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Submission + - President of UT Austin declines chancellor's request to resign (bloomberg.com) 2

Submitted by lfp98
lfp98 writes: President Bill Powers has long been in conflict with Governor Rick Perry over the direction and goals of the University of Texas' flagship Austin campus. This week, news leaked that the Chancellor requested Powers' resignation before this Thursday's meeting of the Regents (who are all Perry appointees), under threat of being fired at that meeting if he did not resign. So far Powers has refused, while expressing an openness to leaving after the end of the current academic year [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/06/bill-powers-ut-resign_n_5562317.html]. Powers is highly regarded by UT students, faculty, alumni [http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/texas-longhorns/20140706-alumni-letter-calls-university-of-texas-president-s-forced-resignation-a-travesty.ece] and the larger academic community, but has been criticized by Perry and other conservatives for not being sufficiently focused on providing educational services at the lowest possible cost. Powers' supporters view the forced dismissal as brazen political interference with University governance, primarily for the purpose of allowing Perry to influence the choice of a new president before he leaves office in December [http://chronicle.com/article/As-Fight-Over-U-of-Texas/147535/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en].

Submission + - Dispelling The Myths Behind DDoS Attacks

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: DDoS attacks are quickly becoming the preferred method for cyber attackers to wreak havoc on the internet. With a recent spate of attention grabbing headlines focused on the hacker's favorite tool, this article busts some myths about DDoS attacks.

Myth 1: DDoS attacks are merely a nuisance with no lasting damage — This is a dangerous assumption to make, just ask CodeSpaces; actually, you can't — a DDoS attack put it out of business. Yes, this is an extreme case, but you only have to look back a few weeks and see headlines involving major companies like Feedly and Evernote, who rely heavily on their web presences, get taken down by DDoS attacks. And not only were their customer experiences disrupted, but the hackers attacking the sites demanded a ransom, in some cases, to cease the attacks.

Submission + - US 'Kidnapped' Hacker who is Son of Russian Member of Parliament (ibtimes.co.uk)

Submitted by DavidGilbert99
DavidGilbert99 writes: Over the weekend the US arrested 30-year-old Russian hacker Roman Valerevich Seleznev charging him with numerous counts of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft for stealing hundreds of thousand of credit card details during 2009 to 2011. On Tuesday it was revealed that Seleznev is the son of Russian member of parliament Valery Seleznev who said he had not been able to speak to his son but added: "This is a monstrous lie and a provocative act."

Submission + - Nearly one-third of Americans aren't ready for the next generation of technology (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Thanks to a decade of programs geared toward giving people access to the necessary technology, by 2013 some 85% of Americans were surfing the World Wide Web. But how effectively are they using it? A new survey suggests that the digital divide has been replaced by a gap in digital readiness. It found that nearly 30% of Americans either aren’t digitally literate or don’t trust the Internet. That subgroup tended to be less educated, poorer, and older than the average American.

Submission + - Happy software developers solve problems better. (peerj.com)

Submitted by HagraBiscuit
HagraBiscuit writes: Researchers from the Faculty of Computer Science, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy, have quantified and analysed affective mood index against objective measures of problem-solving effectiveness for a group of software developers.
From report abstract:
"The results offer support for the claim that happy developers are indeed better problem solvers in terms of their analytical abilities. The following contributions are made by this study: (1) providing a better understanding of the impact of affective states on the creativity and analytical problem-solving capacities of developers, (2) introducing and validating psychological measurements, theories, and concepts of affective states, creativity, and analytical-problem-solving skills in empirical software engineering, and (3) raising the need for studying the human factors of software engineering by employing a multidisciplinary viewpoint."

Graziotin D, Wang X, Abrahamsson P. (2014) Happy software developers solve problems better: psychological measurements in empirical software engineering. PeerJ 2:e289 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peer...

