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Submission + - Kickstarter project anonabox has been suspended for potential fraud (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Anonabox is a project on Kickstarter to build a self-contained Tor router. It proved very popular, exceeding its funding threshold within days. Rumors and accusations started flying almost immediately. On 17 October, email went out from Kickstarter that the project had been suspended and the contributions would be refunded to backers. The official reason is "A review of the project uncovered evidence that it broke Kickstarter's rules." Early indications are that the project claimed to be building original hardware but was actually repacking cheaper hardware from elsewhere. They are accused of requesting a $51 pledge for a $20 router.

Comment Re:Separate hardware from software (Score 2) 421

by warm_warmer (#47889973) Attached to: Windows Tax Shot Down In Italy
The reason it's sold together is because people want it like that. There is obviously a demand for bundled software (given how prevalent it is), and the reasons for that demand probably range from "I don't care what goes on my computer" to "I'd rather my computer cost $2 less to have it include what essentially amounts to adware."

Many mom-and-pop shops can build computers without it, but it costs more and people aren't willing to shell out for it, which is why there are many fewer mom-and-pop computer stores out there now.

Submission + - Home Security Cameras 1

Submitted by Insipid Trunculance
Insipid Trunculance writes: Having been burgled recently , I have been shocked out of my complacency and going all the way to secure my home. I am happy with the quote for the burglar alarm and going ahead ; I am not satisfied with the camera setup they have proposed , essentially its an old style cctv setup with a very clunky web accessible capability. What I have decided to have is Day/Night capable IP cameras which can email/text me whenever they detect motion. I didn't want to particularly setup a dedicated PC to record the video , so direct recording to a NAS and/or inbuilt storage is a requirement. I have been amazed at the number or solutions and the variability in their quality. What setup do fellow slashdotters have?

Submission + - Internet Explorer Vulnerabilities Increase 100%

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Bromium Labs analyzed public vulnerabilities and exploits from the first six months of 2014. The research determined that Internet Explorer vulnerabilities have increased more than 100 percent since 2013 , surpassing Java and Flash vulnerabilities. Web browsers have always been a favorite avenue of attack, but we are now seeing that hackers are not only getting better at attacking Internet Explorer, they are doing it more frequently.

Submission + - Firefox 31 Released (mozilla.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Mozilla has released version 31 of its Firefox web browser for desktops and Android devices. According to the release notes, major new features include malware blocking for file downloads, automatic handling of PDF and OGG files if no other software is available to do so, and a new certificate verification library. Smaller features include a new search field on the new tab page, better support for parental controls, and partial implementation of the OpenType MATH table. Mozilla also took the opportunity to note the launch of a new game, Dungeon Defenders Eternity, which will run at near-native speeds on the web using asm.js, WebGL, and Web Audio. "We’re pleased to see more developers using asm.js to distribute and now monetize their plug-in free games on the Web as it strengthens support for Mozilla’s vision of a high performance, plugin-free Web."

Submission + - Google Offers a Cool Million Bucks For a Better Inverter

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: With the Little Box Challenge, Google (and IEEE, and a few other sponsors like Cree and Rohm) is offering a $1 million prize to the team which can "design and build a kW-scale inverter with the highest power density (at least 50 Watts per cubic inch)." Going from cooler-sized to tablet sized, they say, would make whole lot of things better, and the prize is reserved for the best performing entrant.

"Our testing philosophy is to not look inside the box. You provide us with a box that has 5 wires coming out of it: two DC inputs, two AC outputs and grounding connection and we only monitor what goes into and comes out of those wires, along with the temperature of the outside of your box, over the course of 100 hours of testing. The inverter will be operating in an islanded more—that is, not tied or synced to an external grid. The loads will be dynamically changing throughout the course of the testing, similar to what you may expect to see in a residential setting." he application must be filled out in English, but any serious applicants can sign up, "regardless of approach suggested or team background, will be successful in registering." Registration runs though September.

