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Open Source

Submission + - Guy builds wifi wardriving motorbike (scmagazine.com.au)

Submitted by
mask.of.sanity
mask.of.sanity writes: "This custom Yamaha TRX 850 has been outfitted with wireless sniffing and attack tools, routers, a laptop, Raspberry Pi and even a heads up display integrated within the bike helmet.

It was built from open source kit and cheap hardware by a security penetration tester who wanted to make his love of wardriving more nimble.

The plans are detailed in a diagram and a video."
Science

Submission + - Water From Water Vapor With Hydrophilic Beetle-Emulating Coatings (astounde.com)

Submitted by mbstone
mbstone writes: The Namib Desert Beetle generates water from water vapor via its shell, which has alternating hydrophilic and hydrophobic bumps which channel water droplets into its mouth. Scientists at MIT developed a self-filling water bottle using this technology, and have announced a contest for the best design of a countertop water-from-air generator.
Google

Submission + - Australian Govt pledges action on Google tax evasion (delimiter.com.au)

Submitted by daria42
daria42 writes: Looks like Google's habit of funnelling billions of dollars in revenue through its Irish and Bermuda subsidiaries, in a tactic known as the "double Dutch sandwich", continues to attract unfavourable government attention globally. France has already announced plans to take on the search giant's tax evasion habits, and the Australian Government, to which Google paid just $74,000 in tax last year despite having Australian revenues close to $1 billion, has now confirmed plans to do the same. How does tax evasion relate to Google's 'don't be evil' motto? Perhaps Google should re-consider its stance in this area.
Security

Submission + - HTTP Strict Transport Security becomes Internet standard (computerworld.com.au)

Submitted by
angry tapir
angry tapir writes: "A Web security policy mechanism that promises to make HTTPS-enabled websites more resilient to various types of attacks has been approved and released as an Internet standard — but despite support from some high-profile websites, adoption elsewhere is still low. HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) allows websites to declare themselves accessible only over HTTPS (HTTP Secure) and was designed to prevent hackers from forcing user connections over HTTP or abusing mistakes in HTTPS implementations to compromise content integrity."
Google

Submission + - DuckDuckGo - Is Google Playing Fair? (huffingtonpost.com)

Submitted by Penurious Penguin
Penurious Penguin writes: Privacy-oriented search-engine and Google-rival, DuckDuckGo, is contending possible anti-competitiveness on the part of Google. MIT graduate and founder of DuckDuckGo, Gabriel Weinberg, cites several examples; his company's disadvantages in the Android mobile OS; and browsers, which in Firefox requires only a single step to set DuckDuckGo as the default search — while doing so in Chrome requires five. Weinberg also questions the domain duck.com, which he offered to purchase before it was acquired by Google. His offer was declined and duck.com now directs to Google's homepage.

Weinberg isn't the first to make similar claims; there was scroogle.org, which earlier this year, permanently shut down after repeated compatibility issues with Google's algorithms. Whatever the legitimacy of these claims, there certainly seems a growing market for people interested in privacy and objective searches — avoiding profiled search-results, aka "filter bubbles".
Earth

Submission + - The World Falls Back in Love with Coal

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Richard Anderson reports on BBC that despite stringent carbon emissions targets in Europe designed to slow global warming and massive investment in renewable energy in China, coal, the dirtiest and most polluting of all the major fossil fuels, is making a comeback with production up 6% on 2010, twice the rate of increase of gas and more than four times that of oil. “What is going on is a shift from nuclear power to coal and from gas to coal; this is the worst thing you could do, from a climate change perspective,” says Dieter Helm. Why the shift back to coal? Because coal is cheap, and getting cheaper all the time. Due to the economic downturn, there has been a "collapse in industrial demand for energy," leading to an oversupply of coal, pushing the price down. Meanwhile China leads the world in coal production and consumption. It mines over 3 billion tons of coal a year, three times more than the next-biggest producer (America), and last year overtook Japan to become the world's biggest coal importer. Although China is spending massive amounts of money on a renewable energy but even this will not be able to keep up with demand, meaning fossil fuels will continue to make up the majority of the overall energy mix for the foreseeable future and when it comes to fossil fuels, coal is the easy winner — it is generally easier and cheaper to mine, and easier to transport using existing infrastructure such as roads and rail, than oil or gas. While China is currently running half a dozen carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects — which aim to capture CO2 emissions from coal plants and bury it underground — the technology is nowhere near commercial viability. "Renewed urgency in developing CCS globally, alongside greater strides in increasing renewable energy capacity, is desperately needed," writes Anderson, "but Europe's increasing reliance on coal without capturing emissions is undermining its status as a leader in clean energy, and therefore global efforts to reduce CO2 emissions.""
EU

