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Submission + - Formulaic Cheese on Toast

Submitted by SleazyRidr
SleazyRidr writes: As a lover of cheese on toast, I know I am always sorely disappointed when my cheese on toast doesn't come out right. Fortunately, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the British Cheese Board have come together to determine the science behind this culinary masterpiece. Their formula relates the thickness of the bread, the thickness of the cheese, and the time required under the grill to perfect your tasty snack.
Power

Laser Fusion's Brightest Hope 115

Posted by samzenpus from the coming-together dept.
First time accepted submitter szotz writes "The National Ignition Facility has one foot in national defense and another in the future of commercial energy generation. That makes understanding the basic justification for the facility, which boasts the world's most powerful laser system, more than a little tricky. This article in IEEE Spectrum looks at NIF's recent missed deadline, what scientists think it will take for the facility to live up to its middle name, and all of the controversy and uncertainty that comes from a project that aspires to jumpstart commercial fusion energy but that also does a lot of classified work. NIF's national defense work is often glossed over in the press. This article pulls in some more detail and, in some cases, some very serious criticism. Physicist Richard Garwin, one of the designers of the hydrogen bomb, doesn't mince words. When it comes to nuclear weapons, he says in the article, '[NIF] has no relevance at all to primaries. It doesn't do a good job of mimicking secondaries...it validates the codes in regions that are not relevant to nuclear weapons.'"
Mars

4-Billion-Pixel Panorama View From Curiosity Rover 101

Posted by samzenpus from the take-a-look dept.
A reader points out that there is a great new panorama made from shots from the Curiosity Rover. "Sweep your gaze around Gale Crater on Mars, where NASA's Curiosity rover is currently exploring, with this 4-billion-pixel panorama stitched together from 295 images. ...The entire image stretches 90,000 by 45,000 pixels and uses pictures taken by the rover's two MastCams. The best way to enjoy it is to go into fullscreen mode and slowly soak up the scenery — from the distant high edges of the crater to the enormous and looming Mount Sharp, the rover's eventual destination."

Submission + - The Whole Six (or is that Nine) Yards

Submitted by pdclarry
pdclarry writes: I'm sure all of us wonder where "the whole nine yards" expression came from, and many of us have argued one or more of the hypotheses (WW II ammo belt length, American football reference, fabric in a kilt, capacity of a transit mixer...). Well, the latest research now says that it has no origin. (paywall warning): The NY Times covers the story, referencing the Yale Alumni Magazine source.

Interesting discovery is that there's been phrase inflation (it was originally "The Whole Six Yards") and that it has no specific reference in real life. Of course, this most recent discovery probably will not end the argument that Linguist Ben Zimmer says is “something of a Holy Grail among word sleuths.” Indeed, there are already new hypotheses posted in comments to the Yale Alumni Magazine article.

Submission + - White House Petition to Support FOSS in Schools (lwn.net)

Submitted by
Rozzin
Rozzin writes: "OK, making the White House respond to `the Death Star Question' was fun, but can a nerd political petition with actual relevance get the same number of signatures? A new White-House petition for the federal government to promote use of Free Software in schools is up on the whitehouse.gov site. How do FOSS and education compare to Death Stars on your list of priorities?"
Privacy

Submission + - Who is afraid of the big bad Quantum Computer? (wavewatching.net)

Submitted by quax
quax writes: Whenever Quantum Computing is dragged out to get some mainstream exposure it is the same old story: If we finally get these powerful machines then the end of all encryption is here and the sky is falling.

This article makes the case that there is much more to Quantum Computing than that, and that all the hand-wringing is not only pre-mature but also rather silly. Current quantum computing devices cannot defeat our standard encryption yet, but are at a point where they can already be a valuable new computing resource. On the other hand when considering how modern cryptography works, and when taking into account the progress made on Quantum Cryptography, the often repeated threat from Quantum Computers to the privacy of a encrypted data appears to be completely overblown.

