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Slashdot.org
#1
Slashdot.com's Daily Headlines go see!


http://it.slashdot.org

that site has some interesting stuff!

from their daily mailer
Why Do Computers Take So Long to Boot Up?
from the tired-hampsters dept.
posted by Zonk on Sunday December 10, @20:48 (Operating Systems)
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/11/0142212

Scientists Developing Commercially Viable Synthetic Gecko
from the better-than-synthetic-llama dept.
posted by Zonk on Sunday December 10, @23:30 (Science)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...11/0430240

Telescope Spots Solar Tsunami
from the could-even-silver-surfer-have-ridden-that-wave dept.
posted by Zonk on Monday December 11, @01:47 (Space)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...11/0434205

New Developments From Microsoft Research
from the end-result-of-windows-money dept.
posted by Zonk on Monday December 11, @03:24 (Microsoft)
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/11/0438253

Study Detects Recent Instance of Human Evolution
from the genetic-not-mental dept.
posted by Zonk on Monday December 11, @05:57 (Science)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...11/0445222

Java EE & Streaming Architectures
from the a-better-cornerstone-for-a-better-building dept.
posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @07:22 (Java)
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...11/1134204

Mac Book Pro as Roomba Remote
from the send-arnold-back-in-time-to-stop-this dept.
posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @07:59 (Robotics)
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...11/1129201

Hans Reiser in Court Today
from the the-case-grinds-on dept.
posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @08:35 (The Courts)
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/11/1144226

Map of the Internet
from the truly-impressive dept.
posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @09:12 (The Internet)
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/11/1150241

A Close® Look At OLPC Human Interface Guidelines
from the making-the-audience-understand dept.
posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @09:48 (GUI)
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...11/1155242

Java SE 6 Released
from the upgrade-maybe dept.
posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @09:54 (Java)
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p.../11/145238

Apple's Illuminous (Aqua v2) to Compete with Aero
from the the-rumour-mill-starts-twitching dept.
posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @10:15 (Software)
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...11/1426226

Advice For Programmers Right Out of School
from the words-of-advice-for-young-people dept.
posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @10:26 (Programming)
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...11/1247200

Red Hat Dismisses Threat Posed by Oracle and MS
from the well-of-course-he-would-say-that dept.
posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @11:01 (Red Hat Software)
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...11/1259246

Independent Benchmarking System for Mice
from the getting-a-wee-bit-specialized dept.
posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @11:16 (Input Devices)
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...11/1427242

Disk Drives Face Challenge From Chips
from the the-growth-of-hard-storage dept.
posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @11:36 (Data Storage)
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...11/1414241

Predicting Space Weather
from the but-don't-use-space-based-lasers dept.
posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @12:20 (Space)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...11/1416213

Consumer Reports: Cingular, Sprint Bad Performers
from the and-guess-which-company-starting-with-C-I-have dept.
posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @12:55 (Communications)
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...11/1537216

Ultrawideband Soon To Be Legal In Europe
from the wires-begone dept.
posted by kdawson on Monday December 11, @13:30 (Wireless Networking)
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...11/1638253

Neverwinter Nights 2 Review
from the like-facing-down-a-lich-loved-templated-dire-vampiric-badger dept.
posted by Zonk on Monday December 11, @14:14 (Role Playing (Games))
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...11/1616229

Rails Recipes
from the really-cooking dept.
posted by samzenpus on Monday December 11, @14:53 (Book Reviews)
http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...11/1534204

How To Choose Archival CD/DVD Media
from the 70-years-or-bust dept.
posted by kdawson on Monday December 11, @15:33 (Media)
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...11/1714232

Outsourcing Growing Beyond India
from the ho-ho-ho-chi-minh dept.
posted by kdawson on Monday December 11, @16:10 (Businesses)
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...11/1818204

Unwanted Popups Boosting Web Traffic
from the stealing-eyeballs dept.
posted by kdawson on Monday December 11, @16:47 (The Internet)
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/11/1829256

Sense of Smell Tied To Quantum Physics?
from the sniffing-out-a-theory dept.
posted by kdawson on Monday December 11, @17:28 (Biotech)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...11/1952201

The Demise of the Professional Photojournalist
from the going-going dept.
posted by kdawson on Monday December 11, @18:06 (The Media)
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/11/195217

VLC 0.8.6 Released
from the plays-almost-anything dept.
posted by kdawson on Monday December 11, @18:42 (Media)
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid.../11/208229
Reply
#2
they've changed their Daily Mailer a bit .. gad! what a lot to read!
how do they scout out all this stuff?

from slashdot.com}
*solar tsunami ??

======================================================================
A Better Job is Waiting for You—Find it Now.
Check out SlashdotÂ’s new job board. Browse through tons of technical
jobs posted by companies looking to hire people just like you.
http://jobs.slashdot.org/
======================================================================

Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* Why Do Computers Take So Long to Boot Up?
* Scientists Developing Commercially Viable Synthetic Gecko
* Telescope Spots Solar Tsunami
* New Developments From Microsoft Research
* Study Detects Recent Instance of Human Evolution
* Java EE & Streaming Architectures
* Mac Book Pro as Roomba Remote
* Hans Reiser in Court Today
* Map of the Internet
* A Close® Look At OLPC Human Interface Guidelines
* Java SE 6 Released
* Apple's Illuminous (Aqua v2) to Compete with Aero
* Advice For Programmers Right Out of School
* Red Hat Dismisses Threat Posed by Oracle and MS
* Independent Benchmarking System for Mice
* Disk Drives Face Challenge From Chips
* Predicting Space Weather
* Consumer Reports: Cingular, Sprint Bad Performers
* Ultrawideband Soon To Be Legal In Europe
* Neverwinter Nights 2 Review
* Rails Recipes
* How To Choose Archival CD/DVD Media
* Outsourcing Growing Beyond India
* Unwanted Popups Boosting Web Traffic
* Sense of Smell Tied To Quantum Physics?
* The Demise of the Professional Photojournalist
* VLC 0.8.6 Released

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Why Do Computers Take So Long to Boot Up? |
| from the tired-hampsters dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Sunday December 10, @20:48 (Operating Systems) |
| http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/11/0142212 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "Computers take too long to boot up, and it
doesn't make sense to me. Mine takes around 30 seconds; it is double or
triple that for some of my friends' computers that I have used. Why can't
a computer turn on and off in an instant just like a TV? 99% of boots, my
computer is doing the exact same thing. Then I get to Windows XP with
maybe 50 to 75 megs of stuff in memory. My computer should be smart
enough to just load that junk into memory and go with it. You could put
this data right at the very start of the hard drive. Whenever you do
something with the computer that actually changes what happens during
boot, it could go through the real booting process and save the results.
Doing this would also give you instant restarts. You just hit your
restart button, the computer reloads the memory image, and you can be
working again. Or am I wrong? Why haven't companies made it a priority to
have 'instant on' desktops and laptops?"

Discuss this story at:
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...11/0142212


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Scientists Developing Commercially Viable Synthetic Gecko |
| from the better-than-synthetic-llama dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Sunday December 10, @23:30 (Science) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...11/0430240 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Gordon from Seattle writes to mention a CNN article about [1]a new way
to hang out. A British aerospace team is working on a super-sticky
substance they're calling "Synthetic Gecko". It mimics the hairs on a
gecko's foot, and may eventually be developed as a reusable adhesive.
From the article: "Each of the microscopic setae on a gecko's foot has a
mushroom shaped cap on the end, less than one-thousandth of a millimeter
across. This ensures that the gecko's foot is in very close contact with
the surface beneath. The cumulative attractive force, called van der
Waals force, of these setae allows the lizard to scurry up walls and
ceilings, and even hang from polished glass surfaces. In 2003 scientists
at the University of Manchester produced a one centimeter patch of 'gecko
tape,' but neither the University of Manchester nor University of
California teams managed to produce the material in a greater quantity,
unlike Haq and Sargent, who have already tested areas larger than 10
centimeters-squared."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...11/0430240

Links:
0. mailto:gordon.indeed@gmail.com
1. http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/12/...index.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Telescope Spots Solar Tsunami |
| from the could-even-silver-surfer-have-ridden-that-wave dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Monday December 11, @01:47 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...11/0434205 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

scdeimos writes "The prototype of a new solar patrol telescope in New
Mexico [0]recorded a tsunami-like shock wave rolling across the visible
face of the Sun following a major flare event on Wednesday, Dec. 6. The
shock wave, known as a Moreton wave, also destroyed or compressed two
filaments of cool gas at opposite sides of the solar hemisphere." From
the article: "'These large scale 'blast' waves occur infrequently,
however, are very powerful. They quickly propagate in a matter of minutes
covering the whole Sun, sweeping away filamentary material,' said Dr. K.
S. Balasubramaniam. 'It is unusual to see such powerful waves
encompassing the whole sun from ground based observatories. Its
significance comes from the fact that these waves are occurring near
solar minimum, when intense activity is yet to pick up.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...11/0434205

Links:
0. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/06...unami.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| New Developments From Microsoft Research |
| from the end-result-of-windows-money dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Monday December 11, @03:24 (Microsoft) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/11/0438253 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]prostoalex writes "Information Week magazine [1]runs a brief report
from Microsoft Research, showcasing some of the new technologies the
company's research division is working on. Among them — a rootkit that
eliminates other rootkits, a firewall that blocks the traffic exploiting
published vulnerabilities, a system for catching lost e-mail, a honeypot
targeted at discovering zero-day exploits, and some anti-phishing
applications."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=06/12/11/0438253

Links:
0. http://www.moskalyuk.com/blog
1. http://www.informationweek.com/story/sho...=196600677


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Study Detects Recent Instance of Human Evolution |
| from the genetic-not-mental dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Monday December 11, @05:57 (Science) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...11/0445222 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

The New York Times is running a Sunday article regarding [0]new evidence
about 'recent' human evolution. A research team at the University of
Maryland has done some work looking at the [1]rise of lactose tolerance
in the human populations of Africa. From the article: "The principal
mutation, found among Nilo-Saharan-speaking ethnic groups of Kenya and
Tanzania, arose 2,700 to 6,800 years ago, according to genetic estimates,
Dr. Tishkoff's group is to report in the journal Nature Genetics on
Monday. This fits well with archaeological evidence suggesting that
pastoral peoples from the north reached northern Kenya about 4,500 years
ago and southern Kenya and Tanzania 3,300 years ago ... Genetic evidence
shows that the mutations conferred an enormous selective advantage on
their owners, enabling them to leave almost 10 times as many descendants
as people without them. The mutations have created 'one of the strongest
genetic signatures of natural selection yet reported in humans,' the
researchers write. "

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...11/0445222

Links:
0. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/scienc...1323406800&en=6576a01a1bb4ce31&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?titl...ntolerance&oldid=93435162#History_of_genetic_prevalence


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Java EE & Streaming Architectures |
| from the a-better-cornerstone-for-a-better-building dept. |
| posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @07:22 (Java) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...11/1134204 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Amin Ahmad writes "Implementing a [1]streaming architecture on a Java
EE application server provides asymptotically better memory performance,
and, hence, scalability, than current, widely-implemented, Java EE
patterns endorsed by Sun. This article provides a [2]concrete
implementation of a streaming architecture and compares its scalability
to two other, standard implementations: Remote EJB and Local EJB-based
solutions. The implementation based on a streaming architecture comes out
the hands-down winner: for example, when sending back 300 rows of data to
the client, the Local EJB solution fails beyond 16 concurrent users
whereas the streaming solution is still running at 128 concurrent users!
The article includes complete source code and the entire results database
for the stress test. I would be interested in hearing your feedback."

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments....11/1134204

Links:
0. http://www.ahmadsoft.org/
1. http://www.ahmadsoft.org/articles/stream/stream.html
2. http://www.ahmadsoft.org/articles/stream...dents.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Mac Book Pro as Roomba Remote |
| from the send-arnold-back-in-time-to-stop-this dept. |
| posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @07:59 (Robotics) |
| http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...11/1129201 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

adelord writes "Alpha Geeks have a new do-it-yourself project to
terrorize the cat with: use Perl with a MacBook Pro's Sudden Motion
Sensor to control a Roomba. Wired's [0]Cult of Mac cites the original
site [1]which has other fun ways to pimp your Roomba . This gets my award
for most inefficient use of tech, time, and training for the week. It
won't freak out her cat nearly as much as a [2]RoboRaptor on Roam mode. "

Discuss this story at:
http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...11/1129201

Links:
0. http://blog.wired.com/cultofmac/2006/12/...roomb.html
1. http://hackingroomba.com/projects/roomba...book-perl/
2. http://www.forthepickney.com/202-1659930...osaur.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Hans Reiser in Court Today |
| from the the-case-grinds-on dept. |
| posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @08:35 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/11/1144226 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "Hans Reiser has pled not guilty to murdering
his wife and invoked his right to a speedy trial. He will attend a
hearing today where the judge will decide [0]if the state has a case " We
had covered this story back when [1]it had first broke; and for those of
you playing catch-up, Hans is the [2]author of ReiserFS.

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...11/1144226

Links:
0. http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_4734707
1. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/11/0142216&tid=123
2. http://www.namesys.com/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Map of the Internet |
| from the truly-impressive dept. |
| posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @09:12 (The Internet) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/11/1150241 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Wellington Grey writes "Author of the popular webcomic [1]xkcd has put
up a hand made [2]map of the internet as today's comic. He also has an
interesting [3]blog entry detailing some of the work that went into it,
such a pinging servers and creating a method of fractal mapping to
display related regions as contiguous sections on the grid." The drawing
is pretty damn impressive; somebody get on making that thing a giant wall
poster so I can paper over Taco's office door.

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=06/12/11/1150241

Links:
0. http://www.wellingtongrey.net/
1. http://xkcd.com/
2. http://xkcd.com/c195.html
3. http://blag.xkcd.com/2006/12/11/the-map-...-internet/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| A Close® Look At OLPC Human Interface Guidelines |
| from the making-the-audience-understand dept. |
| posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @09:48 (GUI) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...11/1155242 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

feranick writes "There have been a lot of articles on Slashdot about the
OLPC project, most of them regarding the hardware, the social impact or
the cost of the operation itself. However the software development,
[0]specifically in the GUI didn't get so far much attention. This blog
summarizes some of the [1]OLPC global interface guidelines. You will see
that what is really new in the laptop is not the laptop itself, but the
completely new idea behind the design, where instead of applications you
have activities, documents are now journals, 'application bundles can be
signed by whoever works on them — because there is a view source key on
the keyboard, anybody can modify an app and distribute it'. It really
looks like if this is successfully, we could see a new breakthrough in
GUI design also in mainstream PCs: "This UI is quite simply one of the
deepest and most interesting redesigns of the desktop user interface ever
produced. It makes MacOS look like what it is — boring and unoriginal.""

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments....11/1155242

Links:
0. http://www.wildgardenseed.com/mike/olpc.html
1. http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Human_Int...Guidelines


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Java SE 6 Released |
| from the upgrade-maybe dept. |
| posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @09:54 (Java) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p.../11/145238 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]twofish writes "Sun has announced the availability of [1]Java Standard
Edition 6 final release. JSE6 now has dynamic language support. It comes
pre-delivered with Netscape's Rhino, a Javascript engine, and the
[2]scripting project's home page documents many other available scripting
languages, including awk, Jelly, Pnuts, Python, Ruby, and Scheme. In
addition a lot of work has been done on the libraries and run-time
compiler. The JIT has been improved, with better runtime analysis of
program characteristics, giving notable performance improvements. Other
improvements include better desktop support, improvements in Swing look
and feel, Windows Vista support, and better diagnostic support (For
example, profilers and debuggers can now attach to a running JVM without
specifically using a debugging-capable configuration. For example, if a
problem is found at run-time for a production server, a debugger can
attach to it without restarting the server). Sun is also offering sixty
days of free developer support for JSE 6 through their [3]Developer
Services program."

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments..../11/145238

Links:
0. http://www.twofish-music.com/
1. http://java.sun.com/javase/6/
2. http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalA...scripting/
3. http://developers.sun.com/services/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Apple's Illuminous (Aqua v2) to Compete with Aero |
| from the the-rumour-mill-starts-twitching dept. |
| posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @10:15 (Software) |
| http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...11/1426226 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

tovarish writes "According to Apple Gazette Apple will [0]replace Aqua
with a new name (and hopefully looks) called Illuminous. Is Jobs scared
of Aero?, does it make sense to go for a new UI now?, has Aqua run out of
steam? The answers will probably come later next month(year)."

Discuss this story at:
http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...11/1426226

Links:
0. http://www.applegazette.com/mac/rumor-aq...lluminous/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Advice For Programmers Right Out of School |
| from the words-of-advice-for-young-people dept. |
| posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @10:26 (Programming) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...11/1247200 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

ari1981 writes "I recently graduated from school with a CS degree, and
several of my classes were very theoretical in nature. There was some
programming, but it seems not as much as in other schools. I'm currently
working at a company where I'm doing primarily c/c++ app development on
unix. But as I read slashdot, and other tech sites / articles, and
realize for some of the software being written nowadays, I would have
absolutely NO IDEA how to even begin writing it. I remember first time I
saw them, I thought console emulators were really cool. After my
education, I have no idea how someone would begin writing one. With the
work I'm doing now, it doesn't seem I'm going to be using (or creating)
any of the really cool technology I hear about. How did everyone here
begin learning / teaching themselves about different aspects of
programming, that they initially had no clue about? How did you improve?
Programming on your own? Through work?"

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments....11/1247200


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Red Hat Dismisses Threat Posed by Oracle and MS |
| from the well-of-course-he-would-say-that dept. |
| posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @11:01 (Red Hat Software) |
| http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...11/1259246 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Rob writes "Red Hat Inc's executive vice president of worldwide sales,
Alex Pinchev, has dismissed the impact that Oracle Corp's entry into the
Linux support business could have on Red Hat, insisting Oracle does not
really know what it is doing. Pinchev also described Microsoft's recent
interoperability and patent peace deal with Novell Inc as a "non-event"
and dismissed the suggestion that Linux [0]users are at risk of a patent
infringement lawsuit from Redmond."

Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...11/1259246

Links:
0. http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.as...33F87D91C0


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Independent Benchmarking System for Mice |
| from the getting-a-wee-bit-specialized dept. |
| posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @11:16 (Input Devices) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...11/1427242 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Heartless Gamer writes "[1]Why benchmark a mouse? From ESReality; "In
this environment where performance is king, it's ludicrous to think that
mouse performance has never been measured for reviewing the products.
Imagine reviewing the latest graphics card in the same way. Without
benchmarks, reviewers would have to resort to loading up their favourite
game and commenting on how their frag count improved. You would have no
way to compare NVIDIA and ATI cards apart from the quality of the
packaging. Without benchmarking, graphics card reviews would be almost
entirely useless. So why do we put up with mouse reviews that are just as
useless?""

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...11/1427242

Links:
0. http://hgamer.blogspot.com/
1. http://www.esreality.com/?a=post&id=1265679


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Disk Drives Face Challenge From Chips |
| from the the-growth-of-hard-storage dept. |
| posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @11:36 (Data Storage) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...11/1414241 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]WSJdpatton writes "Researchers are [1]reporting significant progress
in perfecting a different way to store data in semiconductors, which
could replace one widely used type of memory chip and possibly become a
credible competitor to disk drives. The researchers, in a paper being
delivered at a technical conference in San Francisco, say they used a
novel combination of materials to create prototype phase-change
components that are more than 500 times as fast as flash chips, while
requiring less than half of the electrical power to record data."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...11/1414241

Links:
0. http://wsj.com/free
1. http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB1...?mod=blogs


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Predicting Space Weather |
| from the but-don't-use-space-based-lasers dept. |
| posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @12:20 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...11/1416213 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]eldavojohn writes "Recently, a new discovery has been made
[1]explaining how & predicting when [2]space weather occurs. Hopefully
this will allow us to predict when and where these extreme forces of
magnetic flux occur so that we can prepare to repair satellites or shut
them down for safety reasons. Recent activities on the sun have surprised
scientists including the explosive "[3]solar tsunami" that happened last
week. From the article, "The new study shows that the Northern Lights,
also called aurora, and other space weather near Earth are driven by the
rate at which the Earth's and Sun's magnetic fields connect, or merge,
and not just by the solar wind's electric field. The merging occurs way
out in space, at a spot between the Earth and Sun, roughly 40,000 miles
above our planet's surface. Researchers have now developed a formula that
describes the merging rate of the magnetic field lines and accurately
predicts 10 different types of near-Earth space weather activity, such as
the aurora and magnetic disturbances.""

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...11/1416213

Links:
0. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood,_Sweat_&_Tears
1. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/06...ather.html
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_weather
3. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/06...unami.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Consumer Reports: Cingular, Sprint Bad Performers |
| from the and-guess-which-company-starting-with-C-I-have dept. |
| posted by Hemos on Monday December 11, @12:55 (Communications) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...11/1537216 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]dcgirl20006 writes "It's that time again, Consumer Reports is out with
the [1] annual cell phone review. And Verizon has risen to the top. And,
Cingular, with the most subscribers (post AT&T mega merger), claims it is
the company with the "least dropped calls" but consumers say otherwise.
[2]What can be done? Provide risk-free 30 day trial period; realistic
coverage maps, upfront price disclosure, and end early termination fees."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...11/1537216

Links:
0. http://www.hearusnow.org/
1. http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/elect...e_ov_1.htm
2. http://cu.convio.net/HUN_PetitionTheCellPhoneCompanies


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Ultrawideband Soon To Be Legal In Europe |
| from the wires-begone dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday December 11, @13:30 (Wireless Network|
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...11/1638253 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

ukhackster writes "ZDNet UK is reporting that ultrawideband will be
[0]legalized in Europe within 6 months, but with tougher controls than in
America — the only place where it is legal now. Ultrawideband offers
wireless connectivity at speeds up to 1Gbps, and is meant to supersede
USB and clear our desks of wires. In Europe, fears that UWB might
interfere with other technologies have kept it out of the market. Opening
up the European market could give manufacturers a powerful incentive to
push UWB." From the article: "[S]ources confirmed to ZDNet UK that the
restrictions put forward by the EC would indeed be more rigorous than
those imposed in the US, although they would not be so restrictive as to
make it impossible for some global harmonization of UWB devices... It is
understood that the committee decision to allow UWB was based on a far
from unanimous majority, with some Scandinavian countries and France
opposing the proposal."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...11/1638253

Links:
0. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0...057,00.htm


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Neverwinter Nights 2 Review |
| from the like-facing-down-a-lich-loved-templated-dire-vampiric-ba|
| posted by Zonk on Monday December 11, @14:14 (Role Playing (Games|
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...11/1616229 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Neverwinter Nights was like an arrow of Zonk-slaying aimed directly at my
gamer heart. I've been a table-top player since grade school, and a CRPG
version of Dungeons and Dragons with the (at the time) new 3.0 rule set
was tremendously exciting. Some four years later, and the sequel had me
equally excited. Neverwinter Nights 2 was developed by Obsidian (of
Planescape: Torment fame), using a fairly faithful version of the newer
3.5 rules. The result is a game that oozes D&D from every pore. You've
got tons of spells, prestige classes, quirky-weird races (tieflings?
anybody?), and a polished, functional story that gets you from point A to
point B with a minimum of pain. A recipe for a nerdgasm if there ever was
one. The game itself, regrettably, suffers from a fairly big problem:
they rolled a 1 on their Craft(Videogame) roll. Read on to find out why
they should have taken 10 in my impressions of Neverwinter Nights 2.

