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Submission + - Amazon AWS continues to use TrueCrypt despite project's demise

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: "Importing and exporting data from Amazon Simple Storage Service still requires TrueCrypt, two weeks after the encryption software was discontinued"

"Amazon.com did not immediately respond to an inquiry seeking information on whether it plans to support other data encryption technologies for the AWS import/export feature aside from TrueCrypt in the future"

http://www.infoworld.com/d/clo...

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWS...

http://aws.amazon.com/importex...

Submission + - WSJ: Facebook to Advertisers: More Data Coming

Submitted by psybre
psybre writes: A Wall Street Journal article details Facebook's plans for sharing their information with advertisers. The company has been gathering user's browsing habits. While used in the past only for security reasons, they intend to provide this information to advertisers soon. An industry analyst was quoted that, "By bringing in data about their users' browsing habits and app usage, they are creating an even more complete profile of each person."

Comment Texas phenomena (Score 1) 688

by Ellie K (#47064269) Attached to: Professors: US "In Denial" Over Poor Maths Standards
I took a quick glance at the study. "Well off" is based on parental education, not parental income. You'd think they would be tightly correlated, but I'm not so certain.. This quote from the article, along with the burnt out shell of a VW bus sitting in a field in Mississippi, was awkward:

Lacking good information, it has been easy even for sophisticated Americans to be seduced by apologists who would have the public believe the problems are simply those of poor kids in central city schools. Our results point in quite the opposite direction. The underachievement in some southern states was a reflection of deep-rooted historical divides and disadvantages, Prof Peterson said, such as slavery and segregation.

("Seduced by apologists"?) The outlier is Texas. Oddly, despite being part of the Confederacy, children in Texas with poorly educated parents perform inexplicably well. Of course, according to this Harvard University School of Government study, Massachusetts children are the most proficient in mathematics in the United States, second only to Germany and Switzerland...

Submission + - Google using Youtube threat as leverage for cheaper streaming rights

Submitted by Sockatume
Sockatume writes: According to a press release issued by WIN, a group representing independent musicians, Google is threatening to de-list musicians' videos from YouTube if they do not agree to the terms for its unannounced streaming music service. The template contracts issued to musicians are described as "undervalued" relative to other streaming services, and are not open for negotiation. The press release was issued by WIN but rescinded when Google agreed to further discussions; The Associated Free Press and The Guardian have published stories based on that original release.
DRM

$200 For a Bound Textbook That You Can't Keep? 252

Posted by Soulskill from the because-textbook-buyers-have-had-it-too-good-for-too-long dept.
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 because the buyer will get an electronic version and assorted online goodies once they return the actual book. But they must return the book. 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 + - Google Maps Now Integrates Uber: Are On-Demand Robotaxis Coming? (vice.com)

Submitted by Daniel_Stuckey
Daniel_Stuckey writes: In a major update to its mobile app, Google Maps will now integrate Uber's on-demand car service. That means when you're looking up the route from point A to B in certain cities, the app will show you the best way to drive, bike, walk, or Uber there. Choose option four, and a single tap launches your Uber app and hails you a black car. That's an entire fourth mode of transport there folks, which speaks to what the Silicon Valley darlings may have in mind for the future—aside from being a smart and obvious PR move. Google Ventures is a major investor in Uber, so it's in the both companies' best interest to promote the app. It'll be interesting to see if the maps integration is a sweetheart deal for Uber, or if Google incorporates its competitor apps too: Lyft, Sidecar, and Hailo. The venture firm poured $258 million into the startup last summer, propelling the company to its $3.5 billion valuation. That's Google's largest deal ever, sparking a swirl of speculation about Google's future intentions with the transportation startup.
Programming

Programming Language Diversity On the Rise 177

Posted by Soulskill from the digital-melting-pot dept.
jfruh writes: "As GitHub becomes an increasingly common repository of project code, the metadata for projects saved there can tell us a lot about the state of the industry. In particular, a look at the programming languages used over the past half-decade shows an increasingly fragmented landscape, in which the overall share of most major languages is on a slight decline, while less-used languages are seeing modest growth in usage."

