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Hardware

Submission + - $36 000 worth of (unattended) MacBooks destroyed by urine in Pennsylvania (dailymail.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: An 11-year-old Pennsylvania boy has been charged after urinating on $36,000 worth of Apple MacBook computers, owned by his school.

Local police were called to Upper Allen Elementary School in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday after teachers discovered the boy had relieved himself on around 30 laptops.

The expensive technology, which had been sitting unattended on a cart in a school hallway, was 'damaged beyond repair', police said.

  Boy 11 destroys 36 000 worth of MacBooks with ..... URINE! Whoever would think that leaving 36 000 worth of MacBooks unattended could led to trouble?
AI

Submission + - Face Recognition Maps History via Art (i-programmer.info)

Submitted by mikejuk
mikejuk writes: Face recognition techniques usually come with a certain amount of controversy. A new application, however, is unlikely to trigger any privacy concerns because all of the subjects are long dead.
FACES: Faces, Art, and Computerized Evaluation Systems will attempt to apply face recognition software to portraits. Three University of California, Riverside researchers have just received funding to try and piece together the who's who in history.
  “Almost every portrait painted before the 19th century was of a person of some importance. As families fell on hard times, many of these portraits were sold and the identities of these subjects were lost. The question we hope to answer is, can we restore these identities?”
  If the algorithm can be fine tuned we can look forward to the digitized collections of museums and art galleries around the world suddenly yielding a who-knew-who social network graph that could put more science, and computer science at that, into history.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft alleged anticompetitive practices agains (groklaw.net)

Submitted by andydread
andydread writes: We discussed the accusation against Microsoft by Barnes and Noble about their patent attacks on Android. The details are out on the extent that Microsoft has gone to make open source undesirable in the marketplace. Barnes and Noble says that this is not just about Android. According to B&N Its about all open source in general and they have filed a detailed complaint (PDF) with the ITC spelling out what they call "extortive practices" on the part of Microsoft against open source. Now we have a list of the actual patents in question and B&N explaining how each one of these patents are invalid.
Google

Submission + - Google's secret lab (technewsworld.com)

Submitted by phaedrus5001
phaedrus5001 writes: Apparently, Google has a secret lab known as 'Google X' where they are working on over a hundred different projects. From the article:"These include a space elevator project, experiments working to connect home appliances and dinner dishes to the Internet, robots that can go to work instead of their owners, and the development of driverless cars for the mass market."
And, just maybe, Skynet as well...
Businesses

Submission + - Tech Site Sues Ex-Employee, Claiming Rights To His (forbes.com)

Submitted by nonprofiteer
nonprofiteer writes: Noah Kravitz worked as a mobile phone reviewer for a tech website called Phonedog for four and a half years. While there, he started a Twitter account (of his own volition) with the handle @PhoneDog_Noah to tweet his stories and videos for the site as well as personal stuff about sports, food, music, etc. When he left Phonedog, he had approximately 17,000 followers and changed his Twitter handle to @noahkravitz.

This summer, Phonedog started barking that it wanted the Twitter account back, and sued Kravitz, valuing the account at $340,000 (!), or $2.50 per follower per month. Kravitz claims the Twitter account was his own property. A California judge ruled that the case can proceed and theoretically go to trial. Meanwhile, Kravitz continues to tweet.
Apple

Submission + - Siri Protocol Cracked (applidium.com)

Submitted by jisom
jisom writes: Today, we managed to crack open Siri’s protocol. As a result, we are able to use Siri’s recognition engine from any device. Yes, that means anyone could now write an Android app that uses the real Siri! Or use Siri on an iPad! And we’re goign to share this know-how with you.
China

Submission + - Why Is China Building Gigantic Structures In the M (gizmodo.com)

Submitted by cornholed
cornholed writes:

New photos have appeared in Google Maps showing unidentified titanic structures in the middle of the Chinese desert. The first one is an intricate network of what appears to be huge metallic stripes, the second structure seems to be some kind of giant targeting grid, and the third one consists of thousand of lines intersecting in a titanic grid that is about 18 miles long.
Security

Submission + - New Malware Signed With Stolen Government Certific (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: Security researchers claim that malware spreading via malicious PDF files is signed with a valid certificate stolen from the Government of Malaysia, in just the latest evidence that scammers are using gaps in the security of digital certificates to help spread malicious code.

