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======================================================================
Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* Big Brother Calls 'Shotgun' In Illinois
* Neal Stephenson On 'Innovation Starvation'
* Italian Wikipedia May Shut Down Due To New Legislation
* Samsung Seeking Ban of iPhone 4S in Europe
* Sony Bringing PSN Pass To All First-Party Games
* How Windows Gets Infected With Malware
* Severe Arctic Ozone Loss
* After Six Days of Outages, BofA Claims It Hasn't Been Hacked
* Looking Back On a Year of LibreOffice
* Ask Slashdot: What To Do In SW:TOR For Just 3 Days?
* Firefox Advises Users To Disable McAfee Plugin
* India Launches $35 Tablet
* Film Turns Windows Into Solar Panels
* 175 MPH Student-Built EV Smashes Speed Record
* US Scientists Invited To Russian Yeti Hunt
* Unreal Engine 3 Running In Flash
* 2011 Nobel Prize In Physics
* EU Sending a Probe To the Sun
* Fedora 16, OpenSuse 12.1 Betas With Gnome 3.2
* Oracle's Plans for Java Unveiled at JavaOne
* Could Electron Counts Detect Major Earthquakes?
* Facebook Confirms New Cookie-Tracking Issue
* US Military To Field Test "Throwable" Robots
* Dan Shechtman Wins Chemistry Nobel For Quasicrystals
* Bletchley Park Gets £4.6 Million Restoration
* Autism Traits Prove Valuable for Software Testing
* Welcome Back Kernel.org
* Human "Cloning" Makes Embryonic Stem Cells
* Telecomix Releases 54GB of Syrian Censorship Logs
* Book Review: Definitive Guide To Drupal 7
* Red Hat Acquiring Cloud Storage Company Gluster
* Robotic Arm With Home-Brewed, Open Source Voice Control
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Big Brother Calls 'Shotgun' In Illinois
| from the how-could-george-bush-do-such-a-thing dept.
| posted by timothy on Wednesday October 05, @11:48 (Government)
| with 408 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1536214/big-brother-calls-shotgun-in-illinois?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reader kackle joins the army of free and accepted Slashdot submitters
with this eyebrow-raising story: "I received a form letter from the
Illinois State Toll Highway Authority saying that my first-generation '[0]IPASS'
transponder needs to be replaced because the battery is old. I called
them for clarification since the first-generation transponders obviously
have user-replaceable batteries, and I wanted to keep this version
because it beeps when a toll is paid. (This notifies drivers that their
battery is still good, unlike the silent second-generation version, which
informs them of a dead battery by sending a [1]ticket in the mail.) The
woman on the phone explained that they were replacing them just because
the electronics are old. This uninformed answer made me research the
device. I found that the [2]manufacturer has recently filed a [3]patent
application for a new transponder that has a camera in it ��� a camera
pointed inward at the occupants. How long before they make it illegal to
cover that camera with tape?"
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1536214/big-brother-calls-shotgun-in-illinois?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.illinoistollway.com/portal/page?_pageid=133,1392734&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
1. http://www.chicagolandsportbikes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34914
2. http://www.kapsch.net/en/ktc/KapschTelematicServices/Pages/default.aspx
3. http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20110161140
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Neal Stephenson On 'Innovation Starvation'
| from the hitler-did-a-lot-of-stuff dept.
| posted by timothy on Wednesday October 05, @12:31 (NASA)
| with 380 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/167241/neal-stephenson-on-innovation-starvation?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]Geoffrey.landis writes "In an essay discussing the space program,
author Neal Stephenson suggests that the decline of the space program
'might be symptomatic of a general [1]failure of our society to get big
things done.' He suggests that we may be suffering from innovation
starvation: 'Innovation can't happen without accepting the risk that it
might fail. The vast and radical innovations of the mid-20th century took
place in a world that, in retrospect, looks insanely dangerous and
unstable.'" Though the context is different, this reminds me of economist
Tyler Cowen's premise that the U.S. has for decades been in a [2]Great
Stagnation.
