China breaks ceasefire, restarts hacking US government
Officials say it's time to move beyond 'jaw jaw'
After a three-month hiatus, Chinese hackers are once again targeting US government sites, according to government officials and the security firm that first uncovered the attacks.
"They dialed it back for a little while, though other groups that also wear uniforms didn't even bother to do that," Kevin Mandia, the chief executive …
Yahoo! adds 1TB of free storage to Flickr in site revamp
Enough space to store every photo ever taken, apparently
Not content with its $1.1bn acquisition of Tumblr, Marissa Mayer took to a New York stage on Monday evening to debut a redesigned Flickr photo site that includes 1TB free storage for each user – enough room to store 537,731 photos in "full original quality," meaning 6.5 megapixels.
"If you took all the photos ever shot in the …
WordPress warns of mass Tumblr defections after Yahoo! deal
Hipster smut is safe for now, says Mayer
News of Tumblr's purchase by Yahoo! has prompted a flood of established users to flee that social-media site, according to WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg.
In a blog post, Mullenweg said that around 400 to 600 Tumblr users typically import their content into WordPress every hour, with 67 exports per hour exiting the blogging …
Google builds crowdsourcing into new Maps code stack
Google I/O Wants a unique map for every user
Google has been giving more details about how it has redesigned its Maps software by adding in crowd-sourced photographic and driving directions to its coding scheme.
The new Maps package is a ground-up rewrite of the code and the algorithms it uses, with the aim of generating personalized maps for each user that are suitable …
NASA signs off on sampling mission to Earth-threatening asteroid
2016 launch date set for OSIRIS-REx mission
NASA has given final approval for a billion-dollar mission to visit one of the most potentially dangerous asteroids to Earth, collect samples and bring them back home for analysis.
OSIRIS-REx asteroid sampling mission Asteroid sampler to set off in 2016
The OSIRIS-REx* mission, proposed by the University of Arizona, will …
MIT takes battery-powered robot cheetah for a gallop
Video Biomimetic big cat needs no power cord, just a walker
Fast, agile robots for reconnaissance and rescue have been under development for half a decade or more, but they all have needed to be tethered to a power cable. Now MIT thinks it has cut the leash with a battery powered "cheetah" capable of outrunning a human.
The design, showed off at the International Conference on Robotics …
Mac malware found with valid developer ID at freedom conference
Angolan activist targeted for screenshot spying
The annual Oslo Freedom Conference, where activists meet to share tips on advancing human rights, has thrown up an unusual piece of Apple OS X malware.
At a workshop covering how to secure your hardware against government intrusion, security researcher Jacob Applebaum discovered the code on a laptop owned by an Angolan human …
Boffins find world's oldest virgin water trapped in Earth's crust
Billion-plus-year discovery gives hope for life on Mars
A team of British and Canadian scientists think they've found the oldest water sealed off from the Earth's atmosphere hidden deep in the Earth's crust, and estimate it is between 1.5 and 2.67 billion years old.
Old Water How long before Perrier tries to flog this?
The researchers analyzed water welling up from boreholes …
NASA and Google team up to buy into quantumish computing
Hoping to crack machine-learning conundrum
A consortium of researchers from Google and NASA are planning to crack the issue of machine learning with a $15m quantum computer that will form the basis of a new Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab.
The new facility, which will be sited at Silicon Valley's NASA Ames Research Center, will host a 10 square meter shielded room …
NASA: Our ALIEN HUNTING star-scan 'scope is KNACKERED
Planet-spotter not spinning its wheels in space
In a press conference on Wednesday, NASA warned that its Kepler orbital telescope, which has had much success in spotting Earth-sized planets, may be on its last legs after a serious equipment failure.
The telescope relies on four spinning reaction wheels to keep it aligned on target, and one failed last year. Now another has …
Live Blog: Google I/O keynote
Google I/O Chocolate Factory shows off the new goodies
At 7am this morning, the streets of San Francisco were thronged with developers lining up to get into Google's annual I/O conference.
Over 6,000 delegates have signed up for the show and they all want the best seats for the opening keynote presentation that will lay out Google's plans for the next year's developments in Android …
Larry Page acknowledges creeping vocal paralysis
Google boss asks for public's help to cure condition
It has often been noted that Google's CEO Larry Page comes across as somewhat muted when speaking, which he took a break from entirely last year with an unexplained throat issue. Now he has revealed what the problem is.