This story continues at:
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...11/1616229

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...11/1616229


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Rails Recipes |
| from the really-cooking dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Monday December 11, @14:53 (Book Reviews) |
| http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...11/1534204 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]James Edward Gray II writes "If you have been swept up by the Rails
craze or are even just a casual fan, you have probably been waiting for
the terrific books to start rolling in. Some early entries, like Agile
Web Development with Rails, were very solid but for me greatness arrived
with [1]Rails Recipes. For those who are not familiar with it, Rails is a
full-stack web application framework, for quickly developing
state-of-the-art web applications. Rails Recipes is the latest book on
the subject from the Pragmatic Programmers." Read the rest of James's
review.

This story continues at:
http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...11/1534204

Discuss this story at:
http://books.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...11/1534204

Links:
0. mailto:james@grayproductions.net
1. http://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com/title...index.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| How To Choose Archival CD/DVD Media |
| from the 70-years-or-bust dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday December 11, @15:33 (Media) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...11/1714232 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader tips us to an article by Patrick McFarland, the
well-known Free Software Magazine author, going into [0]great detail on
CD/DVD media. McFarland covers the history of these media from CDs
through recordable DVDs, explaining the various formats and their
strengths and drawbacks. The heart of the article is an essay on the
DVD-R vs. DVD+R recording standards, leading to McFarland's
recommendation for which media he buys for archival storage. Spoiler:
it's Taiyo Yuden DVD+R all the way. From the article: "Unlike pressed
CDs/DVDs, 'burnt' CDs/DVDs can eventually 'fade,' due to five things that
affect the quality of CD media: sealing method, reflective layer, organic
dye makeup, where it was manufactured, and your storage practices (please
keep all media out of direct sunlight, in a nice cool dry dark place, in
acid-free plastic containers; this will triple the lifetime of any
media)."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...11/1714232

Links:
0. http://adterrasperaspera.com/blog/2006/1...val-media/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Outsourcing Growing Beyond India |
| from the ho-ho-ho-chi-minh dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday December 11, @16:10 (Businesses) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...11/1818204 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

PreacherTom writes "One of the most controversial aspects of the global
economy has been the newfound enthusiasm of companies, freed from the
constraints of physical location, to outsource jobs. No country had
embraced tech outsourcing with more passion than India. Of late,
[0]problems are beginning to arise in Indian outsourcing: engineers will
start a project, get a few months' experience, and then bolt for greener
pastures. The level of attrition can cause the turnover of a project's
entire staff within the course of a year. Combine this with salaries in
Bangalore that are rising at 12% to 14% per year and it is no surprise
that companies are looking beyond India to a slew of emerging hotspots
for IT, such as Brazil, China, and Vietnam. Will Ho Chi Minh City be the
new Bangalore?" From the article: "India remains an IT outsourcing
powerhouse, with $17.7 billion in software and IT services exports in
2005, compared with $3.6 billion for China and $1 billion for Russia...
India's outsourcing industry is still growing at a faster pace than that
of... other wannabe Bangalores... By the third year of an outsourcing
deal, after all the costs have been squeezed out, companies get antsy to
find a new locale with an even lower overhead."

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments....11/1818204

Links:
0. http://www.businessweek.com/technology/c...a.rss1211a


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Unwanted Popups Boosting Web Traffic |
| from the stealing-eyeballs dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday December 11, @16:47 (The Internet) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/11/1829256 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Most of us have experienced popups used for advertising. Now, some adware
companies and advertiser networks are using popups (mostly from programs
that users did not want installed) to [0]directly boost traffic numbers
for their customer Web sites. Net rating and measurement companies try to
detect and discount such inflated traffic numbers, with mixed success.

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=06/12/11/1829256

Links:
0. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/11/techno...1push.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Sense of Smell Tied To Quantum Physics? |
| from the sniffing-out-a-theory dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday December 11, @17:28 (Biotech) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...11/1952201 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]SpaceAdmiral writes "A controversial theory that proposes that our
sense of smell is based not on the shape of the molecules that enter our
nose but on their vibrations was given a boost recently when University
College London [1]researchers determined that the quantum physics
involved makes sense. The theory, proposed in the mid-1990s by
biophysicist Luca Turin, suggests that electron tunneling initiates the
smell signal being sent to the brain. It could explain why similarly
shaped molecules can have very different smells, and molecules with very
different structures can smell similar." Turin has now formed a company
to design odorants using his theory, and claims an advantage over the
competition of two orders of magnitude in rate of discovery. The article
concludes, "At the very least, he is putting his money where his nose
is."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...11/1952201

Links:
0. http://www.fanehenderson.com/
1. http://www.nature.com/news/2006/061204/f...04-10.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Demise of the Professional Photojournalist |
| from the going-going dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday December 11, @18:06 (The Media) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/11/195217 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Dan Gillmor has a piece up on his Center for Citizen Media blog about the
[0]coming decline in the venerable professions of photojournalism and
videography. It's hard to fault Gillmor's argument that the ubiquity of
Net-connected cameras and cell phones will mean that, for breaking news
at least, a pro will rarely if ever be the ones who capture the shot or
the footage that gets widely published and reprinted. The comments to
Gillmor's post are worth reading. One reader pulls out the figure that a
billion camera phones will be in use globally by 2008.

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=06/12/11/195217

Links:
0. http://citmedia.org/blog/2006/12/04/the-...ournalist/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| VLC 0.8.6 Released |
| from the plays-almost-anything dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday December 11, @18:42 (Media) |
| http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid.../11/208229 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]h2g2bob writes "VideoLAN yesterday released a [1]new version of VLC
media player. A shout out goes to [2]ffmpeg for many of the codec
improvements." From the blurb: "Building on feedback from the 29 million
downloads of VLC media player 0.8.5, we bring you version 0.8.6 with many
bugfixes, as well as a couple of new features we think you will truly
enjoy. Most prominent are probably Windows Media Video 9 and Flash Video.
Other important changes are improved H.264 decoding, better Windows
Unicode support, a Fullscreen controller, and Apple Remote support for
Mac OS X."

Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si.../11/208229

Links:
0. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:H2g2bob
1. http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
2. http://ffmpeg.mplayerhq.hu/



Copyright 1997-2006 OSTG. All rights reserved.

======================================================================
Reply
#3
Slashdot Daily Headline Mailer

The 5 Coolest Hacks of '07
from the still-no-pencil-hack dept.
posted by samzenpus on Wednesday January 02, @19:47 (Security)
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/02/2320230

What's Wrong With the TV News
from the not-enough-capes-spaceships-and-pie dept.
posted by samzenpus on Wednesday January 02, @21:13 (Television)
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/02/2327238

Scientists Fly to 2008's Most Dazzling Meteor Shower
from the follow-that-burning-rock dept.
posted by samzenpus on Wednesday January 02, @23:09 (Space)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...02/2334242

World's Smallest Projector
from the there-are-no-small-roles dept.
posted by samzenpus on Thursday January 03, @03:04 (Portables)
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...03/0418221

Airport Profilers Learn to Read Facial Expressions
from the you-look-guilty dept.
posted by samzenpus on Thursday January 03, @07:50 (Transportation)
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/03/0426219

GUI Design Book Recommendations?
from the wrapping-the-mind-around-it dept.
posted by kdawson on Thursday January 03, @08:32 (Books)
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/03/135217

RTF Vs. OOXML
from the already-extinguished dept.
posted by kdawson on Thursday January 03, @09:20 (Microsoft)
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/03/1347236

Investors, "Beware" of Record Companies
from the rats-heading-down-the-hawsers dept.
posted by kdawson on Thursday January 03, @10:02 (Businesses)
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/03/1412247

MS To Push Silverlight Via Redesigned Microsoft.com
from the bye-bye-html dept.
posted by kdawson on Thursday January 03, @10:45 (Software)
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/03/1537227

Sears Installs Spyware
from the naughty-naughty dept.
posted by kdawson on Thursday January 03, @11:35 (Privacy)
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/03/1630203

Cocaine Vaccine In the Works
from the runnin-round-my-brain dept.
posted by kdawson on Thursday January 03, @12:15 (Biotech)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...03/1647202

Russia Weighs Going Cyrillic For DNS
from the ru-serious dept.
posted by kdawson on Thursday January 03, @12:57 (The Internet)
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/03/1658224

Lenovo Announces the IdeaPad
from the branching-away-from-ibms-old-market dept.
posted by Zonk on Thursday January 03, @13:41 (Portables)
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...03/1749255

The Trouble with Virtualization - Cranky IT Staffs
from the p-e-b-k-a-c dept.
posted by Zonk on Thursday January 03, @14:22 (IT)
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/03/1833252

LG & Netflix Team Up to Offer Downloadable Movies on TV
from the yet-another-standalone-piece-of-tech dept.
posted by Zonk on Thursday January 03, @15:01 (Movies)
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/03/1859218

Four Root DNS Servers Go IPv6 On February 4th
from the our-interwebs-are-all-growed-up dept.
posted by Zonk on Thursday January 03, @15:40 (The Internet)
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/03/1954245

UK Moves to Outlaw 'Hacker Tools'
from the getting-to-be-popular-over-there dept.
posted by Zonk on Thursday January 03, @16:21 (Government)
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/03/2056223

Antitrust Suit Filed To Halt Apple 'Music Monopoly'
from the a-bit-too-popular dept.
posted by Zonk on Thursday January 03, @17:03 (The Courts)
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/03/2135259

Stern Measures Keep NASA's Kepler Mission on Track
from the playing-hardball-in-spaaaace dept.
posted by Zonk on Thursday January 03, @17:43 (NASA)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s.../03/229207

Surveillance Rights for the Public?
from the why-can't-we-big-brother-them-back dept.
posted by Zonk on Thursday January 03, @18:24 (The Courts)
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/03/2232218

Reply
#4
Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* PI License May Soon Be Required for Computer Forensics
* General Motors Embraces Open Source for New Community Site
* Frozen Researchers Set Antarctic Ballooning Record
* The Strangest Online Political Challenges of 2007
* Apple Files for OLED Keyboard Patent
* McAfee Worried Over "Ambiguous" Open Source Licenses
* Science Text Attempts to Reconcile Religion and Science
* Google, Yahoo, Others Sued Over Solitaire Patent
* Warner Backs Blu-Ray. End Times For HD-DVD?
* Bill Gates and Microsoft Fund Telescope
* Weave... Mozilla Is Trying To Be More Social
* Facebook Widget Installs Zango Spyware
* NYT Notes Flaws In Current Electronic Voting Methods
* Vista SP1 Guides for IT Professionals Released
* High School Robotics Competition Kicks Off
* Boeing 787 May Be Vulnerable to Hacker Attack
* A Bleak Future For Physical Media Purchases?
* RIAA's 'Misspeaking' May Have Affected Verdict

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| PI License May Soon Be Required for Computer Forensics |
| from the geeks-licensed-to-buy-cool-surveillance-gear dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday January 04, @20:22 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/04/2244227 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]buzzardsbay writes "The good folks over at Baseline Magazine have an
intriguing — and worrisome — report on a movement to limit computer
forensics work to those who have a [1]Private Investigator license or
those who work for licensed PI agencies. According to the story, pending
legislation would limit the specialized task of probing deep into
computer hard drives, network and server logs for telltale signs of
hacking and data theft to the same people who advertise in the Yellow
Pages for surveillance on cheating spouses, workers' compensation fraud
and missing persons. Those caught practicing computer forensics without a
license could face criminal prosecution."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/04/2244227

Links:
0. mailto:buzzardsbay@gmail.com
1. http://www.baselinemag.com/article2/0,15...720,00.asp


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| General Motors Embraces Open Source for New Community Site |
| from the let-em-have-it dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday January 04, @22:34 (The Interne|
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/04/2045222 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "GM has [0]introduced a new website called
[1]GMnext. The site utilizes Wordpress and launching in spring a Wiki
allowing General Motors to get better feedback on topics such as energy,
design and technology from the community. The interesting part is the
executives at GM are participating in the collaborative website. 'We're
starting our second century at a time of fundamental change in the auto
industry,' said GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner. 'We'll use GMnext to
introduce some of our ideas for addressing critical issues concerning
energy, the environment and globalization. In the process, we also hope
to spark a broader, global discussion on these important topics.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/04/2045222

Links:
0. http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...40337/1002
1. http://www.gmnext.com/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Frozen Researchers Set Antarctic Ballooning Record |
| from the hope-you-like-penguins dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Saturday January 05, @00:27 (NASA) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s.../04/231215 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]coondoggie writes to mention NASA and the National Science Foundation
(NSF) have [1]announced a new record in the history of scientific
ballooning in Antarctica. The new record was established by 'launching
and operating three long-duration sub-orbital flights simultaneously
within a single southern-hemisphere summer'. "The milestone is
significant, as it occurs during the height of the International Polar
Year (IPY), a coordinated scientific campaign that is utilizing
scientists from more than 60 nations. NSF is the lead federal agency for
IPY, which began in March 2007 and will continue until 2009 to allow for
two full years of observations and field work in parts of the world that
are generally uninhabitable for as long as six months each year,
researchers said. "

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?.../04/231215

Links:
0. http://networkworld.com/
1. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/23518


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Strangest Online Political Challenges of 2007 |
| from the different-is-good dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Saturday January 05, @01:02 (The Inter|
| http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?...05/0152237 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]destinyland writes "Blorgable has a list the year's [1]ten strangest
online political moments arguing that 2007 was the year digital
identities started encroaching into the culture. While the U.S. Senate
was busy fighting cartoon-related digital terrorism with 'The Terrorist
Hoax Improvements Act of 2007,' Ann Coulter's web page ended up
[2]'mistakenly' announcing her retirement after someone hacked it! But
the unpredictable changes were sometimes deadly serious. Even the
mainstream media noticed '[3]the ghosts of MySpace' — those U.S. soldiers
whose web pages ultimately outlived them."

Discuss this story at:
http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl...05/0152237

Links:
0. http://www.destinyland.org/
1. http://www.blorgable.com/2008/01/04/year...s-of-2007/
2. http://www.blorgable.com/2007/10/16/hack...s-a-prank/
3. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/in...line_N.htm


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Apple Files for OLED Keyboard Patent |
| from the prior-art dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Saturday January 05, @02:22 (Input Dev|
| http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...05/0043217 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

pegdhcp writes to mention that Apple has applied for a patent on a '[0]dynamically
controlled keyboard' with OLED keys. This may seem [1]remarkably familiar,
since an OLED keyboard has been bandied about by Art Lebedev studios for
quite a while now. "while the Optimus Maximus is a bit expensive, Apple
could certainly mass-produce something similar for less money, perhaps
bringing the price into reality for most users. Lebedev has, however,
apparently applied for several patents for the Optimus, so it's unclear
just what Apple is up to, or what would happen if the company were ever
to release such a product."

Discuss this story at:
http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...05/0043217

Links:
0. http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ar...-watch-out
1. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...14/1335215&tid=159


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| McAfee Worried Over "Ambiguous" Open Source Licenses |
| from the play-by-the-rules-and-no-one-gets-hurt dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Saturday January 05, @04:36 (Software)|
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/05/0215201 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]willdavid writes to tell us InformationWeek is reporting that McAfee,
in their annual report, has warned investors that [1]"ambiguous" open
source licenses "may result in unanticipated obligations regarding
[McAfee] products." "McAfee said it's particularly troubling that the
legality of terms included in the GNU/General Public License -- the most
widely used open source license -- have yet to be tested in court. 'Use
of GPL software could subject certain portions of our proprietary
software to the GPL requirements, which may have adverse effects on our
sales of the products incorporating any such software,' McAfee said in
the report filed last month with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Among other things, the GPL requires that manufacturers who in their
products use software governed by the license distribute the software's
source code to end users or customers. Some manufacturers have voiced
concerns that the requirement could leave important security or copyright
protection features in their products open to tampering."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...05/0215201

Links:
0. mailto:willdavid@comcast.net
1. http://www.informationweek.com/shared/pr...=205207799


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Science Text Attempts to Reconcile Religion and Science |
| from the something-for-both-sides-to-hate dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Saturday January 05, @06:30 (Education|
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s.../05/025256 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

terrymaster69 writes "The New York Times reports that the National
Academy of Sciences has just published their third book outlining
guidelines for the [0]teaching of evolution. 'But this volume is unusual,
people who worked on it say, because it is intended specifically for the
lay public and because it devotes much of its space to explaining the
differences between science and religion, and asserting that acceptance
of evolution does not require abandoning belief in God.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?.../05/025256

Links:
0. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/us/04e...1357102800&en=528ac8c83d2eeec6&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Google, Yahoo, Others Sued Over Solitaire Patent |
| from the patent-trolls dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Saturday January 05, @08:24 (Patents) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/05/0138259 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "Back in 2004, Slashdot posted about
[0]computer solitaire being patented. It was a ridiculous patent and made
it onto the EFF's list of [1]worst patents. However, not much had been
heard about that patent until now. It turns out that the patent holder,
Sheldon Goldberg, is now using that patent to [2]sue a bunch of different
online publications, including Digg, eBaum's World, the NY Times, Cnet
and the Washington Post. He's also suing Google, Yahoo and AOL (why
not?)."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...05/0138259

Links:
0. http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...03/1516237&tid=206
1. http://w2.eff.org/patent/wanted/patent.php?p=sheldon
2. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080104/025253.shtml


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Warner Backs Blu-Ray. End Times For HD-DVD? |
| from the sure-why-not dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday January 05, @09:25 (Television) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...05/1337258 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "The NY Times reports: In addition to Apple,
Warner Brothers is now going to [0]throw its weight behind the Blu-ray
format for high-definition disks. Warner has been the only major studio
to publish its movies in both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats. Today, the
studio announced that from now on, it would [1]only issue movies in
Blu-ray. Richard Greenfield, the media analyst with Pali Research, wrote
that this marks the end of the format wars: "We expect HD DVD to 'die' a
quick death.""

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...05/1337258

Links:
0. http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/...83,00.html
1. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/04...ex.html?hp


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Bill Gates and Microsoft Fund Telescope |
| from the he's-still-a-nerd-people dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday January 05, @10:18 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...05/1420206 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]coondoggie writes "Bill Gates and the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts
and Sciences this week donated $30 million to [1]an ambitious telescope
that researchers say will be able to survey the entire sky every three
nights — something never done before. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope
(LSST) Project got $20 million from the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and
Sciences and $10 million from Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates.
Expected to see its "first light" in 2014, the 8.4-meter LSST will survey
the entire visible sky deeply in multiple colors every week with its 3
billion-pixel digital camera, probing the mysteries of dark matter and
dark energy and opening a movie-like window on objects that change or
move. With the telescope scientists will be able to quickly find
Earth-threatening asteroids and exploding stars called supernovas and
will be able to map out 100 billion galaxies, according to researchers."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...05/1420206

Links:
0. http://networkworld.com/
1. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/23514


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Weave... Mozilla Is Trying To Be More Social |
| from the how-about-trying-to-leak-less dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday January 05, @11:14 (Mozilla) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/05/156200 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Cassanova writes "Weave is the newest Mozilla Labs project. It allows
the user to save browser settings on Mozilla servers (Favorites,
sessions, passwords, etc.) and load them from anywhere. With this
project. Mozilla is trying to be an online services provider, which is an
important step. But[1] can Mozilla labs get over the privacy issues?"

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/05/156200

Links:
0. http://wddc.blogspot.com/
1. http://wddc.blogspot.com/2008/01/mozilla...to-be.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Facebook Widget Installs Zango Spyware |
| from the hate-when-that-happens dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday January 05, @12:16 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/05/157208 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

BaCa writes "A malicious Facebook Widget actively spreading on the social
networking site [0]ultimately prompts users to install the infamous
"Zango" adware/spyware. The tremendous success and lightning fast
expansion of Facebook empowered the social networking giant with an
impressive user base. Needless to say, in a digital world where web
traffic equals money, such a user base attracts spammers, virus/spyware
seeders, and other ethic-less online marketers like honey would attract
flies."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/05/157208

Links:
0. http://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=898


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NYT Notes Flaws In Current Electronic Voting Methods |
| from the judge-carefully dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday January 05, @13:32 (United States) |
| http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?...05/1718210 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

dstates writes "The New York time has an informative article on
electronic voting with [0]some frightening statistics and interesting
anecdotes. Printers on Diebold machines in Cayahoga County OH jammed 20%
of the time, making paper trail recounts suspect. Crashing voting
machines in California reportedly resulted from Windows CE sensing
fingers sliding from one key to another as a drag and drop event, and the
Diebold software failing to handle the event. Of course, rather than just
ignore this unanticipated condition, the OS did the right thing for a
voting machine and crashed."