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/167241/neal-stephenson-on-innovation-starvation?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.geoffreylandis.com/
1. http://johniac.posterous.com/innovation-starvation-world-policy-institute
2. http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2011/02/dontworry_be_unhappy.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Italian Wikipedia May Shut Down Due To New Legislation
| from the citation-not-needed-if-it-bugs-you dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday October 05, @00:18 (Wikipedia)
| with 273 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/015235/italian-wikipedia-may-shut-down-due-to-new-legislation?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "Proposed legislation under debate in Italy
has Wikipedia [0]warning of a shutdown for the Italian version of the
site. They say the law would create 'a requirement to all websites to
publish, within 48 hours of the request and without any comment, a
correction of any content that the applicant deems detrimental to his/her
image.' They further explain. 'Unfortunately, the law does not require an
evaluation of the claim by an impartial third judge ��� the opinion of the
person allegedly injured is all that is required, in order to impose such
correction to any website. Hence, anyone who feels offended by any
content published on a blog, an online newspaper and, most likely, even
on Wikipedia can directly request the removal of such contents and its
permanent replacement with a "corrected" version, aimed to contradict and
disprove the allegedly harmful contents, regardless of the truthfulness
of the information deemed as offensive, and its sources.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/015235/italian-wikipedia-may-shut-down-due-to-new-legislation?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Comunicato_4_ottobre_2011/en
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Samsung Seeking Ban of iPhone 4S in Europe
| from the no-4s-for-you dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday October 05, @14:46 (Iphone)
| with 263 comments
| https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1749253/samsung-seeking-ban-of-iphone-4s-in-europe?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First time accepted submitter KingofSpades writes "Samsung has announced
that they will try to stop the sale of Apple Inc.'s iPhone 4S in France
and Italy. Samsung believes that [0]Apple is 'severely violating' some of
their patents. From the article: 'Samsung will file motions with courts
in Paris and Milan seeking the ban, each citing two patent infringements
on wireless telecommunications technology, the Suwon, South Korea- based
company said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. Apple unveiled the
iPhone 4S in Cupertino, California this week and aims to start sales
later this month.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1749253/samsung-seeking-ban-of-iphone-4s-in-europe?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Sony Bringing PSN Pass To All First-Party Games
| from the do-not-want dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday October 05, @03:17 (DRM)
| with 260 comments
| https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/0637248/sony-bringing-psn-pass-to-all-first-party-games?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New submitter zeroshade writes "Sony has confirmed that going forward,
[0]all first-party games will use the PSN Pass to force used game buyers
to [1]pay an extra $10 just for the right to play the multiplayer
component of used games they buy for the PS3."
Discuss this story at:
https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/0637248/sony-bringing-psn-pass-to-all-first-party-games?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://gamepolitics.com/2011/10/04/sony-all-future-multiplayer-capable-games-will-use-psn-pass
1. http://www.destructoid.com/confirmed-online-passes-for-all-future-online-sony-games-212882.phtml
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| How Windows Gets Infected With Malware
| from the sure-c'mon-in dept.
| posted by timothy on Wednesday October 05, @11:04 (Security)
| with 251 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/152206/how-windows-gets-infected-with-malware?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Orome1 writes "Since Up to 85 % of all virus infections occur as a result
of drive-by attacks automated via commercial exploit kits, CSIS has
actively collected real time data from them for a period of three months.
The purpose of their study is to reveal precisely how Microsoft Windows
machines are infected with malware and [0]which browsers, versions of
Windows and third party software that are at risk. They monitored more
than 50 different exploit kits on 44 unique servers / IP addresses. The
statistical material covers all in all more than half a million user
exposures out of which as many as 31.3 % were infected with the
virus/malware due to missing security updates."
Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/152206/how-windows-gets-infected-with-malware?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=1863
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Severe Arctic Ozone Loss
| from the santa-needs-sunblock dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday October 05, @08:12 (Earth)
| with 242 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/0237223/severe-arctic-ozone-loss?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]iONiUM writes "The BBC reports that 'Ozone loss over the Arctic this
year was so severe that [1]for the first time it could be called an
"ozone hole" like the Antarctic one, scientists report. About 20km (13
miles) above the ground, 80% of the ozone was lost, they say. The cause
was an unusually long spell of cold weather at altitude. In cold
conditions, the chlorine chemicals that destroy ozone are at their most
active.' This is the first time in observational history that the Arctic
ozone has been depleted to such extensive levels ([2]abstract). This will
mean high UV problems for Russia, Greenland and Norway."
