Submission + - Chinese hackers strike energy companies (techworld.com.au)
angry tapir writes: Chinese hackers working regular business hours shifts stole sensitive intellectual property from energy companies for as long as four years using relatively unsophisticated intrusion methods in an operation dubbed "Night Dragon," according to a new report from security vendor McAfee.
Submission + - Sony Loses Bid To Pull Twitter, YouTube User Info
RedEaredSlider writes: A Federal court in California has denied Sony's motion to pull the personal information of Twitter and YouTube users who might have downloaded code that allows PlayStations to run with alternative operating systems.
The company had filed a motion for discovery, asking for the personal information of users of Twitter and YouTube who might have a connection with George Hotz, who had published a piece of code on his Web site that allowed a PlayStation 3 to run other operating systems as well as pirated games. Sony was, in essence, asking for the contact information of people who had commented on the video Hotz posted showing how he used the code, as well as people he may have corresponded with via Twitter.
The judge in the case, Susan Illston, denied the motion. Hotz is still under a restraining order that forbids him from offering any methods or software that allow people to modify their Sony PlayStations. Nor is he allowed to provide links to sites that offer such methods or software. He is also ordered to turn over his computers to Sony.
The company had filed a motion for discovery, asking for the personal information of users of Twitter and YouTube who might have a connection with George Hotz, who had published a piece of code on his Web site that allowed a PlayStation 3 to run other operating systems as well as pirated games. Sony was, in essence, asking for the contact information of people who had commented on the video Hotz posted showing how he used the code, as well as people he may have corresponded with via Twitter.
The judge in the case, Susan Illston, denied the motion. Hotz is still under a restraining order that forbids him from offering any methods or software that allow people to modify their Sony PlayStations. Nor is he allowed to provide links to sites that offer such methods or software. He is also ordered to turn over his computers to Sony.
Submission + - Why Dumbphones Still Dominate -- For Now (foxnews.com) 1
Velcroman1 writes: Androids are awesome, iPhones impressive ... but dumbphones still dominate. Of the 234 million cell phone users in America last year, a dominating 73 percent own traditional (aka non-smart) devices, according to market researcher comScore. Despite their more popular mindshare, intelligent devices like the Apple iPhone and phones based on Google's Android operating system own barely a quarter of the market. Here's why.
Beamed Space Solar Power Plant To Open In 2016? 512
Eric_S writes "Anybody who managed to get a decent city going in Sim City 2000 remembers the microwave power plant; now it seems like a real-world equivalent might be coming up on the horizon.
The Pacific Gas and Electricity Company, per this 'interview' with the CEO of Solaren on their affiliated site, announced PG&E's plans to buy 200MW of base-load power from a Solaren beamed space solar power plant by 2016." I wish the skeptic in me would be quiet.
Comment Good enough for the Edison Twins (Score 1) 393
They had to generate a current using a bunch of fruit in one of the episodes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Edison_Twins
Or maybe I was the only one watching CBC in the 1980's?
Comment Re:YEAH!! (Score 1) 1870
In actual fact, perhaps most correctly, hardware stores that sell knives to individuals knowing that those individuals are very likely going to commit knife crimes and who sell models specially designed for committing knife crimes should perhaps be prosecuted in some way. Not for the knife crime itself, but rather for making available knives that no reasonable person would consider to be for simply cutting butter. No apply this to TPB...
Comment Not wishful thinking... (Score 1) 415
Maybe this is less about wishful thinking and more about narrow-mindedness. We tend to expect others to act as we do because our own behavior is a very salient and ever-present prototype of human behavior in general. This is linked with what are termed social value orientations. These describe how you value your outcomes and the other person's outcomes. Individuals can categorized into three groups: cooperators, individualists and competitors.
Cooperators: They like to maximize joint gain or make sure that they and the other player get as much as possible collectively.
Individualists: They maximize their own gain or are concerned with only how much they get and not what the other player gets.
Competitors: They maximize relative gain or how much more they get than the other player.
Thus, depending on your SVO, you may see a matrix game such as the Prisoner's Dilemma in a different light and consequently you may expect others to value outcomes as you do.
There was a study that examined how we develop these valuations: Van Lange, Otten, De Bruin, & Joireman. (1997b). Development of prosocial, individualistic and competitive orientations: Theory and preliminary evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(4), 733-746.
Submission + - Chimpanzees exchange meat for sex (bbc.co.uk)
the_therapist writes: "A team from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, studied chimps in the Tai Forest reserve in Ivory Coast and discovered that chimpanzees enter into "deals" whereby they exchange meat for sex.
Among the findings are that "male chimps that are willing to share the proceeds of their hunting expeditions mate twice as often as their more selfish counterparts". They also found this to be "a long-term exchange, so males continue to share their catch with females when they are not fertile, copulating with them when they are"."
Among the findings are that "male chimps that are willing to share the proceeds of their hunting expeditions mate twice as often as their more selfish counterparts". They also found this to be "a long-term exchange, so males continue to share their catch with females when they are not fertile, copulating with them when they are"."
Comment Mouth-watering smog (Score 3, Funny) 148
I for one welcome smog warnings that are accompanied by the delicate scent of fries.
Fermilab Not Dead Yet, Discovers Rare Single Top Quark 194
Several sources are reporting that in spite of LHC hype, Fermilab's Tevatron has produced another feat for scientific discovery. Currently the world's most powerful operating particle accelerator, the Tevatron has allowed researchers to observe a rare single Top Quark. "Previously, top quarks had only been observed when produced by the strong nuclear force. That interaction leads to the production of pairs of top quarks. The production of single top quarks, which involves the weak nuclear force and is harder to identify experimentally, has now been observed, almost 14 years to the day of the top quark discovery in 1995."
Comment Re:Search engine... (Score 1) 776
I said: "Sadly I turn to Google Search more frequently than I should to answer simple addition problems."
You can't read my entire comment and it's only one sentence you insensitive clod!
But you're right. Beyond me adding single digit integers Google has quite a lot of functionality in that unassuming little search box.
Comment Search engine... (Score 5, Informative) 776
Sadly I turn to Google Search more frequently than I should to answer simple addition problems.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=1%2B2
Submission + - Do We Need a New Internet?
Richard.Tao writes: From the New York Times:
'Security and privacy have become so compromised that many experts believe it is time to start over. ...Bad enough that there is a growing belief among engineers and security experts that Internet security and privacy have become so maddeningly elusive that the only way to fix the problem is to start over.
What a new Internet might look like is still widely debated, but one alternative would, in effect, create a "gated community" where users would give up their anonymity and certain freedoms in return for safety. Today that is already the case for many corporate and government Internet users. As a new and more secure network becomes widely adopted, the current Internet might end up as the bad neighborhood of cyberspace. You would enter at your own risk and keep an eye over your shoulder while you were there.'
Comment Slightly misleading... (Score 1) 1
Which scientists were these? "Scientists have long dismissed the imperceptible jumps and jiggles known as "microsaccades" as the accidental result of spurious nerve signals"
In psych 101 from 1996 (13 years ago!) we were taught that saccadic eye movements were an adaption of the eye to avoid exhausting the rods/cones. I forget whether this had to do with neurotransmitter/pigment levels or some functional limitation of these sensory cells, but you can let your eyes relax enough such that that when you keep an image focused on your fovea it will start to disappear. Still, when you shift your gaze the image pops back. I'm not sure if blindness is a short term concern.
o microsaccades also keep us from masturbating?
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