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Submission + - NOAA: Earth smashed a record for heat in May, 2014, effects to worsen 2

Submitted by Freshly Exhumed
Freshly Exhumed writes: Driven by exceptionally warm ocean waters, Earth smashed a record for heat in May and is likely to keep on breaking high temperature marks, experts say. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Monday said May's average temperature on Earth of 15.54 C beat the old record set four years ago. In April, the globe tied the 2010 record for that month. Records go back to 1880. Experts say there's a good chance global heat records will keep falling, especially next year because an El Nino weather event is brewing on top of man-made global warming. An El Nino is a warming of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean that alters climate worldwide and usually spikes global temperatures.

Submission + - A phone charger that doesn't consume electricity when not charging (asmocharger.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Asmo charger ( http://www.asmocharger.com/en/ ) is the first mobile phone charger, that doesn't consume electricity when not charging. The idea materialized when inventor's partner’s childhood home burned to the ground because a mobile charger was left connected to an electrical socket. First concepts were done in June 2013 followed by the first functional prototype in January 2014. The project is currently on kickstarter ( https://www.kickstarter.com/pr... ) with estimated delivery in december 2014.

Submission + - Does Slashdot deliver Malware?! (getfree-soft.net)

Submitted by sandro
sandro writes: I have been a regular reader of Slashdot for decades, and it is my home page. I always have one tab open to slashdot, and that's why I have noticed over the past few days a troubling trend. I find numerous tabs open to http://lp.getfree-soft.net/ trying to get me to download their new "free open source cross platform media player". Of course I don't click on the link, it's got to be bad, but what gives?! It looks like slashdot's new advertising model is open to malware, and that can't be good...

Submission + - Comcast is turning your home into a public hotspot. (speedify.com)

Submitted by agizis
agizis writes: Comcast has started using customers’ routers to create public wifi hotspots. They claim the "opt-out" hotspots don't leech from your paid bandwidth. But the bandwidth comes from somewhere. So, is it extra or is it what you paid for? The answer matters, because if they’re using your bandwidth, you should opt-out, but if it's extra, then you should start using it.

Submission + - AT&T confirms security breach: SS numbers, call records compromised (geekrepublic.org)

Submitted by criticalmass24
criticalmass24 writes: U.S. telecommunications company AT&T has confirmed security breach by its service provider, which compromised personal data of customers such as social security number, call records and more.

AT&T confirmed that the breach occurred between April 9 and April 21, but the company has disclosed the breach to California regulators recently. If such an incident affects at least 500 people, the law in California requires a company to reveal the total number of customers affected by the breach. However, AT&T has not disclosed the number of subscribers whose personal data was compromised as a result of the breach.

Submission + - hitchBOT Aims to be First Robot to Hitchhike Across Canada (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: In what is hailed as a world first for robots, a Canadian robot dubbed "hitchBOT" hopes to be the first to hitchhike across Canada this July. Wearing jaunty red boots and yellow garden gloves (with one in a permanent "thumbing a ride" gesture), hitchBOT is going to try to use his good looks and power of speech to convince people to pick him up and drive him from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Victoria, British Columbia.

Submission + - Thousands Of Credit Card Numbers Are For Sale On YouTube (itworld.com)

Submitted by jfruh
jfruh writes: If you were looking to make contact with cybercriminals who have harvested people's credit card numbers, you don't need to go to some secret, sketchy part of the Internet: you can just go right to YouTube, where thousands of videos advertise credit card numbers for sale. Ironically, many of these YouTube videos feature ads for legitimate credit card companies, who are therefore subsidizing the theives, to Google's profit.

Submission + - MIT Researchers Can Measure Your Breathing Through Walls Via Wi-Fi (itworld.com)

Submitted by jfruh
jfruh writes: Anyone who's struggled to set up a home Wi-Fi network knows that signals can be easily dropped or blocked by walls and other physical objects. MIT researchers have been trying to figure out ways to filter out Wi-Fi interference, and in the process have turned Wi-Fi signals into a radar-like technology that can measure extremely subtle movements through walls. While the researchers have touted the tech as leading to health monitoring benefits — checking on a baby's breathing in the next room, say — the law enforcement and surveillance possibilities are obvious.

