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Submission + - Edward Snowden says NSA engages in industrial espionage (www.cbc.ca) 2

Submitted by Maow
Maow writes: Snowden has been interviewed by a German TV network and stated that the NSA is involved in industrial espionage, which is outside the range of national security.

He claims that Siemens is a prime example of a target for the data collection.

I doubt this would suprise AirBus or other companies, but it shall remain to be seen what measures global industries take (if any) to prevent their internal secrets from falling into NSA's — and presumably American competitors' — hands.

Submission + - Google acquires Next Lab, gets the iPod strategist on-board (muktware.com)

Submitted by sfcrazy
sfcrazy writes: Google is acquiring Next Lab for $3.2 billion. With this acquisition Google is also bringing a key ex-Apple employee Tony Fadell who joined Apple in 2001 to design the iPad and lay Apple’s strategy for audio range of products. He quit Apple in 2008 and started a company, with another ex-Apple executive Matt Rogers, which makes very smart thermostat and smoke detectors.

Submission + - Survey spots dwarf stars moving fast enough to exit the galaxy (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by mpicpp
mpicpp writes: A new analysis of a survey of the stars in our galaxy has found a number that appear to have reached escape velocity, moving fast enough to exit the Milky Way. These aren't the first stars we've found that are moving this quickly, but all the previous ones are large, blue stars that were thrown out of the galaxy's core by its supermassive black hole. These are smaller stars, similar to our Sun, and they clearly do not originate at the galaxy's core. In fact, they're moving fast enough that they could have potentially originated in another galaxy.

The study relies on the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration, a project that has mapped the location of 240,000 stars within our galaxy. With multiple exposures, it's possible to track stars as they move across the sky

Submission + - Would Intel build best-in-the-world ARM SoC?

Submitted by 4wdloop
4wdloop writes: With x86 architecture becoming quickly irrelevant for market dominance, Intel's fab technology being step or two ahead of competition could make them the King of ARM. Why would or would not Intel do it?

Submission + - Claims that NSA Spying Stopped Terrorism are 'Overblown and Misleading' (ibtimes.co.uk) 2

Submitted by DavidGilbert99
DavidGilbert99 writes: A new report by Washington think tank New American Foundation claims that the US governments claims that the NSA spying programs had helped stop 50 terrorist plots are "'overblown and even misleading." The report concludes that the NSA's controversial spying programs have had "no discernible impact on preventing acts of terrorism."

Submission + - How Quickly Will The Latest Arms Race Accelerate

Submitted by tranquilidad
tranquilidad writes: Russia was concerned enough about the U.S. development of a Prompt Global Strike (PGS) capability in 2010 that they included restrictions in the the new Start treaty (previously discussed on Slashdot). It now appears that China has entered the game with their "Ultra-High Speed Missile Vehicle." While some in the Russian press may question whether fears of the PGS are "rational" it appears that the race is on to develop the fastest weapons delivery system. The hypersonic arms race is focused on "precise targeting, very rapid delivery of weapons, and greater survivability against missile and space defenses" with delivery systems traveling between Mach 5 and Mach 10 after being launched from "near space".

Submission + - No NSA Fears As Tech Companies Hawk Data-Hungry Devices At CES (politico.com)

Submitted by cold fjord
cold fjord writes: Politico reports, "The International Consumer Electronics Show this week practically overflowed with gadgets that promise to improve daily tasks like driving and shopping — all by collecting consumers’ personal information. ... That’s business-as-usual for Silicon Valley’s tech industry, where ever-more-granular details about consumers’ lives and preferences are seen as engines for innovation. But it provides a sharp contrast to the mood in the nation’s capital, where revelations about government surveillance are sparking heated political debate about the protections Americans should have from invasive snooping. While many of the major tech companies at CES have lobbied to limit National Security Agency surveillance, the industry as a whole hasn’t turned its gaze inward to the information it also collects. ... “I was a little surprised it hadn’t bled over to CES,” said Gary Shapiro, the head of the Consumer Electronics Association ... But Shapiro, like others here, argued there’s a difference between the government collecting data and companies collecting information on their customers. ... if CES indicated anything, it’s that companies are finding novel ways to amass that data."

Submission + - Godaddy Asks People NOT TO USE ITS HOSTED EMAIL and May Not Host Their Own (blogspot.com)

Submitted by Bob Ord
Bob Ord writes: It appears that Godaddy, who provides email hosting, doesn't even use their own product, and that they randomly configure each email server based on a whim. Security researcher Mark Gamache decided to take a closer look at the hosting he pays for http://markgamache.blogspot.com/2014/01/godaddy-asks-people-not-to-use-its.html and was surprised to find that the SSL and hosting provider can't seem to afford proper SSL certificates for its SMPT servers and can't seem to get them properly configured with the test certificates they use. The certificate actually says "do not use on production systems" right on it!

