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Google

Submission + - Google puts its Lobby Hat on (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by
Fluffeh
Fluffeh writes: "Google has been spending big on lobbying this year, a 240% increase on last year in fact. From January to March of this year, Google spent over $5 million on lobbying, nearly matching its entire 2010 lobbying budget of $5.2 million. Comparing this same rate with 2011 figures, Google would outspend the entire tobacco industry ($17.07 million), the combined spending of JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup ($18.67 million), but would be just barely behind the combined budgets of pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Merck ($20.685 million). For comparison, Apple spent only $500,000 for the same 2012 quarter; Microsoft spent $1.79 million. While some of this has been to get out of trouble with things like that pesky wifi sniffing debarcle, a good part ($4 Million) has been to assist with quashing SOPA and PIPA."

Submission + - Perceptual Illusions and DIY Smartphone VR (huffingtonpost.com)

Submitted by ZeroSumSeven
ZeroSumSeven writes: In this video from the Huffington Post's, 'Talk Nerdy to Me', Cara Santa Maria features Mark Bolas, director of the MxR Lab at the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies, who demonstrates how perceptual illusions can be used to allow people to walk around infinitely large virtual reality environments within a limited physical space. Bolas also show designs for the lab's "FOV2GO" project: low-cost stereoscopic viewers that you can make yourself at home by cutting and folding cardboard to transform your iPhone or Android smartphone into an immersive virtual reality display.

ICT's Do-It-Yourself Resources Page: http://diy.mxrlab.com/
Security

Submission + - FBI: Investment scams, Blackhole exploit kit lead cybercrime wave (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center's (IC3) warns of a rise in what it calls "new twists to previously-existing cyber scams." The warnings center on investment and advertising scams as well as a release of exploit software as the latest trends in trying to separate you from your money or personal information."
Government

Submission + - Update: U.S. Suspends Controversial Outsourcing Training Program (informationweek.com)

Submitted by
gManZboy
gManZboy writes: "As noted on Slashdot last week, the USAID's JEEP (Job Enabling English Proficiency) program has been using U.S. taxpayer dollars to train students in the Philippines to work at outsourcing call centers.

An update: After Congressman Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.) and a colleague protested to USAID, USAID decided to suspend funding to the effort.

"In response to the concerns you have raised, the Agency is suspending its participation in the English language training project in Mindanao pending further review of the facts," said USAID deputy assistant administrator Barbara Feinstein, in a letter Monday to Bishop. "Furthermore, the Agency has established a high-level taskforce to review these matters."

Bishop says that USAID needs to find ways to assist developing regions without compromising the jobs of U.S. call center workers"

Submission + - Speed Reading Techniques and Tips (improvememorypower101.com) 1

Submitted by hunterracer1
hunterracer1 writes: Speed reading techniques are not magical techniques. It takes a lot of time and practice. Speed reading isn’t something you can master in a few days.
First of all it is important to know why speed reading will work for you, what it will do for you?
By mastering speed reading techniques you will get information more quickly, you will get a better understanding of the information you are reading. You will have a higher amount of information in your short-term memory by reading more quickly. For more information watch this video which will provide a speed reading techniques by a specialist.
Programming

Submission + - Startup Claims C-code to SoC in 8-16 Weeks (eetimes.com)

Submitted by eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: Details are really thin but the EE Times is reporting that Algotochip claims to be sitting on the 'Holy Grail' of SoC design. From Algotochip: "We can move your designs from algorithms to chips in as little as eight weeks," said Satish Padmanabhan CTO and founder of Algotochip, whose EDA tool directly implements digital chips from C-algorithms." Padmanabhan is the designer of the first superscalar DSP. His company, interestingly enough, claims to provide a service that consists of a 'suite of software tools that interprets a customers' C-code without their having any knowledge of Algotochp's proprietary technology and tools. The resultant GDSII design, from which an EDA system can produce the file that goes to TSMC, and all of its intellectual property (IP) is owned completely by the customer—with no licenses required from Algotochip.' This was presented at this year's Globalpress Electronics Summit. Too good to be true or can we expect our ANSI C code to be automagically implemented in a SoC in such a short time?
Television

