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Federal Air Marshals (FAMs) familiar with the situation say the mix-ups, in which marshals are mistaken for terrorism suspects who share the same names, have gone on for years — just as they have for thousands of members of the traveling public.Link (Thanks, Tim!)One air marshal said it has been "a major problem, where guys are denied boarding by the airline."
"In some cases, planes have departed without any coverage because the airline employees were adamant they would not fly," said the air marshal, who asked not to be named because the job requires anonymity. "I've seen guys actually being denied boarding."
A second air marshal said one agent "has been getting harassed for six years because his exact name is on the no-fly list."
This week's HOWTO is "Avoiding Camera Noise Signatures" -- AKA, anonymizing your photos before you post them online:
Link, Link to feed of Little Brother InstructablesIf you take enough images with your digital camera, they can all be compared together and a unique signature can be determined. This means that even when you think that you are posting a photo anonymously to the internet, you are actually providing clues for the government to better tell who you are. The larger the sample size of images they have, the easier it is them to track down images coming from the same camera. Once they know all the images are coming from the same camera, all they then have to do is find that camera and take a picture to confirm it beyond a reasonable doubt.
It is important to remove this noise signature so that you cannot be tracked down. I cannot guarantee any of these methods will work beyond the shadow of a doubt because the woman doing research for the government on how to find the signature is very good. I can only promise that this will make their work more difficult.
"Our computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices hold a vast amount of personal information like financial data, health histories, and personal emails and letters," said EFF Staff Attorney Marcia Hofmann. "In a free country, the government cannot have unlimited power to read, seize, and store this information without any oversight."Link (Thanks, Rebecca!)So far, the Department of Homeland Security has refused to release its policies and procedures for conducting these intrusive searches. EFF and the Asian Law Caucus have filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security to obtain the information through the Freedom of Information Act.
"Your privacy could be at risk even if you don't travel yourself. Your financial institution, your insurer, and other enterprises hold extensive personal data about you and your family," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien. "If agents of those groups travel internationally, your information could be exposed to officials at the border or potentially copied and stored in government databases. Americans should know how and why electronic data is seized and kept by the government, and who is able to access it at the border and in the years afterwards."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
 NewsOXY | Adobe opens screen project Inquirer - By Stewart Meagher: Thursday, 01 May 2008, 2:25 PM PHOTO AND VIDEO specialists Adobe has today announced The Open Screen Project, in an attempt to unify the way content is delivered via the internet to a variety of devices including computers, ... Adobe moves to broaden Flash reach Adobe Establishes Open Screen Project for Flash, AIR |
 Laptop Logic | Intel's Atom Will Face Shortages Through Q3 DailyTech - Intel specifically designed its new Atom processors to be as energy efficient as possible while at the same time being powerful enough to handle everyday tasks requested by consumers. Intel's New Atom Chips May Be in Short Supply Intel Atom shortfall hits OEMs |
 eFluxMedia | AT&T to Launch Mobile TV in 58 US Markets PC World - AT&T will launch its mobile television service on Sunday, behind schedule and nearly a year after competitor Verizon Wireless began offering broadcast TV services. AT&T goes with the FLO for mobile TV AT&T launches TV service on new phones, rivaling Verizon |
 GamePro.com | $100 million Grand Theft Auto IV is most expensive game ever GamePro.com - by Jack Loftus | 05/01/2008 | 6:19:15 AM PST Grand Theft auto IV's $100 budget makes it the most expensive video game ever created by man. Video: Sex And Violence In Games (CBS News) Critics slam 'GTA IV' without test drive |
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
 Canada.com | WSJ: Ballmer Empowered to Talk or Walk by Microsoft Board Wired News - The Microsoft board Wednesday gave CEO Steve Ballmer “broad discretion to either go hostile or abandon the Yahoo pursuit” but the company’s decision will probably not be made and announced until later this week, the Wall Street Journal reports. Microsoft’s Board Meets on Yahoo Bid Microsoft weighs options on Yahoo |
Data Centers Are Becoming Big Polluters, Study Finds New York Times - By Steve Lohr The world’s data centers are projected to surpass the airline industry as a greenhouse gas polluter by 2020, according to a new study by McKinsey & Co. McKinsey: Measure Data Center Efficiency Like Car Fuel Efficiency McKinsey: Servers need an MPG-like energy rating |