His vocal issues began 14 years ago after a heavy cold left him very hoarse. His condition was diagnosed as …
Top guns doomed as US Navy demos first carrier-launched drone
Killer robot takes to the skies
The US Navy has successfully completed the first carrier launch of its unmanned X47B drone, a programmable stealth strike aircraft with a range of 2,100 miles and the skills to allow automatic in-flight refueling, which could give it global reach.
#BREAKING: #USNavy history is made! Was airborne at 11:18A. More to come. MT @ …
Google adds Atari Easter Egg for Breakout's birthday
Cute game born in Jobsian heart of darkness
Google has added a playable version of the early Atari game Breakout to its Image Search system to celebrate the game's 37th birthday.
To access the game go to the Google Image search page and enter "Atari breakout." The search results pages then form into five rows of bricks and the paddle and ball game commences under mouse …
Government admits seizing two months of AP phone records
Press investigators trawl calls in the Land of the Free
The Associated Press reports that government investigators seized two months' worth of telephone records from its staff last year and hid that fact until now.
"There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters," said CEO Gary Pruitt …
Microsoft splashes big bucks to blast Google Apps
Latest ad campaign smacks of desperation
Microsoft is spending big bucks to convince computer users that Google Apps are a risky bet with a new series of ads featuring Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo star Rob Schneider and disgraced athlete and former jailbird Pete Rose – neither of whom presumably come cheap.
Both adverts push Microsoft's contention that Google Apps can' …
Report: AT&T dropping Facebook phone after dismal sales
Turns out folks won't buy that for a dollar
Facebook's experiment with branded hardware may be coming to an abrupt end, according to a report that AT&T is discontinuing sales of the HTC First handset after finding that people won't buy it – even for 99 cents.
The First is Facebook's showpiece for its Home application, the mobile application that Mark Zuckerberg said at …
Elon Musk and PayPal chum quit Zuckerberg's immigration gang
Couldn't stomach Fwd.us' political tactics
Elon Musk, the billionaire backing electric cars and cheap space travel, has quit the Fwd.us political pressure group fronted by Mark Zuckerberg after it began buying campaign commercials supporting Big Oil.
The Behoodied One announced the Fwd.us group last month to push for comprehensive immigration reforms (especially for …
Global nappy hawker trials TweetPee moist-baby monitor
Electronics on your child's crotch links to Twitter
Twitter is preparing for an IPO, casting around for business plans to sell to investors, and so may be relieved to know Kimberly-Clark, maker of the popular Huggies diaper brand, is suggesting a solid (or in this case, liquid) idea for them to take to market.
The TweetPee is a bird-shaped humidity sensor and wireless antenna …
Penguins in spa-a-a-ce! ISS dumps Windows for Linux on laptops
'We needed an operating system that was stable and reliable'
The crew of the International Space Station (once they've fixed their leak) will trade their old Windows XP laptops for Debian-powered systems to use in their Operations Local Area Network (Ops LAN).
The six-person ISS has over 140 laptops on board, around 80 of which are working at any one time, along with a variety of internal …
Unlocking Technology Act plans to let freedom ring for devices
Bipartisan legislation submitted to the House
A bill introduced by four members of the US House of Representatives would lay down in statute the right of people to tinker with the hardware and software of any smartphone, tablet, or other device they own.
If enacted, the Unlocking Technology Act of 2013 would ensure that any software and firmware that comes with a device can …
NASA on alert: International Space Station springs a leak
Ammonia coolant leaking out into space
It's going to be a tense 24 hours for the crew of the International Space Station after Commander Chris Hadfield reported that the ammonia coolant used in the station's power systems appears to be leaking into space.
"There's a very steady stream of flakes or bits coming out as the truss is rotating," he said in a discussion …
3D printed gun plans pulled after US State Department objects
Predictable political panic ignores reality
Files that enable the 3D printing of the Liberator pistol designed by Defense Distributed have been pulled from the group's website at the request of the US government, which has now shut the stable door days after the horse had bolted.
#DEFCAD has gone dark at the request of the Department of Defense Trade Controls. Take it …
Israeli activists tell Hawking to yank his Intel chips over Palestine
Spokeswoman calls professor a hypocrite over his chip choice
Professor Stephen Hawking has been accused of hypocrisy by an Israeli activist group after he declined an invitation to speak at an important conference in Jerusalem this June, announcing instead that he's joining a growing academic boycott of Israel in protest of its policies towards Palestine.
"Hawking's decision to join the …
Tesla earns first profit, Model S wins '99% perfect' rating
Wall Street brokers left facing financial hole
The stock of space-faring Elon Musk's more down-to-earth business of selling Tesla electric cars is heading skywards after the company reported its first-ever profit and saw its Model S sedan get a stonking 99 per cent approval rating from the testers at Consumer Reports.