 
Verizon

Submission + - FCC rules that Verizon cannot charge for tethering (zdnet.com)

Submitted by
schleprock63
schleprock63 writes: "The FCC ruled today that Verizon cannot charge extra for users for 4G WiFi tethering. The FCC used the original agreement in the auction of the C block spectrum which said "licensees offering service on C Block spectrum 'shall not deny, limit, or restrict the ability of their customers to use the devices and applications of their choice on the licensee’s C Block network, subject to narrow exceptions". So Verizon cannot charge for tethering on 4G service, this begs the question of whether they can continue to charge for tethering on 3G or 1x?"

Submission + - Roadmap for the Large-Scale Quantum Computer (aps.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In the almost twenty years since the discovery of Shor's Algorithm for factoring, and the subsequent investment in quantum computers from the NSA, DoD and other government agencies (in the US and abroad) it has become clear that building a large-scale quantum computer that can crack modern cryptosystems is a difficult task. A paper published today from Stanford University lays out what is necessary for a QC to be built, synthesizing the current state of knowledge about quantum architecture.

David DiVincenzo, an early leader in the quantum computing community (and creator of the DiVincenzo Criteria), describes the paper from Stanford, in a summary accompanying the research, as a bold step forward in trying to understand what exactly it will take to make useful quantum computers a reality.

In short, the paper finds that as many as 1 billion physical quantum bits may be needed to factor a 1024-bit number in a fault-tolerant fashion. This compares with current quantum computing prototypes that have significantly fewer than 1000 qubits (most fewer than 10).
Android

Submission + - Apps Against Potentially Harmful Cosmetics (ericeikrem.com)

Submitted by
Eric Eikrem
Eric Eikrem writes: "How good is European consumer protection? A wide range of dubious substances, many used in cosmetics, are apparently allowed. In a recent survey, the Norwegian Consumer Council found endocrine disrupting substances in more than 1200 of 3000 examined body care and cosmetic products.

In an effort to help consumers avoid potentially dangerous products, the Council made an Iphone app that allows you to scan a product’s bar code and check whether it is in the Council’s cosmetics database. If it is, you get an overview of the products contents and a safety rating. If not, you may register the product and it’s content. Norwegians have now scanned cosmetic and body care products with the app from the Council more than one million times."

Submission + - Heartland Institute documents have evidence of forgery (spectator.org)

Submitted by MSTCrow5429
MSTCrow5429 writes: Slashdot ran a story earlier this week claiming damaging documents had been leaked from the Heartland Institute. Review of the documents has indicated a likely hoax, due to unlikely phrasing of disputed issues and metadata revealing such oddities as being created outside of the Institute's timezone and lacking authors as in all other Heartland documents.
Privacy

Submission + - Commercial Drones Taking To the Skies (nytimes.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A new federal law, signed by the president on Tuesday, compels the Federal Aviation Administration to allow drones to be used for all sorts of commercial endeavors — from selling real estate and dusting crops, to monitoring oil spills and wildlife, even shooting Hollywood films. Local police and emergency services will also be freer to send up their own drones. But while businesses, and drone manufacturers especially, are celebrating the opening of the skies to these unmanned aerial vehicles, the law raises new worries about how much detail the drones will capture about lives down below — and what will be done with that information. Safety concerns like midair collisions and property damage on the ground are also an issue.
Cloud

Submission + - 'IT, Keep Your Hands Off My Cloud Storage!' (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
GMGruman
GMGruman writes: "Too many IT organizations try to block information workers from accessing the information they work with when not at their desk in the office. The reason cited is usually security, but it turns out that such ham-handed control actually creates big security risks, as the example of one organization's backfiring policies cited here shows. There's got to be a better way than working in a police state, or of having all corporate secrets exposed to the world. It turns out there is, and ironically it's the technology, cloud storage, that users have been trying to use all along that IT is blocking."

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