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Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* Measles Resurgent Due To Fear of Vaccination
* Chinese Want To Capture an Asteroid
* Sixteen Years Later: GNU Still Needs An Extension Language
* Alloy Could Produce Hydrogen Fuel Using Sunlight
* Apple's Chinese Suppliers Accused of Causing Significant Environmental Damage
* Justice Dept. Files Antitrust Complaint Against AT&T and T-Mobile Merger
* Will Climate Engineering Ever Go Prime Time?
* Wikileaks Reveals BitTorrent Lawsuit Background
* James Gosling Leaves Google
* Akamai Employee Tried To Sell Secrets To Israel
* Another Unreleased iPhone Lost by Employee In a Bar
* Panda Poo Yields Key To Cheaper Biofuels
* Juno Looks Back, Photographs Earth-Moon System
* German Ban On <em>Doom</em> Finally Lifted
* Chemical Cocktail Turns Mice Clear
* Hackers May Have Nabbed Over 200 SSL Certificates
* The Crypto Project Revives Cypherpunk Ethic
* Localizing Language In the Brain
* Large Improvement in Graphene Photosensitivity Realized
* Book Review: CoffeeScript: Accelerated JavaScript Development
* Russia Close To Findings On Soyuz and Proton
* Record-Low Error Rate For Qubit Processor
* Swarmanoid 'Bots Rule Air, Land, Bookshelves
* UCLA Develops Stretchable OLED Display
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Measles Resurgent Due To Fear of Vaccination
| from the don't-take-medical-advice-from-nude-models dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday August 31, @08:18 (Medicine)
| with 632 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/0542237/Measles-Resurgent-Due-To-Fear-of-Vaccination?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
florescent_beige writes "In the September Mayo Clinic Proceedings,
Gregory Poland, M.D. writes that '[0]More than 150 cases of measles have
been reported in the United States already this year and there have been
similar outbreaks in Europe, a sign the disease is making an alarming
comeback ([1]abstract). The reappearance of the potentially deadly virus
is the result of unfounded fears about a link between the measles shot
and autism that have turned some parents against childhood vaccination.'"
This follows the recent release of [2]a massive review of studies into
the side effects of vaccination, [3]summarized here by Nature, which did
not find convincing support for the idea that MMR shots caused autism.
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/0542237/Measles-Resurgent-Due-To-Fear-of-Vaccination?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-08/mc-mcp083011.php
1. http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/content/86/9/869
2. http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=13164&page=1
3. http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110825/full/news.2011.505.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Chinese Want To Capture an Asteroid
| from the what-could-go-wrong? dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday August 31, @13:30 (China)
| with 412 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1656237/Chinese-Want-To-Capture-an-Asteroid?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]geekmansworld writes "The Chinese want to [1]capture an asteroid into
earth's orbit and mine it. From the article: 'At first glance, [2]nudging
an asteroid closer to Earth seems like one of those "what could possible
go wrong" scenarios that we generally try and avoid, and for good reason:
large asteroid impacts are bad times. The Chinese, though, seem fairly
optimistic that they could [3]tweak the orbit of a near-Earth asteroid by
just enough (a change in velocity of only about 1,300 feet-per-second or
so) to get it to temporarily enter Earth orbit at about twice the
distance as the Moon.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1656237/Chinese-Want-To-Capture-an-Asteroid?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.geekman.ca/
1. http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/27112/
2. http://dvice.com/archives/2011/08/chinese-want-to.php
3. http://arxiv.org/abs/1108.4767
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Sixteen Years Later: GNU Still Needs An Extension Language
| from the one-of-us-one-of-us dept.
| posted by Unknown Lamer on Wednesday August 31, @11:17 (GNU is Not Unix)
| with 341 comments
| https://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1445203/Sixteen-Years-Later-GNU-Still-Needs-An-Extension-Language?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fresh from the [0]2011 GNU Hackers Meeting, Andy Wingo has written a long
piece on the status of [1]Guile Scheme, the woefully underutilized
official user extension language of GNU. Wingo argues that [2]Guile is
the best choice for extension in GNU given the ability of Scheme to adapt
to change over time. Presented with using e.g. Javascript instead of
Scheme for its popularity: 'We should also consider the costs of using
hastily designed languages. JavaScript has some crazy bad stuff, like
with, var hoisting, a poor numeric model, dynamic this scoping, lack of
modularity regarding binding lookup ... Finally, we have the lifespan
issue. If GNU had chosen [3]Tcl because it was popular, we would have a
mass of dead code' (it should be noted that Guile does partially support
[4]Javascript syntax). With the proliferation of Firefox extensions,
Greasemonkey, etc. it is clear there is a large set of power users who
want to modify the programs they use without spending years becoming
skilled programmers. Perhaps after [5]Emacs has been ported to Guile the
philosophy of user extensibility will spread to other parts of the GNU
system.
