[Slashdot] Stories for 2011-01-02
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Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* Four IT Consultants Charged With $80M NYC Rip-Off
* 'No Refusal' DUI Checkpoints Coming To Florida?
* EU Wants Power To Block China's Tech Buying
* Micro-USB Cellphone Charger Becomes EU Standard
* Some Hard Drive Nostalgia To Start Off the Year
* Do Sleepy Surgeons Have a Right To Operate?
* Apple Privacy Concerns Go To Court
* Zimbabwe Gov't Websites Hit By Pro-WikiLeaks DDoS Attack
* Ubisoft's Draconian DRM Patched?
* Replacing Traditional Storage, Databases With In-Memory Analytics
* Has the Industrialized World Reached Peak Travel?
* Hungarian Officials Can Now Censor the Media
* Android Text Messages Intermittently Going Astray
* Security Researcher Finds Hundreds of Browser Bugs
* Chinese Intellectual Property Acquisition Tactics Exposed
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| Four IT Consultants Charged With $80M NYC Rip-Off
| from the well-they're-only-tax-dollars dept.
| posted by timothy on Friday December 31, @19:09 (Crime)
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/10/12/31/2322247/Four-IT-Consultants-Charged-With-80M-NYC-Rip-Off?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
theodp writes "It's I-told-you-so time for Slashdot commenter frnic, who
[0]smelled a crime last March after reading that New York City had
[1]dropped $722 million on its still-under-development CityTime
Attendance System. Nine months later, US Attorney Preet Bharara
[2]charged 'four consultants to the New York City Office of Payroll
Administration ... for operating a fraudulent scheme that led to the
misappropriation of more than $80 million in New York City funds
allocated for an information technology project known as "CityTime."'
Three of the four consultants were also charged — along with a
consultant's wife and mother — with using a network of
[3]friends-and-family shell corporations to launder the proceeds of the
fraud. Dept. of Investigations Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn [4]called it
a shame that 'supposed experts hired and paid well to protect the city's
interests were exposed as the fox guarding the hen house.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/10/12/31/2322247/Four-IT-Consultants-Charged-With-80M-NYC-Rip-Off?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?cid=31639606&sid=1597606&tid=61
1. http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/03/27/1228219/NYC-Drops-722M-On-CityTime-Attendance-System
2. http://spectrum.ieee.org/riskfactor/computing/it/nyc-bigtime-citytime-fraud-charges-ripples-on
3. http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/12/16/2010-12-16_how_did_all_this_happen_right_under_citys_nose.html
4. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/six_charged_in_citytime_rip_off_CpKbE5tdMoitQ0PKvmb8VJ#ixzz19hrB3aLD
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 'No Refusal' DUI Checkpoints Coming To Florida?
| from the ends-justify-the-means dept.
| posted by timothy on Friday December 31, @20:02 (Government)
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/12/31/2357217/No-Refusal-DUI-Checkpoints-Coming-To-Florida?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
schwit1 writes "With New Year's Eve only days away, the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration expects this to be one of the deadliest
weeks of the year on the roads. But now a new weapon is being used in the
fight against drunk driving. ... Florida is among several states now
holding what are called [0]'no refusal' checkpoints. It means if you
refuse a breath test during a traffic stop, a judge is on site, and
issues a warrant that allows police to perform a mandatory blood test."
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/12/31/2357217/No-Refusal-DUI-Checkpoints-Coming-To-Florida?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.wtsp.com/news/topstories/story.aspx?storyid=165079&catid=250
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| EU Wants Power To Block China's Tech Buying
| from the communist-block dept.
| posted by timothy on Friday December 31, @23:04 (Government)
| https://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/0030216/EU-Wants-Power-To-Block-Chinas-Tech-Buying?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
itwbennett writes "In an interview with German daily paper Handelsblatt,
the EU's industry commissioner, Antonio Tajani, said he wants the power
to [0]block China from buying up European tech companies. Tajani
envisions an authority along the same lines as the United States'
Committee on Foreign Investment and would determine 'if the acquisition
(of a company) with European know-how by a private or public foreign
company represented a danger or not.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/0030216/EU-Wants-Power-To-Block-Chinas-Tech-Buying?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.itworld.com/business/132043/eu-wants-power-block-chinas-technology-purchasing-power
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Micro-USB Cellphone Charger Becomes EU Standard
| from the wish-they-seemed-stronger dept.
| posted by timothy on Saturday January 01, @02:11 (Cellphones)
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/023248/Micro-USB-Cellphone-Charger-Becomes-EU-Standard?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "The European Commission has put into effect a
June 2009 agreement stating that major cellphone manufacturers should
[0]standardize their charging/data connection ports to the popular
[1]Micro-USB format. CEN-CENELEC and ETSI provided the standards by which
these 14 companies will abide to make cell phone recharging and data
transfer easy." Apple [2]may even bring the next-gen iPad along for the
ride.
