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Comment Re:This is why we can't have nice things (Score 1) 843

by pinkstuff (#50021643) Attached to: Test Pilot: the F-35 Can't Dogfight
It is certainly the case that we, as a species, are hell bent on killing each other over misunderstandings, jealousy, or power. I am saying, just imagne, for one minute, that money was spent on say, science and technology. How advanced our species would be by now. Defense spending has grown well out of proportion.

Comment This is why we can't have nice things (Score 5, Insightful) 843

by pinkstuff (#50020595) Attached to: Test Pilot: the F-35 Can't Dogfight
  • $30 Billion per year to would end world hunger
  • $17 Billion per year currently spent by the US on the Nasa space program
  • $4.8 Billion per year currently spent by the US on cancer research

  • And the US spends $1000 Billion+ on a plane, designed to kill. Imagine, if you can, a world without war, it's easy if you try.

Submission + - Adobe's new ebook DRM will leave existing users out in the cold come July (the-digital-reader.com)

Submitted by Nate the greatest
Nate the greatest writes: Whether it's EA and SimCity, the Sony rootkit scandal, or Ubisoft, we've all read numerous stories about companies using DRM in stupid ways that harm their customers, and now we can add Adobe to the list. Adobe has just announced a new timeline for adoption of their recently launched DRM, and it's going to take your breath away.

In a video posted to Youtube, Adobe reps have stated that Adobe expects all of their ebook partners to start adopting the new DRM in March. This is the same DRM that was launched only a few weeks ago and is already causing problems, but that hasn't stopped Adobe. They also expect all the stores that use Adobe's DRM to sell ebooks (as well as the ebook app and ebook reader developers) to have fully adopted the new ebook DRM by July 2014. That's when Adobe plans to end support for the old DRM (which everyone is using now). Given the dozens and dozens of different ebook readers released over the past few years, including models from companies that have gone under, this is going to present a significant problem for a lot of readers. Few, if any, will be updated in time to meet Adobe's deadline, and that's going to leave many readers unable to buy DRMed ebooks.
News

US Geneticist Discusses North Korea Trip With Dennis Rodman 101

Posted by samzenpus from the listen-up dept.
sciencehabit writes "If you happened to catch any of the news coverage of Dennis Rodman's trip to North Korea last week, you might have spotted in the big man's entourage a white guy with an Amish-style beard, as in clean-shaven cheeks and no mustache. That's Joseph Terwilliger, 48, a statistical geneticist who splits his time at Columbia University and the University of Helsinki. He's now visited North Korea three times with the basketball star. He sat down with Science Magazine for a Q and A about how he got involved with Rodman and whether the trips are helping--or hurting--U.S. relations with the country."

Chrome Is the New C Runtime 196

Posted by timothy from the ok-but-does-it-have-a-browser dept.
New submitter uncloud writes "Cross-platform app development is more important than ever. But what about when you need the features and performance of native code, across platforms? And you're a startup with a small team and impossible deadlines?" His answer? Take advantage of cross-platform Chrome. From the article: "Out of necessity, the Chrome team has created cross-platform abstractions for many low-level platform features. We use this source as the core API on which we build our business logic, and it's made the bulk of our app cross-platform with little effort. Most importantly -- Chrome code has been battle-tested like almost nothing else, with an installed base in the hundreds of millions. That makes all the difference when you want to spend your days working on your company's business logic instead of debugging platform issues."

Comment Re:Make them spend money (Score 1) 497

I was receieving calls almost daily from similar companies on my cell phone. They would always come up as uknown numbers. I decided to install a phone call recorder on my Android phone. For the next few days I would still recieve calls from unknown numbers, I would still say 'hello', but the odd thing is the other end would just be silent and then... just hang up?! It is like they knew I was recording them. I haven't had any calls since. Very strange.
Government