Discuss this story at:
https://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1445203/Sixteen-Years-Later-GNU-Still-Needs-An-Extension-Language?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.gnu.org/ghm/2011/paris/
1. http://www.gnu.org/s/guile/
2. http://wingolog.org/archives/2011/08/30/the-gnu-extension-language
3. http://www.vanderburg.org/OldPages/Tcl/war/
4. http://wingolog.org/archives/2009/02/22/ecmascript-for-guile
5. http://git.hcoop.net/?p=bpt/guile.git;a=summary
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Alloy Could Produce Hydrogen Fuel Using Sunlight
| from the panacea-for-the-zeppelin-industry dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday August 31, @00:21 (Power)
| with 336 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/015246/Alloy-Could-Produce-Hydrogen-Fuel-Using-Sunlight?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
intellitech writes "Using state-of-the-art theoretical computations, a
University of Kentucky-University of Louisville team demonstrated that an
alloy formed by a 2 percent substitution of antimony (Sb) in gallium
nitride (GaN) has the right electrical properties to [0]enable solar
light energy to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, a process
known as photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. When the alloy is
immersed in water and exposed to sunlight, the chemical bond between the
hydrogen and oxygen molecules in water is broken ([1]abstract). Because
pure hydrogen gas is not found in free abundance on Earth, it must be
manufactured by unlocking it from other compounds. Thus, hydrogen is not
considered an energy source, but rather an 'energy carrier.' Currently,
it takes a large amount of electricity to generate hydrogen by water
splitting. As a consequence, most of the hydrogen manufactured today is
derived from non-renewable sources such as coal and natural gas. The team
says the GaN-Sb alloy has the potential to convert solar energy into an
economical, carbon-free source for hydrogen."
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/015246/Alloy-Could-Produce-Hydrogen-Fuel-Using-Sunlight?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110830151229.htm
1. http://prb.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v84/i7/e075304
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Apple's Chinese Suppliers Accused of Causing Significant Environmental Damage
| from the spoonfull-of-mercury dept.
| posted by Unknown Lamer on Wednesday August 31, @12:50 (China)
| with 300 comments
| https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1626245/Apples-Chinese-Suppliers-Accused-of-Causing-Significant-Environmental-Damage?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]itwbennett writes "Environmental watchdog groups in China on Wednesday
released a report detailing a [1]5-month investigation on electronic
suppliers that they believe are used by Apple. According to the report,
accessory manufacturer Kaedar Electronics and printed circuit board maker
Unimicron have allegedly been [2]discharging waste water and harmful gas
from their plants in the Chinese city of Kunshan. The report claims that
over a 10-year period, 'many people have fallen sick, with a sharp
increase in the village's cancer rates.' Since 2007, more than nine
people have suffered or died from cancer in the village, which has a
population of fewer than 60. Apple declined to say if the companies named
were in fact its suppliers, but company spokeswoman Carolyn Wu,
responding to the report, said, 'Apple is committed to driving the
highest standards of social responsibility throughout our supply base.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1626245/Apples-Chinese-Suppliers-Accused-of-Causing-Significant-Environmental-Damage?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.itworld.com/
1. http://www.scribd.com/doc/63637255/Apple-II-Final-20-14
2. http://www.itworld.com/data-centerservers/198771/apple-suppliers-accused-environmental-damage
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Justice Dept. Files Antitrust Complaint Against AT&T and T-Mobile Merger
| from the but-ma-was-so-close-to-being-rebuilt dept.
| posted by Unknown Lamer on Wednesday August 31, @12:01 (AT&T)
| with 273 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1543256/Justice-Dept-Files-Antitrust-Complaint-Against-ATampT-and-T-Mobile-Merger?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hitting the front page for the first time, AngryDeuce writes with a piece
of exciting news hot off the news wire. From the article: "The Justice
Department is [0]blocking AT&T's $39 billion deal to buy T-Mobile USA,
saying the [1]acquisition of the No. 4 wireless carrier in the country by
No. 2 AT&T would reduce competition and raise prices. The deal has faced
tough opposition from consumer groups and No. 3 carrier Sprint since it
was announced in March." The DOJ has released a [2]full statement on
their decision to file the antitrust suit, and [3]AT&T has drafted a
response. So much for AT&T's paltry [4]promise of bringing 5000 unskilled
call center jobs back to the US if the merger were approved. Competition
may yet live!
