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Comment Re:Don't fucking do it. (Score 1) 421

by ItsJustAPseudonym (#49113243) Attached to: What If We Lost the Sky?
The main invasive species that we need to control is "humans". Many ills -- epidemics, food shortages, job shortages, land shortages -- stem from overpopulation.

No, I'm not implying a plan to kill people. Maybe we could make fewer of them on an ongoing basis, though.

Submission + - FCC commissioner on ISP Title II - Will stifle small business. (watchdog.org)

Submitted by Cilin
Cilin writes: “It gives the FCC the power to micromanage virtually every aspect of how the Internet works,” said FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai. The 332 page proposal, set to be voted on on the 26th still has not been released to the public. “The plan saddles small, independent businesses and entrepreneurs with heavy-handed regulations that will push them out of the market,” said Pai. “As a result, Americans will have fewer broadband choices. This is no accident. Title II was designed to regulate a monopoly. If we impose that model on a vibrant broadband marketplace, a highly regulated monopoly is what we’ll get.”

Submission + - iOS 9 To Focus Heavily On Stability And Optimization (macrumors.com)

Submitted by jones_supa
jones_supa writes: With iOS 7, Apple introduced a major design overhaul and with iOS 8, we gained features like Continuity, Apple Pay, and new app abilities like extensions and widgets. Following these two ambitious OS updates, it seems iOS 9 may be somewhat less flashy, focusing heavily on quality assurance. Sources tell us that Apple engineers are putting a huge focus on fixing bugs, maintaining stability, and boosting performance for the new operating system, rather than solely focusing on delivering major new feature additions. Apple will also continue to make efforts to keep the size of the OS and updates manageable, especially for the millions of iOS device owners with 16 GB devices.

Submission + - Three UK hospitals become custodians of open source openMAXIMS code (cio.co.uk)

Submitted by Qedward
Qedward writes: Three NHS foundations in the UK have become custodians of open source code to guide the development of an electronic patient record system, which NHS England hopes will ignite the open source digital health and care services markets to better serve clinicians and patients.

The three hospitals formed an organisation to act as custodians for source code of the openMAXIMS EPR suite, which was released as open source in June 2014.

Andy Williams, part of NHS England's Open Source Programme team which is looking for groups of NHS Trusts to act as custodians of open source healthcare software, said: "The announcement marks the start of establishing a self-sustaining eco-system of communities which can develop, deliver and support open source digital services.

"This is the first milestone of many for the open source programme which continues to attract interest from the wider health and social care community."

Submission + - EU Parliament Blocks Outlook Apps For Members Over Privacy Concerns (itworld.com)

Submitted by jfruh
jfruh writes: Microsoft last week released Outlook apps for iOS and Android, but one group that won't be getting to use them is members of the European Parliament. They've been advised by their tech staff that the apps are insecure and that they shouldn't download them — and if they have, they should change their Outlook passwords.

Submission + - Could a wireless pacemaker let hackers take control of your heart? (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: In a 2012 episode of the TV series Homeland, Vice President William Walden is assassinated by a terrorist who hacks into his Internet-enabled heart pacemaker and accelerates his heartbeat until he has a heart attack. A flight of fancy? Not everyone thinks so. Internet security experts have been warning for years that such devices are open to both data theft and remote control by a hacker. Now manufacturers are starting to wake up to the issue and are employing security experts to tighten up their systems.

Submission + - Kali Linux 1.1.0 Penetration Testing distribution released (kali.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Kali Linux 1.1.0 is now available — the first dot release for the security and penetration testing distribution in two years. The list of features which has steadily grown over time includes things like LUKS Nuke, Live USB boot with encrypted persistent storage support and more.

Submission + - The IPCC's shifting position on nuclear energy (thebulletin.org) 1

Submitted by Lasrick
Lasrick writes: Suzanne Waldman writes about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and its stand on nuclear power over the course of its five well-known climate change assessment reports. The IPCC was formed in 1988 as an expert panel to guide the drafting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, ratified in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The treaty’s objective is to stabilize greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at a safe level. Waldman writes: 'Over time, the organization has subtly adjusted its position on the role of nuclear power as a contributor to de-carbonization goals.," and she provides a timeline of those adjustments.

