...will he ever win?

Gizmag: Internet gets security upgrade

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 19:09:12 +0000

The organization that oversees the Internet's unique identifier naming system has joined forces with the U.S. Department of Commerce and secure infrastructure specialist Verisign Inc to try and make our online lives a little safer. The Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has revealed that a solution has been found to a flaw in the security of the domain name system. The collaboration has announced the deployment of a new security extension to make sure that our website addressing requests are not hijacked by dishonest types looking to steal our savings... Continue Reading Internet gets security upgrade

Tags: ICANN, Infrastructure, Internet, Security, Upgrade

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Gizmag: Video: Robot Wrestlers battle it out at Robotech

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 19:03:13 +0000

The main event of the Robotech exhibition held in Tokyo this past week featured the Robo-One Grand Prix event, pitting an assortment of bipedal humanoid robots against each other in an improvised octagonal wrestling ring. Many of you might have seen clips of Japan's rastlin' robots, but as there were more than a few impressive takedowns and attacks on show, I thought I'd share a few highlights... Continue Reading Video: Robot Wrestlers battle it out at Robotech

Tags: Exhibition, Humanoid, Japan, Remote Control, Robot, Robotics, Robots, Video

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Gizmag: Toshiba unveils three new CELL REGZA 3D LED TVs

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 17:57:04 +0000

Toshiba has unveiled its new line of CELL REGZA 3D LED TVs. The new 3D TVs, CELL REGZA 55X2, CELL REGZA Slim 55XE2 and CELL REGZA 46XE2 all include "3D Super Resolution Technology" for upgrading the resolution of 3D content along with 2D-3D conversion. The 55X2 has dynamic contrast ratio of 9,000,000:1 while the other two models have 4,000,000:1. All feature 240 Hz refresh rate, support DNLA, are web enabled and feature a 3 TB hard drive with 2 TB dedicated to CELL REGZA’s Time Shift Machine, which allows you to record up to eight channels simultaneously. .. Continue Reading Toshiba unveils three new CELL REGZA 3D LED TVs

Tags: 3D, 3D TV, Cell Regza, High Definition, LED TV, Regza, Toshiba

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Gizmag: Haier Power Pad takes energy from shower water and returns it to hot water system

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 17:03:19 +0000

The Haier PowerPad is a concept device shown at SinoCES which captures the energy contained within the water that runs off our bodies every morning in the shower, and returns said energy to the hot water tank. Haier claims the PowerPad is currently capturing and returning 15% of the energy coming out of the faucet and by the time it goes on sale six weeks from now, that figure will be 20-30%. Haier is one of the world’s most innovative companies and is hence foolish to bet against, but we’re struggling to understand the technologies being used and just how optimistic the claims are... Continue Reading Haier Power Pad takes energy from shower water and returns it to hot water system

Tags: CES China, Consumer Electronics, Dishwashers, Haier, Refrigerator, Shower, Washing Machine

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Ars Technica: Week in tech: jailbreaks ahoy, mechamice, comedians, and copyright

eric@arstechnica.com (Eric Bangeman) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 17:00:47 +0000

We're approaching the dog days of summer in the northern hemisphere, and tech news shows no signs of cooling down.

Apple loses big in DRM ruling: jailbreaks are "fair use": Every three years, the Library of Congress approves a handful of exemptions to the DMCA, allowing consumers to break or bypass DRM in particular instances. On the list this time: jailbreaking an iPhone, ripping clips from a DVD, and investigating SecuROM on computer games.

Overkill as art: Ars reviews the Cyborg R.A.T. 7: It's not easy to justify a $100 price tag for a gaming mouse, but the R.A.T. 7 is adjustable in both size and shape, features multiple levels of DPI control, and offers more options than anything else on the market.

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Hack a Day: defcon18-badge

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 16:04:56 +0000

The details are out for the DefCon 18 badges. The new design has a lot of goodies packed into it, most notably a 128×32 LCD display. You can’t see it in the image above because it’s on the other side of the badge; the ribbon cable passes through a slit in the substrate to reach the connector on the back. The board has a mini-USB connector and is meant to get even the unseasoned novice up and running with some firmware tweaks. The Freescale processor (which is the same chip as last year’s badge) is running a bootloader that can be accessed and flashed using a terminal program. Yeah… impressive.

But it doesn’t stop with the component selection or firmware mastery, these badges are beautiful too. What you see above is the prototype, but the 7780 badges produced come in seven different flavors (as usual), laser etched on a PCB that uses Aluminum as the substrate. Line up all the badges side-to-side and you get a graphic art storyboard. [Joe] outdid himself this year, and he’s been nice enough to share the development details (PDF) which we spent way too much time drooling over.

[Thanks Kim]

bldgblog: Buried buildings, like icebergs in the ground

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Manaugh) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 12:55:00 +0000

[Image: Watership Down by Maier Yagod and Jon Reed at the Cleveland Public Library].

In a project for the Cleveland Public Library, designed by Toronto-based architects Maier Yagod and Jon Reed, "domestic fragments" have been embedded in the pavement, forming a surreal new kind of public bench:

Watership Down

Taken too far in one direction, of course, this idea could very easily become a kind of postmodern joke—architectural theme-props for a children's playground—but the installation manages to avoid explicit dramaturgy, its fragments more like Gordon Matta-Clark's Building Cuts emerging from the surface of the city.

[Image: Watership Down by Maier Yagod and Jon Reed at the Cleveland Public Library].

A fever of roofs pushing up from below, breaching ground level with the archaeological buoyancy of lost ships.

[Image: Watership Down by Maier Yagod and Jon Reed at the Cleveland Public Library].

While the deliberate use of simulated building fragments can run the risk, mentioned earlier, of simply repeating the PoMo theatrics of things like "upside-down buildings," the evocation of underground architecture, like tombs, scratching through the earth, buried by an orderly landslide of the urban fabric around them, is an interesting direction to take.

Ubuntu Fridge: Meet Benji York

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 04:53:14 +0000

Recently, Benji York joined Canonical’s Launchpad team. I asked him a little about himself and his work.

Matthew: What do you do on the Launchpad team?

Benji: I work on the Foundations team. Right now I’m concentrating on the web service APIs and improving the OpenID integration.

Matthew: Can we see something that you’ve worked on?

Benji: There’s not much to see yet. Most of my changes thus far have been bug fixes or purely internal.

Matthew: Where do you work?

Benji: I work from my home in Virginia, USA.

Matthew: What can you see from your office window?

Benji: Just the shrubs that border my lawn. Once the weather cools off a bit I want to try working from the wifi-covered park/beach near my house.

Matthew: What did you do before working at Canonical?

Benji: I worked at Zope Corporation for about 6 years, most of that time as the team lead for their main product. Before that I worked in the automotive industry, mostly writing supply chain and manufacturing software.

Matthew: How did you get into free software?

Benji: I think the first piece of open source software I used to any degree was Python 1.5. Since then open source software has slowly taken over almost every niche of my computing world.

Matthew: What’s more important? Principle or pragmatism?

Benji: Pragmatism. If a thing doesn’t do what it needs to do, it’s not worth much.

However, I believe that principles are there to help us be pragmatic in a scope larger than the immediate moment. It’s not pragmatic in the long term to skimp on good design or testing just to get something out the door. Any good principal is grounded in pragmatism.

Matthew: Do you/have you contribute(d) to any free software projects?

Benji: When I was in college the console (NES, SNES, Genesis, etc.) emulation scene exploded and I had a side project that let people connect console controllers to their PC. I was approached by one of the Linux input device guys about contributing some of that code. That was my first open source contribution.

Since then I’ve made large and small contributions to dozens of open source projects. Most of those have been in the Zope ecosystem.

Lately I’ve put most of my open source hacking time into Manuel, a system for writing better tested documentation and better documented tests — it’s sort of a spiritual successor to Python’s doctest.

Matthew: Tell us something really cool about Launchpad that not enough people know about.

Benji: I’m sure most readers of this blog will know, but I didn’t know that the Launchpad and Bazaar integration is as nice as it is. Being able to branch from LP, make changes, mark the branch as fixing a particular bug, push the branch to LP, view the diffs online and then generate a merge proposal that will be automatically emailed to reviewers is very convenient.

Matthew: Is there anything in particular that you want to change in Launchpad?

Benji: I’m not familiar enough with LP yet to have strong feelings about changing it. Give it a few months and I’ll be plenty opinionated.

[Discuss Benji York’s Interview on the Forum]

Originally posted by Matthew Revell here on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 12:44 pm

Ars Technica: Anti-P2P lawyers accused of copyright hypocrisy

nate@arstechnica.com (Nate Anderson) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 23:08:55 +0000

Have the copyright enforcers been caught with their hands in the cookie jar? The blog TorrentFreak today published its claim that the US Copyright Group, which has filed more than 14,000 lawsuits against anonymous P2P movie sharers, ripped off another copyright settlement group in crafting its own settlement website.

The site was tipped off by a reader, who claimed that US Copyright Group had jacked code and visual elements from Copyright Settlements, which is in a similar business: sue P2P users, then send them letters demanding a settlement to avoid trial.

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Ars Technica: Ballmer (and Microsoft) still doesn't get the iPad

peter.bright@arstechnica.com (Peter Bright) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:40:00 +0000

"The operating system is called Windows," claimed Steve Ballmer when asked about Microsoft's plans for the tablet/slate/pad form factor at the company's annual Financial Analyst Meeting on Thursday. He expressed dismay at the iPad's strong sales figures, "[Apple has] sold certainly more than I'd like them to have sold," he said. Ballmer then promised that Windows-powered devices will be shipping "as soon as they are ready," going on to explain that they would get a boost from Intel's low-power Oak Trail platform next year.

The message was clear: Microsoft still doesn't understand why its Tablet PC concept has repeatedly bombed over the best part of a decade. Apple sold more iPads in its first three months of availability than PC vendors sold Tablet PCs in the whole of last year; in fact, the number of iPads sold in that period is likely to eclipse the number of Tablet PCs sold both last year and this. But still the company is persevering: stick a regular PC operating system on a laptop, give it a touchscreen, and then take away the keyboard and pixel-perfect pointing device. Ballmer even reiterated the company's position: slates are just another PC form factor.

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Ars Technica: RIM set to join the tablet fray this fall with "Blackpad"

chris.foresman@arstechnica.com (Chris Foresman) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:33:48 +0000

Corroborating a rumor from The Wall Street Journal earlier this summer, a new Bloomberg report cited "two people familiar with the company's plans" to build an iPad-like touchscreen device and release it this fall. Dubbed the "Blackpad," the device will ostensibly run the as-yet-unreleased BlackBerry OS 6, and help RIM deflect further encroachment from Apple into its declining mobile market share.

Bloomberg's sources note that the device will rely on BlackBerry's usual enterprise e-mail advantage, but it will also include features that Apple's iPad lacks. In particular, it will have both rear and front-facing cameras for video conferencing and image capture, as well as the ability to pair with a BlackBerry phone over Bluetooth to share its 3G connection.

But jumping into the current tablet market—already dominated by Apple's iPad and with Windows 7 and Android-based products expected soon—might be easier said than done. "With the success of the iPad, RIM faces an uphill battle," William Power, an analyst at Robert W Baird & Co, told Bloomberg. "RIM really has yet to demonstrate that it can roll out touchscreen technology to match the leaders in the space, most noticeably Apple."

The Blackpad is expected to be launched in November, not long after RIM launches a long-rumored BlackBerry Bold 9800. That device will be a touchscreen-only device and the first to be offered with the more consumer-oriented BlackBerry OS 6.

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Gizmag: HEADS Generation II helmet sensor unveiled

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:15:49 +0000

The problem with head injuries is that people who receive them often don’t realize how serious they actually are, until it’s too late. That’s why BAE Systems developed the Headborne Energy Analysis and Diagnostic System (HEADS) helmet sensor back in 2008. Used by the US Army and Marine Corps, the sensor is mounted inside soldiers’ helmets, and indicates when it has received concussive force sufficient to cause a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Last week at the Farnborough International Air Show, BAE announced the launch of the second generation of HEADS sensors. .. Continue Reading HEADS Generation II helmet sensor unveiled

Tags: BAE Systems, Brain, Combat, Helmet, Military, Protection, Soldiers, Trauma

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Gizmag: The Maverick flying car

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:14:50 +0000

We’ve certainly seen some high-tech wonders over the past week at AirVenture 2010, but sometimes it’s the relatively low-tech aircraft that are the most inspiring. That’s certainly the case with the Maverick, a flying car from Florida’s I-TEC (Indigenous People's Technology and Education Center). The Maverick could fairly accurately be described as a combination dune buggy and powered parachute, not unlike the Parajet Skycar. While I-TEC initially plans on raising funds by selling Mavericks to recreational users, they ultimately hope to put the vehicles to use in impoverished African nations, where missionary pilots can use them to deliver medical supplies... Continue Reading The Maverick flying car

Tags: Aircraft, AirVenture 2010, Flying Car, Oshkosh

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Gizmag: The BMX-inspired HXC sport wheelchair

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:03:07 +0000

Quite a few people have heard of wheelchair basketball and sledge hockey, but perhaps not so many are familiar with Hardcore Sitting. That’s what wheelchair athlete Aaron Fotheringham calls his sport, which involves doing BMX/skateboarding-style stunts on a wheelchair at a skatepark. Los Angeles-based industrial designer Joven De La Vega was so inspired by Fotheringham, he decided to design a wheelchair tailored specifically to the sport. The working prototype – dubbed the HXC Wheelchair – can be compared to a freestyle BMX street bike... Continue Reading The BMX-inspired HXC sport wheelchair

Tags: Athlete, Industrial design, Skateboard, Wheelchair

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Linux Journal: Ubuntu Empire Strikes Back

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:01:10 +0000

The old "Ubuntu doesn't contribute back" argument cropped up again when Dave Neary released a report of the talk he gave at GUADEC on the contributions made to the GNOME desktop environment. He found that Red Hat and Novell contributed the most and that Ubuntu and Mandriva (primarily a KDE distribution) was among the lowest. more>>

Ars Technica: Microsoft to release fix for Windows Shortcut flaw on Monday

p_emil@hotmail.com (Emil Protalinski) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:33:00 +0000

Microsoft has announced plans to release of an out-of-band update on Monday to address the Windows Shortcut flaw revealed less than two weeks ago. The software giant has been keeping a close watch on the use of .LNK files exploiting the vulnerability and has concluded that it needs to act faster than usual.