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/0237223/severe-arctic-ozone-loss?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://upup-downdown.com/
1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15105747
2. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature10556.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| After Six Days of Outages, BofA Claims It Hasn't Been Hacked
| from the it's-just-a-flesh-wound dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday October 05, @16:56 (Security)
| with 233 comments
| https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/2013208/after-six-days-of-outages-bofa-claims-it-hasnt-been-hacked?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lucas123 writes "After six days of spotty service and outages with its
online and mobile sites, [0]Bank of America today said it has not been
the victim of a denial of service attack, hacking or malware. Yet, the
bank has set up a new homepage that it says will help customers navigate
to the proper online service. Internet monitoring service Keynote said
the outage is unprecedented in banking. 'I don't think we've seen as
significant and as long an outage with any bank. And I've been with
Keynote for 16 years now,' said Shawn White, vice president of operations
for web monitoring service Keynote Systems. In the meantime, a BofA
spokeswoman continued to divulge what might be happening, saying 'We're
not going to get into the technical details. We're not going to comment
on the technicalities of what we do.' [1]Speculation among experts has
been that the site is under attack."
Discuss this story at:
https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/2013208/after-six-days-of-outages-bofa-claims-it-hasnt-been-hacked?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9220562/BofA_says_it_wasn_t_hacked_website_problems_persist
1. http://abcnewsradioonline.com/business-news/bank-of-america-under-hacker-attack.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Looking Back On a Year of LibreOffice
| from the keep-on-keeping-on dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Tuesday October 04, @20:25 (Open Source)
| with 231 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/10/04/2315209/looking-back-on-a-year-of-libreoffice?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
superapecommando writes "Simon Phipps, former head of open source at Sun
and a backer of LibreOffice, [0]looks at a tempestuous year for the
OpenOffice fork. 'Once framed as an impetuous fork, LibreOffice has
become the standard-bearer for the former OpenOffice community,' he says.
'It's far from perfect, of course. New open source projects never are and
volunteer projects lack the corporate resources to make it look
otherwise. But I have no doubt that it's working.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/10/04/2315209/looking-back-on-a-year-of-libreoffice?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2011/10/libreoffice-is-one/index.htm
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Ask Slashdot: What To Do In SW:TOR For Just 3 Days?
| from the spread-wild-oats dept.
| posted by timothy on Wednesday October 05, @09:12 (Star Wars Prequels)
| with 203 comments
| https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1313247/ask-slashdot-what-to-do-in-swtor-for-just-3-days?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
rodrigoandrade writes "I've been invited to participate in the beta
testing program for SW:TOR. However, EA's giving out 3-day passes to most
testers. A few people are receiving passes for longer periods. Mine will
be from Friday 5am through Monday 12am (CST) (i.e. Sunday evening). Since
it's a frakking 10GB download (almost 2GB for video alone) I'll use for
only 3 days, I'd like to make the most out of it. If you're an
experienced beta tester, please post some tips travel-guide style on what
I should do, quests I should take, places to visit, etc. TYIA. May the
Force be with you!"
Discuss this story at:
https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1313247/ask-slashdot-what-to-do-in-swtor-for-just-3-days?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Firefox Advises Users To Disable McAfee Plugin
| from the one-or-the-other dept.
| posted by timothy on Wednesday October 05, @10:01 (Firefox)
| with 188 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1358241/firefox-advises-users-to-disable-mcafee-plugin?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]itwbennett writes "Mozilla is advising Firefox users to [1]disable
McAfee's ScriptScan software, saying that it could cause 'stability or
security problems.' ScriptScan, which ships with McAfee's VirusScan
antivirus program, is designed to keep Web surfers safe by scanning for
any malicious scripting code that might be running in the browser. But
according to Mozilla, it has an unintended side-effect: It can cause
Firefox to crash ... a lot."
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1358241/firefox-advises-users-to-disable-mcafee-plugin?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.itworld.com/
1. http://www.itworld.com/software/210093/firefox-advises-users-disable-mcafee-plugin
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| India Launches $35 Tablet
| from the price-drop dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday October 05, @14:01 (Education)
| with 185 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1711248/india-launches-35-tablet?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Many readers have submitted stories about [0]a new $35 tablet computer
released today in India. The Aakash (meaning sky) has been handed out to
500 students for an initial trial run, if successful a $60 commercial
version will hit the shelves later this year. The Aakash computer runs
Android 2.2 (Froyo), has a 7-inch touch screen, 256MB of RAM, 32GB
expandable memory slot, two USB ports, and weighs in at only 350 grams.
Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1711248/india-launches-35-tablet?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15180831
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Film Turns Windows Into Solar Panels
| from the peel-and-stick-power dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday October 05, @16:11 (Power)
| with 151 comments
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1925223/film-turns-windows-into-solar-panels?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]itwbennett writes "At the Ceatec electronics conference in Japan this
week, 3M is showing film that [1]turns windows into solar panels.
