Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - For the First Time, NASA Has Caught Footage of the Shockwave of a Supernova (techienews.co.uk)

Submitted by TechnoidNash
TechnoidNash writes: Using the planet-hunting Kepler space telescope, NASA has captured footage of an exploding star’s shockwave, known as a “shock breakout” by astronomers. This is the first time scientists have managed to catch this rare aspect of a supernova in the spectrum of visible light. The dying star was a massive red giant star that was nearly 300 times the size our sun, and the footage of its supernova is both scientifically fascinating and aesthetically mesmerising.

Submission + - NASA Will Intentionally Burn Unmanned Orbiting Craft In Space (phys.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: NASA said it will test the effects of a large fire in space by setting off a blaze inside an orbiting unmanned space craft. NASA has set off tiny controlled fires in space in the past, but never tested how large flames react inside a space capsule in space. The goal is to measure the size of the flames, how quickly they spread, the heat output, and how much gas is emitted. The results of this experiment, dubbed Saffire-1, will determine how much fire resistance is needed in the ultra-light material used in the spacecraft and the astronaut's gear. It will also help NASA build better fire detection and suppression systems for their spaceships, and study how microgravity and limited amounts of oxygen affect the size of the flames.

Submission + - Children to Parents: 'Don't Post About Me on Facebook Without Asking Me'

Submitted by HughPickens.com
HughPickens.com writes: Sites like Facebook and Instagram are now baked into the world of today’s families. Many, if not most, new parents post images of their newborn online within an hour of birth, and some parents create social media accounts for the children themselves — often to share photos and news with family, although occasionally in the pursuit of “Instafame” for their fashionably clad, beautifully photographed sons and daughters. Now KJ Dell'Antonia writes in the NYT about the growing disconnect between parents and their children and the one surprising rule children want that their parents to know: Don’t post anything about me on social media without asking me. “As these children come of age, they’re going to be seeing the digital footprint left in their childhood’s wake,” says Stacey Steinberg. “While most of them will be fine, some might take issue with it.” Alexis Hiniker studied 249 parent-child pairs distributed across 40 states and found about three times more children than parents thought there should be rules about what parents shared on social media. “Twice as many children as parents expressed concerns about family members oversharing personal information about them on Facebook and other social media without permission,” says co-author Sarita Schoenebeck. “Many children said they found that content embarrassing and felt frustrated when their parents continued to do it.”

When researchers asked kids what technology rules they wished their parents would follow — a less common line of inquiry — the answers fell into seven general categories: 1) Be present — Children felt there should be no technology at all in certain situations, such as when a child is trying to talk to a parent. 2) Child autonomy — Parents should allow children to make their own decisions about technology use without interference. 3) Moderate use — Parents should use technology in moderation and in balance with other activities. 4) Supervise children — Parents should establish and enforce technology-related rules for children’s own protection. 5) Not while driving — Parents should not text while driving or sitting at a traffic light. 6) No hypocrisy — Parents should practice what they preach, such as staying off the Internet at mealtimes. 7) No oversharing — Parents shouldn’t share information online about their children without explicit permission.

Submission + - Dark Mercury's 'pencil lead crust' revealed (ynet.co.il)

Submitted by דבירוש סגל
דבירוש סגל writes: Nasa's Mercury Messenger spacecraft orbited the innermost planet between 2011 and 2015

The planet Mercury may once have been encased in an outer shell of graphite, the same material used as pencil lead.

The surface of the innermost planet is unusually dark, and scientists now think they know why.

Scientists analysing data from Nasa's Mercury Messenger spacecraft now think this mystery darkening agent is carbon in the form of graphite.

This graphite may be a relic of the planet's primordial crust, which was later covered up by volcanism.

The findings are published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Patrick Peplowski from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Maryland and colleagues analysed measurements of the darkest parts of Mercury's surface taken by Messenger at the end of its mission.

Submission + - Judge Slams Anthem, Rules That Breach Constitutes Harm To Customers (digitalguardian.com)

Submitted by chicksdaddy
chicksdaddy writes: You would think that the "damages" caused by massive online thefts, like those leveled against Target, Home Depot and Anthem Healthcare are self evident. But companies are arguing hard that they can't be sued for damages resulting from data breaches because the "victims" can't show that they were harmed by the theft. That was the case back in June, when lawyers for Home Depot filed a motion to have a case linked to the compromise at that company dropped. The case was brought by customers whose data was stolen in the attack, but Home Depot's attorneys argued that those customers could't prove that they were harmed by the theft of their credit card information. (https://digitalguardian.com/blog/are-data-breaches-victimless-crime)

