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Submission + - Support for IS is stronger in Europe and US than in Syria (theguardian.com)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: This may be somewhat counter-intuitive, the fact is that the support for the Islamic State terrorist group amongst those who frequenting the Arabic social-media scene from Europe and the United States is stronger than those who are from Syria

Analysis of two million online posts found those originating in Europe were more favourable to Isis than those from frontline of conflict

Support for Islamic State (Isis) among Arabic-speaking social media users in Belgium, Britain, France and the US is greater than in the militant group’s heartlands of Syria and Iraq, a global analysis of over 2 million Arabic-language online posts has found

Italian academics found that in a three-and-a-half month period starting in July, content posted by Arabic-speaking Europeans on Twitter and Facebook was more favourable to Isis than content posted in those countries on the frontline of the conflict

In Syria, Isis appears to be dramatically losing the battle for hearts and minds with more than 92% of tweets, blogs and forum comments hostile to the militants who have rampaged through the east of the country and western Iraq, seizing large tracts of territory and declaring the establishment of a religious state

Outside Syria, on the other hand, the support for Isis rises significantly. Forty-seven per cent (47%) of studied tweets and posts from Qatar, 35% from Pakistan, 31% from Belgium and almost 24% of posts from UK and 21% from the US were classified as being supportive of the jihadist organisation compared with just under 20% in Jordan, Saudi Arabia (19.7%) and Iraq (19.8%)

If I were one of those who are living in the Western countries I would start to prepare for the worst

Submission + - Censoring Internet under the "anti-terror" banner (thestar.com.my)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The "anti-terrorism" meme is being used by more and more countries all over the world as an excuse to censor the Internet

Malaysia, a country in which racist-policies have been institutionalized, wants Facebook and Google to help it to censor the Internet

Malaysia's approach goes way beyond EU's "Right to Forget" directive at Google. For example, Malaysia wants Facebook to close accounts it (Malaysia) deemed "bad", and the definition of "bad" according to the Malaysian ruling regime includes "those offending racial and religious sensitivities "

At face value, "offending racial and religious sensitivities " in itself may not be controversial, but in the Malaysian context (Please keep in mind that Malaysia is the only country in the world where the minority races have being legally oppressed for the past 57 years) the word " sensitivities " include those who dare to criticize the ruling regime's racist practices

In other words, the "anti-terrorism" banner has been hijacked by more and more countries and banana republics such as Malaysia are using it to further their control over the people via despicable means

Some backgrounds: Malaysia has so far either shut down or blocked over 1,400 websites deemed "inappropriate" ( http://www.themalaysianinsider... ) and the regime which is ruling Malaysia has asked Facebook about the identity of people behind 197 accounts ( http://weehingthong.wordpress.... )

Submission + - iPhone 6 has reached its peak (digitimes.com)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: Judging from Apple's order for chips that are used to build iPhone 6, the peak has been reached and it's starting to go downhill from now on

Apple has started scaling back on chip orders for its latest iPhone, according to sources at IC design houses

Orders for chips for the production of iPhone 6 devices will reduce to 44-46 million units in the first quarter of 2015 from more than 50 million units in fourth-quarter 2014, the sources estimated

In addition, analog IC firms in the supply chain for Apple's iPhone 6 disclosed that their unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio has slid to 1.1 from 1.3-1.4

Meanwhile, sources at downstream manufacturers also indicated that the visibility of orders for the iPhone 6 has reduced at a gradual pace. Shipments for Apple's latest iPhone devices might have already reached peak levels, the sources suggested

Submission + - How a monopoly protects its market? (adesor.com)

Submitted by An21212
An21212 writes: Yesterday I was reading a business website in spanish and I came across this article which explains one of the most frequent causes of monopoly.
The article specifies that entry barriers are the main cause of a monopoly. The main goal for monopolists is to create those barriers towards their competitors. The problem is that they have so much power that they can stop even better priced or more efficient competitors from entering the market.
For example, they can buy all the suppliers in order to chose to whom thos companies should sell. Therefore, with no suppliers there would increase the entry barriers to infinite.

I thought it was an interesting article to share and I enjoyed translating it for the slashdot community. Im sorry if I commited some mistakes as english is my second language.

