Tech Today w/ Ken May

An anonymous reader writes “Biochemist Pierre Calleja has a solution to reducing carbon emissions that doesn’t require us to cut back on our use of carbon-producing devices. Calleja has developed a lighting system that requires no electricity for power. Instead it draws CO2 from the atmosphere and uses it to produce light as well as oxygen as a byproduct. The key ingredient to this eco-friendly light? Algae. Certain types of algae can feed off of organic carbon as well as sunlight, and in the process produce carbohydrate energy for themselves as well as oxygen as a waste product. Cajella’s lamps consist of algae-filled water along with a light and battery system. During the day the algae produce energy from sunlight that is then stored in the batteries. Then at night the energy is used to power the light. However, as the algae can also produce energy from carbon, sunlight isn’t required for the process to work. That means such lights can be placed where there is no natural light and the air will effectively be cleaned on a daily basis.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

There’s yet another Flashback variant making its way through unprotected Macs, though it still only takes advantage of the now-patched Java vulnerability that the previous few versions made use of. Security firm Intego posted about the latest version of the malware, Flashback.S, which mimics the behaviors of previous variants of the malware. Flashback.S doesn’t require an admin password to install itself into the machine’s home folder, and it deletes all files located within ~/Library/Caches/Java/cache “in order to delete the applet from the infected Mac, and avoid detection or sample recovery.” Those of us who have already updated our Macs with the latest version of Java won’t have to worry, as Flashback.S has yet to find a new vulnerability to exploit. But there are apparently still plenty of Mac users—-650,000, according to Russian antivirus firm Dr. Web last Friday—who are currently infected with some version of Flashback, meaning there are at least that many (and probably more) who have yet to update their machines. Meanwhile, Sophos claims in a new report that one in five Macs is “harbouring some kind of malware,” though Sophos’ limited sample size (those who have downloaded Sophos’ antivirus software) indicates we should take the numbers with a grain of salt until more researchers can corroborate the claims. Read the comments on this post

First time accepted submitter jcho5 writes “China’s 600-year-old Forbidden City is looking less forbidding these days. As part of a major restoration, the Chinese Palace museum will use 3D-Printers to re-manufacture and replicate many of the city’s most precious and unique objects. From the article: ‘PhD student Fangjin Zhang—along with her colleagues at Loughborough Design School in the East Midlands of England—had, for a number of years, been looking into the use of 3D printing as means to restore sculptures and archaeological relics. According to a Loughborough press release, Zhang developed a “formalized approach tailored specifically to the restoration of historic artifacts.” After reviewing Zhang’s techniques, the Palace Museum then invited Loughborough researchers to repair several Forbidden City artifacts, including the ceiling and enclosure of a pavilion in the Emperor Chanlong Garden.’” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Those eager to check for and remove Flashback malware from their Macs won’t have to wait for Apple to release its own software , as two security firms have now swooped in with their own tools. The first is Kaspersky Lab, which was the first well-known security firm to confirm the half-million infection number originally supplied by Russian antivirus company Dr. Web . Kaspersky put up a site called FlashbackCheck that allows users to enter their Mac’s hardware UUID (with instructions on how to find it)—this allows the firm to check against its own record of infected machines. Kaspersky has also released its own Flashfake Removal Tool —another name for Flashback—which makes it much easier for users to remove than the tedious Terminal method . ( Update: Kaspersky Lab has temporarily suspended distribution of its Flashfake removal tool as the tool was found removing user settings unnecessarily. A replacement tool is expected soon, Kaspersky’s Flashback Checker, however, remains available. ) The second firm is F-Secure, the original authors of the aforementioned Terminal method. Their tool is a single download that automates the detection and removal of Flashback. F-Secure’s tool was most recently updated on Thursday morning to fix a false positive bug that was present in the original release. These are in addition to a FlashbackChecker tool that we wrote about earlier this week , which was authored by programmer Juan Leon. There’s still no time schedule for when Apple’s own tool will be available, but for those who suspect their machines have been infected, the removal apps from Kaspersky and F-Secure should help to calm those fears. Read the comments on this post

Does your electronic device have you a bit hot under the collar these days? A researcher at NC State has developed a faster and less expensive method for cooling gadgets — especially those that tend to crank the heat up. Dr. Jag Kasichainula, an Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, authored a paper on the research that implements a “heat spreader’ composed of a copper-graphene composite and an indium-graphene interface film to cool devices. Because the two materials exhibit a high thermal conductivity, they allow the device to cool more efficiently while distributing said heat — 25 percent quicker than the pure copper in many pieces of tech. And if that wasn’t enough, the research also details the process for creating the composite using electrochemical deposition. “Copper is expensive, so replacing some of the copper with graphene actually lowers the overall cost.,” Kasichainula notes. If you’re itching to read a full rundown of the findings, the full text can be accessed via the source link below. NC State researcher finds more efficient way to cool devices, looks to cut costs too originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Apr 2012 17:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink   NC State University  |  SpringerLink (Full text)  |  Email this  |  Comments

theweatherelectric writes “James Hutchinson of iTnews writes, ‘CSIRO has begun talks with global manufacturers to commercialise microwave technology it says can provide at least 10 Gbps symmetric backhaul services to mobile towers. The project, funded out of the Science and Industry Endowment Fund and a year in planning, could provide a ten-fold increase in the speed of point-to-point microwave transmission systems within two years, according to project manager, Dr Jay Guo. Microwave transmission is used to link mobile towers back to a carrier’s network where it is physically difficult or economically unviable to run fibre to the tower. Where current technology has an upper limit of a gigabit per second to multiple towers over backhaul, the government organisation said it could provide the 10 Gbps symmetric speeds over ranges of up to 50 kilometres.’” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Bad Astronomer writes “Astronomers have used two big telescopes to create an infrared survey of the Milky Way that is the largest of its kind: the resulting image has an incredible 150,000 megapixels containing over a billion stars. Something that large is difficult to use, so they also made a pan-and-zoom version online which should keep you occupied for quite some time. These data will be used to better understand star formation in our Milky Way, and how far more distant galaxies and quasars behave.” The interactive image is powered by IIPImage which happens to be Free Software and is cool in its own right (right click the image to get help — it has a full set of keybindings for navigation). Read more of this story at Slashdot.