jnpcl - Slashdot User

Submission + - Germany Declares Facebook Like Button Illegal 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 19, 2011 @02:47PM

An anonymous reader writes: Not only has Germany declared Facebook's facial recognition technology and wild Facebook parties illegal, but the country today found Facebook's Like button in violation of its strict privacy laws. Commissioner Thilo Weichert, who works for the Independent Centre for Privacy Protection (ULD) in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, said the social network’s plugin, which allows Internet users to express their appreciation of something online, illegally puts together a profile of their Web habits.

Submission + - More Photoshopped Evidence In Apple vs. Samsung (itworld.com)

Submitted by

jfruhlinger

on Friday August 19, 2011 @01:24PM

jfruhlinger writes: "It seems that Apple can't stop Photoshopping evidence in its EU lawsuit against Samsung. We already saw that the company used trickery in its side-by-side comparison of the iPad and Galaxy Tab; now it appears that it's fudging the comparison between the iPhone and Galaxy S as well."

Submission + - Google Adds Weather to Maps (tekgoblin.com)

Submitted by

tekgoblin

on Friday August 19, 2011 @01:18PM

tekgoblin writes: "Since the release of Google+, Google has been slowly updating all of it’s services to conform with it’s new minimalist look. Black navigation bar on top, red text on the side, and buttons that remind me of OS X. Today they updated Google Maps to it’s new look, and added several interesting features as well.

The most significant feature that has been added is a new Weather layer, that when enabled shows current conditions in specific cities and towns. While not enabled globally, nearly the entire US is covered."

Submission + - Microsoft Drops Use of 'Supercookies' on MSN (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Trailrunner7 on Friday August 19, 2011 @11:59AM

Trailrunner7 writes: In response to work by Stanford University researchers who found that Microsoft and several other high-profile companies were using a controversial technique to keep persistent cookies on users' PCs to track their movements, Microsoft says it has discontinued the practice of using so-called "supercookies."

In July, Jonathan Mayer, a graduate student at Stanford, revealed that some companies were still employing techniques that enabled browser history sniffing, which give the companies information on what sites users have visited and what links they've clicked on. The research also found that some companies were using cookies that re-spawn even after users have deleted them. Microsoft was using this technique on one of its sites, MSN.com, and now the company said that it is no longer doing so.

Submission + - Lulzsec's leader, Sabu, finally revealed? (abc.net.au)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 19, 2011 @10:32AM

An anonymous reader writes: After publishing a story on whether Lulzsec leader, Sabu, was a 21st Century Billy The Kid, it transpires that he has gone to ground right after the publishing of extensive documents (dox) which date back ten years and claim to explain who he is: a Puerto Rican man living in New York. This time, it sounds compelling.

Submission + - New research cracks AES keys 3-5x faster! (computerworld.com) 1

Submitted by qpgmr on Thursday August 18, 2011 @07:00PM

qpgmr writes: AES, generally thought to be the gold standard for encryption, is showing weaknesses:

From Computerworld: "Researchers from Microsoft and the Dutch Katholieke Universiteit Leuven have discovered a way to break the widely used Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), the encryption algorithm used to secure most all online transactions and wireless communications."

Link to paper: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/cryptanalysis/aesbc.pdf

Submission + - 13-Year-Old Makes Fibonacci Solar Breakthrough (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18, 2011 @06:42PM

An anonymous reader writes: While most 13-year-olds spend their free time playing video games or cruising Facebook, one 7th grader was trekking through the woods uncovering a mystery of science. After studying how trees branch in a very specific way, Aidan Dwyer created a solar cell tree that produces 20-50% more power than a uniform array of photovoltaic panels. His impressive results show that using a specific formula for distributing solar cells can drastically improve energy generation. The study earned Aidan a provisional U.S patent – it’s a rare find in the field of technology and a fantastic example of how biomimicry can drastically improve design.

