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Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* Why Can't We Put a BASIC On the Phone?
* America's Turn From Science, a Danger For Democracy
* Techrights Recommends An Apple Boycott
* Christmas Always On Sunday? Researchers Propose New Calendar
* Charlie Kindel On Why Windows Phone Still Hasn't Taken Off
* PR Firm Unwisely Tangles With Penny Arcade
* Do E-Readers Spell the Demise Of Traditional Schooling?
* Ask Slashdot: Tools For Teaching High School Kids How To Make Games?
* DigiTimes Lends Credence To Apple-Branded TVs For 2012
* The GoDaddy Saga Continues
* Why American Corporate Software Can No Longer Be Trusted
* Will Hackers Try To Disrupt the Iowa Caucuses?
* China Begins Using New Global Positioning Satellites
* 2012 and the Technology Blahs
* Ask Slashdot: Geek-Centric Magazines Still Published On Paper?
* Boxee 1.5 Will Be the Last Supported Desktop Version
* GnuPG Short ID Collision Has Occurred.
* SETI To Scour the Moon For Alien Footprints?
* What Life Was Like Inside the Hexagon Project
* More Details On Drug Cartel's Clandestine Communications Network
* New WiFi Setup Flaw Allows Easy Router PIN Guessing
* Weird Fossils Show Ancient Organism Reproducing
* Twin GRAIL Probes To Map Lunar Gravity Field
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Why Can't We Put a BASIC On the Phone?
| from the that's-make-it-too-easy dept.
| posted by Unknown Lamer on Monday December 26, @19:15 (Google)
| with 738 comments
| https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/12/26/2310226/why-cant-we-put-a-basic-on-the-phone?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
theodp writes "In the Sixties, we could [0]put a man on the moon.
Nowadays, [1]laments jocastette, America's tech giants can't even put a
BASIC on the phone. Woz managed to [2]crank out a BASIC interpreter for
the 6502 in the '70s. As did [3]Bill Gates and Paul Allen. So, why ��� at a
time when development has never been easier ��� can't Google, Apple, and
Microsoft manage to support a free BASIC or [4]other
programming-for-the-masses development environment on desktops, laptops,
tablets and phones?" My limited experience with Android development
showed using Java to be obtuse and downright obnoxious to do anything (at
least without Eclipse, and even with it doing anything non-standard
required digging through horrendous [5]ant buildfiles). And, of course,
without a [6]REPL things were even more obnoxious. There is the
[7]android-scripting project, but it [8]doesn't provide particularly
exhaustive access to the platform.
Discuss this story at:
https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/12/26/2310226/why-cant-we-put-a-basic-on-the-phone?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://history.nasa.gov/moondec.html
1. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3393454
2. http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=MacBasic.txt&characters=Steve%20Wozniak&sortOrder=Sort%20by%20Date
3. http://www.thocp.net/companies/microsoft/microsoft_company.htm
4. http://www.i-programmer.info/news/83-mobliephone/3529-google-app-inventor-shuts-dec-31-with-no-mit-alternative.html
5. http://ant.apache.org/
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read%E2%80%93eval%E2%80%93print_loop
7. http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/
8. http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/wiki/ApiReference
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| America's Turn From Science, a Danger For Democracy
| from the tide-goes-in-tide-goes-out dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Tuesday December 27, @14:27 (United States)
| with 620 comments
| https://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/1910219/americas-turn-from-science-a-danger-for-democracy?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Here's a good article about [1]how
playing politics with science puts our country at risk ��� a review of
Shawn Otto's book Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in
America. Today's policy-makers, Otto shows, are increasingly unwilling to
pursue many of the remedies science presents. They take one of two
routes: deny the science, or pretend the problems don't exist."
