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Biotech

Police Pull Over More Drivers For DNA Tests 562

Posted by Soulskill from the get-away-from-me-with-that-crap dept.
schwit1 sends this news from the Washington Times: "Pennsylvania police this week were pulling people to the side of the road, quizzing them on their driving habits, and asking if they'd like to provide a cheek swap or a blood sample — the latest in a federally contracted operation that's touted as making roads safer. The same operation took place last month at a community in Texas. Then, drivers were randomly told to pull off the road into a parking lot, where white-coated researchers asked if they'd like to provide DNA samples for a project that determines what percentage of drivers are operating under the influence of drugs or alcohol at given times. With uniformed police in the background, the researchers also offered the motorists money — up to $50 or so — for the blood or saliva samples."
Music

Unreleased 1963 Beatles Tracks On Sale To Preserve Copyright 230

Posted by Soulskill from the all-about-the-benjamins dept.
Taco Cowboy writes "Back in 1963, the Beatles did some performances for the BBC and other places. The songs were recorded, but never officially released. Now, 50 years later, Apple has packaged all 59 tracks together and put them up for sale on iTunes for $40. The reason? Copyright. The copyright for unreleased works expires 50 years after the works are recorded. By releasing the 59 tracks on iTunes before the end of December, the songs will be protected under copyright law for 20 more years."
Businesses

Telefonica To Shut Down VoIP Provider Jajah On January 31, 2014 39

Posted by samzenpus from the so-long-farewell dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Voice over IP (VoIP) provider Jajah has announced it will be shutting down on January 31, 2014. This means Jajah.com and Jajah Direct services will no longer be offered, and users will not be able to make any more calls. Existing Jajah users will be able to use their account normally until the kill date, but new registrations meanwhile are no longer being accepted. You can also apply for a refund of any balance remaining on your account prior to the service closing by submitting a request to customer support (processing time is 30 days)."
Bitcoin

Bitcoin Tops $1,000 For the First Time 371

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the from-the-top-you-can-only-go-down dept.
An anonymous reader writes with this bit from The Next Web "Bitcoin hit a new milestone today, passing the $1,000 mark for the first time. The virtual currency is currently trading above the four-digit figure, with its highest at $1,030 on Mt. Gox, one of the largest exchanges. Last week, Bitcoin's high for the day was $632. That means its trading value has surged 62.83 percent in a week, assuming we're looking at just its high points. That figure could of course rise even further if Bitcoin continues to push further up throughout the day."
Transportation

NY Police Get Tall SUVs To Combat Texting While Driving 319

Posted by Soulskill from the tall-vehicle-short-temper dept.
coondoggie writes "The New York State Police have a new weapon to fight the plague of drivers that insist on texting while operating their vehicle: tall SUVs. Most recently reported by the AP, NY has begun operating a fleet of 32 unmarked SUVs that let troopers more easily peer down into a car to see if the driver is texting or not. 'Major Michael Kopy, commander of the state police troop patrolling the corridor between New York City and Albany, quoted a Virginia Tech study that found texting while driving increased the chance of a collision by 23 times and took eyes off the road for five seconds — more than the length of a football field at highway speed. Kopy worries that as teens get their driver's licenses, texting on the road will become more prevalent. "More people are coming of driving age who have had these hand-held devices for many years, and now as they start to drive, they're putting the two together, texting and driving, when they shouldn't."'"

Submission + - Russia Proposes Banning Foul Language on the Internet (pravda.ru)

Submitted by eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: In a country where it's illegal to insult a government official, State Duma Deputy Yelena Mizulina has proposed an amendment to ban swearing on social networks, bulletin boards and all websites. The website would be blocked if the offending material had not been removed within 24 hours. The name of the law this would be added to? "On the protection of children from information harmful to their health and development." Mizulina's title in regards to this legislation? Chairwoman of the Committee on Family, Women and Children (No joke!). Of course, Yelena Mizulina is no stranger to unwarranted censorship as she was behind the law banning gay propaganda to minors and invoked laws to try to silence critics on twitter. The article also notes, 'United Russia deputy Vitaly Milonov put forward a similar initiative on 25 July. He proposed to tighten control over social networks and allow people to dating sites through their passports.'

Submission + - Students hijack $80 million superyacht with GPS spoofing (scmagazine.com.au)

Submitted by mask.of.sanity
mask.of.sanity writes: A team of university students have hijacked an $80 million superyacht using GPS spoofing without tripping alarms. The experiment (run with permission) saw the White Rose sail from Monaco to the island of Rhodes in the Mediterranean. Faint GPS signals broadcast from a spoofing device slowly overpowered authentic signals allowing the students control over the yacht's navigational system.

