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Comment Re:Not-so-accurate source (Score 1) 487

Sigh. The fact that you think British time equals GMT speaks volumes to your lack of understanding of the complexities of time.

(And what is "British time"? Do you mean UK time? What about overseas territories?)

More importantly, if the clock on the user's own computer isn't "good enough", what is? Just agreeing on the requirements could easily take 100 staff days.

The US government has http://www.time.gov/ which has most definitely taken 100 staff days to create, plus on-going maintenance.

Comment Re:Nice try? (Score 3, Informative) 92

If setup right, you should be shown a picture you choose to confirm that you are on the legit site.

"SiteKey" only marginally improves security compared to regular TLS/https and notably doesn't help against a MITB attack as described in TFA. If this malware is worth anything, that picture will still be there.

Then in addition to your password, you can setup a system where a six digit numeric token is sent to your cell phone which is also needed to authenticate.

Ooh, two-factor authentication. That's been mandatory in Danish banks for years, but hey, good to see some American banks actually providing security beyond "mother's maiden name"... even if the user has to opt-in.

Simple two-factor authentication still doesn't help against MITB attacks, of course. ("VERY good online security", indeed.)

Comment Re:Same as last time? Well, nope. (Score 1) 559

Given the cost of batteries, I too would be somewhat dubious unless the car came with a warranty offering free (or extremely reduced cost) battery replacements for the first 10-15 years.

The Tesla Model S includes free battery replacements under warranty for the first 8 years or 125,000 miles for the 65 kWh battery (the 85 kWh battery warranty has no mileage limit). After 8 years, you can extend the warranty period for $7,500 for 3 years or 36,000 miles, which is ~10% of the Model S (85 kWh) purchase price.

(An average car does 12,000 miles per year, so one is unlikely to hit the 125,000 miles limit on the 65 kWh model. People who drive a lot will probably want the 85 kWh model anyway.)

Comment Re:Actually going down (Score 1) 198

Then you want DCIE (Data center infrastructure efficiency). It's the inverse of PUE and it is expressed as a sensible percentage figure where 93% is current state of the art and 100% is perfect efficiency. But PUE is the metric people are using, whether it makes sense or not.

I don't think it's an US vs European thing. Personally, I've always had trouble with Europen fuel efficiencies, specified in "fuel per distance", because I find it weird to have "lower = better" when comparing efficiencies (and also because of the weird "L/100 km" unit). The American "miles per gallon" is more sensible in comparisons, despite the screwed up base units.

Comment Re:Sounds like it's time for multiple micro-center (Score 1) 198

If you spend 1 watt on cooling for every 4 watt of heat (i.e. every 4 watt of computing), you have a PUE of 1.25. Not too bad, but far from state of the art.

The efficiency of the computers do not impact PUE, since PUE only looks at the power ratio between computing equipment and the rest of the data center (which is primarily cooling).

Comment Re:Awesome (Score 3, Insightful) 108

Except what they obviously intend to use it for - large scale decryption of SSL traffic so the data can be mined by Google (for profit) and the Government (to oppress).

If that's their intent, they'll be sorely disappointed, since D-Wave's machine has only 512 qubits (where as all new SSL certificates are at least 1024 bits). More importantly, the machine is not a general purpose quantum computer and can't run Shor's algorithm.

Besides, NSA is already able to break 1024 bit RSA using conventional computing (not to mention the possibility of much cheaper side channel attacks). See e.g. Schneier.

If we are optimistic, it may be possible to factor a 1024-bit RSA modulus [before 2020] by means of an academic effort on [a] limited scale.

- Kleinjung et al., 2010, my emphasis

The same paper gives an estimated difficulty of 2 million CPU years for factoring 1024 bit RSA. Sure, that's about $500 million on Amazon EC2, but the NSA have dedicated data centers, dedicated ASICs, smarter algorithms, and money to burn. Realistically, breaking 1024 bit RSA may be as cheap as $50,000 a pop to the NSA... and remember, they only have to break it once per HTTPS certificate, not once per connection.

(As for Google, they're already have your email and knows every page you visit that contains a YouTube video, a +1 button, or Google Analytics... Why would they waste time breaking RSA when the sidechannel attacks are cheap and plentiful?)

