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resignator writes:

"'Arm yourself with the information needed before telling someone to install such and such distro because it's great,' warned blogger Ken Starks in his recent FOSS Force post. 'It might be great for you, but maybe not so much with my hardware choices.'

What considerations do SoylentNews readers have when recommending an OS? What OS do you recommend the most or least? How far would you go to 'tailor' a Linux distro to a potential adopter before recommending something that will work out of the box but lack non-essential features?"

neagix writes:

"3 Sicilian space hobbyists have successfully completed mission number 001 of their "Cannolo Transporter," all documented by 2 on-board cameras (video).

From the original article (in Italian) (translated):

A cannolo with ricotta and cherry on top (made of polymer clay) reached the edge of space with the help of a balloon filled with helium gas. The cannolo was mounted on board the "Cannolo Transporter" spaceship, made of recycled materials. The balloon took off from Rocca di Cerere (Enna) and nearly reached the altitude of 30000 meters before exploding because of the thin atmosphere.

Does anybody have Twinkies to spare for mission 002?"

Angry Jesus writes:

"The New York Times has reported that the CIA improperly monitored the work of staffers on the senate intelligence oversight committee. The specifics have not been made public yet but appear to be part of an attempt to find out how a CIA memo regarding torture that contradicted CIA testimony was 'leaked' to the committee."

bob_super writes:

"The rumors are getting more persistent that Altera may abandon the move to Intel fabs and go back to TSMC.

While this seems to be specifically due to delays at the 14nm node, would failing to deal with the 2nd biggest FPGA vendor doom Intel's attempt to open its fabs to others?"

hemocyanin writes:

"Ocean topics always interest me, and this morning I awoke to two interesting ones. First, a diving suit certainly has been done before, but this one will descend to 1000 feet and has a little power pack with four 1.6 horsepower thrusters. In the near future, it will be used to gather information on deep bioluminescent species, in particular, testing the theory that such fish use light patterns to distinguish amongst themselves for mating purposes. The diver involved has dived that deep before, and even with only 7 minutes to work at that depth, found new species. In contrast, the suit can keep a diver alive for 50 hours and it doesn't require elaborate surfacing techniques to avoid the bends, though most dives are expected to be 3-5 hours long. With a fiberoptic tether to the surface and the ability to remain at depth for hours, this is sure to result in interesting discoveries. There's also a little bit in the article about a different researcher who wants to make GM brain proteins with bioluminescent materials so he can watch brain activity directly.

Secondly, this article has a great picture of an amazingly 3D fossil of a trilobite and a neat chart of trilobite variations."

dotdotdot writes:

"I am the IT guy for a small business with about 20 users. We use Microsoft Windows and Office, and I regularly audit our Microsoft volume license usage to make sure we are compliant.

I received an email from Accordo Group Ltd about a Microsoft Volume License Software Asset Management (SAM) License Review. The introduction letter stated, 'Microsoft would like to work with your company to review all Microsoft software products in use throughout your organization. This review process will be undertaken with all customers over a period of time and is intended to help you control your software assets.' The email and all the attachments were written as if they were from Microsoft, not Accordo. My first and last name, as well as the name of my company, were all misspelled.

So this is what I would like to ask SN:
Has anyone else had to deal with this? Are they just phishing for people who will agree to this?"

gishzida writes:

"A Reuters release notes that Yahoo Inc will stop letting consumers access its various online services, including Fantasy Sports and photo-sharing site Flickr, by signing-in with their Facebook Inc or Google Inc credentials. The move marks the latest change to Yahoo by Chief Executive Marissa Mayer, who is striving to spark fresh interest in the company's Web products and to revive its stagnant revenue.

The change, which will be rolled out gradually according to a Yahoo spokeswoman, will require users to register for a Yahoo ID in order to use any of the Internet portal's services."

Detective_Thorn writes:

"Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new tool to detect and contain malware that attempts root exploits in Android devices. The tool improves on previous techniques by targeting code written in the C programming language which is often used to create root exploit malware, whereas the bulk of Android applications are written in Java.

