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Security

Next Step For US Body Scanners Could Be Trains, Metro Systems 890

Posted by timothy from the how-to-radicalize-americans dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "The Hill reports that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says terrorists will continue to look for US vulnerabilities, making tighter security standards necessary. '[Terrorists] are going to continue to probe the system and try to find a way through,' Napolitano said in an interview with Charlie Rose. 'I think the tighter we get on aviation, we have to also be thinking now about going on to mass transit or to trains or maritime.' Napolitano added she hoped the US could get to a place in the future where Americans would not have to be as guarded against terrorist attacks as they are and that she was actively promoting research into the psychology of how a terrorist becomes radicalized. 'The long-term [question] is, how do we get out of this having to have an ever-increasing security apparatus because of terrorists and a terrorist attack?' says Napolitano. 'I think having a better understanding of what causes someone to become a terrorist will be helpful.'"
Government

NSA Adds Kahn Collection To Cryptologic Museum 34

Posted by timothy from the classic-in-the-field dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "The Baltimore Sun reports that as recently as the late 1960s, the very existence of the National Security Agency was a closely held secret until a New York newspaper reporter named David Kahn published The Codebreakers, a 1,200-page blockbuster that would establish Kahn as the world's leading expert on the history of cryptology, the art and science of making and breaking codes. 'According to my editor, the NSA director flew up to New York to say it would be dangerous to national security, and unpatriotic, to publish it,' says Kahn. Fast forward 43 years and now the NSA has announced it has added the David Kahn Collection to the library of its public anteroom, the National Cryptologic Museum — complete with more than 130,000 pages of original interview notes and 2,800 books. 'For those who care about cryptology — what it is, how it works, where it fits into world history and culture — at some point, [they'd] want to look at the Kahn collection,' says curator Patrick Weadon. 'It's an eclectic cornucopia of all things cryptological.'"
Medicine

Bionic Cat Gets World's First Implant Paws 225

Posted by kdawson from the ten-lives dept.
Several readers send in the news of Oscar, the first bionic cat, whose hind paws got cut off in a harvester accident. In a world's-first operation, a neurosurgeon has now given him exoprosthetic paws that are implanted directly into his leg bones. The BBC artlcle has a video captured just after the operation, and PopSci has an apparently later one in which Oscar is walking and running almost completely normally.

Comment My experience: (Score 5, Informative) 347

by Roadmaster (#32620816) Attached to: Best Browser For Using Complex Web Applications?

In my experience, the easiest way to get a consistent and stable printing experience is by generating PDF. I have yet to have stability problems if this is done properly. As you're working with Ruby on Rails, using Prawn and Prawnto might be useful. However, if you absolutely positively must NOT use PDF for printing, then this probably won't help you.

Comment drop-dead gorgeous FAIL (Score 1) 510

by Roadmaster (#32434364) Attached to: HTML5 vs. Flash — the Case For Flash

" the simplest tools for producing drop-dead gorgeous Websites".

This here is the dangerous part; thinking that the tool makes the designer. Anyone can produce crap with Flash tools, and all it takes is a stroll through the Web to witness first-hand how much damage Flash can do in the wrong hands.

However I agree that the "designer" will have the last word. And, for as long as Flash allows a graphic designer with no knowledge whatsoever of web practices, standards, and a minimum background in actual computing, to build and "just upload" a website, instead of collaborating with someone who knows what he's doing, we'll be doomed to suffer crap like this.

Comment Ruby + WxRuby + rubyscript2exe (Score 1) 426

by Roadmaster (#32355208) Attached to: For Automated Testing, Better Alternatives To DOS Batch Files?

You can whip up a quick GUI with Ruby and WxRuby, and when you're happy with it, create a single executable file with rubyscript2exe. I see two problems: files tend to be large (~10MB) and thus a bit slow to run, but once running they're quite snappy. Ruby is a very easy language and WxRuby is also quite easy to use (not to mention cross-platform but I guess that's not high on your wish list).

