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Step Inside The Historic Photo Archive Stored In an Underground Mine

Boyers, Pennsylvania, is home to the Iron Mountain storage facility, a former limestone mine that is now the storage site of more than 15 million photographic negatives and prints, all preserved hundreds of feet underground. This documentary , produced by the Hillman Photography Initiative , takes you inside for a glimpse at the collection and the folks who maintain it. Read more…

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Step Inside The Historic Photo Archive Stored In an Underground Mine

The plant with 1000 faces

There is a vine that is capable of contorting the size, shape, color, orientation, and vein patterns of its leaves to match nearby foliage. It’s able to match not just one or two other species, but a whole host of them. Nobody has any clue how it knows what neighboring plants look like .

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The plant with 1000 faces

What you need to know to keep the Feds out of your phone

If you’re arrested for overdue speeding tickets, is it acceptable for the police to search the phone on your person? How about if you’re arrested for drug trafficking? In the eyes of the law, there is no difference: If you’re arrested, you’re arrested, whatever the crime. Isn’t that an invasion of privacy? That depends on your interpretation of the US Constitution’s Fourth Amendment, which states: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” That’s why two cases being heard at the United States Supreme Court today are of such importance. Both cases hinge on whether police are legally allowed to search the contents of mobile phones confiscated from arrestees, and the decisions leveled by the Supreme Court will impact every citizen in the United States. WHAT IS IT? Across two hours this morning, the Supreme Court will hear the cases of David Riley and Brima Wurie. In the case of Riley (Riley v. California), a smartphone is at the heart of the battle. Wurie’s case, United States v. Brima Wurie, involves a flip phone (or “dumb” phone, if you’d prefer). Currently, police are able to search the person of an arrested individual: pockets, socks, etc. The frisking you’ve see on TV? Yeah, those. It’s called the “search incident to lawful arrest” doctrine. “The area into which he might reach, ” is the specific phrase used to allow this warrantless search, with the intention of preventing suspects from either reaching a weapon or destroying/hiding evidence. Pretty simple! “Make sure the arrested person doesn’t have a secret weapon and/or doesn’t destroy the evidence” is a solid argument for police to enact said search. In today’s hearings, information obtained from the cellphones of arrested individuals is at the heart of the matter. To search a cellphone, the law states that authorities must first obtain a search warrant. In both of today’s cases, the US government is arguing in favor of authorities being allowed to search arrestees phones without a warrant. The rulings of the two cases — however they’re decided — will be comprehensive in the context of available phone technology. The rulings will not cover wearables, watches, or any other form of personal electronics that’s used for communication. WHY SHOULD I CARE? You’ve probably put it together already, but you should care because modern phones are more than just phones. They contain banking and medical information, location tracking, access to email, and tons of other info otherwise physically incapable of being kept on your person. In so many words: we’ve got little computers in our pockets and most of us allow those computers access to a mess of personal information. If authorities want to access your computer, it requires a warrant. Should the US government’s stance be upheld in these cases, the computer in your pocket could be searched without such a warrant. WHAT’S AT STAKE? There are big picture questions of personal freedoms at play here, as well as the rights of the arrested: Are smart phones considered phones or computers by the US legal system? Aren’t they both ? If you’re arrested and your phone is password-locked, are you obligated to release the password? Doesn’t the fourth amendment specifically protect the kind of information that US citizens keep on smart phones? WHAT’S THE ARGUMENT? In Riley’s case, he was convicted in California — based on evidence obtained from his smart phone — and the decision was upheld based on the aforementioned “search incident to lawful arrest” doctrine. In Wurie’s case, his case was overturned by the US First District Court of Appeals, which argued police aren’t legally allowed to search an arrestee’s phone without a warrant. That disparity in interpretation is the focal point of today’s two cases. WANT EVEN MORE? We sure hope you do, because this one’s dense and there’s plenty of legal minutia to dig through (if you’re into that kinda thing). First up, the SCOTUS Blog has a great, lengthy recap of both trials and an argument preview right here . The New York Times also has a piece breaking down more of the case, such as the impact of signal-blocking Faraday bags on the technical arguments. Should the police be able to search a person’s phone without a warrant? Filed under: Cellphones , Software , Mobile Comments Source: United Stats v Wurie , Riley v California

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What you need to know to keep the Feds out of your phone

