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Space

Submission + - Geomagnetic storm predicted in next 12 hours (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center today issued a geomagnetic storm bulletin for the next 12 hours. Such storms can cause problems with Global Positioning Systems and power grids.

NOAA stated: "Great anticipation for the first of what may be three convergent shocks to slam the geomagnetic field in the next twelve hours, +/-. The CME with the Radio Blackout earlier today is by far the fastest, and may catch its forerunners in the early hours of August 5 (UTC) — at earth. Two impacts are expected; G2 (Moderate) to G3 (Strong) Geomagnetic Storming on August 5, and potentially elevated protons to the S2 (Moderate) Solar Radiation Storm condition, those piling up ahead of the shock."
Space

Submission + - Black Hole Collision Made Fireworks in Milky Way (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: The Milky Way's center houses a supermassive black hole so sleepy that it probably hasn't swallowed a decent meal for years. Yet a growing body of evidence indicates that the now-dormant beast, about as massive as 4 million suns, fueled a firestorm of activity just a few million years ago, including the sustained emission of some of the highest energy radiation in the universe. A new study offers a dramatic explanation for these past fireworks: The sleeping giant woke when a smaller black hole from another galaxy smashed into it.
Iphone

Submission + - Sniffer Hijacks SSL Traffic From Unpatched iPhones (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
CWmike
CWmike writes: "Almost anyone can snoop the secure data traffic of unpatched iPhones and iPads using a recently-revised nine-year-old tool, a researcher said as he urged owners to apply Apple's latest iOS fix. If iOS devices aren't patched, attackers can easily intercept and decrypt secure traffic — the kind guarded by SSL, which is used by banks, e-tailers and other sites — at a public Wi-Fi hotspot, said Chet Wisniewski, a security researcher with Sophos. 'This is a nine-year-old bug that Moxie Marlinspike disclosed in 2002,' Wisniewski told Computerworld on Wednesday. On Monday, Marlinspike released an easier-to-use revision of his long-available 'sslsniff' traffic sniffing tool. 'My mother could actually use this,' he said."
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Chinese Couple Sells Children for Video Games (tekgoblin.com)

Submitted by
tekgoblin
tekgoblin writes: "Li Lin and Li Juan met at an internet cafe back in 2007. A year later the parents who were under the age of 21 – welcomed their first child, a son. In 2009 they had their second child, a baby girl, at this time they came up with the wild idea to sell her for money to fund their online game obsession.

They received around $500 for her, which they blew through quickly after. The couple then proceeded to sell their first child for around $4600. Shortly later they had another child, a boy again, and sold him as well for $4600."
Government

Submission + - Can the NSA Track Your Phone's Location? (itworld.com)

Submitted by
itwbennett
itwbennett writes: "Responding to questions from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence yesterday, Matthew Olsen, the NSA's general counsel, said that the NSA 'may', under 'certain circumstances' have the authority to track U.S. citizens by intercepting location data from cell phones, but it's 'very complicated.' 'There's no need to panic, or start shopping for aluminum-foil headwear,' says blogger Kevin Fogarty, but clearly the NSA has been thinking about it enough 'that the agency's chief lawyer was able to speak intelligently about it off the cuff while interviewing for a different job.'"

Submission + - Black Hat Pwnie winner will be a criminal (networkworld.com)

Submitted by tdog17
tdog17 writes: Law enforcement may be interested to see if anyone actually shows up this year to accept the annual Pwnie Award for Epic Ownage at Black Hat, since all the nominees face possible criminal charges.
NASA

Submission + - NASA, Chevron team to go after energy technology (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Chevron today said they would partner to build a variety of energy sensing and drilling technologies that could be used on Earth and in space.
With the partnership known as Advanced Energy Technology Development, JPL said it will assist in the demonstration, development and commercial deployment of a range of technologies that includes valves to selectively control oil and gas flow from different geological formations in a well."
The Internet

Submission + - Elderly Prefer Fibre Broadband, Social Networking (itproportal.com)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: According to a new revelation, fibre cable broadband is becoming increasingly popular amongst older people.

Edd Dawson, the editor of the group revealed that a large proportion of pensioners are now embracing fast-speed broadband services and also, making great usage of social networking tools.
Robotics

Submission + - Robot gets rid of landmines -- by crushing them (discovery.com) 1

Submitted by derGoldstein
derGoldstein writes: Discovery has an article about a robot that gets rid of landmines, not by using sensors to pinpoint their location, but by rotating a giant cylinder covered in tungsten hammers to smash them and blow them up: "An operator commands this beast from a safe distance using a remote control unit. The hull of the robot is made up of hardened steel plates in a "V" shape to help limit any damage from antitank mines and unexploded shells of sizes up to 3 inches, and the D-3 has been able to successfully ingest mines containing as much as 17.6 pounds of explosive, which is nothing to sneeze at.". A video of the beast in action can be found here.
Space

Submission + - New Soyuz Launch Facility Gets Equator Boost (pbs.org) 1

Submitted by tcd004
tcd004 writes: Russian and French teams are currently hard at work in French Guiana on the northern coast of South America, building the first Soyuz launch facility in the Western Hemisphere. Soyuz rockets normally carry 3,500 pound payloads into orbit, but from the French Guiana spaceport, the rocket will have an added benefit of being near the equator where the Earth's spin extremely fast. This extra boost allows it to deliver a 6,600 pound payload into orbit. The first launches are scheduled for October.

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