NSA Chief to talk at hackers' conference in Vegas

NSA Chief to talk at hackers' conference in Vegas

Las Vegas - The head of the US National Security Agency has faced Congress and presidents in the past, and isn't expected to budge from the position that his mission is to stop terrorists and that his agency's surveillance program is critical, even amid a room full of hackers Wednesday at a conference in Las Vegas.

 

Army General Keith Alexander has been unapologetic during recent public appearances about the NSA collecting "metadata" to, in his words, "connect the dots" and "go after bad guys who ... hide amongst us to kill our people."
"Our job is to stop them without impacting your civil liberties and privacy," Alexander told a July 18 audience at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. "We don't want another 9/11."
Alexander has said his agency's ability to dip into what he characterized as a "virtual lockbox" and compare collected email and telephone data helped thwart 54 plots against targets in the United States and some 20 other countries.
He pointed to a failed plot in September 2009 against the New York City subway system that he said could have been the worst terror strike in the US since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Another example he offered was a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange.
At Aspen and at a June 28 appearance before the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association in Baltimore, Alexander said his agency dipped into the metadata database fewer than 300 times in 2012.
He insists it wouldn't be physically possible and is "flat not true" that the spy agency is listening to people's phone calls and reading their emails.
But the Black Hat conferees that Alexander will face Wednesday are a skeptical and tech-savvy bunch - attuned to news about former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden leaking classified documents last month and the conviction on Tuesday of US Army Private Bradley Manning on 20 espionage, theft and other charges that could get him life in prison for giving military secrets to WikiLeaks. Manning was acquitted of the more serious charge of aiding the enemy.
"We're hoping he'll be addressing current issues head-on," said Meredith Corley, spokeswoman for the 16th annual Black Hat conference at Caesars Palace. Alexander's keynote speech was expected to draw most of the 7,000 registered attendees, Corley said.
At Aspen, Alexander unveiled measures including a "two-person rule" to thwart leaks like the disclosures by Snowden, a former computer systems administrator in Hawaii now living at a Russian airport while he seeks asylum in several countries. The rule would require two people to be present when key national security information is accessed or moved.
Alexander also talked in Colorado and Baltimore about creating a 4,000-person "Cyber Command" of offensive and defensive teams - both to protect Defense Department systems and launch cyberattacks against enemy networks under White House orders.
"We've got to have this debate with our country," the eight-year NSA chief said in Aspen. "How are we going to protect the nation in cyberspace?"
But, "there is risk in having a debate on a national security issue," he added. "The adversary will learn what we're trying to do."
NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines in Washington, DC, declined Tuesday to provide advance word about Alexander's speech in Las Vegas. Vines wouldn't say whether a conference that attracts cyberspace explorers could serve as recruiting ground for the NSA.
But the spy agency chief's comments are expected to spur lively discussion among government workers, corporate systems analysts and freelance hackers both at the Black Hat events, and at DefCon, a somewhat more counter-culture conference that opens later this week, also in Las Vegas.

Sony, Panasonic to jointly develop the next-gen optical disc

Sony, Panasonic to jointly develop the next-gen optical disc



Tokyo, Japan - Sony Corporation and Panasonic Corporation announced today that they have reached an agreement for a joint venture to develop a next-generation optical disc for professional digital data storage.
The synergies from the partnership are expected to capitalize on the technologies held by both respective companies and result in the development of an optical disc with a recording capacity of at least 300GB by the end of 2015.
The key feature of optical discs has always been to keep them protected against the environment, such as dust and water resistance, and also immune to severe changes in temperature and humidity within the environment where they are stored. Both Sony and Panasonic have earlier invested into and developed products such as the Blu-ray™ format, but realize now that optical discs will need to accommodate much large volumes of storage in years to come given the expected future growth in the active market.
One of Sony’s previous ventures was to commercialize a file-based optical disc archive system in September 2012, which was a system housing twelve optical discs as a single, high-capacity storage solution. The total range of storage capacity was anywhere between 300GB to 1.5TB.
Similarly, Panasonic has developed its ‘LB-DM9’ series of optical disc storage devices, which offers a 90 magazine capacity, with a total storage space of 180TB. These devices are capable of rapid data transfer performance of up to 216MB/S, which utilizes an indigenously developed changer system along with RAID technology to deliver these results.
The increasing need for archive capabilities has been from rapidly-growing industries such as motion pictures and broadcasting, as well as cloud data centers which have exploded in popularity following the evolution in network services. Both Sony and Panasonic have a proven track record in developing Blu-ray Disc™ format technologies and this partnership augers well for the future.
In recent years, there has been an increasing need for archive capabilities, not only from video production industries, such as motion pictures and broadcasting, but also from cloud data centers that handle increasingly large volumes of data following the evolution in network services. Both Sony and Panasonic have a proven track record in developing Blu-ray Disc™ format technologies, and by actively promoting the adoption of a new standard for next-generation high-capacity optical discs, they intend to offer solutions that preserve valuable data for future generations.

