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Bitcoin

Submission + - Hacker Holds Romney Tax Returns Ransom for $1M in Bitcoins (venturebeat.com)

Submitted by kmoser
kmoser writes: After supposedly downloading copies of Mitt and Ann Romney's tax returns from PricewaterhouseCoopers servers, a hacker sent a USB drive and a letter to Republican and Democratic party offices in Williamson County, TN as proof. The letter lists two Bitcoin addresses: one for donations to guarantee the documents will remain locked, another for donations to expose them; the fate of the documents will be determined by which account first reaches USD $1,000,000.

This could be anything from a practical joke to a scheme to get free Bitcoins to a completely "legit" shakedown. Me, I'm grabbing a bucket of popcorn and waiting to see what happens next.
Chrome

Submission + - As Chrome Turns 4, Google's Browser in Flux (computerworld.com) 1

Submitted by
CWmike
CWmike writes: "As Google touted Chrome's fourth launch anniversary on Tuesday, a pair of Web measurement firms continued to argue about whether the browser is still gaining ground or has stalled. Net Applications says Chrome's share of all browsers grew by a quarter of a percentage point to 19.1% in August, returning Chrome to a mark it set in December 2011 but still off its peak of 19.6% in May 2012. Meanwhile, rival StatCounter pegged Chrome on a downward slope for August, saying the browser lost two-tenths of a point to slip to 33.6%. What's most striking about the figures was that they were contrary to each firm's longer-running trends. August was the first time in almost four years that StatCounter put a negative number in Chrome's change column. The two analytics companies' dispute over Chrome's rise — or fall — is the latest line in a chorus of bickering over which delivers the more accurate usage estimates, an argument that grew heated in June after StatCounter claimed Chrome had slipped past Microsoft's IE to take the poll position in the race for the world's most-used browser."
Mars

Submission + - NASA's Mars Menu (altoonamirror.com)

Submitted by
DevotedSkeptic
DevotedSkeptic writes: "The menu must sustain a group of six to eight astronauts, keep them healthy and happy and also offer a broad array of food. That's no simple feat considering it will likely take six months to get to the Red Planet, astronauts will have to stay there 18 months and then it will take another six months to return to Earth. Imagine having to shop for a family's three-year supply of groceries all at once and having enough meals planned in advance for that length of time.

"Mars is different just because it's so far away," said Maya Cooper, a senior research scientist with Lockheed Martin who is leading the efforts to build the menu. "We don't have the option to send a vehicle every six months and send more food as we do for the International Space Station."

Astronauts who travel to the space station have a wide variety of food available to them, some 100 or so different options, in fact. But it is all pre-prepared and freeze-dried with a shelf life of at least two years. And while astronauts make up a panel that tastes the food and give it a final OK on Earth before it blasts off, the lack of gravity means smell — and taste — is impaired. So the food is bland.

On Mars though, there is a little gravity, allowing NASA to consider significant changes to the current space menu. That's where Cooper's team comes in. Travel to Mars opens the possibility that astronauts can do things like chop vegetables and do a little cooking of their own. Even though pressure levels are different than on Earth, scientists think it will be possible to boil water with a pressure cooker, too.

One option Cooper and her staff are considering is having the astronauts care for a "Martian greenhouse." They would have a variety of fruits and vegetables — from carrots to bell peppers — in a hydroponic solution, meaning they would be planted in mineral-laced water instead of soil. The astronauts would care for their garden and then use those ingredients, combined with others, such as nuts and spices brought from Earth, to prepare their meals.

The top priority is to ensure that the astronauts get the proper amount of nutrients, calories and minerals to maintain their physical health and performance for the life of the mission, Cooper said.

The menu must also ensure the psychological health of the astronauts, Cooper explained, noting studies have shown that eating certain foods — such as meatloaf and mashed potatoes or turkey on Thanksgiving — improve people's mood and give them satisfaction. That "link to home" will be key to astronauts on the Mars mission, and there are currently two academic studies looking further into the connection between mood and food. Lacking certain vitamins or minerals can also harm the brain, she said.

