Submission + - NSA's Role In Terror Cases Concealed From Defense Lawyers

Submitted by Rick Zeman
Rick Zeman writes: "Confidentiality is critical to national security." So wrote the Justice Department in concealing the NSA's role in two wiretap cases. However, now that the NSA is under the gun, it's apparently not, according to New York attorney Joshua Dratel: “National security is about keeping illegal conduct concealed from the American public until you’re forced to justify it because someone ratted you out" as the first he heard of the NSA's role in his client's case was "....when [FBI deputy director Sean] Joyce disclosed it on CSPAN to argue for the effectiveness of the NSA’s spying.
Dratel challenged the legality of the spying in 2011, and asked a federal judge to order the government to produce the wiretap application the FBI gave the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to justify the surveillance.
“Disclosure of the FISA applications to defense counsel – who possess the requisite security clearance – is also necessary to an accurate determination of the legality of the FISA surveillance, as otherwise the defense will be completely in the dark with respect to the basis for the FISA surveillance,” wrote Dratel.

The government fought the request in a remarkable 60-page reply, some of it redacted as classified in the public docket. The Justice Department argued that the defendants had no right to see any of the filings from the secret court, and instead the judge could review the filings alone in chambers. “Confidentiality is critical to national security,” the government wrote.

Submission + - NVIDIA To Begin Licensing Its GPU Tech (nvidia.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Today in a blog post, NVIDIA's General Counsel, David Shannon, announced that the company will begin licensing its GPU cores and patent portfolio to device makers. '[I]t's not practical to build silicon or systems to address every part of the expanding market. Adopting a new business approach will allow us to address the universe of devices.' He cites the 'explosion of Android devices' as one of the prime reasons for this decision. 'This opportunity simply didn’t exist several years ago because there was really just one computing device – the PC. But the swirling universe of new computing devices provides new opportunities to license our GPU core or visual computing portfolio.' Shannon points out that NVIDIA did something similar with the CPU core used in the PlayStation 3, which was licensed to Sony. But mobile seems to be the big opportunity now: 'We’ll start by licensing the GPU core based on the NVIDIA Kepler architecture, the world’s most advanced, most efficient GPU. Its DX11, OpenGL 4.3, and GPGPU capabilities, along with vastly superior performance and efficiency, create a new class of licensable GPU cores. Through our efforts designing Tegra into mobile devices, we’'ve gained valuable experience designing for the smallest power envelopes. As a result, Kepler can operate in a half-watt power envelope, making it scalable from smartphones to supercomputers.'

Submission + - MySQL man pages silently relicensed away from GPL 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: From the "Gimme it! Its Mine!" department, The MariaDB blog is reporting a small change to the license covering the man pages to MySQL. Until recently the governing license was GPLv2, now the license reads:

This software and related documentation are provided under a license agreement containing restrictions on use and disclosure and are protected by intellectual property laws. Except as expressly permitted in your license agreement or allowed by law, you may not use, copy, reproduce, translate, broadcast, modify, license, transmit, distribute, exhibit, perform, publish, or display any part, in any form, or by any means. Reverse engineering, disassembly, or decompilation of this software, unless required by law for interoperability, is prohibited.

Submission + - Subversion 1.8 Released But Will You Still Use Git? (developer.com)

Submitted by darthcamaro
darthcamaro writes: Remember back in the day when we all used CVS? Then we moved to SVN (subversion) but in the last three yrs or so everyone and their brother seems to have moved to Git, right? Well truth is Subversion is still going strong and just released version 1.8. While Git is still faster for some things, Greg Stein, the former chair of the Apache Software Foundation, figures SVN is better than Git at lots of things.

With Subversion, you can have a 1T repository and check out just a small portion of it, The developers don't need full copies," Stein explained. "Git shops typically have many, smaller repositories, while svn shops typically have a single repository, which eases administration, backup, etc."


Submission + - Oracle drops GNU GPL from MySQL's man page licence (muktware.com)

Submitted by sfcrazy
sfcrazy writes: While naive users believed that Oracle will emerge as a champion of free software and polish OOo and MySQL to compete with arch rival Microsoft — the company disappointed everyone. There are reports that MySQL has changed its man page license — it has moved away from GNU GPL. The changes took place between MySQL 5.5.30 to MySQL 5.5.31.

MySQL 5.5.30 man page license clearly said that: This documentation is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it only under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; version 2 of the License.

