Comment: The real inspiration (Score 1) 102
http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/feynman.html
or if you don't like to read.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eRCygdW--c
+ - Vint Cerf: SDN Is a Model for a Better Internet->
Submitted
by
Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes "Vint Cerf, one of the “founders of the Internet,” told an audience April 16 that if he could do it all over again, he would construct the Internet in the mold of Software-Defined Networking (SDN). Cerf, who co-designed the TCP/IP protocol suite with Bob Kahn, said that he admired how SDN separates the data plane from the control plane, which allows the network to be controlled via software from an external server. One of the hazards of conjoining the two, he added, was the attack risk. “I wish we had done [the separation] in the Internet design, but we didn’t,” Cerf told the audience for his keynote address at the Open Networking Summit in Santa Clara, Calif. Cerf is now an employee of Google, serving as vice president and chief Internet evangelist. “In a very interesting way you have an opportunity to reinvent this whole notion of networking.”"
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
+ - ACLU Asks FTC To Force Carriers To 'Patch Or Replace' Android Devices->
Submitted
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chicksdaddy
chicksdaddy writes "The American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday calling on the Federal Government to take action to stem an epidemic of unpatched and insecure Android mobile devices – declaring the sea of unpatched and vulnerable phones and tablets "defective and unreasonably dangerous."
The civil liberties group’s complaint for injunctive relief with the FTC (http://www.aclu.org/files/assets/aclu_-_android_ftc_complaint_-_final.pdf), notes that “major wireless carriers have sold millions of Android smartphones to consumers” but that “the vast majority of these devices rarely receive software security updates.” The ACLU says that carriers leave their customers vulnerable to malware and spear phishing attacks that can be used to record or transmit information on the device to” third parties.
“A significant number of consumers are using smartphones running a version of the Android operating system with known, exploitable security vulnerabilities for which fixes have been published by Google, but have not been distributed to consumers’ smartphones by the wireless carriers and their handset manufacturer partners,” the ACLU said.
Android devices now account for close to 70 percent of new mobile devices sold. The porous security of many of those devices has become a topic of concern. The latest data from Google highlights the challenge facing the company, with just over 16% of Android users running Versions 4.1 or 4.2 – the latest versions of the OS, dubbed “Jelly Bean” more than six months after its release. In contrast, 44% of Android users are still running the “Gingerbread” release – Versions 2.3.3 through 2.3.7, a two year-old version of the operating system that has known security vulnerabilities. This according to data released by Google on the Android developer blog."
Link to Original Source
The civil liberties group’s complaint for injunctive relief with the FTC (http://www.aclu.org/files/assets/aclu_-_android_ftc_complaint_-_final.pdf), notes that “major wireless carriers have sold millions of Android smartphones to consumers” but that “the vast majority of these devices rarely receive software security updates.” The ACLU says that carriers leave their customers vulnerable to malware and spear phishing attacks that can be used to record or transmit information on the device to” third parties.
“A significant number of consumers are using smartphones running a version of the Android operating system with known, exploitable security vulnerabilities for which fixes have been published by Google, but have not been distributed to consumers’ smartphones by the wireless carriers and their handset manufacturer partners,” the ACLU said.
Android devices now account for close to 70 percent of new mobile devices sold. The porous security of many of those devices has become a topic of concern. The latest data from Google highlights the challenge facing the company, with just over 16% of Android users running Versions 4.1 or 4.2 – the latest versions of the OS, dubbed “Jelly Bean” more than six months after its release. In contrast, 44% of Android users are still running the “Gingerbread” release – Versions 2.3.3 through 2.3.7, a two year-old version of the operating system that has known security vulnerabilities. This according to data released by Google on the Android developer blog."
Link to Original Source
Comment: Re:Here we go again (Score 1) 461
Kind of sad that they killed three people to pull it off, but, well, I don't think anyone has ever accused Obama of having scruples.
What is the matter with you? What goes through your head to think that the President (any president) could/would somehow arrange a terrorist act to outlaw gunpowder? Because the pro-gun lobby is keeping him from passing gun control. You need to take you meds and calm yourself my friend.
+ - Publicly-Elected Representative Fired For Others' Facebook Group Comments 1
Submitted
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zayyd
zayyd writes "The CBC reports that publicly-elected Gerry Rogers, member of the Provincial Government for Newfoundland and Labrador, "has been removed from the house of assembly for refusing to apologize for comments made by other users on a Facebook group of which she had been added to as a member." Rogers was unwillingly added to a Facebook Group which included comments of death threats aimed at Premier Kathy Dunderdale from other users.
