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Google

Submission + - Google+ growing at unprecedented rate (wsj.com)

Submitted by OverTheGeicoE
OverTheGeicoE writes: The Wall Street Journal reports that Google+ has added 20 million users in just 3 weeks. According to the article, no other site has recorded such high growth in such a short time period. Twitter did something similar once, but in months, not weeks. It's especially surprising considering that access to Google+ is by invitation only.

Why is Google+ growing so quickly? Perhaps the obligatory XKCD reference actually offers some insight.
Technology

Submission + - CEA Says TVs Are Getting Lighter and Greener (hothardware.com)

Submitted by
MojoKid
MojoKid writes: "We all know that today's flat-screen TVs weigh far less than old-style CRTs, or they wouldn't be able to hang on the wall. New research from the Consumer Electronics Association finds that this translates into a massive savings of electronics waste. The report found that today’s flat screen TVs are 82% lighter and 75% smaller than cathode ray tube (CRT) TVs. In other words, 40- to 70-inch flat-panel TVs weigh 34% less than 13- to 36-inch CRT TVs. This reduction in materials has a staggering downstream effect. The report claimed that an old 36-inch CRT TV generated about the same amount of electronics waste as 5,080 cell phones. However, today’s 70-inch flat-screen TV generate the equivalent of just 953 cell phones."
Security

Submission + - Apple Laptops Vulnerable to Battery Firmware Hack (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: Security researcher Charlie Miller, widely known for his work on Mac OS X and Apple's iOS, has discovered an interesting method that enables him to completely disable the batteries on Apple laptops, making them permanently unusable, and perform a number of other unintended actions. The method, which involves accessing and sending instructions to the chip housed on smart batteries could also be used for more malicious purposes down the road.

Miller discovered the default passwords set on the battery at the factory to change the battery into unsealed mode and developed a method that let him permanently brick the battery as well as read and modify the entire firmware.

"You can read all the firmware, make changes to the code, do whatever you want. And those code changes will survive a reinstall of the OS, so you could imagine writing malware that could hide on the chip on the battery. You'd need a vulnerability in the OS or something that the battery could then attack, though," Miller said.

Comment Still "the Future" for me. (Score 2) 275

by Fibe-Piper (#36695554) Attached to: Space Shuttle Atlantis Launches On Final Flight

Its hard to believe that they have mothballed such a big part of my childhood's imagination.

Growing up with James Bond movies like Moon Raker and X-Men comics using the iconic imagery of the Space Shuttles means they will forever be my idea of futuristic space travel.

It makes it harder to let go without a new, better, faster, inspiring vehicle to latch on to. I mean the Soyuz is rock solid, but it doesn't scream "next gen space travel...
Science

Submission + - Scientists Play World's Oldest Commercial Record (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: The scratchy, 12-second audio clip of a woman reciting the first verse of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star doesn't sound like much. But the faint, 123-year-old recording—etched into a warped metal cylinder and brought back to life after decades of silence by a three-dimensional (3D) optical scanning technique—appears to belong to the first record intended for sale to the public. Made for a talking doll briefly sold by phonograph inventor Thomas Edison, the early record is the oldest known American recording of a woman's voice and may be the oldest known record produced at Edison's laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey.
(Sound file in story)
Botnet

Submission + - Microsoft: No Botnet Is Indestructible (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
CWmike
CWmike writes: "No botnet is invulnerable, a Microsoft lawyer involved with the Rustock take-down said Tuesday, countering claims that another botnet was 'practically indestructible.' Richard Boscovich, a senior attorney with Microsoft's Digital Crime Unit said, 'If someone says that a botnet is indestructible, they are not being very creative legally or technically. Nothing is impossible. That's a pretty high standard." Instrumental in the effort that led to the seizure of Rustock's command-and-control servers in March, Boscovich said Microsoft's experience in take-downs of Waledac in early 2010 and of Coreflood and Rustock this year show that any botnet can be exterminated. "To say that it can't be done underestimates the ability of the good guys," Boscovich said. 'People seem to be saying that the bad guys are smarter, better. But the answer to that is 'no.''"
Science

