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Encryption

The Beginnings of Encrypted Computing In the Cloud 76

Posted by Soulskill from the stormy-weather dept.
eldavojohn writes "A method of computing from a 2009 paper allows the computing of data without ever decrypting it. With cloud computing on the rise, this may be the holy grail of keeping private data private in the cloud. It's called Fully Homomorphic Encryption, and if you've got the computer science/mathematics chops you can read the thesis (PDF). After reworking it and simplifying it, researchers have moved it away from being true, fully homomorphic encryption, but it is now a little closer to being ready for cloud usage. The problem is that the more operations performed on your encrypted data, the more likely it has become 'dirty' or corrupted. To combat this, Gentry developed a way to periodically clean the data by making it self-correcting. The article notes that although this isn't prepared for use in reliable systems, it is a quick jump to implementation just one year after the paper was published — earlier encryption papers would take as much as half a decade until they were implemented at all."

Submission + - New Futurama Clip & Conversation with Billy We (discovermagazine.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Robot-human intermarriage. The Harlem Globetrotters performing mathematical wizardry. Hearing, “Good news, everyone!” when bad news is on the way. It means one thing: Futurama is back. The interstellar travels of the Planet Express crew—canceled by Fox in 2003 but kept alive by syndication, straight-to-DVD movies, and the unstoppable force of geek fandom—return with 26 fresh episodes on Comedy Central, starting with a full hour on June 24 at 10PM eastern. Here’s our conversation with voice actor Billy West. The voice behind Philip J. Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Dr. Zoidberg, and Zapp Brannigan on Futurama (not to mention Stimpy on Ren & Stimpy and Looney Tunes characters like Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd in Space Jam) talks of the origin of the professor’s vocabulary, why Richard Nixon is the President of 31st century Earth, and whether it’s weird to talk to yourself so much.
Toys

Brick Shooting Shotgun Built From Lego By 15-Year-Old Screenshot-sm 70

Posted by samzenpus from the knock-your-block-off dept.
Lanxon writes "A mildly terrifying young Brit named Jack Streat has managed to build a series of working guns, including a Lee Enfield bolt-action sniper rifle, entirely out of Lego and rubber bands, reports Wired. Streat, who lists himself as 15 years old on his profile, has constructed an enormous and diverse armory of weaponry that fire either rubber bands or Lego bricks. Most are based on real-life guns, including a Steyr AUG, a Tommygun, an AK-47, a belt-fed M429 PARA, an Arctic Warfare sniper rifle, a Glock 17, a pair of semi-automatic TEC-9s, a SPAS 12 pump-action shotgun and a minigun that he calls the Obliterator."
Privacy

Submission + - Judge limits DHS laptop border searches | Politics (cnet.com)

Submitted by timothy
timothy writes: Federal judge rebukes Homeland Security, which had claimed it can seize a traveler's laptop and search it six months later without warrant. Read this blog post by Declan McCullagh on Politics and Law.

Submission + - Mafia Wars Blueprint Revealed (mafiawarsblueprintrevealed.com)

Submitted by braumab
braumab writes: Mafia Wars Blueprint Revealed — Is it the right choice to dominate the online gangster game or just another product to waste your time? Read prominent reviews about Mafia Wars Blueprint and get the fullest out of the Mafia Wars Secrets.

Submission + - Today Google has learned not to change their .... (wsj.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Some time ago, Coca-Cola learned that they should not change the flavour of Coke. Today Google has learned that the simplicity of their homepage (including the white background) is something that Google Users value the most. Branding is essential, and definetely trying to look like Bing is not a good thing for Google.
Google

Submission + - Google's Double Standard on Flaw Disclosure (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: Early this morning Google’s Tavis Ormandy published a vulnerability in the hcp protocol handler. It allows the attacker to run arbitrary commands as the user.Google has been the loudest proponent for responsible disclosure in the past. But if you look at the dates in his post, he says he reported it to Microsoft on the 5th of June (a Saturday), who responded the same day. He sent the advisory early in the morning today the 10th of June — meaning Google gave Microsoft less than 5 days to fix it. Even Mozilla backed down from 10 day turn around, and they’re only running a single software suite. How is that possibly reasonable to expect a company like MS to turn around a patch in 4-5 days and then get so upset that then you must go full disclosure? And it’s not like Tavis was acting on his own — he credits other security researchers inside of Google for their help. So apparently it’s okay for Google to go full disclosure, but not for other researchers. The hypocrisy is amazing.