Guardian Ignores MI5 Warnings, Vows To 'Publish More Snowden Leaks' 301

Posted by samzenpus from the from-bad-to-worse dept.
dryriver writes in with news that a new round of Snowden leaks may be on the way. "Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger says he plans to publish more revelations from Edward Snowden despite MI5 warning that such disclosures cause enormous damage. Mr Rusbridger insisted the paper was right to publish files leaked by the US intelligence analyst and had helped to prompt a necessary and overdue debate. Mr Rusbridger said more stories would be published in the future as the leaked documents were 'slowly and responsibly' worked through. His comments come after criticism from the new head of MI5, Andrew Parker. Making public the 'reach and limits' of intelligence-gathering techniques gave terrorists the advantage, he said. He warned that terrorists now had tens of thousands of means of communication 'through e-mail, IP telephony, in-game communication, social networking, chat rooms, anonymising services and a myriad of mobile apps'. Mr Parker said it was vital for MI5 to retain the capability to access such information if it was to protect the country. "

Submission + - myOpenID to shut down in February (myopenid.com) 1

Submitted by kriston
kriston writes: This is an email sent to myOpenID.com users this afternoon.

Hello,

I wanted to reach out personally to let you know that we have made the decision to end of life the myOpenID service. myOpenID will be turned off on February 1, 2014.

In 2006 Janrain created myOpenID to fulfill our vision to make registration and login easier on the web for people. Since that time, social networks and email providers such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn and Yahoo! have embraced open identity standards. And now, billions of people who have created accounts with these services can use their identities to easily register and login to sites across the web in the way myOpenID was intended.

By 2009 it had become obvious that the vast majority of consumers would prefer to utilize an existing identity from a recognized provider rather than create their own myOpenID account. As a result, our business focus changed to address this desire, and we introduced social login technology. While the technology is slightly different from where we were in 2006, I’m confident that we are still delivering on our initial promise – that people should take control of their online identity and are empowered to carry those identities with them as they navigate the web.

For those of you who still actively use myOpenID, I can understand your disappointment to hear this news and apologize if this causes you any inconvenience. To reduce this inconvenience, we are delaying the end of life of the service until February 1, 2014 to give you time to begin using other identities on those sites where you use myOpenID today.

Speaking on behalf of Janrain, I truly appreciate your past support of myOpenID.

Sincerely,
Larry

—
Larry Drebes, CEO, Janrain, Inc.
Transportation

EU Proposes To Fit Cars With Speed Limiters 732

Posted by samzenpus from the slow-down dept.
schwit1 points out a new EU road safety measure to fit cars with devices that would stop them going over 70mph. "Under the proposals new cars would be fitted with cameras that could read road speed limit signs and automatically apply the brakes when this is exceeded. Patrick McLoughlin, the Transport Secretary, is said to be opposed to the plans, which could also mean existing cars are sent to garages to be fitted with the speed limiters, preventing them from going over 70mph. The new measures have been announced by the European Commission's Mobility and Transport Department as a measure to reduce the 30,000 people who die on the roads in Europe every year. A Government source told the Mail on Sunday Mr McLoughlin had instructed officials to block the move because they 'violated' motorists' freedom. They said: 'This has Big Brother written all over it and is exactly the sort of thing that gets people's backs up about Brussels.'"

Comment Re:Your PM got into power by email leaks (Score 1) 208

by pinkstuff (#44652473) Attached to: NZ Police Got PRISM Data Before Raid On Dotcom

Nicky Hager seems like he is more against broad spying powers, so to me it would be a little strange for him to side witht he NSA to leak specific information in order to remove Don Brash - although it wouldn't entirely surprise me either way.

The Dunne issue is very interesting, why should anyone be prosecuted for leaking information about the innapropriate use of spying? If the government has nothing to hide, they have nothing to fear right?

Comment Re:Public opinion doesn't matter (Score 1) 148

by pinkstuff (#44641195) Attached to: New Zealand Parliament Votes To Extend Spying Powers
You are right, the problem is they are idiots. I honestly think Labour would have passed the bill if they were in power, and then National would be protesting it - it is all just a big puppet show. Even if the they wouldn't passed it, they would have made some other clamitous mistake - I have no faith in them at present. The question is, as a voter, who do you vote for in 2014? Time to become a politician I think.

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