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Submission + - Walkmouse is an Elegant, Motorised Omni-Directional Treadmill Built for VR (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Road to VR take a look at a new omni-direction treadmill with no harness that lets you move untethered through a virtual environment.

"The device houses 100s of motorised spirals which detect traction and respond by spinning under your feet to simulate the ground moving underneath them. At the same time, the unit reads input data from your actions which can be fed into an application or game experience."

Submission + - Smartphones Coming Preloaded With Malicious Software (dfinews.com)

Submitted by jess_wundring
jess_wundring writes: The Associated Press reports that several major retail websites are selling cheap smartphones that come with preinstalled software that could allow a hacker to steal personal data, place rogue calls, or turn on the phone's camera and microphone, with the data being sent to a server in China.

Submission + - The Supreme Court doesn't understand software (vox.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: We had some good news yesterday when the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a software patent for failing to turn an idea into an invention. Unfortunately, the justices weren't willing to make any broader statements about the patentability of basic software tools, so the patent fights will continue. Timothy B. Lee at Vox argues that this is because the Supreme Court does not understand software, and says we won't see significant reform until they do. He says, "If a sequence of conventional mathematical operations isn't patentable, then no software should enjoy patent protection. For example, the "data compression" patents that Justice Kennedy wants to preserve simply claim formulas for converting information from one digital format to another. If that's not a mathematical algorithm, nothing is. This is the fundamental confusion at the heart of America's software patent jurisprudence: many judges seem to believe that mathematical algorithms shouldn't be patented but that certain kinds of software should be patentable. ... If a patent claims a mathematical formula simple enough for a judge to understand how it works, she is likely to recognize that the patent claims a mathematical formula and invalidate it. But if the formula is too complex for her to understand, then she concludes that it's something more than a mathematical algorithm and uphold it."

Submission + - Was 'Watch Dogs' for PC Handicapped on Purpose? (metafilter.com)

Submitted by Advocatus Diaboli
Advocatus Diaboli writes: Many PC gamers were disappointed that Ubisoft's latest AAA game Watch_Dogs did not look as nice as when displayed at E3 in 2012. But this week a modder discovered that code to improve the game on PC is still buried within the released game, and can be turned back on without difficulty or performance hits. Ubisoft has yet to answer whether (or why) their PC release was deliberately handicapped.

Submission + - Artificial Pancreas Shows Promise in Diabetes Test (nytimes.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Scientists have made big progress on a "bionic pancreas" to free some people with diabetes from the daily ordeal of managing their disease. A wearable, experimental device passed a real-world test, constantly monitoring blood sugar and automatically giving insulin or a sugar-boosting drug as needed, doctors said Sunday.

The device improved blood-sugar control more than standard monitors and insulin pumps did when tested for five days on 20 adults and 32 teens. Unlike other artificial pancreases in development that just correct high blood sugar, this one also can fix too-low sugar, mimicking what a natural pancreas does.

The device was developed at Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston University. Results were featured Sunday at an American Diabetes Association conference in San Francisco and were published online by the New England Journal of Medicine.

Submission + - Yahoo Mail Down for Some Users - Nothing been done for 4 days now. (isitdownrightnow.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Yahoo Mail Service has been down since Wednesday for some users. It logs in fine with no password error and I am able to access other Yahoo Services except for Yahoo Mail. My other yahoo mail accounts work fine it is only one. Yahoo has not done anything yet since they posted the announcement on facebook and twitter 4 days ago.
http://www.isitdownrightnow.co...
www.facebook.com/YahooMail
www.twitter.com/yahoomail

Comment Re:This reminds me of a great Simpsons episode (Score 2, Insightful) 625

by Merls the Sneaky (#47227951) Attached to: EU's Top Court May Define Obesity As a Disability

"If this comes across as somewhat snippy it's because I didn't have lunch today because I'm cutting back a couple of kilos."

So to lose weight you have to be a cunt? Maybe the fatties don't want to go around all the time being a judgmental cunts to other people?

All fat people are lazy. Yeah, all Jewish people are greedy, black people like watermelon and fried chicken, asians are good at math but are bad drivers. Yeah lets stereotype all people based on their outward appearance.

Good job! Maybe if we're prejudiced enough we can all look and think the same.

Submission + - Xanadu Is Finally Released — After 54 Years In The Making (businessinsider.com)

Submitted by redletterdave
redletterdave writes: “Project Xanadu,” designed by hypertext inventor Ted Nelson to let users build documents that automatically embed the sources they’re linking back to and show the visible connections between parallel webpages, was released in late April at a Chapman University event. Thing is, development on Xanadu began in 1960 — that’s 54 years ago — making it the most delayed software in history.