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1543256/Justice-Dept-Files-Antitrust-Complaint-Against-ATampT-and-T-Mobile-Merger?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/08/31/technology-mobile-telecommunications-us-at-amp-t-t-mobile_8652135.html
1. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-31/u-s-files-antitrust-complaint-to-block-proposed-at-t-t-mobile-merger.html
2. http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/August/11-at-1118.html
3. http://www.bgr.com/2011/08/31/att-responds-to-u-s-government-lawsuit-seeking-to-block-t-mobile-deal/
4. http://www.itworld.com/it-managementstrategy/198829/att-return-jobs-us-if-t-mobile-deal-approved
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Will Climate Engineering Ever Go Prime Time?
| from the warm-up-the-hurricane-gun dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday August 31, @14:20 (Science)
| with 231 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1746218/Will-Climate-Engineering-Ever-Go-Prime-Time?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]coondoggie writes "You may or may not be old enough to remember the TV
commercial for margarine that had the tag line: 'It's not nice to fool
Mother Nature.' But that commercial came to mind as I was reading a
report out recently that looked at the [1]viability of large climate
engineering projects that would basically alter large parts of the
atmosphere to reduce greenhouse gases or basically reverse some of the
effects of climate change. The congressional watchdogs at the Government
Accountability Office took a look at [2]the current state of climate
engineering science and technology (PDF), which generally aims at either
carbon dioxide removal or solar radiation management."
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1746218/Will-Climate-Engineering-Ever-Go-Prime-Time?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. mailto:mcooney@nww.com
1. http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/will-climate-engineering-ever-be-ready-prime-
2. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d1171.pdf
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Wikileaks Reveals BitTorrent Lawsuit Background
| from the one-copyright-regime-to-rule-them-all dept.
| posted by Unknown Lamer on Wednesday August 31, @09:00 (Australia)
| with 191 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1218220/Wikileaks-Reveals-BitTorrent-Lawsuit-Background?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
daria42 writes "A US diplomatic [0]cable published by Wikileaks has
revealed much of the previously hidden background behind the BitTorrent
court case [1]currently playing out in Australia's High Court, including
the Motion Picture Association of America's prime mover role and US
Embassy fears the trial could become portrayed as '[2]giant American
bullies versus little Aussie battlers.'' Oops. Looks like there's a
little bit of egg on the movie studios' faces!"
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1218220/Wikileaks-Reveals-BitTorrent-Lawsuit-Background?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.wikileaks.org/cable/2008/11/08CANBERRA1197.html
1. http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/12/0335214/BitTorrent-Trial-Makes-Australias-High-Court
2. http://delimiter.com.au/2011/08/30/wikileaks-cable-outs-secret-iitrial-background/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| James Gosling Leaves Google
| from the just-stopping-by dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Tuesday August 30, @20:12 (Google)
| with 184 comments
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/000250/James-Gosling-Leaves-Google?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
scottbomb writes "Well, that didn't take long: 'After only a few months
at Google, Java founder [0]James Gosling has left the search engine giant
to go to a small startup company specializing in ocean-based robotics.'
In [1]a brief blog post about his new company, Gosling says, 'They have a
growing fleet of autonomous vehicles that roves the ocean collecting data
from a variety of onboard sensors and uploading it to the cloud. The
robots have a pile of satellite uplink/GSM/WiMax communication gear and
redundant GPS units. They have a bunch of deployments. For example, one
is a set of robots patrolling the ocean around the Macondo well in the
Gulf of Mexico monitoring water chemistry. These craft harvest energy
from the waves for propulsion and can stay at sea for a very long time.
