An anonymous reader writes “A court in Hamburg, Germany, has granted an injunction against a user of the anonymous and encrypted file-sharing network RetroShare. RetroShare users exchange data through encrypted transfers and the network setup ensures that the true sender of the file is always obfuscated. The court, however, has now ruled that RetroShare users who act as an exit node are liable for the encrypted traffic that’s sent by others.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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“Anonymous” File-Sharing Darknet Ruled Illegal By German Court
Apple’s iPad mini seems to be a success , and that has attracted the criminal element’s attention. According to the New York Post , a shipment of Apple’s iPad mini, numbering 3,600 devices and with a total value of $1.5 million, was taken from JFK airport from the same location that a group stole $5 million in cash and $900,000 in jewelry in 1978. The thieves apparently only got a fraction of their total target, since they had to leave three pallets behind when an airport worker returned from dinner and questioned their actions. Before that, however, they had already managed to grab two full pallets, which still adds up to $1.5 million in goods as mentioned above. Police suspect an inside job, but no suspects have been apprehended as of yet. The iPad minis had just reached the U.S. from Apple’s assembly partners in China, and were destined for delivery across the U.S. Apple is known to be shipping out its first batch of LTE iPad minis this week, so it’s possible this shipment was part of that rollout. If so, it’s possible that means 3,600 expectant Apple fans are going to be disappointed, but Apple could also very theoretically redirect stock destined for store shelves to make up the difference. The whole job was reportedly pulled off by just two guys. Fencing the stolen goods might be difficult, since posting an ad on Craigslist for 3,600 iPads might look a little suspicious, but it’s still a remarkable take for a couple of guys who apparently just drove a truck to the airport. 
Dupple writes in with news about a discovery that should extend the life of your battery in the near future. “Powering cellular base stations around the world will cost $36 billion this year—chewing through nearly 1 percent of all global electricity production. Much of this is wasted by a grossly inefficient piece of hardware: the power amplifier, a gadget that turns electricity into radio signals. The versions of amplifiers within smartphones suffer similar problems. If you’ve noticed your phone getting warm and rapidly draining the battery when streaming video or sending large files, blame the power amplifiers. As with the versions in base stations, these chips waste more than 65 percent of their energy—and that’s why you sometimes need to charge your phone twice a day. It’s currently a lab-bench technology, but if it proves itself in commercialization, which is expected to start in 2013—first targeting LTE base stations—the technology could slash base station energy use by half. Likewise, a chip-scale version of the technology, still in development, could double the battery life of smartphones.” Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
MTorrice writes “Researchers have demonstrated a way to make high performance, flexible integrated circuits using almost exclusively standard equipment and materials already needed to make conventional chips. Such a method could allow electronics manufacturers to build new devices, such as smart medical implants and flexible displays, without needing to significantly overhaul current production protocols. The method, developed by researchers at the University of Texas, Austin, started with researchers patterning integrated circuits on silicon wafers using a standard production line. They then cut off the top 20 to 30 micrometers of the wafer using a thin wire—like slicing a block of cheese—to produce a thin, flexible platter of circuits.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.