Forgot your password?

Close
typodupeerror
Google

Google Releases Glass Factory System Image, Rooted Bootloader 1

Posted by timothy
from the wait-till-the-glass-morphs-to-your-prescription dept.
Krystalo writes "In a nod towards the modding community and hackers in general, Google has released the first factory system image and rooted bootloader for the latest version, XE5, of Google Glass. Nevertheless, the company is at the same time warning that using these downloads will result in a voided warranty for the experimental device."
United States

White House: Use Metric If You Want, We Don't Care 113

Posted by Soulskill
from the not-yielding-an-inch dept.
Earlier this year we discussed a petition on the White House's 'We The People' site asking the administration to adopt the metric system as the standard system of measurement in the U.S. Today, the administration issued a disappointing response. Simply put: they're not going to do anything about it. They frame their response as a matter of preserving a citizen's choice to adopt whatever measurement system he wants. Quoting Patrick D. Gallagher of the National Institute of Standards and Technology: "... contrary to what many people may think, the U.S. uses the metric system now to define all basic units used in commerce and trade. At the same time, if the metric system and U.S. customary system are languages of measurement, then the United States is truly a bilingual nation. ... Ultimately, the use of metric in this country is a choice and we would encourage Americans to continue to make the best choice for themselves and for the purpose at hand and to continue to learn how to move seamlessly between both systems. In our voluntary system, it is the consumers who have the power to make this choice. So if you like, "speak" metric at home by setting your digital scales to kilograms and your thermometers to Celsius. Cook in metric with liters and grams and set your GPS to kilometers. ... So choose to live your life in metric if you want, and thank you for signing on."

+ - Which 100+ users virtualisation solution?

Submitted by Gonzalez_S
Gonzalez_S writes "Let's say u have a heavy hardware like a blade server or similar and u need to give access to 100+ users to create their own virtual machines and devices (eg. switches, .., ms windows or linux family) in a manageable and secure way.
Which virtualisation solution would u choose?
There are vmware, xen, kvm, .. based solutions, but which one would u prefer and why?
The solution should must be stable, manageable, scriptable and preferably have ldap integration.
The context in this case is also to setup a playground for IT students, next to hosting production servers on the same system."

+ - African Soil Mapped for the Very First Time->

Submitted by vikingpower
vikingpower writes "A team of international experts has drawn up the Soil Atlas of Africa — the first such book mapping this key natural resource — to help farmers, land managers and policymakers understand the diversity and importance of soil and the need to manage it through sustainable use. A joint commission of the African Union and the European Union has produced a complete atlas of African soils, downloadable as 3 hefty PDFs ( Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. ) The initiative was announced four years ago, and is intended "to help farmers, land managers and policymakers understand the diversity and importance of soil and the need to manage it through sustainable use." A digital, interactive series of maps is ( still ) in the making."
Link to Original Source
Science

Predicting IQ With a Simple Visual Test 239

Posted by Soulskill
from the forest-for-the-trees dept.
New submitter trendspotter writes "Scientists at the University of Rochester found a unique way to measure high IQ and IQ of the brain in general just by studying individuals and their abilities to filter out noise in images (abstract). The results of a visual test where people were told to quickly detect movements showed similar IQ results as a classic intelligence test. 'The relationship between IQ and motion suppression points to the fundamental cognitive processes that underlie intelligence, the authors write. The brain is bombarded by an overwhelming amount of sensory information, and its efficiency is built not only on how quickly our neural networks process these signals, but also on how good they are at suppressing less meaningful information. ... The researchers point out that this vision test could remove some of the limitations associated with standard IQ tests, which have been criticized for cultural bias.'"

+ - Google Releases Glass Factory System Image, Rooted Bootloader 1

Submitted by Krystalo
Krystalo writes "In a nod towards the modding community and hackers in general, Google has released the first factory system image and rooted bootloader for the latest version, XE5, of Google Glass. Nevertheless, the company is at the same time warning that using these downloads will result in a voided warranty for the experimental device."

+ - Scanner Identifies Malware Strains, Could be Future of AV

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "When it comes to spotting malware, signature-based detection, heuristics and cloud-based recognition and information sharing used by many antivirus solutions today work well up a certain point, but the polymorphic malware still gives them a run for their money. At the annual AusCert conference held this week in Australia a doctorate candidate from Deakin University in Melbourne has presented the result of his research and work that just might be the solution to this problem. Security researcher Silvio Cesare had noticed that malware code consists of small "structures" that remain the same even after moderate changes to its code. He created Simseer, a free online service that performs automated analysis on submitted malware samples and tells and shows you just how similar they are to other submitted specimens. It scores the similarity between malware (any kind of software, really), and it charts the results and visualizes program relationships as an evolutionary tree."

