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Submission + - Facebook was top search term in 2010 (tekgoblin.com) 1

Submitted by tekgoblin
tekgoblin writes: Hitwise has analyzed the top 1000 most search for items in 2010 and Facebook has come out on top. Facebook was also the top search term in 2009 accounting for 2.11 percent of all internet searches. There were four different variations of the term Facebook which accounted for consist of approximately 3.48 percent of searches.
Security

Submission + - Threatpost's Five Security Trends to Watch in 2011 (threatpost.com) 1

Submitted by Gunkerty Jeb
Gunkerty Jeb writes: It’s the time of year when all of us gaze into the crystal ball and think of what the next 12 months has in store. That’s a tough thing to do. In the IT security business, it’s even tougher, as the big events in the computer security world often turn on what’s not readily discoverable: unknown holes in common software platforms, loosely configured servers holding sensitive data, the dark ruminations of malicious (but normal-seeming) employees. But when you step back a bit from specific events and it gets a bit easier to discern the terrain ahead. Last year, at this time, for example, Threatpost contributor Dino Dai Zovi looked into the mists of 2010 and saw sandboxes – lots of them. And lo and behold, we saw leading vendors including Google and Adobe embracing sandboxing as a way to contain malware this year. Now its Threatpost’s turn to play the oracle: predicting some of the salient security trends that we’re likely to be writing about in 2011. Here’s our list of five security trends you should be watching for.

Submission + - Wired responds to Lamo-Manning controversy (wired.com)

Submitted by MithrandirAgain
MithrandirAgain writes: Six months ago, Wired.com senior editor Kevin Poulsen came to me with a whiff of a story. A source he'd known for years claimed he was talking to the FBI about an enlisted soldier in Iraq who had bragged to him in an internet chat of passing hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the secret-spilling site Wikileaks.

It's probably nothing, Poulsen said. The source in question, an ex-hacker named Adrian Lamo, often sees himself as at the center of important events in need of public attention. But sometimes, Poulsen added, he's right.

Acknowledging the long shot, Poulsen wanted to drive up to Sacramento, California, to meet Lamo in person and try to get a copy of the alleged chats. I agreed.

What followed was a days-long negotiation of two steps forward, one step back, familiar to investigative reporters whose social networks and reporting skills sometimes put them in touch with skittish sources holding the keys to serious news. The result was our groundbreaking report in June confirming the arrest of Pfc. Bradley Manning on suspicion of passing classified material to Wikileaks, a central thread in what is arguably one of the most important news stories of the year.
Science

Submission + - Living Earth Simulator Aims to Simulate Everything (bbc.co.uk) 1

Submitted by H3xx
H3xx writes: An international group of scientists are aiming to create a simulator--nicknamed The Living Earth Simulator--that will collect data from billions of sources and use it to replicate everything happening on Earth, from global weather patterns and the spread of diseases to international financial transactions or congestion on highways. The project aims to advance the scientific understanding of what is taking place on the planet, encapsulating the human actions that shape societies and the environmental forces that define the physical world. Perhaps this is Asimov's concept of Psychohistory come to fruition.
Government

NASA To Continue Funding Canceled Ares Project Until March 229

Posted by Soulskill from the not-even-firing-money-into-space dept.
wooferhound passes along this quote from the Orlando Sentinel: "Thanks to congressional inaction, NASA must continue to fund its defunct Ares I rocket program until March — a requirement that will cost the agency nearly $500 million at a time when NASA is struggling with the expensive task of replacing the space shuttle. About one-third of that money — $165 million — will go to Alliant Techsystems, or ATK, which has a $2 billion contract to build the solid-rocket first stage for the Ares I, the rocket that was supposed to fill the shuttle's role of transporting astronauts to the International Space Station. ... The odd scenario, in which NASA is throwing money at a canceled rocket program but can't fund a modernization program, is because of several twists in the legislative process that started a year ago and came to a head this month. At the root of the problem is a 70-word sentence inserted into the 2010 budget — by lawmakers seeking to protect Ares I jobs in their home states — that bars NASA from shutting down the program until Congress passed a new budget a year later. That should have happened before the Oct. 1 start of the federal fiscal year. But Congress never passed a 2011 budget and instead voted this month to extend the 2010 budget until March — so NASA still must abide by the 2010 language."
Science

Submission + - Why Most Published Research Findings Are False (plosmedicine.org) 1

Submitted by sridharo
sridharo writes: A critical essay on the accuracy and the dependencies of researches and their methodologies. The author delves into the reasons for most of the researches focus on false findings.
"It can be proven that most claimed research findings are false"
Google

Submission + - Google Directory Search Silently Removed (searchengineland.com)

Submitted by jcarrollbyu
jcarrollbyu writes: Google's interface to the veteran DMOZ web directory was silently crippled last week. System Administrator reports, 'The Google Directory ... dropped the option to search within the directory. If you visit the Google Directory the only search box you will see is a "Google search" box. A week or two ago it was a "Search Directory" button, but that is now gone.' In other words, you cannot (easily) search Google's version of the DMOZ directory. Using the search box will return Google Web Search Results, complete with Google AdWords. Google Directory search results display no advertisements. Story first noticed by Russian Blogger Maxim then reported in English by Search Engine Land. As of this writing, no mention of the change in the Google Directory help page, official Google blogs, nor the DMOZ blog.

