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Submission + - quantum cryptography creates the unbreakable message ? (cnn.com)

Submitted by KernelMuncher
KernelMuncher writes: Dr. Nicolas Gisin is a Swiss quantum physicist who specializes in photon research. In 2001, Gisin co-founded a company called ID Quantique that now provides data security that is virtually impossible to breach to various banks and governments.

The primary quantum tool at work in ID Quantique's quantum communication scheme is known as "entanglement," a phenomena in which two particles — in this case individual photons — are placed in a correlated state. Under the rules of quantum mechanics, these two entangled photons are inextricably linked; a change to the state of one photon will affect the state of the other. Any tampering with the photon in transit would change the state of the entangled photon still in the sender's possession, raising a red flag. The sender could then simply discard the intercepted key and generate another.

Will this technique work ? Has quantum physics gone from abstract theory to everyday use ?

Submission + - India Army Mistook Planets for Spy Drones (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by hackingbear
hackingbear writes: BBC reports that India's army spent six months watching "Chinese spy drones" violating its air space, only to find out they were actually Jupiter and Venus. Between last August and February, Indian troops had already documented 329 sightings of unidentified objects over a lake in the border region next to China. India accused the objects being Chinese spy drones. The incident has even escalated to military build-up and stand-off at border between the two countries. High level talks were held between the two military. The Chinese denied they invaded Indian space and told India to shoot down the objects if they can and the India side replied the objects were too high, according to a Chinese news report (Google translation). At the meantime, residents of the solar system are grad that India does not possess the capability to shoot down such high attitude objects.

Comment simply a matter of size (Score 1) 355

Just look at the countries ahead of us with high bandwidth: South Korea, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Latvia. All of them are tiny compared to the US. Even the largest ones - Japan and Sweden - are only the size of American states. So it's no surprise that it would be easier to have all of their citizens on high speed internet.

Comment Re: F35 and F22 (Score 2) 270

by KernelMuncher (#44354935) Attached to: US Air Force Reporting Pilot Shortage
you're way off on the height info

from: www.ehow.com/about_5063412_air-force-fighter-pilot-qualifications.html#ixzz2ZoGZ1tSj

"To enter pilot training, you must be have a standing height between 64 to 77 inches"

that's 5'4 to 6'5 for the mathematically challenged

US Air Force Academy has exactly the same guidelines so I'd say they are accurate.

http://www.usafa.net/mirrored/appenda.htm

I'm sure the vision requirements knock out far more pilot candidates than their height restrictions

Submission + - Software development employment rises 45% in 10 years (computerworld.com)

Submitted by dcblogs
dcblogs writes: Software employment is rising at 4 to 5% a year, and may be the only tech occupation to have recovered to full employment since the recession. Other tech occupations aren't doing as well. In 2001, there were more than 200,000 people working in the semi-conductor industry. That number was less than 100,000 by 2010, according to a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute. Darin Wedel, who was laid off from Texas Instruments, and gained national attention when his wife, Jennifer, challenged President Obama on H-1B use, said that for electrical engineers, "unless you are in the actual design of circuits, then you're not in demand." He said that much of the job loss in the field is due to the closing of fabrication facilities. Wedel has since found new work as a quality engineer.

Comment different formats for different types of reading (Score 1) 312

by KernelMuncher (#44342779) Attached to: Poll Shows That 75% Prefer Printed Books To eBooks
For light reading I prefer ebooks. Also if I'm going to read on a plane or train (which is also pleasure reading - fiction or history) ebooks are the way to go due to the convenience. For professional reading it's all about the printed books. When I read for work I take lots of notes which is much easier and more clear in a paper copy. When I refer back to the book later I then have a summarized version of the material all ready. Notes / underlines are possible with ebooks but it's a bit cumbersome.

Submission + - Study finds fracking chemicals didn't pollute water

Submitted by RoccamOccam
RoccamOccam writes: A landmark federal study on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, shows no evidence that chemicals from the natural gas drilling process moved up to contaminate drinking water aquifers at a western Pennsylvania drilling site.

After a year of monitoring, the researchers found that the chemical-laced fluids used to free gas trapped deep below the surface stayed thousands of feet below the shallower areas that supply drinking water.

Submission + - Microsoft is sitting on six million unsold Surface tablets (ibtimes.co.uk) 1

Submitted by DavidGilbert99
DavidGilbert99 writes: Microsoft took everyone by surprise last year with the Surface tablet. It was something completely new from the company everyone knew as a software company. However nine months later and the sheen has worn off the Surface tablet and Microsoft's financial results on Thursday revealed it has taken a $900 million write down on the Surface RT tablets, leading David Gilbert in IBTimes to estimate it is sitting on a stockpile of six million unsold tablets.

Submission + - NY to LA in 45 minutes? (cnn.com)

Submitted by KernelMuncher
KernelMuncher writes: Tesla founder Elon Musk wants to revolutionize transportation yet again. The serial entrepreneur envisions a future where mag-lev trains in enormous pneumatic tubes whisk us from Los Angeles to New York in 45 minutes. Need to be in Beijing tomorrow? No problem. It's a two-hour ride away.

Called the Hyperloop, Musk described his transportation system as "a cross between a Concorde, a railgun and an air hockey table," at a conference earlier this year.

Submission + - Small, electric-powered nano-lasers may help keep Moore's Law valid (networkworld.com)

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes: Some experts believe that the idea behind Moore’s Law — that the number of transistors embedded on integrated circuits would double about every two years — will ultimately fail as the difficulty of shrinking such technology any smaller will cause all sorts of untenable problems. But a research team with Arizona State University this week said a seven year project has culminated with an electrically powered nano-laser that would let developers put ever more lasers into the same space, to achieve far greater processing speeds and ultimately making it makes possible to build future generations of computers that would comply with the Moore’s Law theory.

Submission + - UK government blocks 54 Gartner subscriptions costing £45,000 each (computerworlduk.com)

Submitted by Qedward
Qedward writes: Technology leaders in UK central government departments have been forced to put their Gartner subscriptions on hold as Whitehall aims to move to share resources centrally.

Sources told Computerworld UK that 54 subscriptions to the powerful IT analyst house, costing £45,000 each, have been blocked. Those spearheading the move said that some government IT organisations are still trying to place orders with Gartner, but these are being blocked by the Cabinet Office.

Each of the subscriptions equates to more than the cost of a child’s education at the prestigious Eton school for a year — a comparison made by those implementing the changes.

Earlier this month, some government CIOs were described as being "facility managers with a Gartner subscription spending billions" by the government CTO.

Submission + - Scientists seek biomakers for violence (post-gazette.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A Newtown couple, both scientists, who lost their daughter in the school shooting, are wondering whether there were clues in the shooter's physiological makeup — his DNA, his blood, his brain chemistry. They are now involved in a search for biomarkers, similar to those that may indicate disease, for violence. They are raising money to help fund this research, but the effort is running into obstacles, in part, over ethical concerns. "I'm not opposed to research on violence and biomarkers, but I'm concerned about making too big of a leap between biomarkers and violence," said Troy Duster, a researcher at the University of California at Berkeley. There is concern that science may find biomarkers long before society can deal with its implications.

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