Extreme X-rays may be signature of lame black hole
Last summer, we reported on an extremely bright object that may have been an intermediate mass black hole. The existence of black holes this size has been hotly debated, in part because we've never observed one. The object, 2XMM J011028.1-460421 or (more conveniently) HLX-1, is a source of ultraluminous X-rays near the spiral galaxy ESO 243-49. Newly reported results, appearing in an upcoming edition of The Astrophysical Journal, confirm that HLX-1 is over 100 times brighter than typical objects in its class, and a factor of 10 times more luminous than its nearest peer.
The prior work could not conclusively rule out the possibility that the X-rays were produced by a foreground star or background galaxy. With new observations made using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile, the researchers were able to obtain an optical spectrum of HLX-1. Â With this spectrum, it was possible to calculate a precise distance between HLX-1 and Earth.Â
Using some more advanced techniques, it was possible to separate the light from HLX-1 and the light generated by ESO 243-49. The analysis proved that HLX-1 is indeed part of ESO 243-49, and not one of the alternatives, like a supermassive black hole in the center of a distant galaxy, or a source in our own galaxy. Given its location, the previous brightness calculations are correct.Â
While still not conclusive, these new findings strengthen the case that HLX-1 is an intermediate mass black hole. According to Sean Farrell, one of the authors, "This [the result] is very difficult to explain without the presence of an intermediate mass black hole of between ~500 and 10,000 times the mass of the Sun. HLX-1 is therefore (so far!) weathering the scrutiny of the international astronomy community."Â The team has secured time on the Hubble Space Telescope to take the highest resolution images of the host galaxy to date in the hopes of learning more about this intriguing object.
The Astrophysical Journal, 2010. DOI: upcoming
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US government shouldn't fear foreign participation in Forge.gov
In an effort to reduce IT costs and boost efficiency, the US federal government is increasingly turning to open source software. We wrote last year about Forge.mil, a code sharing site that was established by the military to encourage broader collaboration and reuse of existing source code throughout the Department of Defense. The US General Services Administration (GSA) is planning to launch a similar site, called Forge.gov, that is intended to serve a related function, but for a broader range of government agencies.
In a recent blog post, Red Hat public sector strategist Gunnar Hellekson described several of the challenges posed by Forge.mil and explained why it's important for Forge.gov to be operated as a more inclusive environment. Various security considerations made it necessary for Forge.mil to be developed as a relatively closed ecosystem, one which is only accessible to DoD employees, contractors, and others who have a DoD Common Access Card. The isolation obviously precludes public participation and leads to military-only forks of mainstream public open source projects.
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Hands-on: the Kensington Slimblade trackball
The venerable Kensington Expert Mouse is arguably one of the best trackball input devices for desktop computing. Among trackball enthusiasts, it practically has a cult following. Its successor, the Kensington Slimblade, was launched in 2008, but initially failed to meet the expectations of the Expert Mouse audience because it launched with extremely limited software and very poor driver support.
When the recent death of my well-used Expert Mouse compelled me to revisit the Slimblade, I discovered that the product's software deficiencies have been corrected. It's finally an acceptable replacement for the classic Expert Mouse. After spending a few weeks with the Slimblade and testing it with tasks ranging from software development to Starcraft 2, I decided to assemble some notes for the benefit of other trackball enthusiasts.
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Fiber lives on! How broadband decided Australia's election
Australia's plan to run fiber-optic cable to 93 percent of the country's homes and provide minimum 100Mbps speeds (the rest of the country will get 12Mbps, delivered by wireless and next-generation satellite) was always ambitious, but even its most enthusiastic backers never expected that a national broadband plan would actually determine the country's next prime minister. But that's exactly what just happened.
Australia has broken a two-and-a-half week deadlock resulting from its August 21 national elections. No party won an outright majority, and forming a coalition government proved tricky. Numerous issues were on the table, but one of the key differentiators between the parties was the future of the government-backed NBN Company—the entity that oversees construction and operation of the national broadband network.
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Premier Chat 006: Kyle Wiens, cofounder of iFixit
Announcing another in our series of subscriber-only features: a live, moderated webchat with Kyle Wiens. Kyle is the cofounder of the extremely popular gadget repair site iFixit. iFixit started out providing tear-down guides, tools, and replacement parts for Apple products, but has since branched out to all manner of gadgets, from phones to video game consoles (read our profile of the company). iFixit's primary mission is to make the world a cleaner and better place by reducing gadget waste through educational tools like free and open repair guides in addition to providing access to hard-to-find tools and parts.
This live chat is only available to Ars Premier subscribers and begins at 1pm CDT on Wednesday, September 8 (see it in your own timezone). The discussion will center on iFixit's mission of educating individuals on repairing their gadgets (rather than tossing them) and their adventures in dissecting the latest gadgetry.
