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IBM

Submission + - IBM discovery may lead to exascale supercomputers (networkworld.com)

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: IBM researchers have made a breakthrough in using pulses of light to accelerate data transfer between chips, something they say could boost the performance of supercomputers by more than a thousand times.

The new technology, called CMOS Integrated Silicon Nanophotonics, integrates electrical and optical modules on a single piece of silicon, allowing electrical signals created at the transistor level to be converted into pulses of light that allow chips to communicate at faster speeds, said Will Green, silicon photonics research scientist at IBM.

The technology could lead to massive advances in the power of supercomputers, according to IBM. Today's fastest supercomputers http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/111410-china-rocks-top-500-supercomputer.html?hpg1=bn top out at around 2 petaflops, or two thousand trillion calculations per second.

The photonics technology could boost that to a million trillion calculations per second, or an exaflop, helping IBM to achieve its goal of building an exascale computer by 2020, Green said.

Submission + - RIP Irvin Kershner (hollywoodreporter.com)

Submitted by bigredradio
bigredradio writes: Empire Strikes Back director Irvin Kershner died at his home in Paris after suffering from illness, his goddaughter Adriana Santini confirmed to the AFP Monday. He was 87.
Privacy

TSA Saw My Junk, Missed Razor Blades, Says Adam Savage 609

Posted by timothy from the happy-24th dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The TSA isn't the most respected of governmental agencies right now, but at least it comes by the poor reputation honestly. The lack of standards, inconsistent application of searches and policies, and occasional rude agent all combine to make flying an unpleasant experience. It's often derided as 'security theater,' which describes the experience of Mythbuster Adam Savage before a recent flight. Savage was put through the full-body scanner, and while he joked that it made his penis feel small, no one seemed to notice the items he was carrying on his person. The video tells the rest of the story."

Submission + - Security Theater: The Ripples Spread to Japan (theatlantic.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Apparently the conditions for shipping packages via air to the United States have now become so restrictive that the Japanese Post Office has announced that, effective Nov. 17, it will no longer accept any packages weighing over a pound for shipment to the US by any method that involves air transport (including EMS, airmail, and SAL). Except for large corporate mailers, everything over a pound must apparently now come by sea. Asahi Shimbun is reporting that the Japanese equivalents of FedEx and UPS have followed suit. I assume that airmail service remains in effect for the remaining 200 countries across the globe that have not lost their collective minds.
Space

Submission + - Extra-Galactic Planet Discovered in Milky Way (discovery.com)

Submitted by
astroengine
astroengine writes: "Between six to nine billion years ago, the Milky Way collided with another galaxy. As you'd expect, this caused quite a mess; stars dust and gas being ripped from the intergalactic interloper. In fact, to this day, the dust hasn't quite settled and astronomers have spotted an odd-looking exoplanet orbiting a metal poor star 2,000 light-years from Earth. Through a careful process of elimination, the extrasolar planet (known as HIP 13044b) actually works out to be an extragalactic planet, a surviving relic of the massive collision eons ago."
Social Networks

Submission + - Twitter Tracking Sniffs Out Political 'Astroturf'

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Political campaigners have dealt in dirty tricks and smear campaigns since politics was invented, and the usual defense is political as well. This time around computer scientists will step into the fray and offer a way to tell what is truly grass-roots and what is not. By looking at the growth of the network over time, Menczer says he can see how ideas spread between groups, and also get an indication of how "natural" the growth of an idea is.
United States

Submission + - AT&T to Allow Xbox 360 as U-verse Set-top Box (engadget.com)

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes: A so-called Wired Release will roll out to AT&T U-Verse customers next Sunday, and it'll bring the long awaited feature with it (though you'll have to wait until November 7th for that particular aspect). This means AT&T U-verse customer's Xbox 360 will have a Dashboard app, and when launched, it'll let it function exactly like any other U-verse set-top. The only major catch is that it can't be the only set-top — you'll need at least one DVR at another TV in the house to enjoy one of the four HD streams that could be funneled into your home. A second anonymous tipster has chimed in with some interesting slides — looks like your Xbox will need a hard drive!

Engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/07/atandt-u-verse-customers-can-use-xbox-360-as-a-set-top-box-startin/
Facebook

Submission + - Lighthearted friends could make you join NAMBLA (pcmag.com)

Submitted by mykos
mykos writes: The Facebook groups feature is causing bit of a stir with its users. TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington was allegedly added to a group about NAMBLA, and in turn, he added Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. It's all in good (albeit tasteless) fun, except when a harmless joke goes awry and you find yourself being detained by customs when a friend decided to drag you into a mock terrorist group. Facebook representatives are aware of the matter, but are dismissive of it. A Facebook spokeswoman said "If you have a friend that is adding you to Groups you do not want to belong to, or they are behaving in a way that bothers you, you can tell them to stop doing it, block them or remove them as a friend – and they will no longer EVER have the ability to add you to any Group".

In somewhat related news, guillotines ensure you won't have dandruff on your shoulders anymore.

Comment Live's censorship is a bit Draconian (Score 1) 490

by jr0dy (#33515412) Attached to: Microsoft Suspends Gamer For Being From Fort Gay
I ran into this problem when attempting to complete my XBOX Live profile - it didn't allow me to enter my location using my city of Tecumseh, MI; apparently I was attempting to allude to ejaculation by doing so. I even tried it Roman-style, with a "v" for the "u", but they denied that, too. My question is - how the heck did the guy manage to get it into his profile in the first place? My experience is that it denies you up-front as you attempt to save that entry in your profile. Did he just have it in there from before they implemented their censorship?

Submission + - Homebrew "OnLive" over a local lan? (slashdot.org)

Submitted by boazarad
boazarad writes: Online gaming service "OnLive" seems to have proven that high-resolution games can be "streamed" over a fast-enough internet connection. This got me wondering — why can't I use my gigabit home network to stream my favorite games from my high-end home-office bound computer, to my weaker and older HTPC in the living room? I've searched online, but can't seem to find anyone that has even tried accomplishing this. VNC or Terminal Services obviously won't cut it. Maybe the slashdot crowd has heard of such a project?
Security

Submission + - Most Consumers Support Government Cyber-Spying (eweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by scurtis
scurtis writes: Nearly two thirds of computer users globally believe that it is acceptable for their country to spy on other nations by hacking or installing malware, according to Sophos's mid-year 2010 Security Threat Report, with 23 percent claiming to support this action even during peace time. Perhaps more surprisingly, 32 percent of respondents said that countries should also be allowed to plant malware and hack into private foreign companies in order to spy for economic advantage.

“It's kind of curious, because these are the people that have got no time for hackers and the bad guys at all, but seem to think it's all right for countries to do this,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. “I think they need to remember that, one day, it might be a country attacking your company's network, and trying to infiltrate it, and how are you going to feel about it then?”

Last week, at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, former US National Security Agency director, retired Gen. Michael Hayden, emphasised the importance of clearly defining what cyber-war really is.
IT

Submission + - Arlington National Cemetery: massive IT fail (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by imac.usr
imac.usr writes: A story in today's Washington Post calls to light the utter failure of the nation's most sacred final resting place to modernize its pen-and-paper record system. According to the story, the cemetery's administrators have spend over five million dollars without managing to accomplish the seemingly-simple task of creating a database record of the site's graves. As Virginia senator Mark Warner points out, "We are one fire, or one flood, or one spilled Starbucks coffee away from some of those records being lost or spoiled.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Fights Online Fraud With New Program (net-security.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft released a new program that will help mitigate potential losses due to online fraud and account compromise. The Internet Fraud Alert offers a trusted and effective mechanism for participating researchers to report stolen account credentials discovered online — such as username and password login information for online services or compromised credit card numbers — to the appropriate institution responsible for that account. Through a centralized alerting system powered by Microsoft technology developed specifically for this program, Internet Fraud Alert will quickly inform companies about compromised credentials, allowing them to take the appropriate action to help protect their customers.

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