Microsoft typically releases security patches on the second Tuesday of each month, with the next slated for August 10. Redmond is releasing this fix eight days early, at approximately 1PM EDT Monday. All currently supported versions of Windows are vulnerable, including Windows 7, so the majority of Windows users should be receiving this patch.

There have been multiple malware families that have picked up the .LNK attack vector, including a highly virulent strain named Sality.AT. Not only is Sality a very large family, but it is known to infect other files (making full removal after infection challenging), copy itself to removable media, disable security, and then download other malware. Microsoft has seen an increase in attack attempts as well as a change in the geolocation of the attack attempts across the systems it protects. In short, this new attack vector is becoming more widespread. The security team at the company believes more families will continue to pick up the technique, leading it to get the patch out as soon as possible.

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Bruce Schneier: Friday Squid Blogging: Squid Launcher from "Despicable Me"

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:17:10 +0000

Don't squid me, bro.

Ars Technica: Students finally wake up to Facebook privacy issues

jacqui@arstechnica.com (Jacqui Cheng) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:10:00 +0000

Students care about Facebook privacy more than the world thinks, and their use of privacy controls has skyrocketed recently, according to two researchers. Eszter Hargittai, Associate Professor of Northwestern University, and Danah Boyd, Research Associate at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society published their findings in the online peer-reviewed journal First Monday, noting that young people are very engaged with the privacy settings on Facebook, contrary to the popular belief that their age group is reckless with what they post publicly.

The researchers surveyed first-year writing students at the University of Illinois-Chicago during the 2008-2009 academic year, and then followed up with them again in 2010. The large majority—87 percent—said they used Facebook in 2009, which went up to 90 percent in 2010. Among frequent and occasional users, more than half posted their own status updates in addition to checking up (and leaving comments) on those of friends.

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Ars Technica: iPhone 4 antenna woes "significantly worse" than competition

chris.foresman@arstechnica.com (Chris Foresman) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:44:00 +0000

Apple launched the iPhone 4 in 17 additional countries today, causing another round of debate over whether or not the iPhone 4's external antenna design is flawed or not. A UK consulting firm says its tests show the "death grip" problem is real, and "significantly" worse for the iPhone 4 than other smartphones. A review from Norway is less critical, suggesting the iPhone 4 gets better signal than competing phones and may be victim to AT&T's less "robust" wireless network.

Shortly after the iPhone 4 began shipping in the US last month, users started to notice a problem: gripping the device in a certain way led to signal attenuation and, in some cases, dropped calls or poor data connections. While Apple CEO Steve Jobs was somewhat dismissive of the issue early on, testing conclusively demonstrated that the iPhone 4 had a higher signal attenuation than other smartphones when bridging a small gap on the lower left side of the device's stainless steel bezel.

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Hack a Day: diy-scoreboard

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:14:37 +0000

[Kenneth] built this scoreboard for use at a ballpark that lacks such luxuries. We think this a phenomenal application for his skill and his pocketbook. He laid out PCBs for each digit in Eagle and etched them himself, then installed the indicators for home score, visitor score, inning, balls, strikes, and outs in a laser cut case. A pretty beefy battery along with the folding stand make this quite portable.

In the demo video after the break he’s connected to the scoreboard via telnet to update the score. This trick is accomplished using SparkFun’s WiFly GSX breakout board to set up an adhoc wireless network. The goal is to write an iPhone app that will be used to control the board in the field (or the outfield as it were).

This could definitely be used for different types of scoring during the off season.

Gizmag: Perfect Portions food scale features built-in nutrition guide

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:49:26 +0000

Most U.S. shoppers will be familiar with the Nutrition Facts label on foods which, amongst other things, tells consumers how much fat and salt is in their food. With the Digital Food Scale from Perfect Portions, users can obtain that information whilst weighing out their serving. Ten key nutritional elements are displayed when users type in an appropriate food code from a database of nearly 2,000 foods, empowering users to take control of their daily intake or cut down on foods that may do more harm than good. .. Continue Reading Perfect Portions food scale features built-in nutrition guide

Tags: Kitchen, Nutrition, Scales

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Gizmag: Samsung introduces the Wi-Fi enabled ST80 point-and-shoot

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:34:47 +0000

The forthcoming ST80 point-and-shoot from Samsung will allow users to upload photos and videos while on the move. The 14.2 megapixel camera has built-in Wi-Fi to cater to the immediate sharing of important moments with friends and family via email, or through social networking sites like Facebook and YouTube. The slim compact also features in-camera editing and comes with technology to sync with other wireless devices such as digital photo frames... Continue Reading Samsung introduces the Wi-Fi enabled ST80 point-and-shoot

Tags: Digital Cameras, Samsung, Social Networking, Wi-fi

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Linux Weekly News: [$] Promoting a free software project

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:21:11 +0000

There are many good reasons to promote a free software project, but perhaps the biggest is to attract more users and contributors; it's difficult to do anything with an application that you don't know about. But many projects fail to effectively get the word out about their work, which means that it's less likely a community will spring up around it. At both SCALE 8x and GUADEC 2010, I have had the opportunity to talk about ways that projects can improve their promotional activities and present an organized, interesting look to the rest of the free software world. Hopefully, a summary of the ideas presented will be helpful to the wider community.

Linux Weekly News: AppArmor set to be merged for 2.6.36

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:15:43 +0000

It has been more than four years since LWN first reported on the AppArmor security module and the opposition to its addition to the mainline. Over that time, there has been much discussion of pathname-based security, the value of having multiple security modules, and more; meanwhile, AppArmor has mostly faded from view. Canonical developer John Johansen has picked up this module, though, and has been working toward its inclusion. The latest "what's coming" post from security maintainer James Morris (click below) now shows that AppArmor has been queued for the next merge window (the "YAMA" security module from Canonical is also queued). Unless some last-minute opposition turns up, this should be the end of a long-running story.

Hack a Day: water-rocket-launcher

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:13:25 +0000

School will be starting again in a few weeks but it’s not too late to enjoy a little time with your kids. This water rocket launcher lets you do just that. Built using the frame from an old grill, a soda bottle takes its place on the upturned PVC pipe. There’s a connection for your garden hose that allows you to inject water into the bottle. From there, a compressor connection pressurizes the bottle in preparation for launch. Watch it happen in the video after the break. That bottle could use some fins and a nose cone but there’s no denying the delight the kids are enjoying when they chase after the downed craft.

If you’ve already got a compressor and some empty 2-liter bottles you might also pick up some extra PVC to make this pressurized water cannon.

Linux Weekly News: Desktop summit scheduled for August, 2011

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:23:25 +0000

The GNOME and KDE projects have announced that they will be holding a joint desktop summit in Berlin in August, 2011. "The 2011 Desktop Summit will build on the first Summit's success. More than 1,000 contributors from more than 50 countries are expected to attend the 2011 event in Berlin. In addition to members of the GNOME and KDE development community, the conference will also attract many participants in the overall FLOSS community from local projects, organizations, and companies."

Ars Technica: Sulfates plus black carbon a nasty combo for warming

casey.johnston@arstechnica.com (Casey Johnston) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:14:00 +0000

Fossil fuels may be doing an even more efficient job of warming the planet than we thought. A new study shows that black carbon generated by fossil fuels seems to warm the planet more than other sources, and sulfates generated by burning cheaper fuels help the black carbon absorb even more energy. The scientists who authored the paper note that policies will likely need to tamp down on both substances in order to make a dent in the rate of global warming.

Researchers have long considered black carbon a culprit behind the increasingly warm atmosphere, as it holds incoming heat rather than reflecting it. They haven't been able to decisively point fingers, though, because it's difficult to pinpoint how much warming the black carbon causes. The source of the carbon seemed to play an important role, as did the ambient amount of other substances, like sulfates.

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Linux Weekly News: Security advisories for Friday

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:02:09 +0000

Debian has updated openldap (denial of service).

Fedora has updated kvirc (F13, F12: remote command execution) and F12: pidgin (denial of service).

Red Hat has updated java (multiple vulnerabilities) and freetype (RHEL 3, RHEL 4&5: multiple vulnerabilities).

SUSE has updated firefox, thunderbird, seamonkey (multiple vulnerabilities).

Hack a Day: Caleb made me get rid of all my /awesome/ puns. Sorry guys.

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:00:27 +0000

[Jason Statham] [Martin Magnusson] wrote in to tell us about his adventure in building a wearable computer. The device in its current state is a Beagleboard running Angstrom Linux tethered to an iPhone for internet. A bluetooth keyboard allows for input, while output is displayed on monocle-ized Myvu. And last but not least, the entire setup is powered by 4 AA batteries for 3 hours of life.

Its not as small as some of the wearable computers we’ve seen before, but if you wanted to whip out your own it sure takes a lot less soldering.

Bruce Schneier: Doomsday Shelters

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:47:15 +0000

Selling fear:

The Vivos network, which offers partial ownerships similar to a timeshare in underground shelter communities, is one of several ventures touting escape from a surface-level calamity.
Radius Engineering in Terrell, Texas, has built underground shelters for more than three decades, and business has never been better, says Walton McCarthy, company president.

The company sells fiberglass shelters that can accommodate 10 to 2,000 adults to live underground for one to five years with power, food, water and filtered air, McCarthy says.

The shelters range from $400,000 to a $41 million facility Radius built and installed underground that is suitable for 750 people, McCarthy says. He declined to disclose the client or location of the shelter.

"We've doubled sales every year for five years," he says.Other shelter manufacturers include Hardened Structures of Colorado and Utah Shelter Systems, which also report increased sales.

[...]

The Vivos website features a clock counting down to Dec. 21, 2012, the date when the ancient Mayan "Long Count" calendar marks the end of a 5,126-year era, at which time some people expect an unknown apocalypse.

Vicino, whose terravivos.com website lists 11 global catastrophes ranging from nuclear war to solar flares to comets, bristles at the notion he's profiting from people's fears.

"You don't think of the person who sells you a fire extinguisher as taking advantage of your fear," he says. "The fact that you may never use that fire extinguisher doesn't make it a waste or bad.

"We're not creating the fear; the fear is already out there. We're creating a solution.

Yip Harburg commented on the subject about half a century ago, and the Chad Mitchell Trio recited it. It's at about 0:40 on the recording, though the rest is worth listening to as well.

    Hammacher Schlemmer is selling a shelter,
          worthy of Kubla Khan's Xanadu dome;
    Plushy and swanky, with posh hanky panky
          that affluent Yankees can really call home.

    Hammacher Schlemmer is selling a shelter,
          a push-button palace, fluorescent repose;
    Electric devices for facing a crisis
          with frozen fruit ices and cinema shows.

    Hammacher Schlemmer is selling a shelter
          all chromium kitchens and rubber-tiled dorms;
    With waterproof portals to echo the chortles
          of weatherproof mortals in hydrogen storms.

    What a great come-to-glory emporium!
    To enjoy a deluxe moratorium,
    Where nuclear heat can beguile the elite
          in a creme-de-la-creme crematorium.

Ars Technica: Australia begs residents to accept free fiber connection

nate@arstechnica.com (Nate Anderson) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:38:00 +0000

If your government had decided to install a national, open-access fiber-to-the-home network to 93 percent of all residents, if the installation was free, and if the fiber hookup had no effect on your existing phone or cable service and committed you to nothing... wouldn't you take it?

Not if you live in Tasmania, where the Australian government's ambitious new National Broadband Network is getting underway with its first fiber deployments. The government-created NBN Co. has the right to dig up streets and trench along rights-of-way, but to install that "last-mile" connection to a home or apartment it needs permission—and Tasmanians have been slow to offer it.

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Cool Tools: Companion 8 in. Wire Cutters

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:18:47 +0000

I am responsible for over a dozen miles of 4 and 5 strand barbwire fence. A good reliable wire cutter is a godsend, and this is it. It's ingenious and simple. The key part is the lock mechanism. It's a sliding lock. You hold it "jaws-down," press the grips and it locks. You are now free to place it in a slash or slot pocket on typical painter's/carpenter's pants. When you need it you pull it out, hold it "jaws-up," and it unlocks. Ready for use. No more "sprung" pliers or vise-grips stuck in rear pockets impossible to pull out while you have only one hand free!

-- Arthur Schultz

Companion 8 in. Wire Cutters
$10

Available from and manufactured by Sears

Ars Technica: FCC gives thumbs-up to first LTE phone, more in offing

jacqui@arstechnica.com (Jacqui Cheng) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:10:00 +0000

The Federal Communications Commission has finally approved the first 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) phone for sale in the US. Though the first LTE handset will be available through MetroPCS, the FCC has now opened the door for other LTE devices, including those for Verizon's in-testing LTE network.

The Samsung SCH-r900 will be the first LTE phone to market in the US, which MetroPCS hopes to launch "this summer" according to InformationWeek. We're still mostly in the dark as to where MetroPCS plans to build out its LTE network (the company said earlier this year that it was targeting a number of metro markets, but only named Las Vegas), but regardless, it looks like Sprint will soon have to share the 4G limelight.

One company that has been keeping the world slightly more up-to-date with its LTE buildout plans is Verizon. The carrier is already testing its network in Seattle and Boston, with around 30 more markets expected by the end of the year. Those markets, according to rumors from Engadget, include a number of airports, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia.

Verizon apparently plans to make its first commercially available LTE devices laptop data cards, but the question many have been asking is whether Verizon's LTE rollout could hail the launch of the Verizon iPhone. In addition to rampant rumors of a possible January release, Ars has heard from someone in the know that Verizon is already testing an LTE iPhone in Boston and that the official launch is dependent upon the mass expansion of the carrier's 4G network. We hear an announcement could come as soon as September (a month when Apple traditionally holds an event to introduce new iPods), but we're still filing this one in the rumor category.

If you're looking for a primer on LTE technology, check out our recent feature on the state of 4G.

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Hack a Day: digital-picture-frame

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:08:34 +0000

[Daniel's] homemade digital picture frame looks great, it’s well-built, and it has a nice set of features. It’s not made from a broken laptop and he didn’t build it around a microcontroller. Instead, he saved a 19″ LCD monitor with a burnt out back light caused by the extremely common blown capacitor problem. Twenty dollars on eBay landed him a small industrial single board computer to drive the system.

The software end of things is a curious conglomeration but considering the hardware constraints [Daniel] made some great choices. He’s using MS-DOS along with LxPic for slide shows and Mplayer for video. The rest of the software gets him up on the home network and enables IR remote control via LIRC. All o this makes for a beautiful product (video after the break includes some Doom footage) and the package is pulling just 40W when in use.

