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Google

Submission + - Google Selects City for Fiber Network (google.com)

Submitted by Turbine2k5
Turbine2k5 writes: After much deliberation, Google has chosen Kansas City to receive a fiber optic upgrade by 2012. Development is planned to start by the end of the year, although they have not released any specifics on their plan. Google says that this is "not the end of the project" and that they'll "be looking closely at ways to bring ultra high-speed Internet to other cities across the country."
Games

Submission + - Linux 3D games run faster on PC-BSD (phoronix.com)

Submitted by koinu
koinu writes: Phoronix has published benchmarks comparing 3D games on Ubuntu Linux 11.04 and the FreeBSD Linux ABI emulation on the 8.2 release of PC-BSD, which is a desktop variant of FreeBSD. Most results show that the emulated Linux layer on FreeBSD performs better than Linux natively. It is pretty interesting, because most people would expect that an additional abstraction layer would generally slow down the execution of binaries.
Google

Submission + - Google To Discontinue Blogger & Picasa Brands (digitizor.com) 1

Submitted by dkd903
dkd903 writes: Google plans to discontinue it’s Photo sharing platform Picasa and the blogging platform Blogger and will re-introduce them as Google Photos and Google Blogs. All this forms a part of the massive feature addition to Google’s new social network – Google+
Piracy

Submission + - Indie Film Premieres on BitTorrent Before Cinema (vodo.net)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The first part of A Lonely Place For Dying is available on VODO while the filmmakers are getting ready for a theatrical run in early 2012. Viewers are asked to donate if they like what they see and if enough cash is raised theywill be able to watch the film again on the big screen. In return for their contributions donors are receiving digital downloads or credits in the upcoming release, you can even become an Executive Producer and get your name listed on imdb. This is a brave move challenging Hollywood and their traditional "release windows", download now and check it out!

Submission + - iPad Account 'Hacker' Pleads Guilty (google.com)

Submitted by WrongSizeGlass
WrongSizeGlass writes: Daniel Spitler, a member of Goatse Security, pleaded guilty today to writing the code used to steal email addresses and personal information belonging to 120,000 Apple iPad subscribers from AT&T computer servers. Spitler, who surrendered to the authorities in January, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to computers connected to the Internet and one count of identity theft. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

"Computer hackers are exacting an increasing toll on our society, damaging individuals and organizations to gain notoriety for themselves," US attorney Paul Fishman said. "In the wake of other recent hacking attacks by loose-knit organizations like Anonymous and LulzSec, Daniel Spitler's guilty plea is a timely reminder of the consequences of treating criminal activity as a competitive sport," he said.
China

Submission + - The End of Cheap Labor in China (time.com) 3

Submitted by hackingbear
hackingbear writes: The Time magazine reports, in what is supposed to be a land of unlimited cheap labor — a nation of 1.3 billion people, whose extraordinary 20-year economic rise has been built first and foremost on the backs of low-priced workers — the game has changed. In the past decade, real wages for manufacturing workers in China have grown nearly 12% per year. The hourly cost advantage, while still significant [comparing to the West], is shrinking rapidly. The changing economics of Made in China will benefit both the rich and poor world. Countries like Cambodia, Laos, India and Vietnam are picking up some of the cheapest labor manufacturing left by the Chinese. And there is already evidence of at least the beginning of a shift in manufacturing operations returning to the U.S. Perhaps we will soon stop picking at "Made in China" but instead complaining "Made in Vietnam/Cambodia", while serving the flood of Chinese tourists stocking up brand-name merchandises on US tours and Chinese students paying high tuitions to our cash-strapped universities.
Medicine

Submission + - New Imaging Technique Explains Unconsciousness (manchester.ac.uk)

Submitted by smitty777
smitty777 writes: A new imaging technique called fEITER (for functional Electrical Impedance Tomography by Evoked Response) attempts to explain the process of slipping into unconsciousness. The fEITER is a portable device that creates 3D imagery based on evoked potentials measured hundreds of times a second.

