kaptink writes "One of the great grandmasters of space, time and the history of our existence is seeking an assistant to help develop and maintain the electronic speech system that allows him to communicate his vision of the universe. An informal job ad posted on Stephen's website said the assistant should be computer literate, ready to travel and able to repair electronic devices 'with no instruction manual or technical support.' He lost his real voice in a tracheotomy in 1985, but has something based on NeoSpeech's VoiceText speech synthesizer mounted on his wheelchair that helps synthesize speech by interpreting the twitches of his face. The synthesizer's robotic monotone has become nearly as famous as Hawking himself, but the computer — powered by batteries fastened to the back of Hawking's wheelchair — isn't just for speaking. It can connect to the internet over mobile phone networks and a universal infrared remote enables the physicist to switch on the lights, watch television, or open doors either at home or at the office. It's a complicated, tailor-made system, as the ad makes clear. A photograph of the back of Hawking's wheelchair, loaded with coiled wires and electronic equipment, is pictured under the words: 'Could you maintain this? If your answer is "yes", we'd like to hear from you!'. Hawking's website says that the job's salary is expected to be about $38,500 a year."
OverTheGeicoE writes "It looks like Congress' recent jabs at TSA were just posturing after all. Last Friday, President Obama signed a spending act passed by both houses of Congress. The act gives TSA a $7.85 billion budget increase for 2012 and includes funding for 12 additional multi-modal Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) teams and 140 new behavior detection officers. It even includes funding for 250 shiny new body scanners, which was originally cut from the funding bill last May."
Reader jampola points out that Wikimedia's Jimmy Wales last week said clearly what was only hinted at earlier in the month; now "It's not only imgur (among many others) who are giving GoDaddy the flick; it also appears Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikimedia, will be making the change. While unsure to what effect Wikimedia utilizes the services of GoDaddy, I imagine this could very well be another public blow for GoDaddy in the wrong direction over their decision to support SOPA."
Hugh Pickens writes "Dr. Ken Murray, a Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at USC, writes that doctors don't die like the rest of us. What's unusual about doctors is not how much treatment they get when faced with death themselves, but how little. For all the time they spend fending off the deaths of others, they tend to be fairly serene when faced with death themselves because they know exactly what is going to happen, they know the choices, and they generally have access to any sort of medical care they could want. 'Almost all medical professionals have seen what we call "futile care" being performed on people,' writes Murray. 'What it buys is misery we would not inflict on a terrorist. I cannot count the number of times fellow physicians have told me, in words that vary only slightly, "Promise me if you find me like this that you'll kill me."' Feeding into the problem are unrealistic expectations of what doctors can accomplish. Many people think of CPR as a reliable lifesaver when, in fact, the results are usually poor. If a patient suffers from severe illness, old age, or a terminal disease, the odds of a good outcome from CPR are infinitesimal, while the odds of suffering are overwhelming."
PerlJedi writes "I am planing a long trip (to Ireland), and want to buy an Android tablet to take along for the trip. I am a software engineer (I actually work for Slashdot), a Linux geek, and an Android fan. I would like to get a tablet primarily to use for entertainment (when I'm not working or building robots in my workshop, I'm usually playing with my phone), but something I could get some work done from in a pinch would be a major plus (all I need to be able to work is a Web browser, and an ssh terminal, preferably with a keyboard). My current cell phone is the Samsung Charge, rooted and running GummyCharge 2.1, and it is a good bet I'll want to root whatever tablet I get, if not right away, soon after getting it. From an entertainment standpoint I want something that is large enough to watch high definition videos on, with a battery life that will make it practical for use on a long flight. Having a decent camera would be a nice plus, but is not an absolute necessity. Having a forward facing camera for video chat would also be good, but is also not a necessity." PerlJedi's got a few options in mind; read on for the details of his reasoning and help him fulfill his quest.
MikeChino writes "Russia and China are gearing up to dominate the lithium battery battery industry by launching the world's largest Li-ion plant (press release). Planned for Novobirsk, Russia, the facility will be a joint venture between Chinese firm Thunder Sky and RUSNANO (a Russian state-run corporation) and it will be able to produce up to 500,000 batteries (of all sizes) per year."
randomErr writes "Intel began shipping the new mobile Atom, formerly codenamed 'Cedar Trail', processors to manufacturers. As with most new chips it has more features and longer battery life. Intel said today 'Computing systems using new Atom processors will debut in early 2012 through leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, and Toshiba.'"
itwbennett writes "Yes, IPv4 addresses are running out, but a Y2K-style disaster/frenzy won't be coming in 2012. Instead, businesses are likely to spend the coming year preparing to upgrade to IPv6, experts say. Of course there's a chance that panic will ensue when Europe's RIPE hands out its last IPv4 addresses this summer, but 'most [businesses] understand that they can live without having to make any major investments immediately,' said IDC analyst Nav Chander. Plus, it won't be until 2013 that North America will run out of IPv4 addresses and there's no sense getting worked up before then."
