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Submission Summary: 0 pending, 262 declined, 89 accepted (351 total, 25.36% accepted)

Submission + - Why It's Time to Invest in Quantum Cybersecurity

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: If quantum computing is happening — and it is — so are cybersecurity concerns. You’d best get underway preparing for them, says Brian Witten, the Chief Product Security Officer at Aptiv.

Encryption systems that protect data today will become vulnerable when practical quantum computers arrive in seven to 10 years. But while that may sound like a long way off, Witten says, preparation for quantum threats must begin now, not once they have already materialized. Organizations need time to implement post-quantum cryptography (PQC) transition plans methodically, which applies to both those with existing IT infrastructures and those building software-defined systems.

Witten shares a few steps companies can take today to prepare for potential quantum security threats, including building an inventory (what needs to change across toolchains?) and ensuring suppliers are quantum ready.

Submission + - A collection of fun databases for programming exploration

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: When you learn a new tool/technology, you need to create a sample application, which cannot use real in-house data. Why not use something fun for the sample application’s data, such as a Star Wars API or a data collection about World Cup contests? Esther Schindler, slashdot user #16185, assembled a groovy collection of datasets that may be useful but also may be a source of fascinating internet rabbit holes.

Submission + - Where's the Yelp for open-source tools? (functionize.com)

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: Plenty of people have created systems to collect, judge, and evaluate open-source projects, including information about a project’s popularity, reliability, and activity. But each of those review sites – and their methodologies – have flaws. And sjvn gives an overview of the attempts — and perhaps, where the "wisdom of the crowd" might lead.

In 1997, well-known developer Patrick Lenz founded the first listing and announcement site for free and open-source software, freshmeat.net. It was meant to be the guide to open-source programs. But freshmeat never lived up to its promise.


Submission + - The Golden Age of computer user groups (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: The Home-brew computer club where the Apple I got its start is deservedly famous. But throughout the 80s and into the 90s, computer user groups around the world helped hapless users figure out their computer systems, learn about technology trends, and get product demonstrations of the latest whiz-bang applications. Ready for a step into the wayback machine?
 

Submission + - Using machine learning to better understand black holes (hpe.com)

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: Lia Medeiros, a physicist, astrophysicist, and National Science Foundation fellow, is working to put together a movie of sorts of a black hole, using data from the Event Horizon Telescope, a global telescope array that gave scientists the data needed to capture that first black hole image. And she’s going to do it using machine learning.

...and a movie. "Having a black hole movie could be a scientific game changer because they are one of the only types of objects in the universe that scientists need both theories to explain. Black holes, simply put, live at the intersection of quantum and gravity. Movies of a black hole could give scientists the information they need to see if they behave the way we expect them to, helping them figure out the complicated intersection of two major scientific theories."

Submission + - 8 ways sci-fi imagines data storage (hpe.com)

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: "Storage is a staple of both science and science fiction," writes Carol Pinchefsky. "It forms the basis, or a crucial component, of many a piece of speculative fiction. Looking back to look forward is always educational, or at least entertaining, so here are eight past visions of the storage future that either passed their error checks or succumbed to bit rot."

Why store vast quantities of data on a device when you can just slap it into someone's head?

Submission + - Kill the (robot) ump!

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: Everyone who watches sports spends some amount of time yelling at the umpire or sports referee. For the past few years we've also been shouting, "Replace that ump with a robot!"

But is it technically feasible? Is the current level of AI and robotics tech up to the job? This article starts with the assumption that someone seriously wants to create a robot umpire or sports referee and then evaluates whether it possible to build an accurate and trustworthy augmented reality solution today.

Submission + - A new life for old AM broadcast towers

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: Video may have killed the radio star, but other media certainly make old AM radio towers superfluous. ...Maybe.

As once-loyal listeners tune away, most AM stations are barely holding onto life, slashing staff and budgets as deeply as they can while struggling to find a return to profitability. Once upon a time, having a broadcast license of any kind was like having a permit to print money. In today’s world, that's no longer true.

But, with 10,000 AM broadcast towers in the United States, stretching high into the sky, there may be an opportunity for wireless carriers who don't want to argue with community opposition from neighborhoods where residents don't want yet another cell tower. The amount of money an AM station owner can pocket by sharing its tower with a wireless partner varies widely, depending on the tower's location, height, and several other factors. But it's certainly more income — and a way to keep "old" technology from becoming obsolete.

Submission + - Coping with Spectre and Meltdown: What sysadmins are doing

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: In technical terms, Spectre and Meltdown are a security pain in the butt. In day-to-day terms, though, they're a serious distraction. Before you left on the holiday break, after all, you had a nice sensible To Do list for the projects you wanted to tackle after the new year.

