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IOS

Submission + - Apple Lifts Ban on the Word "Jailbreak" (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Gunkerty Jeb
Gunkerty Jeb writes: After banning the word "jailbreak" from its app store and music library, Apple today reversed course and again permits the term — slang for hacking into a device to download unauthorized content — to appear on iTunes and its App Store.

On Thursday bloggers noticed Apple had censored the word, using the Thin Lizzy album "Jailbreak" as an example. For awhile, the title was listed as "J******k" in Apple's music library, at least its U.S. version. In other instances, digital content continued to bear the full name Jailbreak.

Submission + - Nikola Tesla Wasn't God and Thomas Edison Wasn't the Devil (forbes.com)

Submitted by dsinc
dsinc writes: Forbes' Alex Knapp writes about the Tesla idolatry and confusing his genius for godhood: "Tesla wasn’t an ignored god-hero. Thomas Edison wasn’t the devil. They were both brilliant, strong-willed men who helped build our modern world. They both did great things and awful things. They were both brilliantly right about some things and just as brilliantly wrong about others. They had foibles, quirks, passions, misunderstandings and moments of wonder."
NASA

Submission + - Falcon 9 Launch Aborted At Last Minute (cbsnews.com)

Submitted by ClockEndGooner
ClockEndGooner writes: Sadly, SpaceX had to abort its launch of the Falcon 9 to the International Space Station this morning due to higher than expected pressure levels in one of its engine chambers. NASA and SpaceX have another launch window scheduled for early next week. "Billionaire rocket designer Elon Musk “Will adjust limits for countdown in a few days,” he tweeted".
Windows

Submission + - Aero Glass UI no more on Windows 8 (theverge.com)

Submitted by closer2it
closer2it writes: Microsoft has revealed that it has made some big changes to its desktop UI for Windows 8, which includes moving away from Aero Glass — the UI first introduced with Vista. According to the company, this means visual changes that include "flattening surfaces, removing reflections, and scaling back distracting gradients." Despite all of these changes with the interface, the company doesn't appear to be worried about the issue of "learnability." Instead, Microsoft believes that with a little help it won't take long for users to adapt to the new operating system.
NASA

Submission + - SpaceX launch To ISS Aborted (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by megla
megla writes: News is only just starting to come in, but according to the BBC SpaceX's milestone launch to the ISS was aborted at the last second due to a pressure abnormality in one of Falcon's nine engines.

The next launch opportunity is Tuesday.
Earth

Submission + - Scientists Unravel the Mystery of the 'Dark Day' 1

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "BBC reports that 232 years ago a strange event occurred that remains shrouded in mystery to this day. On May 19, 1780 the sky turned yellow in New England and Canada, animals ran for cover and darkness descended, causing people to light candles and start to pray. By lunchtime night had fallen. With little scientific knowledge amongst the populace, people were afraid and some lawmakers in Connecticut believed it was the day of judgment. "There are some verses in Matthew that might have led them to believe that this is the second coming of Christ," says historian Mike Dash. "At the time, natural events — even birds fighting in the sky — were a sign of God's intentions. The Dark Day would have seemed like a warning to Man." A solar eclipse can be ruled out as there is a record of when these occur — and they only last for a matter of minutes, there is no record of volcanic activity in 1780 making a huge ash cloud an unlikely explanation, and a meteorite is equally unlikely. Now scientists may have found the answer in the trees. Academics at the University of Missouri's Department of Forestry analyzed tree trunks inland from New England, where westerly prevailing winds would originate and found signs of fire-scarred rings in tree trunks dating back to that period in the area that is today occupied by Algonquin Provincial Park. Eyewitness accounts in New England support the forest fire hypothesis as soot was spotted in rivers, and one letter noted that the air had the "smell of a malt-house or a coal-kiln". Whatever the cause in 1780, geography must have exacerbated the fear, says Dash with European settlers living on the edge of a vast unknown continent. "When it goes dark for them, there's no guarantee it is ever going to get light again," says Dash. "In those days it would be quite natural to think it was the Second Coming.""
Science

Submission + - "Colloidal Display" Turns Soap Film Into a Projector Screen

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: 3 graduate students from University of Tokyo, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Tsukuba have developed Colloidal Display — a clear projector screen that can control its transparency. Normally soap film will pass through the light but Colloidal Display does not. It mixes colloid into the solution and uses an ultra sonic speakers to vibrate the surface of the soap film to achieve this. They have created several prototype such as 3D planer screen to show how this technology can be useful.
Robotics

Submission + - MIT Unveils Robotic Manipulator Made of Coffee Grounds (ieee.org) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: MIT researchers have developed [http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-hardware/jamming-grippers-combine-to-form-robotic-elephant-trunk] a highly articulated robotic manipulator based on soft materials that can harden to reposition the device. The technique is known as jamming, and it relies on pouches filled with granular material like coffee grounds; when air is removed from the pouches, they become rigid. The researchers combined jamming actuators with cables to build a manipulator resembling an elephant trunk. They say the device is low-cost, capable of grasping a variety of objects, and can remain in a hardened state for extended periods of time using little energy.
Patents

Submission + - Amazon Patents Pitching As-Seen-On-TV Products

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Q. What do you get when you surround the image of Men in Black star Will Smith trying on sunglasses with a pitch for 'MIB Bill Smith Dark Shades'? A. U.S. Patent No. 8,180,688. 'Many people consume broadcast media such as television shows and movies for many hours a week,' Amazon explained to the USPTO in its patent application for a Computer-Readable Medium, System, and Method for Item Recommendations Based on Media Consumption. 'The consumed broadcast media may depict a variety of items during the course of the transmission, such as clothing, books, movies, accessories, electronics, and/or any other type of item.' So, does Amazon's spin on As Seen on TV advertising deserve a patent?
Hardware

Submission + - Recommendations for a laptop with a keypad that doesn't suck 6

Submitted by
PhunkySchtuff
PhunkySchtuff writes: "I'm seeking the collective's recommendations on a laptop with a numeric keypad that doesn't suck.

