The U.S. Navy’s Warfare Systems Command Just Paid Millions to Stay on Windows XP
June 23rd, 2015Via: IT World:
The U.S. Navy is paying Microsoft millions of dollars to keep up to 100,000 computers afloat because it has yet to transition away from Windows XP.
The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, which runs the Navy’s communications and information networks, signed a US$9.1 million contract earlier this month for continued access to security patches for Windows XP, Office 2003, Exchange 2003 and Windows Server 2003.
The entire contract could be worth up to $30.8 million and extend into 2017.
U.S. Data Hack May Be 4 Times Larger Than Previously Acknowledged
June 22nd, 2015Via: CNN:
The personal data of an estimated 18 million current, former and prospective federal employees were affected by a cyber breach at the Office of Personnel Management – more than four times the 4.2 million the agency has publicly acknowledged. The number is expected to grow, according to U.S. officials briefed on the investigation.
FBI Director James Comey gave the 18 million estimate in a closed-door briefing to Senators in recent weeks, using the OPM’s own internal data, according to U.S. officials briefed on the matter. Those affected could include people who applied for government jobs, but never actually ended up working for the government.
New Lithium Ion Battery Process: “It’s So Far Out Of The Paradigm, You Just Don’t Believe It”
June 22nd, 2015Via: Quartz:
Chiang and Wilder are about to embark on a third round of investment, seeking $20 million to $30 million. They would spend the money to scale up to production of a new machine that makes a cell every two to ten seconds. This machine, to be available for sale in two years, would be for stationary electric batteries—used to power businesses, neighborhoods and utilities, rather than cars.
The machine would have a capacity of 79 megawatt-hours a year and produce any kind of lithium-ion battery for a cost of about $160 per kilowatt-hour. By 2020, Chiang says, that will be down to about $85, 30% below where conventional lithium-ion batteries—whose cost is also dropping—may be by then. But most importantly, the machine would be priced at about $11 million. Hence, the startup cost of getting into lithium-ion battery manufacturing would plummet. “It’s so far out of the paradigm, you just don’t believe it,” said Wilder.
If 24M creates this machine, and if it can sell it into the market—an entirely different question—it will clearly shake up big industries, including stationary and electric car batteries, not to mention utilities. How quickly is anyone’s guess.
Related: Exiting Stealth Mode, 24M Takes On the Battery Industry
Popular Security Software Came Under Relentless NSA and GCHQ Attacks
June 22nd, 2015Via: First Look:
The National Security Agency and its British counterpart, Government Communications Headquarters, have worked to subvert anti-virus and other security software in order to track users and infiltrate networks, according to documents from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The spy agencies have reverse engineered software products, sometimes under questionable legal authority, and monitored web and email traffic in order to discreetly thwart anti-virus software and obtain intelligence from companies about security software and users of such software. One security software maker repeatedly singled out in the documents is Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab, which has a holding registered in the U.K., claims more than 270,000 corporate clients, and says it protects more than 400 million people with its products.
British spies aimed to thwart Kaspersky software in part through a technique known as software reverse engineering, or SRE, according to a top-secret warrant renewal request. The NSA has also studied Kaspersky Lab’s software for weaknesses, obtaining sensitive customer information by monitoring communications between the software and Kaspersky servers, according to a draft top-secret report. The U.S. spy agency also appears to have examined emails inbound to security software companies flagging new viruses and vulnerabilities.
The efforts to compromise security software were of particular importance because such software is relied upon to defend against an array of digital threats and is typically more trusted by the operating system than other applications, running with elevated privileges that allow more vectors for surveillance and attack. Spy agencies seem to be engaged in a digital game of cat and mouse with anti-virus software companies; the U.S. and U.K. have aggressively probed for weaknesses in software deployed by the companies, which have themselves exposed sophisticated state-sponsored malware.
Former White House Chef Found Dead in New Mexico Mountains
June 22nd, 2015Via: CBS:
Searchers have found the body of a former White House chef who had been missing for more than a week after going hiking in the New Mexico mountains, authorities said.
