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Science

+ - Empa Claims New World Record for Solar Cell Efficiency->

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula (1870348) writes "Scientists based at Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, have set a new efficiency record for thin-film copper indium gallium (di)selenid (or CIGS) based solar cells on flexible polymer foils, reaching an efficiency of 20.4 percent. This is an increase from a previous record of 18.7 percent set by the team back in 2011."
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EU

+ - US Activists Oppose US Govt Support For EU Privacy Rules-> 2

Submitted by
judgecorp
judgecorp writes "The European Commission has proposals for data privacy (including the "right to be forgotten") and the US government is opposing them. Now US activists have arrived in Brussels to lobby against their government's support for the European measures. The move comes following reports of "extreme" lobbying by US authorities against the European proposals."
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Government

+ - UK government to Use PayPal for Identity Assurance ->

Submitted by
judgecorp
judgecorp writes "A UK government contract has confirmed earlier reports that British citizens will have the option to use PayPal to accredit themselves for public services such as the new Universal Credit benefit system. Using PayPal might be a public relations goof, as PayPal's parent eBay is notoriously clever at avoiding UK taxes, recently paying only £1.2 million on profit of £789 million (around 0.15 percent)."
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Linux

+ - SPAM: Explain to me like I am 10: What is Linux? 3

Submitted by pavs.ma
pavs.ma (1124133) writes "My nephew recently turned 10. Like most 10 year old he has a lot of question about everything. Sometimes it can be a fun exercise for me to see how well I thought I really understand something, only to find out that I may understand the concept of something but not well enough to explain it even to a 10 year old. This encouraged me to dive in to things deeper to try to understand it in a fundamental level to help me explain things in simpler terms; even if the topic is not so simple. This can be fun most of the time, if you have kids you will know what I am talking about. Usually explaining something to a 10 year old turns in to conversation where one question can lead to 10 more questions about non-related topics. This post may or may not help your 10 year old."
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EU

+ - EU Could Require Organisations To Report Cyber Attacks->

Submitted by
judgecorp
judgecorp writes "The European Union wants to require organisations to report when they experience cyber attacks. This is a separate measure to the EU's proposal that data breaches (where personal data is exposed) must be reported, as it would include political cyber attacks and DDoS actions. The move has been welcomed by security organisations such as Ireland's CERT, as a possible step towards greater transparency, which could make it easier for all to keep themselves secure."
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Games

+ - Analyst believes Microsoft will sell off Xbox division, maybe even to Sony-> 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "Forbes analyst Adam Hartung has predicted that Microsoft will sell off its entertainment division, which includes Xbox, in the coming years. He even goes so far as to list Sony or Barnes & Noble as potential buyers.

Lets forget how crazy this sounds for a moment and focus on the reasons why Hartung believes such a sale will happen. It basically comes down to Windows 8, and how poorly it is selling. Combine that with falling sales of PCs, the Surface RT tablet not doing so great, the era of more than one PC in the home disappearing, and Microsoft has a big problem.

The problem not only stems from the PC market not growing, but because Microsoft relies so heavily on Windows and Office for revenue. With that in mind, Hartung believes Steve Ballmer will do anything and everything to save Windows, including ditching entertainment and therefore Xbox."
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Education

+ - Student expelled from Montreal college for finding "sloppy coding"->

Submitted by innocent_white_lamb
innocent_white_lamb (151825) writes "In what appears to be a more-and-more common occurrence, Ahmed Al-Khabez has been expelled from Dawson College in Montreal after he discovered a flaw in the software that the college (and apparently all other colleges across Quebec) uses to track student information.

His original intention was to write a mobile app to allow students to access their college account more easily, but during the development of his app he discovered "sloppy coding" that would allow anyone to access all of the information that the system contains about any student.

He was initially ordered to sign a non-disclosure agreement stating that he would never talk about the flaw that he discovered, and he was expelled from the college shortly afterward."
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Comment: Re:Why cloud? (Score 4, Insightful) 55

by tenex (#41128683) Attached to: StethoCloud Project Diagnoses Pneumonia On the Cheap

According to article, yes I admit to having read it, they have a stand-alone java based version that runs on just about anything; the 'cloud' version is constantly collecting historical data that allows the diagnostic algorithms to learn and improve themselves. I'm not sure that last part is actually true but it is a nice thought.

Comment: Tinocular scope? (Score 1) 118

by tenex (#40274395) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Advice On Child-Friendly Microscopes?

I'm not sure of your budget or whether you are looking at this for yourself or your son, but a trinocular scope allows human binary focus on the subject/target as well as a digital imaging output that can be displayed on a dedicated Workstation or PC. These images can then be captured and later analysed.

This is what my techs use at work for FA on PCAs... but YMMV with "bacteria to paramecium's".

Later...

The Military

+ - Droneception: A drone within a drone within a dron->

Submitted by smitty777
smitty777 (1612557) writes "Given the US's recent drone issues, what is the new recipe for sending a drone over another country of interest? Simple, just take a balloon, and attach a Tempest drone to the bottom of it. Now, attach two more CICADA (sic) drones to that. The balloon climbs to over 55k feet, drops the first drone which can travel another 11 miles or so. It then deploys the CICADA drones. These unpowered gliders slip past the radars undetected and start sending back info. There are future plans to mount many (count hundreds) of the CICADA glider drones to the Tempest in the future. The article quotes the flight engineer describing the process as "straight forward"."
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The best book on programming for the layman is "Alice in Wonderland"; but that's because it's the best book on anything for the layman.

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