For practicality reasons, an external USB keypad is less convenient than a built-in one. A keypad is required for entry of lots of numbers, and using the alpha keys with the Fn key to turn them into a keypad is not acceptable.
Looking at the larger manufacturers, it seems that none of their business grade laptops (e.g. Lenovo's T-Series or similar quality levels) have numeric keypads. Looking at their laptops that do have keypads, invariably they are cheap, plastic and flimsy. Looking at Lenovo's offering with a Keypad, whilst it's a 15" screen, the vertical resolution is just 768 pixels, and the build quality of it leaves a lot to be desired.

I need to find something that is built to the quality of a "real" ThinkPad, or even a MacBook Pro, but has a full-sized keyboard with a numeric keypad and there doesn't seem to be anything like that on the market at the moment. This is a mystery to me as to why it would be the case as I'd imagine it's business users who need to use a keypad more than the average user, yet it is the consumer grade laptops that have keypads."
Security

Submission + - White House Hires a New Cybersecurity Boss (gizmodo.com)

Submitted by
TheGift73
TheGift73 writes: "Cybersecurity and the government have been a volitile combination lately, with proposed bills like SOPA, PIPA, and the still-up-in-the-air CISPA at the center of on-and-off internet outrage. So it's kind of a big deal when the White House replaces its chief of cybersecurity affairs.

Last week, longtime chief Howard Schmidt stepped down. He's replaced by Michael Daniel, who's been in the Office of Management and Budget's national security division for 17 years. What does that mean for the future of the cybersecurity issue? Probably that we can expect his knowledge of the intelligence community to play a part in not just tracking down hackers, but determining the lines that need to be crossed with future SOPA-like bills. So while this sounds like a relatively nondescript appointment, Daniel will almost definitely be a major player the next time someone comes for your internet."
Businesses

Submission + - Golden Age of Silicon Valley is Over with Facebook IPO

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Steve Blank, a professor at Berkeley and Stanford and serial entrepreneur from Silicon Valley, says that the the Facebook IPO is the beginning of the end for Silicon Valley as we know it. "Silicon Valley historically would invest in science, and technology, and, you know, actual silicon," says Blank. "If you were a good venture capitalist you could make $100 million." But there's a new pattern emerging created by two big ideas that will lead to the demise of Silicon Valley as we know it. The first is putting computer devices, mobile and tablet especially, in the hands of billions of people and the second is that we are moving all the social needs that we used to do face-to-face onto the computer and this trend has just begun. "If you think Facebook is the end, ask MySpace. Art, entertainment, everything you can imagine in life is moving to computers. Companies like Facebook for the first time can get total markets approaching the entire population." That's great for Facebook but it means Silicon Valley is screwed as a place for investing in advanced science. "If I have a choice of investing in a blockbuster cancer drug that will pay me nothing for ten years, at best, whereas social media will go big in two years, what do you think I'm going to pick?" concludes Blank. "The headline for me here is that Facebook's success has the unintended consequence of leading to the demise of Silicon Valley as a place where investors take big risks on advanced science and tech that helps the world. The golden age of Silicon valley is over and we're dancing on its grave.""
Facebook

Submission + - Facebook Privacy Suit Seeks $15 Billion (bloomberg.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The folks at Facebook may be focusing on their IPO today, but a complaint filed in federal court has given them something else to think about. The filing consolidates 21 separate but similar cases and alleges Facebook invaded users privacy by tracking their browsing behavior even after they had logged out of the site. The claim seeks $15 billion in damages. 'If the claimants are successful in their case against Facebook, they could prevent Menlo Park from collecting the huge amount of data it collects about its users to serve ads back to them. Like the previous lawsuits, Facebook is once again being accused of violating the Federal Wiretap Act, which provides statutory damages per user of $100 per day per violation, up to a maximum per user of $10,000. The complaint also asserts claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Stored Communications Act, various California Statutes and California common law.'
Microsoft

Submission + - Kinect in my Operating Room? It's More Likely Than You Think (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London began trials of a Kinect-driven camera last week that would sense body position, and by waving his or her hands, the surgeon can sift through medical images, such as CT scans or real-time X-rays, while in the middle of an operation.

During surgery, a surgeon will stop and consult medical images anywhere from once an hour to every few minutes. So the surgeon doesn't have to leave the table, the doctor will work with assistants, but sometimes, if you want things done to your satisfaction, you have to do it yourself.

Dr. Tom Carrell, a consultant vascular surgeon at Guy's and St Thomas', described an operation on a patient's aorta earlier this month to New Scientist. "Up until now, I'd been calling out across the room to one of our technical assistants, asking them to manipulate the image, rotate one way, rotate the other, pan up, pan down, zoom in, zoom out." With the Kinect, he says, "I had very intuitive control."

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