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Submission + - PHP.net Compromised

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The open source PHP project site was compromised earlier today. The site appears to have been compromised and had some of its javascript altered to exploit vulnerable systems visiting the website. Googles stop-badware system caught this as well and flagged php.net as distributing malware, warning users who’s browsers support it not to visit the site. The comment by a Google employee over the hacker news thread (official google webmaster forum thread) seems to suggest that php.net wasn't incorrectly flagged. So stay safe.

Submission + - Let The Cars Drive Themselves, We'll Save Money And Lives 1

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: Autonomous cars are coming even if tech companies have to produce them. The biggest hurdles are the technology (very expensive and often still surprisingly rudimentary) and how vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communication happens (one car anticipates or sees an accident, it should tell nearby cars). So what are the benefits to self-driving cars? They may save us thousands of lives and not a small amount of cash. A new study from the Eno Center for Transportation (PDF) suggests that if just 10 percent of vehicles on the road were autonomous, the U.S. could see 1,000 fewer highway fatalities annually and save $38 billion in lost productivity (due to congestion and other traffic problems). Right off the bat you can imagine autonomous driving easily topping your average intoxicated drivers' ability behind the wheel. At a 90 percent adoption mark those same numbers in theory would become: 21,700 lives spared, and a whopping $447 billion saved. If that's the case, bring on robot drivers.

Submission + - Death of the Car Salesman? BMW Make a Siri-like App To Sell Electric Cars (motorauthority.com)

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: You thought Willy Loman had it bad. BMW is launching an artificial intelligence app allowing consumers to ask questions about its new BMW i3 electric car without the hassle of having to pick up the phone or go into dealership. Potential customers can text a simple question (to 84737*) about the i3 and the system builds an appropriate response in real-time using AI — interpreting words, sentiment, and context. The futuristic robo-car salesman was developed by 19-year-old entrepreneur Dmitry Aksenov and operates around the clock. No word on whether the app says, "Wait here — I'll check with my sales manager" like human car dealers often do.

Submission + - No, the Tesla Model S Doesn't Pollute More Than A SUV (greencarreports.com) 1

Submitted by thecarchik
thecarchik writes: In an exhaustive 6,500-word article on the financial website Seeking Alpha, analyst Nathan Weiss lays out a case that the latest Tesla Model S actually has higher effective emissions than most large SUVs of both the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and smog-producing pollutants like sulfur dioxide.

This is absolutely false.

Virtually all electric car advocate agree that when toting up the environmental pros and cons of electric cars, it's only fair to include powerplant emissions. When this has been done previously, the numbers have still favored electric cars. The Union of Concerned Scientists, for example, concluded in a 2012 report, "Electric vehicles charged on the power grid have lower global warming emissions than the average gasoline-based vehicle sold today.

Working through everyone of Weiss' conclusions may show a higher emissions rate than Tesla's published numbers but in no way does a Model S pollute the amounts even close to an SUV.

Submission + - USAF strips 17 officers of nuclear launch authority

Submitted by Freshly Exhumed
Freshly Exhumed writes: In an unprecedented action, a United States Air Force commander has stripped 17 of his officers of their authority to control and launch nuclear missiles. After a string of failings that the group's deputy commander said stemmed from "rot" within the ranks, the suspensions followed a March inspection of the 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, that resulted in a "D" grade for the team tested on its mastery of the Minuteman III missile launch operations system. The 17 are being assigned to intensive retraining courses of 60 to 90 days, according to Lt. Col. John Dorrian, an Air Force spokesman.

Submission + - U.S. DOJ say they don't need warrants for e-mail, Facebook chats (cnet.com)

Submitted by gannebraemorr
gannebraemorr writes: The U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI believe they don't need a search warrant to review Americans' e-mails, Facebook chats, Twitter direct messages, and other private files, internal documents reveal. Government documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union and provided to CNET show a split over electronic privacy rights within the Obama administration, with Justice Department prosecutors and investigators privately insisting they're not legally required to obtain search warrants for e-mail.

