Tag: journal

France To Pave 1000km of Road With Solar Panels

An anonymous reader writes: France is planning on a project to build 1000 kilometers of road with specially designed solar panels. This project will supply 5 million people in France with electricity if it is successful. Though many solar experts are skeptical of this project, the French government has given the go-ahead to this venture. According to France’s minister of ecology and energy, Ségolène Royal, the tender for this project is already issued under the “Positive Energy” initiative and the test for the solar panels will begin by this spring.The photo voltaic solar panels called “Wattway” which will be used in the project are jointly developed by the French infrastructure firm “Colas” and the National Institute for Solar Energy. The specialty of “Wattway” is that its very sturdy and can let heavy trucks pass over it, also offering a good grip to avoid an accident. Interestingly, this project will not remove road surfaces but instead, the solar panels will be glued to the existing pavement. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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France To Pave 1000km of Road With Solar Panels

U.S. Forces Viewed Encrypted Israeli Drone Feeds

iceco2 links to The Intercept’s report that the U.S. and UK intelligence forces have been (or at least were) intercepting positional data as well as imagery from Israeli drones and fighters, through a joint program dubbed “Anarchist, ” based on the island of Cyprus. Among the captured images that the Intercept has published, based on data provided by Edward Snowden, are ones that appear to show weaponized drones, something that the U.S. military is well-known for using, but that the IDF does not publicly acknowledge as part of its own arsenal. Notes iceco2: U.S. spying on allies is nothing new. It is surprising to see the ease with which encrypted Israeli communications were intercepted. As always, it wasn’t the crypto which was broken — just the lousy method it was applied. Ars Technica explains that open-source software, including ImageMagick was central to the analysis of the captured data. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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U.S. Forces Viewed Encrypted Israeli Drone Feeds

Ask Slashdot: Why Are Major Companies Exiting the Spam Filtering Business?

broswell writes: For years we used Postini for spam filtering. Google bought Postini in 2007, operated it for 5 years and then began shutting it down. Then we moved to MX Logic. McAfee bought MX Logic, and McAfee was purchased by Intel. Now Intel is shutting down the service. Neither company chose to raise prices, or spin off the division. Anyone want to speculate on the reasons? Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Ask Slashdot: Why Are Major Companies Exiting the Spam Filtering Business?

Jailbreak Turns Cheap Walkie-Talkie Into DMR Police Scanner

An anonymous reader writes: Last Shmoocon, famous reverse engineer Travis Goodspeed presented his jailbreak of the Chinese MD380 digital handheld radio. The hack has since been published at GitHub with all needed source code to turn a cheap digital radio into the first hardware scanner for DMR digital mobile radio: a firmware patch for promiscuous mode that puts all talk groups through the speaker including private calling. In the U.S. the competing APCO-25 is a suite of standards for digital radio communications for federal users, but a lot of state/county and local public safety organizations including city police dispatch channels are using the Mototrbo MotorolaDMR digital standard. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Jailbreak Turns Cheap Walkie-Talkie Into DMR Police Scanner

Slashdot and SourceForge Sold, Now Under New Management

kodiaktau writes with a link to today’s announcement that DHI Group, Inc. (which you might know better as Dice, the company that bought Slashdot and sister site SourceForge in 2012) today announced that it completed the sale of its Slashdot and SourceForge businesses (together referred to as ‘Slashdot Media’) to BIZX, LLC in a transaction that closed on January 27, 2016. Financial terms were not disclosed. DHI first announced its plan to sell Slashdot Media in July 2015 as part of its strategy to focus on its core brands, as Slashdot Media no longer fits within the Company’s core strategic initiatives. KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc. served as the Company’s exclusive financial advisor for the transaction. (FOSS Force has a short article with some more info BIZX and the sale.) Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Slashdot and SourceForge Sold, Now Under New Management

New stem cell treatment could ‘cure’ type 1 diabetes

Researchers at MIT and Harvard figured out how to produce pancreatic beta cells — the ones that produce insulin — in large quantities back in 2014. The same intercollegiate team announced in the journal Nature on Monday that they’ve now managed to implant those cells into mice that have been genetically designed to suffer from Type 1 diabetes — without the cells being rejected. Even more impressive, the diabetic mice produced their own insulin during the 174-day study period, eliminating the need for daily injections . Instead, patients would simply need “booster” injections of beta cells once every few years. This method “has the potential to provide diabetics with a new pancreas that is protected from the immune system, ” study co-author Daniel Anderson said in a statement, “which would allow them to control their blood sugar without taking drugs.” Human trials are expected to begin within the next few years. [Image Credit: Getty] Via: Gizmodo Source: Nature

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New stem cell treatment could ‘cure’ type 1 diabetes

Wikipedia Editors Revolt, Vote "No Confidence" In Newest Board Member

An anonymous reader writes with news about an editor revolt at Wikimedia to remove Arnnon Geshuri from the foundation’s board. Ars reports: “Nearly 200 Wikipedia editors have taken the unprecedented step of calling for a member of the Wikimedia Foundation board of directors to be tossed out. The Wikimedia Foundation, which governs both the massive Wikipedia online encyclopedia and related projects, appointed Arnnon Geshuri to its board earlier this month. His appointment wasn’t well received by the Wikipedia community of volunteer editors, however. And last week, an editor called for a ‘vote of no confidence on Arnnon Geshuri.’ The voting, which has no legally binding effect on the Wikimedia Foundation, is now underway. As of press time, 187 editors had voted in favor of this proposition: ‘In the best interests of the Wikimedia Foundation, Arnnon Geshuri must be removed from his appointment as a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation Board.’ Just 13 editors have voted against, including Wikimedia board member Guy Kawasaki. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Wikipedia Editors Revolt, Vote "No Confidence" In Newest Board Member

Ransomware Hits Three Indian Banks, Causes Millions In Damages

An anonymous reader writes: Ransomware has locked computers in three major Indian banks and one pharmaceutical company. While the ransom note asks for 1 Bitcoin, so many computers have been infected that damages racked up millions of dollars. According to an antivirus company that analyzed the ransomware, it’s not even that complex, and seems the work of some amateur Russians. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Ransomware Hits Three Indian Banks, Causes Millions In Damages

New Linux Trojan Can Spy on Users by Taking Screenshots and Recording Audio

An anonymous reader writes: Dr.Web, a Russian antivirus maker, has detected a new threat against Linux users: the Linux.Ekoms.1 trojan. It includes functionality that allows it to take screenshots and record audio. While the screenshot activity is working just fine, Dr.Web says the trojan’s audio recording feature has not been turned on, despite being included in the malware’s source code. “All information transmitted between the server and Linux.Ekoms.1 is encrypted. The encryption is initially performed using the public key; and the decryption is executed by implementing the RSA_public_decrypt function to the received data. The Trojan exchanges data with the server using AbNetworkMessage.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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New Linux Trojan Can Spy on Users by Taking Screenshots and Recording Audio

Serious Linux Kernel Vulnerability Patched

msm1267 writes: A patch for a critical Linux kernel flaw, present in the code since 2012, is expected to be pushed out today. The vulnerability affects versions 3.8 and higher, said researchers at startup Perception Point who discovered the vulnerability. The flaw also extends to two-thirds of Android devices, the company added. An attacker would require local access to exploit the vulnerability on a Linux server. A malicious mobile app would get the job done on an Android device. The vulnerability is a reference leak that lives in the keyring facility built into the various flavors of Linux. The keyring encrypts and stores login information, encryption keys and certificates, and makes them available to applications. Here’s Perception Point’s explanation of the problem. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Serious Linux Kernel Vulnerability Patched