The longest that one craft has been out is 2.5(ish) years. They can cross
oceans.... Slowly. They only move at 1-2 knots, which is a great speed
for data collection.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/000250/James-Gosling-Leaves-Google?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.infoworld.com/d/the-industry-standard/java-founder-gosling-leaves-google-startup-171199
1. http://nighthacks.com/roller/jag/entry/i_ve_moved_again
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Akamai Employee Tried To Sell Secrets To Israel
| from the nobody-does-it-like-nedry dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Tuesday August 30, @22:13 (Privacy)
| with 168 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/0114249/Akamai-Employee-Tried-To-Sell-Secrets-To-Israel?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]CWmike writes "A 43-year-old former Akamai employee [1]has pleaded
guilty to espionage charges after offering to hand over confidential
information about the Web acceleration company to an agent posing as an
Israeli consular official in Boston. Starting in September 2007, Elliot
Doxer played an elaborate 18-month-long game of cloak-and-dagger with
James Cromer, a man he thought was an Israeli intelligence officer. He
handed over pages and pages of confidential data to Cromer, providing a
list of Akamai's clients and contracts, information about the company's
security practices, and even a list of 1,300 Akamai employees, including
mobile numbers, departments and e-mail addresses. Doxer delivered the
information to a dead drop box 62 times. His motivation: To help Israel
and to get information on his son and estranged wife, who lived outside
the U.S., prosecutors said in court filings. Doxer faces 15 years in
prison on the charges."
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/0114249/Akamai-Employee-Tried-To-Sell-Secrets-To-Israel?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://twitter.com/mikeatcw
1. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9219628/Akamai_employee_tried_to_sell_secrets_to_Israel
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Another Unreleased iPhone Lost by Employee In a Bar
| from the I-think-I-saw-this-episode-already dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday August 31, @18:20 (Iphone)
| with 145 comments
| https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/2132203/Another-Unreleased-iPhone-Lost-by-Employee-In-a-Bar?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First time accepted submitter MightyMait writes "Looks like another Apple
employee [0]left an iPhone prototype in a bar. From the article: 'The
errant iPhone, which went missing in San Francisco's Mission district in
late July, sparked a scramble by Apple security to recover the device
over the next few days, according to a source familiar with the
investigation. Last year, an iPhone 4 prototype was bought by a gadget
blog that paid $5,000 in cash. This year's lost phone seems to have taken
a more mundane path: it was taken from a Mexican restaurant and bar and
may have been sold on Craigslist for $200. Still unclear are details
about the device, what version of the iOS operating system it was
running, and what it looks like.' Once might be an accident, but two
unreleased iPhones lost in bars starts to look like a strategy"
Discuss this story at:
https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/2132203/Another-Unreleased-iPhone-Lost-by-Employee-In-a-Bar?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20099899-37/apple-loses-another-unreleased-iphone-exclusive/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Panda Poo Yields Key To Cheaper Biofuels
| from the fuel-panda-makes-fuel dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday August 31, @10:51 (Power)
| with 105 comments
| https://idle.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1348241/Panda-Poo-Yields-Key-To-Cheaper-Biofuels?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "A new study unveiled at the [0]American
Chemical Society points to panda poop as [1]a source of remarkably
efficient enzyme-producing bacteria that are able to break down plant
materials for cheaper and more efficient biofuel production. Inspired by
the giant panda's voracious appetite for bamboo, scientists began to
study the fecal matter of giant pandas at the Memphis Zoo. A year of
samples indicated that the pandas have a unique ability to convert
lignocellulose from plant matter into energy. In fact, gut bacteria of a
giant panda can convert 95 percent of the plant's biomass into simple
sugars."
Discuss this story at:
https://idle.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1348241/Panda-Poo-Yields-Key-To-Cheaper-Biofuels?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=222&content_id=CNBP_028097&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=8339067e-fb9f-4488-bed8-b09fc25386bb
1. http://inhabitat.com/panda-poop-unlocks-the-possibility-of-cheap-and-efficient-biofuel-production/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Juno Looks Back, Photographs Earth-Moon System
| from the we-tread-upon-specks dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday August 31, @03:39 (Earth)
| with 98 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/0551247/Juno-Looks-Back-Photographs-Earth-Moon-System?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]astroengine writes "Looking back as it zooms through interplanetary
space, less than a month into its 445-million mile, five-year journey to
the gas giant Jupiter, [1]NASA's spacecraft Juno captured a portrait of
the Earth and moon. Juno was 6 million miles away at the time. 'This is a
remarkable sight people get to see all too rarely,' said Scott Bolton,
Juno principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San
Antonio. 'This view of our planet shows how Earth looks from the outside,
illustrating a special perspective of our role and place in the universe.