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
 The Money Times | Psystar’s Open Computer review: Is it worth it? ZDNet Blogs - There are a few things you need to know before hopping on the Psystar Mac clone bandwagon: You can’t download a software update, which means patching is impossible. Psystar Open Computer Apple Mac Clone Review Psystar kit begins to appear.. loudly |
Link (Thanks, Eleanor!)Games for Change, the non-profit devoted to promoting, well, games for change, will hold their fifth annual festival in New York City from June 2-4. Keynote speakers are Henry Jenkins and Jim Gee and the closing keynote is the Honorable Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
The first day of the festival will be a free, one-day workshop. The recipient of a MacArthur grant, the workshop is a soup-to-nuts tutorial for non-profits, covering everything from why you'd make a game for change, to design, and through funding and press strategies. While the workshop is free, seating is limited and those who wish to attend must fill out a simple online application.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Our first message is from the author of AMERICAN GODS, the 2002 Nebula Award Winner for Best Novel -- Neil Gaiman.Link (Thanks, Freddie Freelance!)Neil -- "Mike Moorcock changed the inside of my head. I read STORMBRINGER when I was nine, and that was pretty much that. My pocket money went on Moorcock books -- which were gloriously being issued and reissued back then -- and I read them and took what I could from them. It's not long until you have a multiverse in your twelve-year-old mind, and you learn that every hero is the Eternal Champion, and suddenly you're puzzling over Jerry Cornelius stories, with your head going places it hasn't gone before.
When people ask me about my influences, I tend to forget Mike, much in the way that people listing the things that were important to them growing up, fail to list the earth, the air, and sunlight. He taught me that high culture and low culture were simply points of view, and that what mattered was the writing. His influence as an editor still reverberates today. We're lucky to have him."
Each week the StarShipSofa will deliver a full package of SF related audio material all free including audio fiction, fact audio essays, flash fiction and poetry, all by leading names in the SF field. Many many writers have agreed to let StarShipSofa narrate their works including Ben Bova, Joe Haldeman, Alistair Reynolds and M John Harrison to name a few.Link (Thanks, Tony!)There will be two shows per week, the Wednesday show, also know as Aural Delights will contain narrated audio fiction, fact and poetry and the weekend show will be an in depth look into an author's life and work.
This week saw the first of the metamorphosing with the StarShipSofa's Aural Delights show. Fiction was provided by Kage Baker's fantastic story The Likely Lad, there were two poems by Bruce Boston and Laurel Winter, both winners of the Rhysling Award for SF Poetry. Flash fiction came from a very short but very powerful story called Repeating The Past by Peter Watts, author of the SF novel Blindsight.
In the weeks to come Peter Watts will also be delivering a monthly narrated fact article; this part of the show will be called Reality, Remastered. As for the weekend shows, StarShipSofa has her sights upon writers such as John Scalzi, Robert Charles Wilson and Ken Macleod.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
 TechSpot | MS misses restart button on desktop auto-updates Register - By Kelly Fiveash → More by this author Microsoft has been forced to halt automatic updates to Vista service pack one (SP1) because of glitches with its Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS), which has already laid waste to XP SP3. Microsoft Pulls XP Update Due to a Last Minute Software Glitch Obscure Microsoft product halts Windows releases |
 eFluxMedia | Xerox Shows Off Future Tech And Tries To Better Define Itself InformationWeek - Despite failed attempts to cash in, the company and its PARC subsidiary have several pillars of growth in mind to compete with Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce. Xerox plans the the future of today Xerox's Research Arm Now a Business, Execs Say |
 OverTheLimit.info | Did LSD change Britain? BBC News - By Finlo Rohrer Sixty-three years ago the first acid trip was taken by an unwitting research chemist, Albert Hofmann, who has died at the age of 102. Albert Hofmann, father of drug LSD, dies in Switzerland  Comment by Alex Grey Artist, alexgrey.com |
I've just completed building the 2.0 version of Committee Caller for my master's thesis. It's called Cause Caller and it is a virtual phone bank web app powered by a Semantic Media Wiki.Link (Thanks, Fred!)I came up with the idea of automating call queues for phone banks while trying to organize one for myself, it was a total hassle to find everyone’s phone number on a particular committee, so I built CommitteeCaller last semester. Over the last couple of months I’ve worked with several local causes to develop the idea into a generalized activist tool that is my thesis — Cause Caller. The result is a fully extendable, platform that drives a “live” VoIP application that hopefully takes a lot of the hassle out of phone banking.