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/023248/Micro-USB-Cellphone-Charger-Becomes-EU-Standard?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.blogtechnical.com/212/microusb-cellphone-charger-becoming-eu-standard.bt
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroUSB#USB_Mini_and_Micro_connectors
2. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20026796-1.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Some Hard Drive Nostalgia To Start Off the Year
| from the for-auld-lang-syne dept.
| posted by timothy on Saturday January 01, @05:15 (Data Storage)
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/0538201/Some-Hard-Drive-Nostalgia-To-Start-Off-the-Year?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ColdWetDog writes "It's the end of another calendar year and time for all
sorts of retrospective pieces. Instead of going back to last year or even
last decade, MacWorld has a quick slide show on the [0]The Evolution of
Hard Drives which more accurately would be described as 'A Dozen Pictures
of Ancient Magnetic Storage Devices.' Still and all, it might be
interesting to those young'uns who think that 10 Gigabytes is small."
Discuss this story at:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/0538201/Some-Hard-Drive-Nostalgia-To-Start-Off-the-Year?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.macworld.com/article/156758/2010/12/harddriveevolution.html?lsrc=rss_news
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Do Sleepy Surgeons Have a Right To Operate?
| from the ahm-purrrfecly-ffffine dept.
| posted by timothy on Saturday January 01, @08:14 (Medicine)
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/0144214/Do-Sleepy-Surgeons-Have-a-Right-To-Operate?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]Hugh Pickens writes "BusinessWeek reports that a commentary from the
New England Journal of Medicine [1]calls on doctors to disclose when
they're deprived of sleep and not perform surgery unless a patient gives
written consent after being informed of their surgeon's status. 'We think
that institutions have a responsibility to minimize the chances that
patients are going to be cared for by sleep-deprived clinicians,' writes
Dr. Michael Nurok, an anesthesiologist and intensive care physician.
Research suggests that sleep deprivation impairs a person's psychomotor
skills — those that require coordination and precision — as much as
alcohol consumption and increases the risk of complications in patients
whose surgeons failed to get much shuteye."
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/0144214/Do-Sleepy-Surgeons-Have-a-Right-To-Operate?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://hughpickens.com/
1. http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/648039.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Apple Privacy Concerns Go To Court
| from the information-doesn't-want-to-be-quite-that-free dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday January 01, @09:25 (Privacy)
| https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/1233207/Apple-Privacy-Concerns-Go-To-Court?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "From the article: 'Apple is being sued for
allegedly letting mobile apps on the iPhone and iPad [0]send personal
information to ad networks without the consent of users.' Some of the
apps listed are on the Android Market as well, but there is no mention of
a similar problem for Google. One wonders if Apple could be persuaded to
strip access to the unique phone identifiers from apps." A followup
article with an industry lawyer suggests that this lawsuit could be the
first of many as users [1]push back against privacy intrusions by app
developers and ad networks.
Discuss this story at:
https://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/1233207/Apple-Privacy-Concerns-Go-To-Court?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20026677-37.html
1. http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900196
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Zimbabwe Gov't Websites Hit By Pro-WikiLeaks DDoS Attack
| from the anonymous-abroad dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday January 01, @10:37 (Censorship)
| https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/1428246/Zimbabwe-Govt-Websites-Hit-By-Pro-WikiLeaks-DDoS-Attack?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "Pro-WikiLeaks hacktivists have struck a blow
against the-powers-that-be in Zimbabwe, [0]bringing down three government
websites through distributed denial-of-service attacks. The attacks
appear to be in support of newspapers who published secret cables in the
ongoing WikiLeaks saga, to the annoyance of the country's leadership.
Grace Mugabe, wife of Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe, was recently
reported to be suing a newspaper for $15 million after it published a
WikiLeaks cable that claimed she has benefited from illegal diamond
trading. The Zimbabwe government's online portal at www.gta.gov.zw and
the official ZANU-PF website continue to be offline, and the Finance
Ministry's website now displays a message saying it is under
maintenance."