Where as, the MySQL 5.5.31 licence says: This software and related documentation are provided under a license agreement containing restrictions on use and disclosure and are protected by intellectual property laws. Except as expressly permitted in your license agreement or allowed by law, you may not use, copy, reproduce, translate, broadcast, modify, license, transmit, distribute, exhibit, perform, publish, or display any part, in any form, or by any means. Reverse engineering, disassembly, or decompilation of this software, unless required by law for interoperability, is prohibited.

Submission + - Google Patents Image-Capturing Walking Sticks 2

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: GeekWire reports that Google has patented an image-capturing walking stick, which can boldly go where no Google Street View Car can. The walking stick has embedded cameras and location sensors, and a switch at the bottom that causes the device to snap pictures whenever the stick hits the ground. The patent also covers using canes and crutches in a similar fashion.

Submission + - Ubuntu Carrier Advisory Group Announced

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: With the focus from Ubuntu on phones, tablets, TVs, and of course the desktop, 7 carriers have signed onto their Ubuntu Carrier Advisory Group including Deutsche Telekom, Everything Everywhere, Telecom Italia, Korea Telecom, LG UPlus, Portugal Telecom, and SK Telecom.

The group is designed for the carriers to let "mobile operators shape Ubuntu’s mobile strategy. Members receive advance confidential briefings and provide us with industry insight to ensure that Ubuntu meets their needs".

Submission + - Verizon accused of intentionally slowing Netflix video streaming (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: A recent GigaOm report discusses Verizon's "peering" practices, which involves the exchange of traffic between two bandwidth providers. When peering with bandwidth provider Cogent starts to reach capacity, Verizon reportedly isn't adding any ports to meet the demand, Cogent CEO Dave Schaffer told GigaOm.

"They are allowing the peer connections to degrade," Schaffer said. "Today some of the ports are at 100 percent capacity."

Why would Verizon intentionally disrupt Netflix video streaming for its customers? Many are pointing to the fact that Verizon owns a 50% stake in Redbox, the video rental service that contributed to the demise of Blockbuster. If anything threatens the future of Redbox, whose business model requires customers to visit its vending machines to rent and return DVDs, its Netflix's instant streaming service, which delivers the same content directly to their screens.

Submission + - Computer scientist tries to beat Amdahl's law (pcworld.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A German computer scientist is taking a fresh look at the 46-year old Amdahl's law, which took a first look at limitations in parallel computing with respect to serial computing. The fresh look considers software development models as a way to overcome parallel computing limitations. Amdahl's law has been revisited many times, most notably by John Gustafson.

Submission + - Fanboys and trolls are the cancer killing Free Software (martin-graesslin.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Martin Gräßlin, the maintainer of the KWin window manager, writes an informative blog post about his experiences with the less favorable pockets of the Free Software community:

Years ago I had a clear political opinion. I was a civil-rights activist. I appreciated freedom and anything limiting freedom was a problem to me. Freedom of speech was one of the most important rights for me. I thought that democracy has to be able to survive radical or insulting opinions. In a democracy any opinion should have a right even if it’s against democracy. I had been a member of the lawsuit against data preservation in Germany. I supported the German Pirate Party during the last election campaign because of a new censorship law. That I became a KDE developer is clearly linked to the fact that it is a free software community.

But over the last years my opinion changed. Nowadays I think that not every opinion needs to be tolerated. I find it completely acceptable to censor certain comments and encourage others to censor, too. What was able to change my opinion in such a radical way? After all I still consider civil rights as extremely important. The answer is simple: Fanboys and trolls.


Submission + - The National Surveillance State, founded 1917

Submitted by guanxi
guanxi writes: The NSA programs may be new, but in the United States government surveillance of its citizens is not. The Surveillance State's origins are in 1917, as Woodrow Wilson looked to rally support (and suppress dissent) for World War I: "Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson read mail and revoked publications’ mailable status that was then used by prosecutors as proof that those publishers were seditious in court cases. ... Soldiers went undercover, such as one who broke into the National Civil Liberties Bureau’s offices ... Prosecutors convicted Eugene V. Debs for seditious speech when he offered praise to three socialists recently convicted under the Espionage Act. ... some 20,000 civilian volunteers of the vigilante American Protective League ... detained about 60,000 men for possible draft dodging, even though they had no legal authority to do so. This same organization investigated their fellow Americans for most of the major intelligence agencies, barging into peoples’ homes and offices. ..." With modern networks, data collection and analysis, we won't need as many vigilantes or to physically break into offices and homes.

Submission + - Assange's 365th Day Inside (vice.com)

Submitted by Daniel_Stuckey
Daniel_Stuckey writes: Uninterested in facing US justice, Assange said he's prepared to spend five years living there. If he goes out for a walk, he'll be extradited to Sweden to answer rape accusations—after which he has no promise from Sweden to deny further extradition efforts to America, where a grand jury investigation into WikiLeaks awaits.

