Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - Parachute Fails to Inflate During NASA Test off Kauai

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: NASA's test of a Mars landing system came to a end Monday when the saucer-shaped vehicle's parachute tore away after partly unfurling high over the Pacific Ocean. NASA says they will provide more details at a news conference Tuesday. Another parachute failed during a similar test of a new Mars spacecraft last year. "This is exactly why we do tests like this," NASA engineer and LDSD mission commentator Dan Coatta said after the test. "When we're actually ready to send spacecraft to Mars, we know that they are going to work when that big mission is on the line."

Submission + - EasyJet Turning To Drones for Aircraft Inspections

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: Would you trust your aircraft inspection to a drone? Budget airline easyJet is testing just such a system, aimed at reducing the amount of time an aircraft is out of service. Instead of having humans perform on-site visual inspections, the drone will 'fly around an aircraft snapping images, which will then be fed to engineers for analysis.'

Submission + - Bug Bounties in the Crosshairs of Wassenaar Rules

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: Bug bounties have gone from novelty to necessity, not only for enterprises looking to take advantage of the skills of an organized pool of vulnerability hunters, but also for a slew of independent researchers who make a living contributing to various vendor and independent bounty and reward programs.

The proposed U.S. rules for the Wassenaar Arrangement pose a real challenge for all sides of that equation.

Under the rules, researchers who find a zero-day vulnerability and develop a PoC exploit triggering the issue, would have to apply for an export license in order to privately disclose their findings with the vendor in question. As a result, there will be occasions when a foreign researcher, for example, would have to share details on a zero-day with their government before the vendor in question.

“There are lots of concerns from researchers if this gets implemented,” said Kymberlee Price, senior director of operations at Bugcrowd, a private company that provides a platform for organizations wishing to start bug bounty programs. “Is it worth the effort to continue to report vulnerabilities if you have to go through a government and are likely to have to disclose details on that vulnerability? Do we want foreign governments knowing about it before it’s reported directly to the vendor so it can be patched?”

Submission + - All 11 master files (96k/24b) of the Open Well-Tempered Clavier now CC0 (kickstarter.com) 1

Submitted by rDouglass
rDouglass writes: The Open Well-Tempered Clavier project, a crowd funded recording of J.S. Bach's 24 Preludes and Fugues (book 1), has released the 11 master tracks used to make the recording in 96k/24b audio, and they're Creative Commons Zero licensed. The pianist is Kimiko Ishizaka, and there is a very positive review about the recording in this month's Gramophone magazine. A photo of the mic positions and the microphones used is also provided. The recording engineers on this project were Anne-Marie Sylvestre, and Tobias Lehmann. The studio is the Teldex Studio, Berlin.

Go ahead, download these 3.2GB of files and have fun mixing and mastering them yourselves! This is open source music at its finest.

Submission + - Windows 10 to Force Updates on Home and Pro Users 3

Submitted by BronsCon
BronsCon writes: It seems as though Windows 10, the long-awaited Microsoft operating system, will not allow "Home" users to determine which updates to install and will, at best, allow "Pro" users to defer installation of updates, only allowing corporate licenses the right to decide which updates to allow on their systems. With their history of bad patches, does anyone think this is actually a good idea?

Submission + - Thanks to the Montreal Protocol, we avoided severe ozone depletion (techienews.co.uk)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: Concentrations of ozone depleting chemicals was at its peak in 1993, but over the years they have declined and a new research points out that the Montreal Protocol, which came into force in 1987, has played a major role in not only ensuring that use of these chemicals is reduced, but has also helped us avoid a severe ozone depletion.

Submission + - Researchers Comment on Proposed Wassenaar Rules (threatpost.com)

Submitted by msm1267
msm1267 writes: Influential security researchers, including Halvar Flake and Jonathan Zdziarski, have begun publishing their comments, objections and concerns regarding the proposed U.S. export control rules under the Wassenaar Arrangement. The bug-hunters are worried that the rules' definition of intrusion software is too broad and would curtail vulnerability research, proof-of-concept exploit development, the use of certain scanners, pen-testing software, and other potential dual-use tools.

