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Censorship

Submission + - Australian Press Freedom Declining :Moss Report

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: At http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/05/2081787.htm we read:

An independent audit by former New South Wales ombudsman Irene Moss has found a general "subtle shift" towards secrecy in Australia.
The audit reviewed legislation and practices related to free speech issues affecting the media in Australia.
Moss says Australians should not be complacent about declining media freedom.
"I observe a subtle shift, which shows we need to be vigilant," she said. "Although we enjoy tremendous democratic freedom by international standards, we shouldn't take it for granted."

The report was presented by the media coalition group called Right to Know, which includes the ABC. The group says it will use the report to pressure all levels of government to lift their game.

Related Link: State of free speech in Australia: http://www.abc.net.au/news/opinion/documents/files/20071105_righttoknow.pdf

Tags: industry, media, government-and-politics, australia
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Steam Tech! (rochester.edu)

Submitted by
tjstork
tjstork writes: "What has increased in power 10,000 times within the lifetime of its inventor. Today, you might be talking about CPUs, but, 100 years ago, one of the technological revolutions in place was the use of steam turbines! The Parson's steam turbine was invented in 1888, but, the steam turbine transformed the world. On land, increased power output and efficiency would lead to more electrical generating stations. At sea, ships were not only more efficient and faster, but, more reliable as well...militaries in pursuit of speed, were quick to adopt the new technology. Suddenly, a steamer could make 20+ knots. Parson's 1911 article is thus an interesting glimpse into a technical revolution that mirrors some of our own, from a leader of it. As the article points out, steam turbines gained rapidly in power in Parson's own lifetime, as much as CPUS gained in power in ours. But what's also different is an overall transformation to a science based industry. Its evident that calculus based engineering really took root with the steam turbine. Parsons, in his paper, isn't just describing the design of a steam turbine with rote examples, he's discussing the viscosity of water as steam or water, includes, early pictures of screw cavitation, and more. Of special note is the plug about how his new steam turbine will be fitted out into a new monster ships, the Titanic."
Biotech

Submission + - Former Intel CEO rips medical research

Submitted by Himuanam
Himuanam writes: Former Intel CEO Grove rips medical research community, contrasting their lack of progress with the tech industry's juggernaut of breakthroughs over the past half-century or so.

"On Sunday afternoon, Grove is unleashing a scathing critique of the nation's biomedical establishment. In a speech at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, he challenges big pharma companies, many of which haven't had an important new compound approved in ages, and academic researchers who are content with getting NIH grants and publishing research papers with little regard to whether their work leads to something that can alleviate disease, to change their ways."

-From Newsweek story: http://www.newsweek.com/id/68221
Security

Submission + - Adobe Confirms Unpatched PDF Backdoor (zdnet.com)

Submitted by 50Mat
50Mat writes: Adobe has fessed up to a dangerous code execution vulnerability affecting software programs installed on millions of Windows machines. The flaw, publicly disclosed more than three weeks ago, could allow hackers to use rigged PDF files to take control of Window XP computers with Internet Explorer 7 installed. It affects Adobe Reader, Adobe Acrobat Standard, Professional and Elements and Adobe Acrobat 3D.
Security

Submission + - Wikipedia tech used to build US emergency system (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researchers are working on an emergency sensor system that would give first responders information about radiation, chemical and biological agent events across the country in near real time. SensorPedia, a writeable Web site adopts the underlying technology of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia collaboratively written by readers, as a model to gather information from multiple diverse sites. That's cool because while scores of sensors are being deployed around the nation, these sensor networks are not designed to be interoperable. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/20294"
Biotech

Submission + - Stem cells change man's DNA (mainetoday.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: After receiving umbilical cord stem cells to replace bone marrow as treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Greg Graves temporarily had three different sets of DNA. Eventually, one of the two sets of cells transplanted into his bone marrow took root, leaving him different DNA in his blood from the rest of his body: 'If you were to do a DNA test of my blood and one from my skin, they'd be different,' Graves said. 'It's a pretty wild thing.'
Businesses

Submission + - Harrassment at Target Corporation 2

Submitted by
Kenichi Tanaka
Kenichi Tanaka writes: "I've been employed by Target Corporation for the past seven years and recently I was terminated because an ETL (Manager) informed me that other Team Members mentioned that I said I knew how to hack into computers and that I knew how to diasble them. While being on the abusive end of sexual harrassment and having false complaints filed against me I'm wondering what I should do about it?

