Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - Cell phone link to brain cancer overhyped? (discovermagazine.com)

Submitted by
The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: "Following up on the story posted to Slashdot earlier, the "possible" link between cell phones and brain cancer is very tenuous, to say the least. Looking at the actual data reveals the results are indistinguishable from no connection at all. Not surprisingly, these results are being widely misinterpreted."
Hardware

Submission + - More details of first quantum computer (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by
holy_calamity
holy_calamity writes: "Technology Review explains that the the quantum computing system recently bought by Lockheed is actually a specialised co-processor to help a conventional computer with machine learning tasks. D-Wave's system is hard-coded with a particular machine learning algorithm that solves problems using a network of linked superconducting qubits. A coder can use an API to push data to the specialised processor as needed to improve the accuracy of the trained software. Google are using a D-Wave system as a kind of exotic cloud service, having software in Mountain View use the APIs over the internet."
Android

Submission + - 30+ Infected Apps Pulled From Android Market (threatpost.com) 2

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: Researchers have identified a second large batch of apps in the Android Market that have been infected with the DroidDream malware, estimating that upwards of 30,000 users have downloaded at least one of the more than 30 infected apps. Google has removed the apps from the market.

There are at least 34 applications that researchers have found in the Android Market in the last few days that had a version of the DroidDream malware dropped into them. Once a user installs one of the infected applications, the malicious component, which researchers have dubbed DroidDream Light, will kick in once the user receives an incoming call. The malware then gathers some identifying information from the phone, including its IMEI number, IMSI number, packages installed and other data, and then sends it off to a pre-configured remote server.
Bug

Submission + - Skype Updated Sneaks in "EasyBits Go" (h-online.com)

Submitted by BurzumNazgul
BurzumNazgul writes: EasyBits used Skype's auto-update system to install their "EasyBits Go" game center on user systems even if the install was aborted.

Skype says it was an accident; EasyBits points out how well the uninstaller works.
Apple

Submission + - Apple Stimulates Brain The Same Way As A Religion (readwriteweb.com)

Submitted by
StormDriver
StormDriver writes: "Recently, a neuroscientist scanned the brains of an Apple devotee with an MRI machine. What he found was that each time the Apple logo was flashed onto the screen, this acolyte's brain lit up in exactly the same region that lights up when a religious person is shown an icon of their faith."
Programming

Submission + - High-End Programmer Salaries (adtmag.com)

Submitted by msmoriarty
msmoriarty writes: Our reporter decided to try and document the high end of progammer salaries (at least in the U.S.). It seems that $300,000 to $400,000 and up is not unheard of in the financial industry, but the highest salary we could document was apx. $1.2 million, earned by Sergey Aleynikov, who was later convicted of stealing proprietary source code from a previous employer, Goldman Sachs.

Submission + - Man forced to pay for child fraudulently concived (telegraph.co.uk)

Submitted by Robadob
Robadob writes: The 57-year-old man had stored his sperm at a world famous fertility clinic after being told drug treatment for arthritis could make him infertile.
But two months after they separated, he says his former wife, 51, forged his signature and used her £25,000 divorce settlement to give birth to a son and daughter through IVF at the Bourn Hall Clinic, Cambridge.
When she fell into debt caring for the youngsters, a judge ordered him to pay her £100,000 to help bring them up.
When asked about her actions, his ex-wife said: "I don't believe I have done anything wrong. It was getting later and later for me and I wanted to have a child. "

Submission + - Police Seize Computers Of Tor Exit Node (techdirt.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Police in Austria who apparently aren't familiar with Tor or what an exit node is, have apparently seized the computer equipment of some people hosting a Tor exit node because the node was used to access an illegal porn site. How likely is it that the police will understand Tor vs. simply assuming those hosting a Tor exit node must be guilty of something?

Submission + - Clear throttling hits more people (speedtest.net) 2

Submitted by triceice
triceice writes: I have been a Clear subscriber since the day they were available in Atlanta. Only in the last months have I seen my connection throttled. Now I don't do P2P since I am a 20 year veteran of IT or do anything but download the latest Adobe Suite or MS Server Beta. I do watch Netflix videos and play the occasional video game via Xbox Live.

For the last month I have seen my connection "managed" at least 14 times in 20 days.

Today my connection was fine until I turned on my Xbox. So I went back and looked and 10 out of 13 times my connection dropped within 20 minutes of turning on my Xbox.

Looks like Clear doesn't like Xbox.
Security

Submission + - PBS Hack: 0Day or Reverse Engineered Patch? (threatpost.com) 1

Submitted by
chicksdaddy
chicksdaddy writes: "A high-profile attack on PBS, the U.S. Public Broadcasting System, was made possible by a previously unknown hole in the MoveableType content management software, according to the hacking group that claimed responsibility for the hack. However, security experts say that the hole may have been derived from studying a recent MoveableType patch."
Crime

Submission + - Data Center IT Departments Fear Targeted Attacks (net-security.org)

Submitted by Orome1
Orome1 writes: IT departments are now turning to virtualization, with half of the respondents having either implemented or are planning to deploy private clouds, according to a McAfee study. When asked to rate security challenges, 77 percent rate threat protection as “critical” or “important”. Twenty-six percent view targeted attacks as their biggest concerns and 24 percent think security breaches are their biggest concerns. However, although half are relying on the same security model for virtualization they used with physical servers, 18 percent have not decided this is the best approach when securing virtual servers.
Idle

Submission + - Rupert Murdoch claims to own the "Sky" in "Skype" (independent.co.uk) 1

Submitted by Crudely_Indecent
Crudely_Indecent writes: Not content to own just the news stories, Rupert Murdoch is now going after individual words!

Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB is fighting a legal battle with the internet telecommunications pioneer Skype, claiming that it owns the “Sky” in “Skype”.
Windows

Submission + - New Jaguar XJ suffers Blue Screen of Death (cnet.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: CNET UK is reporting that it crashed a £90,000 Jaguar XJ Super Sport — one of the most technologically advanced cars on the planet today. It's not the sort of crash you'd imagine, however — An unforseen glitch somewhere within the car's dozens of separate onboard computers, 100s of millions of lines of code or its internal vehicular network led to the dramatic BSOD, which had to be resolved with the use of a web-connected laptop.

Slashdot Top Deals

The optimum committee has no members. -- Norman Augustine

Close