Comment Re:Plutonium Power Source?! Sweet (Score 1) 102
Did you mean
Curiosity in fact uses a radioisotope thermal generator...
Comment Re:3000 WiFi radios at once ? (Score 1) 89
3000 WiFi radios emiting together on how many channels and using what bandwidth ?
Yeah, all 3000 devices will have high gain antennas and be on the same stretch of road.
Submission + - Nintendo Release 3DS XL and New Mario Today in the USA
Croakyvoice writes: Nintendo has today released the 3DS XL in the U.S.A. The console comes with features such as screens which are 90% bigger in size than the original 3DS, a much needed improvement in battery life and also the 3D effect on the console has noticeably improved. The 3DS XL is Nintendo's attempt at even moreso dominating the handheld console market over the PSVita but also bringing back the gamers lost to the likes of Android and iOS Devices. The other major 3DS news of the day is the release of New Super Mario Bros 2 a continuation of the DS game released in 2006. In Japan the game has sold over 800,000 copies since game launch and Nintendo will be hopeful to replicate that success in the U.S.A.
Submission + - Motorola releases an "official" bootloader unlocker (custhelp.com)
Nertskull writes: So Motorola claims to have released a tool to allow anyone to unlock the bootloader on their phone. Unfortunately, the only supported device right now is the Photon Q 4G LTE. However, other devices are supposedly on their way.
Submission + - IBM to buy US Solid State Storage form, TMS (computerworld.com.au)
FunkDup writes: IBM has announced the purchase of US firm, Texas Memory Systems specializing in high performance solid state memory. The move is intended to bolster IBM's PureSystems storage hardware as well as other storage technologies and network devices.
Comment Re:Distance from the power supply (Score 2) 245
Most of the improvement is likely due to increased distance between the amplification circuits and the noisy AC/DC power supply.
I'm not necessarily disagreeing, but the two most important things are the converters and the clock.
Comment Re:certainly much simpler than (Score 3, Interesting) 161
a lot of people live in slums next to the rich people's fenced mansions
Sounds a little bit like South Africa, or to some extent the USA.
This article says:
There is no agreed upon definition about what all these nations have in common apart from having a significant population of European descent.
Submission + - EU Parliament Debates their own DMCA 2
bs0d3 writes: Right now, what is lacking across Europe, is a standard law to handle notice-and-take down's of illegal sites like the US' DMCA. Right now illegal content across Europe is subject to non-standard take down letters, some of which include no mention of what was allegedly infringed, nor in which jurisdiction in Europe it's infringed, or who to contact in your jurisdiction to challenge the claim, or even which company it is that is being represented by the law firm that gets in touch with he project. They need a system so that the notices would have to include information that makes them verifiable as correct. EU is holding a public consultation discussing notice-and-take down laws, which can be found here.
Submission + - How to avoid being tracked online (pcpro.co.uk) 1
Barence writes: "With governments around the world increasingly snooping on the internet activity of their citizens, PC Pro has a feature outlining how to (legally) avoid being tracked online. The feature covers techniques such as end-to-end encryption, onion networks, VPNs and proxies, and how to cover your tracks on social networks."
Submission + - Power Pwn: This DARPA-Funded Power Strip Will Hack Your Network
An anonymous reader writes: The Power Pwn may look like a power strip, but it's actually a DARPA-funded hacking tool for launching remotely-activated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Ethernet attacks. If you see one around the office, make a point to ask if it's supposed to be there. Pwnie Express, which developed the $1,295 tool, says it's "a fully-integrated enterprise-class penetration testing platform." That's great, but the company also notes its "ingenious form-factor" (again, look at the above picture) and "highly-integrated/modular hardware design," which to me makes it look like the perfect gizmo for nefarious purposes.
Submission + - Open Source Smart Meter Hacking Framework Released (securityweek.com)
wiredmikey writes: A researcher specializing in smart grids has released an open-source tool designed to assess the security of smart meters. Dubbed “Termineter”, the framework would allow users, such as grid operators and administrators, to test smart meters for vulnerabilities.
Termineter uses the serial port connection that interacts with the meter's optical infrared interface to give the user access to the smart meter's inner workings. The user interface is much like the interface used by the Metasploit penetration testing framework. It relies on modules to extend its testing capabilities.
Spencer McIntyre, a member of SecureState's Research and Innovation Team, is scheduled to demonstrate Termineter in a session "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Smart Meter," at Security B-Sides Vegas on July 25. The Termineter Framework can be downloaded here.
Termineter uses the serial port connection that interacts with the meter's optical infrared interface to give the user access to the smart meter's inner workings. The user interface is much like the interface used by the Metasploit penetration testing framework. It relies on modules to extend its testing capabilities.
Spencer McIntyre, a member of SecureState's Research and Innovation Team, is scheduled to demonstrate Termineter in a session "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Smart Meter," at Security B-Sides Vegas on July 25. The Termineter Framework can be downloaded here.
Comment Re:IAU? Haste? No way. (Score 1) 275
They don't actually move the books around, but they rename the aisles, recategorize things, and generally make a massive mess of it all.
Astronomical knowledge is evolving quite a bit faster than the rest of the library. I'm not necessarily saying that any IAU decisions are correct but I don't see anything fundamentally wrong with recategorizing. Isn't it that a hallmark of the intelligent?
Comment Re:"first they ignore you" (Score 1) 610
Um, have you any experience with dealing with Microsoft or even read any articles about how it's managed?
Perhaps you're not familiar with spinoffs. The whole idea is to get promising technology and develop it outside of the companies normal structure.
Don't be fooled by the UID, I never commented much in the eraly days and I lost my first (unused) account. Over the thirteen years I've perused these pages I've come to know Microsoft well.
Comment Re:"first they ignore you" (Score 1) 610
With regard to Apple, Microsoft will ALWAYS fail at this contest
Microsoft will eventually split, or at least begin creating spinoffs with separate governance. Small agile units backed by all that research and cash could be very very disruptive.
Comment Re:Why would they wear space suits? (Score 1) 98
So build in some redundancy when you make valves.
LOL...another valve in a spacecraft is really going to help when one is stuck open!
