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Space

Submission + - Super-Earth Discovered in Stars' Habitable Zone (discovery.com)

Submitted by
astroengine
astroengine writes: "The family of planets circling a relatively close dwarf star has grown to six, including a potential rocky world at least seven times more massive than Earth that is properly located for liquid water to exist on its surface, a condition believed to be necessary for life. Scientists added three new planets to three discovered in 2008 orbiting an orange star called HD 40307, which is roughly three-quarters as massive as the sun and located about 42 light-years away in the constellation Pictor. Of particular interest is the outermost planet, which is believed to fly around its parent star over 320 days, a distance that places it within HD 40307's so-called "habitable zone.""
The Internet

Submission + - Welsh Scientists Develop 2,000 Times Faster Fibre Optic Broadband (ispreview.co.uk)

Submitted by
Mark.JUK
Mark.JUK writes: "Scientists working under an EU funded (3 Million Euros) project out of Bangor University in Wales (United Kingdom) have developed a commercially-exploitable way of boosting broadband speeds over end-user fibre optic lines by using Optical Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OOFDM) technology, which splits a laser down to multiple different optical frequencies (each of which can be used to carry data), and low-cost off-the-shelf components.

The scientists claim that their solution has the ability to "increase broadband transmission by up to two thousand times the current speed and capacity" (most UK Fibre-to-the-Home or similar services currently offer less than 100 Megabits per second) and it can do this alongside a “significant reduction in electrical power consumption“."
Science

Submission + - Scientists link deep wells to deadly Spainish quake Read more: http://www.ctvne (ctvnews.ca) 2

Submitted by Meshach
Meshach writes: Research has suggested that human activity triggered an earthquake in Span that killed nine and injured over three hundred. Drilling deeper and deeper wells to water crops over the past 50 years were identified as the culprit by scientist who examined satellite images of the area. It was noted that even without the strain caused by water extraction, a quake would likely have occurred at some point in the area but the extra stress of pumping vast amounts of water from a nearby aquifer may have been enough to trigger a quake at that particular time and place.
Software

Submission + - Real users have no clue how to use Windows 8 (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Lockergnome founder Chris Pirillo did an eye opening experiment back in March by sitting his Dad down in front of a machine running Windows 8 and asking him to use it. The end result was a very confused man.

Seven months on and Pirillo has decided to do a follow-up experiment, only this time he took Windows 8 on the streets and asked a random selection of people to try and use it. Again, the end result was one of confusion, questions as to why it was so complex, and of course, everyone was looking for the Start Menu and Taskbar.
EU

Submission + - Will EU Regulations Effectively Ban High-End Video Cards? (nordichardware.com)

Submitted by arun84h
arun84h writes: A new energy law, which will apply in the European Union, has the power to limit sale of discrete components deemed "energy inefficient". GPU maker AMD is worried this will affect future technology as it becomes available, as well as some current offerings. From TFA:

"According to data NordicHardware has seen from a high level employee at AMD, current graphics cards are unable to meet with these requirements. This includes "GPUs like Cape Verde and Tahiti", that is used in the HD 7700 and HD 7900 series, and can't meet with the new guidelines, the same goes for the older "Caicos" that is used in the HD 6500/6600 and HD 7500/7600 series. Also "Oland" is mentioned, which is a future performance circuit from AMD, that according to rumors will be used in the future HD 8800 series. What worries AMD the most is how this will affect future graphics cards since the changes in Lot 3 will go into effect soon. The changes will of course affect Nvidia as much as it will AMD."

Is this the beginning of the end for high-end GPU sales in the EU?
Iphone

Submission + - Steve Wozniak calls Apple arrogant over iPhone 5 design (edibleapple.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: One of the things you gotta love about Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, aside from his boyish goofiness and adoration for a good prank, is that he has no qualms about telling it like it is and trashing Apple when he thinks they’ve gone askew.

In a recent interview, Woz went so far as to call Apple arrogant with respect to its iPhone 5 design — not because of its Maps snafu, but because he's peeved that Apple chose to make the iPhone 5 screen longer and not wider.

