Comment No more privacy? (Score 1) 183
“No more privacy”? I think this headline is missing a word.
Comment No. (Score 1) 365
This already came up when Microsoft bought Skype and continued maintaining the Linux version for a few months. This is not news-worthy in any way.
Submission + - OpenMP 4.0 has been released ! (businesswire.com)
mvanwaveren writes: Just to let you know that OpenMP 4.0 has been released. It covers now large core counts and platforms that provide accelerators (e.g., GPUs or DSPs). You can download the specs from the OpenMP website. Do you plan to develop software for large core counts or accelerators ? Think of using OpenMP 4.0.
New features included in OpenMP 4.0
Support for accelerators. The OpenMP 4.0 specification effort included significant participation by all the major vendors in order to support a wide variety of compute devices. OpenMP provides mechanisms to describe regions of code where data and/or computation should be moved to another computing device. Several prototypes for the accelerator proposal have already been implemented.
SIMD constructs to vectorize both serial as well as parallelized loops. With the advent of SIMD units in all major processor chips, portable support for accessing them is essential. OpenMP 4.0 provides mechanisms to describe when multiple iterations of the loop can be executed concurrently using SIMD instructions and to describe how to creRate versions of functions that can be invoked across SIMD lanes.
Error handling. OpenMP 4.0 defines error handling capabilities to improve the resiliency and stability of OpenMP applications in the presence of system-level, runtime-level, and user-defined errors. Features to abort parallel OpenMP execution cleanly have been defined, based on conditional cancellation and user-defined cancellation points.
Thread affinity. OpenMP 4.0 provides mechanisms to define where to execute OpenMP threads. Platform-specific data and algorithm-specific properties are separated, offering a deterministic behavior and simplicity in use. The advantages for the user are better locality, less false sharing and more memory bandwidth.
Tasking extensions. OpenMP 4.0 provides several extensions to its task-based parallelism support. Tasks can be grouped to support deep task synchronization and task groups can be aborted to reflect completion of cooperative tasking activities such as search. Task-to-task synchronization is now supported through the specification of task dependency.
Support for Fortran 2003. The Fortran 2003 standard adds many modern computer language features. Having these features in the specification allows users to parallelize Fortran 2003 compliant programs. This includes interoperability of Fortran and C, which is one of the most popular features in Fortran 2003.
User-defined reductions. Previously, OpenMP only supported reductions with base language operators and intrinsic procedures. With OpenMP 4.0, user-defined reductions are now also supported.
Sequentially consistent atomics. A clause has been added to allow a programmer to enforce sequential consistency when a specific storage location is accessed atomically.
New features included in OpenMP 4.0
Support for accelerators. The OpenMP 4.0 specification effort included significant participation by all the major vendors in order to support a wide variety of compute devices. OpenMP provides mechanisms to describe regions of code where data and/or computation should be moved to another computing device. Several prototypes for the accelerator proposal have already been implemented.
SIMD constructs to vectorize both serial as well as parallelized loops. With the advent of SIMD units in all major processor chips, portable support for accessing them is essential. OpenMP 4.0 provides mechanisms to describe when multiple iterations of the loop can be executed concurrently using SIMD instructions and to describe how to creRate versions of functions that can be invoked across SIMD lanes.
Error handling. OpenMP 4.0 defines error handling capabilities to improve the resiliency and stability of OpenMP applications in the presence of system-level, runtime-level, and user-defined errors. Features to abort parallel OpenMP execution cleanly have been defined, based on conditional cancellation and user-defined cancellation points.
Thread affinity. OpenMP 4.0 provides mechanisms to define where to execute OpenMP threads. Platform-specific data and algorithm-specific properties are separated, offering a deterministic behavior and simplicity in use. The advantages for the user are better locality, less false sharing and more memory bandwidth.
Tasking extensions. OpenMP 4.0 provides several extensions to its task-based parallelism support. Tasks can be grouped to support deep task synchronization and task groups can be aborted to reflect completion of cooperative tasking activities such as search. Task-to-task synchronization is now supported through the specification of task dependency.