This also comes on the heels of also having other co-workers trying to run me over with a piece of machinery called the Wave. It's sort of like a machine that you stand on to reach higher, out of reach shelves.

Any suggestions?"
Security

Submission + - Bad news lurks on government Web sites (itworld.com)

Submitted by
jfruhlinger
jfruhlinger writes: "The Website for the Brookhaven National Laboratory had links to porn. The Website for the Superior Court of Madera County, California had Viagra ads. These are just two of the many hacked government-run sites with unpleasant content — and security researchers are finding that it's difficult to get a hold of anyone who might correct the problem."
Security

Submission + - New Innovative ID Verification System Using Grids (net-security.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: HNS has a story about a revolutionary new approach to authentication designed to tackle many of the problems currently being suffered by consumers. Users create a simple pattern by choosing a set number of squares on a grid, in a shape of their choice — such as an 'L' or a 'tick'. Because the grid is then filled with random numbers at authentication time, new 'PIN' or pass codes are created each time.
Spam

Submission + - Is SpamHaus Dead? It's domain is an "unknown h (spamhaus.org) 1

Submitted by
Panaqqa
Panaqqa writes: "SpamHaus is not a service I use, but for some reason I decided to check into it yesterday — and it was offline. Again today, the same thing. They have been down for more than 24 hours. If you PING them you get "unknown host" back. This is quite mystifying. Has anyone on SlashDot noticed this also, and if so, is there any news about what has happened to them? All I can think of is that a major DDoS attack has taken them down. Inquiring minds want to know..."
Censorship

Submission + - Wikileaks report shows former Stasi corrupted 9/11 (wikileaks.org)

Submitted by James Hardine
James Hardine writes: Wikileaks has released a secret German government report from this year which shows that following the terrorist attacks in the United States on Sep 11, 2001, the German government commissioned an investigation into Stasi support for terrorist groups. Former Stasi officers within the Stasi files commission (BStU) corrupted the investigation into Stasi sponsored terrorist groups such as the West German Red Army Faction (RAF), the group surrounding Ilich Ramírez Sánchez ("Carlos the Jackal"), and the Abu Nidal Group...
Biotech

Submission + - New Plastic Strong as Steel

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "Individual nano-size building blocks such as nanotubes, nanosheets and nanorods are ultrastrong but scientists have had difficulty transferring the strength of individual nanosheets to the entire material. Now researchers at the University of Michigan have created a new composite plastic made of layers of clay nanosheets and a water-soluble polymer with a machine they developed that builds materials layer by layer like mother of pearl, one of the toughest natural mineral-based materials. The layers are stacked like bricks, in an alternating pattern. "When you have a brick-and-mortar structure, any cracks are blunted by each interface," explained Nicholas Kotov adding that further development could lead to lighter, stronger armor for soldiers or police and their vehicles and could also be used in microelectromechanical devices, microfluidics, biomedical sensors and valves and unmanned aircraft."
Announcements

Submission + - Bungie's Frank O'Connor Explains the Studio's Depa (gamedaily.com)

Submitted by
njkid1
njkid1 writes: "Bungie Studios has reclaimed its independence, but what does it all mean? In this interview Content Manager Frank O'Connor tells GameDaily BIZ that negotiations began about a year ago and that the deal is an "evolution of Bungie's independent spirit." More within..."
The Courts

Submission + - Penalties of Stealing vs. Infringing: UPDATED (nowis.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Winona Ryder vs. Jammie Thomas: Steal $5000 worth of stuff, pay back what you stole plus $3,700 and be on probation for 3 years; download 24 songs worth $23.76, pay $222,000 and go bankrupt.

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