Discuss this story at:
https://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/1910219/americas-turn-from-science-a-danger-for-democracy?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://beckermanlegal.com/
1. http://www.truth-out.org/americas-turn-science-danger-democracy/1324997534
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Techrights Recommends An Apple Boycott
| from the competition-is-bad-for-business dept.
| posted by Unknown Lamer on Tuesday December 27, @03:18 (Patents)
| with 485 comments
| https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/0216217/techrights-recommends-an-apple-boycott?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]walterbyrd writes with a quote from an article at Techrights: "Given
the latest actions from Apple we cannot help recommending that people buy
nothing from Apple. Boycott the company for [1]being a threat to the IT
landscape and also to common sense." More from the article: "...Apple has
been [2]working hard to embargo ��� not just sue ��� the competition. Apple
disregards the notion of fair competition..."
Discuss this story at:
https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/0216217/techrights-recommends-an-apple-boycott?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. mailto:walterbyrd@yahoo.com
1. http://techrights.org/2011/12/26/boycott-apple-debated/
2. http://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/08/09/1832254/sale-of-samsung-galaxy-tab-blocked-in-the-eu
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Christmas Always On Sunday? Researchers Propose New Calendar
| from the metric-holidays dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Tuesday December 27, @18:04 (News)
| with 398 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/2258205/christmas-always-on-sunday-researchers-propose-new-calendar?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have
discovered a way to make time stand still ��� at least when it comes to the
yearly calendar. Using computer programs and mathematical formulas, an
astrophysicist and an economist have created a new calendar in which
[0]each new 12-month period is identical to the one which came before,
and [1]remains that way from one year to the next in perpetuity."
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/2258205/christmas-always-on-sunday-researchers-propose-new-calendar?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://releases.jhu.edu/2011/12/27/time-for-a-change-johns-hopkins-scholars-say-calendar-needs-serious-overhaul/
1. http://henry.pha.jhu.edu/calendar.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Charlie Kindel On Why Windows Phone Still Hasn't Taken Off
| from the need-a-bigger-booster dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Tuesday December 27, @15:09 (Businesses)
| with 296 comments
| https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/208207/charlie-kindel-on-why-windows-phone-still-hasnt-taken-off?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft's weak share in the mobile phone
market can be attributed to its [0]mishandling of industry politics, not
inferior technology or features, according to ex-Windows Phone evangelist
Charlie Kindel. Microsoft's traditional strategy of going over the heads
of hardware vendors to meet the needs of consumers and application
developers [1]does not work in the phone market, says Kindel, where the
handset makers and carriers have the biggest say in determining the
winners (Apple is an exception). [2]Not everybody agrees with Kindel's
analysis. Old-timers may remember Kindel, who recently [3]resigned from
Microsoft, from his days as developer relations guru for
COM/OLE/Active-X."
Discuss this story at:
https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/208207/charlie-kindel-on-why-windows-phone-still-hasnt-taken-off?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://ceklog.kindel.com/2011/12/26/windows-phone-is-superior-why-hasnt-it-taken-off/
1. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2398070,00.asp
2. http://wmpoweruser.com/charlie-kindel-is-wrong-about-why-windows-phone-has-not-taken-off/
3. http://ceklog.kindel.com/2011/08/08/after-21-years-goodbye-microsoft/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| PR Firm Unwisely Tangles With Penny Arcade
| from the internet-lynch-mob-engaged dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Tuesday December 27, @16:38 (The Internet)
| with 285 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/2128202/pr-firm-unwisely-tangles-with-penny-arcade?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New submitter FSWKU writes "Courtesy of Penny-Arcade, Paul Christoforo of
Ocean Marketing provides a perfect example of [0]what not to do when
interacting with customers, especially if you are doing so on behalf of
another company. There's name dropping, an ego trip worthy of Charlie
Sheen, and even what appears to be a promise to commit libel. [1]Other
outlets are already [2]picking up the story and running with it, and an
examination of Ocean Marketing's website has generated [3]accusations of
plagiarism."
