Is Supermassive Black Hole Really a Wormhole in Disguise?; How the NSA Tampers with U.S.-Made Internet Routers

World's Worst E-reader | 'Game of Thrones' Author's Secret Weapon: WordStar on DOS To view a web version of this message, click here Send this message to a friend Is Supermassive Black Hole Really a Wormhole in Disguise? How the NSA Tampers with U.S.-Made Internet Routers Your Old CD Collection Is Dying 'Game of Thrones' Author's Secret Weapon: WordStar on DOS World's Worst E-reader Hot Comment: "Spy-Proof; Not Court-Proof..."  From the Vault: Computer De-Evolution: Awesome Features We've Lost Watch It: Fledging Makerspace Faces Obstacle to Opening Poll Booth: Who controls the HVAC at work? Sponsored Resource: Internet Security Threat Report 2014 Is Supermassive Black Hole Really a Wormhole in Disguise? Many astronomers believe that a mysterious object some 4 million times more massive than the Sun at the center of the Milky Way is a supermassive black hole. But there is a problem with this theory--100 million years is not long enough for a black hole to grow so big. The alternative explanation is that it is a wormhole that connects the Milky Way to another region of the universe or even another multiverse. Sound Off>> How the NSA Tampers with U.S.-Made Internet Routers In his new book about the Snowden affair, No Place to Hide, Glenn Greenwald writes, "The NSA routinely receives -- or intercepts -- routers, servers and other computer network devices being exported from the U.S. before they are delivered to the international customers. The agency then implants backdoor surveillance tools, repackages the devices with a factory seal and sends them on." Sound Off>> Your Old CD Collection Is Dying If you've tried to listen to old CDs from the '80s or '90s lately, you may have noticed that many of them won't play, reports Adrienne LaFrance. And even if they do play, there's really no telling how much longer they will. LaFrance adds that her once-treasured CD collection that she so carefully assembled over the course of about a decade beginning in 1994 "isn't just aging; it's dying. And so is yours." Sound Off>> 'Game of Thrones' Author's Secret Weapon: WordStar on DOS George R.R. Martin revealed on Conan that he works on an outdated DOS machine using '80s word processor WordStar 4.0 because, "It does everything I want a word processing program to do, and it doesn't do anything else. I don't want any help." He added that, "If I wanted a capital, I would have typed a capital. I know how to work the shift key." Sound Off>> World's Worst E-reader Berenice Baker writes, "It is an unspoken rule of military procurement that any IT or communications technology will invariably be years behind what is commercially available or technically hobbled to ensure security. One case in point is the uncomfortably backronymed NeRD, or Navy e-Reader Device, an electronic book so secure the 300 titles it holds can never be updated. Ever." Sound Off>> Spy-Proof; Not Court-Proof "You can develop all the security technologies you like. They'll be worth precisely nothing when the NSA sends a pup of an agent with a national security letter to seize your files, equipment, and force your co-operation under penalty of imprisonment. The courts remain the ultimate root-kit." --by ObsessiveMathsFreak Read More>>   Computer De-Evolution: Awesome Features We've Lost Three years ago, an article in IT World looked at much beloved computer features that lost the evolutionary war. While newer computers offer more power, speed, storage and other capabilities that few would have dreamed of a decade or more ago, many lack some useful features of their forebears. Read More>> Fledging Makerspace Faces Obstacle to Opening The Foundry has people, tools, machines, and a place to operate, but there is a key obstacle it has to overcome before it can open its doors--insurance that will allow it to welcome those under 18. Chief Creative person Mary Keane talks to Timothy Lord about that challenge as well as The Foundry's unique 3-D printers that use recycled plastics and paper. Watch the Video>>   Who controls the HVAC at work? Don't know/don't care, everyone's comfortable Immutable powers, who keep it too cold Immutable powers, who keep it too warm Laws of physics and bad engineering Everyone with open access to the thermostat Middle management, to no one's satisfaction It's always cool, here in the basement Cast Your Vote>>     Internet Security Threat Report 2014 With access to approximately 69 million attack sensors and records thousands of events per second, Symantec's analysts are armed with unparalleled sources of data with which to identify, analyze, and provide informed commentary on emerging trends in attacks, malicious code activity, phishing, and spam. The result is the annual Symantec Internet Security Threat Report, which offers essential information to secure systems effectively now and into the future. Learn More>> Follow Slashdot on Twitter and Facebook. 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