Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Privacy

Submission + - Apple Bug That Lets You Spy on a Stranger's iPhone (gizmodo.com)

Submitted by skywolf86
skywolf86 writes: The story is simple: a friend's son had some trouble with his iPhone 4. Being an awesome mom, our friend took it into the Apple Store when her kid was at school. School. Not college or grad school, but I'm-under-18 school. When she got it back, her kid's phone was in perfect working order—but it had also become a portal into another man's private life. No matter how many times we've reset the phone and entered our friend's information, every incoming and outgoing iMessage meant for Wiz shows up on her child's phone. His phone had become her son's phone—and there was an iMessage bevy of stuff you wouldn't want your child to see.
story
http://gizmodo.com/5880593/the-apple-bug-that-let-us-spy-on-a-total-strangers-iphone
Digital

Submission + - Steve Jobs Listened To Vinyl At Home, Neil Young S (npr.org)

Submitted by
gral
gral writes: "Steve Jobs, the "pioneer of digital music" who brought us the iPod, listened to vinyl records when he was at home because the quality of the sound is better than current digital formats can produce, rock 'n' roll legend Neil Young said Tuesday.

Read the rest of the story at:

NPR.org Story"
Programming

Submission + - Leaked Code for iPad 3 Reveals LTE Options, A6 Chi (ibtimes.com)

Submitted by
redletterdave
redletterdave writes: "Apple may be building two versions of its third-generation iPad, the iPad 3, including a device with a Wi-Fi only option and a device with Wi-Fi, embedded GSM, CDMA and global LTE for all carriers. All versions of the "iPad3," which is expected to be unveiled in February but released in March, will also likely feature a new quad-core A6 processor. The news comes from an unnamed source to BGR that claims it is in possession of Apple's next-gen tablet.The unnamed source procured the iPad 3 data using a development and debugging tool called iBoot. The user was then able to output the iPad 3 data on another monitor, which revealed several interesting components about Apple's next tablet."

Submission + - Unicode 6.1 released (unicode.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The latest version of the Unicode standard (v. 6.1.0) was officially released January 31. The latest version includes 732 new characters, inluding seven brand new scripts. It also adds support for distinguishing emoji-style and text-style symbols and emoticons with variation selectors, updates to the line-breaking algorithm to more accurately reflect Japanese and Hebrew texts, and updates other algorithms and technical notes to reflect new characters and newly documented text behaviors.

Submission + - The Future of War ... and Assassination! (io9.com)

Submitted by wisebabo
wisebabo writes: From TFA: "This self-guided bullet can chase you down from over a mile away"

A long LONG time ago, I remember reading something that claimed that in every successive war (WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War) the amount of bullets it took to kill someone was INCREASING, that is (maybe) an average of 100 rounds was spent per soldier killed in WWI whereas by Vietnam it was maybe 10,000 possibly due to smarter tactics and better protection. The commentator said the only way this would change is if they somehow managed to put a VAX (kiddies, that's an old computer) into a bullet.

Well, it looks like that's been done now, here's a bullet that has computer, sensors and fins that is fired out of a rifle. It requires a laser designated target and it doesn't guarantee pinpoint accuracy but an 8" miss instead of 30ft. at half a mile is a HUGE improvement. Fire a few rounds in quick succession and chances are a body sized target will be hit.

Of course it will be much more expensive than "dumb" ammunition but I'd guess it'd still be a lot cheaper than the aforementioned 10,000 rounds. What's more it's falling into the Pentagon's plans for a military focused upon small "hit" teams, drones and special ops. For this strategy, this kind of weapon is invaluable. For example; instead of a huge $100 million Global Hawk drone carrying big (heavy) hellfire missiles designed to wipe out a vehicle or house; just use a small (hand launched?) drone carrying a gun with a few rounds of this ammo. (I would imagine such a drone would be a lot quieter so it could get within the shorter range easily). Much cheaper, equally capable of carrying out its mission (killing a few insurgents).

