Topic: COMPUTER - on June 15, 2012 at 10:40:00 AM CEST
Hawking is First User of SGI ‘Big Brain’ Supercomputer
Calling your product the “Big Brain Computer” is a heady claim. It helps if you have Dr. Stephen Hawking say that the product can help unlock the secrets of the universe.
That’s the scenario for UV2 “Big Brain” computer from SGI, which is being unveiled in time for next week’s International Supercomputing Conference. The company is billing the UV2 as the world’s largest shared memory system, with the ability to scale up to 4,096 cores and 64 terabytes of memory. At a peak I/O rate of four terabytes per second, SGI says the UV 2 could ingest the entire 10 terabyte contents of the U.S. Library of Congress in less than three seconds.
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Topic: WEB - on June 15, 2012 at 10:39:00 AM CEST
.WTF? — 20 New Top-Level Domain Names That Should Exist, But Never Will
On Tuesday, the list of new proposed top-level domains, and the companies seeking to control them, was published by ICANN.
The new contenders to the throne of .com’s dominance include Amazon with .book, Google with .youtube, and three companies seeking .sucks. There are also applications for .lol, .bar, and .beer.
While the list is interesting to read, it’s lacking in entertainment value — perhaps because the $185,000 fee to apply for consideration, which you pay even if your application is rejected, is prohibitive of amusement.
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Topic: NEWS - on June 14, 2012 at 11:07:00 AM CEST
Die Grenzen des Crowdfunding-Hypes
Die Projektfinanzierungs-Plattform Kickstarter macht mit immer neuen Rekorden auf sich aufmerksam. Aber es sind nicht nur die teils atemberaubenden Summen in immer kürzerer Zeit, die den Hype um das Thema Crowdfunding befeuern. Zugleich zeichnen sich dessen Grenzen bereits ab.
100.000 US-Dollar wollten die Macher der Smartwatch “Pebble” einsammeln, damit aus Ideen und Prototypen ein kaufbares Produkt wird. Am Ende der Projektphase auf der Plattform Kickstarter hatten sie über 10 Millionen US-Dollar zusammen. Solche und andere Erfolgsgeschichten sind es, die das Thema Crowdfunding derzeit so interessant machen.
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Topic: War and Peace News - on June 14, 2012 at 11:06:00 AM CEST
NATO mit neuer Cyberwar-Doktrin
Während der militärische Supervirus "Flame" analysiert wird, drohen USA und NATO nun ganz offen mit Cyberangriffen. Sogar die deutsche Bundeswehr entwickelt offiziell Angriffskapazitäten.
Kaum ein Tag vergeht, ohne dass von den daran beteiligten Anti-Virusforschern eine neue, meist überraschende Funktion des Supervirus "Flame" bekannt wird. Nach Stuxnet und Duqu ist "Flame" die dritte große Schadsoftware militärischen Ursprungs mit ebensolchen Zielen, die in freier Wildbahn aufgetaucht ist.
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Topic: POLICE REPORT - on June 14, 2012 at 11:05:00 AM CEST
Strafe für das Tragen von Guy-Fawkes-Masken
Weil er bei einer Demonstration gegen Scientology eine Guy-Fawkes-Maske getragen hat, soll ein Teilnehmer nun mit einer Geldstrafe belangt werden.
Wie AnonAustria über ihren Twitter-Account berichtet, wurde dem betroffenen Teilnehmer der Demonstration eine Geldstrafe von 50 Euro auferlegt, ersatzweise 25 Stunden Freiheitsstrafe, weil er bei einer Kundgebung Anfang Juni in Wien mit seiner Guy-Fawkes-Maske gegen das Vermummungsverbot verstoßen habe
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Topic: SECURITY - on June 14, 2012 at 11:03:00 AM CEST
The EU Telco Plan To Have The UN 'Tax & Track' Internet Usage Goes Against Fundamental Internet Principles
We've been talking for a few months about the nefarious plan by the UN's ITU (International Telecommunications Union) to try to begin regulating the internet, and just how dangerous that would be. This is especially true as totalitarian countries have pretty clear plans to use this process to come up with ways to lock down the internet -- and potentially balkanize it. In the last few weeks the issue has been getting a lot more attention, especially in the US, where there's widespread agreement that this is not something for the UN or ITU to be involved in.
Of course, a big part of the problem is just how secretive the entire process is. Not only does it lack transparency, it entirely lacks accountability. It's a system that is ripe for abuse -- and a combination of either gullible or crafty officials seem to have no problem helping enable that kind of abuse.