Submission + - PayPal freezes account of email encryption startup ProtonMail 1

Submitted by blottsie
blottsie writes: PayPal has frozen more than $275,000 in donations to ProtonMail, claiming the email encryption startup may be illegal. A PayPal alert told ProtonMail that was unsure if ProtonMail has the necessary U.S. government approval to encrypt emails, as though anyone who encrypts needs a license to do so. Of course, it is absolutely legal to encrypt email. The freeze remains in place.

Submission + - Court Allowed NSA To Spy On All But 4 Countries

Submitted by mrspoonsi
mrspoonsi writes: A court permitted the NSA to collect information about governments in 193 countries and foreign institutions like the World Bank, according to a secret document the Washington Post published Monday. The certification issued by a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 2010 shows the NSA has the authority to “intercept through U.S. companies not just the communications of its overseas targets, but any communications about its targets as well,” according to the Post’s report. Only four countries in the world — Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — were exempt from the agreement, due to existing no-spying agreements that the Post highlights in this document about the group of countries, known as “Five Eyes” with the U.S.

Submission + - Silk Road 30,000 bitcoin auction causing stirs, what happens with it is 144,341? (mineforeman.com)

Submitted by ASDFnz
ASDFnz writes: We did not expect the US Marshals Service to release information about the auction of Silk Road bitcoin last week but in the absence of information speculation both on the markets and on the internet is building.

First Barry Silbert, Founder of SecondMarket and BitcoinTrust has tweeted that they were outbid on all blocks.

Since then Alex Walters (a former core Bitcoin developer and the then chief technology officer of Bitinstant) has posted on reddit saying “I Lost” in his $400 to $500 per coin. That post was closely followed by another reddit user saying that his bid of $451.13 per coin was also unsuccessful.

Routers is also now reporting that investment firm Pantera Capital has also been notified that their bids were also unsuccessful.

Meanwhile the actual price of bitcoins of the various exchanges has risen close to 15% from just under $600 a coin to close to $650.

In the end, we may never know who bought the confiscated coins or how much they bought them for but it does seem that it will be a pivotal point in bitcoins evolution.

It is anyone’s guess what will happen when they decide what to do with the remaining 144,341 bitcoins.

Submission + - DOT Aims to Regulate Map Aids in Vehicles (nytimes.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: The US Department of Transportation is intensifying its battle against distracted driving by seeking explicit authority from Congress to regulate navigation aids of all types, including apps on smartphones.

The measure, included in the Obama administration’s proposed transportation bill, would specify that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has the authority to set restrictions on the apps and later order changes if they are deemed dangerous, much the way it currently regulates mechanical features of cars.

The measure has the support of automakers, which already mostly comply with voluntary guidelines for built-in navigation systems, but it has run into stiff opposition from technology companies, which say that any such law would be impractical and impossible to enforce. It’s another example, they say, of federal regulators trying vainly to keep up with a rapidly changing industry.

Submission + - 'Super bananas' may save millions of lives in Africa (phys.org)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: A super-enriched banana genetically engineered to improve the lives of millions of people in Africa will soon have its first human trial, which will test its effect on vitamin A levels, Australian researchers said Monday.

The project plans to have the special banana varieties — enriched with alpha and beta carotene which the body converts to vitamin A — growing in Uganda by 2020.

The bananas are now being sent to the United States, and it is expected that the six-week trial measuring how well they lift vitamin A levels in humans will begin soon.

Feed Google News Sci Tech: NASA's Horizons spacecraft to probe Pluto moon Charon for underground ocean - De (google.com)

From feed by feedfeeder

Delhi Daily News
NASA's Horizons spacecraft to probe Pluto moon Charon for underground ocean
Delhi Daily News
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is moving towards Pluto to explore Charon, one of Pluto's moons. The aim of the mission is to search of evidence of an ancient underground ocean on the planet. The Pluto is located farthest from the Earth and its temperature...
NASA spacecraft will unfold mystery of Oceans on Pluto's Moon CharonThe Westside Story
New Horizons spacecraft to probe Pluto moon Charon for ancient underground ... Tech Times
Moon of Pluto, Charon might have underground Ocean in PastThe Eastern Tribune
Clarksville Online-Northern Voices Online-International Business Times
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