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+ - Why Penguins Don't Fly-> 1

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes "A new study of murres, penguinlike seabirds that retain the ability to take wing, reveals why penguins don't fly. Scientists have found that it's costly and inefficient to be both a diver and a flyer. If the murre's all-purpose wing became more like a penguin's stubby flipper, swimming would be easier, because a short wing creates less drag in the water. But flying would be nearly impossible, because a short wing makes it harder to stay aloft."
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+ - HOT Raspberry Pi: A DIY Mini Desktop PC Build Project->

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes "Hot Hardware recently set out to design a mini desktop computer with the popular Raspberry Pi single board computer. The Raspberry Pi is a Linux-driven, ARM processor-based micro computer that is known for its low cost and small size. People use the device for a variety of projects, from micro-servers to low cost media players. Basically, the goal was to turn what is currently one of the cheapest bare-bones computer boards into a fully enclosed mini desktop computer that could be taken anywhere without the need for cabling or setup. This small DIY project is just one of many examples of the flexibility of Raspberry Pi's open architecture. And to think you can even run Quake and Minecraft on a self-contained little device like this."
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+ - Book review: Locked Down: Information Security for Lawyers

Submitted by benrothke
benrothke writes "Title: Locked Down: Information Security for Lawyers

Authors: Sharon Nelson, David Ries, John Simek

Publisher: American Bar Association

ISBN-13: 978-1614383642

Reviewer: Ben Rothke

Overview: Required reading for all lawyers

Rating:9/10









Had Locked Down: Information Security for Lawyersnot been published by the American Bar Association (ABA) and 2 of its 3 authors not been attorneys; one would have thought the book is a reproach against attorneys for their obliviousness towards information security and privacy. In numerous places, the book notes that lawyers are often clueless when it comes to digital security.



With that, the book is a long-overdue and valuable information security reference for anyone, not just lawyers.



Such a title is needed as the legal field has embraced digital technology for nearly every aspect of the legal field, has magazines and conferences about legal technology and much more. Wireless (often insecure) networks are pervasive in corporate offices throughout legal America.



The underlying problem is that while attorneys often know the intricacies of tort law, court proceedings and the like; they are utterly unaware of the information security and privacy risks surrounding the very technologies they are using. In many firms, the lawyers think that someoneis protecting their data, but don't understand theirrequirements around those areas of data protection.



Legal IT systems are a treasure trove of personal data. Many small law firms are extremely attractive to identity thieves gives their systems have significant amount of personal information via social security numbers, credit card information, birth dates, financial information and much more. Small law firms are notorious for weak information security controls and attackers will scan those systems and networks for vulnerabilities.



A pervasive aspect of the book is ABA rule 1.6 regarding the confidentiality of information regarding client-lawyer relationships. The rule requires that a lawyer not reveal information relating to the representation of a client unless the client gives informed consent. The lawyer though can reveal information relating to the representation of a client to the extent the lawyer reasonably believes necessary. The myriad details of 1.6 can be left to the bar association to enforce, suffice to say that a lawyer can find themselves on the wrong side of the law if they are not careful with information security controls.



The authors note that although lawyers are all well aware of rule 1.6, the challenge is how to keep client data secure in the digital age. In a world of paper, things were much easier and cheaper This is why the authors note that so many otherwise competent layers fails so miserably in reference to their duty to maintain the confidentiality of digital client data.



The book quotes an ABA 2011 technology survey in which 21% of large law firms reported that their firm had experiences some sort of security breach, and 15% of all firms reported that they suffered a security breach. It is figures like those which show that attorneys really need to read this book and take the information to heart.



The books 17 chapters are in a readable 150 pages, with an additional 120 pages of appendices. Written in an easily understandable style and non-technical for the technologically challenge lawyer.



When it comes to the security of client data, in chapter 4 the authors write that encryption is a topic that most attorneys don't want to touch with a ten-foot pole. But it has reached a point where attorneys must understand how and when encryption should be used. Just as important, they need to know about key managements, and what good encryption is. The chapter provides a high-level detail on what needs to be done regarding encryption.



Chapter 13 is on secure disposal, is an important topic to everyone, and not just lawyers. Digital media needs to be effectively disposed of; and for many lawyers, they often think that means reformatting a hard drive or simply erasing files. The chapter effectively details the issues and offers numerous valuable hardware and software-based solutions.



Chapter 14 on outsourcing and cloud computingis an area where too many attorneys are oblivious to of the security and privacy risks. For example, the authors advise attorneys against the use of the free Gmail service since the terms of service allow Google to do anything it wants with the data. That opens a Pandora's Box when it comes to securing client data. The authors advise to use premium Google business versions, so attorneys can stay in control of their data with added security and privacy features.



Two omissions in chapters 13 and 14 are that the authors don't reference NAID(National Association for Information Destruction) or the CSA(Cloud Security Alliance (CSA).



Firms that outsource their digital disposal to non-NAID certified firms run the risk of having a glorified recycler do their work. As to NAID, it is an international trade association for companies providing information destruction services. NAIDs mission is to promote the information destruction industry and the standards and ethics of its member companies; while the mission of the CSA is to promote the use of best practices for providing security assurance within cloud computing and to provide education on the uses of cloud computing to help secure all other forms of computing.



The authors include many real-world stories and case law to reinforce their point.



The book closes with a number of appendices on various rules from the FTC, state information protection regulations, the SANS Institute glossary of security terms and more.



For the lawyer looking for an easy to read introduction to nearly everything they need to know about information security and privacy, the bookis a great resource.



The book closes with the note that since lawyers have an ethical duty to protect their client's data, they have no choice but to keep themselves as well educated as possible.