Discuss this story at:
http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl...05/1718210

Links:
0. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/magazi...1357275600&en=fa64e2dfdbc25941&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Vista SP1 Guides for IT Professionals Released |
| from the get-prepped-before-the-hammer-falls dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday January 05, @14:29 (Windows) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/05/1723202 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

wilkinism writes "Microsoft released [0]several detailed documents
explaining just about everything you ever wanted to know about Vista SP1.
Highlights include a [1]Deployment Guide, [2]list of included hotfixes,
and a 17-page list of [3]'Notable Changes'. In reviewing the Notable
Changes document, it seems the company focused on improving reliability &
performance in really specific scenarios, so it's no wonder that most
reviewers are reporting no noticeable gains."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/05/1723202

Links:
0. http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVis...d1033.mspx
1. http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVis...51033.mspx
2. http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVis...b1033.mspx
3. http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVis...e1033.mspx


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| High School Robotics Competition Kicks Off |
| from the all-fun-till-they-nuke-the-colonies dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday January 05, @15:46 (Robotics) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...05/2030241 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

DeviceGuru writes "Some 35,000 high school students from over 1500 high
schools in eight countries today began competing in the [0]annual US
FIRST student robotics contest. This year's competition, dubbed FIRST
Overdrive, challenges the student teams to build semi-autonomous robots
that can will move 40-inch diameter inflatable balls around a playing
field and score the most points. In this year's game, two alliances of
three teams each work collaboratively to win each round. An [1]animated
simulation of the game (in several video formats) is available online."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...05/2030241

Links:
0. http://www.deviceguru.com/2008/01/05/hig...kicks-off/
1. http://robotics.nasa.gov/events/2008_frcwebcasts.php


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Boeing 787 May Be Vulnerable to Hacker Attack |
| from the does-anyone-speak-l33t dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday January 05, @16:32 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/05/2057247 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]palegray.net writes "An article posted yesterday on Wired.com notes
that 'Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner passenger jet [1]may have a serious
security vulnerability in its onboard computer networks that could allow
passengers to access the plane's control systems, according to the U.S.
Federal Aviation Administration.' They're already working on solutions to
the problem - including placing more physical separation between aircraft
networks and implementing more robust software-based firewalls."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/05/2057247

Links:
0. http://classhelper.org/articles/pcp_backup_server/
1. http://www.wired.com/politics/security/n...r_security


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| A Bleak Future For Physical Media Purchases? |
| from the it's-a-madhouse-a-madhouse dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday January 05, @17:26 (Media) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/05/2142214 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

KevReedUK writes "The folks at ZDNet are [0]eulogising over the upcoming
death of physical media music sales. They refer to the noticeable drop in
physical sales of albums whilst digital sales continue climbing (albeit
at a reduced rate). Their central argument is that 'the music industry
was pillaged by piracy and competition from other forms of entertainment
such as video games ... [2007] marked the lowest tally and the steepest
decline since Nielsen began publishing estimates based on point-of-sales
data in 1993, a Nielsen representative said. The peak year in that time
was 2000, when sales reached 785 million units.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/05/2142214

Links:
0. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6224597.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| RIAA's 'Misspeaking' May Have Affected Verdict |
| from the slip-of-the-tongue-i-swear dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday January 05, @18:30 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/05/2158242 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "David Kravetz of Wired.com covered last
year's [0]Capitol v. Thomas trial gavel-to-gavel. It's worth noting,
then, his article saying that [1]the RIAA's recent statement — that
Sony's top litigation lawyer 'misspoke' during the trial. She said that
making a copy from one's own cd is 'stealing', which (in his words) may
have caused a major [2]miscarriage of justice. Wired further points out
that later on in the trial, during the RIAA's examination of Ms. Thomas,
'On the hard drive she [turned] over were thousands of songs Thomas said
she ripped from her CDs. The RIAA's Gabriel suggested to jurors that
copying one's purchased music was a violation of the Copyright Act.
Gabriel, for example, asked Thomas whether she had ever burned CDs,
either for herself, or to give away to friends.' Gabriel, the RIAA's lead
attorney, apparently misspoke too — prejudicing jurors along the way."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...05/2158242

Links:
0. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspo...n_v_Thomas
1. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspo...-sony.html
2. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/01...-sher.html



Copyright 1997-2006 OSTG. All rights reserved.


======================================================================

Reply
#5

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| FCC Will Test Internet Over TV Airwaves, Again |
| from the automagic-for-the-people dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday January 19, @14:26 (Television) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...19/1827209 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Weather Storm writes "According to MSNBC.com, the FCC will try again to
test prototypes on Jan. 24 for [0]transmitting high-speed Internet
service over unused television airwaves. The devices were developed by
Microsoft and Motorola, among other corporate partners, and will be
tested in laboratory and real-world conditions for three months. 'Last
year, a high-technology coalition — which included Microsoft, Google
Inc., Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., Intel Corp. among others —
[1]submitted prototypes they said could transmit broadband Internet
service over unlicensed and unused TV spectrum, known as "white spaces."
Television broadcasters and the wireless microphone industry say such
devices could interfere with programming. The Initial prototype testing
failed last July because the devices did not reliably detect and avoid TV
programming signals and could have caused interference. If the tests are
successful this time and the devices are approved, the coalition plans to
introduce commercial devices for sale after the digital television
transition in February 2009.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...19/1827209

Links:
0. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22728557/
1. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...13/0235257&tid=193
Reply
#6

Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* FBI Sought Approval To Use Spyware Through FISC
* Comcast's New Terms of Service Disclose Traffic Management
* Birds Give a Lesson to Plane Designers
* First Amendment Ruling Protects Internet Trolls
* TSA Changes Screening Based on Blog Suggestion
* Undersea Cable Cut Circumstances Examined
* New Authentication Scheme Proposed
* Torvalds On Desktop Linux's Slow Uptake
* Hotmail Doesn't Work With Linux Firefox 2.0
* Deal Reportedly Reached In Writers' Strike
* RIAA's Attack On NewYorkCountryLawyer Fails
* Hostile ta Vista, Baby
* 10-Year Anniversary of Open Source
* Chinese Professor Sues Google, Yahoo Over Search Exclusion
* Intel Skulltrail Benchmark and Analysis
* Is Linus Torvalds Speaking for Linux Anymore?
* Yahoo Offers All-You-Can-Eat Storage and Bandwidth
* Intel Sued Over Core 2 Duo Patent Infringement
* College Funding Bill Passes House, P2P Provision Intact
* Microsoft Under Third EU Investigation for OOXML
* Zvents Releases Open Source Cluster Database Based on Google

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| FBI Sought Approval To Use Spyware Through FISC |
| from the hey-guys-this-is-ok-right dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Thursday February 07, @19:43 (Privacy) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/07/2320236 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "Wired is reporting that [0]the FBI sought
approval to use its custom spyware program, [1]CIPAV, from the secretive
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in terrorism or spying
investigations. Affidavits prepared for the court are among 3,000 pages
of documents gathered, but not yet released, in response to a Freedom of
Information Act request from Wired. The FBI [2]hasn't answered any
questions about its use of the CIPAV since the program's existence
[3]became widely known in July. [4]The FISC is generally regarded as a
rubber stamp; it approved over 4,000 surveillance requests in [5]2005 and
[6]2006[PDF], rejecting none."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...07/2320236

Links:
0. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02...surve.html
1. http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/01/1632250&tid=172
2. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/07...for-y.html
3. http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2...bi_spyware
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Stat...ance_Court
5. http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fisa/2005rept.html
6. http://www.usdoj.gov/nsd/foia/reading_ro...sa-ltr.pdf


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Comcast's New Terms of Service Disclose Traffic Management |
| from the thanks-for-the-retroactive-heads-up dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Thursday February 07, @21:15 (The Internet|
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/08/0019227 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

cremou brings us word that [0]Comcast has changed its Terms of Service to
include policies on traffic management. This comes after the FCC's recent
decision to [1]investigate Comcast's P2P throttling. The language in the
updated [2]Terms of Service, according to Ars Technica, mirrors the FCC's
2005 [3]Internet Policy Statement[PDF]. "According to Section III of the
revised ToS, Comcast 'uses reasonable network management practices that
are consistent with industry standards.' The company points out that it
is not alone in the practice, saying that 'all major' ISPs engage in some
form of traffic shaping. Comcast does it to keep its subscribers from
suffering the heartaches of 'spam, viruses, security attacks, network
congestion, and other risks and degradations of service' and to 'deliver
the best possible Internet experience to all of its customers.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...08/0019227

Links:
0. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/200...proar.html
1. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/16/0238244&tid=95
2. http://www6.comcast.net/terms/use/
3. http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/at...-151A1.pdf


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Birds Give a Lesson to Plane Designers |
| from the it's-a-bird-it's-a-plane-no-really dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Thursday February 07, @23:22 (Science) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...08/0113231 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Roland Piquepaille points out a news release from the University of
Michigan where [1]researchers are looking to birds and bats for insights
into aerospace engineering. Wei Shyy and his colleagues are learning from
solutions developed by nature and applying them to the technology of
flight. A [2]presentation on this topic was also given at the 2005 TED
conference. From the news release: "The roll rate of the aerobatic A-4
Skyhawk plane is about 720 degrees per second. The roll rate of a barn
swallow exceeds 5,000 degrees per second. Select military aircraft can
withstand gravitational forces of 8-10 G. Many birds routinely experience
positive G-forces greater than 10 G and up to 14 G. Flapping flight is
inherently unsteady, but that's why it works so well. Birds, bats and
insects fly in a messy environment full of gusts traveling at speeds
similar to their own. Yet they can react almost instantaneously and adapt
with their flexible wings."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...08/0113231

Links:
0. http://www.primidi.com/2008/02/07.html
1. http://www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/...hp?id=6312
2. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/18


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| First Amendment Ruling Protects Internet Trolls |
| from the reinforced-bridges dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday February 08, @02:26 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/08/0243242 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "A recent [1]ruling by
the Court of Appeal of the State of California (PDF) in Krinsky v. Doe
H030767 overturned a lower court ruling and decided that [2]the First
Amendment right to anonymous speech protects internet trolls, too.
Specifically, the ruling said that 'this juvenile name-calling cannot
reasonably be read as stating actual facts.' And, even though some of the
statements were crudely sexual and accused Ms. Krinsky of being among
'boobs, liars and crooks,' the statements were held to 'fall into the
category of crude, satirical hyperbole which, while reflecting the
immaturity of the speaker, constitute protected opinion under the First
Amendment.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...08/0243242

Links:
0. http://www.iwouldntsteal.net/
1. http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/doc...030767.PDF
2. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/200...s-too.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| TSA Changes Screening Based on Blog Suggestion |
| from the hey-they-actually-listened dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday February 08, @05:19 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/08/0339225 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]hhavensteincw writes "Less than a week after it launched a new blog
aimed at gathering suggestions from air travelers to improve airport
security processes, the Transportation Security Administration changed a
practice where some screeners were [1]requiring passengers to remove all
electronics, including Blackberries, iPods, and cords from carry-on
luggage. Seems the TSA [2]didn't know this was going on, and after the
question was raised on its blog, it clamped down on the practice. The TSA
also provided a detailed description of their [3]reasoning behind the
liquids policy. We discussed the [4]opening of the blog last week."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/08/0339225

Links:
0. http://www.computerworld.com/
1. http://www.computerworld.com/action/arti...ticleBasic&articleId=9061538&intsrc=hm_list
2. http://www.tsa.gov/blog/2008/02/hooray-bloggers.html
3. http://www.tsa.gov/blog/2008/02/more-on-...hings.html
4. http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/01/2152216&tid=95


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Undersea Cable Cut Circumstances Examined |
| from the putting-away-the-tinfoil-hats dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday February 08, @06:54 (The Internet) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...08/0517205 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Wired has a good review
of all the recent undersea cable cuts and why it's suspicious, but
[1]unlikely to be a conspiracy. So far, there are only four cut cables
(the 'fifth' was weeks ago) in [2]two different locations. Of course, a
cable is damaged once every three days, on average, and there are 25
ships that do nothing but repair them. While the timing and locations are
a little odd, Iran has been online the whole time, even if some of their
routers weren't, and none of the conspiracy theories really add up. In a
[3]recent interview, TeleGeography Analyst Eric Schoonover said, 'I think
that this is more along the lines of coincidence.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...08/0517205

Links:
0. http://www.iwouldntsteal.net/
1. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02...e-cab.html
2. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/200...lures.html
3. http://www.networkperformancedaily.com/2...ook_1.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| New Authentication Scheme Proposed |
| from the more-secure-less-portable dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday February 08, @08:21 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/08/0452221 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

jerel brings us a story about a prototype authentication system which
approaches security from an atypical angle. It focuses on [0]hiding
identity challenges from attackers in addition to the responses. The
system, [1]Undercover [PDF], "uses a combination of visual and tactile
signals in the authentication process." "The system displays a set of
images to the user and asks if any belongs to the image portfolio that
the user had previously selected. At the same time, the trackball sends
the user a signal that maps each button on the case to a certain answer.
The user's hand must cover the trackball for it to operate, so a sneaky
observer wouldn't be able to see his or her selections, or answers. So a
would-be attacker can't 'see' the tactile challenge presented by the
trackball and therefore doesn't get the user's authentication data, even
though he or she could see the image challenge on the display."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/08/0452221

Links:
0. http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=145104&WT.svl=news1_2
1. http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/nicolasc/...-CHI08.pdf


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Torvalds On Desktop Linux's Slow Uptake |
| from the dare-not-to-be-different dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday February 08, @09:03 (Linux) |
| http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...08/1338207 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]javipas notes a Wired piece summarizing a two-part [1]interview with
Linus Torvalds that's up at linux-foundation.org ([2]part 1, [3]part 2).
In the second part the creator of the Linux kernel gives his view on the
limited success of Linux on the desktop. "I have never, ever cared about
really anything but the Linux desktop... The desktop is also the thing
where people get really upset if something changes, so it's really hard
to enter the desktop market because people are used to whatever they used
before, mostly Windows... better is worse if it's different."

Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...08/1338207

Links:
0. http://www.javipas.com/
1. http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2008/0...valds.html
2. http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/open...ds-part-i/
3. http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/open...s-part-ii/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Hotmail Doesn't Work With Linux Firefox 2.0 |
| from the whoa-there-big-feller dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday February 08, @09:35 (Mozilla) |
| http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...08/1355246 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader tips a column up at freesoftwaremagazine.com in which
the writer discovers that the latest UI enhancements that Hotmail has
recently introduced [0]don't work with Firefox 2.0 under Linux. The
writer concludes that the webmail interface has been artificially limited
by basic user-agent sniffing. The solution is simple enough — spoofing
the User Agent that Firefox reports.

Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...08/1355246

Links:
0. http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/colu..._firefox_2


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Deal Reportedly Reached In Writers' Strike |
| from the gonna-be-a-backlog dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday February 08, @10:21 (Television) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/08/149233 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

BlueshiftVFX writes to let us know that the writers' strike may be over.
CNBC and other media are quoting former Disney CEO Michael Eisner: "It's
over. They made the deal, they shook hands on the deal. It's going on
Saturday to the writers in general... A deal has been made, and they'll
be back to work very soon."

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/08/149233


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| RIAA's Attack On NewYorkCountryLawyer Fails |
| from the first-get-the-facts-right dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday February 08, @11:02 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/08/1441245 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "p2pnet.net reports that the RIAA [1]has
egg on its face. When the Electronic Frontier Foundation requested
permission to [2]file an amicus curiae brief on behalf of Boston
University students challenging the RIAA's ex parte discovery order, the
RIAA lawyers attacked the blog 'Recording Industry vs. The People' for
its criticism of the RIAA as seeking to 'abuse the American judicial
system, distort copyright law, and frighten ordinary working people and
their children' and then falsely claimed that the blog's author is an EFF
attorney — this despite the fact that they know that the blog's author
(known on Slashdot as [3]NewYorkCountryLawyer) is a partner in a New York
law firm and not an EFF attorney. Judge Gertner apparently wasn't
impressed, and [2]granted the EFF's motion, rejecting the RIAA's
objections, since she felt amici curiae might 'shed light' on the
'copyright law' and 'computer technology' issues before her."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...08/1441245

Links:
0. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/
1. http://www.p2pnet.net/story/14902
2. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspo...ve-to.html
3. http://science.slashdot.org/~NewYorkCountryLawyer/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Hostile ta Vista, Baby |
| from the title-could-have-been-worse dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday February 08, @11:45 (Windows) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/08/1627201 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Frequent Slashdot contributor Bennett Haselton adds his experience to the
litany of woes with Microsoft Vista. Unlike most commentators who have a
beef with the operating system, Bennett does a bit of surveying to
bolster his points. Read his account by clicking on the magic link.

This story continues at:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/08/1627201

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/08/1627201


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 10-Year Anniversary of Open Source |
| from the corks-a-poppin dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday February 08, @12:26 (Software) |
| http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid.../08/174250 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Bruce Perens writes "Saturday is the 10-Year Anniversary of Open
Source, the initiative to promote Free Software to business. Obviously,
it's been incredibly successful. I've submitted a [1]State of Open Source
message discussing the anniversary of Open Source, its successes, and the
challenges it will face in the upcoming decade."

Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si.../08/174250

Links:
0. mailto:bruce.perens@com
1. http://perens.com/works/articles/State8Feb2008/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Chinese Professor Sues Google, Yahoo Over Search Exclusion |
| from the temper-tantrum dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday February 08, @13:11 (Yahoo!) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/08/176203 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Techdirt points out that while there have been many lawsuits over
someone's Google-rank, a Chinese professor is suing Google and Yahoo for
[0]removing all mention of him in China. "Google and Yahoo, of course,
have agreed to play by local rules in China, upsetting many. Legally, it
would seem like this suit has little chance of success — but I doubt that
he cares about the legal result. What this actually does is to call
attention to his plight — and on that front, it's clearly a successful
strategy."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/08/176203

Links:
0. http://techdirt.com/articles/20080207/142142203.shtml


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Intel Skulltrail Benchmark and Analysis |
| from the coming-up-short dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday February 08, @13:53 (Intel) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...08/1744254 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Tom's Hardware has a detailed benchmark and analysis of [0]Intel's new
Skulltrail offering, taking a look at 8 vs 4 cores. The comparison uses
games, A/V applications, office applications, and 3D rendering tools to
help demonstrate benchmarks. "We were disappointed by the Skulltrail
platform. Although we have tested and reviewed numerous Intel products,
we have never had such a half-baked system such as this in our labs. If
this sounds harsh, bear in mind that all we have to base this conclusion
on is the Skulltrail system itself in its current state, which Intel
provided as an official review platform. We do not know whether Intel
plans to revise and improve the platform before the final versions ship
to retail."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...08/1744254

Links:
0. http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/08/i...index.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Is Linus Torvalds Speaking for Linux Anymore? |
| from the try-not-to-have-an-aneurysm dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday February 08, @14:36 (Operating |
| http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...08/1752248 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes to tell us CNET is currently running a story
asking '[0]Is Linus Torvalds even speaking for Linux anymore?' It
examines both Torvalds' recent public statements on other operating
systems and his current approach towards Linux. The author wonders if his
utopian view of how an operating system should be viewed and used is just
too alien from what the majority of users are really looking for. "if it
were up to Torvalds, beauty and intuition would take a backseat to
functionality. But when you look at distributions like Ubuntu or
OpenSuse, it looks like no one is paying attention. 'An OS should never
have been something that people (in general) really care about: it should
be completely invisible and nobody should give a flying [expletive] about
it except the technical people.' Sure, that statement makes some sense,
but in the grand scheme of things, it's the design and usability factor
that makes the operating system much easier to use. And while both Mac OS
X and Windows have their issues, for the average person, it makes more
sense to use those than Linux."

Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...08/1752248

Links:
0. http://www.cnet.com/8301-13506_1-9866862...l?tag=head


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Yahoo Offers All-You-Can-Eat Storage and Bandwidth |
| from the until-your-traffic-spikes dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday February 08, @15:20 (Data Stora|
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...08/1811236 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Lucas123 writes "Yahoo this week opened up [1]a new monthly Web
Hosting service for small and medium sized businesses that allows
unlimited hosted storage capacity and bandwidth for $11.95 a month. Yahoo
had been charging $12 a month for 5GB of disk space and 200GB of
bandwidth; $20 a month for 10GB disk space and 400GB of bandwidth; and
$40 for 20GB disk space and 500GB bandwidth.."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...08/1811236

Links:
0. http://www.computerworld.com/
1. http://www.computerworld.com/action/arti...ticleBasic&taxonomyName=storage&articleId=9061559&taxonomyId=19&intsrc=kc_top


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Intel Sued Over Core 2 Duo Patent Infringement |
| from the patents-are-such-a-mess dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday February 08, @16:04 (Intel) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?.../08/202249 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "It looks like Intel is being sued over a
patent infringement alleged to be [0]in the Core 2 Duo microprocessor
design. 'The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) is charging
Intel Corporation with patent infringement of a University of
Wisconsin-Madison invention that significantly improves the efficiency
and speed of computer processing The foundation's complaint identifies
the Intel CoreTM 2 Duo microarchitecture as infringing WARF's United
States Patent No. 5,781,752, entitled "Table Based Data Speculation
Circuit for Parallel Processing Computer." WARF contacted Intel in 2001,
and made repeated attempts, including meeting face-to-face with company
representatives, to offer legal licensing opportunities for the
technology.' The text of [1]the complaint [PDF] is also available via
WARF's site."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl.../08/202249

Links:
0. http://warf.org/news/news.jsp?news_id=221
1. http://www.warf.org/uploads/media/Compla..._filed.pdf


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| College Funding Bill Passes House, P2P Provision Intact |
| from the pay-no-attention-to-the-man-behind-the-curtain dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday February 08, @16:47 (Government|
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/08/2029259 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Ars Technica is
reporting that the College Opportunity and Affordability Act [1]passed
through the House today with a vote of 354-58 and the anti-P2P provision
is intact. That provision would require universities to filter P2P and to
offer legal alternatives. They are claiming now, though, that
universities would not lose federal funding if they fail to do this. Of
course, an amendment that would have clarified that was withdrawn
immediately after it was offered."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...08/2029259

Links:
0. http://www.iwouldntsteal.net/
1. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/200...ntact.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Under Third EU Investigation for OOXML |
| from the back-in-trouble-again dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday February 08, @17:34 (The Courts|
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/08/213222 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

The Wall Street Journal and Information Week reported this morning that
EU regulators have announced a [0]third investigation into Microsoft's
conduct on the desktop. This latest action demonstrates that while the EU
has settled the case against Microsoft that ran for almost a decade, it
remains as suspicious as ever regarding the software vendor's conduct,
notwithstanding Microsoft's less combative stance in recent years. The
news can be found in a story reported by Charles Forelle bylined in
Brussells this morning. According to the Journal, the investigation will
focus on whether Microsoft 'violated antitrust laws during a struggle
last year to ratify its Office software file format as an international
standard.' The article also says that the regulators are 'stepping up
scrutiny of the issue.'

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/08/213222

Links:
0. http://www.informationweek.com/news/show...=206106956


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Zvents Releases Open Source Cluster Database Based on Google |
| from the surprised-it-took-this-long dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday February 08, @18:19 (Databases)|
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...08/2227216 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "Local search engine company, Zvents, has
released an [0]open source distributed data storage system based on
Google's released design specs. 'The new software, Hypertable, is
designed to scale to 1000 nodes, all commodity PCs [...] The Google
database design on which Hypertable is based, Bigtable, attracted a lot
of developer buzz and a "Best Paper" award from the USENIX Association
for "Bigtable: A Distributed Storage System for Structured Data" a 2006
publication from nine Google researchers including Fay Chang, Jeffrey
Dean, and Sanjay Ghemawat. Google's Bigtable uses the company's in-house
Google File System for storage.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments....08/2227216

Links:
0. http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2008/0206...table.html
Reply
#7

anyone know what the heck they are talking about?