Dunderdale said her government understands how Facebook groups work, and she said it is up to every MHA to monitor the comments posted on Facebook groups to which they belong.
Facebook's policies for Groups are somewhat clear, even if they don't actually answer the question of "Can I prevent people from adding me to a new group?""
+ - Scientists May Have Discovered Mythical Viking Sunstone-> 1
Submitted
by
Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "Sorting through the treasures of an Elizabethan warship sunken in 1592 might be on everyone's bucket list, but for scientists, it is a perk of the job. The warship, found within the deep waters near the third largest island of the Channel Islands, Alderney, in 2002 contained several artifacts that included armor, cannons and muskets. But one particular item that has been quietly sitting in the museum was recently discovered to have been one of the more important items used by these Vikings. Although it looks like a crystallized bar of soap, the opaque block of stone could have been a vital navigational device."
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
+ - Icelandic Incest Now Preventable Thanks to Android App->
Submitted
by
AlistairCharlton
AlistairCharlton writes ""Bump in the app before you bump in the bed" an Android app warns Icelandic users worried about incestuous relationships.
With a population totalling just 320,000 and descending from only a handful of ancestors, the Icelandic people are more closely related than most, making the accidental chatting-up of your cousin a much more distinct possibility."
Link to Original Source
With a population totalling just 320,000 and descending from only a handful of ancestors, the Icelandic people are more closely related than most, making the accidental chatting-up of your cousin a much more distinct possibility."
Link to Original Source
+ - WIMPs found?->
Submitted
by
mknewman
mknewman writes "Between 2006 and 2008 about four dozen physicists buried 19 Germanium-based detectors and 11 silicon-based detectors deep in a mine in Minnesota. They believed the Germanium detectors might be just right to capture the rare, but theoretically possible collision between a WIMP and an atomic nucleus. The silicon detectors were just there to confirm the result — i.e. if a Germanium detector recorded such a collision and a silicon detector did not, that would be good evidence for a WIMP.
After taking their data for three years the scientists got a ho-hum result — the Germanium detectors recorded two events, when on average they would have expected to see 0.9 events during the time period. This was not statistically significant, and moreover, they later concluded these events were attributable to the leakage of electrons.
Since the primary detectors showed no significant results, data collected by the silicon detectors, which could only detect WIMPs up to a mass of about 15 GeV were not analyzed.
Then, after some considerations, the physicists came to believe that maybe the WIMPs weren’t really, really big. So they went back and studied the silicon detector data and found three events, when they would have expected just 0.7 events during the time period of data taking. This is statistically significant.
So they published their results on Monday (see paper). Based upon their statistical analysis, they are 99.8 percent sure they have observed some WIMPs at a mass of about 8 GeV. But in particle physics, certainty doesn’t come until they are 99.9999 percent sure."
Link to Original Source
After taking their data for three years the scientists got a ho-hum result — the Germanium detectors recorded two events, when on average they would have expected to see 0.9 events during the time period. This was not statistically significant, and moreover, they later concluded these events were attributable to the leakage of electrons.
Since the primary detectors showed no significant results, data collected by the silicon detectors, which could only detect WIMPs up to a mass of about 15 GeV were not analyzed.
Then, after some considerations, the physicists came to believe that maybe the WIMPs weren’t really, really big. So they went back and studied the silicon detector data and found three events, when they would have expected just 0.7 events during the time period of data taking. This is statistically significant.
So they published their results on Monday (see paper). Based upon their statistical analysis, they are 99.8 percent sure they have observed some WIMPs at a mass of about 8 GeV. But in particle physics, certainty doesn’t come until they are 99.9999 percent sure."
Link to Original Source
+ - Higgs data could spell trouble for leading Big Bang theory->
Submitted
by
ananyo
ananyo writes "Paul Steinhardt, an astrophysicist at Princeton University in New Jersey, and colleagues have posted a controversial paper on ArXiv arguing, based on the latest Higgs data and the cosmic microwave background map from the Planck mission, that the leading theory explaining the first moments of the Big Bang ('inflation') is fatally flawed.
In short, Steinhardt says that the models that best fit the Planck data — known as ‘plateau models’ because their potential-energy profiles level off at relatively low energies — are far less likely to occur naturally than the models that Planck ruled out. Secondly, he says, the news for these plateau models gets dramatically worse when the results are analysed in conjunction with the latest results about the Higgs field coming from CERN's Large Hadron Collider. Particle physicists working at the LHC have calculated that the Higgs field is likely to have started out in a high-energy, ‘metastable’ state rather than in a stable, low-energy configuration. Steinhardt likens the odds of the Higgs field initially being perched in the precarious metastable state as to those of dropping out of the sky over the Matterhorn and conveniently landing in a “dimple near the top”, rather than crashing down to the mountain’s base (paper here)."