Ars Technica: The Bodele Depression is all that remains of Lake Chad. Drought and increased irrigation demand drained the lake, which was the size of Lake Erie in the 1960s.

dechant.ars@gmail.com (Tim De Chant) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:18:00 +0000

Every year since 1990, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released an annual report detailing the state of the climate. Early versions were typewritten and authored by a handful of experts. The new version is a shiny, 218-page PDF penned by more than 300 scientists from around the world. Nevertheless, the message has changed little over the years: the world is warming.

The 2009 report continues to document a number of weather-related records, the number of which seem to be growing every year. This year's highlights: The hottest decade on record. The third-lowest Arctic sea ice extent since 1979. The warmest and second-warmest years on record for India and Australia, respectively. And carbon dioxide concentrations that are increasing at a rate well above average.

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Linux Journal: Linux Journal Insider - September 2010

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:11:18 +0000

Linux Journal Insider - September 2010 by Linux Journal

Ars Technica: Why lack of StarCraft 2 LAN play still matters

bkuchera@arstechnica.com (Ben Kuchera) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:46:00 +0000

Much of this post originally ran in July 2009, but the issue is still on the minds of gamers. We've edited the post to add some thoughts now that the game has launched, and added a section at the end dealing with the rumors of officially supported LAN play. We wanted to revisit the issue again to drive this point home: even if it doesn't directly hurt Blizzard's bottom line, LAN play matters.

When the first stories began to spread about StarCraft 2 not supporting LAN play, the Internet began to grumble with discontent. Sure, there were the usual online petitions and griping on various gaming forums, but there was a sense that something big had been taken from us. Why were people so upset about the exclusion of LAN play? It has much to do with nostalgia, and much to do with why so many of us fell in love with StarCraft in the first place.

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Ars Technica: Preserving games comes with legal, technical problems

andrew.webster@arstechnica.com (Andrew Webster) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:20:00 +0000

When it comes to preservation, video games are problematic. Hardware becomes outdated and the media that houses game code becomes obsolete, not to mention the legal issues with emulation. In short, one day, there may not be a way to play Super Metroid at all, and that's a scary thought. A new paper from the International Journal of Digital Curation, called "Keeping the Game Alive: Evaluating Strategies for the Preservation of Console Video Games," suggests several ways this problem can be tackled, and the pros and cons of each approach.

First, there's what the paper calls the museum approach, which is just what it sounds like: keeping the original copies of both game hardware and software in playable form. But since most consoles feature proprietary parts that are discontinued along with the system, this is really only a temporary solution, as eventually the consoles will break down and there will be no parts left to repair them.

Magnavox Odyssey.

Another approach outlined in the piece is backwards compatibility. This process is a great way of letting players enjoy old games, but it's not designed with preservation in mind: just because I can play GameCube games on my Wii doesn't mean I can play them forever. It's also not a guarantee, as the removal of backwards compatibility from the PlayStation 3 has shown us.

So the answer seems to lie in digital preservation, and the paper outlines two different options: the migration approach and emulation. Both allow you to play old software on modern computers, but present legal issues when it comes to ownership of the original game code.

The 27-page paper does a good job of outlining the potential upsides and downfalls of each of the various strategies, and is well worth a read for anyone interested in video game preservation. The conclusion notes that the only real possible, long-term solution is emulation, and that would only be possible with the consent and cooperation of hardware manufacturers, game developers, and publishers.

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Hack a Day: samsung-vibrant

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:00:13 +0000

If you’ve got a Samsung Vibrant and want to take advantage of that unlimted 3G account you can tether without rooting the phone. This method uses a USB cable to provide internet access to Windows XP and Windows 7 computers. Samsung’s own Kies software handles the tethering, as long as you have the magic number to get connected on T-Mobile USA networks; ‘epc.tmobile.com’ for the APN name and ‘*99#’ as the phone number. [Zedomax] made the video after the break which takes you through the tethering ritual.

[Photo credit: Tnkgrl]

Linux Weekly News: Bacon: Red Hat, Canonical and GNOME contributions

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:12:58 +0000

Jono Bacon responds to the GNOME census and the criticisms of Canonical which have followed. "What the report doesn’t take into account are upstream contributions that are built on the GNOME platform but (a) not part of official GNOME modules, and (b) hosted and developed elsewhere, such as Launchpad. As such, while the report is accurate for showing code and contributions accepted into GNOME, there are also many projects built on GNOME technology that are not taken into account due to non-inclusion in GNOME modules or being developed outside of GNOME infrastructure."

Bruce Schneier: Hacking ATMs

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:55:12 +0000

Hacking ATMs to spit out money, demonstrated at the Black Hat conference:

The two systems he hacked on stage were made by Triton and Tranax. The Tranax hack was conducted using an authentication bypass vulnerability that Jack found in the system's remote monitoring feature, which can be accessed over the Internet or dial-up, depending on how the owner configured the machine.
Tranax's remote monitoring system is turned on by default, but Jack said the company has since begun advising customers to protect themselves from the attack by disabling the remote system.

To conduct the remote hack, an attacker would need to know an ATM's Internet IP address or phone number. Jack said he believes about 95 percent of retail ATMs are on dial-up; a hacker could war dial for ATMs connected to telephone modems, and identify them by the cash machine's proprietary protocol.

The Triton attack was made possible by a security flaw that allowed unauthorized programs to execute on the system. The company distributed a patch last November so that only digitally signed code can run on them.

Both the Triton and Tranax ATMs run on Windows CE.

Using a remote attack tool, dubbed Dillinger, Jack was able to exploit the authentication bypass vulnerability in Tranax's remote monitoring feature and upload software or overwrite the entire firmware on the system. With that capability, he installed a malicious program he wrote, called Scrooge.

EDITED TO ADD (7/30): Another two articles.

Hack a Day: last_year

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:51:32 +0000

Wired took a look at this year’s Ninja Party badges. We were giddy about all the goodies involved in last year’s must-have badge that served as an invitation to the party. It was tailor-made for hacking, including an on-board disassembler. This year’s details are still a bit sparse but the offering is more along the lines of a market-ready product. The badges come in hand held gaming format, with a d-pad and two buttons. They can connect wirelessly with each other and with hidden base stations, allowing participants to fight in the digital realm for LED-indicated achievements. The teaser is tantalizing and we can’t wait to hear details about the real/digital gaming adventure soon to unfold.

Ars Technica: Despite its very limited shader model and lack of area lights, beta 2.2 of the CUDA-based Octane makes my ZBrushed faux-vinyl lettering look physically realistic with very little set-up.

daveg@arstechnica.com (Dave Girard) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:40:00 +0000

As SIGGRAPH 2010 winds down, one thing has been obvious: GPU rendering has matured quickly. GPU-based rendering initially got a bad name because public attention has been mostly on real-time ray-tracing implementations for games, where corners are cut to keep frame rates high. In real-time rendering schemes like those shown by Intel, light bounces were limited, they lacked color bleeding, and ambient occlusion (a key component of realistic rendering) was also AWOL. The end result looked like something from a raytracing white-paper from the early '80s: flat, lifeless images that couldn't compete even with games like Uncharted 2 that used straight-up OpenGL with a combination of tricks like baked lighting and screen-space ambient occlusion for realism.

Over the last couple years, with help from CUDA and OpenCL, GPU renderers have steadily progressed to exploit the speed of the GPU without sacrificing rendering quality. Now it seems we're spoiled for choice. There were a few on display here at SIGGRAPH, but the growing GPU renderer list is already impressive: iRay, Arion, Furryball, Octane (which I often use if I want a fast and stylish render, as seen above), V-Ray RT—and there's even the free and open-source GPU version of Luxrender. There are probably others that I'm missing—it seems like a new GPU renderer is coming out every month.

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The Daily WTF: Error'd: Go Fish

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Chas Ryder writes, "false... fish... yeah, I get those mixed up all the time."

"I was doing some research on managed hosting providers," writes Chris T., "Liquid Hosting had me sold until I found this."

"I got this message when attempting to open Greetings Workshop after a RAM upgrade," notes Robert Pendell

"I was having some issues with my UPS, so looked on the back to see if there was anything helpful," writes Eric B, "other than being reminded that there was a Risk of Shock three times, I was also told to refer to the bottom of the UPS." Eric B [ebrandel@yahoo.com]

"The 'waiting room' for a website checkout at Royal Albert Hall is a bit disconcerting," Martin Mortensen writes, "and their message isn't very helpful, either."

"Someone put a 'Tip of the Day' feature in one of our in-house applications," notes Jan Srzednicki, "it never really expanded beyond this tip, though."

Reuven was greeted with this message when an installer crashed on his PC.

"Not that it matters," writes Aaron, "it's probably password-protected anyway."

Ubuntu Fridge: Ubuntu Party Weekend...

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:52:28 +0000

… also known as Ubuntu Global Jam is coming up swiftly, so make sure you put 27th-29th August into your calendar and talk your local Ubuntu friends into participating.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuGlobalJam

Ok, so it’s Ubuntu Global Jam. What does that mean? What’s going to happen?

Simple. It’s going to happen what you make happen. Whatever your team enjoys doing is great. The only requirements are: it needs to be fun and it should make Ubuntu better somehow.

Ok. What does that mean?

We had loads of different jams around the world already: events where people get together locally and make Ubuntu better by working on bugs, packaging, translations, documentation, testing, upgrading or whatever else they enjoy doing.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Jams

In the past we had events all around the globe, where new friends met for the first time, people learned from each other, people from other open source projects were invited and where everybody (most importantly) had a fantastic time.

If your LoCo team already knows when and where it’s going to happen, add the event to the LoCo Directory. We set up the event on loco.ubuntu.com already.

http://loco.ubuntu.com/events/global/195/detail/

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Jams has lots of information on how to to organise the event properly, and what kind of preparation your team mates should look into depending on what your team wants to do. Stay tuned for tuition sessions where you can ask all your questions. A good place for getting that information is of course loco-contacts or the ubuntu-event-planners mailing list.

If you’re part of a LoCo team, please bring it up with your team, talk to them, find out what they like, meet and make Ubuntu rock even harder.

[Discuss the Ubuntu Global Jam on the Forum]

Originally sent to the loco-contacts Mailing List by Daniel Holbach on Tue Jul 27 14:59:33 BST 2010

Gizmag: Smaller, faster, cheaper Kindle e-Reader on the way

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:33:58 +0000

The graphite and display overhaul that Amazon gave its Kindle DX earlier in the month has now been applied to its third generation 6-inch model. The new Kindle will be available with 3G and Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi only, is 15 percent lighter and 21 percent smaller than its predecessor but still retains the 6-inch display and now comes with double the storage capacity... Continue Reading Smaller, faster, cheaper Kindle e-Reader on the way

Tags: 3G, Amazon, E-Ink, E-reader, EBook, Kindle, Wi-fi

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Linux Journal: Where do you find Linux?

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Looking through my home for Linux systems I just realized that it is everywhere. First of all, I find it on my computers - from servers to laptop. That is the obvious place though. I wonder, where else can I find Linux running? more>>

Gizmag: HyperMac Stand provides power boost for iPad

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 07:30:58 +0000

The Sanho Corporation has announced a new iPad-specific addition to its HyperMac battery solutions. Apple's tablet computer can be placed into one of two angled slots on top of the HyperMac Stand which create the perfect angle for movie viewing or for eBook reading. The stand also serves to extend iPad enjoyment by adding another 16 hours to its battery life... Continue Reading HyperMac Stand provides power boost for iPad

Tags: Battery, iPad, iPad Accessories, Rechargeable, stand

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Gizmag: Sending out an SOS with the Stress Outsourced massage jacket

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 07:24:58 +0000

The phenomenon of social networking allows fragmented friends and families to keep in touch and empowers users to share their lives with the world. Four female students from MIT think that such a medium could also help to alleviate something else that many members of the global community share and suffer from - stress. The SOS: stress outsourced system consists of wearable units containing wireless signaling technology. Should a wearer feel the burden of stress, sending out an SOS to fellow users around the globe generates a haptic massage from the relief signals sent in response... Continue Reading Sending out an SOS with the Stress Outsourced massage jacket

Tags: Concept, Massager, MIT, Prototype, Social Networking, Stress, Wearable, Wireless

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Gizmag: Straining graphene creates strongest pseudo-magnetic fields ever sustained in a lab

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 07:10:44 +0000

Graphene, the one-atom-thick material made up of a honeycomb lattice of carbon atoms, has produced yet another in a long list of experimental surprises. Its remarkable properties have already got researchers excited regarding its applications for faster computers, cheaper and more efficient batteries and vastly higher density mass data storage. Now researchers have reported the creation of pseudo-magnetic fields far stronger than the strongest magnetic fields ever sustained in a laboratory – just by putting the right kind of strain onto a patch of graphene. The breakthrough could have far reaching scientific applications... Continue Reading Straining graphene creates strongest pseudo-magnetic fields ever sustained in a lab

Tags: Graphene, Magnetic

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Gizmag: Kepler space observatory continues search for Earth-like planets

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:15:30 +0000

Launched on March 6, 2009, the Kepler spacecraft is continuing to scan the heavens for Earth-like exoplanets. The $US591 million Kepler boasts the largest camera ever sent into space, incorporating a 0.95-meter diameter Schmidt telescope with an array of 42 CCDs, each with 2200x1024 pixels. NASA has recently released 43 days-worth of data covering more than 156,000 stars in the Cygnus-Lyra region of our galaxy, but more analysis is needed before any conclusive findings can be made... Continue Reading Kepler space observatory continues search for Earth-like planets

Tags: Astronomy, Exoplanet, NASA, Space, Spacecraft, Telescope

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Gizmag: Intel creates first silicon-based optical data connection with transmission rates up to 50Gbps

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:13:20 +0000

Today’s computer components are connected to each other using copper cables or traces on circuit boards. Due to the signal degradation that comes with using metals such as copper to transmit data, these cables have a limited maximum length. This limits the design of computers, forcing processors, memory and other components to be placed just inches from each other. Intel has announced an important breakthrough that could see light beams replace the use of electrons to carry data in and around computers, enabling data to move over much longer distances and at speeds many times faster than today’s copper technology... Continue Reading Intel creates first silicon-based optical data connection with transmission rates up to 50Gbps

Tags: Computers, Data, High-speed, Intel, Optical, Photon, Prototype, Silicon

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Sparkfun: Meet Nicolas - possibly the youngest SparkFun customer

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:00:00 +0000

On our trips out to various Maker Faires, we've seen some pretty young kids go through our soldering classes. It is always a bit heartwarming to see a child take an interest in the things we are so passionate about. It's also amazing to see youngsters under the age of five assemble an electronics kit - I'm pretty sure at five I was busy eating Play-Doh and throwing sand at girls, not learning the basics of embedded electronics

What is the point of this rambling monologue? Well, meet Nicolas, 3.5 years old - possibly SparkFun's youngest customer.

