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Programming

Submission + - Why sloppy code isn't the fault of developers (techrepublic.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The commercial realities of software development mean that programmers shouldn't be held responsible for the quality of their code. This piece argues that developer responsibility is diminished by the fact it's standard industry practice for project managers to force developers to ship code they aren't satisfied with in order to hit deadlines. And while analysts argue that agile development methodologies might give developers a chance to produce work they are happier with, developers say that agile teams are actually producing work of a lower standard than those using traditional waterfall methodologies — as developers get snowed under by change requests.

Submission + - Toyota will turn your car's driving data into a simulation

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Toyota and Denso today announced the joint development of an onboard communications network device, CAN-Gateway ECU that can take data gathered while driving and apply it to create a virtual simulation that enables a new way to enjoy driving. The CAN-Gateway ECU captures driving data—including GPS data, accelerator pedal strokes, steering angles, brake operation signals, gear shift signals, engine rpm count, water temperature, and vehicle speed—from a dedicated onboard GPS as well as CAN information exchanged among onboard ECUs. The device can wirelessly transmit (by Bluetooth) the data to software installed on smartphones or other devices for real-time monitoring. As this data is accumulated, it can serve as a driving coaching guide.
News

Submission + - Iran, North Korea Team Up To Fight Malware Like Stuxnet, Flame

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: At the start of this month, news broke that Iran and North Korea have strengthened their ties, specifically by signing a number of cooperation agreements on science and technology. The two states signed the pact on Saturday, declaring that it represented a united front against Western powers. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, told Kim Yong Nam, North Korea’s ceremonial head of state, the two countries have common enemies and aligned goals. On Monday, security firm F-Secure weighed in on the discussion. The company believes Iran and North Korea may be interested in collaborating against government-sponsored malware attacks such as Duqu, Flame, and Stuxnet.
Science

Submission + - DNA Code Illuminates Rise of Brains (businessweek.com) 1

Submitted by
DevotedSkeptic
DevotedSkeptic writes: "DNA analysis of an extinct human ancestor that lived 80,000 years ago has pinpointed fundamental genes tied to the brain’s evolution, showing how genome testing is changing anthropology and archaeology along with medicine.

At least eight genes that rose to prominence in human DNA since the time of the ancient relatives, called Denisovans, affect nerve growth and language, an international team of researchers said today in the journal Science. The cognitive power conferred by these genes may have keyed the development of complex thinking skills, culture and civilization said Svante Paabo, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

“This is perhaps in the long term, to me, the most fascinating part about this; what it will tell us in the future about what makes us special in the world,” he said yesterday on a conference call.

New DNA techniques are reshaping knowledge of human evolution just as quickly as they’re sparking the development of medical tests and treatments. Using a tiny amount of material from an ancient finger bone, scientists were able to analyze the ancient ancestor’s genes as closely as those of anyone who walked into a lab today, said David Reich, a Harvard Medical School genetics professor who contributed to the study.

Almost every cell in an organism holds a complete copy its genome, the chemical code for making proteins and tissues. The Denisovan genome analyzed in the study gives a broad visual picture of the individual it came from, holding genes that predict brown hair, brown eyes and dark skin in humans."
Space

Submission + - Nuclear Powered LEDs for Space Farming (forbes.com)

Submitted by
DevotedSkeptic
DevotedSkeptic writes: "The nearside of the Moon will never resemble your Granddad’s back forty, but agriculture remains the key to living and working off-world. All the mineral ore in the solar system can’t replace the fact that for extended periods on the Moon or Mars, future off-worlders will need bio-regenerative systems in order to prosper.

Here on earth, researchers still debate how best to make those possible, but nuclear-powered state of the art LED (Light-emitting Diode) technology is arguably what will drive photosynthesis so necessary to provide both food and oxygen for future lunar colonists.

Future long-term lunar residents will need to grow their food either in sub-lunar lava tubes or in greenhouses shielded with several meters of lunar surface regolith. With no atmosphere, the moon is regularly exposed to lethal doses of cosmic rays, solar coronal mass ejections and x-flares, not to mention micro-meteorites that would be enough to wreck anyone’s corn.

Although during the two weeks that make up the long lunar day astronauts might be able to funnel refracted sunlight into covered greenhouses or subsurface lava tunnels, they will be left without a light source during the long lunar night.

Current solar-powered battery storage technology isn’t adequate to sustain artificial light sources for two weeks at the time. Thus, the most practical solution is simply to use some sort of Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG), not unlike the one powering the current Mars Science lab, to power the LEDs that will spur photosynthesis in lunar greenhouses.

Cary Mitchell, a plant biologist at Purdue University, says that as lunar light sources, LEDs would be cool, solid state and robust; lasting 50,000 hours at least, or some five times longer than conventional horticultural light sources. He also notes that that they could survive the journey to the lunar surface where they could then be strung inside inflatable lava tunnel greenhouses or in radiation-hardened, solid greenhouses on the surface.

