politics – Page 8 – Tech Today w/ Ken May

HP Server Killer Firmware Update On the Loose

OffTheLip (636691) writes “According to a Customer Advisory released by HP and reported on by the Channel Register website , a recently released firmware update for the ubiquitous HP Proliant server line could disable the network capability of affected systems. Broadcom NICs in G2-G7 servers are identified as potentially vulnerable. The release date for the firmware was April 18 so expect the number of systems affected to go up. HP has not released the number of systems vulnerable to the update.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Closing Surgical Incisions With a Paintbrush and Nanoparticles

New submitter BiancaM (3582365) writes “A group of chemists has shown the power of nanoparticles for closing and healing surgical wounds [abstract]. Using no more than a paintbrush they are able to close surgical openings as well as classical techniques such as sutures. However in fragile deep tissues such as liver even more remarkable results were found- normally fatal damage to internal organs is repaired in seconds using a nanoparticle glue. The results show that closing after surgery can be faster and simpler using nanomaterials to glue wounds shut.” For something between the above linked abstract and the research paper, there’s this write-up at PhysOrg, and a video of the technique in action. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

View original post here:
Closing Surgical Incisions With a Paintbrush and Nanoparticles

DARPA Developing the Ultimate Auto-Pilot Software

coondoggie (973519) writes “Call it the ultimate auto-pilot — an automated system that can help take care of all phases of aircraft flight-even perhaps helping pilots overcome system failures in-flight. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will in May detail a new program called Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) that would build upon what the agency called the considerable advances that have been made in aircraft automation systems over the past 50 years, as well as the advances made in remotely piloted aircraft automation, to help reduce pilot workload, augment mission performance and improve aircraft safety.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Apache OpenOffice Reaches 100 Million Downloads. Now What?

We’re thankfully long past the days when an emailed Word document was useless without a copy of Microsoft Word, and that’s in large part thanks to the success of the OpenOffice family of word processors. “Family, ” because the OpenOffice name has been attached to several branches of a codebase that’s gone through some serious evolution over the years, starting from its roots in closed-source StarOffice, acquired and open-sourced by Sun to become OpenOffice.org. The same software has led (via some hamfisted moves by Oracle after its acquisition of Sun) to the also-excellent LibreOffice. OpenOffice.org’s direct descendant is Apache OpenOffice, and an anonymous reader writes with this excellent news from that project: “The Apache Software Foundation (ASF), the all-volunteer developers, stewards, and incubators of more than 170 Open Source projects and initiatives, announced today that Apache OpenOffice has been downloaded 100 million times. Over 100 million downloads, over 750 extensions, over 2, 800 templates. But what does the community at Apache need to do to get the next 100 million?” If you want to play along, you can get the latest version of OpenOffice from SourceForge (Slashdot’s corporate cousin). I wonder how many government offices — the U.S. Federal government has long been Microsoft’s biggest customer — couldn’t get along just fine with an open source word processor, even considering all the proprietary-format documents they’re stuck with for now. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Continue reading here:
Apache OpenOffice Reaches 100 Million Downloads. Now What?

US Takes Out Gang That Used Zeus Malware To Steal Millions

coondoggie (973519) writes “The US Department of Justice charged nine members of a group that used Zeus malware to infect thousands of business computers and illegally siphon-off millions of dollars into over-seas bank accounts. The DoJ said an indictment was unsealed in connection with the arraignment this week at the federal courthouse in Lincoln, Neb., of two Ukrainian nationals, Yuriy Konovalenko, 31, and Yevhen Kulibaba, 36. Konovalenko and Kulibaba were recently extradited from the United Kingdom.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

See original article:
US Takes Out Gang That Used Zeus Malware To Steal Millions

Samsung Claims Breakthrough In Graphene Chip Design

jfruh (300774) writes “Graphene, a carbon-based crystalline lattice that is extremely strong, lightweight, and an excellent conductor of electricity and heat, is coveted as a potential base for semiconductor chip design, and Samsung, working with the Sungkyungkwan University School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, has claimed a big jump towards that goal. With IBM also making progress in this realm, the days of silicon could actually be numbered.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

More here:
Samsung Claims Breakthrough In Graphene Chip Design

Seagate Releases 6TB Hard Drive Sans Helium

Lucas123 (935744) writes “Seagate has released what it said is the industry’s fastest hard drive with up to a 6TB capacity, matching one released by WD last year. WD’s 6TB Ultrastar He6 was hermetically sealed with helium inside, something the company said was critical to reducing friction for additional platters, while also increasing power savings and reliability. Seagate, however, said it doesn’t yet need to rely on Helium to achieve the 50% increase in capacity over it’s last 4TB drive. The company used the same perpendicular magnetic recording technology that it has on previous models, but it was able to increase areal density from 831 bits per square inch to 1, 000. The new drive also comes in 2TB, 4TB and 5TB capacities and with either 12Gbps SAS or 6Gbps SATA connectivity. The six-platter, enterprise-class drive is rated to sustain about 550TB of writes per year — 10X that of a typical desk top drive.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

CryptoPhone Sales Jump To 100,000+, Even at $3500

An anonymous reader writes “Since Edward Snowden started making NSA files public last year, GSMK has seen a jump in sales. There are more than 100, 000 CryptoPhones in use today. How secure they really are will be determined in the future. But I’m sure that some government agencies, not just in the U.S., are very interested in getting a list of users.” For the price the company’s charging for a modified Galaxy S3, it had better be as secure as they claim; otherwise, the free and open source RedPhone from Moxie Marlinspike’s Whisper Systems seems like something to think about first. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

FCC Boosts Spectrum Available To Wi-Fi

bbsguru (586178) writes “Wi-Fi networks will soon be improving thanks to a vote by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today. The FCC voted unanimously to open 100 MHz of wireless spectrum in an unlicensed 5GHz block . The move will increase the number of frequencies available to unlicensed wireless networks (such as those set up through Wi-Fi routers) by nearly 15 percent, and in turn, allow them to handle a greater level of traffic at higher speeds. ‘Today’s action represents the largest amount of spectrum suitable for mobile broadband that the Commission has made available for auction since the 700MHz band was auctioned in 2008, ‘ the FCC wrote in a statement. ‘Access to these bands will help wireless companies meet growing consumer demand for mobile data by enabling faster wireless speeds and more capacity.’ The increased spectrum should mean that Wi-Fi networks will be less congested, and next-gen routers will be able to take better advantage of gigabit broadband speeds that are cropping up all over the country.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Follow this link:
FCC Boosts Spectrum Available To Wi-Fi

New York Public Library Releases Over 20,000 Hi-Res Maps

Daniel_Stuckey (2647775) writes “Finally, you don’t have to raise your voice over a group of whisperers in the New York Public Library to get a better view of its map collection. Actually, you don’t even need to visit the place at all. Over 20, 000 maps and cartographic works from the NYPL’s Lionel Pincus & Princess Firyal Map Division have been uploaded and made downloadable for the public. ‘We believe these maps have no known U.S. copyright restrictions, ‘ explains a blog post announcing the wholesale release of the library’s map collection. ‘It means you can have the maps, all of them if you want, for free, in high resolution. We’ve scanned them to enable their use in the broadest possible ways by the largest number of people.’ The NYPL is distributing the maps under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication, which means you can do whatever you want with the maps.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

View post:
New York Public Library Releases Over 20,000 Hi-Res Maps