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Submission + - Brazil Orders Google To Hand Over Street View data (france24.com)

Submitted by cold fjord
cold fjord writes: France 24 reports, "Brazilian judges have given US Internet search giant Google until Saturday to turn over private data collected through its Street View program ... Failure to do so would mean a daily fine of $50,000, up to a maximum of $500,000. ... According to a complaint from the Brazilian Institute of Computer Policy and Rights (IBDI), the car-borne software also enables Street View to access private wi-fi networks and intercept personal data and electronic communications. IBDI pointed to similar occurences in other parts of the world and demanded that Google reveal if it had engaged in such practices. It said Google had admitted collecting data while insisting they were not used "in its products and services. The US search engine stressed that it had now removed the data collection software from its vehicles."

Submission + - CIA Pays AT&T Millions to Voluntarily Provide Call Data

Submitted by binarstu
binarstu writes: The New York Times reports that 'The C.I.A. is paying AT&T more than $10 million a year to assist with overseas counterterrorism investigations by exploiting the company’s vast database of phone records, which includes Americans’ international calls, according to government officials. The cooperation is conducted under a voluntary contract, not under subpoenas or court orders compelling the company to participate, according to the officials.'

Submission + - Robots Will Soon Be Powered By Artificial Hearts that Pump Pee (vice.com)

Submitted by Daniel_Stuckey
Daniel_Stuckey writes: Robots have hearts, too. Or rather, they should, according to a group of researchers based in Bristol, England. In search of a new kind of fuel pump to power robots, Peter Walters and four of his colleagues turned to biological principles, and found a creative solution they will present tomorrow in the journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics . Their solution? To endue the robots with an actuator that functions similarly to a human heart. Except instead of circulating blood through veins, it pumps—wait for it—pee through the machine. Researchers were able to construct the actuator using a material made out of nickel and titanium (NiTi) called shape memory alloy. “The NiTi fibers used in the artificial heartbeat actuator function as artificial muscle, contracting when heated by an electric current,” Walters explained. “This contraction compresses the body of the actuator to effect its pumping action.”

Submission + - Warming Temperatures Cause Mammals to Shrink (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: When Earth warms, mammals shrink. That’s what researchers found when they looked back at two warming events that occured tens of millions of years ago. Early horses, for example, shrunk by about 30%, presumably to increase the ratio of skin area to body volume, and thus lose heat more easily. Deer and small primates that resembled today’s lemurs also shrunk. In both cases, the animals rebounded to their previous sizes when the warming episode was over. Both this and the earlier warming episode were preceded by big increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide, similar to what we are seeing today. Are humans next?

Submission + - 'War Room' notes describe IT chaos at Healthcare.gov (computerworld.com)

Submitted by dcblogs
dcblogs writes: U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has released 175 pages of "War Room" notes — a collection of notes by federal officials dealing with the problems at Healthcare.gov. They start Oct. 1, the launch day. The War Room notes catalog IT problems — dashboards weren't showing data, servers didn't have the right production data, third party systems weren't connecting to verify data, a key contractor had trouble logging on, and there wasn't enough server capacity to handle the traffic, or enough people on the help desks to answer calls. To top it off, some personnel needed for the effort were furloughed because of the shutdown. Volunteers were needed to work weekends, but there were bureaucratic complications. According to one note: "Donna's comp time approver is furloughed."

Submission + - Both Firefox and Chrome will EOL on XP shortly after April (neowin.net)

Submitted by Billly Gates
Billly Gates writes: While Windows XP is still going strong the sun is rapidly setting on this old platform fast. Firefox plans to end support for XP which means no security fixes or improvements. Chrome is being discontinued a little later as well for Windows XP. Windows XP has its die hard users refusing to upgrade as they prefer the operating system or feel there is no need to change. Many of them also have been on slashdot proudly proclaiming to still use it when not running MacOSX or Linux. The story would not be as big of a deal if it were not for the feared XPopacalypse with a major Virus/worm/trojan taking down millions of systems with no patches to ever fix them and software not being patched to protect them. Does this also mean webmasters will need to write seperate versions of CSS and javascript for older versions of Chrome and Firefox like they did with IE 6 if the user base refuses to leave Windows XP?

It is time to move on whether you are a fan of Windows XP still or not. As fellow geeks how is the best way to move these people off this old platform?

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