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Electronic Frontier Foundation

Submission + - Verizon draws fire for monitoring app usage, browsing habits (cnet.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: "We're able to view just everything that they do," Bill Diggins, U.S. chief for the Verizon Wireless marketing initiative, told an industry conference earlier this year. "And that's really where data is going today. Data is the new oil."
Security

Submission + - Pacemaker hack can deliver deadly 830-volt jolt (computerworld.com.au) 2

Submitted by
angry tapir
angry tapir writes: "Pacemakers from several manufacturers can be commanded to deliver a deadly, 830-volt shock from someone on a laptop up to 50 feet away, the result of poor software programming by medical device companies. The new research comes from Barnaby Jack of security vendor IOActive, known for his analysis of other medical equipment such as insulin-delivering devices. Jack said the flaw lies with the programming of the wireless transmitters used to give instructions to pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs), which detect irregular heart contractions and deliver an electric shock to avert a heart attack."
Space

Submission + - Beware the Rings of Pluto 1

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "The Christian Science Monitor reports that scientists are planning a new route for NASA's New Horizons space probe as it approaches a potentially perilous path toward Pluto through a potential set of rings that may create dangerous debris zones for the NASA spacecraft. New Horizons is currently about 1,000 days away and 730 million miles from closest approach to Pluto but given how New Horizons is currently zooming away from the sun at more than 33,500 mph, "a collision with a single pebble, or even a millimeter-sized grain, could cripple or destroy New Horizons," says project scientist Hal Weaver. "We need to steer clear of any debris zones around Pluto." That's why researchers are making plans to avoid these hazards if New Horizons needs to. "We are now exploring nine other options, 'bail-out trajectories,'" says principal investigator Alan Stern. New Horizon's current plan would take it about halfway between Pluto and the orbit of its largest moon, Charon. Four of the bail-out trajectories would still take the spacecraft between Pluto and Charon's orbit. The other alternatives would take New Horizons much further away from Pluto, past the orbits of its known moons. "If you fly twice as far away, your camera does half as well; if it's 10 times as far, it does one-tenth as well," says Stern. "Still, half a loaf is better than no loaf. Sending New Horizons on a suicide mission does no one any good. We're very much of the mind to accomplish as much as we can, and not losing it all recklessly. Better to turn an A+ to an A- than get an F by overreaching.""

Comment Re:Don't care. (Score 1) 108

by kermidge (#41640653) Attached to: An Overview of the Do Not Track Debate

Thanks, guys.

I'm getting killed by user agent (1 in 46k), plugins (unique), and system fonts (1 in 82k). Were I to switch to, for example, Win7, the big three browsers, and a small common set of plugins I'm guessing it'd be a lot better. Instead, like a thorough-going idiot, I run 64-bit Linux, Opera, and what I had thought to be a standard set of media plugins. I hadn't intended this to be useful for some un-bidden data miner. I've been totally naive about fonts; so far as I knew I just had the standard package that came with Ubuntu.

Sheesh, this is kinda weirding me out. Ah, well, life on the modern Web, eh?

Comment Re:Book(s)? (Score 1) 5

Thank you for a candid reply; I can see where you're coming from. My intentions were honorable also, if clumsy. I wish you well in your quest.

Had I a simple answer, particularly something as simple as a book list, I'd give it. I read through the entire thread before writing this to see what others thought. Oddly enough, I've read all but maybe a dozen of the non-tech books (and only a few of them) given and found something of worth (even if it was just simple enjoyment at the story-telling) in many of them. Finding something that would jog your creativity without risking upset of your 'center' is beyond me. (I've a personal stake also - if I could find a book that gave me a recipe I could execute to lift me above the poverty level in my 'golden retirement years' I'd use it.)

I'll not single out the handful of posts that struck me as relevant to your situation - I believe you can do that.

I'd be curious to know, in six months, what you found, how it worked, for your situation and for you.

Comment Re:Book(s)? (Score 1) 5

Amen.

Unless gspec is really asking about books in his field that will provide him inspiration or whatnot, seems to me that along with simple enjoyment and possible edification that the benefit of reading books is to gain perspective.

@gspec - You didn't mention if you're single or supporting a large family, which would somewhat affect my view, but seems to me that clearing roughly twice median wage, earning promotions every few years, living in a reasonably congenial area, ought to be just fine. Bonus if you like what you do, and don't have illusions concerning the difference between want and need.
NASA

Submission + - New NASA robot could help paraplegics walk (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "NASA said today it has helped develop a 57-lb robotic exoskeleton that a person could wear over his or her body either to assist or inhibit movement in leg joints. The X1 was derived from NASA and General Motors Robonaut 2 project and the could find applications as an in-space exercise machine to supply resistance against leg movement more importantly as a way to help some individuals walk for the first time."
Android

Microsoft Sues Motorola Over Mapping Patents 57

Posted by samzenpus from the 1-2-3-sue dept.
jfruh writes "The mobile patent wars continue, with two of the world's biggest tech companies about to blunder into direct conflict. Microsoft holds a number of patents that it claims give it rights over mobile map applications that overlay data from multiple databases (map info from one database and store location info from another, for instance). Many Android vendors already pay Redmond licensing fees for their mapping apps; now Redmond is going to court in Germany to sue one of the holdouts: Motorola Mobility, which is of course owned by Google."
Programming

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Dedicating Code?

Submitted by The_Buse
The_Buse writes: This week I lost my grandmother and after returning to work (as a web developer) I find myself looking for some way to dedicate something to her memory. Unfortunately, I'm no author so I can't dedicate a book to her, and I can't carry a tune so penning a song in her honor is out of the question. What I can do is write one hell of a web app, and after nearly a year of development my (small) team and I are nearing the release date of our next product. My question is, have you ever dedicated a project/app/code in honor of someone? What's the best way to do it: comment blocks in the header, tongue-in-cheek file names, easter eggs? Or is this a horrible idea all together?
Microsoft

Submission + - Office for iPad may be exactly what Microsoft wants (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: It's endemic of 21st century journalism how this news story broke: a Microsoft product in the Czech Republic spilled the beans on a native iOS and Android port of Office 2013 for March of 2013, which was picked up by the Czech site IHNED.

Microsoft was quick to issue a denial to the press. "The information shared by our Czech subsidiary is not accurate. We do not have anything further to share at this time." Translation? They are doing it. Maybe a few facts are off, but they are doing a port. It's not a flat-out denial; it's a claim of inaccuracy. That's all the wiggle room a company needs to avoid being called a liar.

It's an acknowledgement of two facts: the iPad is the tablet of choice at the moment, and the enterprise really likes its tablets. At the Tablet Strategy conference last April, Chris Hazelton from 451 Research said its own research showed 78.4% of companies surveyed allowed employees to bring in their own devices. That contrasts with just 18% of employers actually providing their employees with tablets. Supporting iOS and Android means no matter what tablet you use, Office will be there. And isn't that what Microsoft wants in the end?

Submission + - Coming Next: TSA Taser Bracelets? (thenewsmakersoftoday.com)

Submitted by CaVp
CaVp writes: From the article: "The TSA’s security policies are getting more and more bizarre, from testing people’s drinks for explosives to ordering all travelers to freeze on command, but could a frightening policy that was seriously explored by the DHS be resurrected – forcing people to wear taser bracelets that would deliver an electric shock if they got out of line?" Fox coverage here.

Imagine a nutjob with a radio transmitter tuned to the bracelet radio frequency... instant bacon!...

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