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Submission + - 2 Billion Bill Handed to Zuckerberg From The IRS? (cnn.com)

Submitted by smitty777
smitty777 writes: Due to Facebook founder Mark Zukerberg's move to exercise stock options, he may be facing a tax bill as high as 2 billion dollars. He currently owns some 400 million shares, but has the option to buy 120 million shares more at the rock bottom price of .06 cents each. FTA: "The type of options Zuckerberg holds are taxable as ordinary income when they're exercised, even if the shareholder hangs onto the shares and doesn't sell them. That means Zuckerberg will owe taxes on the difference between what he pays for his Facebook shares — 6 cents — and their market value the day he exercises the options."

Submission + - BigDog grows into LS3 (robots.net)

Submitted by savuporo
savuporo writes: Well known ( and spoofed ) Boston Dynamics BigDog prototype now has a bigger brother named "LS3" or Legged Squad Support System. It's intended to carry heavy loads for long treks and have enough autonomy to follow soldiers around, listen to voice commands and navigate autonomously. More at DARPA press release, and the obligatory Youtube clip. It's a tad noisier than a mule.

Comment First Round of "winners" arranged? (Score 1) 75

by jpwilliams (#38960745) Attached to: Saylor Foundation Awards Prizes To Free College Textbooks

While looking at the copyright page for the real analysis book that "won" I found this ...

"Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) license made
possible by funding from The Saylor Foundation’s Open Textbook Challenge..."

I'm not saying there's foul play afoot, but it seems odd.

Cool none the less. I wonder if the books are any good.
Science

Submission + - If You're Fat, Broke, and Smoking, Blame Language (vice.com) 1

Submitted by
pigrabbitbear
pigrabbitbear writes: "Us Americans tend to spend more, save less, and carry more than a few extra pounds as compared to the rest of the world. We’re not alone; the Greeks, for one, have similar traits. Meanwhile, folks like the Germans are fitter, thriftier, and save more for retirement. The Chinese blow us away when it comes to saving money, and their savings rate continues to surge. What’s the deal? It’s long been acknowledged that some groups are better at focusing on the future than others, but explanations are usually based around a mix of history, culture, and psychology. But could it be language’s fault?

That’s the argument posed by this wonderful conversation-inducing paper (PDF) written by M. Keith Chen at Yale. Chen posits that the differences between cultures’ approaches to savings, health, and other long-term issues are rooted in grammar and syntax. In essence, he says that some groups don’t care about having an empty IRA and smoking a pack a day because the way they talk makes the future seem far enough off to ignore."
Security

Submission + - Symantec Confirms Leak of pcAnywhere Source Code (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: Symantec confirmed that following claims from Anonymous that additional Symantec product source code would be released, the claims are true, and the said files are in fact the legitimate source code from its pcAnywhere product. Not only that, but Symantec says source code from other products is likely to be released as well.

"We can confirm that the [released] source code is legitimate," Symantec said. "It is part of the original cache of code for 2006 versions of the products that Anonymous has claimed to have been in possession during the last few weeks.”

A Symantec spokesperson also said the company anticipates Anonymous to post the rest of the code they have claimed have in their possession. “So far, they have posted code for the 2006 version of Norton Internet Security and pcAnywhere. We also anticipate that at some point, they will post the code for Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition and Norton Systemworks. Both products no longer exist.”

The code release comes after what Symantec said was a failed extortion attempt to get Symantec to pay $50,000 for the hacker not to release the code.

Comment Re:Good (Score 1) 286

by jpwilliams (#38959479) Attached to: Apple Could Lose $1.6 Billion In iPad Lawsuit
Of course they knew the name was taken, but since iPad was such a logical name for the device, they probably decided the likely lawsuit and resulting fines are acceptable as the cost of doing business. And it should be. The iPad (Apple's version) has already made a ton of money, and the franchise will make a ton more.

