An anonymous reader writes "Soda makers, along with other trade organizations, filed a lawsuit Friday challenging the New York soda ban that is about to be implemented in the city. 'Last month, the board voted eight to zero, with one abstention, to ban restaurants, mobile food carts, delis and concessions at movie theaters, stadiums and arenas from selling sugary drinks in cups or containers larger than 16 ounces. The ban, designed to reduce obesity, is slated to begin March 12. ... The lawsuit also claims that new regulations are “arbitrary and capricious,” violating a section of the New York Civil Laws and Rules. Opponents have specifically said it’s unfair that convenience stores, including 7-Eleven and its famous Big Gulp drink, would be exempt.'"
An anonymous reader writes "'When all 3 legs of your 3-legged strategy fail, what do you do? You rush — run run run — to change your total strategy. But what would a madman do?' Ex-Nokia exec Tommi Ahonen's new article has a few suggestions. Is the Nokia board either asleep at the wheel, or incompetent, or in collusion with the incompetent CEO? Ahonen provides an insider's view not just of how Nokia's Windows phone strategy has failed, but how this has spread to other parts of the company's technology. He says the 'Elop Effect' has 'single-handedly destroyed [...] Europe's biggest tech giant.' He raises the question: Why is Nokia's board failing to act? We've discussed Tommi's articles before, where he was correctly predicting Windows Phone's market failure at a point where others were claiming that 'the Lumia line is, in fact, selling quite nicely.'"
olsmeister writes "Ever wonder if the universe is really a simulation? Well, physicists do too. Recently, a group of physicists have devised a way that could conceivably figure out one way or the other whether that is the case. There is a paper describing their work on arXiv. Some other physicists propose that the universe is actually a giant hologram with all the action actually occurring on a two-dimensional boundary region."
gManZboy writes "If you skip Windows 8, you lose the appealing opportunity to synchronize all of your devices on a single platform — or so goes the argument. If you're skeptical, you're not alone. OS monogamy may be in Apple's interest, and Microsoft's, but ask why it's in your interest. Can Microsoft convince the skeptics? 'If the hardware and software are the same at home and at work, one can't be "better" than the other. It would help if Microsoft convinced users like me that their platform is so good, we'd be fools to go anywhere else,' writes Kevin Casey."
SpzToid writes "U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta has warned that the country is 'facing the possibility of a "cyber-Pearl Harbor" and [is] increasingly vulnerable to foreign computer hackers who could dismantle the nation's power grid, transportation system, financial networks and government.' Countries such as Iran, China, and Russia are claimed to be motivated to conduct such attacks (though in at least Iran's case, it could be retaliation). Perhaps this is old news around here, even though Panetta is requesting new legislation from Congress. I think the following message from Richard Bejtlich is more wise and current: 'We would be much better served if we accepted that prevention eventually fails, so we need detection, response, and containment for the incidents that will occur.' Times do changes, even in the technology sector. Currently Congress is preoccupied with the failure of U.S. security threats in Benghazi, while maybe Leon isn't getting the press his recent message deserves?"
theodp writes "In Ken Kesey's 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Nurse Ratched maintained order in the mental institution by dispensing antipsychotic and anticonvulsant drugs to the patients. Fifty years later, the NY Times reports that some physicians are prescribing stimulants to struggling students in schools starved of extra money, not to treat ADHD, necessarily, but to boost their academic performance. 'We as a society have been unwilling to invest in very effective nonpharmaceutical interventions for these children and their families,' said Dr. Ramesh Raghavan, an expert in prescription drug use among low-income children. 'We are effectively forcing local community psychiatrists to use the only tool at their disposal, which is psychotropic medications.'"
another random user writes "Apple is planning to shift production of its ARM-based microprocessors from Samsung to the Taiwanese chip-baking giant TSMC as early as next year, according to a report by the China Economic News Service (CENS). The report cites CitiGroup Global Markets analyst J.T. Hsu as saying that TSMC will be Apple's sole supplier of 20nm quad-core processors, with volume production to begin in the fourth quarter of 2013. He also noted that Apple began its 20nm chip-verfication process at TSMC in August of this year. Hsu told CENS that the future quad-core chips were intended for Apple's 'iPad, iTV and even Macbook,' turning up the heat on two rumors that have been simmering for months: that Apple is planning a move into the television market, and that an ARM-based MacBook is in the works."
ancientribe writes "A couple of college interns have discovered that remote administration tools (RATs) often used for cyberspying and targeted cyberattacks contain common flaws that ultimately could be exploited to help turn the tables on the attackers. RATs conduct keylogging, screen and camera capture, file management, code execution, and password-sniffing, and give the attacker a foothold in the infected machine as well as the targeted organization. This new research opens the door for incident responders to detect these attacker tools in their network and fight back."
