Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - Iconic predator-prey study in peril (nature.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Scientists have charted the ebb and flow of moose and wolf populations on Isle Royale in Lake Superior for nearly 50 years. Ice bridges to Canada regularly supplied the genetic stocks for much of that time, but have been rare in recent years leading to inbreeding, dwindling populations and developmental deformity for the wolves that inhabit the island. Now, with the first solid freeze in six years, new wolves could join the mix ... or the remaining island dwellers could leave.

Submission + - US military begins work on brain implants that can restore lost memories (extremetech.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: "DARPA, at the behest of the US Department of Defense, is developing a black box brain implant â" an implant that will be wired into a soldierâ(TM)s brain and record their memories. If the soldier then suffers memory loss due to brain injury, the implant will then be used to restore those memories. The same implant could also be used during training or in the line of duty, too â" as weâ(TM)ve reported on in the past, stimulating the right regions of the brain can improve how quickly you learn new skills, reduce your reaction times, and more."

Submission + - Google's Java Coding Standards (infoq.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Google uses Java extensively to develop its products. The firm has recently released their complete definition of coding standards for Java source code. These are hard-and-fast rules that are clearly enforceable, and are followed universally within Google. It covers not only formatting, but other types of conventions and coding standards.

Submission + - Samsung preparing Context keylogger, spyware in upcoming Galaxy S phones 1

Submitted by jmcbain
jmcbain writes: According to the technology blog The Verge, Samsung is preparing new smartphone software that acts as a keylogger and spyware in their future phones, like the upcoming Galaxy S 5. "Samsung has been developing a service called Context that would collect what a person types, what apps they use, and what data their phone's sensors pick up, and then allow developers to tap into that pool of data to enrich their apps." The article suggests a scenario where "by using Context a video service might be able to automatically display sports videos to someone who frequently searches for sports." Looks similar to the Google Now service, but still scary stuff in the age of the NSA.

Submission + - Majority of Young American Adults Think Astrology is a Science 2

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Americans have always had a strange fascination with astrology. First Lady Nancy Reagan famously employed the services of an astrologer after the assassination attempt on her husband. Now UPI reports that according to a new survey by the National Science Foundation, nearly half of all Americans say astrology is either "very scientific" or "sort of scientific." Younger respondents, in particular, were the least likely to regard astrology as unscientific, with 58% of the youngest group (18 — 24) saying that astrology is either "very scientific" or "sort of scientific" (PDF). What's most alarming is that American attitudes about science are moving in the wrong direction. Skepticism of astrology hit an all-time high in 2004, when 66 percent of Americans said astrology was total nonsense. But each year, fewer and fewer respondents have dismissed the connections between star alignment and personality as bunk. Among respondents in the 25 — 44 age group 49% of respondents in the 2012 survey said astrology is either "very scientific" or "sort of scientific," up from 36% in 2010. So what's behind this data? The lead author of the report chapter in question, public opinion specialist John Besley of Michigan State University, cautions that we should probably wait for further data "to see if it's a real change" before speculating. But, he admits, the apparent increase in astrology belief "popped out to me when I saw it."

Submission + - Is Earth Weighed Down by Dark Matter? (slashdot.org) 1

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: There may be a giant ring of dark matter invisibly encircling the Earth, increasing its mass and pulling much harder on orbiting satellites than anything invisible should pull, according to preliminary research from a scientist specializing the physics of GPS signaling and satellite engineering. The dark-matter belt around the Earth could represent the beginning of a radically new understanding of how dark matter works and how it affects the human universe, or it could be something perfectly valid but less exciting despite having been written up by New Scientist and spreading to the rest of the geek universe on the basis of a single oral presentation of preliminary research at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in December. The presentation came from telecom- and GPS satellite expert Ben Harris, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Texas- Arlington, who based his conclusion on nine months’ worth of data that could indicate Earth’s gravity was pulling harder on its ring of geostationary GPS satellites than the accepted mass of the Earth would normally allow. Since planets can’t gain weight over the holidays like the rest of us, Harris’ conclusion was that something else was adding to the mass and gravitational power of Earth – something that would have to be pretty massive but almost completely undetectable, which would sound crazy if predominant theories about the composition of the universe didn’t assume 80 percent of it was made up of invisible dark matter. Harris calculated that the increase in gravity could have come from dark matter, but would have had to be an unexpectedly thick collection of it – one ringing the earth in a band 120 miles thick and 45,000 miles wide. Making elaborate claims in oral presentations, without nailing down all the variables that could keep a set of results from being twisted into something more interesting than the truth is a red flag for any scientific presentation, let alone one making audacious claims about the way dark matter behaves or weight of the Earth, according to an exasperated counterargument from Matthew R. Francis, who earned a Ph.D. in physics and astronomy from Rutgers in 2005, held visiting and assistant professorships at several Northeastern universities and whose science writing has appeared in Ars Technica, The New Yorker, Nautilus, BBC Future and others including his own science blog at Galileo’s Pendulum.
Security