The new security tool is called Practical Root Exploit Containment (PREC). It refines an existing technique called anomaly detection, which compares the behavior of a downloaded smartphone application (or app), such as Angry Birds, with a database of how the application should be expected to behave."

dotdotdot writes:

"All of the fiber-optic cables buried in the sea bed are logged by Washington research firm Telegeography in an interactive Submarine Cable Map. The company's research director Alan Mauldin told CNN about the world's underwater networks."

From the interview:

for international communications, over 99% is delivered by undersea cables.

75% of faults are due to external aggression the majority through human activity such as fishing, and ship's anchors.

There are about 13 cables in service across the Atlantic, and less than 20% of potential capacity is what we call "lit" or in service right now.

cables are designed to last for a minimum 25 years.

Once you build a cable the cost of buying capacity incrementally over time is very affordable.

The last cable across the Pacific cost $300 million; one cable that entered service last year in Asia reaching many locations cost $400 million

AnonTechie notifies us that The Register is reporting on research from Harvard exploring comet dynamics.

From the article:

Comets may not be the product of the Sun exerting its influence over rocks in the Oort Cloud, but may instead be pushed Earth-wards by dark matter. So say Lisa Randall and Matthew Reece from Harvard's Department of Physics, in a paper titled "Dark Matter as a Trigger for Periodic Comet Impacts". The pair write that "Large meteorite strikes on Earth cause big impact craters that are very likely responsible for some mass extinctions" and note that clusters of such collisions come along about every 35 million years. They therefore ponder where those space rocks come from. After dismissing the "Nemesis" theory (the Sun has a dark, invisible, companion) they wonder if the Solar System's path through the Galaxy sometimes intersects with denser-than-usual regions of space, which give Oort Cloud rocks a nudge towards the Sun.

Fluffeh writes:

"When the MPAA went after Hotfile last year, Hotfile counter-sued alleging that Warner Bros abused the DMCA through bogus takedown requests. There was some legal back and forth, but Warner Bros. admitted the accusations. However, the movie studio argued that they were not to blame because a computer made the mistakes, not a person. As a result, the false takedown requests were not "deliberate lies." With instances of automated abuse becoming more frequent in recent years the case promised to be crucial.

But last November, a few weeks before the trial was due to begin, it was closed as part of a settlement between Hotfile and the MPAA, and the records sealed. The EFF is recently filed a motion to unseal those records, convinced that some copyright holders are abusing the DMCA to censor free speech. If this is the case with Warner Brothers, then lawmakers should know about it, so these violations can be stopped in the future."

"Jaron Lanier talks about his latest book, Who Owns the Future? on the Colbert Report (US TV, Comedy Central channel). Should be viewable on the web shortly at http://www.colbertnation.com/

I met Jaron when he worked for Atari in the early 1980s. I remember him as a brilliant and delightful guy, but perhaps a little (or a lot) too full of himself? He does seem to have been successful as a tech pundit..."

AnonTechie writes:

First Stop: Skyshield ... Next Stop: Skynet"

From an article in Wired:

Israel is finally ready to combat shoulder-launched missiles and they're going to do it with lasers. Israel's Ministry of Defense announced Wednesday that SkyShield, developed by Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems, had successfully completed testing and is certified for commercial use to combat the threat of man-portable surface-to-air missile systems (MANPADS) by combining advanced laser detection and disruption technologies.

Fluffeh writes:

"Following up on our earlier story, the Justice Department has filed in the Supreme Court supporting Broadcasters in their case against Aereo the company that rents a small antenna for each customer, lets them record free to air TV, the streams it back to them anywhere.

The Justice Department argues that by doing so, they are allowing their customers to 'gain access to copyrighted content in the first instance, the same service that cable companies have traditionally provided.' but do so without paying broadcasters a license fee to do so. Aereo has argued that it isn't violating federal copyright laws and isn't threatening the future of the broadcast industry. Company executives have argued in public and in court filings that the service appeals to cord cutters and will help broadcasters keep those viewers."