Nicolas' father, Santiago, started by soldering some cables to three basic components (an LED, a switch, and a battery holder). After explaining that each part had two cables, Santiago asked Nicolas to draw a diagram of how to connect the parts - his first "schematic."Check it out!

The first schematic - a right of passage in any young man's life.

Then, Nicolas used scotch tape to piece the components together. When he flipped the switch and the light didn't power on, he debugged the problem with a simple proclamation - "Dada, there are no batteries!"Forgetting batteries? This kid is an engineer in the making.

This kid's future is bright (pun intended).

And there you have it - Nicolas with his very own flashlight inside a very spiffy "custom enclosure."Awesome work Nicolas! While we're at it, we should also mention his father's project - the Bluetooth Ericofon.

50s design work is awesome, even if it is a little strange.

Check out that nifty piece of retro hardware! This is Santiago's Bluetooth Ericofon. It works very similarly to our Bluetooth Port-O-Rotary phone that allows you to connect an old-school handset to your cellphone. This one, however, is built inside the resoundingly cool 1950s Ericofon. For more information about his project (or to buy one of your own), visit Santiago's website.

Gizmag: The Humane Reader uses 8-bit technology to bring Wikipedia to developing countries

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 04:03:48 +0000

When you search for just about anything on the Internet, it seems like a Wikipedia entry on that subject is almost always amongst the top ten hits. Despite rumors of dissent within its ranks, the encyclopedic website is one of the largest single repositories of knowledge in the world. So, with that in mind, what do you do if you want to bring a significant portion of the information on the Internet to people who can’t afford net access? You load a searchable offline version of Wikipedia onto a US$20 8-bit computer, that they can watch through their TVs. That’s what computer consultant Braddock Gaskill has done with his Humane Reader, which he hopes will find a place in homes, schools and libraries in developing nations... Continue Reading The Humane Reader uses 8-bit technology to bring Wikipedia to developing countries

Tags: Charity, Computer, Internet, Reader, Television, Wikipedia

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Gizmag: Frog Design and ECOtality team up for smart EV charging solution

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 03:29:48 +0000

Well, it was only a matter of time. Electric vehicle charging stations aren’t even commonplace yet, but already someone has come up with a better-looking one. Frog Design, well-known for developing cool concepts such as an Intel Point-of-Sale kiosk and a range of wearable devices, has teamed up with clean energy company ECOtality to create the Blink EV charging station. There are two versions, one for homes and one for commercial use, and they’re both pretty snazzy... Continue Reading Frog Design and ECOtality team up for smart EV charging solution

Tags: Automotive, Charger, clean energy, Electric vehicle, Frog Design

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Gizmag: QUIETPRO+ Intelligent Hearing System headed offshore

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 03:17:10 +0000

It’s a problem as old as the protective earplug itself - if you block out the loud, harmful noises, you also block out the quieter sounds, such as peoples’ voices... that is, unless you’ve got a QUIETPRO+ Intelligent Hearing System stuck in your ears. The setup consists of a pair of fairly regular-looking in-ear plugs, wired iPod-style to a small electronic control unit. When the system detects a dangerously-loud noise, it automatically sends noise-canceling sound waves to the headset. When things are quiet, it amplifies sounds like human voices, so the user is actually able to hear better than they would without it. .. Continue Reading QUIETPRO+ Intelligent Hearing System headed offshore

Tags: Communications, Headset, Hearing, Noise-canceling, Protection, Sound, Wireless

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Gizmag: Driverless vehicles headed from Serbia to China

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 01:44:51 +0000

As of July 29th, two electric vans embarked from Belgrade, Serbia on a three-month road trip to Shanghai, China. Along the way, they will have to manage stop-and-go city traffic, extremes in weather, and even some stretches of off-road driving. All this would be a great test for their electric drive system, but the researchers from Italy’s VisLab put this expedition together mainly to test something else: their driverless vehicle technology. While each of the vans in the VisLab Intercontinental Autonomous Challenge (VIAC) will have passengers in the back seats, ready to take control if necessary, they will normally have no one at the steering wheel. .. Continue Reading Driverless vehicles headed from Serbia to China

Tags: Autonomous Vehicle, Driver, Electric vehicle, navigation

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EFF News: Breaking Down the 2009 DMCA Rulemaking, Part 1: Victory for Vidders

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:43:03 +0000

Now that the dust has settled on the long-awaited announcement of new DMCA circumvention exemptions, it’s time for an explanation of what these exemptions will (and will not) do for consumers and creators. We’ll start with a tremendously important exemption that we fear was somewhat overlooked in the excitement about jailbreaking and unlocking: breaking DVD encryption in order to take short clips for purposes of criticism and commentary for noncommercial use, educational use and documentary films.

This exemption represents many months of hard work by an array of public interest groups. EFF led the charge on behalf of vidders (with invaluable support from the Organization for Transformative Works, among others). The documentary films issue was pushed by the International Documentary Association, Kartemquin Films (a Chicago-based nonprofit) and the USC Gould School of Law Intellectual Property & Technology Law Clinic. The educational uses were championed by a group of educators from American University, the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, and the University of Maryland, working with the Library Copyright Alliance.

In public comments and at numerous hearings, these groups called on the Librarian of Congress to bring copyright in line with its true purpose – promoting creativity and education – by removing the DMCA as a powerful legal impediment to fair use. Hollywood responded by suggesting that fair users should use “alternatives” to circumvention, such as pointing a camcorder at your television screen to “capture” a poor quality copy of a movie that is playing. In other words, fair users should pretend they are living and working in 1994. Happily, the rulemakers decided to let us live in the present, describing this suggestion as “specious.”

What this means.
Before this exemption was issued, the only people allowed to circumvent DVD encryption for fair use purposes were film and media studies professors. Now, that category has expanded to include all college and university professors and film and media studies students (as long as they are circumventing for educational purposes), documentary filmmakers, and noncommercial vidders. The user may take only a “short portion” of the original work for purposes of criticism and commentary, and she must reasonably believe she needs to break the DRM to accomplish that purpose.

What it doesn’t.
This exemption does not affect toolmakers – i.e., those that develop and provide the tools that make circumventing CSS possible. Nor can it stop Hollywood from attempting to impose other technical limits on the ability to copy, even for fair use purposes. Also, K-12 educators and students who aren’t in film and media studies classes have to keep using 20th century technology. Finally, even though the Register of copyrights has declared that using short portions of a movie for purposes of criticism or comment in a noncommercial video is a fair use (no surprise), Hollywood can still use tools like YouTube’s Content I.D. system to take down such videos with the flip of a switch.

What changed?
This exemption is long overdue, and therein lies a question: why now? After all, as the Register of Copyrights notes in the report that led to the rulemaking, it was clear back in 2000 that CSS could interfere with fair use in ways Congress didn’t anticipate when it passed the DMCA. The Register’s answer is that the factual record has changed: First, proponents submitted enough substantial evidence of hardship to support their cases. (Which points to a fundamental problem in the process – where it’s clear as a matter of pure logic that a given form of DRM is impeding fair use, it’s irrational to force fair users to suffer for years under legal threat until enough evidence of the harm is accrued.) Second, the market for DVDs has (supposedly) changed:

In past rulemakings, the MPAA has offered evidence that CSS protection was a critical factor in the decision to release motion pictures in digital format . . . [but] CSS-protected DVDs have continued to be the dominant form even though circumventions tools have long been widely available online. At this point in time, the suggestion that an exemption for certain noninfringing uses will cause the end of the digital distribution of motion pictures is without foundation.

We think the MPAA’s bluster that it would stop distributing DVD movies if an exception was granted for fair use circumvention should have never been credited by the Register, but it’s gratifying that the Register refuses to do so any longer.

Some Other Highlights
In the report that led to the rulemaking, the Register of Copyrights made a series of telling observations about encryption and fair use. For example, she implicitly acknowledged what we’ve been saying for years -- that DVD encryption is primarily designed not to restrict access, but to serve as a legal "hook" that forces technology companies to enter into license agreements before they build products that can play movies. As the Report puts it:

By design, the CSS encryption system serves as a link in a chain of legal and technological requirements that ultimately inhibit the possessor of a CSS-protected DVD from copying the work or works embodied in it.”

Of course, those license agreements do more than inhibit copying -- they define what the devices can and can't do, thereby protecting Hollywood business models from disruptive innovation.

Also notable is the Register’s fair use analysis, and particularly her conclusion that there was no evidence that taking short clips cause any harm to any actual market for the original works. Opponent of the exemption had argued, among other things, that they were experimenting with ways to get short clips to educators – in other words, a market might emerge. Not good enough, said the Register: “there was no evidence in the record that a viable or efficient mechanism for permissions or licensing exists or is likely to exist” for the next three years.

This exemption could go further -- for example, there's no sensible reason why literature students, or math students for that matter, should have been excluded. Nonetheless, it represents a big step in the right direction. Hopefully the next rulemaking will go further down the path.

Ars Technica: "Animal connection" helps separate humans from other species

kate.shaw@arstechnica.com (Kate Shaw) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:10:00 +0000

For centuries, people have tried to pinpoint what makes humans unique. The most current scientific theory suggests that three main qualities separate Homo sapiens from other animals: the construction and use of complex tools, the use of symbolic behavior including language, art, and ritual, and the domestication of other plants and animals. However, in a new paper in Current Anthropology, Dr. Pat Shipman suggests a fourth trait unique to humans.

Shipman cites humans' long history of learning about and understanding animals as a unique trait, calling this tendency "the animal connection." She claims that this relationship is the common unifying factor that underlies each of the other three previously recognized human traits, and has played a major role in human evolution over the last 2.6 million years.

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Linux Weekly News: Reddit interviews Richard Stallman

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:02:15 +0000

Reddit has posted an extensive interview with Richard Stallman. "The main shortcoming of Linux is at the level of device support. The obstacle there isn't a lack of ability among Linux developers, but rather the use of devices whose specs are secret. Finishing the HURD would not advance us at all in supporting these devices. The work that is needed is at the driver and firmware level. That's why our high priority task list includes items relating to free drivers, but not the HURD."

GoRobotics.net: DFRobotshop Rover Or Arduino On Tracks

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:30:10 +0000

RobotShop is proud to announce the immediate availability of the DFRobotShop Rover, an Arduino-compatible robotic tracked platform. At an 89.99 USD price-tag, this is by far the most affordable, programmable mobile robot in the market.

The DFRobotShop Rover is a versatile mobile robot tank based on the popular Arduino Duemilanove. It incorporates all the Duemilanove features (since it uses a surface mount ATMega328), including shield compatibility, and is supplemented with (1) an on-board DC step-up that allows it to be easily powered from small power sources such as AA batteries, (2) a dual H-bridge DC-motor controller (L293B), and (3) an APC220 and Bluetooth serial interface connector for telemetry and radio control. As an addition it also features a temperature and light sensors that can be readily connected to analog inputs on the ATMega328 for immediate use. This Arduino-compatible platform rides on the popular Tamiya twin motor gearbox and the Tamiya track and wheel set. This created a low-cost traction system that has been tested to carry over 2 kg without issues.

- Robotshop Blog

Let us know what would you like to do with this very cool Arduino tank.

Via RobotShop Blog.

Ars Technica: Sprint set to release 3G-enabling "case" for iPod touch

chris.foresman@arstechnica.com (Chris Foresman) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:20:00 +0000

Recently released FCC documents reveal that Sprint is set to launch what appears to be a new case for the iPod touch that would enable 3G networking on the WiFi-only device. Manufactured by ZTE and called the "Peel," the case is essentially a MiFi-like mobile hotspot that snaps on to an iPod touch, giving it a network connection wherever you can get a Sprint 3G signal.

The Peel has its own 3.4Whr lithium ion battery, which is good for about 40hrs of standby time—there's no mention of how long it would last in active use, but our guess is perhaps a few hours. In addition to giving 3G network access to an iPod touch, it can also connect other WiFi devices. It doesn't appear to have a limit to the number of simultaneously connected devices (the manual submitted to the FCC suggests this number is configurable), unlike most mobile hotspots that usually limit connections to four or five. Phone Scoop also notes that the device is only cleared to operate on the slower EV-DO Rev 0 standard, and not the faster Rev A that most current 3G devices use.

We're not exactly sure what to think of the Peel (Apple, Peel, get it?). It seems that if an iPhone really appealed to you, you wouldn't have opted for the iPod touch to begin with. Then again, there are some users who would rather have an iPhone with data but no voice, and on a different network. Depending on the pricing and data options—especially if there is a pay-as-you-go option—it might be a nice complement to an iPod touch. The added utility of being able to connect multiple devices—one clear advantage over an iPhone—is offset somewhat by the slower 3G speeds.

Sprint tried to attract Apple device users with a similar tack when the WiFi-only iPad was released, offering users a free iPad case with a pocket that would fit the carrier's 4G/3G Overdrive mobile hotspot. Still, we're wondering if there are any iPod touch owners out there excited by this news. If you are, let us know in the comments.

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Ars Technica: Congress ponders privacy of your underwear, immortal soul

nate@arstechnica.com (Nate Anderson) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:44:00 +0000

At a Congressional Internet privacy hearing on Tuesday, a group of middle-aged men had some questions about the 'Net. Why was it such a creepy place? How come replying to spammers doesn't get one immediately removed from their e-mail lists? And what is this talk we hear about websites gaining the rights to one's immortal soul?

The creepiness was best summed up by the Senate Commerce Committee's Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), who in his opening statement compared the Internet to a deeply disturbing shopping mall. In this mall, there's "a machine recording every store you enter and every product you look at, and every product you buy. You go into a bookstore. The machine records every book you purchase or peruse. Then, you go to the drugstore. The machine is watching you there, meticulously recording every product you pick up—from the shampoo to the allergy medicine to your personal prescription.

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Gizmag: Merseyside Fire Service trials fire-fighting motorcycles

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:29:27 +0000

Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service will be joined by a couple of new recruits from next month. For the first time in the UK, two specially-kitted-out firefighting motorcycles will begin attending small rubbish fires as part of a six month feasibility trial. In addition to the customized motorcycles, the Service has also commissioned new protective equipment for the riders... Continue Reading Merseyside Fire Service trials fire-fighting motorcycles

Tags: BMW, Firefighting, Motorcycles

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Ars Technica: Feature: WiFi "Hole196": major exploit or much ado about little?

glenn@glennf.com (Glenn Fleishman) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:10:00 +0000

The latest hole in WiFi security is quite serious, but it's unlikely to cause widespread disruption in the corporate and government networks for which it would have the potential to cause the biggest headaches.