Submission + - Valve's Steam Machines Are More About Safeguarding PCs Than Killing Consoles (eurogamer.net)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: CES has come and gone, and we've gotten a chance to see many different models of Valve's Steam Machines. They're being marketed as a device for a living room, and people are wondering if they'll be able to compete with the Big-3 console manufacturers. But this article argues that Valve isn't going after the consoles — instead, Steam Machines are part of a long-term plan to keep the PC gaming industry healthy. Quoting: 'Over the years, Valve has gone from simply evangelising the PC platform — it once flew journalists in from around the world pretty much just to tell them it was great — to actively protecting it, and what we're seeing now is just the beginning of that push. Take SteamOS. To you and me, it's a direct interface for Steam based on Linux that currently has poor software support. To Valve, though, it's a first step in levering development, publishing, gameplay and community away from their reliance on Windows and DirectX (and to a lesser extent Mac OS), systems that cannot be relied upon in the long term. ... As for Steam Machines, they are a beachhead, not an atom bomb. They are meant to sell modestly. ... The answer is that Valve is thinking in decades, not console generations.'

Submission + - Are parallel Universes real? Probably not. Here's why.

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Have you ever wondered about the possibility of infinite parallel Universes? About whether every time a quantum wavefunction collapses, or a decision gets made, our Universe goes with one decision, but there's a parallel Universe for each possible different outcome? I always thought that the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics told us that this was likely, but after reading this, I think someone's been misinforming us all. Maybe one Universe (or multiverse) is enough after all?

Submission + - Syrian Electronic Army defaces Skype's Facebook page, Twitter account, and blog (winbeta.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft's Skype team is working extra hard right now, circumventing an attack that occurred earlier today by hackers claiming to be the Syrian Electronics Army (SEA). This group apparently defaced Skype's Facebook page, Twitter page, as well as the Skype blog. The message? "Don't use Microsoft emails (hotmail,outlook), They are monitoring your accounts and selling the data to the governments."

Submission + - US Customs destroys Virtuoso's Flutes because they were "agricultural items" (bostonglobe.com) 2

Submitted by McGruber
McGruber writes: Flute virtuoso Boujemaa Razgui performed on a variety of flutes of varying ethnicity, each made by himself over years for specific types of ancient and modern performance. Razgui has performed with many US ensembles and is a regular guest with the diverse and enterprising Boston Camerata (http://www.bostoncamerata.com/index.html).

Last week, Razgui flew from Morocco to Boston, with stops in Madrid and New York. In New York, he says, a US Customs official opened his luggage and found the 13 flutelike instruments — 11 nays and two kawalas. Razgui says he had made all of the instruments using hard-to-find reeds. “They said this is an agriculture item,” said Razgui, who was not present when his bag was opened. “I fly with them in and out all the time and this is the first time there has been a problem. This is my life.” When his baggage arrived in Boston, the instruments were gone. He was instead given a number to call. “They told me they were destroyed,” he says. “Nobody talked to me. They said I have to write a letter to the Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. This is horrible. I don’t know what to do. I’ve never written letters to people.” (http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/names/2014/01/01/customs-officials-destroys-flute-virtuoso-instruments/HRnFgh1FwIqY5n2FdoKlMN/story.html)

Novelist Norman Lebrecht was the first to report the story. One ensemble director told him that 'I can’t think of an uglier, stupider thing for the U.S. government to do than to deprive this man of the tools of his art and a big piece of his livelihood.’ (http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2013/12/outrage-at-jfk-as-customs-men-smash-flutes.html)

Submission + - Increased Ski Helmet Use Isn't Reducing Brain Injuries

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: The NYT reports that the life-threatening head injury that Formula One driver Michael Schumacher recently sustained while skiing in the French Alps has focused attention on an unsettling trend — although skiers and snowboarders in the United States are wearing helmets more than ever — 70 percent of all participants, nearly triple the number from 2003 — there has been no reduction in the number of snow-sports-related fatalities or brain injuries in the country. Experts ascribe that seemingly implausible correlation to the inability of helmets to prevent serious head injuries like Schumacher’s and to the fact that more skiers and snowboarders are engaging in risky behaviors: skiing faster, jumping higher and going out of bounds. “The equipment we have now allows us to do things we really couldn’t do before," says Chris Davenport, "and people’s pushing limits has sort of surpassed people’s ability to control themselves." The population most susceptible are men in their late teens to late 30s, the same population that most often engages in high-risk behaviors like driving fast. “There’s this energy drink culture now, a high-level, high-risk culture, that’s being marketed and impacting the way people ski,” says Robb Gaffney. “That’s what people see, and that’s what people think skiing is, but really, that’s the highest level of skiers doing the highest level of tricks.”

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