Comment Re:slow news day? (Score 1) 631
This seems perfectly normal to me. I can't see why everyone seems so puzzled about the idea of tax on benefits. But then of course taxes are a national sport here in Sweden.
Comment Re:Never liked coffee (Score 1) 584
Ever since I was a teenager people around me have kept telling me "You'll grow to like it". Well, I'm 30 now and I still don't like coffee. I've come to enjoy a lot of foods and beverages that are considered acquired tastes but never coffee.
You'll grow to like it.
Submission + - Spontaneous human combustion explained (wordpress.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Human spontaneous combustion is real and scientifically explainable and not super-natural. More than that it is not a product of alcoholism, the most commonly accepted scientific theory to date, but of ketosis, which results from many different conditions, including diabetes. These are the conclusions of Brian J. Ford, a well known, in the UK, independent researcher into microbiology and are based on his attempts to burn pig flesh marinated in both alcohol and acetone (produced by ketosis sufferers).
Submission + - "Cloud Computing" Surfing Huge Wave of Hype: Gartner (slashdot.org)
Nerval's Lobster writes: "Research firm Gartner’s new 2012 Hype Cycle of Emerging Technologies identified "Cloud computing" (along with a few other terms, such as “Near Field Communication” and “media tablets”) as terms attracting a good deal of buzz in the tech world.
Gartner uses the report to monitor the rise, maturity and decline of certain terms and concepts, the better for corporate strategists and planners to predict how things will trend over the next few months or years. As part of the report, Gartner’s analysts have built a Hype Cycle, seen above, which positions technologies on a graph tracing their rise, overexposure, inevitable fall, and eventual rehabilitation as quiet, productive, well-integrated, thoroughly un-buzz-worthy technologies.
Right now, Gartner views hybrid cloud computing, Big Data, crowdsourcing, and the “Internet of Things” as on the rise (i.e., positioned along the “Technology Trigger” portion of the research firm’s Hype Cycle), while private cloud computing, social analytics and the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) phenomenon are coasting at the Peak of Inflated Expectations."
Gartner uses the report to monitor the rise, maturity and decline of certain terms and concepts, the better for corporate strategists and planners to predict how things will trend over the next few months or years. As part of the report, Gartner’s analysts have built a Hype Cycle, seen above, which positions technologies on a graph tracing their rise, overexposure, inevitable fall, and eventual rehabilitation as quiet, productive, well-integrated, thoroughly un-buzz-worthy technologies.
Right now, Gartner views hybrid cloud computing, Big Data, crowdsourcing, and the “Internet of Things” as on the rise (i.e., positioned along the “Technology Trigger” portion of the research firm’s Hype Cycle), while private cloud computing, social analytics and the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) phenomenon are coasting at the Peak of Inflated Expectations."
Submission + - How to Line a Thermonuclear Reactor (sciencemag.org)
sciencehabit writes: One of the biggest question marks hanging over the ITER fusion reactor project—a giant international collaboration currently under construction in France—is over what material to use for coating its interior wall. After all, the reactor has to withstand temperatures of 100,000C and an intense particle bombardment.
Researchers have now answered that question by refitting the current world's largest fusion device, the Joint European Torus (JET) near Oxford, U.K., with a lining akin to the one planned for ITER. JET's new "ITER-like wall," a combination of tungsten and beryllium, is eroding more slowly and retaining less of the fuel than the lining used on earlier fusion reactors, the team reports.
Researchers have now answered that question by refitting the current world's largest fusion device, the Joint European Torus (JET) near Oxford, U.K., with a lining akin to the one planned for ITER. JET's new "ITER-like wall," a combination of tungsten and beryllium, is eroding more slowly and retaining less of the fuel than the lining used on earlier fusion reactors, the team reports.
Submission + - Kentucky lawmakers shocked to find evolution in biology tests (arstechnica.com) 2
bbianca127 writes: Kentucky mandated that schools include tests that are based on national standards, and contracted test maker ACT to handle them. Legislators were then shocked that evolution was so prominently featured, even though evolution is well-supported and a central tenet of modern biology. One KY Senator said that he wanted creationism taught alongside evolution, even though the Supreme Court has ruled that teaching creationism in science classes is a violation of the establishment clause. Representative Ben Wade stated that evolution is just a theory, and that Darwin made it all up. Legislators want ACT to make a Kentucky-specific ACT test, though the test makers say that would be prohibitively expensive. This is just the latest in a round of states' fight against evolution — Louisiana and Tennessee have recently passed laws directed at teaching evolution.
Comment Ericsson doesn't need the phones anymore (Score 1) 64
Ericsson has never been good at consumer electronics. The main reason for not quitting phone making 10 years ago was to secure supply of phones compatible with the mobile network standards they were advocating.
Comment Un-unlockable by PIN (Score 1) 274
It worked for so long I forgot the PIN code. So when it finally hung I need the PUK code...
Submission + - Air Force to blast second super-secret spaceship (networkworld.com)
coondoggie writes: "The US Air Force will launch a second secretive spaceship, the X-37B, tomorrow if the weather holds and all systems are go.
The first X-37B, known as Orbital Test Vehicle 1, launched April 22 last year and stayed in space conducting experiments for some 220 days. The Air Force stated. The ship fired its orbital maneuver engine in low-earth orbit to perform an autonomous reentry before landing, the Air Force stated."
The first X-37B, known as Orbital Test Vehicle 1, launched April 22 last year and stayed in space conducting experiments for some 220 days. The Air Force stated. The ship fired its orbital maneuver engine in low-earth orbit to perform an autonomous reentry before landing, the Air Force stated."
