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Submission + - Ad tracking: Is anything being done? (computerworld.com) 1

Submitted by bsk_cw
bsk_cw writes: The W3C's Tracking Protection Working Group has been trying to come up with a way to make targeted ads acceptable to users and useful to advertisers — and so far, hasn't gotten very far. Computerworld's Robert Mitchell has interviewed people on all sides of the issue — consumer privacy advocates, vendors of ad-blocking tools, advertisers and website publishers — to try to unravel the issues and see if any solution is possible at all.

Submission + - National Lab Working to Mix Metals and Polymers for 3D Printing (computerworld.com)

Submitted by Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: Scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab are trying to expand 3D printing to include mixed materials at the same time, such as polymers and metals. With those advances, a company could build, for example, body armor for soldiers that are stronger and lighter. If their work pans out, they’ll create materials that have properties that simply don’t exist today.

Submission + - Scientists glue sensors to 5,000 bees in a bid to better understand them (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Scientists at the University of Tasmania working with CSIRO have decided to go use the latest sensor technology to help them better understand the behavior of thousands of bees.

An RFID sensor measuring 2.5mm2 has been attached with glue to the back of around 5,000 honey bees in Hobart, Tasmania. In order for that to work, shaving the area of the bee where the sensor would sit was necessary in some cases. Thankfully the bee was asleep during the process, and the sensor is small and light enough that they likely won’t notice it is there.

With the sensors attached, checkpoints can be setup around the area where the bees travel and pollinate in order to create a three-dimensional map of their movements.

Submission + - Republican proposal puts 'national interest' requirement on US science agency (nature.com)

Submitted by ananyo
ananyo writes: Key members of the US House of Representatives are seeking to require the National Science Foundation (NSF) to justify every grant it awards as being in the “national interest”. The proposal, included in a draft bill from the Republican-led House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and obtained by Nature, would force the NSF to document how its basic science grants benefit the country.
The requirement is similar to one in a discussion draft circulated in April by committee chairman Lamar Smith (Republican, Texas). At the time, scientists raised concerns that ‘national interest’ was defined far too narrowly. The current draft bill provides a more expansive definition that includes six goals: economic competitiveness, health and welfare, scientific literacy, partnerships between academia and industry, promotion of scientific progress, and national defence.
But many believe that predicting the broader impacts of basic research is tantamount to gazing into a crystal ball. All scientists know it’s nonsense,” says John Bruer, president of James S. McDonnell Foundation and former co-chair of an NSF task force that examined requiring scientists to state the 'broader impacts' of their work in grant applications.

Submission + - The Feathered Threat to US Air Superiority 1

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Mark Thompson writes in Time Magazine that Air Force pilots flying the T-38 Talon can rest easy, knowing that their cockpit canopy can survive hitting a 4-lb. bird at 190 mph. Unfortunately, the Northrop supersonic jet trainer has a top speed of 812 mph. “To my knowledge, the training planes are the only ones in the Air Force fast enough to make a bird strike lethal, and with a windshield too flimsy to deflect one,” wrote one Air Force pilot. Midair collisions between birds and Air Force aircraft have destroyed 39 planes and killed 33 airmen since 1973. That's why the USAF is seeking “comments and identify potential sources, materials, timeframe, and approximate costs to redesign, test, and produce 550 T-38 forward canopy transparencies to increase bird strike capability.” The move follows a T-38 crash on July 19 in Texas triggered by a canopy bird strike. “The current 0.23 inch thick stretched acrylic transparency can resist a 4-pound bird impact at 165 knots which does not offer a capability to resist significant bird impacts, and has resulted in the loss of six (6) aircraft and two pilot fatalities,” the service acknowledged. “Numerous attempts since 1970 were made to evaluate existing materials and redesign a transparency that could withstand a bird impact of 4 pounds at 400 knots.” Previous efforts have foundered because they’d require expensive cockpit modifications to the twin-engine, two-seat supersonic jet. “Although it would increase the level of bird impact protection,” the Air Force said, “the proposal was cancelled due to the high cost of the modification.”

Submission + - Battle of the media ecosystems: Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft (computerworld.com)

Submitted by bsk_cw
bsk_cw writes: Three writers take a long look at four major consumer tech ecosystems — Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft — and examine how well (or badly) they're serving up their media. JR Raphael (for Android), Preston Gralla (for Amazon and Microsoft) and Michael deAgonia (for Apple) talk about how each company approaches gaming, music, video, books, etc., and how each integrates all its parts into some kind of whole. The conclusion? That none of the four can be said to be the best in all things, but they're certainly trying.

Submission + - Coral-Repairing Robots Take a Step Closer to Reality (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: Since humans are responsible for much of the damage to coral reefs, it makes sense that we should try and help repair them. That’s exactly what a team from the Herriot-Watt University’s Centre for Marine Biodiversity and Biotechnology is attempting to do with the development of underwater “coralbots.” Now anyone can add their support to this worthy effort with the launch of a Kickstarter campaign that will help make the robots a reality.
Privacy

Submission + - FBI Tries to Force Google to Unlock User's Android Phone (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: Those multi-gesture passcode locks on Android phones that give users (and their spouses) fits apparently present quite a challenge for the FBI as well. Frustrated by a swipe passcode on the seized phone of an alleged gang leader, FBI officials have requested a search warrant that would force Google to "provide law enforcement with any and all means of gaining access, including login and password information, password reset, and/or manufacturer default code ("PUK"), in order to obtain the complete contents of the memory of cellular telephone".

The request is part of a case involving an alleged gang leader and human trafficker named Dante Dears in California. Dears served several years in prison for his role in founding a gang in California called PhD, and upon his release he went back to his activities with the gang, according to the FBI's affidavit.
HP

Submission + - HP reviving the 99$ Touch Pad on 11th December (techcrunch.com)

Submitted by Frankie70
Frankie70 writes: Starting Sunday, December 11th at 6:00 p.m. Central time, 16GB and 32GB Touchpads will be available on HP's ebay store. A $79 accessory bundle will also be available, which includes a case, charging dock and wireless keyboard. The caveat with this deal is that these are refurbished TouchPads rather than the brand new models sold during the first firesale.
Apple

Submission + - DoJ investigates eBook price fixing (latimes.com)

Submitted by dave562
dave562 writes: The U.S. Justice Department's antitrust arm said it was looking into potentially unfair pricing practices by electronic booksellers, joining European regulators and state attorneys general in a widening probe of large U.S. and international e-book publishers.

A Justice Department spokeswoman confirmed that the probe involved the possibility of "anticompetitive practices involving e-book sales."

Attorneys general in Connecticut and, reportedly, Texas, have also begun inquiries into the way electronic booksellers price their wares, and whether companies such as Apple and Amazon have set up pricing practices that are ultimately harmful to consumers.

Submission + - Experiment affirms faster-than-light claim (nature.com)

Submitted by
gbrumfiel
gbrumfiel writes: "Earlier this year, the OPERA experiment made the extraordinary claim that they had seen neutrinos travelling faster than the speed of light. The experiment, located at Gran Sasso in Italy, saw neutrinos arrive 90 nanoseconds early from their starting point at CERN in Switzerland. Others have doubted OPERA's claim, but in a new paper, the group reaffirms its commitment to the measurement. “It’s slightly better than the previous result,” OPERA’s physics coordinator Dario Autiero told Nature News . Most members of the collaboration didn't sign up to the original paper out of skepticism have now come on board. But scientists outside the group still aren't sure. "Independent checks are the way to go", says Rob Plunkett, co-spokesman a rival experiment called MINOS."

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