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[Slashdot] Stories for 2011-09-16

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Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* Windows 8 Won't Support Plug-Ins; the End of Flash?
* US House 'Creator' of TSA Wants To Kill It
* Ask Slashdot: Low-Cost Tools To Track Employees' Web Use?
* New Sony PSN ToS: Class Action Waiver Included
* UBS Rogue Trader Loses $2 Billion In Unauthorized Trades
* Ask Slashdot: Clusters On the Cheap?
* Researcher Builds Life-Like Cells Made of Metal
* Google Enlarges Warchest With 1023 IBM Patents
* Wild Parrots Learning To Talk From Escaped Pet Birds
* Facebook To Put Off IPO Until Late 2012
* Wolfenstein Ray Traced and Anti-Aliased, At 1080p
* The Google+ API Is Released
* Italian Hacker Publishes 0day SCADA Hacks
* MIT Researchers Create New Tiny Energy Harvester
* Certificate Blunders May Mean the End For DigiNotar
* Dinosaur Feathers Found In Amber
* NASA's Big Telescope Avoids Death-by-Budget-Cut
* First Exoplanet Discovered Orbiting Two Stars
* NRO To Declassify Cold-War Spy-Sat Tech
* Ziff Davis Secretly Paying Sites To Track Users
* Robot To Slowly Run Ironman Triathlon Course
* Senate Lets Teachers, Students Be Facebook Friends

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| Windows 8 Won't Support Plug-Ins; the End of Flash?
| from the flash-always-seems-to-find-a-way dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday September 15, @09:35 (DRM)
| with 578 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1257249/Windows-8-Wont-Support-Plug-Ins-the-End-of-Flash?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An anonymous reader writes "The Microsoft Windows Engineering Team has
announced that the Metro interface web browser in Windows 8 [0]will not
support plug-ins ��� Adobe Flash included. Users will still be able to open
a traditional browser interface to make use of legacy sites that rely
upon plug-ins. This news follows a recent blog post by the Internet
Explorer 10 team [1]pushing the use of HTML5 video as a replacement to
Flash video. With Google, Apple, Mozilla, Opera and other major players
already backing HTML5 ��� is Adobe Flash finally dead?"

Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1257249/Windows-8-Wont-Support-Plug-Ins-the-End-of-Flash?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. https://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/09/14/metro-style-browsing-and-plug-in-free-html5.aspx
1. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2011/08/31/browsing-without-plug-ins.aspx

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| US House 'Creator' of TSA Wants To Kill It
| from the seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time dept.
| posted by OverTheGeicoE on Thursday September 15, @15:41 (Security)
| with 516 comments
| https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1937206/US-House-Creator-of-TSA-Wants-To-Kill-It?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[0]U.S. Representative John Mica (R-Florida), the sponsor of the original
House bill that helped create the TSA, has become an outspoken opponent
of the agency. In a recent interview, "Mica said [1]screeners should be
privatized and the agency dismantled." Mica seems to agree with other TSA
critics that the agency 'failed to actually detect any threat in 10
years.' Mica is the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
Chairman and receives classified briefings on TSA. Perhaps we should
trust him more than most people on this topic.

This story continues at:
https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1937206/US-House-Creator-of-TSA-Wants-To-Kill-It?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email

Discuss this story at:
https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1937206/US-House-Creator-of-TSA-Wants-To-Kill-It?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://mica.house.gov/
1. http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=46114

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| Ask Slashdot: Low-Cost Tools To Track Employees' Web Use?
| from the possibly-hostile-answers-expected dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday September 15, @11:49 (Piracy)
| with 337 comments
| https://ask.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1520251/Ask-Slashdot-Low-Cost-Tools-To-Track-Employees-Web-Use?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First time accepted submitter red-nz writes "I come from New Zealand
where new anti-piracy laws have come into effect that prosecute the owner
of the internet connection for copyright violations. This is now a major
issue for businesses, as they of course don't want to be liable for
employee infringements. We have some good firewalls that are capable of
doing basic filtering by 'category,' e.g. P2P sites, etc., but ideally
would love to find a low-cost or even better Open Source alternative to
expensive reporting tools (such as WebMarshal or Websense) that is
capable of reporting on individual employees' usage with friendly reports
(i.e. dont just show the URLs of the 3000 items their browser requested
that day). It may be too much to ask but if the software could also show
how long they spent on each site, it would be fantastic. Anyone got any
winners out there they can share?"