Submission + - Yet another call for abolishing patents, this one from the Fed (theatlantic.com) 1

Submitted by WOOFYGOOFY
WOOFYGOOFY writes: The most recent call for curtailing patents comes not just from an unexpected source, the St. Louis Fed, but also in its most basic form- total abolition of ALL patents.

Via the Atlantic Monthly,

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/09/the-case-for-abolishing-patents-yes-all-of-them/262913/

a new working paper from two members of the St. Louis Federal Reserve, Michele Boldrin and David Levine:

http://research.stlouisfed.org/wp/2012/2012-035.pdf

in which they argue that while a weak patent system may mildly increase innovation with limited side-effects, such a system can never be contained and will inevitably lead a stifling patent system such as that presently found in the U.S.

They argue: "...strong patent systems retard innovation with many negative side-effects. and ..political demand for stronger patent protection comes from old and stagnant industries and firms, not from new and innovative ones. Hence the best solution is to abolish patents entirely through strong constitutional measures and to find other legislative instruments, less open to lobbying and rent-seeking".

They acknowledge that some industries could suffer under a such a system, they single out pharma, and suggest that other legislative measures be found to foster innovation whenever there is clear evidence that laissez-faire under-supplies it.

Submission + - Panama May Soon Pass World's Worst Copyright Law (paritynews.com)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: Panama government is probably just one step away from passing one of the worst copyright laws ever passed and enforced in the history. The Bill no. 510 [PDF], if passed, will empower the Panamanian copyright office to pursue filesharers directly without the intervention of the government and levy fines of up to $100,000 USD each. Worse even, the money recovered will not be going to the rights holders but, will be distributed to officials of the copyright office in form of bonuses. Beyond the fine, those who have been found guilty may also end up facing civil actions.
Music

Submission + - Portugal says file, music and movie copying vie p2p is legal (exameinformatica.sapo.pt)

Submitted by mynameiskhan
mynameiskhan writes: There seems to be at least one government that thinks p2p is fine. Throw the url on to translate.google.com and there is more to this. Of course, the trade association of the entertainment industry in Portugal says the government is twisting the law and does not want to end up send 2 million letters to the violators.
Apple

Submission + - Apple's Lightning connector hides Authentication chip inside (appleinsider.com) 1

Submitted by exomondo
exomondo writes: Apple's new Lightning connector — introduced at the iPhone 5 launch — may be 80% smaller than its 30-pin predecessor, it may also boast reversibility but it includes within it an Authentication chip effectively preventing any unlicensed accessories. This allows Apple to completely control the market for all cable and dock accessories that make use of the new Lightning interface.
Your Rights Online

Submission + - Megaupload To Return To The Internet (torrentfreak.com)

Submitted by
Techmeology
Techmeology writes: "Kim Dotcom is working on a new incarnation of Megaupload, and has announced that the code for it is "90% done". Although the criminal case against the original site is still ongoing, Dotcom has secured support from investors. The new services is touted to be better than the original, with applications ranging beyond filesharing."
Open Source

Submission + - Malicious phpMyAdmin Served From SourceForge Mirror (net-security.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A malicious version of the open source Web-based MySQL database administration tool phpMyAdmin has been discovered on one of the official mirror sites of SourceForge, the popular online code repository for free and open source software.

The file — phpMyAdmin-3.5.2.2-all-languages.zip — was modified to include a backdoor that allowed attackers to remotely execute PHP code on the server running the malicious version of phpMyAdmin.
The Courts

Submission + - Apple wants another $707 million from Samsung (computerworld.com.au) 1

Submitted by
angry tapir
angry tapir writes: "A California jury may have awarded Apple more than US$1 billion in damages in late August when it triumphed over Samsung in a hard-fought case over smartphone and tablet patents, but the iPhone maker is coming back for more: late last week it asked for additional damages of $707 million. The request includes an enhanced award of $535 million for willful violation of Apple's designs and patents, as well as about $172 million in supplemental damages based on the fact that the original damages were calculated on Samsung's sales through June 30."

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