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Submission + - Google Quietly Nixes Mandatory G+ Integration with Gmail

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Back in 2012, Google had made it mandatory for new Gmail users to simultaneously create Google+ (G+) accounts. This is no longer so. Following the departure of G+ founder Vic Gundotra in April 2014, Google has been quietly decoupling its social media site from its other services. First, YouTube was freed, then Google+ Photos. Now, anyone who wants to create a new Gmail account unencumbered with a G+ profile can also do so.
The Military

US Revamping Its Nuclear Arsenal 342

Posted by Soulskill from the guess-they-ran-on-XP dept.
FreedomFirstThenPeac writes: As a former Cold Warrior (both launch officer side and staff analytical mathematician side), I now appreciate the bitterness I saw in former WW2 warriors when they would see a Japanese car. According to the NY Times, a new assembly plant in Kansas is "part of a nationwide wave of atomic revitalization that includes plans for a new generation of weapon carriers. This expansion comes under a president who campaigned for 'a nuclear-free world' and made disarmament a main goal of American defense policy." Mind you, Mutual Assured Destruction is a dangerous path, and one we managed to negotiate only because we were lucky (and we were) and because we were careful (and we were).

As a strategy, it only works with rational people (e.g., world powers with lots to lose) who might have irrational expectations that they will win in the long run. (The rapid fall of imperialist Russia was helpful — I have seen blackboard talks on this as a mathematical result in game theory. This speed minimized the time we spent in the high-risk regions while transiting from MAD to where we were in the 1990s). The Times article says, "The original idea was that modest rebuilding of the nation’s crumbling nuclear complex would speed arms refurbishment, raising confidence in the arsenal’s reliability and paving the way for new treaties that would significantly cut the number of warheads. Instead, because of political deals and geopolitical crises, the Obama administration is engaging in extensive atomic rebuilding while getting only modest arms reductions in return."

Submission + - Microsoft: Bye-bye, robotics

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Little known fact about the recent round of Microsoft layoffs is that it eliminated its entire Robotics research lab in Redmond. This is bizarre, considering that the company was the largest corporate sponsor at International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems 2014. in Chicago, presenting papers and Running an indoor navigation challenge. The surprise news came even before the conference was over.

Comment Re:kill -1 (Score 1) 469

by gweihir (#47969575) Attached to: Fork of Systemd Leads To Lightweight Uselessd

Indeed. These "young savages" put in tons of features, optimze things, but forget about the core functionality that the tools were created for in the first place, because they never used it that way themselves. And that is a main reason for not replacing things that work well with just a few minor issues: It is very hard to get to the same quality level and in fact most people cannot do it. It also takes a long time. Maybe in 10 years systemd will have reached the quality-level of other init systems, but with all the other stuff being pulled in and added, it is more like 30 years or never. That is not smart, that is making all the mistakes Brooks wrote about decades ago.

Comment Re:kill -1 (Score 1) 469

by gweihir (#47969485) Attached to: Fork of Systemd Leads To Lightweight Uselessd

My guess is that the systemd core team just did not have the stones to have their product compete on merit. They had to pull in udev and are trying to get even more things in there to make it as hard as possible to do without their product. If they had not done that, I would have happily ignored systemd and many distros could easily offer it as an alternative only. Most of this backlash we are currently seeing is about their efforts to remove choice or at least makeit as difficult as possible to not use their thing. That is as anti-freedom as it gets and people are rightlully upset about it.

Submission + - A Deep Web Service Will Leak Your Documents If the Government Murders You

Submitted by Jason Koebler
Jason Koebler writes: With all the conspiracy theories surrounding some high-profile deaths in recent years, how can you, theoretical whistleblower with highly sensitive documents, be assured that your information gets leaked if you're murdered in some government conspiracy? A new dark web service says it's got your back.
'Dead Man Zero' [deep web link] claims to offer potential whistleblowers a bit more peace of mind by providing a system that will automatically publish and distribute their secrets should they die, get jailed, or get injured.
Medicine

Bioethicist At National Institutes of Health: "Why I Hope To Die At 75" 478

Posted by samzenpus from the end-of-the-line dept.
HughPickens.com writes Ezekiel J. Emanuel, director of the Clinical Bioethics Department at the US National Institutes of Health, writes at The Atlantic that there is a simple truth that many of us seem to resist: living too long renders many of us, if not disabled, then faltering and declining, a state that may not be worse than death but is nonetheless deprived. "It robs us of our creativity and ability to contribute to work, society, the world. It transforms how people experience us, relate to us, and, most important, remember us. We are no longer remembered as vibrant and engaged but as feeble, ineffectual, even pathetic." Emanuel says that he is isn't asking for more time than is likely nor foreshortening his life but is talking about the kind and amount of health care he will consent to after 75. "Once I have lived to 75, my approach to my health care will completely change. I won't actively end my life. But I won't try to prolong it, either." Emanuel says that Americans seem to be obsessed with exercising, doing mental puzzles, consuming various juice and protein concoctions, sticking to strict diets, and popping vitamins and supplements, all in a valiant effort to cheat death and prolong life as long as possible. "I reject this aspiration. I think this manic desperation to endlessly extend life is misguided and potentially destructive. For many reasons, 75 is a pretty good age to aim to stop."