Tesla's stock is currently up over 25 per cent after the …
San Francisco caves over mobile radiation warnings
Controversial carcinogen labeling dropped
Residents of the Bay Area won't be bothered by how much radiation their mobile phones produce, now that San Francisco city authorities have backed down from mandatory labeling in the face of legal pressure.
The controversial plan would have seen warning labels about the specific absorption rate (SAR) of radiation on phones, …
John McAfee talks of sex, drugs, and bad coding
Disavows software that bears his name
Tech mogul turned fugitive blogger John McAfee has been taking questions in a Slashdot Q&A that reveal a claimed life of drug smuggling, political corruption, and living with a hammered testicle.
The British-born McAfee recounts that from 1971 to 1982 (when he was employed by UNIVAC and Computer Sciences Corporation to write …
Nokia shareholder tells CEO Elop he's going to hell
If you're in a hole, stop digging
Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has been taking flak from angry shareholders at the company's annual investor's conference, with accusations flying that he's running the company into the ground by keeping Nokia as a Windows-only operation.
"You're a nice guy ... and the leadership team is doing its best, but clearly, it's not enough," …
Senate passes Marketplace Fairness Act by wide margin
Internet taxes for all ... maybe
The Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA), which will allow states to levy local sales taxes on internet purchases, was passed by the US Senate on Monday night by a vote of 69 to 27, in an unusual display of bipartisan support.
"For more than a decade I have been working on a solution to put Main Street retailers and online and out-of- …
'Quantum network? We've had one for years,' says Los Alamos
Hiding its light under a concrete, titanium-lined bushel
The boffins at the Los Alamos National Laboratory are known as a secretive lot; a much understated lot, in fact. Rather than cause a fuss, researchers there have quietly published a paper showing they've had a flexible quantum network – something rather a lot of people are interested in – up and running for two and a half years …
VTOL hybrid flying car promises the skies
Will creator Terrafugia soar – or crash and burn?
The flying-car designers at Terrafugia may be behind schedule getting their first commercial model off the ground, but they're already talking up their next big idea: a four-person hybrid car with tilting engines that allow for vertical takeoff and landing, which could be in production by 2025.
Terrafuiga TF-X VTOL flying car …
US Navy builds master control for military drone ops
It's about support costs, not Skynet
The US Office of Naval Research (ONR) has successfully trialed a new computer system that controls airborne drones, automated craft on (or under) the water, and ground-based robots online via a central server.
The new Common Control System (CCS) – although El Reg bets its developers call it Skynet – would allow any combatant to …
Adobe kills Creative Suite – all future features online only
Demos hardware magic wand and Project Napoleon
Adobe had been expected to demo Creative Suite 7 at its MAX conference down in smoky Los Angeles on Monday, but instead announced there'll be no more versions of its boxed software and that the Creative Suite brand will cease to exist. All CS apps updates will only be added to its Creative Cloud suite, and Adobe showed off some …
Plans for fully 3D-printed gun go online next week
The Liberator pistol causes political panic
Defense Distributed, the pending non-profit that plans to make 3D-printed weaponry available for anyone with such a printer, will release the blueprints for a fully-working plastic firearm next week.
The 3D-Printed Liberator pistol Here at last – your own printed pistol
The handgun, seen by Forbes, uses 16 printed parts that …
Russian geologist claims finding chunks of Tunguska Event invader
The mega-explosive tale of a whale, boat, and dental crown
For over 100 years, scientists have been puzzling over the Tunguska Event, a massive explosion in Siberia that leveled the taiga for hundreds of miles around. Now a paper from the Russian Academy of Sciences suggests that the first physical remains of the blast have been found.
The explosion over Tunguska occurred on June 30, …
Suspected Chinese NASA spy smuggled smut not state secrets
Congressional accuser red-faced after optics boffin cleared
After a dramatic airport arrest by the FBI, which had been tipped off by a Republican congressman, the data concealed by a former NASA scientist with a one-way ticket to China has been revealed as pirated porn, not the secrets to the next interstellar drive.
In March Dr. Bo Jiang, 31, a former employee of the National Institute …
Tech firm CEOs more restrained than most at limiting personal pay
Except Larry Ellison, of course
If you want to see the greatest disparity between the average worker and the CEO's pay packet, America is the place to be. But while the heads of many blue-chip US firms cash in more than most, the country's technology bosses are more abstemious.
