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Submission + - Illinois hacking competition draws cybersecurity sleuths of tomorrow (chicagotribune.com)

Submitted by BigVig209
BigVig209 writes: Computer programming has long been a hobby of Iraq War veteran Eric Kelly, but it wasn’t until this past weekend at a hacking competition that he realized how good he was.

“It was more of a confirmation: ‘You can do this, buddy,’” said Kelly, who wants to pursue a career in cybersecurity after placing 11th at the Cyber Aces [Illinois] State Championship (held) at Moraine Valley Community College (this past) Saturday.

Saturday’s program was one of seven state championships organized by Cyber Aces, a nonprofit dedicated to discovering and developing talent for the Internet security industry.

Submission + - Russia has given Ukrainian forces a deadline of 3am before launching an assault (sky.com)

Submitted by schneidafunk
schneidafunk writes: FTA: Russia has reportedly given Ukrainian forces in Crimea a deadline of 3am on Tuesday to surrender or face military action after troops seized key strategic sites in the peninsula.

The ultimatum came from Alexander Vitko, commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, which has a base in Crimea where Russian forces are now in control.

According to Russia's Interfax agency, it reads: "If they do not surrender before 5am (3am UK time) tomorrow, a real assault will be started against units and divisions of the armed forces across Crimea."

Submission + - Researchers Create Device that Allows Men and Women to 'Swap' Bodies

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Kyle Vanhemert reports that a group of researchers in Barcelona are using the Oculus Rift headset to let participants experience the creative process through someone else’s eyes and in their latest experiment lets men and women swap bodies. Two subjects are outfitted with headsets connected so that each participant sees a video stream from point-of-view cameras attached to the other person’s rig. The participants are instructed to mimic each other’s movements, wordlessly dictating the action in tandem like kids playing with a Ouija board. They start out moving their hands around and touching their arms and bellies, but they then shed clothes, graze their own bare skin, and look into their underwear to give their partner a sense of what it’s like to look down and see (hello!) equipment that’s not usually there. The effect is profound says Philippe Bertrand. “Deep inside you know it’s not your body, but you feel like it is.” “The discovery of ‘mirror neurons’ by Giacomo Rizzolatti has shown us that you can’t conceive an “I” without an “us,” Bertrand explains. The group calls it "The Machine To Be Another” and over the last several months, the group has found a diverse group of researchers interested in their “embodiment experience platform,” from artists to therapists to anthropologists. The latest project was focused on VR’s potential for fields like gender studies and queer theory, but they’re already formulating applications from artistic performances to neurorehabilitation. Other studies suggest the effectiveness of embodiment for reducing implicit racial bias. The Machine To Be Another "aims to promote self understanding, empathy and tolerance among users" across the spectrum. It's basically highly conceptual performance art, though we could see the technology being used in educational settings to help broaden discussions on gender, race, disabilities, and aging.

Submission + - MtGox Collapse should come as no suprise (thedrinkingrecord.com)

Submitted by MrBingoBoingo
MrBingoBoingo writes: The recent closure of the famous Bitcoin exchange MtGox has grabbed a lot of media attention lately, but people involved heavily in bitcoin have been raising alarms about business practices at MtGox for quite some time now. With the MtGox failure being Bitcoin's biggest since the collapse of the ponzi run by Trendon Shavers, also known as Pirateat40, it might be time to revisit the idea of counterparty risk in the world of irreversible cryptocurrency.

Submission + - Spy Chief James Clapper: We Can't Stop Another Snowden (thedailybeast.com)

Submitted by cold fjord
cold fjord writes: The Daily Beast reports, "Snowden pilfered documents from databases designed to share intelligence more broadly within the government. Promoting this integration of secrets is the primary mission of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). The office was created on the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission that faulted the intelligence agencies for jealously guarding information that could have prevented the attacks of that day. Clapper and his predecessors were supposed to help transform the intelligence community’s “need to know” culture to one of “need to share.” Snowden (and Chelsea Manning before him) were able to exploit the reforms ... the very human nature of the bureaucracy he controls virtually insures that more mass disclosures are inevitable. “In the end,” he says, “we will never ever be able to guarantee that there will not be an Edward Snowden or another Chelsea Manning because this is a large enterprise composed of human beings with all their idiosyncrasies.”"

Submission + - Rolls Royce said to be developing drone cargo ships

Submitted by kc123
kc123 writes: From Bloomberg: Rolls-Royce’s Blue Ocean development team has set up a virtual-reality prototype at its office in Alesund, Norway, that simulates 360-degree views from a vessel’s bridge. Eventually, the London-based manufacturer of engines and turbines says, captains on dry land will use similar control centers to command hundreds of crewless ships. Drone ships would be safer, cheaper and less polluting for the $375 billion shipping industry that carries 90 percent of world trade, Rolls-Royce says.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: What essays and short stories should be in a course on futurism? 4

Submitted by Ellen Spertus
Ellen Spertus writes: I'll be teaching an interdisciplinary college course on how technology is changing the world and how students can influence that change. In addition to teaching the students how to create apps, I'd like for us to read and discuss short stories and essays about how the future (next 40 years) might play out. For example, we'll read excerpts from David Brin's Transparent Society and Ray Kurzweil's The Singularity is Near. I'm also considering excerpts of Cory Doctorow's Homeland and Neil Stephenson's Diamond Age. What other suggestions do Slashdotters have?

Submission + - How about a Megatons to Megawatts program for US nuclear weapons? (thebulletin.org)

Submitted by Lasrick
Lasrick writes: Dawn Stover looks at the incredibly successful Megatons to Megawatts program, which turned dismantled Russian nuclear warheads into lower-grade uranium fuel that can be used to produce electricity. The 1993 agreement between the US and Russia not only eliminated 500 tons of weapons-grade uranium, but generated nearly 10% of US electricity consumption. The Megatons to Megawatts program ended in December, but Stover points out that the US has plenty of surplus nuclear weapons that could keep the program going, without the added risk of shipping it over such huge distances. A domestic Megatons to Megawatts, if you will. This would be very cost effective and have the added benefit of keeping USEC, the only American company in the uranium enrichment field, in business.

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