An anonymous reader writes "AT&T has officially announced that it no longer plans to purchase T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom. In a press release, the company said, 'The actions by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice to block this transaction do not change the realities of the U.S. wireless industry. It is one of the most fiercely competitive industries in the world, with a mounting need for more spectrum that has not diminished and must be addressed immediately. The AT&T and T-Mobile USA combination would have offered an interim solution to this spectrum shortage. In the absence of such steps, customers will be harmed and needed investment will be stifled.'"
Sparrowvsrevolution writes "CryptDB, a piece of database software that MIT researchers presented at the Symposium on Operating System Principles in October, allows users to send queries to an encrypted SQL database and get results without decrypting the stored information. CryptDB works by nesting data in several layers of cryptography (PDF), each of which has a different key and allows a different kind of simple operation on encrypted data. It doesn't work with every kind of calculation, and it's not the first system to offer this sort of computation on encrypted data. But it may be the only practical one. A previous crypto scheme that allowed operations on encrypted data multiplied computing time by a factor of a trillion. This one adds only 15-26%."
An anonymous reader writes "Law professors Mark Lemley, David S. Levine, and David G. Post have just published a piece on the PROTECT IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act. In Don't Break the Internet, they argue that the two bills — intended to counter online copyright and trademark infringement — 'share an underlying approach and an enforcement philosophy that pose grave constitutional problems and that could have potentially disastrous consequences for the stability and security of the Internet's addressing system, for the principle of interconnectivity that has helped drive the Internet's extraordinary growth, and for free expression.' They write, 'These bills, and the enforcement philosophy that underlies them, represent a dramatic retreat from this country's tradition of leadership in supporting the free exchange of information and ideas on the Internet. At a time when many foreign governments have dramatically stepped up their efforts to censor Internet communications, these bills would incorporate into U.S. law a principle more closely associated with those repressive regimes: a right to insist on the removal of content from the global Internet, regardless of where it may have originated or be located, in service of the exigencies of domestic law.'"
SkinnyGuy writes "NASA's Space Shuttle could have flown again as early as 2014 if a secret effort to repurpose them for commercial flight had succeeded. From the article: 'Though secret, the plan quickly gained support and Dittmar described how funding and interest grew dramatically. "Initially skeptical," she wrote, "people became caught up in the vision of a Commercial Space Shuttle funded entirely by private and institutional investors and put back into service to shape new markets." ...In the end, two crucial factors made it all but impossible to revive the shuttle program as a commercial enterprise or in any fashion. One was that so much of the Shuttle infrastructure has already been shifted to other efforts that the revival team could never pull together sufficient funds to return those resources to the Space Shuttles. Two: The SLS program.'"
An anonymous reader writes "Have you ever been spied on by a surveillance drone? No? Are you sure? Maybe it looked like a hummingbird. Or an insect. Or maybe it was just really high up. Maybe there's one looking in your window right now, and if so, there's no law that says it shouldn't. In a recent article in the Stanford Law Review, Ryan Calo discusses how domestic surveillance drones would fit into the current legal definitions of privacy (and violations thereof), and how these issues could inform the future of privacy policy. The nutshell? Surveillance robots have the potential to fundamentally degrade privacy to such an extent that they could serve as a catalyst for reform."
sciencehabit writes "Jupiter is the victim of its own success. Sophisticated new calculations indicate that our solar system's largest planet, which weighs more than twice as much as all of the others put together, has destroyed part of its central core. The culprit is the very hydrogen and helium that made Jupiter a gas giant, when the core's gravity attracted these elements as the planet formed. The finding suggests that the most massive extrasolar planets have no cores at all."
dcblogs writes "IBM is deploying technology in China that allows meat suppliers to track a single pig all the way from farm animal to pork chop. Pigs are initially identified with a barcoded ear tag. This identification is then put on bins used to track the various pig parts as they pass through the slaughterhouse, processing plant, distribution center and finally to the clear plastic-wrapped package in a grocer's case. If a consumer buys three pork chops in a package, 'you know that these three pieces of pork chop came from pig number 123,' said Paul Chang, who leads global strategy for emerging technologies at IBM. The goal is to control disease outbreaks, but theoretically this technology could allow a grocer to put a picture on the store package of the pig you are eating."
A few weeks ago you asked security guru Moxie Marlinspike about all manner of security issues, being searched at the border, and how to come up with a good online name. He's graciously answered a number of your inquiries which you will find below.
