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Microsoft

Submission + - Internet Explorer Users Are Kinda Stupid 2

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "PC World reports that AptiQuant, a "psychometric consulting" firm that provides hiring exams for businesses, gave online IQ tests to more than 100,000 people and found that if you use Internet Explorer, your IQ might be below average. Visitors arrived at the site either through organic searches or through advertisements on other sites, and Aptiquant made a note of which browser each test taker was using. On average, Internet Explorer users fared the worst, with IE6 users at the bottom of the pile with an average IQ of about 82 and IE8 users performing slightly better at about 94 while Firefox, Chrome and Safari fell in the middle with little difference between them at about 110. IE with Chrome Frame and Camino landed on top, along with Opera, whose users scored the highest with an IQ of about 128, "The study showed a substantial relationship between an individual's cognitive ability and their choice of web browser," AptiQuant concluded. "From the test results, it is a clear indication that individuals on the lower side of the IQ scale tend to resist a change/upgrade of their browsers." Interestingly enough AptiQuant provided data from a similar 2006 study showing that Internet Explorer users performed well with average IQs about of about 102 (PDF). "I wouldn't take [the tests] too seriously," writes Jared Newman. "They are, after all, comprised only of people who feel compelled to take IQ tests. But if you ever want to argue that Internet Explorer 6 users are too stupid to upgrade, at least now you've got some empirical evidence.""

Submission + - Volkswagen Temporary Auto Pilot goes live in demo (everythingnew.net)

Submitted by
hasanabbas1987
hasanabbas1987 writes: "A month back we told you about the Temporary Auto Pilot system in cars in development by Volkswagen, now they have taken it to the next level and demonstrated it in real time. The new Volkswagen Passat was selected for the demonstration and the car was equpped with a radar system, laser scanner, cameras, ultrasonic sensors and an “electronic horizon”, giving the car a sense of its location on the road."
Spam

Submission + - Cornell software fingers fake online reviews (cnet.com)

Submitted by
Eric Smalley
Eric Smalley writes: "If you're like most people, you give yourself high ratings when it comes to figuring out when someone's trying to con you. Problem is, most people aren't actually good at it — at least as far as detecting fake positive consumer reviews. Fortunately, technology is poised to make up for this all-too-human failing. Cornell University researchers have developed software that they say can detect fake reviews."
Google

Submission + - Phishing scam targets Google AdWords users (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
tsamsoniw
tsamsoniw writes: "Google AdWords customers are being targeted by a newly reported phishing scam. Users receive a message telling them their AdWords campaigns may be stopped and pointing them to a phishing site that looks just like the AdWords login page. The page is designed to pilfer your Google login name and password. Those credentials are particularly valuable to scammers because they can also provide access to a user's other Google services, such as Gmail, Google Docs, and the like. Sophos recommends that users protect themselves by signed up for two-step verification."
Security

Submission + - 90,000+ Web Pages Compromised Via iFrame Injection (net-security.org)

Submitted by Orome1
Orome1 writes: Researchers from security firm Armorize have uncovered a massive iFrame injection attack that has compromised 90,000+ Web pages belonging mostly to e-commerce sites. The injected iFrame points to the willysy.com domain and through a series of redirections and JavaScript loadings of additional iFrames takes the user to a page one the arhyv.ru domain where a number of exploits try to take advantage of a handful of vulnerabilities in the user's browser.
Government

Submission + - Can the NSA Track Your Phone's Location? (itworld.com)

Submitted by
itwbennett
itwbennett writes: "Responding to questions from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence yesterday, Matthew Olsen, the NSA's general counsel, said that the NSA 'may', under 'certain circumstances' have the authority to track U.S. citizens by intercepting location data from cell phones, but it's 'very complicated.' 'There's no need to panic, or start shopping for aluminum-foil headwear,' says blogger Kevin Fogarty, but clearly the NSA has been thinking about it enough 'that the agency's chief lawyer was able to speak intelligently about it off the cuff while interviewing for a different job.'"
Robotics

Submission + - Robot gets rid of landmines -- by crushing them (discovery.com) 1

Submitted by derGoldstein
derGoldstein writes: Discovery has an article about a robot that gets rid of landmines, not by using sensors to pinpoint their location, but by rotating a giant cylinder covered in tungsten hammers to smash them and blow them up: "An operator commands this beast from a safe distance using a remote control unit. The hull of the robot is made up of hardened steel plates in a "V" shape to help limit any damage from antitank mines and unexploded shells of sizes up to 3 inches, and the D-3 has been able to successfully ingest mines containing as much as 17.6 pounds of explosive, which is nothing to sneeze at.". A video of the beast in action can be found here.
Space

Submission + - New Soyuz Launch Facility Gets Equator Boost (pbs.org) 1

Submitted by tcd004
tcd004 writes: Russian and French teams are currently hard at work in French Guiana on the northern coast of South America, building the first Soyuz launch facility in the Western Hemisphere. Soyuz rockets normally carry 3,500 pound payloads into orbit, but from the French Guiana spaceport, the rocket will have an added benefit of being near the equator where the Earth's spin extremely fast. This extra boost allows it to deliver a 6,600 pound payload into orbit. The first launches are scheduled for October.

Submission + - Cast-off gadgets peek into new owners' lives (cnet.com)

Submitted by
Eric Smalley
Eric Smalley writes: "For the project, dubbed Backtalk, researchers sent refurbished Netbooks to developing countries via nonprofit organizations. They set up the computers to record location and pictures, and send the data home to MIT--with their new owners' consent... The MIT team used the data to build visual narratives about the computers' new lives."

Submission + - Geeky volunteer work? 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: I plan to be in-between jobs for 1-2 months later this year and use part of this time to do some volunteer work in Africa. My naive question: what to do and where to go? Is it possible to make good use of the skill-set of a typical geek? Any interesting projects worth supporting on-site?

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