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Cellphones

Submission + - Cell phones don't increase chances of brain cancer (smh.com.au)

Submitted by mclearn
mclearn writes: A very large, 30-year study of just about everyone in Scandinavia shows no link between mobile phone use and brain tumours, researchers reported on Thursday. Even though mobile telephone use soared in the 1990s and afterward, brain tumours did not become any more common during this time, the researchers reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Some activist groups and a few researchers have raised concerns about a link between mobile phones and several kinds of cancer, including brain tumours, although years of research have failed to establish a connection.

"From 1974 to 2003, the incidence rate of glioma (a type of brain tumor) increased by 0.5 per cent per year among men and by 0.2 per cent per year among women," they wrote. Overall, there was no significant pattern.

Submission + - SPAM: cold war cyber attacks

Submitted by I Spy
I Spy writes: 'The "counter-hacking unit" is fighting a cyber cold war against computer-based espionage, largely coming from China and Russia ..

MI5 believe many of the hackers are state-sponsored spies trying to steal intelligence and industrial secrets ..

In March researchers uncovered an electronic spy ring called GhostNet based in China, which searches computers for information, taps into emails and turns on web cameras and microphones ...'

This is of course BS, as no one in their right mind would keep 'secrets' on a computer directly connected to the Internet. Especially not a Windows 'computer'.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - U.S. Military Adopts Cloud and Developer 'Forge' (datacenterknowledge.com)

Submitted by 1sockchuck
1sockchuck writes: Moving the U.S. military's IT operations to a cloud computing model hasn't been easy. But the Department of Defense's RACE cloud computing platform will save the government "hundreds of millions of dollars," according to Henry Sienkiewicz from the DISA, the military's infrastructure provider. Speaking at the Gartner Data Center Conference, Sienkiewicz said the shift to a portal where developers can quickly provision Windows and Red Hat Linux environments represented "a radical shift" in culture and practice. The DISA has also built Forge.mil, a developer hub that Sienkiewicz calls the "SourceForge for the Department of Defense" that currently hosts 200 projects.
The Internet

Submission + - In Search of the Mythical 'Bandwidth Hog' (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: Benoit Felten, an analyst in Paris, has heard enough of the elusive creature known as the bandwidth hog. Like its cousin the Boogie Monster, the 'bandwidth hog' is a tale that ISPs tell their frightened users to keep them in check or to cut off whoever they want to cut off from service. And Felton's calling them out because he's certain they don't exist. What's actually happening is the ISPs are selecting the top 5% and revoking service from them even if they aren't statistical outliers. Which means that they are targeting 'heavy users' simply for being 'heavy users.' Felton has thrown down the gauntlet asking for a standardized data set from any telco that he can do statistical analysis on that will allow him to find any evidence of a single outlier ruining the experience for everyone else. Unlikely any telco will take him up on that offer but his point still stands.
Security

Submission + - Security Trends Coming In 2010 (net-security.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Websense released its list of security predictions and trends anticipated for 2010. The emerging trends and predictions show an overall blending of security threats across multiple attack vectors for the purpose of roping computers into bot networks and stealing confidential information. Researchers believe that attackers will look to compromise new platforms such as smartphones and take advantage of the popularity of Windows 7. They are also expected to compromise the integrity of search engine results and use legitimate advertisements to spread their malicious content.

Comment Re:Massive fail (Score 1) 452

by Gorbag (#30257990) Attached to: Modeling the Economy As a Physics Problem

The quantum effects that occur within your cells is negligible.

Actually, you'd be surprised. Quantum biophysics is a hot area. One of the interesting results explains why it is that ribosomes can churn out proteins at a constant rate, which one wouldn't normally expect given a random distribution of bound amino acids in the cell. Quantum effects may occur on much larger scales than we suppose.
Businesses

Calling Video Professor a Scam 385

Posted by kdawson from the spade-a-spade dept.
palmerj3 writes in to give some wider attention to a piece on Techcrunch today in which Michael Arrington reacts to Video Professor's desperate attempts to shut him up after he called Video Professor a scam in a piece syndicated by the Washington Post. As described by Arrington, the ways the company's site operates (differently depending on where a visitor comes from) are strongly reminiscent of the practices a Senate committee recently condemned. (Here is a detailed example of another, similar scam, from a not-naive victim. Video Professor's tactics sound even more deceptive.) Video Professor seems to react with belligerence, not to mention legal threats, towards any hint of criticism. Please share any direct experiences you have with this outfit.

Comment Re:Technically... (Score 1) 554

by Gorbag (#30198576) Attached to: Is That Sushi Hazardous To Your Health?

Sushi, and other words, are defined by how people use them. And in the US that means rice and raw fish wrapped in seaweed for 99% of the population. Then english language, unlike C, does not have an ansi standard. It's all fluid.

Using words means rice and raw fish wrapped in seaweed? And after that English lost it's ANSI standard, but C didn't? If your sushi is fluid, I suggest Immodium. Meanwhile, best learn grammar you insensitive clod!

Comment Re:Why complain about choice? (Score 1) 222

by Gorbag (#30020886) Attached to: Lulu Introduces DRM

What if the objectionable thing B was using slave labor for a product you do not use or buy? Does it suddenly become okay to continue the business relationship?

And yet I maintain my citizenship, despite what the government or the rascals in Congress does.

Life is compromise.
OS X

Apple Blurs the Server Line With Mac Mini Server 557

Posted by kdawson from the so-easy-a-child-can-set-it-up dept.
Toe, The writes "Today Apple announced several new hardware offerings, including a new Mac mini, their (almost-literally) pint-sized desktop computer. In a bizarre twist, they are now also offering a Mac mini with Mac OS X Server bundled in, along with a two hard drives somehow stuffed into the tiny package. Undoubtedly, many in the IT community will scoff at the thought of calling such a device a 'server.' However, with the robust capabilities of Snow Leopard Server (a true, if highly GUI-fied, UNIX server), it seems likely to find a niche in small businesses and even enthusiasts' homes. The almost completely guided setup process means that people can set up relatively sophisticated services without the assistance of someone who actually knows what they are doing. What the results will be in terms of security, etc. will be... interesting to watch as they develop." El Reg has a good roundup article of the many announcements; the multi-touch Magic Mouse is right up there on the techno-lust-inspiration scale.

Comment Re:How about instructional difficulty? (Score 1) 404

by Gorbag (#29734581) Attached to: Should Computer Games Adapt To the Way You Play?
Back in the 70s I helped debug a program called "Wumpus Advisor" in the MIT AI lab that did just that - it inferred what rules of Wumpus you demonstrated you understood, then attempted to give you hints on those you hadn't demonstrated yet (e.g., when you picked to explore a cave that was not the least dangerous on the frontier).

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