Link to Original Source
In short, Steinhardt says that the models that best fit the Planck data — known as ‘plateau models’ because their potential-energy profiles level off at relatively low energies — are far less likely to occur naturally than the models that Planck ruled out. Secondly, he says, the news for these plateau models gets dramatically worse when the results are analysed in conjunction with the latest results about the Higgs field coming from CERN's Large Hadron Collider. Particle physicists working at the LHC have calculated that the Higgs field is likely to have started out in a high-energy, ‘metastable’ state rather than in a stable, low-energy configuration. Steinhardt likens the odds of the Higgs field initially being perched in the precarious metastable state as to those of dropping out of the sky over the Matterhorn and conveniently landing in a “dimple near the top”, rather than crashing down to the mountain’s base (paper here)."
Link to Original Source
+ - EA shuts down more online only games, continues to be oblivious->
Submitted
by
onyxruby
onyxruby writes "EA shutdown another round of less profitable games today, including a variation of Sim City. These games could only be accessed by playing online and no offline mode will be made available to players. Real world money that was spent by players on the game for adds on will be lost with only two months left to spend it or lose it.
EA continues to be oblivious as to why online only requirements to play games like Sim City are a significant issue and refuses to change their policy. Perhaps it takes people who are not traditional gamers getting screwed over by the publishers to change an otherwise apathetic public's mind over the issue?"
Link to Original Source
EA continues to be oblivious as to why online only requirements to play games like Sim City are a significant issue and refuses to change their policy. Perhaps it takes people who are not traditional gamers getting screwed over by the publishers to change an otherwise apathetic public's mind over the issue?"
Link to Original Source
+ - Facebook IOS latest update broken
Submitted
by
tekrat
tekrat writes "If you're thinking of downloading the latest update to the Facebook App for your Apple IOS device, don't! Although the new "chat heads" feature sounds appealing, the newsfeed is completely broken, resulting in a grey screen with the "rotating flower" indicating it's trying to load the newsfeed, but never actually does. Nice job beta-testing there, facebook."
+ - Microsoft signs android patent deal with Foxconn
Submitted
by
Pikoro
Pikoro writes "Microsoft has secured a patent deal with the world's biggest consumer electronics manufacturer to receive fees for devices powered by Google's Android and Chrome operating systems.
Hon Hai — the parent company of Foxconn — said the deal would help prevent its clients being caught up in an ongoing intellectual property dispute.
Microsoft says that Google's code makes use of innovations it owns.
Google alleges its rival's claims are based on "bogus patents".
"The patents at issue cover a range of functionality embodied in Android devices that are essential to the user experience, including: natural ways of interacting with devices by tabbing through various screens to find the information they need; surfing the web more quickly, and interacting with documents and e-books.""
Hon Hai — the parent company of Foxconn — said the deal would help prevent its clients being caught up in an ongoing intellectual property dispute.
Microsoft says that Google's code makes use of innovations it owns.
Google alleges its rival's claims are based on "bogus patents".
"The patents at issue cover a range of functionality embodied in Android devices that are essential to the user experience, including: natural ways of interacting with devices by tabbing through various screens to find the information they need; surfing the web more quickly, and interacting with documents and e-books.""
+ - Excel error causes austerity
Submitted
by
quarterbuck
quarterbuck writes "Many politicians, especially in Europe, have used the idea that economic growth is impeded by debt levels above 90% of GDP to justify austerity measures. The academic justification came from a paper and a book by Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart. Now researchers at U Mass at Amherst have refuted the study — they find that not only was the data tainted by bad statistics, it also had an Excel error . Apparently when averaging a few GDP numbers in an excel sheet, they did not drag down the cell ranges down properly, excluding Belgium.
The supporting website for the book "This time it is different" has lots of financial information if a reader might want to replicate some of the results."
The supporting website for the book "This time it is different" has lots of financial information if a reader might want to replicate some of the results."
+ - 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."
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
+ - Researcher hacks aircraft control systems with a Samsung Galaxy->
Submitted
by
Aquineas
Aquineas writes "Hugo Teso demonstrated his exploit at The Box Conference in Amsterdam yesterday. Apparently he exploited the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) which is largely unsecured."
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source