Submission + - The Prickly Partnership Between Uber and Google

Submitted by HughPickens.com
HughPickens.com writes: Google, with billions of dollars in the bank and house-by-house maps of most of the planet, seemed like the perfect partner for Uber, the hugely popular ride-hailing service. But Mike Isaac writes in the NYT that just two years after Google’s venture capital arm poured more than $250 million into Uber there are signs that the companies are more likely to be ferocious competitors than allies. Uber recently announced plans to develop self-driving cars, a longtime pet project at Google. Travis Kalanick, Uber’s CEO, has publicly discussed what he sees as the inevitability of autonomous taxis, saying they could offer cheaper rides and a true alternative to vehicle ownership. “The Uber experience is expensive because it’s not just the car but the other dude in the car,” Kalanick said at a technology conference in 2014, referring to the expense of paying human drivers. “When there’s no other dude in the car, the cost [of taking an Uber] gets cheaper than owning a vehicle.” Uber is also adding engineers who are experts on mapping technology. And the company, based in San Francisco, has been in talks with Google’s advertising archrival, Facebook, to find ways to work together.

Not to be outdone, Google has been experimenting with a ride-sharing app similar to Uber’s and both companies have long toyed with the idea of offering same-day delivery of items like groceries and other staples. Last month Google announced it would start presenting data from third party applications inside Google Now, a service that displays useful information prominently on the screen of Android smartphones. Google said it had struck deals to draw data from such apps as Pandora, AirBnb, Zillow, and the ride-sharing service Lyft. The company most obviously missing from that list? Google’s old and possibly former friend, Uber. According to Isaac, for young companies, even one as well funded as Uber, dancing with giants is a part of doing business — even if there is always a risk of getting squashed. “There are some hard lessons about the dangers of cooperation that are strongly in the memories of these companies,” says John Morgan. “Something that makes partnering harder, even when it might make economic sense to do so.”

Submission + - Hidden Apollo 11 artefacts found in Neil Armstrong's closet after over 40 years (techienews.co.uk)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: Over 40 years after Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 space travel, a hidden bag full of artefacts has been discovered by his widow Carol Armstrong. Carol found the bag after Neil’s death in 2012 shortly after he underwent a heart surgery. The bag contains a total of 20 items including the priceless 16mm movie camera that recorded Apollo 11’s descent to the surface of the moon, optical alignment sight used by crew for docking manoeuvres, and Waist tether among other things. The purse and the contents are now on loan at the National Air and Space Museum for preservation, research and eventual public display.

Submission + - Measuring the value of open hardware designs (opensource.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Industry knows open source software has an immense value, but how valuable is an open hardware design? To answer that question, Dr. Joshua Pearce, an associate professor at Michigan Tech University analyzed three methods to quantify the value of open hardware design in the latest issue of the journal Modern Economy.

Submission + - Microsoft Trademarks 'Windows 365' (neowin.net)

Submitted by jones_supa
jones_supa writes: The talks about a subscription-based Windows have begun again. With Windows 10 those ideas did not materialize in the way that many had speculated. Even though Microsoft has not fully detailed its Windows 10 pricing strategy, it is not believed that Microsoft is targeting an annual subscription charge for Windows at this time. However, it turns out that Microsoft has recently filed for a trademark for Windows 365, which adds a bit of fuel to the subscription based version of Windows. As of right now, Microsoft has only claimed this branding right, but as for what they will do with it, only time will tell. Deep inside the company, the idea is clearly still bubbling there.

Submission + - Infrared Imaging Shows Trifid Nebula in a New Light (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: The European Southern Observatory's (ESO) VISTA survey telescope has revealed a beautiful new aspect of the Trifid Nebula, a star formation area that sits around 5,200 light years away from Earth, in the direction of the galactic center. By observing and imaging the nebula in infrared light, astronomers can look through the dust-filled, central parts of the Milky Way to expose new objects.

Submission + - Sydney Uni to divest from fossil fuels, as global momentum builds (reneweconomy.com.au)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: The University of Sydney has revealed its plans to begin divesting from heavy-polluting and fossil fuel companies, in an effort to cut the carbon footprint of its investment portfolio by 20 per cent in three years.

The partial divestment plan, released by the University on Monday, brings it in line with a growing number of tertiary, religious and other organizations around the world that have divested over $50 billion in fossil fuel stocks for reasons both environmental and economic – that is, their business models are incompatible with the pledge by the world’s governments to tackle global warming.

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