Appalbarry writes:

"Microsoft is about to abandon Windows XP to the wolves. Fair enough it's ancient. However, there are still going to be a lot of XP boxes out there, and a fair number of them are unlikely to ever get upgraded until the hardware dies.

My question is: what's available to help make this old OS stay reasonably secure and safe for the people who can't or won't abandon it?

Over the years I've been through Central Point Antivirus, Norton, McAfee, AVG, stuff like Zone Alarm, and of course the various Microsoft anti-malware offerings. But since moving over to Linux I really haven't kept up on the wild and wonderful world of Windows security tools.

Suggestions?"

Member nobbis writes:

"German Anti Virus firm G Data Security are reporting a sophisticated rootkit that they believe originates in Russia, is linked to intelligence agencies, and is related to an attack against the US in 2008.

The rootkit named Uroburos is seen as evidence of a Russian cyber weapons programme, and was compiled in 2011, meaning it has been undetected for 3 years.

Uroburos is designed to perform peer to peer attacks against both 32 and 64 bit Windows systems, Analysis is ongoing and the means of infection is unknown, but Graham Cluley notes that Uroburos creates two virtual file systems on the infected system, one NTFS and one FAT, to disguise its activities.

G Data think that given the complexity of the malware its targets are governments, research institutes or large companies."

bopal writes:

"The German news site heise.de writes [German language only] that soon you can interact with your iPhone from the built-in touchscreen of their cars. The idea is shown in this youtube.com video."

The press release speaks of the advantages (in sales-speak) of integrating a large portrait-oriented touch screen with an advanced voice control system like Siri.

This comes at a time, where Switzerland is contemplating of moving against large built-in screens in cars, as they are distracting for the driver http://readzer.com/."

Detective_Thorn writes:

"Plants are also able to make complex decisions. At least this is what scientists from the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ) and the University of Gottingen have concluded from their investigations on Barberry (Berberis vulgaris), which is able to abort its own seeds to prevent parasite infestation. The results are the first ecological evidence of complex behaviour in plants. They indicate that this species has a structural memory, is able to differentiate between inner and outer conditions as well as anticipate future risks, scientists write in the renowned journal American Naturalist, the premier peer-reviewed American journal for theoretical ecology.

Taco Cowboy writes about a consortium news article regarding the dilemma facing the US in that it must protect its intelligence sources whilst using that intelligence effectively:

"On the one hand, the Obama administration is demanding that Iran resolves past and present concerns about the possible military dimensions of its nuclear program as a condition for signing a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Tehran. On the other hand, the administration, in order to protect sensitive intelligence methods and sources, has refused to allow the IAEA to share documentary evidence that Iran has had a covert nuclear weapons program in the past, with Iran.

In the case against Iran, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, declared on Feb. 12, 'The authenticity of each allegation should be proven first, then the person who submitted it to the agency should give us the genuine document. When we are assured of the authenticity, then we can talk to the agency'. But a draft text of an agreement being negotiated between the IAEA and Iran dated Feb. 20, 2012, shows that the only difference between the two sides on resolving issues about allegations of Iranian nuclear weapons work was Iran's demand to have the documents on which the allegations are based."

AnonTechie directs us to a Wired article on the importance of electronic warfare (EW) in support of global military operations, "Inside the New Arms Race to Control Bandwidth on the Battlefield."

From the the article:

It is well known that America's military dominates both the air and the sea. What's less celebrated is that the US has also dominated the spectrum, a feat that is just as critical to the success of operations. Communications, navigation, battlefield logistics, precision munitions all of these depend on complete and unfettered access to the spectrum, territory that must be vigilantly defended from enemy combatants. Having command of electromagnetic waves allows US forces to operate drones from a hemisphere away, guide cruise missiles inland from the sea, and alert patrols to danger on the road ahead. Just as important, blocking enemies from using the spectrum is critical to hindering their ability to cause mayhem, from detonating roadside bombs to organizing ambushes.