Submission + - Doctors find way to reverse autism effects (indiatimes.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: New research by a team of Bangalore-based scientists has given hope to those with emotional problems caused by the inheritance of a fragile X chromosome. The researchers, for the first time in the world, mapped defective connections between nerve cells in the emotional hub of the brain of mice who had Fragile X Syndrome. The research has just been published in the online edition of the US-based Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Google

Submission + - Google forces image background, cripples RDP users (google.com) 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Shortly after introducing their optional 'make-Google-look-like-Bing' background image, somebody at Google decided to force the background on people, prompting 'remove google background' to shoot to 2nd on google trends. The shocking part is not just that the background is default, but now is UNREMOVABLE.

As a fun bonus, those who use RDP or similar remote connections can enjoy waiting several seconds while the high resolution background image slowly fades into view...
Government

Submission + - New UK broadband minister scorns 'pitiful' 2Mbps (techworld.com) 1

Submitted by superapecommando
superapecommando writes:

The government could utilise water, gas and electricity ducts in a bid to create the "best superfast broadband network in Europe". Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt revealed the potential plan and acknowledged fast, reliable broadband is "increasingly essential".
"The biggest cost involved in rolling out new fibre optic networks is digging up the roads. Cut these costs and, straight away, investing in superfast broadband becomes a substantially more attractive proposition," Hunt said.
Hunt also said it was a "scandal" that more than three million homes in the UK can't currently achieve internet speeds of 2Mbps or above.

Ha! Finally some sense from a politician over net speeds. Although, looking closer, he hasn't made any firm commitments, and he is a member of a party which is committed to leaving development up to market forces and cutting state intervention. So I'll believe it when I see it, Mr Hunt.

Submission + - On the Job With Mona Dehghan of Domino Records a (venuszine.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: At Domino Records’ 2010 South By Southwest showcase, the crowd
is shivering in the strangely cold-for-Austin weather, downing coffee, and layering
on flimsy hoodies to keep warm. While British neo-trip-hoppers Malachai perform,
Mona Dehghan hands out stacks of promo records, makes countless introductions, and
ensures everyone she knows has food and drink tickets (and a hug). She then coordinates
an interview for the band, tracks them down when they eventually disappear, and
after our in...

Submission + - Border Patrol asking for text tips (skunkpost.com)

Submitted by crimeandpunishment
crimeandpunishment writes: The U.S. Border Patrol only has 200 agents to cover the long stretch of US-Canadian border from Washington to Montana. But there are plenty of residents, campers, and hunters carrying cell phones in those woods. So now the Border Patrol is enlisting their help, launching a new anonymous text tip program. Some critics say it could lead to racial profiling, but the Border Patrol has been running classes in border towns in an effort to prevent that.

Submission + - A Non-Mathematical Introduction to Neural Nets (heatonresearch.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The goal of this article is to help you understand what a neural network is, and how it is used. Most people, even non-programmers, have heard of neural networks. There are many science fiction overtones associated with them. And like many things, sci-fi writers have created a vast, but somewhat inaccurate, public idea of what a neural network is.

Submission + - British Computer Society At Civil War! Official. (computerworlduk.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A vote of no confidence against the current board of directors has erupted in what is possibly the first nerd war that is raging throughout the British Computer Society. Why? More financial, spreadsheet related fixations and less computer science has made a few members cross, plus they don't like the new name 'The Chartered Institute of IT'.
More specific details as to why the extraordinary emergency general meeting where members will vote to decide the boards of directors fate on July 1st can be located at:
http://bcsreform.wikispaces.com/
Source: http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/it-business/it-organisation/news/index.cfm?newsid=20589

Submission + - Low Level Format using USB Flash Drive? 1

Submitted by
Luyseyal
Luyseyal writes: "Hey Slashdot. I unwittingly bought one of these terrible flash cards at Fry's and have managed to nuke two of them, successively. I have a USB flash card reader that will read/write the current one at USB 1.0 speed, but it locks up every Ubuntu and XP machine I've come across in high speed access mode. I have read that if I low-level format it that it could be fixed, though my current one doesn't support it. My Google-fu must be weak because I cannot seem to find a USB flash reader that specifies that it will do low-level formatting. Help me Natalie Portman's grits — you are my only hope!"

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