Submission + - Firefox 4 Tracking User Startup Times (internetnews.com)
darthcamaro writes: Did you know that Mozilla knows exactly how long it took for your Firefox 4 browser to start?
"You know how every day Firefox pings to get a list of blocked add-ons for security, what we send in that ping now is one number and that number is, how long did it take you to start-up this morning," Mike Beltzner Director of Firefox said. "So we're getting live start-up data from the field."
Submission + - Irony: Chrome OS beta Achilles' heel is the Web (infoworld.com)
GMGruman writes: The whole point of the forthcoming Google Chrome OS is to not be like today's Windows or Mac OS "fat client" style of computing, and instead rely on cloud-based resources for nearly everything. InfoWorld's Galen Gruman has been spending quality time with a prototype Cr-48 Chrome OS laptop and the beta version of Chrome OS, and finds that it's the cloud's Web resources that are likely to make or break the Chrome OS concept. Right now, they would break it, he finds, given the overly simplistic nature of Web apps today and the problems of working on a computer that needs you to be always connected. The real version is a good six months away, but Gruman is surprised that Google's own Web apps aren't already in beta form to show the Chrome OS in better light, given how long Google has been working on the project. Right now, the irony is that the cloud is failing the cloud-based Chrome OS.
Submission + - Opinions as Password (faqs.org)
An anonymous reader writes: A Sebastopol (CA) based startup "Fortknock Protection LLC" wants to replace passwords by short multiple choice tests, see their patent application (http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090276839). At signup, the user has to define a list of questions and answers. "Factual questions [...] are to be avoided", opinions should be stated instead.
The Secret Service will certainly be interested in the collected data :)
The Secret Service will certainly be interested in the collected data
Submission + - War on The Fourth Estate (frontwave.eu)
frontwave writes: Is the US government going to shut down the New York Time’s website, freeze their accounts, and prosecute their editors? By the same token they have collaborated with Wikileaks in disclosing confidential information. Are the European governments going after The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, El Pais?
In a recent editorial, The Nation’s editors say “By and large WikiLeaks has come to embrace the ethics that guide traditional news organizations' disclosure of secrets, and it should be afforded the same protections.”, and add “Critics characterize WikiLeaks' actions as indiscriminate document dumps, but at press time WikiLeaks had released only 1,095 cables, almost all vetted and redacted by its partner news organizations. WikiLeaks even asked the State Department to help redact the cables before they were released. It refused.” In the same editorial they point out “Over the past decade, our leaders have come to see secrecy as a casual right instead of a rare privilege.”
In a recent editorial, The Nation’s editors say “By and large WikiLeaks has come to embrace the ethics that guide traditional news organizations' disclosure of secrets, and it should be afforded the same protections.”, and add “Critics characterize WikiLeaks' actions as indiscriminate document dumps, but at press time WikiLeaks had released only 1,095 cables, almost all vetted and redacted by its partner news organizations. WikiLeaks even asked the State Department to help redact the cables before they were released. It refused.” In the same editorial they point out “Over the past decade, our leaders have come to see secrecy as a casual right instead of a rare privilege.”
Submission + - WikiLeaks Copycats Begin to Form (bryanhealey.com)
healeyb writes: Forbes is reporting on the sudden development of a number of WikiLeaks copycat websites, in addition to OpenLeaks, which includes BrusselsLeaks, which focuses on the European Union, BalkanLeaks, which focuses on the nations of the BalkanPeninsula, and IndoLeaks, which focuses on Indonesia and has already published revealing documents. These are but a few in what is sure to be a precipitous rise in competing websites, all echoing the cry for information freedom and governmental accountability...
Submission + - Death sentence in Chinese anti-virus bribery case (sophos.com) 1
An anonymous reader writes: A high-up Chinese government official, who took over 2 million dollars in bribes, has been given a suspended death sentence in a case which shows the bitter rivalry between rival anti-virus firms in the country.
Yu Bing, a former director of Internet monitoring department of the Ministry of Public Security, is said to have received bribes from a number of firms including 4.2 million yuan ($630,000) from leading Chinese anti-virus firm Rising. His firm sent out public warnings about malware, telling users to install Rising's product.
According to media reports, Yu pleaded guilty earlier this year to all charges of bribery charges and also fabricating evidence to frame Tian Yakui, a Vice President at Chinese anti-virus firm Micropoint, who used to work for Rising.
Tian spent 11 months in prison on the charges, before being released without charge, and his company said it lost over 30 million yuan (US$4.39 million) as a result of the action.
Micropoint is reported to be planning to launch a lawsuit seeking compensation for losses caused by the defamation. In the past, Rising has denied claims that it framed its competitor.
Yu Bing, a former director of Internet monitoring department of the Ministry of Public Security, is said to have received bribes from a number of firms including 4.2 million yuan ($630,000) from leading Chinese anti-virus firm Rising. His firm sent out public warnings about malware, telling users to install Rising's product.
According to media reports, Yu pleaded guilty earlier this year to all charges of bribery charges and also fabricating evidence to frame Tian Yakui, a Vice President at Chinese anti-virus firm Micropoint, who used to work for Rising.
Tian spent 11 months in prison on the charges, before being released without charge, and his company said it lost over 30 million yuan (US$4.39 million) as a result of the action.
Micropoint is reported to be planning to launch a lawsuit seeking compensation for losses caused by the defamation. In the past, Rising has denied claims that it framed its competitor.
