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Google

Submission + - Haiku OS Ported To Intel 64-bit Architecture (phoronix.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The BeOS-compatible Haiku OS operating system has been ported to x86_64. As part of the Google Summer of Code, a student made a 64-bit port of the kernel and user-space and it's now working. However, not all of the BeOS apps and drivers are yet working in 64-bit mode.

Submission + - Forensic Test Can Determine Person's Eye and Hair Color 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A forensic test that has been developed to help police nab perpetrators of crimes can predict a suspect's eye color, hair color, and ethnic origin. The test's ability and the science behind it has been outlined in Forensic Science International: Genetics. Developed by Susan Walsh and other researchers from the Netherlands, Greece, and Poland, the test uses phenotypes from DNA to determine a suspect's eye color, hair color, or place of ethnic origin.
IBM

Submission + - IBM mainframe running world's fastest commercial processor (computerworld.com)

Submitted by dcblogs
dcblogs writes: IBM's new mainframe includes a 5.5-GHz processor, which may be world's fastest commercial processor, say analysts. This new system, the zEnterprise EC12, can also support more than 6-TB of flash memory to help speed data processing. The latest chip has six cores, up from four in the prior generation two years ago. But Jeff Frey, the CTO of the System Z platform, says they aren't trading off single-thread performance in the mainframe with the additional cores. There are still many customers who have applications that execute processes serially, such as batch applications, he said. This latest chip was produced at 32 nanometers, versus 45 nanometers in the earlier system. This smaller size allows more cache on the chip, in this case 33% more Level-2 cache. The system has doubled the L3 and L4 cache over the prior generation.
Media

Submission + - FreeCulture.org urges Creative Commons to drop proprietary clauses in CC 4.0 (freeculture.org)

Submitted by TheSilentNumber
TheSilentNumber writes: FreeCulture.org (Students for Free Culture) has just published a thorough and detailed post calling for the retirement of the non-free clauses, NoDerivatives (ND) and NonCommercial (NC). They state, "The NC and ND clauses not only depend on, but also feed misguided notions about their purpose and function." and that "Instead of wasting effort maintaining and explaining a wider set of conflicting licenses, Creative Commons as an organization should focus on providing better and more consistent support for the licenses that really make sense."
Hardware

Submission + - The History of the Floppy Disk (hp.com)

Submitted by
Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: "Ready for a nostalgic trip into the wayback? We had floppy disks long before we had CDs, DVDs, or USB thumb-drives. Here’s the evolution of the portable media that changed everything about personal computing.

According to another story from Jimmy Adkisson, a Shugart engineer, “Jim Adkisson and Don Massaro were discussing the proposed drive's size with Wang. The trio just happened to be doing their discussing at a bar. An Wang motioned to a drink napkin and stated 'about that size' which happened to be 5 1/4-inches wide.”

"
Apple

Submission + - Is your iPad keeping you up at night? (networkworld.com)

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: Researchers have discovered that relatively little exposure to tablets and other electronics with backlit displays can keep people up at night by messing with their circadian rhythms. The study from the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute showed that a 2-hour exposure to electronic devices with such displays causes suppression of the melatonin hormone and could make it especially tough for teens to fall asleep. The study, funded by Sharp Laboratories of America, simulated usage of such devices among 13 people using special glasses/goggles and light meters
Microsoft

Submission + - Confessions of a left-handed technology user (time.com)

Submitted by
harrymcc
harrymcc writes: "Over at TIME.com, I wrote about my trials and tribulations as a left-handed person who uses technology products. An awful lot of them have clearly designed with the right-handed majority in mind, even when they claimed they weren't. But the good news is that modern smartphones and tablets are very lefty-friendly compared to the devices that preceded them."
Security

Submission + - Judge Rules IP Addresses Are Insufficient Evidence To Identify Pirates (geekosystem.com)

Submitted by milbournosphere
milbournosphere writes: New York Judge Gary Brown has found that IP addresses don't provide enough evidence to identify pirates, and wrote an extensive argument explaining his reasoning. A quote from the judge's order:

        'While a decade ago, home wireless networks were nearly non-existent, 61% of US homes now have wireless access. As a result, a single IP address usually supports multiple computer devices – which unlike traditional telephones can be operated simultaneously by different individuals.

        Different family members, or even visitors, could have performed the alleged downloads. Unless the wireless router has been appropriately secured (and in some cases, even if it has been secured), neighbors or passersby could access the Internet using the IP address assigned to a particular subscriber and download the plaintiff’s film.'