Submission + - EU Passes resolution against ITU asserting control over internet (falkvinge.net)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Today, the European Parliament passed a resolution that condemns the upcoming attempt from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to assert control over the Internet, and instructed its 27 Member States to act accordingly. This follows an attempt from the ITU to assert itself as the governing body and control the Internet.
Your Rights Online

Submission + - Fox news parent NewsCorp may face corruption investigation (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by rtfa-troll
rtfa-troll writes: The Guardian reports that News Corporation may face FCPA investigations after an "official of the British ministry of defence" was charged "for allegedly receiving £100,000 from Murdoch's tabloid newspapers". News corporation, headed by Rupert Murdock, is loved by most of the readers of Slashdot as the owner of Fox News and as the company which put the overly complicated paywall on the Wall Street Journal. The article states that the charges "would be hard for the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission to ignore and would warrant investigation under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act which could lead to risks for "27 TV licences within the Fox network" .

Submission + - Saudi Arabia implements electronic tracking system for women (rawstory.com)

Submitted by dsinc
dsinc writes: Denied the right to travel without consent from their male guardians and banned from driving, women in Saudi Arabia are now monitored by an electronic system that tracks any cross-border movements.

Since last week, Saudi women’s male guardians began receiving text messages on their phones informing them when women under their custody leave the country, even if they are travelling together.

“The authorities are using technology to monitor women,” said columnist Badriya al-Bishr, who criticised the “state of slavery under which women are held” in the ultra-conservative kingdom.

Women are not allowed to leave the kingdom without permission from their male guardian, who must give his consent by signing what is known as the “yellow sheet” at the airport or border.
Businesses

Submission + - Insurance industry could screen-out Psychopaths from Senior Management

Submitted by Freshly Exhumed
Freshly Exhumed writes: Dr. Clive Boddy believes that increasingly fluid corporate career paths have helped psychopaths conceal their disruptive workplace behavior and ascend to previously unattainable levels of authority. Boddy points out psychopaths are primarily attracted to money, status and power, currently found in unparalleled abundance in the global banking sector. As if to prove the point, many of the world's money traders self identify as the "masters of the universe." Solution? Screening with psychological tests. Who would pay for it? The insurance industry, since such bosses-from-hell leave behind vast wakes of psychological wreckage, with payouts to victims usually the result.
Technology

Submission + - Electric Car Designed with Smartphone in Mind (intelfreepress.com)

Submitted by
kenekaplan
kenekaplan writes: "The electric car concept blends smartphone-like sensors and computing with Space Station and motorcycle technology. Danny Kim, CTO of startup Lit Motors, claims the two-wheeled, self-balancing C1 brings the benefits of a motorcycle with the safety and comfort of a car. In tests, the gyroscopically balanced, wheel-hub motored vehicle goes from 0 to 60 mph in under 6 seconds, reaching top speeds of over 100 mph, and gets 200 miles per battery charge that, according to Kim, costs $1."
Software

Submission + - No, Mozilla did not just kill Firefox x64 for Windows (geek.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Over at TheNextWeb, it’s been reported that Mozilla has “quietly killed” the 64-bit build of Firefox for Windows. TNW’s Emil Protalinski noted in his post that Firefox engineering manager Benjamin Smedberg ”had declared that the 64-bit version of Firefox for Windows would never see the light of day,” but that’s not actually the case. Indeed, the title of the related Bugzilla item tells a different story: “Disable windows 64 builds for now.”

