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Open Source

Submission + - Open Sauce Foundation; Freedom From The Condiments of Intellectual Tyranny (sharpenedsticks.com)

Submitted by
TekTek
TekTek writes: "In response to the growing proliferation of the use of “secret sauce” as a vehicle for entrepreneurs’, venture capitalists’, and investment bankers’ thinly veiled proprietary machinations, a global consortium of premium condiment manufacturers has launched the Open Sauce Foundation (OSF). Founding members include McIlhenny Company (producer of Tabasco brand pepper sauce), Huy Fong Foods (producer of “Rooster Brand” Sriracha sauce), and Kikkoman (producer of Kikkoman brand Soy Sauce). The new foundation’s stated aim is not only to uphold the virtues of buying worthy sauce manufacturers’ products, but to demonstrate to the tech, financial, and media communities that “Open” companies, and condiments, can, and do, assume leadership roles in their respective markets."
Open Source

Submission + - PostgreSQL Repositories Locked Down as Security Vulnerability Gets Fixed (paritynews.com)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: PostgreSQL database has a ‘sufficiently bad’ security vulnerability because of which its developers have announced that they have locked down access to database’s repositories while they are fixing the issue. Developers have also revealed that the lock down is only temporary and during this phase committers will have access to the repositories. The reason for the lockdown is to ensure that malicious users don’t work out an exploit by monitoring the changes to the source code while it is being implemented to fix the flaw. The lockdown is definitely an exceptional one and the core committee has announced that they "apologize in advance for any disruption" adding that "It seems necessary in this instance, however".
GNU is Not Unix

Submission + - GCC 4.8.0 Release Marks Completion of C++ Migration

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: GCC 4.8 has been released and with it the developers of the GNU Compiler Collection have switched to C++ as the implementation language for which the developers have been working for years. Licensed under the GPLv3 or later, version 4.8 of the GCC not only brings with it performance improvements but also adds memory error detector AddressSanitizer; and race condition detection tool the ThreadSanitizer. Developers wanting to build their own version of GCC should have at their disposal a C++ compiler that understands C++ 2003.
News

Submission + - GoPro issues DMCA take down on product review it does not like (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by skade88
skade88 writes: Ars is reporting that, GoPro, the company that makes cameras used in extreme sports such as sky diving and swimming with dolphins has issued a DMCA take down notice on a review At DigitalRev that they do not like. See DMCA notice here

From the article: "DigitalRev has a blog post up about the takedown, suggesting that most DMCA takedowns are "abusive" in nature. "We hope GoPro is not suggesting, with this DMCA notice, that camera reviews should be done only when they are authorized by the manufacturers," writes DigitalRev. "GoPro (or should we call you Go*ro instead?), we'd be interested to hear what you have to say" about the infringement notice."
Medicine

Why Doctors Hate Science 1064

Posted by kdawson from the comparative-effectiveness-research dept.
theodp writes "A 2004 study found some 10 million women lacking a cervix were still getting Pap tests. Only problem is, a Pap test screens for cervical cancer — no cervix, no cancer. With this tale, Newsweek's Sharon Begley makes her case for comparative-effectiveness research (CER), which is receiving $1 billion under the stimulus bill for studies to determine which treatments, including drugs, are more medically sound and cost-effective than others for a given ailment. Physicians, Begley says, must stop treatments that are rooted more in local medical culture than in medical science, embrace practices that have been shown scientifically to be superior to others, and ignore critics who paint CER as government control of doctors' decision-making."
Networking

Microsoft Working For Samba Interoperability 221

Posted by CmdrTaco from the this'll-end-well dept.
JP writes "Andrew Bartlett of Samba fame has written a document describing their recent collaboration with Microsoft's Active Directory team. In brief, it would seem that the sky is falling, as Microsoft's engineers seem to be really committed to making Samba fully interoperable with AD. They have organized interoperability fests and have knowledgeable engineers answering technical questions without legal or marketing drones getting in the way. However according to Andrew the Samba AD team is currently very short on manpower, so if you have network experience, now is the time to get coding."
Medicine

Scientists Erase Specific Memories In Mice 320

Posted by samzenpus from the where's-the-cheese dept.
Ostracus writes "It sounds like science fiction, but scientists say it might one day be possible to erase undesirable memories from the brain, selectively and safely. After exposing mice to emotionally powerful stimuli, such as a mild shock to their paws, the scientists then observed how well or poorly the animals subsequently recalled the particular trauma as their brain's expression of CaMKII was manipulated up and down. When the brain was made to overproduce CaMKII at the exact moment the mouse was prodded to retrieve the traumatic memory, the memory wasn't just blocked, it appeared to be fully erased."
Censorship

Submission + - SCO Chairman Fights to Ban Open Wireless Networks

Submitted by
cachedout
cachedout writes: "SCO's Ralph Yarro had the floor yesterday at the Utah Technology Commission meeting in front of Utah lawmakers. Yarro proposed that free wireless sites and subscribers should be held responsible should any porn be delivered to minors because hotspots are apparently where kids go to watch porn all day long. Yarro told lawmakers that open wireless access points should be made a crime because we have an Internet out of control."

Feed Radio Active Brown Dwarfs Are A New Class Of Pulsar (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
A study of brown dwarfs has revealed that these "failed stars" can possess powerful magnetic fields and emit lighthouse beams of radio waves thousands of times brighter than any detected from the Sun. The brown dwarfs are behaving like pulsars, one of the most exotic types of object in our Universe.

Feed Astronomers Make Detailed Image Of Giant Stellar Nursery (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
Astronomers have collaborated to create the most detailed image ever produced of the Rosette Nebula (NGC 2237), a giant stellar nursery. The Rosette nebula is a vast cloud of dust and gas spanning 100 light years and lying about 4500 light-years away. Inside the nebula lies a cluster of bright, massive, young stars, whose strong stellar winds and radiation have cleared a hole in the nebula's centre. Ultraviolet light from these hot stars excites the surrounding nebula, causing it to glow.

Feed Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal Winner Backs Link Between Greenhouse Gases (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
Professor Nigel Weiss, 2007 winner of the Royal Astronomical Society Gold medal, will rebut claims that a fall in solar activity could cancel out the effects of man-made global warming. He described how solar activity was an important factor in past climate change but that current global warming is very much driven by human activity, specifically the emission of greenhouse gases.

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