management – Page 47 – Tech Today w/ Ken May

Harvard Bomb Hoax Perpetrator Caught Despite Tor Use

Meshach writes “The FBI has caught the student who called in a bomb threat at Harvard University on December 16. The student used a temporary anonymous email account routed through Tor, but the FBI was able to trace it (PDF) because it originated from the Harvard wireless network. He could face as long as five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250, 000 fine if convicted. He made the threat to get out of an exam.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Next-Gen Windshield Wipers To Be Based On Jet Fighter "Forcefield" Tech

cartechboy writes “It looks like the old-school windshield wiper is about to be replaced by new technology — but not until 2015. British car-maker McLaren is apparently developing a new window cleaning system that is modeled from fighter jet tech. The company isn’t revealing exactly how it will work, but the idea comes from the chief designer simply asking a military source why you don’t see wipers on jets as they land. Experts expect McClaren to use constantly active, high-frequency sound waves outside the range of human hearing that will effectively create a force field across a car’s windshield to repel water, ice insects and other debris. Similar sound waves are used by dentists to remove plaque from teeth.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Next-Gen Windshield Wipers To Be Based On Jet Fighter "Forcefield" Tech

‘Darkness Ray’ Beams Invisibility From a Distance

KentuckyFC writes “Optical engineers generally build imaging systems with the best possible resolving power. The basic idea is that an imaging system focuses light into a pattern known as a point spreading function. This consists of a central region of high intensity surrounded by a concentric lobe of lower intensity light. The trick to improving resolution is narrowing and intensifying this central region while suppressing the outer lobe. Now optical engineers have turned this approach on its head by suppressing the central region so that the field intensity here is zero while intensifying the lobe. The result is a three-dimensional beam of darkness that hides any object inside it. The engineers say this region can be huge — up to 8 orders of magnitude bigger than the wavelength of the imaging light. What’s more, the optics required to create it are simple and cheap: a lens consisting of concentric dielectric grooves. The team has even tested a prototype capable of hiding a 40-micrometre object in visible laser light.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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‘Darkness Ray’ Beams Invisibility From a Distance

Safari Stores Previous Browsing Session Data Unencrypted

msm1267 writes “Users of Apple’s Safari browser are at risk for information loss because of a feature common to most browsers that restores previous sessions. The problem with Safari is that it stores session information including authentication credentials used in previous HTTPS sessions in a plaintext XML file called a Property list, or plist, file. The plist files, a researcher with Kaspersky Lab’s Global Research and Analysis Team said, are stored in a hidden folder, but hiding them in plain sight isn’t much of a hurdle for a determined attacker. ‘The complete authorized session on the site is saved in the plist file in full view despite the use of https, ‘ said researcher Vyacheslav Zakorzhevsky on the Securelist blog. ‘The file itself is located in a hidden folder, but is available for anyone to read.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Safari Stores Previous Browsing Session Data Unencrypted

Ford Self-Driving R&D Car Tells Small Animal From Paper Bag At 200 Ft.

cartechboy writes “Autonomous driving is every car manufacturer’s immediate R&D project. In car-building terms, even if a new technology isn’t due for 10 years — since that’s just two full vehicle generations away– it has to be developed now. So now it is for autonomous car research and testing, and this week Ford revealed a brand new Fusion Hybrid research vehicle built for autonomous R&D with some interesting tech capabilities. Technologies inside the new Fusion Hybrid research vehicle include LIDAR (a light-based range detection), which scans at 2.5 million times per second to create a 3D map of the surrounding environment at a radius of 200 feet. Ford says the research vehicle’s sensors are sensitive enough to detect the difference between a small animal and a paper bag even at maximum range. More road-ready differentiations include observation and understanding of pedestrians, cyclists, and plain old stationary objects. Ford is working on this project in cooperation with the University of Michigan.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Ford Self-Driving R&D Car Tells Small Animal From Paper Bag At 200 Ft.

