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Iphone

Submission + - iPhone 5 A6 SoC reverse engineered, reveals rare hand-made custom CPU (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "Reverse engineering company Chipworks has completed its initial microscopic analysis of Apple's new A6 SoC (found in the iPhone 5), and there are some rather interesting findings. First, there's a tri-core GPU — and then there's a custom, hand-made dual-core ARM CPU. Hand-made chips are very rare nowadays, with Chipworks reporting that it hasn't seen a non-Intel hand-made chip for "years." The advantage of hand-drawn chips is that they can be more efficient and capable of higher clock speeds — but they take a lot longer (and cost a lot more) to design. Perhaps this is finally the answer to what PA Semi's engineers have been doing at Apple since the company was acquired back in 2008..."
Beer

Submission + - U.S. Beer Is Cheaper Than Anywhere Else in the World 1

Submitted by derekmead
derekmead writes: It’s frustrating to drop $7 on a pint of beer in New York City, as it turns out, Americans have the cheapest beer on Earth. International bank UBS gathered data about the median wages and average retail prices of a 500mL (pint) beer in 150 countries. Those data were compiled to figure out how many minutes of work it takes the average worker of a country to earn enough money to buy a beer.

It’s funny that UBS analysts are spending time looking at beer, but considering that beer is beloved and nigh essential everywhere, it offers an interesting comparison between commodities and wages. For example, India tops the least, with the median worker having to work nearly an hour to afford a pint thanks to extremely low wages. In the U.S. however, where wages are relatively high and the cost of the average beer is quite low (thanks to those super-massive macrobreweries out there), it takes the median worker about five minutes of labor to afford a retail (store-, not bar-bought) pint. That’s the shortest amount of time in the world, which means that, relatively speaking, beer is cheaper here than anywhere else.
Security

Submission + - TV Game Show Contestants Sue Over Trick Computer Password Question

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Eriq Gardner writes that on the premiere episode of Fox's Million Dollar Money Drop — which ran for 12 episodes from December 2010 to February 2011 — contestants Andrew and Patricia Murray were asked what is the most common computer password: "Password," "123456," or "I Love You." They opted for "Password" and bet all $580,000 they had remaining from the $1 million they started with. The Murrays guessed wrong losing everything. Or did they? After losing the money, the plaintiffs apparently researched the question further and discovered that data-security firm Imperva who provided the answer did not conduct its own, objective survey of computer users. Instead, the assertion that "123456" is the most common password was based on an analysis of a hacking incident involving a website, Rockyou.com. The Murrays say the question should have read, "According to a hacking incident involving the inadvertent leak of user passwords on the website Rockyou.com..." The Murrays still face formidable obstacles in court including a 13-page, take-it-or-leave-it "Contestant Release Agreement" plus a 16-page Million Dollar Money Drop Official Rules. "We have a feeling that 'What's the most common way to beat an iron-clad waiver' will make it onto a law school exam one day," writes Gardner. "According to John Roberts at Ball & Roberts, who is representing the Murrays, the answer is intentional and negligent misrepresentation, breach of written and oral contract, negligence and fraud.""
Space

Submission + - Black Hole Behemoth Shreds Baby Star System (discovery.com)

Submitted by
astroengine
astroengine writes: "A new analysis of recent observations finds evidence for a protoplanetary disk around a red dwarf star plunging in the direction of the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. Ruth Murray-Clay and Avi Loeb of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics did the theoretical work. Stefan Gillessen of the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics made the observations using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. The red dwarf star will make its closest approach in the summer of 2013, hurtling only 270 billion miles from black hole. (Or roughly 54 solar system diameters, as measured from the furthest edge of the Kuiper belt.) It won't get sucked into the black hole, but it will be flung back along its elliptical orbit out to a distance of a little more than 1/10 light-years."
Data Storage

Submission + - WD My Book VelociRaptor Duo Thunderbolt-driven External Storage Tested (hothardware.com)