On earth, Mitchell says it takes roughly 50 square meters of agriculture to provide both food and oxygen life to support one human. But, as he points out, who can say how productive plants are ultimately going to be on the moon, in gravity that is only one sixth that of earth?"
Apple

Submission + - Bruce Willis 'considering iTunes legal action' against Apple (telegraph.co.uk)

Submitted by oobayly
oobayly writes: It appears that Bruce "Die Hard" Willis isn't too impressed that he can't include his iTunes collection in his estate when he dies.

Bruce Willis, the Hollywood actor, is said to be considering legal action against Apple so he can leave his iTunes music collection to his three daughters.

Such a high profile individual complaining about the ability to own your digital music can only be a good thing, right? I suggest that also assaulting Cupertino in a dirty white vest would do the job.

Submission + - Home Automation Gets Easy (tuaw.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: If This Then That (IFTTT.com) the easy to use web scripting tool, is now integrated with Belkin’s WeMo home automation switches.
Whoever the person was at Belkin who had the brilliant thought to integrate WeMo with IFTTT should get a big raise. Plug a fan into a WeMo switch, then set up an IFTTT recipe to turn the fan on if the local outside temperature goes above 85 F (I tried this — it works). Have IFTTT call you whenever someone enters the house (it works). And if you want to shut that fan off, you can either write another recipe or just use the WeMo app to shut it off remotely. There are even examples online when your Internet becomes unreliable.
Printer

Submission + - 3D printing on the micrometer scale (gizmag.com)

Submitted by cylonlover
cylonlover writes: Three-dimensional printers are popping up everywhere these days. Some are small enough to fit in a briefcase and others are large enough to build print houses, but scientists at the Vienna University of Technology are going for the microscopic. Earlier this year, the university built a 3D printer that uses lasers to operate on a tiny small scale. Now they're refining the technique to enable precise placement a selected molecule in a three-dimensional material. This process, called “3D-photografting,” can potentially be used to create a “lab on a chip” or artificially grow living tissue.
Android

Submission + - Sony Mobile website hacked by NullCrew (thehackernews.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Another Cyber attack on Sony this year, Hacking group called "NullCrew" hack into one of the biggest site of Sony mobile website & leak complete database on Internet. Not just Sony, Nullcrew recently hack into Cambodia Army website and dump database.

http://thehackernews.com/2012/09/sony-mobile-website-hacked-by-nullcrew.html
Android

Submission + - A Thermal Imaging camera accessory for phones. (instructables.com)

Submitted by
RobHopeless
RobHopeless writes: "This is a project I have been working on recently. It's a thermal imaging sensor add-on for a cell phone. It shows 64 temperature readings as a color and numeric overlay on the phone's camera display. No, it is not as nice as the $2000 — $10,000 cameras but it is good enough for most things you need a thermal imaging camera for and it is also rather fun to play with too. It should be about $150 to build your own or buy one."
Encryption

Submission + - Calculating the Cost of Full Disk Encryption (networkcomputing.com)

Submitted by
CowboyRobot
CowboyRobot writes: "Is full disk encryption (FDE) worth it? A recent study conducted by the Ponemon Institute shows that the expected benefits of FDE exceed cost by a factor ranging from four to 20, based on a reduction in the probability that data will be compromised as the result of the loss or theft of a digital device.

"After doing all of the math, Ponemon found that the cost of FDE on laptop and desktop computers in the U.S. per year was $235, while the cost savings from reduced data breach exposure was $4,650.""
Databases

Submission + - MIT researchers make web apps more efficient

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Many DB app developers convert application source code into stored procedures in order to improve application efficient, but writing stored procedures is hard and does not always guarantee performance improvement. MIT CSAIL researchers have developed a system called Pyxis that automatically converts app logic into stored procedures on demand based on the DB server load. If the DB is under-utilized, the system automatically pushes app logic to the DB server, and if the DB becomes heavily loaded, it automatically transfers app logic back to the app server. Their experiments with TPC-C and TPC-W have shown improvement of up to 1.7x in throughput increase and 3x in latency reduction.

Submission + - Sept 14 is red letter day: Black Mesa Half-Life rewrite to be released! (blackmesasource.com)

Submitted by
macklin01
macklin01 writes: "Sep. 14 is red letter day: after 8 years of development, the third-party "Black Mesa" rewrite of Half-Life is finally going to be released. This re-writes the original Half-Life with the HalfLife2 Source engine, along with significant improvements to the graphics and soundtrack. While you're waiting, you can look at recent screenshots (and a few videos here and there, such as here) and download the soundtrack (and donate!) to whet your appetite. So go on: they're waiting for you in the test chamber, Gordon!"

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