Comment Re:Strange - well, I mean interesting (Score 1) 845
If addition is faster than subtraction, just add the negative value.
Comment Re:Strange names (Score 4, Funny) 276
Next thing you know we'll have CSIgrep. (enhance enhance enhance grep)
Submission + - New NASA Data Casts Doubt On Global Warming Models (yahoo.com) 2
bonch writes: Satellite data from NASA covering 2000 through 2011 cast doubt on current computer models predicting global warming, according to a new study. The data shows that much less heat is retained by carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere than is assumed in current models. 'There is a huge discrepancy between the data and the forecasts that is especially big over the oceans,' said Dr. Roy Spencer, a co-author of the study and research scientist at the University of Alabama.
Submission + - Ask Slashdot: How do you protect data on Android?
Gibbs-Duhem writes: "Dear Slashdot,
It makes me very nervous that my android phone has access to my email/AIM/gtalk/facebook/... protected only by a presumably fairly easily hacked geometric password protection scheme. Even more because simply attaching the phone to a USB port allows complete access to the internal memory and SD card regardless of whether a password is entered. I have no idea how much of that information ranging from cached emails to passwords stored in plaintext is accessible when mounting the device as a USB drive, and that worries me.
I have a lot of sensitive information in my email, including passwords for websites and confidential business/technical strategy discussions (not to mention personal emails ranging from racy emails from boyfriends to health discussions). My email and messaging client passwords are difficult to type (or even remember), so I would ideally want them saved in the device, although at least having something like a keyring password that needed to be re-entered after a time delay would make me feel better. This leaves me relying on encryption and OS level security to protect me.
I'm okay with this on my real laptop and computers as my hard disks are software encrypted and I make a habit of locking my session whenever I leave my desk. For instance, if I lost my laptop, the odds of the thief getting access to my information is minimal. However, I don't feel that this is at all true for my phone (which is frankly far more likely to be lost).
How is it that the slashdot security pros handle this issue? Do you just not use email or the many other incredibly convenient capabilities of new android smartphones due to the risk? Or are there specific ways in which we can guarantee (or at least greatly augment) the existing security practices?"
It makes me very nervous that my android phone has access to my email/AIM/gtalk/facebook/... protected only by a presumably fairly easily hacked geometric password protection scheme. Even more because simply attaching the phone to a USB port allows complete access to the internal memory and SD card regardless of whether a password is entered. I have no idea how much of that information ranging from cached emails to passwords stored in plaintext is accessible when mounting the device as a USB drive, and that worries me.
I have a lot of sensitive information in my email, including passwords for websites and confidential business/technical strategy discussions (not to mention personal emails ranging from racy emails from boyfriends to health discussions). My email and messaging client passwords are difficult to type (or even remember), so I would ideally want them saved in the device, although at least having something like a keyring password that needed to be re-entered after a time delay would make me feel better. This leaves me relying on encryption and OS level security to protect me.
I'm okay with this on my real laptop and computers as my hard disks are software encrypted and I make a habit of locking my session whenever I leave my desk. For instance, if I lost my laptop, the odds of the thief getting access to my information is minimal. However, I don't feel that this is at all true for my phone (which is frankly far more likely to be lost).
How is it that the slashdot security pros handle this issue? Do you just not use email or the many other incredibly convenient capabilities of new android smartphones due to the risk? Or are there specific ways in which we can guarantee (or at least greatly augment) the existing security practices?"
Submission + - Oklahoma Wants To Open Its Skies to Drones (talkingpointsmemo.com)
nonprofiteer writes: "A new air corridor to be reserved exclusively for unmanned aerial drones could turn Oklahoma into the prime drone development region of the United States.
Oklahoma state officials are currently pushing for the corridor, which would stretch for approximately 80 miles between Fort Sill and the town of Clinton, to be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.
If approved, the air corridor would be the first civil airspace in the country where unmanned aircraft could be flown without prior FAA permission."
Oklahoma state officials are currently pushing for the corridor, which would stretch for approximately 80 miles between Fort Sill and the town of Clinton, to be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.
If approved, the air corridor would be the first civil airspace in the country where unmanned aircraft could be flown without prior FAA permission."
Submission + - High-Tech Gas Drilling Is Fouling Drinking Water (sciencemag.org)
sciencehabit writes: Drilling for natural gas locked deep in a shale formation--a process known as fracking--has seriously contaminated shallow groundwater supplies beneath far northeastern Pennsylvania with flammable methane. That’s the conclusion of a new study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The analysis gives few clues, however, to how pervasive such contamination might be across the wide areas of the Northeast United States, Texas, and other states where drilling for shale gas has taken off in recent years.
Submission + - Supercomputers Model Nuclear Future (hpcwire.com)
An anonymous reader writes: What would a core meltdown look like in reactor x if it happened today? How is it possible to minimize nuclear waste and create more efficient nuclear facilities? These are a few questions being visualized on Oak Ridge National Lab's supercomputer...