Although the product only generates about 20% of the electricity of a
traditional solar panel, it will cost about half as much, is much easier
to install, and takes up no additional space. 'An average person could go
to the store, buy some of this, and then bring it home and install it
themselves,' said Yasuhiro Aoyagi, a senior manager in the company's
construction markets division."
Discuss this story at:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1925223/film-turns-windows-into-solar-panels?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.itworld.com/
1. http://www.itworld.com/hardware/210279/3m-film-turns-windows-transparent-solar-panels
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 175 MPH Student-Built EV Smashes Speed Record
| from the zoom-zoom dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday October 05, @01:15 (Transportation)
| with 150 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/0426258/175-mph-student-built-ev-smashes-speed-record?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "A team of Brigham Young University students
recently [0]smashed the world land speed record for electric vehicles by
hitting a top speed of 175 miles per hour in their self-built electric
car. The car, named 'Electric Blue,' reached high speeds thanks to
[1]lithium iron phosphate batteries and its streamlined design, which is
capped by a tail fin for speed and agility."
Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/0426258/175-mph-student-built-ev-smashes-speed-record?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://news.byu.edu/archive11-oct-byuelectriccarrecord.aspx
1. http://inhabitat.com/electric-car-designed-by-byu-students-sets-land-speed-record/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| US Scientists Invited To Russian Yeti Hunt
| from the bring-two-pairs-of-boots dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday October 05, @16:36 (Idle)
| with 148 comments
| https://idle.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1940203/us-scientists-invited-to-russian-yeti-hunt?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First time accepted submitter Lindan9 writes "After an apparent increase
of yeti sightings in the Kemerovo and Altai region of Siberia, [0]a group
of scientists from around the world are meeting to examine evidence
possibly proving yeti existence. The scientists suspect there is a
population of several dozen living in the area. The team hopes to spot a
yeti or still living neanderthal man during their search of the area's
mountains." I hope they find two pristine horns faster than I did.
Discuss this story at:
https://idle.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1940203/us-scientists-invited-to-russian-yeti-hunt?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/10/04/russian-and-us-scientists-gather-to-hunt-down-yeti/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Unreal Engine 3 Running In Flash
| from the putting-a-v-8-in-a-yugo dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday October 05, @06:47 (Graphics)
| with 126 comments
| https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/0912225/unreal-engine-3-running-in-flash?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]Eraesr writes with news that Epic Games has [1]added Unreal Engine 3
support for Adobe Flash Player. This comes alongside news that [2]Flash
Player 11 has been released, an update that added [3]Stage3D, "a set of
low-level GPU-accelerated APIs enabling advanced 2D and 3D capabilities
across multiple screens and devices." "With its new hardware-accelerated
Stage 3D APIs, Flash Player 11 allows 1,000 times faster 2D and 3D
graphics rendering performance over Flash Player 10. Developers can now
animate millions of objects with smooth 60 frames per second rendering
and deliver console-quality games on Mac OS, Windows and connected
televisions. 'With UE3 and Flash, games built for high-end consoles can
now run on the Web or as Facebook apps, reaching an enormous user base,'
said Sweeney. 'This totally changes the playing field for game developers
who want to widely deploy and monetize their games.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/0912225/unreal-engine-3-running-in-flash?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.theenginesofcreation.com/
1. http://epicgames.com/community/2011/10/unreal-engine-3-support-for-adobe-flash-player-announced/
2. https://blogs.adobe.com/flashplayer/2011/10/adobe-flash-player-11-air-11-available-later-today.html
3. https://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer/stage3d.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2011 Nobel Prize In Physics
| from the magnets-how-do-they-work dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday October 05, @02:13 (Science)
| with 112 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/0540236/2011-nobel-prize-in-physics?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]brindafella writes "Thirteen years ago, two teams of astronomers and
physicists independently made the same stark discovery: Not only is the
universe expanding like a vast inflating balloon, but its expansion is
speeding up. The two teams have now been [1]recognized with the 2011
Nobel Prize in Physics. Half of the prize will go to [2]Saul Perlmutter
of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of
California, Berkeley, who led the Supernova Cosmology Project. The other
half will be shared by Brian Schmidt of the [3]Australian National
University's Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, who led the
[4]High-z Supernova Search Team, and Adam Riess of Johns Hopkins
University and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore,
Maryland, who worked on High-z. In essence, they proved that Einstein's
'biggest mistake' (the [5]cosmological constant, to create a 'stable
universe') was actually a clever theoretical prediction that there was
something else happening ��� dark energy."
