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Submission + - Dissecting Sandy and Imaging the Hybrid Storm

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Atlantic tropical storms mostly tear through the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, and lose energy as they pass over the U.S mainland. However, Hurricane Sandy crept along the Eastern Seaboard, where waters that were warmer than usual for this time of year and that kept the storm alive and kicking. As the storm moved northward, it became a hybrid storm, drawing strength from the differential between the storm's warm air and cold northern air from the jet stream.

Submission + - Fiskar Hybrids Get Bad Karma from Superstorm Sandy (jalopnik.com)

Submitted by slas6654
slas6654 writes: FTA: "Approximately 16 of the $100,000+ Fisker Karma extended-range luxury hybrids were parked in Port Newark, New Jersey last night when water from Hurricane Sandy’s storm surge apparently breached the port and submerged the vehicles. As Jalopnik has exclusively learned, the cars then caught fire and burned to the ground."

Apparently Fiskar super-duty lithium ion batteries are neither water-proof or water soluble.
The Internet

Submission + - US Offers New Plans 1 Month Before U.N. Meeting to Regulate Web (foxnews.com)

Submitted by Velcroman1
Velcroman1 writes: Slashdotters have been reading for months about the upcoming ITU conference next month in Dubai, which will propose new regulations and restrictions for the Internet that critics say could censor free speech, levy tariffs on e-commerce, and even force companies to clean up their “e-waste” and make gadgets that are better for the environment. Concerns about the closed-door event have sparked a Wikileaks-style info-leaking site, and led the State Department on Wednesday to file a series of new proposals or tranches seeking to ensure “competition and commercial agreements — and not regulation” as the meeting's main message. Terry Kramer, the chief U.S. envoy to the conference, says the United States is against sanctions. “[Doing nothing] would not be a terrible outcome at all,” Kramer said recently.

Submission + - NYC Data Center Needs Focus on Fuel (slashdot.org)

Submitted by
Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: "Who knew that the most critical element of operating a data center in New York City was ensuring a steady supply of diesel fuel? In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the challenges facing data center operators in the affected zones include pumping water from basements, waiting for utility power to be restored, and managing fuel-truck deliveries. And it’s become increasingly clear which companies had the resources and foresight to plan for a disaster like Sandy, and which are simply reacting. Here’s the latest on providers around the New York area."
Privacy

Submission + - Creepy Cameraman Pushes Public Surveillance Limits 2

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: People seem to be okay with constant corporate or government video surveillance in public. Let a lone individual point a video camera their way, however, and tempers flare. GeekWire takes a look at the antics and videos of Seattle's mysterious Surveillance Camera Man, who walks up to people and records them for no apparent reason other than to make a point: How is what he’s doing different than those stationary surveillance cameras tucked away in buildings and public places?
Input Devices

Submission + - Razer Mouse Crippled Without Online Activation

Submitted by jones_supa
jones_supa writes: At Overclock.net forums, nickname channelx99 tells a story about a frustrating obstacle when he begun to use a Razer Naga mouse. A software is required to enable the full functionality of the mouse. The user was greeted by a login screen which couldn't be bypassed, and even worse, the account creation didn't work at the time. It turned out that the Razor activation server was down. As result, channelx99 was left out in the cold, and he wraps up 'Nowhere on the box does it say anything about needing an internet connection to "activate" a mouse. If the servers go down in the future, anyone who buys this mouse is out of luck.'
Government

Submission + - FTC whacks "Rachel from Card Holder Services" (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "Just two weeks after it challenged the public to come up with a better technological way to stop incessant robocalling, the Federal Trade Commission pulled the plug on five mass calling companies it said were allegedly responsible for millions of illegal pre-recorded calls from "Rachel" and others from "Cardholder Services." “At the FTC, Rachel from Cardholder Services is public enemy number one,” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz at the announcement of the cases."
Government

Submission + - Department of Homeland Security Wants Nerds for a New 'Cyber Reserve' (vice.com)

Submitted by
pigrabbitbear
pigrabbitbear writes: "Just three weeks after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told an audience at the Sea, Air and Space Museum that the U.S. is on the brink of a “cyber Pearl Harbor,” the government has decided it needs to beef up the ranks of its digital defenses. It’s assembling a league of extraordinary computer geeks for what will be known as the “Cyber Reserve.”"
Hardware

Submission + - Apple offers to pay Google $1 per device (geek.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Motorola feels that Apple is infringing on several FRAND patents that have to do with how every smartphone in existence connects to WiFi and cellular networks. Since Apple makes smartphones, and Google is looking to use their newly acquired Motorola as a weapon, the two companies are only a few days away from the courtroom.

Apple has conceded that the Moto patents are valid by offering to pay Google/Moto $1 per device, but only going forward. Motorola wants 2.25% per device and for it to cover all Apple devices (back dated). If Motorola pursues the case and the court issues a per device rate that is higher than Apple’s offer, Apple promises to pursue all possible appeals to avoid paying more than $1. Motorola could end this quickly, or watch as Apple drags this out for what could be years.
Government

Submission + - Recall after bug causes touchscreen to display wrong dose on infusion pump (securityledger.com)

Submitted by
chicksdaddy
chicksdaddy writes: "The steady drumbeat of disturbing news about vulnerable, IP enabled medical devices continues this week, after medical device maker Hospira said it has issued a voluntary recall of its Symbiq-brand drug infusion pumps after discovering a software error that may cause touch interfaces on the pumps to not respond to user touches or to display dosage information that is inaccurate.
The problem was detected in around 1.5% of Symbiq One Channel and Two Channel Infusers (model numbers 16026 and 16027), but could potentially affect "all Symbiq infusion systems currently in the field." The software bug could result in “a delayed response and or the screen registering a different value from the value selected by the user,” the company said in a statement."
Government