Ask Slashdot: How Would You Secure Your Parents' PC? 408

Posted by timothy from the what's-the-late-2013-version? dept.
New submitter StirlingArcher writes "I've always built/maintained my parents' PC's, but as Mum has got older her PC seems to develop problems more readily. I would love to switch her to Linux, but she struggles with change and wants to stay with Vista and MS Office. I've done the usual remove Admin rights, use a credible Internet Security package. Is there anything more dramatic that I could do, without changing the way she uses her PC or enforcing a new OS on her again? One idea was to use a Linux OS and then run Vista in a VM, which auto-boots and creates a backup image every so often. Thanks for any help!"

Submission + - How would you secure your Parents' PC?

Submitted by StirlingArcher
StirlingArcher writes: I've always built/maintained my Parents' PC's, but as Mum has got older her PC seems to develop problems more readily. I would love to switch her to Linux, but she struggles with change and wants to stay with Vista and MS Office.

I've done the usual remove Admin rights, use a credible Internet Security package. Is there anything more dramatic that I could do, without changing the way she uses her PC or enforcing a new OS on her again?

One idea was to use a Linux OS and then run Vista in a VM, which auto-boots and creates a backup image every so often.

Thanks for any help!

Submission + - Steam OS available for download, based on Debian 7.1 not Ubuntu (muktware.com)

Submitted by sfcrazy
sfcrazy writes: Valve Software has made available images for Steam OS, it’s GNU/Linux based gaming distribution. Valve has also released more information about the operating system. Unlike popular belief Steam OS is not based on Ubuntu; it’s based on Debian 7.1 Wheezy. Steam OS is using Gnome as it’s default desktop environment.

Submission + - Valve Releases SteamOS, Based On Debian Linux (phoronix.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Valve has put out their first SteamOS Linux operating system beta. SteamOS 1.0 "Alchemist" Beta is forked from Debian Wheezy and features its own graphics compositor along with other changes. Right now SteamOS 1.0 is only compatible with NVIDIA graphics cards and uses NVIDIA's closed-source Linux driver. SteamOS can be downloaded from here, but the server seems to be offline under the pressure.
Censorship

North Korea Erases Executed Official From the Internet 276

Posted by Soulskill from the personhood-redacted dept.
itwbennett writes "The North Korean state propaganda machine has edited and deleted hundreds of news articles that mention Jang Song Thaek, the former top government and party official and uncle to leader Kim Jong Un, who was executed Thursday. Earlier this week, Jang was arrested in front of hundreds of senior members of the ruling Worker's Party of Korea and denounced for numerous alleged acts against the state and Kim Jong Un. From arrest to trial to death took only four days and the unprecedented fall from grace is widely being interpreted as an attempt by Kim Jong Un to keep officials loyal and scared."

Submission + - Google Is Building Password-Free Locking and Unlocking Into Chrome OS

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Google has a vision for how Chrome OS users will one day be able to lock and unlock their devices, without requiring a password. The Chromium OS team is building support for unlocking and locking devices running the operating system with a new Chrome API called "chrome.screenlockPrivate." Google outlines some use cases: "A platform app may use the USB, NFC, and/or Bluetooth APIs to communicate with a secondary trusted device such as a phone, ring, watch, or badge, thereby allowing that trusted device to serve as an alternative form of authentication for the user."
Android

Video A 'Smart' Bathroom Mirror Powered by Android (Video) 71

Posted by Roblimo from the mirror-mirror-on-the-wall dept.
Gone are the days of boring bathroom mirrors that only reflect what's in front of them. What you really need is a bathroom mirror that gives stock quotes, displays the local weather, and tells you the temperature of the water you are about to use to wash your face. Seraku Corporation is now in the process of filling that burning need and has gotten a bunch of press attention by doing so. A cynic might wonder why people who absolutely, positively must have Internet access while they shave or perform other bathroom mirror duties don't just make a wall-mounted holder for their tablets next to their pre-Internet bathroom mirrors, but that would destroy the fun of having the display built directly into the mirror, along with sensors that detect hand gestures so you can control your mirror (no doubt by asking, "Who is the fairest of them all?") without touching it with your greasy fingers. Note that this is technically not a smart mirror but a smart washbasin with a mirror attached to it. Either way, it's not available for retail sale quite yet.

Slashdot Top Deals

Top Ten Things Overheard At The ANSI C Draft Committee Meetings: (5) All right, who's the wiseguy who stuck this trigraph stuff in here?

Close