Microsoft losing money on Surface tablets

Microsoft losing money on Surface tablets



Seattle, Tue Jul 30, 2013 - Microsoft Corp's Surface tablets have yet to make any profit as sputtering sales have been eclipsed by advertising costs and an accounting charge, according to the software company's annual report.
The two tablet models, introduced in October and February to challenge Apple Inc's popular iPad, have so far brought in revenue of $853 million, Microsoft revealed for the first time in its annual report filed with regulators on Tuesday.
That is less than the $900 million charge Microsoft announced earlier this month to write down the value of unsold Surface RT - the first model - still on its hands.
On top of that, Microsoft said its sales and marketing expenses increased $1.4 billion, or 10 percent, because of the huge advertising campaigns for Windows 8 and Surface. It also identified Surface as one of the reasons its overall production costs rose.
The Surface is Microsoft's first foray into making its own computers after years of focusing on software, but its first attempts have not won over consumers. By comparison, Apple sold almost $24 billion worth of iPads over the last three quarters.

Facebook nears $38 IPO price for 1st time

Facebook nears $38 IPO price for 1st time



New York - Facebook's stock came within pennies of its $38 IPO price for the first time since its rocky initial public offering more than a year ago.
Shares of Facebook Inc. rose $2.18, or 6.2 percent, to close at $37.61 on Tuesday. The stock hit $37.96 in afternoon trading.
The world's biggest online social network has been on a roll since it reported stronger-than-expected earnings on July 24. Investors are especially upbeat about its fast-growing mobile advertising revenue.
Facebook's ability to grow mobile revenue was one of the biggest concerns in the weeks leading up to its IPO last year. Investors were worried that its ad business was not moving to mobile gadgets as quickly as its user base.
Facebook now derives 41 percent of its ad revenue from mobile advertising.

Plant-eating dinos regrew teeth

WASHINGTON: Long-necked plant-grazing dinosaurs that roamed the Earth 150 million years ago evolved a nifty way of fixing broken teeth. They just grew new ones, said a US study Wednesday.

Scientists analyzed the fossils of two of the largest herbivores known to have lived in North America -- Diplodocus and Camarasaurus -- and found they grew fresh smiles every six weeks or so.

They carried several spares, much like human adult teeth that descend after baby teeth fall out, said the research in the journal PLoS ONE.

"A nearly 100-foot-long (30-meter) sauropod would have had a fresh tooth in each position about every one to two months, sometimes less," said researcher Michael D'Emic from Stony Brook University in New York.

"Effectively, sauropods took a 'quantity over quality' approach to making teeth, opposite the approach taken by large animals - mammals - today."

Scientists can discern tooth formation in long extinct creatures by studying the lines of deposition of tooth dentin, a layer beneath the enamel.

Camarasaurus had as many as three "baby teeth" lined up in each tooth socket at any one time, and replaced its teeth every 62 days, the study said.

The Diplodocus tooth sockets held up to five replacement teeth and one functional tooth. Each tooth was replaced every 35 days.

Scientists say this ability came in handy because the lumbering dinos ate huge amounts of food, and gnawing on trees and hard grasses all the time would have caused heavy wear and tear on their chompers. (AFP)

Google gets deeper into hardware with new tablet, TV gadget

SAN FRANCISCO: Google Inc on Wednesday showcased a new-generation, slimmer Nexus 7 tablet that the Internet search company hopes will expand its presence in consumer hardware, and ensure that its online services remain front-and-center on mobile devices.

The latest Nexus 7, featuring a Qualcomm Inc Snapdragon processor and a higher display resolution, on July 30 will be priced at $229 for a basic version with 16 gigabytes of storage. The original year-old tablet started at $199 for an 8 gigabyte version.

Sundar Pichai, head of Android and Chrome software, said on the sidelines of an event to launch the tablet that the Internet company would make a profit off the new product. The first-generation Nexus 7, which marked its initial foray into mobile electronics, was financially a break-even product for the company, analysts have said.

"The new Nexus 7 is designed so that it's profitable for all the people involved. Retailers, us, everyone included," Pichai told Reuters.

Also on Wednesday, Google revived an earlier attempt to get into online video streaming with the introduction of the "Chromecast" -- a two-inch $35 gadget that will plug into the back of televisions and let users stream YouTube and Netflix videos via their smartphones.

The announcements come a week before Google's Motorola division is expected to unveil the Moto X smartphone in New York. The Moto X represents the first phone Motorola has developed since it was acquired by Google for $12.5 billion in May 2012, and is central to relaunching the venerable brand into a highly competitive mobile market.

Google and other traditionally non-hardware companies such as Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp have begun making inroads into mobile devices as consumers increasingly access the Web on the go. It introduced its first tablet in June 2012, hoping to replicate its smartphone success in a hot market presently dominated by Amazon's Kindle Fire, Apple Inc's iPad.