In fact, the exploit continues to demonstrate a lack of any effective method of cracking the WiFi Alliance WPA/WPA2 certified versions of IEEE encryption standards found in WiFi gear of the past seven years. Brute force and dictionary attacks against short passphrases used typically on home and small-business networks are still the only means of key recovery.

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Groklaw: USPTO Asks for Comments on New Interim Guidance on Bilski

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:33:22 +0000

The PTO has just issued new guidance for their examiners on Bilski, Interim Guidance for Determining Subject Matter Eligibility for Process Claims in View of Bilski v. Kappos [PDF] -- on how to follow what they think Bilski held as to what is and isn't patentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101.

"A claim to an abstract idea is not a patent-eligible process," Bilski holds, they point out, but exactly where is the line? How do you know an abstract idea when you see it? So the USPTO is asking for public comment on what they came up with for their understanding. They want to hear from the public by September 27, and they provide some specific questions and a list of factors examiners are to consider when evaluating an application.

You know pro-patent companies' lawyers in droves will be telling them that their clients should be able to patent God's method and process for creating the heavens and the earth, so you may wish to comment yourself and let them know politely where you think the line should be drawn on the abstract idea exception to subject matter eligibility as set forth in Bilski, if this is a topic you care about. Otherwise, I can see it now, their report: We got 3,201 comments saying X and only 3 saying Y, so X carries the day.

Linux Weekly News: Full GNOME census report now available

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:25:52 +0000

When Dave Neary announced his GNOME Census report, he stated that the full report would only be available to paid customers until October, when it would be released under the CC Attribution-Sharealike license. Things have changed, though, and the full report is now available to all. "Why the change of heart? My intention was never to make a fortune with the report, my main priority was covering my costs and time spent. And after 24 hours, I've achieved that. I have had several press requests for the full report, and requests from clients to be allowed to use the report both with press and with their clients." The report may be downloaded via this page.

EFF News: DOJ Pushing to Expand Warrantless Access to Internet Records

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:13:30 +0000

This morning's Washington Post reveals that the Department Of Justice has been pressuring Congress to expand its power to obtain records of Americans' private Internet activity through the use of National Security Letters (NSLs).

NSLs, you may remember, are one of the most powerful and frightening tools of government surveillance to be expanded by the Patriot Act. These letters allow the FBI to secretly demand data from phone companies and internet service providers about the private communications of ordinary citizens. The letters include a gag order, which forbids recipients from ever revealing the letters' existence to their coworkers, their friends, or even to their family members, much less the public.

The gag order and the lack of oversight make this power ripe for abuse. Indeed, the FBI's systemic abuse of this power was confirmed both by a Department Of Justice investigation and in documents obtained by EFF through Freedom of Information Act litigation. Yet, in the years since that abuse became publicly known, there has been no reform of the law governing NSLs.

Now, the DOJ is asking Congress to pass vague and broad new language meant to expand the kinds of data that can be acquired through NSLs. This morning's Washington Post article suggests that the new language could allow access to detailed web browsing history, search history, location information, or even Facebook friend requests.

Considering the FBI's dismal record on surveillance abuses, this is a stunning and brazen request. They're asking Congress to reward bad behavior by allowing even more bad behavior. We're hoping that Congress will have the courage and integrity to turn them down. Keep reading Deeplinks for more news on this as it develops.

Ars Technica: Internet Explorer 9 beta to arrive in September

peter.bright@arstechnica.com (Peter Bright) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:04:00 +0000

Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner revealed today at the company's annual financial analyst meeting that the first beta of the Internet Explorer 9 Web browser is planned for release in September. This is a little later than expected; leaked documents that emerged last month pointed at an August release date for the beta.

Some apparently authentic screenshots of Internet Explorer 9 have leaked, though perhaps surprisingly, they show few changes from the current version. Microsoft has shipped three platform previews to show off the Internet Explorer 9 engine, but these previews used a simple, bare-bones interface; the company wanted to wait before revealing Internet Explorer 9's look and feel. If the new browser really is just a minor evolution of the old browser's interface, that decision seems a little peculiar.

The new browser is eagerly anticipated, especially by Web developers; Internet Explorer 9 is a big improvement on Internet Explorer 8, with considerably improved standards compliance and functionality. News of the beta is certainly welcome, but there's still a marked contrast between Microsoft's release policy and the more frequent updates of browsers like Firefox and Chrome. For all of its improvements, there's a good chance that Microsoft's browser will have been surpassed by its competition by the time it finally ships.

No release date has been announced, but most believe that the final version will not arrive until 2011.

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Ars Technica: Magic Trackpad or tragic Mac pad? A review

jacqui@arstechnica.com (Jacqui Cheng) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:37:00 +0000

When I was 12, using a Performa 600CD, my parents gave me an external trackpad accessory that connected via ADB (a moment of silence for Apple Desktop Bus, please... thank you) for my birthday. The useable surface area was tiny—maybe three-quarters the size of a 3.5" floppy—and clunky, but I thought it was the coolest thing ever... for about five minutes. I soon learned that tracking around your desktop computer to play Oregon Trail and put together school projects in Microsoft Word 6.0 was Serious Business, and the trackpad wasn't cutting it for me. The small surface was annoying, and the precision even worse. I eventually disconnected it and went back to my trusty mouse.

Seventeen years later, I find myself splitting my time between a 27" iMac and a 13" MacBook Pro; instead of Word 6.0, I deal with MacJournal and the Ars CMS, and instead of Oregon Trail, I play various online Scrabble knockoffs. I use a Magic Mouse and the multitouch trackpad that is built into my MacBook Pro. I constantly find myself trying to perform multitouch gestures—ones that only work on Apple's trackpad—on the mouse, and find myself regularly wishing for a better input device on my desktop.

When Apple introduced the Magic Trackpad, a standalone Bluetooth trackpad designed for use with Apple's desktop machines, I was cautiously optimistic. My previous dalliance in trackpad-on-desktop land ended poorly, but a lot has changed in a couple decades. Or has it?

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Ars Technica: Bridging the gap between biomass and petrochemicals

zeotherm@gmail.com (Matt Ford) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:00:00 +0000

This week's issue of Science takes a look at work that could help bridge the gap between biomass fuel production and traditional petrochemical engineering. Modern society relies on petrochemicals not only for our primary transportation needs, but also for most of the chemicals and polymers that we use. With the increased focus on using woody and agricultural stock to create biofuels, most notably bioethanol, it is worth asking if these feedstocks can support the rest of our petrochemical needs.

The issue contains a letter that focuses on two papers published this year, one by Bond et al. in Science, and one by Lange et al. in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. The articles look into whether carbohydrates from biorefining processes can be used to create compounds that look and react like more traditional petrochemical feedstocks, which have less oxygen than carbohydrates. If this is possible—or, more importantly, if it is feasible—then biomass could be used as a starting material for our existing petrochemical infrastructure.

The two papers focus on the compound levulinic acid, which is formed, along with formic acid, when six-carbon sugars are reacted with acids. The levulinic acid can undergo a hydrogenation reaction to form γ-valeroactone (GVL), at which point the two papers diverged.

Bond's team proposed a method that would eliminate CO₂ from the GVL in water, giving a mixture of isomeric butenes; these can be linked together, or oligimerized, into longer hydrocarbons and be used directly as fuels. As an added bonus, this process is carried out at a pressure where the CO₂ could be reused in other reactions or ready made for sequestration without the need for an expensive compression step.

Lange's team, on the other hand, reacted GVL to form valeric acid (VA) with fairly high completion and selectivity. The VA could then be combined with various alcohols to form Valerate esters. Low molecular weight esters (up to propyl) were found to be suitable gasoline additives, working at 10 to 20 percent by volume. Higher weight esters could act either as a diesel additive or as diesel fuel itself.

The letter acknowledges that there are "technology development" hurdles that must be overcome before either of these processes go into production, let alone steal the spotlight from bioethanol. Even in the face of the challenges, the letter argues that these are promising demonstrations that biofuel stocks can produce intermediates that can be directly inserted into our existing petrochemical plants and processes. The perspective concludes with the hope that such research will spur the use of renewables as a replacement for our limited supply of petrochemical raw materials.

Science, 2010. DOI: 10.1126/science.1191662
Bond et al.: Science, 2010. DOI: 10.1126/science.1184362
Lange et al.: Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2010. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201000655

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Ars Technica: StarCraft 2 is a full game, no matter what whiners say

bkuchera@arstechnica.com (Ben Kuchera) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:35:00 +0000

The Internet, taken as a sort of buzzing collective, can be hard on games. The Amazon ratings for StarCraft 2 have become a battlefield, with many rating the game based on features that gamers feel should have been included, or trashing the game because it's only one-third of the full release; the Zerg and Protoss sections of the campaign will be released at some point in the future. Looking at Blizzard's history with shipping games, we feel safe assuming that it won't be a matter of months.

The question is a good one: is StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty a hobbled experience, cracked into three parts in order to feed the chubby god of Activision's bottom line? We're still spending hours each day playing the game to get ready for the full review on Sunday, but we have thoughts on the matter we're ready to share now.

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Ars Technica: StarCraft 2 is a full game, no matter what whiners say

bkuchera@arstechnica.com (Ben Kuchera) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:35:00 +0000

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Linux Weekly News: Thursday's security updates

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:25:14 +0000

CentOS has updated lvm2-cluster (C5: local privilege escalation).

Mandriva has updated openldap (denial of service, possible code execution).

openSUSE has updated firefox (update to 3.6.8).

Ars Technica: Google in the clear over UK WiFi snooping

peter.bright@arstechnica.com (Peter Bright) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:02:00 +0000

The Information Commissioner's Office has said that Google did not grab "significant" amounts of personal data when photographing the UK with its StreetView cars, and that the information captured is unlikely to include "meaningful personal details" or information that could be linked to an "identifiable person."

In its statement, the ICO said that Google was "wrong" to collect the information, but that ultimately, there was no evidence that the data collected could cause any "individual detriment."

The advertising and search company is being investigated around the world after it emerged that its StreetView cars were recording data from WiFi networks. The company claims that the logging of data was accidental, and that its intent was only to record public information such as access point names and MAC addresses to allow approximate non-GPS-based positioning services.

The ICO said that it would continue to monitor the other investigations into the company to see if they find that Google has broken any data privacy laws—including another investigation in the UK by the Metropolitan Police.

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Ars Technica: Data source: Mindteck

p_emil@hotmail.com (Emil Protalinski) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:37:00 +0000

Mindteck, a company that offers embedded software development and consultancy services, has released power consumption data after testing sleep, idle, low-use, and high-use scenarios of various Windows PCs. The researchers also built a model to estimate cost savings (pictured above) by using a centralized power management policy. What really piqued our interest, though, was that Mindteck looked at the effect of processor chipset drivers on the power consumption (in watts) of Windows XP and Windows 7 with varying driver configurations and older hardware:

OS	Windows XP			Windows 7			Percent improvement
	Power consumption (Watts)
PC Configuration	Idle	Low	High	Idle	Low	High	Idle	Low	High
P4 Updated Drivers	64.2	69.7	89.8	57.3	66.1	79.4	10.75	5.16	11.58
P4 Out-of-box	64.2	68.7	106.2	57.3	66.1	79.4	10.75	3.78	25.24
High-end Updated Drivers	47.2	48.0	67.7	45.2	49.1	66.8	4.14	2.29	1.33
High-end Out-of-box	50.5	54.3	78.0	45.2	49.1	66.8	10.50	9.54	14.36

As you can see, the results favor Windows 7 in every single scenario. The out-of-box differences are particularly high. For Windows 7, the consumption levels are actually the same as with the updated drivers—this means that Windows 7 is taking care of the chipset drivers, even on older hardware. The same cannot be said for Windows XP, and even with updated drivers (obtained manually), it still performs worse than Windows 7.

The whitepaper actually focuses on explaining how to "maximize the impact of effective power management with Windows 7," but the comparison to Windows XP was included in the appendix. Mindteck Smart Energy analysts quantified power consumption on five basic hardware platforms: a high-end desktop such as those used in engineering design or media processing, both a business desktop and business laptop, a Pentium 4 class business desktop to investigate prior-generation hardware, and a netbook. If you've already rolled out Windows 7 in your company, or are planning to, the 11-page report should help your CIOs and IT managers alike learn about leveraging Windows 7 to implement a comprehensive power management strategy. Check it out at the link below.

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Hack a Day: wii-wheel-phone-controller

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:00:56 +0000

If you’ve got an iPhone or Android device that you use with a Wii remote when gaming, this quick hack will give you the third hand you need to manage all of that hardware. [Syanni85] mounted his Android phone to a Wii wheel for just a few dollars in parts. He ran across the wheel itself at the dollar store, and the phone is held in place using a universal mounting bracket. A small square pad sticks onto the back of any device and mates with a base. He cut off the unnecessary parts of the base and glued it to the back of the wheel.

If you haven’t tried using a Wii remote with your phone yet, find out how to do it with iPhone or with Android.

Ars Technica: Mozilla's Tab Candy is the first step to sweeter browsing

segphault@arstechnica.com (Ryan Paul) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:25:00 +0000

Tabbed browsing has arguably had a significant impact on the way that people use the Web, but the feature hasn't really scaled to accommodate the increasing complexity of the average surfing session. The existing tab management and overflow handling mechanisms that are present in modern browsers are dated and suffer from some fundamental limitations that significantly detract from user productivity.

As more software shifts into the cloud and users increase their reliance on the browser for daily computing tasks, browser tabs will have to evolve from a primitive mechanism for switching between documents into a full-blown task management system. The mainstream browser vendors have been slow to address this issue and haven't applied much innovation to the problem over the past few years. Mozilla has stepped up to plate and is aiming to hit the ball out of the park with some unique and truly compelling improvements to the tab concept.

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Linux Weekly News: Oracle shuts down open source test servers (iTnews)

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:59:02 +0000

Here's a report on iTnews saying that Oracle has abruptly shut down a set of servers used to perform quality assurance on PostgreSQL releases. "Sun Microsystems - and for a short time its new owner Oracle - had provided three member servers to ensure PostgreSQL was stable on the Solaris operating system. The development of PostgreSQL had been supported by Sun - which contributed DTrace support, amongst other features to the database platform. At the start of July, Oracle shut down its three PostgreSQL build farm servers without warning, leaving the PostgreSQL community rushing to find replacements."