Right now Cause Caller is a bit of a blank slate — while I have almost all of America’s federal politicians (Congressional representatives, Senators, etc.) in the database, I am really interested in building state level politicians into it. Causes also need to be added as right now there are only two: the demo cause and SolarOne’s I Heart PV Cause. This is where you can help — if you are or you know any activists looking to organize phone banks, please forward this to them! I’m going to be presenting this project for my thesis at ITP on Friday, May 9th at 12:20pm, so I’ll be incorporating feedback I receive over the next week into the “results” section of my presentation.
Have fun getting in touch with democracy!
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
White Plains -- My Baby Loves Lovin'In Bolus' comments section, someone said Tony Orlando's "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" belongs on the list, and I agree. LinkTerry Jacks -- Seasons in the Sun
Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods -- Billy Don't Be a Hero
Captain & Tenille -- Muskrat Love
Tony DiFranco & the DiFranco Family -- Heartbeat (It's a Love Beat)
Bobby Goldsboro -- Honey
Sammy Johns -- Chevy Van
Debbie Boone -- You Light Up My Life
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
On April 27, 2007, Estonia was attacked in cyberspace. Following a diplomatic incident with Russia about the relocation of a Soviet World War II memorial, the networks of many Estonian organizations, including the Estonian parliament, banks, ministries, newspapers and broadcasters, were attacked and -- in many cases -- shut down. Estonia was quick to blame Russia, which was equally quick to deny any involvement.
It was hyped as the first cyberwar: Russia attacking Estonia in cyberspace. But nearly a year later, evidence that the Russian government was involved in the denial-of-service attacks still hasn't emerged. Though Russian hackers were indisputably the major instigators of the attack, the only individuals positively identified have been young ethnic Russians living inside Estonia, who were pissed off over the statue incident.
You know you've got a problem when you can't tell a hostile attack by another nation from bored kids with an axe to grind.
Separating cyberwar, cyberterrorism and cybercrime isn't easy; these days you need a scorecard to tell the difference. It's not just that it’s hard to trace people in cyberspace, it's that military and civilian attacks -- and defenses -- look the same.
The traditional term for technology the military shares with civilians is "dual use." Unlike hand grenades and tanks and missile targeting systems, dual-use technologies have both military and civilian applications. Dual-use technologies used to be exceptions; even things you'd expect to be dual use, like radar systems and toilets, were designed differently for the military. But today, almost all information technology is dual use. We both use the same operating systems, the same networking protocols, the same applications, and even the same security software.
And attack technologies are the same. The recent spurt of targeted hacks against U.S. military networks, commonly attributed to China, exploit the same vulnerabilities and use the same techniques as criminal attacks against corporate networks. Internet worms make the jump to physically-separate classified military networks in less than 24 hours, even if those networks are physically separate. The Navy Cyber Defense Operations Command uses the same tools against the same threats as any large corporation.
Because attackers and defenders use the same IT technology, there is a fundamental tension between cyberattack and cyberdefense. The National Security Agency has referred to this as the "equities issue," and it can be summarized as follows: When a military discovers a vulnerability in a dual-use technology, they can do one of two things. They can alert the manufacturer and fix the vulnerability, thereby protecting both the good guys and the bad guys. Or they can keep quiet about the vulnerability and not tell anyone, thereby leaving the good guys insecure but also leaving the bad guys insecure.
The equities issue has long been hotly debated inside the NSA. Basically, the NSA has two roles: eavesdrop on their stuff, and protect our stuff. When both sides use the same stuff, the agency has to decide whether to exploit vulnerabilities to eavesdrop on their stuff or close the same vulnerabilities to protect our stuff.
In the 1980s and before, the tendency of the NSA was to keep vulnerabilities to themselves. In the 1990s, the tide shifted, and the NSA was starting to open up and help us all improve our security defense. But after the attacks of 9/11, the NSA shifted back to the attack: vulnerabilities were to be hoarded in secret. Slowly, things in the U.S. are shifting back again.
So now we're seeing the NSA help secure Windows Vista and releasing their own version of Linux. The DHS, meanwhile, is funding a project to secure popular open source software packages, and across the Atlantic the UK’s GCHQ is finding bugs in PGPDisk and reporting them back to the company. (NSA is rumored to be doing the same thing with BitLocker.)
