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Submission + - Flying to the US? Pay in Cash

Submitted by pin_gween
pin_gween writes: According to the Telegraph, British travelers using a credit card to purchase their ticket may now have their credit card and email accounts inspected by the United States authorities. The US has demanded more information about travelers after 9/11 and this past October, an agreement was reached by the EU on 34 items the airlines may hand over. Much of it is routine but some elements will prove more contentious, such as a passenger's email address, whether they have a previous history of not turning up for flights and any religious dietary requirements. Initially, such material could be inspected for seven days but a reduced number of US officials could view it for three and a half years. Should any record be inspected during this period, the file could remain open for eight years.

The US states it will "encourage" US carriers to reciprocate any requests by European governments.
The Internet

Submission + - Wikipedia blocks Qatar from posting

Submitted by
nwetters
nwetters writes: "Qatar is a small country on the Arabian Peninsula. As is the way in many parts of the world, Internet traffic is censored through a proxy server, and this has led to the whole country being blocked from posting to prevent vandalism."
Media

Submission + - Indian farmers receive instant weather alerts

Submitted by
abahuman
abahuman writes: "IIT idea that beeps help for farmers Chitrangada Choudhury Mumbai, December 30, 2006 Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1884311,000 8.htm On the evening of November 11, Nashik grape farmer Arun More's cellphone beeped with an SMS from a lab 220 km away at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai. Sent by three-month-old Agrocom Pvt Ltd, the text message predicted unseasonal rain two days later in his village of Pimpalgaon Basant. And that's exactly what happened. "But since I had prior information, I could spray fungicide accordingly. I managed to save my orchard from the mildew that would have destroyed the crop," says More. Agrocom is the brainchild of a group of software engineers associated with IIT's Developmental Informatics Laboratory. In 2004, tying up with the state's Krishi Vigyan Kendra, it set up the online portal Almost All Questions Answered (aAQUA), getting experts to answer farmer queries from all over Maharashtra, and now other states, usually within 24 hours. "Our interaction with farmers suggested that there was a need for accurate and timely weather information. Agrocom wants to address that," says its marketing head Shantanu Inamdar. And the SMS service did just that. This is how it works: Farmers pay a monthly charge of Rs 50, and receive SMSes every three days from Agrocom that predict cloud cover and rain. "We source our information from the state Krishi Vigyan Kendra's Nasik and Pune centres. After farmer feedback in the past weeks, we are working towards providing them temperature and humidity forecasts too," says Inamdar. The group has notched up 180 subscribers in its first month — mostly grape farmers in Nashik, Sangli, Pune and Aurangabad. It is now looking to reach out to cultivators in Vidarbha and Marathwada, including village panchayats. MD Anil Bahuman says Agrocom wants to keep subscriber fees lowby relying on "targeted ads related to farmer queries on our website. Something like the ads you see in your Gmail." More says the SMS service is simple, but valuable. "We could rely on TV's INSAT picture or the internet, but that doesn't work for villages where there are connectivity and electricity problems. Imagine, if Vidarbha farmers had such help, they wouldn't have to deal with the prospect of expensive re-sowing at the start of every season if rains are delayed.""
The Internet

Submission + - Angry blogger blocks Digg traffic

Submitted by
amigoro
amigoro writes: "Here is an article about an angry blogger blocking Digg users after diggers made nasty comments about one of his articles without RTFA. If you follow the Digg link to the story, you get a 403 "Go Away!"

While one swallow does not make a summer, but this is just one indication that people are slowly turning away from the Digg "phenomenon". There's a fair number of /. who don't RTFA but at least they get moderated down if they start commenting on an article they haven't bothered to read. Unfortunately, it is rule of the kidde mob at Digg. Either they will grow up, or Digg will go down like so many other mob phenomena."
Graphics

Submission + - What's hidden under Greenland ice?

Submitted by
Roland Piquepaille
Roland Piquepaille writes: "Ice has covered Greenland for millions of years. So what's hidden under this ice cap? Mountains and valleys? Rivers and lakes? Of course, we might know it sooner than we would have liked if the ice covering Greenland continues to melt. But researchers from Ohio State University have decided that they wanted to know it next year and have developed a radar to reveal views of land beneath polar ice. Their first tests of this new radar, which helps them to catch 3-D images of the ground under the ice, took place in May 2006. The next images will be shot in April 2007. Here are some images of the new GISMO device and what it can do."
Education

Submission + - Physics Fun with Scalding Hot Water

Submitted by
Dan Olive
Dan Olive writes: "The students in the Advanced Physics Lab at Illinois Institute of Technology built a geyser as one of their experiments this semester. Powering the 6 foot tall creation is nothing more than an electric roasting oven; a copper fire pit provides the basin, and a copper pipe joins the two (along with a generous helping of epoxy.) Throw in some sensors to measure temperature and pressure and you have the makings of a science experiment that not only affords a study in heat, pressure, and hydrodynamics, but chaos as well. The unpredictable (read: highly sensitive to initial conditions) nature of the eruptions, which vary from several feet high to not much more than a trickle, led to the affectionate nickname "Old Yeller," a takeoff of its geologic cousin Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park.