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Calling all developers! FCC releases APIs for key databases
Perhaps you've been burning to build an online feature around some interesting government data source; if so, the Federal Communications Commission just made the task simpler. The agency has released the Application Programming Interface (API) specs for four of its big repositories of information: its consumer broadband test, broadband provider database, license owner storehouse, and latitude/longitude to county converter.
"We want the FCC's Web presence to be larger than a single Web site," FCC Geographic Information Officer Michael Byrne posted on Tuesday. "We want the developer community to run with these APIs to make mash-ups and data calls connecting FCC data assets to other sources for creative and useful applications to the public."
Although the Commission has done a fine job of making its public filings much more accessible, that's only the tip of the vast data iceberg which is the FCC. The biggest challenge is figuring out where this juicy stuff actually resides at fcc.gov.
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Microsoft investigates public IE CSS XSS flaw; Twitter, Hotmail vulnerable
Late last week, a security flaw in Internet Explorer 8 was publicly disclosed to the Full Disclosure mailing list. The flaw allows attackers to steal private information from online services such as web mail and Twitter, allowing attackers to, for example, delete e-mails or send tweets from their victims' accounts.
The post was made by Google employee Chris Evans. He stated that the reason for going public was to try to persuade Microsoft to fix the problem—the new flaw is a variant on an older attack, and the details of the flaw were made public in a paper authored by Carnegie Mellon students that Evans reviewed. While the other major browser vendors have made fixes to their browsers to prevent attack—Chrome 4.0.249.78, Safari 4.0.5, and most recently Firefox 3.6.7 and 3.5.11 all include protection against the flaw—Microsoft has thus far failed to update Internet Explorer to provide protection.
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Feature: The death and rebirth of Duke Nukem Forever: a history
Duke Nukem Forever was announced in 1997, after its predecessor, Duke Nukem 3D, had rocked the PC market with a hero who liked kicking ass, hanging out with strippers, and murdering alien police officers that were, literally, pigs. It was inappropriate, raunchy, and amazing.
It was also one of the games that gave 3D Realms the success that brought its destruction. Duke Nukem Forever began life as a completely self-funded game; its developer wanted nothing less than perfection, and would chase every update in technology in order to deliver it. The game saw monumental delays, suffered the slings and arrows of a gaming world that was first angry and then tolerant of its favorite whipping boy, had its home taken away, and has since risen from the dead.
Is the public still interested in Duke Nukem? Hell yes it is. This is the story of the gaming industry's favorite joke, and how Duke may finally have the last laugh.
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ACLU sues over warrantless border laptop searches
An Obama administration policy allowing US border officials to seize and search laptops, smart phones and other electronic devices for any reason was challenged as unconstitutional in federal court Tuesday.
Citing the government's own figures, the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers claim about 6,500 persons had their electronic devices searched along the U.S. border since October 2008. In one instance, according to the lawsuit filed in New York, a computer laptop was seized from a New York man at the Canadian border and not returned for 11 days. The lawsuit seeks no monetary damages, but asks the court to order an end to the searches.
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Google invites Yahoo users to log into services via OpenID
Yahoo users can now use their Yahoo logins to sign up for Google services thanks to OpenID, with other providers coming soon. Google announced Tuesday that it was implementing the OpenID standard for its login process in hopes of making things easier for Internet users who have too many logins to keep track of, though whether users will actually use it remains to be seen.
For those who aren't already familiar, OpenID is a (somewhat slow-moving) movement aimed at establishing a safe, secure, and standards-based single sign-on framework for use across the Internet. The initiative allows people to sign in and access multiple websites with a single username.
This sounds great in theory, but in practice, OpenID has been slow to catch on with the masses because of its confusing implementation. Service providers can't just all start using one magical OpenID login for all users—they must choose first to be either a provider or a relying party, or both. An OpenID provider allows others to use their logins (as Yahoo is in this case), but doesn't necessarily accept OpenID logins from other domains.
Similarly, an OpenID relying party can accept logins from an OpenID provider, but doesn't necessarily accept all OpenID logins—they might accept only one, or just a few, or a handful, and they don't all accept the same ones.
So, parties like MySpace, Windows Live, and Yahoo are all OpenID providers, while Google is now an OpenID relying party. And for now, Google will only accept Yahoo logins, but that may change sometime in the future. "[W]e plan to use it in the future with other email providers that add support for this usage of OpenID and related standards like OAuth, such as in the Microsoft Live Identity APIs" Google Internet Identity Team member Tzvika Barenholz wrote in a blog post.
