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+ - An Open Letter to Google Chairman Eric Schmidt on Drones->

Submitted by savuporo
savuporo writes "DC Area Drone User Group has posted an open letter in response to recent comments by Eric Schmidt about banning drones from private use. Closing section:
Personally owned flying robots today have the power to change the balance of power between individuals and large bureaucracies in much the same way the Internet did in the past. And just as the military researchers who developed GPS for guiding munitions could never have imagined their technology would be used in the future to help people conduct health surveys in the world’s poorest countries or help people find dates in the world’s richest, there is a whole world of socially positive and banal applications for drones that are yet to be discovered. We should embrace this chance that technology provides instead of strangling these opportunities in their infancy. Our hope is that you and the rest of Google’s leadership will embrace this pro-technology agenda in the future rather than seeking to stifle it. We would welcome the opportunity to speak further with you about this topic."
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+ - DARPA Develops Non-GPS Navigation Chip->

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes "The Global Positioning System (GPS) has proved a boon for those with a bad sense of direction, but the satellite-based system isn’t without its shortcomings. Something as simple as going indoors or entering a tunnel can render the system useless. That might be inconvenient for civilians, but it's potentially disastrous for military users for whom the system was originally built. DARPA is addressing such concerns with the development of a self-sufficient navigation system that can aid navigation when GPS is temporarily unavailable."
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+ - Is Windows 8 really blame for PC sales slump? ->

Submitted by nk497
nk497 writes "The latest PC sales stats don't make for positive reading — especially for Microsoft, with Windows 8 taking much of the blame for struggling desktop and laptop sales. But can a single OS really be blamed for taking out an entire market. Analysts suggests it's much more complicated than that: a new version of Windows doesn't actually boost the market, but the confusion around the Metro screen and a lack of affordable touch devices hasn't helped — nor has competition from tablets. While Windows 8 must accept some of the blame for the continuing PC slump, but even if it was a barnstorming OS, would it have made a difference? "Let’s face it," said one analyst. "PCs had their run, and it lasted close to 20 years... Interest among consumers is shifting to other types of device.""
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Comment: Re:Boot to the guest account (Score 1) 572

by AlphaBit (#43362909) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Protecting Home Computers From Guests?
I agree that a VM is the best solution IF you can keep a user in the VM. The VM software that I've used in the past puts the host machine a click away. A Guest account isn't perfect, but it's pretty easy and gives you some lower level protection. It also means that I don't have to do anything strange or special when I let other people use the machine. They use it in the same mode that I use it. The browsers themselves will still be pretty vulnerable to bad plugins but I run a virus scanner which helps.

A Guest account in Guest Mode would have been nice, but they took that feature away in the release.

Comment: Boot to the guest account (Score 5, Informative) 572

by AlphaBit (#43362097) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Protecting Home Computers From Guests?
The media PC in my living room boots directly into the Guest account. Under the guest account I can USE almost all the programs I have installed seamlessly. There are some minor issues with software updates, XBOX controllers, and a complete inability to configure network settings, but that's about it. If I need to do anything that requires more rights I can deal with the UAC prompts that show up or simply log out and back in as an admin.

I know it's not flawless but I still feel pretty comfortable letting my tech savvy (e.g. dangerous) friends stay over unattended. It wouldn't hold up to anyone seriously determined to break the security but they have access to the physical machine and can't really be stopped anyway.
Security

+ - RSA brushes off crypto study showing algorithm is flawed->

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes "After having its flagship RSA crypto system called flawed this week by prominent researchers in a paper they made available online, EMC's RSA security division struck back by saying the paper's results don't indicate a fundamental flaw in the RSA algorithm but more likely a problem with implementing it. RSA also received some measure of support from noted security researcher Dan Kaminsky who Thursday posted a blog about the crypto controversy. http://dankaminsky.com/2012/02/14/ronwhit/"
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Iphone

+ - New Study Says iPhone 4S Release Fueled Kindle Fire Sales->

Submitted by
casac8
casac8 writes "Apple's iPhone 4S helped Amazon's Kindle Fire sales, according to a new study.
The release last October of the newest iPhone made the iPad a tougher sell for Apple, according to a new study from IHS iSuppli Market Intelligence. That left an opening for Amazon, which took advantage of the wary buyers by releasing a tablet at a much lower price point."
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+ - European "typosquatters" fined->

Submitted by Coisiche
Coisiche writes "A couple of European "typosquatters" have been fined.

The article is short on detail about what their fake sites were called but I'd have to say I'd be a bit suspicious if I thought I was on Wikipedia (which is named as an example) and got invited to try a competition. The only hard fact presented is that someone was conned out of 63 pounds sterling while thinking they were accessing YouTube."
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DRM

+ - When do you "own" an app?-> 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "With the popularity of App stores in the last few years, the question of what it is you have actually own still remains a grey area. With most App stores going out of their way to stop you from storing a local backup of the app installer, are they obligated to indefinitely supply access to the online version of what you have purchased?

Instant Message client manufacturer Nimbuzz have created a storm with their Symbian users by recently deleting their paid-for Ad-free app from the Nokia Ovi Store, replacing it with the free ad-supported version. A number of users were automatically "upgraded" from the ad-free to the ad-supported version and can no longer get access to the ad-free version they've paid for.

Do they own the software they've purchased or do they just own access to the installer at a single point in time?"
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"Contrary to popular belief, penguins are not the salvation of modern technology. Neither do they throw parties for the urban proletariat."

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