Topicfire Technology News

I was struck by lightning yesterday—and boy am I sore

2013-05-23T20:15:12+00:00

Aurich Lawson / Derek Riggs "Sir, look at me—did you have any shoes on?" asked the emergency medical tech. "Were you wearing shoes when you were struck?" "Huh?" I wondered, a little dazed. "What's with the shoe obsession?" Let me back up. My family and I moved...

Download from Usenet with SABnzbd 0.7.12

2013-05-23T19:44:12+00:00

SABnzbd, an open source binary newsreader written in Python that makes Usenet as simple and streamlined as possible by automating everything, is now at version 0.7.12. SABnzbd 0.7.12 works in the background and simplifies the downloading, verifying, and extracting of files from Usenet. Highlights of SABnzbd 0.7.12: ...

Podcast: How to design a connected device that isn’t a jerk, plus IoT’s recipe for success

2013-05-23T19:44:08+00:00

The internet of things poses a variety of design challenges starting with the fact that we’re not exactly sure how most consumers will want to deploy and implement connected devices in their homes and lives. Much like people don’t think about using electricity, but instead they think about turning on...

Airway made by 3D printer saves infant's life

2013-05-23T19:40:59+00:00

Kaiba Gionfriddo had rare disease tracheobronchomalacia, which caused airway to collapse and stopped him from breathing daily

Ethernet Turns 40

2013-05-23T19:29:12+00:00

alancronin writes "Four decades ago the Ethernet protocol made its debut as a way to connect machines in close proximity, today it is the networking layer two protocol of choice for local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs) and everything in between. For many people Ethernet is merely the...

Will Kim Dotcom sue Microsoft and others over two-factor authentication patent?

2013-05-23T19:29:00+00:00

Mega founder Kim Dotcom claims he holds the patent for two-factor authentication and says he may sue other companies that are using it, like Microsoft, Twitter, Facebook and more. Read more...

FiOS customer discovers the limits of “unlimited” data: 77TB a month

2013-05-23T19:28:47+00:00

Yes, Virginia, there is a limit to what Verizon will let you do with FiOS' "unlimited" data plan. And a California man discovered that limit when he got a phone call from a Verizon representative wanting to know what, exactly, he was doing to create more than 50 terabytes of...

Prenda Lawyer Says Georgia Court Should Ignore Judge Wright's Order Because... Look! Hackers!

2013-05-23T19:28:22+00:00

Remember Jacques Nazaire? He's the local counsel for Prenda in a case in Georgia who was trying desperately to get the judge there to ignore Judge Wright's order in California, which lays out how Prenda's lawsuits are highly questionable, and likely against the law. He was so...

Evolution helps cockroaches lose their sweet tooth, increase survival

2013-05-23T19:27:28+00:00

"What was once sweet is now bitter, but at least i can check out of the roach motels now." http://www.maine.gov/agriculture/pesticides/gotpests/bugs/cockroaches.htm Have you ever wished you could just turn off your sweet tooth to help you resist that third piece of pie? For people, the downside of the...

Thursday Dealmaster has a 120GB SSD for $88!

2013-05-23T19:15:05+00:00

A pleasant Thursday afternoon, Arsians, and welcome to SURPRISE THURSDAY DEALMASTER. Our partners at LogicBuy came across some timely deals they just couldn't sit on, so here they are! In the top slot this week is a PNY 120GB SSD, which features high-endurance MLC flash. With some discounts and some rebates,...

E-commerce biz ChannelAdvisor stock soars 40% in IPO debut

2013-05-23T19:03:08+00:00

Following the lead of other recent tech-focused IPOs, e-commerce software business ChannelAdvisor‘s shares popped almost 40 percent in its first day of trading as a public company. ChannelAdvisor, based in Morrisville, N.C., was founded in 2001 and offers cloud-based e-commerce solution so retailers can easily list items on Amazon, Google,...

French Police End Missing Persons Searches, Suggest Using Facebook

2013-05-23T18:42:49+00:00

itwbennett writes "According to an announcement on a French government website, police have stopped current searches for missing adults and will not accept new search requests. 'Such 'searches in the interests of the family' were conducted under an administrative procedure almost a century old, introduced to help families separated during...