In the meantime, the majority of 'Net users remain essentially clueless about OpenID, what it is, and how to use it. Google will undoubtedly help spread awareness among the public by allowing (admittedly quite popular) Yahoo domains as logins, but widespread adoption likely remains a far-away dream for OpenID fans.
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Bacterial light-harvesting proteins make a regenerating solar cell
Photovoltaic cells are becoming cheaper and more efficient each year, but there are still some questions regarding their long-term sustainability. Most technologies involve the use of elements that may be limited in supply, toxic, expensive, and difficult to recycle, which may ultimately limit our ability to produce them on the sorts of scales that a wholly renewable energy economy would require. One possible alternative to the traditional hardware is the use of biological materials, which are invariably comprised of abundant elements, and are produced in bulk by organisms simply as part of their normal life. The main downside of biologicals has been that they're far less stable than solid-state devices, which can last for decades. But a study released by Nature Chemistry indicates that it's possible to use an organism's own self-repair systems to keep proteins operating long past the end of their normal lifespan.
Compared to some of the best devices on the market today, the systems cells used to harvest sunlight during photosynthesis aren't very efficient. But they do have two major advantages. Since life evolved to rely on some of the most abundant elements around—primarily carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen—producing more of them and recycling damaged components is incredibly simple. It also partially eliminates the manufacturing issues, since bacteria will happily pump out more of the light-harvesting proteins each time they divide. That doesn't mean there's a requirement for some hardware to support the proteins, but this is generally simpler and cheaper than the hardware used to harvest light.
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Report: ACTA secrecy is all the United States' fault
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) got a bit more transparent this year, as negotiators held a few meetings with civil society types and released one official draft text some months ago. But this wouldn't be ACTA without secret meetings and unreleased draft texts, would it?
This isn't a serious problem for those who want to read the draft texts after each negotiating session; leaks have become routine, which made this week's leak (PDF) of the most recent draft text so unsurprising. At this late stage in the negotiations, after so much criticism in the US and Europe, one might expect ACTA negotiators to operate as transparently as they have promised to do. Unfortunately, the US stands in the way.
We've seen reports for months that the US contingent was one of the strongest pro-secrecy voices among the negotiators from the EU, Korea, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Australia, and other countries, but EU sources are now confirming it. According to EurActiv, EU policy sources say that "American officials blocked European attempts to publish the latest draft of the global Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) on an EU website after a Washington-based round of negotiations in August."
Apart from the occasional letter, Congress has little interest in ACTA; the EU Parliament, by contrast, has made far more noise, demanding more briefings and more deference from the European Commission which is negotiating the deal. But the European Commission briefed European members of parliament that after this year's round of negotiations in Lucerne, the meeting remained secret—so Pirate MEP Christian Engström left. He didn't even bother to attend the most recent briefing, which was also secret.
As for the content of the most recent draft, it's much the same as previous drafts. The truly substantive change came from the US, which has backed off on some of its demands for secondary liability that could implicate ISPs when users do bad things online.
Looking through the text, it's clear that divisions remain, including some major ones; the EU still demands that its geographical marks (like "Champagne" or "Parmigiano-Reggiano") receive protection from ACTA countries, while most other negotiators want to limit the text to copyrights and counterfeits. KEI, which obtained the most recent leak, has a nice rundown of its changes.
But most of the major issues are settled, and ACTA certainly seems on track for completion by year's end.
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Major file-sharing bust in Europe targets P2P admins
Sweden's Frederick Ingblad is a specialized intellectual property prosecutor, and this morning he made a very specialized announcement: at the request of Belgian authorities, Ingbland and Swedish police had just made a series of coordinated raids on ISPs and universities. Their target: "The Scene."
For two years, Belgium has been looking into the online operations that obtain, crack, and distribute software, games, and media, operations collectively referred to as The Scene. Ingblad targeted several ISPs, Umeå University, and sites in Malmo and Eslöv. The ISP raids were to gain information on particular IP addresses (Sweden has a recent law requiring ISPs to retain more information on their users for just such cases), but some of the other raids were actually made to scoop up individuals. Four people have been detained, along with servers and personal computers.
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Sony releases mandatory PS3 update in response to jailbreak
To the shock of absolutely no one, Sony has announced a new mandatory update for the PlayStation 3. Don't expect any new features, but if you have one of those new, fancy USB-based hacking devices you may want to hold off on updating. Just sayin'.
"Hi everyone! A minor update to your PS3 system is now available via system software update v3.42 that includes additional security features," Sony's Director of Hardware Marketing wrote on the official blog. "For more details and instructions on how to update the system software for the PS3 system, please visit the PS3 System Updates page."