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/2128202/pr-firm-unwisely-tangles-with-penny-arcade?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://penny-arcade.com/resources/just-wow1.html
1. http://www.1up.com/news/ocean-marketing-penny-arcade-customer-service
2. http://www.examiner.com/video-game-industry-in-national/ocean-marketing-gaming-pr-rep-to-avoid-at-all-cost
3. http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/nsgj4/everything_on_oceanmarketings_website_is/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Do E-Readers Spell the Demise Of Traditional Schooling?
| from the bender-teaches-first-grade-english dept.
| posted by Unknown Lamer on Tuesday December 27, @05:26 (Education)
| with 264 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/0329234/do-e-readers-spell-the-demise-of-traditional-schooling?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attila Dimedici writes "I came across a an article this morning that
suggests that the Nook and the Kindle have changed things in such a way
that schools are becoming obsolete. His premise is that the ideal way to
teach children is by a tutor ..., [and] the Nook and the Kindle have
allowed large amounts of written material on many different subjects to
become accessible enough that [0]parents can tutor their children at a
price that just about everyone can afford." The author is a bit off-base
on the nature of the public schooling, but easy access to resources like
[1]Project Gutenberg and [2]Wikibooks certainly removes some barriers to
self-study and the limitations of the 20+ child classroom.
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/0329234/do-e-readers-spell-the-demise-of-traditional-schooling?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/12/a_world_without_schoolteachers.html
1. http://www.gutenberg.org/
2. http://www.wikibooks.org/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Ask Slashdot: Tools For Teaching High School Kids How To Make Games?
| from the motivation-is-step-1 dept.
| posted by timothy on Tuesday December 27, @11:32 (Education)
| with 211 comments
| https://ask.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/152228/ask-slashdot-tools-for-teaching-high-school-kids-how-to-make-games?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First time accepted submitter [0]nzyank writes "The other day I bravely
(foolishly?) volunteered to conduct a video game development workshop at
my boys' HS. This in Smallsville, Vermont with an average graduating
class size of about 20. The idea is to meet once a week and actually
create a game, start to finish. It will be open to would-be programmers,
designers, artists, etc. I worked on a bunch of AAA titles back in the
'90s, but I'm pretty much out of touch nowadays and I'm trying to figure
out the best approach. The requirements are that it has to be one of
either Windows/XBox or Android, since those are the platforms that I am
current on. It has to be relatively simple for the kids to get up and
running quickly, and it needs to be as close to free as possible.
Teaching them to use stuff like Blender, C#, C++, Java, XNA, OpenGL and
the Android SDK is probably a bit much. I was thinking of something like
the Torque Engine, but they want $1000 for an academic license, which is
never going to happen. I simply don't know what's out there nowadays and
could really use some suggestions."
Discuss this story at:
https://ask.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/152228/ask-slashdot-tools-for-teaching-high-school-kids-how-to-make-games?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. mailto:markboettcher@yahoo.com
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| DigiTimes Lends Credence To Apple-Branded TVs For 2012
| from the they-deny-deny-deny-then-ship dept.
| posted by timothy on Tuesday December 27, @12:19 (Television)
| with 194 comments
| https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/177241/digitimes-lends-credence-to-apple-branded-tvs-for-2012?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's a rumor that goes back years (here's one [0]example from this summer)
that Apple is planning to produce dedicated TV sets branded with its own
name; the main question seems to be when. DigiTimes ([1]hat tip to CNet)
is reporting that component-maker sources say that [2]Apple has begun the
process by ordering parts that hint at an offering next year of Apple TV
sets (as opposed to [3]Apple TV) in 32" and 37".
Discuss this story at:
https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/177241/digitimes-lends-credence-to-apple-branded-tvs-for-2012?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/11/06/23/0251237/apple-to-start-making-tvs
1. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57348678-37/first-apple-tvs-to-come-this-summer-at-32-and-37-inches/
2. http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20111227PD204.html
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_TV
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| The GoDaddy Saga Continues
| from the needs-more-illustrations dept.
| posted by timothy on Tuesday December 27, @08:44 (Businesses)
| with 182 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/1312259/the-godaddy-saga-continues?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First time accepted submitter wbr1 writes "Domain registrar [0] Namecheap
is accusing GoDaddy of [1]violating ICANN rules and [2]hindering domain
owners from moving their domains to another registrar. They are allegedly
doing this by submitting incomplete information to the new registrar,
making it difficult to process the move." Adds user bs0d3: "Godaddy has
responded to these allegations today and insist that their practice of
rate limiting Whois queries is [3]standard practice to combat Whois abuse.
