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Wikipedia

Submission + - History Professor Teaches How to Falsify Wikipedia

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Yoni Appelbaum reports in the Atlantic that as part of their coursework in a class that studies historical hoaxes, undergraduates at George Mason University successfully fooled Wikipedia's community of editors launching a Wikipedia page detailing the exploits of a fictitious 19th-century serial killer named Joe Scafe. The students, enrolled in T. Mills Kelly's course, Lying About the Past, used newspaper databases to identify four actual women murdered in New York City from 1895 to 1897, victims of broadly similar crimes and created Wikipedia articles for the victims, carefully following the rules of the site. But while a similar page created previously by Kelly's students went undetected for years, when students posted the story to Reddit, it took just twenty-six minutes for a redditor to call foul, noting the Wikipedia entries' recent vintage and others were quick to pile on, deconstructing the entire tale. Why did the hoaxes succeed in 2008 on Wikipedia and not in 2012 on Reddit? According to Appelbaum, the answer lies in the structure of the Internet's various communities. "Wikipedia has a weak community, but centralizes the exchange of information. It has a small number of extremely active editors, but participation is declining, and most users feel little ownership of the content. And although everyone views the same information, edits take place on a separate page, and discussions of reliability on another, insulating ordinary users from any doubts that might be expressed," writes Appelbaum. "Reddit, by contrast, builds its strong community around the centralized exchange of information. Discussion isn't a separate activity but the sine qua non of the site." If there's a simple lesson in all of this, it's that hoaxes tend to thrive in communities which exhibit high levels of trust. But on the Internet, where identities are malleable and uncertain, we all might be well advised to err on the side of skepticism (PDF).""
The Internet

Submission + - Government of France Consults Public Over Net Neutrality 1

Submitted by bs0d3
bs0d3 writes: The French Parliament and Government is having a Public consultation from May 16 to June 20, on net neutrality. There is an open invitation for any citizen to send their oppinion and ideas to Parliament. From the draft: "The debate over "net neutrality" concerns the question of which controls the operators of the Internet have the right to exercise over the traffic they carry. Can they block services, slow down some applications, prioritize certain content? Or instead must they strictly adhere to the principles of equal treatment as imagined by the designers of the Internet? The debate is also about compatibility of this principle with the exponential growth of traffic over networks, particularly mobile, and with the need to finance investments that result."
Technology

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Wrist Watch for the Modern Tech Minded 1

Submitted by NNUfergs
NNUfergs writes: Sure my Smart Phone can deliver just about any piece of information I could want in under 30 Seconds, but I miss being able to just look at my wrist to get the time, date etc. I’ve been shopping around for a while and haven’t come across anything particularly inspiring. There are loads of various features that have been incorporated into watches but you usually only see a small specialized set in a given watch. Budget is always a concern but I am willing to invest in a quality time piece. In sort I’m not looking for a piece of jewelry, I’m looking for a gadget, for my wrist. Are there any neat, fun or just plain cool watches out there for techies? What do you have?
Digital

Submission + - Self-Destruct Buttons On This SSD Will Physically Destroy Your Drive (gizmodo.com)

Submitted by
TheGift73
TheGift73 writes: "Are you worried about the FBI kicking down your door in search of all your digital contraband? If so then it's time to upgrade to RunCore's new InVincible SSD drive with its pair of red and green self-destruct buttons that will keep you one step ahead of prying eyes.

Like any SSD the InVincible offers several advantages to traditional hard drives like lower power consumption, fast read (240Mbps) and write (140Mbps) times, and the ability to endure temperatures ranging from -50 to 200+ degrees fahrenheit. But the real reason people will be opting for this particular drive is its set of red and green self-destruct buttons, which remain accessible outside your computer, that can be used to get rid of any incriminating digital evidence.

