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Submission + - Contest to crack a William Gibson poem (crackingagrippa.net)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A new cracking contest to cryptanalyse a William Gibson poem. The electronic poem ("Agrippa") was written back in 1992 and self-encrypts after being displayed once. The person who successfully cracks the encryption will win a copy of every published Gibson book.

Submission + - Science Daily - Climate cooling trend calculated precisely For first time (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by
bricko
bricko writes: "In addition to the cold and warm phases, the new climate curve also exhibits a phenomenon that was not expected in this form. For the first time, researchers have now been able to use the data derived from tree-rings to precisely calculate a much longer-term cooling trend that has been playing out over the past 2,000 years. Their findings demonstrate that this trend involves a cooling of -0.3C per millennium due to gradual changes to the position of the sun and an increase in the distance between the Earth and the sun.
"This figure we calculated may not seem particularly significant," says Esper, "however, it is also not negligible when compared to global warming, which up to now has been less than 1C. Our results suggest that the large-scale climate reconstruction shown by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) likely underestimate this long-term cooling trend over the past few millennia.""
Android

Submission + - Is it time to end our love affair with the QWERTY keyboard? (stuff.co.nz) 3

Submitted by Master Moose
Master Moose writes: Brisbane-based entrepreneur John Lambie currently has in beta an alternative to what he calls the "dysfunctional" QWERTY keyboard.

Given the way the world is abandoning their keyboards for smartphones he sees now as the perfect time to introduce a new layout.

He calls his new keyboard Dextr and believes it is the natural progression from using a number pad to enter text — This is especially so in developing countries where users have not grown up with QWERTYs on thier phones.

While he is not the first to ever propose an alternate or alphabetical keyboard — Are we locked into QWERTY for familiarities sake, or as we shift to smaller, more mobile and new devices, is Mr Lambie's project coming at the right time?
Medicine

Submission + - Florida accused of concealing worst tuberculosis outbreak in 20 years (rawstory.com)

Submitted by NotSanguine
NotSanguine writes: The state of Florida has been struggling for months with what the Centers for Disease Control describe as the worst tuberculosis outbreak in the United States in twenty years.

Although a CDC report went out to state health officials in April encouraging them to take concerted action, the warning went largely unnoticed and nothing has been done. The public did not even learn of the outbreak until June, after a man with an active case of TB was spotted in a Jacksonville soup kitchen.

The Palm Beach Post has managed to obtain records on the outbreak and the CDC report, though only after weeks of repeated requests. These documents should have been freely available under Florida’s Sunshine Law.
Games

Submission + - A fresh look at multi-screen PC gaming (techreport.com)

Submitted by
crookedvulture
crookedvulture writes: "More than two years have passed since Slashdot last covered multi-monitor gaming. A lot has changed in the interim. Monitors prices continue to fall, and improved AMD Eyefinity and Nvidia Surround implementations make creating multi-display arrays incredibly easy. Graphics cards have gotten faster, allowing high-end models to handle the latest games at the ultra-high resoultions that multi-screen setups enable. Developers are doing a better job of supporting those resolutions, too, although HUD placement and single-screen cinematics are still problematic in some titles. Even in the games that do have niggling flaws, the wider perspective of a triple-screen config can offer a more engaging and immersive experience. As stereoscopic 3D implementations fail to catch on, multi-screen setups look like the best upgrade for PC gamers."

Submission + - PDFCreator: malware and alternatives (pdfforge.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Recently some friends reported me that they had malware installed by pdfforge.org PDFCreator. At first I didn't believe them, but even the official forum confirms it. Although the authors of the software say the installation asks for permission, I cannot recommend this kind of software to anyone. Now I'm looking for alternatives. Which free software would you recommend? What do you think of the tactic of using toolbars, spyware and other suspicious extras coupled with open-source software installations?
Censorship

Submission + - Chinese Censors are Being Watched (economist.com) 1

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: The Economist is reporting, (registration may be required), on two research teams, one at Harvard and another at the University of Hong Kong, who have developed software to detect what posts to Chinese social media get censored. One surprise, comments critical of the regime are much less likely to be suppressed than calls to action, like assemblies or protests. Chinese censors may soon have to deal with an unprecedented transparency of their actions.
United States

Submission + - DotCom offers the DoJ a Deal (stuff.co.nz)

Submitted by Master Moose
Master Moose writes: Kim Dotcom claims the United States criminal case against him is collapsing but he is offering to go there without extradition provided federal authorities unfreeze his millions of dollars.