We see a humbling yet beautiful view of ourselves.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/0551247/Juno-Looks-Back-Photographs-Earth-Moon-System?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.astroengine.com/
1. http://news.discovery.com/space/juno-looks-back-snaps-earth-moon-system-110830.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| German Ban On <em>Doom</em> Finally Lifted
| from the that-was-fast dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday August 31, @18:40 (Censorship)
| with 91 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/2024209/German-Ban-On-Doom-Finally-Lifted?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "18 years after its debut, Doom, the game that
almost single-handedly popularized the FPS genre (remember when we just
called them Doom clones?) is [0]finally seeing the light of legality in
the nation of Germany. The lifting of the ban also applies to the beloved
sequel Doom II. A release date has yet to be set. I recommend that
Germans who have not found some way to play this game over the last 18
years, please do so upon its release. Despite its age, it's still fun as
hell. (Pun very much intended.)"
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/2024209/German-Ban-On-Doom-Finally-Lifted?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.joystiq.com/2011/08/31/doom-and-doom-2-now-acceptable-in-germany-berlin-renamed-e1m1/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Chemical Cocktail Turns Mice Clear
| from the thank-you-science dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday August 31, @19:32 (Science)
| with 91 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/2223248/Chemical-Cocktail-Turns-Mice-Clear?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sciencehabit writes "Researchers have serendipitously discovered that a
mixture of urea, glycerol, and soap makes membranes transparent. When
they tried the mixture on a developing mouse fetus, they found that it
removed all of the pigment from the cells, [0]rendering the fetus
completely transparent. The technique allowed scientists to see
fluorescent neurons buried several millimeters in the brain."
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/2223248/Chemical-Cocktail-Turns-Mice-Clear?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/08/scienceshot-the-invisible-mouse.html?ref=hp
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Hackers May Have Nabbed Over 200 SSL Certificates
| from the from-bad-to-worse dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday August 31, @19:11 (Security)
| with 75 comments
| https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/2221248/Hackers-May-Have-Nabbed-Over-200-SSL-Certificates?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]CWmike writes "Hackers may have obtained [1]more than 200 digital
certificates from a Dutch company after breaking into its network,
including ones for Mozilla, Yahoo and the Tor project ��� [2]a considerably
higher number than DigiNotar has acknowledged earlier this week when it
said 'several dozen' certificates had been acquired by attackers. Among
the certificates acquired by the attackers in a mid-July hack of
DigiNotar, Van de Looy's source said, were ones valid for mozilla.com,
yahoo.com and torproject.org, a system that lets people connect to the
Web anonymously. Mozilla confirmed that a certificate for its add-on site
had been obtained by the DigiNotar attackers. 'DigiNotar informed us that
they issued fraudulent certs for addons.mozilla.org in July, and revoked
them within a few days of issue,' Johnathan Nightingale, director of
Firefox development, said Wednesday. Looy's number is similar to the
tally of certificates that Google has [3]blacklisted in Chrome."
Discuss this story at:
https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/2221248/Hackers-May-Have-Nabbed-Over-200-SSL-Certificates?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://twitter.com/mikeatcw
1. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9219663/Hackers_may_have_stolen_over_200_SSL_certificates
2. http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/08/30/1431211/Diginotar-Responds-To-Rogue-Certificate-Problem
3. http://codereview.chromium.org/7791032/diff/2001/net/base/x509_certificate.cc
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| The Crypto Project Revives Cypherpunk Ethic
| from the blast-from-the-past dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday August 31, @02:23 (Privacy)
| with 74 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/0424251/The-Crypto-Project-Revives-Cypherpunk-Ethic?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
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Trailrunner7 writes "When a small group of activists announced the debut
of The Crypto Project earlier this year, for many, ahem, mature, security
and privacy advocates it brought to mind memories of the original
cypherpunk movement that began in the 1990s and that group's seminal
efforts to encourage the use of strong cryptography and anonymity online,
as well as its successes and failures. The two groups are not allied by
anything other than ideology, but The Crypto Project's leaders are aiming
to follow in the footsteps of the cypherpunks, build on their
accomplishments and make security and privacy tools freely available to
the masses. The group is working on a number of projects right now,
including setting up an anonymous remailer, putting up a Convergence
notary and setting up a Tahoe-LAFS grid. Threatpost has an interview with
Sir Valiance, one of the leaders of the project, who talks about [0]the
need for better privacy and anonymity online and why the cypherpunks are
still important today."
