MojoKid writes "Apple is pitching Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) as the cat's meow, with over 200 new features 'that add up to an amazing Mac experience' — but that only applies if you're rocking a compatible system. Some older Mac models, including ones that are 64-bit capable, aren't invited to the Mountain Lion party, and it's likely because of the GPU. It's being reported (unofficially) that an updated graphics architecture intended to smooth out performance in OS X's graphics subsystem is the underlying issue. It's no coincidence, then, that the unsupported GPUs happen to be ones that were fairly common back before 64-bit support became mainstream."
cylonlover writes "In the 1800s, when pneumatic tubes shot telegrams and small items all around buildings and sometimes small cities, the future of mass transit seemed clear: we'd be firing people around through these sealed tubes at high speeds. And it turns out we've got the technology to do that today – mag-lev rail lines remove all rolling friction from the energy equation for a train, and accelerating them through a vacuum tunnel can eliminate wind resistance to the point where it's theoretically possible to reach blistering speeds over 4,000 mph (6,437 km/h) using a fraction of the energy an airliner uses – and recapturing a lot of that energy upon deceleration. Ultra-fast, high efficiency ground transport is technologically within reach – so why isn't anybody building it? This article looks into some of the problems."
MrSeb writes "It seems like every time I set foot in an airport, there is some new machine I need to stand in, walk through, or put my shoes on. The argument can be made that much of this is security theater — an effort to just make things look safe. However, if a new kind of laser-based molecular scanner lives up to its promise and finds its way into airports as planned, it could actually make a difference. A company called Genia Photonics has developed a programmable picosecond laser that is capable of spotting trace amounts of a variety of substances. Genia claims that the system can detect explosives, chemical agents, and hazardous biological substances at up to 50 meters. This device relies on classic spectroscopy; just a very advanced form of it. In the case of Genia's scanner, it is using far-infrared radiation in the terahertz band. This is why the US Department of Homeland Security is so keen on getting it into airports. Understandably, some are calling foul on the possible privacy concerns, but this technology is halfway to a Star Trek tricorder."
An anonymous reader writes "DirecTV has dropped all of Viacom's channels. This includes channels such as MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon. The drop is reported to be over a carrier fee dispute. It appears programming content can magically disappear from satellite, too, and not just from streaming services. Viacom said it was 'because contract talks with DirecTV had “reached an impasse.” DirecTV, in turn, said in a statement that it had offered Viacom “increased fees for their networks going forward; we just can’t afford the extreme increases they are asking for.”' I guess pirating and physical media is the only way to make sure the content we pay for doesn't disappear."
Stirling Newberry writes "This image shows 'P5,' the placeholder name for a fifth natural moon of Pluto, a tiny sliver that orbits ~29,000 miles from its primary in a circular orbit. Other than Charon, Hubble has been the means by which astronomers have found all of the known moons of Pluto. 'The new detection will help scientists navigate NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft through the Pluto system in 2015, when it makes an historic and long-awaited high-speed flyby of the distant world. The team is using Hubble’s powerful vision to scour the Pluto system to uncover potential hazards to the New Horizons spacecraft. Moving past the dwarf planet at a speed of 30,000 miles per hour, New Horizons could be destroyed in a collision with even a BB-shot-size piece of orbital debris.'"
Barence writes "A British ISP is inviting religious groups to help set parental controls for its customers. Claranet says it is recruiting volunteer 'Guardians' from a number of different organizations — including religious organizations, schools and child safety experts. A press spokesman for the ISP said that an 'Islamic advisor' was among the first batch of Guardians, but refused to identify them. The Claranet Guardians will be asked to choose whether they think 140 different categories of internet content are appropriate. Within those categories, the Guardians can choose to add or remove individual websites from the blacklists, which are created by a third-party company that Claranet also refused to name."
CowboyNeal writes "Unless you don't care about PC gaming at all, by now you're aware of Valve's entry into the MOBA/ARTS genre, Dota 2. Despite still being in a closed beta, it's currently the number one game on Valve's Steam gaming service, and judging from Valve's earlier declaration regarding Steam on Linux, it's only a matter of time, even if that time be a year or more, before we see Dota 2 come to Linux as well as Mac. Valve has big plans for Dota 2, no less big than what happened with Team Fortress 2, even if it took them a few years to get to where Team Fortress 2 is today. What makes the current state of Dota 2 noteworthy, however, is that it has managed to displace Team Fortress 2 as Steam's most popular game, while still being tested in a closed beta." Read on for the rest of CowboyNeal's thoughts on games, and what it's like being a Slashdot poll option.
