OverTheGeicoE writes "The Electronic Privacy Information Center has been examining the White House's proposed budget for Department of Homeland Security for 2013, and they point out that it doesn't include any money for additional airport body scanners for TSA. Did the recent scandal involving TSA workers targeting women for scans make the White House realize that TSA is a national embarrassment? Does the executive branch finally understand the questionable safety and effectiveness of these devices? Or does DHS just think it has enough scanners once TSA installs the 250 new scanners in this year's budget?"
An anonymous reader writes "Paul Tyma, creator of Mailinator, writes about a greedy algorithm to analyze the huge amount of email Mailinator receives and finds ways to reduce its memory footprint by 90%. Quoting: 'I grabbed a few hundred megs of the Mailinator stream and ran it through several compressors. Mostly just stuff I had on hand 7z, bzip, gzip, etc. Venerable zip reduced the file by 63%. Not bad. Then I tried the LZMA/2 algorithm (7z) which got it down by 85%! Well. OK! Article is over! Everyone out! 85% is good enough. Actually — there were two problems with that result. One was that, LZMA, like many compression algorithms build their dictionary based on a fixed dataset. As it compresses it builds a dictionary of common sequences and improves and uses that dictionary to compress everything thereafter. That works great on static files — but Mailinator is not a static file. Its a big, honking, several gigabyte cache of ever changing email. If I compressed a million emails, and then some user wanted to read email #502,922 — I'd have to "seek" through the preceding half-million or so to build the dictionary in order to decompress it. That's probably not feasible.'"
phy_si_kal writes "The new, open source, Opa web programming language just hit version 0.9.0 'S4,' six months after its last major release. Apart from a new syntax more similar to JavaScript, the new release focuses on mongoDB integration. Opa now features something similar to object-relational mapping (ORM) except that mongoDB is a non-relational, document-oriented database and Opa a functional, non-object-oriented language. The new functionality makes the NoSQL database even easier to use, as all language-database calls are automated. The mapping of functional datastructures to documents could even be much better than current ORM approaches and solve the object-relational impedance mismatch."
Zothecula writes "If you thought WikiLeaks was a disruptive idea, the transparency grenade is going to blow you away. This tiny bit of hardware hidden under the shell shaped like a classic Soviet F1 hand grenade allows you to leak information from anywhere just by pulling a pin. The device is essentially a small computer with a powerful wireless antenna and a microphone. Following 'detonation,' the grenade intercepts local network traffic and captures audio data, then makes the information immediately available online."
ananyo writes "Even in death, the world's most accomplished parrot continues to amaze. The final experiments involving Alex – a grey parrot trained to count objects – have just been published (abstract). They show that Alex could accurately add together Arabic numerals to a sum of eight, and correctly add three small sets of objects, putting his mathematical abilities on par with (and maybe beyond) those of chimpanzees and other non-human primates."
caseih writes "Damaging the embedded chip in your passport is now grounds for denying you the ability to travel in at least one airport in the U.S. Though the airport can slide the passport through the little number reader as easily as they can wave it in front of an RFID reader, they chose to deny a young child access to the flight, in essence denying the whole family. The child had accidentally sat on his passport, creasing the cover, and the passport appeared worn. The claim has been made that breaking the chip in the passport shows that you disrespect the privilege of owning a passport, and that the airport was justified in denying this child from using the passport."
The Bad Astronomer writes "Last week, an anonymous source leaked several internal documents from the Heartland Institute, a non-profit think tank known for anti-global-warming rhetoric. The leaker has come forward: Peter Gleick, scientist and journalist. In his admission, he cites his own breach of ethics, but also maintains that all the documents are real. This includes the potentially embarrassing '2012 Climate Strategy' document stating that Heartland wants to 'dissuade teachers from teaching science.' Heartland still claims this document is a forgery, but there is no solid evidence either way."
Metrix Create:Space is full of people busily making electronic gadgets. And shot glasses. And everything in between. Some of them saw the street-level sign and stopped in out of curiosity, while others are long-time createspace scenesters. It doesn't matter which you are, says Metrix founder Matt Westervelt. Come in and make something. Need new skills? They have workshops. And lots of great tools.
nk497 writes "Canonical has revealed Ubuntu running on a smartphone — but the open source developer hasn't squashed the full desktop onto a tiny screen. Instead, the Ubuntu for Android system runs both OSes side by side, picking which to surface depending on the form factor. When a device — in the demo, it was a Motorola Atrix — is being used as a smartphone, it uses Android. When it's docked into a laptop or desktop setup, the full version of Ubuntu is used. Files, apps and other functionality such as voice calls and texting are shared between the two — for example, if a text message is sent to the phone when it's docked, the SMS pops up in Ubuntu, while calls can be received or made from the desktop." ZDnet has pictures; ExtremeTech has a story, too, including some words from Canonical CEO Jane Silber.