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/25/1322252

Pakistan YouTube Block Breaks the World

Journal written by Alien54 (180860) and posted by CmdrTaco on Monday February 25, @08:50AM
from the oops-they-did-it-again dept.
The Internet
Allen54 noted a followup to yesterday's story about Pakistan's decision to block YouTube. He notes that "The telecom company that carries most of Pakistan's traffic, PCCW, has found it necessary to shut Pakistan off from the Internet while they filter out the malicious routes that a Pakistani ISP, PieNet, announced earlier today. Evidently PieNet took this step to enforce a decree from the Pakistani government that ISP's must block access to YouTube because it was a source of blasphemous content. YouTube has announced more granular routes so that at least in the US they supercede the routes announced by PieNet. The rest of the world is still struggling."
Reply
#8
from slashdot today}


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| eBay Battles Power Sellers |
| from the something-to-think-about dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday March 05, @11:37 (The Internet) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/05/1539232 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]DigitalDame2 writes "eBay power sellers, angered by the recent eBay
policy changes, have been hitting back the auction site with listing
boycotts and now with accusations of [1]fake listings and forum
censorship. EBay admitted that a "bug" in its system had accidentally
placed listings from eBay-owned shopping.com onto eBay.com late Friday
night. A California-based seller's new eBay listings did not allow users
to actually bid on his items. "This guy has over 35,000 items. And there
is no button for a 'buy it now' and no button for making a bid." As a
result, sellers are threatening to take their complaints to the Federal
Trade Commission, but eBay is not backing down." Normally I wouldn't
really care, but I think this is interesting because eBay is so dominant
in their field, that there is no real alternative. Watching how things
like this play out is interesting to me because I want to believe that
the internet will require everyone to be more responsible or lose. But
the real question for me is at what point does total marketplace
dominance trump that.

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/05/1539232

Links:
0. http://www.gearlog.com/
1. http://www.appscout.com/2008/03/powersel...ding_p.php
Reply
#9
Slashdot Daily Newsletter

* they ^ come up with so many nteresting topics I can never get to them all!

In this issue:
* Analysts Forsee Another Banner Year For Videogame Industry
* Newly Discovered Fungus Threatens World Wheat Crop
* MIT Student Gets Artistic With LED Art
* Vista Service Pack One Almost Here
* What's Your Favorite Monster?
* How The Latest in High Tech Works
* The Net's Effect on Journalism
* Most Spam Comes From Just Six Botnets
* Berners-Lee Rejects Tracking
* Identifying Manipulated Image
* Single Photons Bounced Off Orbiting Satellite
* Young Employees Pose Increasing Risk to Networks
* 100-Year-Old Electric Car Design Makes a Comeback
* Supreme Court to Hear FCC Indecency Case
* Researchers Design Microchip Ten Times More Efficient
* Advanced Rails
* Settlement Reached in Verizon GPL Violation Suit
* Intel Details Nehalem CPU and Larrabee GPU
* Novell's 2004 Case Against Microsoft Moves Forward

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Analysts Forsee Another Banner Year For Videogame Industry |
| from the banner-that-says-money-money-money dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Sunday March 16, @21:23 (Businesses) |
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...16/2341250 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Analysts observing the videogame industry forsee [0]2008 being another
blockbuster year in sales. Sales during the month of February were
considerably up, according to the NPD group. Early in the year is
historically a very slow time in the game sales calendar, making the 34%
jump for the month highly significant. Grand Theft Auto IV is likely to
be an engine for sales throughout the year: "The game, which will be
available on the Xbox 360 and Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3, is expected to
boost sales of both consoles. Pre-orders have been better than expected,
according to its publisher, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. Michael
Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan, expects the game to sell about 9
million units during the company's fiscal year, which ends in October.
Roughly 6 million of this, he added, will be to Xbox 360 owners."

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...16/2341250

Links:
0. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technolo...technology


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Newly Discovered Fungus Threatens World Wheat Crop |
| from the swarm-of-hungry-hungry-hippos-not-helping dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Sunday March 16, @23:19 (Biotech) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...16/2347253 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]RickRussellTX writes "The UN reports that a variety of the rust fungus
originally detected in Uganda in 1999 has already spread as far north as
Iran, [1]threatening wheat production across its range. The fungus
infects wheat stems and affects 80% of wheat varieties, putting crops at
risk and threatening the food sources for billions of people across
central Asia. Although scientists believe they can develop resistant
hybrids, the fungus is moving much faster than anticipated and resistant
hybrids may still be years away. Meanwhile, [2]national governments in
the path of the fungus are telling folks that there is nothing to worry
about."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...16/2347253

Links:
0. mailto:rickrussell@gmail.com
1. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=25859&Cr=cereal&Cr1=
2. http://www.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31327&Itemid=2


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| MIT Student Gets Artistic With LED Art |
| from the what-are-they-teaching-those-kids-up-there dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Monday March 17, @01:43 (Education) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/0347216 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Gibbs-Duhem writes "An MIT graduate student has up a page showcasing a
standout art project. [0]He's designed custom LED light fixtures which
are seven times brighter than the closest similar commercial models, and
include colors which can't be reproduced by a normal RGB cluster
(including two ridiculously bright UV LEDs). The result: some beautiful
mixed media artwork. The author's goal is to eventually publish a guide
to make getting into creating such artwork more accessible to the general
public. The site includes lots of great photos and a movie of the art in
action. It also has in depth descriptions of the theory involved in this
relatively new form of art, an explanation of how the paints were chosen,
and an in depth technical discussion of how such lights are designed with
schematics and board layouts for those who might wish to build their own
lights."

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/0347216

Links:
0. http://web.mit.edu/neltnerb/www/artwork/index.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Vista Service Pack One Almost Here |
| from the like-a-really-lame-christmas dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Monday March 17, @03:38 (Windows) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/0354211 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

arogier writes "After numerous delays and [0]an actual release reversal,
the [1]official release date for Vista service pack one has been set for
Tuesday, March 18th on Windows Update and Microsoft Downloads. It will be
released as an automatic update on April 18th. 'It's unclear so far how a
February snafu will affect SP1's roll-out. Last month, after Microsoft
pushed a pair of prerequisite patches to users, some reported that their
machines refused to finish installing one of the fixes, then went into an
endless series of reboots. Several days later, Microsoft pulled the
update from automatic delivery, said it was working on a solution and
promised it would "make the update available again shortly after we
address the issue."' It would be a good time for those planning to adopt
early to perform requisite backups and locate their restore media."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/0354211

Links:
0. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/21/1526225&tid=109
1. http://www.computerworld.com/action/arti...ticleBasic&taxonomyName=windows&articleId=9068818&taxonomyId=125&intsrc=kc_top


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| What's Your Favorite Monster? |
| from the always-been-a-fan-of-nessie dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Monday March 17, @05:13 (It's funny. Laugh.) |
| http://idle.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...17/0638213 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Pickens writes "Mankind has always had a fascination with monsters,
and mythologies from around the world include stories of strange and
terrifying creatures. Examples include the half-bull, half-human Minotaur
of Greek myths, the living clay Golem of Jewish traditions, British elves
and Chinese dragons. Live Science has an interesting photo essay on their
[1]ten favorite monsters that may have a basis in real life. Their
rogue's gallery includes the Ogopogo, a mysterious monster in Canada's
Lake Okanagan; the Chupacabra, that Latin Americans believe is the unholy
result of secret US government experiments in the jungles of Puerto Rico;
and the perennial favorite Bigfoot."

Discuss this story at:
http://idle.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...17/0638213

Links:
0. http://hughpickens.com/
1. http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/t...ers-1.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| How The Latest in High Tech Works |
| from the all-done-with-mirrors dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Monday March 17, @07:29 (Toys) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...17/0659230 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Popular Science has up a feature looking at "how it works", [0]examining
the innards of several new technology-based innovations. We've talked
about [1]the Sayaka endoscope in a pill, but did you know it [2]captures
images in 360 degrees? We've discussed the [3]adorable little Pleo
dino-bot, but did you know [4]how adaptive it is to stimuli? And what
about [5]the tank-burning laser that can be fired from an airplane? Well,
we haven't discussed that but I'm at a loss as to explain why. "A kind of
reverse telescope called the beam expander inside a retractable,
swiveling pod called the turret widens the beam to 20 inches and aims it.
The laser's computer determines the distance to the target and adjusts
the beam so it condenses into a focused point at just the right spot.
Tracking computers help make microscopic adjustments to compensate for
both the airplane's and the target's movement. A burst of a few seconds'
duration will burn a several-inch-wide hole in whatever it hits."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...17/0659230

Links:
0. http://www.popsci.com/how-it-works/artic...w-it-works
1. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...25/1557214&tid=14
2. http://www.popsci.com/node/19963
3. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...07/1754245&tid=216
4. http://www.popsci.com/node/19959
5. http://www.popsci.com/node/19965


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Net's Effect on Journalism |
| from the no-not-that-way-the-other-way dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Monday March 17, @08:13 (The Media) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/0649200 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An Associated Press article about the impact of the internet on
journalism has a few interesting findings. A few years ago, it was
expected that the internet would democratize news coverage. While print
media is being rapidly reborn online, web-based news appears to be
[0]constraining the number of conversations instead of expanding them.
"The news agenda actually seems to be narrowing, with many Web sites
primarily packaging news that is produced elsewhere, according to the
Project for Excellence in Journalism's annual State of the News Media
report. Two stories - the war in Iraq and the 2008 presidential election
campaign - represented more than a quarter of the stories in newspapers,
on television and online last year, the project found. Take away Iraq,
Iran and Pakistan, and news from all of the other countries in the world
combined filled up less than 6 percent of the American news hole, the
project said."

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/0649200

Links:
0. http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/S/...?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-03-16-16-32-59


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Most Spam Comes From Just Six Botnets |
| from the all-obsessed-with-your-wang dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday March 17, @09:00 (Spam) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/1230215 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Ezhenito noted some research pointing out the (maybe) surprising bit of
research that [0]6 botnets are responsible for 85 percent of the world's
spam. That seems a bit high to me, but the only aspect of spam I am an
expert in is *getting* it.

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/1230215

Links:
0. http://www.marshal.com/trace/traceitem.asp?article=567


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Berners-Lee Rejects Tracking |
| from the along-with-everyone-else dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday March 17, @09:38 (Privacy) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/1259234 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

kernowyon writes "The BBC has an interview with Sir Tim Berners-Lee
during his visit to the UK on their website currently. In it, he voices
his concern about [0]the practice of tracking activity on the internet —
with particular reference to Phorm. Quotes Sir Tim with regard to his
data — "It's mine — you can't have it. If you want to use it for
something, then you have to negotiate with me.""

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...17/1259234

Links:
0. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7299875.stm


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Identifying Manipulated Image |
| from the check-that-out dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday March 17, @10:17 (Graphics) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/1313213 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Jamie found a cool story at MIT Tech Review. (As an aside, it sits behind
an interstitial ad AND on 2 pages: normally I reject websites that do
that, but it's a slow news day, so I'm letting it through) Essentially,
software is used to [0]analyze light patterns in still photographs. Once
you can figure out where the light sources are, it becomes a lot easier
to determine if an image has been photoshopped.

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/1313213

Links:
0. http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/20423/?a=f


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Single Photons Bounced Off Orbiting Satellite |
| from the pling-pling-pling dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday March 17, @11:00 (Communications) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...17/1421219 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]KentuckyFC writes "If we're ever going to benefit from the perfect
security of quantum communication, we're going to need ways of
transmitting entangled photons around the globe and certainly further
than the current record of 144km through the atmosphere. Anton Zeilinger
at the University of Vienna and colleagues have taken an important step
towards this by [1]bouncing individual photons off the Ajisai geodetic
satellite (essentially a space-based disco ball) which is orbiting at
1400km. The group says the experiment is an important proof of principle
for satellite-based quantum communications."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...17/1421219

Links:
0. http://www.arxivblog.com/
1. http://arxivblog.com/?p=317


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Young Employees Pose Increasing Risk to Networks |
| from the also-increased-chance-of-lohan dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday March 17, @11:42 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/1423249 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]buzzardsbay writes "Baseline is reporting on [1]an upcoming survey
from Symantec and Applied Research-West that confirms many suspicions
about the generation gap in the workplace, namely that younger workers
will use your corporate network to run most any device, technology or
social networking software they can get their hands on. Dubbed
"Millenials," these workers born after 1980 are nearly twice as likely to
use cell phones and PDAs at work, and half admit to installing
unauthorized software on their employer's computers. On the upside, the
Millenials are more security aware than their older co-workers."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/17/1423249

Links:
0. mailto:buzzardsbay@gmail.com
1. http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Security/...sk-Takers/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 100-Year-Old Electric Car Design Makes a Comeback |
| from the they-do-make-em-like-they-used-to dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday March 17, @12:54 (Transportatio|
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...17/1554249 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

CNet's Green Tech Blog is reporting that Detroit Electric plans to
release a small number of cars based around a car [0]designed nearly 100
years ago. Detroit Electric is a joint venture between Santa Rosa,
CA-based electric transportation specialist, Zap and China's Youngman
motors. "Back in 1917, a Detroit Electric cost anywhere from $1,775 to
$2,375--in other words, fit for the proletarian or plutocrat. The cars
could go 65 miles to 100 miles on a battery charge, but only go at speeds
ranging from 6 miles per hour to 25 mph."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...17/1554249

Links:
0. http://www.news.com/8301-11128_3-9894597...l?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Supreme Court to Hear FCC Indecency Case |
| from the arbitrary-standards dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday March 17, @14:06 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/1634214 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

MachineShedFred writes "The Supreme Court of the United States has
announced that it will be [0]hearing the FCC's appeal to the 2nd U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals' decision that the FCC has changed its policy on
fleeting expletives without adequate explanation. It's now on the FCC to
explain to the Supreme Court why its policy has changed. This is also the
first time the Supreme Court has heard a major 'broadcast indecency' case
in 30 years."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...17/1634214

Links:
0. http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080317/scotus_br....html?.v=2


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Researchers Design Microchip Ten Times More Efficient |
| from the proof-of-concept dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday March 17, @15:11 (Power) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...17/1651249 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]WirePosted writes to mention that a new [1]highly efficient microchip
has been announced by researchers from MIT and Texas Instruments. The new
chip touts up to 10 times more energy efficiency than current generation
chips. "One key to the new chip design, Chandrakasan says, was to build a
high-efficiency DC-to-DC converter--which reduces the voltage to the
lower level--right on the same chip, reducing the number of separate
components. The redesigned memory and logic, along with the DC-to-DC
converter, are all integrated to realize a complete system-on-a-chip
solution."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...17/1651249

Links:
0. mailto:hound-dog@itwire.com
1. http://www.itwire.com/content/view/17183/53/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Advanced Rails |
| from the read-all-about-it dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Monday March 17, @16:19 (Book Reviews) |
| http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid.../17/138205 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

yukster writes "As Ruby on Rails rocketed into the development
community's hearts and minds a few years ago, the number of books on the
subject climbed with it. However, a lot of these books were introductory
in nature (Agile Web Development with Rails, Beginning Rails, Build Your
Own Rails Applications, etc.). What's a budding Rails-head to do once
they've gotten the basics down? Books like Advanced Rails, which was
released late last year by O'Reilly, aim to fill this void." Keep reading
below for the rest of Ben's review.

This story continues at:
http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid.../17/138205

Discuss this story at:
http://books.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si.../17/138205


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Settlement Reached in Verizon GPL Violation Suit |
| from the lifetime-of-clicking-i-agree-on-licenses-brought-to-a-ha|
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday March 17, @17:30 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/1854252 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]eldavojohn writes "A [1]settlement has been reached in the [2]Verizon
GPLv2 violation suit. The now famous BusyBox developers, Erick Andersen
and Rob Landley, will receive an undisclosed sum from subcontractor
Actiontec Electronics. 'Actiontec supplied Verizon with wireless routers
for its FiOS broadband service that use an open source program called
BusyBox. BusyBox developers Andersen and Landley in December sued Verizon
-- claiming that the usage violated terms of version 2 of the GNU General
Public License.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...17/1854252

Links:
0. http://tinyurl.com/hdng7
1. http://www.informationweek.com/news/show...=206904096&subSection=News
2. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/07/1953217&tid=123


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Intel Details Nehalem CPU and Larrabee GPU |
| from the business-is-war dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday March 17, @18:34 (Intel) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...17/2026220 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Vigile writes "Intel previewed the information set to be released at IDF
next month including details on a wide array of technology for server,
workstation, desktop and graphics chips. The [0]upcoming Tukwila chip
will replace the current Itanium lineup with about twice the performance
at a cost of 2 billion transistors and Dunnington is a hexa-core
processor using existing Core 2 architecture. [1]Details of Nehalem,
Intel's next desktop CPU core that includes an integrated memory
controller, show a return of HyperThreading-like SMT, a new SSE 4.2
extension and modular design that features optional integrated graphics
on the CPU as well. Could Intel beat AMD in its own "Fusion" plans?
Finally, Larrabee, the GPU technology Intel is building, was [2]verified
to support OpenGL and DirectX upon release and Intel provided information
on a new extension called Advanced Vector Extension (AVX) for SSE that
would improve graphics performance on the many-core architecture."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...17/2026220

Links:
0. http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=534
1. http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=534&type=expert&pid=2
2. http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=534&type=expert&pid=3


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Novell's 2004 Case Against Microsoft Moves Forward |
| from the on-hold-since-2004 dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday March 17, @19:41 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/17/2033204 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Novell's antitrust
lawsuit against Microsoft for destroying the market for WordPerfect and
QuattroPro [1]can now move forward. The Supreme Court denied certiorari
to Microsoft's appeal of an appeals court ruling, which is the fancy
legal way of saying they ignored Microsoft's appeal and let the previous
ruling stand. Novell's complaint is an interesting read, because some of
this sounds quite familiar, given how Microsoft is now forcing the
standardization of OOXML. Statements like, 'As Microsoft knew, a truly
standard file format that was open to all ISVs would have enhanced
competition in the market for word processing applications, because such
a standard allows the exchange of text files between different word
processing applications used by different customers,' and 'Microsoft made
other inferior features de facto industry standards,' sound a lot more
recent."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...17/2033204

Links:
0. http://www.eff.org/support
1. http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story...7124445613



Copyright 1997-2006 SourceForge, Inc.. All rights reserved.


======================================================================
Reply
#10
Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* Cassini Finds Evidence For Ocean Inside Titan
* FBI Posts Fake Hyperlinks To Trap Downloaders of Illegal Porn
* Game Developers Should Ignore Software Pirates
* "Manhattan Project" For Prosthetic Arms
* Inside The Twisted Mind of Bruce Schneier
* Buckyballs Can Store Concentrated Hydrogen
* Blu-ray BD+ Cracked
* Road Coloring Problem Solved
* Ubuntu 8.04 Beta Released
* Sony Blu-ray Under Patent Infringement Probe
* Lessig Bets On the Net To Clean Up Government
* Gamma Ray Burst Visible At Record Distance
* In Soviet US, Comcast Watches YOU
* Array-Based Memory May Put a Terabyte On a Chip
* Wireless Auction Ends With Mixed Feelings
* Astronomers Discover New Class of Pulsating Star
* Microsoft Hyper-V Leaves Linux Out In The Cold
* HTC Shift + ThinkPad X300 + MacBook Air = Perfect Notebook?
* What Happens To Bounced @Donotreply.com E-Mails
* Sony Offers Bloatware Removal Service — For a Fee [Updated]
* From GNOME to KDE and Back Again
* Web 2.0, Meet JavaScript 2.0
* DirectX Architect — Consoles as We Know Them Are Gone

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Cassini Finds Evidence For Ocean Inside Titan |
| from the so-that's-where-it-was-hiding dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Thursday March 20, @20:28 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...20/2222209 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Riding with Robots writes "NASA reports that by using data from the
Cassini probe's radar, scientists established the locations of 50 unique
landmarks on the surface of Saturn's planet-size moon Titan. They then
searched for these same lakes, canyons and mountains in the data after
subsequent Titan flybys. They found that the features had [1]shifted from
their expected positions by up to 30 kilometers. NASA says a systematic
displacement of surface features would be difficult to explain unless the
moon's icy crust was decoupled from its core by an internal ocean, making
it easier for the crust to move. If confirmed, this discovery would add
to the growing list of moons in the solar system that are icy on the
outside and warm and liquid inside, providing potential habitats. We've
previously discussed Titan's [2]hydrocarbon lakes and [3]potential
cryovolcano."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...20/2222209

Links:
0. http://www.ridingwithrobots.org/
1. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2008-048
2. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...03/2353255&tid=160
3. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...10/0843214&tid=160


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| FBI Posts Fake Hyperlinks To Trap Downloaders of Illegal Porn |
| from the if-you-thought-getting-a-shock-site-link-was-bad dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Thursday March 20, @21:59 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/20/2323247 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]mytrip brings us a story from news.com about an FBI operation in which
agents posted hyperlinks which advertised child pornography, recorded the
IP addresses of people who clicked the links, and then tracked them down
and raided their homes. The article contains a fairly detailed
description of how the operation progressed, and it raises questions
about the legality and reliability of [1]getting people to click
"unlawful" hyperlinks. Quoting: "With the logs revealing those allegedly
incriminating IP addresses in hand, the FBI sent administrative subpoenas
to the relevant Internet service provider to learn the identity of the
person whose name was on the account--and then obtained search warrants
for dawn raids. The search warrants authorized FBI agents to seize and
remove any "computer-related" equipment, utility bills, telephone bills,
any "addressed correspondence" sent through the U.S. mail, video gear,
camera equipment, checkbooks, bank statements, and credit card
statements. While it might seem that merely clicking on a link wouldn't
be enough to justify a search warrant, courts have ruled otherwise. On
March 6, U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt in Nevada agreed with a
magistrate judge that the hyperlink-sting operation constituted
sufficient probable cause to justify giving the FBI its search warrant."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...20/2323247

Links:
0. http://www.mytrip.com/
1. http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9899151...g=nefd.pop


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Game Developers Should Ignore Software Pirates |
| from the please-insert-the-play-disc-to-continue-reading dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 21, @00:11 (PC Games (Games))|
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...20/2351201 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

wraith808 points out a story about remarks made by the CEO of software
and game development company Stardock about sales in the PC game
industry. His suggestion to other developers is simple: [0]ignore the
software pirates. From Ars Technica: "'So here is the deal: When you
develop for a market, you don't go by the user base. You go by the
potential customer base. That's what most software companies do. They
base what they want to create on the size of the market they're
developing for,' Wardell writes on his blog. 'But not PC game
developers.' Don't let people who aren't your audience control the titles
you make, and ignore piracy. This is much like Trent Reznor's strategy,
although the execution is different. Instead of worrying about pirates,
just leave the content out in the open. The market Reznor plays to will
still buy the music; he's simply stopped worrying about the pirates. He
came to the same conclusion: they weren't customers, they might never be
customers, so spending money to try to stop them serves no purpose."