Pushing the green button initiates the drive's intelligent destruction mode which simply overwrites the entire disk with random, meaningless code—leaving your files unrecoverable according to RunCore. But the slightly more tempting red button initiates the drive's physical destruction mode which applies a strong current to the InVincible's NAND flash memory, completely destroying it in a puff of smoke as demonstrated in the video. It's definitely the more extreme way to go, but it further guarantees that no one will ever be able to recover what was on the drive.

So technically, the InVincible isn't actually completely invincible. There's no pricing or availability information for the drive just yet, but you can probably expect it to cost a little more than your standard SSD. Oh, and if you happen to be red-green color blind, you might just want to avoid it altogether."
United States

Submission + - Homeland Battlefield Act Portion Found Unconstitutional By New York Judge (huffingtonpost.com)

Submitted by
TheGift73
TheGift73 writes: "NEW YORK — A judge on Wednesday struck down a portion of a law giving the government wide powers to regulate the detention, interrogation and prosecution of suspected terrorists, saying it left journalists, scholars and political activists facing the prospect of indefinite detention for exercising First Amendment rights.

U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan said in a written ruling that a single page of the law has a "chilling impact on First Amendment rights." She cited testimony by journalists that they feared their association with certain individuals overseas could result in their arrest because a provision of the law subjects to indefinite detention anyone who "substantially" or "directly" provides "support" to forces such as al-Qaida or the Taliban. She said the wording was too vague and encouraged Congress to change it.

"An individual could run the risk of substantially supporting or directly supporting an associated force without even being aware that he or she was doing so," the judge said.

She said the law also gave the government authority to move against individuals who engage in political speech with views that "may be extreme and unpopular as measured against views of an average individual."
Power

Submission + - US is Happy To Pay More for Clean Energy. Well, a Little More (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by
Fluffeh
Fluffeh writes: "A recent study of over 1,000 folks for a paper published in Nature Climate Change has found that the average US citizen is inclined to pay a premium to ensure that by 2035, 80% of US power comes from clean energy. At random, respondents received one of three "technological treatments" or definitions of clean energy that included renewable energy sources alone, renewable sources plus natural gas, and renewable sources plus nuclear power. Delving into the socioeconomics, researchers found that Republicans, Independents, and respondents with no party allegiance were less likely by 25, 13 and 25 percentage points respectively to support a NCES than respondents that identified themselves as Democrats."
The Military

Submission + - 36 Hours Left! Tell Congress to Pass the Smith-Amash Amendment to the NDAA (aclu.org)

Submitted by
TheGift73
TheGift73 writes: "Thirty-six hours might not seem like much time. But we are hoping it will be just enough time for all Americans to convince our members of Congress that no president should have the authority to order the military to detain civilians without charge or trial in the United States, or put anyone in our country on trial in front of military commissions.

Using indefinite military detention of civilians here at home in the United States is unconstitutional and illegal and we do not believe it is permitted by last year's National Defense Authorization Act — but incredibly, some top members of Congress seem to think it is perfectly ok and allowed by the NDAA. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has kept himself busy in the Senate arguing that there is a war going on in your backyard and using the military to lock people up without charge or trial is a good idea. He has been more recently joined by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), who believes in indefinite military detention without charge or trial here at home.

But now is your chance to fight back. No one should be picked up far from a battlefield and locked away without charge or trial by the military, and certainly not here in the United States itself.

Some key members of the House of Representatives are putting party differences aside and are trying to make clear that last year's law doesn't permit indefinite military detention within the United States. They can't fix the problem for the whole world right now, but they are committed to making clear that the United States is off-limits to indefinite military detention. They also want to make clear that military commissions cannot be used for civilians in the United States.

On Thursday afternoon or Friday, a bipartisan group of congressmen will offer the Smith-Amash amendment to this year's NDAA. They range from Tea Party-endorsed Republicans to senior Democrats, including Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Justin Amash (R-Mich.), Ron Paul (R-Texas), Paul Garamendi (D-Calif.), John Duncan (R-Tenn.), and many others from both parties. And a broad range of groups, from the ACLU to the Gun Owners of America to the United Methodist Church have endorsed it.

