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Submission + - Scaling algorithm bug in Photoshop/GIMP (4p8.com) 1

Submitted by Wescotte
Wescotte writes: There is an important error in most photography scaling algorithms. All software tested have the problem: The Gimp, Adobe Photoshop, CinePaint, Nip2, ImageMagick, GQview, Eye of Gnome, Paint and Krita. Also three different operating systems were used: Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. These exceptions have subsequently been reported: the Netpbm toolkit for graphic manipulations, the developping GEGL toolkit, 32 bit encoded images in Photoshop CS3, the latest version of Image Analyzer, the image exporters in Aperture 1.5.6, the latest version of Rendera, Adobe Lightroom 1.4.1, Pixelmator for Mac OS X, Paint Shop Pro X2 and the Preview app in Mac OS X starting from version 10.6.

Photographs that have been scaled with these software have been degradated. The degradation is often faint but probably most pictures contain at least an array where the degradation is clearly visible. I suppose this happens since the first versions of these software, maybe 20 years ago.
NASA

Submission + - Astronauts having trouble with Tranquility module (usatoday.com)

Submitted by Coldeagle
Coldeagle writes: Astronauts ran into trouble while trying to connect up the new Tranquility module onto the ISS. A critical insulating cover didn't fit quit right:

"The fabric, multilayered cover is supposed to go between Tranquility and its observation deck, but the metal bars are not locking down properly because of interference from a hand rail or some other structure at the hatch."

One has to wonder if this is another imperial metric snafu.
Google

Submission + - Google.cn Still Remains in China (wired.com)

Submitted by hackingbear
hackingbear writes: Google appears to be content to remain in China doing business as usual while it finds a way to work within the system, according to one of the search giant’s founders. This despite a strong statement 30 days ago that it would stop censoring search results in China and possibly pull its business out of that country. And the company is still unwilling to confirm or deny if the alleged attacks were carried out by the Chinese government. "I don't actually think the question of whether [the attacks were performed by] the Chinese government is that important," Brin said. (That's the difference between state-sponsor vs individual hacking. Why is that not important?) At the mean time, shortly after we celebrated google.cn lifted censorship, the exact same censorship has been quietly re-enabled as proved by this Chinese search query on June 4, despite the lack of any concrete actions by the Chinese government who has so far made only useless general and standard statements on the matter.
Security

Submission + - Twitter Hackers Take Down Baidu (infoworld.com)

Submitted by snydeq
snydeq writes: The group that took down Twitter last month has apparently claimed another victim: China's largest search engine Baidu.com. Offline late Monday, Baidu.com at one point displayed an image saying "This site has been hacked by Iranian Cyber Army," according to a report in the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party and other Web sites. The Iranian Cyber Army first gained notoriety with its Dec. 18 Twitter attack. Baidu's domain name records were the focus of the hack. On Monday, the company was using domain name servers belonging to HostGator, a Florida ISP, instead of the Baidu.com nameservers the company normally uses.
Space

Submission + - 2010 AL30: An Asteroid or Space Junk? (discovery.com)

Submitted by astroengine
astroengine writes: A near-Earth object that could be manmade has just been discovered hurtling toward us. On Wednesday (Jan. 13), an object called 2010 AL30 will fly by Earth at a distance of just 130,000 km (80,000 miles). That's only one-third of the way from here to the moon, ie: very close.

It will miss us, and if it did hit us, it wouldn't do any damage anyway, but I managed to pick up on some chatter between planetary scientists and found out that the "asteroid," or whatever it is, gives us a new standard: a 10-meter-wide asteroid can be detected two days before it potentially hits Earth. A pretty useful warning if you ask me.
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Can We Beam Broadband Internet Into Iran? (motherjones.com)

Submitted by
abenamer
abenamer writes: "Some reporter at a recent White House press briefing just asked the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, this question: Was "the White House....considering beaming broad capability into Iran via satellite so the opposition forces would be able to communicate with themselves and the outside world"? "Gibbs said he didn't know such a thing was possible. (Is it?) But he said he would check on the technological feasibility and get back with an answer." I'm not sure what the reporter meant by beaming broadband into Iran? Do they even have 3G? Would we bomb the Iranians with SIM cards that would allow them to get text messages from the VOA? Or somehow put up massive WiFi transmitters from Iraq and beam it into Iran? How would you, as a Slashdotter, beam broadband into Iran?"
Microsoft

Microsoft Family Safety Filter Blocks Google 332

Posted by timothy from the can-neither-confirm-nor-deny dept.
mike.rimov writes "I saw that part of the brand new Windows Live package is the Family Safety Filter, so I decided to give it a spin. Turned it on, set it to 'basic filtering' (their lowest level), and went to Google ... oops, it blocks Google! So I logged into the settings and added Google as an exception. Google still wouldn't come up. Just in case, I turned off the family filter: voila, Google. As we all know, 'Don't be evil' is not part of Microsoft's motto! Oh yeah — and with the filter on, Microsoft's own search engine, live.com comes up." Anomaly?
Displays

Submission + - Visualizing data inside the 30-ft Allosphere (ted.com)

Submitted by
TEDChris
TEDChris writes: "The Allosphere, being created at USC Santa Barbara, is the most ambitious attempt yet at creating powerful 3d visualizations of raw scientific data, such as the structure of a crystal, or how quantum effects take place. Researchers watch from a bridge inside the 30 ft sphere, looking at data projected 360-degrees around them and listening to 3D sound. The first major public demo of the facility has just been posted at TED.com. Optimists wd argue that many of the greatest scientific breakthroughs happened through a new visual way of imagining data. Penicillin and relativity come to mind. So this is either a killer new research vehicle, an incredible toy, or just an insanely expensive art project."
Censorship

FOIA Request For Pending Copyright Treaty Denied 364

Posted by kdawson from the let-the-sunshine-in dept.
Penguinisto writes "According to CNET, Knowledge Ecology International's FOIA request for information about ACTA was denied. ACTA is the pending copyright treaty believed to have been authored by lobbyists for the content cartels. Even stranger, the denial cited 'national security reasons (PDF). While it is not unusual for the White House of any administration to block FOIA requests for national security reasons, one would think that a treaty affecting civil interests alone wouldn't qualify for such secrecy. Not exactly sure what involvement the former RIAA mouthpiece Donald Verelli (a recent Obama pick for the DOJ) may have in this." KEI is not alone; the European Parliament wants to see the ACTA documents too.

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