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Comment Uninstalling this "App" (Score 1) 1

by stormdesign (#37918132) Attached to: A little too chatty? - Facebook users beware!
for Firefox follow the following instructions: 1. select tools 2.select options 3.select the general tab 4. select "manage add-ons" 5.select remove chat send for chrome 1.Click the wrench icon on the browser toolbar. 2.Click Tools. 3.Select Extensions. 4.Click Uninstall for the extension you'd like to completely 5. remove (chat send)
United States

Submission + - How X-Ray Scanners Became Mandatory in US Airports (propublica.org)

Submitted by OverTheGeicoE
OverTheGeicoE writes: ProPublica has a story on how x-ray scanners became the controversial yet mandatory security fixtures we in the US must now endure. The story title, "U.S. Government Glossed Over Cancer Concerns As It Rolled Out Airport X-Ray Scanners," summarizes a substantial part of the article, but not all of it. The story also describes how government attitudes about the scanners went from overwhelmingly negative in the early 1990's to the naive optimism we see today. How did this change occur? The government weakened its regulatory structure for radiation safety in electronic devices, and left defining safety standards to an ANSI committee dominated by scanner producers and users (prison and customs officials). Even after 9/11 there was still great mistrust of x-ray scanners, but nine years of lobbying from scanner manufacturers, panic over failed terrorist attacks, and pressure from legislators advancing businesses in their own districts eventually forced the devices into the airports. The article estimates that 6 to 100 cancers per year will be caused by the x-ray scanners.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft-Skype Deal Poised to Win EU Approval (pcmag.com)

Submitted by Pigskin-Referee
Pigskin-Referee writes: Microsoft's proposed $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype has earned the approval of the European Union, the Financial Times reported Thursday.

The European Commissioner for Competition, Joaquin Almunia, is expected to rule that the acquisition won't harm competition or turn Skype into a Microsoft-exclusive platform.

The decision ignores accusations that Microsoft is simply bundling services on Windows to drown out smaller competitors, as argued by Italian Skype rival Messagenet last week. Messagenet also urged the Commission to require Microsoft to unbundle Skype from its Windows Office Suite.

The FT reports that Microsoft "promised" the Commission it would keep Skype interoperable and supported on rival operating systems.

"We're committed to the Skype user base," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer back in May, addressing antitrust concerns at the time. "We want to continue to build and engage that base. Part of that commitment is continuing to support Skype on non-Microsoft platforms."
Cellphones

Submission + - 'Subconscious mode' could boost phone battery life (gizmag.com)

Submitted by cylonlover
cylonlover writes: University of Michigan researchers have proposed a new power management system for smartphones that could dramatically improve battery life. The system, known as E-MiLi, or Energy-Minimizing Idle Listening, addresses the energy waste that occurs when "sleeping" phones are looking for incoming messages and clear communication channels. E-MiLi slows down the clock of a phone's WiFi card by up to 1/16 its normal frequency in order to save power, but then kicks it back up to full speed when information is coming in. The phone uses the header of the incoming message to wake itself up from its "subconscious mode," so the clock is at full speed to receive the main message. For users on the busiest networks, it could extend battery life by up to 54 percent.

Submission + - British schoolkids to be taught computer coding

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The UK government has finally decided to do something about the dire state of IT teaching in the country — it will create a new "IT-centric" GCSE — that will cover computational principles, systemic thinking, software development and logic.

The current ICT GCSE has been lambasted for boring kids to death with lessons on using Word and Excel, rather than teaching computer programming.

Google's Eric Schmidt should be pleased — he recently gave a speech in the UK attacking the current IT curriculum. "I was flabbergasted to learn that today computer science isn't even taught as standard in UK schools. Your IT curriculum focuses on teaching how to use software but gives no insight into how it's made. That's just throwing away your great computing heritage," he said.
Intel

Submission + - Intel's Thunderbolt With Fiber Optics Years Away (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
CWmike
CWmike writes: "Intel's Thunderbolt high-speed interconnect technology could be years away from getting optical technology, an Intel executive said this week at IDF. Originally introduced in February on Macs, Thunderbolt was pitched as being optical technology but currently uses copper wires. Dadi Perlmutter of Intel's Architecture Group said copper wires are working much better than expected, and that fiber was expensive. 'It's going to be way out,' Perlmutter said. 'At the end of the day it's all about how much speed people need versus how much they would be willing to pay.'"
Earth