This also means that London's Metropolitan Police have been devoting their resources to keeping tabs on Assange for a year. Yesterday, a spokesperson explained the updated costs of guarding the embassy over the phone:

"From July 2012 through May 2013, the full cost has been £3.8 million ($5,963,340)," he said. "£700,000 ($1,099,560) of which are additional, or overtime costs."

Julian has a treadmill, a SAD lamp, and a connection to the Internet, through which he's been publishing small leaks and conducting interviews. The indoor lifestyle has taken its toll on Julian, and it led to his contracting a chronic lung condition last fall.

Submission + - With an Eye Toward Disaster, NYC Debuts Solar Charging Stations (slashdot.org)

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: When hurricane Sandy pummeled New York City last fall, it left a sizable percentage of the metropolis without electricity. Residents had trouble keeping their phones and tablets charged, and often walked across whole neighborhoods to reach zones with power. Come the next disaster, at least a few citizens could communicate a little easier thanks to 25 solar-powered charging stations going up around the city. The stations—known as “Street Charge”—are the result of a partnership between AT&T, Brooklyn design studio Pensa, and portable solar-power maker Goal Zero (with approval by the city’s Parks Department). The first unit will deploy in Brooklyn’s Fort Green Park on June 18, followed in short order by others in Union Square, Central Park, the Rockaways, and other locations. Each station incorporates lithium-ion batteries in addition to solar panels; charging a phone to full capacity could take as long as two hours, but the time necessary for a partial charge is much shorter. But a couple of charging stations also won't help very much if half the city is without power: In order to help mitigate the effects of the next hurricane, New York City major Michael Bloomberg has put forward a $20 billion plan for seawalls, levees, and dozens of other improvements. “Sandy exposed weaknesses in the city’s telecommunications infrastructure—including the location of critical facilities in areas that are susceptible to flooding,” reads one section of the plan’s accompanying report. The city will harden the system “by increasing the accountability of telecommunications providers to invest in resiliency and by using new regulatory authority to enable rapid recovery after extreme weather events.”

Submission + - Balloon-Powered Wireless Financial Trading May Be Coming Soon

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In an new feature on the future of high-speed trading, the Wall Street Journal suggests that balloon-powered wireless networks for financial trading may be coming soon, which would enable information to be transmitted between major global exchanges using microwave signals much faster than the speed of light in fiber optic cables. Solving the beam alignment problem will be key to moving forward, comments Harvard physicist Alex Wissner-Gross.

Submission + - Microsoft to start dumping Surface RT to schools for $199 (dailytech.com)

Submitted by onyxruby
onyxruby writes: In a move that will remind many of Apple in the 80's Microsoft is going to start dumping Surface RT computers to educational institutions. In a further effort to try to gain mind share for their disastrous Surface RT platform Microsoft is giving away 10,000 Surface RT's to teachers through the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education).

The strategy of flooding the educational market was quite successful for Apple. Unfortunately for Microsoft today's computers require management and the Surface RT presents significant management challenges in terms of the inability to join the computer to a domain or available management tools.

Submission + - Google's crazy lack of focus: Is it really serious about enterprise? (xconomy.com)

Submitted by curtwoodward
curtwoodward writes: Driverless cars. Balloon-based wireless networks. Face-mounted computers. Gigabit broadband networks. In recent months, Google has been unveiling a series of transformative side projects that paint a picture of the search pioneer expanding far beyond an online advertising company. At the same time, Google has been trying to convince enterprise software buyers that it's finally, really, truly serious about competing with Microsoft for their business. Which version of Google's future should you believe?

Submission + - Eight Major 3G, HSPA & LTE Networks Tested Nationwide

Submitted by adeelarshad82
adeelarshad82 writes: For the fourth year running, PCMag sent drivers out on the road to test the nation's Fastest Mobile Networks. Using eight identical Samsung phones, the drivers tested out eight separate networks for four major carriers across 30 cities evenly spread across six regions. Using Sensorly's 2013 software, a broad suite of tests were conducted every three minutes: a "ping" to test network latency, multi-threaded HTTP upload and download tests including separate "time to first byte" measures, a 4MB single-threaded file download, a 2MB single-threaded file upload, the download of a 1MB Web page with 70 elements, and 100kbps and 500kbps UDP streams designed to simulate streaming media. Nearly 90,000 data cycles later, the data not only revealed the fastest and the most consistent networks but other interesting points. The tests recorded the fastest download time of 66.11 Mbits/sec in New Orleans and the best average in Austin of 27.25 Mbits/sec, both for AT&T's LTE network. The tests also found T-Mobile HSPA network to have worst Average Time To First Byte even when compared with AT&T HSPA network. Also according to the tests, Sprint's LTE network didn't even come close to competing with other LTE networks to the point that in some cities its LTE network speed averaged less than T-Mobile's HSPA network speed.

