25262826
submission
Tasha26 writes:
A trainee surgeon, Mark Frame, has figured out how to save UK's NHS thousands of pounds by taking advantage of 3D-printer technology. Success in orthopaedic operations relies on surgeons having an accurate 3D model of the area where the operation will take place. Such models take time to produce and cost upto £1200 ($1915). Mark, a self-confessed "technology geek," used open source OsiriX software to convert CT scans into files which are readable by the 3D printers at Shapeways, a company in the Netherlands. Within a week they produced & delivered the first plastic 3D model of a child's forearm at a cost of £77 ($123). Mark has written a free guide so that other surgeons can make their own bones which is being considered for publication by the World Journal of Science and Technology. He's also contactable via twitter: @3Dbones
21465506
submission
Tasha26 writes:
After the suicides and fatal explosion, the Taiwanese company Foxconn now faces losing its blue-chip status. Falling prices for smartphones, laptops, tablets and other gadgets and rising wages (20%) in China have undermined Foxconn's financial performance. The company lost $220m (£135m) in 2010. Foxconn International will be removed from Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng index and be replaced by insurer AIA and nappy maker Hengan. The two new entrants use China both as a source of cheap labour and as a market for their product, a switch which Foxconn is now considering.
21464688
submission
Tasha26 writes:
After reading a recent Slashdot article about Nokia, I thought I'd discuss the Microsoft partnership on their own Forum and get some insight. I posted it under "News Announcements and Job Listings," so as not to interfere with programming discussions. Unfortuantely my thread was closed within 24 hours by a Nokia employee: Ron Liechty (Manager Forum Nokia Online Community). He even sent me a private message saying that it was off topic. Did I really do something wrong here or was this a daft move by Nokia?
20322864
submission
Tasha26 writes:
UK's Ministry of Defence admitted that secret information about its nuclear powered submarines was leaked on the internet by mistake. A "technical error" (i.e. turning the background colour of certain text to black) meant that sensitive blacked-out parts of the online MoD report could be read by anyone who copy-pasted it into another document. This accidental leak reveals amongst many things, how easy it would be to cause a Fukushima-style reactor meltdown in a sub and details of measures used by the US Navy to protect its own nuclear submarines.
19685074
submission
Tasha26 writes:
A former town Mayor, Colin Elsbury, made legal history yesterday by being first Brit to pay damages for libel on Twitter. His tweet on polling day said "It's not in our nature to deride our opponents however Eddie Talbot had to be removed by the Police from a polling station" amounted to pure election slur. The Twitter libel was settled at Cardiff High Court with total bill hitting £53,000 (£3,000 compensation + £50,000 legal fees). The fine works out at more than £2,400 per word. After Courtney Love recent £260k settlement in a Twibel case, this case reaffirms that anything posted in the public domain is subject to libel laws.
18750704
submission
Tasha26 writes:
Cosmetic retailer Lush stopped its online activities on Jan 21 due to hacking activities. Their website is still down due to "continuing attempts to re-enter" and Lush is thinking of spinning a small paypal outlet as temporary solution. The company is urging customers who placed an order between Oct 2010 to Jan 2011 to contact their banks for advice on compromised credit card details. Ironically the company even posted a message addressed to the hacker, saying: "If you are reading this, our web team would like to say that your talents are formidable. We would like to offer you a job — were it not for the fact that your morals are clearly not compatible with ours or our customers'."
18142890
submission
Tasha26 writes:
The HR of Swiss bank UBS AG came up with an innovative 43-page document (french) to establish fashion "dos" and "don'ts" in their retail branches. Will it nail the debate on what's acceptable corporate attire? Here's a skinny:
Men: — Tie-knots should match facial bone structure; — Socks with cartoon motifs are strictly verboten. — Fingernail length of no more than 1.5mm; — Schedule barber appointments every four weeks to maintain your haircut shape;
Women: — Light makeup consisting of foundation, mascara and discreet lipstick. No black nail polish or nail art — Wear flesh-coloured underwear and skirts extending to 5cm below the knee; — Have a haircut that is suitable for their age;
And neither sex should "allow their underwear to appear," perhaps Dilbert was a bit ahead of them on that. The document also mentions smells and "avoid garlic and onion-based dishes."
