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Privacy

Denials Aside, Feds Storing Body Scan Images 560

Posted by timothy from the we-are-neither-amused-nor-surprised dept.
The new generation of body scanners employed at airports (and many other places) can record detailed, anatomically revealing pictures of each person scanned, which is one reason they've raised the hackles of privacy advocates as well as ordinary travelers. Now, AHuxley writes "The US Transportation Security Administration claimed last summer that 'scanned images cannot be stored or recorded.' It turns out that some police agencies are storing the controversial images. The US Marshals Service admitted that it had saved ~35,314 images recorded with a millimeter wave system at the security checkpoint of a single Florida courthouse. The images were stored on a Brijot Gen2 machine. The Electronic Privacy Information Center, an advocacy group, has filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to grant an immediate injunction to stop the TSA's body scanning program."
Idle

Superman Comic Saves Family Home From Foreclosure 217

Posted by samzenpus from the more-powerful-than-an-angry-banker dept.
A couple's home was saved from foreclosure after they found a copy of Action Comics #1 in a box in the basement. From the article: "In a statement released through ComicConnect, the owner of the prized comic book said the family was still 'a little shell shocked' after the unexpected find. 'I was so nervous when I realized what it was worth,' the owner said. 'I know I am very fortunate but I will be greatly relieved when this book finds a new home.'"
Government

Submission + - Fossil Fuels Receive 12X More Subsidies Than Renew (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by LesterMoore
LesterMoore writes: It's a familiar refrain: renewable energy won't look as enticing after government subsidies are removed. While renewable energy does get government incentives, it turns out fossil fuels get more — way more. According to Bloomberg, the fossil fuel industry reaps roughly 12 times the subsidies that the renewable energy sector does globally.
Image

Officials Use Google Earth To Find Unlicensed Pools 650

Posted by samzenpus from the eye-in-the-sky dept.
Officials in Riverhead, New York are using Google Earth to root out the owners of unlicensed pools. So far they've found 250 illegal pools and collected $75,000 in fines and fees. Of course not everyone thinks that a city should be spending time looking at aerial pictures of backyards. from the article: "Lillie Coney, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, DC, said Google Earth was promoted as an aid to curious travelers but has become a tool for cash-hungry local governments. 'The technology is going so far ahead of what people think is possible, and there is too little discussion about community norms,' she said."
Idle

Submission + - Lego ‘CubeDudes’ by PIXAR Animator Ang (inhabitots.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: PIXAR Animator Angus MacLane has created an incredible series of LEGO ‘CubeDudes’ modeled after beloved characters from sci-fi movies and comic books. From Star Wars heroes R2D2 and C-3PO to Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear and Jessie, the pixellated creations bear a remarkable likeness to their forebears. MacLane says, “When I had a moment here and there I chip away at a few at a time. I’ll have the body of one ‘Dude and a head of another that I will be working on at the same time. It takes mebout 10-15 minutes to make one CubeDude and I average about two a day.” The hardest part is the color palette — LEGO doesn't make purple bricks, so villains like Lex Luthor, The Joker, and Grimace are a challenge.
Transportation

The Bus That Rides Above Traffic 371

Posted by CmdrTaco from the that's-not-gonna-work dept.
An anonymous reader writes "China is the new tech king. They're developing a new, two-lane bus system that travels over traffic below. It's claimed to cost 10% of a subway system and use 30% less energy than current bus technologies." This one has been boggling my brain. I can't see how this is a good idea or safe. But it sure is awesome.
Power

Submission + - Stanford's New Solar Tech Harnesses Heat, Light (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Stanford researchers recently unveiled a new solar technology that can generate energy from both light and heat, boosting boost efficiency levels up to 60 percent — three times that of existing systems. Their photon enhanced thermionic emission (PETE) devices utilize a semiconducting material coated with cesium to convert light and heat into energy. “The light would come in and hit our PETE device first,” explained lead researcher Nick Melosh. “We would take advantage of both the incident light and the heat that it produces, and then we would dump the waste heat to existing thermal conversion systems.” The devices only require a small amount of semiconducting material (cheap!) and can be easily incorporated into existing solar collection systems.