Firefox x64 isn’t dead, it’s just going to disappear from the nightlies at some point in the near future. It will be back some time later in 2013.

Submission + - Google Maps Offering Indoor Floor Plans On Desktop

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Google has been making modifications to its mobile-based Google Maps feature with regular updates, offering a host of options for users. Nonetheless, the company hasn’t forgotten about the desktop version of the feature and now, per reports, Google has announced the introduction of indoor maps support for the desktop version of the Maps.
Facebook

Submission + - Facebook to Eliminate Voting on Privacy Changes (net-security.org)

Submitted by
Orome1
Orome1 writes: "Facebook has announced some proposed updates to their Data Use Policy (how user data is collected and used) and their Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (explains the terms governing use of their services). These updates include new tools for managing Facebook Messages, changes to how they refer to certain products, tips on managing one's timelines, and reminders about what's visible to other people on Facebook. Elliot Schrage, Facebook’s vice president of communications, public policy, and marketing, said: "We found that the voting mechanism, which is triggered by a specific number of comments, actually resulted in a system that incentivized the quantity of comments over their quality," he explained. "Therefore, we’re proposing to end the voting component of the process in favor of a system that leads to more meaningful feedback and engagement.""

Submission + - Fetuses Caught Yawning in 4D (reuters.com)

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: Reuters reports 4D scans have conclusively shown that fetuses do yawn. Understandable, eh? After all, all they get is cable.
Piracy

Submission + - Police raid home of 9-year-old Pirate Bay user, seize 'Winnie the Pooh' laptop (bgr.com) 1

Submitted by zacharye
zacharye writes: Copyright enforcement might be getting out of hand in Scandinavia. As anti-piracy groups and copyright owners continue to work with authorities to curtail piracy in the region, police this week raided the home of a 9-year-old suspect and confiscated her “Winnie the Pooh” laptop. TorrentFreak reports that the girl’s home was raided after local anti-piracy group CIAPC determined copyrighted files had been downloaded illegally at her residence. Her father, the Internet service account holder, was contacted by CIAPC, which demanded that he pay a 600 euro fine and sign a non-disclosure agreement to settle the matter. When the man did not comply, authorities raided his home and collected evidence, including his 9-year-old daughter’s notebook computer...
Media

Submission + - Best console for the kids this holiday?

Submitted by
undulato
undulato writes: "I've got an aging, fat PS3 with only a couple of games that I still play on it but three kids under 9 who love Skylanders, iPet, Lego whatever etc. We all watch movies on it and it has been pretty much the centre of our entertainment world for a few years now.

I've already got a spare HDMI monitor we could use for a screen so my question is — should we go for a new console this Christmas? Just buy another controller or two and a new game or two for PS3 and be done? Or get the still pretty viable Xbox 360, or even plump for a cheap Wii or even a Wii U if we're feeling flush. What does Slashdot think?"
Government

Submission + - World Governments Object to New gTLDs like .wtf, .sucks, .baby, .amazon (paritynews.com) 3

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: ICANN is receiving more and more requests for new top level domains (gTLDs) and Governments around the world are busy registering their complaints and objections with the proposed names it has been noticed. Till date more than 200 objections have been raised against proposed gTLDs with Australia leading the pack with over 120 objections. Some of the other countries which are at the forefront of registering their objections include France, Germany and India. US and UK are near the bottom of the list with their fewer objections. ICANN’s “early warnings” about national objections to gTLDs serves as formal objections but it doesn’t mean that these domains will never be signed off. There is always room for discussions and mediation that would allow prospect registrants to keep on pursuing their claims. Australia has objected to names such as ‘.baby’, ‘.app’, ‘.beauty’ among other. It has also objected to names such as ‘.sucks’ and ‘.wtf’ stating that these names have “an overtly negative or critical connotation.”

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