holy_calamity writes "Engineers at Polytechnic University Brooklyn have discovered that digital snaps shorn of any metadata still reveal the make and model of camera used to take them. It is possible to work backwards from the relationships of neighboring pixel values in a shot to identify the model-specific demosaicing algorithm that combines red, green, and blue pixels on the sensor into color image pixels. Forensics teams are already licking their chops."pa href="http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/18/0115242amp;from=rss"img src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/11/18/0115242"/a/ppa href="http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/18/0115242amp;from=rss"Read more of this story/a at Slashdot./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/CF5xV0JGWV-PoFaqilM_mD7TNHM/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/CF5xV0JGWV-PoFaqilM_mD7TNHM/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~4/Jg5wffOUJbI" height="1" width="1"/

Ponca City, We love you writes "Astronauts flying aboard space shuttle Endeavour are delivering a device to the International Space Station that may leave you wondering if NASA is taking recycling too far. Among the ship's cargo is a water regeneration system that distills, filters, ionizes, and oxidizes wastewater mdash; including urine mdash; into fresh water for drinking or, as one astronaut puts it, 'will make yesterday's coffee into today's coffee.' The US space agency spent $250M for the water recycling equipment but with the space shuttles due to retire in two years, NASA needed to make sure the station crew would have a good supply of fresh water. The Environmental Control and Life Support Systems uses a purification process called vapor compression distillation: urine is boiled until the water in it turns to steam. In space, there's an additional challenge: steam doesn't rise, so the entire distillation system is spun to create artificial gravity to separate the steam from the brine. The water has been thoroughly tested on Earth, including blind taste tests that pitted recycled urine with similarly treated tap water. 'Some people may think it's downright disgusting, but if it's done correctly, you process water that's purer than what you drink here on Earth,' said Endeavour astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper."pa href="http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/18/0110209amp;from=rss"img src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/11/18/0110209"/a/ppa href="http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/18/0110209amp;from=rss"Read more of this story/a at Slashdot./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/suwnLgaenOVqb1mkrWZQDQy-Vnc/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/suwnLgaenOVqb1mkrWZQDQy-Vnc/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~4/et9m8s-slwA" height="1" width="1"/

geaux and other readers let us know that the new Top 500 Supercomputer list is out. The top two both break the Petaflops barrier: LANL's IBM "RoadRunner" and ORNL's Cray XT5 "Jaguar." (Contrary to our discussion a few days back, IBM's last-minute upgrade of RoadRunner salvaged the top spot for Big Blue. Kind of like bidding on eBay.) The top six all run in excess of 400 Teraflops. HP has more systems in the top 500 than IBM, reversing the order of the previous list. Both Intel and AMD issued press releases crowing over their wins, and both are correct mdash; AMD highlights its presence in 7 of the top 10, while Intel boasts that 379 of the top 500 use their chips.pa href="http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/2337243amp;from=rss"img src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/11/17/2337243"/a/ppa href="http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/2337243amp;from=rss"Read more of this story/a at Slashdot./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/HwFX8AgWcNlLpp3yH3YhroLd5r4/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/HwFX8AgWcNlLpp3yH3YhroLd5r4/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~4/KIm32M_DOeA" height="1" width="1"/

schwit1 sends along an Ars Technica report covering the release of documents obtained under the FOIA suggesting that the Justice Department may have been evading privacy laws in their use of "triggerfish" technology. Triggerfish are cell-tower spoofing devices that induce cell phones to give up their location and other identifying information, without recourse to any cell carrier. "Courts in recent years have been raising the evidentiary bar law enforcement agents must meet in order to obtain historical cell phone records that reveal information about a target's location. But documents obtained by civil liberties groups under a Freedom of Information Act request suggest that 'triggerfish' technology can be used to pinpoint cell phones without involving cell phone providers at all. The Justice Department's electronic surveillance manual explicitly suggests that triggerfish may be used to avoid restrictions in statutes like CALEA that bar the use of pen register or trap-and-trace devices..." The article does mention that the Patriot Act contains language that should require a court order to deploy triggerfish, whereas prior to 2001 "the statutory language governing pen register or trap-and-trace orders did not appear to cover location tracking technology."pa href="http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/2218209amp;from=rss"img src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/11/17/2218209"/a/ppa href="http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/2218209amp;from=rss"Read more of this story/a at Slashdot./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/_5eAmUBwyur7sk-OXUAIkLf69kQ/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/_5eAmUBwyur7sk-OXUAIkLf69kQ/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~4/xiakBSvFspg" height="1" width="1"/