In a now hallmark style, he made the offer on Twitter.

"Hey DOJ, we will go to the US," he tweeted, "No need for extradition. We want bail, funds unfrozen for lawyers & living expenses."

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter Dotcom says the department knows it does not have a case.

"If they are forced to provide discovery, then there will be no extradition. That's why they don't want to provide discovery. If they had a case, they would not need to hide what they have."
Earth

Submission + - Is Our Infrastructure Ready for Global Warming? 1

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Megan Garber writes that last weekend, a US Airways flight taxiing for takeoff from Washington's Reagan National Airport got stuck on the tarmac for three hours because the tarmac had softened from the heat, and the plane had created — and then sunk into — a groove from which it couldn't, at first, be removed. So what makes an asphalt tarmac, the foundation of our mighty air network, turn to sponge? The answer is that our most common airport surface might not be fully suited to its new, excessively heated environment. One of asphalt's main selling points is precisely the fact that, because of its pitchy components, it's not quite solid: It's "viscoelastic," which makes it an ideal surface for the airport environment. As a solid, asphalt is sturdy; as a substance that can be made from — and transitioned back to — liquid, it's relatively easy to work with. And, crucially, it makes for runway repair work that is relatively efficient. But those selling points can also be asphalt's Achilles heel. Viscoelasticity means that the asphalt is always capable of liquifying. The problem, for National Airport's tarmac and the passengers who were stuck on it, was that this weekend's 100+-degree temperatures were a little less room temperature-like than they'd normally be, making the asphalt a little less solid that it would normally be. "As ironic and as funny as the imgur seen round the world is, it may also be a hint at what's in store for us in a future of weirding weather. An aircraft sinking augurs the new challenges we'll face as temperatures keep rising.""
Science

Submission + - Bad News for Big Brains (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: With big brains comes big intelligence, or so the hypothesis goes. But there may be trade-offs as well. Humans and other creatures with large brains relative to their body size tend to have smaller guts and possibly fewer offspring. Scientists have debated for decades whether the two phenomena are related. Now a team of researchers says that they are—and that big brains do indeed make us smart. The finding comes thanks to an unusual experiment in which scientists shrank and grew the brains of guppies over several generations.
Open Source

Submission + - One day, three deals, $150 million in open source funding. What does it mean? (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: The VC community continues to invest heavily in open source, as over $150 million in new investments were announced yesterday in just three deals for GitHub, AlienVault, and Sonatype.

That is a lot of money by anyone's mark and signals that the investment community still thinks open source can lead to big profits.
Microsoft

Submission + - Steve Ballmer: We won't be out-innovated by Apple anymore (networkworld.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Let's be honest. If you were to compile a list of words that encapsulate the last 10 years for Microsoft, the word 'innovative' probably wouldn't make the cut. Sure, they've had great overall success with the Xbox and, more recently, with Xbox Kinect, but the bulk of their revenue is still derived from unexciting software like Microsoft Office and various iterations of Windows

But going forward, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer plans to change that. In a recent interview, Ballmer explained that the company had ceded innovations in hardware and software to Apple but that the times they are a 'changin.

"We are trying to make absolutely clear we are not going to leave any space uncovered to Apple," Ballmer explained... "Not the consumer cloud. Not hardware software innovation. We are not leaving any of that to Apple by itself. Not going to happen. Not on our watch."
NASA

Submission + - Atlas, NASA's First Rocket in Orbit, Really Liked to Explode (vice.com)

Submitted by
pigrabbitbear
pigrabbitbear writes: "Next week, rocket and space nerds around the world will celebrate an extremely obscure spaceflight anniversary. On July 13, 1948, Convair test fired its MX-774 rocket for the first time. Later renamed the Atlas, it was the rocket built by the US Air Force that took NASA into orbit with the Mercury program. But it was far from perfect. The Atlas had a nasty habit of blowing up. In fact, it’s success rate was a little over 50 percent when John Glenn launched into orbit in 1962."
Security

