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Submission + - Enlightenment Mysteriously Drops Wayland Support

Submitted by jones_supa
jones_supa writes: According to the release notes, Enlightenment 0.19.12 is an important release that fixes over 40 issues, which is quite something, considering the fact that the previous versions had only a few improvements, with most of them being minor. However, the big news is that 0.19.12 drops support for the Wayland display server. Unfortunately, the Enlightenment developers have omitted to mention why they decided to remove any form of support for Wayland from this release, and if it will return in upcoming releases of the software.

Submission + - Pen-Testing Drone Searches For Unsecured Devices

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: You're sitting in an office, and you send a print job to the main office printer. You see or hear a drone flying outside your window. Next thing you know, the printer buzzes to life and, after spitting out your print job, it continues to work and presents you with more filled pages than you expected. They contain instructions on how to encrypt the printer’s wireless access, so that malicious attackers can't intercept print jobs and glean potentially sensitive business information from them. The approach has been thought out by a group of researchers from from iTrust, a Center for Research in Cyber Security at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, who equipped a flying drone with an Android smartphone, and the latter with a special app dubbed “Cybersecurity Patrol".

Submission + - Circadian Rhythm and its effect on Programmers (theguardian.com)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: Circadian rhythm affects everyone, programmers included

Even top programmers admit that the quality of the code they produce vary from the time of day they were constructed

Most time we place blame on the bugs in our code with sleep deprivation, carelessness, and even on our own stupidity (what was I thinking???) but all it comes down is the time of day our brain work best

ots of us know we are sleep-deprived, but imagine if we could fix it with a fairly simple solution: getting up later

Tech companies which takes heed on the differences of the circadian clocks on their most productive workers will continue to reap benefits while those forcing their coders to keep on coding even when their brains don't function no more will find themselves in the bind — sooner or later

Contrary to popular believe, the practice of Agile computing does not raise the quality of code, nor on the structure of the program, and the root cause is not on the theory of Agile computing, rather, it's on the implementation — coders must turn up on the endless (and woefully meaningless) meetings regardless of their ability to focus at a given point of time

Describing the average sleep loss per night for different age groups, he says: “Between 14 and 24 it’s more than two hours. For [people aged between] 24 to about 30 or 35, it’s about an hour and a half. That can continue up until you’re about 55 when it’s in balance again. The 10-year-old and 55-year-old wake and sleep naturally at the same time”

This might be why, he adds, the traditional nine to five is so ingrained; it is maintained by bosses, many of them in their mid-50s and upwards, because “it is best for them”. So should workplaces have staggered starting times, too? Should those in their 50s and above come in at 8am, while those in their 30s start at 10am, and the teenage intern or apprentice be encouraged to turn up at 11am? Kelley says that synchronised hours could have “many positive consequences. The positive side of this is people’s performance, mood and health will improve. It’s very uplifting in a way, because it’s a solution that will make people less ill, and happier and better at what they do”

Submission + - Facebook And Google – How are they shaping our identities? (cutelovequotesforher.org)

Submitted by lovequotesforher
lovequotesforher writes: We live at time when it is difficult to think about socializing without the social networking sites. These are the glory days of the internet and for the present generation it is just difficult to think of anything beyond the internet. It is not only social networking sites alone that have taken people over but a lot of other things as well. It used to be fun going out for shopping, trying out clothes and buy the ones that looks the best on us.

Everything is on the internet in this new era

Every invention has its Pros and Cons. True internet has been changing things around us in positive ways as well. Facebook for instance is at present the most popular social networking site. It has almost the entire world on it. The Facebook profiles are the social face of the individuals and it through this medium that they do all sorts of socializing and communications with the rest of the world. If one has a message to get across nothing can spread it faster than the internet. It spreads like fire through the Facebook. No wonder it has become a viable medium for advertisement as well. Facebook also influences an individual identity as well. What one wishes to be in the real world is often expressed through this virtual world as well.

Virtual identity = Real Identity

Thus often the virtual identity of the person becomes his or her real identity. People starts to believe in how one projects himself or herself on the social networking sites. The picture that he or she uploads the updates they share and also on the number of friends one has. The activities on the Facebook tell a lot about the person though if one closely notices all the activities of a specific person.

Google, world’s biggest search engine and email client also plays it’s part in influencing the identity of a person. Whatever we need to know, we know we have Google. Undoubtedly it has become one of the best teachers. Whether you need to know about a scientific theory or about a certain history from the past, Google is there. Youtube and the Google+ are the two Google products that have been influencing people in their own ways. While Youtube can have strong influence on people in shaping their characters the Google+ being a social networking site is capable of doing as much.

Submission + - Facebook Names New Security Chief (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: Yahoo! Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Alex Stamos said on Wednesday night that he will be leaving the iconic Internet company to take on the role of Chief Security Officer (CSO) at Facebook. Stamos took to Twitter and Facebook to announce the move, which comes just over a year after accepting his role of VP of Information Security and CISO at Yahoo in March 2014.