Furthermore, they accuse Namecheap of playing foul because they released
a statement before ever contacting godaddy directly to resolve these
issues."
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/1312259/the-godaddy-saga-continues?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://community.namecheap.com/blog/2011/12/26/godaddy-transfer-update/
1. http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/godaddy_accused_stifling_domain_movers
2. http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/12/26/namecheap.says.godaddy.breaking.icann.rules/
3. http://activepolitic.com:82/News/2011-12-26a/Namecheap_Accuses_Godaddy_Of_Blocking_Domain_Transfers.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Why American Corporate Software Can No Longer Be Trusted
| from the looking-out-for-number-one dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Tuesday December 27, @15:55 (Businesses)
| with 174 comments
| https://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/2054217/why-american-corporate-software-can-no-longer-be-trusted?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]jrepin writes "There is [1]a problem with proprietary, closed software,
which makes Rick Falkvinge, the founder of the first Pirate Party, a bit
uneasy: 'We get a serious democratic deficit when the citizens are not
able to inspect if the computers running the country's administrations
are actually doing what they claim to be doing, doing all that and
something else invisibly on top, doing the wrong thing in the wrong way
at the wrong time, or doing nothing at all. ... In the debate around the
American Stop Online Piracy Act, American legislators have demonstrated a
clear capability and willingness to interfere with the technical
operations of American products, when doing so furthers American
political interests regardless of the policy situation in the customer���s
country."
Discuss this story at:
https://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/2054217/why-american-corporate-software-can-no-longer-be-trusted?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://slashdot.org/~jrepin
1. http://falkvinge.net/2011/12/27/american-corporate-software-can-no-longer-be-trusted-for-anything/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Will Hackers Try To Disrupt the Iowa Caucuses?
| from the if-the-gop-can-do-it-anyone-can dept.
| posted by Unknown Lamer on Tuesday December 27, @08:03 (Security)
| with 154 comments
| https://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/0118245/will-hackers-try-to-disrupt-the-iowa-caucuses?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]Hugh Pickens writes "The Iowa Republican Party is [1]boosting the
security of the electronic systems it will use to count the first votes
of the 2012 presidential campaign after receiving a mysterious threat to
its computers in a video urging its supporters to [2]shut down the Iowa
caucuses .... 'It's very clear the data consolidation and data gathering
from the caucuses, which determines the headlines the next morning, who
might withdraw or resign from the process, all of that is fragile,' says
[3]Douglas Jones, a computer science professor at the University of Iowa
who has consulted for both political parties. The state GOP fears such a
delay could disrupt the traditional influence of Iowa's
first-in-the-nation vote. 'With the eyes of the media on the state, the
last thing we want to do is have a situation where there is trouble with
the reporting system,' says Wes Enos, a member of the Iowa GOP's central
committee. The GOP is encouraging party activists who run the precinct
votes to use paper ballots instead of a show of hands, which has been the
practice in some areas so the ballots can provide a backup in the event
of any later confusion about the results. 'There is really only one way ���
and it needn't be a secret ��� to help assure that results cannot easily be
manipulated by either Anonymous or by GOP officials themselves,' writes
Brad Friedman. 'The hand-counted paper ballot system, with decentralized
results posted at the "precincts," is the only way to try and [4]protect
against manipulation of the results from either insiders or outsiders.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/0118245/will-hackers-try-to-disrupt-the-iowa-caucuses?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://hughpickens.com/slashdot/
1. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h1zrDLqaaP47wOEyVFCLVcGhBSCw?docId=4c76caddc3bf44cb94ab76f21d3c91ab
2. http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/2011/11/06/video-calls-for-shutting-down-iowa-caucuses-the-group-anonymous-claims-responsibility/
3. http://www.divms.uiowa.edu/~jones/service.html
4. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8997
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| China Begins Using New Global Positioning Satellites
| from the seasonal-ferry-across-the-river-crab dept.
| posted by timothy on Tuesday December 27, @10:50 (China)
| with 154 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/143255/china-begins-using-new-global-positioning-satellites?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]cswilly writes with the news that China's satellite navigation system,
called [1]Beidou, has been [2]successfully activated. "With ten
satellites now, 16 in 2012, and 35 in 2020, China is making damn sure
they are independent of the U.S. military's lock on GPS. According to the
article, 'Beidou, or 'Big Dipper,' would cover most parts of the Asia
Pacific by next year and then the world by 2020.'" The BBC also has
[3]slightly more detailed coverage.
