Dr. Smeegee - Slashdot User

Govt to use Full Disk Encryption on ALL computers

Submitted by

Saqib Ali

on Thursday December 28 2006, @10:11AM

Saqib Ali writes "To address the issue of data leaks from stolen or missing laptops, US Government is planning to use Full Disk Encryption (FDE) on all of the Government owned computers. On June 23, 2006 a Presidential Mandate was put in place requiring all agency laptops to fully encrypt data on the HDD. The US Government is currently conducting the largest single side-by-side comparison and competition for the selection of a Full Disk Encryption product. The selected product will be deployed on Millions of computers in the US federal government space. This implementation will end up being the largest single implementation ever, and all of the information regarding the competition is in the public domain. The evaluation will come to a end in 90 days. You can view all the vendors competing and list of requirements."

Robots crawl the tubes under the city.

Submitted by

Johan Louwers

on Thursday December 28 2006, @08:52AM

Johan Louwers writes "Robots will crawl tubes in a short while to investigate power cables running in the tubes to make sure they are still undamaged or in need for a repair. The Robotic Cable Inspection System is developed by Alexander Mamishev a assistant professor of electrical engineering at the University of Washington. Making use infrared thermal analysis and acoustic partial discharge analysis the robot will be checking mile after mile of cable while crawling his way in the tubes."

Hypersonic space planes promise 2 hour flights to

Submitted by

secretsather

on Wednesday December 27 2006, @07:35PM

secretsather writes "Two hour flights to the other side of the world may seem like a scene from a science fiction movie; but the technology is in place, and a plane that can do just that is currently in development.

While it currently looks like a scene from a flight simulator, the Astrox space plane is the real deal, and the Astrox Corporation says it could revolutionize the transportation industry.

Traveling as fast as Mach 25 with at least 30 minutes of space shuttle-like views while in orbit is the highlight of this plane, and The Astrox Corporation, along with their partners, are claiming to have finally overcome their largest problem, mixing fuel.

How do you mix fuel in the engine of an efficient, hypersonic space plane that travels at 17,500 miles-per-hour? Mechanical engines won't perform well at these hypersonic speeds, and moving parts start shutting down before Mach 10. By using an inward-turning scramjet engine, The Astrox Corporation, along with their partners, has successfully designed and tested a combustor for the Astrox space plane.

The scramjet engine uses no moving parts, and is shaped like a rectangular funnel. Air enters the engine at an astonishing 2,200 MPH, mixes with fuel, undergoes ignition, and is combusted within one millisecond!

"The combustion is fast, so that's not the problem, but before combustion can occur, you have to mix your fuel with the air quickly. This is more difficult when the air's traveling at such high speeds," said Astrox President Ajay Kothari. "Hypersonic space planes could revolutionize the transportation industry, much like jet planes did for subsonic commercial aviation 50 years ago."

The research team has currently tested the combustor at Mach 2 in a supersonic wind tunnel, and Kothari plans to test both his design and the combustor in a small, model space plane before marketing their vehicle design.

http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2006/12/27/hy personic-space-planes-promise-2-hour-flights-to-th e-other-side-of-the-earth/"

heAD Hunted by Google?

Submitted by SafariShane on Wednesday December 27 2006, @06:48PM

SafariShane writes "I use gmail for everything, everything mail related anyway. I forward probably about 10 different accounts there, from a slew of domains. My messages run the gamut from ebay stuff to java related work emails. Recently, I started noticing in my gmail web clips (that little rss reader at the top) advertisements... for jobs with google. Now I know that google uses targeted advertising, but just how directed are these ads? Could the future of finding appropriate candidates be as simple as finding someone based on the contents of their email? And is that spooky?

Google India is Hiring — www.Google.co.in/jobs — QA Engineers with great aspirations. Send your resume now!

I'd be willing to bet that a good majority of /. readers that use gmail are seeing these ads. I have to imagine it's simply looking for folks with a lot of xml attachments or java code samples. But how refined will this be in 10 years? Someday, I may be able to source candidates based on a tech savy score for any type of programming language, protocol, or hardware experience. I can almost imagine telling the google to target the top 1% of your users who are familiar with callxml.

It can't be that great yet, because I live near the bay area, not India. Maybe too many folks on some of my tech mailing lists are from India, so google correlates. I for one won't be shocked when I start seeing ads in my email for any tech company within a 25 mile radius. Heck, I won't be shocked when I start seeing legitimate offers in those clips. It's coming, are you seeing them too?"

Congressional aide admits trying to hire hackers

Submitted by denebian devil on Wednesday December 27 2006, @06:22PM

denebian devil writes "The communications director for Montana's lone congressman, Todd Shriber, solicited the services of two members of attrition.org he falsely believed to be criminally minded hackers-for-hire. His goal: jacking up his college GPA. Rather than hack Shriber's GPA, the two individuals — "Lyger" and "Jericho" (a.k.a. "security curmudgeon") — posted the 22 e-mail exchange online. The aide has since been fired. Schreiber even has (for the time being, at least) his own Wikipedia page."

AppDNA: Make Mac OS X Apps with emdedded Source

Submitted by

Chuck

on Monday December 11 2006, @01:38PM

Chuck writes "AppDNA is an XCode build script which makes it easy for developers to efficiently bundle source code with a Mac OS X application. The embedded source code and project are fully function, allowing the code to be examined, modified and re-built."

Scientist makes quantum computing breakthrough

Submitted by

ashmon

on Monday December 11 2006, @01:20PM

ashmon writes "A University of Utah physicist and his team have made a breakthrough that could pave the way to quantum computing, in which computers can calculate many billions of times faster than they do now. The process currently involves super cooling phosphorus atoms in a silicon matrix and then making the spin of the atoms "flip up and down 'in concert for a few billionths of a second,'" with magnetic fields and microwave radiation. A final product is still at least 15 years off, but this could give a glimpse into the future of supercomputing."

Global warming affects satellites' orbits

Submitted by

Dr. Zowie

on Monday December 11 2006, @01:16PM

Dr. Zowie writes "As the greenhouse effect warms the lower layers of Earth's atmosphere, it is cooling the outermost layers and gradually reducing drag on satellites and space junk, according to a press conference this morning at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco today. The "thermosphere", or outermost layer of the atmosphere, is unaffected by weather patterns or geography, so this is a planet-wide measurement of climate change. Is there anyone left who still doesn't believe global warming is happening?"

The FCC's AT&T/Bellsouth bias?

Submitted by

PetManimal

on Monday December 11 2006, @01:10PM

PetManimal writes "The Federal Communications Commission has ruled that commissioner Robert McDowell can participate in the agency's decision on the proposed $78 billion AT&T/BellSouth merger, even though McDowell has a conflict of interest:
McDowell normally would have had to stay out of the vote because he recently worked for the Competitive Telecommunications Association (CompTel), which actively opposes the buyout. That would have left the agency deadlocked, with two commissioners favoring the deal and two others refusing to approve it, at least without more conditions. ... Although CompTel is opposed to the acquisition, the decision to include McDowell, a Republican, might provide the vote needed to clear the deal. [FCC Chairman Kevin] Martin and Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate, both Republicans, support approval.
Preston Gralla writes:
Anyone who ever believed that the FCC cares about anything other than ensuring maximum profits for AT&T and friends has been living under a delusion, as an FCC action makes clear today. ... McDowell, a Republican, can be counted on with the two other Republicans on the panel (including Martin) to allow the deal to go through with absolutely no consumer protections.
"