Ha ha ha.

Instead, sysadmins have spent their time trying to keep up with the nature of the problem and its fixes (will it REALLY slow down computers that much? how can you tell that to the users?), and apply patches. Or, more specifically:

Ron, an IT admin, summarizes the situation succinctly: “More like applied, applied another, removed, I think re-applied, I give up, and have no clue where I am anymore.”

Feel like you're alone? Here's what other sysadmins have done so far, as well as their current plans and long-term strategy, not to mention how to communicate progress to management.

Submission + - Data science and the search for MH370

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: How often are mathematicians heroes? Here's an example where scientists are... not exactly saving the day. But employing technology for good, certainly.

In the absence of physical evidence, scientists are employing powerful computational tools to attempt to solve the greatest aviation mystery of our time: the disappearance of flight MH370.

For example:

A DSTG team led by mathematician Dr. Neil Gordon set about developing a new technique to extract a path from a subset of the Inmarsat data called the Burst Timing Offset (BTO). This measured how quickly the aircraft responded each time the satellite pinged it, and was used to determine the distance between the satellite and the plane. Investigators used these calculations to draw a set of rings on the earth’s surface.

...The DSTG used its computers to generate a huge number of possible routes and then test them to see which best fit the observed data. Their endpoints were pooled to generate a probabilistic “heat map” of the plane’s most likely resting places using a technique called Bayesian analysis. These calculations allowed the DSTG team to draw a box 400 miles long and 70 miles across, which contained about 90 percent of the total probability distribution.

Cool stuff, even if we still don't know where the plane ended up.

Submission + - How the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is using open source

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: When you handle trillions of dollars a year in transactions and manage the largest known vault of gold in the world, security and efficiency are top priorities. Open source reusable software components are key to the New York Fed's successful operation, explains Colin Wynd, vice president and head of the bank's Common Service Organization.

The nearly 2,000 developers across the Federal Reserve System used to have a disparate set of developer tools. Now, they benefit from a standard toolset and architecture, which also places limits on which applications the bank will consider using. “We don’t want a third-party application that isn’t compatible with our common architecture,” said Wynd.

But the advantages are more than technical. Among them: "Developers can now take on projects or switch jobs more easily across Federal Reserve banks because the New York Fed uses a lot of common open source components and a standard tool set, meaning retraining is minimal if needed at all."

Submission + - The space station gets a new supercomputer

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: By NASA's rules, not just any computer can go into space. Their components must be radiation hardened, especially the CPUs. Otherwise, they tend to fail due to the effects of ionizing radiation. The customized processors undergo years of design work and then more years of testing before they are certified for spaceflight. As a result, the ISS runs the station using two sets of three Command and Control Multiplexer DeMultiplexer (C&C MDM) computers whose processors are 20MHz Intel 80386SX CPUs, right out of 1988.

The traditional way to radiation-harden a spacecraft computer is to add redundancy to its circuits or by using insulating substrates instead of the usual semiconductor wafers on chips. That’s expensive and time consuming. HPE scientists believe that simply slowing down a system in adverse conditions can avoid glitches and keep the computer running.

So, assuming the August 15 SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch goes well, there will be a supercomputer headed into space — using off-the-shelf hardware. Let's see if the idea pans out. "We may discover a set of parameters with which a supercomputer can successfully run for at least a year without errors," says Dr. Mark R. Fernandez, the mission’s co-principal investigator for software and SGI's HPC technology officer. "Alternately, one or more components of the system will fail, in which case we will then do the typical failure analysis on Earth. That will let us learn what to change to make the systems more reliable in the future."

Submission + - Soon, you'll be able to build your own LTE network over Wi-Fi frequencies. (hpe.com)

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: An industry consortium called MulteFire wants to help you build your own LTE-like network that uses the Wi-Fi spectrum, with no need for carriers or providers, writes Andy Patrizio. Just don't expect to get started today.

In its basic specification, MulteFire Release 1.0 defines an LTE-like network that can run entirely on unlicensed spectrum frequencies. The alliance didn't try to do too much with the 1.0 spec; it simply wanted to get it out the door so partners and manufacturers could begin adoption. For 1.0, the alliance focused on the 5-GHz band. More functionality and more spectrums will be supported in future specs.

Why would you want it? As Patrzio explains, MulteFire's target audience is fairly obvious: anyone who needs speed, scalability, and security beyond what Wi-Fi offers. “MulteFire is enabling cellular technologies to run in unassigned spectrum, where they are free to use it so long as they follow the rules of the spectrum band," says Mazen Chmaytelli, president of the MulteFire Alliance."

Is this something you think would make a difference?

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