Lucas123 writes "Both Seagate and Western Digital have reduced their hard drive warranties, in some cases from five years to one year. While Western Digital wouldn't explain why, it did say it has nothing to do with the flooding of its manufacturing plants in Thailand, which has dramatically impacted its ability to turn out drives. For its part, Seagate is saying it cut back its warranties to be more closely aligned with other drive manufacturers."
snydeq writes "Companies are no longer waiting for users to bring in their own smartphones and tablets into business environments, they're encouraging it, InfoWorld reports. 'Two of the most highly regulated industries — financial services and health care (including life sciences) — are most likely to support BYOD. So are professional services and consulting, which are "well" regulated. ... The reason is devilishly simple, Herrema says: These businesses are very much based on using information, both as the service itself and to facilitate the delivery of their products and services. Mobile devices make it easier to work with information during more hours and at more locations. That means employees are more productive, which helps the company's bottom line.' Even those companies who haven't yet embraced bring your own device policies yet already have one in place, but don't know it, according to recent surveys."
An anonymous reader writes "This has to be the funniest Facebook name story in a while. Facebook disabled the account of Israeli entrepreneur Rotem Guez because he runs a business called the Like Store, where he sold Likes to advertisers. Guez countered by suing Facebook for deleting his accounts on the social network. Facebook countered with its own cease and desist letter. Guez didn't respond to Facebook's demands. Instead, he legally changed his name to Mark Zuckerberg. 'If you want to sue me, you're going to have to sue Mark Zuckerberg,' Guez reportedly told Facebook."
cylonlover writes "He can't fly just yet, but a team of scientists have made a big step towards creating a real-life Mighty Mouse. By tweaking a gene that normally inhibits muscle growth the researchers created a batch of super-strong mice and worms. The scientists acted on a genome regulator — known as NCOR1 — and were able to change the activity of certain genes. In simpler English, the scientists shut off the thyroid hormone that keeps most mammals from turning into the Incredible Hulk. The result was a strain of mice with muscles that were twice as strong as normal."
PolygamousRanchKid writes "When completed in 2013, the new research center will wrap around the Collider Detector at Fermilab and provide a state-of-the-art facility for research, development and industrialization of particle accelerator technology. Whereas particle accelerators like Fermilab's now-defunct Tevatron were once the realm of the scientist doing basic research on the nature of the universe, accelerators now have a broader mandate for commercial applications, said Fermilab Director Pier Oddone. The goal for the facility is to develop relationships between scientists and private businesses to develop accelerator technology that can be used in medicine, industry and national security. Though most people think of accelerators on the scale of Fermilab's Tevatron or the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, more than 30,000 smaller particle accelerators exist around the world and can be used for applications other than basic science research. 'The innovation now implemented in many areas often came about as the by-product of our pushing the technological envelope of our own accelerators...needed for advancing particle physics,' said Oddone."
phonewebcam writes "British Telecom is claiming billions of dollars of damages from Google in a lawsuit filed in the US which says that the Android mobile operating system infringes a number of the telecoms company's key patents. The lawsuit, filed in the state of Delaware in the US, relates to six patents which BT says are infringed by the Google Maps, Google Music, location-based advertising and Android Market products on Android. If successful, the suit could mean that Google or mobile handset makers will have to pay BT royalties on each Android handset in use and which they produce."
Hugh Pickens writes writes "It took a team of ten reporters working two months to sift through 250,000 confidential American diplomatic cables at the NY Times, but when a story idea recently came up that I wanted to research in more detail, I found Wikileaks to be a very useful and accessible tool for further investigation. First, some background: For the past ten years I have written stories about Peace Corps safety and medical issues, the Peace Corps' budget appropriations, and the work done by volunteers in their countries of service on a web site I publish called 'Peace Corps Online.' When the Peace Corps announced last month they were taking the unusual step of suspending their program in Kazakhstan and withdrawing all 117 volunteers, I decided to dig deeper and find out what was behind the decision to leave the country. First I went to blogs of volunteers serving in Kazakhstan and found that four rapes or sexual assaults of volunteers had occurred in the past year and that it had became increasingly difficult for volunteers to conduct their work. But the biggest revelation was when I found fourteen U.S. diplomatic cables on Wikileaks that cited elements in the Kazakhstani 'pro-Russian old-guard at the Committee for National Security (the KNB, successor to the KGB) aimed at discrediting the Peace Corps and damaging bilateral relations' with the U.S. Further investigation on Wikileaks revealed how one Peace Corps volunteer had been sentenced to two years imprisonment in 2009 after 'what appeared to be a classic Soviet-style set-up.' The volunteer was only freed through the diplomatic efforts of U.S. Ambassador Richard Hoagland and the personal intervention of Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev."
Although Apple will sell an increasing number of MacBook Airs over the next two years, its share of the light-and-thin notebook market will fall as computer makers crank out Windows-powered competitors, an analyst said last week.
AT&T has scrapped its plans to purchase rival mobile carrier T-Mobile USA in the face of opposition from two U.S. agencies.
Pinball may seem like your grandparents’ game, but the "Urban Flipper" may make you take a new look at an old favorite.
Traveling this winter? In over 50 U.S. airports, Skype will be offering weary travelers one free hour of Internet service.
Remember Fusion Garage and the JooJoo tablet? Nobody's quite sure what's going on with them.
