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Comment Re:If you can learn to put a beer down while drivi (Score 1) 184

by KrisJon (#46741465) Attached to: The Case For a Safer Smartphone
Germans are notorious tailgaters even at 140mph. If you're in the left lane in an unlimited zone and you aren't doing more than the guy behind you, expect to get the headlight flash (oh hi Mr. Porsche @ 190mph!). Motorcyclists split lanes even when traffic is flowing at 60mph. The police here just don't have the kind of manpower required to regulate drivers like you imply. Lots of speed cameras (fixed and temporary) though!
Security

Remote ATM Attack Uses SMS To Dispense Cash 150

Posted by timothy from the $$$-rofl-omg-$$$ dept.
judgecorp (778838) writes "A newly discovered malware attack uses a smartphone connected to the computer that manages an ATM, and then sends an SMS message to instruct it to dispense cash. The attack was reported by Symantec, and builds on a previous piece of malware called Backdoor.Ploutus. It is being used in actual attacks, and Symantec has demonstrated it with an ATM in its labs, though it is not revealing the brand of the vulnerable machines."
Your Rights Online

Submission + - Obama to allow ALL spy agencies scour Americans' finances (reuters.com) 2

Submitted by
KrisJon
KrisJon writes: "The Obama administration is drawing up plans to give all U.S. spy agencies full access to a massive database that contains financial data on American citizens and others who bank in the country, according to a Treasury Department document seen by Reuters. Financial institutions that operate in the United States are required by law to file reports of "suspicious customer activity." A move like the FinCEN proposal "raises concerns as to whether people could find their information in a file as a potential terrorist suspect without having the appropriate predicate for that and find themselves potentially falsely accused," said Sharon Bradford Franklin, senior counsel for the Rule of Law Program at the Constitution Project, a non-profit watchdog group."
Open Source

Submission + - Why freeloaders are essential to FOSS project success (outercurve.org)

Submitted by dp619
dp619 writes: Outercurve Foundation technical director Stephen Walli has written a blog post arguing that attracting users is fundamental to the ability of open source projects to recruit "new blood" and contributors who are willing to code. "So in the end, it's all about freeloaders, but from the perspective that you want as many as possible. That means you're “doing it right” in developing a broad base of users by making their experience easy, making it easy for them to contribute, and ultimately to create an ecosystem that continues to sustain itself," he wrote.

Comment Re:teachers' unions (Score 1) 311

by KrisJon (#38592902) Attached to: Teachers Resist High-tech Push In Idaho Schools
Our per capita spending is very much at the high end of the spectrum: http://mercatus.org/sites/default/files/publication/k-12-education-spending-pdf_0.pdf And this spending has doubled since 1970: http://www.heritage.org/static/reportimages/8944CCA9757394F0CCE1821F36C34E6E.gif I don't think throwing more money at the problem is a solution.
Government

Military Enlists Open Source Community 131

Posted by samzenpus from the freedom-is-free dept.
jmwci1 writes "The US Defense Department is enlisting an open source approach to software development — an about-face for such a historically top-down organization. In recent weeks, the military has launched a collaborative platform called Forge.mil for its developers to share software, systems components and network services. The agency also signed an agreement with the Open Source Software Institute to allow 50 internally developed workforce management applications to be licensed to other government agencies, universities and companies."
Earth

Quantum Mechanics Involved In Photosynthesis 137

Posted by samzenpus from the spooky-cycle dept.
Kristina at Science News writes "We all learn about photosynthesis in school: sunlight in, plant food out. Not well understood is how this process achieves its initial and uniquely high efficiency in capturing the energy of a photon. Quantum mechanics may be at work in the electron transfer process inside chloroplast, giving electrons the chance to consider many paths at once before choosing the best one."
Image

Air Force One Flyby Causes Brief Panic In NYC 898

Posted by samzenpus from the good-thinking-fellas dept.
pdclarry writes "A Boeing 747 that serves as an Air Force One backup and two F-16 fighters escorting it caused a brief panic among office workers at the World Financial Center in lower Manhattan this morning, as large numbers evacuated the buildings. The incident was also spurred evacuations in Jersey City across the Hudson River from Manhattan."

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Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards. -- Aldous Huxley

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