Submission + - J.J. Abrams to direct Star Wars VII (latimes.com) 1
azzkicker writes: J.J. Abrams to direct Star Wars VII
Submission + - Samsung Adds Multi Windows Mojo to Android Tablets (informationweek.com)
__aajbyc7391 writes: New multiwindow, multitasking features in Samsung's recent Jellybean update to the Galaxy Note 10.1 have pushed the user interface of Android tablets into new territory, adding MS Windows-like capabilities that are sure to delight many users — and aggravate others. Although some observers have warned of the dangers of forking Android, Samsung's efforts to extend Android and its ecosystem can be defended as being consistent with Google's master plan for the Android system, most of which is released under ASLv2. And remember: unlike Apple, Android device makers, and the wireless carriers who offer Android smartphones to their customers, need ways to differentiate their products.
Submission + - Symbian officially dead. (techcrunch.com) 1
Snirt writes: Symbian is now officially dead, Nokia confirmed today. In the company’s earnings announcement that came out a little while ago, Nokia confirmed that the 808 PureView, released last year, was the very last device that the company would make on the Symbian platform: “During our transition to Windows
Phone through 2012, we continued to ship devices based on Symbian,” the company wrote. “The Nokia 808 PureView, a device which showcases our imaging capabilities and which came to market in mid-2012, was the
last Symbian device from
Nokia."
Phone through 2012, we continued to ship devices based on Symbian,” the company wrote. “The Nokia 808 PureView, a device which showcases our imaging capabilities and which came to market in mid-2012, was the
last Symbian device from
Nokia."
Submission + - Comparing today's computers to 1995's (blogspot.com)
An anonymous reader writes: A look back at two articles from 1995, touting high end computers and "must haves". How times have changed... ..."Memory (RAM): We seem to have convinced most manufacturers to adopt eight megabytes as standard, compared with four megabytes in 1994. Don’t buy less than eight. The difference in performance between an eight megabyte machine and a four-megabyte machine can be dramatic.
Hard Drives: One-gigabyte hard drives are common this year, compared with the 400-500 megabyte drives of 1994. The price difference between the two is only about $200, and it’s worth it."...
Hard Drives: One-gigabyte hard drives are common this year, compared with the 400-500 megabyte drives of 1994. The price difference between the two is only about $200, and it’s worth it."...
Submission + - Carrier Ethernet 2 aims for global connectivity (networkworld.com)
alphadogg writes: The Metro Ethernet Forum has updated its Carrier Ethernet specification, hoping to standardize the use of Ethernet for global multicarrier services. "With Carrier Ethernet 2, we're expanding Quality-of-Service [QoS] well beyond best efforts, and will now allow carriers to interconnect to provide worldwide [Ethernet] service," said Bob Metcalfe, co-inventor of Ethernet, during a Metro Ethernet Forum Web conference held Thursday to announce the specification. The forum introduced Carrier Ethernet in 2005 as a set of extensions that describe how data communications carriers should use Ethernet in a consistent manner. The new specification, Carrier Ethernet 2, establishes an additional set of rules.
Submission + - The Guardian and the Wikileaks encryption key. (schneier.com)
rtfa-troll writes: Bruce Schneier has a good article explaining how the Guardian released the encryption key for the Wikileaks cables and destroyed the main protection against release of informer's personal information. The comments in Schneier's blog fill in details of how exactly Wikileaks secondary file security protections were also bypassed. Now the Guardian has an article that Assange risks arrest by Australia over the latest leaks which include information about an Australian intelligence officer. they even say "We deplore the decision of WikiLeaks to publish the unredacted state department cables, which may put sources at risk," and go on to state that "The decision to publish by Julian Assange was his, and his alone.", something which seems clearly debunked in the analysis on Schneier's blog.
Submission + - Spamhaus loses to E360 and David Linhardt. (ericgoldman.org) 1
www.sorehands.com writes: "Back in 2006, e360Insight and David Linhardt obtained an $11.7M against Spamhaus. (See http://slashdot.org/story/06/10/22/0339211/Judge-Rules-In-Favor-Of-Spamhaus)
Since then the judgment had been appealed, and reduced to $27,002. This judgment was appealed, again. The appeals court entered a judgment against Spamhaus, in the amount of $3.
If oral arguments for the latest appeal did not go well for e360Insight, see http://slashdot.org/story/06/10/22/0339211/Judge-Rules-In-Favor-Of-Spamhaus .
The appeals court found in e360's favor, in the amount of $3.00. See http://blog.ericgoldman.org/
"
Since then the judgment had been appealed, and reduced to $27,002. This judgment was appealed, again. The appeals court entered a judgment against Spamhaus, in the amount of $3.
