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Submission + - NSA Infiltrated RSA Deeper Than Imagined 1

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: Reuters is reporting that the U.S. National Security Agency managed to have security firm RSA adopt not just one, but two security tools, further facilitating NSA eavesdropping on Internet communications

The newly discovered software is dubbed 'Extended Random', and is intended to facilitate the use of the already known 'Dual Elliptic Curve' encryption software's back door. Researchers from several U.S. universities discovered Extended Random and assert it could help crack Dual Elliptic Curve encrypted communications 'tens of thousands of times faster'.

Submission + - Mt. Gox Questioned by Employees for at Least 2-years

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: Reuters reports that Mt. Gox employees began to question the handling of funds at least two years ago. Although only CEO Mark Karpeles had full access to financial records, a group of a half-dozen employees began to suspect client funds were being diverted to cover operating costs, which included Karpeles' toys, such as 'racing version of the Honda Civic imported from Britain'. Employees confronted Karpeles in early 2012, only to be given vague assurances with a "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" ring. Unfortunately, since Mt. Gox was not regulated as a financial institution under Japanese law, it is unclear what recourse might be gained in pursuing this question.

Comment Sadly ... (Score 1) 266

by Rambo Tribble (#46609637) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: How To Handle Unfixed Linux Accessibility Bugs?
... things like this lend credibility to go-your-own-way efforts, like Mir. It's not just the display server, though. I have to wonder if Google's grip on Android isn't, at least in part, inspired by occurances such as this. Open source is like a incredibly diverse and richly dynamic orchestra, that sometimes lacks for a conductor.

Submission + - Wisdom of Crows Demonstrates Wisdom of Aesop 1

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: Using New Caledonian crows captured from the wild, scientists have demonstrated the corvids' ability to master the task of retrieving food by displacing water, inspired by the classic Aesop fable of the "Crow and the Pitcher". Per the researchers: 'In their understanding of physics — how objects displace water — the crows were comparable to 5-to-7-year-old children ...' Reuters provides an approachable summation of the news, here.

Submission + - Computer Spots Fakers Better Than People Do

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: Using sophisticated pattern matching software, researchers have had substantially better success with a computer, than was obtained with human subjects, in spotting faked facial expressions of pain. [Original, paywalled article in Current Biology] From the Reuters piece: '... human subjects did no better than chance — about 50 percent ...', 'The computer was right 85 percent of the time.'

Submission + - Earth Barely Dodged Solar Blast in 2012

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: Coronal mass ejections, with severity comparable to the 1859 Carrington event, missed Earth by only 9 days, in 2012, according to researchers. The Carrington event caused widespread damage to the telegraph system in the U. S., and a similar occurrence would be devastating to modern electronics, it is thought. NASA's STEREO A spacecraft is responsible for detecting the event. From the Reuters article, 'Had it hit Earth, it probably would have been like the big one in 1859, but the effect today, with our modern technologies, would have been tremendous.' The potential global cost for such damage is pegged at $2.6 trillion.

Comment Precedents (Score 1) 409

by Rambo Tribble (#46534241) Attached to: Why Buy Microsoft Milk When the Google Cow Is Free?

Few today remember the actions of Apple in the period just before the introduction of the IBM PC until the unveiling of the Macintosh. As the '70s drew to a close, Apple was being outclassed by the performance of microcomputers based on Z-80 and Intel 8085 chips The aging Mostek 6502 couldn't keep up and the Apple II's architecture was unable to support the I/O demands that were developing. Faced with languishing inventories of Apple IIs, Apple Computer, Inc. began selling the systems to schools at prices that were widely believed to be below cost, or "dumping".

Of course, dumping is an illegal activity, but Apple was never called on the carpet for it. It is likely that this maneuver saved the company, all the while indoctrinating a generation of nascent computer users in the "Apple way". You might wish to note, at the time Microsoft provided the BASIC interpreter for the Apple II.

So anyway, this line of attack is not new.

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