Discuss this story at:
https://ask.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1520251/Ask-Slashdot-Low-Cost-Tools-To-Track-Employees-Web-Use?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

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| New Sony PSN ToS: Class Action Waiver Included
| from the furthermore-and-hereuntoagain-be-it-resolved dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday September 15, @12:34 (Sony)
| with 291 comments
| https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1542247/New-Sony-PSN-ToS-Class-Action-Waiver-Included?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
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rwven writes "Yesterday Sony sent an email to PlayStation Network members
regarding a [0]change in the Terms of Service for PSN. When agreeing to
this new terms of service, you must waive your rights to a class action
suit against Sony. I, for one, will not be agreeing to any such thing.
You can [1]view section 15 of the new ToS here (PDF)."

Discuss this story at:
https://games.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1542247/New-Sony-PSN-ToS-Class-Action-Waiver-Included?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://pastebin.com/qKwhHAE2
1. http://www.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com/SEN-legal-docs/TERMS_OF_SERVICE_AGREEMENT-EN.pdf

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| UBS Rogue Trader Loses $2 Billion In Unauthorized Trades
| from the let's-give-it-to-a-nice-fiscally-responsible-government dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday September 15, @13:18 (The Almighty Buck)
| with 263 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1629228/UBS-Rogue-Trader-Loses-2-Billion-In-Unauthorized-Trades?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PolygamousRanchKid writes with this snippet from Reuters that sounds like
a ready-made movie script: "Switzerland's UBS said on Thursday it had
discovered unauthorized trading by a trader in its investment bank had
[0]caused a loss of some $2 billion. 'The matter is still being
investigated, but UBS's current estimate of the loss on the trades is in
the range of $2 billion,' the bank said in a brief statement just before
the stock market opened." Asks the RanchKid: "I wonder how this will
reopen the debate about the role of computer systems in the trading and
the safeguards that are supposed to protect against these risks. But if
microseconds mean millions in trading ... who has time for checks?"

Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1629228/UBS-Rogue-Trader-Loses-2-Billion-In-Unauthorized-Trades?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/15/us-ubs-idUSTRE78E15I20110915

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| Ask Slashdot: Clusters On the Cheap?
| from the discount-computing dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday September 15, @00:41 (Hardware)
| with 249 comments
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/0154252/Ask-Slashdot-Clusters-On-the-Cheap?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First time accepted submitter serviscope_minor writes "A friend of mine
has recently started a research group. As usual with these things, she is
on a shoestring budget and has computational demands. The computational
task is very parallel (but implementing it on GPUs is an open research
problem and not the topic of research), and very CPU bound. Can
slashdotters advise on a practical way of getting really high bang for
buck? The budget is about ��4000 (excluding VAT/sales tax), though it is
likely that the system will be expanded later. The computers will
probably end up running a boring Linux distro and Sun GridEngine to
manage batch processing (with home directories shared over NFS)."