By working across party lines, the Smith-Amash amendment could pass the House of Representatives this week. But supporters of indefinite military detention are playing lots of tricks to try to defeat it. They even stuck a so-called habeas protection amendment into the NDAA, even though the habeas provision does absolutely nothing. They are so hell-bent on putting people into indefinite military detention without charge or trial that they will try to deceive even their own constituents.

But don't be fooled. You can use the next 36 hours to push the Smith-Amash amendment across the finish line to a winning vote.

Republicans and Democrats in Congress realized that the only way to fight back against indefinite military detention would be to work together on the Smith-Amash amendment. But the only way this amendment will actually pass this week is if everyone, regardless of party, emails or calls their member of Congress, and says it is time to start fixing the NDAA. It is time to pass the Smith-Amash amendment and make clear that civilians in the United States can only be imprisoned after charge and trial in our civilian courts, and not for anyone who the government decides should be locked away by the military without even being charged. Let's make the most of these 36 hours."
NASA

Submission + - NASA counts 4,700 potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroids (networkworld.com) 1

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "NASA continues to get a better handle on the asteroids buzzing around in space saying today that there are roughly 4,700 potentially hazardous asteroids, or as NASA calls them PHAs.
NASA says these PHAs are a subset of a larger group of near-Earth asteroids but have the closest orbits to Earth's – passing within five million miles (or about eight million kilometers) and are big enough to survive passing through Earth's atmosphere and cause damage on a regional, or greater, scale."
Canada

Submission + - Canada's Internet Surveillance Bill: not dead after all (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by Maow
Maow writes: Despite a recent story claiming that Canada's Bill C-30, covering internet surveillance, has died a "lonely" death, the minister responsible claims otherwise.

"Public Safety Minister Vic Toews is denying reports that the Harper government intends to quietly shelve its controversial online surveillance bill, C-30. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday morning, Toews insisted the legislation was moving ahead."

This is the bill that you either support, "or you stand with the child pornographers."
Television

Submission + - A DVR Ad-Eraser Causes Tremors at TV Upfronts (nytimes.com)

Submitted by gollum123
gollum123 writes: As with past technological threats, network executives are closing ranks against a Dish Network device that undermines the broadcast business model. The disruptive technology at hand is an ad-eraser, embedded in new digital video recorders sold by Charles W. Ergen’s Dish Network, one of the nation’s top distributors of TV programming. Turn it on, and all the ads recorded on most prime-time network shows are automatically skipped, no channel-flipping or fast-forwarding necessary. Some reviewers have already called the feature, called the Auto Hop, a dream come true for consumers. But for broadcasters and advertisers, it is an attack on an entrenched television business model, and it must be strangled, lest it spread elsewhere.
Medicine

Submission + - Brain-controlled robotic arm leading towards new prosthetics (video) (tech-stew.com)

Submitted by
techfun89
techfun89 writes: "Cathy Hutchinson, a paralyzed woman, lifted a cup for the first time in 15 years using a robotic arm that was controlled by her thoughts. This was thanks to a project called BrainGate2, which is getting us closer to where prosthetic or robotic arms can allow people to re-gain their limbs.

With BrainGate, the system is connected directly to the human motor cortex. Using a tiny array of 96 electrodes, the array is attached to the area of the cortex that controls the arm. The electrodes then send signals through a cable to a computer and the computer translates that signal into specific movements done by the robotic arm.

Unfortunately as of now, the system isn't practical for everyday use. A cable is attached to the patients head and computer is the size of a dorm room refrigerator. Donoghue says the goal is to shrink the computer small enough to be implantable or wearable.