Submission + - Will Future Tesla Cars Use Metal-Air Batteries? (greencarreports.com)

Submitted by thecarchik
thecarchik writes: Most advocates and industry analysts expect lithium-ion batteries to dominate electric-car energy storage for the rest of this decade. But is Tesla Motors planning to add a new type of battery to increase the range of its electric cars? Tesla has filed for eight separate patents on uses of metal-air battery technology . The metals covered for use in the metal-air battery are aluminum, iron, lithium, magnesium, vanadium, and zinc.

Metal-air batteries, which slowly consume their anodes to give off energy, hit the news last month when Israeli startup Phinergy demonstrated its prototype battery and let reporters drive a test vehicle fitted with the energy-storage device.
Mounted in a subcompact demonstration car, Phinergy's aluminum-air battery provides 1,000 miles of range, it said, and requires refills of distilled water (which acts as electrolyte in the cells) about every 200 miles.
Open Source

Submission + - Open Source Electric Cars, Good Idea or Not? (greencarreports.com) 1

Submitted by thecarchik
thecarchik writes: Many are keen on the concept of open source electric cars --that is, electric cars where the built-in software can be tweaked, parameters can be changed, and in theory, the cars can be improved. Only it's a really, really bad idea.

If a car has been designed to do its job, but an open source system lets people tweak it, what happens when the car shuts down in the middle of the highway and causes a pile-up? Or decides one day that it won't open any of the doors for you?

Even carmakers themselves have trouble with software--Fisker has issued a recall and apology recently with its Karma --so allowing average Joe to tweak the car's inner workings seems like a bad idea. Changing the characteristics of an electric car isn't as simple as re-jetting the carbs or swopping out the air filter..
Transportation

Submission + - A Hybrid Car with Detachable Engine Proposed (greencarreports.com)

Submitted by thecarchik
thecarchik writes: The SCI hyMod five-door minicar concept is the brainchild of a Romanian team made up of an engineer, a designer, an automotive journalist.

It uses what its designers call a "dedicated logistics center" for the transformation from electric to gasoline, in which the back end of the car containing a battery pack is removed, and replaced with one containing a gasoline engine module that drives the rear wheels. In normal urban use, the battery pack powers an electric motor that drives the front wheels.

The hyMod combines elements of range-extended electric cars like the Fisker Karma and the Volt, plus a tiny, compact range extender (similar to the one proposed by KSPG in a Fiat 500 electric conversion), and perhaps even the Better Place automated battery-pack swap station.
We think it points to the burgeoning choices available in vehicle propulsion that will become available over the next decade.
Transportation

Submission + - California Proposes Rules For Autonomous Cars (motorauthority.com)

Submitted by thecarchik
thecarchik writes: As of now, the only state where self-driving cars are legal on public roads is Nevada, thanks to its vast expanses of open space and lightly traveled byways. California, recognizing that autonomous cars are an inevitable progression of technology, is moving to establish its own rules for driverless vehicles.

A bill proposed by California Senator Alex Padilla would set guidelines for the testing and operation of self-driving vehicles within the state. As California is home to Google, Stanford and Caltech, all of which have active autonomous vehicle programs, the state is positioned to be a leader in driverless car development. It stands to reason that self-driving cars will be allowed on California's roads, probably in the near future.
Transportation

Submission + - Tesla Model X an Electric Gullwing SUV (greencarreports.com) 1

Submitted by thecarchik
thecarchik writes: The new, all-electric Tesla Model X crossover, which was introduced on stage by Tesla CEO Elon Musk (also the man behind SpaceX), isn’t exactly a step toward the mass market. But it does take on premium utility vehicles with three rows of seating for up to seven, better maneuverability than a Mini Cooper, and a 0-60 mph time of just 4.4 seconds—that’s faster than a Porsche 911, Musk jeered.

But the real oohs and ahs of the evening came when Musk showed the Model X’s much-anticipated ‘falcon doors’—essentially gullwing rear doors, behind normal hinged front doors.