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...20/2351201

Links:
0. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/200...rates.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| "Manhattan Project" For Prosthetic Arms |
| from the kinder-gentler-arms-race dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 21, @02:14 (Medicine) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...21/0158246 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]cortex tips us to a story about a nationwide effort to incorporate
advanced technology into the [1]next generation of prosthetic arms.
Researchers for the DARPA-funded project are developing feedback
techniques that range from sensors on the surface of the user's skin to
electrodes implanted on the inside of the user's skull that intercept and
interpret signals from the motor cortex. Quoting: "'Think about taking a
sip from a can of soda,' Harshbarger says. The complex neural feedback
system connecting a native limb to its user lets that user ignore an
entire series of complicated steps. The nervous system makes constant
automatic adjustments to ensure, for example, that the tilt of the wrist
adjusts to compensate for the changing fluid level inside the can. The
action requires little to no attention. Not so for the wearer of current
prosthetic arms, for whom the act of taking a sip of soda precludes any
other activity. The wearer must first consciously direct the arm to
extend it to the correct point in space, then switch modes to rotate the
wrist into proper position. Then he must open the hand, close it to grasp
the soda can (not so weakly as to drop it but not so hard as to crush
it), switch modes to bend the elbow to correctly place the can in front
of his mouth, rotate the wrist into position, and then concentrate on
drinking from the can of soda without spilling it."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...21/0158246

Links:
0. mailto:neuralsci@netscape.net
1. http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/mar08/6069


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Inside The Twisted Mind of Bruce Schneier |
| from the it's-dark-in-here dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 21, @05:15 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/21/0233228 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Bruce Schneier has an
[1]essay on the mind of security professionals like himself, and why it's
something that can't easily be taught. Many people simply don't see
security threats or the potential ways in which things can be abused
because they don't intend to abuse them. But security pros, even those
who don't abuse what they find, have a different way of looking at
things. They always try to figure out all the angles or how someone could
beat the system. In one of his examples, Bruce talks about how, after
buying one of Uncle Milton's Ant Farms, he was enamored with the idea
that they would mail a tube of live ants to anyone you asked them to.
Schneier's article was inspired by a University of Washington course in
which the professor is attempting to teach the 'security mindset.'
Students taking the course have been encouraged to post [2]security
reviews on a class blog."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/21/0233228

Links:
0. http://endsoftpatents.org/
1. http://www.wired.com/politics/security/c...tters_0320
2. http://cubist.cs.washington.edu/Security...y-reviews/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Buckyballs Can Store Concentrated Hydrogen |
| from the brought-to-you-by-the-letter-H dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 21, @08:18 (Power) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...21/0838259 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Pickens brings news that researchers from Rice University have
discovered that it's possible to [1]store hydrogen inside buckyballs.
Hydrogen can be an excellent power source, but it is notoriously
difficult to store. The [2]buckyballs can contain up to 8% of their
weight in hydrogen, and they are strong enough to hold it at a density
that rivals the center of Jupiter. "Using a computer model, Yakobson's
research team has tracked the strength of each atomic bond in a buckyball
and simulated what happened to the bonds as more hydrogen atoms were
packed inside. Yakobson said the model promises to be particularly useful
because it is scalable, that is it can calculate exactly how much
hydrogen a buckyball of any given size can hold, and it can also tell
scientists how overstuffed buckyballs burst open and release their
cargo."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...21/0838259

Links:
0. http://hughpickens.com/
1. http://www.media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=10750&SnID=986985334
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckyball


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Blu-ray BD+ Cracked |
| from the bigger-they-come dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday March 21, @08:55 (Media) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/21/1241234 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "In July 2007, Richard Doherty of the
Envisioneering Group (BD+ Standards Board) [0]declared: 'BD+, unlike AACS
which suffered a partial hack last year, won't likely be breached for 10
years.' Only eight months have passed since that bold statement, and
[1]Slysoft has done it again. According to the press release, the latest
version of their flagship product AnyDVD HD can automatically remove BD+
protection and allows you to back-up any Blu-ray title on the market."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/21/1241234

Links:
0. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...09/2333207&tid=188
1. http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?t=14786


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Road Coloring Problem Solved |
| from the hard-but-not-complicated dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday March 21, @09:35 (Math) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...21/1319250 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

ArieKremen writes "Israeli Avraham Trakhtman, a Russian immigrant
mathematician who had been employed as a night watchman, has [0]solved
the Road Coloring problem. First posed in 1970 by Benjamin Weiss and Roy
Adler, the problem posits that given a finite number of roads, one should
be able to draw a map, coded in various colors, that leads to a certain
destination regardless of the point of origin. The 63-year-old Trakhtman
jotted down the solution in pencil in 8 pages. The problem has real-world
implementation in message and traffic routing."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...21/1319250

Links:
0. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g2lh1...gD8VHBPIO0


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Ubuntu 8.04 Beta Released |
| from the heron-your-chest dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday March 21, @10:14 (Software) |
| http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...21/1336240 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]markybob writes "[1]Ubuntu Hardy 8.04 beta has been released. It
features GNOME 2.22 and uses Linux kernel 2.6.24. Furthermore, it uses
Firefox 3 beta 4, and PulseAudio is enabled by default. To ease the
transition of Windows users, it includes Wubi, which allows users to
install and uninstall Ubuntu like any other Windows application. It does
not require a dedicated partition, nor does it affect the existing
bootloader, yet users can experience a dual-boot setup almost identical
to a full installation."

Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...21/1336240

Links:
0. mailto:markybob@gmail.com
1. http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/hardy/beta


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Sony Blu-ray Under Patent Infringement Probe |
| from the not-your-usual-patent-troll dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday March 21, @10:51 (Patents) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/21/1352246 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Lucas123 writes "The US International Trade Commission said it will
[1]launch an investigation into possible patent infringements involving
Sony's Blu-ray players and other technologies using laser and
light-emitting diodes, such as Motorola's Razr phone and Hitachi
camcorders. The [2]investigation was prompted by a complaint filed in
February by a Columbia University professor emerita who says she invented
a method of using gallium nitride-based semiconductor material for
producing wide band-gap semiconductors for LEDs and laser diodes in the
blue/ultraviolet end of the light spectrum. Her complaint asks the ITC to
block imports of LED and laser diode technology from Asia and Europe. The
total market for all types of gallium nitride devices has been forecast
at $7.2 billion for 2009 alone."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...21/1352246

Links:
0. http://www.computerworld.com/
1. http://www.computerworld.com/action/arti...ticleBasic&taxonomyName=storage&articleId=9070419&taxonomyId=19&intsrc=kc_top
2. http://www.usitc.gov/ext_relations/news_...320ff2.htm


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Lessig Bets On the Net To Clean Up Government |
| from the change-congress dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday March 21, @11:30 (Social Networks) |
| http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?...21/1419200 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]christian.einfeldt writes "Stanford Law Professor Larry Lessig really
'gets it' when it comes to the efficacy of distributed open source code
production. Now he is attempting to use distributed production methods to
[1]expose corruption in the US Congress with the launch of another 'CC'
organization — this time it's called '[2]Change Congress'. CC (as opposed
to cc for Creative Commons) would invite users to track whether US
legislators are willing to commit to Change Congress' four pledges. CC
will rely on users to record and map the positions of candidates who are
running for open seats in the US House and Senate. Change Congress will
use a Google mash-up to create a map depicting which legislators have
taken the CC pledge, which have declined, and which have signaled support
for planks in the Change-Congress platform. The four pledges (which are
not numbered 0 through 3) call for greater transparency in government,
and less influence of private money in shaping legislation."

Discuss this story at:
http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl...21/1419200

Links:
0. http://einfeldtampdigitaltippingpointcom/
1. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/03...aw-pr.html
2. http://change-congress.org/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Gamma Ray Burst Visible At Record Distance |
| from the do-not-look-directly-into-the-supernova dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday March 21, @11:46 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...21/1529217 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Invisible Pink Unicorn writes "A gamma ray burst detected on March 19
by NASA's Swift satellite has set a new record for the [1]most distant
object that could be seen with the naked eye. The burst had a measured
redshift of 0.94, meaning the explosion took place 7.5 billion years ago.
The optical afterglow from heated gas was 2.5 million times more luminous
than the most luminous supernova ever recorded, making it the most
intrinsically bright object ever observed by humans in the universe. The
previous most distant object visible to the naked eye is the nearby
galaxy [2]M33, a relatively short 2.9 million light years from Earth."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...21/1529217

Links:
0. http://filer.case.edu/bct4/
1. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/...t_grb.html
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_33


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| In Soviet US, Comcast Watches YOU |
| from the you-have-none-get-over-it dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday March 21, @12:09 (Privacy) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/21/1511240 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

cayenne8 sends us to Newteevee.com for a blog posting reporting from the
Digital Living Room conference earlier this week. Gerard Kunkel,
Comcast's senior VP of user experience, stated that the cable company is
experimenting with different camera technologies built into its devices
so it can [0]know who's in your living room. Cameras in the set-top
boxes, while apparently not using facial recognition software, can still
somehow figure out who is in the room, and customize user preferences for
cable (favorite channels, etc.). While this sounds 'handy,' it also
sounds a bit like the TV sets in 1984. I am sure, of course, that Comcast
wouldn't tap into this for any reason, nor let the authorities tap into
this to watch inside your home in real time without a warrant or
anything."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...21/1511240

Links:
0. http://newteevee.com/2008/03/18/comcast-...ching-you/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Array-Based Memory May Put a Terabyte On a Chip |
| from the need-ramback-now dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday March 21, @12:48 (Data Storage) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...21/1618253 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Lucas123 writes "A new type of flash memory, called array-based
memory, could offer [1]a terabyte of data on a single chip within the
next decade by bypassing current NAND memory technology, which is limited
by the miniaturization capability of lithography. According to the
Computerworld story, start-up Nanochip Inc. is being backed by Intel and
others, and over 11 years has made research breakthroughs that will
enable it to deliver working prototypes to potential manufacturing
partners next year. And by 2010, the first chips are expected to reach
100GB capacity."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...21/1618253

Links:
0. http://www.computerworld.com/
1. http://www.computerworld.com/action/arti...ticleBasic&taxonomyName=storage&articleId=9068318&taxonomyId=19&intsrc=kc_feat


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Wireless Auction Ends With Mixed Feelings |
| from the endless-positioning dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 21, @13:32 (Communication|
| http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?si.../21/169257 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Macworld is reporting that the conclusion of the wireless auction has
ended with many participants having [0]mixed feelings. While bigger
companies hailed it as a success, including Google who didn't actually
bid to win but was able to get open access rules introduced, many smaller
companies were left feeling that they were doomed from the start. "A
former mail carrier, McBride has been trying his luck at FCC auctions
since 1996. He said new rules for the auction favored large companies
with deep pockets. For example, the FCC shortened the amount of time that
the winners would have to build their networks. "All that did was prevent
small businesses from coming in. They were scared of the build-out
requirements," he said."

Discuss this story at:
http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?s.../21/169257

Links:
0. http://www.macworld.com/article/132631/2...ction.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Astronomers Discover New Class of Pulsating Star |
| from the shiny-new-toys dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 21, @14:17 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...21/1639238 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]KentuckyFC writes "It doesn't happen very often but astronomers have
discovered a [1]new class of pulsating white dwarf. The work began last
year when the Sloan Digital Sky Survey found a few exotic white dwarf
stars with carbon atmospheres. A mathematical model of these stars showed
that in some circumstances the dwarfs could pulsate as the carbon was
cycled through the atmosphere by convection. Now a few days observation
of one of these stars has shown that it does actually pulsate as
predicted."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...21/1639238

Links:
0. http://www.arxivblog.com/
1. http://arxivblog.com/?p=320


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Hyper-V Leaves Linux Out In The Cold |
| from the some-things-never-change dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 21, @15:06 (Microsoft) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/21/1712211 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]whitehartstag writes to mention that Microsoft has announced their new
Hyper-V as feature-complete. Unfortunately the [1]list of supported
systems is disappointingly short. "No offense to SUSE Enterprise Server
crowd, but only providing SUSE support in Hyper-V is a huge mistake. By
not supporting Red Hat, Fedora, CentOS, and BSD, Microsoft is telling us
Hyper-V is a Microsoft only technology. More Mt. Redmond, Microsoft
center of the universe thinking. That's disappointing. Sure, if you are a
Microsoft only shop, Hyper-V will be an option for virtualization. But so
will VMware and XenServer. But if you run a mixed shop, Hyper-V won't
solve your problems alone — you'll have to also add VMware or Xen to your
virtualized data center portfolio. Or just go with VMware and Xen and
forego Hyper-V."

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/21/1712211

Links:
0. mailto:lleung@nww.com
1. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/26165


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| HTC Shift + ThinkPad X300 + MacBook Air = Perfect Noteb|
| from the pipe-dreams dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 21, @15:49 (Portables) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...21/1721234 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Tom's Hardware has an interesting look at the [0]HTC Shift, the newest
contender in the ultralight portable arena, with a strong compare and
contrast to the other two heavyweights, the ThinkPad X300 and the Macbook
Air. "As some of you know, I actually like the Macbook Air but found the
Lenovo ThinkPad X300 to be a vastly more useful product in the class. I'm
one of the few folks that have been using an early version of the HTC
Shift , a smaller screened ultra light tablet with a keyboard and a touch
screen which is superior to both offerings in some ways and just released
on Amazon.com for $1500 (someone screwed up, this wasn't supposed to
happen until next week). This got me thinking: The perfect next
generation ultra-sexy notebook should be a blend of all three products."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...21/1721234

Links:
0. http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/03/21/t..._notebook/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| What Happens To Bounced @Donotreply.com E-Mails |
| from the lazy-people-who-can't-configure-mail-servers-to-do-their|
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 21, @16:30 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/21/1737248 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "The Washington Post's Security Fix blog today
features a funny but scary interview with a guy in Seattle who [0]owns
the domain name donotreply.com. Apparently, everyone from major US banks
to the Transportation Security Administration to contractors in Iraq use
some variation on the address in the "From:" field of all e-mails sent
out, with the result that bounced e-mails go to the owner of
donotreply.com.'With the exception of extreme cases like those mentioned
above, Faliszek says he long ago stopped trying to alert companies about
the e-mails he was receiving. It's just not worth it: Faliszek said he is
constantly threatened with lawsuits from companies who for one reason or
another have a difficult time grasping why he is in possession of their
internal documents and e-mails.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/21/1737248

Links:
0. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityf...reply.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Sony Offers Bloatware Removal Service — For a Fee [Updated] |
| from the scams-and-other-marketing-ideas dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 21, @17:11 (Sony) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/21/1749252 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

linuxwrangler writes "First Sony packed its laptops with Microsoft Works,
Microsoft Office trial version, Corel Paint Shop Pro trial version,
WinDVD and more. Now it is [0]offering to remove the bloatware. Of course
marketing changed the name from 'removing the crap we stuck you with' to
'Fresh Start' software optimization. And they want you to pay $149.99 to
clean up their mess — $49.99 for 'Fresh Start' on top of the required
$100.00 Vista Business upgrade. You can get about $25.00 of that cost
back if you select all available 'no-software' options which are only
available after selecting the $149.99 'upgrade'. Wonder what they would
charge to remove Windows completely." Update 11:57 GMT by SM: It seems
that massive outrage at Sony's "Fresh Start" program has encouraged them
to [1]drop the fee for scrubbing your laptop of bloatware before shipping
it your way.

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/21/1749252

Links:
0. http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/03/2...are_1.html
1. http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/03/so...n-ext.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| From GNOME to KDE and Back Again |
| from the old-habits-are-hard-to-break dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 21, @17:54 (KDE) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/21/1939249 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Slashdot's own Roblimo has an interesting introspective on what makes us
so prone to liking [0]one window manager over another. More than likely
it's just the inherent laziness of most users that precludes change. "I
used KDE as my primary desktop from 1996 through 2006, when I installed
the GNOME version of Ubuntu and found that I liked it better than the KDE
desktop I'd faced every morning for so many years. Last January, I got a
new Dell Latitude D630 laptop and decided to install Kubuntu on it, but
within a few weeks, I went back to GNOME. Does this mean GNOME is now a
better desktop than KDE, or just that I have become so accustomed to
GNOME that it's hard for me to give it up?"

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/21/1939249

Links:
0. http://www.linux.com/feature/129757


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Web 2.0, Meet JavaScript 2.0 |
| from the just-plain-geeked dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 21, @18:37 (Programming) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...21/2025237 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Jeremy Martin writes "Well I suppose it's an undeniable fact about us
programmer-types — every now and then we just can't help but get excited
about something really nerdy. For me right now, that is definitely
[1]JavaScript 2.0. I was just taking a look at the proposed
specifications and I am really, truly excited about what we have coming."

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments....21/2025237

Links:
0. http://blog.jeremymartin.name/
1. http://blog.jeremymartin.name/2008/03/we...pt-20.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DirectX Architect — Consoles as We Know Them Are Gone |
| from the something-about-a-nomad dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 21, @19:24 (Games) |
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...21/2134239 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]ThinSkin writes "DirectX architect Alex St. John swims against the
current and predicts the demise not of PC gaming, but of game consoles,
in an exclusive two-part interview at ExtremeTech. In part one, Alex
[1]blasts Intel for pushing its inferior onboard graphics technology to
OEMs, insists that fighting piracy is the main reason for the existence
of gaming consoles, and explains how the convergence of the GPU and the
CPU is the next big thing in gaming. Alex continues in part two with more
thoughts on retail and 3D games, and discusses in detail why he feels '[2]Vista
blows' and what's to become of DirectX 10."

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...21/2134239

Links:
0. http://www.extremetech.com/
1. http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,16...507,00.asp
2. http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,16...868,00.asp



Copyright 1997-2008 SourceForge, Inc.. All rights reserved.


======================================================================


Reply
#11
Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* VeriSign Jacks Up .com, .net Prices To the Max
* Quake-Catcher Aims to be Largest Distributed Seismometer Network
* Building the World's 4th Fastest Supercomputer
* All 44 Blackboard Patent Claims Invalidated
* Virgin America Uses Linux to Entertain Inflight
* Creative Goes After Driver Modder
* Huge Interest Brings Wikileaks Offline
* The Rush To Patent the Atomic Bomb
* Last year's CanSecWest Winner Repeats on Vista, Ubuntu Wins
* Jail-Breaking iPhones at the Apple Store
* Open Source Business Model Using Software Patents
* OOXML Vote Tracker and Calculation Guide
* Hacker Club Publishes German Official's Fingerprint
* Griefers Assault Epileptics Via Message Board
* Cisco, Troll Tracker Blogger Sued For Defamation

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| VeriSign Jacks Up .com, .net Prices To the Max |
| from the greed-is-universal dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 28, @21:37 (The Internet)|
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...28/2249213 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

se7en writes "VeriSign is [0]jacking up prices for the .com and .net
domains for the second year running, increasing both by the maximum 7%
allowed under its exclusive contract with ICANN. 'Assuming that VeriSign
continues the 7 percent rise each year (which seems reasonable given the
company's history), registrars will be looking at $9.00 for .com domains
by the time the current contract ends in 2012 — a 50 percent increase in
six years.' Registrars have no choice but to pony up, and chances are
they'll pass the pain on to customers."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...28/2249213

Links:
0. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/200...a-row.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Quake-Catcher Aims to be Largest Distributed Seismometer Network |
| from the shake-rattle-and-roll dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 28, @23:22 (Science) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s.../28/233215 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Nature is reporting that a new distributed computing application is
looking to monitor earthquake data using the accelerometer in many
computing devices. In the long run, "[0]Quake-Catcher" will hopefully be
fast enough to give warning before major earthquakes. "If it works, it
will be the cheapest seismic network on the planet and could operate in
any country. It wouldn't be as sensitive as traditional networks of
seismometers, but Lawrence says that's not the point. 'If you have only
two sensors in an area, you have to have a perfect system. If you have 15
sensors in a system it [can] be less perfect. One hundred, one thousand,
ten thousand -- your need for the system to be perfect becomes much
smaller,' he says. 'That's really our approach -- just to have massive
numbers.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?.../28/233215

Links:
0. http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080326/f...2397a.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Building the World's 4th Fastest Supercomputer |
| from the better-faster-stronger dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Saturday March 29, @01:31 (Supercomput|
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...29/0015208 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]ngkabra writes "In November 2007, a previously unheard of
supercomputer called EKA, built by CRL, India came out of nowhere to
become the 4th fastest supercomputer in the world. It is also the only
supercomputer in the top 10 that hasn't taken any government funding —
which means it has no strings attached against commercial exploitation.
That is one of the reasons why Yahoo! chose EKA for the cloud computing
research that they announced at the Hadoop Summit earlier this week.
Yesterday, I attended a presentation by the team that built EKA, and they
touched upon a lot of the [1]technical details of EKA, and the challenges
faced in designing and building it, which makes for interesting reading."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...29/0015208

Links:
0. mailto:navin@punetech.com
1. http://punetech.com/building-eka-the-wor...rcomputer/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| All 44 Blackboard Patent Claims Invalidated |
| from the small-victories-still-victories dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Saturday March 29, @03:28 (Patents) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/29/0346212 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "The US Patent &
Trademark Office has [1]invalidated all 44 claims in Blackboard's patent.
While this is a [2]non-final action [PDF], which means that Blackboard
will be able to appeal, it does represent a win for the Software Freedom
Law Center which had requested the reexamination of Blackboard's patent.
It is not yet known how this will affect the [3]$3.1M judgment Blackboard
won from Desire2Learn."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...29/0346212

Links:
0. http://endsoftpatents.org/
1. http://mfeldstein.com/all-44-blackboard-...-by-uspto/
2. http://www.desire2learn.com/patent/USPTO...Action.pdf
3. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/25/2345211&tid=155


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Virgin America Uses Linux to Entertain Inflight |
| from the slow-steady-creep dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Saturday March 29, @05:42 (Software) |
| http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...29/0357206 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]anomalous cohort writes "CrunchGear has an interesting interview of
the Director of Inflight Entertainment for the airline Virgin America
discusses their [1]adoption of Linux for the passenger's seat back
computers. 'The ability to compose a music-video playlist is pretty cool
and on the horizon. The READ section is also awesome in that it takes
what is typically a bunch of wasted trees (excess newspapers,
periodicals) and allows us to be more environmentally friendly and timely
with things like news/event info/sports/entertainment etc.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...29/0357206

Links:
0. http://www.transitionchoices.com/projection.html
1. http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/03/27/all...rtainment/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Creative Goes After Driver Modder |
| from the shame-on-you-creative dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Saturday March 29, @07:33 (Hardware Ha|
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?.../29/046201 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]FreedomFighter writes "Since the release of Windows Vista, Creative
has promised their Sound Cards as being 'Vista Ready'. Unfortunately, as
many unlucky customers did discover, this is not true. What the users
actually found were buggy, feature crippled drivers. Creative insisted
that features such as Decoding of Dolby® Digital and DTS™ signals and
DVD-Audio which worked fine in WinXP, would not work on windows Vista.
With Creative releasing less than one new driver a year, things seemed
bleak. Fortunately, a talented user, Daniel_K, was recently able to 'fix'
many of the drivers, enabling the incompatible features and also fixing
many bugs. Just today Creative has decided to [1]put a stop to this. They
removed all links to his modified drivers, and banned several users who
were posting links to the now banned drivers."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl.../29/046201

Links:
0. http://fightingagainstsuppression.blogspot.com/
1. http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/...undblaster&thread.id=116332


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Huge Interest Brings Wikileaks Offline |
| from the yet-drudge-still-stands dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday March 29, @08:55 (News) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/29/126204 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]DragonFire1024 writes "[1]Wikinews.org — The Wikileaks website, which
publishes sensitive and censored material submitted by anonymous
contributors, has experienced unprecedented levels of Internet traffic
today through public interest. This interest has caused the website's
servers to be unable to meet the enormous demand of over 164 gigabytes of
download traffic within twenty-four hours, leading the site to be
temporarily inaccessible."