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Topic: DRUGS - on June 13, 2012 at 11:12:00 AM CEST
Mexican drug cartel 'laundered money through US horse breeding'
Oklahoma ranch and New Mexico racing track raided as federal agents claim Zetas gang bought horses with drug money
US federal agents have raided a sprawling ranch in Oklahoma and a prominent horse track in New Mexico, alleging the brother of a high-ranking official in a Mexican drug cartel used a horse-breeding operation to launder money.
An indictment unsealed on Tuesday accused Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, a key figure in the Zetas drug operation, of setting up a horse operation that his younger brother operated from a ranch near Lexington, Oklahoma. Millions of dollars are said to have gone through the operation, which bought, trained, bred and raced quarter horses – a popular US breed – throughout the south-west United States, including the Ruidoso Downs track in New Mexico.
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Topic: EU - on June 13, 2012 at 11:10:00 AM CEST
Double Standards: EU Commissioner De Gucht Is 'Innocent Until Proven Guilty'; EU Citizens Are 'Guilty Until Proven Innocent'
The Belgian EU Commissioner Karel De Gucht is the driving force behind ACTA, and is apparently really keen to combat crimes like counterfeiting and piracy. It also seems he has a slight problem with the tax authorities:
Belgium’s Tax Inspection Service has accused European Commissioner Karel De Gucht of tax fraud. The service says that Mr De Gucht and his wife failed to declare the profit that they made on the sale of shares of the Vista group on which tax was due.
"Politician accused of tax fraud" is hardly news; but what is more interesting is the European Commission's reaction. Here's what it said according to the Dutch language version of the story on the site quoted above:
The Commission adds to this that De Gucht "not guilty until proven to the contrary."</p>
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Topic: EU - on June 13, 2012 at 11:08:00 AM CEST
Weltbank-Bericht - Europa wird ein unkalkulierbares Risiko
Die Börsen spielen verrückt, die Zinsen für Staatsanleihen steigen: Nach Ansicht von Weltbank-Experten wird Europa für die Weltwirtschaft ein unkalkulierbares Risiko. Eine weitere globale Krise sei denkbar, sagt ein Ökonom der Organisation.
Europa ist für die Weltwirtschaft ein unkalkulierbares Risiko, so die Weltbank. Das Auf und Ab in der europäischen Schuldenkrise werde nach Ansicht von Experten der Organisation zu einer Belastung für die globale Wirtschaft. Kursverluste an den Börsen und steigende Zinsen für Staatsanleihen machten dies deutlich, heißt es in der neuen Weltbank-Konjunkturprognose. Sollte sich die Situation in Europa deutlich verschlechtern, würden weder reiche noch aufstrebende Länder verschont bleiben.
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Topic: POLITIK - on June 13, 2012 at 10:11:00 AM CEST
China reports on human rights in the United States
Editor's note: The State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China published a report titled "The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2011" on Friday. Following is the full text:
The State Department of the United States released its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011 on May 24, 2012. As in previous years, the reports are full of over-critical remarks on the human rights situation in nearly 200 countries and regions as well as distortions and accusations concerning the human rights cause in China. However, the United States turned a blind eye to its own woeful human rights situation and kept silent about it. The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2011 is hereby prepared to reveal the true human rights situation of the United States to people across the world and urge the United States to face up to its own doings.
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Topic: EU - on June 13, 2012 at 9:57:00 AM CEST
Eurozone crisis live: Focus shifts to Italy ahead of bond auctions
Pressure is building on eurozone's third-largest economy
• German finance minister says "Italy is not in danger" • Today's agenda
8.37am: Echoing Schäuble's comments that Italy is not in danger, the chief economist of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has also warned against a panic.
Pier Carlo Padoan said in an interview with Italian daily Il Messaggero:
There are no changes to the country's economic fundamentals that can justify an attack on Italy. Among OECD countries, Italy is one of the closest to a stabilisation of its debt. If there wasn't the contagion factor, steps taken so far towards recovery would be the right ones.
8.31am: Italy is not in danger, Germany's finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble has declared in an interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa. He says that Italy won't be the next "contaminated" country. "For Italy, no danger if it follows the path of Mountains," the headline reads. The question is, is he saying that because Germany doesn't want to bail out Italy as well?
Calling on Italian readers to provide a translation of the rest...
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Topic: EU - on June 13, 2012 at 9:55:00 AM CEST
Austrian minister says Italy too may need bailout
Raising the stakes in Europe's debt crisis, Austria's finance minister said Italy may need a financial rescue because of its high borrowing costs, drawing a sharp denial on Tuesday from the Italian prime minister.
Maria Fekter's assessment of the euro zone's third largest economy stoked investors' fears that Europe is far from ending 2-1/2 years of turmoil - a feeling reinforced by Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager, who said the euro zone was "still far from stable".
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