Submission + - Scientists Prove Book on Life and Death in Harvard Library is Bound in Human Ski (ibtimes.co.uk)

Submitted by DavidGilbert99
DavidGilbert99 writes: Harvard scientists have proven beyond a doubt that a book which is a meditation on life and the soul after death was bound in the human skin of an unclaimed woman who died of a stroke in the 1880s. The book, Des destinées de lame (Destinies of the Soul) by French novelist and poet Arsène Houssaye, has been sitting in the Houghton Library in Harvard for the last 80 years, but has only now been proven to be bound in human skin.

Submission + - YouTube's new music service is shortchanging independent acts

Submitted by mrspoonsi
mrspoonsi writes: A European group by the name of Impala that represents the continent's independent artists and labels, says that indies are being presented with non-negotiable contracts to join the service. What's more, if the artists don't sign to "probably the lowest rates in the business," the videos that they've posted to their YouTube channels will reportedly be blocked from the site entirely. A musician (understandably) not playing ball with Google's video wing hurts everyone involved, all the way down to the end user. If Impala isn't familiar, you've almost assuredly heard of its artists: Jack White, Adele, M.I.A., Royksopp, Arctic Monkeys, and The National, to name a few.

Submission + - "TrueCrypt must not die" - TrueCrypt continuation effort underway

Submitted by Runefox
Runefox writes: In the wake of the confusing and abrupt apparent demise of TrueCrypt, many have been left without a continuing, open source means of cross-platform encryption. TrueCrypt.ch, a Switzerland-hosted webpage, sprung up recently in a bid to reorganize and continue development of recently-discontinued TrueCrypt. While no development efforts have yet begun, according to their current development status:

Currently the news is still in flux, and we will support any efforts in reviving TrueCrypt. If other Initiatives arise we will try to support them. At the moment we want to make sure everyone who wants can continue to use TrueCrypt.

They have already gathered the TrueCrypt source code into GitHub and made available for download the latest working versions of TrueCrypt, with the disclaimer that they are currently unmaintained. According to the website, the choice to use Swiss web hosting was made because "If there have been legal problems with the US, the independent hosting in Switzerland will guarantee no interruption due to legal threats."

Submission + - Apple says many users "bought an Android phone by mistake"

Submitted by mrspoonsi
mrspoonsi writes: Apple CEO Tim Cook during his keynote said that around 130 million customers have purchased their first Apple device in the last twelve months states, "Many of these customers were switchers from Android," he said. "They had bought an Android phone by mistake, and then had sought a better experience and a better life." He added that almost half of those who have purchased an iPhone in China since December have switched from Android. However, it is worth noting that iPhones were not actually available in China until December, when pre-orders began, so it is unclear how much of the device's popularity there is simply down to the novelty factor, rather than a burning desire to flee from Android.

Submission + - Small Genetic Change Responsible for Blond Hair (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: For all those brunettes wishing they were naturally blond, a small genetic change could have made all the difference. Scientists have found that replacing one of DNA’s four letters at a key spot in the genome shifts a particular gene’s activity and leads to fairer hair. Not only does the work provide a molecular basis for flaxen locks, but it also demonstrates how changes in segments of DNA that control genes, not just changes in genes themselves, are important to what an organism looks like.

Submission + - Popular shuttered torrent site Demonoid returns

Submitted by AudioEfex
AudioEfex writes: Demonoid has emailed all registered users that it is back online — at it's original site — in a new "cloud based" back-end. There have been various attempts in the past (including one accused of simply being malware,), but so far this appears to be the original site admins and a legitimate resurrection. User registrations are also open at this time, but as a semi-private tracker, it's unknown how long that will continue.

Submission + - Kleargear.com found in Europe, will fight default judgement

Submitted by portforward
portforward writes: Remember Kleargear.com, that company who bills unhappy customers $3,500 for publicly expressing they are unhappy? Kleargear.com claimed they were owed a substantial amount of money after a couple posted their negative experience on RipoffReport.com and then attempted to collect, severly damaging the the family's credit rating. The unlucky couple sued, and got a default judgement against Kleargear in part because no one could actually find the owners of the company. Apparently now the owners have surfaced in Paris — vowing to fight and saying:

"Our sales contract is enforceable under the laws of the United States because business transactions are exempt from First Amendment rights ... If a customer disagrees with any merchant of policies, they are free to shop elsewhere."

Especially, of course, when the company adds conditions to the bill of sale after the sale is complete.

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