Author: kenmay

Sony Buys Ericsson Out For $1.47 Billion

First time accepted submitter Diggester writes with this snippet from PC World: “Sony took a page out of the playbooks of Microsoft and Apple, announcing it would buy out its smartphone partner, Ericsson, to more tightly integrate smartphones with Sony’s laptops, tablets and televisions. The move gives Sony complete control over its smartphone business, while Ericsson will now focus more broadly on wireless connectivity for products beyond mobile handsets. Sony purchased Ericsson’s share of the Sony Ericsson partnership for about $1.47 billion. Rumors about Sony’s takeover of Sony Ericsson surfaced in early October.”

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Sony Buys Ericsson Out For $1.47 Billion

Hackers Briefly Controlled US Government Satellites


Orome1 writes “Two U.S. satellites have been tampered with by hackers — possibly Chinese ones — in 2007 and 2008, claims a soon-to-be released report by the the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. The two satellites, Landsat-7 and Terra AM-1, had been interfered with on four separate occasions, allowing the attackers to be in command of the satellites for two to over twelve minutes each time. Luckily, both of the satellites are used only for observing the Earth's climate and terrain, and the hackers never actually misused their control over them in any way.”

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Hackers Briefly Controlled US Government Satellites

Battlefield 3 Performance: 30+ Graphics Cards Tested

New submitter wesbascas writes “Have you ever wanted to play a new PC game, but weren’t sure where your PC falls between the minimum and recommended system requirements? I don’t have a whole lot of time to game these days and with new hardware perpetually coming out and component vendors often tweaking their model numbering schemes, knowing exactly what kind of experience I’m buying for $60 can be difficult. Luckily, somebody benchmarked Battlefield 3’s campaign on a wide range of hardware configurations and detail settings. If you’ve purchased a system in the past few years you should be in luck. The video cards tested start with the AMD Radeon HD 4670 and Nvidia GeForce 8500 GT, and go up to the brand new Radeon HD 6990 and GeForce GTX 590. I hate it that my aging Radeon HD 4870 isn’t going to cut it at 1080p, but am glad that I found out before buying the game.”
If you’re curious about the game itself, here’s a detailed review from Eurogamer and a briefer one from Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

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Battlefield 3 Performance: 30+ Graphics Cards Tested

11-08-11 – Privacy and Big Data

Terence Craig is the CEO and CTO of PatternBuilders, a “big data” analytics services and solution provider that helps organizations across industries understand and improve their operations with advanced analytics. With over 20 years of experience in executive and technical management roles with leading-edge technology companies, Terence brings a unique and innovative view of what is needed—from both an operational and technology perspective—to build a world class hosted analytics platform designed to improve companies’ and organizations’ profitability and efficiencies.

1. What is Big Data, and why do they want our personal/private information?
2. How are some ways we are losing our privacy due to the efforts of Big Data?
3. What are some ways Big Data is using our personal information?
4. How can we protect our privacy and stop Big Data from sharing our information?
5. Who are the players involved in Big Data, and how is this field changing?
6. What is the government doing to regulate this industry?
7. What are some aspects of the privacy debate, both for and against?
8. Does Internet neutrality play a role in the war of Big Data Vs. Privacy?
9. What is the most important thing consumers should know about these Data/Privacy issues?

Identity theft marketplace sells mothers' maiden names, dates of birth, etc – Boing Boing

Identity theft marketplace sells mothers' maiden names, dates of birth, etc – Boing Boing Features Reviews Video Science Gweek B-SIDE Archive Submit More SEARCH. About Us Contact Us Policies Shop Facebook Twitter Subscribe. DESKTOP VIEW. Switch to our mobile site. Boyett's Mortality Br…

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Identity theft marketplace sells mothers' maiden names, dates of birth, etc – Boing Boing