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Cloud

Submission + - Amazon Data Center Outage Takes Out Netflix & Others (gigaom.com)

Submitted by
bill_mcgonigle
bill_mcgonigle writes: "Many families sat down this evening to watch a Christmas Eve tale on their favorite streaming service to find a Grinch in their cloud computing service as both Netflix and Amazon Video services were unavailable (with error messages saying that their Internet connection was bad). It turns out that Amazon's East Coast data center is having yet another outage, causing a loss of service on several platforms. Other AWS-based sites are affected as well."
Patents

Submission + - Samsung Retaliates Against Ericsson With Patent Complaint (fosspatents.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The wireless patent wars don't pause at Christmas time, keeping numerous IP lawyers (and a certain litigation watcher) busy even at this time of year. No one seriously expected Samsung to turn the other cheek when Ericsson sued it and requested a U.S. import ban against a host of Galaxy devices. The Korean electronics giant, which is increasingly competing with Ericsson in the telecoms infrastructure market, just filed an ITC complaint of its own. The title of the complaint is Certain Wireless Communication Equipment and Articles Therein. That description would apply to dozens, no: hundreds, of patent lawsuits in the world. The complaint has not been published yet, but it would be out of character for Samsung not to assert some of its patents on wireless industry standards (and maybe some others, too).
The Internet

Submission + - Choose your geolocation wisely, shopper. (wsj.com)

Submitted by alphatel
alphatel writes: Plan on buying Milton that Swingline Stapler he always wanted? Better be sure you're not right next to Initech's office where Staples.com will mark up your price 10% or higher over someone working at Initrode.

A Wall Street Journal investigation found that the Staples Inc. website displays different prices to people after estimating their locations. More than that, Staples appeared to consider the person's distance from a rival brick-and-mortar store, either OfficeMax or Office Depot. If rival stores were within 20 miles or so, Staples.com usually showed a discounted price.

The Journal identified several companies, including Staples, Discover, Rosetta Stone, and Home Depot that were consistently adjusting prices and displaying different product offers based on a range of characteristics that could be discovered about the user.
Windows

Submission + - Windows 8 sales match it's reviews (cnbc.com)

Submitted by
Mattygfunk1
Mattygfunk1 writes: "CNBC reports PC sales are down after the release of Windows 8. Emmanuel Fromont, president of the Americas division of Acer, the world’s No. 4 PC maker, said sales of the company’s Windows 8 PCs had been lower than expected. He said one factor was the system’s unfamiliar design, which appeared to be making consumers cautious.

“There was not a huge spark in the market,” Mr. Fromont said. “It’s a slow start, there’s no question.”"
Power

Submission + - Peel-and-stick solar cells created at Stanford University (gizmag.com) 1

Submitted by cylonlover
cylonlover writes: Traditionally, thin-film solar cells are made with rigid glass substrates, limiting their potential applications. Flexible versions do exist, although they require special production techniques and/or materials. Now, however, scientists from Stanford University have created thin, flexible solar cells that are made from standard materials – and they can applied to just about any surface, like a sticker. The cells have been successfully applied to a variety of both flat and curved surfaces – including glass, plastic and paper – without any loss of efficiency.

Not only does the new process allow for solar cells to applied to things like mobile devices, helmets, dashboards or windows, but the stickers are reportedly both lighter and less costly to make than equivalent-sized traditional photovoltaic panels. There’s also no waste involved, as the silicon/silicon dioxide wafers can be reused.
Security