Submission + - Nimble TV: Using Disruptive Technology to Offer TV Everywhere (broadbandconvergent.com)

Submitted by
broadbandconvergent
broadbandconvergent writes: "Tired of waiting for TV Everywhere to materialize after a three year wait from cable operators, Nimble TV decided to offer online subscriptions to anyone who has a MVPD, (Multi-Video-Provider-Distributor) subscription? Offering a piggy backing solution for consumers, the company will take an existing customer subscription with a MVPD and add cloud based content viewing on any device. That represents some nimble legal research in convincing investors and partners to subsidize the venture."
Businesses

Submission + - Company Accidentally Fires Entire Staff Over Email (ibtimes.com) 1

Submitted by
redletterdave
redletterdave writes: "On Friday, more than 1,300 employees of London-based Aviva Investors walked into their offices, strolled over to their desks, booted up their computers and checked their emails, only to learn the shocking news: They would be leaving the company. The email ordered them to hand over company property and security passes before leaving the building, and left the staff with one final line: "I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and wish you all the best for the future. "This email was sent to Aviva's worldwide staff of 1,300 people, with bases in the U.S., UK, France, Spain, Sweden, Canada, Italy, Ireland, Germany, Norway, Poland, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Finland and the Netherlands. And it was all one giant mistake: The email was intended for only one individual."

Submission + - University of Minnesota Launches Review Project for Open Textbooks

Submitted by Durinia
Durinia writes: Minnesota Public Radio is running a story today about the University of Minnesota's Open Textbooks project. The goal of the project is to solicit reviews of college-level open source textbooks and collect those that pass muster onto their website. The project will focus first on high-volume introductory classes such as those for Math and Biology, because as David Ernst, director of the project, states in the interview:

"You know the world doesn't need another $150 Algebra One book. Algebra One hasn't changed for centuries, probably."
News

Submission + - US Warns of Terrorist Attacks in Kenya (homelandsecuritynet.com)

Submitted by
HSNnews
HSNnews writes: "The U.S. embassy in Kenya is warning of possible terrorist attacks in the capital, Nairobi, and is telling Americans in the city to stay alert.

The embassy issued a message Monday saying it has credible information about a possible attack on Nairobi hotels and prominent Kenyan government buildings."
Patents

Submission + - Every touch-based Apple product targeted by apparent patent troll (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes: Apple is being sued in federal court in San Francisco over allegations that every touch-based product the company makes infringes on a patent relating to touch-based interactive museum displays. According to the complaint, Professor Slavoljub Milekic conceived a system that used a touchscreen that allowed children to move virtual objects around the screen, which he used to build interactive displays for the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, KY, in 1997, and filed for a patent on his design that same year.

The patent in the suit, US Patent #6,920,619 named "User interface for removing an object from a display," was issued by the US Patent & Trademark Office in 2005. According to the lawsuit, Milekic formed FlatWorld Interactives in 2007 to "promote and commercialize" his invention. Curiously, FlatWorld was incorporated on January 2007, just weeks after Apple announced the original iPhone at Macworld Expo. In July 2007, just after Apple shipped the original iPhone, FlatWorld filed a reissue request for the patent, which appears to have been done in order to modify some of the patent's dependent claims.
Google

Submission + - Google Ups Bug Bounty to $20,000 (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: Search giant Google said it is quintupling the top bounty it will pay for information on security holes in its products to $20,000.

Google said it was updating its rewards and rules for the bounty program, which is celebrating its first anniversary. In addition to a top prize of $20,000 for vulnerabilities that allow code to be executed on product systems, Google said it would pay $10,000 for SQL injection and equivalent vulnerabilities in its services and for certain vulnerabilities that leak information or allow attackers to bypass authentication or authorization features.
Cloud

Submission + - Microsoft releases SkyDrive app for Windows and Mac, lowers its storage to 7GB (msdn.com)

