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Submission + - Starting on intermediate maths?

Submitted by hughbar
hughbar writes: I haven't done any 'real' maths since university about 40 years ago. I wasn't useless, but not that great either, I had to do some elementary quantum mechanics and the kind of arithmetic that an empirical scientist always needs.

I'd like to start on a little more, but every entry in Wikipedia seems to lead to another entry. Can't find the end of this piece of string. Should I specialise? Is there a book or course that covers university entry and first year maths for non-mathematicians [for example, people switching major subject]? Any ideas on this welcome, I'm ready to start but just don't know where to start.

Submission + - 1930s immigrants to US who Americanized their names got income boost (economist.com) 1

Submitted by ananyo
ananyo writes: Economists—most famously the Freakonomics duo, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner—have long worried that having the “wrong” name could set you back in the labour market. A number of studies show that having an “ethnic-sounding” name tends to disadvantage job applicants (though others suggest that names matter little).
Waves of migrants to America did not need economists to tell them that their name could be a disadvantage. Many changed their names to fit in. Almost a third of naturalising immigrants abandoned their first names by 1930 and acquired popular American names such as William, John or Charles. What was the impact? The authors draw on a sample of 3,400 male migrants who naturalised in New York in 1930.
The authors found that changing from a purely foreign name to a very common American name was associated with a 14% hike in earnings.

Submission + - Solar Power as cheap as conventional electricity .. (thinkprogress.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Once all its costs are accounted for, the price of commercial solar power has pulled even with retail electricity rates in Italy and Germany, according to a new report ..

The analysis .. looked at a standard 30 kilowatt solar photovoltaic system for your average commercial building, and the built a methodology to assess its “leveled cost of energy” (LCOE) .. solar’s LCOE in Italy and Germany is now at “grid parity,” meaning it’s even with retail electricity prices in general in those countries. Spain’s already gotten there as well, and Mexico and France are coming up ...

Submission + - Pinterest Reveals its First Transparency Report

Submitted by SmartAboutThings
SmartAboutThings writes: There’s been a lot of brouhaha surrounding privacy these days, and despite the fact that Pinterest isn’t among the most targeted websites when it comes to government data requests, the company, which is said to have near 80 million users, has decided to make public its first ever transparency report. Given the nature of the service and the fact that it is much smaller than Facebook, it was only natural not to expect too many data requests. According to Pinterest’s report, from July to December 2013, the company has received only 7 warrants, 5 subpoenas, 1 civil subpoena, and 0 other requests about 13 user accounts. Compare that to Microsoft which has received more than 35,000 requests during the second half of last year while Facebook received somewhere around 15,000.

Submission + - SPAM: UK to associate with Germany for 5G

Submitted by Niranjan Nallapothula
Niranjan Nallapothula writes: David Cameroon has announced a new agreement between United Kingdom and Germany to develop 5G Technology, as well as boost momentum for the Internet of Things.

Germany and Britain will collaborate and work for the development for future – super fast mobile network 5G, UK Prime Minister – David Cameroon’s speech at the opening of Europe’s Largest Technology show – CeBIT 2014. Germany primaryly focused on three factors, namely 5G and its benefits in future years (‘Download one full length movie in less than a second’), Internet of things and strengthening of EU Digital market.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Mogees is now on Kickstarter! Turn objects around you into music instruments (kickstarter.com)

Submitted by brunozamborlin
brunozamborlin writes: After three years of work, PhD student Bruno Zamborlin launches the Mogees project on Kickstarter.
Mogees consists of a mobile app for iOS/Android and a small sensor that detects and analyses the vibrations that we make when we interact with the objects around us. It uses a special sound technique to alter their acoustic properties so as to make them musical.
Above all, it's about everyone making beautiful music out of ordinary objects. Just plug it in and play the world.

Submission + - How to dazzle facial recognition algos? (diyphotography.net) 1

Submitted by sandbagger
sandbagger writes: Dazzle painting was that zebra striping used during the Great War to make surface ships difficult to follow in the foggy North Atlantic. Similar cosmetic pattern breaking may be proving useful in confusing facial recognition. Adding moth-like cosmetic paint daubs to the cheeks appears to break at least some facial recognition software. What's your experience, and, theoretically at least, what are its uses. (If anyone at Fort Meade is reading this, this is just a purely theoretical exercise.)

