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Graphics

Submission + - The wretched state of GPU transcoding (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "Excerpt from the story (which reportedly turned the writer, Joel Hruska, quite mad): "This story began as an investigation into why Cyberlink’s Media Espresso software produced video files of wildly varying quality and size depending on which GPU was used for the task. It then expanded into a comparison of several alternate solutions. Our goal was to find a program that would encode at a reasonably high quality level (~1GB per hour was the target) and require a minimal level of expertise from the user. The conclusion, after weeks of work and going blind staring at enlarged images, is that the state of "consumer" GPU transcoding is still a long, long way from prime time use. In short, it's simply not worth using the GPU to accelerate your video transcodes; it's much better to simply use Handbrake, which uses your CPU. Read the story for the full analysis, and some hints of some truly awful coding from Cyberlink."
NASA

Submission + - NASA Successfully Test Fires J-2X Engine. (universetoday.com)

Submitted by
tetrahedrassface
tetrahedrassface writes: "NASA successfully test fired the J-2X engine today for 500 seconds at Stennis Space Center. The J2-X is derived from the J2 engine from the Apollo Era, and will power the upper stage of the SLS. From the article: 'We have 500 seconds of good data, and the first look is that everything went great. The J-2X engine team and the SLS program as a whole are extremely happy that we accomplished a good, safe and successful test today,” said Mike Kynard, Space Launch System Engines Element Manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. “This engine test firing gives us critical data to move forward in the engine’s development.'"
Networking

Submission + - FBI takes out $14M DNS malware operation (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "US law enforcement today said it had smashed what it called a massive, sophisticated Internet fraud scheme that injected malware in more than four million computers in over 100 countries while generating $14 million in illegitimate income. Of the computers infected with malware, at least 500,000 were in the United States, including computers belonging to U.S. government agencies, such as NASA."

Submission + - Irreversible Climate Change in 5 Years (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by
iONiUM
iONiUM writes: "As a follow up to the previous slashdot story, there has been a new release by the IEA indicating that within 5 years we will have irreversible climate change. According to the IEA, "There are few signs that the urgently needed change in direction in global energy trends is under way. Although the recovery in the world economy since 2009 has been uneven, and future economic prospects remain uncertain, global primary energy demand rebounded by a remarkable 5% in 2010, pushing CO2 emissions to a new high. Subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption of fossil fuels jumped to over $400bn (£250.7bn).""
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Killing Silverlight (zdnet.com) 1

Submitted by SharkLaser
SharkLaser writes: Silverlight 5 might be last version released by Microsoft. Several industry insiders and partners for the last few weeks have heard from their own Microsoft sources that there won't be new versions released after Silverlight 5. Status on service packs and support for Silverlight is unclear, as Microsoft haven't yet released lifecycle support end date even for the previous Silverlight 4. By their support page they will give full year head-up before ending support. With Adobe ending development of Flash for mobile browsers and Microsoft ending development of Silverlight, HTML5 video looks a lot more promising. But will content providers be able to give out their material without DRM and how does HTML5 perform with non-video side of Flash and Silverlight?
Programming

Submission + - Programming in Cell OS (medgadget.com)

Submitted by JoeMerchant
JoeMerchant writes: An international team of synthetic biologists, led by professor of computer science Natalio Krasnogor at the University of Nottingham, hopes to change hopes to revolutionize synthetic biology with what they call Cell OS, a "bottom-up approach to cellular computing, in which computational chemical processes are encapsulated within liposomes." The team refers to this as "liposome logic" or "vesicle computing," which sounds analogous to the logic based off of the field-effect transistor, and it may be a part of the nascent "CellOS". The bold project is aptly named AUdACiOuS.
Microsoft

Submission + - B&N Sought Inquiry over Microsoft's Software P (wsj.com)

Submitted by Meshach
Meshach writes: Interesting story at WSJ.com about how Barnes & Noble Inc. lobbied the Justice Department to open a new antitrust probe against Microsoft regarding their abuse of the patent system. BN saw Microsoft filing a slew of frivolous patents in order to stop the development of their handheld. Apparently MS attempted a similar racket against Google with the recent release of Android and Google complied but BN does not have the cash reserves of Google and is fighting back.

