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Submission + - Plant Breeders Release First 'Open Source Seeds' (npr.org)

Submitted by mr crypto
mr crypto writes: Ag with an OSS twist: "A group of scientists and food activists is launching a campaign Thursday to change the rules that govern seeds. They're releasing 29 new varieties of crops under a new "open source pledge" that's intended to safeguard the ability of farmers, gardeners and plant breeders to share those seeds freely."

Submission + - Platform Providers to be Super Cookie Monsters (wsj.com)

Submitted by mr crypto
mr crypto writes: Microsoft, Google and Facebook in the last month said they are developing systems to monitor users on mobile devices and web sites. They would become the middle man between between users and marketers, using mechanisms more sophisticated than cookies to provide finer grained information. From the article: "The Silicon Valley trio, which produce browsers, email services and operating systems used by billions across many devices, are positioned to potentially learn far more about people's activities than cookies ever could."

Submission + - 30 Percent of People Use Smartphones for Self-diagnosis

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A recent survey in Ireland found that 30pc of mobile users have self-diagnosed an illness by looking up their symptoms on their smartphone. The issue has become a growing concern among health care professionals as the growing number of online pharmacies and medical databases are enabling individuals to bypass doctors. The phenomenon has been subject of philosophical debates about the merits of democratization of medical practice progress and the potential harm resulting from misdiagnosis and its impact on people with mental health issues such as hypochondria.

Submission + - New Life for Century Old Astronomical Data (pari.edu)

Submitted by MCastelaz
MCastelaz writes: A team of astronomers has launched a crowdfunding campaign to digitize 100 year old astronomical photographic plates . “With modern data analysis techniques applied to precisely digitized images of the night sky going back to the late 19th century, we expect new discoveries of celestial events that go flash in the night, like novae.” Says Dr. Michael Castelaz, Science Director at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute where this new research effort called The Astronomy Legacy Project is being developed. The project, which was recently launched on Kickstarter, has three weeks left to go.

Submission + - Here's What Wi-Fi Would Look Like If We Could See It (vice.com)

Submitted by Daniel_Stuckey
Daniel_Stuckey writes: Artist Nickolay Lamm, a blogger for MyDeals.com, decided to shed some light on the subject. He created visualizations that imagine the size, shape, and color of wi-fi signals were they visible to the human eye.

"I feel that by showing what wi-fi would look like if we could see it, we'd appreciate the technology that we use everyday," Lamm told me in an email. "A lot of us use technology without appreciating the complexity behind making it work."

Submission + - Ubuntu Forums Compromised by Crackers

Submitted by ikhider
ikhider writes: On July 20th, 2013, crackers compromised Ubuntu forum security and according to the Ubuntu forum splash page now in place, appear to have "gotten every user's local username, password, and email address from the Ubuntu Forums database. The passwords are not stored in plain text, they are stored as salted hashes. However, if you were using the same password as your Ubuntu Forums one on another service (such as email), you are strongly encouraged to change the password on the other service ASAP. Ubuntu One, Launchpad and other Ubuntu/Canonical services are NOT affected by the breach." Interestingly, members of a Libre Ubuntu derivative, Trisquel, place the blame of compromised security on Ubuntu's policy of using proprietary forum software. It appears the world's most popular GNU/Linux distribution, Ubuntu, serves as an example as to what happens when you use non-free software.

Submission + - Exploit bought for $500,000 (nytimes.com)

Submitted by mr crypto
mr crypto writes: Companies offer bounties for zero days, but "...increasingly the businesses are being outbid by countries with the goal of exploiting the flaws ... bounties pale in comparison to what the government pays.” The military establishment, he said, “created Frankenstein by feeding the market.”

Submission + - PGP Encryption comes to GTalk (Android) (google.com)

Submitted by kstych
kstych writes: SecureIM is the first Secure-Chat application which is built to protect you from any possible or potential leak of privacy. These days organizations spy on our chats to target ads and Governments in the name of security, however there is no excuse of not demanding and having access to privacy when we want.

SecureIM secures your communication in 2 ways
1. Secure Transmission :- A chat message will be encrypted and only readable on the device it is sent to/from.
2. Single Use Keys :- The Keys generated while messaging are discarded when the application is closed, which means it is impossible to decode a message once the app is reloaded.