17704438
submission
Tasha26 writes:
Sky News is running a piece on the aftermath of stuxnet worm attack on Iranian facilities. Their source claims to have evidence that the virus is now in the hands of bad guys. The big concern is that hackers can now analyse the Stuxnet code and produce variations which can potentially shut down power stations, transport networks or even 999/991 emergency system. Now experts warn that the West is extremely vulnerable to similar attacks by criminal gangs seeking blackmail payouts or more likely by terrorist groups.
14722426
submission
Tasha26 writes:
I was recently asked to name a good webhosting site (and the friend didn't want GoDaddy for some reason), but then I wondered how an Amazon EC2/S3 solution compares (in price or advantage) over traditional web-hosting? Maybe there's a study on it or someone has experience of running a site from Amazon. I looked at the Amazon pricing but it turns out to be a structure: I/O connections, bandwidth, S3, EC2... even if you don't use S3 but your Firefox S3 app. pings to it, you get billed. Too many variables for a straightforward comparison. Any help would be much appreciated, thanks.
13501730
submission
Tasha26 writes:
BBC has an interesting web security snippet from the SyScan 2010 security conference in Singapore. In a presentation, security researcher Laurent Oudot released details of bugs found in commonly used attack-kits such as Neon, Eleonore and Sniper, proving that not only are they not secure but these loopholes could be exploited to get more information about the attackers, perhaps identifying them, stealing their tools and methods, or even following the trail back to their own computer.
7094916
submission
Tasha26 writes:
I was off to check out the recently acclaimed fastest cpu (1 GHz) mobile phone, the Toshiba TG01, at my local Orange-UK dealer shop and was told that the model had been quarantined! Some research on Engadget and elsewhere confirmed that the model came with a virus/rootkit on its memory card (built-in or spare?) and that further investigation by Toshiba was needed before a re-release of the device. It just struck me that news of storage devices with built-in viruses are going a bit over the top, consider the following: Maxtor External drive with virus (Apr'07), Virus-infected HP USB keys (Apr'08) and ASUS Eee with worm (Oct'08).
6858324
submission
Tasha26 writes:
NY Times has an interesting interview with Oliver Stone for the sequel to the infamous 1987 movie: Wall Street. Is Greed still good? Well Gordon Gekko (Michall Douglas) is back and so are some others such as Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen). There will even be a part for Nouriel Roubini (who predicted the market crash in his book: Black Swan) as a hedge fund manager. Unfortunately, as I read page 2 of the interview, I discovered that Jar Jar Binx, I mean Shia LaBeouf will also have a prominent role as a young trader who is engaged to Gekko’s daughter! It would seem that Michael Bay hasn't quite yet wrecked Shia's career in the terrible Transformers movies. Wall Street 2 is scheduled to be released next April, 2010. Can't wait!
6739103
submission
Tasha26 writes:
BBC's Watchdog programme has an interesting investigation of the appalling state of Wifi security at Hotspots such as those found at coffe shops, burger places or even on trains. The video report shows live hacking minus the how-to, obviously, but you can see bits of linux shells (@1m08) and what appears to be Wireshark as tools used. The hack involved taking control email accounts of unsuspecting people to (1) send bogus emails as identity theft (@1m43) and (2) hijack email session so the user wouldn't be able to log out (@3m43). The programme carried out tests on UK's top 3 hotspot providers (BT Openzone, The Cloud and T-Mobile) and all revealed the same flaw. So people, be warned!
6703383
submission
Tasha26 writes:
BBC's Watchdog programme has an interesting investigation of the appalling state of Wifi security at Hotspots such as those found at coffe shops, burger places or even on trains. The video report shows live hacking minus the how-to, obviously, but you can see bits of linux shells (@1m08) and what appears to be Wireshark as tools used. The hack involved taking control email accounts of unsuspecting people to (1) send bogus emails as identity theft (@1m43) and (2) hijack email session so the user wouldn't be able to log out (@3m43). The programme carried out tests on UK's top 3 hotspot providers (BT Openzone, The Cloud and T-Mobile) and all revealed the same flaw. So people, be warned!
6597149
submission
Tasha26 writes:
No not the one which will end up building terminator robots. BBC's Click brings news of a japanese company, Cyberdyne, which is in the process of building different robotic suits to assist the elderly in accomplishing simple body tasks such as walking and lifting. Even though still in R&D, this video (@3m15s) shows a pretty promising future for the elderly.