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/0540236/2011-nobel-prize-in-physics?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. mailto:brindafella@gmail.com
1. http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/10/cosmic-speed-up-nabs-nobel-prize.html
2. http://www.lbl.gov/Publications/Perlmutter-Nobel/index.html
3. http://news.anu.edu.au/?p=11421
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-z_Supernova_Search_Team
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmological_constant
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| EU Sending a Probe To the Sun
| from the hot-science dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday October 05, @17:17 (EU)
| with 108 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/2019236/eu-sending-a-probe-to-the-sun?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First time accepted submitter Mindflux0 writes "The European Union is
going forward with the proposed Solar Orbiter, [0]a space probe designed
to study the sun. The probe will orbit closer to the sun than any other
man-made object at a sizzling 42 million km. It's planned to launch in
2017 for close to a billion euros."
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/2019236/eu-sending-a-probe-to-the-sun?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15146082
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Fedora 16, OpenSuse 12.1 Betas With Gnome 3.2
| from the despite-gripes-it-gets-better dept.
| posted by timothy on Wednesday October 05, @13:32 (GNOME)
| with 95 comments
| https://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1715218/fedora-16-opensuse-121-betas-with-gnome-32?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]Andy Smith writes "[1]Fedora 16 beta and [2]OpenSuse 12.1 beta [3]have
been released. For most users the major change in each distro is Gnome
3.2. Fedora also adopts the new Linux 3 kernel and the GRUB2 bootloader."
Discuss this story at:
https://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1715218/fedora-16-opensuse-121-betas-with-gnome-32?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.meejahor.com/
1. http://fedoraproject.org/get-prerelease
2. http://news.opensuse.org/2011/10/01/opensuse-12-1-beta-arrives/
3. http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/Fedora-16-beta-and-OpenSUSE-121-beta/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Oracle's Plans for Java Unveiled at JavaOne
| from the here's-the-plan dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday October 05, @18:22 (Java)
| with 94 comments
| https://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/2127209/oracles-plans-for-java-unveiled-at-javaone?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
msmoriarty writes "[0]Oracle had lots of Java announcements at this
year's [1]JavaOne. So far the plans include: 'The availability of an
early access version of JDK 7 for the Mac OS, plans to "bridge the gap"
between Java ME and Java SE, an approach to modularizing Java SE 8 that
will rely on the Jigsaw platform, a new project that aims to use HTML5 to
bring Java to Apple's iOS platform, the availability of JavaFX 2.0, a
pending proposal to open source that technology, gearing up Java EE for
the cloud, and a delay in the release of Java 8.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/2127209/oracles-plans-for-java-unveiled-at-javaone?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://adtmag.com/articles/2011/10/05/oracle-java-plans-unveiled-at-javaone-2011.aspx
1. http://www.oracle.com/javaone/index.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Could Electron Counts Detect Major Earthquakes?
| from the hey-sparky dept.
| posted by timothy on Wednesday October 05, @11:26 (Earth)
| with 93 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1525235/could-electron-counts-detect-major-earthquakes?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hcs_$reboot writes "According to a Japanese researcher, the electron
count escalation high in the atmosphere [0]could indicate that a major
earthquake is going to happen within 30~40 minutes. That phenomenon was
observed before three earthquakes since 2004. If confirmed, the
earthquake detection system could save thousands of lives."
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1525235/could-electron-counts-detect-major-earthquakes?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Facebook Confirms New Cookie-Tracking Issue
| from the issue-is-such-a-nice-bland-word dept.
| posted by timothy on Wednesday October 05, @13:15 (Cloud)
| with 83 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1617224/facebook-confirms-new-cookie-tracking-issue?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "Facebook is once again [0]setting its datr
cookie via the Like button and other social plugins on third-party
websites. The datr cookie can be used for tracking users [1]whether you
are logged in or logged out of the service. Facebook [2]has confirmed
this is indeed a bug, but says that it is limited in scope and that it
will be fixed today. Talk about damage control."