#power #google #invertor #contest #ieee #technology

Submission + - Snowden's Favourite OS Tails Has Zero-Day Vulnerabilities Lurking Inside

Submitted by I Ate A Candle
I Ate A Candle writes: Tails OS, the Tor-reliant privacy-focused operating system made famous by Edward Snowden, contains a number of zero-day vulnerabilities that could be used to take control of the OS and execute code remotely. At least that's according to zero-day exploit seller Exodus Intelligence, which counts DARPA amongst its customer base. The company plans to tell the Tails team about the issues “in due time”, said Aaron Portnoy, co-founder and vice president of Exodus, but it isn’t giving any information on a disclosure timeline. This means users of Tails are in danger of being de-anonymised. Even version 1.1, which hit public release today (22 July 2014), is affected. Snowden famously used Tails to manage the NSA files. The OS can be held on a USB stick and leaves no trace once removed from the drive. It uses the Tor network to avoid identification of the user, but such protections may be undone by the zero-day exploits Exodus holds.

Comment Keep it honest (Score 2) 552

by warm_warmer (#47457279) Attached to: The Last Three Months Were the Hottest Quarter On Record

The Heartland Institute skews the data by taking two points and ignoring all of the data in between, kind of like grabbing two zero points from sin(x) and claiming you're looking at a steady state function.

Playing devil's advocate: it's kinda like pointing out that the last 3 months have been the warmest on record in an attempt to convince people that there's a warming trend.

Single data points cannot be used to make an argument - on either side - even if you're actually right. Intellectual dishonesty on both sides of the debate has made global warming/climate change a toxic topic.

Submission + - New Earth-like planet may sustain life (ksl.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: AUSTRALIA — A newly discovered “super-Earth” planet may be able to sustain human life.

The planet, called GJ 832 c, has a mass that is at least five times larger than Earth, but it receives about the same stellar energy as our home planet and may have similar temperatures, according to researchers from the University of New South Wales. It is also relatively close to Earth at 16 light years away, compared to the 100,000 light year expanse of the Milky Way.

The Earth Similarity Index ranks the planet as one of the top three most Earth-like planets, according to the university. The Earth’s perfect ESI score is 1 and the new planet has an ESI of 0.81.

Seasonal shifts on the planet would be extreme, but professor Chris Tinney said in a statement that it could be possible for life to survive on the planet if the atmosphere is similar to Earth. However, he said researchers suspect the planet may have a massive atmosphere that would trap too much heat due to its large mass.

“With an outer giant planet and an interior potentially rocky planet, this planetary system can be thought of as a miniature version of our Solar System,” Tinney said.

Submission + - Cambridge team breaks superconductor world record

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: University of Cambridge scientists have broken a decade-old superconducting record by packing a 17.6 Tesla magnetic field into a golf ball-sized hunk of crystal — equivalent to about three tons of force. From the Cambridge announcement: "A world record that has stood for more than a decade has been broken by a team led by University of Cambridge engineers, harnessing the equivalent of three tonnes of force inside a golf ball-sized sample of material that is normally as brittle as fine china. The Cambridge researchers managed to ‘trap’ a magnetic field with a strength of 17.6 Tesla — roughly 100 times stronger than the field generated by a typical fridge magnet — in a high temperature gadolinium barium copper oxide (GdBCO) superconductor, beating the previous record by 0.4 Tesla."

Submission + - Watch How These Russians Deliver Pizzas From Mid-Air Using Flying Drones (ibtimes.co.uk)

Submitted by concertina226
concertina226 writes: A pizza restaurant in the Komi Republic of Russia has announced the launch of the country's first pizza delivery service using unmanned helicopter drones, following a successful test trial.

On 21 June, the company demonstrated drone technology to residents of Syktyvkarsk, the capital city of the Komi republic, flying the drone through the city's main square to deliver pizza to a man within half an hour. The drone was able to complete six commercial orders on its first day.

Drone enthusiasts will be able to see the software program being used to control the drone remotely, together with another field test showing the drone hovering over a hundred feet in the air and lowering a pizza box down on a cable.

Submission + - NASA bolsters Pluto-bound spacecraft for 2015 visit (networkworld.com)

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes: When you are on a 3 billion mile trip through the universe at over 34,000 mph, you might need a check-up or two to make sure everything is function right. That’s exactly what’s going on this week as NASA said it will soon update and checkout its Pluto-bound spacecraft known as New Horizons. Mission controllers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory will begin the spacecraft’s eighth check-up since the satellite launched in 2006. It will be the last before next year’s rendezvous with Pluto.

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