Submission + - Biometric and Other Locks Fail to Foil Hackers (wired.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Hackers at Def Con had picked several high security locks and opened a electronic vault with a piece of flat metal. 3 of the locks were electronic and one deadbolt. The weakest part of electronic locks is the physical part.
The Internet

Submission + - France Pays Most for iPad Data Plan

Submitted by adeelarshad82
adeelarshad82 writes: Data summarized and graphed out by Tableau shows that users receiving data service through France Télécom, or Orange, pay approximately $25.47 per gigabyte for their iPad data plans. United States iPad owners, by comparison, rank sixth on the list at roughly $12.50 per gigabyte (based on AT&T's 2-gigabyte, $25 monthly plan). The cheapest iPad data plan in the world goes to Singapore's SingTel network, which translates out to roughly $0.51 per gigabyte used.
The Media

Submission + - Reporters Burn Out Young Working Pay-Per-View

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "Young journalists once dreamed of trotting the globe in pursuit of a story but the NY Times reports that instead many are working online shackled to their computers, where they try to eke out a fresh thought or be first to report even the smallest nugget of news — anything that will impress Google algorithms and draw readers their way. The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times all display a “most viewed” list on their home pages and some media outlets, including Bloomberg News and Gawker Media, now pay writers based in part on how many readers click on their articles. “At a paper, your only real stress point is in the evening when you’re actually sitting there on deadline, trying to file,” says Jim VandeHei, Politico’s executive editor. “Now at any point in the day starting at 5 in the morning, there can be that same level of intensity and pressure to get something out.” The pace has led to substantial turnover in staff at digital news organizations. Departures at Politico have been particularly high, with roughly a dozen reporters leaving in the first half of the year — a big number for a newsroom that has only about 70 reporters and editors. “When my students come back to visit, they carry the exhaustion of a person who’s been working for a decade, not a couple of years,” says Duy Linh Tu of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. “I worry about burnout.”"
Power

Submission + - First Self-Sustaining Biomass Bot Eats, Excretes (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers at the UK’s Bristol Robotics Laboratory just unveiled the Ecobot III, the first robot capable of powering itself by consuming and excreting biomass that can run unsupervised for a full week. The bot uses a set of 24 microbial fuel cells to break down its food, extracting electrons from the metabolic process to run ultra low-power circuitry. Chris Melhuish, director of the lab, said the robot was called Ecobot III, but admitted “diarrhea-bot would be more appropriate, as it’s not exactly knocking out rabbit pellets.” Well, as they say: garbage in, garbage out.
Power

Submission + - Size Matters - The Rise of Small Nuclear Plants (theoildrum.com)

Submitted by ColdWetDog
ColdWetDog writes: The Oil Drum (one of the best sites to discuss the technical details of the Macondo Blowout) is typically focused on ramifications of petroleum use and in particular, the Peak Oil theory. They run short guest articles from time to time on various aspects of energy use and policies and today they have an interesting article on small nuclear reactors with a refreshing amount of technical details concerning their construction, use and fueling. The author's major thesis:

Pick up almost any book about nuclear energy and you will find that the prevailing wisdom is that nuclear plants must be very large in order to be competitive. This assumption is widely accepted, but, if its roots are understood, it can be effectively challenged.

Recently, however, a growing body of plant designers, utility companies, government agencies and financial players are recognizing that smaller plants can take advantage of greater opportunities to apply lessons learned, take advantage of the engineering and tooling savings possible with higher numbers of units and better meet customer needs in terms of capacity additions and financing. The resulting systems are a welcome addition to the nuclear power plant menu, which has previously been limited to one size — extra large.
Earth

Submission + - First photos of a thought-to-be-extinct primate (bytesizebio.net)

Submitted by Shipud
Shipud writes: The Horton Plains Slender Loris (Loris tardigradus nycticeboides) was thought to be extinct for about 60 years. Between 1937 and 2002, no one spotted the animal, which is endemic to Sri-Lanka. In 2002 someone reported a possible sighting, but no photographs. Researchers at the Zoological Society of London have managed not only to photograph the elusive Loris, but also briefly capture and study it before releasing it back. Cute little critter...
Social Networks

Submission + - Facebook User Satisfaction 'Abysmal,' Survey Finds (computerworld.com)

Submitted by CWmike
CWmike writes: While Facebook is expected to announce this week that it has grabbed its 500 millionth user, the social networking site scored a 64 on the 2010 American Customer Satisfaction Index's scale of zero to 100. A rating of 64 might not sound so bad, until you consider that sites for filing tax forms electronically to the IRS scored better. Facebook and MySpace, which came in just below its rival with a rating of 63, were the two lowest-scoring sites out of all of them. The report noted that both sites showed 'abysmal performance.' The big winner in the social media Web site category was Wikipedia, which had a satisfaction rating of 77. YouTube came in second with a 73. This is the first year that ACSI rated social media sites. 'Facebook is a phenomenal success, so we were not expecting to see it score so poorly with consumers,' said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results, which partnered to conduct the e-business survey. 'Our research shows that privacy concerns, frequent changes to the Web site, and commercialization and advertising adversely affect the consumer experience, he said. 'Compare that to Wikipedia, which is a nonprofit that has had the same user interface for years, and it's clear that while innovation is critical, sometimes consumers prefer evolution to revolution,' Freed said.

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