Hack a Day: TI-spectrum-analyzer

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:51:31 +0000

[Michael Vincent] turned his TI-84 Plus into a spectrum analyzer. By running some assembly code on the device the link port can be used as an I2C bus (something we’ll have to keep in mind). After being inspired by the cell phone spectrum analyzer he set out to build a module compatible with the calculator by using an I2C port expander to interface with a radio receiver module. Now he can sniff out signals between 2.400 and 2.495 GHz and display the finds like in the image above.

[Thanks Cecil]

Gizmag: SanDisk goes micro-size with the Cruzer Blade USB Flash Drive

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:42:40 +0000

Flash memory specialist SanDisk has just unveiled its smallest USB Flash drive to date, the Cruzer Blade. About the size of a paper clip and weighing in at just 2.5 grams, the drives come in storage capacities starting from 2GB right up to a 4,000 MP3-capacity 16GB. .. Continue Reading SanDisk goes micro-size with the Cruzer Blade USB Flash Drive

Tags: Flash Drive, Memory, SanDisk, Storage

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Ars Technica: Apple looking into slow iOS 4 performance on iPhone 3G

jeff.smykil@gmail.com (Jeff Smykil) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:36:00 +0000

Apple is looking into user complaints about hardware and software performance issues reported by iPhone 3G users after upgrading to iOS 4. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company is investigating the myriad complaints that have surfaced since the June release of iOS 4.

The major sticking points share a common factor: performance. Complaints are plentiful online—the Apple discussion thread on the issue currently spans 36 pages. According to many, upgrading to iOS 4.0.1 has done little to ameliorate the issue. There is even a humorous spoof of Apple’s iPhone advertisements about exactly what iOS 4 brings to the iPhone 3G. Less-prominent complaints also include the device overheating and general degradation of battery performance.

From the beginning, Apple explained that there would not be feature parity between the older iPhone 3G, the iPhone 3GS, and the iPhone 4. The iPhone 3G has a 412MHz processor versus the 600MHz processor of the 3GS, and a paltry 128MB of RAM versus 256MB on the 3GS and 512MB on the iPhone 4. And remember, one of the selling features of the 3GS was indeed the handset's speed improvements over the older 3G.

At this point, Apple is in an unenviable position: a handset that is performing undesirably with an operating system that the company said would be at least partially supported. Apple could recommend that users downgrade back to iOS 3.1.3, or tell them that older hardware will always have issues running the latest and greatest software; neither of these would be very popular with the 3G-using public. There is also a third option—put even more time and effort into optimizing the OS for a phone that is now two generations old. That's the least likely option in our view.

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Ars Technica: Researcher demonstrates ATM "jackpotting" at Black Hat Conference

editor@wired.com (WIRED) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:56:00 +0000

LAS VEGAS—In a city filled with slot machines spilling jackpots, it was a "jackpotted" ATM machine that got the most attention Wednesday at the Black Hat security conference, when researcher Barnaby Jack demonstrated two suave hacks against automated teller machines that allowed him to program them to spew out dozens of crisp bills.

The demonstration was greeted with hoots and applause.

In one of the attacks, Jack reprogrammed the ATM remotely over a network, without touching the machine; the second attack required he open the front panel and plug in a USB stick loaded with malware.

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Linux Weekly News: The first Rakudo Star release

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:33:12 +0000

The first of a regular series of Rakudo Star releases has been announced. "Rakudo Star is aimed at 'early adopters' of Perl 6. We know that it still has some bugs, it is far slower than it ought to be, and there are some advanced pieces of the Perl 6 language specification that aren't implemented yet. But Rakudo Perl 6 in its current form is also proving to be viable (and fun) for developing applications and exploring a great new language. These 'Star' releases are intended to make Perl 6 more widely available to programmers, grow the Perl 6 codebase, and gain additional end-user feedback about the Perl 6 language and Rakudo's implementation of it." It's built on the Rakudo Perl 6 compiler, the Parrot virtual machine, and an initial set of library modules.

Ars Technica: PTex 3D texturing becomes a reality at SIGGRAPH

daveg@arstechnica.com (Dave Girard) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:20:00 +0000

In my 3D modeling and texturing article, I mentioned that a lot of the time involved in 3D texturing is spent dealing with UVs, the coordinate system that all 3D applications use for applying textures to models. It's not a good system because you have to manually create them, like dressing a model with a flat cloth and some scissors, so UV-mapping complex shapes is very tedious. Then you have the problem of seams, especially when bump and displacement maps are involved. And often you have to redo UVs at the end of sculpting because they have been stretched and compressed from the movement of polygons. So you're then forced to bake your textures from a bad-UV model to a good-UV model leaving you with a mountain of cruft of old meshes, new meshes, old textures, new textures. It's just a headache all around.

This is where Ptex comes in. Developed by Brent Burley at Disney Animation Studios, Ptex generated a ton of buzz a couple years ago with its simple promise: no more UVs and no more headaches. It was like someone saying “self-cleaning apartment”—everyone wanted in. With Ptex, textures are parametrically stored per polygonal face and there are no visible seams.

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Hack a Day: Ice Tube Clock with GPS

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:15:42 +0000

Our favorite Soviet-Era display that found its way into a present-day kit now displays time from orbiting satellites. A GPS module patched into an Ice Tube Clock with modified firmware will be able to provide a satellite-synced time. The firmware, modified by yours truly, parses the GPS module’s NMEA RMC sentences for the time and date information and then updates the clock’s time and date. Fun was had making sure the alarm went off at the correct times when the time was updated by the GPS. Overall, it was a fun project and we look forward to seeing additional Ice Tube Clock hacks.

The Daily WTF: The Suicide Door

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:00:00 +0000

At the university where Diogo worked, the Computer Science program outgrew its status as an unloved child of the Mathematics department. It was to become its own department, and that meant it finally deserved its own building. Since the university in question had a very strong architecture program, the university searched for the biggest names to design the building.

Enter Laurent. He flew in to consult and prepare designs for the building; he was fresh off a project in Dubai and his next port-of-call was Tokyo. He was a name that could name names. The exterior renders he provided were stunning, full of glass and sweeping lines. The designs leapt up on a desk, stomped their feet and screamed, "I AM MODERN AND TECHNOLOGICLYISH!" To the casual spectator, they were fantastic. As Diogo discovered, when you actually had to live in the building, things got much worse.

"I assume," Diogo said during one conference with Laurent, "there will be some sort of freight elevator? The server room we're moving in involves a great deal of heavy equipment, after all."

"No, no!" Laurent smiled like he was revealing a fabulous Christmas gift. "There is no need. You see, there is an access door on the south wall, with a ramp into the basement. Your computers can go in through there."

"Well, yes," Diogo agreed, "but how are we going to move them up to the server room?"

"Up? There is no up! The server room is in the basement. Nothing heavy need go upstairs; we have no need for a freight elevator."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Diogo said. He explained the unique geography of the region.

Laurent extolled the virtures of his choice. It would be easy to move equipment in and out of. The naturally cooler basement would be cheaper to keep cool, reducing the costs of running a large server farm. The lack of a freight elevator would reduce the initial construction costs. Diogo continued his protests, carrying his case before the dean and eventually the university president, but their response was simple: "Laurent is a world class architect. He knows what he's doing. What buildings have you designed?"

Laurent came with a stack of designs and left with a gigantic check for his efforts. The CS department moved into their new building while the president gave his ribbon cutting speech. For most of the summer session, things were sunny and bright, and the new building worked out spectacularly. Shortly before the fall semester kicked into full swing, it rained. It kept raining for a full week, at rates ranging from a drizzle to a torrent. By the third day, Diogo was looking into renting a gondola for his commute. By the fourth, the water table rose and filled basements across the entire county.

Diogo's home was well prepared for this sort of flooding, common to the region. The basement was unfinished, the furnace was on blocks, and an emergency drain shunted the flood waters into the storm sewers. The new CS building wasn't so fortunate. As Diogo waded through the waist deep muck and murk in the basement, Jacques Cousteau swam between his legs, searching for the mysterious creatures of the deep ocean. Anything in the server room that had been below shoulder height had at least some water damage; anything below waist height was a complete loss. In the darkened room, Diogo feared that at any moment an upsurge of water would dash him against the ceiling and drown his unconsious body.

"…which is exactly what I warned you about," Diogo told the dean. It was impolitic, but honest.

The flood dampened the president's enthusiasm for the new building. Diogo and the other stakeholders sat down to plan a solution that would minimize downtime and get servers running for the CS labs before the fall semester started. Diogo proposed moving the surviving equipment back into its old room in the Mathematics building, but the dean vetoed that. "We are, after all, an engineering school. We should be able to do better than that."

The next day, workers swarmed the CS building, armed with large diamond-tipped saws and laser measures. On the top floor, they cut a hole on the roof of the building and installed large double doors. Of course, they opened to a four story drop that ended in a sloped ledge on the third floor of the building. A few days later, a large crane trampled the delicate landscaping and hoisted the rack equipment and surviving servers through the doors. Workers moved it from the ledge into the new server room a few feet away. "There," the dean said, "that should solve your little flooding problem." His tone implied that the whole thing had been Diogo's fault for having servers in the first place.

Through most of the fall semester, things went swimmingly- or not, as the case may be. The basement flooded several more times, but the server room was safe on a higher floor, potected by altitude and fire doors on all the stairwells. Rumors spread about the door to nowhere, and the fact that it had no lock, which earned it the nickname "the Suicide Door".

In early April, Diogo walked up the stairs towards the server room and opened the fire door, only to get doused with six inches of water that had pooled around the door. He waded to the server room, only to find that the puddle extended to the UPSes and destroyed several thousand dollars worth of equipment.

The winter had left a full pack of snow and ice on the roof of the building. When the weather finally warmed, it melted, and attempted to run off the roof. Unfortunately, the easiest route downwards was through the hastily installed and poorly sealed "Suicide Door", and was trapped on the upper floor by the tightly sealed fire doors.

Cool Tools: Super Peel

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:00:00 +0000

So you decide you want to make pizza at home. And you quickly discover that there is just no substitute for a pizza baked on brick or stone. The crust just isn't the same. No problem - you get a pizza stone. You then discover that sliding a 12" pizza from a peel onto a 14" stone (that just fits) in the bottom of a 500F oven is possible but not easy. It's much more difficult than sliding a pizza into a large pizza oven at shoulder-eye level in your local pizzeria. After multiple smoky smelly messes caused by overshoots, misses, fold-overs etc. of the pizza when attempting to place it neatly on a stone, you retire the stone. For good pizza, you go out. Otherwise you live with metal pan pizza.

But suppose you had a peel which had a built in conveyor belt? The Super Peel is, as difficult as it is to describe, a baking peel that has a built in conveyor belt that allows you to deftly lift the delicate sticky dough off any surface and onto the board for easy transport.

By placing the corner of the pizza onto the peel, and slowly retracting the peel while pushing the board forward the sticky dough simply slides on. And to put it back on any surface or stone simply lower the board until it touches and reverse the process.

Don't get it? I didn't either at first - but this short clip of the Super Peel is worth thousands of words:

More video of the Super Peel in action can be found over at Breadtopia.

This is definitely a cool tool that prevents needless baking and pizza disasters.

-- J. P. Roosma

Super Peel
$37

Available from Amazon

Manufactured by EXO Products

Ars Technica: Limbo's ending: what does it all mean? The many theories

bkuchera@arstechnica.com (Ben Kuchera) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:10:00 +0000

Limbo, on the Xbox Live Arcade, is an interesting game that shows just how far you can push the boundaries with a smaller, downloadable release. The title features a young man who suffers innumerable violent deaths through the course of the game, and before the credits roll you're lead to believe that you've accomplished your goal... possibly. Be sure to look over our final thoughts, and if you haven't bought the game yet this may be a good time to jump on board so you can join the conversation. Trust us, it's worth it.

We're going to talk about what the ending means, and some readers are going to give their own opinions after playing the game through to completion. Spoilers? You betcha, so don't read until you've finished the game for yourself.

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Bruce Schneier: Security Vulnerabilities of Smart Electricity Meters

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:16:19 +0000

"Who controls the off switch?" by Ross Anderson and Shailendra Fuloria.

Abstract: We're about to acquire a significant new cybervulnerability. The world's energy utilities are starting to install hundreds of millions of 'smart meters' which contain a remote off switch. Its main purpose is to ensure that customers who default on their payments can be switched remotely to a prepay tariff; secondary purposes include supporting interruptible tariffs and implementing rolling power cuts at times of supply shortage.
The off switch creates information security problems of a kind, and on a scale, that the energy companies have not had to face before. From the viewpoint of a cyber attacker -- whether a hostile government agency, a terrorist organisation or even a militant environmental group -- the ideal attack on a target country is to interrupt its citizens' electricity supply. This is the cyber equivalent of a nuclear strike; when electricity stops, then pretty soon everything else does too. Until now, the only plausible ways to do that involved attacks on critical generation, transmission and distribution assets, which are increasingly well defended.

Smart meters change the game. The combination of commands that will cause meters to interrupt the supply, of applets and software upgrades that run in the meters, and of cryptographic keys that are used to authenticate these commands and software changes, create a new strategic vulnerability, which we discuss in this paper.

The two have another paper on the economics of smart meters. Blog post here.