For the attorney that wants to ensure their requirements remain current and are looking for an easy to read introduction about information security and privacy Locked Down: Information Security for Lawyersshould be considered required reading.







About the reviewer: Ben Rothke."

+ - Amazon, Google and Apple won't need to pay tax, despite goverment threats->

Submitted by girlmad
girlmad writes "Despite moves by government to get Google, Amazon and Apple to admit they make sales in the UK and US, and therefore should pay tax on these earnings, this article argues these are empty threats and that any taxes paid will get returned to the tech giants in government grants and subsidies. Tough luck to the small firms out there."
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+ - Charge your cellphone in 20 seconds->

Submitted by GoJays
GoJays writes "An 18 year old from Saratoga California has won an international science fair for creating an energy storage device that can be fully juiced in 20 to 30 seconds.
The fast-charging device is a so-called supercapacitor, a gizmo that can pack a lot of energy into a tiny space, charges quickly and holds its charge for a long time.
What's more, it can last for 10,000 charge-recharge cycles, compared with 1,000 cycles for conventional rechargeable batteries, according to the inventor Eesha Khare."
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+ - Skype backdoor confirmed ..->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "I was disappointed the rumoured skype backdoor is claimed to be real, and
that they have evidence. The method by which they confirmed is kind of odd
- not only is skype eavesdropping but its doing head requests on SSL sites
that have urls pasted in the skype chat!

Now I've worked with a few of the german security outfits before, though not
Heise, and they are usually top-notch, so if they say its confirmed, you
generally are advised to believe them."
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+ - Florida DOT Cuts Yellow Light Timing To Less Than Federal Guidelines - Red Light->

Submitted by zlives
zlives writes ""Red light cameras generated more than $100 million in revenue last year in approximately 70 Florida communities, with 52.5 percent of the revenue going to the state. The rest is divided by cities, counties, and the camera companies. In 2013, the cameras are on pace to generate $120 million."

I wonder what the camera company cut is?"
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+ - Electrical Brain Stimulation Improves Math Skills->

Submitted by ewolfson
ewolfson writes "Dinner is over, and the waiter is handing over the bills to everyone when the collective tension sets in... how much do we tip? Math can trigger anxiety in adults and kids, but now scientists at Oxford University have developed a way to flip a switch and turn a normal person's brain into a math machine. They found painless, electrical brain stimulation in combination with easy number exercises can significantly improve math ability."
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+ - Hidden Recordings Reveal Cheating Poker Software CEO->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "While 5 years have passed since Black Friday ended Internet Poker in the US, new recordings have revealed that Ultimate Bet's corruption went all the way to the top. Using a "God Mode" cheat, some players and executives could see the hole cards of other players on the Ultimate Bet System. The owner of Ultimate Bet used the cheat to steal upwards of $16 million from various famous poker players including Mike Matusow and Ben Affleck.

The CEO was also involved and still works in internet gaming as a founder of Iovention, a fraud prevention company. His new company assisted with the launch of the online poker in Nevada this month. Since these recordings came to light, his services are no longer wanted."
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+ - Intel's Haswell Represents Major Advancement with Integrated Voltage Regulator->

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes "For the past decade, AMD and Intel have been racing each other to incorporate more components into the CPU die. Memory controllers, integrated GPUs, northbridges, and southbridges have all moved closer to a single package, known as SoCs (system-on-a-chip). Now, with Haswell, Intel is set to integrate another important piece of circuitry. When it launches next month, Haswell will be the first x86 CPU to include an on-die voltage regulator module, or VRM. Haswell incorporates a refined VRM on-die that allows for multiple voltage rails and controls voltage for the CPU, on-die GPU, system I/O, integrated memory controller, as well as several other functions. Intel refers to this as a FIVR (Fully Integrated Voltage Regulator), and it apparently eliminates voltage ripple and is significantly more efficient than your traditional motherboard VRM. Added bonus? It's 1/50th the size."
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+ - JavaScript Is Eating the World->

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes "Sandeep Bhanot, a developer evangelist at Salesforce.com, argues that JavaScript is eating the world. "There are several trends and technologies that are coalescing at the same time to make Jeff Atwood’s famous 'law'—any application that can be written in JavaScript, will eventually be written in JavaScript—more true than ever," he writes. In the following column, he digs into everything from JavaScript's increasing maturity to its use in ultra-responsive UIs. "Love it or hate it, the one thing a modern developer cannot do is ignore JavaScript," he concludes. "It is slowly but surely eating your world." Do you agree?"
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+ - Ad Exec: Learn to Code or You're Dead to Me 1

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes "In a widely-read WSJ Op-Ed, English major Kirk McDonald, president of online ad optimization service PubMatic, informed college grads that he considers them unemployable unless they can claim familiarity with at least two programming languages. 'Teach yourself just enough of the grammar and the logic of computer languages to be able to see the big picture,' McDonald advises. 'Get acquainted with APIs. Dabble in a bit of Python. For most employers, that would be more than enough.' Over at Typical Programmer, Greg Jorgensen is not impressed. 'I have some complaints about this "everyone must code" movement,' Jorgensen writes, 'and Mr. McDonald’s article gives me a starting point because he touched on so many of them.' Nice rebuttal, and one might add that even a programming whiz might find it tough to land a job at PubMatic — a 2011 USA Today article noted that PubMatic maintained its 100-person development team in India. Why? 'It is easier to find and retain engineers in India,' explained CEO Rajeev Goel (McDonald's boss). 'And it is more affordable.'"

Underlying Principle of Socio-Genetics: Superiority is recessive.

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