Author: kenmay

Parallax Completes Open Hardware Vision With Open Source CPU

First time accepted submitter PotatoHead (12771) writes “This is a big win for Open Hardware Proponents! The Parallax Propeller Microcontroller VERILOG code was released today, and it’s complete! Everything you need to run Open Code on an Open CPU design. This matters because you can now build a device that is open hardware, open code all the way down to the CPU level! Either use a product CPU, and have access to it’s source code to understand what and how it does things, or load that CPU onto a suitable FPGA and modify it or combine it with your design.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Parallax Completes Open Hardware Vision With Open Source CPU

In major shift, Google boosts search rankings of HTTPS-protected sites

In a shift aimed at fostering wider use of encryption on the Web, Google is tweaking its search engine to favor sites that use HTTPS to protect end users’ privacy and security. Sites that properly implement the transport layer security (TLS) protocol may be ranked higher in search results than those that transmit in plaintext, company officials said in a blog post published Wednesday . The move is designed to motivate sites to use HTTPS protections across a wider swath of pages rather than only on login pages or not at all. Sites that continue to deliver pages over unprotected HTTP could see their search ranking usurped by competitors that offer HTTPS. Facebook is also getting more serious about encryption, with plans to acquire PrivateCore , a company that develops encryption software to protect and validate data stored on servers. In Wednesday’s post, Google Webmaster Trends Analysts Zineb Ait Bahajji and Gary Illyes noted that Google was among the first sites to offer end-to-end HTTPS protection by default across virtually all of its properties. It has also offered a variety of tools to help sites detect and recover from security breaches. They went on to write: Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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In major shift, Google boosts search rankings of HTTPS-protected sites

Galaxy Note 4 Rumor Roundup: Everything We Think We Know

The Galaxy Note 3 is a monster, both in size and importance. It was the best-selling device in Samsung’s Galaxy lineup last year, and more importantly made phablets something you’d actually want to use. But with Apple potentially about to enter the biggie-sized smartphone space, the upcoming Note 4 has a whole lot more riding on it. Read more…

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Galaxy Note 4 Rumor Roundup: Everything We Think We Know

The Strange, Sad Story of the Army’s New Billion-Dollar Camo Pattern

After nearly a decade, multiple false-starts, and many billions of dollars, the Army has finally chosen a new camouflage for its troops. Except it’s not exactly new. It was originally developed back in 2002. And it looks a whole lot like one of the patterns that the Army was in talks to adopt from an independent company. Read more…

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The Strange, Sad Story of the Army’s New Billion-Dollar Camo Pattern

Major Homeland Security contractor hacked, federal employee data likely stolen

USIS , a major federal contractor that conducts background checks for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, disclosed today that it was the victim of a hack which likely involved the theft of federal employees’ personal data. Read the rest

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Major Homeland Security contractor hacked, federal employee data likely stolen

Skype Blocks Customers Using OS-X 10.5.x and Earlier

lurker412 writes Yesterday, and without previous warning, all Mac users running Leopard or earlier versions of OS-X have been locked out of Skype. Those customers are given instructions to update, but following them does not solve the problem. The Skype Community Forum is currently swamped with complaints. A company representative active on the forum said “Unfortunately we don’t currently have a build that OS X Leopard (10.5) users could use” but did not answer the question whether they intend to provide one or not. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Skype Blocks Customers Using OS-X 10.5.x and Earlier

Watching a transparent mantis eat is both disgusting and fascinating

Watch this video of a young glass mantis eating a blue bottle fly. Why? Because while it’s totally gross, you won’t be able to look away as the food travels all through his body. It’s fascinating and gross beautiful and gross but cool all at the same time. Read more…

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Watching a transparent mantis eat is both disgusting and fascinating

Idiot Leaves Driver’s Seat In Self-Driving Infiniti, On the Highway

cartechboy writes Self-driving cars are coming, that’s nothing new. People are somewhat nervous about this technology, and that’s also not news. But it appears self-driving cars are already hear, and one idiot was dumb enough to climb out of the driver’s seat while his car cruised down the highway. The car in question is a new Infiniti Q50 which has Active Lane Control and adaptive cruise control. Both of which essentially turn the Q50 into an autonomous vehicle while at highway speeds. While impressive, taking yourself out of a position where you can quickly and safely regain control of the car if needed is simply dumb. After watching the video, it’s abundantly clear why people should be nervous about autonomous vehicles. It’s not the cars and tech we need to worry about, it’s idiots like this guy. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Idiot Leaves Driver’s Seat In Self-Driving Infiniti, On the Highway