Submission + - Former NBA Player Arrested For Stealing $14,000 Worth Of Apple Products (businessinsider.com)

Submitted by redletterdave
redletterdave writes: Police discovered Rex Chapman, the former Kentucky Wildcats star and NBA player, had stolen over $14,000 worth of goods from an Apple Store in Scottsdale, Ariz., and offloaded the lifted items at a nearby pawn shop. Chapman was arrested Friday on nine counts of organized retail theft and five counts of trafficking stolen property. According to police, Chapman, 46, repeatedly visited the Apple Store in the Scottsdale Quarter retail center and made it seem like he was paying for items with his iPhone’s Apple Store application, which contains a self-checkout system called 'Easy Pay' so customers can buy Apple products without an employee. Chapman, however, would then leave the store without actually paying for the items, and visit a local pawn shop to exchange the goods for cash. Police said these occurrences happened over period of 'a few months.'

Submission + - People Are Charging Their iPhone 6 In The Microwave After Falling For Hoax (gizmocrazed.com)

Submitted by Diggester
Diggester writes: Folks at 4Chan seem to have successfully trolled plenty of Apple iPhone owners. Some witty people spread the rumour that the new iPhone can now be charged in any microwave courtesy of the new and improved iOS 8. They decided to name this ‘hot’ feature the Apple Wave which was said to be a super-fast way of charging the device. It’s obvious how cleanly they went about advertising it the ‘Apple’ way.
Encryption

Researchers Propose a Revocable Identity-Based Encryption Scheme 76

Posted by timothy from the now-who-was-I? dept.
jd writes Identity-based public key encryption works on the idea of using something well-known (like an e-mail address) as the public key and having a private key generator do some wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff to generate a secure private key out if it. A private key I can understand, secure is another matter. In fact, the paper notes that security has been a big hassle in IBE-type encryption, as has revocation of keys. The authors claim, however, that they have accomplished both. Which implies the public key can't be an arbitrary string like an e-mail, since presumably you would still want messages going to said e-mail address, otherwise why bother revoking when you could just change address?

Anyways, this is not the only cool new crypto concept in town, but it is certainly one of the most intriguing as it would be a very simple platform for building mostly-transparent encryption into typical consumer apps. If it works as advertised. I present it to Slashdot readers to engender discussion on the method, RIBE in general and whether (in light of what's known) default strong encryption for everything is something users should just get whether they like it or not.

Comment Not possible (Score 2) 358

by gweihir (#47944919) Attached to: U2 and Apple Collaborate On 'Non-Piratable, Interactive Format For Music'

It has been tried for several decades, despite the stupidity even believing it is possible. Fist, there is this thing that eventually, any music has to be made analog before it can be listened to. Analog can always be recorded again and with minimal effort and loss of quality these days by anybody that has a soundcard and some basic understanding of electronics. Second, even digital format cannot be secure against copying, unless you augment them with some death-corps that kills everybody that bought it immediately after they did.

This is on the same level of small children that think just wanting something enough will make it true. The children have the excuse of immaturity. These people have not.

Submission + - iOS 8 alt keyboard round-up

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Android users have always had the ability to switch the native keyboard software on their devices. But iOS 8 finally brings that feature to iPhone users. TechCrunch has rounded up a neat selection of alternative keyboard apps for iDevice users to wrap their fingers around.

Submission + - Mozilla Labs Closed And Nobody Noticed (i-programmer.info)

Submitted by mikejuk
mikejuk writes: When Google Labs closed there was an outcry. How could an organization just pull the rug from under so many projects?
At least Google announced what it was doing. Mozilla, it seems since there is no official record, just quietly tiptoes away — leaving the lights on since the Mozilla Labs Website is still accessible. It is accessible but when you start to explore the website you notice it is moribund with the last blog post being December 2013 with the penultimate one being September 2013.
The fact that it is gone is confirmed by recent blog posts and by the redeployment of the people who used to run it. The projects that survived have been moved to their own websites. It isn't clear what has happened to the Hatchery -the incubator that invited new ideas from all and sundry.
One of the big advantages of open source is the ease with which a project can be started. One of the big disadvantages of open source is the ease with which projects can be allowed to die — often without any clear cut time of death. It seems Mozilla applies this to groups and initiatives as much as projects. This isn't good.

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