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+ - Kenneth Appel Remembered For Four Color Theorem->

Submitted by mikejuk
mikejuk writes "Kenneth Appel (1932-2013) together with Wolfgang Haken, proved the four color theorem and broke new ground in using a computer to complete the proof. For the first time a computer played a major role in proving a major mathematical theorem.This was not a proof that was liked by all mathematicians. The use of the computer resulted in a proof that could not be checked by an unaided human. It was a huge shock for many mathematicians at the time to have to move over and allow a computer to take part in mathematics. There was a feeling at the time, and perhaps there still is, that the proof was a temporary matter and soon a real mathematician would step up and provide a "real" proof. Even today many mathematicians have their reservations about the proof and there have been attempts to simplify it, but so far they all involve computers. Mathematicians are still searching for something that would look more like an elementary proof.
Appel and Haken's proof may be the most controversial in mathematics but it also put the computer into pure mathematics.
Kenneth Appel died on April 19, 2013 at the age of 80."

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Comment: Re:Duh, it's evidence (Score 3, Insightful) 218

I echo somebody else's comment above that comparing this to a school board is disingenuous. A court order is far different than a school board going fishing.

For this case, a court order for information from a person's web account should have a way to subpoena the information necessary without requiring disclosure of passwords. That's reasonable, just like how with a court order a suspect must provide the keys and/or open up a safe on their property if such is specified in a search warrant. It's similar. The problem comes that with some models of computer security, that information is not available without a privacy violation (giving up a password). It's quite a conundrum.

That being said, in this case (and many others) I'm shocked that Facebook (& friends) don't have some type of "legal request mechanism" that would work as a "backdoor" for this type of thing. They can reset passwords and such, so it's hard to believe they don't have a mechanism to handle requests from legal systems for a history of posts, images, etc. The law should always require a warrant to access it if it's not publicly posted, but other than that, I'm surprised it isn't already there.

Comment: Re:Simple (Score 4, Interesting) 515

by Erioll (#41442005) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Actual Best-in-Show For Free Anti Virus?

Not the same thing IMO. A great amount of malware requires that the user does something. So "download our .exe and ignore the security prompts!" is still a very large section of things, and has nothing to do with a secure OS or not. Programs running as a user has as many rights as a user themselves. That's what most virus software is for: detecting that you're trying to run something that's "bad" but it's not exploiting security holes to do so. It's just running with "full trust" just like any other program on your machine, and behaving badly.

Iphone

+ - "Cyber Illusionist" Marco Tempest->

Submitted by bLanark
bLanark writes "The BBC have a piece about illusionist Marco Tempest who uses technology to generate magical illusions. As he says in the interview unlike most magicians and illusionists he shares his techniques in an act that he calls "open sorcery." The techniques include using iPhone apps, and high-speed digital cameras. There is a growing band of people using and contributing to the field."
Link to Original Source
Communications

How Killing the Internet Helped Revolutionaries 90

Posted by Soulskill
from the anything-that-gets-people-off-twitter-has-to-help dept.
An anonymous reader writes "In a widely circulated American Political Science Association conference paper, Yale scholar Navid Hassanpour argues that shutting down the internet made things difficult for sustaining a centralized revolutionary movement in Egypt. But, he adds, the shutdown actually encouraged the development of smaller revolutionary uprisings at local levels where the face-to-face interaction between activists was more intense and the mobilization of inactive lukewarm dissidents was easier. In other words, closing down the internet made the revolution more diffuse and more difficult for the authorities to contain." As long as we're on the subject, reader lecheiron points out news of research into predicting revolutions by feeding millions of news articles into a supercomputer and using word analysis to chart national sentiment. So far it's pretty good at predicting things that have already happened, but we should probably wait until it finds something new before contacting Hari Seldon.
Technology

+ - Supercomputer predicts revolution->

Submitted by lecheiron
lecheiron writes "A study, based on millions of articles, charted deteriorating national sentiment ahead of the recent revolutions in Libya and Egypt.

While the analysis was carried out retrospectively, scientists say the same processes could be used to anticipate upcoming conflict.

The study's information was taken from a range of sources, then the information was analysed for two main types of information: mood — whether the article represented good news or bad news, and location — where events were happening and the location of other participants in the story."

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Comment: Re:Awesome. (Score 2) 168

by Erioll (#37220386) Attached to: PS3 <em>Counter-Strike</em> To Support Keyboard and Mouse

I have not bought ANY fps games on consoles because of this issue (closest is metroid, and that at least had lock-on, and such, and so was OK). And there ARE exclusives, so no, I can't necessarily play some games, so the company is losing money because of this.

If you want to put out separate matches for each type, then fine, have you able to set up matches with controller-only, K+M only, or mixed. But don't just cut it out entirely. They ARE losing sales from this policy.

Comment: Re:Awesome. (Score 4, Informative) 168

by Erioll (#37220164) Attached to: PS3 <em>Counter-Strike</em> To Support Keyboard and Mouse

There was a rumour a while back that the UT players on the PS3 using M+K were just destroying the controller players. Which is not a surprise to me in the least.

I too hope this to become universal. It is the #1 reason I can't play FPSs on consoles, because I feel like I'm playing with one hand tied behind my back when using the controller.

Idle

+ - Tinfoil Hats Amplify Signals->

Submitted by Sebastopol
Sebastopol writes "Among a fringe community of paranoids, aluminum helmets serve as the protective measure of choice against invasive radio signals. We investigate the efficacy of three aluminum helmet designs on a sample group of four individuals. Using a $250,000 network analyser, we find that although on average all helmets attenuate invasive radio frequencies in either directions (either emanating from an outside source, or emanating from the cranium of the subject), certain frequencies are in fact greatly amplified. These amplified frequencies coincide with radio bands reserved for government use according to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Statistical evidence suggests the use of helmets may in fact enhance the government's invasive abilities. We speculate that the government may in fact have started the helmet craze for this reason."
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Comment: Re:Hmmm (Score 1) 937

by Erioll (#37072394) Attached to: 8 Grams of Thorium Could Replace Gasoline In Cars

This is the thing: why isn't he making this directly into a small generator system before making it portable? Scale it up to the point that the turbine problem is a non-issue, and sell THAT. That would prove that the energy source itself is viable (economically too) and not a pipe dream.

Basically, that he hasn't already done so makes me skeptical that there isn't "something else" wrong here. Doesn't pass the smell test IMO.

Now having said that, I hope I'm wrong. I love this idea. But still, I'd like to know why this part hasn't been done already. This smells like trying to get investor dollars on something that MIGHT work instead of selling something that DOES work.

If you have nothing to do, don't do it here.

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