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/143255/china-begins-using-new-global-positioning-satellites?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. mailto:cswilly@acm.org
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beidou_navigation_system
2. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-begins-using-global-positioning-093548384.html
3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16337648
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2012 and the Technology Blahs
| from the end-of-the-world-nigh-monetize-now-now-now dept.
| posted by timothy on Tuesday December 27, @13:01 (AI)
| with 123 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/1745230/2012-and-the-technology-blahs?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Velcroman1 writes "Generally, at the end of the year, predictions stream
forth as to how this or that new technology will transform the world in
the next 12 months. Just before Christmas, IBM announced computerized
mind reading was [0]just around the corner ��� sometime after 2017, that
is. But on the whole, experts and analysts don't see a whole lot of
innovation coming out of the U.S. anytime soon. Instead, they see
sluggishness. 'We'll have to [1]wait for consumer spending to go up
before the 'flying surfboard' arrives,' said Chris Stephenson, co-founder
of Seattle consulting firm ARRYVE. 'Bigger innovation labs and companies
are holding back on numerous innovations until they can properly monetize
them.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/1745230/2012-and-the-technology-blahs?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/12/20/1459248/ibms-five-predictions-for-the-next-five-years
1. http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/27/2012-and-technology-blahs/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Ask Slashdot: Geek-Centric Magazines Still Published On Paper?
| from the printing-the-articles-gets-old dept.
| posted by timothy on Tuesday December 27, @09:49 (Programming)
| with 116 comments
| https://ask.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/1429215/ask-slashdot-geek-centric-magazines-still-published-on-paper?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
QwkHyenA writes "I've recently cancelled my Linux Magazine subscription
because they went paperless. I know, I'm a heartless geek and should be
'shunned,' but I enjoy the unplugged sensation of reading paper
periodicals. What sort of magazines are out there that still are
delivered via USPS that will scratch my Engineering, Coder, System
Administrator and 3D Printer itch?"
Discuss this story at:
https://ask.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/1429215/ask-slashdot-geek-centric-magazines-still-published-on-paper?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Boxee 1.5 Will Be the Last Supported Desktop Version
| from the buyxee-buy dept.
| posted by Unknown Lamer on Monday December 26, @20:30 (The Internet)
| with 106 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/26/2356223/boxee-15-will-be-the-last-supported-desktop-version?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DeviceGuru writes with excerpts from the article: "Boxee [0]released [a
beta of] version 1.5 of its free multimedia streaming software for Mac,
Windows, and Linux desktops today, but simultaneously announced that it
will [1]cease offering the Boxee desktop software after January.
Thereafter, the company will limit its focus to devices such as the
D-Link Boxee Box, which faces stiff competition from multimedia streaming
TV set-top-box products such as the Roku players, Google TV, and Apple
TV. Hopefully, the [2]XBMC project, on which Boxee's software is largely
based, will carry the ball forward for desktop users. Speaking of which,
the first preview release of [3]XBMC 11.0 Eden was just released."
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/26/2356223/boxee-15-will-be-the-last-supported-desktop-version?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://deviceguru.com/boxee-1-5-for-desktops-arrives-but-the-end-is-nigh/
1. http://blog.boxee.tv/2011/12/26/boxee-1-5-fall-software-update/
2. http://xbmc.org/
3. http://xbmc.org/download/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| GnuPG Short ID Collision Has Occurred.
| from the 32-bits-ought-be-enough-for-anyone dept.
| posted by Unknown Lamer on Monday December 26, @23:17 (Privacy)
| with 105 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/0044242/gnupg-short-id-collision-has-occurred?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]kfogel writes "Asheesh Laroia now has [1]two GPG different keys with
the same short ID (70096AD1) circulating on keyservers. One of them is an
older 1024-bit DSA key, the other is a newer 4096-bit RSA key. Oops.
