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Submission + - Skype Suffers Massive Outage (dslreports.com) 1

Submitted by tudorl
tudorl writes: Several users have written in to note that Skype appears to be having a major outage at the moment, something confirmed by the significant volume of complaints on Twitter. Skype has yet to comment on the reason for the outage, or precisely how many customers are impacted, though their Twitter account confirms the problem. "Some of you may have problems signing in to Skype," says the company, adding that "we’re investigating, and we’re sorry for the disruption to your conversations."
Patents

Submission + - Audio and video patents haunt Apple and Android

Submitted by FlorianMueller
FlorianMueller writes: There seems to be no end to those smartphone patent suits. This week's special: audio and video patents that its owners claim are key to formats like MP3 and MPEG 2. The targets: Apple and Android. On Monday, Alcatel-Lucent subsidiary Multimedia Patent Trust filed a patent infringement suit in Southern California against Apple, LG (over 64 different phones including some Android-based ones), Canon and TiVo over four video patents. Fortunately for Apple and LG, none of the patents asserted against those two companies are likely to be in force by the time the judge decides, so there's no risk of an injunction. They may nevertheless have to pay for past damages. The same company once obtained a record $1.5 billion jury verdict against Microsoft but saw it slashed by a judge. And on Tuesday, Hybrid Audio LLC filed a suit in Eastern Texas, asserting a patent against various Apple products and certain Android-based products from HTC and Dell.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Ready To Talk Windows on ARM (allthingsd.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: After many months of working in secret, Microsoft is nearly ready to start talking about its plans to bring Windows to ARM-based processors. However, while the company is set to discuss the effort at next month’s Consumer Electronics Show, there is still a lot that must be done before such products can hit the market. Among the steps needed is for hardware makers to create ARM-compatible drivers, a time-consuming effort that explains in part why Microsoft is talking about the initiative well ahead of any products being ready.

Meanwhile Ubuntu is already starting to ship on some ARM devices and running on many others .
Apple

Submission + - Touchless UI for iPad to be shown at CES (mobilemag.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: "This past September at the IFA Berlin trade show Elliptic Labs revealed their Touchless Gesture User Interface technology. It allowed a user to make hand movements (gestures), similar to Microsoft’s Kinect technology; giving the user the ability to control their device by simple hand movements. The company had been working on a prototype with a reference design tablet which has now evolved into a touchless dock prototype for the Apple iPad."
Security

Submission + - Banknotes go electronic to outwit counterfeiters (newscientist.com)

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes: Modern banknotes contain up to 50 anti-counterfeiting features, but adding electronic circuits programmed to confirm the note's authenticity is perhaps the ultimate deterrent, and would also help to simplify banknote tracking.

A team of German and Japanese researchers created arrays of thin-film transistors (TFTs) by carefully depositing gold, aluminium oxide and organic molecules directly onto the notes through a patterned mask, building up the TFTs layer by layer. The result is an undamaged banknote containing around 100 organic TFTs, each of which is less than 250 nanometres thick and can be operated with voltages of just 3V. Such small voltages could be transmitted wirelessly by an external reader, such as the kind that communicates with the RFID tags found on many products

NewScientist: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827915.200-banknotes-go-electric-to-outwit-counterfeiters.html

Submission + - 2010: The Year in Downtime (datacenterknowledge.com)

Submitted by 1sockchuck
1sockchuck writes: Lightning, floods, car crashes and coding snafus had starring roles in major Internet outages of 2010. Data Center Knowledge reviews the year's business downtime, including outages for banking and e-commerce sites and several incidents that knocked state government services offline. Meanwhile, Pingdom focuses on downtime for major social media sites and Wikileaks. Then there's the guy who got drunk and shot up a server.

Submission + - Is Net Neutrality really needed? (wsj.com) 1

Submitted by darrad
darrad writes: An opinion piece over at the Wall Street Journal lays out an alternate theory on why we have new regulations from the FCC on Net Neutrality. There is a lot of talk about this subject, particularly among the tech sector. Most of the talk centers around preventing companies from charging more for traffic or black holing other traffic. However, the question should be asked, is granting control over the Internet to political appointees the way to go? Regardless of your political point of view shouldn't the Internet remain free from regulation?
Science

Submission + - New Tech Promises Cheap Gene Sequencing in Minutes (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: Sequencing an entire genome is currently a highly complex, time-consuming process – the DNA must be broken down into segments and replicated, utilizing chemicals that destroy the original sample. Scientists from Imperial College London, however, have just announced the development of a prototype device that could lead to technology capable of sequencing a human genome within minutes, at a cost of just a few dollars. By contrast, when sequencing of the genome of Dr. James Watson (co-discoverer of the structure of DNA) was completed in 2007, it had taken two years and cost US$1 million.

Submission + - Wikileaks ACTA Cables Reveal Concern With Secrecy (michaelgeist.ca)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Two Wikileaks cables have been released that provide new insight into opposition to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. One cable from Italy in 2008 includes official frustration over the treaty secrecy and a prediction that geographic indications would emerge as a major issue. A second from Sweden says that the secrecy has been very damaging to the negotiations and admits that similar talks at WIPO would have been far more open.

Submission + - Superhero move may save black holes from nakedness (newscientist.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: NewScientist reports that black holes may dodge the speeding "bullets" that would otherwise strip them naked – and pose problems for Einstein's theory of general relativity.
Security

Submission + - Will 2011 be the year of mobile malware? (networkworld.com)

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: Perhaps one of the most common predictions of the last six years has been that mobile malicious software will suddenly proliferate, driven by widespread adoption of smartphones with advanced OSes. None of those prognostications have really come to fruition, but it's likely that the coming year will bring a host of new malicious applications. Users — while generally aware of threats aimed at their desktop computers and laptops — have a good chance of being caught flat-footed with their mobile phones.