Submission + - Hacking Of US Navy Extensive, Repair Cost $10M And 4 Months. Upgrades Needed

Submitted by cold fjord
cold fjord writes: The Australian reports, "Iran's infiltration of a US Navy computer network was far more extensive than previously thought ... hackers targeted the ... network used by ... the Navy to host websites, store non-sensitive information and handle voice, video and data communications. The network has 800,000 users ... “It was a real big deal,” said the senior US official. “It was a significant penetration ...” ... the penetration allowed the Iranians to conduct surveillance on the Navy’s and Marine Corps’ unclassified networks ... the cost to repair the Navy network ... was approximately $US10 million. ... The attack and other cyberthreats prompted a broader review of Navy and DoD network security and upgrades ... were needed. The added defences are expected to cost several hundred million dollars ... within three weeks of the intrusion, officials understood the full scope of the attack and put in place a plan to try and push the intruders out. ... the unclassified network was taken down twice for upgrades ... officials were surprised at the skills of the Iranian hackers. Previously, their tactics had been far cruder ... denial of service attacks ..." — Also at Fox News.

Submission + - Healthcare organizations under siege from cyberattacks, study says (chicagotribune.com)

Submitted by BigVig209
BigVig209 writes: A new study set to be officially released Wednesday found that networks and Internet-connected devices in places such as hospitals, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies are under siege and in many cases have been infiltrated without their knowledge.

The study was conducted by Norse, a Silicon Valley cybersecurity firm, and SANS, a security research institute. In the report, the groups found from September 2012 to October 2013 that 375 healthcare organizations in the U.S. had been compromised, and in many cases are still compromised because they have not yet detected the attacks.

Submission + - EFF Launches The Day We Fight Back 2

Submitted by phmadore
phmadore writes: The Electronic Frontier Foundation is on a holy crusade to protect the fourth amendment. No matter how you feel about the activities of the National Security Agency as revealed to us in the last several months, you should call your representatives and tell them! The campaign is called "The Day We Fight Back" and it encourages all dutiful citizens to take a few minutes to either call or e-mail their representatives to voice their opinion on the looming possibility of or already existing Big Brother we read about in 1984 as children. Personally, I chose to call, and the process was very smooth.

Submission + - Second World War code-cracking computing hero Colossus turns 70 (v3.co.uk)

Submitted by DW100
DW100 writes: The Colossus computer that helped the Allies crack messages sent by the Nazis during the Second World War has celebrated its 70th birthday. The machine was a pioneering feat of engineering, able to read 5,000 characters a second to help the team at Bletchley Park crack the German's Lorenz code in rapid time. This helped the Allies gather vital information on the Nazi's plans, and is credited with helping end the war effort early, saving millions of lives.

Submission + - Google to have a tax adjustment of 1 billion euros by french Tax office (lepoint.fr)

Submitted by opslashdot
opslashdot writes: Le Point (see link), reveals that google inc. will get a 1 billion euros (1,3 billion dollars) tax adjustment by the French Tax Office.
The French Tax Office claims that Google has declared very low revenues in France, using tax optimization techniques that allowed them to pay as low as 5.5 million euros taxes in 2011.

Submission + - Obfuscating a program .. (wired.com)

Submitted by DTentilhao
DTentilhao writes: `The idea of “obfuscating” a program had been around for decades, but no one had ever developed a rigorous mathematical framework for the concept, let alone created an unassailable obfuscation scheme. Over the years, commercial software companies have engineered various techniques for garbling a computer program so that it will be harder to understand while still performing the same function'

How about scrambling the microcode on the CPU and doing the same to the core OS, that way each system would be render unique and unknown software would be unable to run on such a system. You could then run the apps on a VM running on top of the core OS.

Submission + - Engineers Invent Acoustic Equivalent of One-Way Glass

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Up until now, acoustic waves traveling between two points in space always exhibited a basic symmetry summed up with the phrase, “if you can hear, you can also be heard.” Not anymore as Tia Ghose reports at Live Science that a team at UT Austin has created a “nonreciprocal acoustic circulator," the first step that could lead to the sound equivalent of a one-way mirror.” All waves — whether visible light, sound, radio or otherwise — have a physical property known as time reversal symmetry so a wave sent one way can always be sent back. For radio waves, researchers figured out how to break this rule using magnetic materials that set electrons spinning in one direction. The resulting radio waves detect the difference in the material in one direction versus the other, preventing reverse transmission. To accomplish the feat with sound waves, the team created a cavity loaded with tiny CPU fans that spin the air with a specific velocity. The air is spinning in one direction, so the flow of air "feels" different to the wave in one direction versus the other, preventing backward transmission. As a result, sound waves can go in, but they can't go the other way. The result is one-directional sound. With such a device, people can hear someone talking, but they themselves cannot be heard.The findings will likely lead to many useful applications, says Sebastien Guenneau "I would be surprised if sound industries do not pick up this idea. This could have great applications in sound insulation of motorways, music studios, submarines and airplanes."

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