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid.../29/126204

Links:
0. mailto:jason.safoutin@wikinewsie.org
1. http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Huge_interes...ks_offline


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Rush To Patent the Atomic Bomb |
| from the can-you-sue-a-glowing-man dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday March 29, @09:57 (Patents) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/29/138204 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]dooling writes "In case you were thinking of building your own atom
bomb, you may want to weigh your intellectual property liability. It
seems there are over [1]2000 patents covering the atom bomb. To avoid
publishing the patents, a central tenet of the patent system, "the
project made use of an obscure law whereby patent applications could be
filed but no one would actually look at them or evaluate them. They would
just be stamped secret and stored in a vault at the patent office." The
irony here is that while all the patents were essentially stored in the
same place at the patent office and written to be understandable by any
engineer, the Manhattan Project worked diligently to compartmentalize
knowledge, using code names for just about all aspects of the project and
keeping tight security on all information. It seems the patents were
filed to give the U.S. government an essential monopoly on the burgeoning
nuclear industry and protect it against others who might patent similar
technologies later."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/29/138204

Links:
0. http://politigenomics.blogspot.com/
1. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story...d=89127786


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Last year's CanSecWest Winner Repeats on Vista, Ubuntu Wins |
| from the tough-nut-to-crack dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday March 29, @11:02 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/29/1414218 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

DimitryGH followed up on the earlier news that [0]the MacBook Air lost
CanSecWest by noting that "[1]Last year's winner of the CanSecWest
hacking contest has won the Vista laptop in this year's competition.
According to the [2]sponsor TippingPoint's blog, Shane Macaulay used a
new 0day exploit against Adobe Flash in order to secure his win. At the
end of the day, the only laptop (of OS X, Vista, and Ubuntu) that
remained unharmed was the one running Ubuntu. How's that for fueling
religious platform wars?"

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/29/1414218

Links:
0. http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...28/0126221&tid=184
1. http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/21/0336255&tid=172
2. http://dvlabs.tippingpoint.com/blog/2008...nd-wrap-up


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Jail-Breaking iPhones at the Apple Store |
| from the dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday March 29, @12:04 (Hardware Hacking|
| http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?si...29/1514258 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "According to [0]an article in Xconomy, iPhone
hacker and author Jonathan Zdziarski was invited to speak at an Apple
Store in Cambridge, MA last week where he talked about the history of
iPhone hacking, jail-breaking, and limitations of the official SDK. From
the article, "Zdziarski was one of the first software engineers to figure
out how to hack the iPhone, and he's the author of a forthcoming O'Reilly
Media book called iPhone Open Application Development, which gives
readers explicit instructions on jail-breaking iPhones. So for Apple to
give Zdziarski the podium at an Apple retail location is a little like
Steve Ballmer inviting Linus Torvalds to speak at a Windows product
launch." Zdziarski reports in [1]his own blog how the open source
community was on the iPhone developer scene as early as 2007, long before
enterprises got there, and estimates that nearly 40% of all iPhones have
been jail-broken to run the third-party community software installer.
Finally, [2]this story from Top Tech News suggests that open source
software might actually create competition for Apple's "official"
developers, because applications using the open source iPhone compiler
are not subject to the same limitations as official Apple SDK programs
are."

Discuss this story at:
http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?s...29/1514258

Links:
0. http://www.xconomy.com/2008/03/25/jail-b...ple-store/
1. http://www.zdziarski.com/
2. http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?s...0007J0SQWS


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Open Source Business Model Using Software Patents |
| from the say-it-ain't-so dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Saturday March 29, @13:18 (Patents) |
| http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.p...29/1710238 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Joe Barr writes "Robin Miller has an exclusive [1]video interview with
Larry Rosen and Fred Popowich this morning on Linux.com about their new
open source business model which includes software patents in its DNA.
Their motto is 'Free for open source, everyone else pays.' Larry Rosen
was once legal counsel for the OSI." Linux.com and Slashdot share a
corporate parent.

Discuss this story at:
http://interviews.slashdot.org/comments....29/1710238

Links:
0. mailto:joe@joebarr.org
1. http://www.linux.com/feature/130947


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| OOXML Vote Tracker and Calculation Guide |
| from the tools-for-the-impatient dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Saturday March 29, @14:34 (Microsoft) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/29/1758224 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Andy Updegrove writes "The vote on Microsoft's OOXML closes today. The
final result will not be announced (or leak) before sometime early next
week. Meanwhile the votes of individual countries continue to come in,
currently with more reported switching in favor of OOXML than against it.
For the benefit of those who want to keep track of how the vote is
tending until it's official, I'm posting the [1]running tally of which
votes have switched, what the net change has been, now many votes have
come to light, and how many remain to be announced. It's likely that it
will not be possible to know the final result until all votes are in, due
to the complex double test for approval, and the complication that the
final number of abstentions — and whether they move from 'yes' or 'no'
votes — can decrease the total number of votes that need to switch to
'yes' in order for OOXML to be approved. For that reason, I also include
the algorithm for arriving at a final result."

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/29/1758224

Links:
0. http://www.gesmer.com/attorneys/updegrove.php
1. http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsb...9071456170


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Hacker Club Publishes German Official's Fingerprint |
| from the sauce-for-the-goose dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Saturday March 29, @15:50 (Hardware Hacking)|
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...29/1941206 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

A number of readers let us know about the Chaos Computer Club's latest
caper: they [0]published the fingerprint of German Secretary of the
Interior Wolfgang Schäuble (link is to a Google translation of the
[1]German original). The club has been active in opposition to Germany's
increasing push to use biometrics in, for example, e-passports. Someone
friendly to the club's aims captured Schäuble's fingerprint from a glass
he drank from at a panel discussion. The club published 4,000 copies of
their magazine [2]Die Datenschleuder including a plastic foil reproducing
the minister's fingerprint — ready to glue to someone else's finger to
provide a false biometric reading. The CCC has a page on their site
detailing [3]how to make such a fake fingerprint. The article says a
ministry spokesman alluded to possible legal action against the club.

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...29/1941206

Links:
0. http://209.85.135.104/translate_c?hl=en&langpair=de%7Cen&u=http://www.heise.de/newsticker/CCC-publiziert-die-Fingerabdruecke-von-Wolfgang-Schaeuble-Update--/meldung/105701
1. http://www.heise.de/security/CCC-publizi...ung/105701
2. http://ds.ccc.de/
3. http://www.ccc.de/biometrie/fingerabdruc...anguage=en


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Griefers Assault Epileptics Via Message Board |
| from the not-funny-mcgee dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Saturday March 29, @17:05 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/29/206207 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader tips us to a story up at Wired reporting on what may
be the first computer attack to inflict physical harm on victims. Last
Saturday, griefers posted hundreds of bogus messages on the support
forums of the nonprofit Epilepsy Foundation that used JavaScript and
strobing GIFs to [0]trigger migraines and seizures in users. For about 3%
of the 50 million epileptics worldwide, flashing lights and colors can
trigger seizures. "'I don't fall over and convulse, but it hurts,' says
[an IT worker in Ohio]. 'I was on the phone when it happened, and I
couldn't move and couldn't speak.' ... Circumstantial evidence suggests
the attack was the work of members of Anonymous, an informal collective
of griefers best known for their recent war on the Church of Scientology.
The first flurry of posts on the epilepsy forum referenced the site
EBaumsWorld, which is much hated by Anonymous. And forum members claim
they found a message board thread — since deleted — planning the attack
at 7chan.org, a group stronghold."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/29/206207

Links:
0. http://www.wired.com/politics/security/n...3/epilepsy


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Cisco, Troll Tracker Blogger Sued For Defamation |
| from the sleeping-under-bridges dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Saturday March 29, @18:11 (Patents) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/29/223256 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Joe Mullin writes "We've discussed [1]Troll Tracker here before — the
anonymous blogger who was outed last month as Rick Frenkel, a Cisco
lawyer. Since then, two lawyers from the notoriously patent-friendly
Eastern District of Texas have filed defamation suits against Frenkel and
Cisco, and [2]Frenkel's blog has been [3]shuttered. One of the
plaintiffs, a renowned patent judge's son, may have been [4]hunting the
anonymous blogger for months. This week Cisco [5]announced new blogging
guidelines in response to the Troll Tracker fiasco. The company
acknowledged that 'a few Cisco employees used poor judgment' during
secret-blog-time, but they're largely [6]standing by their man. Cisco's
new rules will prohibit only anonymous blogging by employees about issues
for which 'they have responsibilities at Cisco.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/29/223256

Links:
0. http://thepriorart.typepad.com/
1. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/26/1827225&tid=155
2. http://trolltracker.blogspot.com/
3. http://thepriorart.typepad.com/the_prior...s-son.html
4. http://thepriorart.typepad.com/the_prior...y-hav.html
5. http://blogs.cisco.com/news/2008/03/less...s_p_1.html
6. http://thepriorart.typepad.com/the_prior...ker-l.html



Copyright 1997-2008 SourceForge, Inc.. All rights reserved.


======================================================================

Reply
#12

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| GE Microbes Make Ersatz Crude Oil From Many Sources |
| from the hey-I'm-crude-and-oily-so-clone-me dept. |
| posted by timothy on Monday June 16, @06:13 (Power) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...16/0451237 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]polymath69 writes "According to The Times Online, genetically modified
microbes have been developed capable of turning surplus material such as
wood chips, sugarcane, or others, not into ethanol, but [1]into a
substance which could substitute directly for crude oil. They claim it
could be sold for about $50/bbl, and the production process would be
carbon negative."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...16/0451237

Links:
0. mailto:9k3k3xw02@nOSpaM.sneakemail.com
1. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/en...133668.ece

here's the rest of their daily mailer}

Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* Intel Shows Off Quake Wars, Ray Traced
* Clash of the Titans Over USB 3.0 Specification Process
* Nuclear Warhead Blueprints On Smugglers' Computers
* GE Microbes Make Ersatz Crude Oil From Many Sources
* Do Women Write Better Code?
* Bezos Buries Patent Office in Paper
* Trending Low-Volume Google Searches with Gootrude
* Taking the Wii Controller to the Next Level
* Hands On With Nvidia's New GTX 280 Card
* Corporate Behemoth Keeps Ripping "Real"
* Nokia Unveils "World's Thinnest" QWERTY Smartphone
* Hackerteen Volume 1: Internet Blackout
* Trio of Super-Earths Discovered
* Visualizing Open Source Contributions
* Bone-Headed IT Mistakes
* White House Wins Ruling On E-mail Records
* Computer Art For a CS Dept Office?
* R2-D2 Monitors Your Web Servers
* XP Deathwatch, T Minus 2 Weeks
* UCITA By the Back Door

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Intel Shows Off Quake Wars, Ray Traced |
| from the this-time-I-really-mean-oooh-shiny dept. |
| posted by timothy on Sunday June 15, @21:13 (Graphics) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/16/014229 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "At the Research@Intel Day 2008, Intel showed
a [0]ray-traced version of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. Compared to the
original game, a water with reflections and refractions and a physically
correct glass shader were added. Also, a camera portal with up to 200
recursions to itself has been demonstrated. To show off this ongoing
research in the topic of real-time ray tracing, a four-socket system with
quad cores has been used that allowed rendering the enhanced visual
effects in 1280x720 at 14-29 fps. Just two years before, early versions
of [1]Quake 4: Ray Traced ran only at [2]256x256 with 17 fps. Even though
Intel's upcoming Larrabee will be [3]primarily a rasterizer, the
capabilities for also doing ray tracing on it should deliver interesting
opportunities."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid.../16/014229

Links:
0. http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/37925/113/
1. http://www.q4rt.de/
2. http://www.q4rt.de/benchmarks.html
3. http://home.comcast.net/~tom_forsyth/blog.wiki.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Clash of the Titans Over USB 3.0 Specification Process |
| from the so-you'd-cut-this-giant-electronic-baby-in-half dept. |
| posted by timothy on Sunday June 15, @23:50 (Intel) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...16/0229242 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Ian Lamont writes "Nvidia and other chip designers are [1]accusing
Intel of 'illegally restraining trade' in a dispute over the USB 3.0
specification. The dispute has prompted Nvidia, AMD, Via, and SiS to
[2]establish a rival standard for the USB 3.0 host controller. An Intel
spokesman [3]denies the company is making the USB specification, or that
USB 3.0 'borrows technology heavily' from the PCI Special Interests
group. He does, however, say that Intel won't release an unfinished Intel
host controller spec until it's ready, as it would lead to incompatible
hardware."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...16/0229242

Links:
0. http://www.thestandard.com/people/i-lamont550036
1. http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/06/...dard-fight
2. http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-996841...g=nefd.top
3. http://blogs.intel.com/technology/2008/0...spelli.php


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Nuclear Warhead Blueprints On Smugglers' Computers |
| from the that's-worrisome dept. |
| posted by timothy on Monday June 16, @02:21 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/16/0440225 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

imrehg links to a story at the Guardian which begins "Blueprints for a
sophisticated and compact nuclear warhead have been [0]found in the
computers of the world's most notorious nuclear-smuggling racket,
according to a leading US researcher. The digital designs, found in
heavily encrypted computer files in Switzerland, are believed to be in
the possession of the US authorities and of the International Atomic
Energy Agency, in Vienna, but investigators fear they could have been
extensively copied and sold to 'rogue' states via the nuclear black
market." Reader this great guy links to the [1]New York Times article on
the discovery, and asks "Given that Khan's revelations were made in early
2004, does that mean it took the IAEA 1-2 years to brute-force the
encryption?"

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/06/16/0440225

Links:
0. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun...r.pakistan
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/world/...ner=rssnyt&emc=rss


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| GE Microbes Make Ersatz Crude Oil From Many Sources |
| from the hey-I'm-crude-and-oily-so-clone-me dept. |
| posted by timothy on Monday June 16, @06:13 (Power) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...16/0451237 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]polymath69 writes "According to The Times Online, genetically modified
microbes have been developed capable of turning surplus material such as
wood chips, sugarcane, or others, not into ethanol, but [1]into a
substance which could substitute directly for crude oil. They claim it
could be sold for about $50/bbl, and the production process would be
carbon negative."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...16/0451237

Links:
0. mailto:9k3k3xw02@nOSpaM.sneakemail.com
1. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/en...133668.ece


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Do Women Write Better Code? |
| from the better-than-me-at-least dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 16, @08:30 (Programming) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...16/1212240 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

JCWDenton writes "The senior vice-president of engineering for
computer-database company Ingres-and one of Silicon Valley's
highest-ranking female programmers-insists that [0]men and women write
code differently. Women are more touchy-feely and considerate of those
who will use the code later, she says. They'll intersperse their code...
with helpful comments and directions, explaining why they wrote the lines
the way they did and exactly how they did it. The code becomes a type of
"roadmap" for others who might want to alter it or add to it later, says
McGrattan, a native of Ireland who has been with Ingres since 1992. Men,
on the other hand, have no such pretenses. Often, "they try to show how
clever they are by writing very cryptic code," she tells the Business
Technology Blog. "They try to obfuscate things in the code," and don't
leave clear directions for people using it later. "

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments....16/1212240

Links:
0. http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/06/06/...rom-venus/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Bezos Buries Patent Office in Paper |
| from the it's-hard-standing-by-your-word dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 16, @09:13 (Patents) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/16/1229242 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]theodp writes "On June 2nd, almost two-and-half years after the USPTO
initiated a reexamination of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' 1-Click Patent,
[1]Amazon dumped another load of documents on the USPTO Examiner assigned
to the case, asking for consideration of the 185 or so listed references
and 'favorable action.' Peter Calveley, the LOTR actor whose
do-it-yourself legal effort prompted the reexam, notes that he was
[2]cc'ed on 20 kg of documents that Amazon sent earlier to the USPTO as
it tried to stave off [3]last October's nonfinal rejection of all but 5
of Amazon's 26 1-Click patent claims. So much for Bezos' 2000 pledge of
[4]'less work for the overworked Patent and Trademark Office'."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...16/1229242

Links:
0. mailto:theodp@aol.com
1. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3276/2582...170c_o.jpg
2. http://igdmlgd.blogspot.com/search/label...0Wikipedia
3. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/27/1144222&tid=155
4. http://oreilly.com/news/amazon_patents.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Trending Low-Volume Google Searches with Gootrude |
| from the stuff-to-play-with dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 16, @10:01 (Google) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...16/1312249 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]michaelrash writes "The [1]Google Trends project provides some
visibility into how popular search terms like "Myspace" or "2008
Election" change over time and points out relevant news articles that
create jumps in search volume. This is a handy tool, but there are many
search terms that Google Trends does not display any results for. Such
terms (such as "Linux Firewalls" — with the quotes) have insufficient
search volumes to display graphs according to the error message that
Google Trends generates. Fair enough. Google sets an internal threshold
on search volume, and this threshold could be set for reasons that range
anywhere from Google Trends is still experimental to Google not wanting
to provide data on how it builds its massive search index for emerging
search terms. Either way, I would like a way to see search term trends
that Google doesn't currently make available to me. So, I've released an
[2]open source project called "Gootrude" to do just this. For the past
year Gootrude has collected a set of low-volume search terms and
interfaced with Gnuplot to [2]visualize them."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...16/1312249

Links:
0. http://www.cipherdyne.org/
1. http://www.google.com/trends
2. http://www.cipherdyne.org/blog/2008/06/t...trude.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Taking the Wii Controller to the Next Level |
| from the stuff-to-play-with dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 16, @10:40 (Input Devices) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...16/1326238 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]funfail writes "It's a Wii without the $250 console. It's virtual Pong
and so much more. Any object is now an input device, even your fingers.
[1]Camspace is a pure software solution that allows nearly any ordinary
PC webcam (95% are supported) to track up to four objects — even as small
as 5mm — in real-time and with very high accuracy and reliability
(Windows only). Techcrunch has [2]an in-depth article and a video." Very
neat idea, but it appears that it is in a limited beta only, and source
doesn't appear likely.

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...16/1326238

Links:
0. http://megaxo.com/
1. http://www.camspace.com/
2. http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/11/cam...o-console/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Hands On With Nvidia's New GTX 280 Card |
| from the that-time-of-year-again dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 16, @11:21 (Graphics) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...16/1343227 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]notdagreatbrain writes "Maximum PC magazine has early [1]benchmarks on
Nvidia's newest GPU architecture — the GTX 200 series. Benchmarks on the
smokin' fast processor reveal a graphics card that can finally tame
Crysis at 1900x1200. 'The GTX 280 delivered real-world benchmark numbers
nearly 50 percent faster than a single GeForce 9800 GTX running on
Windows XP, and it was 23-percent faster than that card running on Vista.
In fact, it looks as though a single GTX 280 will be comparable to — and
in some cases beat — two 9800 GTX cards running in SLI, a fact that
explains why Nvidia expects the 9800 GX2 to fade from the scene rather
quickly.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...16/1343227

Links:
0. http://www.maximumpc.com/
1. http://www.maximumpc.com/article/unveile...xt_gen_gpu


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Corporate Behemoth Keeps Ripping "Real" |
| from the ripping-rocks dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 16, @12:06 (Media) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/16/1420233 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Slashdot contributor [0]Bennett Haselton has written in with a tale of
media rippers and corporate giants "In 2001 RealNetworks [1]sued and
blocked Streambox from distributing the Ripper, a program that let users
rip and save RealAudio and RealVideo streams even if the stream contained
a proprietary "do not copy" flag. Then one year ago this month,
RealNetworks caused a [2]stir by releasing a beta of RealPlayer 11 that
similarly let the user record and save streams from sites like [3]YouTube
and [4]Pandora. [5]YouTube rippers and the like had existed before, but
this was the first time a major company had included a stream ripper in
its media player. And while RealPlayer 11 didn't explicitly ignore any
copy protection flags, the release still provoked legal rumblings: in a
Variety [6]article by Scott Kirsner, an anonymous network exec said
accused RealNetworks of "aiding and abetting piracy" and said that they
would "more likely than not" take action against RealNetworks. But now
that the feature has stayed in RealPlayer for a year, its real impact
will be not on piracy but on the perceived legitimacy of ripping
programs. The [7]corporate behemoth, raked over the coals in the past for
[8]privacy violations and [9]nuisance-ware, strikes a blow for
[10]free-culture hackers." The rest of Bennett's essay is available by
following that magical link right below these words.

This story continues at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/16/1420233

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...16/1420233

Links:
0. mailto:bennett@peacefire.org
1. http://www.law.uh.edu/faculty/cjoyce/cop.../Real.html
2. http://slashdot.org/=
3. http://www.youtube.com/
4. http://www.pandora.com/
5. http://www.google.com/search?q=youtube+ripper
6. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117966...oryid=1009&cs=1
7. http://www.real.com/
8. http://www.junkbusters.com/real.html
9. http://www.boingboing.net/2004/02/01/how...arefr.html
10. http://www.reason.com/news/show/29299.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Nokia Unveils "World's Thinnest" QWERTY Smartphone |
| from the i-lost-it-in-a-deck-of-cards dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 16, @12:52 (Cellphones) |
| http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?si...16/1614251 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Barence writes "Nokia has revamped its E-series of business-oriented
smartphones with two new models, including the [1]"world's thinnest"
QWERTY device. The GPS-enabled E71 is the slimmer successor to the Nokia
E61, with a thickness of only 1cm. It's HSDPA-enabled, offers switchable
home screens, and gives a claimed "two full days of heavy, heavy use".
The E66, on the other hand, is a slide-phone with a conventional
numerical keypad and a built-in accelerometer. At the same event, Nokia
also gave a [2]tantalising hint about its plans for an iPhone rival, with
its senior vice president saying, "we will have touchscreen devices
coming this year"."

Discuss this story at:
http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?s...16/1614251

Links:
0. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/
1. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/205995/nokia...phone.html
2. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/206136/iphon...nokia.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Hackerteen Volume 1: Internet Blackout |
| from the read-all-about-it dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Monday June 16, @13:36 (Book Reviews) |
| http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...16/1453216 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]stoolpigeon writes "Hackerteen Volume 1: Internet Blackout is an
interesting new project, a graphic novel being published by O'Reilly.
What makes it interesting is not just that this is a rather new direction
for O'Reilly but that this is, to my knowledge, a rather unique
publication in that it seeks to educate teenage youth about an array of
issues ranging from privacy, free software, security and the impact of
politics on personal freedom as it relates to the use of technology.
Making topics like that exciting, and understandable to a young person
may sound like a tall order, and I think it is." Read below for the rest
of JR's review.