In the third quarter of this year, up to 80 million smartphones were sold around the world, which accounted for about 20 percent of the total number of mobile phones sold, according to statistics published last month by analyst firm Gartner.

Experts say the threats against those devices are going to come in several categories, including rogue applications. In September, researchers from security vendor Fortinet discovered a mobile component for Zeus, a notorious piece of banking malware that steals account credentials. The mobile component, which targeted Symbian Series 60 devices or BlackBerrys, intercepted one-time passcodes used to verify transactions.

Other threats will include traditional malware, privacy/data collection issues, and social engineering.
Piracy

Submission + - RIAA, MPAA recruit MasterCard as Internet Police (myce.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Two weeks ago, MasterCard felt the wrath of Anonymous Operation Payback-style DDoS attacks after refusing to process payments that were intended to fund WikiLeaks, the website which began leaking confidential US diplomatic cables last month. Now, the company is preparing to head down another controversial path by pledging to deny transactions which support websites that host pirated movies, music, games, or other copyrighted content.

MasterCard lobbyists have also been in talks with entertainment industry trade groups, including the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and have made it clear that the company will support the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA), sources close to the talks have said.
United States

Submission + - CIA Launches WTF (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by krou
krou writes: In an effort to investigate the impact of the leaked diplomatic cables, the CIA have launched the Wikileaks Task Force, commonly referred to at CIA headquarters as "WTF". 'The Washington Post said the panel was being led by the CIA's counter-intelligence centre, although it has drawn in two dozen members from departments across the agency.' Although the agency has not seen much of its own information leaked in the cables, some revelations (such as spying at the UN) originated from direct requests by the CIA. The Guardian notes that, 'WTF is more commonly associated with the Facebook and Twitter profiles of teenagers than secret agency committees. Given that its expanded version is usually an expression of extreme disbelief, perhaps the term is apt for the CIA's investigation.'

Submission + - Bee disease breakthrough (bbc.co.uk) 1

Submitted by moorhens
moorhens writes: The BBC is describing new research that could save honeybees from the deadly Varroa mite. Unlike other treatments that have to balance the prospect of killing the mites against killing the bees themselves, this uses a genetic switch to turn the mites into their own worst enemy. Worldwide, the Varroa mite has been ravaging honeybee populations, either as a result of direct parasitism or by transmitting viruses. If this research does result in a practical medicine for bees, perhaps this will provide an answer to colony collapse disorder that has been decimating US bees. In Europe, we haven't had CCD (whatever you may read elsewhere), but Varroa alone is enough to wipe out an untreated colony in three years.
Security

Submission + - Passwords Are The Weakest Link In Online Security (net-security.org)

Submitted by Orome1
Orome1 writes: It's not surprising to find that 79% of consumers use risky password construction practices, such as including personal information and words. The recent Gawker breach and a detailed analysis of breached passwords show undeniably that passwords continue to be the Achilles' heel of the average Internet user. This insecure trend sadly doesn't shift as 26% of users reuse the same password for important accounts such as email, banking or shopping and social networking sites while 29% had their own email or social network account hacked, and over half (52%) know someone who has had a similar problem.
The Military

Submission + - Senate Poised to Pass START Nuclear Treaty 1

Submitted by
Ponca City
Ponca City writes: "The LA Times reports that a new arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia seems headed for certain Senate ratification after eleven Republican senators joined Democrats in cutting off debate over the treaty, giving the White House a major foreign policy victory. The treaty calls for reducing the maximum number of long-range nuclear warheads in each nation from 2,200 to 1,550 within seven years of ratification, limits to 700 the number of launchers each country maintains to deliver the nuclear weapons, and sets out procedures for verification of compliance. To gain GOP support, the administration firmed up its commitments to seek more than $80 billion in funding for nuclear modernization. Republican Senator Lamar Alexander, in announcing his support for the treaty, said he would vote for the treaty because the last six Republican secretaries of State support doing it and because the pact "leaves our country with enough nuclear warheads to blow any attacker to kingdom come.""

Submission + - Microsoft Windows for ARM (bloomberg.com)

Submitted by randallman
randallman writes: According to this article an article on Bloomberg.com, Microsoft will be presenting an ARM version of Windows. "The new product will debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, said the people, who asked not to be identified because Microsoft's plans are confidential. The software would be tailored for battery-powered devices, such as tablet computers and other handhelds, the people said." Will Windows on ARM be able to compete with iOS, Andriod and the other operating systems already in the ARM handlheld market?
Censorship

Submission + - Spanish Web Censorship Voted Down (zeropaid.com)

Submitted by Dangerous_Minds
Dangerous_Minds writes: ZeroPaid is reporting that a part of the Sinde Act (named after Spanish filmmaker and Culture Minister Ángeles González-Sinde) which would allow the Culture Ministry to force ISPs to block websites suspected of facilitating copyright infringement, was voted down recently in Spain. This comes on the heals of Wikileaks exposing the amount of pressure US industry was putting on Spain to implement laws like the three strikes law seen in HADOPI in France. The Asociación de Internautas (Assocation of Internet Users), an organization who called the legislation an assault on Spanish democracy, is currently celebrating the news as a victory for Spanish democracy (Spanish).

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