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China

Submission + - China third country to be hit by 'brown tide' (nature.com)

Submitted by
ananyo
ananyo writes: "The species of alga that causes 'brown tides' in the United States and South Africa is also to blame for massive blooms along China’s east coast on the Bohai Sea, researchers have found. The finding could be the first step to tackling the problem.
It is the fourth consecutive year the country has been hit by the bloom (Slashdot's story on the 2010 bloom here), with the situation worsening each time the bloom returns."
Linux

Submission + - Valve to Port Steam Games Service to Linux (ibtimes.co.uk)

Submitted by asavin
asavin writes: Games developer Valve has started a Linux blog, in order to publicise work on an open source version of the Steam online game service.

"For some time, Gabe has been interested in the possibility of moving Steam and the Source game engine to Linux," the first blog post reads, explaining that Valve already used Linux on several of its servers and was used to supporting it.

"In 2011, based on the success of those efforts and conversations in the hallway, we decided to take the next step and form a new team."

Valve has chosen Ubuntu over other forms of Linux, so it can concentrate on one version of the operating system.
AI

Submission + - How Google is becoming an extension of your mind (cnet.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: An article at CNET discusses Google's ever-expanding role in search, and where it's heading over the next several years. The author argues it's becoming less of a discrete tool and more an integrated extension of our own minds. He rattles off a list of pie-in-the-sky functions Google could perform, which would have sounded ridiculous a decade ago. Now.. not so much. Quoting: 'Think of Google diagnosing your daughter's illness early based on where she's been, how alert she is, and her skin's temperature, then driving your car to school to bring her home while you're at work. Or Google translating an incomprehensible emergency announcement while you're riding a train in foreign country. Or Google steering your investment portfolio away from a Ponzi scheme. Google, in essence, becomes a part of you. Imagine Google playing a customized audio commentary based on what you look at while on a tourist trip and then sharing photo highlights with your friends as you go. Or Google taking over your car when it concludes based on your steering response time and blink rate that you're no longer fit to drive. Or your Google glasses automatically beaming audio and video to the police when you say a phrase that indicates you're being mugged.'

Submission + - Higgs Boson Probabliy Found at CERN (web.cern.ch)

Submitted by ACluk90
ACluk90 writes: Today experimental data from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland has been presented. The data shows the existence of a new particle around 126 GeV — within in the range in which theorists suspect the mass of the Higgs Boson.
Science

Submission + - Higgs 1

Submitted by
The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: "Scientists at CERN announced today the discovery of a new fundamental subatomic particle that is almost certainly the Higgs boson — a particle that is crucial in giving other particles mass.

The new particle has a mass of about 125 — 126 GeV (roughly 125 times the mass of a proton) which is just what the Higgs mass is predicted to be by the Standard Model of particle physics. A signal was seen in preliminary results from 2011, but observations since then have raised the confidence level hugely: the strength of the signal indicates it is real to the 5 sigma level — that is, with 99.9999% confidence. In physics, that qualifies as a "discovery". This is a monumental step in particle physics, and toward our understanding of one of the most fundamental and mysterious properties of matter in the Universe: mass."
Cloud

Submission + - CloudOpen: A New Cloud Conference From The Linux Foundation (ostatic.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Linux Foundation’s brand new event CloudOpen will be a “technical conference that will bring together in a vendor-neutral environment the open source projects, products and companies that are driving cloud and big data ecosystems."
Security

Submission + - $2 DDoS service launched (scmagazine.com.au)

Submitted by mask.of.sanity
mask.of.sanity writes: A hacker has recruited two girls to spruik a cut-rate DDoS service that he claims can take down most targets.

The service had dozens of positive replies from customers on underground hacker forums and the operator claims to have large companies using the service to attack rivals.

The DDoS attacks were launched from his private botnet and cost from $2 an hour.

Submission + - 'Crystal' simulator designed to model quantum behaviours (abc.net.au)

Submitted by
Waltre
Waltre writes: "Dr Michael Biercuk and then team from The Quantum Science Research Group from the University of Sydney today published the details of their quantum computer/simulator which the author is claiming has " the potential to perform calculations that would require a supercomputer larger than the size of the known universe" — all in a machine the size of just 300 charged beryllium atoms."

Submission + - Researchers claim quantum computer breakthrough (abc.net.au)

Submitted by sortius_nod
sortius_nod writes: "Australian and international researchers say they have designed a tiny crystal able to run a quantum computer so powerful it would take a computer the size of the known universe to match it.

Details of the ion crystal, which is made up of just 300 atoms, are published in the journal Nature today by a team from Australia, South Africa and the United States."
Science

Submission + - Insects develop pesticide resistance through symbiosis with gut flora (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by blinkin247
blinkin247 writes: The indiscriminate spraying of pesticides has probably caused as many problems as it has solved, but here's one that was not expected: some bacteria have decided that one insecticide is a very tasty meal. Unfortunately for us, one of the strains of bacteria that has evolved the ability to digest the toxin happens to be able to find a home in an insect's gut. When it does so, it provides the insect with resistance.
Television

Submission + - Have TV Manufacturers Given Up on 3D? (electronichouse.com)

Submitted by
ElectronicHouseGrant
ElectronicHouseGrant writes: "At the 2011 CES, you couldn’t take a step without tripping over a 3D display. Sure there were competing glasses technologies, the prospect of glasses-free and the decaying economy, but no one really expected the public to treat 3D as if it had a bad case of halitosis. Yet here we are, in the middle of the 2012 new TV shipping season and every manufacturer I meet with only wants to talk to me about streaming services, apps or some wacky new control features (for the record, I like streaming services, apps and wacky control features)."

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