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Submission + - 1.5 million pages of ancient manuscripts online (ap.org)

Submitted by LordWabbit2
LordWabbit2 writes: The Vatican Library and Oxford University's Bodleian Library have put the first of 1.5 million pages of ancient manuscripts online.
The two libraries in 2012 announced a four-year project to digitize some of the most important works of their collections of Hebrew manuscripts, Greek manuscripts and early printed books.
Among the first up on the site Tuesday, are the two-volume Gutenberg bibles from each of the libraries and a beautiful 15th-century German bible, hand-colored and illustrated by woodcuts.
The 2 million pound ($3.3 million) project is being funded by the Polonsky Foundation, which aims to democratize access to information.
The Vatican Library was founded in 1451 and is one of the most important research libraries in the world. The Bodleian is the largest university library in Britain.

Submission + - Forensic Genetics And The Law (c-spanvideo.org)

Submitted by NotSanguine
NotSanguine writes: C-SPAN Covered the 2013 10th Circuit Bench And Bar Conference in Colorado Springs, CO. While this isn't new (from August, 2013), the topics and issues covered were both interesting and pertinent to many discussions about how DNA technology can be used in legal contexts.

From the site description:

Panelists talked about genetics, forensics, and their use in the criminal justice system and society.They discussed the DNA evidence routinely used in criminal cases as well as in investigations of mass graves, missing persons, and for identification.After the break, Nita Farahany talked about how behavior sciences impact the legal system, and Hank Greely talked about whole genome sequencing, the implications of pre-natal genetic testing, and the privacy and ethical issues raised when everyone’s genomes are known and stored.Speakers used PowerPoint during their presentations.Images included skeletons, mass graves, and DNA sources.Panelists responded to questions from members of the audience after their individual presentations and as a group.

Submission + - Government website claims all of internet as U.S. Government information system?

Submitted by informaticsDude
informaticsDude writes: These days, it seems that anytime the words "government" and "computer" appear in the same sentence, the news cannot be good. Recently I needed to fill out a form on a government website. I was presented with a click-through pop-up that stated I was "accessing a U.S. Government information system, which includes (1) this computer, (2) this computer network, (3) all computers connected to this network". http://t.co/XUCnqfxbAI. Since I was connecting over the public internet, the message could be interpreted to mean that "this network" is the entire internet. In a pre-Snowden era, I might have laughed it off as bad wording, but when the message went on to say "You have no reasonable expectation of privacy", I began to wonder. It was worth noting that this click-through has no option to refuse. The only button is "OK". Can we truly consent to anything if we don't get the opportunity to decline?

Submission + - Memories passed down through Genetics - Nature Neuroscience Confirms

Submitted by jaeztheangel
jaeztheangel writes: Behaviour can be affected by events in previous generations which have been passed on through a form of genetic memory , animal studies suggest. Experiments showed that a traumatic event could affect the DNA in sperm and alter the brains and behaviour of subsequent generations. A Nature Neuroscience study shows mice trained to avoid a smell passed their aversion on to their “grandchildren”. Experts said the results were important for phobia and anxiety research.

Submission + - New Windows XP Zero-Day Under Attack (securityweek.com) 1

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: A new Windows kernel zero-day vulnerability is being exploited in targeted attacks against Windows XP users. Microsoft confirmed the issue and published a security advisory to acknowledge the flaw after anti-malware vendor FireEye warned that the Windows bug is being used in conjunction with an Adobe Reader exploit to infect Windows machines with malware.

Microsoft described the issue as an elevation of privilege vulnerability that allows an attacker to run arbitrary code in kernel mode. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full administrative rights.

Submission + - ScareMail Tries to Disrupt NSA Email Surveillance (hackaday.com)

Submitted by Okian Warrior
Okian Warrior writes: "Are you on the NSA’s email watchlist? Do you want to be? The ScareMail project is designed to mess with the NSA’s email surveillance programs.

Benjamin Grosser has written a plugin for many popular web browsers that uses an algorithm to generate a clever but ultimately useless narrative in the signature of your email using as many probable NSA search terms as possible. The idea behind this is if enough people use it, it will overload the NSA’s search results, ultimately making their email keyword tracking useless.

Ben has a video describing the project."

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: DIY Computational Neuroscience

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Over the last couple years, I have taught myself the basic concepts behind Computational Neuroscience, mainly from the book by Abbott and Dayan. I am not currently affiliated with any academic Neuroscience program. I would like to take a DIY approach and work on some real world problems of Computationa Neuroscience. My questions: (1) What are some interesting computational neuroscience simulation problems that an individual with a workstation class PC can work on? (2) Is it easy for a non-academic to get the required data? (3) I am familiar with (but not used extensively) simulators like Neuron, Genesis etc. Other than these and Matlab, what other software should I get? (4) Where online or offline, can I network with other DIY Computational Neuroscience enthusiasts ?

My own interest is in simulation of Epileptogenic neural networks, music cognition networks, and perhaps a bit more ambitiuously, to create a simulation on which the various Models of Consciousness can be comparatively tested.

Submission + - Google wants to write your social media responses for you (searchenginewatch.com)

Submitted by taikedz
taikedz writes: A new patent has been filed that tries to analyse your past communications to then construct responses to the overwhelming amount of posts you receive. From the article:

"Essentially, the program analyzes the messages a user makes through social networks, email, text messaging, microblogging, and other systems. Then, the program offers suggestions for responses, where the original messages are displayed, with information about others reactions to the same messages, and then the user can send the suggested messages in response to those users. The more the user utilizes the program and uses the responses, the more the bot can narrow down the types of responses you make."

Instead of DYAC we'll have a flood of DYAR for this auto-responder...

Submission + - Why CyanogenMod was Pulled from Google Play

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Next Web seems to have the answer: http://thenextweb.com/google/2013/11/27/google-forces-cyanogenmod-pull-one-click-installer-play-store-violation-developer-terms/

"We did some further digging, however, and sources told us the app was pulled over Google Play’s system interference clause, which notes that if an app makes changes with the user’s knowledge and consent, the user must be able to easily reverse the change either within the app or by uninstalling it altogether. CyanogenMod doesn’t offer either, and until it does, it’s staying outside of Google Play."

Submission + - Zuck, Gates-Backed Code.org Wants Kids' Student Data

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: As part of its plan to improve computer science education in the U.S., the Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates-backed Code.org is asking school districts to sign a contract calling for Code.org to receive 'longitudinal student achievement data' for up to seven academic years in return for course materials, small teacher stipends, and general support. The Gates Foundation is already facing a backlash from the broader academic community over attempts to collect student data as part of its inBloom initiative. The Code.org contract also gives the organization veto power over the district teachers selected to participate in the Code.org program, who are required to commit to teaching in the program for a minimum of two school years.

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