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United States

Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran 404

Posted by Soulskill
from the cyber-bombshell dept.
diewlasing sends this excerpt from the NY Times: "From his first months in office, President Obama secretly ordered increasingly sophisticated attacks on the computer systems that run Iran's main nuclear enrichment facilities, significantly expanding America's first sustained use of cyberweapons, according to participants in the program. Mr. Obama decided to accelerate the attacks — begun in the Bush administration and code-named Olympic Games — even after an element of the program accidentally became public in the summer of 2010 because of a programming error that allowed it to escape Iran's Natanz plant and sent it around the world on the Internet. Computer security experts who began studying the worm, which had been developed by the United States and Israel, gave it a name: Stuxnet."
Virtualization

Ask Slashdot: What Type of Asset Would You Not Virtualize? 440

Posted by samzenpus
from the keeping-it-real dept.
An anonymous reader writes "With IT and Data Center consolidation seemingly happening everywhere our small shop is about to receive a corporate mandate to follow suit and preferably accomplish this via virtualization. I've had success with virtualizing low load web servers and other assets but the larger project does intimidate me a little. So I'm wondering: Are there server types, applications and/or assets that I should be hesitant virtualizing today? Are there drawbacks that get glossed over in the rush to consolidate all assets?"
Google

Judge Rules API's Can Not Be Copyrighted 351

Posted by samzenpus
from the listen-to-the-law dept.
Asmodae writes "Judge Alsup in the Oracle vs Google case has finally issued his ruling on the issue of whether or not APIs can be copyrighted. That ruling is resounding no. In some fairly clear language the judge says: 'So long as the specific code used to implement a method is different, anyone is free under the Copyright Act to write his or her own code to carry out exactly the same function or specification of any methods used in the Java API.'"

Comment: Re:The build-A-burger meeting? (Score 1) 3

by cffrost (#40173863) Attached to: I'm Afraid this Just Isn't Newsworthy.

No. If it doesn't involve tit 'n' ass, "local sport team," gossip, or Joseph Kegger's human interest story, it doesn't qualify as mainstream "news." We've got Slashdot's "How is this news for nerds?" articles for that.

For topics apparently selected by a script's CSPRNG, we've got your journal. ;o)

BTW, thanks for disregarding by kick-ass security plug-in recommendation... You sure know how to make a Jeremiah Cornelius fan feel kicked in the titungsticles*. ;o(

* titungsticles (noun) portmanteau: titanic tungsten testicles, c. 2012

=D

Microsoft

Windows 8 Release Preview Now Available To Download 353

Posted by timothy
from the air-conditioning-for-me dept.
MrSeb writes "Microsoft has announced the immediate availability of Windows 8 Release Preview. Unfortunately there isn't a Consumer Preview > Release Preview upgrade path — you'll have to format and perform a clean installation. After downloading the ISO, simply burn Windows 8 RP onto a USB stick or DVD, reboot, and follow the (exceedingly quick and easy) installer. Alternatively, if you don't want to format a partition, ExtremeTech has a guide on virtualizing Windows 8 with VirtualBox. After a lot of fluster on the Building Windows 8 blog, the Release Preview is actually surprisingly similar to the Consumer Preview. Despite being promised a new, flat, Desktop/Explorer UI, Aero is still the default theme in Windows 8 RP. The tutorial that will introduce new users to the brave new Start buttonless Windows 8 world is also missing. Major features that did make the cut are improved multi-monitor support — it's now easier to hit the hot corners on a multi-monitor setup, and Metro apps can be moved between displays — and the Metro version of IE10 now has a built-in Flash plug-in. There will be no further pre-releases of Windows 8: the next build will be the RTM."
Network

BT Fibre Pulls Out of Chelsea Over Ugly Equipment Cabinets 135

Posted by timothy
from the sounds-like-some-elvis-costello-lyrics dept.
judgecorp writes "The up-market London borough of Kensington and Chelsea has lost its chance for BT fast fibre. After residents objected to the ugly fibre cabinets, and the council repeatedly refused permission to install them in historic sites, BT has said the borough will not get its fast BT Infinity product at all. The borough says it doesn't need BT, as Richard Branson's Virgin Media has got it more or less covered."
Medicine

Soda Ban May Hit the Big Apple 1117

Posted by timothy
from the big-brother-controls-the-fridge dept.
An anonymous reader writes "NYC residents may soon be unable to buy big gulps. In an effort to curb obesity, New York City's Mayor Bloomberg is seeking a ban on oversized sodas in restaurants, movie theaters and stadiums officials said on Wednesday. 'Obesity is a nationwide problem, and all over the U.S., public health officials are wringing their hands saying, "Oh, this is terrible,"' Mayor Bloomberg said. 'New York City is not about wringing your hands; it's about doing something. I think that's what the public wants the mayor to do.'"

Comment: Re:Headphones hurt my productivity. (Score 1) 402

by cffrost (#40164911) Attached to: Do Headphones Help Or Hurt Productivity?

Best cure for an open office plan is a white noise generator. The first time I heard one in an office I was amazed at how quite it was.

A HEPA air cleaner is a smart replacement for an electromechanical white-noise generator, performing an added useful function upon the air its moving, and improving the service life/reliability of lungs and electronic/electromechanical.devices. They are rated in the June, 2012 issue of Consumer Reports.

"Protozoa are small, and bacteria are small, but viruses are smaller than the both put together."

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