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1617224/facebook-confirms-new-cookie-tracking-issue?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/09/27/173213/facebook-fixes-post-log-out-cookie-behavior
1. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/facebook-tracking-cookie-returns-according-to-hacker/4374
2. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/facebook-cookie-tracking-issue-is-limited-fix-coming-today/4393
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| US Military To Field Test "Throwable" Robots
| from the toss-it-and-forget-it dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday October 05, @15:27 (Robotics)
| with 76 comments
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1911250/us-military-to-field-test-throwable-robots?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
cylonlover writes "Robots are a perfect tool to give soldiers in the
field 'eyes' on a potentially hazardous situation without placing
themselves in harm's way. With soldiers often operating in difficult
terrain or entering buildings, the easiest way to get such robots into
place is usually to throw them. Currently, many units use a small
tactical robot called the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle 320 which is
equipped with video reconnaissance technology. However, this robot weighs
a not very pack-friendly 32 pounds (14.5 kg), so the call has been put
out for a lighter robot that is more easily transportable by dismounted
units on the move and is able to be thrown into forward locations such as
buildings and caves. To this end, the U.S. military is set to put three
different types of lightweight, [0]'throwable' robots through a series of
combat assessments in Afghanistan."
Discuss this story at:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1911250/us-military-to-field-test-throwable-robots?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.gizmag.com/us-military-throwable-robots/20052/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Dan Shechtman Wins Chemistry Nobel For Quasicrystals
| from the oh-it's-just-a-new-class-of-matter dept.
| posted by timothy on Wednesday October 05, @10:20 (Math)
| with 72 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1331228/dan-shechtman-wins-chemistry-nobel-for-quasicrystals?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]Stirling Newberry writes with word that [1]Dan Shechtman of Israel's
Technion has [2]won the Nobel prize in chemistry for his discovery of
[3]quasicrystals, and provides a short description of why quasicrystals
are exciting: "Quasicrystals fill space completely, but do not repeat,
even though they show self-similar patterns, the way pi has order, but
doesn't repeat. That is, they tessellate in an ordered way, but do not
have repeating cells. In art, [4]Girih tiles showed the essential
property of being able to cover an infinite space, without repeating. In
mathematics, [5]Hao Wang came up with a set of tiles that any [6]Turing
Machine could be represented by, and conjectured that they would
eventually always repeat. He turned out to be wrong, and over the next
decades, tiles that did not repeat, but showed order, were discovered,
most famously, though not first, by [7]Penrose. Physically, when x-rays
diffract, that is are scattered, from a crystal, they form a discrete
lattice. Quasicrystals also have an ordered diffraction pattern, and it
tiles the way ordered non-repeating tiles do. Quasicrystal patterns were
known before Shechtman labelled them. So why care? Because crystals have
only certain symmetries, and that determines their physical properties.
Quasicrystals can have different symmetries, and do not bind regularly,
and so different physical properties ��� which means [8]new kinds of
materials. Some examples: highly ductile steel, and, in something that is
a bit of a by-word among people who study them, [9]cooking utensils."
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1331228/dan-shechtman-wins-chemistry-nobel-for-quasicrystals?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. mailto:stirling.newberry@gmail.com
1. http://materials.technion.ac.il/st/
2. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2011/shechtman.html
3. http://www.jcrystal.com/steffenweber/qc.html
4. http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/8270/title/Math_Trek__Ancient_Islamic_Penrose_Tiles
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hao_Wang_(academic)
6. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing-machine/
7. http://www.springerlink.com/content/3tv8162j7w21w370/
8. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCoQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aip.org%2Ftip%2FINPHFA%2Fvol-2%2Fiss-4%2Fp26.pdf&rct=j&q=quasicrystal%20applications&ei=oEyMTtPBBoXs0gGxw8HOBA&usg=AFQjCNHN1n8b6PgQb-sTgRjXcv5Qqg7kKA&cad=rja
9. http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=5204191.PN.&OS=PN/5204191&RS=PN/5204191
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Bletchley Park Gets £4.6 Million Restoration
| from the heavy-support dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday October 05, @05:19 (United Kingdom)
| with 68 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/0853251/bletchley-park-gets-46-million-restoration?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
mikejuk writes "Bletchley Park has [0]secured a ��4.6 million Heritage
Lottery Fund Grant for the [1]establishment of a visitor center dedicated
to the World War II Codebreakers. This year saw the unveiling of a new
memorial to the Codebreakers in the grounds of Bletchley Park by the
Queen. Shortly after her visit, a new fundraising campaign for the
restoration of the iconic huts where the code-breaking teams worked was
inaugurated, with help and [2]sponsorship from Google. The grant will
enable the restoration of Codebreaking Huts 1, 3 and 6, and create a
world-class visitor center and exhibition in the currently derelict Block
C. The Bletchley Park Trust has launched the '[3]Action This Day'
campaign to raise the match funding now needed."
