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Submission + - Hal Finney, PGP and Bitcoin pioneer passes away

brokenin2 writes: Hal Finney, the number two programmer for PGP and the first person to receive a Bitcoin transaction has passed away. From the article on Coindesk: "Shortly after collaborating with Nakamoto on early bitcoin code in 2009, Finney announced he was suffering from ALS. Increasing paralysis, which eventually became near-total, forced him to retire from work in early 2011."

Submission + - Particle physics to aid nuclear cleanup (

mdsolar writes: Cosmic rays can help scientists do something no one else can: safely image the interior of the nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.... [M]uon tomography, is similar to taking an X-ray, only it uses naturally produced muons. These particles don’t damage the imaged materials and, because they already stream through everything on Earth, they can be used to image even the most sensitive objects. Better yet, a huge amount of shielding is needed to stop muons from passing through an object, making it nearly impossible to hide from muon tomography.

“Everything around you is constantly being radiographed by muons,” says Christopher Morris, who leads the Los Alamos muon tomography team. “All you have to do is set some detectors above and below it, and measure the angles well enough to make a picture.”

By determining how muons scatter as they interact with electrons and nuclei within the item, the team’s software creates a three-dimensional picture of what’s inside.... To prove the technology, the Los Alamos team shipped a demo detector system to a small, working nuclear reactor in a Toshiba facility in Kawasaki, Japan. There, they placed one detector on either side of the reactor core.

“When we analyzed our data we discovered that in addition to the fuel in the reactor core, they had put a few fuel bundles off to the side that we didn’t know about,” says Morris. “They were really impressed that not only could we image the core, but that we also found those bundles.”

Based on that successful test, Toshiba signed an agreement with Los Alamos and later with Decision Sciences to design and manufacture muon-detector components for use at Fukushima Daiichi.

Comment Re:I don't understand the injunction (Score 2) 30

Specifically, the term "colorably different" means:

"The phrase “colorable differ-ences” refers to alterations that do not essentially change the nature of the device, and are made only to evade the permanent injunction.17 Language enjoining adjudged infringers from producing products that are “only colorably different” from the infringing devices is typical in patent injunctions."

Nathan Ingham, Recording over Old Standards: TiVo’s “More Than Colorably Different” Standard for Patent Injunction Contempt Proceedings, 53 B.C.L. Rev. E. Supp. 47 (2012), http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.ed...

So, the injunction is very narrow. Basically for the phones specifically listed and minor variants that doesn't change the nature of the device and only made to evade a permanent injunction (i.e. a slightly modified model with a minor workaround).

Comment Re:I don't understand the injunction (Score 1) 30

Apple's specific argument was: "Samsung's claim that it has discontinued selling the particular models found to infringe or design around Apple's patents in no way diminishes Apple's need for injunctive relief... Because Samsung frequently brings new products to market, an injunction is important to providing Apple the relief it needs to combat any future infringement by Samsung through products not more than colorably different from those already found to infringe."

However, even here, the argument is pretty darn weak. Apple only requested a number of devices plus any variants of those devices that are practically the same as those devices.

Essentially, they're asking an injunction against, say, a Galaxy S or a Galaxy S2 and any minor variants on them. But nobody sells them anymore except for a few ebay sellers. Samsung is not going to start reselling Galaxy S or S2 phones.

Comment I don't understand the injunction (Score 3, Informative) 30

I don't understand the request for injunction against the Samsung phones in question. At this point, the Samsung phones are several years old and absolutely nobody short of a few ebay sellers are still selling them. What do they get out of asking for an injunction? They're spending millions of dollars in attorney fees and, for what, a meaningless "moral victory"?

Comment Re:Cut the Russians Off (Score 5, Informative) 848

Actually, the handover of USSR's stockpile of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine wasn't in exchange for defense, but rather in exchange for a promise from Russia that Russia will never use its military weapons to attack or intimidate the Ukraine. (See the Budapest Memorandum, )

Clearly, that agreement has been broken by Russia. Of course, I doubt any powers are going to try to exacerbate the situation by either providing the Ukraine with nuclear weapons or suggesting that Ukraine should acquire nuclear weapons, but based on my understanding of the Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine is well within its rights to do so now that Russia has breached the agreement.

Comment Cut the Russians Off (Score -1, Flamebait) 848

If the Russians wish to engage in this kind of conduct, then the rest of the world should hit them where it hurts the most - their treasury.

We should deny all Russian lenders (not just the 5 picked out for sanctions so far) from being able to access US and European bond markets to raise capital. We should indefinitely sanction any transfer of petrochemical technology by US and European companies to any Russian firm. And we should sanction any credit transactions between American/European credit companies and Russian banks (i.e. cut off Mastercard, Discover, Visa, AmEx, etc.).

If they wish to engage to aggression against other country's sovereignty, they should do it without the rest of the world helping fund them.

And for good measure, Ukraine should "sell" its ownership in the Ukrainian section of the gas pipeline to a Nato country and then shut off the flow of gas.

Submission + - Man Loses Half His Skull, Surgeons Repair it to Look Normal with 3D Printed Mesh (

ErnieKey writes: Surgeons in China have performed surgery this morning on a man who had suffered a severe head injury 10 months ago. After the accident, he was left with a huge portion of his skull and brain missing. Unable to go into public because of people calling him names such as "Half Headman", and after losing his ability to speak and write, something had to be done. Thanks to a donation by a company called Stryker, in the US, surgeons were able to take a scan of the mans head, and 3D print a titanium mesh that has been inserted between the his scalp and brain. Doctors expect the man to return to normal, in both appearance and brain function because of this new technology.

Comment Re: Her work (Score 5, Informative) 1262

I watched some of her videos last night. I don't see where she insulted a gender at all. At most, she takes game developers to task for using cheap, clichÃ©d tropes about women as decorative or damsel in distress because they want an easy (or lazy) shorthand for character development or to get a cheap emotional response from the gamer.

Comment Slashdot comments indicative of the problem (Score 5, Insightful) 1262

It seems to me that the first few comments made to Slashdot about this story is indicative of the problem at large. The first comments (made by anonymous cowards) immediately conjectured that Sarkeesian is to blame, that she concoted the death threats as a publicity stunt.

You must ask yourself honestly : Why is it, when faced with stories like this, is your first instinct to claim that the woman lied or made it up?

Submission + - Anita Sarkeesian, creator of Tropes vs. Women, driven from home by trolls (

Sonny Yatsen writes: Anita Sarkeesian, the creator of Tropes vs. Women — a video series exploring negative tropes and misogynistic depictions of women in video games, reports that she driven from her home after a series of extremely violent sexual threats made against her. Her videos have previously drawn criticism from many male gamers, often coupled with violent imagery or threats of violence.

Submission + - California Man Sues Sony because Killzone: Shadowfall isn't really 1080p (

Sonny Yatsen writes: A California man with nothing better to do has launched a class-action lawsuit against Sony because he claims he was harmed because Killzone: Shadowfall's multiplayer mode doesn't have native 1080p resolution as Sony originally claimed. He now demands "all economic, monetary, actual, consequential, statutory and compensatory damages" as well as punitive damages from Sony.

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