Comment Re: (Score 2, Funny) 103
The goal is to move Texas to space. Everyone prospers that way.
Comment Are Shamus Standard Curves better? (Score 1) 366
Aside from going back to RSA with really large key sizes, what other options are there? Shamus Standard Curves were mentioned (here) but they seem to be obscure, to the point of not yet being within open source crypto, like PGP. Do we have open standards which the NSA hasn't touched?
Comment Re:Uh... okay (Score 1) 607
Read about the history of DES, developed with IBM (defense contractor), and the fact the S-boxes used to create the algorithm were never published, but were kept secret, providing a backdoor. AES doesn't have this issue.
Comment Re:Tattoo Authentication Methods (Score 1) 194
This is ZPG all over again.
Comment Re:Private Clouds Rule! (Score 1) 115
Creating solutions is important, rather than merely complaining about the problems with public clouds. I find CloudI useful and very relevant: http://cloudi.org
Comment Build Your Own (Score 1) 402
I built a rack mounted on a dolly, using Home Depot items for about $100. It is basically a frame of pipe (normally used for natural gas) all threaded and fit together with the normal connectors, with 4 flanges on the bottom to mount to the dolly. The dolly was the cheapest available at Home Depot since casters are normally expensive, just had to take it apart and shorten the length a little, to make everything a normal rack size. It stands about 4.5 ft high and can be moved easily, which is nice when you are just moving in-between apartments.
Submission + - Icelandic MP to challenge US Court Ruling on Twitt (guardian.co.uk)
JabrTheHut writes: The Guardian has a story of how Icelandic MP Birgitta Jonsdottir, a former Wikileaks volunteer, is challenging the US' acquisition of Twitter account information, IP addresses, mailing addresses and even bank information. The US says it wanted these details to help with it's investigation into Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
Submission + - Nokia lays off 3500 employees (techworld.com.au)
angry tapir writes: "Nokia is planning to lay off an additional 3,500 employees, as the company continues to restructure after announcing its decision to focus on Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system. The affected employees work in manufacturing, location and commerce, and supporting functions."
Submission + - Best Use For A New SuperComputer (HPC) 3
Supp0rtLinux writes: In about 2 weeks time I will be receiving everything necessary to build out the largest x86_64-based supercomputer on the east coast of the US (at least until someone takes the title away from us). Its spec'd to start with 1200 servers with dual socket, six core configs. We primarily do life-science/health/bio related tasks on our existing (and fairly small) HPC. We intend to continue this usage, but to also open it up for new uses (energy comes to mind). Additionally, we'd like to lease out access to recoup some of our costs. So what's the best Linux distro for something of this size and scale? Any that include a chargeback option/module built-in? Additionally, due to cost, we have to choose either IB or 10GbE for the backend, we cannot have both. Either way, all nodes will have 4 x 1Gbps ports available. Would Slashdot readers go with IB or 10GbE if they had to choose? And last, all nodes include only a basic onboard GPU. We intend to put powerful GPU's onto the PCI-e slot and open up the new HPC for GPU related crunching. Any suggestions on the most power, Linux-driver friendly, PCI-e based GPU available?
Submission + - Rich Tax Breaks Bolster Makers of Video Games (nytimes.com)
An anonymous reader writes: "Because video game makers straddle the lines between software development, the entertainment industry and online retailing, they can combine tax breaks in ways that companies like Netflix and Adobe cannot. Video game developers receive such a rich assortment of incentives that even oil companies have questioned why the government should subsidize such a mature and profitable industry whose main contribution is to create amusing and sometimes antisocial entertainment. "
Submission + - Schmidt: G+ "identity service", not social network (google.com)
David Gerard writes: "Eric Schmidt has revealed that Google+ is an identity service, and the "social network" bit is just bait. Schmidt says "G+ is completely optional," not mentioning that Google has admitted that deleting a G+ account will seriously downgrade your other Google services. As others have noted, Somewhere, there are two kids in a garage building a company whose motto will be "Don't be Google"."
Submission + - Google Is Prepping Chrome As A Game Platform (conceivablytech.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Video gaming is a big topic for web browsers as well as HTML5, but there are few enthusiast gamers who are taking this scenario serious. Can a Joystick API and a 3D Client change the perception? On Friday I noticed that Google is heavily pushing New Game, a game developer conference that is focused on HTML5-based gaming content — and, of course, content that runs in web browsers. The fact that such an event already exists and that there is game content being developed in HTML5, is quite stunning by itself. However, Google also noted that a sandboxed native client (NaCl) with 3D (in addition to 2D) will be available in Chrome soon, which will allow the browser to connect to traditional C and C++ code via its integrated Pepper API.
Submission + - Banned From Google+, Anonymous Creates Anonplus
An anonymous reader writes: Google has reportedly banned a handful of Anonymous members from Google+ (it's not exactly clear how many accounts were shut down). The hacktivist group likened Google's actions to the stories of activists being banned from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, as well as governments blocking various websites using Internet censorship tools. As a result, Anonymous has decided to create its own social network: Anonplus.
Submission + - Mass Psychosis in the USA? 1
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "James Ridgeway writes in Aljazeera that with over $14 billion in sales in 2008, antipsychotics have became the single top-selling therapeutic class of prescription drugs in the US, surpassing drugs used to treat high cholesterol and acid reflux, and while once upon a time, antipsychotics were reserved for a relatively small number of patients with hard-core psychiatric diagnoses, today it seems, everyone is taking antipsychotics. "Parents are told that their unruly kids are in fact bipolar, and in need of anti-psychotics, while old people with dementia are dosed, in large numbers, with drugs once reserved largely for schizophrenics," writes Ridgeway. "Americans with symptoms ranging from chronic depression to anxiety to insomnia are now being prescribed anti-psychotics at rates that seem to indicate a national mass psychosis."By now, just about everyone knows how the drug industry works to influence the minds of American doctors, plying them with gifts, junkets, ego-tripping awards, and research funding in exchange for endorsing or prescribing the latest and most lucrative drugs. According to Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, under the tutelage of Big Pharma, we are "simply expanding the criteria for mental illness so that nearly everyone has one.""
Submission + - The science behind fanboys (techreport.com)
crookedvulture writes: We've all encountered fanboys. They lurk on messageboards and in comment threads, ready to trumpet the benefits of their product or brand of choice with Cheeto-stained fingertips. And it's not their fault. This analysis of the scientific research on the subject reveals that our brains unconsciously develop an affinity for products we choose over similarly attractive alternatives. Duh, right? But what's really interesting is that this affinity exists not just among adults, but also children, monkeys, and even amnesic subjects with no memory of their original choices. We're all hard-wired to be fanboys, it seems. Some of us just do a better job of overcoming our subconscious tendencies.
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The goal of Computer Science is to build something that will last at least until we've finished building it.