Google, which gets the lion's share of its revenue from online and mobile advertising, wants the aggressively priced Nexus tablets to be a hit as more users would mean increased exposure for its ads.

Its Nexus line, which include smartphones and tablets made by partners like Samsung Electronics and HTC, also serve as references for manufacturers across the globe adopting its Android mobile software system.

THE NEXUS Q RETURNS?

On Wednesday, Pichai told reporters that, since its launch, the Nexus 7 line alone has accounted for greater than 10 percent of all Android tablets sold.

The company was on track to see 70 million total Android tablet activations in 2013, versus a pace of about 10 million at the end of 2012, he said.

Its new Chromecast gadget, however, will employ a stripped-down version of the Chrome operating system, now used primarily for laptop computers.

The device, which will be sold from Wednesday, invited comparisons to the short-lived "Nexus Q", which also promised to stream consumers' digital music and other content directly to their home entertainment systems. But Google indefinitely postponed the launch of the Q before it went on sale last year, following a spate of negative reviews.

Chromecast will allow users to employ their smartphones almost like remote controls, letting them play and control video applications without using a traditional remote.

"The Nexus Q was part of our effort to do the same thing. We didn't launch that, but a lot of learnings," Pichai told Reuters after the event. "Nexus Q was all about how you send content, so that was an inspiration for this." (Reuters)

Space art eyes creativity in tech at Smithsonian

WASHINGTON: The familiar exteriors of astronauts' spacesuits often hide all of the ingenuity and mechanics that are built inside the suits, which were first imagined as ``wearable spacecraft.''

Now a new art exhibit, ``Suited for Space,'' opening Friday at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, highlights the creativity behind the suits that allowed humans to explore the moon and aspire to fly farther from Earth.

X-ray images and photographs show the suits in intricate detail, said space history curator Cathleen Lewis. The museum's X-rays are the first such images ever created to study, conserve and research the nation's spacesuits.

``You don't realize what a complex machine these are,'' Lewis said. But the X-rays of Alan Shepard's Apollo spacesuit and a 1960s prototype ``allow visitors to see beyond what is visible to the naked eye, through the protective layers of the suit to see the substructures that are embedded inside.''

The exhibition traces the evolution of the spacesuit from the early high-altitude test flight suits of the 1930s to the dawn of the space age with Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle missions.

While technology drove much of the suit design to maintain an airtight barrier to the vacuum of space and to protect from solar radiation, fashion aesthetics of the time also played a role, Lewis said. The original Mercury seven astronaut suits were unique from all others with a silvery coating to introduce America's space explorers to the world.

``NASA had a demand to create the astronauts into a whole new corps, a non-military corps. So here was an opportunity to dress them in a new uniform ... that evokes sensibilities of that Buck Rogers imagination,'' she said. ``All of these guys, the engineers, they grew up on science fiction. They fed it with their ideas, and they were consumers of it at the same time.''

Curators are working to find ways to preserve spacesuits because some materials are decomposing, discoloring or becoming rigid some 50 years after they were created.

The spacesuit show is traveling to 10 cities, moving next to Tampa, Florida, Philadelphia and Seattle through 2015.

Two companion exhibits at the National Air and Space Museum also highlight 50 artworks of about 550 new items added to the Smithsonian's growing space art collection over the past decade. They include portraits of astronomer Carl Sagan and astrophysicist Neal deGrasse Tyson, and a photograph of first female shuttle commander Eileen Collins by photographer Annie Leibovitz.

The museum's art collection includes 7,000 paintings, drawings, prints, posters and sculptures. Curators have been working to add more contemporary and conceptual art over the past 10 years.

Chief Curator Peter Jakab said art helps people reflect on aerospace achievements and the humanity imbued in each machine.

Albert Watson, a photographer known for his portraits of celebrities, such as Steve Jobs, and of fashion, took a break in 1990 to photograph spacesuits and other artifacts. More recently, he donated two large-scale prints of an Apollo glove and boot to the museum.

Watson said he was captivated by the thought of suits that traveled in space and came back covered with moon dust.

``When you deal with celebrities every day or super models every day and fashion people every day, there is always a nice escape to go into still life,'' he said. ``As a child, I loved science fiction. I always remember arguing with my father about rocket ships. He said man will never go into space, he said, because what goes up must come down.''

The museum also has acquired a sculpture by Angela Palmer that evokes 46 different earth-like worlds that have been discovered by NASA's Kepler Observatory. The piece, entitled ``Searching for Goldilocks,'' involves 18 sheets of glass marked with circles for each star with an orbiting planet.

It refers to ``Goldilocks'' planets that might support life. They range from 132 light-years to about 4,300 light-years away.

``If you have a look, you can stand there looking from Earth, as if you are the eye of the telescope,'' she said. ``Or you can go to the back of the sculpture, and you can be thrown back towards Earth _ 4,300 light years straight back down.''