+ - Researcher Unlocks Galaxy S4 Bootloader For AT&T, Verizon Phones

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes "Those of you who like to tinker and jailbreak Android phones should take notice of some new research conducted on Samsung Galaxy S4 Android devices shipped by AT&T and Verizon. Both device makers ship the Galaxy S4 smartphones with a locked down bootloader that prevents users from uploading custom kernels or from making modifications to software on the phone.

Azimuth Security researcher Dan Rosenberg has found a vulnerability in the manner in which the devices do cryptographic checks of boot image signatures and was able to exploit the flaw and upload his own unsigned kernel to the device. An attacker could do the same and upload a malicious kernel or software and own the device."

+ - Twitter's New Money-Making Plan: Lead Generation->

Submitted by jfruh
jfruh writes "Social networks like Twitter and Facebook have long hoped that the information they've gathered about you will help them create better targeted and more lucrative advertising, even though advertisers never see your personal data directly. But now Twitter is upping the ante, creating a new kind of card that encourages you to give your contact information directly to people who want to sell you things. For instance, Priceline has a new card with a "sign up and save" button that saves you 10% on a hotel — and, though it isn't made explicit, adds your Twitter handle and contact information to a Priceline mailing list. There's nothing to stop Twitter from handing this info — including your phone number, if you've registered it with the service — to salesmen."
Link to Original Source

+ - Bandages That Can Turn Off Genes->

Submitted by MTorrice
MTorrice writes "Medical researchers think specially tailored RNA sequences could kill tumor cells or encourage wound healing by turning off genes in patients’ cells. Now researchers have developed a nanocoating for bandages or other medical materials that could deliver these fragile gene-silencing RNAs right where they’re needed. The team hopes to produce a bandage that shuts down genes standing in the way of healing in chronic wounds."
Link to Original Source

+ - BeagleBone Black Ships With New Linux 3.8 Kernel->

Submitted by DeviceGuru
DeviceGuru writes "BeagleBoard.org has begun shipping its faster, cheaper BeagleBone Black SBC with a new Linux 3.8 kernel, supporting Device Tree technology for more streamlined ARM development. The $45 BeagleBone Black runs Linux or Android on a 1GHz TI Sitara AM3359 SOC, doubles the RAM to 512MB of its predecessor, and adds a micro-HDMI port. The updated kernel gives the BeagleBone Black access to a new Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) display driver architecture, as well as full support for the Device Tree data structure introduced to streamline ARM development in Linux 3.7. The project was hesitant to move up to such a recent kernel, but decided it was time to bite the bullet and support the Device Tree. By doing the hard work of switching to Device Tree now, BeagleBoard.org and its developer community can save a lot of configuration and maintenance headaches down the line, says BeagleBoard.org co-founder Jason Kridner. Fortunately, a modified 3.2 kernel 'coming soon' should provide the necessary bridge from the old cape driver architecture to the new one."
Link to Original Source

+ - Australian Police Move To Make 3D Printed Guns Illegal->

Submitted by lukehopewell1
lukehopewell1 writes ""Untraceable, undetectable, cheap and freely available". That's how Australian police have described the 3D-printable gun known as The Liberator today as they announce that they will be seeking to make the download, construction and possession of these weapons illegal. In their tests, Police printed the 15 parts required to assemble The Liberator in 27 hours and assembled it within 60 seconds with a firing pin fashioned out of a steel nail. The two guns were test fired into a block of resin designed to simulate human muscle, and the first bullet penetrated the resin block up to 17 centimetres. NSW Police Ballistics division confirm that it would be a fatal wound if pointed at someone.

Welcome to the new Wild West."
Link to Original Source

+ - Cockroaches Evolving to Avoid Roach Motels->

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes "Only a few years after roach motels were introduced in the 1980s, they lost their allure for an increasing number of German cockroaches. Researchers soon realized that some roaches had developed an aversion to glucose—the sugary bait disguising the poison—and that the insects were passing that trait on to their young. Now, scientists have figured out how this behavior evolved."
Link to Original Source

+ - Australian police warn on 3D printed guns->

Submitted by angry tapir
angry tapir writes "The police force of Australia's largest state has issued a warning about the potential for 3D printed guns to be used in crimes. The NSW police revealed that they had downloaded and printed multiple 'Liberator' pistols and conducted ballistics testing with them. They experienced one catastrophic misfire, but also managed to simulate a probably fatal shot. The police said that the government may have to examine regulations that address the issues surrounding 3D printed weapons."
Link to Original Source

Passwords are implemented as a result of insecurity.

Close