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Space

Submission + - Piglets in Space

Submitted by
RocketAcademy
RocketAcademy writes: "Moss piglets, also known as waterbears or tardigrades, are tiny (microscopic or near-microscopic) multicelled organisms that can survive in extreme environments including the vacuum of space. This ability makes them of great interest to astrobiologists.

Tardigrades have already been in space, thanks to Russia, the European Space Agency, and NASA. Only a few species have flown, however. With 1150 known species of tardigrade, there is plenty of opportunity for follow-on experiments.

The nonprofit Citizens in Space has published a Call for Experiments that will fly aboard the XCOR Lynx suborbital spacecraft beginning in 2014. The call is open to both professional and citizen scientists. Citizens in Space plans to fly 100+ experiments, so there's plenty of room for moss piglets and waterbears."
Transportation

Submission + - Texas Opens Fastest US Highway With 85 Mph Limit 1

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Most highways in the US top out at 75 mph while some highways in rural West Texas and Utah have 80 mph speed limits but all that is about to change as Texas opens a stretch of highway with the highest speed limit in the country, giving eager drivers a chance to rip through a trip between two of the state’s largest metropolitan areas at 85 mph for a 41-mile toll road between Austin and San Antonio. “I would love it,” says Austin resident Alan Guckian. “Sometimes it’s fun to just open it up.” But while some drivers will want to test their horsepower and radar detectors, others are asking if safety is taking a backseat as a 2009 report in the American Journal of Public Health found that more than 12,500 deaths were attributable to increases in speed limits on all kinds of roads and that that rural highways showed a 9.1 percent increase in fatalities on roads where speed limits were raised. “If you’re looking at an 85 mph speed limit, we could possibly see drivers going 95 up to 100 miles per hour,” says Sandra Helin, president of the Southwestern Insurance Information Service. “When you get to those speeds, your accidents are going to be a lot worse. You’re going to have a lot more fatalities.""
Security

Submission + - Symantec: our new security software can speed up Windows 8 ... somehow (pcadvisor.co.uk)

Submitted by LiroXIV
LiroXIV writes: Symantec has claimed that not only would the new version of its Norton 360 security software make Windows 8 "more secure", the company also claims in a report it commissioned that the new software somehow also makes Windows 8 run 50% faster (as if it weren't already fast to begin with). Norton has been criticized for its bloat in recent years; are they trying to say something about Windows 8's pre-loaded security software Windows Defender? Although it is to be noted that Symantec "funded the production of this report, selected the test metrics and list of products to include in this report, and supplied some of the test scripts used for the tests"

Submission + - GSM/GPRS & GPS shield for Arduino (hackaday.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Cellular shields for the Arduino have been around for ages, but this is the first one we’ve seen that turns your Arduino into a proper cell phone.

The shield is based around the SIM900 GSM/GPRS radio module, and is compatible with the SIM908 GSM/GPRS module that adds a GPS receiver. Also on board this shield are a pair of 1/8 audio jacks, perfect for connecting a microphone and headphones. Yes, you can actually make cell phone calls with your Arduino now.
Google

Submission + - Google Extends Patent Search to Prior Art - I wonder why? (i-programmer.info)

Submitted by mikejuk
mikejuk writes: As well as buying up patents to defend itself against the coming Apple attack on Android, Google is also readying its own technology. It has extended its Patent Search facility to include European patents and has added a Prior Art facility.
The new Prior Art facility seems to be valuable both to inventors and to the legal profession. In order to be granted a patent the inventor has to establish that it is a novel idea — and in the current litigious environment companies and their lawyers might want to show that patents should not have been granted. My guess is that this is one Google facility that won't be closing any time soon as one of its main users is likely to be Google.
Operating Systems

Submission + - Secure Operating System Qubes Officially Released (net-security.org)

Submitted by Orome1
Orome1 writes: Joanna Rutkowska, CEO of Invisible Things Lab, today released version 1.0 of Qubes, a stable and reasonably secure desktop OS. It is the most secure option among the existing desktop operating systems — even more secure than Apple's iOS, which puts each application into its own sandbox and does not count on the user to make security decisions. Qubes will offer users the option of using disposable virtual machines for executing tasks they believe could harm their computer. These VMs will be lightweight, easily and extremely speedily created and booted, and would be just as easy to discard.
United States

Submission + - GOP opposes net neutrality, internet piracy (patexia.com)

Submitted by
ericjones12398
ericjones12398 writes: "While GOP candidates won't stop publicly disavowing it, all eyes are on the Republican platform. The convention, which closed Thursday, inserted a number of controversial planks regarding abortion, English-only laws and a committee to examine the possibility of returning to the gold standard. Receiving considerably less attention was the downright Orwellian naming of the "Internet freedom plank," which opposes net neutrality."
Android

Submission + - Don't download that app: US presidential candidates will STALK you with it (theregister.co.uk) 1

Submitted by puddingebola
puddingebola writes: Apps released by both the Obama and Romney campaigns have been found to have "privacy issues." From the article: "Experts at GFI Software looked at the Android versions of both apps, discovering both to be surprisingly invasive.
Obama for America and Mitt’s VP request permissions, access to services and data and capabilities beyond their core mandate."
Unix

Submission + - Schillix forks from OpenIndiana to preserve Solaris ideals (berlios.de)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Schillix is a fork of OpenIndiana that was started since its creators felt that the latter was diverging from the original ideals of Solaris. This project aims to preserve compatibility with both Posix and SVR4. The platforms supported however are only x86/x64, and SPARC will only be supported if people are interested in getting it added.

Exit question: Anybody thinks anybody will prefer this to Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD or even Solaris (I'm not even bringing Windows in question here)? Or would Schillix have done better by initially targeting SPARC, and going for x86/x64 only had that succeeded?
Google

Submission + - Google talks about the dangers of user content (blogspot.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: I stumbled on an interesting, in-depth article on the Google security blog about the dangers faced by modern web applications when hosting any user supplied data. The surprising conclusion is that it's apparently almost impossible to host images or text files safely unless you use a completely separate domain. Is it really that bad? Why after 15 years we still can't get it right?

Submission + - World's first 3D printed racing car can pace at 140 km/h (techtripper.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A group of 16 engineers named “Group T” have unveiled a racing car “Areion”. The group is competing in Formula Student 2012 challenge, and the car they have unveiled is world’s first 3D printed race car. The Areion is not wholly 3D printed but most of it actually is. It was tested on Hockenheim race circuit and went from zero to 100km/h in just four seconds. Maximum speed Areion achieved on the same circuit was 141km/h. The car is eco-friendly as well as a motivation for innovative fields of technology. Cutting-edge technologies integrated into their environmentally friendly race car included an electric drive train, bio-composite materials and 3D printing on a big scale with Materialise.
Music

Submission + - Man With World's Deepest Voice Hits Notes That Only Elephants Can Hear

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The man who holds the Guinness record for the world's lowest voice can hit notes so low that only animals as big as elephants are able to hear them. American singer Tim Storms who also has the world's widest vocal range can reach notes as low as G-7 (0.189Hz),an incredible eight octaves below the lowest G on the piano.

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