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The Internet

Submission + - Dot-Word Bidders in Last Minute Dash (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by
benfrog
benfrog writes: "Dot-word bidders are in a last-minute dash for domain names as the organization has revealed its timetable for the controversial new TLDs. The organization will close its TLD Application System (TAS) at a minute before midnight tonight (23.59 GMT, 19.59 ET, 16.59 Pacific). The TAS was originally supposed to close on April 12 but the deadline was extended twice because of a security bug. The winners for domains will be selected (intially) by a "widely derided mechanism" of "digital archery" in which every bidder will be assigned a date and time and then be asked to login to a secure website and hit a submit button as close to that time as possible."
Space

Submission + - Milky Way's black hole wasn't always such a wimp (nature.com)

Submitted by scibri
scibri writes: Sagittarius A*, the dormant supermassive black hole that lies at the centre of our galaxy, was much more active than today not that long ago. Astronomers using the the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have picked up some faint gamma-ray signals that suggest that Sagittarius A* was emitting a pair of powerful gamma-ray jets like other galactic black holes as recently as 20,000 years ago (Arxiv paper).

If our black hole was more active in the past, it could explain why Sagittarius A* seems to be growing about 1,000 times too slowly for it to have reached its current mass of about four million solar masses since the Galaxy formed about 13.2 billion years ago.
Chrome

Submission + - Google, Intel release new Chrome-based PCs (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
ericjones12398
ericjones12398 writes: "All of you haiku fans (like many of us on the Chrome team) can stop here; the rest can read on for more details.

A year ago Google introduced a new model of computing with the launch of Chromebooks. We’ve heard from many of you who’ve enjoyed the speed, simplicity and security of your Chromebooks at home, at school or at work. (Thanks for all the wonderful feedback and stories!) Today, Google wanted to share some developments with you—new hardware, a major software update and many more robust apps—as we continue on our journey to make computers much better.

Next-generation devices
Their partner Samsung has just announced a new Chromebook and the industry’s firstChromebox. Like its predecessor, the newest Chromebook is a fast and portable laptop for everyday users. The Chromebox is a compact, powerful and versatile desktop perfect for the home or office."
Space

Submission + - Soviet moon lander discovered water on moon in 1976 (tech-stew.com)

Submitted by
techfun89
techfun89 writes: "Luna-24 was the last Soviet mission to the moon. It returned to Earth with water-rich rock samples from beneath the lunar surface only to be ignored by the West. New research uncovers this story from obscurity.

Arlin Crotts, a professor in the Department of Astronomy of Columbia University in New York City found that the Soviets found evidence of water in the 1970s, in particular the Luna-24 sample-return mission. During this mission the Soviets drilled 2 meters into the lunar surface and extracted 300 grams of rock then returned to Earth. This was an impressive feat for its time. Analysis showed the rock was made up of 0.1 percent water. This result was published in 1978 to the Russian journal Geokhimiia. There was an English version but wasn't widely read in the West."
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Sprint Giving Nextel The Axe... Finally (komonews.com)

Submitted by
The Installer
The Installer writes: "From the article: The Overland Park, Kan., phone company bought the Nextel network in 2005, and has lost money every quarter for the last four years as it's struggled with the cost of running two incompatible wireless networks.

There were 5.4 million phones active on the Nextel network at the end of March. Many Nextel customers are businesses or government agencies who issue the phones to construction crews and other mobile workers. Sprint now faces the challenge of convincing these customers to move to the Sprint network rather than competing carriers. As part of the pitch, Sprint has added phones with a walkie-talkie-like "push-to-talk" feature.

Sprint is deactivating the Nextel network to make room on the airwaves for a new fourth-generation, or "4G" data network. The Nextel network is a second-generation, or 2G, technology with low data speeds that are unsuitable for smartphones."
Privacy

Submission + - Last.fm spies on your Skype Activity 3

Submitted by
Khyber
Khyber writes: "A good anon has found out and informed me that Last.fm spies on Skype calls. I use both, so I decided to follow his steps. I started by going to diagnostics (though I am linking his provided pictures) and and this is what one can expect to find. Last.fm makes zero notifications that it will listen in on VOIP programs like Skype. Are there any other programs out there that we should be aware of which do this? I would really enjoy not using such privacy-invading programs."
Space

Submission + - Everything you need to know about the June 5/6 Venus Transit

Submitted by
The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: "Next week, on June 5/6, there will be the last Venus transit across the face of the Sun until the year 2117. There are dozens of sites issuing press releases about it — online resources, watching live, viewing advice — so I've collected them into a single blog post with tons of links and my own advice on how to observe this (most likely) last-in-a-lifetime event. This complements the previous article on Slashdot from a few weeks ago."
Electronic Frontier Foundation

Submission + - 'Apple's devices are like beautiful crystal prisons'

Submitted by zacharye
zacharye writes: Apple makes use of a number of open source technologies in its software products, but operating systems like iOS and OS X are hardly considered “open.” Apple has tight control over nearly every aspect of its mobile and desktop operating systems, ensuring that its products come as close as possible to resembling Apple’s vision from the moment they reach consumers’ hands until they are eventually replaced. While no one can deny the fact that Apple’s strategy has been a recipe for success thus far, a number of pundits believe Apple needs to loosen its grip on iOS and OS X if it hopes to maintain this success moving forward. Now, digital freedom fighters at the Electronic Frontier Foundation have weighed in on the issue...
The Courts

Submission + - Written approval is required to link to a website (uefa.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: First we had freedom of speech, then we had all the legal acts that try to restrict it. Now we have a new kind on the block. UEFA terms and conditions says:
"7.2 In the event that you wish to establish a link to the Website, you expressly agree:
        to ask prior written approval of UEFA to establish a link to the Website;"

Source:
http://www.uefa.com/uefa/termsconditions.html
I think I just broke their terms and conditions.

