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Submission + - Scientists Unveil Aircraft Technologies of The Future

Submitted by stephendavion
stephendavion writes: Scientists and engineers at BAE Systems have lifted the lid on some futuristic technologies that could be incorporated in military and civil aircraft of 2040 or even earlier.

The four technologies unveiled are: 3D printers so advanced they could print UAVs during a mission; aircraft parts that can heal themselves in minutes; a new type of long range aircraft which divides into a number of smaller aircraft when it reaches its destination, and a directed energy weapon that could engage missiles at the speed of light, destroy them and protect the people below.

Submission + - UK government to rush in emergency surveillance laws (theguardian.com) 2

Submitted by beaker_72
beaker_72 writes: The Guardian reports that the UK government has unveiled plans to introduce emergency surveillance laws into the UK parliament at the beginning of next week. These are aimed at reinforcing the powers of security services in the UK to force service providers to retain records of their customers phone calls and emails. The laws, which have been introduced after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that existing laws invaded individual privacy, will receive cross-party support and so will not be subjected to scrutiny or challenged in Parliament before entering the statute books. But as Tom Watson (Labour backbench MP and one of few dissenting voices) has pointed out, the ECJ ruling was six weeks ago, so why has the government waited until now to railroad something through. Unless of course they don't want it scrutinised too closely.

Submission + - 4G 'inherently less secure' than 3G (telegraph.co.uk)

Submitted by sweetpea86
sweetpea86 writes: 4G mobile networks are inherently less secure than 3G networks and other mobile protocols, security experts have warned. Before 4G, all voice and data traffic between the user’s device and the core of the network was encrypted and tightly-controlled by the mobile operator. Now, with 4G technology, encryption is only mandatory over the main Radio Access Network (RAN). The 'backhaul' portion of the network is unencrypted by default, leaving it potentially vulnerable to hackers. Some operators do encrypt the backhaul traffic on their networks, using a technology called IPsec, but many operators around the world, including some in Europe, have chosen to deploy 4G leaving the traffic between the core network and some or all of their cell sites vulnerable to attack.

Submission + - IBM to invest $3 Billion for Semiconductor Research (wired.com)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: A few decades ago the news of IBM investing billions in research did not even raise an eyelid, because that was what IBM did, and what IBM was good at

However, IBM has changed so much that nowadays when IBM wanting to invest $ 3 Billion in semiconductor research it hits the news headlines everywhere, from Bloomberg ( http://www.bloomberg.com/news/... ) to WSJ ( http://online.wsj.com/articles... ) to CNET ( http://www.cnet.com/news/ibm-s... )

Is what happening to IBM a reflection of what is happening to the American technological front ?

Submission + - President of UT Austin declines chancellor's request to resign (bloomberg.com) 2

Submitted by lfp98
lfp98 writes: President Bill Powers has long been in conflict with Governor Rick Perry over the direction and goals of the University of Texas' flagship Austin campus. This week, news leaked that the Chancellor requested Powers' resignation before this Thursday's meeting of the Regents (who are all Perry appointees), under threat of being fired at that meeting if he did not resign. So far Powers has refused, while expressing an openness to leaving after the end of the current academic year [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/06/bill-powers-ut-resign_n_5562317.html]. Powers is highly regarded by UT students, faculty, alumni [http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/texas-longhorns/20140706-alumni-letter-calls-university-of-texas-president-s-forced-resignation-a-travesty.ece] and the larger academic community, but has been criticized by Perry and other conservatives for not being sufficiently focused on providing educational services at the lowest possible cost. Powers' supporters view the forced dismissal as brazen political interference with University governance, primarily for the purpose of allowing Perry to influence the choice of a new president before he leaves office in December [http://chronicle.com/article/As-Fight-Over-U-of-Texas/147535/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en].

Submission + - Dispelling The Myths Behind DDoS Attacks

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: DDoS attacks are quickly becoming the preferred method for cyber attackers to wreak havoc on the internet. With a recent spate of attention grabbing headlines focused on the hacker's favorite tool, this article busts some myths about DDoS attacks.

Myth 1: DDoS attacks are merely a nuisance with no lasting damage — This is a dangerous assumption to make, just ask CodeSpaces; actually, you can't — a DDoS attack put it out of business. Yes, this is an extreme case, but you only have to look back a few weeks and see headlines involving major companies like Feedly and Evernote, who rely heavily on their web presences, get taken down by DDoS attacks. And not only were their customer experiences disrupted, but the hackers attacking the sites demanded a ransom, in some cases, to cease the attacks.

Submission + - US 'Kidnapped' Hacker who is Son of Russian Member of Parliament (ibtimes.co.uk)

Submitted by DavidGilbert99
DavidGilbert99 writes: Over the weekend the US arrested 30-year-old Russian hacker Roman Valerevich Seleznev charging him with numerous counts of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft for stealing hundreds of thousand of credit card details during 2009 to 2011. On Tuesday it was revealed that Seleznev is the son of Russian member of parliament Valery Seleznev who said he had not been able to speak to his son but added: "This is a monstrous lie and a provocative act."

Submission + - Nearly one-third of Americans aren't ready for the next generation of technology (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Thanks to a decade of programs geared toward giving people access to the necessary technology, by 2013 some 85% of Americans were surfing the World Wide Web. But how effectively are they using it? A new survey suggests that the digital divide has been replaced by a gap in digital readiness. It found that nearly 30% of Americans either aren’t digitally literate or don’t trust the Internet. That subgroup tended to be less educated, poorer, and older than the average American.

Submission + - Happy software developers solve problems better. (peerj.com)

Submitted by HagraBiscuit
HagraBiscuit writes: Researchers from the Faculty of Computer Science, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy, have quantified and analysed affective mood index against objective measures of problem-solving effectiveness for a group of software developers.
From report abstract:
"The results offer support for the claim that happy developers are indeed better problem solvers in terms of their analytical abilities. The following contributions are made by this study: (1) providing a better understanding of the impact of affective states on the creativity and analytical problem-solving capacities of developers, (2) introducing and validating psychological measurements, theories, and concepts of affective states, creativity, and analytical-problem-solving skills in empirical software engineering, and (3) raising the need for studying the human factors of software engineering by employing a multidisciplinary viewpoint."

Graziotin D, Wang X, Abrahamsson P. (2014) Happy software developers solve problems better: psychological measurements in empirical software engineering. PeerJ 2:e289 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peer...

Submission + - PayPal freezes account of email encryption startup ProtonMail 1

Submitted by blottsie
blottsie writes: PayPal has frozen more than $275,000 in donations to ProtonMail, claiming the email encryption startup may be illegal. A PayPal alert told ProtonMail that was unsure if ProtonMail has the necessary U.S. government approval to encrypt emails, as though anyone who encrypts needs a license to do so. Of course, it is absolutely legal to encrypt email. The freeze remains in place.

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