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/0853251/bletchley-park-gets-46-million-restoration?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.i-programmer.info/news/82-heritage/3154-bletchley-park-awarded-funds-for-historic-restoration.html
1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-15171726
2. http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/08/08/1613216/Bletchley-Park-Finds-a-Saviour-In-Google
3. http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Autism Traits Prove Valuable for Software Testing
| from the I-got-99-problems-but-a-glitch-aint-one dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday October 05, @19:57 (Businesses)
| with 68 comments
| https://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/235217/autism-traits-prove-valuable-for-software-testing?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back in 2009 we ran a story about a Chicago based non-profit company that
[0]trained high-functioning autistic people to be software testers. Two
years later Aspiritech has grown to offer services in Belgium, Japan and
Israel. Autistic debuggers are used by large clients like Oracle and
Microsoft and have proven to be so good in fact that [1]companies are now
recruiting to meet demand. From the article: "Aspiritech's board of
directors includes social service providers, therapists, a vocational
expert and a software engineer. The nonprofit also received start-up
advice and consultation from Keita Suzuki, who has co-founded a similar
company, called Kaien, in Japan. Aspiritech has hired and trained seven
recruits with Asperger's syndrome. These recruits have since worked on
software-testing projects for smartphone and cloud-computing
applications. Aspiritech now offers functional-, compatibility- and
regression-testing, as well as test-case development, with experience in
cloud-computing platforms including Salesforce."
Discuss this story at:
https://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/235217/autism-traits-prove-valuable-for-software-testing?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/12/09/175245/company-trains-the-autistic-to-test-software
1. http://www.smartertechnology.com/c/a/Social-Business/Autism-Traits-Prove-Valuable-for-Software-Testing/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Welcome Back Kernel.org
| from the look-who's-back dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday October 05, @15:47 (Security)
| with 64 comments
| https://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1920255/welcome-back-kernelorg?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]Hummdis writes "After more than a month of being offline due to a
security breach at Kernel.org, [1]they're back! While they were down,
they took the time to 're-architect' the site for developers and users. A
statement reads: 'As noted previously, [2]kernel.org suffered a security
breach. Because of this, we have taken the time to re-architect the site
in order to improve our systems for developers and users of kernel.org.
To this end, we would like all developers who previously had access to
kernel.org who wish to continue to use it to host their git and static
content, to follow the instructions here. Right now, www.kernel.org and
git.kernel.org have been brought back online. All developer git trees
have been removed from git.kernel.org and will be added back as the
relevant developers regain access to the system. Thanks to all for your
patience and understanding during our outage and please bear with us as
we bring up the different kernel.org systems over the next few weeks. We
will be writing up a report on the incident in the future.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1920255/welcome-back-kernelorg?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.hummdis.com/
1. http://www.kernel.org/
2. http://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/2321232/kernelorg-compromised
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Human "Cloning" Makes Embryonic Stem Cells
| from the me-and-more-me dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday October 05, @19:10 (Medicine)
| with 62 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/2225204/human-cloning-makes-embryonic-stem-cells?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Med-trump writes "Scientists at the New York Stem Cell Foundation
Laboratory have reprogrammed an adult human egg cell to an embryonic
state using cloning technology and [0]created a self-reproducing line of
embryonic stem cells from the developing embryo. Lead researcher Dr
Dieter Egli said: 'The cells we have made are not yet for therapeutic
use. There is clearly more work to be done, this is early days. We see
this as a step on that road, so now we do know that a human egg can turn
an adult specialised cell, such as a skin cell, into a stem cell.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/2225204/human-cloning-makes-embryonic-stem-cells?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.nature.com/news/2011/111005/full/news.2011.578.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Telecomix Releases 54GB of Syrian Censorship Logs
| from the like-cheese-logs-but-worse dept.
| posted by timothy on Wednesday October 05, @09:36 (Censorship)
| with 43 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1249209/telecomix-releases-54gb-of-syrian-censorship-logs?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]pafein writes "Hacktivist cluster [1]Telecomix released [2]54
gigabytes of Syrian censorship log data. The anonymized log data was
collected from seven of 15 [3]Bluecoat SG-9000 HTTP proxies used by
Syrian government telco and ISP [4]STE. Preliminary analysis revealed
such keywords as proxy and Israel were blocked. And of course, much porn.