I'm in favor of this trend, because my security improves for free. Whenever the NSA finds a security problem and gets the vendor to fix it, our security gets better. It's a side-benefit of dual-use technologies.
But I want governments to do more. I want them to use their buying power to improve my security. I want them to offer countrywide contracts for software, both security and non-security, that have explicit security requirements. If these contracts are big enough, companies will work to modify their products to meet those requirements. And again, we all benefit from the security improvements.
The only example of this model I know about is a U.S. government-wide procurement competition for full-disk encryption, but this can certainly be done with firewalls, intrusion detection systems, databases, networking hardware, even operating systems.
When it comes to IT technologies, the equities issue should be a no-brainer. The good uses of our common hardware, software, operating systems, network protocols, and everything else vastly outweigh the bad uses. It's time that the government used its immense knowledge and experience, as well as its buying power, to improve cybersecurity for all of us.
---
Bruce Schneier is CTO of BT Counterpane and author of Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World. You can read more of his writings on his website.
: As technology advances in practically every other aspect of human life, the tools for surviving nature and its disasters remain relatively primitive. Is a Leatherman the best we can do? The problem is that good gear needs to be practical, safe and portable which doesn't leave much room for robotic mountain-climbing exoskeletons.
We've compiled the most promising and innovative solutions we could find to common survival problems. Some are just concepts and others are already available. We might not trust our lives with all of these designs, but at least they're a step in the right direction.
Do you have your own favorite survival gadget? Let us know in the comments.
Left: The Cocoon is a short-term shelter made of durable insulating material that hangs off a tree (or any stable structure). In theory, getting the user off the ground seems safer, but it's still pretty vulnerable. Sure, you wouldn't be prey to wild animals, but the wind could swing you against the holding structure like a piñata and making a hasty exit from the cocoon seems unlikely.
Plus, the fact that it resembles a bear punching bag, Satan's distended testicle or an alien rejuvenation pod doesn't inspire much confidence.
Designer:
:
The Adamant is an earthquake-resistant bed with an extra-strong carbon-fiber roof that can be pulled closed like the top of a convertible. It features two fluorescent lamps, an emergency beacon and a storage area for radios and food.
We like the fact that it uses the bed as a primary safeguard since most people spend close to 40 percent of their time there. Also, the slope of the roof conducts debris downwards. But we're worried that the cave-like housing could become a trap. And, if it's flipped over, the door latch or wooden side panels could pop.
Designers: Erdem Batirbek, Gonca Onusluel and Yigit Karatoka (Izmir University of Economics, Turkey)
: The Bedu Emergency Rapid Response Kit is a keg-sized drum full of durable life-saving gear. It's built to support eight adults for up to five years and it includes a water-filtration system, medicine and tool kits, a multi-fuel stove, a radio and a hand-crank generator with a photovoltaic battery pack and a strip-cell blanket. Not only that, but the skeleton of the barrel can be used to create a shelter.
We see a few potential problems. If you need to change locations, how do you put it back together quickly? And there are also too many small parts to keep track of in the middle of a crisis: "Here comes a little wind and … it's gone. Thanks a lot Dad. Look at it roll over there. We could have gotten one of those weird cocoon testicles. Now we're dead."
Designer: Toby McInnes
: The Urban Skiff looks like a body bag until you unfold it into your own personal get-out-of-dodge transport. While the unprepared (read: suckers) are hiking through arduous undergrowth, you're clocking miles down the river.
The boat assembles easily and includes an inflatable hub with a base skeleton made out of carbonite. At first glance, it seems that the backside of the boat is missing, but the hull is designed so that the back lifts out of the water.
The only problems we can see are that it's likely heavy and cumbersome out of the water and that it's probably too flimsy for prolonged sailing.
Designer: Thomas Setter
: Use some elbow grease to crank this baby's power up and watch it last forever. The Grundig Eton Radio includes AM/FM and weather-band frequencies, a two-way walkie-talkie channel, a flashlight, a siren, a beacon light and a cellphone charger. It's also incredibly tough -- no need to worry if it gets banged around in the chaos of an emergency. It's also fairly cheap at only $150. Just make sure you can find it when you need it -- don't let it become a relic in the back of the garage.
