Comment Study performed by citizens? (Score 1) 353
I wonder how many grad students and academics of this study are on visas themselves, and how it might lead to an interesting paradox.
(did not read TFA, this is
Submission + - Android 4.0 Released (android.com) 1
ttong writes: The highly anticipated Android 4.0 (codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich) has been released and finally brings the features of 3.x Honeycomb to smaller devices. Some of the highlights include: a revamped UI, a much faster browser, face unlock, a vastly improved camera app, improved task switching, streaming voice recognition, Wi-Fi Direct and Bluetooth Health Device Profile (HDP). Google has made a video to demonstrate some of these new features. The API level is 14, download the new SDK here.
How Bug Bounties Are Like Rat Farming 140
Gunkerty Jeb writes "In a keynote speech at the United Security Summit, Stephen Dubner, co-author of Freakonomics, drew parallels between the increasingly popular (and successful) practice of software vendors offering bug bounties and a new industry springing up in Johannesburg, South Africa, where the population has recently found itself beset with a growing rat problem. In order to help mitigate their rodent problem, officials in Johannesburg began offering a small monetary rewards for each dead rat turned in. It was wildly successful, and it didn't take long for fresh batch of entrepreneurs to pop up and exploit the situation. Of course, I'm talking about rat farming. Evidently, business minded individuals have taken to breeding rats, only to kill them and turn them in for rewards. Obviously, rat farming is somewhat unscrupulous, but security researchers are doing the same thing: breeding bugs in the lab, then leading them to the slaughter for a nice payday. And it's a good thing."
Breath Detector To Help Find Earthquake Survivors 62
bazzalunatic writes "With all the recent earthquakes, this 'human-sniffing' device couldn't be more timely. Developed in the UK, the new machine detects the breath and sweat of survivors trapped in rubble. It's better than sniffer dogs, and could reduce the risk to them. From the article: 'The sensor technology was shown to accurately detect human-generated carbon dioxide and ammonia in air that wafted through gaps in the rubble during testing, something that previously only dogs could do, as other technologies focus more heavily on seeing or hearing a survivor.'"
Comment Reinventing the Web Services Wheel? (Score 2) 86
I might be missing something, but how is it significantly different from the work on languages such as WSDL used to describe Web Services? Is this just a JavaScript/REST version of the same?
Thanks,
-A
Google Developing Master API — Web Intents 86
GeneralSecretary writes "Google is developing an API to allow web apps to easily share information with various services. Quoting: 'Android OS addresses this problem with Intents, a facility for late run-time binding between components in the same or different applications. In the Intents system, the client application requests a generic action, e.g. share, and specifies the data to pass to the selected service application. The user is given a list of applications which have registered that they can handle the requested intent. The user-selected application is created in a new context and passed the data sent from the client, the format of which is predefined for each specific intent type. We are hard at work designing an analogous system for the web: Web Intents. This web platform API will provide the same benefits of Android Intents, but better suited for web application. ... As with Android, Web Intents documents an initial set of intent actions (edit, view, share, etc.) that likely cover the majority of use cases on the web today; however, as the web grows and sites provide more functionality, new intent actions will be added by services that document these intents, some more popular than others. To foster development and use of intents, we plan to create a site to browse existing intents and add new intents.'"
Android Password Data Stored In Plain Text 261
jampola writes "The Hacker News is reporting that Android password data is being stored as plain text in its SQlite database. Hackers News says that 'The password for email accounts is stored into the SQLite DB which in turn stores it on the phone's file system in plain text. Encrypting or at least transforming the password would be desirable.' I'm sure most would agree encrypted password data in at least SHA or MD5 would be kind of a good idea!"
Comment Python + HTML/CSS/JS (Score 1) 510
I am teaching a friend the basics of programming, and Python is what I have chosen. Books such as Learn Python the Hard Way [found its ref on StackOverflow, and liked it] are very good for someone who wants to learn programming on their own time.
