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Patents

Submission + - How Samsung modeled the Galaxy S after the iPhone (edibleapple.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Samsung’s copying of Apple’s iPhone runs deep, and recent evidence introduced at the Apple-Samsung trial reveals the breathtaking extent to which Samsung modeled their own smartphones after Apple own designs and features.

The evidence in question is a massively large document compiled by Samsung engineers which shows 126 separate ways the company’s Galaxy S smartphone can be improved. And how might it be improved? By looking at a slew of iPhone features and copying them.
Science

Submission + - This 281-Gigapixel Image Depicts an Entire Animal at the Cellular Level (gizmocrazed.com)

Submitted by Diggester
Diggester writes: This picture is made up of 26,000 unique images that total a file size of 281-gigapixels; imagine that upload time! That picture is of a 1.5 millimeter zebrafish embryo, and the photo was captured using virtual nanoscopy. While at first glance the image doesn't that impressive but, at full resolution, you have the ability to zoom in to the most minute detail.

The technique used by the research group at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and their project, will published in the Journal of Cellular Biology in the upcoming months. You can try to see the full picture here but it does seem to struggle every once a while because of the enormous file size.
Cloud

Submission + - Could a Hurricane 5 take down East Coast data centers (slashdot.org)

Submitted by
TheNextCorner
TheNextCorner writes: "With more data moving into the Cloud, there is an increasing danger of data loss when one of these cloud computing data centers fails. Hurricanes pose a real thread for data centers located in North Virginia and Carolina, where Google, Apple & Facebook have opened large data centers. Could a Hurricane 5 become a problem for these cloud data centers and take down the Internet?"
Education

Submission + - 32-Year Study Shows how Geeky Kids Become Happy Adults | GeekDad | Wired.com (wired.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Scientists mining over 32 years of data from New Zealand followed about 1000 people from birth to adulthood. The factor that most predicted well being as an adult was social connectedness as an adolescent. Academic achievement was a much weaker predictor of adult well-being.
The Internet

Submission + - How to watch Internet TV across international borders (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: Living in the U.S., one of my greatest regrets is that I can't watch BBC video with iPlayer. If I were living in the U.K., I'd feel the same away about not being able to watch shows on Hulu. But, with a Web proxy or a virtual private networks (VPN)s and an Internet Protocol (IP) address in a country where the content is available, you can watch these shows.

Technically, it's easy to set your browser up to use a Web proxy or VPN software. With a Web proxy and Windows XP, for example, you just go to Internet Options, click the Connections tab, and then click LAN Settings. Next, under Proxy server you click to select the “Use a proxy server for your LAN” check box. Finally, you enter the IP address of the proxy server and in the Port box, type the IP number that is used by the proxy server for client connections—that's usually 8080. It's usually pretty simple to do that in any browser and operating system. There are also programs, such as Proxy Switchy, for Chrome that makes it easy to switch from one proxy to another in a single session.

When you use a proxy, though, all your traffic is still open to network administrators. If you want to visit another country and watch their TV in privacy, you'll need a VPN.

There are many commercial proxy servers. Two that I've tried, and I can recommend, are AllAnonymity, with proxy servers in, among other countries, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, and HideMyAss, with numerous supported countries.

If you want to use a VPN, you'll need to set yourself up with a private VPN service. These companies, such as Banana VPN, Black Logic, StrongVPN, and Unblock Us, will set you up with their VPN software and connections in other countries. Generally speaking, you'll end up paying a monthly service fee of $10 to $20 a month for either proxy or VPN services.
Technology

Submission + - Drexel University Giving UAVs a Hand (and Arms) (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have proven very successful as surveillance, intelligence-gathering and mapping craft, but their ability to interact with the ground has been largely confined to launching missiles. Now, Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is planning to endow them with arms and hands to allow them to work on such tasks as repairing infrastructure and disaster recovery while hovering near the ground.
Android

Submission + - Zeus Trojan Hits Blackberry Devices (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: Despite its significant user base within enterprises, BlackBerry devices have managed to stay off the radar for malware writers. That may be ending, as four new Zeus-in-the-mobile (Zitmo) samples targeting BlackBerry users in Germany, Spain, and Italy have been found.

Zitmo, which hit Android devices back in July 2011, refers to a version of the Zeus malware that specifically targets mobile devices.

Denis Maslennikov, a security researcher at Kaspersky Lab, also identified a new Zitmo variant for Android using the same command and control (C&C) numbers as the BlackBerry versions. While previous Android variants have been primitive, the latest.apk dropper, which shows up as an app "Zertifikat," looks "more similar to 'classic'" Zitmo, he said. When executed, it displays a message in German that the installation was successful, along with an activation code. The Android sample also included a self-issued certificate that indicates it was developed less than a month ago.
Security

Submission + - Ga. Tech Launches Security Data-Sharing Program For F500, Government (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: One of the more pernicious and as-yet incurable diseases in security is the resistance to sharing data. Organizations large and small collect all sorts of information on attacks, vulnerabilities and threats and, for the most part, it simply sits in databases and is never of any use to anyone outside of the organization. But there's an effort underway at the Georgia Tech Research Institute to change that through the use of a new information-gathering and analysis system called Titan.

