Category: reader

Virtual Table Tennis Finally Gets Rid Of That Expensive Plastic Ball

How often do you find yourself interested in playing table tennis only to discover that small plastic ball either missing, crushed, or too sticky from a round of Beer Pong to bounce? The Sharper Image has the solution in the form of this $60 Virtual Pong game that projects a ball of light on the walls and ceiling, saving you from having to spend countless pennies replacing that white plastic IRL one. Read more…

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Virtual Table Tennis Finally Gets Rid Of That Expensive Plastic Ball

Microsoft Is Bringing WebRTC To Explorer, Eyes Plugin-Free Skype Calls

An anonymous reader writes Microsoft today announced it is backing the Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) technology and will be supporting the ORTC API in Internet Explorer. Put another way, the company is finally throwing its weight behind the broader industry trend of bringing voice and video calling to the browser without the need for plugins. Both Google and Mozilla are way ahead of Microsoft in this area, both in terms of adding WebRTC features to their respective browsers and in terms of building plugin-free calling services that rely on the technology. In short, Skype is under threat, and Microsoft has finally decided to opt for an “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” strategy. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Microsoft Is Bringing WebRTC To Explorer, Eyes Plugin-Free Skype Calls

Leader of “most sophisticated cybercrime ring” sentenced to 11 years

An Estonian man who US authorities said was a leader in one of the world’s “most sophisticated” illegal hacking organizations was handed an 11-year prison sentence in connection to a scheme that got away with $9.4 million from ATMs across the globe. The sentence handed to Sergei Nicolaevich Tšurikov on Friday is among the largest ever given a hacker in the US. The biggest term , 20 years, was first given to Albert Gonzalez in 2010 for being the ringleader of the hack of retail outlet TJX . “A leader of one of the most sophisticated cybercrime rings in the world has been brought to justice and sentenced,” United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates of Atlanta  said  about Tšurikov’s sentencing. “In just one day in 2008, an American credit card processor was hacked in perhaps one of the most sophisticated and organized computer fraud attacks ever conducted.” Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Leader of “most sophisticated cybercrime ring” sentenced to 11 years

Lava Flow In Hawaii Gains Speed, Triggers Methane Explosions

An anonymous reader writes Officials say molten lava from a Hawaii volcano has been flowing steadily in an area where residents have been warned they might have to evacuate their homes. Dozens of residents in the flow path have been told to complete all necessary preparations by Tuesday for a possible evacuation. From the article: “Janet Babb, a geologist and spokeswoman for the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, said methane explosions also have been going off. She said decomposing vegetation produces methane gas that can travel subsurface beyond the lava front in different directions, accumulating in pockets that can ignite. She said it was a bit unnerving to hear all the blasts on Saturday.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Lava Flow In Hawaii Gains Speed, Triggers Methane Explosions

Google Drive is down, and it’s taken all of your docs with it.

Google Drive is down, and it’s taken all of your docs with it. Users have been reporting outages since 11:20 , which is very annoying if you use Google Docs for work—like all my coworkers and I do. Fingers crossed they fix it soon! Read more…

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Google Drive is down, and it’s taken all of your docs with it.

Office 365 Subscribers Now Get Unlimited OneDrive Storage

In mid-July, Microsoft announced that’d it be rolling at a 1 TB storage increase for all its Office 365 Home, Personal, and University subscribers. But the team decided continue its push for cloud supremacy by upping its storage capacity into infinity. Office 365 users now have access to unlimited storage via OneDrive for free. Read more…

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Office 365 Subscribers Now Get Unlimited OneDrive Storage

Solid Concepts Announces Another 3D-Printed Metal Gun

 Solid Concepts, a company that specializes in 3D printing in metal and now owned by Stratasys, as announced their second 3D-printed metal gun, the Reason. Their first gun, the 1911, as well as this one were made by sintering – melting – metal powder with a laser. However, from the detail on the barrel and handle it’s clear the company has improved the technology immensely… Read More

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Solid Concepts Announces Another 3D-Printed Metal Gun

Amazon’s New Fire TV Stick Is A $39 Chromecast Competitor With A Hardware Remote

 Amazon’s connected TV plans don’t end with the Fire TV, an Apple TV-like device it launched last year – the company announced the Fire TV Stick today, a $39 dongle that resembles the Chromecast, which is only $19 for the next two days if you’re already an Amazon Prime subscriber or if you sign up as a new one. Before the Fire TV launched, we received credible reports… Read More

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Amazon’s New Fire TV Stick Is A $39 Chromecast Competitor With A Hardware Remote

US Army May Relax Physical Requirements To Recruit Cyber Warriors

HughPickens.com writes Clifford Davis reports that only 30% of young people between the ages of 17 and 24 are qualified to become soldiers primarily due to three issues: obesity or health problems; lack of a high school education; and criminal histories. While cognitive and moral disqualifications have held steady, weight issues account for 18% of disqualifications, and the number is rising steadily and it’s projected to hit 25% by 2025, which Batschelet calls “troubling.” The current Army policy is that every recruit, whether enlisting for infantry or graphic design, has to meet the same physical requirements to join — but that requirement may be changing. “Today, we need cyber warriors, so we’re starting to recruit for Army Cyber, ” says Batschelet. “One of the things we’re considering is that your [mission] as a cyber warrior is different. Maybe you’re not the Ranger who can do 100 pushups, 100 sit-ups and run the 2-mile inside of 10 minutes, but you can crack a data system of an enemy.” “We’re looking for America’s best and brightest just like any Fortune 500 company out there, ” says Lt. Col. Sharlene Pigg. “We’re looking for those men and women who excel in science, technology, engineering and math.” Batschelet admits that a drastic change in physical requirements for recruits may be hard for some to swallow. “That’s going to be an institutional, cultural change for us to be able to get our heads around that is kind of a different definition of quality, ” says Batschelet. “I would say it’s a modernizing, or defining in a more precise way, what is considered quality for soldiers.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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US Army May Relax Physical Requirements To Recruit Cyber Warriors

Century Old Antarctic Expedition Notebook Found Underneath Ice

An anonymous reader writes During his second expedition to Antarctica, British explorer Robert Scott—and most of his team—died from overexposure to the elements. Over 100 years after their deaths, an artifact from his journey has surfaced. New Zealand’s Antarctic Heritage Trust reports that they have found a notebook which tracked Scott’s last Terra Nova Expedition. According to the Antarctic Heritage Trust, the notebook belonged to a surgeon, photographer and zoologist named George Murray Levick, who accompanied Scott at the unfortunate Terra Nova expedition. Executive Director Nigel Watson said, “It’s an exciting find. The notebook is a missing part of the official expedition record. After spending seven years conserving Scott’s last expedition building and collection, we are delighted to still be finding new artifacts.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Century Old Antarctic Expedition Notebook Found Underneath Ice