Submission + - Jon 'Maddog' Hall on Project Cauã and a server in every highrise (techworld.com)

Submitted by Qedward
Qedward writes: Project Cauã, the Free and Open Source Software and Hardware (FOSSH) project conceived by Linux International executive director Jon “Maddog” Hall to make it possible for people to make a living as a systems administrator, is set to launch in Brazil next month.

The vision of Project Cauã is to promote more efficient computing following the thin client/server model, while creating up to two million privately-funded high-tech jobs in Brazil, and another three to four million in the rest of Latin America.

Hall explained that Sao Paolo in Brazil is the second largest city in the Western Hemisphere and has about twelve times the population density of New York City. As a result, there are a lot of people living and working in very tall buildings.

Project Cauã will aim to put a server system in the basement of all of these tall buildings and thin clients throughout the building, so that residents and businesses can run all of their data and applications remotely.

“In effect it’s kind of like creating a private cloud for every building,” Hall told Techworld.

Submission + - BYOD: Why You Will Lose (networkcomputing.com)

Submitted by CowboyRobot
CowboyRobot writes: A NetworkComputing commentary on the losing battle against the BYOD bogeyman argues that restrictive BYOD policies will fail because humans have a compulsive attachment to mobile devices. "It ties to the theory of Extended Mind, which was developed by neuro-philosopher Andy Clark, author of "Natural Born Cyborgs." It's an idea that the mind unifies with the tools a human uses to complete an act of cognition. That could mean pen and paper, a computer, a tablet or a smartphone. In other words, the homunculus in your head bonds with the mobile device and doesn't want to give it up."

Submission + - First particle comprising four quarks discovered (nature.com)

Submitted by ananyo
ananyo writes: Physicists have resurrected a particle that may have existed in the first hot moments after the Big Bang. Arcanely called Zc(3900), it is the first confirmed particle made of four quarks, the building blocks of much of the Universe’s matter. Until now, observed particles made of quarks have contained only three quarks (such as protons and neutrons) or two quarks (such as the pions and kaons found in cosmic rays).

Submission + - BitCoin Mining, Other Virtual Activity Taxable Under US Law (securityledger.com)

Submitted by chicksdaddy
chicksdaddy writes: Beware you barrons of BitCoin – you World of Warcraft one-percenters: the long arm of the Internal Revenue Service may soon be reaching into your treasure hoard to extract Uncle Sam’s fair share of your virtual wealth.

A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on virtual economies finds that many types of transactions in virtual economies – including Bitcoin mining and virtual transactions that result in real-world profit – are likely taxable under current U.S. law, but that the IRS does a poor job of tracking such business activity and informing buyers and sellers of their duty to pay taxes on virtual earnings.

The report, “Virtual Economies and Currencies: Additional IRS Guidance Could Reduce Tax Compliance Risks” (http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-516) found that the growing use of virtual currencies like BitCoin and virtual game currencies warrants the U.S.’s tax collection agency to mitigate the risks. Those include efforts to educate taxpayers and the publication of basic tax reporting requirements for transactions using virtual currencies, The Security Ledger reports.

Submission + - ITIF Senior Fellow claims "America's broadband networks lead the world" (nytimes.com)

Submitted by McGruber
McGruber writes: In an Op-Ed published in The NY Times, Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF.org) Senior Fellow Richard Bennett (http://www.itif.org/people/richard-bennett) claims that "America’s broadband networks lead the world by many measures, and they are improving at a more rapid rate than networks in most developed countries."

Mr. Bennett also says that "the most critical issue facing American broadband has nothing to do with the quality of our networks; it is our relatively low rates of subscribership."

Submission + - Trolling LinkedIn for spooks! (techdirt.com)

Submitted by pegr
pegr writes: Over at TechDirt, we learn that, apparently, the rules of OpSec do not apply to LinkedIn. Using your favorite NSA spying project codename, search LinkedIn for analysts with specific experience with that project! The bonus is that you may very well learn the codenames of more projects. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Oh, and if the person you find didn't share their contact list, LinkedIn will help you find more by showing you "those that viewed this profile also viewed these:" Say what you will regarding the recent NSA revelations, but shouldn't there be a policy with regard to exposing intelligence projects and personnel on public forums? Do we really need to make it this easy for counter-intel of opposing nations?