Submission + - China's Coal Power Plants Mask Climate Change 2

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "The Guardian reports that new research reveals that the huge increase in coal-fired power stations in China, increasing from just over 10 gigawatts (GW) in 2002 to over 80GW in 2006, has masked the impact of global warming in the last decade because of the cooling effect of their sulphur emissions, but scientists warn that rapid warming is likely to resume when the short-lived sulphur pollution – which also causes acid rain – is cleaned up and the full heating effect of long-lived carbon dioxide is felt. "Reductions in carbon emissions will be more important as China installs scrubbers [on its coal-fired power stations], which reduce sulphur emissions," says Dr. Robert Kaufman. "This, and solar insolation increasing as part of the normal solar cycle, [will mean] temperature is likely to increase faster." The effect also explains the lack of global temperature rise seen between 1940 and 1970 as the effect of the sulphur emissions from increased coal burning outpaced that of carbon emissions, until acid rain controls were introduced, after which temperature rose quickly. "Warming due to the CO2 released by Chinese industrialisation has been partially masked by cooling due to reflection of solar radiation by sulphur emissions," says Prof Joanna Haigh. "On longer timescales, with cleaner emissions, the warming effect will be more marked.""

Submission + - SSDs cause crisis for digital forensics (techworld.com) 5

Submitted by rifles only
rifles only writes: Firmware built into many solid state drives (SSDs) to improve their storage efficiency could be making forensic analysis at a later date by police forces and intelligence agencies almost impossible to carry out to legally safe standards, Australian researchers have discovered.

They found that SSDs start wiping themselves within minutes after a quick format (or a file delete or full format) and can even do so when disconnected from a PC and rigged up to a hardware blocker.
Hardware

Submission + - World's First Eye-controlled Laptop Presented At C (itproportal.com)

Submitted by siliconbits
siliconbits writes: Microsoft is rumoured to be one of their partners; maybe they'll built it in the next Kinect.
"Computer manufacturer Lenovo has partnered with Swedish startup Tobii Technology to launch the world's first eye controlled laptop which will be on display as from today at CeBIT in Hannover."
Botnet

Submission + - Hackers Increasingly Using Twitter For Botnets (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: Spammers aren't the only ones who have figured out that social networks like Twitter and Facebook are good for business. Sophisticated hackers conducting targeted attacks are also using the networks as a tool to manage malware installations on victims' networks, according to a new report.

Mandiant's latest "M-Trends" report, released on Thursday, says that the company has observed an increasing number of so-called "Advanced Persistent Threats" that are hijacking legitimate social networks and Web based services, including Facebook, Google Chat and MSN as command and control networks for malware installations. The revelation is part of a larger trend that saw sophisticated attacks on commercial entities outstrip attacks on the networks of government agencies and defense industry players, Mandiant reported.
Google

Submission + - Google reCAPTCHA cracked (allspammedup.com)

Submitted by stormdesign
stormdesign writes: Despite denials from Google, a security researcher continues to assert that the Search King’s reCAPTCHA system for protecting Web sites from spammers can be successfully exploited by Internet junk mail panderers.
Google

Pedestrian Follows Google Map, Gets Run Over, Sues 699

Posted by Soulskill from the america-amazes-me-sometimes dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "The Toronto Star reports that a Utah woman is suing Google for more than $100,000 in damages, claiming its maps function gave her walking directions that led her onto a major highway, where she was struck by a car. Lauren Rosenberg sought directions between two addresses in Utah about 3 kilometers apart and the top result suggested that she follow a busy rural highway for several hundred meters. The highway did not have sidewalks or any other pedestrian-friendly amenities, and Rosenberg was struck by a car. Rosenberg filed suit against both the driver of the car that struck her and Google, claiming both carried responsibility in her injury. Her lawyers claim Google is liable because it did not warn her that the route would not offer a safe place for a pedestrian to walk. Google has pointed out that the directions Rosenberg sought come with a warning of caution for pedestrians, but Rosenberg claims that she accessed the Maps function on her Blackberry mobile device, where it did not include the warning."

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