Discuss this story at:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/0154252/Ask-Slashdot-Clusters-On-the-Cheap?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

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| Researcher Builds Life-Like Cells Made of Metal
| from the devil-in-the-dark dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday September 15, @03:05 (Science)
| with 245 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/020200/Researcher-Builds-Life-Like-Cells-Made-of-Metal?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
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Sven-Erik writes "Could living things that evolved from metals be
clunking about somewhere in the universe? In a lab in Glasgow, UK, one
man is intent on [0]proving that metal-based life is possible. He has
managed to build cell-like bubbles from giant metal-containing molecules
and has given them some life-like properties. He now hopes to induce them
to evolve into fully inorganic self-replicating entities. 'I am 100 per
cent positive that we can get evolution to work outside organic biology,'
says Lee Cronin at the University of Glasgow. His building blocks are
large 'polyoxometalates' made of a range of metal atoms ��� most recently
tungsten ��� linked to oxygen and phosphorus. By simply mixing them in
solution, he can get them to self-assemble into cell-like spheres."

Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/020200/Researcher-Builds-Life-Like-Cells-Made-of-Metal?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20906-lifelike-cells-are-made-of-metal.html

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| Google Enlarges Warchest With 1023 IBM Patents
| from the put-it-on-the-pile dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday September 14, @21:50 (Google)
| with 234 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/14/2353207/Google-Enlarges-Warchest-With-1023-IBM-Patents?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First time accepted submitter ElBeano writes "Google has continued to
[0]beef up its patent portfolio in the face of the onslaught from Apple
and Microsoft. The best defense is a good offense. 'Google is building an
arsenal of patents that the company has said is largely designed to
counter a "hostile, organized campaign" by companies including Apple Inc.
and Microsoft Corp. against the Android operating system for mobile
devices. Google had already acquired 1,030 patents from IBM in a
transaction recorded in July, and will obtain more than 17,000 with its
$12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.'"

Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/14/2353207/Google-Enlarges-Warchest-With-1023-IBM-Patents?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-14/google-purchases-1-023-patents-from-ibm-to-bolster-portfolio.html

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| Wild Parrots Learning To Talk From Escaped Pet Birds
| from the planet-of-the-parrots dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday September 15, @11:22 (Idle)
| with 178 comments
| https://idle.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1450240/Wild-Parrots-Learning-To-Talk-From-Escaped-Pet-Birds?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

bazzalunatic writes "Be careful what you teach a parrot. Some chatty pet
parrots that have escaped back into the wild have [0]taught wild parrots
to talk. Seems the phenomenon could be integrated into the flock through
generations. From the article: 'The evolution of language could well be
passed on through the generations, says Ken. "If the parents are talkers
and they produce chicks, their chicks are likely to pick up some of
that," he says. This phenomenon is not unique; some lyrebirds in southern
Australia still reproduce the sounds of axes and old shutter-box cameras
their ancestors once learnt.'" While this doesn't reach the amazing level
of [1]Washoe the chimpanzee teaching sign language, it is still
interesting and reminiscent of something out of an Alfred Hitchcock
movie.

Discuss this story at:
https://idle.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1450240/Wild-Parrots-Learning-To-Talk-From-Escaped-Pet-Birds?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/Parrots-and-other-wild-birds-able-to-talk.htm
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washoe_(chimpanzee)

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| Facebook To Put Off IPO Until Late 2012
| from the status-delayed dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday September 15, @05:31 (Businesses)
| with 120 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/0329227/Facebook-To-Put-Off-IPO-Until-Late-2012?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[0]jfruhlinger writes "Facebook's whispered about IPO is one of the most
anticipated in the industry ��� but it looks like we'll have to anticipate
it for a bit longer. The Financial Times, quoting anonymous sources, says
that it won't happen until [1]late next year. Those sources say the
purpose is to keep Facebook employees focused on product development, but
it seems more likely that Facebook's bankers [2]aren't happy with the
company's numbers (or the economy's prospects)."

Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/0329227/Facebook-To-Put-Off-IPO-Until-Late-2012?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://joshreads.com/
1. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/2b842146-dec3-11e0-a228-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1Xy09xp2j
2. http://www.itworld.com/software/203485/report-facebook-delay-ipo-until-late-next-year

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Wolfenstein Ray Traced and Anti-Aliased, At 1080p
| from the sounds-like-an-in-n'-out-burger-order dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday September 15, @14:04 (Graphics)
| with 118 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1714237/Wolfenstein-Ray-Traced-and-Anti-Aliased-At-1080p?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An anonymous reader writes "After Intel displayed their research demo
[0]Wolfenstein: Ray Traced on Tablets, the latest progress at IDF focuses
on [1]high(est)-end gaming now running at 1080p. Besides image-based
post-processing (HDR, Depth of Field) there is now also an implementation
of a smart way of calculating anti-aliasing through using mesh IDs and
normals and applying adaptive 16x supersampling. All that is powered by
the 'cloud,' consisting of a server that holds eight Knights Ferry cards
(total of 256 cores / 1024 threads). A lot of hardware, but the next
iteration of the 'Many Integrated Core' (MIC) architecture, named
[2]Knights Corner (and featuring 50+ cores), might be just around the
corner."

Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1714237/Wolfenstein-Ray-Traced-and-Anti-Aliased-At-1080p?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/06/08/1545233/Cloud-Based-Ray-Traced-Games-On-Intel-Tablets
1. http://blogs.intel.com/research/2011/09/wolfenstein_gets_ray_traced_-_2.php
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight's_Corner

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| The Google+ API Is Released
| from the expanding-circles dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday September 15, @15:20 (Google)
| with 113 comments
| https://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1919208/The-Google-API-Is-Released?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An anonymous reader writes "Developers have been waiting since late June
for Google to release their API to the public. Well, today is that day.
Just a few minute ago Chris Chabot, from Google+ Developer Relations,
announced that the [0]Google+ API is now available to the public."

Discuss this story at:
https://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1919208/The-Google-API-Is-Released?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://plusheadlines.com/google-api-is-here/2092/

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| Italian Hacker Publishes 0day SCADA Hacks
| from the how-to-turn-on-the-hot-water dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday September 15, @10:20 (Security)
| with 97 comments
| https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1358221/Italian-Hacker-Publishes-0day-SCADA-Hacks?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[0]mask.of.sanity writes "An Italian security researcher, Luigi Auriemma,
has disclosed a laundry list of [1]unpatched vulnerabilities and detailed
proof-of-concept exploits that allow hackers to completely compromise
major industrial control systems. The attacks work against six [2]SCADA
systems, including one manufactured by [3]U.S. giant Rockwell Automation.
The researcher published [4]step-by-step exploits that allowed attackers
to execute full remote compromises and denial of service attacks.
Auriemma [5]appeared unrepentant for the disclosures in a post on his
website."

Discuss this story at:
https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1358221/Italian-Hacker-Publishes-0day-SCADA-Hacks?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. mailto:pauli.darren@gmail.com
1. http://www.scmagazine.com.au/News/272175,zero-day-industrial-control-system-exploits-published.aspx
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCADA
3. http://www.rockwellautomation.com/
4. http://aluigi.altervista.org/
5. http://aluigi.altervista.org/about.htm

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| MIT Researchers Create New Tiny Energy Harvester
| from the size-does-matter dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday September 15, @08:09 (Power)
| with 95 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/0314248/MIT-Researchers-Create-New-Tiny-Energy-Harvester?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RogerRoast writes "Researchers at MIT have [0]designed a device the size
of a U.S. quarter that harvests energy from low-frequency vibrations,
such as those that might be felt along a pipeline or bridge. The tiny
energy harvester ��� known technically as a microelectromechanical system,
or MEMS ��� picks up a wider range of vibrations than current designs, and
is able to generate 100 times the power of devices of similar size."

Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/0314248/MIT-Researchers-Create-New-Tiny-Energy-Harvester?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/power-from-vibrations-0914.html

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Certificate Blunders May Mean the End For DigiNotar
| from the web-of-trust-works-by-breaking dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday September 15, @16:28 (Security)
| with 91 comments
| https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/2026223/Certificate-Blunders-May-Mean-the-End-For-DigiNotar?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Certificate Authority DigiNotar is having a rough time of it. dinscott
writes with these words from Help Net Security: "After having its SSL and
EVSSL certificates deemed untrustworthy by the most popular browsers,
around 4200 qualified certificates ��� i.e. certificates used to create
digital signatures ��� issued by the CA are currently in the process of
being revoked and their holders notified of the fact by the Dutch
independent post and telecommunication authority (OPTA). Starting from
yesterday, OPTA has [0]terminated the accreditation of DigiNotar as a
certificate provider for 'qualified' certificates. The revocation of this
accreditation also makes DigiNotar unqualified to issue certificates
under the PKIoverheid CA."

Discuss this story at:
https://it.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/2026223/Certificate-Blunders-May-Mean-the-End-For-DigiNotar?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=11629

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Dinosaur Feathers Found In Amber
| from the I-think-I-saw-this-movie dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday September 15, @19:22 (Science)
| with 91 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/2239215/Dinosaur-Feathers-Found-In-Amber?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An anonymous reader writes "[0]A stunning array of prehistoric feathers,
including dinosaur protofeathers, has been discovered in Late Cretaceous
amber from Canada. 'Protofeathers aren't known from any modern, existing
groups of birds and therefore the most obvious interpretation is that
they belong to dinosaurs,' said University of Alberta professor,
Alexander P. Wolfe. The 78 to 79-million-year-old amber [1]preserved the
feathers in vivid detail, including some of their diverse colors."

Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/2239215/Dinosaur-Feathers-Found-In-Amber?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2011/09/15/science-dinosaur-feathers.html
1. http://news.discovery.com/animals/dinosaur-feathers-amber-photos-110915.html

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| NASA's Big Telescope Avoids Death-by-Budget-Cut
| from the saved-by-the-buck dept.
| posted by samzenpus on Thursday September 15, @18:49 (NASA)
| with 77 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/2225231/NASAs-Big-Telescope-Avoids-Death-by-Budget-Cut?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[0]coondoggie writes "NASA's most ambitious and highly over-budget space
projects, the James Webb Space Telescope has [1]apparently been spared
the budgetary axe. The US Senate Committee on Appropriations has approved
about $530 million of NASA's $17.9 billion budget to [2]'enable a 2018
launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.'"

Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/2225231/NASAs-Big-Telescope-Avoids-Death-by-Budget-Cut?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. mailto:mcooney@nww.com
1. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/09/15/the-senate-has-saved-jwst-hang-on-a-sec-folks/
2. http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/nasas-big-space-telescope-avoids-death-budget

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| First Exoplanet Discovered Orbiting Two Stars
| from the good-to-visit-not-to-live dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday September 15, @14:51 (Space)
| with 71 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1845259/First-Exoplanet-Discovered-Orbiting-Two-Stars?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[0]astroengine writes "For the first time, astronomers have discovered
[1]an exoplanet orbiting binary stars. Kepler-16b, a Saturn-sized world
approximately 200 light-years away, orbits Kepler-16, two stars locked in
a mutual dance. Although other exoplanets [2]are known to exist in binary
systems, they have only been known to be orbiting one star of the binary
pair; Kepler-16b orbits both. No doubt Kepler-16b will excite memories of
Tatooine, Luke Skywalker's homeworld, but the double sunset is where the
similarities end. Kepler-16b would be anything but a desert world; it is
the approximate size of Saturn, it is extremely cold, and its average
density is that of water."

Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1845259/First-Exoplanet-Discovered-Orbiting-Two-Stars?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://www.astroengine.com/
1. http://news.discovery.com/space/kepler-16b-exoplanet-two-stars-tatooine-110915.html
2. http://news.discovery.com/space/the-rare-exoplanet-with-a-double-sunset.html

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| NRO To Declassify Cold-War Spy-Sat Tech
| from the time-to-rewatch-the-falcon-and-the-snowman dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday September 15, @11:04 (The Military)
| with 68 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1425205/NRO-To-Declassify-Cold-War-Spy-Sat-Tech?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Muad'Dave writes "The National Reconnaissance Office is set to reveal
[0]details of two of the cold war's most capable spy satellite programs
on September 17th ��� the GAMBIT and HEXAGON projects, aka the keyhole
KH-7, -8, and -9 satellites. These bus-sized sats provided critical
imagery during the height of the cold war, and were likely the
inspiration for the movie Ice Station Zebra. The article links midway
down the first page provide a fascinating look into the world of real
spy-vs-spy, cloak-and-dagger intelligence gathering."

Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1425205/NRO-To-Declassify-Cold-War-Spy-Sat-Tech?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1927/1

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Ziff Davis Secretly Paying Sites To Track Users
| from the memo-this-user-knows-too-much dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday September 15, @08:52 (Advertising)
| with 51 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1225255/Ziff-Davis-Secretly-Paying-Sites-To-Track-Users?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First time accepted submitter [0]jonez450 writes "Times are tough in the
advertising business. But PCMag publisher Ziff Davis has come up with a
new plan to gain a competitive edge: [1]Paying other tech sites $1 CPM to
place tracking code on their sites in return for data about their users
via JavaScript. The company is also offering free content in return, but
the 'private' Ziff Davis Tech Co-Op doesn't want anyone to know what they
are up to." Update: 09/15 13:32 GMT by [2]T : Reader jbrodkin writes in
with an appreciated correction: "Ziff Davis doesn't publish PC World.
they do something called PC Mag. as a former IDG employee, I can tell you
there is a difference ;-)" Story has been updated to reflect -- thanks.

Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/1225255/Ziff-Davis-Secretly-Paying-Sites-To-Track-Users?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. mailto:jonez450@gmail.com
1. http://www.medacity.com/1269/exclusive-ziff-davis-offering-money-to-sites-to-secretly-track-users/
2. http://www.monkey.org/~timothy/

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Robot To Slowly Run Ironman Triathlon Course
| from the slow-and-steady-kills-the-humans dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday September 15, @17:15 (Robotics)
| with 42 comments
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/2114214/Robot-To-Slowly-Run-Ironman-Triathlon-Course?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[0]itwbennett writes "A robot designed by Panasonic will be [1]running
the course of this year's Ironman World Championship triathlon next
month. But don't expect it to win. The diminutive robot won't even be
competing in the actual race. It will start the Ironman course Oct. 24
and finish in about a week (168 hours), according to its designer.
'Evolta's height is just one-tenth of a grown man, so we figured out that
it would take it 10 times more time,' Panasonic design engineer Tomotaka
Takahashi told Reuters."

Discuss this story at:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/2114214/Robot-To-Slowly-Run-Ironman-Triathlon-Course?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://www.itworld.com/
1. http://www.itworld.com/personal-tech/203777/robot-triathlete-challenges-human-dominance-ironman-course

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Senate Lets Teachers, Students Be Facebook Friends
| from the so-very-kind-of-the-senate dept.
| posted by timothy on Thursday September 15, @18:01 (Cloud)
| with 37 comments
| https://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/2139258/Senate-Lets-Teachers-Students-Be-Facebook-Friends?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An anonymous reader writes "The Missouri State Teachers Association
(MSTA) has [0]managed to secure another win in its battle against a new
law regarding social networking with students. A repeal of the recently
passed law [1]has unanimously passed the Missouri state Senate."

Discuss this story at:
https://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/09/15/2139258/Senate-Lets-Teachers-Students-Be-Facebook-Friends?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting

Links:
0. http://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/08/02/1458218/Missouri-Law-Says-Students-Teachers-Cant-Be-Facebook-Friends
1. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/missouri-senate-lets-teachers-be-facebook-friends-with-students/3687


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