The application is extremely simple to use, no need to bother about the complexities of encryption and underlying privacy details, rest assured your messages will always be out of reach from snoopers.

This app uses Public Key Cryptography, each session generates its own private/public keys.
Keys are never stored but kept in memory until the app is running.

Submission + - FDA Draft on Cybersecurity for Medical Devices and Hospital Networks (fda.gov)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Audience: Medical device manufacturers, hospitals, medical device user facilities, health care IT and procurements staff; and biomedical engineers

Issue: Cybersecurity for medical devices and hospital networks

Purpose: The FDA is recommending that medical device manufacturers and health care facilities take steps to assure that appropriate safeguards are in place to reduce the risk of failure due to cyberattack, which could be initiated by the introduction of malware into the medical equipment or unauthorized access to configuration settings in medical devices and hospital networks.

Summary of Problem and Scope: Many medical devices contain configurable embedded computer systems that can be vulnerable to cybersecurity breaches. In addition, as medical devices are increasingly interconnected, via the Internet, hospital networks, other medical device, and smartphones, there is an increased risk of cybersecurity breaches, which could affect how a medical device operates.

http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/DeviceRegulationandGuidance/GuidanceDocuments/ucm356186.htm

Submission + - Kodak ended in-house production of acetate base used to make photographic film (rochesterhomepage.net)

Submitted by McGruber
McGruber writes: According to a report by Rochester, NY CBS affiliate WROC (http://rochesterhomepage.net/fulltext?nxd_id=394722) Kodak has ended in-house production of the cellulose acetate base that is the primary component of photographic film.

Popular Photography magazine adds (http://rochesterhomepage.net/fulltext?nxd_id=394722) that, for more than 100 years, Kodak has made the acetate in house in bulk, providing the structural basis for the company's film. Now, with Kodak in bankruptcy, the company is firing 60 workers and shutting down the acetate machinery. Citing the decline in interest in film photography as a primary cause, Kodak will no longer undertake the time intensive process of acetate production.

Thankfully, the company has large stockpiles of the material, and once that runs out they will source it from elsewhere.
Movies

Green Lantern Writer To Pen Blade Runner Sequel 326

Posted by samzenpus from the I've-got-some-good-news-and-bad-news-for-you dept.
First time accepted submitter MovieEnthusiast writes "Alcon Entertainment, the production company that own the rights to Blade Runner, have announced that the Blade Runner sequel will be re-written by Michael Green (The Green Lantern) and hinted at other possible Blade Runner spin-offs. From the press release: 'Writer Michael Green is in negotiations to do a rewrite of Alcon Entertainment's "Blade Runner" sequel penned by Hampton Fancher ("Blade Runner," "The Minus Man," "The Mighty Quinn") and to be directed by Ridley Scott. Fancher's original story/screenplay is set some years after the first film concluded. Alcon co-founders and co-Chief Executive Officers Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove will produce with Bud Yorkin and Cynthia Sikes Yorkin, along with Ridley Scott. Frank Giustra and Tim Gamble, CEO's of Thunderbird Films, will serve as executive producers. Green recently completed rewrites on "Robopocalypse" and Warners Bros "Gods and Kings."'"

Submission + - Google Chrome 27 Is Out: 5% Faster Page Loads

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Google on Tuesday released Chrome version 27 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The new version features a big boost to page loads (now 5 percent faster on average) as well as significant updates for developers. You can update to the latest release now using the browser's built-in silent updater, or download it directly from google.com/chrome.

Submission + - Dart Is Not the Language You Think It Is

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Seth Ladd has an excellent write-up of Dart "When Dart was originally launched, many developers mistook it for some sort of Java clone. In truth, Dart is inspired by a range of languages such as Smalltalk, Strongtalk, Erlang, C#, and JavaScript. Get past the semicolons and curly braces, and you’ll see a terse language without ceremony. "

Submission + - Least used key on your keyboard? (slashdot.jp)

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: Over on Slashdot Japan (between discussions of the price of beef bowl and Linux kernel vulnerabilities) there has been some discussion over which key is least used on a PC keyboard. According to a small survey conducted by Yahoo Japan it is unsurprisingly the Pause/Break key. More interesting are the next three keys in descending order of unpopularity: F3, F6 and F12. No mention of the "multimedia" keys found on many keyboards these days, or Num Lock.

Which key do you use the least? What, if anything, would you replace it with?

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