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Submission + - Has Google Indexed Your Backup Drive? (csoonline.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: Depending on how you've configured the device, your backup drive may have been indexed by Google, making some seriously personal information freely available online to anyone who knows what they're looking for. Using a few simple Google searches, CSO's Steve Ragan discovered thousands of personal records and documents online, including sales receipts with credit card information and tax documents with social security numbers. In all cases, the files were exposed because someone used a misconfigured device acting as a personal cloud, or FTP (File Transfer Protocol) was enabled on their router.

Submission + - DARPA wants software that adapts, lasts over 100 years (networkworld.com) 1

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes: The program, called Building Resource Adaptive Software Systems, or BRASS is expected to lead to significant improvements in software resilience, reliability and maintainability by developing the computational and algorithmic requirements necessary for software systems and data to remain robust in excess of 100 years.

Submission + - Apples Leaves Chinese CNNIC Root in OSX and iOS Trust Stores

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: When it was revealed late last month that a Chinese certificate authority had allowed an intermediate CA to issue unauthorized certificates for some Google domains, both Google and Mozilla reacted quickly and dropped trust in CNNIC altogether, Apple has kept the root certificates in its trusted store for both iOS and OSX.

Apple on Wednesday released major security upgrades for both of its operating systems and the root certificate for CNNIC, the Chinese CA at the heart of the controversy, remain in the trusted stores for iOS and OSX. The company has not made any public statements on the incident or the continued inclusion of CNNIC’s certificates in the trusted stores.

Submission + - The most astounding fact about the Universe

Submitted by StartsWithABang
StartsWithABang writes: There are many scientific facts that are simply remarkable when it comes to the Universe, including the stories of the stars, of galaxies, of matter, of life, of atoms and of subatomic particle. In short, every aspect of nature we can think of has its own unique, remarkable story. But there’s one fact that supersedes them all: the fact that the Universe itself can be understood, scientifically. This is much more profound than most people realize, and also the most powerful guide we have to unpacking and understanding the cosmos itself.

Submission + - How a black hole actually could destroy the entire Universe

Submitted by StartsWithABang
StartsWithABang writes: Black holes are some of the most extreme examples of physics in the Universe. Space is curved tremendously, there’s an incredible concentration of energy all in one, singular point, and everything that occurs, in theory, outside of the event horizon can be seen in our Universe. But what if one of those things that it can do is make the quantum vacuum in this incredibly curved space unstable? What if it can allow the vacuum to tunnel from its metastable state into one that’s truly stable? In theory, this can destroy the entire Universe.

Submission + - Dreams For Building The Ultimate Linux Home Server Room? (phoronix.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Phoronix article about his turning of a dilapidated basement into a few dozen computer Linux server farm complete with a drink bar and projector space with nice decor got me dreaming about an ultimate home server room. So I pose to the fellow Slashdot audience, what would you have in your ultimate server room? The Phoronix server room doesn't seem to care too much about noise, but with today's low-power systems is that much of an issue? What about fire suppression or other extras for gaming and other indulgences?

Submission + - Amazon Requires Non-Compete Agreements...For Warehouse Workers

Submitted by Rick Zeman
Rick Zeman writes: Amazon, perhaps historically only second to NewEgg in the IT nerdling's online shopping heart, not only has treated their warehouse workers to appalling working condtions, but they're also making them sign a non-compete agreement for the privilege. Excerpt from the agreement:
During employment and for 18 months after the Separation Date, Employee will not, directly or indirectly, whether on Employee’s own behalf or on behalf of any other entity (for example, as an employee, agent, partner, or consultant), engage in or support the development, manufacture, marketing, or sale of any product or service that competes or is intended to compete with any product or service sold, offered, or otherwise provided by Amazon (or intended to be sold, offered, or otherwise provided by Amazon in the future)....

Submission + - Did Neurons Evolve Twice? (quantamagazine.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: When Leonid Moroz, a neuroscientist at the Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience in St. Augustine, Fla., first began studying comb jellies, he was puzzled. He knew the primitive sea creatures had nerve cells — responsible, among other things, for orchestrating the darting of their tentacles and the beat of their iridescent cilia. But those neurons appeared to be invisible. The dyes that scientists typically use to stain and study those cells simply didn’t work. The comb jellies’ neural anatomy was like nothing else he had ever encountered.

After years of study, he thinks he knows why. According to traditional evolutionary biology, neurons evolved just once, hundreds of millions of years ago, likely after sea sponges branched off the evolutionary tree. But Moroz thinks it happened twice — once in ancestors of comb jellies, which split off at around the same time as sea sponges, and once in the animals that gave rise to jellyfish and all subsequent animals, including us. He cites as evidence the fact that comb jellies have a relatively alien neural system, employing different chemicals and architecture from our own. “When we look at the genome and other information, we see not only different grammar but a different alphabet,” Moroz said.

