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Security

Submission + - Apple's monster meal of updates (itwire.com) 1

Submitted by
WirePosted
WirePosted writes: "Security updates for Mac OS X 10.3.9 client and server provide fixes for AppleRAID, bind, CoreFoundation, Flash Player Plug-in, and Foundation. They also incorporate Security Update 2007-007."
Security

Submission + - British nukes were protected by bike locks (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by mattaw
mattaw writes: From an article in the BBC's Newsnight program: Until 1998 the RAF nuclear bomb was protected by a bike lock.

After the Americans implemented coded arming systems their was an attempt to get these fitted to the British systems however this was rejected by the Navy with the following statement:

"It would be invidious to suggest... that Senior Service officers may, in difficult circumstances, act in defiance of their clear orders".

That's alright then.
Patents

Submission + - IBM patents dynamic web pages

Submitted by bluehat
bluehat writes: From the patent 7,058,671: A method and system for delivering dynamic web pages in the INTERNET. Compiled programs embedding static queries to a database are stored on a server computer; view templates with HTML tags defining the layout of corresponding dynamic web pages and data tags instructing where and how to include each record of the query result into the respective dynamic web page are further stored on the server computer. When a dynamic web page must be distributed, the corresponding program is run, and the query result is stored into a shared memory structure. The query result is combined with the corresponding view template, by replacing the data tags with the associated records in the shared memory structure. The resulting web page is then distributed to client computers of the network.

Better start converting all your websites back to static page content. Seriously, folks this is not funny.
Quickies

Submission + - Atlantis destroyed by a tsunami ?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Research on the Greek island of Crete suggests that one of Europe's earliest civilisation [Alantis], which flourished until about 3,500 years ago, was destroyed by a giant tsunami. From the article: "The ancient Minoans were building palaces, paved streets and sewers, while most Europeans were still living in primitive huts. But around 1500BC the people who spawned the myths of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth abruptly disappeared. Now the mystery of their cataclysmic end may finally have been solved. A group of scientists have uncovered new evidence that the island of Crete was hit by a massive tsunami at the same time that Minoan culture disappeared. "The geo-archaeological deposits contain a number of distinct tsunami signatures," says Dutch-born geologist Professor Hendrik Bruins of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel. "Minoan building material, pottery and cups along with food residue such as isolated animal bones were mixed up with rounded beach pebbles and sea shells and microscopic marine fauna. "The latter can only have been scooped up from the sea-bed by one mechanism — a powerful tsunami, dumping all these materials together in a destructive swoop," says Professor Bruins. The deposits are up to seven metres above sea level, well above the normal reach of storm waves. "An event of ferocious force hit the coast of Crete and this wasn't just a Mediterranean storm," says Professor Bruins. The wave would have been as powerful as the one that devastated the coastlines of Thailand and Sri Lanka on Boxing day 2004 leading to the loss of over 250,000 lives. But if this evidence is so clear why has it not been discovered before now? Tsunami expert Costas Synolakis, from the University of Southern California, says that the study of ancient tsunamis is in its infancy and people have not, until now, really known what to look for.
Wireless Networking

Submission + - 802.11n Draft 2.0 Finaly Approved by Working Group

Submitted by
[Geeks Are Sexy]
[Geeks Are Sexy] writes: "Yes folks, the 802.11 Working Group has finally approved Draft 2.0 of the 802.11n spec, brigning us a step closer to its final form. From the article: "With the positive vote from the 802.11n Working Group, the Wi-Fi Alliance will now begin officially certifying equipment as being compliant with Draft 2.0. That's an important step, as official Draft 2.0-compliant gear is guaranteed to be fully compatible with the final 802.11n standard.""
Portables

