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Mozilla

Submission + - Mozilla Offers Alternative to OpenID (net-security.org)

Submitted by
Orome1
Orome1 writes: "Mozilla has been working for a while now on a new browser-based system for identifying and authenticating users it calls BrowserID, but its only this month that all of its sites have finally been outfitted with the technology. Mozilla aims for BrowserID to become a more secure alternative to OpenID, the decentralized authentication system offered to users of popular sites such as Google, Yahoo!, PayPal, MySpace and others."

Submission + - Massive sunspot headed towards earth. (adorraeli.com)

Submitted by parallel_prankster
parallel_prankster writes: NY Times reports that a huge sunspot unleashed a blob of charged plasma Thursday that space weather watchers predict will blast past the Earth on Sunday. Satellite operators and power companies are keeping a close eye on the incoming cloud, which could distort the Earth’s magnetic field and disrupt radio communications, especially at higher latitudes. The huge blob of charged gas spotted by NASA satellites is speeding toward Earth at more than 2 million mph. The most damaging solar discharges, which are very rare, can zoom at speeds more than twice that fast. A better link with some animation is available here
Software

Submission + - Apple restricts iBooks Author works to own devices (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Any author deciding to write their next book in the new iBooks Author is in for quite a shock. When it comes time to publish that book Apple points out you can't sell the book anywhere else without its permission. This is noted at the time of publication, but also in the EULA.

Needless to say the content probably belongs to you under law, but the creation of said work, and the format it takes in iBooks Author remains the property of Apple. Try and sell it in that format elsewhere and Apple will block it. Sell it on iBookstore and Apple will take a cut.
Hardware

Submission + - NTT wireless module transfers data at 15 Gbps (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: NTT has developed a prototype milliwave transceiver module capable of transferring data at up to 15Gbps, that’s 25x faster than TransferJet. The final module is promised to be small enough to fit inside a portable device like a tablet and has a range of 50 cm, meaning transfer of music and video is only going to take seconds rather than minutes.

In order to achieve the 15Gbps transfer speed, NTT utilized all four communication channels available on the 60GHz band. It is therefore capable of using one or more channels, with the slowest speed being a still impressive 3.8Gbps.

Submission + - A Data Center That Looks Like A Mansion (datacenterknowledge.com)

Submitted by 1sockchuck
1sockchuck writes: A luxury homebuilder in Minnesota wants to build a data center that looks like a mansion, allowing the commercial building to fit into a residential neighborhood. The "community-based data center" designed for FiberPop features a stone facade and sloped roof with dormers, along with an underground data hall. Data centers are typically located in industrial areas in nondescript buildings providing anonymity and structural integrity. Can they work in residential areas?
Cloud

Submission + - What happens to your files when a cloud service sh (extremetech.com) 2

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "Megaupload's shutdown poses an interesting question: What happens to all the files that were stored on the servers? XDA-Developers, for example, has more than 200,000 links to Megaupload — and this morning, they're all broken, with very little hope of them returning. What happens if a similar service, like Dropbox, gets shut down — either through bankruptcy, or federal take-down? Will you be given a chance to download your files, or helped to migrate them to another similar service? What about data stored on enterprise services like Azure or AWS — are they more safe?"
Movies

Submission + - Why can't filmmakers distribute their stuff online (vornaskotti.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Why can't filmmakers just put their movies online, bypass distributors and rake in money through Paypal or other online method? The problem is the rather byzantine structure of film financing, where the traditional distributors are an essential part of film funding. It's facts like this that make discussing online distribution hard: whereas the industry is clueless about the internet, the other side of the issue is clueless about how different media industries work.

Submission + - MPAA Accuses Anonymous of Being Against Free Speec (theinquirer.net)

Submitted by ForgedArtificer
ForgedArtificer writes: In a laughable twist of irony, the MPAA has condemned the recent website attacks by Anonymous, in response to the MegaUpload takedown, as being against free speech.

Particularly humorous comments include "Unfortunately, some groups believe that speech or ideas that they disagree with should be silenced." and "The motion picture and television industry has always been a strong supporter of free speech. We strongly condemn any attempts to silence any groups or individuals."

I guess they don't actually know what SOPA and PIPA are all about?
Businesses

Submission + - Dell execs in massive insider trading probe (computerworlduk.com)

Submitted by DMandPenfold
DMandPenfold writes: Two former Dell employees, including a former investor relations manager, were part of a $62 million record-breaking insider trading scam, involving the company's shares as well as Nvidia stock, according to the FBI.

The news comes as the US authorities step up their pursuit of inside traders. Two months ago, Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam was sentenced to 11 years in jail for his role in a scam involving AMD, IBM and 3Com stock.

Yesterday, Sandeep Goyal, an employee at Dell's US headquarters between 2006 and 2007 before becoming a financial analyst, was arrested. An unnamed co-conspirator in Dell's investor relations department from 2007 to 2009 is also alleged to have been part of the scam. The co-conspirator has not been arrested, it is understood.

Goyal allegedly made $175,000 by providing inside information about Dell to a hedge fund. He has pleaded guilty to charges of securities fraud.

Jesse Tortura, a former analyst at Diamondback, and Spyridon Adondakis, formerly at Level Global, have also pleaded guilty.

