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United Kingdom

Submission + - MoD's error leaks secrets of UK nuclear submarine (dailystar.co.uk)

Submitted by Tasha26
Tasha26 writes: UK's Ministry of Defence admitted that secret information about its nuclear powered submarines was leaked on the internet by mistake. A "technical error" (i.e. turning the background colour of certain text to black) meant that sensitive blacked-out parts of the online MoD report could be read by anyone who copy-pasted it into another document. This accidental leak reveals amongst many things, how easy it would be to cause a Fukushima-style reactor meltdown in a sub and details of measures used by the US Navy to protect its own nuclear submarines.
Space

Submission + - China Space Official Confounded by SpaceX Price (aviationweek.com)

Submitted by hackingbear
hackingbear writes: Declining to speak for attribution, the Chinese officials from Great Wall Industry, a marketing arm of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CAST), say they find the published prices on the SpaceX website very low for the services offered, and concede they could not match them with the Long March series of launch vehicles even if it were possible for them to launch satellites with U.S. components in them. According to the SpaceX website, launch on a Falcon 9 — which has an advertised lift capacity of 10,450 kg. (23,000 lb.) — from Cape Canaveral costs $54 million — $59.5 million. If the SpaceX price is real and its quality is proven, both are big IFs, it is remarkable to see that US can beat China in term of price. Between August 1996 and August 2009, the Chinese rockets have achieved 75 consecutive successful launches were conducted, ending with a partial failure in the launch of Palapa-D on August 31, 2009. If we all learn from SpaceX, maybe soon China will outsource from the US.
Security

Submission + - Open-source implementation of the Google Auth (dendory.net)

Submitted by elfguy
elfguy writes: This is a quick demo of how to implement two-factor authentication using the Google Authenticator on your own site or application. I created this page in less than 2 hours to show how trivial it is to do. Here, you can register a user name, and then login by using the information provided by the Google Authenticator. Note that this would also work with any OATH HOTP compliant hardware token.
Businesses

Submission + - This Tech Bubble is Different 3

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Tech bubbles happen, writes BW's Ashlee Vance, but we usually gain from the innovation left behind. But this one — driven by social networking — could leave us empty-handed. Math whiz Jeff Hammerbacher provides a good case study. One year out of Harvard, 23-year-old Hammerbacher arrived at Facebook, was given the lofty title of research scientist and put to work analyzing how people used the social networking service. Over the next two years, Hammerbacher assembled a team that built a new class of analytical technology, one which translated insights into people's relationships, tendencies, and desires into precision advertising and higher sales. But something gnawed at him. Hammerbacher looked around Silicon Valley at companies like his own, Google, and Twitter, and saw his peers wasting their talents. 'The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads,' he says. 'That sucks.' Silicon Valley historian Christophe Lecuyer agrees: 'It's clear that the new industry that is building around Internet advertising and these other services doesn't create that many jobs. The loss of manufacturing and design knowhow is truly worrisome.'
Sony

Submission + - Sony Stores closed due to Anonymous protest. (psgroove.com)

Submitted by
j0ey2069
j0ey2069 writes: "Today is the day of the "Sony Boycott" that was organized by the underground online group known as "Anonymous". However, the photographs below suggest that Sony is not taking the demonstrations lightly.
Reports are coming in that Sony stores across Europe are closed for the day and it can be speculated that the closings are in anticipation of the demonstrations. Shoppers are being greeted with signs which state: "We are sorry the Sony Centre is closed" "We will be open as soon as possible" and "CLOSED DUE TO UNFORSEEN CIRCUMSTANCES". Some of the stores are even being guarded by local Police and security guards. One can only imagine the amount of lost revenue due to these store closings."