CWmike writes "Few tears were shed when alleged spam and malware purveyor McColo was suddenly taken offline last Tuesday by its upstream service providers. But behind the scenes of the McColo case and another recent takedown of Intercage, a ferocious struggle is taking place between the purveyors of Web-based malware and loosely aligned but highly committed groups of security researchers who are out to neutralize them. Backers claim that the effort to shut down miscreant ISPs is needed because of the inability of law enforcement agencies to deal with a problem that is global in nature. But some question whether there is a hint of vigilantism behind the takedowns mdash; even as they acknowledge that there may not be any other viable options for dealing with the problem at this point."pa href="http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/2053220amp;from=rss"img src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/11/17/2053220"/a/ppa href="http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/2053220amp;from=rss"Read more of this story/a at Slashdot./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/1GIBaOXO3-Um8ZvErpZkwdgsi7c/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/1GIBaOXO3-Um8ZvErpZkwdgsi7c/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~4/VI-dfH_j6EM" height="1" width="1"/

roelbj writes "The full trailer to the next Star Trek movie is now available at the movie's official web site. The upcoming J.J. Abrams-helmed installment represents a changing of the guard, a reboot of the franchise, and a return to the original-series crew. It should prove interesting to see how Abrams' writing staff (Cloverfield, Lost, Alias) tackles the Star Trek universe and all the continuity and baggage that comes with it."pa href="http://entertainment.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/2012210amp;from=rss"img src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/11/17/2012210"/a/ppa href="http://entertainment.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/2012210amp;from=rss"Read more of this story/a at Slashdot./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/4proj_orn5jQomV5dpunXuMMCxY/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/4proj_orn5jQomV5dpunXuMMCxY/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~4/ypJeFvXrisY" height="1" width="1"/

snydeq writes "Programmers are finding themselves increasingly drawn to the Mac as a development platform, in large part due to Apple's decision to move to Intel chips and to embrace virtualization of other OSes, which has turned Mac OS X into a flexible tool for development, InfoWorld reports. The explosion of interest in smartphone development is helping the trend, with iPhone development lock-in to the Mac environment the chief motivating factor for Apple as a platform of choice for mobile development. Yet for many, the Mac remains sluggish and poorly tuned for development, with developers citing its virtual memory system's poor performance in paging data in and out of memory and likening use of the default-network file system, AFS, to engaging oneself with 'some kind of passive-aggressive torture.' What remains unclear is whether Apple will lend an ear to this new wave of Mac-based development or continue to develop products that lock out uses programmers expect."pa href="http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/1920206amp;from=rss"img src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/11/17/1920206"/a/ppa href="http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/1920206amp;from=rss"Read more of this story/a at Slashdot./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/X6Ohh5PlzVNFIFN1OWzvsL5FH7Y/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/X6Ohh5PlzVNFIFN1OWzvsL5FH7Y/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~4/5f9UqUs5X48" height="1" width="1"/

geekboy_x writes "The SEC today charged Mark Cuban with insider trading violations, alleging that he divested himself of stock in mamma.com before the stock was diluted via a public offering." Something tells me that the billionaire blogger won't be talking about this one publicly any time soon.pa href="http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/1919208amp;from=rss"img src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/11/17/1919208"/a/ppa href="http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/1919208amp;from=rss"Read more of this story/a at Slashdot./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/KV38jYyHt6z3CKAYejFxOaIANGM/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/KV38jYyHt6z3CKAYejFxOaIANGM/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~4/Zcq1pyCRRZA" height="1" width="1"/

stoolpigeon writes "Orson Scott Card's work Ender's Game began as a novelette, which he says he wrote as a means of leading up to the full story he had developed, Speaker for the Dead. Ender's Game was published as a full novel in 1985, and won the Hugo and Nebula awards (as did Speaker for the Dead in '86 and '87). I think it is safe to say that Ender's Game is ensconced in its position as a science fiction classic. Now, 23 years later, Card has finished the first direct sequel to Ender's Game in his new novel Ender in Exile." Keep reading for the rest of JR's review.pa href="http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/1419240amp;from=rss"img src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/11/17/1419240"/a/ppa href="http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/1419240amp;from=rss"Read more of this story/a at Slashdot./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/dIUvPWHe1CVESuzBp8VVvQpy2os/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/dIUvPWHe1CVESuzBp8VVvQpy2os/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~4/bJoSsKsURIA" height="1" width="1"/

An anonymous reader writes "Do you contribute to open source projects under your real name or a nickname? The openness of open source can be encouraging, but software patents you have never heard of can become a nightmare if a patent troll sues for implementing 'their' scroll bar. A real name also means you end up in the big index we call search engines. An assumed name could be an additional layer of protection, but what are its pros and cons and is it worth the hassle when asked to participate in a meatspace meeting?"pa href="http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/1746239amp;from=rss"img src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/11/17/1746239"/a/ppa href="http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/1746239amp;from=rss"Read more of this story/a at Slashdot./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/CXI5ySoH5p4Zk0PbtDi02QLLYqk/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/CXI5ySoH5p4Zk0PbtDi02QLLYqk/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~4/E8wTzNTqjQ8" height="1" width="1"/

