Want to try Microsoft Office 365 but don’t want to pay for a subscription? If you have an .edu email address you can get up to six months of free access, plus an extra 20GB of SkyDrive online storage. More »
More:
Get Six Months of Office 365 and 20GB Extra SkyDrive Storage for Free with an .EDU Address
An anonymous reader sends this Techdirt report on a welcome ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals: “”Here’s a surprise ruling. For many years we’ve written about how troubling it is that Homeland Security agents are able to search the contents of electronic devices, such as computers and phones at the border, without any reason. The 4th Amendment only allows reasonable searches, usually with a warrant. But the general argument has long been that, when you’re at the border, you’re not in the country and the 4th Amendment doesn’t apply. This rule has been stretched at times, including the ability to take your computer and devices into the country and search it there, while still considering it a “border search,” for which the lower standards apply. Just about a month ago, we noted that Homeland Security saw no reason to change this policy. Well, now they might have to. In a somewhat surprising 9th Circuit ruling (en banc, or in front of the entire set of judges), the court ruled that the 4th Amendment does apply at the border, that agents do need to recognize there’s an expectation of privacy, and cannot do a search without reason. Furthermore, they noted that merely encrypting a file with a password is not enough to trigger suspicion.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Taken from:
Court: 4th Amendment Applies At Border, Password Protected Files Not Suspiscious
Wireless uploads of big files take for-ev-er. But researchers at Georgia Tech University have plans for an antenna made of crazy thin graphene that would let you transfer a whole terabit of data in just one second. More »
See original article:
A Graphene Antenna Could Give Us Wireless Terabit Uploads in One Second
Billy the Mountain writes “A small UK company is bringing new technology online that could reduce the prices of tantalum and titanium ten-fold. According to this piece in The Economist: A tantalising prospect, the key is a technique similar to smelting aluminum with a new twist: The metallic oxides are not melted as with aluminum but blended in powder form with a molten salt that serves as a medium and electrolyte. This technology is known as the FFC Cambridge Process. Other metals include Neodymium, Tungsten, and Vanadium.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
See the original article here:
New Technology Produces Cheaper Tantalum and Titanium
netbuzz writes “Fed up with phishers using Google Forms to commandeer campus email accounts as spam engines, Oxford University recently blocked access to Google Docs for two-and-a-half hours in what it called an ‘extreme action’ designed to get the attention of both its users and Google. ‘Seeing multiple such incidents the other afternoon tipped things over the edge,’ Oxford explains in a blog post. ‘We considered these to be exceptional circumstances and felt that the impact on legitimate University business by temporarily suspending access to Google Docs was outweighed by the risks to University business by not taking such action.’ The move generated widespread complaints from those affected, as well as criticism from outside network professionals.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Follow this link:
Oxford Temporarily Blocks Google Docs To Fight Phishing
coondoggie writes “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved what it says is the first bionic eye, or retinal prosthesis, that can partially restore the sight of blind individuals after surgical implantation. The Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System includes a small video camera, transmitter mounted on a pair of eyeglasses, video processing unit (VPU) and an implanted artificial retina. The VPU transforms images from the video camera into electronic data that is wirelessly transmitted to the retinal prosthesis.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Continue Reading:
First Bionic Eye Gets FDA Blessing
Noryungi writes “Researchers at the University of Erlangen demonstrate how to recover an Android phone confidential content, with the help of a freezer and FROST, a specially-crafted Android ROM. Quite an interesting set of pictures, starting with wrapping your Android phone in a freezer bag.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read More:
Unscrambling an Android Telephone With FROST
The wonders of graphene never seem to cease. Desalinization , flexible semiconductors , and now nuclear waste clean-up. It turns out graphene-oxide is fantastic for clumping up around radioactive waste making it easier to get rid of the stuff. More »
Continue Reading:
Graphene Can Clean Radioactive Water By Clumping Up Toxins Like Magic
Whether or not you’re interested in videogames, this device is kind of fascinating from an industrial design/interface design point of view. The PhoneJoy Play is essentially a portable input device with a slick mechanical design: The two holdable halves can spread sideways, connected by a telescoping mechanism. Your smartphone or mini-tablet can then be “docked” in the middle, and the variety of buttons and motion pads interact with your device wirelessly. (more…)
sciencehabit writes “Astronomers have discovered what may be five planets orbiting Tau Ceti, the closest single star beyond our solar system whose temperature and luminosity nearly match the sun’s. If the planets are there, one of them is about the right distance from the star to sport mild temperatures, oceans of liquid water, and even life (paper).” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Visit link:
Possible Habitable Planet Just 12 Light Years Away