Submission + - How do YOU establish a secure computing environment? 3

Submitted by sneakyimp
sneakyimp writes: We've seen increasingly creative ways for bad guys to compromise your system like infected pen drives, computers preloaded with malware, mobile phone apps with malware, and a $300 app that can sniff out your encryption keys.
On top of these obvious risks, there are lingering questions about the integrity of common operating systems and cloud computing services. Do Windows, OSX, and linux have security holes? Does Windows supply a backdoor for the U.S. or other governments? Should you really trust your linux multiverse repository? Do Google and Apple data mine your private mobile phone data for private information? Does Ubuntu's sharing of my data with Amazon compromise my privacy? Can the U.S. Government seize your cloud data without a warrant? Can McAfee or Kaspersky really be trusted?
Naturally, the question arises of how to establish and maintain an ironclad workstation or laptop for the purpose of handling sensitive information or doing security research. DARPA has approached the problem by awarding a $21.4M contract to Invincea to create a secure version of Android. What should we do if we don't have $21.4M USD? Is it safe to buy a PC from any manufacturer? Is it even safe to buy individual computer components and assemble one's own machine? Or might the MOBO firmware be compromised?
What steps can one take to insure a truly secure computing environment? Is this even possible? Can anyone recommend a through checklist or suggest best practices?
Java

Submission + - Vulnerabilities in Java and Adobe to Become Main Targets (net-security.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Software vulnerabilities will be the main target of cyber-criminals next year. In 2012, Java, which is installed on hundreds of millions of devices, was repeatedly compromised and used to actively infect millions of users. Adobe, given the popularity of its applications (Acrobat Reader, Flash, etc.) and its multiple security flaws, was also one of the favorite tools for massively infecting users as well as for targeted attacks.
Your Rights Online

Submission + - Gory images, videos posted on website are art, jury decides (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by Maow
Maow writes: The website was part of a personal project by [Remy] Couture designed to raise the bar of his make-up and special- effects work. Couture, who is self-taught, sought to bring a psychopathic killer character of his own making to life.

Couture described it as a sort of "fake diary of a serial killer," complete with his own universe inspired by horror movies and literature. But there was no victim in the case — all of the works were staged with willing actresses and a combination of fake blood, latex and silicone to create lifelike, horrific images.

The trial heard that Interpol received a complaint in 2006 from a user in Austria. The scenes were deemed so realistic that a pathologist in Europe couldn't rule out that a homicide had actually been committed. Montreal police began their investigation in early 2009.

Police officers who testified had doubts that Couture's work was real homicide, but still engaged in an elaborate sting operation with police posing as clients looking to do a gory photo shoot around Halloween.

"My objective was to create horror, plain and simple," Couture told the court.

It seems one cannot fault the police for the initial investigation, since we've now seen a Montreal snuff film posted on-line become the first indication of (an infamous murder).
Google

Submission + - UK court rules against Motorola's "sync messages" patent (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Dupple
Dupple writes: On Friday, the High Court of London issued a ruling that said that one of Motorola’s patents covering technology to synchronize messages across several devices should be invalidated. Originally, the patent covered the synching of messages across multiple pagers, but recently Motorola has used the patent in lawsuits against Apple and Microsoft for using similar message-syncing services in iCloud and on the Xbox, respectively.

The presiding Judge Richard Arnold declared Motorola's patent invalid and said it should be revoked because the patent (which has a priority date from 1995, but was issued in 2002) contained technology that “was obvious to experts. in the field at the time.”

Comment Re:I disagree. (Score 3, Interesting) 783

by Apothem (#42143219) Attached to: UK Government Mandates the Teaching of Evolution As Scientific Fact

People should be taught both and then left alone to decide which one makes more sense.

Should they be taught all the other creation myths around the world also?

Yes, but instead of it being taught in science class, it should be done in a history/world culture class. So that way the context of what is being taught is correct. Creationism == Old tradition and cultural history. Evolution == science. I figure if you make this separation and teach it in the appropriate PLACE, the confusion would be set aside and we'd understand this old concept just like we understand ancient history.

Comment Well of course! (Score 1) 684

by Apothem (#42037275) Attached to: Young Students Hiding Academic Talent To Avoid Bullying
Because being bullied doesn't always occur from fellow students. As an individual does better in school, the parents have a tendency to expect TOO much of their kids, and start going apesh*t when they don't perform to their own expectations. Sometimes it's not so much the other people at the school as much as it is the people at home. School seems to just be the place where the frustrations at home just end up getting vented.

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