Submission + - Best. Geek. Wedding. Invitation. Ever. (createdigitalmusic.com)
kfogel writes: "Karen Sandler (a lawyer at the Software Freedom Law Center) and Mike Tarantino (a professional musician) are getting married in May. They've sent out the coolest wedding invitation ever: a beautifully packaged flexidisc record where the invitation itself is the record player. That's right: It's paper! And it plays a record!
The song itself was written by Mike, is performed by Karen and Mike together, and FTW is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.
The person who designed the invitations — a friend of the couple's — has blogged about it. It's also made Make Magazine, Mashable, and Geek.com."
Submission + - Texas Agency Exposes 3.5M People Via Public Server (securityweek.com)
wiredmikey writes: The Texas Comptroller’s office said today that records containing personally identifying information of about 3.5 million Texans were left exposed on an agency server that was accessible to the public. The records contained the names and mailing addresses of individuals.
Despite being required by Texas administrative rules established for agencies, the exposed data was not encrypted. The Comptroller’s office also admitted that internal procedures were not followed, leading to the information being left on the server for a long period of time without being purged as required by internal procedures.
Despite being required by Texas administrative rules established for agencies, the exposed data was not encrypted. The Comptroller’s office also admitted that internal procedures were not followed, leading to the information being left on the server for a long period of time without being purged as required by internal procedures.
Submission + - Navy Demonstrates Laser Weapon, Disables Target (ibtimes.com)
RedEaredSlider writes: The Office of Naval Research has made a significant step in laser-based military defense this week.
The Navy announced that it tested a solid-state, high-energy laser (HEL) from a surface ship, which disabled a small target ship close by. The Navy tested the Maritime Laser Demonstrator (MLD) with a partner private contractor, Northrop Grumman. The laser validated the potential for advanced self-defense for surface ships and personnel by keeping small boat threats at a safe distance.
The Navy announced that it tested a solid-state, high-energy laser (HEL) from a surface ship, which disabled a small target ship close by. The Navy tested the Maritime Laser Demonstrator (MLD) with a partner private contractor, Northrop Grumman. The laser validated the potential for advanced self-defense for surface ships and personnel by keeping small boat threats at a safe distance.
Submission + - Fukushima: What happened and what needs to be done (bbc.co.uk)
IndigoDarkwolf writes: The sometimes confused media coverage around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant left me wont for a good summary. Apparently the BBC felt the same way, and delivers with an overview starting from the earthquake and concluding with the current state of the troubled reactors.
Submission + - Panasonic's 100GB Blu-Ray arrives (pcauthority.com.au)
An anonymous reader writes: It's not unusual to hear of advances made in some research laboratory that could one day lead to unheard of advances in disc storage, like 1000GB optical media. But it's not so often that we see one of these mutant discs — costing a reported 10,000 yen, or approximately $112 — go on sale. Panasonic's BDXL Blu-Ray discs are re-writable and capable of storing 100GB, thanks to three storage layers. According to this story, it can take more than one and a half hours to fill a disc with a compatible drive.
Submission + - Epsilon breach used four-month-old attack (itnews.com.au)
schliz writes: Marketing giant Epsilon knew that it was vulnerable to an attack for "some months" before suffering a high-profile breach last week. According to Epsilon's technology partner ReturnPath, the breach was part of a series of socially engineered attacks discovered in November.
Submission + - IBM Nanoparticle Breakthrough Destroys Drug-Resist (business2press.com)
ext99 writes: "IBM developed new ground breaking (yes, ground breaking actually means something here) nanoparticle technology that searches and destroys drug-resistant bacteria that cause millions of deaths from serious infections. The technology uses biodegradable plastic “to engineer electrically charged nanoparticles that in turn attract to the bacteria’s opposite charge, in turn destroying the membrane walls hence the cell entirely.” “The system proved successful in destroying methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria in laboratory tests involving infected mice,” but has yet to be tested on humans. IBM is in talks with major pharmaceutical firms to develop a clinical trial. Very promising technology, hopefully it could be adapted to work against other serious drug-resistant diseases."
Inventor Creates Flotation Device Bazooka 144
Australian inventor Sam Adeloju has won the £20,000 ($32,000) James Dyson Award for inventing the coolest piece of life-saving equipment ever. The Longreach is a modified bazooka which can fire an expanding flotation device up to 150m to a person in distress. From the article: "Mr Adeloju told NEWS.com.au that the Longreach was inspired by a grenade-launch training session with the Army Reserves. Weighing just 3.5kg, it shoots the rescue device 150m in a manner similar to the way the army uses a grenade launcher to deliver flares and aerial observation devices. Hitting the water activates an expanding foam unit in the Longreach rescue unit, which also incorporates LED illumination and a vortex air whistle."