Submission + - Let Spouses of H-1B Visa Holders Work in US says White House

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Carolyn Lochhead reports in the SF Chronicle that the White House has announced a plan allowing spouses of H-1B visa holders to work in the United States, a coup for Silicon Valley companies that have been calling for more lenient rules for immigrants who come to the United States to work in technology. "The proposals announced today will encourage highly skilled, specially trained individuals to remain in the United States and continue to support U.S. businesses and the growth of the U.S. economy," says Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. "A concurrent goal is for the United States to maintain competitiveness with other countries that attract skilled foreign workers and offer employment authorization for spouses of skilled workers. American businesses continue to need skilled nonimmigrant and immigrant workers."

Currently, spouses of H-1B visa holders are not allowed to work unless they obtain their own visa but tech companies have been calling for more H-1B visas, and supporters of the rule change argue that it will bring in more talented workers. Critics say they believe expanding the H-1B visa program will allow lower-paid foreign workers to take American jobs. The plan immediately drew fire from Republicans. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who sits on the Judiciary Committee, accused the administration of acting unilaterally to change immigration law and bring in tens of thousands of potential competitors with Americans for jobs. "Fifty million working-age Americans aren't working," Sessions said in a statement, adding that as many as "half of new technology jobs may be going to guest workers. This will help corporations by further flooding a slack labor market, pulling down wages."

Submission + - Glow-In-The-Dark Roads Experiencing Issues Already

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: Back in April we read about the first glow-in-the-dark road debuting in the Netherlands. The concept is not only awesome, but it also has a real safety upside to it. Less than a month into the trial there's already a large stumbling block: the roads go dark when they get too wet. More specifically, moisture, such as that encountered during rainfall, can quickly reduce the effectiveness of the glowing paint's light output. The engineers at Heijmans, which is behind the pilot program, say a new version of the glowing road markings is already in development and will be ready later this summer. Maybe the second iteration of the glow-in-the-dark roads will work as expected. Which then leads to the question of whether the future will include glow-in-the-dark roads. Seriously, our roads might just start to look like something out of tron if you throw the new 2015 BMW i8 into the mix.

Submission + - Web cesspit 4chan touts '$20 bug bounty' after hackers ruin Moot's day (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by mask.of.sanity
mask.of.sanity writes: 4chan's Moot has launched a bug bounty for the site after it was hacked, but is offering a meagre $20 in "self-serve ad spend" for all bugs. The bounty programme was launched after the website and Moot's Amazon accounts were hacked. The intrusion spelled the end for DrawQuest which was closed after Moot decided it was not worth spending money to ensure the unprofitable but popular drawing platform was secure.

Submission + - The Hackers Who Recovered NASA's Lost Lunar Photos (wired.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project has since 2007 brought some 2,000 pictures back from 1,500 analog data tapes. They contain the first high-resolution photographs ever taken from behind the lunar horizon, including the first photo of an earthrise (first slide above). Thanks to the technical savvy and DIY engineering of the team at LOIRP, it’s being seen at a higher resolution than was ever previously possible. ... The photos were stored with remarkably high fidelity on the tapes, but at the time had to be copied from projection screens onto paper, sometimes at sizes so large that warehouses and even old churches were rented out to hang them up. The results were pretty grainy, but clear enough to identify landing sites and potential hazards. After the low-fi printing, the tapes were shoved into boxes and forgotten. ... The drives had to be rebuilt and in some cases completely re-engineered using instruction manuals or the advice of people who used to service them. The data they recovered then had to be demodulated and digitized, which added more layers of technical difficulties.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Possible to follow the PMI code of ethics and keep a job? 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Read a Slashdot article re: ethics for programmers, and it made me think.... As a long-time project manager, I have seen all manner of tom-foolery; directors pillaging project budgets without sponsor authorization, managers and executives lying to customers about issues (that eventually tanked the project and our contract), PMI chapter presidents leveraging their power of position for self-enrichment, EPMO-executive-leaders looking the other way when asked to confront such problems.

But if you are a good soldier and keep quiet, you get to keep your job. So, my question to the PMI Ethics Committee is: "If a project manager follows the PMI Code of Ethics and is subsequently 'released' from their job, will PMI pay that project manager until he/she can find a new job?"

The answer is obviously "no, we won't." So, why does PMI continue to promulgate a strict code of ethics for PMP's, if code of ethics makes it nearly impossible to keep a job, in the real world?

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