Superstorm Sandy Shook the Earth

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Storm-induced seismic vibes aren’t a newly recognized phenomenon. In 2005, ground motions triggered by Hurricane Katrina were picked up by seismometers in California. And even storms that remain far from land can trigger ground motions, Sufri and Koper note.

Because the strongest ground motions are typically created at or near a storm, researchers can track its progress using seismic data alone. That offers opportunities for scientists to delve through old data sets—especially those from the presatellite era—to look for signs of storms that might have been missed by earthbound observers, or to better estimate their paths and intensities, Sufri says.

via Superstorm Sandy Shook the Earth – ScienceNOW.

It amazes me how sensitive those seisometers must be.

World’s largest OTEC power plant planned for China

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OTEC uses the natural difference in temperatures between the cool deep water and warm surface water to produce electricity. There are different cycle types of OTEC systems, but the prototype plant is likely to be a closed-cycle system. This sees warm surface seawater pumped through a heat exchanger to vaporize a fluid with a low boiling point, such as ammonia. This expanding vapor is used to drive a turbine to generate electricity with cold seawater then used to condense the vapor so it can be recycled through the system.

via World’s largest OTEC power plant planned for China.

Creating a Centralized Syslog Server

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For this article, I’ll be focusing on syslog-ng as this is more up to date, and if the reader wishes, can be ‘supported’ via the company that owns the syslog-ng software by going with their enterprise edition version at a later date.

via Creating a Centralized Syslog Server | Linux Journal.

This is a good tutorial to get going with syslog-ng.  Monitoring events being logged into syslog can provide ample warning when a server is about to die.

Facebook vs. Salesforce: An Identity Smackdown?

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If an alternative did take root, his money would be on Salesforce to prevail. “There’s credibility for Salesforce being an enterprise identity provider,” Shaw says. “They have a legitimate claim for being an identity provider because so many people use salesforce.com. It’s hard not to run into an enterprise that’s not using Salesforce to some degree. Even small companies.

via Facebook vs. Salesforce: An Identity Smackdown? — Dark Reading.

“Killer Joe” Sues VPN-Using BitTorrent Pirates

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The film in question grossed disappointing box office earnings, but these fresh lawsuits offer new revenue potential.

via “Killer Joe” Sues VPN-Using BitTorrent Pirates | TorrentFreak.

TorrentFreak asked both Leaseweb and SpotFlux what kind of information they will be able to share when the subpoena comes in, but we have yet to receive a response. In its privacy policy Spotflux explains that it will comply with court orders, but that the company keeps logs to a minimum.

This might be the first attempt to go after a VPN provider.  If they rotated their logs properly there shouldn’t be any information to give or hide.

As Bitcoin Soars in Value, Alternative Cryptocurrencies, Such as Litecoin and PPCoin, Also Climb

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Bitcoin transactions are verified by the work of software run by other people using the currency, a process that takes on average 10 minutes and can be much longer, an hour in the case of many exchange sites. Lee says that hinders operators of online stores from using the currency. “With Bitcoin, sometimes merchants are forced to accept unconfirmed transactions because confirmations are way too slow,” he says. “Faster confirmations lead to a more useful currency.” Litecoin transactions are confirmed on average every 2.5 minutes, which Litecoin’s developers say is more practical for businesses.

via As Bitcoin Soars in Value, Alternative Cryptocurrencies, Such as Litecoin and PPCoin, Also Climb | MIT Technology Review.

As player numbers crater, EA will shut SimCity Social, other Facebook games

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Similarly, The Sims Social rocketed to over 65 million monthly players just after its launch in 2011, only to drop to just over five million monthly players today, according to AppData. SimCity Social seems to have peaked at 10 million monthly players and has managed to hold on to just over one million of them less than a year after its launch.

via As player numbers crater, EA will shut SimCity Social, other Facebook games | Ars Technica.