Submission + - Hands On: The $100 Laptop

Submitted by
Paul Stamatiou
Paul Stamatiou writes: "I got my hands on the second release of the $100 One Laptop per Child laptop and wrote a review complete with pictures. It runs a custom version of Fedora Core 6 complete with an Xulrunner-based browser and an impressive 7.5-inch LCD sporting a resolution of 1200×900 with the ability to go monochromatic in sunlight. Other hardware features include a VGA webcam, 802.11b/g wireless, 512MB flash storage, 128MB DDR266 system RAM and a 366MHz AMD Geode CPU."
NASA

Submission + - Cassini Spacecraft Images Seas on Titan

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Instruments on NASA's Cassini spacecraft have found evidence for seas, likely filled with liquid methane or ethane, in the high northern latitudes of Saturn's moon Titan. One such feature is larger than any of the Great Lakes of North America and is about the same size as several seas on Earth.
OS X

Submission + - Mac OS X Update 10.4.9 Released

Submitted by Parry
Parry writes: Ok, it's going to be a busy afternoon updating to 10.4.9 — Software update just popped up with the 10.4.9 Update listed. It's a 163Mb download over 10.4.8 and includes general operating system fixes, as well as specific fixes or compatibility updates for the following applications and technologies:
— RAW camera support
— Handling of large or malformed images that could cause crashes
— Image capture performance
— Mouse scrolling and keyboard shortcuts
— Font handling
— Playback quality, and bookmarks in DVD Player
— USB video conferencing cameras for use with iChat
— Bluetooth devices
— Browsing AFP servers
— Apple USB Modem
— Windows-created digital certificates
— Open and Print dialogs in applications that use Rosetta on Intel-based Macs
— Time zone and daylight saving for 2006 and 2007
— Security updates
All in all it does sound like a good number of improvements made it to this (perhaps final) update. http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n304821 has more information.
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Dept. of Energy wants zero dollars for geothermal

Submitted by
LotsOfPhil
LotsOfPhil writes: "The Department of Energy is requesting $0 for research into geothermal energy. From 2001-2006, the average funding was $26 million. This year it is $5 million.

The Bush administration wants to eliminate federal support for geothermal power just as many U.S. states are looking to cut greenhouse gas emissions and raise renewable power output.
The move has angered scientists who say there is enough hot water underground to meet all U.S. electricity needs without greenhouse gas emissions.
"
Windows

Submission + - Microsoft Quietly Releases Windows 2003 SP 2

Submitted by Misterfred22
Misterfred22 writes: Microsoft quietly released 32-bit Windows 2003 Service Pack 2 today for download. You can download it here. Be sure to read the very long list of fixes, too. The 64-bit edition is still showing as a release canidate on their site.
Education

Submission + - New TI graphing calculator now public

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Texas Instruments has just unveiled its next generation of graphing calculators the weekend with the TI-Nspire. TI calculators are famous not only in the educational arena but also with the hobbyist hacker crowd around the world because of the ease (or some would say complexity) of which it is to develop for them. The TI-Nspire comes in both CAS (computer aided algebra) and non CAS flavors, and as an added bonus, the non CAS models even includes a fully functioning TI-84+ compatibility mode using a replaceable TI-84+ keypad (which is sure to come as a delight to 84 hackers and gamers everywhere). It packs 20MB of storage and 16MB of memory, an ARM based processor, a 320x240 grayscale LCD, and a USB port. The TI-Nspire should be out in the fall to specific dealers, and in retail stores by early 2008, just in time for back to school in 2008.
United States

Submission + - Promising Fusion Research Snuffed Out

Submitted by
Stanistani
Stanistani writes: "For 11 years physicist Robert Bussard quietly worked on Boron Fusion research for the U.S. Navy. Just as his experiments promised to bear fruit, the funding ran out, and an explosion in his laboratory put an emphatic end to his efforts. Now, in a Defense News article, the details of this fusion technology emerge, along with Bussard's claims that a remarkably small amount of funding could finish the job and deliver a working fusion reactor decades ahead of competing efforts — a reactor that runs on Boron and produces electricity directly — without radiation."

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