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Submission + - Microsoft rolls out Clear Linux for Azure instances (networkworld.com)

Submitted by JG0LD
JG0LD writes: Microsoft announced today that it has added support for the Intel-backed Clear Linux distribution in instances for its Azure public cloud platform. It’s the latest in a lengthy string of Linux distributions to become available on the company’s Azure cloud.
Open Source

Submission + - Can closed source software transition to the GPL successfully? (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: Open Source guy Bryan Lunduke has experienced the difficulties of migrating a successful closed source project to an open license first-hand, but still believes — or at least wants to believe — that it can be done.

Case in point: LiveCode's new Kickstarter campaign to raise about $550,000 to help put their Hyper-Card-like software development tool for Linux, Windows and Mac under an open license.

At the time this was written, they were roughly 20% of the way to their fund-raising goal with 22 days left. So it seems tight...but entirely possible.

The question is, will it be successful in the long term even if it reaches its Kickstarter goal?
Government

Submission + - Cyber Monday bust: US law joins in world-wide seizure of 132 domain names (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "A team of world-wide law enforcement agencies took out 132 domain names today that were illegally selling counterfeit merchandise online. The group, made up of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and law enforcement agencies from Belgium, Denmark, France, Romania, United Kingdom and the European Police Office (Europol) targeted alleged counterfeiters selling everything from professional sports jerseys, DVD sets, and a variety of clothing to jewelry and luxury goods."
Crime

Submission + - Murder suspect/fugitive John McAfee launches blog, offers $25K reward (networkworld.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The IT security pioneer John McAfee has launched a blog to document his life on the lam, as Belize police chase him down for suspicion of killing a neighbor. McAfee is using the blog to state his case, raise suspicions about Belize authorities and to offer a $25K reward to find the real killer or killers.
Technology

Submission + - Maker Faire 2012 NYC - Attack of The 3D Printer Bots (hothardware.com)

Submitted by
MojoKid
MojoKid writes: "If you've ever attended a World Maker Faire, the first thing that strikes you is how organic the whole scene is. Inventors, creators, and engineers from all walks of life have their gadgets, science projects, and creations on display for all to see. Some of the creations you see on display range from downright amazing to completely bizarre. One of the big attractions, a technology area that has experienced explosive growth, is the land of 3D Printing. MakerBot took the open source RepRap 3D replicator project mainstream back in 2009 with the release of the Cup Cake CNC machine, then came the Thing-o-Matic and then a little bot called Replicator. With each iteration, improvements in process and technology are bringing better, more capable 3D printers to market, from MakerBot's new Replicator 2, to new players in the field like Solidoodle, Up!3D, Ultimaker, and Tinkerines. To watch a 3D printer in action is like witnessing art, science and engineering all working together in glorious unison."
Blackberry

Submission + - Flatlining user base may spell end of RIM (theglobeandmail.com) 2

Submitted by Meshach
Meshach writes: There is an article in the Globe and Mail that says that ase for Blackberry has stopped growing the first time in the companies history and speculates that this is the beginning of the end of RIM. The main problem seems to be that RIM's new Blackberry models like Bold and Torch are selling poorly and their production costs are so much higher then other products manufactured in China. A recent research report says that after BB10 the company will need to sell or drastically change its business model.
Apple

Submission + - Apple stole iPad clock design from Swiss Rail company (networkworld.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Apple received a lot of criticism during the Apple/Samsung litigation this past Summer as folks deemed it absurd that Apple was able to patent things such as icon design and the overall form factor of a smartphone.

Well as it turns out, it appears that Apple has engaged in some copying of its own in the form of the new clock icon design used in iOS 6 on the iPad- a rather ironic turn of events given that Apple railed against Samsung for copying its own iOS icons. Specifically, the clock icon in iOS 6 on the iPad is a blatant copy of a Hans Hilfiker design to which both the trademark and copyright is owned by the Swiss Federal Railways service.