Comment Re:Prostate cancer (Score 5, Interesting) 189

Prostate cancer is very common among older men, but it's more often an annoyance than a killer, since people usually die of other causes before the cancer can kill them.

To quote the doctor treating one of my relatives, it's a cancer you die with, not of.

The relative 5-year survival rate is nearly 100%. The relative 10-year survival rate is 98%. The 15-year relative survival rate is 93%.

(US numbers)

That's why prostate cancer has low priority, compared to e.g. breast cancer, which has a relative 1-year survival rate of 96%, and 85% for 5 years (UK numbers).

Comment Re:Dont try it at home. (Score 2) 136

I don't think this was the US Postal Service.

Correct. This is the Danish postal service.

To put things in perspective: Shortly after September 11, 2001, a friend of mine figured it might be a funny joke to send me a "fake anthrax letter" though the mail. When the flour leaked from the envelope during shipping, the entire post office was shut down and evacuated, and my friend was arrested in the middle of the night, prosecuted... and cleared of all charges. Because, y'know, it was just flour. No harm, no foul.

So feel free to try this at home, if you live in Denmark.

Comment Re:Please, please! (Score 2) 199

The following human rights problems continued: isolated unlawful killings and use of excessive force by security forces, sometimes with impunity; poor prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; corruption and other abuses by security forces; a high number of pretrial detainees; and corruption and denial of due process within the judicial system.

Wait, is this quote about the USA or Ecuador?

Those who live in glass houses...

Google

Google Releases Street View Images From Fukushima Ghost Town 63

mdsolar writes in with news that Goolge has released Street View pictures from inside the zone that was evacuated after the Fukushima disaster. "Google Inc. (GOOG) today released images taken by its Street View service from the town of Namie, Japan, inside the zone that was evacuated after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011. Google, operator of the world's biggest Web search engine, entered Namie this month at the invitation of the town's mayor, Tamotsu Baba, and produced the 360-degree imagery for the Google Maps and Google Earth services, it said in an e-mailed statement. All of Namie's 21,000 residents were forced to flee after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, about 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the town, causing the world's worst nuclear accident after Chernobyl. Baba asked Mountain View, California-based Google to map the town to create a permanent record of its state two years after the evacuation, he said in a Google blog post."
The Military

United States Begins Flying Stealth Bombers Over South Korea 567

skade88 writes "The New York Times is reporting that the United States has started flying B-2 stealth bomber runs over South Korea as a show of force to North Korea. The bombers flew 6,500 miles to bomb a South Korean island with mock explosives. Earlier this month the U.S. Military ran mock B-52 bombing runs over the same South Korean island. The U.S. military says it shows that it can execute precision bombing runs at will with little notice needed. The U.S. also reaffirmed their commitment to protecting its allies in the region. The North Koreans have been making threats to turn South Korea into a sea of fire. North Korea has also made threats claiming they will nuke the United States' mainland."
Mars

4-Billion-Pixel Panorama View From Curiosity Rover 101

A reader points out that there is a great new panorama made from shots from the Curiosity Rover. "Sweep your gaze around Gale Crater on Mars, where NASA's Curiosity rover is currently exploring, with this 4-billion-pixel panorama stitched together from 295 images. ...The entire image stretches 90,000 by 45,000 pixels and uses pictures taken by the rover's two MastCams. The best way to enjoy it is to go into fullscreen mode and slowly soak up the scenery — from the distant high edges of the crater to the enormous and looming Mount Sharp, the rover's eventual destination."
Technology

Festo's Drone Dragonfly Takes To the Air 45

yyzmcleod writes "Building on the work of last year's bionic creation, the Smart Bird, Festo announced that it will literally launch its latest creation, the BionicOpter, at Hannover Messe in April. With a wingspan of 63 cm and weighing in at 175 grams, the robotic dragonfly mimics all forms of flight as its natural counterpart, including hover, glide and maneuvering in all directions. This is made possible, the company says, by the BionicOpter's ability to move each of its four wings independently, as well as control their amplitude, frequency and angle of attack. Including its actuated head and body, the robot exhibits 13 degrees of freedom, which allows it to rapidly accelerate, decelerate, turn and fly backwards."

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