Linux Journal: Spotlight on Linux: SimplyMEPIS 8.5.x

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:00:00 +0000

SimplyMEPIS is a simply wonderful distribution. It was the first to offer a complete out of the box experience all tied up in a pretty package. It would be fair to say that it was probably the inspiration for many of the easy-to-use distributions available today. more>>

Gizmag: Chopper City's street-legal BatPod replica - only a superhero could ride it

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:09:36 +0000

The average custom chopper is something most motorcyclists find puzzling – they're heavy and cumbersome, with terrible handling and mediocre performance, they're hard to ride and they cost unbelievable amounts of money. This fully custom 850cc Batpod replica takes all those traits to the max – it looks downright scary to ride, there's almost no way to turn a corner with any sort of dignity, and may God help you if you want to pull a U-Turn. But for owner Pankaj Shah it's a tribute to his love of the Dark Knight movie where the BatPod first appeared – and beyond the neck-snapping appearance of the thing, it's also quite an amazing bit of rolling metalwork. Click through for several videos and photos of the PS-Pod under construction... Continue Reading Chopper City's street-legal BatPod replica - only a superhero could ride it

Tags: BatPod, Choppers, Motorcycles, Riding

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Gizmag: ATNMBL - the concept car with no steering wheel, brake pedal or driver's seat

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:00:36 +0000

A design studio based in San Francisco has produced a conceptual vision for an autonomous passenger vehicle for the year 2040. Able to comfortably seat seven people, the designers see the Autonomobile taking care of all that tedious driving from A to B while those onboard sit back on the curved sofa and watch a movie, play games or catch up with the news on a large touchscreen display. And if the mood calls for some refreshments, the vehicle can even take care of that too... Continue Reading ATNMBL - the concept car with no steering wheel, brake pedal or driver's seat

Tags: Autonomous, Concept, Design, Electric vehicle

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Gizmag: Archaeologists unearth gigantic rat bones in East Timor

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:54:01 +0000

I’ve always thought of rats as being quite small and lightweight creatures – even verging on dainty. Well someone forgot to tell the rats in East Timor to keep an eye on their calorie count…archaeologists have discovered rodent bones that suggest the biggest rat that ever lived weighed about six kilograms. That’s about as much as a three month old baby!.. Continue Reading Archaeologists unearth gigantic rat bones in East Timor

Tags: Biodiversity, Bones, Conservation, CSIRO, Evolution

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Gizmag: Build your own Corvette engine at GM's Performance Build Center

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:09:10 +0000

There are businesses that let you glaze your own pottery, cook your own steak or pick your own strawberries, but when it comes to the hands-on experience, a new offer from General Motors has them all beat. If you order a 2011 Corvette Z06 or ZR1, you have the option of traveling to GM's Performance Build Center in Wixom, Michigan, and hand-assembling your car’s LS7 or LS9 engine. It’s called the Corvette Engine Build Experience, and is believed to be the first program of its kind (if any readers would like to dispute that claim, please do so). If you don’t like the idea of providing GM with your mechanical expertise for no cost, don’t worry - you’ll have to pay an extra $US5,800 for the privilege... Continue Reading Build your own Corvette engine at GM's Performance Build Center

Tags: Corvette, Engine, General Motors, GM, Mechanical, Motor

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Gizmag: Automotive X PRIZE Finals stage concludes

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:02:49 +0000

Well, it’s hard to believe the day is finally here, but the on-track testing phase of the Automotive X PRIZE Finals stage is finally over. Of 136 vehicles representing 111 teams that originally entered the competition, just 9 vehicles representing 7 teams remain. All that the cars need to do now is pass the Validation stage, then the winners will be announced in September. Here’s a quick look at what happened over the past few days, at the Michigan International Speedway... Continue Reading Automotive X PRIZE Finals stage concludes

Tags: Automotive X Prize, Cars, Efficiency, Vehicles

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Gizmag: NVIDIA 3D Vision Pro has professional market in its stereoscopic sights

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:25:52 +0000

It seems that barely a day goes by without some new 3D product hitting the shelves. With 3D technology having obvious applications for engineers, designers, architects and computational chemists it’s not surprising to see NVIDIA is set to bring out a new 3D stereoscopic solution aimed at just these markets. The company’s 3D Vision Pro brings true stereo 3D to the desktop along with support for LCD panels to offer a practical way to provide a 3D viewing experience for large scale visualization environments like video walls and collaborative virtual environments (CAVEs)... Continue Reading NVIDIA 3D Vision Pro has professional market in its stereoscopic sights

Tags: 3D, Active Shutter, NVIDIA, Stereoscopic, Visualization

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Sparkfun: We heard you like new products!

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:00:00 +0000

Hello again! We have even more products that we hope will help you do whatever it is you do. This week it seems to be all about utilitarian need. From soldering iron tips, batteries, chargers to breakouts, hopefully you'll find these products useful!

We have two new soldering tips for our 70W Analog and Digital soldering stations. The bevel tip (or hoof tip as we call it in production) is great for larger soldering jobs. It has very good heat transfer and is even great for cleaning up IC pin jumpers. The chisel tip is a great general purpose tip which most people prefer for everyday soldering.

If you're looking for a simple way to power your next project, AAs are always a good option. This charger is a good basic charger for your AAs, AAAs, and 9V cells. It plugs directly into the wall, can hold 4 batteries (or two 9Vs), and has status lights. It's nothing fancy, but gets the job done.

After you're done prototyping, you always need a good way to power whatever it is you made. A 9V can be a great way to power a portable Arduino-based project. This one is rated for 350 mAh which should be enough juice for many applications.

We have a new version of the UberBoard. This is a development board based on the LPC2148 which provides access to cellular, GPS, an accelerometer, data logging, Bluetooth, and USB development. Yeah, it has a LOT of possibilities. Basically, if you are looking to do some serious development, you might want to look at this. The new version is just a slight rework/update and now has the red PCB you've grown to love (we hope).

Are we selling magic metal cubes? Kinda. Everyone loves magnets, it's a fact. Here we have some little 0.187"cube NdFeB magnets. They are surprisingly strong for their size. You can embed a reed switch inside your next project and amaze your friends with your powers of magnetism. Reed switches can add some cool 'wow factor' to your project, l earn more about them here.

If you have one of the GS407 GPS modules, you may want one (or three) of these. It's just a simple breakout board that allows you access to the 10 pins coming from the GPS module. The GS407 uses a tight-pitch connector which is difficult to solder. Use the breakout and save yourself some stress.

And last but not least, we have the new WiFly GSX module. Sure, we've carried this before, but this model is newer and cheaper. The only difference is a reduced operating temperature range. View the comparison here. But with a lower price, it allows more people access to WiFi for various applications. We are out of stock currently, but are working on a breakout board and a shield, so check back soon, or get your backorder in now!

That's all for this week. Have a great weekend and let your geek shine!

Gizmag: Don't daze me, bro! Police experiment with non-lethal Dazer Laser

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:51:04 +0000

Criminals across America could be just about to see the light… the Dazer Laser, a non-lethal weapon that shines disorienting, nauseating bursts of intense green laser light into a target's eyes, has gone into police trials across the Northern states. It's been shown to have no lasting effects (unlike previous infra-red versions that could cause permanent blindness), it's as easy to use as shining a flashlight in somebody's eyes, and it offers police the ability to temporarily blind a threat as they move to subdue it. At the very least, if the Dazer Laser joins the Taser in operation, it'll make the average cop's equipment list sound a bit more like a Dr. Seuss poem... Continue Reading Don't daze me, bro! Police experiment with non-lethal Dazer Laser

Tags: Enforcement, flashlight, Laser, Non-lethal, Police, Weapon

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Gizmag: Microsoft’s Street Slide offers users a seamless virtual stroll

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:15:21 +0000

Users of Google Street View and Bing Maps Streetside will be familiar with the stop-start effect as they navigate along a street. This is because as the user moves along the street the viewpoint jumps from one discreet 360-degree panorama, or ‘bubble’, to the next . A new street-level imaging system developed by Microsoft called Street Slide allows users to smoothly navigate along a street by creating a seamless transition between bubbles using multiperspective strip panoramas that provide an overview of the street... Continue Reading Microsoft’s Street Slide offers users a seamless virtual stroll

Tags: 360-degree, Mapping, Microsoft, navigation

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EFF News: House Committee to Examine Public Access to Federally-Funded Research

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:29:06 +0000

Tomorrow afternoon, legislators from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will be holding a hearing on the topic of "Public Access to Federally-Funded Research." The hearing will be a perfect opportunity for key representatives to look into supporting public access policies — various requirements that scientific research funded by the federal government be made available on the Internet to the tax-paying public. EFF wrote about the benefits of public access policies earlier this year when the Office of Science and Technology Policy asked for input.

Tomorrow, members of the committee will no doubt hear about the excellent Federal Research Public Access Act, (FRPAA) a bill that would require a great deal of research funded by government agencies to be made publicly available through a digital database no later than six months after publication. The law is modeled after the National Institute of Health's Public Access policy, which on its own has granted millions of people access to critical, up-to-date medical research since it was implemented in 2008.

Public access policies essentially "close the loop" on tail end of the cycle of research funded by the government. Now, the public pays for scientific research through taxes, but in most cases, that same taxpayer-funded innovation and discovery gets locked up in journals, accessible only through expensive per-article fees or massively expensive institutional licenses. With the FRPAA, academic journals still get a critical window of time to be the first to publish important findings, but shortly thereafter, the public gets unprecedented access to the knowledge that they paid for.

You can catch the webcast of the hearing tomorrow at 2pm EDT (11am PDT) or attend the hearing in person if you're in Washington, D.C. Stay tuned to EFF for future updates on how to support the Federal Research Public Access Act and other public access efforts!

Linux Weekly News: [$] LWN.net Weekly Edition for July 29, 2010

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:28:49 +0000

The LWN.net Weekly Edition for July 29, 2010 is available.

Ars Technica: Amazon rolls out smaller, lighter, WiFi-only Kindle for $139

jacqui@arstechnica.com (Jacqui Cheng) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:10:19 +0000

Amazon is once again dropping the price of the Kindle, but this time, the Kindle is coming with a makeover as well. The company is introducing a WiFi-only version of the popular e-book reader that will debut at $139, with the WiFi + 3G version remaining at $189. The device will also come with the updated e-ink screen that its bigger brother, the Kindle DX, got earlier this month, and will now come in two colors: graphite and white.

CEO Jeff Bezos told the Wall Street Journal that the company first developed the device for "serious readers," but that the Kindle could reach a much broader audience with the new price points. "People will buy them for their kids," Bezos said. "People won't share Kindles any more."

Amazon's move comes only a month after Barnes & Noble introduced its own WiFi-only model of the Nook that retails for $149. That was the same day Amazon first dropped the Kindle 2 to just $189 (down from $259), meaning that people who bought Kindles between then and late August (preorders start Thursday, and they ship on August 27) will miss out on the higher-contrast e-ink screen and redesigned body. That's right: according to Engadget, the new Kindle will be 21 percent smaller and 15 percent lighter than the previous model and, according to the photo, the keyboard layout got a bit of a redesign as well.

Amazon recently announced that Kindle sales had tripled since the company lowered the price to $189—it's clear that the new WiFi-only version is meant to go after an even wider market and undercut Barnes & Noble at the same time.

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Ars Technica: Extension performance vastly improved in Safari 5.0.1

chris.foresman@arstechnica.com (Chris Foresman) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:35:15 +0000

Apple pushed out Safari 5.0.1 on Thursday morning, which includes several bug fixes and enables Safari 5's new extension system by default. Like many geeks, we here at Ars had already enabled extensions via the the debug menu in 5.0, but we ran into numerous performance problems in the 5.0 release. Though there still appear to be a few quirks with some extensions, Apple has definitely addressed the performance issues with this latest update.

With Safari 5.0, loading new extensions sometimes caused performance to slow to a crawl, and often caused beachballs of doom if more than a handful of tabs were open. Disabling the recently installed extensions would eliminate the problem.

Thursday morning, however, I installed Safari 5.0.1 and began installing over a dozen extensions, specifically choosing several that I believed would tax performance if loaded in the 87 tabs I had opened. In addition to installing Twitter, MLB, and several other extensions featured in the newly launched Safari Extensions Gallery, I also enabled extensions that had caused performance problems previously.

With over a dozen extensions installed, including extensions that add toolbars, buttons, status bars, and contextual menu options, Safari kept chugging along without a single performance issue. In fact, only the MLB toolbar caused the fans to ramp up on my aging first-generation MacBook.

Now that the performance issues have been ironed out, however, Apple still needs to put some more work into improving the overall extension system. For instance, loading new extensions will add buttons and toolbars to the current window, but many will only work on newly opened windows. We have also heard reports that some won't work properly until restarting Safari. Repeatedly clicking buttons and toolbars and getting no response is a fairly maddening experience.

And unfortunately, the way the button icons work, your toolbar can quickly fill up with indistinguishable circles and rectangles. Developers have mentioned to Apple that they would like to do more with buttons, such as having color icons, so that may be addressed in a future update.

Still, Safari's extension system offers developers quite a bit of latitude in building additional functionality for Safari. Let us know what your favorite extensions are so far in the comments.

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Ars Technica: Do Not Call list tops 200 million, some scammers still ignore it

nate@arstechnica.com (Nate Anderson) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:05:19 +0000

The Federal Trade Commission announced a milestone this week: its Do Not Call registry has just passed 200 million numbers.

It's quite amazing that any of this came to pass, really. When the registry was being considered back in 2002, telemarketing opposition was fierce, and for obvious reasons. The industry was large, powerful, and willing to be unbelievably annoying. It also saw quite clearly that a tough Do Not Call rule would chop off its business at the knees.

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Ars Technica: Microsoft argues for "neighborhood watch" approach to security

peter.bright@arstechnica.com (Peter Bright) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:35:00 +0000

At the Black Hat security conference today, Microsoft championed a new approach to addressing security issues. The new emphasis is on collaboration between software vendors and security researchers to ensure that customers are kept as safe as possible.

Microsoft likened its approach to Neighborhood Watch schemes—secure computing cannot be achieved with software vendors and researchers all working independently; the landscape is too complex and the attackers are too numerous for this approach to work. Instead, companies must set aside their differences and work together to safeguard customers.

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EFF News: In Perfect 10 v. Google, Round 3 Goes to Google: No Sloppy DMCA Notices

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:29:48 +0000

Copyright owners, take note: If you're going to use the streamlined Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") process to require a service provider to remove allegedly infringing content, you'd better make sure you actually comply with the DMCA notice requirements. Otherwise a court may find, as occurred this week in Perfect 10 v. Google, that your "notice" didn't actually put anyone on "notice."

A quick recap: In 2004, porn company and frequent litigator Perfect 10 sued Google for direct and secondary copyright infringement. Perfect 10 claimed that Google violated its copyrights by linking to websites that hosted infringing material, caching websites that hosted infringing photos of nude models, and hosting infringing images uploaded by Blogger users. In 2007, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a preliminary injunction in favor of Perfect 10 on its direct infringement claims, and sent the case back to the district court for a determination of some of the secondary infringement claims. Google moved for summary judgment, asserting that it was protected from secondary liability by the DMCA safe harbors.

This week, Judge Howard Matz of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles mostly agreed with Google, whittling Perfect 10's remaining case down to a small subset of allegedly infringing images. Why? Mainly because Perfect 10 didn't trouble itself to provide Google with the information Google needed to figure out what to take down in a form that Google could readily use.

The DMCA requires a proper takedown notice to identify the work claimed to be infringed, identify the reference (or link) to material claimed to be infringing, and provide enough information to permit the service provider to locate that reference or link. Even though providing this information should be pretty easy, Perfect 10 fell far short.