Unfortunately another use would be to have a forward "spotter" at a public event with an infra-red laser pointer/binocular. The shooter could be quite distant and just has to shoot the bullets (in quick succession mind you) on a ballistic trajectory that will get them near the target. They will home into the (invisible to the naked eye) illuminated target by themselves.

You'll see security agencies beginning to see this as a threat when they start carrying sensors capable of detecting infrared lasers. The next step though is when enough computing power is available to put face recognition algorithms into the bullet...

*What really intrigues me isn't the computer power in the bullet but rather how do the fins work! How do they get such tiny (and rugged) motors into a bullet?

**So is this the kind of invention that Larry Niven was thinking about when he invented the U.N. ARM? It was an agency who's goal was to stop technological innovation that would lead to anarchy (like things that would make murder legal).
The Military

Submission + - Laser guided bullet can hit targets a mile away (gizmag.com)

Submitted by jpwilliams
jpwilliams writes: Gizmag reports that researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have tested a 10-inch bullet that can be fired from a smooth-bore rifle to hit a laser-marked target one mile away. Interestingly, "... the accuracy improves the further away the target is. 'Because the bullet's motions settle the longer it is in flight, accuracy improves at longer ranges.'"

Comment Re:Why I never shop retail anymore... (Score 3, Informative) 532

by jpwilliams (#38871595) Attached to: Retail Chains To Strike Back Against Online Vendors

The ONLY reason to go into a brick and mortar store is if you absolutely have to have it right now.

Big stores like Target, I totally agree. But for lots of specialty items (bikes, quality shoes, quality clothing), a brick-and-mortar can still offer expert assistance to keep customers. Sure, you can buy all those things online, and mine the collective opinions, but a seasoned sales professional can help you pick out what's right for you, not what the masses rank the highest. Unfortunately, I don't see that value-add model working for anything in Target, or even Best Buy, who's sales team, in my opinion, tends to know little about the products they sell.
Games

Submission + - Pro gamer fatal1ty says gamers learn "10 times mor (pittco.org)

Submitted by
Rinisari
Rinisari writes: "Nik Parenti from the Pittsburgh LAN Coalition interviewed professional gamer, philanthropist, and entrepreneur Johnathan "fatal1ty" Wendel. In it, Wendel talks extensively about his video gaming background, how he got into professional gaming, and how he continues to be active in the e-sports scene. He also shares some advice to aspiring gamers: "The amount of information you'll gain at going to a LAN party compared to what you find out online is drastically different. I always said you'll learn ten times the amount of information by going to a LAN party than you will online, ever. ... Get to LAN parties, you'll learn way more.""

Submission + - Is it right to grab code from another site? (pandodaily.com) 1

Submitted by cornicefire
cornicefire writes: Paul Carr points out the irony in all of the angry denouncements of Curebit for using some code from, 37Signals. Carr writes, "The last time we saw this kind of outpouring of rage amongst tech people was when — uh — the government tried to clamp down on copyright theft." But if it's wrong to clamp down on the copying of movies, is it wrong to complain about someone stealing our code? Is it wrong for us to complain about people violating the GPL or other open source programs protected by copyright?
News

Submission + - 4 Megaupload Associates, including founder, Denied (nytimes.com)

Submitted by jpwilliams
jpwilliams writes: Out of the seven people charged in the Megaupload case, four are being held pending extradition proceedings. Three others remain at large.

An interesting quote from a law professor highlights one reason the case is unusual. Referencing the indictment's citation of e-mails between members of the accused ... “The government hopes to use their private words against them,” Mr. Kerr said. “This should scare the owners and operators of similar sites.”
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Pushes for Gay Marriage in Washington St (theatlantic.com)

Submitted by
plsenjy
plsenjy writes: "An article in the Atlantic outlines how Microsoft Corp. has submitted its support for a Washington State provision allowing gay couples to marry.http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/01/microsoft-calls-for-gay-marriage-in-washington-state/251680/ Citing their inability to compete for top talent in the face of discrimination, Microsoft joins other firms such as Nike, Vulcan, and others to effectively change moral policy from the top-down."

Slashdot Top Deals

"Money is the root of all money." -- the moving finger

Close