Submission + - House to Propose SHIELD ACT to Protect Electricity Grid Against EMP Event (yahoo.com)

Submitted by MarkWhittington
MarkWhittington writes: The House is preparing to unveil and plan that would harden the nation's electricity grid against the ravages of either a solar flare or an electromagnetic pulse cause by the explosion of a nuclear bomb.

An EMP event can be caused by the sudden onset of charged particles that are accelerated either by a solar flare event or the explosion of a nuclear bomb in the atmosphere. The results could be devastating. ". A wave of EMP creates three chaotic effects. First, the electromagnetic shock can disrupt electrical devices. The second effect is similar to lightning-a power surge that would burn circuits and immobilize electronic components and systems. The third is a pulse effect that flows through electricity transmission lines, damaging distribution centers and fusing power lines. Any of these can cause irreversible damage to an electronic system." In other worlds the United States could be sent back in an eye blink to the 18th Century.

Submission + - NASA selects CTO of photonics firm as trainee astronaut (v3.co.uk)

Submitted by illiteratehack
illiteratehack writes: NASA has selected a 39 year old chief technology officer to become a trainee astronaut. Josh Cassada is the current chief technology officer and co-founder of Quantum Opus, a firm that specialises in photonics. Cassada is one of eight individuals selected by NASA from 6,100 applicants for astronaut training, though what their future mission may be has yet to be revealed.

Submission + - Oculus Rift raises another $16 million (oculusvr.com)

Submitted by Craefter
Craefter writes: On the E3 it seems that the Oculus Rift caused a mental erection with the investors this year. Some investors (Spark Capital and Matrix Partners) were able to push $16 million in the direction of Oculus VR in the hopes for the product to hype.
This is all very nice, the HD unit looks a bit more slick than the ski goggles with the tablet glued in front of it from the first version but it would have been better if the next gen consoles would commit support for it. We all know how well the wave stick from the PS3 was adapted as an afterthought.
That said, major titles like the 9 year old Half-Life 2 and the 6 year old Team Fortress 2 are getting full support for the Oculus. I hope in the future developers would implement support for a VR headset per-default in their games and not years after the fact. A bit like the EAX standard from Soundblaster. That worked out well too.

Submission + - UnGrounded: Silicon Valley Snake Oil on a Plane

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Bill Gates already called dibbs on polio, so British Airways had to settle for tackling the 'global misalignment of talent' problem, putting '100 of the most forward-thinking founders, CEOs, venture capitalists, and Silicon Valley game-changers' on a flight from San Francisco to London to 'innovate and collaborate to find an effective solution to this growing global challenge.' UnGroundedThinking.com showcases the winning concepts, which include Advisher (an online community to help foster women in STEM), INIT ('nutritional labels' to disclose products' 'STEM ingredients'), DGTL (rewards young women with fashionable clothes for completing coding challenges), Beacons in a Backpack (solar powered backpacks pre-loaded with videos, multimedia content, and game-powered educational tools that also serve as mobile hotspots for rural/remote areas), Tech21 (STEM education program aimed at 21-years-and-older post-college grads in the workforce), Certify.me (allows STEM talent from across the globe to audition for potential employers via standardized-quality assessments), and STEAM Truck (a mobile dance lab where STEM art installations teach kids that science is fun and valuable). 'This has the feel of Southby [SXSW],' gushed a Google Ventures general partner. "It's a serendipitous occasion. It's about time we presented engineers to kids as role models — not just firefighters, cops, doctors, detectives. Who knows? Maybe The Internship changes that.'

Submission + - Shades of Jack Ryan: altering text in eBooks to track pirates (wired.com)

Submitted by wwphx
wwphx writes: German researchers have created a new DRM feature that changes the text and punctuation of an e-book ever so slightly. Called SiDiM, which Google translates to “secure documents by individual marking,” the changes are unique to each e-book sold. These alterations serve as a digital watermark that can be used to track books that have had any other DRM layers stripped out of them before being shared online. The researchers are hoping the new DRM feature will curb digital piracy by simply making consumers paranoid that they’ll be caught if they share an e-book illicitly.

Seems like I recall reading about this in Tom Clancy's Hunt for Red October when Jack Ryan used this technique to identify someone who was leaking secrets to the Russians. It would be so very difficult for someone to write a little program that, when stripping the DRM, randomized a couple of pieces of punctuation to break the hash that the vendor is storing along with the sales record of the individual book.

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