Discuss this story at:
https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/1428246/Zimbabwe-Govt-Websites-Hit-By-Pro-WikiLeaks-DDoS-Attack?from=newsletter#commentlisting
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Ubisoft's Draconian DRM Patched?
| from the improved-to-terrible dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday January 01, @11:50 (Piracy)
| https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/1527240/Ubisofts-Draconian-DRM-Patched?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "It appears that Ubisoft's [0]controversial
DRM scheme launched last year that required players to have a permanent
connection to the Internet has been [1]patched to no longer stop the game
when connectivity drops, though an Internet connection is still required
when starting the game."
Discuss this story at:
https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/1527240/Ubisofts-Draconian-DRM-Patched?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/18/0719256/Ubisofts-Constant-Net-Connection-DRM-Confirmed
1. http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/12/31/constant-net-connection-no-longer-required-for-ubisoft-games/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Replacing Traditional Storage, Databases With In-Memory Analytics
| from the neuralization-of-data-centers dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday January 01, @13:02 (Data Storage)
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/1614215/Replacing-Traditional-Storage-Databases-With-In-Memory-Analytics?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
storagedude writes "Traditional databases and storage networks, even
those sporting high-speed solid state drives, don't offer enough
performance for the real-time analytics craze sweeping corporations,
giving rise to in-memory analytics, or data mining performed in memory
without the limitations of the traditional data path. The end result
could be that [0]storage and databases get pushed to the periphery of
data centers and in-memory analytics becomes the new critical IT
infrastructure. From the article: 'With big vendors like Microsoft and
SAP buying into in-memory analytics to solve Big Data challenges, the big
question for IT is what this trend will mean for the traditional data
center infrastructure. Will storage, even flash drives, be needed in the
future, given the requirement for real-time data analysis and current
trends in design for real-time data analytics? Or will storage move from
the heart of data centers and become merely a means of backup and
recovery for critical real-time apps?'"
Discuss this story at:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/1614215/Replacing-Traditional-Storage-Databases-With-In-Memory-Analytics?from=newsletter#commentlisting
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Has the Industrialized World Reached Peak Travel?
| from the i-blame-the-lack-of-flying-cars dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday January 01, @14:12 (Transportation)
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/189244/Has-the-Industrialized-World-Reached-Peak-Travel?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harperdog sends this excerpt from Miller-McCune: "A study ([0]abstract)
of eight industrialized countries, including the United States, shows
that seemingly inexorable trends — ever more people, more cars and more
driving — came to a halt in the early years of the 21st century, well
before the recent escalation in fuel prices. It could be a sign,
researchers said, that the demand for travel and [1]the demand for car
ownership in those countries has reached a saturation point. 'With talk
of "peak oil," why not the possibility of "peak travel" when a clear
plateau has been reached?' asked co-author Lee Schipper ... Most of the
eight countries in the study have experienced declines in miles traveled
by car per capita in recent years. The US appears to have peaked at an
annual 8,100 miles by car per capita, and Japan is holding steady at
2,500 miles."
Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/189244/Has-the-Industrialized-World-Reached-Peak-Travel?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2010.518291
1. http://www.miller-mccune.com/environment/a-road-less-traveled-26524/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Hungarian Officials Can Now Censor the Media
| from the constant-bleeping dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday January 01, @15:28 (Censorship)
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/191249/Hungarian-Officials-Can-Now-Censor-the-Media?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "Hungary is set to [0]regulate the media,
including web-published content, under a new law applicable today. The
law requires all the media to provide a 'balanced view' and must not go
against '[1]public morality,' and places all publications under the
control of a new regulating body, [2]whose top members have all been
nominated by Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Orban, whose strong ways
[3]have been compared to Putin's, has been [4]tightening his grip over
Hungary. 'In the seven months since Orban came to power with a two-thirds
parliamentary majority, he has implemented retroactive taxes in violation
of the constitution, curbed the Constitutional Court's power, effectively
nationalized private pension funds and put ruling-party allies in charge
of at least four independent institutions, including the audit office.'
Citizens sentenced in application of the new law can still challenge it
at the European Court of Human Rights — see you in a few years."