Submission + - Insulin pump hacker gets federal attention as Reps (massdevice.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18, 2011 @06:02PM

An anonymous reader writes: The computer security expert who "hacked" his own insulin pump has got members of Congress concerned. They're asking for an investigation into wireless med-tech.

Submission + - Future Sun may disrupt spacecraft and satellites (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by dtjohnson on Thursday August 18, 2011 @05:53PM

dtjohnson writes: A study published today predicts that solar storms are going to become increasingly disruptive to satellites and communications in the coming decades as the sun cycles towards a minimum of activity. "The work, published in Geophysical Research Letters, predicts that once the Sun shifts toward an era of lower solar activity, more hazardous radiation will reach Earth. The team says the Sun is currently at a grand solar maximum. This phase began in the 1920s — and has lasted throughout the space age....The evidence seems to indicate that although there are fewer solar storms once the Sun leaves its grand maximum, they are more powerful, faster and therefore carry more particles."

Submission + - Large ISPs Profit From BitTorrent Traffic (torrentfreak.com)

Submitted by

kijitah

on Thursday August 18, 2011 @05:44PM

kijitah writes: "Ernesto at TorrentFreak writes: 'A new report published by Northwestern University and Telefónica Research discovered some BitTorrent trends worth sharing. During a 2-year period the researchers monitored an unprecedented sample of 500,000 people in 169 countries. Aside from showing that BitTorrent users download more and more data, the report also finds that large ISPs including Comcast are actually making money off BitTorrent traffic.'

Check out the presentation slides or paper!"

Submission + - UCLA Engineers Create Energy-Generating LCD Screen (ucla.edu)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17, 2011 @05:51PM

An anonymous reader writes: Engineers at UCLA have developed technology that allows gadgets like smartphones and laptops to convert sunlight, ambient light, and their own backlight into energy. Equipping LCD-enhanced devices with so-called polarizing organic photovoltaics will recoup battery loads of lost power, and enable smartphone users to scour Yelp, scan Twitter, and update their Facebook page without fear of draining the charge before a real communication crisis arises.

Submission + - Human Excrement to Blame for Coral Decline (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit on Wednesday August 17, 2011 @05:51PM

sciencehabit writes: Coral reef ecologists have laid a persistent and troubling puzzle to rest. The elkhorn coral, named for its resemblance to elk antlers and known for providing valuable marine habitat, was once the Caribbean's most abundant reef builder. But the "redwood of the coral forest" has declined 90% over the past decade, in part due to highly contagious white pox disease, which causes large lesions that bare the coral's white skeleton and kill its tissue. Now, after nearly a decade of data collection and analysis, researchers have fingered the cause of the affliction: human excrement. The finding represents the first example of human-to-invertebrate disease transmission and suggests a practical approach for halting the disease's spread.

Submission + - Court Makes It Easier To Dump Software Patents (techdirt.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17, 2011 @05:25PM

An anonymous reader writes: While software patents are still legal, it appears that the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), sometimes known as the nation's "patent court" has just made a decision that will make it much easier to reject software patents for being mere "mental processes" rather than an actual invention. This could allow the Patent Office and the courts to reject many software patents.

Submission + - Moon Much Younger Than Thought

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17, 2011 @05:03PM

An anonymous reader writes: New method to analyze ferroan anorthosites (FANs), thought to be the oldest lunar crust rocks, tells a different story to the moons age. The researcher said that the findings allow for one of two possibilities: the moon is 200 million years younger than previously thought, or the theory that the moon use to be a molten ocean is wrong.

Submission + - DHS Tries to Hide Mobile Scanner Details (epic.org)

Submitted by OverTheGeicoE on Wednesday August 17, 2011 @04:40PM

OverTheGeicoE writes: The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a Freedom of Information Act request last year with the US Department of Homeland Security, whose Transportation Security Administration has been investigating the use of x-ray scanning technology for covert use in more public places, like train stations and even ordinary city streets. TSA has tested interesting devices like the Z Backscatter Vans both privately and on members of the general public. EPIC recently received new documents from DHS. Some of the documents are almost completely black from redactions.

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