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Submission + - Russia hacks Pentagon computers: NBC, citing sources (cnbc.com)

Submitted by packetspike
packetspike writes: Quote"U.S. officials tell NBC News that Russia launched a "sophisticated cyberattack" against the Pentagon's Joint Staff unclassified email system, which has been shut down and taken off line for nearly two weeks. According to the officials, the "sophisticated cyber intrusion" occurred sometime around July 25 and affected some 4,000 military and civilian personnel work for the Joint Chiefs of Staff."

More to come as this story rolls out

Submission + - Astronomers Caught Some of Space's Most Mysterious Radio Bursts in Real Time (vice.com)

Submitted by sarahnaomi
sarahnaomi writes: For the first time ever, astronomers have captured an enormous radio wave burst in real time, bringing us one step closer to understanding their origins.

These fleeting eruptions, called blitzars or FRBs (Fast Radio Bursts), are truly bizarre cosmic phenomena. In the span of a millisecond, they emit as much radiation as the Sun does over a million years. But unlike other super-luminous events that span multiple wavelengths—gamma ray bursts or supernovae, for example—blitzars emit all that energy in a tiny band of the radio light spectrum.

Adding to the mystery is the rarity of blitzar sightings. Since these bursts were first discovered in 2007 with Australia’s Parkes Telescope, ten have been identified, the latest of which was the first to be imaged in real time.

Submission + - Federal Magistrate rules in favor of accused in decryption issue. (wired.com)

Submitted by Virtucon
Virtucon writes: U.S. Magistrate William Callahan Jr. of Wisconsin has ruled in favor of the accused in that he should not have to decrypt his storage device. The US Government had sought to compel Feldman to provide his password to obtain access to the data. Presumably the FBI has had no success in getting the data and had sought to have the judge compel Feldman to provide the decrypted contents of what they had seized.

The Judge ruled:

This is a close call, but I conclude that Feldman’s act of production, which would necessarily require his using a password of some type to decrypt the storage device, would be tantamount to telling the government something it does not already know with ‘reasonably particularity’—namely, that Feldman has personal access to and control over the encrypted storage devices. Accordingly, in my opinion, Fifth Amendment protection is available to Feldman. Stated another way, ordering Feldman to decrypt the storage devices would be in violation of his Fifth Amendment right against compelled self-incrimination.

Submission + - FAA on travel delays: Get used to it (networkworld.com)

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes: The term sequestration has certainly become a four-letter word for many across the country — and now you can count business and regular traveling public among those hating its impact.

[25 crazy and scary things the TSA has found on travelers]

The Federal Aviation administration today issued a blunt statement on the impact of sequestration on the nation's air traffic control system which this week begain furloughing about 10% of air traffic controllers for 2 days or so per month. It reads an s follows:
As a result of employee furloughs due to sequestration, the FAA is implementing traffic management initiatives at airports and facilities around the country. Travelers can expect to see a wide range of delays....

Comment Nvidia - CUDA, Support for Linux Kernels is awful (Score 1) 663

by packetspike (#40352033) Attached to: Torvalds Slams NVIDIA's Linux Support
The new CUDA libraries are only for specific versions of Linux and unless you have a whistle clean install you can never get the *&#^$ Drivers to work. I have had a really tough time getting the GPU interface drivers working for data intensive processing. I do think they are really amazing chips - but the support is very narrow. my 2 cents
Operating Systems

Journal Journal: It's Unix or NoThing 1

Journal by packetspike

Why bother with Windows when you can use a Linux box that will cost you only time... Hmm time.
PC Games (Games)

EA Shutting Down Video Game Servers Prematurely 341

Posted by Soulskill from the sixty-dollar-yearly-fee dept.
Spacezilla writes "EA is dropping the bomb on a number of their video game servers, shutting down the online fun for many of their Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3 games. Not only is the inclusion of PS3 and Xbox 360 titles odd, the date the games were released is even more surprising. Yes, Madden 07 and 08 are included in the shutdown... but Madden 09 on all consoles as well?"
Science

Programmable Quantum Computer Created 132

Posted by Soulskill from the four-out-of-five-ain't-bad dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A team at NIST (the National Institute of Standards and Technology) used berylium ions, lasers and electrodes to develop a quantum system that performed 160 randomly chosen routines. Other quantum systems to date have only been able to perform single, prescribed tasks. Other researchers say the system could be scaled up. 'The researchers ran each program 900 times. On average, the quantum computer operated accurately 79 percent of the time, the team reported in their paper.'"
First Person Shooters (Games)

New Left 4 Dead DLC Coming Next Month 55

Posted by Soulskill from the mo-zombies-mo-problems dept.
Valve said yesterday that they're working on a new campaign for Left 4 Dead, and they plan to release it in September. It's called Crash Course, and while it will be free for owners of the PC version, Xbox 360 users will need to purchase it. The new campaign "bridges the gap between the end of the 'No Mercy' campaign and the beginning of 'Death Toll' in the original game, expanding the game universe with new locations, new dialogue from the original cast, and an explosive finale." Crash Course isn't as long as the other campaigns, a deliberate decision by Valve to enable players to finish a Versus-mode game in about 30 minutes. A preview of the new content on Destructoid notes, "Since we've got a shorter campaign, much more has been packed into a smaller space. Lucky players who know where to look can upgrade to second-tier weaponry almost straight away. However, they'll have their work cut out for them, because there's a chance to get swamped by the horde right from the very beginning."
Input Devices

Epic Sticking With Classic Controllers For Now 64

Posted by Soulskill from the no-hand-waving dept.
Cliff Bleszinski, design director for Epic Games, said in an interview with Develop that while motion control schemes like Project Natal look interesting, Epic will probably be sticking with classic controllers "for the foreseeable future." He said, "Microsoft came down a few weeks before E3 and gave us a demo, and they're now shipping out the dev kits; I think it's great. When you start combining the motion-capture, the facial recognition, and the vocal recognition you can create some unique experiences. And of course more accessibility is always a good thing. When you build an interface like that though you need to [specifically] design a game for it. It can't just be tacked on."

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