent holders."
Comment Patent claims are NOT proof! (Score 1) 603
I concluded a year ago that this was a lot of smoke and mirrors, mostly depending on the obvious square function of the formula for energy storage vs. voltage. However, several people who actually have worked with pure barium titanate note it's highly non-linear characteristics, i.e. its dielectric constant drops dramatically as the field gradient increases, an effect also known as dielectric saturation. It gets right down to atomic level physics.
The reduction in capacitance at stated voltages is so great that the claims appear to be overstated by a factor of 100 or so! To make this work they are claiming they have overcome the fundamental limitations of this material. The patent spells out part of it but does not prove it actually works.
Anatoly Moskalev gave some great analysis in this link:
http://www.teslamotors.com/blog2/?p=46 (search for "About EEStore supercapacitor hype")
If correct, these guys are still using non-proven hype to attract capital. If any single investor has not had the device actually proven for both energy density and voltage, they are taking a huge, huge risk.
Personally, I hope we are all wrong and this thing actually works. It would be a HUGE advance. However, I'm not investing nor holding my breath...