An anonymous reader writes "AMD is preparing to lay off 20 to 30 percent of its workforce after warning of a 10 percent decline in Q3 revenues driven by the weak global economy and PC sales, according to AllThingsD's Arik Hesseldehl. The layoffs will reportedly focus on engineering and sales, and are in addition to a 10 percent headcount reduction 11 months ago. Teams of consultants from McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group are reportedly swarming headquarters to advise the CEO Rory Read, who took over from Dirk Meyer a little over a year ago; several senior executives, including the CFO, have recently departed."
hypnosec writes "Raynaldo Rivera has pleaded guilty at the US District Court for the Central District of California to hacking the Sony Pictures Entertainment website in May 2011. The 20-year-old in his plea agreement revealed that he joined Lulzsec in May of last year in a bid to help the hacking collective carry out cyberattacks on governments and businesses. Rivera, who surrendered to the FBI on August 28 this year, admitted that he was the one who launched an SQL injection attack against sonypictures.com that enabled him to extract confidential information from the website's database."
itwbennett writes "As Slashdot readers will recall, ICANN has been struggling to find a way to decide which applications to evaluate first. At the end of June, ICANN announced it had abandoned plans to use the Digital Archery contest. Then at the end of July, ICANN said it would process all applications simultaneously. Now there's a new plan in the works: an old-fashioned, manual raffle with tickets costing $100. There's just one catch, though: California law prohibits unlicensed lotteries."
daveschroeder writes "After over 296 days in space, nearly 123 million miles traveled, Space Shuttle Endeavour (OV-105) is making its final journey — on the streets of Los Angeles. The last Space Shuttle to be built, the contract for Endeavour was awarded on July 31, 1987. Endeavour first launched on May 7, 1992 (video), launched for the last time on May 16, 2011 (video), and landed for the final time on June 1, 2011 (video). Endeavour then took to the skies aboard the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), completing the final ferry flight and the final flight of any kind in the Space Shuttle Program era with an aerial grand tour of southern California escorted by two NASA Dryden Flight Research Center F/A-18 aircraft on September 21, 2012 (video). This morning around 1:30AM Pacific Time, Endeavour began another journey, this one on the ground. All Space Shuttles have traveled via road from Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, CA, to Edwards Air Force Base, but this time a Space Shuttle is taking to the streets of Los Angeles for the journey from Los Angeles International Airport to its final home at the California Science Center. Getting the shuttle through LA surface streets is a mammoth logistical challenge as it lumbers along at 2 mph to the cheers of onlookers. Watching Endeavour make the journey is a sight to be seen (pictures, video)! Thank you, Endeavour!" Slashdot's Principal Software Engineer Kaushik Acharya was on hand, with camera, and took some great pictures of the event.
Tausende Schaulustige säumten die Strassen als die ausgemusterte Raumfähre Endeavour ihre letzte Reise antrat. Für den zehn Millionen Dollar teuren Transport wurden 400 Bäume gefällt und Stromleitungen gekappt.
Die Messwerte für die Jahre 2010 und 2011 zeigen, dass die Gletscherschmelze voranschreitet: 93 von 97 beobachteten Gletschern haben sich zurückgezogen.
Roger Federer scheidet im Halbfinal des ATP-Masters-1000-Turniers von Shanghai aus. Die Nummer 1 der Welt verliert gegen Andy Murray (ATP 3) 4:6, 4:6 – und zieht dennoch eine positive Bilanz.
Ein Nacktmull wird uralt und ist relativ unempfindlich gegen Schmerzen. Diese aussergewöhnlichen Eigenschaften machen ihn interessant für die biomedizinische Forschung.
Bizarrer Fund: An einem Strand in Florida hat ein Mann ein riesiges Auge entdeckt und eingesammelt. Experten versuchen nun herauszufinden, von welchem Tier das Sehorgan stammen könnte.
Eine Klimastudie geht davon aus, dass es im Kanton Tessin in Zukunft massiv wärmer werden wird. Dafür soll es im Winter deutlich mehr regnen.
Erdbeben, Vulkanausbrüche, Stürme und die Gewalten des Meeres – die Idylle des Pazifiks in Vanuatu trügt: Gemäss dem Weltrisikoreport ist der Inselstaat der gefährlichste Ort auf Erden. Am besten lebt es sich in Katar.
Der Mars-Rover hat einen Stein gefunden, wie er in ähnlicher Form auch auf der Erde existiert. Der pyramidenförmige Gesteinsbrocken könnte ein weiterer Beweis sein, dass sich der Blaue und der Rote Planet gleichen.
Dass ein Passagierflugzeug von Kampfjets aus der Luft geholt wird, passiert selten. Wie ein solches Manöver geflogen wird und warum sich kein Pilot dem Befehl zur Landung widersetzen sollte.
Auch heute wird nichts aus Felix Baumgartners Sprung aus 36'000 Metern Höhe. Der Österreicher will den Rekord aber unbedingt noch dieses Jahr schaffen. Nächster möglicher Termin: Sonntag.
Robert Lefkowitz und Brian Kobilka erhalten die höchste Auszeichnung für Chemie. Das Nobelpreiskomitee zeichnete die beiden US-amerikanischen Zellbiologen aus.
Die Geschichte um Abschaffung und Wiedereinführung der Kapitalstrafe in der Schweiz des 19. Jahrhunderts.
Todesangst nach der Spritze: Insgesamt sind bereits elf Menschen durch ein verseuchtes Schmerzmittel ums Leben gekommen. Hauptsächlich betroffen sind die US-Staaten Tennessee, Virginia und Michigan.
Die erste Bodenprobe, die der Marsroboter Curiosity nahm, förderte eine Überraschung zu Tage: Ein glänzendes Teil. Die Erklärung dafür könnte relativ banal sein.
Der diesjährige Nobelpreis für Physik wird an Serge Haroche aus Frankreich und David Wineland aus den USA verliehen. Das Cern mit Sitz in Genf geht leer aus.