Available at Etón
: If you and your buddies like to travel long distances on icy terrain, there's a good chance someone will end up hurt. This inflatable sled functions as a gurney or a rest buggy, allowing you to transport anyone injured to safety. Perhaps the best thing about the Firun is that you can carry it on your back and it's lighter than a baby's conscience.
Designer: Janine Züst
: Traveling to developing nations and disaster zones just got a lot easier. The remarkable Life Saver bottle has an affordable, portable carbon filter that can block any virus larger than 15 nanometers. What's more, it can go through more than 1,500 gallons of water before the filter needs to be replaced. The bacteria and virus retention rate is 99.99 percent effective -- it's so thorough that it's even supposed to clean up (gulp) fecal matter.
The bottle was inspired by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when visiting businessman Michael Pritchard found that thousands of survivors couldn't access clean water. The only drawback seems to be that it doesn't work in freezing temperatures.
Available at Life Saver Systems
: Industrial designer Brad Knewstubb drew on his experience with the harsh winters of his native New Zealand to create the Hydran Turbine. The device melts snow to produce up to 750 milliliters of drinking water per hour -- more than enough for a long expedition. It works by drawing snow up a steel pole speared into the ice and uses the electricity generated to thaw the ice.
Designer: Brad Knewstubb
: Built with the flood-damaged communities of sub-Saharan Africa in mind, the water shelter is basically a high-tech tent that configures in ingenious ways to adapt to a wide range of conditions. It can connect with other shelters to form an impromptu community and can be expanded with locally available materials, like grass and sticks. It can even grow into a permanent shelter with the benefit of a water-collection-filtration system on top of the canopy.
The shelters are designed to be airdropped and open like umbrellas while drifting down. Unfortunately their design while airborne is a bit ominous.
Designer: Robert Nightingale
: With this solar cooker, you no longer have to burn your fingers pretending to be a caveman. The BCK resembles a Thermos but includes a solar shield that reflects the sun's rays into its center, which can build heat up to 90 degrees Celsius. Foods cook at a constant temperature and about as fast as on a conventional stove. Of course, you can also sterilize water in the cooker.
The disadvantage is that the conical shield must be focused often to follow the sun. Plus it can cause burns and potentially blind you if not used correctly. Oh, and if it's cloudy, you might actually have to build a fire.
Designers: Javier Bertani, Ezequiel Castro, Vera Kade
: The Microfix 406 is a small and light personal locator beacon that also works as an internal GPS. With a 406-MHz transmission that signals satellites in outer space when the ACR is triggered, the beacon will accurately identify a user within a mile of his or her location, as well as match the person’s name, address and medical info. From there, a homing signal will direct a rescue crew to the exact location of the hopefully still-living user.
The ACR is oil-, water- and UV-resistant, and should only be used as a last-resort, grave-danger gadget. Some people have a very minimal threshold for danger and might send out a distress call prematurely. An exhaustive overuse by would-be adventurers could lead to a Boy Who Cried Wolf scenario where rescue crews are hesitant to answer distress signals.
Available at REI
: This all-you-can-use disaster-reconnaissance kit is all about flexibility. Campa USA will customize their impressive steel trailers for your Mad Max vehicle with every survival tool you need.
Water purification system, propane bottle and a Honda portable generator? Check. Full ammo boxes, one satellite communication system and a beautifully tapered oak kitchen? Check, check, check.
And a toilet as well? We already feel relieved.
Available at Campa USA
: As technology advances in practically every other aspect of human life, the tools for surviving nature and its disasters remain relatively primitive. Is a Leatherman the best we can do? The problem is that good gear needs to be practical, safe and portable which doesn't leave much room for robotic mountain-climbing exoskeletons.
We've compiled the most promising and innovative solutions we could find to common survival problems. Some are just concepts and others are already available. We might not trust our lives with all of these designs, but at least they're a step in the right direction.
Do you have your own favorite survival gadget? Let us know in the comments.
Left: The Cocoon is a short-term shelter made of durable insulating material that hangs off a tree (or any stable structure). In theory, getting the user off the ground seems safer, but it's still pretty vulnerable. Sure, you wouldn't be prey to wild animals, but the wind could swing you against the holding structure like a piñata and making a hasty exit from the cocoon seems unlikely.