Submission + - Improvements The Linux Desktop Needs (datamation.com)

Submitted by jones_supa
jones_supa writes: In the last fifteen years, the Linux desktop has gone from a collection of marginally adequate solutions to an unparalleled source of innovation and choice. Many of its standard features are either unavailable in Windows, or else available only as a proprietary extension. As a result, using Linux is increasingly not only a matter of principle, but of preference as well. Yet, despite this progress, gaps remain. Some are missing features, others missing features, and still others pie-in-the sky extras that could be easily implemented to extend the desktop metaphor without straining users' tolerance of change. DataMation begins the discussion by throwing some suggestions on the table: easy e-mail encryption, thumbnails for virtual workspaces, more workable menus, professional and affordable video editor, a proper document processor, color-coded title bars and, icon fences. There's probably dozens of other unspoken ideas out there, so what improvements to the Linux desktop would you add to the list?

Submission + - YouTube to block indie labels as subscription service launches (bbc.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: YouTube will remove music videos by artists such as Adele, Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead, because the independent labels to which they belong have refused to agree terms with the site.Google, which owns YouTube, has been renegotiating contracts as it prepares to launch a music subscription service. A spokesperson for the indie labels said YouTube was making a "grave error of commercial judgment". YouTube said it was bringing "new revenue streams" to the music industry.

Submission + - Take Your Phone Out of Your Pocket: Radiation Could Lower Your Sperm Count (ibtimes.co.uk)

Submitted by concertina226
concertina226 writes: A new study by the University of Exeter strongly suggests that keeping a smartphone in a trouser pocket can have a detrimental effect on male fertility.

Mobile phones emit electromagnetic radiation (EMR), a low-level radio frequency of between 800 to 2200 MHz which can be absorbed by the human body. While this level of radiation is considered safe for humans, several studies have found that the electromagnetic fields emitted from mobile phones can result in more headaches and affect resting blood pressure.

Led by Dr Fiona Mathews from the Biosciences department, a team of researchers analysed 1,492 samples from 10 studies, which featured participants from fertility clinics and research centres.

Submission + - "Turing Test Passed" was just a load of hype?

Submitted by beaker_72
beaker_72 writes: On Sunday we saw a story on /. alerting us to the news that the Turing Test had finally been passed: http://developers.slashdot.org.... The same story was picked up by most of the mainstream media and reported all over the place over the weekend and yesterday. However, today we see an article in TechDirt telling us that in fact the original press release was just a load of hype from someone who has previous in the area: https://www.techdirt.com/artic... So who's right? Have researchers at a well established university managed to beat this test for the first time, or should we believe TechDirt who have pointed out some aspects of the story which, if true, are pretty damning?

Submission + - Supermarket chain Woolworths ditches Microsoft for Google's Chrome OS (businessspectator.com.au)

Submitted by ozmanjusri
ozmanjusri writes: In what is believed to be the largest such deployment in the world, the Australian supermarket chain Woolworths will begin rolling out 8000 Google Chrome OS devices to replace Microsoft Windows desktop computers in the second half of this year.

Woolworths program director Deon Ludick told The Australian newspaper that they would be replacing a large part of their PC desktop fleet with Chrome OS devices from a number of providers. The company is expected to reveal more details in the coming weeks.

Gartner research director Gunnar Berger said one of the biggest advantages to this approach was that Chrome OS was extremely secure — Google has an ongoing competition that pays large rewards to anyone able to hack the device via the browser. Analysts have said the Chromebook segment was the fastest-growing part of the mobile PC market last year, mainly in North America and in some emerging and mature Asia-Pacific countries such as Malaysia and Australia.

Submission + - 3D Printed Bionic Exoskeleton to Aid in 2014 World Cup Kickoffs

Submitted by stephendavion
stephendavion writes: Thanks to 3D printing and mind-control technology, a paralyzed teen will be able to deliver the first kick at the men’s soccer World Cup 2014 in Brazil.

The teenager will wear a custom-built 3D printed helmet and a high-tech exoskeleton. There will be electrodes placed on his or her scalp or within the brain that transmit signals to a small computer worn like a backpack.

When the teen thinks about walking, the computer will turn those wireless commands into movement, allowing him or her to deliver the first kick at the World Cup opening ceremony.

Submission + - Recommendations for classic superhero comic collections?

Submitted by mvdwege
mvdwege writes: Due to being in a relationship with a comics geek, I have gotten interested in the history of superhero comics. I would like to get a better grounding in the Golden Age (pre-Comics Code) comics, so here's my question to the Slashdot audience: what are your recommedations for essential reading? What collections/omnibus editions of Golden Age comics would you recommend?

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FORTRAN is not a flower but a weed -- it is hardy, occasionally blooms, and grows in every computer. -- A.J. Perlis

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