Comment Re:Semantics (Score 0, Flamebait) 837
Oops, that was me. Forgot to log in. Signed, Anonymous Coward.
Submission + - Universe 100 million years older than previously thought (reuters.com)
skade88 writes: Reuters is reporting that scientists now say the universe is 100 million years older than previously thought after they took a closer look at leftover radiation from the Big Bang. This puts the age of the Universe at 13.8 billion years. The new findings are the direct results from analyzing data provided by the European Space Agency's Planck spacecraft. The spacecraft is providing the most detailed look to date at the remnant microwave radiation that permeates the universe.
"It's as if we've gone from a standard television to a high-definition television. New and important details have become crystal clear," Paul Hertz, NASA's director of astrophysics, told reporters on a conference call.
"It's as if we've gone from a standard television to a high-definition television. New and important details have become crystal clear," Paul Hertz, NASA's director of astrophysics, told reporters on a conference call.
Comment "techie" != "software engineer" (Score 2) 441
There are plenty of us "techies" out here who are not software engineers, and are more valuable than the twentysomethings precisely *because* we've got 20+ years of experience.
Comment I broke the museum once (Score 2, Funny) 122
No, I didn't break *in* -- I broke the museum. I was standing near an exhibit of a tape library robot, busily moving tapes around, and the control panel was right out there where anyone could fiddle with it. I pushed a button -- I don't remember which one -- and the robot arm reset to its rest position and stopped. I moved away from the exhibit before anyone saw me. A week later the museum closed and didn't reopen for almost a year. So that must have been one important tape library.
Sorry.
Submission + - Is PHP Insecure? (developer.com)
darthcamaro writes: Over 60 bugs were reported in PHP over the last 30 days, should PHP users and developers be worried? Most of the flaws however are ones that developers themselves can protect against with proper coding practices according to the Andi Gutmans CEO of commercial PHP vendor Zend. He argues that PHP security is a matter of setting expectations. In his view, PHP — like all development languages, is only as secure as the code people that write code with it.
"People should not expect PHP to be able to enforce security boundaries on a developer that has permissions to run custom PHP code," Gutmans said. "It's an inherently flawed scenario — and it's the wrong layer to protect in. People must rely on properly-configured OS-level permissions for securing against untrusted developers."
Submission + - New Radar Device Helps Blind People "See" (inhabitat.com)
greenrainbow writes: Students in Israel at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have developed new technology that allows blind people to “see” objects around them through a simple radar system. The device consists of a computer, two video cameras and a scanning light source that audibly alerts the individual of objects that are close in proximity. The system scans surrounding objects and their distance from two points, much like the human eyes. Unlike current sensor canes, this new light scanning device is a hands free system that can sense objects on the ground, overhead and in the periphery.
Submission + - New Handheld Computer is 100% Open-Source (linux.com)
metasonix writes: While the rest of the industry has been blubbering about the iPad and imitations thereof, Qi Hardware is actually shipping a product that is completely open-source and copyleft. The Ben NanoNote is a handheld computer that apparently contains no proprietary technology. It uses a 366 MHz MIPS processor, 32MB RAM, 2 GB flash, a 320x240 pixel color display, and a Qwerty keyboard. No network built in, though it is claimed to accept SD-card WiFi or USB-Ethernet adapters. Included is a very simple Linux OS based on the OpenWrt distro installed in Linksys routers, with Busybox GUI. It's apparently intended primarily for hardware and software hackers, not as a general-audience handheld. The price is right, though: $99.
Submission + - Super Earths discovered orbiting 61 Virginis (sciencedaily.com) 1
likuidkewl writes: Two super Earths, 5 and 7.5 times the size of our home, were found to be orbiting 61 Virginis a mere 28 light years away.
"These detections indicate that low-mass planets are quite common around nearby stars. The discovery of potentially habitable nearby worlds may be just a few years away," said Vogt, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UCSC.
And yes, it was hard not to type virgins.
"These detections indicate that low-mass planets are quite common around nearby stars. The discovery of potentially habitable nearby worlds may be just a few years away," said Vogt, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UCSC.
And yes, it was hard not to type virgins.
Submission + - Hackers Find Home in Amazon EC2 Cloud (infoworld.com)
snydeq writes: Security researchers have spotted the Zeus botnet running an unauthorized command and control center on Amazon's EC2 cloud computing infrastructure. This marks the first time Amazon Web Services' cloud infrastructure has been used for this type of illegal activity, according to threat researcher Don DeBolt. The hackers got onto Amazon's infrastructure by hacking into a Web site hosted on Amazon's servers and then secretly installing their command and control infrastructure.
Comment Privacy International (Score 1) 1359
PI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_International) publishes a list of countries by Privacy Index. The UK is 1.5 ("Endemic surveillance societies", just ahead of Singapore), and the US is 2.0 ("Extensive surveillance societies", between Israel and Thailand). Based on that list, your best bets are Germany (3.9) or Canada (3.6) (both in the category "Consistently upholds human rights standards").
Comment Re:This should be a lesson... (Score 1) 780
Completely off-topic, but dd is alive and well. It's got lots of buffering and data-copying uses, and for imaging an entire drive or partition it's great. There are even versions that will compute the MD5 or SHA1 hash of the partition on-the-fly. Computer forensics wouldn't be the same without good ol' dd.
Microsoft Discontinues Windows 3.x 384
rugatero writes "The BBC reports that, as of last Saturday, Microsoft is no longer issuing licenses for the 18-year-old Windows 3.x. Many here may well be surprised to learn that anyone still has use for the antiquated software, but it seems to have found a home in a number of embedded systems — including cash registers and the in-flight entertainment systems on some long-haul passenger jets (Virgin and Qantas are cited). Considering Linux's credentials as an embedded OS, this news could very well indicate the possibility of more migrations in the pipeline."
Comment I'm going to register .ing! (Score 1) 198
Think of the possibilities!
Tesla Motors Shaken Up, Laying Off 491
tjstork writes "Tesla Motors, the darling of technorati for its high performance electric car, may be about to go belly up. Venture capital is cut off, layoffs are under way, and construction plans are being stretched out. Elon Musk has ousted the CEO and taken the reins, blaming the global credit crunch."
US Amazon.com Website Down For Over 1 Hour 228
CorporalKlinger writes "CNET News is reporting that Amazon's US website, Amazon.com, has been unreachable since 10:30 AM PDT today. As of posting, visiting www.amazon.com produces an 'Http/1.1 Service Unavailable' message. According to CNET, "Based on last quarter's revenue of $4.13 billion, a full-scale global outage would cost Amazon more than $31,000 per minute on average." Some of Amazon's international websites still appear to be working, and some pages on the US Amazon.com site load if accessed using HTTPS instead of HTTP."
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