Zothecula writes about some pretty cool sensor gloves. From the article: "Since beginning in 2003, the Microsoft Imagine Cup has tasked students the world over with developing technology aimed at solving real-world problems. In this, its 10th year, students were asked to build their project around a specific Millennium Development Goal ... The winners have just been announced ... [and winning] first place (and US$25,000) in the Software Design category was the Ukraine's quadSquad with their EnableTalk gloves that translate sign language into speech in real time."
New submitter sosume writes "An article in Nature shows that temperatures in Roman times were actually higher than current temperatures. A team lead by Dr. Esper of the University of Mainz has researched tree rings and concluded that over the past 2,000 years, the forcing is up to four times as large as the 1.6W/m^2 net anthropogenic forcing since 1750 using evidence based on maximum latewood density data from northern Scandinavia, indicating that this cooling trend was stronger (0.31C per 1,000 years, ±0.03C) than previously reported, and demonstrated that this signature is missing in published tree-ring proxy records."
New submitter Slashbots writes "Google will settle with the FTC for nearly $22.5 million over its bypassing of Apple's Safari browser privacy settings. It would be the largest settlement with the FTC over privacy-related charges ever. By abusing a privacy hole in Safari, Google circumvented user settings to show them advertising and track the user. 'Safari, unlike other browsers, blocks cookies from ad networks like Google's. But because of a loophole, Google had been able to avoid the block, as researchers discovered in February. It installed cookies and tracked Safari users across the Web to show them personalized ads.'"
wiredmikey writes with news of yet another business suffering a data breach. From the article: "Formspring, the Social Q&A portal ..., admitted to being breached on Tuesday. The compromise led to the loss of 420,000 passwords, forcing the site to reset all member passwords. Mirroring the recent LinkedIn breach, Formspring said that it was alerted to a forum post that contained 420,000 password hashes. Engineers shutdown the service and confirmed the passwords were indeed theirs. In less than a day, an investigation revealed that the attacker(s) had 'broken into one of our development servers and was able to use that access to extract account information from a production database' .... There have been no reported incidents of individual account compromise, but there were reports of Phishing by some users on Twitter attempting to capitalize on the incident."
Google's Nexus 7 might turn a small profit after all, according to a third-party estimate by IHS iSuppli.
The new Google+ app turns the iPad into a powerful mobile video conferencing tool with the addition of Hangouts.
Google's Nexus 7 tablet can now be ordered on more retail websites worldwide, but so far the less expensive US$199 model remains exclusive to Google's Play...
The probability of a well-priced smartphone from the giant shopping site seems to increase with each passing day.
What does this mean for backers?
The European Commission on Wednesday proposed new rules that would make it easier for online music services like Spotify to set up in the E.U.
The European Commission on Wednesday evening said that the “language being negotiated on CETA regarding Internet is now totally different from ACTA”.
Security researchers from antivirus vendor Symantec identified two malware apps on Google Play that used a multistage payload delivery system in order to remain...
Will the Necomimi--a brainwave-powered, cat-eared headset--make you the only cat who knows where it's at?
Swedish scientist print white LEDs onto paper and plastic to create sheets of light.
Motorola Mobility and Microsoft have agreed to suspend their patent claims against each other in three U.S. cases until a November trial on Microsoft claims that...
The global market for business analytics software grew roughly 14 percent in 2011, fueled by pervasive hype about "big data" as well as new technological...
A European Commission spokesman said on Wednesday that some elements of an E.U.-Canada trade deal that activists claimed infringed digital civil liberties have...
As part of its Kickstarter funding, the Omega Envoy will send your DNA to the moon. All you have to do is donate $10,000.
Apple has pulled its products from the government-backed EPEAT registry of environmentally friendly electronic devices. Here is what it all means.
Users will be able to choose to scan their computers with McAfee Scan and Repair, a run-once anti-malware scanner, or with Microsoft Security Essentials.