The data set provides a unique look at Internet censorship from the
inside. Internauts who enjoy regexes and charts are invited to help make
a pretty infographic. Telecomix's [5]#opsyria has been [6]fighting
censorship and facilitating communications [note: French language link]
in Syria for the past few weeks, providing TOR, VPNs and technical advice
and support via IRC. They've also been [7]providing DNS service for The
Pirate Bay."
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1249209/telecomix-releases-54gb-of-syrian-censorship-logs?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://i.wearpants.org/
1. http://telecomix.org/
2. http://tcxsyria.ceops.eu/95191b161149135ba7bf6936e01bc3bb
3. http://reflets.info/bluecoats-role-in-syrian-censorship-and-nationwide-monitoring-system/
4. http://www.ste.gov.sy/
5. https://chat.werebuild.eu/?nick=slshdt..
6. http://owni.fr/2011/09/14/opsyria-syrie-telecomix/
7. http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/10/04/1855211/belgian-isp-ordered-to-block-the-pirate-bay-telecomix-and-tpb-offer-workarounds
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Book Review: Definitive Guide To Drupal 7
| from the read-all-about-it dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday October 05, @17:40 (Book Reviews)
| with 36 comments
| https://books.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/217234/book-review-definitive-guide-to-drupal-7?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]Michael J. Ross writes "Most computer and web programming books are
written entirely by a single author, while the remaining are written by
more authors, typically with each one tackling several chapters. The
latter approach can suffer from redundant material undetected by editors,
and inconsistency in the writing style from one chapter to the next. Yet
it offers the significant advantage that the subject matter of each
chapter can be presented by an authority on that topic ��� who can focus on
making that explication the best possible, without the burden of
completing an entire book. That was one of my first thoughts (and hopes)
when hefting the 1112 pages and 4.1 pounds of the Definitive Guide to
Drupal 7." Read on for the rest of Michael's review.
This story continues at:
https://books.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/217234/book-review-definitive-guide-to-drupal-7?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
Discuss this story at:
https://books.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/217234/book-review-definitive-guide-to-drupal-7?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.ross.ws/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Red Hat Acquiring Cloud Storage Company Gluster
| from the investing-in-intangibles dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Tuesday October 04, @22:22 (Cloud)
| with 32 comments
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/10/04/2336218/red-hat-acquiring-cloud-storage-company-gluster?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]Julie188 writes "One of the more interesting aspects of [1]Red Hat's
acquisition of virtual storage vendor Gluster on Tuesday is how it
[2]drags Red Hat into bed with its cloud competitor OpenStack. Red Hat
made waves over the summer in the open source community when one of its
executives threw punches at OpenStack's community, saying the community
amounted to not much more than a bunch of press releases. In July,
Gluster contributed its Connector for OpenStack. It enables features such
as live migration of VMs, instant boot of VMs, and movement of VMs
between clouds on a GlusterFS environment. While Fedora has already said
that its upcoming Fedora 16 would support OpenStack, Fedora is a
community distro and not beholden to Red Hat. However, Red Hat today
promised that it would continue to support and maintain Gluster's
contribution to OpenStack. It didn't, however, to promise to quit the
smack talk."
Discuss this story at:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/10/04/2336218/red-hat-acquiring-cloud-storage-company-gluster?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. mailto:jbort@nww.com
1. http://www.gluster.com/2011/10/04/red-hat-to-acquire-gluster/
2. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/100411-red-hat-gluster-251571.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Robotic Arm With Home-Brewed, Open Source Voice Control
| from the pure-distilled-awesome dept.
| posted by timothy on Wednesday October 05, @08:55 (Hardware Hacking)
| with 31 comments
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1236202/robotic-arm-with-home-brewed-open-source-voice-control?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First time accepted submitter [0]aonsquared writes "A couple of months
ago I managed to scoop up a cheap (��30) robot arm with a USB interface
from Maplin (I'm in the UK). Following a wrist injury which left me
without the use of my right hand for 4 weeks, I decided to build it for a
little hacking project. Using Linux, libusb and other freely available
tools, I have enabled the robot arm to respond to my voice commands. I've
posted [1]a full tutorial and downloadable source code, as well as a
[2]demonstration video. Hopefully, open-source voice recognition as well
as devices like the Kinect (which has spawned hundreds of different cool
hacks) can someday revolutionise the way we interact with computers and
machines."
Discuss this story at:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/10/05/1236202/robotic-arm-with-home-brewed-open-source-voice-control?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.aonsquared.co.uk/
1. http://www.aonsquared.co.uk/robot_arm_tutorial_1
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32nIxJZvqtI
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