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Submission + - UN Convention on Conventional Weapons Talks about Terminator-like Machines

Submitted by randomErr
randomErr writes: A four-day session in Geneva to prevent the nightmare scenario of autonomous machines fighting wars and possibly us will occur this November. "Killer robots would threaten the most fundamental of rights and principles in international law," warned Steve Goose, arms division director at Human Rights Watch. Robots and unmanned aircraft whose human controllers push the trigger from a far-distant base are currently stationed around the globe.

Submission + - Microsoft calls out malicious downloaders (networkworld.com)

Submitted by mpicpp
mpicpp writes: Microsoft is putting makers of downloader software on notice when it sees that their products are being used to infect PCs, and it is telling anti-virus vendors that perhaps these downloader programs ought to be tagged as malware.

In its latest Security Intelligence Report the company notes that the use of formerly benign downloaders has increasingly become a means to infect computers with malware, particularly click-fraud programs and ransomware in which attackers extort cash from victims in return for restoring their machines to a functional state.

As part of its industry collaboration, Microsoft shares the data it gathers from its customers about infections with relevant parties. In this case it tells the downloader makers in hopes they can restrict use of their products to legitimate purposes.

Submission + - $200 For a Bound Textbook That You Can't Keep? (networkworld.com)

Submitted by netbuzz
netbuzz writes: The worst of DRM is set to infest law school casebooks. One publisher, AspenLaw, wants students to pay $200 for a bound casebook but at the end of class they have to give it back. Aspen is touting this arrangement as a great deal in that the buyer will get an electronic version and assorted online goodies once they return the actual book. However, law professors and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are calling it nothing but a cynical attempt to undermine used book sales, as well as the first sale doctrine that protects used bookstores and libraries.

Submission + - Astrophysicists Build a Virtual Universe (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: In the most detailed effort yet, astrophysicists and cosmologists have modeled the evolution of the universe right down to the formation of individual galaxies. The results of the mammoth computer simulation neatly match multiple astronomical observations, ranging from the distribution of galaxies in massive galaxy clusters to the amounts of neutral hydrogen gas in galaxies large and small. The findings once again neatly confirm cosmologists' standard theory of the basic ingredients of the universe and how it evolved—a result that may disappoint researchers hoping for new puzzles to solve.

Submission + - IBM System/360 joins "Mad Men" television show (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by McGruber
McGruber writes: The May 4, 2014 episode of the "Mad Men" introduced a new bad guy character: an IBM System/360 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_System/360).

The computer replaced the "creative lounge" where the show's fictional copywriters spit-balled ideas. Fictional character explained "This machine is intimidating because it contains infinite quantities of information and that's threatening because human existence is finite. But isn't it godlike that we've mastered the infinite? The IBM 360 can count more stars in a day than we can count in a lifetime. "

Submission + - Russia Quietly Tightens Reins on Web With 'Bloggers Law'

Submitted by randomErr
randomErr writes: Russia is tightening its grip on free speech and freedom of the internet by creating a new 'blogger law'. The new law put into effect Monday now say if you want to post anything online you have to register with the government. This policy follows the pattern set by China, Pakistan, Turkey, and Iran.

Submission + - Scientists Unearth Long-Nosed Relative of T. Rex (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Scientists have unearthed Qianzhousaurus sinensis, a long-nosed cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex that lived until about 66 million years ago, just before most dinosaurs went extinct. The new dino, which at an estimated 757 kilograms weighed about one-tenth as much as T. rex, was found 3000 kilometers away from similar specimens, suggesting that this was a major group of dinos with a wide geographical distribution.

Submission + - Dogs 'Speak Human' Better Than Chimps (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Dogs first surprised cognition researchers when scientists showed that the animals readily follow a human’s pointing finger or gaze to find food. Both wolves, dogs’ closest relative, and chimpanzees, our near-cousin, have trouble doing this. Now, scientists have raised the dogs-only bar: The canines can also use the sound of a human voice alone to find that tasty treat. Previously, the researchers had shown that children will use a person’s voice to find a toy or treat, but chimpanzees don’t. That dogs also have this ability adds to previous assertions that we have selected our canine pals to pay special attention to us. Indeed, these human-attentive social skills may even be part of dogs’ genetic makeup.