Submission + - Molecular Pentafoil knot

Submitted by Med-trump
Med-trump writes: Scientists now report that they have made a non-DNA molecular knot.
They created a 160-atom-loop with five crossing points, a molecular pentafoil knot. The researchers used a technique known as "self-assembly" to prepare the knot in a chemical reaction. Apparently 85% of the elasticity of natural rubber is due to knot-like entanglements in the rubber molecules chains.
Science

Submission + - New algorithm could substantially speed up MRI sca (mit.edu)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In a paper to be published in the journal Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, researchers led by Elfar Adalsteinsson, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science and health sciences and technology, and Vivek Goyal, the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Career Development Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, detail an algorithm they have developed to dramatically speed up this process. The algorithm uses information gained from the first contrast scan to help it produce the subsequent images. In this way, the scanner does not have to start from scratch each time it produces a different image from the raw data, but already has a basic outline to work from, considerably shortening the time it takes to acquire each later scan.
Microsoft

Submission + - Duqu Installer Includes Windows Kernel Zero Day (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: A newly discovered installer for the Duqu malware includes an exploit for a previously unknown vulnerability in the Windows kernel that allows remote code execution. Microsoft is working on a fix for the kernel vulnerability right now. The exact location and nature of the flaw isn't clear right now. The installer uses a Word document to exploit the vulnerability and then install the Duqu binaries.

The researchers at CrySyS Lab said that they have shared information on the Windows kernel flaw with other organizations.

"Our lab, the Laboratory of Cryptography and System Security (CrySyS) pursued the analysis of the Duqu malware and as a result of our investigation, we identified a dropper file with an MS 0-day kernel exploit inside. We immediately provided competent organizations with the necessary information such that they can take appropriate steps for the protection of the users," the lab said in a statement.
Japan

Submission + - Blow-By-Blow Account of the Fukushima Accident (ieee.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In the first few days of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, no one outside the power station knew what the hell was happening. In the 9 months since, information has come out in confusing bits and pieces. Now, finally, we have an authoritative account of exactly what went wrong in the first 24 hours of the accident. It's a harrowing tale of creativity, heroism, and catastrophe. One thing I hadn't realized was just how close workers came to averting the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
Apple

Submission + - Apple's App Store shame (zdnet.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Why are there so many free games listed in the top 10 grossing games over in Apple's App Store? Because some feature exorbitant in-app purchase fees for virtual items.

ZDNet reports:

'Developing ‘free’ games aimed specifically at children, and then bundling ridiculously priced in-app purchases inside those ‘free’ games feels scammy to me. Sure, it’s not illegal, and it’s not against Apple’s developer terms and conditions, but Apple is a company that prides itself in protecting users from harm. Most of the game developers do make an attempt to warn users that the game ‘changes real money for additional in-app content’ but it’s a lame attempt. It’s easily missed, and kids aren’t going to read it anyway.'
Linux

Submission + - How Linux Mastered Wall Street (itworld.com)

Submitted by
itwbennett
itwbennett writes: "Linux has become a dominant player in finance, thanks to the operating-system kernel's ability to pass messages very quickly, Linux kernel contributor Christoph Lameter said in an interview with IDG News Service. 'The trading shops saw that the lowest-latency solutions would only be possible with Linux,' Lameter said. 'The older Unixes couldn't move as fast as Linux did.' One key attribute was the TCP/IP stack, the configuration of which determines how fast a message can be passed between two systems. Linux also offers financial firms the ability to modify the source code to further speed performance, Lameter said. 'It depends on how daring the exchange is,' he said, noting that NASDAQ uses a modified version of the Gentoo Linux distribution. Lameter will discuss how Linux became widely adopted by financial exchanges at the LinuxCon conference in Vancouver this week."
The Internet

Submission + - 7 Days In Email Hell (itworld.com)

Submitted by
jfruhlinger
jfruhlinger writes: "If you first went on line in the '90s, you probably remember a time when every e-mail you received was exciting, or at least relevant, and was worthy of your personal attention. One brave writer decided to take that approach to his present-day overflowing inbox. He read every email he received and deal with them all, either by replying, filing, or unsubscribing. He even scanned his spam filter for false positives. It was a lot harder than he though it would be."

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