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Obama orders agencies to make data open, machine-readable by default

Alpha.data.gov, an experimental data portal created under the White House’s Open Data Initiative. Data.gov President Barack Obama issued an executive order today that aims to make “open and machine-readable” data formats a requirement for all new government IT systems. The order would also apply to existing systems that are being modernized or upgraded. If implemented, the mandate would bring new life to efforts started by the Obama administration with the launch of Data.gov four years ago. It would also expand an order issued in 2012 to open up government systems with public interfaces for commercial app developers. “The default state of new and modernized Government information resources shall be open and machine readable,” the president’s order reads. “Government information shall be managed as an asset throughout its life cycle to promote interoperability and openness, and, wherever possible and legally permissible, to ensure that data are released to the public in ways that make the data easy to find, accessible, and usable.” The order, however, also requires that this new “default state” protect personally identifiable information and other sensitive data on individual citizens, as well as classified information. Broadening the “open” mandate The president’s mandate was initially pushed forward by former Chief Information Officer of the United States Vivek Kundra. In May of 2009, Data.gov launched with an order that required agencies to provide at least three “high-value data sets” through the portal. Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Obama orders agencies to make data open, machine-readable by default

BlueStacks takes on OUYA with Android-powered GamePop game console (video)

So you want a console for free, eh? BlueStacks is apparently prepared to offer you just that in its GamePop game console, which costs nothing for the month of May with a one-year subscription to the service (wouldn’t you know it, that costs $93.83 — just below the price of an OUYA at retail ). Like its counterparts, the GamePop is powered by Android (4.2) and runs mostly mobile games. The company isn’t sharing specs just yet, sadly. BlueStacks is promising “over 500” games, and has some top mobile devs offering credence with in testimonial. “We’ve been a featured partner in App Player since early on and they’ve delivered on every promise in terms of distribution,” Fruit Ninja studio head Shainiel Deo said, referencing BlueStacks’ App Player software . “GamePop is a great incremental channel for us.” Since games won’t be bought, but included in the subscription, devs receive a 50 percent cut of subscription revenue, determined by how often users play their games. Should you be interested in getting in early, pre-orders are now open at the GamePop website; we’ve also included an intro video from BlueStacks just below. Filed under: Gaming , HD Comments Source: GamePop.tv

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BlueStacks takes on OUYA with Android-powered GamePop game console (video)

BlueStacks takes on OUYA with Android-powered GamePop game console

So you want a console for free, eh? BlueStacks is apparently prepared to offer you just that in its GamePop game console, which costs nothing for the month of May with a one-year subscription to the service (wouldn’t you know it, that costs $93.83 — just below the price of an OUYA at retail ). Like its counterparts, the GamePop is powered by Android (4.2) and runs mostly mobile games. The company isn’t sharing specs just yet, sadly. BlueStacks is promising “over 500” games, and has some top mobile devs offering credence with in testimonial. “We’ve been a featured partner in App Player since early on and they’ve delivered on every promise in terms of distribution,” Fruit Ninja studio head Shainiel Deo said, referencing BlueStacks’ App Player software . “GamePop is a great incremental channel for us.” Since games won’t be bought, but included in the subscription, devs receive a 50 percent cut of subscription revenue, determined by how often users play their games. Should you be interested in getting in early, pre-orders are now open at the GamePop website. Filed under: Gaming , HD Comments Source: GamePop.tv

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BlueStacks takes on OUYA with Android-powered GamePop game console

This Portable Sound Camera Shows You Where It’s Loud

Trying to pinpoint what exactly in your car is making that weird ticking noise can drive anyone to madness. As sensitive as our ears are, they’re not always as great at precisely locating where a sound is coming from. Thankfully you have four other senses to help, particularly your sight, which this unique SeeSV-S205 acoustic imager lets you use to actually see sound. Read more…        

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This Portable Sound Camera Shows You Where It’s Loud

The Most Sleep Deprived Students in the World

Who *yawn* are the most sleep deprived students in the world? Students from the United States, according to new research by Chad Minnich of Boston College: “I think we underestimate the impact of sleep. Our data show that across countries internationally, on average, children who have more sleep achieve higher in maths, science and reading. That is exactly what our data show,” says Chad Minnich, of the TIMSS and PIRLS International Study Center. “It’s the same link for children who are lacking basic nutrition,” says Mr Minnich, based at the Lynch School of Education, Boston College. But what about those Asian students who study all the time? Asian countries are the highest-performing in maths tests – and Mr Minnich says this has often been associated with long hours and cramming in after-school classes. “One would assume that they would be extremely tired,” he said. “And yet when we look at the sleep factor for them, they don’t necessarily seem to be suffering from as much sleep deprivation as the other countries.” Minnich placed the blame on smartphones and laptops. Sean Coughlan of the BBC has more: Link

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The Most Sleep Deprived Students in the World

Name.com Resets All Passwords Following Security Breach

An anonymous reader writes “Internet registrar Name.com on Wednesday revealed it was hit by a security breach. The company sent an email to its customers informing them that their usernames, email addresses, passwords, and credit card account information “may have been accessed by unauthorized individuals.”” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Name.com Resets All Passwords Following Security Breach

ScoreCleaner Notes: Instantly Compose Whatever Tune Pops Into Your Head

Whether you’re a virtuoso musician or the tone-deaf bane of karaoke night, there’s probably been at least one point in your life where you’ve felt almost certain that the little ditty you just randomly hummed could be the song to end all songs. But just as quickly as these blasts of inspiration hit us, they’ll slip away into nothingness no matter how hard we try to grasp on. With ScoreCleaner Notes for iOS, though, you’ll be able to turn your every musical vision into an eternal tune, be it for better or worse. Read more…        

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ScoreCleaner Notes: Instantly Compose Whatever Tune Pops Into Your Head

Network Solutions seizes over 700 domains registered to Syrians

While Syria’s Internet connection is back up, many of the sites hosted in Damascus have lost their domain names. As Brian Krebs of Krebs on Security reports , the domain registrar Network Solutions LLC has taken control of 708 domain names in the .com, .org, and .net top-level domains registered to Syrian organizations. The organizations affected by the seizure include the state-supported hacker group Syrian Electronic Army. Usually when there’s a domain name seizure, it’s the work of government agencies like Immigrations and Customs Enforcement or the FBI, or domains are shut down with the help of US Marshals as part of a court-sanctioned seizure related to malware. But in this case, Network Solutions appears to have seized the domains in question without coordinating with federal authorities, though its action was guided by federal regulations—domain name registration is one of the services explicitly banned in US trade sanctions enacted against Syria last year. Network Solutions has marked the seized domains with the notation “OFAC Holding,” indicating they were taken over in accordance with regulations propagated by the Department of the Treasury’s  Office of Foreign Assets Control , a unit of Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. The vast majority of the seized domains were pointed at IP addresses assigned to the Syrian Computer Society. As we’ve reported previously, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was an Army doctor and ophthalmologist before being groomed to take over for his father, was head of the Syrian Computer Society in the 1990s. He became president in 2000. The Syrian Computer Society acts as Syria’s domain registration authority and regulates the Internet within Syria, and is also believed to be connected to Syria’s state security apparatus. The Syrian Computer Society registered .sy domain names for the Syrian Electronic Army’s servers, giving the hacker group a national-level domain name (sea.sy) rather than a .com or other non-government address, signifying its status as at least a state-supervised operation. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Network Solutions seizes over 700 domains registered to Syrians