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Space

Submission + - Kepler: Nearest 'Second Earth' May be Right Next Door (discovery.com)

Submitted by
astroengine
astroengine writes: "Extrapolating from findings by NASA's planet-hunting Kepler Space Telescope, scientists on Wednesday said roughly six percent of so-called red dwarf stars have Earth-sized planets properly positioned around their parent stars so that liquid water could exist on their surfaces. The team looked at 95 candidate planets circling red dwarf stars observed by Kepler and found that at least 60 percent have planets smaller than Neptune. Most were not the right size or temperature to be Earth-like, but three were found to be both warm and approximately Earth-sized. Statistically that would mean six percent of all red dwarf stars should have a Earth-sized planet. Since 75 percent of the closest stars are red dwarfs, the nearest Earth-like world may be just 13 light-years away."
The Internet

Submission + - "We the People" API to be released (whitehouse.gov)

Submitted by Kwyj1b0
Kwyj1b0 writes: The Whitehouse plans to open up the APIs to its "We the People" initiative. The first set of Read APIs (allowing anyone to read data on petitions) will be released in March 2013. In addition, selected people will be invited to attend the White House Open Data Day Hackathon on February 22nd. Write APIs will follow, allowing people to extend petition capabilities to their own sites.
Privacy, of course, should be an important concern that needs to be addressed.

Submission + - Paper on conspiratorial thinking invokes conspiratorial thinking (shapingtomorrowsworld.org) 1

Submitted by Layzej
Layzej writes: Last summer a paper investigating the link between conspiratorial thinking and the rejection of climate science provoked a response on blogs skeptical of the scientific consensus that appeared to illustrate the very cognitive processes at the center of the research. This generated data for a new paper titled "Recursive fury: Conspiracist ideation in the blogosphere in response to research on conspiracist ideation" The researchers reviewed the reactions for evidence of conspirational thinking including the presumption of nefarious intent, perception of persecution, the tendency to detect meaning in random events, and the ability to interpret contrary evidence as evidence that the conspiracy is even greater in scope that was originally believed. Some of the hypotheses promoted to dismiss the findings of the original paper ultimately grew in scope to include actors beyond the authors, such as university executives, a media organization, and the Australian government. It is not clear whether the response to this paper will itself provide data for further research, or how far down this recursion could progress. I fear the answer may be "all the way"
Python

Submission + - Python Gets a Big Data Boost from DARPA (itworld.com)

Submitted by
itwbennett
itwbennett writes: "According to an ITworld report, 'DARPA (the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has awarded $3 million to software provider Continuum Analytics to help fund the development of Python's data processing and visualization capabilities for big data jobs. The money will go toward developing new techniques for data analysis and for visually portraying large, multi-dimensional data sets.'"
Medicine

Submission + - New anatomical structure discovered and described in human spine (utexas.edu)

Submitted by mkortsha
mkortsha writes: Researchers at The University of California, San Francisco have discovered a new anatomical feature of the human spine. Using micro-CT imaging technology the scientists were able to clearly image the presence of a secondary endplate layer in some spinal specimens. The double layer appears to provide additional support to the spinal endplate, which may help protect the vertebral body in case of endplate damage.
Earth

Submission + - New Nuclear Notebook: Non-P-5 nuclear-armed states (including North Korea), 2013 (sagepub.com)

Submitted by Lasrick
Lasrick writes: In this Nuclear Notebook, guest author Timothy McDonnell reviews the five states that developed nuclear weapons outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty—India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, and South Africa—and explores the milestones associated with each country’s weapons program. These states tend to have smaller, less technologically sophisticated nuclear arsenals, and have conducted fewer nuclear tests than the five nuclear powers—China, France, Great Britain, Russia, and the United States. But in some cases, the author writes, the line separating the technical differences between the two groups’ nuclear arsenals is starting to blur.
Businesses

Journal Journal: Group Policy for Firefox 1

Journal by surveyork

For those interested in managing large groups of Firefox-using computers.