The interesting finding from these studies is that unconsciousness appears to result from a buildup of inhibitor neurons. From the article: “Our findings suggest that unconsciousness may be the increase of inhibitory assemblies across the brain’s cortex. These findings lend support to Greenfield’s hypothesis of neural assemblies forming consciousness.”
Robotics

Submission + - cheap swarm robot (ieee.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: hey're fairly simple little robots about the size of a quarter that can move around on vibrating legs, blink their lights, and communicate with each other. On an individual basis, this isn't particularly impressive, but Kilobots aren't designed to be used on an individual basis. Costing a mere $14 each and buildable in about five minutes, you don't just get yourself one single Kilobot. Or ten. Or a hundred. They're designed to swarm in the thousands,

Submission + - First exploit on quantum cryptography confirmed (physicsworld.com)

Submitted by
Vadim Makarov
Vadim Makarov writes: "The Physics World reports researchers demonstrating a full eavesdropper on a quantum key distribution link. Unlike conventional exploits for security vulnerabilities that are often just a piece of software, spying on quantum cryptography required a box full of optics and mixed-signal electronics. Details are published in Nature Communications, and as a free preprint. The vulnerability was known before, but this is the first actual working exploit with secret-key recording confirmed. Patching this loophole is in progress.

Disclaimer: I am one of the researchers who worked on this."
Wireless Networking

Submission + - NanoNote goes Wireless (qi-hardware.com)

Submitted by
dvdkhlng
dvdkhlng writes: "Even though completely copyleft, the NanoNote hand-held platform failed to get the attention of many due to its low specs and the lack of wireless connectivity. The objective to keep things open had its price, and especially wireless technology is a mine-field of patents and NDAs.
Now a few gifted hackers designed an add-on card to bring wireless to the NanoNote. It's not what you would expect: WLAN compatibility was sacrificed, going for the less encumbered IPv6 over 802.15.4 standard instead. The resulting dongles won't win a price for the highest bandwidth but excel at simplicity, energy efficiency and manufacturability.
Want to see the ugly details? Designs, source code and production documentation are published under open source licenses."
Security

Submission + - After 7 years, MyDoom worm is still spreading (sophos.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers at Sophos have revealed that the MyDoom worm, which spread via email and launched denial-of-service attacks against websites belonging to SCO and Microsoft, is still spreading on the internet after more than 7 years in existence.

The firm suggests tongue-in-cheek, that it would be nice if computer users updated their anti-virus software /at least/ once every 5 years to combat the malware threat.
Earth

Submission + - Osage Oppose Wind Power at Tallgrass Prairie

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "The Tulsa World reports that Principal Chief John D. Red Eagle of the Osage Nation says the tribe, although not opposed to alternative energy development in general, has found significant reasons to oppose wind farms on the tallgrass prairie, "a true national treasure" whose last small fragments remain only in Osage County and in Kansas. The Osage County wind farms would not be built in the Nature Conservancy's Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, located northeast of Ponca City, but would be visible from it and Preserve Director Bob Hamilton has urged the county and the state to steer wind development to areas of the county that are not ecologically sensitive. "Not all areas in the Osage are sensitive," says Hamilton. "What makes the tallgrass prairie so special is its big landscape. It's not just local — it has global significance." The Osage also fear that large wind farms will interfere with extracting oil and gas, from which royalties are paid in support of tribal members as the Osage retain their tribal mineral rights owned in common by members of the tribe. "They weren't thinking about the mineral estate — just about compensating landowners," says Galen Crum, chairman of the tribal Minerals Council. "How are we supposed to know the price of oil in 50 years?""

Submission + - Fermi Lab May Have Not Discovered New Particle (newscientist.com)

Submitted by Dainutehvs
Dainutehvs writes: Do You remember article in slashdot "Fermi Lab May Have Discovered New Particle or Force" and quite a few slashdotters being skeptical aout it. They might be right. Another team has analysed data from the collider and come to the exact opposite conclusion about whether it hints at a new particle. Read more in NewScientist's website http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20564
Cloud

Submission + - Cloud-based, ray traced games on Intel tablets (intel.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: After Intel showed a ray traced version of Wolfenstein last year running cloud-based streamed to a laptop the company that has just recently announced its shift to the mobile market shows now their research project also running on various x86-tablets with 5 to 10 inch screens. The heavy calculations are performed by a cloud consisting of a machine with a Knights Ferry card (32 cores) inside. The achieved frame rates are around 20-30 fps.

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