This story continues at:
http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...16/1453216

Discuss this story at:
http://books.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...16/1453216

Links:
0. mailto:bittercode@gmail


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Trio of Super-Earths Discovered |
| from the no-they-don't-have-powers dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 16, @14:35 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...16/1816249 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]FiReaNGeL writes "A group of [1]astronomers have now discovered a
system of three super-Earths around a rather normal star, which is
slightly less massive than our Sun, and is located 42 light-years away
towards the southern Doradus and Pictor constellations. "We have made
very precise measurements of the velocity of the star HD 40307 over the
last five years, which clearly reveal the presence of three planets". The
planets, having 4.2, 6.7, and 9.4 times the mass of the Earth, orbit the
star with periods of 4.3, 9.6, and 20.4 days, respectively. "The
perturbations induced by the planets are really tiny — the mass of the
smallest planets is one hundred thousand times smaller than that of the
star — and only the high sensitivity of [2]HARPS made it possible to
detect them" says co-author François Bouchy, from the Institut
d'Astrophysique de Paris, France. Clearly these planets are only the tip
of the iceberg."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...16/1816249

Links:
0. mailto:fireang3l@hotmaELIOTil.comminuspoet
1. http://esciencenews.com/articles/2008/06...per.earths
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HARPS


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Visualizing Open Source Contributions |
| from the do-you-see-what-i-see dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 16, @15:24 (Programming) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...16/1855209 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "A student at UC Davis has created some
[0]stunning visualizations of open source software contributions,
including [1]Eclipse, [2]Python, [3]Apache httpd and [4]Postgres. From
the website: "This visualization, called code_swarm, shows the history of
commits in a software project. A commit happens when a developer makes
changes to the code or documents and transfers them into the central
project repository. Both developers and files are represented as moving
elements. When a developer commits a file, it lights up and flies towards
that developer. Files are colored according to their purpose, such as
whether they are source code or a document. If files or developers have
not been active for a while, they will fade away. A histogram at the
bottom keeps a reminder of what has come before.""

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments....16/1855209

Links:
0. http://vis.cs.ucdavis.edu/~ogawa/codeswarm/
1.
2.
3.
4.


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Bone-Headed IT Mistakes |
| from the throw-yours-into-the-mix dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 16, @16:08 (It's funny. Laugh.|
| http://entertainment.slashdot.org/articl.../16/198246 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]snydeq writes "PCs preconfigured with stone-age malware, backups
without recovery, Social Security numbers stored in plain view of high
school students — Andy Brandt gives InfoWorld's [1]Stupid Users series a
new [2]IT admin twist. Call it fratricide if you will, but getting paid
to know better is no guarantee against IT idiocy, as these stories
attest."

Discuss this story at:
http://entertainment.slashdot.org/commen.../16/198246

Links:
0. http://www.infoworld.com/
1. http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/05/0...tro_1.html
2. http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/06/1...ins_1.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| White House Wins Ruling On E-mail Records |
| from the unleash-the-shredders dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 16, @16:42 (United States) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...16/1913259 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "The White House Office of Administration is
[0]not required to turn over records about a trove of possibly missing
e-mails, a federal judge ruled Monday. The ruling by U.S. District Judge
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly found the agency does not have "substantial
independent authority" so it is not subject to the Freedom of Information
Act."

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...16/1913259

Links:
0. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/16/w...index.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Computer Art For a CS Dept Office? |
| from the nerds-deserve-aesthetic-walls-too dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 16, @17:24 (Education) |
| http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/16/1945254 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]philgross writes "My university's Computer Science Department has just
renovated its main office, and is looking for artwork for the walls. Do
you have any recommendations about their favorite posters or images that
address the algorithms, the history, and/or the aesthetics of Computer
Science?"

Discuss this story at:
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...16/1945254

Links:
0. mailto:phil@philgross.com


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| R2-D2 Monitors Your Web Servers |
| from the because-you-can dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 16, @18:04 (It's funny. Laugh.|
| http://entertainment.slashdot.org/articl...16/2116228|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]1sockchuck writes "What happens when you hire Star Wars enthusiasts as
the system admins for your data center? You end up with the [1]R2-D2
server monitoring system. The staff at Japan's [2]Syun (Only if you read
Japanese) have converted an R2-D2 DVD Projector into a Nagios-based
server monitoring system that alerts them whenever a server goes
offline." Say what you will, but that's a lot harder to ignore than a
beeper.

Discuss this story at:
http://entertainment.slashdot.org/commen...16/2116228

Links:
0. http://www.gamehostingguide.com/
1. http://gizmodo.com/5016555/r2+d2s-in-ur-...ur-packetz
2. http://blog.syun.co.jp/2008/06/r2d2_serv...ystem.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| XP Deathwatch, T Minus 2 Weeks |
| from the how-to-really-spike-linux-and-mac-adoption dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday June 16, @18:46 (Windows) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/16/225212 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]CWmike writes "June 30 is Microsoft's deadline for mainstream computer
makers to stop selling new PCs with the old operating system, and the
date that it will stop shipping boxed copies to retailers. That's just
two weeks away. Computerworld offers a [1]FAQ about XP's approaching
retirement after Microsoft's most recent relaxation of the retirement
rules, with some details about which machines big-brand computer makers
will be selling with XP after June 30. First FAQ: Any sign that Microsoft
will reprieve Windows XP's retirement? Sort of."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid.../16/225212

Links:
0. mailto:mike_barton@computerworld.com
1. http://computerworld.com/action/article....ticleBasic&articleId=9098418


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| UCITA By the Back Door |
| from the get-off-my-lawn-forcement dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday June 16, @19:30 (Government) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...16/2316205 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

InfoWorld's Gripelog airs a subject that should interest this community —
involved as we were with efforts against UCITA [0]back in [1]the day. One
main aim of the derailed UCITA initiative was to give software
manufacturers and content owners a degree of control over users'
computers. Gripelog's Ed Foster informs us that [2]UCITA is sneaking back
in, under the cover of an an anti-spyware bill, S. 1625, now making its
way through the US Senate. One clause in this draft bill would legalize
what the BSA calls "electronic self help" — i.e., the ability for
commercial entities to cripple or disable software or networks on your
computer if they believe you are violating their property rights.

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...16/2316205

Links:
0. http://features.slashdot.org/article.pl?...17/0038235&tid=103
1. http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=99/08/09/0249233&tid=103
2. http://www.gripe2ed.com/scoop/story/2008...1219/71034



Copyright 1997-2008 SourceForge, Inc.. All rights reserved.


======================================================================





Reply
#13
Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* Computer With UK Bank Customer Data Sold On eBay
* The Internet's Biggest Security Hole Revealed
* "Shimmer Vision" Scopes See Better Using Heat
* First Oort Cloud Object May Have Been Discovered
* What To Do With All of My Gadget Chargers?
* Newegg Defies New York Sales Tax Law
* Computer Virus Aboard the ISS
* Gaining RAM For Free, Through Software
* Space Cube – the World's Smallest Linux PC
* Compromised SSH Keys Lead To Linux Rootkit Attack
* Nvidia Firmly Denies Plans To Build a CPU
* Locked iPhones Can Be Unlocked Without Password
* iPhone Web Claims Draw Governmental Rebuke in UK
* Google Tests Custom Highlights, Comments In Search
* Zero Day Threat
* Capturing 3D Surfaces Simply With a Flash Camera
* How a Quake 3 Mod Team Turned Into a Successful Studio
* Corporate Gaming Is Good For Business
* Mozilla Labs' "Ubiquity" Helps Automate Web Interactions
* China Blocks More Internet Services
* Full Immersion Cooling Comes To Desktop PCs
* Microsoft Rinses SOAP Out of SQL Server 2008
* Large Content Patch To Precede Upcoming WoW Expansion
* Andy Hertzfeld Shares His Thoughts on 25 Years of the Mac
* Digital Storage To Survive a 25-Year Dirt Nap?
* The Power Grid Can't Handle Wind Farms

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Computer With UK Bank Customer Data Sold On eBay |
| from the fingers-pointing-in-a-circle dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday August 26, @21:23 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/27/0055251 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Walpurgiss tips a BBC News story about a man in Oxford who paid $140 for
a computer on eBay, and was shocked to find on it [0]bank records of
several million customers of the Royal Bank of Scotland, its subsidiary
Natwest, and one other bank. "Mr. Chapman said anyone with a basic
knowledge of computer software would have been able to find the data
fairly simply. 'The information was in back-up CDs and in ISO files so it
would have been possibly quite easy to find...,' he said."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/08/27/0055251

Links:
0. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7581540.stm


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Internet's Biggest Security Hole Revealed |
| from the kaminsky-was-a-warmup dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday August 26, @23:16 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/27/0141247 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

At DEFCON, Tony Kapela and Alex Pilosov demonstrated a [0]drastic
weakness in the Internet's infrastructure that had long been rumored, but
wasn't believed practical. They showed how to hijack BGP (the border
gateway protocol) in order to eavesdrop on Net traffic in a way that
wouldn't be simple to detect. Quoting: "'It's at least as big an issue as
the DNS issue, if not bigger,' said Peiter 'Mudge' Zatko, noted computer
security expert and former member of the L0pht hacking group, who
testified to Congress in 1998 that he could bring down the internet in 30
minutes using a similar BGP attack, and disclosed privately to government
agents how BGP could also be exploited to eavesdrop. 'I went around
screaming my head about this about ten or twelve years ago... We
described this to intelligence agencies and to the National Security
Council, in detail.' The man-in-the-middle attack exploits BGP to fool
routers into re-directing data to an eavesdropper's network." Here's the
PDF of [1]Kapela and Pilosov's presentation.

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/08/27/0141247

Links:
0. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/08...he-in.html
1. https://www.defcon.org/images/defcon-16/...kapela.pdf


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| "Shimmer Vision" Scopes See Better Using Heat |
| from the coco-bop dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Wednesday August 27, @01:06 (The Military) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/27/021244 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

holy_calamity writes "New Scientist reports on a neat DARPA idea that
[0]uses the shimmer of heat haze to allow binoculars to see further. It
works by exploiting the fact that some distortions from heat haze
actually magnify objects behind them. The binoculars collect a series of
frames when that is occurring to boost magnification by 3 times. The
design goal is to be able to present one image a second, and to enable
facial recognition at 90% accuracy at a distance of 1 km. The scopes
could be on the battlefield inside of 3 years."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid.../27/021244

Links:
0. http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technol...rther.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| First Oort Cloud Object May Have Been Discovered |
| from the lands-where-the-jumblies-live dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Wednesday August 27, @03:26 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s.../27/005200 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

SpuriousLogic alerts us to the discovery of what may be the first object
ever discovered [0]from the inner edge of the Oort cloud. 2006 SQ372 was
found on images from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Its discoverers
theorize that this comet-like object and [1]the planetoid Sedna, first
spotted in 2003, might be Oort denizens. Sedna is in a stable orbit but
2006 SQ372 has been perturbed by the gravity of Uranus and/or Neptune,
simulations suggest, so its orbital history is unknowable. 2006 SQ372
will travel out to 1,600 AU on this orbit, making it the most distant
solar-system object yet found. The Oort cloud is believed to extend ten
times that far, or about a quarter of a light-year. "Theoretical models
of the formation of the Oort Cloud predict that it should also host a
massive inner part, but comets from this region never make it near Earth.
To see the long-period comets from the inner region of the Oort Cloud
requires observing comets whose orbits always stay well outside Saturn's
orbit — like 2006 SQ372."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?.../27/005200

Links:
0. http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/..._reservoir
1. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...14/1657223&tid=160


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| What To Do With All of My Gadget Chargers? |
| from the visa-or-mastercard dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Wednesday August 27, @05:46 (Power) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...27/0026242 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

legoman666 writes "On my desk I have chargers for the following gadgets:
Nokia N810, LG Chocolate, Sony Ericcson Z310a, Canon Powershot SD1000,
Cowan iAudio X5L, Lenovo Thinkpad, Logitech MX1000 and my Nintendo DS.
Not a single pair of them share a similar connector. I have two power
strips whose singular purpose is to energize these chargers. My question
to Slashdot is: How do you organize all of your different chargers?
Please, share your secrets."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...27/0026242


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Newegg Defies New York Sales Tax Law |
| from the not-expanding-here-thanks dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Wednesday August 27, @08:05 (Government) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...27/0230233 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

JagsLive informs us that the electronics retailer Newegg.com is defying
New York lawmakers; it has suddenly [0]stopped collecting sales tax from
New York online shoppers. The "Amazon tax," which went into effect June
1, requires online merchants to collect sales tax if they have any
affiliates in the state. Amazon is complying but has sued the state on
constitutional grounds. Overstock.com dropped all of its New York
affiliates and then joined the Amazon lawsuit. Newegg started out
complying with the law on June 1, but stopped collecting taxes for New
York on August 21. From Newegg's letter to its customers: "After careful
review and consideration, we are pleased to inform you that we have
stopped collecting New York sales tax, effective August 21, 2008," reads
an email the company tossed at customers late last week, including at
least one loyal Reg reader. "This decision was driven by your direct and
candid feedback and our continued commitment to you as our valued
customers."

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...27/0230233

Links:
0. http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/3767486


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Computer Virus Aboard the ISS |
| from the like-a-little-piece-of-home dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday August 27, @08:54 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...27/1231224 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

chrb writes "BBC News is reporting that laptops taken to the
International Space Station by NASA astronauts are [0]infected with the
Gammima.AG worm. The laptops have no net connection; officials suspect
[1]the worm may have been transferred via a USB flash drive owned by an
astronaut. NASA have said this isn't the first time computer viruses had
travelled into space."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...27/1231224

Links:
0. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7583805.stm
1. http://www.symantec.com/security_respons...06-1742-99&tabid=2


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Gaining RAM For Free, Through Software |
| from the but-ram-doubler-is-old-news dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday August 27, @09:25 (Software) |
| http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?si...27/1322239 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]wakaramon writes with a piece from IEEE Spectrum about an experimental
approach to [1]squeezing more usable storage out of a device's existing
RAM; the researchers were using a Linux-based PDA as their testbed, and
claim that their software "effectively gives an embedded system more than
twice the memory it had originally — essentially for free." "Although the
price of RAM has plummeted fast, the need for memory has expanded faster
still. But if you could use data-compression software to control the way
embedded systems store information in RAM, and do it in a way that didn't
sap performance appreciably, the payoff would be enormous."

Discuss this story at:
http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?s...27/1322239

Links:
0. http://mena.com.mx/
1. http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/aug08/6479


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Space Cube – the World's Smallest Linux PC |
| from the not-time-cube-note dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday August 27, @09:47 (Portables) |
| http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?si...27/1334214 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Barence writes "Meet [1]the Space Cube — the world's smallest fully
functional PC. Primarily designed for use in space, it somehow manages to
cram a working PC with USB ports, card readers, audio outputs and
proprietary interfaces into a tiny cube chassis measuring just two inches
square. It runs a basic Linux front-end, which the blogger takes a look
at, and there are some great photos of the device being loomed over by
everyday objects like coffee mugs and cellphones. It has connections for
controlling various electronics used by ESA, NASA and JAXA, but it will
also apparently be for sale to the public soon, for use by amateur
engineers and robotics clubs."

Discuss this story at:
http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?s...27/1334214

Links:
0. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs
1. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2008/08/27/...at-pc-pro/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Compromised SSH Keys Lead To Linux Rootkit Attack |
| from the bad-childhoods-keep-on-giving dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday August 27, @10:20 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/27/1413238 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Tech Groupie writes "The US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) has
issued a warning for what it calls [0]'active attacks' against
Linux-based computing infrastructures using compromised SSH keys. The
attack appears to initially use stolen SSH keys to gain access to a
system, and then uses local kernel exploits to gain root access. Once
root access has been obtained, a rootkit known as 'phalanx2' is
installed."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/08/27/1413238

Links:
0. http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1803


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Nvidia Firmly Denies Plans To Build a CPU |
| from the this-time-we-mean-it dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday August 27, @10:39 (Graphics) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...27/1357211 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Barence writes "A senior vice president of Nvidia has [1]denied
rumours that the company is planning an entry into the x86 CPU market.
Speaking to PC Pro, Chris Malachowsky, another co-founder and senior vice
president, was unequivocal. 'That's not our business,' he insisted. 'It's
not our business to build a CPU. We're a visual computing company, and I
think the reason we've survived the other 35 companies who were making
graphics at the start is that we've stayed focused.' He also pointed out
that such a move would expose the company to fierce competition. 'Are we
likely to build a CPU and take out Intel?' he asked. 'I don't think so,
given their thirty-year head start and billions and billions of dollars
invested in it. I think staying focused is our best strategy.' He was
also dismissive of the threat from Intel's Larrabee architecture,
following [2]Nvidia's chief architect calling it a 'GPU from 2006' at the
weekend."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...27/1357211

Links:
0. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/
1. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/221229/nvidi...a-cpu.html
2. http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...24/1213251&tid=152


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Locked iPhones Can Be Unlocked Without Password |
| from the now-lookie-hyeah dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday August 27, @11:07 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/27/1427245 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]snydeq writes "Private information stored in Apple's iPhone and
protected by a lock code can be [1]accessed by anyone with just a few
button presses. Pressing the emergency call button at the unlock screen,
followed by two taps on the home button, takes you to the iPhone's
private 'favorites' page without the need to enter the unlock code,
[2]MacRumors user greenmymac has found. If the owner of the phone has
favorite entries in their address book containing URLs, e-mail addresses
or mobile phone numbers, then those entries can be used to launch the
browser, mail application or SMS software, and gain access to private Web
favorites, e-mail messages, and text messages stored in the phone, again
without entering the unlock code."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/08/27/1427245

Links:
0. http://www.infoworld.com/
1. http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/08/2...ord_1.html
2. http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=551617


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| iPhone Web Claims Draw Governmental Rebuke in UK |
| from the zoolander-bit dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday August 27, @11:30 (Cellphones) |
| http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?si...27/1521248 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Wills writes "Apple has been running [0]an iPhone ad saying 'all parts of
the internet are on the iPhone', but it had to be withdrawn after
[1]Britain's Advertising Standards Authority ruled that it gave [2]'a
misleading impression of the internet capabilities of the iPhone' because
the iPhone cannot access Flash or Java – features that are essential to
some websites. This raises an interesting issue of where do you draw the
line between essential and non-essential features of websites. What
should the web look like? Should government authorities be the ones
making that decision?"

Discuss this story at:
http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?s...27/1521248

Links:
0. http://youtube.com/watch?v=0lfmlKYZ-vU
1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/200...dvertising
2. http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudications/..._44891.htm


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Google Tests Custom Highlights, Comments In Search |
| from the humans-err-good dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday August 27, @12:21 (Google) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...27/1531241 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Ian Lamont writes "Google is testing functionality that [1]lets users
tinker with query results by re-ranking them and commenting on them. The
reason for the commenting feature: 'We're just curious to see how it will
be used,' according to a Google engineer quoted in the article. The
company has posted [2]screenshots of some of the experiments, which also
involve highlighting certain results as well as stems and synonyms within
results. Google declined to answer any questions about the experiments,
and it's not known whether Google would factor the rearranging of results
by users into the overall computation for ranking results for those
specific queries. It's also not clear whether search result comments
would be made available to anyone to read."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...27/1531241

Links:
0. http://www.thestandard.com/people/i-lamont550036
1. http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/08/...ch-results
2. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/s...small.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Zero Day Threat |
| from the protect-ya-neck dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday August 27, @13:10 (Security) |
| http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...27/1257230 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Ben Rothke writes "Zero Day Threat: the Shocking Truth of How Banks
and Credit Bureaus Help Cyber Crooks Steal Your Money and Identity is an
interesting and eye-opening look at how banks and credit card companies
make ID theft and fraud rather elementary. But with all that, this book
must be read in the larger context of how today's society deals with, and
is often oblivious to, risk. When is comes to risk, American society
tolerates tens of thousands of drunk-driving deaths, gives millions in
federal tobacco subsidies, and is oblivious about near-epidemics such as
heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. With all that, it is doubtful that
the myriad horror stories Zero Day Threat details will persuade Congress
or the other players to do anything to curtail the problem with identity
theft and internet fraud." Keep reading for the rest of Ben's review.

This story continues at:
http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...27/1257230

Discuss this story at:
http://books.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...27/1257230

Links:
0. mailto:ben@rothke.com


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Capturing 3D Surfaces Simply With a Flash Camera |
| from the more-depth-than-I've-got dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday August 27, @14:02 (Graphics) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...27/1734224 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]MojoKid writes with this excerpt from Hot Hardware (linking to a video
demonstration): "Creating 3D maps and worlds can be extremely labor
intensive and time consuming. Also, the final result might not be all
that accurate or realistic. A new technique developed by scientists at
The University of Manchester's School of Computer Science and Dolby
Canada, however, might make capturing depth and textures for 3D surfaces
as simple as shooting [1]two pictures with a digital camera — one with
flash and one without. First an image of a surface is captured without
flash. The problem is that the different colors of a surface also reflect
light differently, making it difficult to determine if the brightness
difference is a function of depth or color. By taking a second photo with
flash, however, the accurate colors of all visible portions of the
surface can be captured. The two captured images essentially become a
reflectance map (albedo) and a depth map (height field)."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...27/1734224

Links:
0. http://www.hothardware.com/
1. http://www.hothardware.com/News/Capturin...sh-Camera/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| How a Quake 3 Mod Team Turned Into a Successful Studio |
| from the attention-to-detail dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday August 27, @14:27 (PC Games (Gam|
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...27/1743250 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Paul Williams writes "Develop Magazine has an interesting profile up
looking at UK studio Splash Damage, [1]charting its humble beginnings as
a Quake 3 mod team through to its status as one of Britain's leading
studios — it's currently developing a new game for Bethesda. Most
interesting is the assertion by studio founder Paul Wedgwood that UK
studios should shake off their low-rent reputation and start modeling
their businesses on the likes of Valve, id, and the other envied American
independents: 'We'd been to the US and seen companies like Ritual,
Gearbox and id, and to us it seemed like the game development industry
was seen as better in the US. People sat in cool chairs in cool offices
surrounded by action figures — it was nothing like the UK's approach,
which was more like a workhouse.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...27/1743250

Links:
0. mailto:paul_o_matic@hotmail.com
1. http://www.developmag.com/interviews/255...g-a-Splash


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Corporate Gaming Is Good For Business |
| from the just-doing-my-part,-boss dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday August 27, @14:53 (Businesses) |
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid.../27/188247 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

The Economist is running a story about how [0]gaming is on the rise in
corporate environments, and how games are also becoming a popular tool
for advertising. From internally developed games to commercial offerings
to simply creating a framework in which employees can interact,
game-based competitions and community building are [1]leading to
increased productivity, even for Fortune 500 companies. Quoting: "Take
Microsoft's own experience. Before it releases a new version of its
Windows operating system, it asks staff to help debug the software by
installing and running the system. In the past, project managers had to
spend a great deal of time and effort persuading busy Microsoftees to
help them with this boring task. So for Windows Vista, the system's
latest incarnation, Microsoft created a game that awarded points for
bug-testing and prizes such as wristbands for achieving certain goals.
Participation quadrupled."