Submission + - Ubisoft apologises for Assassin's Creed

Submitted by BarbaraHudson
BarbaraHudson writes: As reported here:

As an acknowledgement of the botched launch of Assassin's Creed Unity, Ubisoft has offered free additional content to everyone who purchased the title, cancelled the game's season pass and offered a free game to users who purchased the pass.

The anticipation for Assassin's Creed Unity was such that the myriad of bugs and technical issues experienced at launch felt like an even greater slap in the face for gamers.
Medicine

Health Advisor: Ebola Still Spreading, Worst Outbreak We've Ever Seen 244

Posted by samzenpus from the like-wildfire dept.
Lasrick writes After four decades of confining Ebola outbreaks to small areas, experts acknowledged in an October 9 New England Journal of Medicine article that "we were wrong" about the scope of the current situation. At the present transmission rate, the number of Ebola cases in West Africa doubles every two to three weeks. Early diagnosis is the key to controlling the epidemic, but that's far easier said than done: "And there are several complicating factors. For one thing, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that 60 percent of all Ebola patients remain undiagnosed in their communities." A transmission rate below 1 is necessary to keep the outbreak under control (instead of the current rate of 1.5 to 2), and the authors detail what's in the works to help achieve early detection, which is crucial to reducing the current transmission rate.
Security

Ask Slashdot: Best Biometric Authentication System? 127

Posted by samzenpus from the eyes-have-it dept.
kwelch007 writes I run a network for a company that does manufacturing primarily in a clean-room. We have many systems in place that track countless aspects of every step. However, we do not have systems in place to identify the specific user performing the step. I could do this easily, but asking users to input their AD login every time they perform a task is a time-waster (we have "shared" workstations throughout.) My question is, what technologies are people actually using successfully for rapid authentication? I've thought about fingerprint scanners, but they don't work because in the CR we have to wear gloves. So, I'm thinking either face-recognition or retinal scans...but am open to other ideas if they are commercially viable.
Technology

Voting Machines Malfunction: 5,000 Votes Not Counted In Kansas County 127

Posted by samzenpus from the our-bad dept.
An anonymous reader writes A malfunction in electronic voting machines in Saline County, Kansas, left over 5,000 votes uncounted. That's roughly one-third of the votes cast. Counting those 5,207 votes didn't change any outcomes in this case however. “That’s a huge difference,” county Chairman Randy Duncan said when notified by the Journal of the error. “That’s scary. That makes me wonder about voting machines. Should we go back to paper ballots?”
Bitcoin

Bitcoin Is Not Anonymous After All 115

Posted by samzenpus from the pulling-back-the-curtain dept.
Taco Cowboy points out a new study that shows it is possible to figure out the IP address of someone who pays for transactions anonymously online using bitcoins. "The Bitcoin system is not managed by a central authority, but relies on a peer-to-peer network on the Internet. Anyone can join the network as a user or provide computing capacity to process the transactions. In the network, the user's identity is hidden behind a cryptographic pseudonym, which can be changed as often as is wanted. Transactions are signed with this pseudonym and broadcast to the public network to verify their authenticity and attribute the Bitcoins to the new owner. In their new study, researchers at the Laboratory of Algorithmics, Cryptology and Security of the University of Luxembourg have shown that Bitcoin does not protect user's IP address and that it can be linked to the user's transactions in real-time. To find this out, a hacker would need only a few computers and about €1500 per month for server and traffic costs. Moreover, the popular anonymization network "Tor" can do little to guarantee Bitcoin user's anonymity, since it can be blocked easily."
Blackberry

BlackBerry Will Buy Your iPhone For $550 120

Posted by samzenpus from the please-buy-our-phone dept.
mpicpp points out that BlackBerry is hoping to get iPhone owners to switch to Passport smartphones by promising up to $550 to trade in their phones. "The promotion, which starts Monday, promises as much as $550 to iPhone owners who trade in their handsets in favor of BlackBerry's Passport. The actual trade-in value depends on the iPhone, with the iPhone 4S worth up to $90 and the iPhone 6 worth up to $400. (The iPhone 6 Plus is not eligible.) BlackBerry then sweetens the deal by kicking in an additional $150 as a topper for each iPhone. The deal will run through February 13, but it's good only in North America. Customers must buy the $599 to $699 unlocked Passport phone through either BlackBerry's website or Amazon. The trade-in amount comes in the form of a Visa prepaid card."
Power