Hugh Pickens writes "Scientists have looked for explanations as to why certain conditions occur with age, among them memory loss, slower reaction time, insomnia and even depression looking at such suspects as high cholesterol, obesity, heart disease and an inactive lifestyle. Now Laurie Tarkan writes that as eyes age, less and less sunlight gets through the lens to reach key cells in the retina that regulate the body's circadian rhythm, its internal clock that rallies the body to tackle the day's demands in the morning and slows it down at night, allowing the body to rest and repair. 'Evolution has built this beautiful timekeeping mechanism, but the clock is not absolutely perfect and needs to be nudged every day,' says Dr. David Berson, whose lab at Brown University studies how the eye communicates with the brain. Dr. Patricia Turner, an ophthalmologist who with her husband, Dr. Martin Mainster has written extensively about the effects of the aging eye on health, estimate that by age 45, the photoreceptors of the average adult receive just 50 percent of the light needed to fully stimulate the circadian system, by age 55, it dips to 37 percent, and by age 75, to a mere 17 percent and recommend that people should make an effort to expose themselves to bright sunlight or bright indoor lighting when they cannot get outdoors and have installed skylights and extra fluorescent lights in their own offices to help offset the aging of their own eyes. 'In modern society, most of the time we live in a controlled environment under artificial lights, which are 1,000 to 10,000 times dimmer than sunlight and the wrong part of the spectrum,' says Turner. 'We believe the effect is huge and that it's just beginning to be recognized as a problem.'"
darthcamaro writes "The world's most popular web server is out with a major new release today that has one key goal — deliver more performance than ever before. Improved caching, proxy modules as well as new session control are also key highlights of the release. 'We also show that as far as true performance is based — real-world performance as seen by the end-user- 2.4 is as fast, and even faster than some of the servers who may be "better" known as being "fast", like nginx,' Jim Jagielski, ASF President and Apache HTTP Server Project Management Committee, told InternetNews.com." Here's list of new features in 2.4.
rivin2e writes "It would seem our neighbor, the moon, has something hidden below the surface. 'Images collected by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter hints the moon has probably seen tectonic activity within the last 50 million years.' It would appear from the article that the moon is changing a lot more than we think, even if it doesn't seem like it. I, for one, am still waiting for that big black obelisk to be dug up." From NASA's press release: "A team of researchers analyzing high-resolution images obtained by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) show small, narrow trenches typically much longer than they are wide. This indicates the lunar crust is being pulled apart at these locations. These linear valleys, known as graben, form when the moon's crust stretches, breaks and drops down along two bounding faults. A handful of these graben systems have been found across the lunar surface."
jfruh writes "Hey, remember when Oracle decided to sue Google over claims that Android violated Oracle's Java patents and copyrights? How's that working out? Not so well, it seems! Oracle has been forced to take many of its patents out of the lawsuit due to lack of evidence, and the damages in play now are down to a little less than 4 percent of Oracle's original $6.1 billion claims."
itwbennett writes "In response to Microsoft's claim that Google circumvented Internet Explorer privacy protections (following the discovery that Google also worked around Safari's privacy settings), Google on Monday said that IE's privacy protection, called P3P, is impractical to comply with."
Agile development and the cloud are like hand in glove. But Agile can be dangerous if your organization isn't ready for it.
Comcast's new streaming service, Steampix, is the latest service to try to grab business from Netflix.
Oracle has given customers running version 12.0 of its E-Business Suite software a reprieve from extended support fees, which would have kicked in this month...
Intel is exploring whether it can branch out as a foundry by opening its chip manufacturing facilities to more third-party customers, the company said on...
SkyDrive provides plenty of free space, but has been difficult to access. Integration with Windows 8 will make SkyDrive a more desirable way to store and access files in the cloud.
A hackerspace in Louisville has created a sensor array to make sure the geek chores get done.
Apple is working on an update to the iTunes Store, according to reports. While it's busy at work, here are three improvements I'd like to see.
It’s bad enough when squawking Angry Birds turn up on smartphones and tablets as you commute to work, but things have gone too far when one drops from above and bumps into your head as you walk the floor at the 2012 Toy Fair.
A town in the Netherlands built a 65-foot-tall steeple out of Lego-like concrete bricks, much to the delight of Lego geeks everywhere...