Support for Fortran 2003. The Fortran 2003 standard adds many modern computer language features. Having these features in the specification allows users to parallelize Fortran 2003 compliant programs. This includes interoperability of Fortran and C, which is one of the most popular features in Fortran 2003.
User-defined reductions. Previously, OpenMP only supported reductions with base language operators and intrinsic procedures. With OpenMP 4.0, user-defined reductions are now also supported.
Sequentially consistent atomics. A clause has been added to allow a programmer to enforce sequential consistency when a specific storage location is accessed atomically.
Comment Technobabble? (Score 1) 75
"Light Field Communication" sounds like a very pompous name for what infrared-capable phones did back in the day.
I would read the original article to verify my claims but the links are broken.
Submission + - Google 'Glass' to be banned while driving (stuff.tv)
RockDoctor writes: "Stuff" magazine, a "gadget" oriented mag, is reporting that the UK's Department for Transport is planning to ban drivers from using Google "Glass", using the same law (1988 Road Traffic Act) that is used to ban drivers from using hand-held mobile phones.
While there are obvious parallels between the distraction potential of the mobile phone and of "Glass", there are arguments in the other direction that the speech-control aspects of "Glass" could make it less distracting than, say, a touch-screen SatNav. So, to ban "Glass" driving or not?
Typical fines for using a mobile phone while driving are £60 cash plus three penalty points on the driving license ; the points expire 3 years after the offence and if you accumulate 12 points then you've lost your license. Repeat offenders may experience higher fines and/ or more points. Around a million people have received the penalty since the mobile phone ban was introduced in 2003.
While there are obvious parallels between the distraction potential of the mobile phone and of "Glass", there are arguments in the other direction that the speech-control aspects of "Glass" could make it less distracting than, say, a touch-screen SatNav. So, to ban "Glass" driving or not?
Typical fines for using a mobile phone while driving are £60 cash plus three penalty points on the driving license ; the points expire 3 years after the offence and if you accumulate 12 points then you've lost your license. Repeat offenders may experience higher fines and/ or more points. Around a million people have received the penalty since the mobile phone ban was introduced in 2003.
Submission + - Tracking People by Cellphone (darkreading.com)
CowboyRobot writes: A University of Wisconsin at Madison law student and security researcher is highlighting the privacy and security problems of carrying around an always-on connection in their pockets by demonstrating a monitoring system that uses a network of inexpensive sensors to track people using their smartphones and other wireless devices. The system, known as CreepyDOL, uses a network of air-dropped sensors that listen for wireless traffic, allowing the tracking of anyone with a wireless-enabled mobile device. "The CreepyDOL system takes the fundamental assumption of hiding in the crowd and does away with it," says Brendan O'Connor, the founder of security consultancy Malice Afterthought and the creator of the system. "Even if you don't connect, if you are wired on a network, we will find you. If you are a person in a city, we will find you, and we will do it all for very little money." While people are worried about Google and the NSA, they should be concerned that they are carrying around the equivalent of an easy-to-track sensor system, O'Connor says. "This isn't even hard, and it should be hard, and that is pretty disturbing to me," he says. "People fix vulnerabilities when the kid on the street corner can abuse it. Maybe it's time to fix this now.
Submission + - Warranty doesn't cover water damage of 'water-resistant' Galaxy S4 Active (paritynews.com)
hypnosec writes: Early owners of Samsung Galaxy S4 Active have flocked the web to vent their anger on Samsung for misleading them using marketing blurbs like "Capture your underwater story instantly" and "Take your phone under the surface and capture a different world” as their handsets are more or useless even after they took all precautions as suggested by Samsung for underwater photography. Samsung, while advertising the S4 Active, revealed that the smartphone can survive a dip in a fish tank but, it actually doesn't cover damages as a result of exposure to liquid, moisture, or dampness. Owners may have not dug deep into what the IP67 rating really means and may have misunderstood that the phone was actually water-proof in contrast to 'water-resistant.' The IP67 rating means that the phone is water-resistant only up to depths of three feet in water and that too for duration of just 30 minutes.
