Comment Re: Right (Score 1) 213
60000 US flu deaths per year is unusually high.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik...
Comment Re:Bureaucrats know no bounds (Score 1) 31
The Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) was established in 1984, and moved to the FAA in 1995 -- 20 years ago.
Submission + - Bill Gates Want to Remake the Way History is Taught. Should We Let Him?
theodp writes: With his Big History Project, the NY Times' Andrew Ross Sorkin reports that Bill Gates wants to remake the way history is taught (intro video). Last month, the Univ. of California system announced that a version of the Big History Project course could be counted in place of a more traditional World History class, paving the way for the state's 1,300 high schools to offer it. Still, not everyone's keen on the idea. "Is this Bill Gates's history?" asks NYU's Diane Ravitch. "And should it be labeled 'Bill Gates's History'? Because Bill Gates's history would be very different from somebody else's who wasn't worth $50-60 billion." Of the opposition to Gates, Scott L. Thomas of Claremont Graduate University explains, 'Frankly, in the eyes of the critics, he's really not an expert. He just happens to be a guy that watched a DVD and thought it was a good idea and had a bunch of money to fund it."
Submission + - Celebrity nude pictures leaked due to apparent iCloud hack (mashable.com) 1
swinferno writes: Hundreds of nude, semi-nude, and revealing pictures of female celebrities were leaked overnight after being stolen from their private collections. Hunger Games actress Jennifer Lawrence, Kirsten Dunst, and pop star Ariana Grande were among the celebrities apparently shown in the pictures, which were posted on infamous web forum 4chan.
It's unclear how the images were obtained, but anonymous 4chan users said that they were taken from celebrities' iCloud accounts. The accounts are designed to allow iPhone, iPad, and Mac users to synchronize images, settings, calendar information, and other data between devices, but the service has been criticized for being unreliable and confusing. Earlier this year, Jennifer Lawrence herself complained about the service in an interview with MTV.
Several media contacted Apple for more information but they have not commented on this yet.
http://www.theverge.com/2014/9...
It's unclear how the images were obtained, but anonymous 4chan users said that they were taken from celebrities' iCloud accounts. The accounts are designed to allow iPhone, iPad, and Mac users to synchronize images, settings, calendar information, and other data between devices, but the service has been criticized for being unreliable and confusing. Earlier this year, Jennifer Lawrence herself complained about the service in an interview with MTV.
Several media contacted Apple for more information but they have not commented on this yet.
http://www.theverge.com/2014/9...
Submission + - Simulations back up theory that Universe is a hologram (nature.com)
ananyo writes: A team of physicists has provided some of the clearest evidence yet that our Universe could be just one big projection.
In 1997, theoretical physicist Juan Maldacena proposed that an audacious model of the Universe in which gravity arises from infinitesimally thin, vibrating strings could be reinterpreted in terms of well-established physics. The mathematically intricate world of strings, which exist in nine dimensions of space plus one of time, would be merely a hologram: the real action would play out in a simpler, flatter cosmos where there is no gravity.
Maldacena's idea thrilled physicists because it offered a way to put the popular but still unproven theory of strings on solid footing — and because it solved apparent inconsistencies between quantum physics and Einstein's theory of gravity. It provided physicists with a mathematical Rosetta stone, a 'duality', that allowed them to translate back and forth between the two languages, and solve problems in one model that seemed intractable in the other and vice versa. But although the validity of Maldacena's ideas has pretty much been taken for granted ever since, a rigorous proof has been elusive.
In two papers posted on the arXiv repository, Yoshifumi Hyakutake of Ibaraki University in Japan and his colleagues now provide, if not an actual proof, at least compelling evidence that Maldacena’s conjecture is true.
In 1997, theoretical physicist Juan Maldacena proposed that an audacious model of the Universe in which gravity arises from infinitesimally thin, vibrating strings could be reinterpreted in terms of well-established physics. The mathematically intricate world of strings, which exist in nine dimensions of space plus one of time, would be merely a hologram: the real action would play out in a simpler, flatter cosmos where there is no gravity.
Maldacena's idea thrilled physicists because it offered a way to put the popular but still unproven theory of strings on solid footing — and because it solved apparent inconsistencies between quantum physics and Einstein's theory of gravity. It provided physicists with a mathematical Rosetta stone, a 'duality', that allowed them to translate back and forth between the two languages, and solve problems in one model that seemed intractable in the other and vice versa. But although the validity of Maldacena's ideas has pretty much been taken for granted ever since, a rigorous proof has been elusive.
In two papers posted on the arXiv repository, Yoshifumi Hyakutake of Ibaraki University in Japan and his colleagues now provide, if not an actual proof, at least compelling evidence that Maldacena’s conjecture is true.
Submission + - Mars One has 78.000 applicants (mars-one.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Mars One reports that 78.000 people have volunteered for a one-way ticket to Mars.
A quick calculation shows that this means people lined up coast-to-coast in a line with only 40cm per person! (As Robert Zubrin already predicted).
If you want, you can still go and sign up (or sign up your worst enemy). Or you can just look at some videos of the would be travellers.
A quick calculation shows that this means people lined up coast-to-coast in a line with only 40cm per person! (As Robert Zubrin already predicted).
If you want, you can still go and sign up (or sign up your worst enemy). Or you can just look at some videos of the would be travellers.
Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Is Windows Really Doomed? (slashdot.org)
Nerval's Lobster writes: Earlier this week, ZDNet columnist Steven Vaughan-Nichols wrote an article, “Windows: It’s over,” that sparked a lot of passionate online debate. His thesis was simple: Microsoft’s dominance of the computing market is coming to an end, accelerated by the incipient failure of Windows 8. Make no mistake about it: there’s no way to fudge the numbers in a way that suggests Windows 8 is proving a blockbuster. But maybe it’s not doomsday for Windows or Microsoft. After all, the company still has a lot of really smart developers and engineers, a whole ton of cash, and the ability to let its projects play out over years. So here's the question, Slashdotters: Is Windows really doomed? And, if not, what can be done to turn things around? (No originality points awarded for a "Fire Steve Ballmer" response.)
Submission + - 71 Percent of U.S. See Humans On Mars By 2033 (discovery.com) 2
astroengine writes: "In a recent poll funded by the non-profit Explore Mars, 71% of respondents agreed that the US will send a human to Mars within the next two decades. Unfortunately, on average, the sample of 1,101 people surveyed thought the US government allocated 2.4% of the federal budget to NASA — in reality it's only 0.5%. With this in mind, 75% of the respondents agreed/strongly agreed that NASA's budget should be increased to explore Mars through manned and robotic means."
Submission + - Does US Owe the World an Education at its Expense?
An anonymous reader writes: 'Right now, there are brilliant students from all over the world sitting in classrooms at our top universities,' President Obama explained to the nation Tuesday in his pitch for immigration reform. 'They are earning degrees in the fields of the future, like engineering and computer science...We are giving them the skills to figure that out, but then we are going to turn around and tell them to start the business and create those jobs in China, or India, or Mexico, or someplace else. That is not how you grow new industries in America. That is how you give new industries to our competitors. That is why we need comprehensive immigration reform." If the President truly fears that international students will use skills learned at U.S. colleges and universities to the detriment of the United States if they return home (isn't a rising tide supposed to lift all boats?) — an argument NYC Mayor Bloomberg advanced in 2011 ('we are investing millions of dollars [actually billions] to educate these students at our leading universities, and then giving the economic dividends back to our competitors – for free') — then wouldn't another option be not providing them with the skills in the first place?
Submission + - Dangerous Remote Linksys 0-Day Root Exploit (net-security.org)
Orome1 writes: "DefenseCode researchers have uncovered a remote root access vulnerability in the default installation of Linksys routers. They contacted Cisco and shared a detailed vulnerability description along with the PoC exploit for the vulnerability. Cisco claimed that the vulnerability was already fixed in the latest firmware release, which turned out the be incorrect. The latest Linksys firmware (4.30.14) and all previous versions are still vulnerable."
Submission + - Crowd funding for crank physics (physicscentral.com)
BuzzSkyline writes: A new design for bicycle cranks violates basic principles of physics, but that's not stopping the inventor of Z-Torque cranks from trying to raise thousands in start-up capital through crowd funding.
Submission + - Drone photos polluters punished (suasnews.com)
garymortimer writes: "In January 2012 we were sent the images that exposed the level of pollution occurring. They were taken by an sUAS News reader that still wishes to remain anonymous. The story went viral and continues to receive hits nearly a year later. I believe this is the first environmental crime to be prosecuted on the basis of UA evidence. Authorities had to act because of the attention the story was receiving."
Submission + - Nokia engineer shows how pirate Windows 8 Metro apps, bypass in-app purchases (extremetech.com)
MrSeb writes: "The principal engineer for Nokia’s WP7 and WP8 devices, Justin Angel, has demonstrated, in rather frank detail, how to pirate Windows 8 Metro apps, how to bypass in-app purchases, and how to remove in-game ads. These hacks aren’t exactly easy, but more worryingly they’re not exactly hard either. Angel shows that turning a trial version of a Metro appinto the full version — i.e. pirating an app — is scarily simple. It’s just a matter of downloading an open-source app and changing an XML attribute from “Trial” to “Full.” Likewise, a quick change to a XAML file can remove an app’s ads. Bypassing in-app purchases is a little trickier, involving some reverse engineering of some DLLs and and decryption of database files, but Angel still makes it look fairly easy. Angel gives himself one million credits in Soulcraft, an RPG game — something that would cost you over a thousand dollars, if you performed a legitimate in-app purchase. Angel also demonstrates a way to bypass in-app purchases in WinJS (Metro/JavaScript) apps, by injecting scripts into IE10 (the rendering engine for WinJS apps). It’s easy to blame Microsoft for this, but isn't this really an issue that is intrinsic to all installed applications? The fact is, Windows 8 Metro apps are stored on your hard drive — and this means that you have access to the code and data. Hex editors, save game editors, bypassing Adobe’s 30-day trials by replacing DLL files, pirating Windows 8 apps — these are all just different incarnations of the same attack vectors."
Feed Schneier: Dictators Shutting Down the Internet (schneier.com)
Excellent article: "How to Shut Down Internets." First, he describes what just happened in Syria. Then: Egypt turned off the internet by using the Border Gateway Protocol trick, and also by switching off DNS. This has a similar effect to throwing bleach over a map. The location of every street and house in the country is blotted out. All the...
Submission + - Apple CEO Tim Cook: We'll Bring Manufacturing to U.S. (slashdot.org)
Nerval's Lobster writes: "In a new interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Apple CEO Tim Cook offered some perspective on his first year in the commander’s seat. While typically reluctant to share many details of the company’s future plans, he did drop one interesting detail: Apple is bringing more of its manufacturing back to the United States. “Next year we are going to bring some production to the U.S. on the Mac,” Cook told the magazine. “We’ve been working on this for a long time, and we were getting closer to it. It will happen in 2013. We’re really proud of it. We could have quickly maybe done just assembly, but it’s broader because we wanted to do something more substantial.” He also had comments about Android and current litigation against Samsung and others."
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