Scientists hope to make the equipment affordable and practical for the general public within several years or more. The ultimate goal is a wearable robotic limb as well as wireless connectivity and a power source that lasts for years, along with a computer system that is at least wearable."
Space

Submission + - Beamed Core Antimatter Propulsion: Engine Design and Optimization (arxiv.org)

Submitted by Ashenkase
Ashenkase writes: A conceptual design for beamed core antimatter propulsion is reported, where electrically charged annihilation products directly generate thrust after being deflected and collimated by a magnetic nozzle. Simulations were carried out using the Geant4 (Geometry and tracking) software toolkit released by the CERN accelerator laboratory for Monte Carlo simulation of the interaction of particles with matter and fields. Geant permits a more sophisticated and comprehensive design and optimization of antimatter engines than the software environment for simulations reported by prior researchers. The main finding is that effective exhaust speeds Ve ~ 0.69c (where c is the speed of light) are feasible for charged pions in beamed core propulsion, a major improvement over the Ve ~ 0.33c estimate based on prior simulations.
Medicine

Submission + - MIT's low-level radiation studies are faulty (sagepub.com)

Submitted by __aaqpaq9254
__aaqpaq9254 writes: MIT came out with a press release yesterday (http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/prolonged-radiation-exposure-0515.html) claiming that low-level, prolonged exposure to radiation poses little risk to DNA. However, severe problems seem to exist with their data, including the fact that one study they cite (Muirhead 2009) contradicts their conclusion. Their study also relied on experiments with mice, while the epidemiological studies in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' Radiation Issue relied on humans, and a great many more of them. This link is to the Bulletin's Table of Contents; access is free for another week or so.

Submission + - Is Google+ a Ghost Town, and Does It Matter? (businessweek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Google+ is a lonely place. At least according to a new study that paints the social networking site as a virtual tumbleweed town.

Using information culled from the public timelines of 40,000 randomly selected members, data analysis firm RJMetrics found that the Google+ population, which currently numbers 170 million, is largely disengaged, with user activity rapidly decaying—at least when it comes to public posts.

According to RJMetrics, 30 percent of first-time Google+ public posters don’t post again. Of those who make five public posts, only 15 percent post again. The average time lapse between posts is 12 days, and RJMetrics cites a cohort analysis showing that members tend to make fewer public posts with each successive month. And the response to public posts on Google+ is extremely weak. The average post receives fewer than one reply, fewer than one “+1 (the equivalent to Facebook’s “Like”), and fewer than one re-share—basically most posts in the study did not garner any response.
IT

Submission + - Social Networking: The New Workplace Smoke Break (infoworld.com) 1

Submitted by
snydeq
snydeq writes: "J. Peter Bruzzese sees a solution for organizations seeking to cut down employee time spent on social networks at work: treat social networking like a smoke break. 'Try as you might to keep social networks at bay, mobile devices let people be in constant connection to their social networking vices over the cellular networks, which you can't block. Still, it's not completely impossible to stop social time-wasting over mobile: You can establish policies that, if enforced strongly enough, eliminate social networks from being accessed on company time. Treat it like smoking: Let employees take a 15-minute coffee/smoking/Facebook break and make them go to a designated area to do it.'"
Space

Submission + - Superflares Found on Sun-like Stars (discovery.com) 1

Submitted by
astroengine
astroengine writes: "Scientists have found superflares more than 1 million times more powerful than flares generated by the sun occurring on sun-like stars being studied by NASA's Kepler space telescope. The finding, culled from 120 days of observations of 83,000 stars, is the first to detail how often and how energetic flares on other stars can be. The discovery, however, raises a question about how the massive outbursts, believed to be caused by complex magnetic interactions, can physically occur."
Japan

Submission + - Japanese researchers transmit 3Gbps using terahertz frequencies (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "Researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology have developed a new wireless transmission system that works above all currently regulated spectrum frequencies. The new system works at the range of 300GHz to 3THz (terahertz), which is the Far Infrared (FIR) frequencies of the infrared spectrum. That spectrum is currently totally unregulated by any country or standards organization in the world, making it ripe for development of new technologies. So far the Japanese researchers have transmitted data at 3Gbps, but in theory speeds of up to 100Gbps should be possible."

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