Private data-sharing initiatives have been ongoing for a long time now, both formally and informally. Volunteer groups and industry coalitions such as the Shadowserver Foundation, Honeynet Project and many smaller informal working groups pool data on attackers and attacks. Some of that data is made public via reports on especially bad hosting providers or the most frequently exploited platforms or bugs. But data on how specific attacks went down, what the timeline, tactics, techniques and tools were and what was stolen is much harder to come by. It's shared over beers or in hallways at conferences, between former colleagues or through a friend of a friend. And that's the most valuable stuff, the dirt on who stole what from whom and how.

Without that kind of data, it's difficult for organizations to know what they're up against and what to look for at any given time. That's where GTRI's Titan project will attempt to fill the void. The system is built on a collection of data on malware that is growing by about 100,000 samples a day. Participants in the project will contribute their own data on malicious code and attacks and also will be able to see what others have contributed, to glean information about ongoing attacks. The data will be anonymized so no one will know which company was compromised by which malware. Right now, the system is being used by a handful of Fortune 500 companies and government agencies, but that's going to grow.
Verizon

Submission + - Verizon has five secret data plans you can only get if you know about them (bgr.com)

Submitted by zacharye
zacharye writes: Verizon Wireless killed its previous data plan offerings in late June and replaced them with a series of “Share Everything” plans, which give smartphone users unlimited voice minutes and text messages alongside a single bucket of data that can be shared between as many as 10 different phones, tablets and laptop computers. The nation’s top carrier publicizes six data tiers for its new plans, ranging from a base price of $50 a month for 1GB to $100 a month for 10GB. In addition to those plans, however, Verizon on Tuesday confirmed that it has five additional unpublicized tiers available for Share Everything users...
Censorship

Submission + - Airtel: An Indian ISP Penalized For Blocking a Torrent Site

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: India's Department of Telecom has instructed ISPs to block popular torrent trackers like the Pirate Bay and IsoHunt. Recently, consumer forum penalises Airtel for blocking torrent sites and deficiency in providing Internet access when it blocked torrent sites earlier this year, following a Madras High Court Order received by Copyright Labs. The opponents are directed to pay Rs. 20,000/- to the complainant for committing deficiency in service and thereby causing mental agony to the complainant. Further the opponents are directed to pay Rs.2,000/- towards litigation charges to the complainant. A copy of the Court’s order is available here.

Submission + - Most Underaprreciated SF Writer

Submitted by
mvdwege
mvdwege writes: "In the thread on Most Depressing SF there were hundreds of posts and but four mentions of John Brunner, dystopian writer par excellence. Now, given the normally US Libertarian bent of the Slashdot audience, it is understandable that outright British Socialist writer Brunner would get short shrift, but it got me thinking: what SF writers do you know that are, in your opinion, vastly underappreciated?"

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Rugged e-book reader?

Submitted by
Augury
Augury writes: "I'm about to undertake a lengthy trip involving travel through dusty, damp and drop-inducing environments. When it comes to packing for such a trip, reading is a fundamental need, to help while away the inevitable hours spent in transit lounges, at bus stops and on beaches. The weight and bulk of the dead tree approach makes it impractical, so an e-book reader seems ideal — does anyone have any experience with ruggedising an e-book reader for such conditions?"
Security

Submission + - WikiLeaks Under DDoS Again (techweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by
twoheadedboy
twoheadedboy writes: "After being hit by a "72-hour" DDoS in May, WikiLeaks is claiming to be under attack yet again. All its sites appear to be down and fingers have already been pointed at government entities. WikiLeaks, posting on Twitter, said it had its suspicions of why it was being targeted. It was either because of its ongoing releases related to Stratfor and Syria, or because of an upcoming release, Julian Assange's organisation speculated. The fact that everyone is currently engrossed in the Olympics may have given attackers good reason to target the websites right now, WikiLeaks said."
The Military

Submission + - Kamikaze drones - the military robots set to self destruct (army-technology.com)

Submitted by RougeFive
RougeFive writes: A new wave of Kamikaze unmanned military aircraft, ground robots and water vessels are being built to deliberately destroy themselves as they hit their targets. Since it now makes more economic sense to have them crash into enemy targets rather than engage them, and since direct impact needs only manned or automated navigation rather than the highly-trained skills of multiple operators, these UAVs could well become the de-facto method of engagement of the future.

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