Seven men in total are allegedly implicated in the scam, including Todd Newman, a senior manager with the Diamondback Capital Management hedge fund, and Anthony Chiasson, a co-founder at Level Global investors. Newman oversaw IT stock investments at Diamondback. Chiasson's Level firm principally trades in IT and finance shares. Both were arrested yesterday.

Jon Horvath, an employee at hedge fund Sigma Capital Management, and Danny Kuo of Whittier Trust, were also allegedly part of the scam. Both hedge funds trade in a range of share types.

All seven were charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, relating to profits made from trading Dell and Nvidia stock in 2008 and 2009.

Authorities even produced an email from Kuo to Adondakis, Tortura and Horvath, in which he openly states that he is providing insider information.

In one instance of profit from the scam, Level Global allegedly made $57 million from a tip ahead of Dell's results – which authorities branded as the largest single profit ever from inside information.

Dell said in a statement that it "has cooperated with government authorities". It added: "All Dell employees are required annually to complete training on the company's Code of Conduct, which includes a section on insider trading. Violations of these policies are treated seriously, and violations result in disciplinary action up to and including termination."

FBI assistant director Janice Fedarcyk said: "The FBI has arrested more than 60 people in 'Operation Perfect Hedge' [the hedge fund insider trading probe] to date, and this initiative is far from over.

"If you are engaged in insider trading, what distinguishes you from the dozens who have been charged is not that you haven't been caught; it's that you haven't been caught yet."
Hardware

Submission + - Startup Combines CPU And DRAM On One Chip (techweekeurope.co.uk) 3

Submitted by
judgecorp
judgecorp writes: "Startup Venray believes that instead of packing more and more cores onto a processor chip, the CPU and DRAM should be combined on one piece of silicon. The company thinks bandwidth between CPU and memory, and fewer signals going out over the chip's pins, is a better better way to improve performance. No actual product yet, unfortunately, and the current burst of publicity seems to be designed to attract a buyer."
Transportation

Submission + - What to Do with a 1,000 Foot Wrecked Cruise Ship?

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "What do you do with a 1,000-foot wreck that's full of fuel and half-submerged on a rocky ledge in the middle of an Italian marine sanctuary? Remove it. Very carefully. Stuck on a rocky shoal off the Tuscan island of Giglio, leaving the wreck where it is probably isn't an option but removing a massive ship that's run hard aground and incurred major damage to the hull involves logistical and environmental issues that are just as large. First there's the fuel. A half a million gallons of fuel could wreak havoc on the marine ecosystem — the ship is smack in the middle of the Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine Mammals. Engineers may need to go in from the side using a special drill to cut through the fuel tanks in a process called hot tapping. "You fasten a flange with a valve on it, you drill through, access the tank, pull the drill back out, close the valve, and then attach a pumping apparatus to that," says Tim Beaver, president of the American Salvage Association. "It's a difficult task, but it's doable." Then if it's determined that the Costa Concordia can be saved, engineers could try to refloat the ship and tug it back to dry dock for refurbishing. The job will likely require "a combination of barges equipped with winches and cranes" to pull the cruise liner off its side then once the Concordia is off the rocks, "they are going to have to fight to keep it afloat, just like you would a battle-damaged ship." Another alternative is to cut the vessel into smaller, manageable parts using a giant cutting wire coated with a material as hard as diamonds called a cheese wire in a method was used to dismember the 55,000-ton Norwegian-flagged MV Tricolor. Regardless of how the Concordia is removed, it's going to be a difficult, expensive and drawn-out process. "I don't see it taking much less than a year, and I think it could take longer," says Bob Umbdenstock, director of planning at Resolve Marine Group."

Comment Re:Oracle matters less thank you'd think (Score 1) 157

by pburghdoom (#38724180) Attached to: Oracle and the Java Ecosystem
This was my thought exactly, instead of the boolean why not call a method. The method name can and should be highly descriptive so you know what is going on (both for readability and maintainability) and it also allows for code reuse which was one of the arguments earlier for goto. The OP's claim that it had to be done with the extra boolean was unsettling.
The Courts

Submission + - Kodak sues HTC, Apple over patents (networkworld.com)

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: Here we go again with mobile industry patent lawsuits: Struggling Eastman Kodak is alleging that Apple's and HTC's smartphones and tablets infringe on its digital imaging technology, and has filed a complaint and lawsuits with the U.S. International Trade Commission and the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. The complaint to the ITC claims that some of Apple's iPhones, iPads, and iPods, and HTC's smartphones and tablets, infringe Kodak patents related to technology for transmitting images. Kodak also alleges that HTC's smartphones infringe on a patent related to a method for previewing images, which is already the subject of pending actions against Apple.
Education

Submission + - UK School's ICT to be replaced by computer science (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
peetm
peetm writes: "It seems that the UK government has at last come to its senses and has announced the scraping of (a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_and_communications_technology">ICT in schools — which in the UK means playing about with Word and Excel etc. By the way, that came as a shock to most students – they thought ICT meant using Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, sadly, when they became enlightened they also switched off. But who can blame them really – one or two years of Powerpoint, Word, Excel! Yuck. So anyway, it’s being scrapped – and about time too – and is to be replaced with computer science lessons (deliberate lowercase). However, what about those kids (and let’s face it – we’re talking about the majority) who won’t be able to cope with even lowercase cs? How to prepare them for the real world?"

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