Researchers create algorithms that help lithium-ion batteries charge two times faster

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Researchers at the University of California San Diego have devised new algorithms that can cut lithium-ion battery charge times in half, help cells run more efficiently and potentially cut production costs by 25 percent. Rather than tracking battery behavior and health with the traditional technique of monitoring current and voltage, the team’s mathematical models estimate where lithium ions are within cells for more precise data.

via Researchers create algorithms that help lithium-ion batteries charge two times faster — Engadget.

VMware realizes it doesn’t rule the cloud, boosts support for Amazon

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VMware has long had an aversion to supporting virtualization tools other than its own, even as rivals like Microsoft and Citrix happily built management software that could control the deployment of virtual machines using both their own hypervisors and VMware’s. VMware always had a plausible excuse in that its own vSphere virtualization platform was so widely used that supporting anything else was unnecessary—although Hyper-V’s advances are making that argument less convincing.

via VMware realizes it doesn’t rule the cloud, boosts support for Amazon | Ars Technica.

Alcatel-Lucent Enhances VDSL2 Vectoring

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Vectoring, the market term for the ITU’s G.993.5 standard (also known as G.Vector), is a noise cancellation technology that reduces the interference between bundled copper lines and boosts the speed and reach of VDSL2 broadband connections. It is also known as DSM (Dynamic Spectrum Management) Level 3.

via Light Reading Europe – IP & Convergence – Alcatel-Lucent Enhances VDSL2 Vectoring – Telecom News Analysis.

If AlcaLu can deliver effective vectoring capabilities using installed CPE, then that’s only going to expand the market potential for its system, especially as more operators look for ways to extend the useful life of their copper plant before taking the plunge into fiber-to-the-home (FTTH).

Flaws allow 3G devices to be tracked

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Two attacks were conducted using off-the-shelf kit and a rooted — or modified — femtocell unit which broadcasted a 3G signal. The attacks were made by intercepting, altering and injecting 3G Layer-3 messages into communication between the base station and mobile phones in both directions.

via Flaws allow 3G devices to be tracked – Networks – SC Magazine Australia – Secure Business Intelligence.

The researchers wrote that the attacks could be used to track staff movements within a building.

“[The employer] would first use the femtocell to sniff a valid authentication request. This could happen in a different area than the monitored one. Then the employer would position the device near the entrance of the building. Movements inside the building could be tracked as well by placing additional devices to cover different areas of the building,” they wrote.

US congress rules Huawei a ‘security threat’

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The US congressional panel launched its investigation over concerns that Beijing could use the fast-growing firms for economic or military espionage, or cyber attacks.

via US congress rules Huawei a ‘security threat’.

From the Chicago Tribune via Reuters:

Employee-owned and unlisted Huawei is the world’s second-biggest maker of routers, switches and telecoms equipment by revenue after Sweden’s Ericsson. ZTE ranks fifth. In the global mobile phone sector, ZTE is fourth and Huawei sixth.

A blast from the past (1999):

Giant US software manufacturer Lotus has been lowering the profile of information about how they have installed an NSA-only trapdoor into e-mail and conference systems used by many European governments, including the German Ministry of Defence, the French Ministry of Education and Research and the Ministry of Education in Latvia.

Ruckus Wireless Goes for an IPO

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Ruckus sells its Wi-Fi access points, controllers and gateways to service providers as well as enterprise customers. The company says it has 45 carrier customers, among which are Bright House Networks , The Cloud , KDDI Corp. , Tikona Digital Networks Pvt. Ltd. , Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) and Towerstream Corp. (Nasdaq: TWER). (See Ruckus Makes Over KDDI With Wi-Fi Offload.)

via Light Reading Mobile – Broadband – Ruckus Wireless Goes for an IPO – Telecom News Analysis.

Based in Sunnyvale, Calif., Ruckus had 559 employees at the end of June 2012 and offices in China, India, Japan, Taiwan and the U.K.

cHTeMeLe is a board game about HTML

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Despite cHTeMeLe’s technical theme, its developers claim you don’t need any web programming experience to play. The game takes web design standards and boils them down into game rules that even children can learn. To help less technical players keep everything straight, the tag cards use syntax highlighting that different parts of code have unique colors — just like an Integrated Developer Environment. No one is going to completely pick up HTML5 purely by playing cHTeMeLe, but it does have some educational value for understanding basic tags and how they fit together.

via cHTeMeLe is a board game about HTML – Video Games Reviews, Cheats | Geek.com.

That smooth SpaceX launch? Turns out one of the engines came apart

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The Falcon 9, as its name implies, has nine engines, and is designed to go to orbit if one of them fails. On-board computers will detect engine failure, cut the fuel supply, and then distribute the unused propellant to the remaining engines, allowing them to burn longer. This seems to be the case where that was required, and the computers came through. The engines are also built with protection to limit the damage in cases where a neighboring engine explodes, which appears to be the case here.

via That smooth SpaceX launch? Turns out one of the engines came apart | Ars Technica.

Shopping or browsing on Main St? India’s Big Data firms know

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The business of storing, decoding and analyzing unstructured data – think video, Facebook updates, Tweets, Internet searches and public cameras – along with mountains of facts and figures can help companies increase profits, cut costs and improve service, and is now one of the world’s hottest industries.

It’s called Big Data, and although much of the work is done in the United States, India is getting an increasing slice of the action, re-energizing an IT sector whose growth has begun to falter.

via Shopping or browsing on Main St? India’s Big Data firms know – chicagotribune.com.

An Introduction to Computer Networks

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This is an introductory course on computer networking, specifically the Internet. It focuses on explaining how the Internet works, ranging from how bits are modulated on wires and in wireless to application-level protocols like BitTorrent and HTTP. It also explains the principles of how to design networks and network protocols. Students gain experience reading and understanding RFCs (Internet protocol specifications) as statements of what a system should do. The course grounds many of the concepts in current practice and recent developments, such as net neutrality and DNS security.

via Stanford Online | An Introduction to Computer Networks | Preview.

This is a free course for online but the first class starts tomorrow.

Prerequisites

Students need an introductory course in probability, a strong understanding of bits and bytes, and knowledge of how computers lay out data in memory.