Expected to cost around $60,000-$90,000 before tax credits, much like the Model S, the Model X offers similar performance, too. Musk says the standard version of the Model X crossover gets to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds.
Transportation

Submission + - In-Car Video Chat And 4G Streaming From OnStar (motorauthority.com)

Submitted by thecarchik
thecarchik writes: At the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show, OnStar will reveal the latest on their system. This time, the system will be equipped in a Chevy Volt research vehicle, which seems to be a more appropriate vessel than a Buick for previewing your latest technology. In a press release teasing the appearance, OnStar said the system will offer such features as cloud-based streaming of information and entertainment, rear-seat infotainment management and video chat.

Video chat may sound like a terrifying feature for any car, but OnStar said in last year's CES press materials that the feature would only be enabled when the car is in park. Other features like video streaming would also be limited to the rear seat or to a parked vehicle. In addition to the 4G system, OnStar will show the latest in smart-charging technology. It will also make an announcement about its over-the-counter FMV system.
Canada

Submission + - Canada First Nation to Pull Out of Kyoto Accord

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Canada will become the first country to formally withdraw from Kyoto protocol on climate change dealing a symbolic blow to the troubled global treaty as Canada's Environment Minister Peter Kent says Canada would be subject to enormous financial penalties under the terms of the treaty unless it withdrew. "Kyoto, for Canada, is in the past," says Kent. "We are invoking our legal right to formally withdraw from Kyoto.” Conservative party leader Kent says the Liberals should not have signed up to a treaty they had no intention of respecting and says Ottawa backs a new global deal to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, but insists it has to cover all nations, including China and India, which are not bound by Kyoto’s current targets. Kent adds that meeting Canada's obligations under Kyoto would cost $13.6 Billion: "That's $1,600 from every Canadian family — that's the Kyoto cost to Canadians, that was the legacy of an incompetent liberal government". Kent's announcement came just hours after negotiators in Durban managed to thrash out an agreement at the very last minute — an agreement to begin a new round of talks on a new agreement in the years ahead. "Staying under 2C will require drastic, immediate action — with global emissions peaking in the next five years or so," writes Brad Plummer. "The Durban Platform, by contrast, merely prods countries to come up with a new agreement that will go into effect no later than 2020.""
Power

Submission + - Gas Powered Fuel Cell To Fix Electric-Car Range An (greencarreports.com)

Submitted by thecarchik
thecarchik writes: While electric-car advocates may avoid the issue, some buyers simply won't choose a plug-in car that can't travel unlimited distances. That's where the Chevy Volt-style range extender comes in, though the Volt adds unlimited range by burning gasoline in a conventional engine to generate electric power.

Now a new type of fuel cell offers the potential for a different kind of range extender, one that removes the enormous practical problem facing hydrogen fuel cells: the lack of a distribution infrastructure to fuel vehicles that require pure hydrogen to feed their fuel cells.
Researchers at the University of Maryland have managed to shrink the size and lower the operating temperature of a solid-oxide fuel cell by a factor of 10, meaning it could conceivably produce as much power as a car engine but occupy less space.

The advances come from new materials for the solid electrolyte, as well as design changes, and the researchers feel they have further avenues for improvement left to explore.
Power

Submission + - Tesla Confirms Rapid-Charging Corridor Between LA (greencarreports.com)

Submitted by thecarchik
thecarchik writes: Earlier this year at the official launch of the 2012 Model S Sedan, Musk said that Tesla was planning on installing ultra-rapid charging stations along major arterial freeways such as the I-5 between Canada and Mexico, but declined to give specifics.

But in an official Tesla earnings call last week, Musk let slip where the first of these ultra-rapid charging stations would be: somewhere between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

However, even by the shortest route, the distance between the two cities is nearly 400 miles, meaning that an equidistant SuperCharger would be no use to owners of Model S sedans with smaller 160 or 230-mile battery packs.

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