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Comment Re:Grandma on Meth (Score 1) 93

by jayemcee (#32422956) Attached to: Snails On Methamphetamine
About 7 years ago I worked for a biotech that was testing the left enantiomer of amphetamine in humans for mild cognitive impairment trials with some success (the right enantiomer is dexedrine). It got derailed due to some issues that another (similar) drug was having with the FDA at the time. There is plenty of positive data available in humans for improving memory with amphetamines, just look around...

Submission + - Toyota's Proprietary 'Black Box' (thetruthaboutcars.com)

Submitted by
DarrenBaker
DarrenBaker writes: "Toyota appears to be unwilling or unable to provide open access to their so-called 'black boxes', which could assist investigators in determining if an accident was due to technical foul-up, or driver error. Could these boxes be hacked, and third-party software developed to read the information?"

Comment Re:Well if they're encrypted... (Score 1) 301

by jayemcee (#31027850) Attached to: Police Want Fast Track To Get At Your Private Data
FTA: "A system like this should have strong logins, should require that the request be documented fully, and should produce statistical information so there can be strong oversight," he says. "I think that's a good thing to have." This is Declan McCullagh, who apparently has some dead bodies that these 100 police inspectors know about :)
OS X

Apple Says Booting OS X Makes an Unauthorized Copy 865

Posted by timothy from the slice-the-ram-nodes-to-find-copy-four dept.
recoiledsnake writes "Groklaw has an extensive look at the latest developments in the Psystar vs. Apple story. There's a nice picture illustrating the accusation by Apple that Psystar makes three unauthorized copies of OS X. The most interesting, however, is the last copy. From Apple's brief: 'Finally, every time Psystar turns on any of the Psystar computers running Mac OS X, which it does before shipping each computer, Psystar necessarily makes a separate modified copy of Mac OS X in Random Access Memory, or RAM. This is the third unlawful copy.' Psystar's response: 'Copying a computer program into RAM as a result of installing and running that program is precisely the copying that Section 117 provides does not constitute copyright infringement for an owner of a computer program. As the Ninth Circuit explained, permitting copies like this was Section 117's purpose.' Is Apple seriously arguing that installing a third party program and booting OS X results in copyright infringement due to making a derivative work and an unauthorized copy?"

Submission + - Pliosaur skull found in Dorset

Submitted by jayemcee
jayemcee writes: The skull of a sea dwelling reptile that could eat a T Rex for breakfast has been found in Dorset UK and will be displayed in the local museum. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/oct/27/dinosaur-pliosaur-skull-found-dorset-coast Only the skull (2.4 meters long) has been found and the authorities (who bought the item for close to $32,000) will not release the site for fear that the area is too unstable. They speculate that the remainder of the 'monster' may lie under tons of rock and will wait patiently for nature to deliver the goods via landslides and other forms of natural erosion.
'Experts believe it could rival recent finds made in Svalbard, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, where beasts dubbed "the Monster" and "Predator X" were thought to have measured 15m, and in Mexico, where the "Monster of Aramberri" was discovered in 2002, and is believed to have been of similar dimensions.'
"We only have the head, so you cannot be absolutely precise," said Martill. "But it may be vying with the ones found in Svalbard and Mexico for the title of the world's largest."
Google

Sony To Put Chrome On Laptops 278

Posted by CmdrTaco from the what-happened-to-firefox dept.
consonant writes "FT is reporting that Google has reached a deal with Sony to ship Chrome on the Vaio line of PCs. Google confirmed that Sony PCs carrying Chrome had started to go on sale and said it was in talks for similar deals with other computer makers. It said the arrangement was 'experimental' and part of wider efforts to boost distribution, including a deal to make Chrome available to internet users who download the RealPlayer software and the company's first use of television advertising. While mainstream media coverage and financial details were very sparse, El Reg terms it a 'Microsoft-snubbing deal.' Google also mentioned it was pushing for similar deals with other vendors. Could this spell the beginning of the end for IE?"
Security

Submission + - Network Solutions Admit Breach; Customers Blamed (channelinsider.com)

Submitted by
dasButcher
dasButcher writes: "Network Solutions says the three-month security breach that compromised nearly 574,000 credit card account only affected its e-commerce customers — or 4,343 small businesses that use the domain registrar and hosting company for online payment processing. Network Solutions is offering assistance, but affected customers worry that they'll be the ones to take the reputational hit among their customers (http://blogs.channelinsider.com/secure_channel/content/identity_theft/network_solutions_breached_ecommerce_customers_get_blame.html). The incident raises serious questions as to who will take the blame for security breach in the cloud computing era."
Security

Submission + - Could Cyber-Terrorists Provoke Nuclear Attacks?

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "The Guardian reports that according to a study commissioned by the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND), a joint initiative of the Australian and Japanese Governments, terrorists could use information warfare techniques to make a nuclear attack more likely — triggering a catastrophic chain of events that may be an easier alternative "than building or acquiring a nuclear weapon or dirty bomb themselves." While the possibility of a radical group gaining access to actual launch systems is remote, the study suggests that terrorists could focus on feeding in false information further down the chain — or spreading fake information to officials in a carefully orchestrated strike. According to the study "Hacking Nuclear Command and Control" (PDF), cyber-terrorists could "provoke a nuclear launch by spoofing early warning and identification systems or by degrading communications networks." Since command and control systems are placed at a higher degree of exploitation due to the need for rapid decisions under high pressure with limited intelligence, cyber-terrorists "would not need deception that could stand up over time; they would only need to be believable in the first 15 minutes or so.""
Intel

Submission + - Moore's Law Reaching Statute Of Limitations (bnet.com)

Submitted by
Michael_Curator
Michael_Curator writes: "It turns out that Gordon Moore never predicted that processing power would continue to double every two years. What former Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel co-founder Moore wrote for Electronics Magazine in 1965 was that the costs of electronic components will be sufficiently depressed by demand to allow vendors to stuff more and more processing power onto a single chip. This has taken on a legendary status in the industry, an almost self-fulfilling false prophesy that has driven vendors to introduce ever-more-powerful devices to the market. But we have reached a point where the cost of making tools required to keep making smaller and smaller components has finally outstripped the ability of vendors to sell them profitably. Hence, R.I.P. Moore's Law."

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