Plus, the fact that it resembles a bear punching bag, Satan's distended testicle or an alien rejuvenation pod doesn't inspire much confidence.
Designer:
:
The Adamant is an earthquake-resistant bed with an extra-strong carbon-fiber roof that can be pulled closed like the top of a convertible. It features two fluorescent lamps, an emergency beacon and a storage area for radios and food.
We like the fact that it uses the bed as a primary safeguard since most people spend close to 40 percent of their time there. Also, the slope of the roof conducts debris downwards. But we're worried that the cave-like housing could become a trap. And, if it's flipped over, the door latch or wooden side panels could pop.
Designers: Erdem Batirbek, Gonca Onusluel and Yigit Karatoka (Izmir University of Economics, Turkey)
: The Bedu Emergency Rapid Response Kit is a keg-sized drum full of durable life-saving gear. It's built to support eight adults for up to five years and it includes a water-filtration system, medicine and tool kits, a multi-fuel stove, a radio and a hand-crank generator with a photovoltaic battery pack and a strip-cell blanket. Not only that, but the skeleton of the barrel can be used to create a shelter.
We see a few potential problems. If you need to change locations, how do you put it back together quickly? And there are also too many small parts to keep track of in the middle of a crisis: "Here comes a little wind and … it's gone. Thanks a lot Dad. Look at it roll over there. We could have gotten one of those weird cocoon testicles. Now we're dead."
Designer: Toby McInnes
: The Urban Skiff looks like a body bag until you unfold it into your own personal get-out-of-dodge transport. While the unprepared (read: suckers) are hiking through arduous undergrowth, you're clocking miles down the river.
The boat assembles easily and includes an inflatable hub with a base skeleton made out of carbonite. At first glance, it seems that the backside of the boat is missing, but the hull is designed so that the back lifts out of the water.
The only problems we can see are that it's likely heavy and cumbersome out of the water and that it's probably too flimsy for prolonged sailing.
Designer: Thomas Setter
: Use some elbow grease to crank this baby's power up and watch it last forever. The Grundig Eton Radio includes AM/FM and weather-band frequencies, a two-way walkie-talkie channel, a flashlight, a siren, a beacon light and a cellphone charger. It's also incredibly tough -- no need to worry if it gets banged around in the chaos of an emergency. It's also fairly cheap at only $150. Just make sure you can find it when you need it -- don't let it become a relic in the back of the garage.
Available at Etón
: If you and your buddies like to travel long distances on icy terrain, there's a good chance someone will end up hurt. This inflatable sled functions as a gurney or a rest buggy, allowing you to transport anyone injured to safety. Perhaps the best thing about the Firun is that you can carry it on your back and it's lighter than a baby's conscience.
Designer: Janine Züst
: Traveling to developing nations and disaster zones just got a lot easier. The remarkable Life Saver bottle has an affordable, portable carbon filter that can block any virus larger than 15 nanometers. What's more, it can go through more than 1,500 gallons of water before the filter needs to be replaced. The bacteria and virus retention rate is 99.99 percent effective -- it's so thorough that it's even supposed to clean up (gulp) fecal matter.
The bottle was inspired by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when visiting businessman Michael Pritchard found that thousands of survivors couldn't access clean water. The only drawback seems to be that it doesn't work in freezing temperatures.
Available at Life Saver Systems
: Industrial designer Brad Knewstubb drew on his experience with the harsh winters of his native New Zealand to create the Hydran Turbine. The device melts snow to produce up to 750 milliliters of drinking water per hour -- more than enough for a long expedition. It works by drawing snow up a steel pole speared into the ice and uses the electricity generated to thaw the ice.
Designer: Brad Knewstubb
: Built with the flood-damaged communities of sub-Saharan Africa in mind, the water shelter is basically a high-tech tent that configures in ingenious ways to adapt to a wide range of conditions. It can connect with other shelters to form an impromptu community and can be expanded with locally available materials, like grass and sticks. It can even grow into a permanent shelter with the benefit of a water-collection-filtration system on top of the canopy.
The shelters are designed to be airdropped and open like umbrellas while drifting down. Unfortunately their design while airborne is a bit ominous.
Designer: Robert Nightingale
: With this solar cooker, you no longer have to burn your fingers pretending to be a caveman. The BCK resembles a Thermos but includes a solar shield that reflects the sun's rays into its center, which can build heat up to 90 degrees Celsius. Foods cook at a constant temperature and about as fast as on a conventional stove. Of course, you can also sterilize water in the cooker.