The body of 61-year-old Walter Scheib was found Sunday night near a hiking trail in mountains in the Taos area, the New Mexico State Police said.
“The body was discovered off the immediate trail,” a State Patrol statement said.
Authorities did not provide a cause of death or any other details about the discovery, saying rescuers were still gathering information and more details would be released later.
Scheib was White House chef for 11 years under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and recently moved from Florida to Taos.
Scientists Build Toy Car Propelled by Evaporating Water
June 22nd, 2015The rotor version reminds me of nitinol, which uses a temperature differential instead of evaporation.
Via: Guardian:
Machines that harness the power of evaporating water have been created by scientists in the US.
Researchers at Columbia University in New York have built a miniature car that draws on the process to propel itself along, as well as an evaporation-driven generator that powers a flashing LED lamp.
The inventions pave the way for a new generation of renewable devices that extract energy from natural evaporation and transform it into something useful. Ozgur Sahin, who led the research, said the machines were cheap and could draw energy from water as it evaporates continuously from the surfaces of lakes and oceans.
“Water wants to evaporate. It has a desire to evaporate. If you make a surface wet, it will dry up, that’s the natural course,” Sahin said. “What we did was find a way to channel that desire into doing some useful work.”
Glued to the Screen: A Third Grade Class Where Kids Spend 75% of the Day on iPads
June 19th, 2015Via: Hechinger Report:
When the 24 third-graders in Morgan Mercaldi’s class arrive at the Jackson Avenue School every morning, they take their iPads out of their backpacks and put them on their desks. The tablets will remain there, or in hands and laps, until the children put them in their packs to take them home.
Last year Mercaldi had her students stash the iPads away when they weren’t using them. But she has abandoned that. “Putting them away serves no purpose. We use them constantly,” Mercaldi says.
.mil Follies: How to Blow $6 Billion
June 18th, 2015This is chicken feed compared to the F-35 catastrophe.
Via: Ars Technica:
But the program meant to fix the mess, called the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), instead became a massive 15-year software and hardware development mess of its own, involving five sub-programs and multiple multi-billion dollar contracts. It has been a financial disaster for the DOD. Billions were thrown away on technology that will never see the light of day, despite multiple heroic efforts to pull the project back from the brink of disaster.
JTRS provides a textbook case of what not to do in a technology development program, proving that even a few great ideas can’t save a project that has been over-specified and under-tested, and that remains blinkered to what’s going on in the world around it.
Donald Trump Campaign Paid Actors $50 To Cheer On His Announcement
June 18th, 2015Via: CBS:
The Hollywood Reporter says Donald Trump’s campaign paid actors $50 to cheer at his presidential announcement press conference Tuesday.
The casting notice, obtained by the Reporter, asked actors to wear T-shirts and hold signs for a “big announcement.”
The pay was listed as $50 for fewer than three hours of work.
According to the email, Extra Mile Casting (in partnership with Gotham Government Relations and Communications, a New York-Based political consulting group that has worked with Trump in the past) was looking for actors “to help cheer him.”
Gotham GR had no comment when reached by the Reporter.
9 Dead in ‘Hate Crime’ Shooting at Historic Charleston African American Church
June 18th, 2015Update: Suspect: Dylann Roof
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Via: Washington Post:
Police are searching for a gunman who opened fire and killed nine people Wednesday night during a prayer service at a historic African American church in downtown Charleston, S.C., in one of the worst attacks on a place of worship in recent memory.
At least one other person was injured in the assault, which police described as a “hate crime.”
Police launched a manhunt for the gunman, described as a clean-shaven white male in his early 20s, who has sandy blond hair and a small build. Police said he was wearing a gray sweatshirt, blue jeans and Timberland boots. He is believe to be the only shooter. Police in fatigues, some with K-9 dogs, said they were searching “near and far” for the gunman and pursuing “lots of tips.”
Norval Gun, a AME pastor interviewed near the scene, said the man “walked in, from my understanding, not so much as a participant, but as a brief observer who then stood up and then started shooting.”