What is next? How about handing a UEFA certificate — for all websites that do not link to their website?
On the other hand do you need a prior written approval to provide directions to Tower of London?
Open Source

Submission + - All researchers to be alloted unique IDs (nature.com)

Submitted by ananyo
ananyo writes: In 2011, Y. Wang was the world’s most prolific author of scientific publications, with 3,926 to their name — a rate of more than 10 per day. Never heard of them? That’s because they are a mixture of many different Y. Wangs, each indistinguishable in the scholarly record.
The launch later this year of the Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID), an identifier system that will distinguish between authors who share the same name, could soon solve the problem, allowing research papers to be associated correctly with their true author.
Instead of filling out personal details on countless electronic forms associated with submitting papers or applying for grants, a researcher could also simply type in his or her ORCID number. Various fields would be completed automatically by pulling in data from other authorized sources, such as databases of papers, citations, grants and contact details. ORCID does not intend to offer such services itself; the idea is that other organizations will use the open-access ORCID database to build their own services.
Microsoft

Submission + - Can Microsoft Ban Class-Action Suits? Apparently so. (networkworld.com) 2

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: In a 5-to-4 decision that split along the usual ideological lines, the Supreme Court ruled in April 2011 that businesses may use standard-form contracts to bar consumers claiming fraud from teaming up for a class-action suit.

The decision concerned arbitrations, not suits, but that's no problem. Companies now use their standard contract to use arbitration to settle disputes. This is bad because you can't appeal the findings of a private arbitration hearing, nor is there an independent or public means of reviewing an arbitrator's decisions. They are designed to be conducted in private, unlike court cases.

The decision "basically lets companies escape class actions, so long as they do so by means of arbitration agreements," said Brian T. Fitzpatrick, a law professor at Vanderbilt University, in the New York Times.

Armed with this case, Microsoft has changed the terms of its consumer EULA. You know, that contract no one reads. Last Friday, right before Memorial Day when no one noticed it, Tim Fielden, assistant general counsel for Microsoft, announced that Microsoft was changing its EULA.
Medicine

Submission + - Supercharging the nervous system with biological, ion-transistor computer chips (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "A bioelectronic engineer, Klas Tybrandt of Linkoping University in Sweden, has built the first “ion transistor” computer chip, which uses chemical ions and biological molecules as charge carriers instead of electrons. In essence, these ion transistors mean that we can now build computer chips that directly interface with the cells in your body. In a conventional transistor, there are three terminals: the source, drain, and gate. Electrons are the charge carrier, flowing between the source and drain. In Tybrandt's ion transistor, neurotransmitters are the charge carrier. In this case, Tybrandt's logic chip uses acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter that activates muscles. When you think about moving your arm, the message travels along your nervous system until it reaches your bicep, where a neuron transmits an acetylcholine ion to a nearby muscle cell. Tybrandt’s ion logic chip could be wired into your nervous system, and take over if something goes wrong — or, in true computer fashion, perhaps the chip could offer a level of muscle accuracy and flexibility that the default human nervous system isn’t capable of. The best bit: other common neurotransmitters also work. In theory, it might be possible to one day implant an ion chip into your brain that monitors levels of epinephrine (adrenaline), and triggers various parts of your brain or the release of other neurotransmitters in response. Ditto, it might be possible to have a chip that monitors and reacts to your serotonin levels, effectively acting as a digital anti-depressant."
NASA

Submission + - NASA's Twin GRAIL Probes Complete Primary Mission Ahead of Schedule (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: After entering orbit around the Moon at the start of the year, NASA’s twin GRAIL (Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory) probes, Ebb and Flow, have completed their primary mission to study the Moon’s interior structure ahead of schedule. Operating around the clock since March 8, NASA says the spacecraft have provided unprecedented detail about the interior structure and evolution of the Moon and the data they have gathered will provide insights into how Earth and its rocky neighbors in the inner solar system developed.
IT

Submission + - IT staff, engineers among top 10 toughest jobs to fill in US (networkworld.com) 3

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "Forty-nine percent of US companies are having a hard time filling what workforce management firm ManpowerGroup calls mission-critical positions within their organizations with IT staff, engineers and "skilled trades" among the toughest spots to fill. The group surveyed some 1,300 employers and noted that US companies are struggling to find talent, despite continued high unemployment, over their global counterparts, where 34% of employers worldwide are having difficulty filling positions."
Programming

Submission + - Review: WAMP Stacks For Web developers (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
snydeq
snydeq writes: "InfoWorld's Serdar Yegulalp provides an in-depth comparison of five WAMP stacks for Web developers, including AMPPS, WAMPStack, MS Web Platform Installer, XAMPP, and WampServer. 'One thing that's clear from having looked at these stacks: They're definitely not created equal. They may be built from the same components (they would scarcely be useful if they weren't!), but how those components are managed and deployed makes a big difference. Stacks with automatic customization are far handier, especially when you want to devote more of your attention to working with the stack than actually setting it up. Second, don't assume these stacks will be production-ready. ... Finally, the differences in deployment styles between each of these stacks means there's a stack for just about every need, application type, or work habit.'"

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