Submission + - Facebook Sued For Alleged Theft of Data Center Design (itworld.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: British engineering company BladeRoom Group says it contacted Facebook in 2011 about using its technique, which involves constructing data centers in a modular fashion from pre-fabricated parts. What happened next isn’t clear, since much of the public version of BRG’s lawsuit is redacted. But it claims Facebook ended up stealing its ideas and using them to build part of a data center in Lulea, Sweden, that opened last year. 'Facebook’s misdeeds might never have come to light had it decided that simply stealing BRG’s intellectual property was enough,' the company said in its lawsuit, filed Monday at the federal district court in San Jose, California. 'Instead, Facebook went further when it decided to encourage and induce others to use BRG’s intellectual property though an initiative created by Facebook called the ‘Open Compute Project’.'

Submission + - Microsoft to Rename Modern Apps "Windows Apps"

Submitted by jones_supa
jones_supa writes: While fumbling with the new application platform for Windows, Microsoft has juggled with different names for the applications: Metro, Modern UI, Windows Store apps, universal apps. Going forward, these apps will be called "Windows apps", Microsoft explained during the Developing for the Windows 10 Hardware Platform session at WinHEC 2015. This is what the future of Windows is all about, and these apps are expected to completely supplant desktop applications. A "Windows app" can run on every device category: phone, PC, Xbox, IoT, and on more obscure devices like the HoloLens. For now the classic Win32 platform will remain fully supported on x86 PCs, but Microsoft is taking a "legacy" attitude towards it.

Submission + - First-Ever Quantum Device That Detects and Corrects its Own Errors (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: Before the dream of quantum computing is realized, a number of inherent problems must first be solved. One of these is the ability to maintain a stable memory system that overcomes the intrinsic instability of the basic unit of information in quantum computing – the quantum bit or "qubit". To address this problem, Physicists working at the University of California Berkeley (UC Berkeley) claim to have created breakthrough circuitry that continuously self-checks for inaccuracies to consistently maintain the error-free status of the quantum memory.

Submission + - Beyond PRISM: "Plenty" more domestic spy programs to reveal (zdnet.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Although Edward Snowden revealed many of the NSA's clandestine activities, there's belief among US lawmakers that the whistleblower didn't disclose everything. Sen. Ron Wyden is seen as one of the only hopes of US intelligence reform from within Congress.

Submission + - Brute Force Sony Online Entertainment Account Password Resets (sonyentertainmentnetwork.com)

Submitted by Ebola-Masks
Ebola-Masks writes: Since SOE will not honor my request to remove my email address (and associated continuous spam emails), the company continuously emails me password reset emails for my 'account'. I have asked thier customer support on three separate requests to remove my mistaken email address from their system. I have discovered that the password reset link that they won't stop sending me, is vulnerable to brute force attack due to the lack of failed attempt lockouts. Question, since SOE keeps directly sending me password reset email/links, is it legal for me to actually try to brute force the account reset?

Submission + - Germany Succeeded with Massive Power Drops/Surges with its Solar Grid Today (reuters.com)

Submitted by SpzToid
SpzToid writes: Electrical grids in Europe succeeded in managing the unprecedented disruption to solar power from Friday's 2-1/2-hour eclipse that brought sudden, massive drops in supply.

Germany, Europe's leading economy and boasting the world's biggest solar-powered installations, was at the heart of the event.

"Good preparations paid off, we were able to handle all swings in production," said Ulrike Hoerchens, spokeswoman for one of the four high-voltage grid firms, TenneT, which operates in the region with the highest share of photovoltaic units.

Solar power output has expanded sharply to 38.2 gigawatts (GW) since the region's last notable eclipse in 2003, so the country — which borders nine nations — needed to prove its power market and network handling centres could function under extraordinary conditions.

German solar output right before the eclipse totalled 21.7 GW, then dropped to a low point of 6.2 GW, followed by an addition of 15 GW again within the following hour, TenneT said.

The speed of feed-in was treble the normal maximum, which could have caused disruptions.

Submission + - NASA's Abandoned Launch Facilities

Submitted by trazom28
trazom28 writes: I ran across an interesting slideshow of NASA's abandoned launch facilities. Interesting piece of scientific history. It is described as images from "photographer Roland Miller's upcoming book, 'Abandoned in Place, titled' "Abandoned Space Graveyard Photos". ‘Abandoned in Place’ is a visual study of the deactivated launch and research facilities that played an essential role in early American space exploration."

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