Comment Users (Score 1) 286

by Roadmaster (#32295008) Attached to: A Playable <em>PAC-MAN</em> On Google Doodle

From the point of view of a serious organization, I don't think it was such a good choice - a large part of Google's audience are people who just use the computer to work, can barely use it, and any deviation from standard behavior prompts panic and a call to help desk (us!) to ask why the hell did the computer start making noises and playing games by itself, and how we should run there to run an antivirus check and preferably take the computer outside and burn it with a flame thrower lest the nasty virus spread through the network and wreak havoc in the organization.

From the point of view of a geeky videogame addict, I'd say it kicks ass. And people who get too concerned with it should get a life. Or maybe play a game or two :)
Books

Filming For The Hobbit Begins In July 298

Posted by samzenpus from the chip-the-glasses-and-crack-the-plates dept.
krou writes "Sir Ian McKellen has revealed that filming for The Hobbit and its sequel is scheduled to begin in July, and will take approximately a year to complete. Casting is now 'taking place in LA, London and New York,' and [director Guillermo] Del Toro is already 'living in Wellington, close to the Jacksons and the studio in Miramar.' Apparently the script is still being worked on, and 'the first draft is crammed with old and new friends, again on a quest in Middle-earth.' The planned sequel to The Hobbit is to be an original story not written by Tolkien, covering the 60 years between The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings."

Comment Work properly? (Score 2, Insightful) 427

by Roadmaster (#31144460) Attached to: Does Microsoft Finally Have a Phone Worth Buying?

Work properly? from Microsoft? the company that made "Microsoft Works" an oxymoron? I don't think so.

On the Desktop OS arena, one always has to have SOME degree of MSFT compatibility. On smartphones there's plenty of choice and Microsoft is but a small player. So why even bother? let's keep them relegated to a corner.
Handhelds

Unofficial Qt Environment (and Sudoku) For the Kindle 36

Posted by timothy from the tablet-madness-never-ends dept.
An anonymous reader writes "I've just posted packages for installing a Qt-based platform on the Kindle 2 and DX devices, and a Sudoku game to go along with it. The Qt-based platform includes plugins I wrote for the e-ink display, the keyboard, and the five-way joystick thing — so it's a fully interactive and usable environment now. Soon I'll be adding a sample app with source code to go along with it."
Red Hat Software

Red Hat Open Sources SPICE Desktop Virtualization 79

Posted by kdawson from the one-desktop-at-a-thyme dept.
laxl writes "Linux vendor Red Hat has open sourced the Simple Protocol for Independent Computing Environment (SPICE) virtual desktop protocol it acquired last year with Qumranet, which used SPICE for its own commercial desktop-virtualization product, called SolidIce. SPICE can be used to deploy virtual desktops from a server out to remote computers, such as desktop PCs and thin-client devices. It is similar to other rendering protocols used for remote desktop management such as Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol or Citrix's Independent Computing Architecture. SPICE supports rendering virtual instances of Windows XP and Windows 7, as well as Red Hat Enterprise Linux. According to Red Hat, SPICE has advantages over other protocols in that it can dynamically customize desktop instances to fit specific operating environments. According to the article, most of the SPICE code is available under the GNU GPLv2, though parts are also licensed under LGPL- and BSD-styled licenses."
Books

Hearst Launching Kindle Competitor and Platform "By Publishers, For Publishers" 155

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the thinking-bigger-picture dept.
The Hearst Corporation has announced their intention to launch an e-reader competitor to Amazon's Kindle and a supporting store and platform that is much more "publisher friendly." More details are available form their official press release this morning. "Launching in 2010, Skiff provides a complete e-reading solution that includes the Skiff Service platform, Skiff Store and Skiff-enabled devices. Skiff will sell and distribute newspapers, magazines, books, blogs and other content. Skiff gives periodical publishers tools to maintain their distinct visual identities, build and extend relationships with subscribers, and deliver dynamic content and advertising to a range of dedicated e-readers and multipurpose devices."

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