From the web page:

"Firefox itself has no native Group Policy support with ADM or ADMX files to control these key settings, what are you going to do? It’s true there are third party companies like Frontmotion which will repackage, modify and “re-sell” Firefox – each and every time an update is created. It’s also true they provide some ADM support with this modified software.
Android

Submission + - Microsoft blames PC makers for Windows failure. (theregister.co.uk) 1

Submitted by rtfa-troll
rtfa-troll writes: The Register tells us that Microsoft has begun squabbling with PC manufacturers over the reasons behind the failure of Windows 8. Microsoft is "frustrated with major OEMs who didn't build nearly enough touch systems". PC manufacturers have hit back saying that they "would have been saddled with the costs of a huge piles of unsold units" claiming that customers actually avoided higher end touch products which were available and instead bought lower end cheaper laptops whilst "Microsoft is not blaming itself for" the failure of it's own touch device, surface RT. The PC manufacturer's claims that touch is the problem seem to be backed by reviews, and some educational rants from users and opinion from user interface design experts, however Microsoft sees this differently . Microsoft is planning to strike back at the PC vendors in February with Surface pro; with a shorter battery life and much heavier than a normal tablet, this is being seen as a direct competitor to traditional laptops. By using it's desktop operating system franchise as a lever Microsoft will be able to enter the lower specification end of the Laptop market with a cost advantage which make make life difficult for former partners such as HP and Dell.

We've discussed previously how some PC manufactures such as Dell have failed in generational change whilst others have diversified to survive market chainges; Samsung with Android and the (still) bestselling Chromebook. ASUS with their successful Nexus tablets. We also discussed the ergonomic problems which are claimed to make touch screens unsuitable for PC use.
Businesses

Submission + - Group Policy for Firefox (policypak.com)

Submitted by surveyork
surveyork writes: For those interested in managing large groups of Firefox-using computers.

From the web page:

"Firefox itself has no native Group Policy support with ADM or ADMX files to control these key settings, what are you going to do? It’s true there are third party companies like Frontmotion which will repackage, modify and “re-sell” Firefox – each and every time an update is created. It’s also true they provide some ADM support with this modified software.

But there’s a better way – a much better way.

When you use PolicyPak and our Pre-configured PolicyPak for Firefox, you get to use the actual, unchanged real and genuine Firefox. You’re NOT using a re-packaged Firefox.

Full Group Policy lockdown and enforcement is available right now for all versions (current and future) of Firefox.It’s a better way to manage Firefox in your enterprise."
Android

Submission + - BatteryTech Engine Arrives Just In Time For Ouya (droidgamers.com)

Submitted by rbgrn
rbgrn writes: The modern day game developer targeting mobile has a number of tool and engine options, but this is the year of the Android set-top-box and some products are staying ahead of the curve by supporting the new Ouya, Gamestick and other new Android controller packs officially. BatteryTech Engine is a cross-platform game engine developed by indie game devs Battery Powered Games and shortly after their 2.0 engine release, they announced they are up and running on Ouya and most other new and exciting platforms this year.

Submission + - Anonymous Hacks Federal Sentencing Commission website -- Posts Video (cbsnews.com) 2

Submitted by
anagama
anagama writes: ""This time there will be change, or there will be chaos." In response to the disproportionate prosecution of Swartz, Anonymous hacked the US. Sentencing Commission website and posted a video. One interesting thing discussed in the video, is an encrypted file that it is hoped will spread far and wide (mirror list — appears to be files related to Supreme Court Justices), the key for which would be released if reforms are not enacted. As for the statement itself, the text is available in the ZDNet article and mirror list linked above, and includes this clearly self-aware statement: "We [who] make this statement do not expect to be negotiated with; we do not desire to be negotiated with. We understand that due to the actions we take we exclude ourselves from the system within which solutions are found. There are others who serve that purpose, people far more respectable than us, people whose voices emerge from the light, and not the shadows. These voices are already making clear the reforms that have been necessary for some time, and are outright required now.""
Linux

Submission + - Linux 3.8-rc5 Released, Quietly (paritynews.com)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: Rather than the usual mailing list announcement for Linux kernel release Linus Torvalds has released Linux 3.8-rc5 quietly. With no announcement prior to release and even a day after the Linux 3.8-rc5 was tagged, Torvalds went onto post a message on Google+ about the release earlier today, The latest release candidate contains over 300 commits; has updates in btrfs, f2fs, ptrace and module loading and comes with quite a few driver updates.
Games

Submission + - Voxel.js creates open-source Minecraft-like games in a browser (joystiq.com)

Submitted by
Paul Fernhout
Paul Fernhout writes: "Richard Mitchell writes "Opensource JavaScript project creates Minecraftlike games in a browser Voxel.js is a new open-source project designed to allow anyone to create 3D games that run directly in a browser. Created by Max Ogden and James Halliday, Voxel.js is based on JavaScript and WebGL, and makes it relatively easy to build Minecraft-like games that play in browsers like Chrome."

An interview with Max Ogden about the creation of Voxel.js in 22 days.

The main site is at Voxel.js."

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