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Government

Identity Dominance: the US Military's Biometric War In Afghanistan 83

Posted by timothy from the just-want-to-borrow-your-eyeball dept.
Advocatus Diaboli (1627651) writes "For years the U.S. military has been waging a biometric war in Afghanistan, working to unravel the insurgent networks operating throughout the country by collecting the personal identifiers of large portions of the population. A restricted U.S. Army guide on the use of biometrics in Afghanistan obtained by Public Intelligence provides an inside look at this ongoing battle to identify the Afghan people."

Submission + - Crooks Use Google's Cloud To Control Android Malware (techweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by judgecorp
judgecorp writes: Criminals are using Google's own cloud to control malware on Android phones, allowing them to update the infected devices without being blocked. The malefactors are able to use Google Cloud Messaging, a service for developers to deliver software updates — which implies they have persuaded Google to give them an ID for the system.

Submission + - August Patch Tuesday: Microsoft Takes Out 23 Bugs in Windows, IE, Exchange

Submitted by SmartAboutThings
SmartAboutThings writes: It’s that time of the month when Microsoft released its Patch Tuesday aimed at fixing vulnerabilities. Last month’s Patch Tuesday posed some issues for users as they were still causing bugs, being “half-baked”. This is the eighth Patch Tuesday of the year and it comes with eight new security bulletins (coincidence?) with only three being rated as “Critical” and five as “Important”. The eight security bulletins released by Microsoft address 23 vulnerabilities from Windows, Internet Explorer and Exchange. The most important patches, as per Microsoft’s recommendation, are MS13-059 (Internet Explorer) and MS13-060 (Windows XP and Server 2003.). After applying those first priority patches, you should patch every other software from Microsoft that you are using to make sure you have a top-notch security

Submission + - Google: Gmail users 'have no legitimate expectation of privacy' (rt.com)

Submitted by KDEnut
KDEnut writes: As tensions worsen among privacy-focused email users amid the escalating scandal surrounding government surveillance, a brief filed by attorneys for Google has surfaced showing that Gmail users should never expect their communications to be kept secret.

Submission + - Tweet Increases Apple's Market Value by $17 Billion 3

Submitted by SmartAboutThings
SmartAboutThings writes: Activist investor Carl Icahn has recently tweeted the following: "We currently have a large position in APPLE. We believe the company to be extremely undervalued. Spoke to Tim Cook today. More to come" The effect? Apple’s market value increased by more than 17 billion dollars, which represents a five percent stock jump. Apple’s stock price is currently at a seven-month high of $490. Icahn has amassed over $1.5 billion worth of Apple shares which is less than 1 percent of Apple’s market cap when the moment mister Icahn sent his tweet.
Businesses

Hallibuton Pleads Guilty To Destroying Simulation Data From 2010 Gulf Oil Spill 104

Posted by samzenpus from the who's-to-blame dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Oilfield services giant Halliburton will plead guilty to destroying computer test results that had been sought as evidence in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the Justice Department announced Thursday. Company officials threw out test results that showed 'little difference' between the number of devices Halliburton said was needed to center the cement casing in the well at the heart of the disaster and the number well owner BP installed, according to court papers. The issue has been key point of contention between the two companies in hearings and litigation ever since the April 2010 blowout. BP and Halliburton are still battling over responsibility for the disaster in a New Orleans federal courtroom. BP had no comment on the plea agreement Thursday evening."

Comment Re:1000 times better? (Score 5, Informative) 103

by asvravi (#43887839) Attached to: Graphene-Based Image Sensor To Enhance Low-Light Photography
First off, if we cut through the usual dismal quality of scientific reporting, what they made is a photodetector, not an image sensor. It detects single events rather than capture an image. The sensitivity of the detector is not the same as quantum efficiency. The sensitivity they mention here includes a "photogain" by virtue of the detector operating more or less as a light-controlled amplifier. It takes electrical input energy and simply amplifies it based on incident light. That can create a flow of many more electrons than incident photons. The same thing can possibly be also done by introducing a gain in the conventional image sensor electronics too, but having this photogain right inside the sensor should theoretically lead to better noise performance. So we would expect the paper to quantify the noise characteristics, but it is woefully sparse on the noise details - which leads me to suspect this is yet another "invention" that is never going to see the light of day.

Submission + - Linode hacked, CCs and passwords leaked 6

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: On Friday Linode announced a precautionary password reset due to an attack despite claiming that they were not compromised. The attacker has claimed otherwise, claiming to have obtained card numbers and password hashes. Password hashes, source code fragments and directory listings have been released as proof. Linode has yet to comment on or deny these claims.
Science

Brain Scans Show the Impact of Neglect On a Child's Brain Size 206

Posted by samzenpus from the cloth-mom-vs-wire-mom dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A shocking comparison of brain scans from two three-year-old children reveals new evidence of the remarkable impact a mother's love has on a child's brain development. The chilling images reveal that the left brain, which belongs to a normal 3-year-old, is significantly larger and contains fewer spots and dark 'fuzzy' areas than the right brain, which belongs to that of a 3-year-old who has suffered extreme neglect. Neurologists say that the latest images provide more evidence that the way children are treated in their early years is important not only for the child's emotional development, but also in determining the size of their brains. Experts say that the sizeable difference in the two brains is primarily caused by the difference in the way each child was treated by their mothers."
Cloud

Submission + - Integration of ownCloud is coming in Gnome 3.8! (worldofgnome.org)

Submitted by
Rzarector
Rzarector writes: "It wasn’t long till a “just a discussion” in Gnome MLs jumped as official feature for Gnome 3.8!?! The Open Desktop finally hangs the Open Cloud and Gnome once again is proud to prove that supports the Open Source, it supports the Cloud!

The idea was simple, ownCloud offers the same services as Ubuntu One and DropBox (actually it offers more) in a free platform that anyone can easily install and customize according to his/her needs. So why don’t use that?"
Biotech

Submission + - IBM Microscope Can See 100 Times Smaller Than An Atom (singularityhub.com)

Submitted by
kkleiner
kkleiner writes: "Building on their impressive microscopy work over the last few years, a team from IBM has refined their method to precisely measure the structural details of a single molecule. With their technique, they managed to measure very subtle differences in the distribution of electrons within the molecule’s bonds. How subtle? We’re talking 3 picometers or 0.000000000003 meters. That’s one-hundredth the diameter of an atom!"
Crime

Submission + - Anonymous Leaks 1M Apple Device UDIDs (net-security.org) 1

Submitted by
Orome1
Orome1 writes: "A file containing a million and one record sets containing Apple Unique Device Identifiers (UDIDs) and some other general information about the devices has been made available online by Anonymous hackers following an alleged breach of an FBI computer. "During the second week of March 2012, a Dell Vostro notebook, used by Supervisor Special Agent Christopher K. Stangl from FBI Regional Cyber Action Team and New York FBI Office Evidence Response Team was breached using the AtomicReferenceArray vulnerability on Java," the hackers claim."

Submission + - Toyota will turn your car's driving data into a simulation

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Toyota and Denso today announced the joint development of an onboard communications network device, CAN-Gateway ECU that can take data gathered while driving and apply it to create a virtual simulation that enables a new way to enjoy driving. The CAN-Gateway ECU captures driving data—including GPS data, accelerator pedal strokes, steering angles, brake operation signals, gear shift signals, engine rpm count, water temperature, and vehicle speed—from a dedicated onboard GPS as well as CAN information exchanged among onboard ECUs. The device can wirelessly transmit (by Bluetooth) the data to software installed on smartphones or other devices for real-time monitoring. As this data is accumulated, it can serve as a driving coaching guide.

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