51829123
submission
mattydread23 writes:
Often, the signs of eventual heart failure are there, but they consist of a lot of weak signals over a long period of time, and doctors are not trained to look for these patterns. IBM and a couple heathcare providers, Sutter Health and Geisinger Health System, just got a $2 million grant from NIH to figure out how better data analysis can help prevent heart attack. But the trick is that doctors will have to use electronic records — it also means a lot more tests. Andy Patrizio writes, "What this means is doctors are going to have to expand the tests they do and the amount of data they keep. Otherwise, the data isn't so Big."
42519277
submission
Sockatume writes:
The UK's information protection authority, the ICO, has fined Sony for failing to adequately secure the information of PlayStation Network users. The investigation was triggered by a 2011 security breach, during which personally identifying information (including password hashes) was recovered from a Sony database where it had been stored without encryption. In the ICO's view Sony's security measures were inadequate, and the attack could have been prevented. The £250,000 (ca. $400,000) fine, the largest the ICO has ever imposed, is equivalent to a few pennies per affected user. Sony disagrees with the ICO's decision and intends to appeal.
17304594
submission
jfruhlinger writes:
Remember the days when being a Linux user was like being part of a select priesthood — arcane knowledge needed, but great rewards? Steven Vaughan-Nichols has tested out Fedora 14, and that was how it went. No Ubuntu-style handholding, but some powerful new features.
17144566
submission
Esther Schindler writes:
In 1986, Susan Lammers did a series of interviews with 19 prominent programmers in a Microsoft Press book, Programmers at Work. These interviews give a unique view into the shared perceptions of accomplished programmers... the people who invented the tools you use today. In Programmers Who Defined The Technology Industry: Where Are They Now?, Esther Schindler tracked down the fate of these prominent developers — from Robert Carr (Framework) to Dan Bricklin (VisiCalc) to Toru Iwatani (author of Pac Man, I'm glad you asked).
It isn't just a shortened resume for each of these guys, though. The article quotes the developer's 1986 views on programming, the business, and the future of computing, and in two cases (Bricklin and Jonathan Sachs (Lotus 1-2-3)) spoke with them to learn how-and-if their views changed.
One meaty example: In 1986, Bill Gates said, on Microsoft’s future: “Even though there’ll be more and more machines, our present thinking is that we won’t have to increase the size of our development groups, because we’ll simply be making programs that sell in larger quantities. We can get a very large amount of software revenue and still keep the company not dramatically larger than what we have today. That means we can know everybody and talk and share tools and maintain a high level of quality.” At the time, Microsoft had 160 programmers.
13987516
submission
blackbearnh writes:
The iPhone vs Android wars are in full swing, but no one talks about the operating system that most of the world uses, Symbian. Part of that, perhaps, is that the Symbian developer infrastructure is so different from the Wild West approach that Apple and Google take. Over in O'Reilly Answers, Paul Beusterien, who is the Head of Developer Tools for the Symbian Foundation, is talking about why Symbian gets ignored as a platform despite the huge number of handsets it runs on. "Another dimension is the type of developer community. Symbian historically, it's type of developers were working for consulting houses or working at phone operator places or working specifically doing consulting jobs for enterprise customers who wanted mobile apps. So there's a set of consulting companies around the world that have specialized in creating apps for Symbian devices. It's a different kind of dynamic than where iPhone has really been successful at attracting just the hobbyist or the one or two-person company or the person who just wants to go onto the web and start developing."
13503014
submission
Th'Inquisitor writes:
Apple's latest update to Snow Leopard included software to protect Mac computers from a Trojan. Strangely, Apple didn't mention this fact in its release notes.
The malware opens a back door to a Mac that can allow hackers gain control of the machine and snoop about on it or turn it into a zombie.
"You have to wonder," said Graham Cluley, spokesman for web security Sophos, "whether their keeping quiet about an anti-malware security update like this was for marketing reasons."
13501224
submission
theodp writes:
Slate's Farhad Manjoo has seen the future of computing, and it's looking mighty bleak for desktop computers. In the last decade, portable computers have erased many of the advantages that desktops once claimed while desktops have been unable to shake their one glaring deficiency — they're chained to your desk. Last year, sales of laptops eclipsed sales of desktops for the first time, and it's been projected that by 2015 desktops will constitute just 18% of the consumer PC market.
13484732
submission
Mad Hamster writes:
Boy Genius Report has a story that the HTC DROID Incredible "with Sense UI, will periodically store screenshots of the contents of your web browser". These screenies are stored such that they are not deleted by resetting the device, thus offering opportunities for identity thieves et al. The matter has also been covered by Engadget and Huffington Post.
9474454
submission
appl_iran writes:
Iran's telecommunications agency announced that it would be suspending Google's email services permanently, saying it would roll out its own national email service.
6932204
submission
CWmike writes:
Microsoft today patched 15 vulnerabilities in Windows, Windows Server, Excel and Word, including one that will probably be exploited quickly by hackers. None affect Windows 7, the company's newest operating system. Of today's 15 bugs, three were tagged "critical" by Microsoft, while the remaining 12 were labeled as "important," the next-lowest rating in the company's four-step severity scoring system. Experts agreed that users should focus on MS09-065 first and foremost. That update, which was ranked critical, affects all still-supported editions of Windows with the exception of Windows 7 and its server sibling, Windows Server 2008 R2. "The Windows kernel vulnerability is going to take the cake," said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Network Security. "The attack vector can be driven through Internet Explorer, and this is one of those instances where the user won't be notified or prompted. This is absolutely a drive-by attack scenario." Richie Lai, the director of vulnerability research at security company Qualys, agreed. "Anyone running IE [Internet Explorer] is at risk here, even though the flaw is not in the browser, but in the Win32k kernel mode driver."