Submission + - Judge Reveals Secret Righthaven Copyright Contract

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Joe Mullin writes in Paid Content that US District Judge Roger Hunt has unsealed the confidential agreement between Righthaven and the Las Vegas Review-Journal that has allowed Righthaven to sue over more than 250 charities, impoverished hobby bloggers, reporters, and the newspaper’s own sources for $150,000 each in damages and forfeiture of the sites' domain names, and the contents of the agreement could end up being ruinous for Righthaven’s campaign of copyright lawsuits. The problem is that Stephens Media, the company that owns the Las Vegas Review-Journal, didn’t actually assign any of the rights related to copyright to Righthaven except the right to sue—and that has been found in Silvers vs. Sony Pictures to be illegal under case law. In other words, none the important things that come with a copyright—such as the right to make copies of a work, or distribute it, or make “derivative works”—were handed off to Righthaven. Only the right to sue was given, and that makes the copyright transfer bogus, argue lawyers for the Democratic Underground who are being sued for one of its website users posting the first four paragraphs of a 34 paragraph story. “There is an old adage in the law that, if the facts are on your side, you pound on the facts. If the law is on your side, you pound on the law," says Judge Hunt who joins District Judge John Kane in becoming angry at Righthaven’s litigation behavior. "If neither the facts nor the law is on your side, you pound on the table. It appears there is a lot of table pounding going on here.”"
Space

Submission + - China Aims to Build Largest Rocket (xinhuanet.com)

Submitted by hackingbear
hackingbear writes: Back in march, China revealed it is studying the feasibility of designing the most powerful carrier rocket in history for making a manned moon landing and exploring deep space, according to Liang Xiaohong, vice head of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology. The rocket is envisaged to have a payload of 130 tonnes, five times larger than that of China's current largest rocket. This rocket, if built, will eclipse the 53 tonne capacity of the planned Falcon 9 Heavy from SpaceX. It will even surpass the largest rocket ever built, the 119-tonne Saturn V. China's next generation rocket Long March 5, currently scheduled to debut in 2014, has a payload capacity of 25 tonnes to LEO.

Submission + - Veteran MS Insiders Criticize Top Management (winbeta.org) 1

Submitted by
Arneh
Arneh writes: "Microsoft's problem lies in its management and organizational culture. At least, that's the opinion of several veteran ex-Microsoft employees who could spend hours talking about Microsoft's issues."

Submission + - Sugar Is Sugar TV ad (bloggernews.net) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The industry sponsored Corn Refiners Association have started a series of of TV adverts to stem the growing movement away from HFCS (High Corn Fructose Syrup). This might be an uphill battle based on the mounting scientific evidence. Even Hunts, part of Conagra, have switched sides on HFCS. Clearly the CRA have an issue. The Youtube copy of the advert posted by the CRA has a 95% disapproval rating.
Japan

Submission + - China detects 10 cases of radiation, 2 in Hospital (alexanderhiggins.com)

Submitted by Jeremiah Cornelius
Jeremiah Cornelius writes: China has detected 10 cases of radioactive contamination among passengers, aircraft, ships and containers arriving from Japan since March 16, quarantine authorities said on Saturday.

On Wednesday, radiation exceeding permitted levels was detected on two ships from the Japanese port of Chiba, near Tokyo, in the ports of Nantong and Zhangjiagang, Li Yuanping, spokesman of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said on its website.

Similar radiation was measured on four vessels that arrived from Japan at various ports over the next two days.

Submission + - EU Order Allowing Increase Of Radiation In Food (alexanderhiggins.com)

Submitted by Jeremiah Cornelius
Jeremiah Cornelius writes: Xander News and other non-English news agencies are reporting that the EU implemented a secret “emergency” order without informing the public which increases the amount of radiation in food by up to 20 times previous food standards.

According to EU bylaws radiation limits may be raised during a nuclear emergency to prevent food shortages.

But there is anger across Europe because this emergency order was issued while officials say there is no threat to the food.

Foodwatch is quoted “These rules now to bring into force is absurd, because in Europe there are no nuclear emergency, and certainly no shortage of food.”
Firefox

Submission + - Firefox 5 Details: Sharing, Home Tab, PDF Viewer (conceivablytech.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Firefox 4 may be still new, but Firefox 5 is already being prepared by Mozilla. At least the UI features have been laid out by the Mozilla team — there are nine new features in total. There are some features that are replicating Chrome functionality (tab multi-select or an integrated PDF viewer that will also extend to other file formats), but there are completely new features such as tab web apps, an identity manager a home tab that replaces the home button as well as a social sharing feature that is integrated in the URL bar and enables users to post directly to their Facebook and Twitter pages.

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