That said, I think a lesson in the basics of flowcharting (inputs, outputs, conditionals, loops using counters and conditionals) goes a long way to prepare the student for programming languages.
HTML/CSS+JS is relevant given
- how many apps are web apps now, and the developer will likely need to work on it anyway
- Writing short snippets of markup + code can give some very instant gratification
The above is from feedback from my friend. YMMV.
-A
The End of the "Age of Speed" 531
DesScorp writes "'The human race is slowing down,' begins an article in the Wall Street Journal that laments the state of man's quest of aerial speed: we're going backwards. With the end of the Space Shuttle program, man is losing its fastest carrier of human beings (only single use moonshot rockets were faster). 'The shuttles' retirement follows the grounding over recent years of other ultra-fast people carriers, including the supersonic Concorde and the speedier SR-71 Blackbird spy plane. With nothing ready to replace them, our species is decelerating—perhaps for the first time in history,' the article notes. Astronauts are interviewed, and their sadness and disappointment is apparent. In the '60s and '70s, it was assumed that Mach 2+ airline travel would one day be cheap and commonplace. And now it seems that we, and our children, will fly no faster than our grandparents did in 707s. The last major attempt at faster commerical air travel — Boeing's Sonic Cruiser — was abandoned and replaced with the Dreamliner, an airliner designed from the ground up for fuel efficiency."
SlashTweaks Let YOU Micro-Edit Slashdot 257
Here at Slashdot, we watched as Twitter
discourse to just the perfect 140 characters, while
showed us that everyone's voice mattered equally when creating the
experience. We've taken the next step with SlashTweaks. Within each Slashdot
you will be presented with several opportunities to make micro-edits: ranging from factual errors or tonal shifts to simple typos.
Since Tweaks are just a single word, there is very little barrier to entry... you have no excuse not to participate. Stories will incorporate the highest rated
socially and mathematically guaranteeing the best story possible. Our highest
users can start new tweaks on individual words, while everyone else will be rating existing tweaks. Thanks for your participation and patience while we iterate on this, making sure that we are able to stay ahead of the
edge of webbovation!
50% of Tweets Consumed Come From .05% of Users
141
ajensen201102 writes "A mere 20,000 Twitter users steal almost half of the spotlight on Twitter, which now ropes in a billion tweets every week. That means only 0.05% of the social network's user base attracts attention, according to a new Yahoo Research study. From the article: 'Like findings in previous studies, the researchers for this one conclude Twitter resembles an information-sharing hub rather than a social network, with the top generators garnering huge follower tallies but not following their content consumers in return.'"
Comment Direct Youtube Link (Score 5, Informative) 174
For those who are getting a slashdotted server, here is the video.
Motorola Sticks To Guns On Locking Down Android 600
jeffmeden writes "'These aren't the droids you're looking for' proclaims Motorola, maker of the popular Android smartphones such as the Droid 2 and Droid X. At least, not if you have any intention of loading a customized operating system. According to Motorola's own YouTube channel, 'If you want to do custom roms, then buy elsewhere, we'll continue with our strategy that is working thanks.' The strategy they are referring to is a feature Motorola pioneered called 'e-fuse', the ability for the phone's CPU to stop working if it detects unauthorized software running."
Comment I am not sure how this is different... (Score 1) 366
... from the US govt. having laws in place for (warranted) interception of communication.
The article does not say that the govt. is asking for warrantless wiretaps (at least not according to the BBC article that the USA Today article cites). I have friends in the Indian govt. eavesdropping community, and they talk about how oversight is very strong there, and access to such data needs a warrant and is logged.
So, what exactly is the problem here? Or are we demanding different standards for companies in US and India?
Thanks.
Microsoft Hides Firefox Extension In Toolbar Update 285
Jan writes "As part of its regular Patch Tuesday, Microsoft released an update for its various toolbars, and this update came with more than just documented fixes. The update also installs an add-on for Internet Explorer and an extension for Mozilla Firefox, both without the user's permission."
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