One of the biggest obstacles, at the moment, may be the budgetary constraints. President Barack Obama's budget proposal in February canceled a joint US-European robotic mission to Mars in 2016, and the rest of NASA's budget has also been chopped."
Space

Submission + - China Serves Giant Space Food on Earth (spaceindustrynews.com)

Submitted by littlesparkvt
littlesparkvt writes: Chinese scientists have developed more than 120 different varieties of food in space. The foods that they have developed over the last 25 years aren’t normal though. These hulk-like creations include 210+ pound pumpkins, an eggplant the size of a basketball, 2 pound tomatoes and 2 foot long cucumbers.
NASA

Submission + - Evacuated Tube Transport Technologies (ET3) Space Travel on Earth (techbriefs.com) 1

Submitted by
frohro
frohro writes: "ET3 is literally ‘Space Travel on Earth,’ a global transportation system that is silent, low cost, fast, secure, safe, and environmentally friendly.ET3 is literally ‘Space Travel on Earth,’ a global transportation system that is silent, low cost, fast, secure, safe, and environmentally friendly.
ET3 requires 1/30th of the materials of high speed rail, so construction costs a tenth as much. A pair of ET3 tubes at 350mph can exceed the capacity of a 40-lane freeway at half the cost of 4 lanes. ET3 capacity scales with design velocity. ET3 can provide 50 times more transportation per kWh than electric cars or trains, yet operates at 400mph domestic, to 4000mph international."
Science

Submission + - One-molecule-thick material breaks new ground (mit.edu)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: MIT News reports today that they can produce complex electronic circuits from molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), a material that could have many more applications. Possessing exceptional strength and other novel properties, the form of MoS2 — "graphene" is a planar sheet structure merely one atom thick. Coming up with ways to use the substance has captured the imagination of researchers around the world. Jointly funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, the Microelectronics Advanced Research Corporation Focus Center for Materials, the National Science Foundation and the Army Research Laboratory, a deep focus on MoS2 and other two-dimensional (2D) materials, have revealed excellent electrical and optical properties. Sharing many of graphene’s advantages, specific properties of MoS2 allows it to overcome challenges of zero-bandgap graphene. Tomás Palacios, the Emmanuel E. Landsman Associate Professor of EECS, suggests this opens the door to an entirely new domain of production. Palacios believes this may be the most exciting advance in electronics in 20-30 years. A whole family of two-dimensional materials may be on the horizon and yield breakthroughs in optics, electronics, and stuctural materials.

Submission + - 'Wiki Weapon Project' Holding Design Contest For 3D-Printable Guns (forbes.com) 2

Submitted by Sparrowvsrevolution
Sparrowvsrevolution writes: Earlier this month, University of Texas law student Cody Wilson and a small group of friends who call themselves “Defense Distributed” launched an initiative they’ve dubbed the “ Wiki Weapon Project.” Their goal: to raise $20,000 to design and release blueprints for the world's first entirely 3D-printable gun. If all goes according to plan, RepRap users will soon be able to turn the project’s CAD designs into an operational firearm capable of shooting at least one standard .22 millimeter bullet, all in the privacy of their own garage.

Wilson and his handful of collaborators at Defense Distributed plan to use the money they raise to buy or rent a $10,000 Stratysys 3D printer and also to hold a 3D-printable gun design contest with a $1,000 or $2,000 prize for the winning entry–Wilson says they’ve already received gun design ideas from fans in Arkansas and North Carolina. Once the group has successfully built a reliable 3D-printed gun with the Stratysys printer, it plans to adapt the design for the cheaper and more widely distributed Reprap model.

The group had already raised more than $2,000 through the fundraising platform Indiegogo, but the site took down their page and froze their funds on Tuesday. They're continuing to seek donations through their website via Paypal and Bitcoin.

Submission + - Super Mario Bros Released On the Atari 2600

Submitted by YokimaSun
YokimaSun writes: The world of Homebrew coders never fail to amaze. Over on the AtariAge forums a coder by the name of Sprybug has released a clone of the original Super Mario Bros for the Atari 2600, the game has the complete first level and he intends to code all the first 4 worlds into the game. Those of you impressed by this effort will also find this 3D Mario on the Sega Saturn mouthwatering.

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