Saturday, September 10, 2011

[Slashdot] Stories for 2011-09-10

======================================================================
All the data continuously generated in your IT infrastructure contains a
definitive record of customers, application performance, security
threats, fraudulent activity and more. Splunk takes this data and makes
sense of it. Business sense. IT sense. Common sense.
http://p.sf.net/sfu/splunk-sd-c1
======================================================================

Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* Is There a Hearing Aid Price Bubble?
* Patent Reform Bill Passes Senate
* Study Suggests Magnets Can Force You to Tell the Truth
* Windows 8 To Feature 'Fast Startup Mode'
* Algorithmic Trading Rapidly Replacing Need For Humans
* Monthly Ubuntu Releases Proposed
* DoT Grants $15M To Test Car-To-Car Communication
* German Court Upholds Ban On Samsung Galaxy Tab
* Are Games Worth Complaining About?
* Google To Introduce New Programming Language — Dart
* Google Details and Defends Its Use of Electricity
* Researchers' Typosquatting Stole 20 GB of E-Mail
* UK Joins Laser Nuclear Fusion Project
* New Legislation Would Punish Mishandling of Private Data
* Apple Criticized For Not Blocking Stolen Certs
* Defunct Satellite To Fall From the Sky
* App Enables Surfing Over SMS/MMS Through T-Mobile
* The Coming Energy Turnaround In Germany
* FPS Benchmarks No More? New Methods Reveal Deeper GPU Issues
* AT&T Responds To DoJ Lawsuit
* Booktrack Adds Music and Sound Effects To Ebooks
* Apple Finally Removes DigiNotar Certs In Safari
* How Killing the Internet Helped Revolutionaries
* Mozilla Issues Do-Not-Track Guide For Advertisers
* Is This the End of Righthaven?
* New Skeleton Finds May Revamp History of Human Evolution

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Is There a Hearing Aid Price Bubble?
| from the what's-it-worth-to-ya? dept.
| posted by timothy on Friday September 09, @19:58 (Medicine)
| with 362 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/2346233/Is-There-a-Hearing-Aid-Price-Bubble?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An anonymous reader writes "The price of a pair of hearing aids in the
U.S. ranges from $3,000 to $8,000. To the average American household,
this is equivalent to 2-3 months of income! While the price itself seems
exorbitant, what is even more grotesque is its [0]continuous pace of
growth: in the last decade the price of an average Behind the Ear hearing
aid has more than doubled. To the present day, price points are not
receding ��� even though most of its digital components have become
increasingly commoditized. Is this a hearing aid price bubble?"

Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/2346233/Is-There-a-Hearing-Aid-Price-Bubble?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://www.audicus.com/blog/2011/hearing-aid-price-bubble/

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Patent Reform Bill Passes Senate
| from the first-to-file dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Friday September 09, @00:01 (Patents)
| with 347 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/0042242/Patent-Reform-Bill-Passes-Senate?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First time accepted submitter nephorm writes "The Senate passed the first
major overhaul of the nation's patent law in more than a half century by
[0]passing the America Invents Act. The legislation won overwhelming
approval in an 89-9 vote. From the article: 'The America Invents Act
switches the U.S. patent system from a first-to-invent to a first-to-file
nation. It also sets up a new regime to review patents and gives the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office more flexibility to set and spend fees paid
for by inventors to get patents and businesses to register trademarks.'"

Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/0042242/Patent-Reform-Bill-Passes-Senate?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63038.html

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Study Suggests Magnets Can Force You to Tell the Truth
| from the refrigerator-of-truth dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Friday September 09, @11:21 (Biotech)
| with 292 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1333230/Study-Suggests-Magnets-Can-Force-You-to-Tell-the-Truth?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Estonian researchers claim that magnets can either [0]force you to lie or
make it impossible. Subjects in the study had magnets placed at either
the left or the right side of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and the
results suggest that the individual was either unable to tell the truth
or unable to lie depending on [1]which side was stimulated. From the
article: "Last year, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology also used powerful magnets to disrupt the area said to be the
brain's '[2]moral compass,' situated behind the right ear, making people
temporarily less moral."

Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1333230/Study-Suggests-Magnets-Can-Force-You-to-Tell-the-Truth?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/211122/20110909/magnetic-pulses-to-the-brain-make-it-impossible-to-lie.htm
1. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2035085/Zapping-brain-magnets-makes-IMPOSSIBLE-lie.html
2. http://science.slashdot.org/story/10/03/30/1741224/Magnetism-Can-Sway-Mans-Moral-Compass

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Windows 8 To Feature 'Fast Startup Mode'
| from the zero-to-minesweeper-in-10-seconds dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday September 09, @09:28 (Microsoft)
| with 269 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1322233/Windows-8-To-Feature-Fast-Startup-Mode?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New story submitter CSHARP123 writes "Microsoft has posted details about
a Windows 8 feature that is [0]a hybrid between cold booting and waking
up from a hibernated state. This feature is called fast startup mode.
Gabe Aul, director of program management in Windows, explains: '[A]s in
Windows 7, we close the user sessions, but instead of closing the kernel
session, we hibernate it. Compared to a full hibernate, which includes a
lot of memory pages in use by apps, session 0 hibernation data is much
smaller, which takes substantially less time to write to disk. If you���re
not familiar with hibernation, we���re effectively saving the system state
and memory contents to a file on disk (hiberfil.sys) and then reading
that back in on resume and restoring contents back to memory. Using this
technique with boot gives us a significant advantage for boot times,
since reading the hiberfile in and reinitializing drivers is much faster
on most systems (30-70% faster on most systems we���ve tested).' The post
contains a video as well, which shows Windows starting up in less than 10
seconds."

Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1322233/Windows-8-To-Feature-Fast-Startup-Mode?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/09/08/delivering-fast-boot-times-in-windows-8.aspx

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Algorithmic Trading Rapidly Replacing Need For Humans
| from the digitizing-greed-and-fear dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday September 09, @13:19 (Businesses)
| with 260 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1622244/Algorithmic-Trading-Rapidly-Replacing-Need-For-Humans?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DMandPenfold writes "Algorithmic trading, also known as high frequency
trading (HFT), is [0]rapidly replacing human decision making, according
to a UK government panel which warned that the right regulations need to
be introduced to protect stock markets. Around one third of share trading
in the UK is conducted by computers fulfilling commands based on complex
algorithms, said the Foresight panel in a working paper published
yesterday. Nevertheless, this proportion is significantly lower than in
the U.S., where three-quarters of equity dealing is computer generated.
The Foresight panel, led by Dame Clara Furse, the former chief executive
of the London Stock Exchange, argued that there are both benefits and
severe risks to algorithmic trading. There was 'no direct evidence' that
the computer trading in itself increased volatility, it said, but in
specific circumstances it was possible for a series of events with
'undesired interactions and outcomes' to occur and cause massive damage."

Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1622244/Algorithmic-Trading-Rapidly-Replacing-Need-For-Humans?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/networking/3302464/algorithmic-stock-trading-rapidly-replacing-humans-warns-government-paper/

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Monthly Ubuntu Releases Proposed
| from the lets-speed-it-up dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Friday September 09, @05:13 (Ubuntu)
| with 255 comments
| https://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/0228252/Monthly-Ubuntu-Releases-Proposed?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An anonymous reader writes "Scott James Remnant, the former Ubuntu
Developer Manager at Canonical and current Ubuntu Technical Board leader,
has proposed [0]a new monthly release process for Ubuntu Linux. He
acknowledges that with the six month releases there are features that end
up landing way too soon, leaving them in a sour state for users. [1]With
his monthly proposal, Remnant hopes to relieve this by handling alpha,
beta, and normal releases concurrently. It's unknown whether Canonical
will accept the policy at this time."

Discuss this story at:
https://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/0228252/Monthly-Ubuntu-Releases-Proposed?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://netsplit.com/2011/09/08/new-ubuntu-release-process/
1. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OTg5MQ

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| DoT Grants $15M To Test Car-To-Car Communication
| from the horns-aren't-good-enough dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday September 09, @13:38 (Communications)
| with 249 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1627227/DoT-Grants-15M-To-Test-Car-To-Car-Communication?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[0]itwbennett writes "Car-to-car communications is about to get its
[1]first large-scale, real-world test in Ann Arbor, Mich., where the
University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute will be
putting as many as 3,000 cars equipped with short-range radio on the
roads, [2]thanks to a $14.9 million grant it just got from the U.S. Dept.
of Transportation. DoT reports predict that up to 82 percent of serious
accidents among unimpaired drivers can be [3]eliminated or reduced by a
little car-to-car negotiation, or an early warning that a sedan three
cars ahead just hit the brakes even though you can't see it through the
giant SUV directly in front of you."

Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1627227/DoT-Grants-15M-To-Test-Car-To-Car-Communication?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://www.itworld.com/
1. http://www.itworld.com/mobile-wireless/201429/cars-talk-you-are-annoying-cars-talk-each-other-prevent-accidents
2. http://www.umtri.umich.edu/news.php?id=2883
3. http://www.its.dot.gov/connected_vehicle/connected_vehicle.htm

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| German Court Upholds Ban On Samsung Galaxy Tab
| from the win-some-lose-some dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday September 09, @14:20 (Handhelds)
| with 247 comments
| https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/184229/German-Court-Upholds-Ban-On-Samsung-Galaxy-Tab?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With his first posted submission, ctusch writes "It seems [0]Samsung has
finally lost the battle against Apple in Germany. Today the district
court in D��sseldorf ruled that Samsung must not sell its Galaxy Tab 10.1
in Germany. Furthermore, it has banned Samsung Germany from selling the
Galaxy Tab 10.1 anywhere in Europe."

Discuss this story at:
https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/184229/German-Court-Upholds-Ban-On-Samsung-Galaxy-Tab?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://www.pcworld.com/article/239734/apple_wins_permanent_ban_on_german_sales_of_samsung_tablet.html

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Are Games Worth Complaining About?
| from the nine-out-of-ten-angry-internet-commenters-agree dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday September 09, @14:42 (Games)
| with 237 comments
| https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1837254/Are-Games-Worth-Complaining-About?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few days ago, the Opposable Thumbs blog ran a piece titled, "[0]In
gaming, everything is amazing, but no one is happy." The thrust of the
article is that discussion about modern games focuses almost entirely on
flaws, which are often blown out of proportion. "Every game is too short,
although we never finish the games we play. Every game is too expensive,
although we demand ever-increasing levels of interaction, graphical
fidelity, and length. The same people who claim every game was 80 hours
and a masterpiece 10 years ago are 10 years away from saying that today
was the golden time, once they have the distance needed to scrub the bad
games from memory." Today, gaming site Rock, Paper, Shotgun offers
counterpoint, saying that [1]video games need active criticism for the
industry to improve. "Everything is amazing, and sometimes people are
happy. That���s how it will always be. And we should probably make the most
of it, and then strive to make it better."

Discuss this story at:
https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1837254/Are-Games-Worth-Complaining-About?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/09/gaming-everything-is-amazing-and-no-one-is-happy.ars
1. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/09/09/actually-its-okay-to-complain/

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Google To Introduce New Programming Language — Dart
| from the get-off-my-lawn-dart dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday September 09, @11:34 (Programming)
| with 225 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1453224/Google-To-Introduce-New-Programming-Language-mdash-Dart?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An anonymous reader sends this excerpt from El Reg: "Google has [0]built
a brand-new programming language for 'structured web programming,' one
that appears to be suited to browser-based apps. Two of the search
giant's engineers [1]will discuss Dart, Google's new language, at the
Goto international software development conference next month. News of
the new language was posted to the Goto website. There aren't yet any
technical details on Dart but the bios of the two Googlers presenting at
Goto strongly suggest a bent towards programming for the web and
browser."

Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1453224/Google-To-Introduce-New-Programming-Language-mdash-Dart?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/09/google_dart_web_programming_language/
1. http://gotocon.com/aarhus-2011/presentation/Opening%20Keynote:%20Dart,%20a%20new%20programming%20language%20for%20structured%20web%20programming

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Google Details and Defends Its Use of Electricity
| from the it's-not-easy-being-green dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday September 09, @08:46 (Earth)
| with 218 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/128201/Google-Details-and-Defends-Its-Use-of-Electricity?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

theodp writes "On Thursday, Google finally provided information on its
energy usage, revealing that it [0]continuously uses enough electricity
to power 200,000 homes. Still, the search giant contends that by [1]using
more power than Salt Lake City, Google actually [2]makes the world a
greener place. Google says people should consider things like the amount
of gasoline saved when someone conducts a Google search rather than, say,
driving to the library. As Police Chief Martin Brody might say, 'Google's
going to [3]need a bigger windmill!'"

Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/128201/Google-Details-and-Defends-Its-Use-of-Electricity?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/09/technology/google-details-electricity-output-of-its-data-centers.html?_r=2&ref=technology
1. http://gizmodo.com/5838458/google-uses-more-power-than-salt-lake-city
2. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-our-cloud-does-more-with-less.html
3. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/not-merely-tilting-at-windmills.html

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Researchers' Typosquatting Stole 20 GB of E-Mail
| from the of-tips-and-icebergs dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday September 09, @12:58 (Security)
| with 181 comments
| https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1619201/Researchers-Typosquatting-Stole-20-GB-of-E-Mail?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NeverVotedBush writes "Two researchers who set up doppelganger domains to
mimic legitimate domains belonging to Fortune 500 companies say they
managed to [0]vacuum up 20 gigabytes of misaddressed e-mail over six
months. The intercepted correspondence included employee usernames and
passwords, sensitive security information about the configuration of
corporate network architecture that would be useful to hackers,
affidavits and other documents related to litigation in which the
companies were embroiled, and trade secrets, such as contracts for
business transactions."

Discuss this story at:
https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1619201/Researchers-Typosquatting-Stole-20-GB-of-E-Mail?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/09/doppelganger-domains/

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| UK Joins Laser Nuclear Fusion Project
| from the if-it's-worth-doing-it's-worth-doing-with-lasers dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday September 09, @12:15 (Power)
| with 178 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/163257/UK-Joins-Laser-Nuclear-Fusion-Project?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

arisvega writes with this quote from the BBC: "The UK company AWE and the
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory have now joined with [the [0]National
Ignition Facility in the U.S.] to [1]help make laser fusion a viable
commercial energy source. ... Part of the problem has been that the
technical ability to reach 'breakeven' ��� the point at which more energy
is produced than is consumed ��� has always seemed distant. Detractors of
the idea have asserted that 'fusion energy is 50 years away, no matter
what year you ask,' said David Willetts, the UK's science minister. 'I
think that what's going on both in the UK and in the US shows that we are
now making significant progress on this technology,' he said. 'It can't
any longer be dismissed as something on the far distant horizon.'"

Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/163257/UK-Joins-Laser-Nuclear-Fusion-Project?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. https://lasers.llnl.gov/about/nif/seven_wonders.php
1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14842720

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| New Legislation Would Punish Mishandling of Private Data
| from the forty-days-in-the-chamber-of-fire dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday September 09, @15:03 (Government)
| with 163 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1843228/New-Legislation-Would-Punish-Mishandling-of-Private-Data?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An anonymous reader writes "A bill introduced Thursday by Senator Richard
Blumenthal (D-CT) would [0]regulate the handling of consumers' private
data and punish companies who screw it up ([1]e.g. Sony). 'These rules
would require companies to follow specific storage guidelines and ensure
that personal information is stored and protected correctly. Companies
that do not adhere to these security guidelines could be subject to stiff
fines.' Blumenthal told the NY Times, 'The goal of the proposed law is
essentially to hold accountable the companies and entities that store
personal information and personal data and to deter data breaches. While
looking at past data breaches, I've been struck with how many are
preventable.'"

Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1843228/New-Legislation-Would-Punish-Mishandling-of-Private-Data?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/senator-introduces-new-online-privacy-bill/
1. http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/04/27/142238/77-Million-Accounts-Stolen-From-Playstation-Network

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Apple Criticized For Not Blocking Stolen Certs
| from the I-am-disappoint dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Friday September 09, @02:39 (Security)
| with 153 comments
| https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/0222230/Apple-Criticized-For-Not-Blocking-Stolen-Certs?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[0]CWmike writes "A security researcher [1]is criticizing Apple for
lagging with its response to [2]the DigiNotar certificate fiasco. He is
urging the company to quickly update Mac OS X to protect users. 'We're
looking at some very serious issues [about trust on the Web] and it
doesn't help matters when Apple is dragging its feet,' said Paul Henry, a
security and forensics analyst with Lumension. Unlike Microsoft, which
[3]updated Windows on Tuesday to block all SSL certificates issued by
DigiNotar, Apple has not updated Mac OS X to do the same. Meanwhile, even
Mac OS X users who want to go DIY are stymied, reports Bob McMillan,
because the OS [4]can't properly revoke dodgy digital certificates."