The disadvantage is that the conical shield must be focused often to follow the sun. Plus it can cause burns and potentially blind you if not used correctly. Oh, and if it's cloudy, you might actually have to build a fire.
Designers: Javier Bertani, Ezequiel Castro, Vera Kade
: The Microfix 406 is a small and light personal locator beacon that also works as an internal GPS. With a 406-MHz transmission that signals satellites in outer space when the ACR is triggered, the beacon will accurately identify a user within a mile of his or her location, as well as match the person’s name, address and medical info. From there, a homing signal will direct a rescue crew to the exact location of the hopefully still-living user.
The ACR is oil-, water- and UV-resistant, and should only be used as a last-resort, grave-danger gadget. Some people have a very minimal threshold for danger and might send out a distress call prematurely. An exhaustive overuse by would-be adventurers could lead to a Boy Who Cried Wolf scenario where rescue crews are hesitant to answer distress signals.
Available at REI
: This all-you-can-use disaster-reconnaissance kit is all about flexibility. Campa USA will customize their impressive steel trailers for your Mad Max vehicle with every survival tool you need.
Water purification system, propane bottle and a Honda portable generator? Check. Full ammo boxes, one satellite communication system and a beautifully tapered oak kitchen? Check, check, check.
And a toilet as well? We already feel relieved.
Available at Campa USA
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
1964: In the predawn hours of May Day, two professors at Dartmouth College run the first program in their new language, Basic.
Mathematicians John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz had been trying to make computing more accessible to their undergraduate students. One problem was that available computing languages like Fortran and Algol were so complex that you really had to be a professional to use them.
So the two professors started writing easy-to-use programming languages in 1956. First came Dartmouth Simplified Code, or Darsimco. Next was the Dartmouth Oversimplified Programming Experiment, or Dope, which was too simple to be of much use. But Kemeny and Kurtz used what they learned to craft the Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, or Basic, starting in 1963.
The college's General Electric GE-225 mainframe started running a Basic compiler at 4 a.m. on May 1, 1964. The new language was simple enough to use, and powerful enough to make it desirable. Students weren't the only ones who liked Basic, Kurtz wrote: "It turned out that easy-to-learn-and-use was also a good idea for faculty members, staff members and everyone else."
And it's not just for mainframes. Paul Allen and Bill Gates adapted it for personal computers in 1975, and it's still widely used today to teach programming and as a, well, basic language. (Reacting to the proliferation of complex Basic variants, Kemeny and Kurtz formed a company in the 1980s to develop True BASIC, a lean version that meets ANSI and ISO standards.)
The other problem Kemeny and Kurtz attacked was batch-processing, which made for long waits between the successive runs of a debugging process. Building on work by Fernando Corbató, they completed the Dartmouth Time Sharing System, or DTSS, later in 1964. Like Basic, it revolutionized computing.
Ever the innovator, Kemeny served as president of Dartmouth, 1970-81, introducing coeducation to the school in 1972 after more than two centuries of all-male enrollment.
(Source: Dartmouth CIS alumni website)
Feeding those (fever) dreams is the Pentagon's realization that it no longer controls who manufactures the components that go into its increasingly complex systems. A single plane like the DOD's next generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, can contain an “insane number” of chips, says one semiconductor expert familiar with that aircraft's design. Estimates from other sources put the total at several hundred to more than a thousand. And tracing a part back to its source is not always straightforward. The dwindling of domestic chip and electronics manufacturing in the United States, combined with the phenomenal growth of suppliers in countries like China, has only deepened the U.S. military's concern.Link
Recognizing this enormous vulnerability, the DOD recently launched its most ambitious program yet to verify the integrity of the electronics that will underpin future additions to its arsenal. In December, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Pentagon's R&D wing, released details about a three-year initiative it calls the Trust in Integrated Circuits program. The findings from the program could give the military—and defense contractors who make sensitive microelectronics like the weapons systems for the F‑35—a guaranteed method of determining whether their chips have been compromised. In January, the Trust program started its prequalifying rounds by sending to three contractors four identical versions of a chip that contained unspecified malicious circuitry. The teams have until the end of this month to ferret out as many of the devious insertions as they can.