FCC Proposes $48,000 Fine To Man Jamming Cellphones On Florida Interstate

New submitter freddieb writes: “An individual who had been jamming cellphone traffic on interstate 4 in Florida was located by FCC agents with the assistance of Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Deputies. The individual had reportedly been jamming cellphone traffic on I-4 for two years. The FCC is now proposing a $48, 000 fine for his actions. They say the jamming ‘could and may have had disastrous consequences by precluding the use of cell phones to reach life-saving 9-1-1 services provided by police, ambulance, and fire departments.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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FCC Proposes $48,000 Fine To Man Jamming Cellphones On Florida Interstate

US Nuclear Missile Silos Use Safe, Secure 8" Floppy Disks

Hugh Pickens DOT Com (2995471) writes “Sean Gallagher writes that the government built facilities for the Minuteman missiles in the 1960s and 1970s and although the missiles have been upgraded numerous times to make them safer and more reliable, the bases themselves haven’t changed much and there isn’t a lot of incentive to upgrade them. ICBM forces commander Maj. Gen. Jack Weinstein told Leslie Stahl from “60 Minutes” that the bases have extremely tight IT and cyber security, because they’re not Internet-connected and they use such old hardware and software. “A few years ago we did a complete analysis of our entire network, ” says Weinstein. “Cyber engineers found out that the system is extremely safe and extremely secure in the way it’s developed.” While on the base, missileers showed Stahl the 8-inch floppy disks, marked “Top Secret, ” which is used with the computer that handles what was once called the Strategic Air Command Digital Network (SACDIN), a communication system that delivers launch commands to US missile forces. Later, in an interview with Weinstein, Stahl described the disk she was shown as “gigantic, ” and said she had never seen one that big. Weinstein explained, “Those older systems provide us some, I will say, huge safety, when it comes to some cyber issues that we currently have in the world.”” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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US Nuclear Missile Silos Use Safe, Secure 8" Floppy Disks

AMD Beema and Mullins Low Power 2014 APUs Tested, Faster Than Bay Trail

MojoKid (1002251) writes “AMD has just announced their upcoming mainstream, low-power APUs (Accelerated Processing Units), codenames Beema and Mullins. These APUs are the successors to last year’s Temash and Kabini APUs, which powered an array of small form factor and mobile platforms. Beema and Mullins are based on the same piece of silicon, but will target different market segments. Beema is the mainstream part that will find its way into affordable notebook, small form factor systems, and mobile devices. Mullins, however, is a much lower-power derivative, designed for tablets and convertible systems. They are full SoCs with on-die memory controllers, PCI Express, SATA, and USB connectivity, and a host of other IO blocks. AMD is announcing four Beema-based mainstream APUs today, with TDPs ranging from 10W – 15W. There are three Mullins-based products being announced, two quad-cores and a dual-core. The top of the line-up is the A10 Micro-6700T. It’s a quad-core chip, with a max clock speed of 2.2GHz, 2MB of L2, and a TDP of only 4.5W. In the benchmarks, the A10-6700T quad core is actually able to surpass Intel’s Bay Trail Atom platform pretty easily across a number of tests, especially gaming and graphics.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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AMD Beema and Mullins Low Power 2014 APUs Tested, Faster Than Bay Trail

Microsoft donates $1 billion to help US schools buy PCs

Microsoft isn’t just supporting White House’s ConnectED education program by lowering the cost of Windows — it’s also giving schools the cash they’ll need to buy Windows PCs. The company is donating $1 billion to make sure that students have the tech they’ll need for both getting online and learning technology skills. The funding comes alongside a new device pricing program that should make the PCs more affordable — to start with, it’s offering sub-$300 systems from Acer, ASUS, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Lenovo, Panasonic and Toshiba. The company isn’t shy about having a commercial incentive behind its generosity; its Education CTO, Cameron Evans, tells CNET that there’s a hope that kids will become loyal Windows fans down the road. However, he adds that any eventual sales are secondary to the more immediate focus on improving education. The influx of cash should reduce the technology gap for less fortunate students, many of whom could miss out on digital learning without a little help. [Image credit: Getty Images] Filed under: Microsoft , ASUS , Dell , Acer , Lenovo Comments Source: CNET , Microsoft

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Microsoft donates $1 billion to help US schools buy PCs