Discuss this story at:
https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/0222230/Apple-Criticized-For-Not-Blocking-Stolen-Certs?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://twitter.com/mikeatcw
1. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9219838/Researcher_raps_Apple_for_not_blocking_stolen_SSL_certificates
2. http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/2221248/Hackers-May-Have-Nabbed-Over-200-SSL-Certificates
3. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9219746/Microsoft_flips_kill_switch_on_all_DigiNotar_certificates
4. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9219669/Mac_OS_X_can_t_properly_revoke_dodgy_digital_certificates

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Defunct Satellite To Fall From the Sky
| from the try-not-to-get-hit dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday September 09, @15:23 (NASA)
| with 150 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1856245/Defunct-Satellite-To-Fall-From-the-Sky?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Front page first-timer EmLomBeeNo sends word of a 6.5-ton satellite that
will soon be making a quick and fiery return to Earth. From Space.com:
"The huge Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) is [0]expected to
re-enter Earth's atmosphere in an uncontrolled fall in late September or
early October. Much of the spacecraft is expected to burn up during
re-entry, but [1]some pieces are expected to make it intact to the ground,
NASA officials said. The U.S. space agency will be taking measures to
inform the public about the pieces of the spacecraft that are expected to
survive re-entry." According to a NASA press conference today, you have a
1-in-21 trillion chance of being hit by falling debris. Who's feeling
lucky?

Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1856245/Defunct-Satellite-To-Fall-From-the-Sky?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://www.space.com/12859-nasa-satellite-falling-space-debris-uars.html
1. http://www.space.com/12893-dead-nasa-satellite-falling-space-junk.html

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| App Enables Surfing Over SMS/MMS Through T-Mobile
| from the wonder-how-long-this'll-last dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday September 09, @10:51 (Android)
| with 144 comments
| https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1437234/App-Enables-Surfing-Over-SMSMMS-Through-T-Mobile?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[0]MrSeb writes "An ingenious browsing hack has emerged: if you have an
Android smartphone and a T-Mobile (US) unlimited messaging plan, you can
now use an app called [1]Smozzy to surf the web... for free. Smozzy is
just a wrapper around the standard Android browser, but instead of
requiring a data connection, [2]everything is funneled through SMS and
MMS. Whenever you click a link, instead of firing off a packet to a
remote web server, a web request is instead sent to Smozzy's intermediate
server via SMS. Smozzy forwards the request, downloads the web page
you're trying to visit, and then sends it along to your phone as MMS
messages ��� and both SMS and MMS are completely free with T-Mobile's
unlimited messaging plan."

Discuss this story at:
https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1437234/App-Enables-Surfing-Over-SMSMMS-Through-T-Mobile?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://mrseb.co.uk/
1. http://smozzy.com/
2. http://www.extremetech.com/computing/95457-how-to-surf-t-mobile-without-a-data-plan

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| The Coming Energy Turnaround In Germany
| from the bratwurst-is-a-renewable-energy-source dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday September 09, @18:32 (Earth)
| with 134 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/2133256/The-Coming-Energy-Turnaround-In-Germany?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An anonymous reader writes "Germany has decided to [0]close all of its
nuclear power plants by 2022 and embark on an energy turnaround that
[1]focuses on large increases in sustainable energy production. What will
it take in terms of investments, and will it mean cost hikes for German
consumers? Will it really mean more jobs in the 'green energy' sector?
Quoting: 'Total investment over the next decade for such an energy
turnaround is estimated to be roughly ���200 billion (or almost $290
billion). ... At the moment, more than 20 new coal-fired power plants are
being planned or already under construction; together, they would achieve
a total output of 10 gigawatts and could, in terms of power supply,
replace nuclear power plants that are still operational. But coal-fired
power plants do not fit into the concept of the sustainable energy
turnaround that the government has put forward.'"

Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/2133256/The-Coming-Energy-Turnaround-In-Germany?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/05/30/1143239/Germany-To-End-Nuclear-Power-By-2022
1. http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/op-eds/the-coming-german-energy-turnaround

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| FPS Benchmarks No More? New Methods Reveal Deeper GPU Issues
| from the frames-per-stutter dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday September 09, @10:08 (AMD)
| with 114 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1351204/FPS-Benchmarks-No-More-New-Methods-Reveal-Deeper-GPU-Issues?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

crookedvulture writes "Graphics hardware reviews have long used frames
per second to measure performance. The thing is, an awful lot of frames
are generated in a single second. Calculating the FPS can [0]mask brief
moments of perceptible stuttering that only a closer inspection of
individual frame times can quantify. This article explores the subject in
much greater detail. Along the way, it also effectively illustrates the
'micro-stuttering' attributed to multi-GPU solutions like SLI and
CrossFire. AMD and Nvidia both concede that stuttering is a real problem
for modern graphics hardware, and benchmarking methods may need to change
to properly take it into account."

Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1351204/FPS-Benchmarks-No-More-New-Methods-Reveal-Deeper-GPU-Issues?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://techreport.com/articles.x/21516

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| AT&T Responds To DoJ Lawsuit
| from the but-we-can-leverage-our-synergies,-honest dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday September 09, @17:50 (AT&T)
| with 110 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/2120211/ATampT-Responds-To-DoJ-Lawsuit?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An anonymous reader writes "Last week the Department of Justice [0]filed
an antitrust complaint to stop the merger between AT&T and T-Mobile USA.
Now, AT&T has responded, [1]arguing that the merger would benefit
consumers by increasing competition and freeing up spectrum. 'That means
increased output, higher quality service, fewer dropped calls,and lower
prices to consumers than without the merger,' they say. Meanwhile, House
Republicans have sent a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and
Attorney General Eric Holder asking for an explanation of '[2]what went
into the decision to challenge the merger and whether the agencies
considered the impact on jobs and economic growth.' A hearing is
[3]scheduled for Sept. 21."

Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/2120211/ATampT-Responds-To-DoJ-Lawsuit?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/1543256/Justice-Dept-Files-Antitrust-Complaint-Against-ATampT-and-T-Mobile-Merger
1. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/09/09/att-responds-to-justice-dept-s-lawsuit-over-t-mobile-deal/
2. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/09/us-att-tmobile-republicans-idUSTRE78866V20110909
3. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/09/07/judge-sets-hearing-on-att-deal/

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Booktrack Adds Music and Sound Effects To Ebooks
| from the would-you-like-some-noise-with-those-words? dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday September 08, @21:54 (IOS)
| with 109 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/08/2220245/Booktrack-Adds-Music-and-Sound-Effects-To-Ebooks?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zothecula writes "There's no doubt that a soundtrack can significantly
enhance the immersiveness and emotional impact of films and TV programs.
But can some audio accompaniment do the same thing for books? New York
City-based startup [0]Booktrack thinks so and has released an iOS app ���
with an Android app also on the way ��� that [1]adds soundtracks to eBooks.
As the user reads they can listen to ambient background noise relevant to
the book's current setting, specific sound effects synchronized to the
text as it is read, and music. But does a soundtrack 'boost the reader's
imagination and engagement' as the company states, or does it just create
another distraction to be overcome when delving into a book on the bus on
the way home?"

Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/08/2220245/Booktrack-Adds-Music-and-Sound-Effects-To-Ebooks?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://www.booktrack.com/home.do
1. http://www.gizmag.com/booktrack-soundtracks-for-ebooks/19761/

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Apple Finally Removes DigiNotar Certs In Safari
| from the better-late-than-never dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday September 09, @16:28 (Safari)
| with 105 comments
| https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/2027219/Apple-Finally-Removes-DigiNotar-Certs-In-Safari?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trailrunner7 writes "Apple has finally [0]released a fix for the
[1]certificate trust issue caused by the attack on DigiNotar, more than a
week after the fraudulent certificates were identified and other browser
vendors moved to revoke trust in them. While Microsoft, Mozilla and
Google had been communicating with users about the issue and pushing out
new versions and updates to eliminate the compromised certificate
authorities from their browsers, Apple [2]had been mum about the attack
and hadn't given any indication of when it might issue an update for
Safari. On Friday the company published a security advisory for Mac OS X
users, saying that it was removing DigiNotar's certificates from its
trust list."

Discuss this story at:
https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/2027219/Apple-Finally-Removes-DigiNotar-Certs-In-Safari?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. https://support.apple.com/kb/HT4920
1. https://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/apple-removes-diginotar-certificates-safari-090911
2. http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/0222230/Apple-Criticized-For-Not-Blocking-Stolen-Certs

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| How Killing the Internet Helped Revolutionaries
| from the anything-that-gets-people-off-twitter-has-to-help dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday September 09, @17:10 (Communications)
| with 70 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/2051256/How-Killing-the-Internet-Helped-Revolutionaries?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An anonymous reader writes "In a widely circulated American Political
Science Association [0]conference paper, Yale scholar Navid Hassanpour
argues that shutting down the internet made things difficult for
sustaining a centralized revolutionary movement in Egypt. But, he adds,
the shutdown actually [1]encouraged the development of smaller
revolutionary uprisings at local levels where the face-to-face
interaction between activists was more intense and the mobilization of
inactive lukewarm dissidents was easier. In other words, closing down the
internet made the revolution more diffuse and more difficult for the
authorities to contain." As long as we're on the subject, reader
lecheiron points out news of [2]research into predicting revolutions by
feeding millions of news articles into a supercomputer and using word
analysis to chart national sentiment. So far it's pretty good at
predicting things that have already happened, but we should probably wait
until it finds something new before contacting Hari Seldon.

Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/2051256/How-Killing-the-Internet-Helped-Revolutionaries?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1903351
1. http://theconversation.edu.au/dictatorship-101-killing-the-internet-plays-into-the-hands-of-revolutionaries-3254
2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14841018

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Mozilla Issues Do-Not-Track Guide For Advertisers
| from the stop-following-me dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Friday September 09, @08:05 (Mozilla)
| with 69 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/0310206/Mozilla-Issues-Do-Not-Track-Guide-For-Advertisers?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[0]angry tapir writes "Mozilla has [1]issued a do not track field guide
to encourage advertisers and publishers to implement do-not-track (DNT)
functionality. The guide contains tutorials, case studies and sample code
to illustrate how companies use the DNT technology. Mozilla aims to
inspire developers, publishers and advertisers to adopt DNT and wants to
put the control over Internet tracking into the hands of users. The
browser maker wants to put a stop to behavioral targeting and pervasive
tracking on the Web. [2]The guide can be found here (PDF)."

Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/0310206/Mozilla-Issues-Do-Not-Track-Guide-For-Advertisers?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://www.techworld.com.au/
1. http://www.techworld.com.au/article/400248/
2. http://people.mozilla.org/~tlowenthal/resources/mozilla_dnt-field-guide.pdf

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Is This the End of Righthaven?
| from the fail-fast-and-often dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Friday September 09, @15:43 (The Media)
| with 65 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1935203/Is-This-the-End-of-Righthaven?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New submitter [0]Serpents writes "The new management of MediaNews Group
(owner of the Denver Post) decided to [1]terminate their contract with
Righthaven. So far, the infamous [2]copyright troll has lost all the
infringement lawsuits they've filed (although it seems they've managed to
settle out of court in a dozen cases or so). Is it possible this will
finally spell Righthaven's doom?" The new CEO of MediaNews said that
while the copyright issues are real, the involvement of Righthaven was "a
dumb idea from the start."

Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/1935203/Is-This-the-End-of-Righthaven?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. mailto:serpents@gazeta.pl
1. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/09/medianews-righthaven-dumb-idea/
2. http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/07/23/1742254/Newspapers-New-Revenue-Plan-mdash-Copyright-Suits

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| New Skeleton Finds May Revamp History of Human Evolution
| from the history-is-written-by-the-known-survivors dept.
| posted by timothy on Friday September 09, @19:19 (Earth)
| with 55 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/2249242/New-Skeleton-Finds-May-Revamp-History-of-Human-Evolution?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[0]brindafella links to a [1]series of articles published yesterday in
the journal Science "on Australopithecus sediba, explaining that
skeletons found in the [2]Malapa cave in the World Heritage listed
'Cradle of Civilisation' push back to 1.97 million years the oldest known
tool-using, ape-like pre-humans." As is typical, the full Science
articles are paywalled, but the abstracts are interesting. (If you're a
university student ��� or, in some cases, an alumni club member ��� you may
have full journal access and not even realize it.) [3]NPR has a nice
article on the find as well.

Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/09/2249242/New-Skeleton-Finds-May-Revamp-History-of-Human-Evolution?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. mailto:brindafella@gmail.com
1. http://www.sciencemag.org/site/extra/sediba/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malapa_Fossil_Site,_Cradle_of_Humankind
3. http://www.npr.org/2011/09/08/140294922/mosaic-fossil-could-be-bridge-from-apes-to-humans


Copyright 1997-2010, Geeknet, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


======================================================================

You have received this message because you subscribed to it
on Slashdot. To stop receiving this and other
messages from Slashdot, or to add more messages
or change your preferences, please go to your user page.

http://slashdot.org/prefs/messages

You can log in and change your preferences from there.

Slashdot 11216 Waples Mill Rd., Suite 100, Fairfax, VA 22030

No comments:

Post a Comment