Law enforcement demands for Twitter and mobile phone data are skyrocketing. Surprised? You shouldn't be.
GameCircle allows users to track in-game awards, view leaderboards, and save their game progress online.
The doubled capacity of Dropbox Pro accounts may seem appealing, but businesses need the administrative and security features of Dropbox for Teams.
Gadgets and Sidebar allow users to add visual information and small programs to the Windows desktop, including clock faces and RSS feed readers.
Someone will likely have to step in to save Nokia, and Microsoft makes the most sense, because it has the most to lose from Nokia going under.
Angry Birds is expected to be released as a trilogy featuring the original game, Angry Birds Seasons, and Angry Birds Rio on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo 3DS.
Sprint is reportedly removing a universal search feature on Samsung Galaxy S III handsets via a "Security Update" in an effort to squelch a patent battle with Apple.
VMware plans to make a beta version of an upgrade to its Zimbra Collaboration Server available for download on Wednesday, with shipments in final form scheduled...
Scoop up PCWorld's guide to Ice Cream Sandwich, and have all the essentials for Google’s latest mobile OS at your fingertips.
Apple, Amazon.com and Google are among the least transparent companies in the world, according to a survey of 105 publicly traded multinationals published by...
Although based in China and a maker of hit games, app developer Haypi has largely ignored its home market. Instead, the Chinese company's forte is building games...
T-Mobile's latest myTouch phones are inexpensive, but don't have the most cutting-edge specs.
Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom has offered to do a deal with U.S. prosecutors, who are seeking his extradition from New Zealand to the U.S.
Amazon offers the greatest number of options for accessing content; iTunes has the largest amount content but lacks streaming options, and Google Play needs to catch up on its licensing deals.
The Jelly Bean update starts rolling out to all unlocked Samsung Galaxy Nexus phones today.
Feeling lonely? This augmented reality project gives you a companion that will react to touch and your movements.
Weeks before the U.S. Republican and Democratic national conventions that will anoint each party's nominee for president, special equipment to boost cellular...
According to one Japanese blog, the upcoming nano will return to the sleek-and-slim design of its 4thi and 5th-generation predecessors.
Today, Connect Four. Tomorrow, the world? A computer scientist from Paris Diderot University has come up with an a learning algorithm that will let computers beat us at our own board games.
Apple's decision to withdraw products from the EPEAT standard it helped implement has raised concerns among industry observers and environmentalists.
Microsoft today patched 16 vulnerabilities, including one in Windows that's been exploited for weeks and two in Internet Explorer 9 (IE9).
The next wave of super-thin laptops--perhaps packed with these sexy features--is expected to arrive in the second half of 2013.
Windows 8 makes the process of file backup and restore the easiest it's ever been for users of Windows OSes, Microsoft said on Tuesday.
Microsoft is giving hosting providers and other organizations some tools for setting up their own Windows-based cloud systems using Microsoft Windows Server.
Microsoft released nine new security bulletins, including updates to patch an XML flaw actively under attack, and vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer 9.
Research in Motion's first BlackBerry 10 phones will miss the holiday shopping season, but according to the company's executives, it's not the end of the world.
Led by numerous ex-Nokia officials, Finnish startup Jolla aims to create its own mobile hardware and MeeGo-based OS.
Dropbox on Tuesday announced it was increasing the amount of storage available to Dropbox Pro subscribers, but without increasing subscription fees: Users of the $10-a-month 50 GB storage plan will now have 100 GB available at the same cost.
EMG Technology has sued Google in U.S. District Court, alleging that Google's Chrome mobile browser infringes a patent EMG holds related to touch Internet...
Fifty years ago this week a Delta rocket roared into space carrying a payload that sparked a revolution in the way the world communicates. On board the rocket...
Oracle said Tuesday it is buying startup Involver, a move that adds to its burgeoning array of marketing, analytics and customer service software aimed at the...
No Jelly Bean? No problem. Modders over at the XDA-Developers forum figured out how to get Google Now to run on Ice Cream Sandwich.
We take a look at Funcom’s new MMO, which promises to be the anti-World of Warcraft (and occasionally lives up to that pledge).
A new Web-based social engineering attack that relies on malicious Java applets attempts to install backdoors on Windows, Linux and Mac computers, according to...