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Intel

Submission + - Hands-on with Intel's Next Unit of Computing (techreport.com)

crookedvulture writes: "Intel's Next Unit of Computing has finally made its way into the hands of reviewers. The final revision is a little different from the demo unit that made the rounds earlier this year, but the concept remains the same. Intel has crammed what are essentially ultrabook internals into a tiny box measuring 4" x 4" x 2". A mobile Core i3 CPU provides the horsepower, and there's a decent array of I/O ports: USB, HDMI, and Thunderbolt. Users can add their own memory, storage, and wireless card to the system, which will be sold without an OS for around $300. Those extras raise the total price, bringing the NUC closer to Mac Mini territory. The Apple system has a bigger footprint, but it also boasts a faster processer and the ability to accommodate notebook hard drives with higher storage capacities than the mSATA SSDs that are compatible with the NUC. If Intel can convince system builders to adopt the NUC, the future of the PC could be a lot smaller."
Music

Submission + - One Musician's Demand From Pandora: More Data (itworld.com)

jfruh writes: "Most Slashdotters have been following the debate among the various players in the music industry about how much money artists (and their labels) get from traditional music outlets like radio and newer services like Pandora or Spotify. But Zoë Keating, a professional cellist who has a professional interest in the outcome of this argument, thinks there's one thing missing from all the proposals: more data on who her audience is. Even digital services can't tell her how many people heard her songs or where they're most popular. "How can I grow my business on this information?" she asks. "How do I reach them? Do they know I’m performing nearby next month? How can I tell them I have a new album coming out?""

Submission + - Global Warming On Pace for 4C: World Bank Worried (washingtonpost.com)

iONiUM writes: "From the article: "Over the years at the U.N. climate talks, the goal has been to keep future global warming below 2C. But as those talks have faltered, emissions have kept rising, and that 2C goal is now looking increasingly out of reach. Lately, the conversation has shifted toward how to deal with 3C of warming. Or 4C. Or potentially more."
Overall it seems that poorer, less developed nations will be largely impacted negatively, while some countries (like Canada and Russia) will actually experience benefits. Where does that leave the rest of the 1st world countries?"

Windows

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: What video games keep you from using Linux? 7

skade88 writes: Everyone knows content is king. Many of us use Windows or OSX at home instead of Linux because the games we love just are not available on Linux. With Steam moving forward for a Linux launch, I would like to hear from the Slashdot community on this topic. What are the game(s) you cannot live without? If they were available in Linux would you be happy to run Linux instead of Windows or OSX?
Facebook

Submission + - Facebook Enabling HTTPS by Default for North American Users (threatpost.com) 1

Trailrunner7 writes: Facebook this week will begin turning on secure browsing be default for its millions of users in North America. The change will make HTTPS the default connection option for all Facebook sessions for those users, a shift that gives them a good baseline level of security and will help prevent some common attacks.

Facebook users have had the option of turning on HTTPS since early 2011 when the company reacted to attention surrounding the Firesheep attacks. However, the technology was not enabled by default and users have had to in and manually make the change in order to get the better protection of HTTPS.

Security

Submission + - Two FreeBSD Project Servers Hacked (paritynews.com)

hypnosec writes: The FreeBSD project has suffered a security breach whereby hackers have successfully compromised servers that were part of the infrastructure used to build third-party software packages. The Security team over at the FreeBSD project is of the opinion that hackers were able to gain access to the servers using legitimate SSH keys and not by exploiting any operating system vulnerabilities. Instances of intrusion were first detected on November 11. FreeBSD project, through a message on public announcements mailing list said that the security breach hasn’t affected the project’s core components like kernel or system libraries but, has only affected third-party software packages being distributed by the project.
Intel

Submission + - Intel CEO Paul Otellini to Retire in May (businesswire.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Intel Corporation today announced that the company’s president and CEO, Paul Otellini, has decided to retire as an officer and director at the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting in May, starting an orderly leadership transition over the next six months. Otellini’s decision to retire will bring to a close a remarkable career of nearly 40 years of continuous service to the company and its stockholders.

“Paul Otellini has been a very strong leader, only the fifth CEO in the company’s great 45-year history, and one who has managed the company through challenging times and market transitions,” said Andy Bryant, chairman of the board. “The board is grateful for his innumerable contributions to the company and his distinguished tenure as CEO over the last eight years.”

Space

Submission + - Astronomers get picture of nearby exoplanet

The Bad Astronomer writes: "While nearly a thousand planets are known to orbit other stars, getting direct pictures of them is extremely difficult due to the glare from their host stars. Fewer than a dozen images of exoplanets exist. However, we can now add one more to the list: Kappa Andromedae b, or Kap And b for short. It's about 170 light years away, and orbits Kappa And, a massive star bright enough to see with the naked eye. One hitch: its mass puts it right at the upper limit for a planet, and it may edge into brown dwarf territory. Further observations are needed to pin its mass down."