Submission + - 4chan target of DoS attack! (4chan.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: It seems that 4chan is being targeted by a DoS attack. Likely as revenge for the Opt Payback attacks that have been done by Anon.
Earth

Submission + - African Villages Glow with Renewable Energy

Submitted by
Peace Corps Online
Peace Corps Online writes: "Elisabeth Rosenthal writes that as small-scale renewable energy becomes cheaper, more reliable and more efficient, it is providing the first drops of modern power to people who live far from slow-growing electricity grids and fuel pipelines in developing countries playing an epic, transformative role. With the advent of cheap solar panels and high-efficiency LED lights, which can light a room with just 4 watts of power instead of 60, these small solar systems now deliver useful electricity at a price that even the poor can afford. "You're seeing herders in Inner Mongolia with solar cells on top of their yurts," says energy adviser Dana Younger. In addition to small solar projects, renewable energy technologies designed for the poor include simple subterranean biogas chambers that make fuel and electricity from the manure of a few cows, and “mini” hydroelectric dams that can harness the power of a local river for an entire village. "It’s a phenomenon that’s sweeping the world; a huge number of these systems are being installed," says Younger."

Submission + - Florida Sheriff attacks Free Speech 1

Submitted by Baldur_of_Asgard
Baldur_of_Asgard writes: When Phillip Greaves' electronic book was censored by Amazon this exceptional act was considered a private matter by most people and no great loss, but now a freedom-hating sheriff in Florida is trying to gut the 1st Amendment to the detriment of us all. Free speech is ultimately about unpopular speech, after all. Popular beliefs don't need defending.
Censorship

Submission + - UK Banks Attempt to Censor Academic Publication (lightbluetouchpaper.org)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Representatives of the UK banking industry have sent a take-down notice (PDF link) to Cambridge University, demanding that they censor a student's webpage as well as his masters thesis. The banks' objection is that the information contained in the report might be used to exploit a vulnerability Chip and PIN system, used throughout Europe and Canada for credit and debit card payments. The system was revealed to be fundamentally flawed earlier this year, as it allowed criminals to use a stolen card with any PIN. Cambridge University has resisted the demands and has sent a response to the bankers explaining why they will keep the page online.
Businesses

How the Free Market Rocked the Grid 551

Posted by Soulskill from the current-events dept.
sean_nestor sends in a story at IEEE Spectrum that begins: "Most of us take for granted that the lights will work when we flip them on, without worrying too much about the staggeringly complex things needed to make that happen. Thank the engineers who designed and built the power grids for that — but don't thank them too much. Their main goal was reliability; keeping the cost of electricity down was less of a concern. That's in part why so many people in the United States complain about high electricity prices. Some armchair economists (and a quite a few real ones) have long argued that the solution is deregulation. After all, many other US industries have been deregulated — take, for instance, oil, natural gas, or trucking — and greater competition in those sectors swiftly brought prices down. Why not electricity?"
Security

Submission + - Human Rights Suffer with Rise in DDoS (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Gunkerty Jeb
Gunkerty Jeb writes: The recent wave of online actions by supporters and opponents of information leaking site Wikileaks has focused attention on the phenomenon of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. But a study published by Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society this week concludes that there is no clear and easy defensive solution for many of the sites being targeted by DDoS attacks.

Submission + - Lobbyists, Astroturfers & The FCC: A Net Neutr (grouptexting.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Yesterday’s ruling was the result of intense lobbying and numerous astroturfing campaigns. Search Google for Net Neutrality and you’re likely to see paid advertisements for groups that claim to represent the interests of consumers. Search for ‘net neutrality astroturfing’ and you’ll find links to writers and organizations who have outed ‘consumer advocacy’ groups staffed and funded by the wireless and broadband carriers. Just this morning we received a heads up about a group called MyWireless.org. They bill themselves as ‘a nonpartisan non-profit advocacy organization, made up of wireless consumers, businesses and community leaders from around the country, supporting reasonable pro-consumer wireless policies.’ It turns out this group shares a Washington DC office address with CTIA, the international trade group of the telecommunication industry.

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