Submission + - Want to be part of the intel world? DARPA has a software project for you (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "When it comes to filtering through tons of data, images and video, there just can't be enough eyes — or software programs looking to make sense of it all. That's at least part of the theory behind a public project the intelligence gatherers at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced today that will sponsor team of developers to come up with software programs that can uniquely extract meaningful content from large volumes of visual and written media."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Revokes Trust in 28 of Its Own Certificates (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: In the wake of the Flame malware attack, which involved the use of a fraudulent Microsoft digital certificate, the software giant has reviewed its certificates and found nearly 30 that aren't as secure as the company would like and has revoked them. Microsoft also released its new updater for certificates as a critical update for Windows Vista and later versions as part of today's July Patch Tuesday.

Microsoft has not said exactly what the now-untrusted certificates were used for, but company officials said there were a total of 28 certificates affected by the move. However, the company said that it was confident that none of them had been compromised or used maliciously. The move to revoke trust in these certificates is a direct result of the investigation into the Flame malware and how the attackers were able to forge a Microsoft certificate and then use it to impersonate a Windows Update server.
Intel

Submission + - Intel invests in ASML to boost extreme UV lithography, 450mm wafers (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "When Intel goes looking for new chip manufacturing technology to invest in, the company doesn’t play for pennies. Chipzilla has announced a major investment and partial purchase of lithography equipment developer ASML. Intel has agreed to invest €829 million (~$1B USD) in ASML’s R&D programs for EUV and 450mm wafer deployment, to purchase €1.7B worth of ASML shares ($2.1B USD, or roughly 10% of the total shares available) and to invest general R&D funds totaling €3.3B (~$4.1B USD). The goal is to bring 450mm wafer technology and extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) within reach despite the challenges facing both deployments. Moving to 450mm wafers is a transition Intel and TSMC have backed for years, while smaller foundries (including GlobalFoundries, UMC, and Chartered, when it existed as a separate entity) have dug in their heels against the shift — mostly because the shift costs an insane amount of money. It’s effectively impossible to retrofit 300mm equipment for 450mm wafers, which makes shifting from one to the other extremely expensive. EUVL is a technology that’s been percolating in the background for years, but the deployment time frame has slipped steadily outwards as problems stubbornly refused to roll over and solve themselves. Basically, this investment is a signal from Intel that it intends to push its technological advantage over TSMC, GloFo, UMC, and Samsung, even further."
Apple

Submission + - US Federal Agencies No Longer Allowed to Buy Apple Products (cellular-news.com)

Submitted by narcc
narcc writes: US federal government agencies are no longer able to purchase Apple products after the company withdrew from a mandatory certification scheme.

The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) certification is required under a law passed in 2009 if a federal government agency is to buy goods or services from a company. It ensures that the products meet minimum environmental protection standards.

It is not clear why Apple withdrew from the ratings service, especially as it cuts off sales to a fairly substantial customer — the US Government. One report by the iFixit blog suggested that the problem relates to the difficulty of repairing Apple products and stripping them down for recycling.

Apple has struggled with its eco-friendly credentials, with repeated reports from agencies such as Greenpeace criticizing the company, not just for what they know the company is doing, but also for their apparent secrecy about the environmental impact of their various manufacturing processes.
Science

Submission + - Researchers Create "MRI" of the Sun's Interior Motions (techie-buzz.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A team of researchers from NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and its Department of Physics, Princeton University, the Max Planck Institute, and NASA have created an “MRI” of the sun’s interior motions.
Security

Submission + - Web exploit found that targets Windows, Mac, and Linux (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by phaedrus5001
phaedrus5001 writes: From the article: "Security researchers have found a live Web exploit that detects if the target is running Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux and drops a different trojan for each platform. The attack was spotted by researchers from antivirus provider F-Secure on a Columbian transport website, presumably after third-party attackers compromised it. The unidentified site then displayed a signed Java applet that checked if the user's computer is running Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux. Based on the outcome, the attack then downloads the appropriate files for each platform."
You can find the F-Secure teams original blog post here.

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