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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 A new survey suggests that the digital divide has been replaced by a gap in digital readiness.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.

Submission + - Court Allowed NSA To Spy On All But 4 Countries

Submitted by mrspoonsi
mrspoonsi writes: A court permitted the NSA to collect information about governments in 193 countries and foreign institutions like the World Bank, according to a secret document the Washington Post published Monday. The certification issued by a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 2010 shows the NSA has the authority to “intercept through U.S. companies not just the communications of its overseas targets, but any communications about its targets as well,” according to the Post’s report. Only four countries in the world — Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — were exempt from the agreement, due to existing no-spying agreements that the Post highlights in this document about the group of countries, known as “Five Eyes” with the U.S.

Submission + - Silk Road 30,000 bitcoin auction causing stirs, what happens with it is 144,341? (mineforeman.com)

Submitted by ASDFnz
ASDFnz writes: We did not expect the US Marshals Service to release information about the auction of Silk Road bitcoin last week but in the absence of information speculation both on the markets and on the internet is building.

First Barry Silbert, Founder of SecondMarket and BitcoinTrust has tweeted that they were outbid on all blocks.

Since then Alex Walters (a former core Bitcoin developer and the then chief technology officer of Bitinstant) has posted on reddit saying “I Lost” in his $400 to $500 per coin. That post was closely followed by another reddit user saying that his bid of $451.13 per coin was also unsuccessful.

Routers is also now reporting that investment firm Pantera Capital has also been notified that their bids were also unsuccessful.

Meanwhile the actual price of bitcoins of the various exchanges has risen close to 15% from just under $600 a coin to close to $650.

In the end, we may never know who bought the confiscated coins or how much they bought them for but it does seem that it will be a pivotal point in bitcoins evolution.

It is anyone’s guess what will happen when they decide what to do with the remaining 144,341 bitcoins.

Submission + - DOT Aims to Regulate Map Aids in Vehicles (nytimes.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: The US Department of Transportation is intensifying its battle against distracted driving by seeking explicit authority from Congress to regulate navigation aids of all types, including apps on smartphones.

The measure, included in the Obama administration’s proposed transportation bill, would specify that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has the authority to set restrictions on the apps and later order changes if they are deemed dangerous, much the way it currently regulates mechanical features of cars.

The measure has the support of automakers, which already mostly comply with voluntary guidelines for built-in navigation systems, but it has run into stiff opposition from technology companies, which say that any such law would be impractical and impossible to enforce. It’s another example, they say, of federal regulators trying vainly to keep up with a rapidly changing industry.

Submission + - 'Super bananas' may save millions of lives in Africa (phys.org)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: A super-enriched banana genetically engineered to improve the lives of millions of people in Africa will soon have its first human trial, which will test its effect on vitamin A levels, Australian researchers said Monday.

The project plans to have the special banana varieties — enriched with alpha and beta carotene which the body converts to vitamin A — growing in Uganda by 2020.

The bananas are now being sent to the United States, and it is expected that the six-week trial measuring how well they lift vitamin A levels in humans will begin soon.

Feed Google News Sci Tech: NASA's Horizons spacecraft to probe Pluto moon Charon for underground ocean - De (google.com)

From feed by feedfeeder

Delhi Daily News
NASA's Horizons spacecraft to probe Pluto moon Charon for underground ocean
Delhi Daily News
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is moving towards Pluto to explore Charon, one of Pluto's moons. The aim of the mission is to search of evidence of an ancient underground ocean on the planet. The Pluto is located farthest from the Earth and its temperature...
NASA spacecraft will unfold mystery of Oceans on Pluto's Moon CharonThe Westside Story
New Horizons spacecraft to probe Pluto moon Charon for ancient underground ... Tech Times
Moon of Pluto, Charon might have underground Ocean in PastThe Eastern Tribune
Clarksville Online-Northern Voices Online-International Business Times
all 53 news articles

Submission + - Bitcoin Security Endangered by Powerful Bitmining Pool

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Ars Technica reports that for the first time in Bitcoin's five-year history, a single entity has repeatedly provided more than half of the total computational power required to mine new digital coins, in some cases for sustained periods of time. It's an event that, if it persists, signals the end of crypto currency's decentralized structure.

Comment Re:War of government against people? (Score 0) 875

by Martin S. (#47201669) Attached to: America 'Has Become a War Zone'

Gun ownership has a negative correlation with IQ. ... a negative correlation with life span. ... a negative correlation with earning.

Gun ownership has a positive correlation with Homicide as victim and perpetrator. ... a positive correlation with Suicide. ... a positive correlation with Racism.

Correlation is not be a 'scientific truth' but it is a substantial truth.

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