Chad's News

As regular Chad’s News readers already know, the current public-key encryption scheme will be useless once we build quantum computers with enough qubits. So scientists have been searching for an encryption method that’s less susceptible to quantum computing algorithms. Turns out that one such scheme was developed in 1978 by CalTech mathematician Robert McEliece. It’s safe from all currently-known quantum computing attacks. McEliece’s system is a bit unwieldy—the keys are very large—but expect to hear more about it unless a better quantum-safe method is found.

Link: http://www.technologyreview.com/…
(via Slashdot)

From the article: “A Massachusetts man who was rushed to hospital with a collapsed lung came home with an unusual diagnosis: a pea plant was growing in his lung.”

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/…
(via Ars Technica)

Apple is reporting tremendous sales of iPads, making it “the most quickly adopted non-phone electronic product” with 3 million sold in the first 80 days and an ongoing rate of 4.5 million per quarter.

Link: http://www.cnbc.com/…
(via Kim Komando)

Given the massive parallel processing power available in today’s video cards, a 7-character password is “hopelessly inadequate,” and even an 8-character password can be cracked in a couple hours. This is regardless of the the mix of letters, numbers, symbols, upper/lower case, etc. So the recommended minimum length for passwords is now 12 characters. But don’t think you’re completely safe with a longer password—you also need to make sure it’s not susceptible to a dictionary attack.

Link #1: http://www.gtri.gatech.edu/…

Link #2: http://www.theregister.co.uk/…
(via engadget)

Link #3: http://dailycaller.com/…

A US family was facing foreclosure and the loss of the home they’d lived in for decades. Accepting the inevitable, they started sorting and packing the stuff they’d accumulated over the years. And what a surprise they found: issue #1 of Action Comics, the first appearance of Superman. It’s expected to sell at auction for about $250,000 (recent sales of the same comic in better condition have gone for over $1 million). This will save the house from foreclosure, but they had to get a comic book dealer to call the bank and explain the situation.

Link: http://abcnews.go.com/…
(via Slashdot)

The Chad’s News phone network still uses one of those ancient plans where you pay 20¢ for each text message sent or received. Fortunately it’s possible to save some money by sending text messages via email. (Long-time Chad’s News readers will remember this post, where teleflip.com provided a single source for emailing text messages—but they’ve gone out of business.) The process is fairly straightforward, although it requires you to know the recipient’s cell provider. Here are the specifics for several major carriers (replace “number” with the actual 10-digit phone number).

Alltel:

number@message.alltel.com

AT&T:

number@txt.att.net

Nextel:

number@messaging.nextel.com

Sprint:

number@messaging.sprintpcs.com

T-Mobile:

number@tmomail.net

Verizon:

number@vtext.com

The linked articles have more detail, including additional ways to send texts (AIM anyone?). And remember that Chad’s News is a proud Verizon customer.

Link #1: http://www.popularmechanics.com/…
(via The Consumerist)

Link #2: http://www.komando.com/…

Supermarkets did not exist prior to the 20th century. Free parking and the invention of the automobile ignition switch were key factors in their rise, and the lower prices during the Great Depression helped as well. The shopping cart was a relative latecomer to the scene, not being invented until 1937. The linked article explains all this and more.

Link: http://www.neatorama.com/…

BP’s internal investigation into the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has uncovered eight unique problems that allowed the explosion and spill to occur. They run the gamut from poor practices/training to equipment failure and bad design.

It’s almost unbelievable how many things had to go wrong in order for the spill to occur, especially since many of them would not have happened if BP was on top of things. For example: “These tests indicated a problem … but were ‘incorrectly accepted as successful,’ in part because there were no standards in place for what constituted a negative test.” There’s also: “That returns us to the automated system that was attempting to shut the blowout preventer. Even though it kicked in, once the explosion happened at the surface, it lost power.” And then finally: “Redundant hardware on the sea floor was designed to operate independently. Unfortunately, it also failed; one of the devices had a fault in a critical piece of hardware, while the second had insufficient charge in its batteries to function.”

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

Google recently unveiled a new feature for its search engine: search results are displayed as you type. The expectation that it will accurately predict what it is you’re typing and display the appropriate results well before you finish, thus saving two to five seconds per search. Here at Chad’s News, however, we must be typing too fast, because we find the rapidly changing screen text to be very annoying. This is one feature that got disabled immediately.

Note that this behavior is different than the old Google, where it displayed suggested search strings—you actually get the search results as you type.

Link: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/…
(via Ars Technica)

Ever wondered just how much television actors make? The linked article shows the top earners. Oprah Winfrey wins by a landslide ($315 million per year), and Charlie Sheen comes in second with $1.25 million per episode. As astronomical as these may seem, average salaries are lower than they used to be. For example, the final season of Friends had all six cast members making $1 million per episode.

Thanks to Mike P. for this link.

Link: http://www.tvguide.com/…

With so many devices using USB connectors as power/charging sources, I guess it was only a matter of time before someone created the USB power strip. A bit on the expensive side, however, and I prefer the USB-enabled power outlet for sheer geek cred.

Link: http://cubiclebot.com/…

Television manufacturers know that people don’t like 3D glasses, so they’re trying very hard to find an alternative. Glasses-free 3D systems are currently available, but you have to view the TV from a specific location. I’m not sure how effective that would be in a family living room. The linked article has a short blurb on Sony’s efforts in this area.

Link: http://dailycaller.com/…