Vetting a chip with a hidden agenda can't be all that tough, right? Wrong. Although commercial chip makers routinely and exhaustively test chips with hundreds of millions of logic gates, they can't afford to inspect everything. So instead they focus on how well the chip performs specific functions. For a microprocessor destined for use in a cellphone, for instance, the chip maker will check to see whether all the phone's various functions work. Any extraneous circuitry that doesn't interfere with the chip's normal functions won't show up in these tests.
“You don't check for the infinite possible things that are not specified,” says electrical engineering professor Ruby Lee, a cryptography expert at Princeton. “You could check the obvious possibilities, but can you test for every unspecified function?”
Every city has its urban eccentrics -- those can't-miss characters who seem to make full-time jobs out of being seen (and sometimes heard) around town.
From bare-chested marvels to perpetual protesters with crazy signs, these colorful people are being turned into unlikely internet celebrities by a new breed of local websites that use social networks, citizen reporting, mapping mashups and a healthy dose of humor to chronicle their subjects' activities.
In Manhattan, the Find He-Man blog publishes readers' daily sightings of an outrageously muscular, consistently shirtless man who bears a distinct resemblance to the comic book hero.
"He's kind of a local celebrity," says Paul Briganti, a student at the School of Visual Arts who launched the blog with his comedy group, beast. "It started because I was at a bank talking to a friend about this guy and someone overheard me and knew who we were talking about. Then I started to realize that pretty much everyone knew who he was, so we decided to start this kind of fan community."
The Find He-Man blog brings in an average of 10,000 to 15,000 visits a month and receives enough He-Man sightings to post frequent updates, which the editors plot on a Platial map mashup and embellish with a hefty dash of humor. A typical entry: "April 17 -- Jenn saw He-Man at a drum circle in Washington Square Park playing the bongos. The instant His hand made contact with the rawhide, a huge blast erupted that cleared out most of NYU's campus."
Lele McLeod says she modeled her Seattle Notables blog, which tracks local characters rather than Hollywood stars, on Gawker Stalker.
"We don't have many celebrities here," says McLeod, co-owner of Seattle's McLeod Residence art gallery.
Instead, Seattle Notables tracks local residents like Slats, aka "the Original Hipster," a quirky musician and nightclub aficionado noticeable for his Ramones-esque leather outfit and scraggly mop of brown hair hidden under a broad-brimmed black hat.
"You see him all over town, at every bar," says McLeod. "He's kind of like a Where's Waldo."
Readers submit sightings of Slats and other notables like Link the Zelda Hunter, a local resident with a fashion sense reminiscent of Nintendo's green-clad protagonist, and Juan the Frye Apartment Guy, who has spent the better part of the last two decades parked on a downtown street corner yelling that the Seattle Police, the local housing authority and Fidel Castro conspired to steal his apartment. The sightings are plotted on a Yahoo map mashup, and readers link to photos on Flickr.
Slats, who is also the subject of a Where's Slats? forum on the website of alternative weekly The Stranger, seems somewhat put off by the attention, but has developed a healthy, celebrity-style tolerance for his pesky fan base.
"It's kind of strange when I go in a bar and everyone's taking a picture of me, or I walk down the street and they're yelling my name," says Slats, whose real name is Chris. "I'm just living my life and all of a sudden it's like, 'Whoa, what's going on?'"
Unlike fame-seeking urban eccentrics such as New York's Naked Cowboy, the subjects of Seattle Notables seem confounded by, or oblivious to, their internet infamy.
"I don't think Juan the Frye Apartment Guy wants to be a celebrity in any way," says McLeod. "He just wants people to know the Seattle police stole his apartment, and he's kind of oblivious to all this attention."
Both Juan and Link have a presence on MySpace, which has become a popular gathering place for fans of other cities' urban eccentrics, such as Papa Smurf of Detroit and Robert "Pinky" Valentino of Santa Cruz, California.
Are we headed toward a Web 2.0-fueled world of microcelebrity where every semi-interesting human is worthy of fan clubs, rabid devotees and citizen paparazzi? To hear Slats explain his unlikely fame, he might as well already be Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears.
"It's amazing how much time people spend on this," says Slats. "I thought it was gonna die down by now, but it hasn't stopped. I get kind of mad when people write things that aren't true, but, you know, people are gonna write whatever they want to write and you just gotta roll with it. I try not to take it too seriously."
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