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/0424251/The-Crypto-Project-Revives-Cypherpunk-Ethic?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. https://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/behind-scenes-crypto-project-083011
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| Localizing Language In the Brain
| from the look-at-my-big-language-center-babe dept.
| posted by Unknown Lamer on Wednesday August 31, @09:42 (Science)
| with 70 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/136241/Localizing-Language-In-the-Brain?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
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RogerRoast writes "A new study by MIT scientists pinpoints areas of the
brain [0]used exclusively for language (PDF), providing a partial answer
to a longstanding debate in cognitive science. According to the study,
[1]there are parts of our brain dedicated to language and only language.
After having their subjects perform the initial language task, which they
call a 'functional localizer,' they had each one do a subset of seven
other experiments: one on exact arithmetic, two on working memory, three
on cognitive control, and one on music; since these are the functions
'most commonly argued to share neural machinery with language.' The
authors say the results don't imply that every cognitive function has its
own dedicated piece of cortex; after all, we're able to learn new skills,
so there must be some parts of the brain that are both high-level and
functionally flexible."
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/136241/Localizing-Language-In-the-Brain?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://web.mit.edu/evelina9/www/Downloads/Journal%20pubs/Fedorenko%20&%20Kanwisher%202011.pdf
1. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/language-brain-0830.html
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| Large Improvement in Graphene Photosensitivity Realized
| from the we-demand-more-bits dept.
| posted by Unknown Lamer on Wednesday August 31, @10:30 (The Internet)
| with 67 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1356236/Large-Improvement-in-Graphene-Photosensitivity-Realized?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
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alphadogg sends in a writeup in NetworkWorld about promising new research
with graphene. From the article: "Two [0]Nobel Prize winning scientists
out of the U.K. have come up with a new way to use graphene ��� the
thinnest material in the world ��� that [1]could make Internet pipes feel a
lot fatter. University of Manchester professors Andre Geim and Kostya
Novoselov ... write in the journal Nature Communications of a [2]method
of combining the carbon-based material with metallic nanostructures to
use as photodetectors that could greatly increase the amount of light
optical communications devices could handle. This advance in graphene
light harvesting and conversion into electrical power could [3]lead to
communications rates tens or even hundreds of times faster than today's,
the researchers say."
Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1356236/Large-Improvement-in-Graphene-Photosensitivity-Realized?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/10/10/05/1534213/Nobel-Prize-in-Physics-For-Discovery-of-Graphene
1. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/083011-graphene-optical-250265.html?hpg1=bn
2. http://arxiv.org/abs/1107.4176
3. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-08/uom-gsl082611.php
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| Book Review: CoffeeScript: Accelerated JavaScript Development
| from the read-all-about-it dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday August 31, @15:57 (Book Reviews)
| with 64 comments
| https://books.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1627240/Book-Review-CoffeeScript-Accelerated-JavaScript-Development?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]Michael J. Ross writes "For decades, programmers have written computer
code in one language, and then programmatically translated that code into
another, lower-level form (typically machine code that can be run
directly by a microprocessor, or some sort of bytecode that can be
interpreted by a virtual machine). For instance, source code written in C
or C++ is compiled and assembled into machine code. In web programming,
there are emerging languages and other tools for translating code into
JavaScript. For instance, Google Web Toolkit allows the programmer to
create web apps in Java. The latest addition to this category is
[1]CoffeeScript, a language that can be compiled into JavaScript, and is
intended to reduce source code size and clutter by incorporating some of
the best operators from other Web scripting languages, particularly Ruby.
It is also the topic of a new tutorial, CoffeeScript: Accelerated
JavaScript Development." Read on to learn what Michael thinks of this
book.
