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Submission Summary: 1 pending, 90 declined, 32 accepted (123 total, 26.02% accepted)

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Science

Submission + - The Electron is a Sphere (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by
lee1
lee1 writes: "In a 10 year long experiment, scientists at Imperial College have made the most precise measurement so far of the shape of the electron. It's round. So round, in fact, that if the electron were enlarged to the size of the solar system, its shape would diverge from a perfect sphere less than the width of a human hair. The experiment continues in the search for even greater precision. There are implications for understanding processes in the early universe, namely the mysterious fate of the antimatter."
Games

Submission + - Video Games Outclassing Movies? (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by
lee1
lee1 writes: "Charlie Brooker laments the embarrassing offerings available at the movie theater and points out that recent game titles are not only technically amazing, but better at telling a story and appealing to the intelligent person looking for entertainment. All related in his inimitable foaming-at-the-mouth style."

Submission + - New Technology for Lifelike Games (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
lee1
lee1 writes: "Rockstar's latest game, L.A. Noire, can 'compete head-on with film and television' according to its 'writer/director' Brendan McNamara. It employs 32 HD cameras arranged like a birdcage around each actor, capturing 1,000 frames per second to make character's faces and emotions more lifelike. The creator believes that this will make video games become 'the pre-eminent entertainment form for the 21st century.'"

Submission + - U.S. Preserves Smallpox for Defense (nti.org)

Submitted by
lee1
lee1 writes: "The U.S. is preserving the last remaining known strains of smallpox in case they are needed to develop biowarfare 'countermeasures' and as a hedge against possible outbreaks in a population with no natural immunity. 451 specimens are stored in Atlanta at the Centers for Disease Control, and 120 strains at the Russian Vector laboratory in Siberia. Meanwhile, the government has contracted to pay almost $3 billion to procure 14 million smallpox vaccination doses."
Privacy

Submission + - FBI Tracking Device Teardown (ifixit.com)

Submitted by
lee1
lee1 writes: "According to a federal court, the FBI has the right to attach a GPS tracking device to your car without a warrant, and may even sneak on to your driveway to do so. But what's inside the devices? iFixit has a detailed teardown, showing hand-soldered circuit boards powered by a stack of D-cells rated for over a decade of service."
Cloud

Submission + - Dropbox Lied About Security (electronista.com)

Submitted by
lee1
lee1 writes: "Dropbox faces a possible FTC investigation because of misleading statements it has made about the privacy and security of its 25 million users' files. The cloud storage company previously claimed that it was impossible for its employees to access file contents, but in fact, as the encryption keys are in their possession, this is false. The complaint points out that their false security claims gave Dropbox a competitive advantage over other firms offering similar services who actually did provide secure encryption."
Politics

Submission + - Newt Gingrich's Amazon Book Reviews (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by
lee1
lee1 writes: "Newt Gingrich has written 156 book reviews on Amazon, at one point becoming ranked in the site's top 500 list. Most of the books are cheesy political thrillers, but the newly announced presidential candidate is also trying to learn about quantum physics, and shows good taste, 'strongly recommending' Richard Feynman’s QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter."
Privacy

Submission + - Your Electricity Meter is Spying on You (eff.org)

Submitted by
lee1
lee1 writes: "If you have a 'smart meter' it is collecting data that can reveal when you wake up, when you leave for work and come home, when you go on vacation and when you take a shower. This data is commercially valuable and, if sold to third parties, can lead to privacy invasion on a massive scale. The California Public Utility Commission is reacting to the gas & electric company's mass installation of these meters with new proposals for strong privacy protections."

Submission + - Activists May Use Their Targets' Trademarks (eff.org)

Submitted by
lee1
lee1 writes: "Sometimes political activists use a company's trademark as part of a campaign to embarrass it or call attention to an issue. And sometimes the company sues, claiming that they own the mark and its satirical use is prohibited. Now a Utah court has ruled that such suits must fail because the parodic use of the mark is not commercial and is a form of protected speech."

Submission + - Moving data at the speed of light (berkeley.edu)

Submitted by
lee1
lee1 writes: "Due to the 'interconnect bottleneck', sometime in the next decade, computers, regardless of their processing speed, will be incapable of moving data any faster. UC Berkeley engineers have recently developed a possible solution: a way to grow nanolasers directly onto a silicon surface and take advantage of the superior data carrying capacity of photons. The new technique could lead to highly efficient silicon photonics. As well as leading to faster computers, the nanolasers are expected to allow the engineering of new types of on-chip nanophotonic devices such as lasers, photodetectors, modulators and solar cells."
Technology

Submission + - Intel Designs Faster, 3D Transistor (nytimes.com)

Submitted by
lee1
lee1 writes: "Intel has found a way to keep on the Moore's Law track by making smaller, faster and lower-power computer chips by building 3D transistors. They are already manufacturing microprocessors using this new design, called a FINFET (for fin field-effect transistor), which incorporates a small pillar, or fin, of silicon that sticks up above the surface of the chip. Intel said that it expected to be able to make chips that run as much as 37 percent faster in low-voltage applications and use as much as 50 percent less power. Products based on the new technology may appear some time later this year."
Google

Submission + - Google's South Korean Offices Raided (nytimes.com) 1

Submitted by
lee1
lee1 writes: "The Seoul police raided Google’s office in Seoul, S. Korea today on suspicion that they have illegally collected users’ location data, without consent, for advertising purposes. Google claims to be cooperating with the investigation."

Submission + - Controlling Light with an Optical Event Horizon (aps.org)

Submitted by
lee1
lee1 writes: "Two German scientists have developed the theory for an all-optical transistor. In their words: 'This concept relies on cross-phase modulation between a signal and a control pulse. Other than previous approaches, the interaction length is extended by temporally locking control and the signal pulse in an optical event horizon, enabling continuous modification of the central wavelength, energy, and duration of a signal pulse by an up to sevenfold weaker control pulse.'"
Google

Submission + - Does Google Encourage Book Piracy?

Submitted by
lee1
lee1 writes: "David Flanagan, author of JavaScript: The Definitive Guide and other reference works, has for 15 years been, as he says, ‘one of those lucky authors who has been able to support himself and his family almost entirely on book royalties.’ But now he his looking for a salaried job, because royalties are declining. He believes this is due in part to piracy of his books, which he sees as being actively encouraged by Google. The search giant ranks results leading to illegal copies of his works above legitimate results, such as reviews, and features illegal download sites prominently in its interactive list of search suggestions. Flanagan even found that the latest edition of his JavaScript book was available as an illegal download before he received his own copy."

Submission + - Hookers, Gambling, and Business School (philly.com)

Submitted by
lee1
lee1 writes: "Students at La Salle University business school have described a lecture
featuring scantily-clad women on hand to provide lap dances to the
students and professor. The class, on "the application of Platonic and
Hegelian ethics to business", taught by Jack Rappaport, was finally
broken up by Paul Brazina, dean of the business school and all-around
killjoy, when he happened upon it. Prof. Rappaport has been suspended.
On the website RateMyProfessors.com, one student described Rappaport in
2004: "Extremely strange man. Loves gambling, horse racing, and strip
joints. Talks about all of the above all the time." Prof. Rappaport
served on the university's committee on academic integrity."

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