Magistrate judge denies boilerplate warrant request for forced fingerprint unlocking of iPhones

Federal agents who want to search a premises for electronic devices haven’t justified a request to force people there to provide fingerprints or thumbprints to unlock iPhones and iPads, a federal magistrate judge in Chicago has ruled. U.S. Magistrate Judge M. David Weisman ruled on Feb. 16 when considering the government’s search warrant application in a child pornography case.

NASA is in a strange and expensive pickle with the Russians

NASA, in dealing with Russia’s monopoly on human spaceflight , is hoping Boeing can help – that is, by buying tickets the company owns for rides aboard Russian rockets. When NASA retired its last space shuttle in July 2011, it expected commercial carriers like SpaceX and Boeing to launch its astronauts into space by 2015.