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The Military

United States Begins Flying Stealth Bombers Over South Korea 567

Posted by samzenpus from the nice-day-for-a-flight dept.
skade88 writes "The New York Times is reporting that the United States has started flying B-2 stealth bomber runs over South Korea as a show of force to North Korea. The bombers flew 6,500 miles to bomb a South Korean island with mock explosives. Earlier this month the U.S. Military ran mock B-52 bombing runs over the same South Korean island. The U.S. military says it shows that it can execute precision bombing runs at will with little notice needed. The U.S. also reaffirmed their commitment to protecting its allies in the region. The North Koreans have been making threats to turn South Korea into a sea of fire. North Korea has also made threats claiming they will nuke the United States' mainland."

Comment If you want 74 series TTL (Score 2) 228

by Fnagaton (#42724503) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Best Electronics Prototyping Platform?

I had a dream to make a computer using 74 series TTL, essentially transistor logic in small packages. I managed to get a full prototype working in Proteus from labcenter http://www.labcenter.com/index.cfm The same software also includes PCB layout tools. These files were then sent to beta layout PCB pool http://www.beta-layout.com/ When the PCBs arrived some soldering with all the components left me with a surprisingly heavy board that actually worked. http://www.wellytop.com/Fnagaton/DIYComputer.html
Businesses

The Future of Shopping 163

Posted by Soulskill from the push-button-receive-pellet dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "The WSJ reports that a new device, now in use at about half of Ahold USA's Stop & Shop and Giant supermarkets in the Northeast, is making supermarket shoppers — and stores — happier. Looking like a smartphone, perched on the handle of your shopping cart, it scans grocery items as you add them to your cart. And while shoppers like it because it helps avoid an interminable wait at the cashier, retailers like it because the device encourages shoppers to buy more, probably because of targeted coupons and the control felt by consumers while using the device. Retail experts predict that before long most of these mobile shopping gadgets will be supplanted by customers' own smartphones. As more customers load their smartphones with debit, credit and loyalty card information, more stores will adopt streamlined checkout technology."

Comment Cross platform console work (Score 2, Informative) 389

by Fnagaton (#29227513) Attached to: Why Is It So Difficult To Allow Cross-Platform Play?

The Xbox and Xbox 360 use encryption implemented in the kernel as part of the Xbox Live matchmaking. There are many reasons for this but the main ones are security to help stop people altering the packets and cheating. This encryption is a requirement mandated by Microsoft before a title can be published. The encryption does mean the other consoles cannot decode those packets, unless a lot of effort is spent to reverse engineer the encryption and Xbox Live protocols. I have a feeling that if a publisher/developer did reverse engineer the Live encryption and protocols and used that to get Sony and Xbox consoles to join the same game then Microsoft would probably pull the plug on that title.

During development of titles I've had the Microsoft and Sony consoles happily joining the same games, but during development the encryption can be turned off. The PC build also had no problems joining the network session. This is because such titles tend to have the same network code and communicate the same data (before it gets encrypted).

Comment Interviews and jobs (Score 1) 834

by Fnagaton (#27904407) Attached to: Go For a Masters, Or Not?
As someone who interviews candidates for software engineer positions then what I find more valuable than a masters is finding someone with the demonstrated ability to do the job, enthusiasm and love of the subject. This is because, in my experience, a graduate who only took the course to earn more in the industry is not really going to understand the subject and not really going to perform as well as someone who is a "hobby programmer" who has discovered how to research their own solutions due to loving the subject. So if you really love the subject then opt for work experience, i.e. do the work you love. If you want to learn how to teach other people then a masters. You'll learn far more from three months work experience than you ever will during a two year masters course. The most important thing is to figure out what you want or love, is it the programming or is it the thought of being able to earn tons of cash? Because I know I could and have programmed for free because I love the subject. Which is what sets me apart from those who don't love the subject and turn up for interviews thinking they can get a highly paid job just because they passed an exam.
Patents

Lawmakers Debate Patent Immunity For Banks 382

Posted by kdawson from the campaign-contributions-are-merely-a-coincidence dept.
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Now that a small Texas company has a patent on scanning and archiving checks — something every bank does — that has survived a USPTO challenge, lawmakers feel they have to do something about it. Rather than reform patent law, they seem to think it wiser to protect the banks from having to pay billions in royalties by using eminent domain to buy the patent for an estimated $1 billion in taxpayer money, immunizing the banks. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)."
The Internet

Prototype Software Sniffs Out, Disrupts Botnets 51

Posted by Zonk from the are-you-john-connors dept.
coondoggie writes "Earlier this week researchers unveiled a system to identify and eradicate botnets in the wild. While currently only a prototype, Georgia Tech's BotSniffer would use network-based anomaly detection to identify botnet command and control channels in a LAN. The system wouldn't require any prior knowledge of signatures or server addresses. 'The researchers said their prototype, which was presented at the Internet Society's Network and Distributed System Security Symposium this week, is based on the fact that botnets engage in coordinated communication, propagation, and attack and fraudulent activities.'"

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