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Submission + - NPR's "Car Talk" Closing (yahoo.com)

Submitted by stevegee58
stevegee58 writes: After 25 years on the air, Tom and Ray Magliozzi (aka Click and Clack, The Tappet Brothers) are calling it quits in September.
With their nerdy humor, explosive laughter and geek cred (both MIT alums) Tom and Ray will be sorely missed by the average NPR-listening Slashdotter.

Comment China-Style: Sex, Cash and Stolen Technology (Score 0) 319

by StankyG (#37600126) Attached to: Is Off-Shoring a National Security Threat?
Clean Energy, China-Style: Sex, Cash and Stolen Technology http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampentland/2011/09/23/clean-energy-china-style-sex-cash-and-stolen-technology/ The article is just a little to the left of the topic, but does show how we spend the money on R&D and others reverse engineer it / steal it / acquire the knowledge in many other ways. Can we count on our 'partners' to share with us as we share with them? I am skeptical...
Security

Submission + - Security by obscurity - a new theory (i-programmer.info) 3

Submitted by mikejuk
mikejuk writes: Kerckhoffs' Principle that there is no security by obscurity, but perhaps there is. A recent paper by Dusko Pavlovic suggests that security is a game of incomplete information and the more you can do to keep your opponent in the dark the better. He also suggests that as well as considering the attacker to be limited in computing power it is worth considering limits on their logic or programming capabilities. All of this suggests that obscurity might be just what is needed plus a little adaptive secuity to react back as the attacker probes the system. In this case instead of having to protect against every possible attack vector you can just defend against the attack that has been or is about to be launched. This approach could be the new view needed to make security smarter.
Advertising

Submission + - Who Killed Spotify (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The BBC reports that ad supported music service Spotify is bringing strict limits to its service, allowing users ten hours listening time per month and a lifetime total of five plays per track. Rory Cellan-Jones discusses how much their hand was forced by the labels, and how much it was down to their own desire to move more than the current 15% of users to their paid subscriptions. The overwhelming reaction from users seems to be straightforward disappointment at the loss of a service which managed to bridge the commercial radio business model and modern listening habits. As the first response to the announcement said: "So long Spotify. It was nice knowing you. Guess I'll go back to pirating music again then.".

Submission + - Where is the universal gesture navigation set?

Submitted by dstates
dstates writes: As a mostly happy new iPad owner, I love having lots of apps, but I have got to ask, where is the universal set of gestures for navigation? Pinch and open mostly mean zoom out and in, but sometimes you tap to open, sometimes double tap. Sometimes right swipe is back, som times there is a back button, sometimes you just have to go to home and navigate back down. ... Reminds me of the early days of GUIs when every application had it's own menu set with differt top level menus and different placement of various functions. Made life chaos for users. We have been there, done that, and gestures are much worse. At least with a menu, you had a printed tag you could read. Gestures are all magic handshakes until you know them. Seems like the tablet community should not have to learn the value of consistency all over again.

Submission + - Two Huge Holes in the Sun Spotted

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Japanese scientists have spotted two huge holes on the sun's magnetic field, and it appears there is some reason to be concerned about. The holes, called coronal holes, are gateways for solar material and gas to spill out into space, according to space.com. The gaps in the sun's magnetic field make a hole through its atmosphere, letting gas out, NASA has said.
Google

Submission + - The Dirty Little Secrets of Search

Submitted by Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: The NY Times has an interesting story (reg. may be required) about how J. C. Penny used link farms to become the number one google search result for such terms as "dresses," "bedding," and "samsonite carry on luggage" and what google did to them when they found out. "Actually, it’s the most ambitious attempt I’ve ever heard of,” says Doug Pierce, an expert in online search. “This whole thing just blew me away. Especially for such a major brand. You’d think they would have people around them that would know better."
Space

X-37B Robotic Space Plane Returns To Earth 55

Posted by Soulskill from the down-to-earth dept.
Kozar_The_Malignant writes "The secretive X-37B robotic space plane has returned to Earth after a seven-month mission. This was the vehicle's first flight. Looking like a cross between a Predator Drone and the Space Shuttle, it landed at Vandenberg AFB in California, which was to have been the military's shuttle launch facility. Speculation is that the X-37B is an orbital spy platform."

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