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/191249/Hungarian-Officials-Can-Now-Censor-the-Media?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.voanews.com/english/news/europe/Hungarian-President-Signs-Controversial-Media-Law-112693124.html
1. http://bikyamasr.com/wordpress/?p=23662
2. http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2010/12/new_journalistic_clich%C3%A9
3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/26/AR2010122602111.html
4. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-30/hungary-risks-image-at-eu-helm-as-orban-increases-power-over-courts-media.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Android Text Messages Intermittently Going Astray
| from the digital-foot-in-mouth dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday January 01, @16:38 (Google)
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/2010257/Android-Text-Messages-Intermittently-Going-Astray?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
theodp writes "Reports from Engadget and others suggest that Tiger Woods
and Brett Favre might want to avoid Android for the time being. It seems
[0]Android's default text messaging app still has horrible text messaging
bugs that can that intermittently send texts to the wrong person. 'This
is ticking me off like no other technology glitch that I experienced in
recent years,' reads one unhappy camper's post on a [1]lengthy Help Forum
thread opened on March 16th. 'If a bank deposited my paycheck into
another person's account I wouldn't stress so much cause I can always get
the money back. How the hell do you take words back? "Oh sorry boss you
had to find out that I think you're an idiot, can I still keep my job,
please please please?"' Over at Google Code, Issue 9392 — [2]SMS are
intermittently sent to wrong and seemingly random contact — carries a
priority of 'Medium,' even though it has 600+ comments and has been
starred by 3,600+ people."
Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/2010257/Android-Text-Messages-Intermittently-Going-Astray?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/31/android-still-has-horrible-text-messaging-bugs-thatll-get-you-f/
1. http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/android/thread?tid=345259e6d424bad3
2. http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=9392
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Security Researcher Finds Hundreds of Browser Bugs
| from the going-for-the-gusto dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday January 01, @17:50 (Security)
| https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/2142202/Security-Researcher-Finds-Hundreds-of-Browser-Bugs?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "PC Magazine reports on a very understated
[0]late night post to the full-disclosure mailing list, in which security
researcher Michael Zalewski shared a fuzzing tool reportedly [1]capable
of identifying over a hundred browser bugs. Some of these bugs, he says,
may be [2]already known to third parties in China. The report also
includes an account of how browser vendors fared fixing these flaws so
far. Not surprisingly, Microsoft's [3]response timeline appears
depressing."
Discuss this story at:
https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/2142202/Security-Researcher-Finds-Hundreds-of-Browser-Bugs?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2011/Jan/1
1. http://blogs.pcmag.com/securitywatch/2011/01/new_ie_0-day_may_be_in_circula.php
2. http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/cross_fuzz/known_vuln.txt
3. http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/cross_fuzz/fuzzer_timeline.txt
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Chinese Intellectual Property Acquisition Tactics Exposed
| from the farm-enough-gold-and-anything-is-yours dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday January 01, @18:59 (Businesses)
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/2159203/Chinese-Intellectual-Property-Acquisition-Tactics-Exposed?from=newsletter
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hackingbear writes "In an interview published in Sina.com.cn, Chinese
rail engineers gave a detailed account of the history, motivation, and
technologies behind the Chinese high-speed rail system. More
interestingly, they blatantly revealed the strategies and tactics used in
[0]acquiring high-speed rail tech from foreign companies (Google
translation of [1]Chinese original). At the beginning, China developed
its own high-speed rail system known as the Chinese Star, which achieved
a test speed of 320km/h; but the system was not considered reliable or
stable enough for operation. So China decided to import the technologies.
The leaders instructed, 'The goal of the project is to boost our economy,
not theirs.' A key strategy employed is divide-and-conquer: by dividing
up the technologies of the system and importing multiple different
technologies across different companies, it ensures no single country or
company has total control. 'What we do is to exchange market for
technologies. The negotiation was led by the Ministry of Railway [against
industry alliances of the exporting countries]. This uniform executive
power gave China huge advantage in negotiations,' said Wu Junrong, 'If we
don't give in, they have no choice. They all want a piece of our huge
high speed rail project.' For example, [Chinese locomotive train] CRH2 is
based on Japanese tech, CRH3 on German tech, and CRH5 on French tech, all
retrofit for Chinese rail standards. Another strategy is buy-to-build.
The first three trains were imported as a whole; the second three were
assembled with imported parts; subsequent trains contain more and more
Chinese made parts."
Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/01/01/2159203/Chinese-Intellectual-Property-Acquisition-Tactics-Exposed?from=newsletter#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.sina.com.cn%2Fc%2Fsd%2F2010-12-31%2F150421742110.shtml
1. http://news.sina.com.cn/c/sd/2010-12-31/150421742110.shtml
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