Category: Science / Technology

States look closer at cybersecurity

Several states around the country on Saturday asked cybersecurity experts to re-examine state and utility networks after a Vermont utility’s laptop was found to contain malware that U.S. officials say is linked to Russian hackers. The Burlington Electric Department, one of Vermont’s two largest electric utilities, confirmed Friday that it had found on one of its laptops the malware code used in Grizzly Steppe, the name the U.S. government has given to malicious cyberactivity by Russian civilian and military intelligence services.

Technological breakthroughs for 2017

The year of 2016 witnessed huge technological developments across the world with new opportunities in the horizon. From technological perspective, it can be said “the world will never be the same again” after these developments hit the market.

China looks to build up underwater defences

China’s seizure of an American underwater drone in the South China Sea this month was a reflection of Beijing’s concerns about the growing use of such vehicles in the contested waters and would spur efforts to build up its own military capabilities beneath the waves, military experts say. Beijing played down the seizure of the unmanned underwater vehicle, which the United States said was operating lawfully in international waters about 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay in the Philippines when it was taken by a Chinese navy ship on December 15, and returned the drone five days later to a US navy ship close to where it had been seized.

Erasing the News: Should some stories be forgotten?

In September 2016, a newly formed committee of four editors at the Tampa Bay Times hosted the first of what will be quarterly meetings to develop policies for requests to remove or alter stories in online archives. This is yet another disruptive twist for journalism in the digital age: the possibility of erasing the historical record.

NASA announces New Year’s Fireworks from a Shattered Comet coming January 3rd

According to the International Meteor Organization and other forecasters, Earth will pass through a stream of debris from the comet on January 3rd, 2017, producing a shower of meteors known as the Quadrantids. The Quadrantid meteor shower is one of the most intense annual meteor showers, typically producing meteors at a rate of more than 100 per hour from a point in the sky near the North Star, also known as the shower’s radiant.

N. Korea’s leader hints of long-range missile test launch

South Koreans watch a TV news program showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s New Year’s speech, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017. North Korea’s development of banned long-range missiles is in “final stages,” the country’s leader Kim was quoted as saying in his New Year’s message.

More information

Overview: This 60 minute Get Organized with Outlook session will encourage and enlightened Outlook users on how to use Microsoft Outlook to more confidently and efficiently organize their information and commitments. Participants will learn smarter tips, tricks and systems to better manage their tasks, follow-ups, contacts, notes and calendar items.

Can Learning Smalltalk Make You A Better Programmer?

Slashdot reader horrido shares an article that “has done more for Smalltalk advocacy than any other article in memory.” It was the second-most popular article of the year on the Hewlett Packard Enterprise site TechBeacon , with Richard Eng , the founder of the nonprofit Smalltalk Renaissance, arguing that the 44-year-old language is much more than a tool for teachers — and not just because Amber Smalltalk transpiles to JavaScript for front-end web programming.

Ukraine hit by 6,500 hack attacks, sees Russian ‘cyberwar’

Hackers have targeted Ukrainian state institutions about 6,500 times in the past two months, including incidents that showed Russian security services were waging a cyberwar against the country, President Petro Poroshenko said on Thursday. In December, Ukraine suffered attacks on its finance and defence ministries and the State Treasury that allocates cash to government institutions.

New subway line, awaited since the 1920s, is set to roll

In this April 12, 2007 file photo, a Metropolitan Transit Authority employee climbs the stairs to the street from the partly finished track of the 2nd Avenue subway prior to the ground breaking ceremony in New York. Construction first started 45 years ago, but New Yorkers’ long wait to take a subway under Manhattan’s far Upper East Side ends at noon Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017, when a stretch of the new Second Avenue line is set to open to the public.

US states, leery of Russia malware, re-examine cybersecurity

Several states around the country on Saturday asked cybersecurity experts to re-examine state and utility networks after a Vermont utility’s laptop was found to contain malware U.S. officials say is linked to Russian hackers. The Burlington Electric Department, one of Vermont’s two largest electric utilities, confirmed Friday it had found on one of its laptops the malware code used in Grizzly Steppe, the name the U.S. government has given to malicious cyber activity by Russian civilian and military intelligence services.

Moon Base Alpha – Strategies for Low Cost Lunar Settlement Workshop at DFJ [Flickr]

Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart presenting at our weekend retreat to explore the possibility of a permanent lunar base at a price 10-100x lower than commonly believed. By gathering a wide array of domain experts – from NASA, commercial space companies, tech execs and Apollo astronauts – we were able to integrate the rapid advances in various fields and the isolated pockets of expertise.

anthemav added to PyPI

This is a Python package to interface with Anthem AVM and MRX receivers and processors. It uses the asyncio library to maintain an object-based connection to the network port of the receiver with supporting methods and properties to poll and adjust the receiver settings.

Combining Artificial Intelligence and Robotics: Is it a threat?