ITU Standardizes 1Gbps Over Copper, But Services Won’t Come Until 2015

alphadogg writes “The ITU has taken a big step in the standardization of G.fast, a broadband technology capable of achieving download speeds of up to 1Gbps over copper telephone wire. The death of copper and the ascent of fiber has long been discussed. However, the cost of rolling out fiber is still too high for many operators that instead want to upgrade their existing copper networks. So there is still a need for technologies that can complement fiber, including VDSL2 and G.fast. Higher speeds are needed for applications such as 4K streaming, IPTV, cloud-based storage, and communication via HD video, ITU said.” Meanwhile, I’m hoping Google Fiber, FIOS, and other fast optical options scare more ISPs into action along both price and speed axes. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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ITU Standardizes 1Gbps Over Copper, But Services Won’t Come Until 2015

Cybercrime Marketplace Mastermind Faces 18 Years In Prison

wiredmikey writes “A Ukrainian national, Roman Vega, who pleaded guilty in 2009 to creating a popular online marketplace for selling stolen financial account data has been sentenced to 18 years in prison. Called one of the world’s ‘most prolific cybercriminals’ by the Department of Justice, Vega, 49, will serve significant time in prison for his role in co-founding the notorious website CarderPlanet. In the early 2000s, Vega co-founded and became a high-ranking administrator of the notorious website, which became one of the first and busiest online marketplaces for the sale of stolen financial information, computer hacking services and money laundering. At its height, CarderPlanet had more than 6, 000 members and had a hierarchical leadership structure that borrowed its leadership titles from La Cosa Nostra, US authorities said.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Cybercrime Marketplace Mastermind Faces 18 Years In Prison

Pirate Bay Founder Warg Being Held in Solitary Confinement

From Torrent Freak comes news that one of the Pirate Bay founders is now being held in solitary confinement after Sweden turned him over to Denmark. From the article: “In a recent letter sent to Amnesty and shared with TorrentFreak, Gottfrid’s mother Kristina explains her son’s plight. She says that Gottfrid is being kept in solitary and treated as if he were a ‘dangerous, violent and aggressive criminal’ even though his only crime — if any — is hacking. Gottfrid’s lawyer Luise Høi says the terms of his confinement are unacceptable and are being executed without the correct legal process. ‘It is the case that Danish authorities are holding my client in solitary confinement without a warrant, ‘ Høi explains, noting that if the authorities wish to exclude Gottfrid from access to anyone except his lawyer and prison staff, they need to apply for a special order.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Be the Change You Wish to See: Design for the US Mint

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.” -President Wacom, November 5, 1855 If you’ve ever dreamed of making your art available to millions of indifferent people in the form of a cold, hard choking hazard, we’ve got good news. The US Mint and the National Endowment for the Arts are teaming up for a wham-bam coin-design slam, and they want you to apply . They’re looking for professional artists with several years of artistic training and a portfolio that shows mastery of symbolism and complex subjects. Digital skills required. Up to 20 artists will be given year-long contracts to make commissioned demonstration designs. The designs produced will be considered for use on circulated coins and national medals of honor and/or importance. If chosen, the designs are rewarded with additional ca$h money and the offer of longer term contracts. The first application deadline is January 10th, so don’t put off for the next year what you can do while avoiding your relatives during the holidays. If you’re a US citizen with a passion for coinage or obscure types of fame, put that wolf painting on the back burner and apply for your chance to design a national icon . You too could creatively serve the country by carving a bas-relief turkey butt in plastilene. (more…)

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Be the Change You Wish to See: Design for the US Mint

In Three Years, Nearly 45% of All the Servers Will Ship To Cloud Providers

dcblogs writes “IDC expects that anywhere from 25% to 30% of all the servers shipped next year will be delivered to cloud services providers. In three years, 2017, nearly 45% of all the servers leaving manufacturers will be bought by cloud providers. The shift is slowing the purchase of server sales to enterprise IT. The increased use of SaaS is a major reason for the market shift, but so is virtualization to increase server capacity. Data center consolidations are eliminating servers as well, along with the purchase of denser servers capable of handling larger loads. The increased use of cloud-based providers is roiling the server market, and is expected to help send server revenue down 3.5% this year, according to IDC.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.