Perhaps this will help to stem the tide of frivolous mass lawsuits being brought by the RIAA and other rights-holders where IP addresses are the bulk of the 'evidence' suggested.
Privacy

Submission + - Congress is amending CISPA to protect Web privacy (ibtimes.com)

Submitted by casac8
casac8 writes: As Friday's House vote on CISPA nears, it appears Congress members are getting nervous. Literally millions of people around the world have signed petitions voicing their opposition to the draconian measure that would end Internet privacy and freedom as we know it, and it appears Congress has heard their concerns, as House members are considering a number of amendments aimed at limiting the negative impacts the legislation would have on Internet privacy. For instance, one amendment likely to pass would tighten the bill's language to ensure its provisions are only applied in the pursuit of legit crimes and other rare instances, rather than whenever the NSA wants to target Joe Web-user. And another would increase possible liability on the parts of companies who hand personal information over to the government.

Read more about the amendments and the current status of CISPA below:

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/333257/20120425/cispa-acta-sopa-bill-pipa-house-congress.htm
Games

Submission + - If You Resell Your Used Games, The Terrorists Win (hothardware.com) 1

Submitted by
MojoKid
MojoKid writes: "Game designer Richard Browne has come out swinging in favor of the rumored antipiracy features in the next-gen PlayStation Orbis and Xbox Durango. "The real cost of used games is the damage that is being wrought on the creativity and variety of games available to the consumer," Browne writes. Browne's comments echo those of influential programmer and Raspberry Pi developer David Braben, who wrote last month that "...pre-owned has really killed core games. It's killing single player games in particular, because they will get pre-owned, and it means your day one sales are it, making them super high risk." Both Browne and Braben conflate hating GameStop (a thoroughly reasonable life choice) with the supposed evils of the used games market. Braben goes so far as to claim that used games are actually responsible for high game prices and that "prices would have come down long ago if the industry was getting a share of the resells." Amazingly, no game publishers have stepped forward to publicly pledge themselves to lower game prices in exchange for a cut of used game sales. Publishers are hammering Gamestop (and recruiting developers to do the same) because it's easier than admitting that the current system is fundamentally broken."
DRM

Submission + - Judge Grudgingly awards $3.6 Million in DRM Circumvention Case (techdirt.com)

Submitted by
Fluffeh
Fluffeh writes: "The case involves an online game, MapleStory, and some people who set up an alternate server, UMaple, allowing users to play the game with the official game client, but without logging into the official MapleStory servers. In this case, the people behind UMaple apparently ignored the lawsuit, leading to a default judgment. Although annoyed with MapleStory (The Judge knocked down a request for $68,764.23 — in profits made by UMaple — down to just $398.98), the law states a minimum of $200 per infringement. Multiply that by 17,938 users of UMaple... and you get $3.6 million. In fact, it sounds like the court would very much like to decrease the amount, but notes that "nevertheless, the court is powerless to deviate from the DMCA's statutory minimum." Eric Goldman also has some further op-ed and information regarding the case and judgement."
User Journal

Journal Journal: Cap'n Time Crunch

Journal by karniv0re

Fuck, I am stressed.

I slept horribly last night with dreams about this project. One dream was weird - Gared O'Donnel from Planes Mistaken For Stars was playing a show, and gave me a new book of his to read. The book
featured many technical specifics about my company and project. I was like, "Gared! I didn't know you worked here before!" Yeah, that one was stupid.
Privacy

Submission + - FTC Privacy Framework Pushes for Regulation of Data Brokers (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: The Federal Trade Commission has issued a new report on consumer privacy and online tracking and among the recommendations the commission makes is that data brokers make themselves known to consumers and be open and transparent about the data they collect on consumers. The FTC also says that companies should be building privacy protections into their products by design, including implementing the Do Not Track mechanism once it's finalized.

Data brokers are essentially an unregulated group of companies that collect, store and sell information about consumers and their behaviors and buying preferences. Privacy advocates and some lawmakers have criticized the industry's practices and called for some regulation. As a result, the FTC is recommending that the industry not only create a central site to inform consumers about the kinds of data they collect and sell, but also is pushing for legislation to address the industry's problems.
Unix

Submission + - Getting The Most Out Of SSH (itworld.com)

Submitted by
jfruh
jfruh writes: "If you have to administer a *nix computer remotely, you hopefully ditched Telnet for SSH years ago. But you might not know that this tool does a lot more than offer you a secured command line. These 16 tips will help you do everything from detect man-in-the-middle attacks (how are you supposed to know if you should accept a new hosts public key, anyway?) to evading restrictions on Web surfing."
Space

Submission + - Findings Cast Doubt on Moon Origins (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: A new analysis of isotopes found in lunar minerals challenges the prevailing view of how Earth's nearest neighbor formed. Geochemists looked at titanium isotopes in 24 separate samples of lunar rock and soil, and found that the moon's proportion was effectively the same as Earth's and different from elsewhere in the solar system. This contradicts the so-called Giant Impact Hypothesis, which posits that Earth collided with a hypothetical, Mars-sized planet called Theia early in its existence, and the resulting smash-up produced a disc of magma orbiting our planet that later coalesced to form the moon.

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