Stamos, who will officially join Facebook as CSO on Monday, June 29. He replaces former CSO Joe Sullivan who left the social media giant in April to take the role of CSO at Uber.

Stamos is a strong advocate of Internet privacy and security, and was a driving force behind TrustyCon, a rival event organized alongside the 2014 RSA Conference in protest of allegations that RSA accepted a $10 million payment from the NSA several years ago to use a weak number generating algorithm by default in its BSAFE toolkits.

Submission + - Fourth Oldest Dot-com Serving Up Scareware (networkworld.com)

Submitted by netbuzz
netbuzz writes: Founded in 1982, the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation was this country’s first computer research and development consortium. It was also the fourth organization of any kind to register a dot-com domain name – mcc.com — having done so in 1985. MCC ceased operations in 2000, but its notable domain name remained active. Unfortunately, it recently was being controlled by scam artists pedaling fraudulent antivirus services and nicking some victims for $400 apiece — until yesterday.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Devices without CompuTrace / LoJack?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: I'm looking to buy some hardware and I don't want to have the CompuTrace / LoJack crapware lurking in the BIOS and opening up a host of security problems as described in a 2014 press release by Kasperksy:

The network protocol used by the Computrace Small Agent provides basic features for remote code execution. The protocol doesn't require using any encryption or authentication of the remote server, which creates many opportunities for remote attacks in the hostile network environment.

I would really appreciate some input from slashdotters: Which manufacturers can I trust for buying 'clean' hardware? I'm looking to buy servers, desktop PCs, laptops and tablets.

Submission + - Put Your Enterprise Financial Data In The Cloud? Sure, Why Not (itworld.com)

Submitted by jfruh
jfruh writes: For many, the idea of storing sensitive financial and other data in the cloud seems insane, especially considering the regulatory aspects that mandate how that data is protected. But more and more organizations are doing so as cloud providers start presenting offerings that fulfill regulatory needs — and people realize that information is more likely to be accidentally emailed out to the wrong address then hacked.

Submission + - R2-D2 Will Feature in Star Wars Episode VII (starwarsepisode7-movie.com)

Submitted by DevotedDomains
DevotedDomains writes: The Wrap has officially confirmed that R2-D2 will feature in Star Wars Episode VII! This is the first bit of confirmed news for the highly anticipated 7th installment in the Star Wars saga in quite some time.

A deal has been closed to ensure that R2-D2 will continue his run of appearing in every single movie in the Star Wars saga.

Submission + - The flying toaster screen saver... takes off

Submitted by PuceBaboon
PuceBaboon writes: Remember that flying-toaster screen saver from way back when? Well, those peculiar people over at Flitetest.com have added to their repertoire of non/minimally aerodynamic flying objects with the successful test flight of the real thing. Of course, it wouldn't be any sort of project at all if the toaster didn't actually toast bread, but just how do you power a 700W/110v toaster, mid-flight? Check out the video to see the solution (as well as their fixes for the non-functional elevons and other problems they faced along the way).

Submission + - Urinal Dynamics: a tactical guide and summary. (byu.edu)

Submitted by antdude
antdude writes: Boing Boing shared an over one minute YouTube video showing "Urinal Dynamics: a tactical summary — We illustrate the importance of good technique when using a urinal and offer some advice. Through high-speed video footage of a simulated male urine stream we show that reduced splash can be achieved by aiming at a vertical surface, moving closer to the urinal and by decreasing the impact angle."

Splash Lab has more videos and text details.

Submission + - Bitcoin protocol vulnerability could lead to a collapse

Submitted by stanga
stanga writes: Cornell researchers unveiled an attack on the Bitcoin mining protocol that enables selfish mining pools to earn more than their fair share. In a technical report the authors explain this attack can be performed by a pool of any size. Rational miners will join this pool to increase their benefits, creating a snowball effect that may end up with a pool commanding a majority of the system's mining power. Such a pool would be able to single-handedly control the blockchain, violating the decentralized nature of the increasingly successful Bitcoin.

The authors propose a patch to the protocol that would protect the system from selfish mining pools smaller than 25% of the system. They also show that Bitcoin can never be safe from selfish mining pools larger than 33% of the network, whereas it was previously believed that only groups larger than 50% of the network were a threat to the system.

The question is — can the miners operating today adopt the suggested fix and dismantle too-large pools before a selfish mining pool arises?

Submission + - One in five stars has an Earth-sized planet in its habitable zone (keckobservatory.org)

Submitted by cunniff
cunniff writes: Remarkable statistics from the Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii — 22% (+/- 8%) of stars have an Earth-sized planet in its habitable zone. From the press release, UC Berkley graduate student Erik Petigura says, "What this means is, when you look up at the thousands of stars in the night sky, the nearest sun-like star with an Earth-size planet in its habitable zone is probably only 12 light years away and can be seen with the naked eye. That is amazing,"

This, of course, raises the Fermi paradox again — if alien life is common, why haven't we seen it yet? This study will be used to spark further investigation, including proposals for space telescopes which might be able to image nearby Earth-sized planets.

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