The malware,identified by F-Secure as a Trojan horse program dubbed Agent.DTIW, was detected in a signed Adobe PDF file by the company's virus researchers recently. The malicious PDF was signed using a valid digital certificate for mardi.gov.my, the Agricultural Research and Development Institute of the Government of Malaysia. According to F-Secure, the Government of Malaysia confirmed that the certificate was legitimate and had been stolen "quite some time ago.
Apple

Submission + - Apple Recall 1st Gen iPod Nano (geek.com)

Submitted by fatp
fatp writes: Apple is recalling first-generation iPod nano due to fire risk. In the iPod nano (1st generation) Replacement Program, it's said: "Apple has determined that, in very rare cases, the battery in the iPod nano (1st generation) may overheat and pose a safety risk. Affected iPod nanos were sold between September 2005 and December 2006." According to speculation in geek.com, the replacement will be "reconditioned devices that were in storage."

I dug out my iPod Nano. There is no songs. But I can find traces of failed attempt to install iPod Linux.
Censorship

Submission + - Piracy Bill Could Be Used To Attack Open Source (itworld.com)

Submitted by
jfruhlinger
jfruhlinger writes: "Just how bad is the anti-piracy bill making its way through the U.S. Congress? It allows copyright holders to gain court orders to shut down, with little or no proof, anyone they believe is infringing their rights online. And that isn't just Web hosts: it includes distributors of software packages, which may be payback for Mozilla's refusal to help Homeland Security censor DNS. Open source projects, which generally don't have a deep-pocketed corporation backin them, could be particularly vulnerable to legal challenges."
United Kingdom

Submission + - Government surveillance cameras in taxis (dailymail.co.uk)

Submitted by Beowulf878
Beowulf878 writes: In yet another data-collection feast by the government in the UK, a local council has proposed fitting at least one CCTV camera per taxi to record every conversation. Obviously the reason given is our own safety. Thoughts below?

Comment Midi controller Roland PG-300 (Score 1) 147

by BitPit1 (#38035050) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Physical Input Devices For Developers?
I have a Roland Midi controller PG-300 designed for a 1970's Roland Alpha-Juno2 analog/digital synth keyboard. It is an optional box with 1 push button and 36 sliders customized for the Alpah-Juno2. Its not for sale, just an example of a controller with lots of physical controls. Visit a professional music store, you might find just the controller you want used.
Security

Submission + - SecurID Inventor Launches Secure eWallet Offering (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: A company founded by Kenneth Weiss, the inventor of the technology behind the SecurID tokens now owned by RSA, today launched and is licensing electronic wallet technology to third parties including credit card companies, wireless carriers, banks, retailers and others. The USR electronic wallet does not transmit sensitive information from or store exploitable information in the mobile device.

Weiss founded USR in 2000 while he was in the application process for the core USR patent that was filed in March 2001. The company had been operating in stealth mode since while it conducted in R&D and filed additional patents. Formally incorporated in 2007, USR came public with its story in March 2011. Why? The company says it has been waiting for certain claims to be allowed on key patents that are core to achieving critical mass of intellectual property and patented technology.

The company says that unlike other electronic payment technologies being tested or introduced by companies such as Google and Isis, private or sensitive information is not stored on the mobile device or transmitted at the point of sale (POS)....

Submission + - 'UFOs' Spotted Flying Over the BBC Building (televisionbroadcast.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: An alleged UFO flyover of a BBC building in London was captured on video Friday, according to reports out of the city. Video of the phenomenon was said to be captured Friday, 64 years after Kenneth Arnold reported strange objects in the sky near Mount Rainier in Washington.

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