An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The world’s first floating windfarm has taken to the seas in a sign that a technology once confined to research and development drawing boards is finally ready to unlock expanses of ocean for generating renewable power. After two turbines were floated this week, five now bob gently in the deep waters of a fjord on the western coast of Norway ready to be tugged across the North Sea to their final destination off north-east Scotland. The ~$256 million Hywind project is unusual not just because of the pioneering technology involved, which uses a 78-meter-tall underwater ballast and three mooring lines that will be attached to the seabed to keep the turbines upright. It is also notable because the developer is not a renewable energy firm but Norway’s Statoil, which is looking to diversify away from carbon-based fuels.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – World’s First Floating Windfarm To Take Shape Off Coast of Scotland

According to The Wall Street Journal, Sprint’s merger talks with T-Mobile are temporarily on hold while the carrier mulls over a number of potential deals with the United States’ two biggest cable companies, Comcast and Charter. While Comcast is already using Verizon’s wireless service under their own name, the company may want to use Sprint’s network as well. Charter doesn’t have a wireless phone offering yet, but the company’s CEO indicated last year that it has every intention of launching one. The Verge reports: Such a deal would likely involve the two cable companies making an investment in Sprint, which the carrier would then use to build out its network, generally known to be the worst of the four major phone service providers. The Journal also reports that Comcast and Charter could make a bid to acquire Sprint outright, but it said the outcome was seen as less likely. Though they’re usually an unlikely pairing, Comcast and Charter agreed in May to team up when making deals around wireless coverage for a full year. For the most part, both companies have been slowly losing TV subscribers year after year as customers shift over to online services. They see phone service as a new offering that could help to restore growth and lock in subscribers.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – Comcast and Charter In Talks With Sprint To Offer Wireless Service

Chrisq shares a report from The Telegraph: Fears have been raised that Britain’s largest ever warship could be vulnerable to cyber attacks after it emerged it appears to be running the outdated Microsoft Windows XP. A defense source told The telegraph that some of the on-boar hardware and software “would have been good in 2004” when the carrier was designed, “but now seems rather antiquated.” However, he added that HMS Queen Elizabeth is due to be given a computer refit within a decade. And senior officers said they will have cyber specialists on board to defend the carrier from such attacks.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – Britain’s Newest Warship Runs Windows XP, Raising Cyber Attack Fears

An anonymous reader shares a report: Members of Congress said Tuesday that they hope to move forward with a package of self-driving car legislation by the end of July. “We’ve got to keep moving, because again, this technology is moving away from us, you might say,” said Republican Bob Latta, who is helping to lead the effort. That would move the bills out of the relevant committee — but not out of the House entirely.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – Lawmakers Want To Move Fast On Self-Driving Car Legislation

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bleeping Computer: Today’s massive ransomware outbreak was caused by a malicious software update for M.E.Doc, a popular accounting software used by Ukrainian companies. According to several researchers, such as Cisco Talos, ESET, MalwareHunter, Kaspersky Lab, and others, an unknown attacker was able to compromise the software update mechanism for M.E.Doc’s servers, and deliver a malicious update to customers. When the update reached M.E.Doc’s customers, the tainted software packaged delivered the Petya ransomware — also referenced online as NotPetya, or Petna. The Ukrainian software vendor appears to have inadvertently confirmed that something was wrong when, this morning, issued a security advisory. Hours later, as the ransomware outbreak spread all over Ukraine and other countries across the globe causing huge damages, M.E.Doc denied on Facebook its servers ever served any malware. According to security researcher MalwareHunter, this is not the first time M.E.Doc has carried a malicious software update that delivered ransomware. Back in May, the company’s software update mechanism also helped spread the XData ransomware.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – Petya Ransomware Outbreak Originated In Ukraine Via Tainted Accounting Software