A video of the geyser in action, entitled "Physics Fun with Scalding Hot Water" has been posted on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr_uko0TiD4"
Software

Submission + - Sun Releases Looking Glass 1.0

Submitted by
michaelwigle
michaelwigle writes: "Sun has just released Project Looking Glass 1.0. This new 3D user interface that not only works in Linux but also in Windows. Although there aren't many lg3d apps yet some of your Linux native apps may work but not Windows native apps. It's certainly a cool interface and worth playing with. Could this be a show that Sun is serious about getting on the desktop? Go to The Looking Glass Project Home for more info and download to Windows or Linux (Debian packages for Ubuntu Dapper are already available)."
Media (Apple)

Submission + - Apple witohut Jobs?

Submitted by CDPatten
CDPatten writes: The internet is buzzing with speculation that Steve Jobs may step down over reports that he profited $7.5 million in stock options by falsifying an executive board meeting. The financial times has a good overview of the unfolding story.

From the Article:

"Steve Jobs, chief executive of Apple Computer, was handed 7.5m stock options in 2001 without the required authorization from the company's board of directors, according to people familiar with the matter.

Records that purported to show a full board meeting had taken place to approve Mr Jobs' remuneration, as required by Apple's procedures, were later falsified. These are now among the pieces of evidence being weighed by the Securities and Exchange Commission as it decides whether to pursue a case against the company or any individuals over the affair, according to these people."
Movies

Submission + - HD-DVD encryption crack surfaces

Submitted by spisska
spisska writes: This looks preliminary but genuine. Poster muslix64 at doom9 has put up links to BackupHDDVD, a tool to decrypt a AACS protected movie. The program is written in Java and seems to work by retrieving encrypted keys from memory. Windows-only at the moment, but since it's Java-based, ports should not be difficult.

The post includes links to source and executable [alternate download site] as well as video of the program in action. It's not quite the death of AACS yet, but a significant first step. Congratulations. The paint on the prison isn't even dry yet and there are already holes in the wall.
Sci-Fi

Submission + - The Mathematics of Full-Wave Invibility/Cloaking

Submitted by
urscientist
urscientist writes: "November 30, 2006: The invisibility cloak recently built by scientists at Duke University and Imperial College in London has received enormous attention all over the world. This breakthrough cloaking device makes a copper disk invisible at specific microwave frequencies. As it turns out, Mathematics Professor Allan Greenleaf of the University of Rochester along with Matti Lassas, who is now at the Helsinki University of Technology, and Gunther Uhlmann of the University of Washington, started the mathematics behind invisibility several years ago in the context of medical imaging and quantum mechanics. Joined by fourth member Yaroslav Kurylev of Loughborough University, the team has announced the mathematics of full-wave invisibility at all frequencies (http://www.arxiv.org/abs/math.AP/0611185). In their latest work, they examine the problem of cloaking not just passive objects, but also active devices that are emitting electromagnetic waves, and show that this requires modifying the original constructions.

http://www.seas.rochester.edu/~gresh/math/math_113 006.html"
Security

Submission + - Should changing grades ruin your future?

Submitted by
Neutari
Neutari writes: "From the Miami herald

The president of the senior class at Cooper City High School was arrested Tuesday on charges that he used passwords he found to break into the school district computer system and change grades. Ryan Shrouder, 18, faces two counts of a computer crime with intent to defraud, a second-degree felony after his arrest at school. He was released from the Broward County Jail after posting $5,000 bond. Each count is punishable by five years in prison.

"Investigators said he made the changes with his laptop, which was issued to him by the school district for his role as an alternate student advisor to the Broward School Board. Shrouder found a list of district log-ons, user names and passwords on the desk of a school computer technology specialist in October, according to the BSO report."

Recently, he was voted "most likely to become president" of the United States. And even more recently, he was arrested and charged with breaking into the school district's computer system and changing the grades of 19 students.

Yup, his classmates were right. This kid looks as if he's ready for a career in politics after all."
Privacy

Submission + - Government has a right to read your email

Submitted by
gone.fishing
gone.fishing writes: "A Lawsuit challenges government's right to read your e-mail. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune is reporting in this article: http://www.startribune.com/789/story/884388.html that a seller of "natural male enhancement" products sued after a fraud indictment based on evidence gleaned from his electronic mail. Federal prosecutors say they don't need a search warrant to read your e-mail messages if those messages happen to be stored in someone else's computer.

Guess Bob's not smiling now."

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