First time accepted submitter aeturnus writes "A new attack on the GSM mobile communications protocol has been demonstrated by Karsten Nohl and Luca Melette of Security Research Labs, based off their previously published attacks around vulnerabilities in the GSM A5/1 encryption protocol. This new attack, which Nohl indicates already in use by criminals, allows an attacker to simulate a GSM mobile and use it to make calls and send text messages. Nohl also discussed protective measures users should take against these attacks, and others in use by intelligence communities around the world." This was just one of many presentations at the 28th Chaos Communications Congress.
An anonymous reader writes "HTCDEV annouced today "HTC is committed to listening to users and delivering customer satisfaction. We plan on releasing the updates that will allow you to unlock your bootloader in the coming months." However they do note this: 'It is our responsibility to caution you that not all claims resulting or caused by or from the unlocking of the bootloader may be covered under warranty' and this 'We strongly suggest that you do not unlock the bootloader unless you are confident that you understand the risks involved.' This looks like a new year gift to some."
First time accepted submitter Narnie writes "Follow up to Tuesday's story of a PR rep's lack of professionalism. Kyle Orland provides a follow up interview with Paul Christoforo after a simple email chain escalated into internet infamy. N-Control official response to Paul Chrostoforo's actions can be found here. Kotaku.com even has a whole section devoted to covering the entire ordeal. I for one found myself caught following the news releases and in awe of the combined load forced on penny-arcade's servers from Slashdot, Reddit, Digg, Kotaku, and other news sites covering the story."
SharkLaser writes "It turns out that Google has started to remove Google+ pictures that have persons giving the middle finger in it. 'Our policy page states, "Your Profile Picture cannot include mature or offensive content." Your profile photo was taken down as a violation of this policy.' Google+ is supposed to be a universal social network and 'identity service,' and to allow sharing like in real life — a public venue for free expressions. Since the middle finger is such culturally-specific issue, will Google+ also start to remove things like showing the palms of your hands to people (considered an insult in Greece), showing the soles of your shoes (insult in the Middle East), and patting someone's head (an insult in Buddhist countries)? A good number of Google+ users have started to change their profile picture to include the middle finger to show support to MG Siegler, who got his profile picture removed by Google."
New submitter Titus Andronicus writes "The South Pole experienced its highest-ever recorded temperature of -12.3C (+9.9F) on December 25, 2011, according to preliminary reporting from the Antarctic Meteorological Research Center at the University of Wisconsin."
ABC News is one of various news outlets reporting that "Intense solar activity may affect Earth today, potentially disrupting radio and cell phone frequencies." (The Space Weather Prediction Center calls the likely effects minor, but it might be a good day to have an atlas packed in with the GPS.)
wiredmikey writes "In a rare move, Microsoft is breaking its normal procedures and will issue an emergency out-of-band security update on Thursday to address a hash collision attack vulnerability that came into the spotlight yesterday, and affects various Web platforms industry-wide. The vulnerability is not specific to Microsoft technologies and has been discovered to impact PHP 5, Java, .NET, and Google's v8, while PHP 4, Ruby, and Python are somewhat vulnerable. Microsoft plans to release the bulletin on December 29, 2011, at 10:00 AM Pacific Time, and said it would addresses security vulnerabilities in all supported releases of Microsoft Windows. 'The impact of this vulnerability is similar to other Denial of Service attacks that have been released in the past, such as the Slowloris DoS or the HTTP POST DoS,' said security expert Chris Eng. 'Unlike traditional DoS attacks, they could be conducted with very small amounts of bandwidth. This hash table multi-collision bug shares that property.'"
Hackers armed with a single machine and a minimal broadband connection can cripple Web servers, researchers said Wednesday.
According to a survey by NPD Group, nearly three quarters of U.S. small and medium businesses plan to buy tablets sometime in the next 12 months.
A new report says we'll see Intel's Ivy Bridge generation of processors in April.
If there is one thing you must watch today, it has to be this ipad-savvy kitteh playing Fruit Ninja.
The long awaited RaspberryPi mini PC is coming early next year, according to its makers.
Workers bringing their own devices to work was one of the biggest challenges IT pros faced in 2011, and the trend is on the rise for 2012.
Ever dreamed being able to fly? An engineer is attempting to make the dream a reality, with a phone and Wiimote!
A Sony A55 user named Dario replaces his damaged translucent pellicle mirror with a home hacked one made of plastic food wrap--and it actually works!