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes: Today Microsoft has released SkyDrive preview for Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista users in 106 different languages worldwide, which was avilable for Windows Phone, iPhone and iPad since December 2011. The company has also provided a preview version for Mac OS X Lion users too, providing access to SkyDrive documents directly within Finder. SkyDrive for Windows will allow users to drag-and-drop files (up to 2GB in size) to and from SkyDrive folders. Similar to Dropbox, all files and SkyDrive content will be managed in one central folder that syncs with Microsoft's online cloud storage. There is also a new fetching files option that allows SkyDrive desktop users to access, browser, and stream files from a remote PC running the latest preview of SkyDrive desktop — handy if you forgot to sync a particular file from your desktop PC while you away from your PC. Microsoft also announced changes to its free and paid storage plans up to 100GB. All new SkyDrive users will be offered 7GB of free space, a reduction from the usual 25GB of storage, while for a limited time, any registered SkyDrive user who has uploaded files to SkyDrive as of April 22nd can opt in to keep 25GB of free storage while still getting all of the benefits of the new service.
Security

Submission + - Death only emboldens identity thieves (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "Seems that the threat of identity theft doesn't end, even with death. Identity thieves apply for millions of credit cards per year using personal information of the deceased, a study shows. The identification data for nearly 2.5 million dead people — names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers — are used by criminals to fill out credit card applications each year, according to a study performed by ID Analytics."
America Online

Submission + - Facebook Purchases 650 AOL Patents from MS (microsoft.com)

Submitted by eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: Not two weeks after Microsoft purchased 925 patents and patent applications plus licenses to AOL's portfolio for $1 billion, Facebook has now acquired 650 of said patents and patent applications for $550 million to which Microsoft retains a license. So was Microsoft's $450 million worth it? According to their press release: 'Upon closing of this transaction with Facebook, Microsoft will retain ownership of approximately 275 AOL patents and applications; a license to the approximately 650 AOL patents and applications that will now be owned by Facebook; and a license to approximately 300 patents that AOL did not sell in its auction.' Will the patent-go-round continue or has Facebook loaded up for a good old-fashion Mexican standoff?

Submission + - 20th IOCCC source code released (ioccc.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: This year the 20th International Obfuscated C Code Contest had the speed trigger pressed as the source code has been published in only two months versus almost four years of the 19th contest.
The judges have a veredict: the Best of Show entry comes from Don Yang with a program containing more programs.
Some other entries winning this year are a text raytracer (used this year in IOCCC logo), a MOD player, a X11-based dual player tank shooter and a bouncing ball (Amiga-style) with ANSI escape sequences.
Remember that every IOCCC entry has a limit of 4 kilobytes, so indeed every one is pretty impresive.
Programming

Submission + - 7 Programming Myths (infoworld.com) 1

Submitted by
snydeq
snydeq writes: "InfoWorld's Neil McAllister offers up seven myths of modern programming practices, noting that while programming tools have gotten sharper, software development remains rife with misconceptions on productivity, code efficiency, offshoring, and more. 'Even among people as logical and rational as software developers, you should never underestimate the power of myth. Some programmers will believe what they choose to believe against all better judgment,' McAllister wrties. 'The real shame is that, in many cases, our elders pointed out our errors years ago, if only we would pay attention. Here are just a few examples of modern-day programming myths, many of which are actually new takes on age-old fallacies.'"
Piracy

Submission + - Hurt Locker Makers Are Suing Their Fans Again (itproportal.com)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: The company behind the 'explosive' movie Hurt Locker, Voltage Pictures, has announced its intention to sue another 2,514 suspected pirates for allegedly illegally sharing the movie online via torrents. This isn't the first time Voltage has taken to the court room to target people that wanted to watch the Oscar winning movie. Soon after it gained the coveted award back in 2010, Voltage announced the intention to sue thousands of claimed file sharers. The number ended up reaching a staggering 24,583 individuals. While it is unknown how many of those settled or opted to take the matter to court, the suit was finally closed in December last year. Voltage is hoping with its latest filing that it will be able to force ISPs to hand over the account details of the consumers it claims illegally shared the movie. Each person charged with downloading the Hurt Locker will be offered a settlement deal of $3,000. For downloading just one movie, each individual could be charged the equivalent of £1,865.

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