Personally, I think it's silly Proview can collect such a large amount of money simply for using the name first. Then again, Apple tried to reserve "appstore" ... karma anyone?

People get upset when companies sue each other, but it's par for the course for tech companies. Reading the news would make you think all these lawsuits are a new trend, but it's been going on for a long time (at least since the 80s on). What get's frustrating is when laws limit the ability for companies to create new products.
Science

Submission + - Smartphone reads mood, suggests activities (northwestern.edu)

Submitted by
garthsundem
garthsundem writes: "A new smartphone by researchers at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine "harnesses all the sensor data within the phone to interpret a person's location, activity level (via an accelerometer), social context and mood."

The phone learns your usual patterns of calls and text messages, and then if it senses you are isolated, it will send you a suggestion to call or see friends. In a pilot study, the technology reduced symptoms of depression."

Comment Re:Snipers? WTF? (Score 1) 124

by jpwilliams (#38958025) Attached to: DARPA Investing In Electric Brain Stimulation To Train Snipers Quickly
This stimulation wouldn't directly effect muscle memory, but it's part of a whole system. I think more research is needed. It be interesting to see a situation where the brain has acquired the necessary pathways to be better, but the muscle tissue and peripheral nervous system hasn't caught up. BTW, TFA does mention sniping specifically. From TFA:

Weisend, who is working on a US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency programme to accelerate learning, has been using this form of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to cut the time it takes to train snipers

Comment Re:Did I miss the memo? (Score 1) 124

by jpwilliams (#38957941) Attached to: DARPA Investing In Electric Brain Stimulation To Train Snipers Quickly
Just venturing a guess, but sniping, as opposed to other combat skills, seems a rather controlled, calculable (word?) action. Compare it to moving through a city in formation, disarming a bomb, etc. Don't get me wrong, snipers are highly skilled and gifted, but the complexity of the tax, I think, is better suited to a technology that augments the brains natural learning rhythms. In other words, it's not because they need more snipers, but because they need to test the tech. PS. Manchurian Candidate, anyone?
Politics

Submission + - Antarctic lake uncovered after 20 million years (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by Tastecicles
Tastecicles writes: After several years of procrastination, Russian scientists have drilled through 2.2 miles of permafrost and breached the pristine waters of Lake Vostok in Antarctica. While excitement mounts over the unique life forms that may live in the lake, worry about contamination from drill lubricants and modern bacteria has always been a sticking point. Either way, it's a bit late for worrying about that now; what the Russians have is a major scientific coup. How do they plan on capitalising on this?
Iphone

Submission + - Obama Campaign Makes Everyone a Bundler (itworld.com)

Submitted by
itwbennett
itwbennett writes: "At the end of an NPR segment on the Obama campaign's tech spending is a tidbit that should make Republican fundraisers sit up and take note, writes ITworld's Josh Fruhlinger. The campaign is buying hundreds of Square credit card readers, to turn its masses of iPhone-toting liberals into 'bundlers' who 'upon hearing a friend griping about Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich, could swoop in and ask that they put their money where their mouth is.'"
Data Storage

Submission + - Hot Idea for a Faster Hard Drive (sciencemag.org) 2

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: An ultrashort heat pulse can predictably flip a bit in a magnetic memory like the one in your hard drive. The surprising effect could ultimately lead to magnetic memories hundreds of times faster and more energy efficient than today's hard drives. It also provides a way to control the direction in which a bit is magnetized without applying something else that has a direction, such as a magnetic field.

Submission + - 3-D Printer-Created Jaw Implanted in 83-Year-Old Woman

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A group of medical researchers from Belgium and the Netherlands successfully replaced the jaw of an 83-year-old woman with a 3-D printer-created lower jaw in what doctors say was the first operation of its kind.

The transplant operation conducted in the Netherlands in June was meant to treat the woman’s osteomyelitis, a severe bone infection that affected her entire lower jawbone, but details of the groundbreaking procedure have just emerged.

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