Verizon on Thursday said its third 4G network problem this month was resolved over night.
On Christmas, 242 million apps were downloaded across the iOS and Android platforms combined.
From 'Woozy Numbat' to 'Beefy Miracle,' version names are never boring when it comes to this popular open source operating system.
People who may have had their credit card numbers compromised will receive a year's worth of protection and detection services free of charge.
The Galaxy S III is rumored to have a large Super AMOLED Plus HD display at 1280-by-720 pixels and a quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM.
Amazon says it sold more than a million Kindles per week during December, and millions of Kindle Fire tablets during the holiday shopping season.
The device will feature four times the pixel density of 1080p HDTVs and can display eight million pixels at a resolution of 3840-by-2160.
The popularity of Android could be behind the surging numbers of Google+.
Whether you're rocking an Android model or an iPhone, these killer apps will give you a big productivity boost in the coming year.
Users of the social news site have started a campaign dubbed "Operation Cork Screw" in hopes of ousting Senator Bob Corker, one of 40 co-sponsors of the Protect IP Act.
Many web app frameworks are vulnerable to a denial-of-service attack targeting the way they handle hash tables, researchers revealed Wednesday, prompting...
Next year will see one more regional Internet registry run out of IPv4 addresses, but 2012 will be more of a year to prepare for the inevitable shift to IPv6...
Design flaws in the Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) wireless standard can make it easier for attackers to obtain access codes for secured wireless networks by brute...
Seven Asian companies have come to a US$553 million settlement with several U.S. states in connection with charges of fixing prices of LCD (liquid crystal...
From data-only cell phone plans to HTML 5, these ten advancements are ready to go mainstream in the year to come.
Religious Americans are just as into technology as their secular brethren.
Activations of new iOS and Android devices soared on Christmas Day, jumping by 142% over the same day last year, a Web metrics company said.
Next year, if all goes according to plan, Red Hat will become the first open source software company to generate more than US$1 billion a year in revenue.
Intel on Wednesday started shipping the latest Atom chips for netbooks, an important step to sustain growth of the low-cost PCs in the wake of the tablet onslaught.
Online spending so far this holiday season in the U.S. was 15 percent higher than last year, rising to US$35.3 billion, according to figures released Wednesday.
According to leaked benchmark stats, it looks like Intel's new system-on-chip will be pretty speedy.
A judge has tossed out a number of claims in a California county's lawsuit against SAP over an allegedly failed ERP software implementation, including the claim...
Hacktivists may have been confused and unfocused in 2011, but they were still a force to be reckoned with.
The breach, which occurred several months ago, is part of a larger Anonymous hacking campaign called LulzXmas.
Times change, and so do popularity trends in Linux distributions. Here's a look at the top 10 closing out the year.
If you run a business, it's time to plan your marketing strategy--and that means fully embracing social media.
LG announces the world’s largest OLED HDTV with a 55-inch screen that it says trumps LCDs and incorporates new affordable technology.
Our sun is ramping up its solar activity right about now: Look for an increase in solar storms in the next couple years.
SAP's US$3.4 billion acquisition of SuccessFactors has passed an important regulatory step, with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission deciding on Friday to grant...
China is in the midst of an unprecedented data center construction boom that's providing business opportunities for U.S. companies and could see China emerge...
This was the year of new cameras and emerging camera categories, an explosive array of desktop, mobile, and cloud-based software and services, and a renewed focus on Web design and Internet standards.
The market share of Microsoft's mobile platform was just 1.5 percent in the third quarter of 2011, according to Gartner figures.
Hover, Name.com, and Namecheap are offering discounted transfer rates in an attempt to get people to leave Go Daddy.
If you’re a gamer, these are the must-have apps for you to play on your iPhone.
Let's delve deep into a detailed review of what's new in Android 4.0 and how it measures up.
Mitsui, a massive Japanese conglomerate, will invest US$12 million in an ambitious smart grid project that is being constructed in New Mexico.
China on Tuesday began offering its own satellite navigation system to users, as an effort to move away from the nation's reliance on the U.S.-built NAVSTAR GPS...
What does the future hold for processors? We expect more speed and less power consumption, lurking behind unassuming code names such as Ivy Bridge, Piledriver, and Tegra 3.
Inventor Matt Richardson has found a way to visually display Twitter posts on a phosphorescent paper canvas, due to some clever gadgetry.
News about successful hacks isn't news at all because no one is doing security right and everyone's been breached.
Despite years of development and countless millions in marketing, Windows Phone 7 still has gained no traction with consumers.
Finally, there's an untethered jailbreak for iOS 5 devices -- most of them, anyway.