Submission + - Slingatron to hurl payloads into orbit (gizmag.com)
cylonlover writes: People have been shooting things into space since the 1940s, but in every case this has involved using rockets. This works, but it’s incredibly expensive with the cheapest launch costs hovering around US$2,000 per pound. This is in part because almost every bit of the rocket is either destroyed or rendered unusable once it has put the payload into orbit. Reusable launch vehicles like the SpaceX Grasshopper offer one way to bring costs down, but another approach is to dump the rockets altogether and hurl payloads into orbit. That's what HyperV Technologies Corp. of Chantilly, Virginia is hoping to achieve with a “mechanical hypervelocity mass accelerator” called the slingatron.
Submission + - Inside the Electronic Frontier Foundation (tuxradar.com)
qwerdf writes: Airstrip One wasn’t built in a day, nor will a total police state suddenly appear overnight. But times are changing, the threats to our freedom are coming from every direction, and fighting this battle demands a great deal of persistence and determination. One group firmly on our side is the EFF. The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s goal is “defending your rights in the digital world”, and its activities span the full gamut of freedom fighting: providing help with court cases; issuing white papers that explain current threats; running campaigns to spread awareness of various issues; and developing technologies that make our online activities safer from prying eyes. It’s a non-profit, donation-supported organisation based in San Francisco with an impressive staff roster (see www.eff.org/about/staff), including attorneys, analysts and activists – and generally with a strong pro-free software and pro-GNU/Linux culture.
Read on to find out how the EFF came together, what it has done so far, and how it’s preparing for upcoming battles.
Read on to find out how the EFF came together, what it has done so far, and how it’s preparing for upcoming battles.
Submission + - Siemens Retreats from Nuclear Power (e-berlin.org)
e-berlin.org writes: Siemens Retreats from Nuclear Power
Submission + - The cutting edge of touch - Slice (i-programmer.info)
mikejuk writes: Slice is a breakthrough iPad game that uses touch input in a new way to immerse the user in potentially painful game. The task is to manipulate virtual blades via the touch screen to uncover and press a red button. One slip however an the result is a virtual cut complete with blood. A classic multisensory illusion causes the player to almost feel the pain. Its a good trick and it demonstrates just how powerful a technique touch input can be. Are there more applications waiting to be discovered? And can the illusion be enhanced with haptics?
Submission + - Scientists Develop New Method to Improve Passwords (arxiv.org)
An anonymous reader writes: Scientists at Max-Planck-Institute for Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, Germany have developed a novel method to improve password security. A strong long password is split in two parts. The first part is memorized by a human. The second part is stored as a CAPTCHA-like image of a chaotic lattice system.
Submission + - New quantum record: 14 bits! (nanowerk.com)
Tx-0 writes: Quantum physicists from the University of Innsbruck have set another world record: They have achieved controlled entanglement of 14 quantum bits (qubits) and, thus, realized the largest quantum register that has ever been produced. With this experiment the scientists have not only come closer to the realization of a quantum computer but they also show surprising results for the quantum mechanical phenomenon of entanglement.
By now the Innsbruck experimental physicists have succeeded in confining up to 64 particles in an ion trap. "We are not able to entangle this high number of ions yet," says Thomas Monz. "However, our current findings provide us with a better understanding about the behavior of many entangled particles." And this knowledge may soon enable them to entangle even more atoms.
By now the Innsbruck experimental physicists have succeeded in confining up to 64 particles in an ion trap. "We are not able to entangle this high number of ions yet," says Thomas Monz. "However, our current findings provide us with a better understanding about the behavior of many entangled particles." And this knowledge may soon enable them to entangle even more atoms.
Submission + - ThinkPad Advanced Mini Dock Hack (youtube.com)
alek202 writes: European Hackers have demonstrated how to hack a ThinkPad Advanced Mini Dock in order to remove a docked and locked ThinkPad without damages from the Dock.
This is an excellent example how security by obscurity works — or doesn't.
This is an excellent example how security by obscurity works — or doesn't.
Submission + - Multicore API spec released in open source version (linuxfordevices.com)
An anonymous reader writes: OpenMCAPI enables applications to communicate across cores via shared memory, in asymmetric multiprocessing (AMP) systems.