Submission + - Kickstarter Introduces New Hardware and Product Design Project Guidelines (kickstarter.com)

Submitted by
OakDragon
OakDragon writes: "Kickstarter has introduced some more stringent guidelines and requirements specifically for the Hardware and Product Design categories. These new requirements are laid out in a blog post called "Kickstarter Is Not a Store." Simulations will now be prohibited. Video cannot show a proposed product, action, etc. — only a real product and what it does at the time. Product renderings and other simulated illustrations also will not be sufficient — the project creator will have to have photographs of a real prototype."
Medicine

Submission + - Is the Can Worse Than the Soda? (smithsonianmag.com)

Submitted by
DevotedSkeptic
DevotedSkeptic writes: "Since the 1960s, manufacturers have widely used the chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) in plastics and food packaging. Only recently, though, have scientists begun thoroughly looking into how the compound might affect human health—and what they’ve found has been a cause for concern.

Starting in 2006, a series of studies, mostly in mice, indicated that the chemical might act as an endocrine disruptor (by mimicking the hormone estrogen), cause problems during development and potentially affect the reproductive system, reducing fertility. After a 2010 Food and Drug Administration report warned that the compound could pose an especially hazardous risk for fetuses, infants and young children, BPA-free water bottles and food containers started flying off the shelves. In July, the FDA banned the use of BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups, but the chemical is still present in aluminum cans, containers of baby formula and other packaging materials.

Now comes another piece of data on a potential risk from BPA but in an area of health in which it has largely been overlooked: obesity. A study by researchers from New York University, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, looked at a sample of nearly 3,000 children and teens across the country and found a “significant” link between the amount of BPA in their urine and the prevalence of obesity."
Security

Submission + - Defcon researchers show how a 3-year-old can open store-bought gun safes (forbes.com)

Submitted by bupbin
bupbin writes: We are providing a detailed report and analysis of eleven different popular gun safes produced by Stack-On, GunVault, and Bulldog to warn the public of the dangers inherent in some of these products because the manufacturers nor their major retailers will do so. In that report you can view eight different Stack-On models, one produced by Bulldog, and one manufactured by GunVault. A similar design defect is demonstrated in an inexpensive safe for storing valuables that is sold by AMSEC, a very reputable safe manufacturer in the United States. Unfortunately, their digital safe with their claim of a “state-of-the-art electronic lock” can also be opened (literally) by a three year old because of a common mechanism used in the industry that is subject to circumvention.
Intel

Submission + - Thunderbolt on Windows: Hardware and Performance Explored (hothardware.com)

Submitted by
MojoKid
MojoKid writes: "Intel's Light Peak technology eventually matured into what now is known in the market as Thunderbolt, which debuted initially as an Apple I/O exclusive last year. Light Peak was being developed by Intel in collaboration with Apple. It wasn't a huge surprise that Apple got an early exclusivity agreement, but there were actually a number of other partners on board as well, including Aja, Apogee, Avid, Blackmagic, LaCie, Promise and Western Digital. On the Windows front, Thunderbolt is still in its infancy and though there are still a few bugs to work out of systems and solutions, Thunderbolt capable motherboards and devices for Windows are starting to come to market. Performance-wise in Windows, the Promise RAID DAS system tested here offers near 1GB/s of peak read throughput and 500MB/s for writes, which certainly does leave even USB 3.0 SuperSpeed throughput in the dust."

Submission + - Why Tech Vendors Fund Patent 'Trolls' (computerworld.com)

Submitted by Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: Major tech vendors are funding patent trolls, companies that derive the bulk of their income, if not all of it, from licensing huge libraries of patents they hold as well as by suing companies that use their patents without permission, according to an investigation by Computerworld. Tech companies — including Apple and Micron — have railed against patent 'nuisance' lawsuits, only to fund or otherwise support some of the patent trolls. Because of patent trolls, more politely called mass patent aggregators, patent litigation has in part increased by more than 230% over the past 20 years. 'Most of the major tech companies are backing a troll in some way, probably financially,' says Thomas Ewing, an attorney who has authored reports on what he calls 'patent privateering'.
Apache

Submission + - Citrix moves away from OpenStack for Apache (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
netbuzz
netbuzz writes: "Citrix today announced that is turning its development attention away from the OpenStack project started two years ago by NASA and Rackspace in favor of its own CloudStack platform, Apache and Amazon Web Services. “Based on challenges of the technical maturity and where we are with CloudStack, (OpenStack) became a path not viable,” says a Citrix executive. Industry analysts contend that the move says more about Citrix and its needs than it does OpenStack and its future."

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