Now a judge in San Francisco has dealt a blow to would-be defendants,finding against the health insurer Anthem in a case brought by customers whose data was stolen in that attack. n an opinion released on Sunday, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh found that the loss of personal information in the breach of Anthem constitutes harm under New York’s General Business Law. The ruling rejected arguments from Anthem and its lawyers that no direct harm resulted from the breach, which was first disclosed in February, 2015, The Recorder reported this week. (http://www.therecorder.com/id=1202749865875/Judge-Rejects-Key-Defense-in-Anthem-DataBreach-Suits)

In her decision in the Anthem case, Koh reasoned that the theft of personal identification information is harm to consumers in itself, regardless of whether any subsequent misuse of it can be proven. Allegations of a “concrete and imminent threat of future harm" are enough to establish an injury and standing in the early stages of a breach suit, she said.(https://digitalguardian.com/blog/judge-anthem-case-rules-breach-harmed-patients)

Submission + - Fake Back to the Future prequel looks better than real movies

Submitted by gurps_npc
gurps_npc writes: This trailer is not for a real movie. It is a fake put together from multiple movies — mostly Christopher Loyd with a few spy movies. It purports to show an intense spy drama detailing how Dr. Emmett Brown stole the plutonium for use in Back to the Future.



That said, it looks like a better movie than 99% of the stuff Hollywood actually puts out there. Frankly, I would almost rather watch the trailer 10 times than watch Ride Along 2.

Submission + - TP-Link confirms Wifi freedom is dead- All routers to be locked down (ninux.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: We got confirmation today from one of the largest router manufacturer that they have begun locking router firmware down due to recent FCC rule changes. This is exactly what the Save Wifi campaign participants had been arguing would happen for the past several months. Despite the FCC unequivocally denying that this was there intention it was irrelevant to the outcome, and the expected response of manufacturers to the new rules. The competitiveness of the market and costs of compliance means the only real solution for manufactures to comply is the lock down of there router's firmware. The TP-Link rep went on to say that all future routers would be locked down as a direct result of the rule changes.

These rules are bad and already hindering user freedom. The FCC has pulled a fast one and we need to fight back. This is a major security and privacy threat which will lead to even buggier and more insecure wireless hardware. A legal campaign to end this nonsense will require significantly more funding and criticism. Unfortunately the major players on fighting this are burning out. Christopher Waid, of ThinkPenguin, Dave Taht, of BufferBloat, Eric Schultz, Josh Gay of the FSF, and others just don't have the time or resources to keep fighting this. Don't let this be the end.

The Save Wifi campaign needs major financial help if we're going to put an end to this. Please donate to the effort at: https://www.gofundme.com/savew... . Please see www.SaveWIfi.org for updates.

Read more about what TP-Link had to say here:

http://ml.ninux.org/pipermail/...

Submission + - Copyright Professor's Lecture Removed from YouTube over Sony Content-ID Claim (torrentfreak.com)

Submitted by ShaunC
ShaunC writes: William Fisher, a professor of intellectual property law at Harvard, posted to YouTube a lecture titled "The Subject Matter of Copyright: Music." In discussing the complexities of music licensing and cover songs, Fisher played several short clips of music by Hendrix, Santana, and others. Sony responded by having the lecture removed from YouTube, ignoring any fair use protection in excerpting works for educational purposes. While the video was restored after public backlash, most YouTube users don't have Harvard Law School backing them up. Once again, a company has issued overreaching copyright claims with no penalty or consequence for harming an innocent party.

Submission + - All 12 Countries Sign off on the TPP (freezenet.ca)

Submitted by Dangerous_Minds
Dangerous_Minds writes: News is surfacing that the TPP has officially been signed by all 12 countries. This marks the beginning of the final step towards ratification. Freezenet has a quick rundown of what copyright provisions are contained in the agreement including traffic shaping, site blocking, enforcement of copyright when infringement is "imminent", and a government mandate for ISPs to install backdoors for the purpose of tracking copyright infringement on the Internet.

Submission + - National Geographic Gives Control Of Media Assets To Fox

Submitted by KatchooNJ
KatchooNJ writes: In a $725 million deal, Fox (Rupert Murdoch) now owns a majority share of National Geographic. As many of you likely know, Rupert Murdoch has famously not been quiet about his denial of climate change. National Geographic gives grants to scientists... so, is anything going to now change with the focus of National Geographic's organization?