Submission + - Planetary 'runaway greenhouse' might be easier than was thought (washington.edu)

Submitted by vinces99
vinces99 writes: It might be easier than previously thought for a planet to overheat into the scorchingly uninhabitable “runaway greenhouse” stage, according to new research by astronomers at the University of Washington and the University of Victoria. In the runaway greenhouse stage, a planet absorbs more solar energy than it can give off to retain equilibrium. As a result, the world overheats, boiling its oceans and filling its atmosphere with steam, which leaves the planet glowing-hot and forever uninhabitable, as Venus is now. One estimate of the inner edge of a star’s “habitable zone” is where the runaway greenhouse process begins. The habitable zone is that ring of space around a star that’s just right for water to remain in liquid form on an orbiting rocky planet’s surface, thus giving life a chance. Revisiting this classic planetary science scenario with new computer modeling, the astronomers found a lower thermal radiation threshold for the runaway greenhouse process, meaning that stage may be easier to initiate.

Submission + - Second SFO disaster avoided seconds before crash

Submitted by sabri
sabri writes: On July 25th, flight EVA28, a Boeing 777 flying from Taiwan to SFO, was on the final approach for runway 28L when they were alerted by ATC that they were only at 600ft above the ground at less than 4NM from the threshold. SFO's tower directed the flight crew to climb immediately and declare missed approach.

Assuming they were flying at 140 knots (typical approach speed of a 777), they were less than 2 minutes from the runway and at a 3 degree angle (approx 500ft/min descent), about a minute from impact. This is the same type of aircraft and runway used by the crashed Asiana flight. Similar weather conditions and awfully similar flight path. Is there a structural problem with computer-aided pilot's ability to fly visual approaches?

Submission + - MIT Creates World's First "Perfect Mirror" (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers at MIT recently succeeded in creating the world's first "perfect mirror" — a surface capable of reflecting any type of wave (light, sound, water) with absolutely zero distortion. The device is composed of a photonic crystal topped with a nanopatterned layer of silicon nitrade. The technology could lead to advanced lasers, fiber optics, and concentrated solar power systems.

Submission + - Monogamy May Have Evolved to Prevent Infanticide (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Human males and females have a strong tendency to live together in monogamous pairs, albeit for highly varied periods of time and degrees of fidelity. Just how such behavior arose has been the topic of much debate among researchers. A new study comes to a startling conclusion: Among primates, including perhaps humans, monogamy evolved because it protected infants from being killed by rival males.

Submission + - Judge Rules in Favor of Volkswagen and Silences Scientist (theguardian.com)

Submitted by sl4shd0rk
sl4shd0rk writes: Samsung-is-not-as-cool-as-Apple Judge Colin Birss, rules in favor of Volkswagon to ban Flavio Garcia, a computer scientist, from revealing details about "Wirelessly Lockpicking a Vehicle Immobiliser" at USENIX in August. Volkswagen says the flaw could allow someone to "break the security and steal a car" so it is justifiable grounds for blocking Flavio's paper. No word yet on how soon Volkswagen will have a patch for their bungled technology which is responsible for the exploit.

Submission + - ASCAP petitions FCC to deny Pandora's purchase of Radio Station

Submitted by chipperdog
chipperdog writes: NorthPine.com reports: "ASCAP is firing back against Pandora Radio's attempt to get lower music royalty rates by buying a terrestrial radio station, "Hits 102.7" (KXMZ Box Elder-Rapid City). In a petition to deny, ASCAP alleges "Pandora has failed to fully disclose its ownership, and to adequately demonstrate that it complies with the Commission’s foreign ownership rules." ASCAP also alleges that Pandora has no intention of operating KXMZ to serve the public interest, but is rather only interested in obtaining lower royalty rates. Pandora reached a deal to buy KXMZ from Connoisseur Media for $600,000 earlier this year and is already running the station through a local marketing agreement.

Submission + - Dogs Are Starting to Watch More Television

Submitted by HonorPoncaCityDotCom
HonorPoncaCityDotCom writes: Stanley Coren reports that a number of new television stations are providing programming specifically designed for dogs and while many people report that their dogs completely ignore what is visible on television, with modern resolution and quicker imaging, more dogs have become potential television viewers. The increase in dog viewership is primarily attributed to the way the dog's eye works. The image on a standard television screen is updated 60 times per second and since a human's flicker fusion frequency is only 55 Hz, the image appears continuous and the gradually changing images give us the illusion of movement. However dogs can discern flickers at up to 80 Hz so with the increased availability of high-resolution digital screens that are refreshed at a much higher rate, the images are less likely to appear to be flickering to the canine eye. Presentation factors are also an issue. Dogs are most likely to respond to images that have been captured at the eye level of a dog with a low camera angle where there are moving things like animals or birds. But even if that requirement is fulfilled, most dogs do not watch television because the TV is normally placed at a comfortable eye level for human beings and dogs do tend not to scan upward, and therefore do not notice the TV images. All of which brings us to DogTV, the first cable network to deliver 24-hour programming for dogs that lets you flip on the channel while you go out for the day as your pet is stimulated, entertained and relaxed. “If the dog wasn’t enjoying it, he would find something else to do, like nibble on the end of a sofa,” says veterinarian Ann E. Hohenhaus.

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