Ah, the mandatory updates, who doesn't love them? This is Sony's way of blessing everyone who bought a PlayStation 3 with the gift of annoyance. We'll see how long it takes for another fix from the hacking community, which will be met with yet another firmware patch. This is like your parents fighting: you may not be involved, but you're still stuck in the middle and suffering for it.
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Samsung Galaxy S-variant Fascinate launches on Verizon this week
The Samsung Galaxy S is coming to Verizon's network this week in the form of the Samsung Fascinate. The latest in the Galaxy S smartphone line will be available Wednesday online and Thursday in Verizon Wireless retail stores nationwide. Unlike other Android phones from HTC and Motorola, though, the Fascinate doesn't carry Verizon's Droid branding.
The internal hardware of the Fascinate is identical to other Galaxy S smartphones, including a 1GHz Hummingbird ARM processor, 4" Super AMOLED touchscreen, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, and a 5MP autofocus camera with 720p video recording. It's also powered by Android 2.1 and comes with the innovative Swype keyboard as the default.
The main difference between the Fascinate and other Galaxy S variants launched on AT&T and T-Mobile is the cosmetic appearance—which looks quite nice in the photos we have seen so far—and the bundled apps. VCAST will be featured over Amazon MP3 for OTA music downloads, along with a VCAST-branded music identification app. Verizon Navigator will also come preloaded; Google Navigation will need to be downloaded via Android Marketplace if you'd prefer that option. Other preloaded apps include the exclusives NFL Mobile and Blockbuster, as well as Skype Mobile and Amazon Kindle.
The Samsung Fascinate costs $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a two-year contract. Plans including voice and data start at $70 per month.
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Fall to bring Google TV, just in time for Apple TV faceoff
Google CEO Eric Schmidt has reiterated the company's plans to release its TV product in the US this fall. Schmidt made the comments during the IFA show in Berlin, noting that Google TV would go international next year. Additionally, he said the company would begin working with content providers to get movies and shows on the device, but that it was was "very unlikely" that Google would get into the content production business itself.
Google announced Google TV in May of this year during its own developer conference, touting the device as a more open alternative to the closed set-top boxes out there (particularly the Apple TV). Because it will be Android-based and search-driven, third-party developers are expected to hop on board with a plethora of TV offerings—companies like Netflix and Amazon have already created native apps to run on Google TV.
Since the announcement, Google promised the FCC that it "seeks to achieve the vast pro-consumer potential of video convergence," but first, the FCC must make the proposed "AllVid" video interface a reality. Hollywood, however, isn't so gung-ho about Google TV and AllVid (surprise!), arguing that their wares would be presented alongside illegal content. "In essence, this 'shopping mall' approach could enable the purveyor of counterfeit goods to set up shop alongside respected brand-name retailers, causing consumer confusion," the MPAA said of the proposal.
Still, Google is pressing on with its plans to roll out a set-top box from Logitech, a Google TV-enabled Blu-ray player from Sony, and a Sony HDTV with Google services built-in. The new $99 Apple TV is also set for release this fall (the end of September, to be exact); although it is still a very different product than what Google TV hopes to be, many TV-watching geeks will keep an eye on both.
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Batman: the Brave and the Bold Wii is a lighter Dark Knight
Batman is an always an interesting character, but the most recent takes on the Caped Crusader have been almost oppressively dark. Go back and read the comics that took place before Year One and you'll find a Batman that sometimes smiles, is much more at peace with himself, and gets the job done with a sort of sly humor. That Batman is on full display in this Wii game, an adaptation of the titular cartoon.
The game is rendered in a beautiful hand-drawn animation style, with bright colors, interesting camera angles, and above all, a sense of fun. This may be aimed squarely at younger gamers, but adults are going to find much to like.
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Feature: Advertisers get hands stuck inside HTML5 database cookie jar
Even casual Internet users know that if you want to hold your privacy in check, it's good practice to clear out your browser cookies every once in a while. Our recent coverage about "zombie" Flash cookies has shown us, however, that simply clearing your browser cookies the old fashioned way isn't always enough. As highlighted by a study out of UC Berkeley, some companies have begun using Flash-based cookies that not only recreate themselves when deleted without the user's knowledge, they reach into the Flash storage bin for the just-deleted user info so that they can keep tracking you and your stored history instead of starting anew.
It's because of this behavior that some of our readers drew our attention to something called RLDGUID, a Safari database that has been popping up more and more on iOS devices. What is it, who put it there, and what purpose does it serve? The company behind this database, Ringleader Digital, is basically using some of the modern HTML5 capabilities of mobile browsers to perform the same tasks as a traditional cookie, but out of sight of most users. We decided to dig in and see what RLDGUID is all about, and what we found was sometimes confusing. More importantly, however, it highlights why users should be made more aware of what their browsers are storing about them.Â
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