For example, many of its "notices" consisted of a cover letter, a spreadsheet with URLs (many of which linked only to a top-level URL for a website, as opposed to a specific infringing URL) and a hard drive or DVD containing Perfect 10's electronic files of its photos. Not good enough, said the court — the information required by the DMCA must be contained in a single written communication; forcing a service provider to cobble together adequate notice from a variety of sources is just too burdensome.

P10 evidently expected Google to comb through hundreds of nested electronic folders containing over 70,000 distinct files, including raw image files such as JPEG files and screen shots of Google search results, in order to find which link was allegedly infringing. [] In many cases, the file containing the allegedly infringing image does not even include a URL, or the URL was truncated. [] The spreadsheets also do not identify the copyrighted work that was allegedly infringed. . . . P10 then expected Google to search through a separate electronic folder—attached only to the June 28, 2007 DMCA notice—containing all of the more than 15,000 images that appeared on P10's website as of June 2007, in order to identify the copyrighted work that was infringed.

The court did find that a small subset of notices complied with the DMCA; for those few notices, Google must now show that it responded to those notices "expeditiously" under the circumstances.

The ruling is not unprecedented: numerous courts, including the Ninth Circuit have found that ISPs don't have to respond to deficient DMCA notices. But the issue of how much information about infringement providers need to have (and fail to act on) before they lose the protection of the safe harbors is being hotly contested in two other proceedings. Content owners are insisting that if ISPs have general knowledge of infringement on their services, they must take over the burden of stamping it out. We might think of Judge Matz's decision as one more vote in favor of keeping the burden of identifying copyright infringement where it has traditionally belonged — on the content owners themselves.

Linux Weekly News: Jos Poortvliet named openSUSE Community Manager

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:18:10 +0000

The openSUSE project has announced that Jos Poortvliet will be its new community manager. "Jos commented, 'The opportunity to become part of the international openSUSE community is very exciting. There are a great number of interesting developments going on in the free software world, and openSUSE plays a major role in many of them. I look forward to working with the community on these, helping it grow, finding new directions and ways of developing, and delivering its innovative technologies to users and developers around the world.'"

Ars Technica: "Leaked" data of 100M Facebook users came from public info

segphault@arstechnica.com (Ryan Paul) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:11:00 +0000

Much has been made of a recent Facebook "leak" which allegedly disclosed information on over 100 million Facebook users. What some reports have failed to highlight, however, is that the information was already public to begin with.

Security researcher Ron Bowes wrote a Ruby script that downloads information from Facebook's user directory, a searchable index of public profile pages. The directory does not expose a user's entire profile and only exposes information that the user has allowed Facebook to make public. This includes names, profile images, and small sampling of the user's friends. Users can opt out of inclusion in the search, but could potentially still appear on the directory page of a friend who is searchable.

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Linux Weekly News: BlueDevil: a new KDE bluetooth stack

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:54:15 +0000

The KDE software collection has a new BlueTooth stack called "BlueDevil." "This release should be stable enough to be used by everybody, but we’re looking specially for advanced users with 'compiling skills' so we can get quick feedback and fix as many bugs as possible."

Ars Technica: Judge: Facebook comments were "puerile," but not defamation

jacqui@arstechnica.com (Jacqui Cheng) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:46:00 +0000

A New York Supreme Court has dismissed a defamation suit over a private Facebook group that existed primarily for the purpose of mocking a teenaged girl. In the decision, Judge Randy Sue Marber wrote that the group's malicious postings, which were made by a number of teenagers, were clearly not statements of fact—not to mention that they weren't even public.

The case goes back to early 2009 when a New York teenager and her parents sued Facebook and several users (and their parents) for posting mean-spirited comments about her to a private group named "90 Cents Short of a Dollar." The group's postings were not made public, but the contents leaked (let this be a lesson, kids: when trash talking people on the Internet, even your own friends can't be trusted) and the victim, Denise Finkel, was made aware of what her peers were saying about her.

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Ars Technica: A peek inside the "secret, backroom" net neutrality meetings

matthew.lasar@arstechnica.com (Matthew Lasar) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:56:00 +0000

Free Press is still up in arms over what the reform group calls the Federal Communications Commission's "back room" meetings with big corporations to cut a deal on net neutrality rules.

"Despite public outrage and repeated promises of transparency, the FCC continues to meet behind closed doors with the largest companies to negotiate a secret deal that would short circuit public participation in policymaking that will shape the Internet for a generation," declared Free Press's Josh Silver in a message just sent to us. "The great irony here is that the FCC's 'transparency' policy is part of the negotiations behind closed doors."

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Ars Technica: NVIDIA launches new Fermi-based Quadros

daveg@arstechnica.com (Dave Girard) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:10:54 +0000

NVIDIA used SIGGRAPH 2010 to unveil the newest versions of its high-end workstation Quadro line. As expected, the line-up is based on Fermi, the company's next-generation graphics architecture, and is available in mobile as well as various internal options for workstations or Quadro Plex systems.

The full roster announced Tuesday includes:

Mobile

Quadro 5000M

2GB memory
76.8GBps bandwidth
320 CUDA cores

Workstation cards

Quadro 4000

2GB memory
89.6GBps bandwidth
256 CUDA cores

Quadro 5000

2.5GB memory
120GBps bandwidth
352 CUDA cores

Quadro 6000

6GB memory
120GBps bandwidth
448 CUDA cores

All the workstation cards feature one dual-link DVI and two DisplayPort outputs. At the über-high end is the new Quadro Plex 7000, with 4 dual-link DVI outs, 896 CUDA cores, 12GB of memory, 144GBps bandwidth and a max FSAA of 128x while driving clusters of synced displays.

Aside from the standard Quadro features, the Fermi-based Quadros have some significant differences from the previous generation. There's now full OpenGL 4.1 and DirectX 11 support. The cards also support Shader model 5.0 and sport high-performance, double-precision floats, and ECC memory.

The last two features are mostly for increased accuracy and fault-proofing of GPU-based simulations. While 3D applications are demanding less Quadro-specific support, the rise of GPU-based renderers and increased use of GPUs in science should make the added memory and lower power requirements of the Quadros appealing to a lot of potential users.

We're still waiting to learn about specific cards and price tags from PNY, NVIDIA’s main Quadro manufacturer. Also notably missing from the list is a Mac-compatible Fermi card and, with the new Mac Pros announced Tuesday, it doesn't look like we'll see a GeForce option anytime soon. We'll be speaking with NVIDIA tomorrow, so we'll see if we can dig up some additional details on pricing, shipping, and Mac OS X compatibility.

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robots.net: CMU Launches $7 Million Educational Initiative

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:06:10 +0000

The CMU Robotics Institute, with the help of a seven million dollar DARPA grant, has announced the launch of a four year educational initiative called Fostering Innovation through Robotics Exploration (FIRE). The goal is to use student interest in robotics to encourage computer science education, and to steer students toward science and engineering careers. In addition to embracing existing educational robotics competitions such as FIRST and VEX, CMU will also be creating new competitions.

The initiative will ... create new competitions for autonomous, multi-robot teams and for computer animations that will attract a broader array of students and offer new challenges.

To help, CMU is tapping robot expertise from Dallas, TX, hiring none other than Ed Paradis, current president of the Dallas Personal Robotics Group. When asked about the propsect of leaving one of the nation's top Hobby Robot Groups for CMU, he replied, "although I'm sad to leave the Dallas robotics community, this is a hobby roboticists dream job!".

Ars Technica: Just two Chinese ISPs serve 20% of world broadband users

nate@arstechnica.com (Nate Anderson) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:33:00 +0000

If you need a reminder of just how big China is—and just how important the Internet has become there—consider this stat: between them, two Chinese ISPs serve 20 percent of all broadband subscribers in the entire world.

Telegeography has updated its world Internet service provider database and finds that the sheer scale of China dwarfs just about everyone else. China Telecom is the largest ISP in the world, with 55 million subscibers. Second is China Unicom, with just over 40 million.

And both companies continue to grow, even as growth slows significantly in more developed markets. Telegeography notes that each Chinese firm added nine million users in the last year—"equivalent to the entire broadband subscriber base of Verizon."

Data source: Telegeography

Every other ISP trails dramatically. Japan's NTT comes in third with 17 million subscribers, and all US providers are smaller still.

"The gap between the top two operators and the world’s remaining broadband service providers will continue to grow rapidly," said TeleGeography Research Director Tania Harvey. "Aside from the two Chinese companies, all of the top ten broadband ISPs operate in mature markets, with high levels of broadband penetration and rapidly slowing subscriber growth."

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Hack a Day: pancake-flipping

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:07:30 +0000

[Petar and Sylvain] are teaching this robot to flip pancakes. It starts with some kinesthetic learning; a human operator moves the robot arm to flip a pancake while the robot records the motion. Next, motion tracking is used so that the robot can improve during its learning process. It eventually gets the hang of it, as you can see after the break, but we wonder how this will work with real batter. This is a simulated pancake so the weight and amount at of force necessary to unstick it from the pan is always the same. Still, we loved the robotic pizza maker and if they get this to work it’ll earn a special place in our hearts.

[Thanks Ferdinand via Flabber]

Ars Technica: Overkill as art: Ars reviews the Cyborg R.A.T. 7

bkuchera@arstechnica.com (Ben Kuchera) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:05:00 +0000

The R.A.T. series of mice isn't designed to be subtle. The surface of each model is broken, split, and in many cases adjustable. While it looks like a hot mess in pictures, all it takes is putting your hands on one to understand the method to the madness. In terms of options and features, this is a mouse that offers everything you could ask for—and some things that may have never occurred to you.

Let's take a look at what makes this such a special mouse and how it's designed to fit your preferences... whatever they may be.

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Linux Weekly News: Wednesday's security updates

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:33:30 +0000

Debian has updated xulrunner (multiple vulnerabilities) and gnupg2 (potential remote code execution).

Red Hat has updated lvm2-cluster (RHEL5: local privilege escalation).

Ars Technica: Senator: Internet gatekeepers biggest threat to free speech

nate@arstechnica.com (Nate Anderson) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:31:00 +0000

Comedian-turned-senator Al Franken (D-MN) has ditched the potty jokes and Stuart Smalley routine since taking office, turning himself into a surprisingly articulate and strident voice in favor of net neutrality and against the Comcast/NBC merger. Back in February, when a Senate hearing offered him the chance to grill Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, Franken took it.

"In other words," Franken lectured, "looking to get approval for this merger, you sat there in my office and told me to my face that these rules would protect consumers, but your lawyers had just finished arguing in front of the Commission that it would be unconstitutional to apply these rules."

Feisty! But it turns out he was just getting warmed up. At last week's Netroots Nation conference in Las Vegas, Franken put aside all pretense of subtlety. While government was once the greatest threat to First Amendment rights regarding freedom of speech, Franken argued that the great threat now is corporations. Specifically, the threat comes from corporations who also control the major Internet pipes.

"I believe that net neutrality is the First Amendment issue of our time," Franken said.

"Comcast merges with NBC. How long do you think it will take for Verizon and AT&T to start looking at CBS/Viacom and ABC/Disney? If no one stops them, how long do you think it will take before four or five mega-corporations effectively control the flow of information in America, not only on television but online? If we don't protect net neutrality now, how long do you think it will take before Comcast/NBC/Universal or Verizon/CBS/Viacom or AT&T/ABC/DirecTV or BP/Halliburton/Walmart/Fox/Domino's Pizza [laughter] will start favoring its content over everyone else's?"

Franken takes on the ISPs

But how many others in Congress share this view? While net neutrality was a hot topic last year and the year before, it has languished on Capitol Hill as the Republican and Democrat FCC Chairmen asserted their rights to regulate ISP behavior. Now that a federal court has shot down the FCC's legal arguments and the new "third way" proposal has attracted plenty of criticism, passing an unambiguous law might be the simplest way to resolve the debate.

It's safe to say that Franken would vote in favor of such a bill, and other top Democrats have expressed support, as have a few Republicans like Susan Collins of Maine. Political will to tackle the issue looks limited, however, even if it is the "First Amendment issue of our time."

(Bonus discussion question: is net neutrality the First Amendment issue of our time?)

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Hack a Day: Mike Szczys

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:00:31 +0000

The Sprint version of the Palm Pixi doesn’t have a WiFi option but the Verizon version (called the Palm Pixi Plus) does. The hardware is almost the same and [Gitit20] figured out how to do some hardware swapping to add WiFi. The radio board inside the phone is fairly easy to remove. Close inspection of the Sprint radio board shows some solder pads where a WiFi chip would go. The Verizon version has this chip, and moving that radio board into the Sprint phone will enable WiFi. This is strictly a hardware hack as the device identification (IMEA) is paired with the motherboard and not the radio board.

Now we want to see someone source that WiFi chip, solder onto the board, and enable it within the OS so that we don’t need a donor phone to make this work.

[Thanks Juan]

Ars Technica: Galileo's notebook, superimposed on the object of his observations.

jtimmer@arstechnica.com (John Timmer) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:00:10 +0000

Because of its immense practical value for agricultural societies, many early cultures developed something that resembled a science: the observational study of the motion of bodies around the solar system. Four hundred years ago, planetary science also became the first to have a solid theoretical underpinning, as Kepler produced a model of planetary motion that accounted for observations and was predictive. But, according to a review of planetary science published in Nature, the actual science languished for centuries until work in an unrelated field spawned the electronics revolution.

The review's author, Joseph Burns of Cornell University, suggests the key contributor to the stagnation was in the limitations of ground-based observatories, which couldn't resolve detailed features on most of the solar system's other bodies. Even as telescope technology progressed, the only object we could study in any detail was the Moon, which was cold, dead, and lifeless, with a rugged geology dominated by impacts. Venus' surface was hidden by clouds, while Mars, at this distance, seemed to many to be a reddish version of the Moon, although others engaged in flights of imagination, seeing the planet as a water-covered Eden.

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Gizmag: World's first 3D consumer camcorder unveiled by Panasonic

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:58:19 +0000

The case for 3D just got stronger with Panasonic announcing the release of the world's first 3D consumer camera for the AVCHD standard. Panasonic has positioned itself at the forefront of 3D camcorder technology and this latest news is significant because previously available professional 3D models are far more expensive, and as a result have not made it into the hands of the general public. The company's new HDC-SDT750 camcorder is likely to be the first of many 3D cameras to reach home movie makers. .. Continue Reading World's first 3D consumer camcorder unveiled by Panasonic

Tags: 3D, 3D TV, Camcorder, Panasonic, Video

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