Since 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission has required publicly-traded …
Fraudster gets ten years after selling fake 'ionic charge' bomb detectors
Buyers ignored warnings on cardboard-powered dousing rods
A British businessman who netted an estimated £60m selling cheap US novelty dowsing rods as sophisticated bomb and drug sniffing devices for up to $30,000 apiece has been jailed for 10 years.
Crown prosecutors claim James McCormick, 57, used a combination of salesmanship and bribery to sell a range of Advanced Detection …
Forget choice: 50% of firms will DEMAND you BYOD by 2017
Are we going to have to rent our own office space next?
When you are as bombarded by BYOD good-news stories as El Reg is these days, the central marketing message that emerges is it's all about "freedom of choice." Not for long, it seems, if the Gartner's analysts are correct: they forecast that half of all companies will enforce "choice" as a condition of employment.
The biggest …
Research explodes myth that older programmers are obsolete
Old dogs can learn new tricks, if they're allowed to
There's a prevailing ethos among IT hirers that younger is better when it comes to programmers, but a study by academics in North Carolina suggests that employers might be missing a trick by not hiring the grizzled veterans of the coding world.
Research into how our brains evolve over time suggests our intelligence functions …
EFF report identifies which internet firms 'have your back' on data
Twitter is tops, but big-name fails from Verizon, Apple, and others
The annual Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) report on data protection among online firms has shown lax privacy standards among some of the biggest names in the business when the government comes knocking at the door.
A total of 18 companies were assessed on their privacy policies and T&Cs, stated procedures for handling …
Opportunity rover stuck in standby mode after Martian blackout
Updated Have they tried turning it off and then on again?
NASA is trying to reactivate its Martian rover Opportunity after it switched itself into standby mode during a communications quiet period, but engineers have had no luck as yet at restoring control.
The space agency hasn't been communicating with its Martian rovers for the last few weeks as there has been a solar conjunction, …
ESA retires Herschel space telescope as too hot to handle
Lonely star-spotter stranded 1.5 million km from Earth
The European Space Agency has formally retired the Herschel space telescope after nearly four years of operation, and has placed it in a parking orbit that will keep it out of Earth's way.
Herschel's at rest at last Herschel's at rest at last
Hershcel, along with the Planck space telescope, was launched on May 14, 2009, and …
Feds want to fine companies that refuse wiretap requests
Apparatchiks whine that technology's making it too tough
Draft legislation to impose fines on companies that refuse to provide wiretap facilities to US federal agents is in the planning stages, government officials have told the Washington Post under condition of anonymity.
Initial plans are for an automatic fine for refusal in the range of tens of thousands of dollars, an amount that …
Surprise! Republican bill adds politics to science funding
'Forget peer review, let's get the experts at Congress involved'
The chairman of the US House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, Lamar Smith (R-TX), is planning new legislation that would limit the scope of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the biggest research-funding organization in the US, and bring funding decisions under political oversight.
Smith - you might remember him …
LG beats Samsung to OLED flexi-TV with hella pricey 55-incher
Norks get another excuse to invade the South
At this year's CES, both LG and Samsung proclaimed that concave OLED screens are the next big thing in televisual entertainment, and promised working systems. Now LG has began taking orders for a 55-inch model and will begin deliveries next month.
LG's 55-inch curved OLED TV screen Great curves, shame about the price
The …
NATO proclaimed winner of Locked Shield online wargame
Games without frontiers, war without tears
NATO has – not surprisingly – been named the winner of the Locked Shield online wargames held last week at the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Tallinn, Estonia.
The 48-hour exercise, which has been held annually for the last five years, simulates a coordinated attack by "Red" forces (a continuing …
LivingSocial admits major hacking attack on customer database
Credit card info is safe, company insists
Up to 50 million customers of the Amazon-funded daily deals site LivingSocial are getting an apologetic email from CEO Tim O'Shaughnessy explaining that their information may have been stolen.
"LivingSocial recently experienced a cyber-attack on our computer systems that resulted in unauthorized access to some customer data from …
Police arrest suspect in BIGGEST DDoS ATTACK IN HISTORY
Dutch suspect snatched in Spain
The Dutch police have confirmed the arrest of man suspected of taking part in a massive DDoS attack against the anti-spam group Spamhaus back in March.
The 35 year-old man is a Dutch national but was arrested at his home in Barcelona under a European arrest warrant, the Netherlands National Prosecution Office told the BBC. His …
Senate clears bill to block warrantless email searches
But CISPA still trumps it
The Senate Judiciary Committee has cleared the way for an amendment to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) that will require the police to get a warrant before rummaging through your emails.
Under the existing terms of the 1986 EPCA legislation, police investigators only need a subpoena, which can be issued without …
