08.23.2012]blodic.us

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Data Center Managers Weary of Whittling Cooling Costs

Nerval's Lobster writes that a survey from the Uptime Institute "suggests something it calls 'green fatigue' is setting in when it comes to making data centers greener.

Canadian Cellphone Users May Get Justice Over Phantom Charges

An anonymous reader writes "For years, Bell Mobility customers in northern Canada were charged 75 cents a month for 911 emergency service.

The problem is that cellphone users outside Whitehorse, Yukon, don't have access to 911 service.

Syrian Electronic Army Hits Financial Times Sites, Feeds

puddingebola writes with an excerpt from the New York Times: "The Web site and several Twitter accounts belonging to The Financial Times were hacked on Friday by the Syrian Electronic Army in a continuing campaign that has aimed at an array of media outlets ranging from The Associated Press to the p

Arduino Branches Out, With a Plug-and-Program Robot

mikejuk writes "The new Arduino robot looks a bit like a robot vacuum cleaner, but it has a lot more going for it and it certainly doesn't suck — well not unless you add an air pump to it.

Intel Rolls Out "Beacon Mountain" Android Dev Platform For Atom

MojoKid writes "In an effort to coax developers to begin taking Atom seriously as an Android platform, Intel has just released a complete suite of tools that should help ease them into things — especially since it can be used for ARM development as well.

Electronics-Loving 'Crazy Ants' Invading Southern US

From an article at the Houston Chronicle (not The Onion) comes a report of concern to anyone in a warm climate with, well, electronics.

After Kickstarter Record, Pebble Smartwatch Lands $15M From VCs

LeadSongDog writes "The Globe and Mail is reporting that the 'Pebble' smartwatch has matched the $15M record for Kickstarter funding after initially being panned by the VC crowd." One advantage that the Pebble has over rumored watches from big names like Google and Apple is existing.

Fed. Appeals Court Says Police Need Warrant to Search Phone

An anonymous reader writes "In a decision that's almost certainly going to result in this issue heading up to the Supreme Court, the Federal 1st Circuit Court of Appeals [Friday] ruled that police can't search your phone when they arrest you without a warrant.

UK Consumers Reporting Contactless Payment Errors

leathered writes "The BBC reports that some customers of UK retailer Marks and Spencer have reported that the store's contactless payment terminals have debited their cards despite being in their bags or pockets, sometimes paying twice when they have used another payment method.

FBI Considers CALEA II: Mandatory Wiretapping On Every Device

Techmeology writes "In response to declining utility of CALEA mandated wiretapping backdoors due to more widespread use of cryptography, the FBI is considering a revamped version that would mandate wiretapping facilities in end users' computers and software.