If oral arguments for the latest appeal did not go well for e360Insight, see http://slashdot.org/story/06/10/22/0339211/Judge-Rules-In-Favor-Of-Spamhaus .
The appeals court found in e360's favor, in the amount of $3.00. See http://blog.ericgoldman.org/
"
Submission + - Apple impersonated police to recover lost iPhone 5 (bgr.com)
zacharye writes: This whole lost iPhone 5 prototype story just got whole lot more interesting. According to SF Weekly, six investigators claiming to be members of the San Francisco police department descended upon one Bernal Heights, San Francisco man’s home in search of a lost iPhone 5 prototype that CNET originally reported had been left in a bar. The scary part? The SFPD confirmed the investigators weren’t police officers at all. Instead, it appears as though they may have actually been members of Apple’s security team allegedly impersonating police officers...
Submission + - Twitter to open source streaming data analyzer (arnnet.com.au)
splitenz writes: Expanding the field of complex event process software with another offering, Twitter will release as open source its software for analysing live large-scale data streams, called Storm.
Although the software has been compared to Hadoop, Storm is best suited for analysing live data streams, such as millions of Twitter feeds.
Although the software has been compared to Hadoop, Storm is best suited for analysing live data streams, such as millions of Twitter feeds.
Submission + - Unified NoSQL query language launched (arnnet.com.au)
splitenz writes: Hoping to unify the growing but disparate market of NoSQL databases, the creators behind CouchDB and SQLite have introduced a new query language for the format, called UnQL (Unstructured Data Query Language). It has Microsoft's backing.
Submission + - Google+ growing at unprecedented rate (wsj.com)
OverTheGeicoE writes: The Wall Street Journal reports that Google+ has added 20 million users in just 3 weeks. According to the article, no other site has recorded such high growth in such a short time period. Twitter did something similar once, but in months, not weeks. It's especially surprising considering that access to Google+ is by invitation only.
Why is Google+ growing so quickly? Perhaps the obligatory XKCD reference actually offers some insight.
Why is Google+ growing so quickly? Perhaps the obligatory XKCD reference actually offers some insight.
Submission + - Apple Laptops Vulnerable to Battery Firmware Hack (threatpost.com)
Trailrunner7 writes: Security researcher Charlie Miller, widely known for his work on Mac OS X and Apple's iOS, has discovered an interesting method that enables him to completely disable the batteries on Apple laptops, making them permanently unusable, and perform a number of other unintended actions. The method, which involves accessing and sending instructions to the chip housed on smart batteries could also be used for more malicious purposes down the road.
Miller discovered the default passwords set on the battery at the factory to change the battery into unsealed mode and developed a method that let him permanently brick the battery as well as read and modify the entire firmware.
"You can read all the firmware, make changes to the code, do whatever you want. And those code changes will survive a reinstall of the OS, so you could imagine writing malware that could hide on the chip on the battery. You'd need a vulnerability in the OS or something that the battery could then attack, though," Miller said.
Miller discovered the default passwords set on the battery at the factory to change the battery into unsealed mode and developed a method that let him permanently brick the battery as well as read and modify the entire firmware.
"You can read all the firmware, make changes to the code, do whatever you want. And those code changes will survive a reinstall of the OS, so you could imagine writing malware that could hide on the chip on the battery. You'd need a vulnerability in the OS or something that the battery could then attack, though," Miller said.
Submission + - Google: Orkut will co-exist with Google+ (arnnet.com.au)
splitenz writes: Google's other social networking site, Orkut, which has been around for about seven years and has tens of millions of users worldwide, will continue to operate alongside the new Google+ for now.
However, Google is leaving its options open regarding the possibility of fusing the two through some sort of integration further down the road.
However, Google is leaving its options open regarding the possibility of fusing the two through some sort of integration further down the road.
Submission + - PayPal Predicts The End of the Wallet By 2015 (winbeta.org)
BogenDorpher writes: "As new technology emerges, one can safely assume that the days of carrying a wallet will soon end. In fact, PayPal believes that by the year 2015, no one will be carrying a wallet anymore. Instead, mobile payment methods will be taking over."
Submission + - Diver Snaps First Photo of Fish Using Tools (sciencemag.org)
sciencehabit writes: While exploring Australia's Great Barrier Reef, professional diver Scott Gardner heard an odd cracking sound and swam over to investigate. What he found was a footlong blackspot tuskfish holding a clam in its mouth and whacking it against a rock. Soon the shell gave way, and the fish gobbled up the bivalve, spat out the shell fragments, and swam off. Fortunately, Gardner had a camera handy and snapped what seem to be the first photographs of a wild fish using a tool.
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We don't know who it was that discovered water, but we're pretty sure that it wasn't a fish. -- Marshall McLuhan