Submission + - Is The End Of Government Acceptance Of Homeopathy In Sight? (theness.com) 1

Submitted by cold fjord
cold fjord writes: It looks like Homeopathy is in for a rough stretch ahead as shown in a chart and noted by Steven Novella at NEUROLoOGICAblog, "Homeopathy is perhaps the most obviously absurd medical pseudoscience. It is also widely studied, and has been clearly shown to not work. Further, there is a huge gap in the public understanding of what homeopathy is; it therefore seems plausible that the popularity of homeopathy can take a huge hit just by telling the public what it actually is. ... In 2010 the UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee completed a full report on homeopathy in which they concluded it is witchcraft – that it cannot work, it does not work, and support for homeopathy in the national health service should be completely eliminated. In 2015 the Australian government completed its own review, concluding that there is no evidence that homeopathy works for anything. Homeopathy is a placebo. ... The FDA and the FTC in the United States are now both receiving testimony, questioning their current regulation of homeopathy. ... There is even a possibility that the FDA will decide to do their actual job – require testing of homeopathic products to demonstrate efficacy before allowing them on the market. If they do this simple and obvious thing, the homeopathic industry in the US will vanish over night, because there is no evidence to support any homeopathic product for any indication." — More on the FDA hearings at Science-Based Medicine

Submission + - Microsoft stealthily backs away from free Windows 10 promise (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by ourlovecanlastforeve
ourlovecanlastforeve writes: On Friday, Microsoft described a way for anyone to get Windows 10 for free: activated, genuine, and updated forever. Since Friday, the blog post describing the changes to the Windows Insider preview program has been silently updated. Previously it said that signed up members of the Insider Program running a preview version would "receive the Windows 10 final release build and remain activated." Now it says only that they will "receive the Windows 10 final release build." The activation wording has been removed. The company has also added a "clarifying" sentence: "It's important to note that only people running Genuine Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 can upgrade to Windows 10 as part of the free upgrade offer." This is in contrast to what the company said on Friday, when Microsoft's Gabe Aul confirmed that upgraded preview copies would be Genuine.

Submission + - As Prison Population Sinks, Jails Are a Steal

Submitted by HughPickens.com
HughPickens.com writes: After rising rapidly for decades, the number of people behind bars peaked at 1.62 Million in 2009, has been mostly falling ever since down, and many justice experts believe the incarceration rate will continue on a downward trajectory for many years. New York, for example, saw an 8.8% decline in federal and state inmates, and California, saw a 20.6% drop. Now the WSJ reports on an awkward byproduct of the declining U.S. inmate population: empty or under-utilized prisons and jails that must be cared for but can’t be easily sold or repurposed. New York state has closed 17 prisons and juvenile-justice facilities since 2011, following the rollback of the 1970s-era Rockefeller drug laws, which mandated lengthy sentences for low-level offenders. So far, the state has found buyers for 10 of them, at prices that range from less than $250,000 to about $8 million for a facility in Staten Island, often a fraction of what they cost to build. “There’s a prisoner shortage,” says Mike Arismendez, city manager for Littlefield, Texas, home of an empty five-building complex that sleeps 383 inmates and comes with a gym, maintenence shed, armory, and parking lot . “Everybody finds it hard to believe.”

The incarceration rate is declining largely because crime has fallen significantly in the past generation. In addition, many states have relaxed harsh sentencing laws passed during the tough-on-crime 1980s and 1990s, and have backed rehabilitation programs, resulting in fewer low-level offenders being locked up. States from Michigan to New Jersey have changed parole processes, leading more prisoners to leave earlier. On a federal level, the Justice Department under Attorney General Eric Holder has pushed to reduce sentences for nonviolent drug offenders. Before 2010, the U.S. prison population increased every year for 30 years, from 307,276 in 1978 to a high of 1,615,487 in 2009. “This is the beginning of the end of mass incarceration,” says Natasha Frost. "People don’t care so much about crime, and it’s less of a political focus."

Submission + - Hong Kong protesters use a mesh network to organise (newscientist.com)

Submitted by wabrandsma
wabrandsma writes: from New Scientist:

Hong Kong's mass protest is networked. Activists are relying on a free app that can send messages without any cellphone connection.

Since the pro-democracy protests turned ugly over the weekend, many worry that the Chinese government would block local phone networks.

In response, activists have turned to the FireChat app to send supportive messages and share the latest news. On Sunday alone, the app was downloaded more than 100,000 times in Hong Kong, its developers said. FireChat relies on "mesh networking", a technique that allows data to zip directly from one phone to another via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Ordinarily, if two people want to communicate this way, they need to be fairly close together. But as more people join in, the network grows and messages can travel further.

Mesh networks can be useful for people who are caught in natural disasters or, like those in Hong Kong, protesting under tricky conditions. FireChat came in handy for protesters in Taiwan and Iraq this year.

Submission + - DARPA image technology would move way beyond X-Rays (networkworld.com)

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes: Getting a better view inside mostly dense objects like corrosion in aircraft wings and welds on ships or even gunpowder hidden in suitcases are just a few of the applications researchers at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are hoping to develop with a new program called Intense and Compact Neutron Sources (ICONS).

Slashdot Top Deals

"Who alone has reason to *lie himself out* of actuality? He who *suffers* from it." -- Friedrich Nietzsche

Close