Asheesh argues that GPG's short IDs are too short to be the default
anymore ��� collisions are too easy to create: he did it on purpose and
openly, but others could do it on purpose and secretly. More discussion
(and a patch by dkg) are in [2]this bug report."
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/0044242/gnupg-short-id-collision-has-occurred?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.red-bean.com/kfogel
1. http://www.asheesh.org/note/debian/short-key-ids-are-bad-news.html
2. https://bugs.g10code.com/gnupg/issue1340
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| SETI To Scour the Moon For Alien Footprints?
| from the just-an-old-hierarchy-monitor-station-and-some-robots dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Tuesday December 27, @17:21 (Moon)
| with 102 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/2133216/seti-to-scour-the-moon-for-alien-footprints?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]astroengine writes "Although we have an entire universe to seek out
the proverbial alien needle in a haystack, [1]perhaps looking in our own
backyard would be a good place to start. That's the conclusions reached
by Paul Davies and Robert Wagner of Arizona State University, anyway. The
pair have [2]published a paper in the journal Acta Astronautica detailing
how SETI could carry out a low-cost crowdsourcing program (a la
SETI@Home) to scour the lunar surface for alien artifacts, thereby
gaining clues on whether intelligent aliens are out there and whether
they've paid the solar system a visit in the moon's recent history."
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/2133216/seti-to-scour-the-moon-for-alien-footprints?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.astroengine.com/
1. http://news.discovery.com/space/seti-to-scour-the-moon-for-alien-tech-111227.html
2. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094576511003249
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| What Life Was Like Inside the Hexagon Project
| from the in-the-spring-we'd-play-jai-alai dept.
| posted by timothy on Tuesday December 27, @09:27 (Government)
| with 98 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/1330204/what-life-was-like-inside-the-hexagon-project?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As new submitter kulnor writes, "Hexagon, a cold war secret project
around spy satellites to monitor USSR was declassified last September."
kulnor excerpts from the AP story as carried by Yahoo, outlining how more
than 1,000 people in and around Danbury, CT [0]kept mum about the nature
of their employment: "'For more than a decade they toiled in the strange,
boxy-looking building on the hill above the municipal airport, the
building with no windows (except in the cafeteria), the building filled
with secrets. They wore protective white jumpsuits, and had to walk
through air-shower chambers before entering the sanitized 'cleanroom'
where the equipment was stored. They spoke in code.' As more and more
WWII and cold war secrets are declassified, we learn about amazing
technological feats involving hundreds of people working in secrecy. I
wonder what will emerge in a few decades around modern IT, the Internet,
hacks, and the like." Every time I visit [1]Oak Ridge, TN, I am amazed by
the same phenomenon of successful large-scale secrecy.
Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/1330204/what-life-was-like-inside-the-hexagon-project?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://news.yahoo.com/decades-later-cold-war-secret-revealed-152207569.html
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Ridge,_Tennessee#Manhattan_Project
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| More Details On Drug Cartel's Clandestine Communications Network
| from the odd-shaped-fruits-of-the-drug-war dept.
| posted by timothy on Tuesday December 27, @10:08 (Communications)
| with 73 comments
| https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/1346220/more-details-on-drug-cartels-clandestine-communications-network?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]K7DAN writes "The AP reports that Mexico's drug cartels have built
their own [1]sophisticated two-way radio communications system using
computer-controlled linked and local repeaters on mountain tops,
walkie-talkies, mobile transceivers and and base stations. The solar
powered system covers vast areas of Mexico that are unserved by cellular
phone network and has the advantage of being more difficult to trace."
This article adds much more substance about the technology than was
included in the report several weeks ago of the [2]seizure of thousands
of this network's components; from the description in this article, the
earlier headline overstated the case by saying that the network had
therefore been "shut down."