Submission + - End of the Line for Smelly Socks (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by athe!st
athe!st writes: A new anti-microbial treatment that can make clothing — including smelly socks — permanently germ-free has been developed by US scientists. In a paper published in the American Chemical Society journal Applied Materials and Interfaces, Dr Jason Locklin and his colleagues state that the treatment kills a wide range of dangerous pathogens, including staph, strep, E. coli, pseudomonas and acetinobacter.
Linux

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Easiest Linux Distro 3

Submitted by anymooseposter
anymooseposter writes: My mom is taking a computer class at the local Community College. she asks:

"Hi So,.............what do you know about Linux. I need to download a Linux OS and try it out for class. The assignment is to use an OS different from what you normally use. Well, since I use Windows and OS X, the assignment suggests Linux. But, my question is, what is the easiest version based on Linux for me to put on CD and try? I saw several on the web. Any thoughts off the top of your head."

Her only computers are a new iMac, and a recent HP laptop. What Linux Disto would be easiest to set up without having to resort to dual booting and/or driver issues?

Comment Best Unsubscribe Experience Ever! (Score 1) 90

by Fibe-Piper (#36613844) Attached to: Groupon Deal of the Day: 300,000 Customer Accounts

Not kidding here. If any of you slashdotters are subscribed to groupon ; you have to do this - even if you sign up again later. It's worth it. Unsubscribe completely.

What you will see is a VERY clever "We're sorry to see you go..." screen with an awesome Easter egg embedded in there. They may have shot themselves in the foot with this. I want to unsubscribe again and again.

Comment Re:...opaque language is the norm. (Score 1) 374

by Fibe-Piper (#36583402) Attached to: If You're Working For Stock, Read the Fine Print

Except that in this case it was anything but. That's the trouble - stock options that give the company the right to revoke them (which is what buying them back at the issuing price means) are 100%, absolutely, completely worthless. This is akin to "selling oceanfront real estate in Arizona" - its a deceptive trade practice at best, and quite possibly illegal (we'll have to see after the lawyers finish fighting over it). The company got a lot of value in the form of retaining key employees because of this - there are often protections against such a one-sided contract, but IANAL.

FTA - apparently the stocks granted to Mr. Lee, formerly of Skype, the stocks may also be taxable! Meaning he will actually be financially liable for the buyback price Skype is covering. I understand that YANAL but if someone on here is, please explain to me how a scam like this is even remotely legal?

Submission + - Near-earth asteroid, Monday June 27 (skyandtelescope.com)

Submitted by TigerNut
TigerNut writes: Asteroid 2011 MD was discovered on June 22 by LINEAR, and its flight path will take it within 8000 miles (12000 km) of Earth. Orbital predictions indicate that its flight path will be significantly altered by this close approach.
Power

Submission + - Nuclear plant flood barely averted (nytimes.com)

Submitted by
mdsolar
mdsolar writes: "Pictures of the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant north of Omaha, Neb., show it encircled by the swollen waters of the Missouri River, which reached a height of nearly 1,007 feet above sea level at the plant yesterday.

The plant's defenses include new steel gates and other hard barriers protecting an auxiliary building with vital reactor controls, and a water-filled berm 8 feet tall that encircles other parts of the plant. Both systems are designed to hold back floodwaters reaching 1,014 feet above sea level. Additional concrete barriers and permanent berms, more sandbags and another power line into the plant have been added. The plant was shut down in April for refueling and will remain so until the flood threat is passed.

"Today the plant is well positioned to ride out the current extreme Missouri River flooding while keeping the public safe," Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Victor Dricks said on an agency blog this week.

But a year ago, those new defenses were not in place, and the plant's hard barriers could have failed against a 1,010-foot flood, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission contends in a yearlong inspection and enforcement action against the plant's operator, the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD)."
Linux

Submission + - Linux 3.0 Will Be faster Than 2.6.39: Linus (muktware.com) 1

Submitted by sfcrazy
sfcrazy writes: While we were thinking that the announcement of 3.x branch was nothing more than Linus' mood swing, it seems there is more to it.

Linus wrote on the Linux Kernel Mailing List, "3.0 will still be noticeably faster than 2.6.39 due to the other changes made (ie the read-ahead), so yes, the regression itself is fixed."

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