Xaxxon Technologies is developing a unique robot that operates on a notebook and connects via Internet directly to your tablet (or PC hardware) of choice.
IBM's annual predictions on how our lives will be changed by five technologies in the next five years.
Make your Christmas tree decorations more fun with a little bit or hacking with an Arduino.
Software frustrations make some users want to quit their jobs, according to a report by TrackVia, which makes a platform for online software-creation.
The New Facebook iPhone app adds the new Timeline layout mobile - iPad users will have to wait.
Even though you'll need to pay for your own potato, this Portal 2-themed science kit is a great way to teach kids about evil artificial intelligence and electrolytes.
With the death of dictator Kim Jong Il, the science community highlights a reflective look at North Korea though satellite imagery.
As part of an initiative to expand its online course offerings, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology plans to release as open source the software it will...
Scientists turn an ordinary DSLR into a hyperspectral camera using a frankenlens made of a diffraction gel, a 50-mm and 17-40-mm lens, and some PVC pipe.
-- Name: Dylan Smith, co-founder and CFO
Google guns for Apple with high quality tablet, voice recognition rival, and more, Schmidt teases.
Social network adds private messages for pages, but shushes conversations between consumers and businesses.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission should investigate Verizon Wireless for allegedly blocking Google Wallet on a new smartphone available to the...
'Volume control' for feeds, better notifications and improved photo handling are being added to the service.
Some businesses that rely on Amazon Web Services to run Web applications are starting to realize that they can save money or get better performance by building...
Here's an easier way to hack Google Wallet capabilities onto Verizon's phone and shop wirelessly.
Throw another log on the Android patent infringement fire. BT has filed a suit alleging that Android and a variety of other Google products and services violate its patents.
Star Wars The Old Republic went live last week exclusively for customers who preordered and finally hits store shelves for everyone else tomorrow.
Analysis: Here are 3 reasons Microsoft might want an even closer relationship with Nokia, and 3 reasons it shouldn't bother.
A new piece of malware encrypts images, documents and other files stored on infected systems and advertises a demo version of a paid-for program that can recover...
As Flash gives way to open technologies, Adobe is retooling to support the new reality for developers.
Attackers can force mobile phones to send premium-rate SMS messages or prevent them from receiving messages for long periods of time by leveraging a logic flaw.
Here are all your answers to Microsoft's new plan to auto-upgrade the Internet Explorer 8 browser.
Apple swings into Christmas gear with iPhone 4S ad that features Santa Claus recruiting Siri as his latest little helper.
The Japanese game maker shut down the Square Enix Members site for the U.S. and Japan last week immediately after finding unknown parties had accessed its server.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been granted permission to take his fight against extradition to Sweden to the U.K.'s Supreme Court.
Apple supplier Pegatron reported that an explosion occurred at a subsidiary company in China, with Shanghai authorities stating that 61 workers were sent to...
The launch of a Lenovo-backed video game system for China is being delayed again in order to make improvements to the product, according to a spokesman with the...
British Telecommunications has filed a civil suit in a Delaware court alleging that some Google products and services including Android, infringe on 6 patents.
Google's Chrome 15 has jumped into the number one spot, replacing Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 as the world's most popular browser edition.
Support or Near Field Communications reached a new peak this year, say analysts who expect demand for mobile payment capabilities to spike.
The bottom line: Industry titan AT&T finished last, while two smaller carriers that piggyback on AT&T's network, Consumer Cellular and U.S. Cellular, ranked tops.
UPDATE: The Sony PlayStation Vita is well-positioned to avoid the struggles of its main handheld rival, Nintendo's 3DS, Sony says.
Klout has emerged as the tool that most effectively measures social media use and influence. How can your business increase its Klout score?
Analysis: Bank on it -- Financial institutions are checking social media profiles to identify credit risks. It's time to ditch those deadbeat friends.
Congress seems to be taking its cues from industry lobbyists when it comes to pending SOPA legislation, but hopefully it will take into consideration a letter from Internet luminaries begging it to reject this bill before it kills the thing they're ostensibly trying to protect.
The more thoroughly you tag your holiday tunes, the more likely you'll hear the music you desire.
Analysis: Amazon's admission of selling a million Kindles per week is good news for the e-book market in general.
The holiday inspired tricks add to a long lineup of similar antics to amuse people using Google sites and products.
Technology industry experts predict fast-shifting pressures on technology from the rise in mobile application development, cloud computing and new security threats next year.
Analysis: Don’t pine for Bill Gates, Microsoft fans; the world needs his attention more right now.
BitDefender warns of a new ransom-style Trojan that scrambles its victims' data before offering them a trial version of a fix.
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee will continue discussion of the controversial purported anti-piracy legislation Wednesday, though many members may have left town.
The popular program for managing social media accounts now runs in your browser.
It seems like every year is predicted to be the "year of the tablet," yet rivals come and go and the market remains a virtual monopoly for the Apple iPad.