Jackie Chan Discs Help Boost Solar Panel Efficiency 194

Posted by samzenpus from the super-solar-cop dept.
wbr1 writes Apparently the pit pattern on a blu-ray disk is great at helping trap photons, rather than reflecting them. Applying this pattern to the glass in a solar panel can boost efficiency by 22%. Researchers at Northwestern tested this system with Jackie Chan discs. From the article: "To increase the efficiency of a solar panel by 22%, the researchers at Northwestern bought a copy of Police Story 3: Supercop on Blu-ray; removed the top plastic layer, exposing the recording medium beneath; cast a mold of the quasi-random pattern; and then used the mold to create a photovoltaic cell with the same pattern....The end result is a solar panel that has a quantum efficiency of around 40% — up about 22% from the non-patterned solar panel."
Build

Video Fly With the Brooklyn Aerodrome (Video) 22

Posted by Roblimo from the it's-not-a-drone-it's-just-a-model-plane dept.
A bit of housing insulation material, a battery, a motor and propellor, a radio receiver and transmitter, and servos to control the motor and a pair of ailerons, and you're ready to fly the Brooklyn Aerodrome way. This isn't a tiny radio-controlled paper airplane, but a big bruiser with a 1:1 power to weight ratio (which means it can climb like a bat out of hell) and enough guts to fly in reasonably windy conditions while carrying a camera -- except we'd better not mention cameras, since Brooklyn Aerodrome creations, whether kits or plans, are obviously intended tohelp you build model airplanes, not drones. Timothy ran into project proponent Breck Baldwin at a maker faire near Atlanta, surrounded by a squadron of junior pilots who may someday become astronauts on the Moon - Mars run -- or at least delivery drone controllers for Amazon. (Alternate Video Link)
BSD

DragonFly BSD 4.0 Released 66

Posted by samzenpus from the check-it-out dept.
An anonymous reader writes From the release page: Version 4 of DragonFly brings Haswell graphics support, 3D acceleration, and improved performance in extremely high-traffic networks. DragonFly now supports up to 256 CPUs, Haswell graphics (i915), concurrent pf operation, and a variety of other devices.
The Almighty Buck

Was Microsoft Forced To Pay $136M In Back Taxes In China? 57

Posted by samzenpus from the pay-up dept.
itwbennett writes China's state-controlled Xinhua News Agency said on Sunday that an unnamed international company was forced to pay 840 million yuan ($136 million) in back taxes, as part of a Chinese government crackdown on tax evasion. The Xinhua article simply referred to it as the "M company," describing it as a top 500 global firm headquartered in the U.S. that in 1995 set up a wholly owned foreign subsidiary in Beijing. The details match Microsoft's own background, and no other company obviously fits the bill. Xinhua added, that despite the company's strengths, its subsidiary in China had not been not making a profit, and posted a loss of over $2 billion during a six-year period.

Comment What kind of fucking shit is this? (Score 2) 29

by Taco Cowboy (#48465267) Attached to: NSF Commits $16M To Build Cloud-Based and Data-Intensive Supercomputers

If TFA wants to talk about supercomputer then it should stick to supercomputers. What is the point of sticking in the following:

... climate change skeptic Ted Cruz is rumored to be in line to chair a Senate committee that oversees NASA and the NSF

1, TFA has failed to substantiate its claim that Ted Cruz is a climate change skeptic
 
2. Even if Ted Cruz is a climate change skeptic it still has NOTHING to do with the funding of supercomputers
 
3. Supercomputer can be used for many things, not only for climate pattern modelling
 
4. TFA also failed to prove that Ted Cruz has refused to fund the purchase of supercomputer
 
5. Even if Ted Cruz is such a villian, that the guy would end up destroying NSF and whatnots, why didn't the American government, led by the Obama administration and its Democratic party congress critins, before Ted Cruz arrives at the scene, fund the purchase of supercomputers?
 
Is TFA going to be an article about the lack of supercomputer or is TFA going to be a political character assassination propaganda against Ted Cruz?
 
I have no relationship whatsoever with Ted Cruz. I just can't stand this kind of below-the-belt sneak attack disguising as a Slashdot article

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