This story continues at:
https://books.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1627240/Book-Review-CoffeeScript-Accelerated-JavaScript-Development?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
Discuss this story at:
https://books.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1627240/Book-Review-CoffeeScript-Accelerated-JavaScript-Development?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.ross.ws/
1. http://jashkenas.github.com/coffee-script/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Russia Close To Findings On Soyuz and Proton
| from the who's-to-blame dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday August 31, @15:09 (ISS)
| with 57 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1756247/Russia-Close-To-Findings-On-Soyuz-and-Proton?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First time accepted submitter neBelcnU writes "It's still early, but
there are findings for the [0]recent losses of a Proton and Soyuz rockets.
There was a procedural error in the Proton's flight planning, and the 3rd
stage gas-generator is the center of attention in the Soyuz. From the
article: '[1]The Soyuz investigation has not formally issued its findings
or recommended corrective actions. A launch schedule for the next manned
flight to the International Space Station will not be decided until the
commission completes its work.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1756247/Russia-Close-To-Findings-On-Soyuz-and-Proton?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://science.slashdot.org/story/11/08/24/182257/Russian-Supply-Vehicle-To-ISS-Burns
1. http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1108/30investigation/
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| Record-Low Error Rate For Qubit Processor
| from the top-of-the-class dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday August 31, @16:45 (Hardware)
| with 54 comments
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1844252/Record-Low-Error-Rate-For-Qubit-Processor?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "Thanks to advances in experimental design,
physicists at the [0]National Institute of Standards and Technology have
achieved a [1]record-low probability of error in quantum information
processing with a single quantum bit (qubit) ��� the first published error
rate small enough to meet theoretical requirements for [2]building viable
quantum computers. 'One error per 10,000 logic operations is a commonly
agreed upon target for a low enough error rate to use error correction
protocols in a quantum computer,' said Kenton Brown, who led the project
as a NIST postdoctoral researcher. 'It is generally accepted that if
error rates are above that, you will introduce more errors in your
correction operations than you are able to correct. We've been able to
show that we have good enough control over our single-qubit operations
that our probability of error is 1 per 50,000 logic operations.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1844252/Record-Low-Error-Rate-For-Qubit-Processor?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.nist.gov/index.html
1. http://scienceblog.com/47527/nist-achieves-record-low-error-rate-for-quantum-information-processing-with-one-qubit/
2. http://arxiv.org/abs/1104.2552
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Swarmanoid 'Bots Rule Air, Land, Bookshelves
| from the just-don't-tell-them-where-the-guns-are dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday August 31, @05:24 (Robotics)
| with 40 comments
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/0611250/Swarmanoid-Bots-Rule-Air-Land-Bookshelves?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "The notion of distributed processing isn't
new, and its application to robotics [0]leads naturally to the idea of a
swarm of robots. However, most swarm-oriented robots are composed of many
identical robots (such as [1]The Kilobots). In this case, [2]there are
three types of robots: a 'hand-bot,' which can climb bookcases and grab
objects with hands; a 'foot-bot,' which can drive around and carry the
hand-bot; and an 'eye-bot,' which flies around and perches on the ceiling
to provide a perspective to the other bots." Another reader points out an
unrelated but also-impressive video of Kinect being used to [3]develop a
user-friendly robot assistant.
Discuss this story at:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/0611250/Swarmanoid-Bots-Rule-Air-Land-Bookshelves?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.i-programmer.info/news/169-robotics/2900-swarmanoids-rule.html
1. http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/06/18/1847251/Kilobots-mdash-Cheap-Swarm-Robots-Out-of-Harvard
2. http://www.swarmanoid.org/index.php
3. http://kinect.dashhacks.com/kinect-news/2011/08/30/interactive-human-robot-collaboration-using-kinect
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| UCLA Develops Stretchable OLED Display
| from the pulled-thin dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday August 31, @17:33 (Displays)
| with 28 comments
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/2019240/UCLA-Develops-Stretchable-OLED-Display?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
cylonlover writes "While there have been some intriguing developments
recently in the field of stretchable electronics and flexible OLED
displays, one thing we haven't heard much about is stretchable displays.
So is it possible to make a screened device in which every part of it
could be stretched. The answer could now be yes, with news that
researchers from UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied
Science have demonstrated [0]a stretchable polymer light-emitting device."
Discuss this story at:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/2019240/UCLA-Develops-Stretchable-OLED-Display?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/38439/page1/
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