Submission + - The cutting edge of short range ballistic missile defense systems (wired.com)

An anonymous reader writes: A new Israeli missile defense system can lock onto oncoming missiles, compute trajectory, and blow oncoming Hamas missiles out of the sky — all in less than 20 seconds. The operation of the system requires a high degree of tech wizardry, some attributed to video game playing. Colonel Zvika Haimovich, commander of the Israel Air Force’s Active Defense Wing has this to say about its operators:

My Iron Dome operators are all fighters, and sure, many of them probably played PlayStation and computer games in their teens before they got to my unit...Being a techie is no longer something to be ashamed of, no longer a dirty word, in the IDF. These teenagers who get drafted into the army need to be able to thrive in a technological environment"

Science

Submission + - U.S. says exascale unlikely before 2020-22 because of budget woes (computerworld.com)

dcblogs writes: The U.S. Dept. of Energy is now targeting 2020 to 2022 for an exascale system, two to four years later than earlier expectations. William Harrod, research division director in the advanced scientific computing in the DOE Office of Science, previewed its planned Exascale Computing Initiative report at the SC12 supercomputing conference last week. "When we started this, [the timetable was] 2018; now it's become 2020 but really it is 2022," said Harrod. DOE will soon release its report on its Exascale Computing Initiative as part of effort to get funding approved in the FY 2014 budget. But current fiscal problems in Congress, the so-called fiscal cliff in particular, makes Harrod pessimistic about funding for next year. "To be honest, I would be somewhat doubtful of that at this point in time," he said. "The biggest problem is the budget," said Harrod. "Until I have a budget, I really don't know what I'm doing," he said. DOE has not said how much money it will need, but analysts say billions of dollars will needed to develop an exascale system. A major research effort is needed because of power, memory, concurrency and resiliency challenges posed by exascale. Data transport may be the leading problem. In today's systems, data has to travel a long way which uses up power. Datasets are "being generated are so large that it's basically impractical to write the data out to disk and bring it all back in to analyze it," said Harrod. "We need systems that have large memory capacity. If we limit the memory capacity we limit the ability to execute the applications as they need to be run," he said.
Crime

Submission + - Murder suspect/fugitive John McAfee launches blog, offers $25K reward (networkworld.com)

An anonymous reader writes: The IT security pioneer John McAfee has launched a blog to document his life on the lam, as Belize police chase him down for suspicion of killing a neighbor. McAfee is using the blog to state his case, raise suspicions about Belize authorities and to offer a $25K reward to find the real killer or killers.
Politics

Submission + - Open Standards reaching critical mass in Europe

An anonymous reader writes: European countries are one by one adopting Open Standards through Government ICT policies. Belgium, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Portugal have published standards lists. Denmark has adopted ODF and PDF/A and the UK, amid controversy and fighting seems committed to Open Standards as well. Is the European wide adoption reaching critical mass? What is the situation in the US?
Piracy

Submission + - How RapidShare Plans To Avoid MegaUpload's Fate (readwrite.com)

concealment writes: "On November 27, RapidShare will start putting a tight cap on outbound downloads for its free users. Paid members will still have 30 gigabytes in outbound downloads per day, but everybody else will be capped at one gigabyte. The change is expected to further deter pirates from using RapidShare to distribute copyright material on a large scale."
Google

Submission + - Google after antitrust: The good, the bad, and the ugly (cnet.com)

concealment writes: "Google has had regulatory run-ins before. It overpowered objections and acquired DoubleClick, AdMob, and ITA, but it knuckled under when the U.S. Justice Department threatened to sue over a Google-Yahoo search-ad deal.

But unlike the earlier antitrust fights, today's investigations are aimed at Google's heart: search and search advertising. After more than a year of investigation in both the EU and the United States, it appears regulators are ready to make a move, and most expect action by the end of the year. FTC Chairman Jonathan Leibowitz is pushing Google to make a settlement offer "in the next few days" or face a lawsuit, Bloomberg reported last week."

Medicine

Submission + - Nanoparticles Stop Multiple Sclerosis In Mice (medicalnewstoday.com)

HangingChad writes: Scientists have used nanoparticles covered in proteins to trick the immune system to stop attacking myelin and halt the progression of multiple sclerosis in mice.

The nanoparticles, about 200 times thinner than a human hair, are made from the same material as dissolving stitches. Scientists compare the process an immune system "reboot". The process keeps the immune system from treating myelin as an alien invader and to stop attacking it.

Space

Submission + - Ariane 5 has no chance says SpaceX CEO (bbc.co.uk)

Dupple writes: "I don't say that with a sense of bravado but there's really no way for that vehicle to compete with Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. If I were in the position of Ariane, I would really push for an Ariane 6."

Ariane's future will be a key topic this week for European Space Agency (Esa) member states.

They are meeting in Naples to determine the scope and funding of the organisation's projects in the next few years, and the status of their big rocket will be central to those discussions.

Crime

Submission + - Dutch police solves murder by asking for DNA from citizens (dutchnews.nl) 1

muttoj writes: Police in Friesland have arrested a local man in connection with the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl in 1999.

The man was picked up following the mass dna testing of men living close to the field where Marianne Vaatstra's body was found.

According to television crime reporter Peter R de Vries, who has been central to keeping the case open, the dna match is 100%. ‘In ordinary words, you could say ‘the case is solved’', De Vries told Nos radio.

Farmer

The suspect is said to be a white, 44-year-old man from Friesland. ‘It is a farmer with his own company,’ De Vries said.

Nearly 6,600 men voluntarily gave a dna sample in a last ditch attempt to solve the murder earlier this year.

The decision to launch the dna appeal came after De Vries in May broadcast information about a Playboy cigarette lighter found in Vaatstra's bag which contains dna traces that match the traces found on the schoolgirl's body.

Tip-offs following the broadcast showed the lighter was on sale in the local area at the time, including in the village of Zwaagwesteinde where she lived.

Police are due to give a news conference about the arrest later on Monday.

Many comments where made on /. when the police asked for DNA from citizens: http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/09/06/1759257/dutch-police-ask-8000-citizens-to-provide-their-dna

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