Submission + - Adblock Plus victorious again in court (businessinsider.com)

Submitted by Xochil
Xochil writes: Adblock Plus, which claims to be the most popular ad blocking tool, has been victorious again in court versus publishers who took out lawsuits against its owner company Eyeo demanding that users should not be allowed to legally block ads on their sites.

Submission + - How to set up a Pirate eBook Store in Google Play Books (the-digital-reader.com)

Submitted by Nate the greatest
Nate the greatest writes: Most ebook pirates simply upload ebooks to a one of many pirate sites, but the entrepreneurial ones have opened storefronts in Google Play Books. They invent an author's name, and then upload dozens if not hundreds of pirated ebooks under that name, The names can range from Devad Akbak to Ispanyolca, but the really clever pirates choose a legit sounding name like Bestsellers — Books USA Press or Fort Press and then start selling ebooks.

Thanks to Google's indifference, the pirates can continue to sell ebooks no matter how many times copyright holders might complain. If Google takes a pirated ebook down in response to a DMCA notice, the pirates simply upload another copy of the same title.

Submission + - The Challenge of Web Hosting Once You're Dead (tutsplus.com)

Submitted by reifman
reifman writes: Hosting a website (even WordPress) after your death has a variety of unexpected complexities, from renewing your domain name, to hosting, security, monitoring, troubleshooting and more. It's a gaping hole that we as technologists should start thinking more about — especially because all of us are going to die, some of us unexpectedly sooner than we'd like or planned for. The only real solution I found was to share credentials and designate funds to descendants — you've done this, right?

Submission + - DEA steals life savings of innocent man

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: In another example of civil forfeiture, DEA agents confiscated the life savings of a man heading to California based on no evidence.

There was no evidence of a crime, the man was never charged, but three weeks later he still has not gotten his money back.

Sean Waite, the agent in charge for the DEA in Albuquerque, said he could not comment on the Rivers case because it is ongoing. He disputed allegations that Rivers was targeted because of his race. Waite said that in general DEA agents look for "indicators" such as whether the person bought an expensive one-way ticket with cash, if the person is traveling from or to a city known as a hot spot for drug activity, if the person's story has inconsistencies or if the large sums of money found could have been transported by more conventional means.

"We don't have to prove that the person is guilty," Waite said. "It's that the money is presumed to be guilty."

Read the whole article. This is entirely unconstitutional. The fifth amendment to the Bill of Rights expressly forbids the taking of private property "without just compensation."

Submission + - Enzyme Could Make Any Type of Donated Blood Safe For Anyone to Receive (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: When it comes to donated blood, type O is special. It can be given to anyone, regardless of their blood type. By contrast, type A can only go to A or AB patients, and B can only go to B or AB patients. Additionally, type O patients can only receive O. Thanks to new research, however, it may soon be possible to give anyone whatever type of blood happens to be available, with no ill effects.

Submission + - How the NSA Converts Spoken Words Into Searchable Text

Submitted by Presto Vivace
Presto Vivace writes: Dan Froomkin reports:

Though perfect transcription of natural conversation apparently remains the Intelligence Community’s “holy grail,” the Snowden documents describe extensive use of keyword searching as well as computer programs designed to analyze and “extract” the content of voice conversations, and even use sophisticated algorithms to flag conversations of interest.

I am torn between admiration of the technical brilliance of building software like this and horror as to how it is being used.

Submission + - 5 ways tech leaders can promote inclusivity and allow good ideas to emerge (opensource.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: People in tech companies and particularly in open source communities believe in and value meritocracy—letting the best ideas win. One thing that's become increasingly clear to Red Hat's DeLisa Alexander is this: meritocracy is a great driver of innovation, but if we want to get to the best ideas, we need diversity of thought and an inclusive environment where everyone feels welcome to participate and offer different perspectives.

Slashdot Top Deals

He has not acquired a fortune; the fortune has acquired him. -- Bion

Close