Discuss this story at:
https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/1346220/more-details-on-drug-cartels-clandestine-communications-network?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.mrdan.org/
1. http://news.yahoo.com/mexicos-cartels-build-own-national-radio-system-200251816.html
2. http://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/12/03/2240238/mexican-govt-shuts-down-zetas-secret-cell-network
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| New WiFi Setup Flaw Allows Easy Router PIN Guessing
| from the orders-of-magnitude dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Tuesday December 27, @18:55 (Networking)
| with 45 comments
| https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/2324214/new-wifi-setup-flaw-allows-easy-router-pin-guessing?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trailrunner7 writes "There is a [0]newly discovered vulnerability in the
WiFi Protected Setup standard that reduces the number of attempts it
would take an attacker to brute-force the PIN for a wireless router's
setup process. The flaw results in too much information about the PIN
being returned to an attacker and makes the PIN quite weak, affecting the
security of millions of WiFi routers and access points. Security
researcher Stefan Viehbock [1]discovered the vulnerability (PDF) and
[2]reported it to US-CERT. The problem affects a number of vendors'
products, including D-Link, Netgear, Linksys and Buffalo. 'I noticed a
few really bad design decisions which enable an efficient brute force
attack, thus effectively breaking the security of pretty much all
WPS-enabled Wi-Fi routers. As all of the of the more recent router models
come with WPS enabled by default, this affects millions of devices
worldwide,' Viehbock said."
Discuss this story at:
https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/2324214/new-wifi-setup-flaw-allows-easy-router-pin-guessing?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. https://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/wifi-protected-setup-flaw-can-lead-compromise-router-pins-122711
1. http://sviehb.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/viehboeck_wps.pdf
2. http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/723755
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Weird Fossils Show Ancient Organism Reproducing
| from the privacy-of-their-own-bedrock dept.
| posted by timothy on Tuesday December 27, @10:31 (China)
| with 29 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/1423226/weird-fossils-show-ancient-organism-reproducing?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ananyo writes "Strange fossils from Doushantuo in China, have turned out
to be 570-million-year-old snapshots of an organism [0]caught in the act
of reproducing. Researchers have used three-dimensional X-ray scanning
techniques to see that the fossils contain nuclei-like structures ��� and
one even has the dumb-bell shape of a modern nucleus about to replicate.
The fossils have divided palaeontologists for over a decade. It now seems
likely they are fossils of creatures similar to modern single-celled
microorganisms called mesomycetozoeans that are neither animals nor
bacteria."
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/1423226/weird-fossils-show-ancient-organism-reproducing?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.nature.com/news/enigmatic-fossils-are-neither-animals-nor-bacteria-1.9714
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Twin GRAIL Probes To Map Lunar Gravity Field
| from the magnets-how-do-they-work dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Tuesday December 27, @13:45 (Moon)
| with 17 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/1834226/twin-grail-probes-to-map-lunar-gravity-field?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
smitty777 writes "The two washing machine sized satellites from the GRAIL
program (Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory) [0]launched in
September are [1]set to enter lunar orbit this weekend. As can be seen
from [2]this nifty infographic, the probes will monitor the gravitational
field from orbit via the precise distance measurements of microwaves
passing between the two satellites. From the article: 'The twin
spacecrafts are named Grail-A and Grail-B. Grail-A will enter the moon's
orbit on New Year's Eve, Grail-B will follow on New Year's Day. "The
purpose of the GRAIL mission is to obtain gravity data on the Moon. And
with that data, the scientists are able to determine the structure of the
lunar interior, from crust to core," said David Lehman of NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory.' This is similar to the earlier [3]GRACE project,
which not only helped [4]map out the gravity field of the Earth, but also
helped [5]map drought conditions in the U.S."
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/1834226/twin-grail-probes-to-map-lunar-gravity-field?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/10/1819244/nasas-twin-grail-craft-on-their-way-to-the-moon
1. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sci/2011-12/27/c_131329338.htm
2. http://www.space.com/12497-nasa-moon-gravity-probes-grail-mission-infographic.html
3. http://www.csr.utexas.edu/grace/
4. http://www.nasa.gov/centers/jpl/missions/grace.html
5. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-365&cid=release_2011-365
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