Submission + - IEEE Standards for Voting Machines (ieee.org)

Submitted by kgeiger
kgeiger writes: Voting machine designs and data formats are a free-for-all. The result is poor validation and hence opportunity for fraud. From TFA:

IEEE Standards Project 1622 is working on electronic data interchange for voting systems. The plan is to create a common format, based on the Election Markup Language (EML) already recommended for use in Europe. This is a subset of the popular XML (eXtensible Markup Language) that specifies particular fields and data structures for use in voting.
Android

Submission + - Japanese Android developers arrested for infecting 10 million users (yomiuri.co.jp)

Submitted by Dupple
Dupple writes: Five people, including the owner of an information technology-related company, were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of providing a virus built into smartphone applications that stole more than 10 million pieces of personal information from users' address books.

The Metropolitan Police Department said about 90,000 people's smartphones were infected with a virus lurking in applications they downloaded.

According to the MPD, this is the first case established to deal with such a large information theft in Japan.

Investigative sources said a man who runs an IT-related company allegedly created video applications for Android smartphones containing a virus that extracts personal information stored on the phone. In collusion with a woman who is the former president of another Tokyo-based IT-related firm, the man released the apps on Google Inc.'s official store for free in late March.

Submission + - The Telegraph introduces paywall (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Guardian reports on The Telegraph's new "New York Times-style metered system". The paywall applies only to non-UK visitors and kicks in after 20 free page views, when users are asked to pay for a £1.99 monthly subscription. The Telegraph is UK's third most popular newspaper website and two-thirds of its audience is based abroad.

Editor's note:
The website of The Times of London became mostly irrelevant after introducing a paywall. The New York Times, however, did not — perhaps because it doesn't really have a paywall (it involves cookies or simply removing a parameter from the query string). It is not clear yet if The Telegraph will adopt NYT's purposely half-assed implementation or not — I don't live in the UK and the paywall hasn't kicked in yet after well over 20 articles. My guess is keeping it free in the UK will keep the website from joining The Times in limbo.

Submission + - Kim Dotcom Outs Mega Teaser Site, Finalizes Me.ga as Domain Name (paritynews.com)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: Kim Dotcom has let out more information about the launch of Megaupload’s successor Mega, which he claims will be "bigger, better, faster, stronger, [and] safer." Mega is currently looking for partners those are willing to provide servers, supports and connectivity and become "Mega Storage Nodes." The prime requirement, according to Dotcom, is that the servers should be located outside the US and that the companies should also be based outside of the US. For this reason, Dotcom has decided that the new service will be launching with "Me.ga" domain name.
Robotics

Submission + - Vanderbilt University Steps Into the Exoskeleton Market (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: For people who are unable to walk under their own power, exoskeletons offer what is perhaps the next-best thing. Essentially “wearable robots,” the devices not only let their users stand, but they also move their legs for them, allowing them to walk. While groups such as Berkeley Bionics, NASA, Rex Bionics, and ReWalk are all working on systems, Nashville’s Vanderbilt University has just announced the development of its own exoskeleton. It is claimed to offer some important advantages over its competitors.
The Courts

Submission + - Apple's Samsung statement reprimanded by UK court of appeal (guardian.co.uk) 6

Submitted by Macthorpe
Macthorpe writes: In the UK, Apple were previously ordered to add a statement to their website stating that Samsung did not copy their designs, following a previous case where this was ruled by the UK courts. However, today the same court revealed that Apple's statement is not good enough. From the article:

The acknowledgement put up last week, linked from the home page by a tiny link, was deemed to be "non-compliant" with the order that the court had made in October. The court has now ordered it to correct the statement – and the judges, Lord Justice Longmore, Lord Justice Kitchin and Sir Robin Jacob, indicated that they were not pleased with Apple's failure to put a simpler statement on the site.

It appears the main objection is the statement is on a separate page and only linked from the hompage — and that the statement is buried in marketing blurb, and also put next to references to a case Apple won.
Censorship

Submission + - Russia internet blacklist law takes effect (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes: A law that aims to protect children from harmful internet content by allowing the government to take sites offline has taken effect in Russia.

The authorities are now able to blacklist and force offline certain websites without a trial.

The law was approved by both houses of parliament and signed by President Vladimir Putin in July.

If the websites themselves cannot be shut down, internet service providers (ISPs) and web hosting companies can be forced to block access to the offending material.
Cloud

Submission + - Kim Dotcom reveals Mega to replace Megaupload (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes: Kim Dotcom has announced plans for Mega, a service to replace his shut down file-sharing website Megaupload.

Mega is expected to use encryption methods which will mean only users will know what they are uploading.

It will be decided in March whether Mr Dotcom should be extradited from New Zealand to the US to face charges relating to copyright theft.

The 38-year-old said he would launch Mega on 20 January 2013 — a year to the day since his arrest.

By keeping details of files uploaded on Mega secret from the site's administrators, Mr Dotcom said he believed this would mean the site was not in violation of US laws. "The new Mega will not be threatened by US prosecutors," he said.

"The new Mega avoids any dealings with US hosters, US domains and US backbone providers and has changed the way it operates to avoid another takedown."

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