Over the weekend, either BBC Knowledge, the History Channel, or Discovery, aired a segment on “Combining Artificial Intelligence and Robots” and posed the question as to whether or not it was a threat to mankind. Part of this discussion included the moral concepts associated with enabling “smart robots” to conduct autonomous killing and what-not.

Huge rise in e-shopping signals Digital India takeoff

This is going to be music to ears for the Modi government, who, in the last 50 days, stressed that with demonetization going digital is the future for India. A study conducted by industry lobby group Assocham and business consulting firm RNCOS estimates that average wallet spends in retail transactions are likely to move from Rs 500-700 in 2016 prior to demonetization to Rs 2,000-10,000 in the near future.

Climate change: Hottest year triggers call for action

Two days before the presidential inauguration, scientists are expected to announce that 2016 was the hottest year on earth since record-keeping began in 1880 ​- news that will test national, state and economic leadership on climate change. Even as Washington D.C. and California bundle up against winter chill, records ​will ​show that extreme heat blanketed large areas of every continent this year, pushing up average temperatures for the third year in a row.

At least 35 killed in New Year’s attack on Istanbul nightclub

An assailant believed to have been dressed in a Santa Claus costume opened fire at a nightclub in Istanbul during New Year’s celebrations, killing at least 35 people and wounding some 40 others, according to the governor of Istanbul and Turkish media reports. Private NTV television said that more than one assailant may have been involved in the attack, which targeted the popular Reina nightclub in Istanbul’s Ortakoy district.

At Least 35 Dead in Istanbul Nightclub Attack, Governor Says

The Omaha World-Herald reports the cargo… — Malware associated with Russian hackers was found on a computer belonging to a utility company in Vermont, according to the company.After being alerted la… — At least 35 people have been killed and about 40 others injured in a New Year’s Eve attack on Reina, a nightclub in Istanbul, according to Istanbul’s governor. H… Aside from the cattle market and a continued battle with property taxes, Nebraska Cattlemen looks back at 2016 seeing some major accomplishments.

NBCUniversal and Charter extend talks averting pay-TV blackout

NBCUniversal and Charter extend talks averting pay-TV blackout NBCUniversal and Charter Communications continue talks avoiding a New Year’s Day blackout. Check out this story on USATODAY.com: http://usat.ly/2hEX2kN A detailed view of the NBC Sports logo on the NBCSN set during the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

Russian Hacking Malware Foundon Vermont Utility Computer

Malware associated with Russian hackers was found on a computer belonging to a utility company in Vermont, according to the company.After being alerted last night by the Department of Homeland Security about malware code used in Grizzly Steppe, RussiaA s hacking campaign against U.S. political institutions, Burlington Electric Department performed a scan, the utility said in a statement.” We acted quickly to scan all computers in our system for the malware signature.

osrframework 0.15.0rc0

OSRFramework is a GPLv3+ set of libraries developed by i3visio to perform Open Source Intelligence tasks. They include references to a bunch of different applications related to username checking, information leaks research, deep web search, regular expressions extraction and many others.

Consciousness Hacking: 2017

The good news is that 2017 is likely to become the year “consciousness hacking” goes viral. If you haven’t heard the term, don’t sweat – it’s a new name for something that’s as old as the Vedas .

First Robotic Surgery Training Centre in Asia Where More than 600 Surgeons trained in 6 Year

GURGAON, NCR DELHI, INDIA, December 31, 2016 / EINPresswire.com / — World Laparoscopy Hospital , Gurgaon is one of the most popular laparoscopic and robotic surgery training institute of the World. World Laparoscopy Hospital is the only institute in Asia which gives structured da Vinci robotic surgery training in structured manner and after this Hands On training surgeons, urologists and gynaecologists become eligible for Fellowship of International College of Robotic Surgeons.

Museum getting a massive geodesic dome with 61 glass eyes

This computer illustration provided by the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art on Dec. 28, 2016, shows a rendering of how inventor Buckminster Fuller’s Fly’s Eye Dome will look when installed on museum grounds in Bentonville, Ark. The museum recently told its patrons it intends to construct the futuristic dome in the summer of 2017.

Hedge Funds Bet Oil Rally to Extend Into 2017 as Output Cuts Hit

Money managers’ wagers on rising West Texas Intermediate crude prices are triple what they were at the end of 2015, and are the highest since the start of the crude market crash 2 1/2 years ago. Crude futures settled at the highest in almost 18 months on Dec. 28, with investors now eyeing the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers to see who complies with agreed output cuts.

Russian malware found at Vermont electric utility

President Obama has retaliated with new sanctions against the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin for what intelligence officials have concluded was meddling in the U.S. election. President Obama has retaliated with new sanctions against the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin for what intelligence officials have concluded was meddling in the U.S. election.

the Navy’s New Torpedoes: They have longer range and are…

Modifications to the weapon improves the acoustic receiver, replaces the guidance-and-control hardware with updated technology, increases memory, and improves processor throughput to handle the expanded software demands required to improve torpedo performance against evolving threats, according to Navy information on the weapon.