Submission + - TLS 1.3 Ready to Drop RSA Key Transport (threatpost.com)

Submitted by msm1267
msm1267 writes: The IETF working group responsible for the TLS 1.3 standard is closing in on a decision to remove RSA key transport cipher suites from the protocol.

Decades-old RSA-based handshakes don’t cut it anymore, according to experts, who are anxious to put a modern protocol in place, one that can fend off an intense commitment from cybercriminals and intelligence agencies to snoop and steal data. The consensus is to support Diffie-Hellman Exchange or Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman Exchange, both of which support perfect forward secrecy, which experts are urging developers and standards-bearers to instill as a default encryption technology in new applications and build-outs.

Submission + - NASA, French cast doubt on SpaceX reusable rocket project (examiner.com)

Submitted by MarkWhittington
MarkWhittington writes: The drive by SpaceX to make the first stage of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle reusable has attracted the attention of both the media and the commercial space world. It recently tested a first stage which “soft landed” successfully in the Atlantic Ocean. However both NASA and the French space agency CNES has cast doubt that this kind of reusability could ever be made practical, according to a Monday story in Aviation Week.

SpaceX is basing its plan on the idea that its Merlin 1D engines have a lifecycle of 40, thus a Falcon 9 first stage could in theory be reused that number of times. The margins built into the rocket allow for the extra weight involved in using landing legs and the extra fuel that will be needed to execute a powered descent. These margins will still allow them to launch substantial payloads to low Earth orbit and a geo transfer orbit.

However, citing their own experience in trying to reuse engines, both NASA and the CNES have suggested that both the technical challenges and the economics mitigate against SpaceX being able to reuse all or part of their rockets. NASA found that it was not worth trying to reuse the space shuttle main engines after every flight without extensive refurbishment. The CNES studied reusing its Ariane 5 solid rocket boosters liquid fueled and reusable but soon scrapped the idea. Safety issues surrounding flyback boosters were also cites as a show stopper

Submission + - Drones banned from Yosemite, other parks

Submitted by randomErr
randomErr writes: On Friday, Yosemite National Park in California turned heads when it announced that drones, the unmanned aircraft increasingly making their way into private hands, aren't welcome in the park, famous for its picturesque valley of towering granite cliffs, waterfalls and Giant Sequoia groves. Apparently using drones to capture experiences at the park, on the western edge of the Sierra Nevada mountains, is becoming a trend.

Submission + - Microsoft OneDrive for Business modifies files (myce.com) 1

Submitted by dotd
dotd writes: Seán Byrne at myce.com finds that OneDrive is modifying his files: Microsoft OneDrive for Business (formerly SkyDrive Pro) is Microsoft’s workplace equivalent of OneDrive and comes bundled with most Office 365 subscriptions. It is designed to give the business control over the employee’s data stored within the synced folders. However, unlike the consumer version of OneDrive, we found out by accident that what gets synced to the cloud is generally not the same as what gets synced back from the cloud, even when no one has touched the files online or elsewhere.

Submission + - Google celebrates Teacher Appreciation Day by granting Wishlists of 356 Teachers (ajc.com)

Submitted by McGruber
McGruber writes: Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper blogger Maureen Downey reports (http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/get-schooled/2014/may/06/teacher-appreciation-day-google-atlanta-chooses-fu/) that, to celebration Teacher Appreciation Day, Google Atlanta today flash-funded the classroom requests of every Greater Atlanta teacher on DonorsChoose.org, Google’s $340,000 donation will provide materials for 356 Atlanta teachers and their 38,775 students.

“With two kids in the Atlanta Public School system, I’m inspired daily by the hard work of our local teachers,” said Tom Lowry, head of Google’s Atlanta office. “Today, we’re excited to team up with DonorsChoose.org to say a big thanks to teachers and to support all their classroom projects in the Atlanta area.”

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