404 Clue Not Found writes "The One Laptop Per Child project's XO-1 laptop is once again available to the general public via its Give One Get One promotion, where $400 will buy two laptops, one for the purchaser and one for 'a child in the emerging world.' Having learned from their delivery and fulfillment headaches the first time around, this time they partnered with Amazon.com to handle shipping. But a year after its initial release, the market has become saturated with Eee-wannabe netbooks from every major manufacturer. Can the XO-1's charitable appeal, unique chassis and dual-mode screen compete with the superior performance and standard operating systems of its newer peers?"pa href="http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/1744244amp;from=rss"img src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/11/17/1744244"/a/ppa href="http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/1744244amp;from=rss"Read more of this story/a at Slashdot./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/EHzo9HrIMXLBB4ZeIXlew6URSkE/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/EHzo9HrIMXLBB4ZeIXlew6URSkE/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~4/3NrNbYDGmeo" height="1" width="1"/

nk497 writes "A new wireless camera called the I-Ball is being developed to be shot into locations using a grenade launcher so troops can see what lies ahead. The I-Ball sends real-time, 360-degree video back to soldiers while it's flying through the air and when it lands."pa href="http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/1629223amp;from=rss"img src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/11/17/1629223"/a/ppa href="http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/1629223amp;from=rss"Read more of this story/a at Slashdot./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/xk39M1QdDp1satt6I6HpVc16LQQ/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/xk39M1QdDp1satt6I6HpVc16LQQ/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~4/cxauUTBT1Wk" height="1" width="1"/

Rinisari writes "Finally, the day has come. Adobe has released a pre-release version of the 64-bit Flash player. It is available at the Adobe Labs Flash Player 10 download site immediately. Where are the Windows and Mac versions? 'Release of this alpha version of 64-bit Flash Player on Linux is the first step in delivering upon Adobe's commitment to make Flash Player native 64-bit across platforms. We chose Linux as our initial platform in response to numerous requests in our public Flash Player bug and issue management system and the fact that Linux distributions do not ship with a 32-bit browser or a comprehensive 32-bit emulation layer by default. Until this pre-release, use of 32-bit Flash Player on Linux has required the use of a plugin wrapper, which prevents full compatibility with 64-bit browsers. With this pre-release, Flash Player 10 is now a full native participant on 64-bit Linux distributions.' Windows and Mac OS X 64-bit versions will follow, and the final versions all will be released simultaneously. Tamarin, the JIT compiler in Flash, is now capable of producing 64-bit code and nspluginwrapper is no longer required. There are, however, no plans to release a debugger version of the 64-bit plugin."pa href="http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/168212amp;from=rss"img src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/11/17/168212"/a/ppa href="http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/168212amp;from=rss"Read more of this story/a at Slashdot./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/r2sudh7oUnFuVN1pXoYzNRD4KLk/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/r2sudh7oUnFuVN1pXoYzNRD4KLk/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~4/FHeZifkK9B8" height="1" width="1"/

Smartcowboy writes "Chances are that you have seen a lightsaber at one time or another, whether on the evening news or down at the local cantina. Therefore you know that a lightsaber is an amazing and versatile device that is able to cut through nearly anything in a matter of milliseconds. Have you ever wondered how these remarkable weapons work? Where does the energy come from, and how are they able to contain that energy in a rod-like column of glowing power? In this article, you will have a chance to look inside a lightsaber and discover the source of its incredible characteristics." I was sure the blade was made from the focused hate and disappointment of the last three movies.pa href="http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/1442223amp;from=rss"img src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/11/17/1442223"/a/ppa href="http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/1442223amp;from=rss"Read more of this story/a at Slashdot./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/Iz0Eest8RZnj-Mld8jtu_UsZ8sU/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/Iz0Eest8RZnj-Mld8jtu_UsZ8sU/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~4/bxPAqfzq15g" height="1" width="1"/

Tombstone-f sent in a cool update on a project that I continue to keep an eye on. MythTV has become a dominant force in the do it yourself media mega box space, so any improvements to the UI matter significantly. "One of the biggest new features of the next version of MythTV (version .22) will be its new user interface. This new interface will offer many new features to MythTV, including animation, better interactivity, and faster and easier development for themers and developers alike." I think it still has a ways to go to compete with some of the more mainstream PVR boxes in terms of minimalism and good use of whitespace, but hopefully the improvements will get more people into the door.pa href="http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/1421208amp;from=rss"img src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/11/17/1421208"/a/ppa href="http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/17/1421208amp;from=rss"Read more of this story/a at Slashdot./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/7QnEfo1ctuaJO51nwewzO1vUic8/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/7QnEfo1ctuaJO51nwewzO1vUic8/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~4/Ie0PPGw6n9A" height="1" width="1"/