Barnes and Noble is pitting its new Nook Tablet model against the Kindle Fire, but it lacks the secret ingredient necessary to compete with the Amazon tablet.
Canonical has unveiled software that will give Android smartphones the ability to run full desktop computer sessions on computer monitors and television sets.
Blackberry Bridge 2.0 software unexpectedly allows Blackberry devices to become a bluetooth remote for Android devices, PCs running Windows and Mac OS X, and the PS3.
This telepresence robot can pick up and maniuplate objects, and it can even tell you the temperature and texture of an object.
Microsoft's vision vision is for SkyDrive to become "a single drive" available across all the devices people use.
Report says Apple's next MacBook Air is 'set to launch' as February notebook shipments look to improve over January's numbers.
No mere app, this new version of Canonical's Linux distribution will coexist with Android on smartphones and offer seamless integration of apps and data.
Abine offers browser add-on that prevents Google, advertisers, Facebook, and other marketing companies from tracking you online via a free browser tool.
The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) has celebrated the 17th anniversary of the release of the Apache HTTP Server by launching a new version of the popular open...
All you need is a Kindle (or Kindle app) and a thirst for knowledge. These three titles have a combined value of $85.
The purported iOS apps would have the ability to edit a file locally on your tablet or edit an online document.
ForeScout Technologies has launched ForeScout Mobile, which comes in the shape of plug-in modules for Android and iOS and allows enterprises to keep control as a...
Panasonic on Tuesday revealed its first mobile handset for the international market since 2005, a sleek Android-powered smartphone that is dust and waterproof.
Barnes & Noble will start allowing users to store more than 1 GB of content from outside the Nook Store on the device's internal storage.
The PlayStation Vita is launching in the U.S. and Europe with Sony's biggest sales event in recent memory -- parties with celebrities, midnight store openings...
Fluent lets you view conversation threads, attachments and mail from multiple accounts at a glance.
Data from the launch of the iPad 2 indicates that now might be the very best time to sell that iPad 2. Wait, and its value may plummet.
The agreement lets Yandex show new tweets in its search results almost instantly.
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has proposed privatizing business-to-business platform Alibaba.com as the site faces slower revenue growth brought on by a...
A team of researchers has devised a method to defeat NuCaptcha, one of the most popular video-based antispam tests on the Internet, and have proposed a solution...
Ericsson has entered into an agreement to buy privately held Canadian Wi-Fi company BelAir Networks, as operators get increasingly interested in using Wi-Fi to...
Research In Motion has delivered a new OS that brings a native e-mail client to its tablet. Will these improvements boost sales of the device?
Microsoft's privacy protection feature in Internet Explorer, known as P3P, is impractical to comply with while providing modern web functionality such as...
The new arrivals are the Galaxy Ace 2 and the Galaxy mini 2 from Samsung, and the Optimus L3, L5 and L7 from LG.
Microsoft's privacy protection feature in Internet Explorer, known as P3P, is impractical to comply with while providing modern web functionality such as...
Antenna Software on Tuesday plans to launch a hosted service that will let businesses design, build, publish, manage and analyze mobile apps that are geared...
Netbook sales are declining precipitously. Is the netbook dead, or will it survive as a niche player?
China Telecom said on Tuesday it will begin selling the iPhone 4S on March 9, making it the second carrier in the country to officially sell Apple's popular...
Targeted toward budget-minded buyers, the ZTE Mimosa X has a 4.3-inch display, HSPA+ support and a 5-megapixel camera.
A prominent Australia-based technologist is cautioning people not to put full confidence in an application he developed that intends to provide security for...
Does Android really allow for a smartphone experience where you don't share with Google?
Time spent by Australians on social networking site down 21% over past year.
NASA CIO looks to define the Geek community, sort of.
Give your computer or tablet a blast of the past with this cool and simple DIY typewriter mod.
What happens when stupid non-geeks write bills like SOPA and HR 1981? Rep. Lamar Smith says it's for the children, of course, and if you object to being spied upon online then you are some kind of guilty pro-child-porn lowlife pond scum sucker. Where does the stupidity stop?
Microsoft on Monday accused Google of bypassing privacy protections in Internet Explorer, following accusations last week that Google was doing so in Apple's Safari browser.
Google may have crossed a line with respect to user privacy, but it's not the first, it won't be the last, and you need to have realistic expectations.
Although big data and cloud computing are linked, there are technical reasons you shouldn't combine them by default
A further sign of industry-specific SaaS development?
Is Google trying to bring voice recognition to TV?
Complaints mount about the difference between policy and practice in Google's efforts to respect privacy but serve up targeted ads.