Submitted by
MojoKid
MojoKid writes: "Thunderbolt, originally dubbed by Intel as “Light Peak”, is a dual-protocol interface that combines PCI-Express and DisplayPort into one metaprotocol with bi-directional speeds of up to 10Gbps. The technology makes even the relatively speedy USB 3.0 interface (5Gbps) look downright pokey by comparison. Western Digital teamed Thunderbolt’s impressive interface bandwidth with a pair of the company's 1TB VelociRaptor 10,000RPM HDDs and called it the My Book VelociRaptor Duo. Performance-wise, in a RAID 0 configuration (Mac only currently), the external storage device offers raw throughput approaching that of a high-end SSD but with the benefit of Terabytes of capacity. The new WD device does run a tad hot and noisy with those 10K RPM drives stuffed into a bookshelf speaker-sized enclosure. Targeted at content creation professionals with the need for speed, it's not cheap either."
Open Source

Submission + - Maryland Election's online voter registration software is open sourced (campaign-archive2.com)

Submitted by
jjensen.mike
jjensen.mike writes: "Maryland recently moved to allow online voter registration, a step many states have been following. Online registration reduces the potential for clerical errors and helps new voters get into the system as soon as possible. Maryland just announced they are open sourcing the software they wrote for this purpose. Hopefully this will make it easier for other states to follow suit and implement online voter registration as well."

Comment What happened.... (Score 5, Informative) 172

by ash11888 (#39985569) Attached to: Location Selected For $1 Billion Ghost Town
...to all the traditional slash-dotters I know?!? Do you people not do your research? If you paid attention to who it was and did a little, few minute research, you would find out that this is a global private company. They can do whatever the frak they want with their money. Before you start to go off on the "gov't," do some research to find out.
The Internet

Submission + - London Could Soon Get Free Wi-Fi Everywhere (dailymail.co.uk)

Submitted by fangmcgee
fangmcgee writes: London could soon be covered with a free public WiFi network as Virgin Media moves to challenge BT's Openzone network.

Virgin Media's network would be freely available to anyone at 0.5Mbps, and to subscribers to its home broadband at speeds up to a blistering 10Mbps.
The proposals would see WiFi routers installed in each of the company's street-side cabinets, which distribute its cable network to homes and businesses

Submission + - Wireless Carjacking Now Possible (cnet.com)

Submitted by
brunes69
brunes69 writes: "The convenience offered by mobile apps for unlocking car doors and remotely starting their engines is also a weakness, as two hackers will demonstrate at the upcoming Black Hat conference in Las Vegas. Researchers Don Bailey and Mathew Solnik managed to use a laptop to hack the mobile app connection in two different car brands.
The researchers discovered that, when a user pushed the unlock or remote engine start buttons on the app, the phone sends a signal to a service center, which then sends a signal to the car telling it what to do. The researchers intercepted and duplicated the signal sent to the car, afterwards using it to repeat the function."

Submission + - NASA News Briefing on Mars Orbiter Science (nasa.gov)

Submitted by ipsender
ipsender writes: NASA will host a news briefing on Thursday, Aug. 4, at 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT) about a significant new Mars science finding. The briefing will be held at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The new finding is based on observations from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been orbiting the Red Planet since 2006. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
Handhelds

Submission + - Winner of Develop for Privacy Challenge Will Be An (wordpress.com)

Submitted by
BeatTheChip
BeatTheChip writes: "An international coalition of privacy groups will announce the winner of the 2011 Develop for Privacy Challenge (www.develop4privacy.org) at the DEFCON security conference this week. The winning app – which will be unveiled at the event – demonstrates that advances in consumer technology do not need to come at the expense of privacy. Other outstanding submissions will be also recognized. The winning developer will be onsite at the event, and the app will be available under an open source license.
 "
Medicine

Submission + - Brain Cap Can Control Computers, Prosthetic Limbs (ecouterre.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed a noninvasive, sensor-lined "brain cap" capable of harnessing brain waves to control computers, prosthetic limbs, motorized wheelchairs, and even digital avatars. The “Brain cap” fits snugly over the head and uses electroencephalography (better known as “EEG”) to read brain waves. The researchers are using this technology to develop a thought-controlled prosthetic arm for amputees that allows them to feel whatever it touches — just like a regular one would.

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