Curiosity Rewarded: Florida Teen Heading to Space Camp, Not Jail

2013-05-23T18:34:16+00:00

Kiera Wilmot, the Florida high school student who was expelled from her school after an unauthorized science experiment was misperceived as a weapon (at least for purposes of arrest and charging), won't be going to jail. She will, though, be going to Space Camp, thanks to a crowdfunding campaign started...

Physicists Create Quantum Link Between Photons That Don't Exist at the Same Time

2013-05-23T18:32:48+00:00

Now they're just messing with us. Physicists have long known that quantum mechanics allows for a subtle connection between quantum particles called entanglement, in which measuring one particle can instantly set the otherwise uncertain condition, or "state," of another particle?even if it's light years away. Now, experimenters in Israel have...

This 23-Ton, 5.3-Million Brick X-Wing Is the Biggest Lego Model Ever

2013-05-23T18:32:46+00:00

This full-size X-Wing model is not only awesome, it's also the largest Lego model ever built.

HTC One sales hit 5 million so far

2013-05-23T18:32:17+00:00

"The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million...

A Windows netbook for just $39? Yup, but there is a catch

2013-05-23T18:26:57+00:00

A website is currently selling a Windows netbook for the low, low price of just $39, but before you rush out to order it, there are a number of caveats to be aware of. Read more...

Chicago School System On FOIA Requests: Stonewalling, Obfuscation, & Paper-Shredding

2013-05-23T18:24:51+00:00

If you're a government with something to hide, there are plenty of shady ways to handle Freedom of Information Act requests. You can make sure your organization is legally allowed to carry guns and simply refuse, like the NYPD. You can also make a big deal about how requests are...

Apple, in political crosshairs, is on pace to boost lobbying

2013-05-23T18:23:30+00:00

Apple is well known for not putting a whole lot of effort into its D.C. lobbying game. But after a week that saw it unwittingly become the poster child for tax-dodging multinational corporations, it might need to step it up — if only to get some politicians off its back....

Outlook.com Android app updated based on your feedback

2013-05-23T18:22:57+00:00

Microsoft's Outlook.com team has pushed out an update to the Outlook.com Android app that has a few bug fixes that will likely appease those of you who use the app on your Android phone. Read more...

Main US Weather Satellite Fails As Hurricane Season Looms

2013-05-23T18:21:31+00:00

First time accepted submitter Rebecka writes with bad news, quoting an IB Times report: "Just as the 2013 hurricane season is about to begin, one of the U.S.' main weather satellites failed this week. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, also known as GOES-13, reportedly ceased to operate as of Tuesday,...

If Your OS Isn't Flat Yet, It's in for a Radical Redesign

2013-05-23T18:05:16+00:00

Everyone's talking about flat. Flat Windows 8, flat Apple iOS 7, flat Google+ and Google Now?flat is the design trend du jour, yet we're still waiting for its arrival. So what the heck is it?

Ask Slashdot: How To Determine If a Video Has Been Faked?

2013-05-23T18:01:52+00:00

BStorm writes "The Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has been making a headlines around the world, for allegedly smoking crack. This story was first broken by gawker.com, which is now crowd-funding $200,000 to buy the video in question. What do you look for to determine if a video has been faked?...

Nokia Siemens invites Intel into the guts of the mobile network

2013-05-23T17:26:45+00:00

Intel has been angling to get its processors into the mobile network for years. Now thanks to partnership with Nokia Siemens Networks it’s finally getting its chance. At CTIA Wireless Thursday, NSN and Intel said they have begun jointly building a mobile edge computing architecture that would put applications servers...

Google App Engine Drops Some High Replication Datastore Prices By Up To 25%

2013-05-23T17:26:19+00:00

At Google I/O last week, Google announced that its Google App Engine High Replication Datastore (HRD) – its schemaless object data storage service – currently processes over 4.5 trillion transactions per month, has an uptime of 99.95 percent and stores over a petabyte of data. Today, the company announced that...