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si.../27/188247

Links:
0. http://www.economist.com/business/displa...d=11997115
1. http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/2008...games.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Mozilla Labs' "Ubiquity" Helps Automate Web Interactions |
| from the a-few-seconds-times-several-million-users dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday August 27, @15:40 (Mozilla) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...27/1843222 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Martin writes "Mozilla Labs have released a prototype version of the
Firefox add-on Ubiquity. It is basically Launchy (the application
launcher) for Firefox with the difference that [1]Ubiquity makes use of
web APIs and the Firefox browser. The [2]official website contains
examples, a command list, information about creating your own commands
and of course the Ubiquity extension that is compatible with Firefox 3.x.
Ubiquity can pull and send data to various services like Twitter,
display, find and embed Google Maps, perform searches, write emails, add
entries to the calendar, digg stories and more."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...27/1843222

Links:
0. http://www.ghacks.net/
1. http://www.ghacks.net/2008/08/26/mozilla...plication/
2. http://labs.mozilla.com/2008/08/introducing-ubiquity/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| China Blocks More Internet Services |
| from the how-totally-amazing dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday August 27, @15:53 (Communications)|
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/27/197254 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Dave writes "China continue to block more and more popular services. This
week they blocked iTunes and YouTube, and [0]now it's TringMe, a popular
VoIP 2.0 service. From TringMe's Blog: 'We received close to hundred
complaints from our China users that TringMe services is not accessible
from yesterday. We have found after our investigation that TringMe is
blocked by Chinese government. Earlier China blocked Skype and now they
are turning their eye to TringMe. TringMe is extremely popular in China
and we have a large number of paying customers in China including a
Chinese social network with 3 million users using TringMe's API &
services.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/08/27/197254

Links:
0. http://blog.tringme.com/china-blocks-tringme


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Full Immersion Cooling Comes To Desktop PCs |
| from the please-don't-drink-the-flourinert dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday August 27, @16:28 (Hardware Hackin|
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...27/1930214 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]mr_sifter writes "After three years of research and around £100,000 of
R&D costs, UK-based [1]Armari has unveiled its XCP prototype. It's a full
immersion liquid cooled PC which supports standard ATX components. Unlike
conventional liquid cooled PCs, the components are all easy to swap in
and out as they're swimming in liquid, rather than under waterblocks. It
also looks amazing, pumping around 70KG of electrically inert cooling
fluid (salvaged from an old Cray) around its military grade perspex
shell."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...27/1930214

Links:
0. http://www.custompc.co.uk/
1. http://www.custompc.co.uk/features/60472...g-xcp.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Rinses SOAP Out of SQL Server 2008 |
| from the squish-splurtsch-splqlsh dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday August 27, @16:50 (Databases) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p.../27/203235 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Julie188 writes "A Microsoft SQL Server 2005 fan toppled over in
surprise when [1]he got this error message from SQL Server 2008 (he was
running the SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Advisor tool): 'In SQL Server 2008,
SQL Server native SOAP has been deprecated and will be removed in a
future SQL Server release ... Avoid use of SQL server native SOAP in new
development work, and plan to modify applications that currently use it.'
No more SOAP-based Web services for your SQL Server database? Native XML
was only added in v.2005 and was much ballyhooed at that time."

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments..../27/203235

Links:
0. mailto:jbort@nww.com
1. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/31669


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Large Content Patch To Precede Upcoming WoW Expansion |
| from the three-point-oh dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday August 27, @17:09 (Role Playing |
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid.../27/194227 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Blizzard has announced they will be releasing a sizable patch to
[0]prepare for the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion to World of
Warcraft. The patch, similar to one they released prior to the first
expansion, will include the new profession (Inscription), new talents for
each class, and two new arenas. The patch will be up on the Public Test
Realm "soon," according to a Blizzard rep, but it will [1]require
significant testing before reaching the live servers. Blizzard developers
Tom Chilton and J. Allen Brack gave a related interview recently to
Videogamer in which they mentioned that a graphical reboot for World of
Warcraft "[2]may never be necessary." We've been following the
[3]development of [4]Wrath of the Lich King for [5]a while now.

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si.../27/194227

Links:
0. http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/world-of-warcra...-26_145400&RSSid=902977
1. http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?topic=14041.0
2. http://www.videogamer.com/pc/wrath_of_th...-1194.html
3. http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...20/1316232&tid=209
4. http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...21/1540207&tid=209
5. http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid.../21/175235&tid=209


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Andy Hertzfeld Shares His Thoughts on 25 Years of the Mac |
| from the never-forget-your-first-mac dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday August 27, @17:16 (Desktops (Apple|
| http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...27/2046220 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]blackbearnh writes "It may make you feel very, very old, but the
Macintosh will be turning 25 in January. As we approach this momentous
anniversary, O'Reilly News had [1]a talk with Andy Hertzfeld, one of the
original Macintosh designers, about the long and storied history of the
Mac. Hertzfeld, who tells the story of the Mac in his book [2]A
Revolution in the Valley, shares his thoughts about how the Mac has aged
over time, how life might have been different if Steve Jobs had stayed on
at Apple, and the differences between working for Apple, and for Google
(his current employer.)" Read on below for a bit of what Hertzfeld had to
say.

This story continues at:
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...27/2046220

Discuss this story at:
http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...27/2046220

Links:
0. http://news.oreilly.com/
1. http://news.oreilly.com/2008/08/the-mac-...eld-l.html
2. http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596007195...e_products&ATT=book-revinvalley


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Digital Storage To Survive a 25-Year Dirt Nap? |
| from the lazarus-brand-only-goes-a-few-days dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday August 27, @18:12 (Data Storage) |
| http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/27/2119252 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]AlHunt writes "I've been tasked with finding a way to bury digitally
stored photographs in a small underground time capsule to be opened in 25
years. It looks like we'll be using a steel vessel, welded closed. I've
thought of CDs, DVDs, a hard drive, or a thumb drive — but they all have
drawbacks, not the least of which is outdated technology 25 years from
now. Maybe I'll put a CD and a CD-ROM drive in the capsule and hope that
the IDE interface is still around in 25 years? Ideas and feedback will be
appreciated."

Discuss this story at:
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...27/2119252

Links:
0. http://www.alhunt.com/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Power Grid Can't Handle Wind Farms |
| from the gone-with-the-wind dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday August 27, @19:09 (Power) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...27/2217221 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]DesScorp writes "The Times reports on the problems of adding wind
farms to the power grid. Because of the grid's old design, it [1]can't
handle the various spikes that wind farms sometimes have, and there's no
efficient way to currently move massive amounts of that power from one
section of the country to the other. Further complicating things is the
fact that under current laws, power grid regulation is a state matter,
and the Federal government has comparatively little authority over it
right now. Critics are calling for federal authority over the grid, and
massive new construction of "superhighways" to share the wind power
wealth nationally. Quoting the article, 'The dirty secret of clean energy
is that while generating it is getting easier, moving it to market is
not.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...27/2217221

Links:
0. mailtoBig GrinesScorp@Gmail.com
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/busine....html?_r=1&oref=slogin



Copyright 1997-2008 SourceForge, Inc.. All rights reserved.


======================================================================
Reply
#14
how they find all this different stuff every day is amazing}

Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* Nintendo DSi Software Will Be Region Locked
* Google's Obfuscated TCP
* New Bill To Rein In DHS Laptop Seizures
* Prevent Gmail From Emailing Under the Influence
* Where's the "IronPerl" Project?
* DMCA Exemption Time
* TiVo Wins Appeal On Patents For Pause, Ffwd, Rwd
* Obama Beats McCain In Spam Landslide
* Steve Jobs Patents "The Dock"
* Free Online Scientific Repository Hits Milestone
* New Contestants On the Turing Test
* Spammer Perjury is Worth Prosecuting
* Palin E-mail Hacker Indicted
* Firefox Add-On To Track Your Location Via Wi-Fi
* Opera 9.60 Released, With Upgraded Mail Client
* Cisco Ships Mexican Folk Music On VPN Client CD
* Nagios 3 Enterprise Network Monitoring
* Asteroid Explodes Over Sudan
* Google Brings Ads To Games, Game Ads To YouTube
* Fluorescent Protein Research Lands Scientists Nobel Prize
* Age of Conan Dev Talks Problems, Future Plans
* Landing IT Work Overseas
* Watching Brain Cells In Action
* Mathematicians Deconstruct US News College Rankings
* Maryland Police Put Activists' Names On Terror List
* Recovering Blurred Text Using Photoshop and JavaScript
* David Axmark Resigns From Sun
* Odd Planet Confuses Scientists

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Nintendo DSi Software Will Be Region Locked |
| from the don't-import dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Tuesday October 07, @20:30 (Portables (Gam|
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...07/2244228 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]aliquis writes with news that [1]software made for the recently
announced Nintendo DSi will be region-locked. Nintendo's reasoning is
that the DSi "embeds net communication functionality within itself and we
are intending to provide net services specifically tailored for each
region." It's also been discovered that accounts with the DSi's online
store [2]won't be linked with the Wii store, so points for one won't work
with the other. Nintendo has stated that they don't intend for digital
distribution to [3]replace retail sales. We [4]discussed the DSi's
announcement last week.

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...07/2244228

Links:
0. mailto:dospam@gmail.com
1. http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=253920
2. http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/55155
3. http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/55150
4. http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?si...02/1351256&tid=234


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Google's Obfuscated TCP |
| from the shake-hands-when-you-say-that dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday October 07, @20:53 (Encryption) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/08/0025258 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

agl42 writes "[0]Obfuscated TCP attempts to provide a cheap opportunistic
encryption scheme for HTTP. Though SSL has been around for years, most
sites still don't use it by default. By providing a less secure, but
computationally and administratively cheaper, method of encryption, we
might be able to increase the depressingly small fraction of encrypted
traffic on the Internet. There's an [1]introduction video explaining it."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/10/08/0025258

Links:
0. http://code.google.com/p/obstcp
1.


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| New Bill To Rein In DHS Laptop Seizures |
| from the give-it-back-now dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday October 07, @22:41 (Privacy) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/07/233220 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

twigles writes with news of a new proposed bill that seeks to [0]curtail
DHS's power to search and seize laptops at the border without suspicion
of wrongdoing. Here is [1]Sen. Feingold's press release on the bill. The
new bill has more privacy-protecting safeguards than [2]the previous one,
which we discussed last month. "The Travelers Privacy Protection Act, a
bill written by US Senators Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Maria Cantwell,
D-Wash., and Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., would allow border agents to
search electronic devices only if they had reasonable suspicions of
wrongdoing. In addition, the legislation would limit the length of time
that a device could be out of its owner's possession to 24 hours, after
which the search becomes a seizure, requiring probable cause."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/10/07/233220

Links:
0. http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/832
1. http://feingold.senate.gov/~feingold/rel...0925l.html
2. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/17/0226221&tid=158


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Prevent Gmail From Emailing Under the Influence |
| from the chili-meter-with-brains dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Wednesday October 08, @00:29 (It's funny. L|
| http://entertainment.slashdot.org/articl...08/0032219|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]mikesd81 writes "Google has developed 'Mail Goggles,' a Gmail add-on
that [1]makes sending email from Gmail more difficult during certain
times (which you can set). If you have Mail Goggles installed, it will
force you to answer a series of math questions before sending out any new
messages. You can adjust the math difficulty and times this option is in
effect. If you get any of the questions wrong, Mail Goggles will say,
'Water and bed for you. Or try again.' Of course, if you set the math
settings too high, you may have a tough time solving some of those
problems in under 60 seconds, even when sober. Then again, if you're
sober, you could just turn Mail Goggles off and hit send on that
impassioned letter to your ex-boyfriend/girlfriend or that flame to your
boss."

Discuss this story at:
http://entertainment.slashdot.org/commen...08/0032219

Links:
0. http://mikesdatptd.net/
1. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/200...gmail.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Where's the "IronPerl" Project? |
| from the more-than-one-way dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Wednesday October 08, @03:05 (Perl) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p.../08/019240 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

pondlife writes "A friend asked me today about using some [0]Microsoft
server components from Perl. Over the years he's built up a large
collection of Perl/COM code using [1]Win32::OLE and he had planned on
doing the same thing here. The big problem is that as with many current
MS APIs, they're available for .NET only because COM is effectively
deprecated at this point. I did some Googling, expecting to find quickly
the Perl equivalent of [2]IronPython or [3]IronRuby. But to my surprise I
found almost nothing. ActiveState has PerlNET, but there's almost no
information about it, and the [4]mailing list 'activity' suggests it's
dead or dying anyway. So, what are Perl/Windows shops doing now that more
and more Microsoft components are .NET? Are people moving to other
languages for Windows administration? Are they writing wrappers using COM
interop? Or have I completely missed something out there that solves this
problem?"

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments..../08/019240

Links:
0. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms162169.aspx
1. http://search.cpan.org/~jdb/Win32-OLE-0....n32/OLE.pm
2. http://www.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?P...IronPython
3. http://www.ironruby.net/
4. http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Mail/Br...d/perl.net


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DMCA Exemption Time |
| from the circumvent-with-daring-and-whimsy dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Wednesday October 08, @05:39 (Encryption) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/07/2114243 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

jvillain writes "Contentagenda notes that the Copyright Office is taking
[0]submissions for exemptions to the DMCA. They do this every three
years. There's a description of the six exemptions made last time to give
you some ideas. So fire up the keyboard and [1]let the Copyright Office
know what needs to be changed. If you don't get in now, it'll be another
three years before you can try again."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/10/07/2114243

Links:
0. http://www.contentagenda.com/blog/150000...34464.html
1. http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/2008/73fr58073.pdf


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| TiVo Wins Appeal On Patents For Pause, Ffwd, Rwd |
| from the satellites-descending dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Wednesday October 08, @08:12 (Patents) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/08/0052232 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Lorien_the_first_one writes "After years of wrangling, TiVo has [1]won
its day in court against Dish Network, formerly known as the EchoStar,
when the Supreme Court declined to take up Dish Network's appeal, forcing
the satellite television company to pay $104 million in damages.
According to the article, 'TiVo originally won a patent infringement case
in 2004 against Dish, which was then named EchoStar Communications. It
charged that Dish illegally copied its technology, which allows people to
pause, rewind, and record live television on digital video recorders.'
Despite an injunction, Dish continued distributing its set-top boxes in
the belief that the work-around they had implemented avoided infringing
TiVo's patents. Now the case goes back to the lower court for review to
determine if they did indeed steer clear of those patents."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...08/0052232

Links:
0. http://thelibertychannel.blogspot.com/
1. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...13C9BD.DTL&type=tech


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Obama Beats McCain In Spam Landslide |
| from the well-isn't-that-unfortunate dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 08, @08:50 (Spam) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/08/1231223 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "The New York Times runs an article about
[0]the spammers' choice of presidential candidate. From the article:
'According to Secure Computing Corp., spammers were nearly seven times
more likely to slap Obama's name in the subject line than McCain's during
September. The bulk of Obama's lead in the spam wars came from a massive
blitz early in the month.' Secure Computing released [1]additonal numbers
for the past weeks, and McCain was able to close the gap in the latest
spammers' poll."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/10/08/1231223

Links:
0. http://www.nytimes.com/idg/IDG_852573C40...technology
1. http://www.trustedsource.org/blog/154/The-Spammers-Vote


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Steve Jobs Patents "The Dock" |
| from the what's-next dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 08, @09:43 (Patents) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/08/1224224 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]theodp writes "If [1]you're a PC, you may be unfamiliar with [2]The
Dock, the bar of icons that sits at the bottom or side of a Mac and
provides easy access to Apple applications. But don't count on it
becoming a standard on the PC. On Tuesday, the USPTO awarded Apple — and
inventor Steve Jobs — a patent for their [3]User Interface for Providing
Consolidation and Access, aka 'The Dock,' after a rather lengthy
nine-year wait."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...08/1224224

Links:
0. mailto:theodp@aol.com
1. http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/m..._a_pc.html
2. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2474?viewlocale=en_US
3. http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parse...=7,434,177


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Free Online Scientific Repository Hits Milestone |
| from the a-whole-lotta-smart-stuff dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 08, @10:24 (The Internet)|
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...08/1255256 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]ocean_soul writes "Last week the free and open access repository for
scientific (mainly physics but also math, computer sciences...) papers
[1]arXiv got [2]past 500,000 different papers, not counting older
versions of the same article. Especially for physicists, it is the
number-one resource for the latest scientific results. Most researchers
publish their papers on arXiv before they are published in a 'normal'
journal. A famous example is [3]Grisha Perelman, who published his
award-winning paper exclusively on arXiv."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...08/1255256

Links:
0. mailto:tobias.verhulst@nOSpam.ua.ac.be
1. http://arxiv.org/
2. http://communications.library.cornell.ed...estone.cfm
3. http://aps.arxiv.org/find/grp_math/1/au:.../0/all/0/1


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| New Contestants On the Turing Test |
| from the game-on dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 08, @11:15 (Programming) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...08/1443238 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

vitamine73 writes "At 9 a.m. next Sunday, six computer programs —
'artificial conversational entities' — will [0]answer questions posed by
human volunteers at the University of Reading in a bid to become the
first recognized 'thinking' machine. If any program succeeds, it is
likely to be hailed as the most significant breakthrough in artificial
intelligence since the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue beat world chess
champion Garry Kasparov in 1997. It could also raise profound questions
about whether a computer has the potential to be 'conscious' — and if
humans should have the 'right' to switch it off."

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments....08/1443238

Links:
0. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/200...lligenceai


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Spammer Perjury is Worth Prosecuting |
| from the love-a-little-alliteration dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 08, @12:01 (Spam) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/08/1345216 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Slashdot regular [0]Bennett Haselton summarizes his essay by saying
"Spammers really do lie more often under oath than other parties in court
(surprise). Judges and prosecutors could promote respect for the law by
cracking down on it, and maybe make a dent in spam in the process." Read
on to learn of his experiences with (shocking!) spammers who lie in
court.

This story continues at:
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/08/1345216

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/10/08/1345216

Links:
0. mailto:bennett@peacefire.org


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Palin E-mail Hacker Indicted |
| from the very-stealthy dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 08, @12:44 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/08/1445258 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

doomsdaywire writes "A University of Tennessee student who is the son of
a Memphis legislator has been [0]indicted by a federal grand jury on
charges of hacking Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's
personal e-mail. [...] If convicted, [David C.] Kernell faces a maximum
of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a three-year term of
supervised release. A trial date has not been set."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...08/1445258

Links:
0. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/oct/08...cking-case


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Firefox Add-On To Track Your Location Via Wi-Fi |
| from the location-aware dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday October 08, @13:32 (Mozilla) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/08/1714228 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Barence writes "Mozilla Labs has unveiled a new Add-on that allows
Firefox to [1]pinpoint your location based on Wi-Fi signals. The feature,
called Geode, is a prototype for the location-tracking technology that
will be built into the forthcoming Firefox 3.1. Geode is designed to work
with websites that rely on knowing your location, such as mapping and
geotagging services. The prospect of Firefox having the ability to track
your location raises obvious privacy fears. Mozilla insists users will
remain in complete control. 'With Geode, when a website requests your
location a notification bar [2]will ask how much information you want to
give that site: your exact location, your neighbourhood, your city, or
nothing at all,' the Mozilla Labs blog claims."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...08/1714228

Links:
0. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/
1. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/228891/firef...ation.html
2. http://labs.mozilla.com/2008/10/introducing-geode/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Opera 9.60 Released, With Upgraded Mail Client |
| from the alternative-alternative- dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday October 08, @13:49 (Communications|
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/08/1740204 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Kelson writes "[1]Opera Software has [2]released Opera 9.60, the
latest version of their web browser & internet suite. It's an
evolutionary release, focused on performance optimization, [3]improving
the email client and adding more items to the Opera Link synchronization
service."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/10/08/1740204

Links:
0. http://www.alternativebrowseralliance.com/
1. http://www.opera.com/
2. http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/en/2008/10/08/
3. http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-10060602-12.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Cisco Ships Mexican Folk Music On VPN Client CD |
| from the whistle-while-you-work dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday October 08, @14:05 (It's funny. |
| http://idle.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...08/1418232 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]jemduff writes "So we receive our brand new firewall from CISCO and
all goes well with the setup... until we try to upgrade our VPN client
and we discovered that the [1]installation CDs from CISCO contain 12
tracks of Mexican music!!? Not too bad if you're into that kind of music
... too bad if you need to get onto your corporate network. How much did
those routers cost, again? 5,000,000 pesos?"

Discuss this story at:
http://idle.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...08/1418232

Links:
0. mailto:jemduff@gmail.com
1. http://dave.fumberger.com/2008/10/08/cis...new-album/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Nagios 3 Enterprise Network Monitoring |
| from the read-all-about-it dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday October 08, @14:15 (Software) |
| http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...08/1328247 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]jgoguen writes "Nagios, originally known as Netsaint, has been a
long-time favourite for network and device monitoring due to its
flexibility, ease of use, and efficiency. Nagios provided, and still
provides today, a low-cost, versatile alternative to commercial network
monitoring applications. Nagios 3 takes a huge step forward compared to
Nagios 2, providing improved flexibility, ease of use and extensibility,
all while also making significant performance enhancements. Due to its
extensibility and ease of use, no device or situation has yet been found
that cannot be monitored using Nagios and a pre-made or custom script,
plug-in or enhancement." Read on for the rest of jgoguen's review.

This story continues at:
http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...08/1328247

Discuss this story at:
http://books.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...08/1328247

Links:
0. mailto:jgoguen@jgoguen.ca


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Asteroid Explodes Over Sudan |
| from the did-it-make-a-noise dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday October 08, @14:34 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...08/1829240 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]radioweather writes "A recently discovered [1] Apollo Asteroid, 2008
TC3, [2] exploded over Sudan at about 1046 EDT on October 7, 2008,
according to astronomer Tim Spahr of Harvard University 2008 TC3 was
discovered on Monday by an observer at the Mt Lemmon Observatory near
Tucson, Arizona. 2008 TC3 is notable in that it is the first Asteroid of
its size that was identified before impact and tracking it put the entire
[3]Spaceguard tracking system to an extreme test. TC3 is estimated to be
only two to five meters in diameter but exploded with the force of a one
kiloton of explosive power." We [4]mentioned the asteroid last on Monday,
when it was only at a 99.8 percent chance of colliding with Earth.

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...08/1829240

Links:
0. http://wattsupwiththat.com/
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_asteroid
2. http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/10/07/su...-asteroid/
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceguard
4. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...06/2243220&tid=160


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Google Brings Ads To Games, Game Ads To YouTube |
| from the brought-to-you-by-the-letter-g dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday October 08, @14:54 (Google) |
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...08/1818216 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Reuters reports that YouTube will be partnering with Amazon and iTunes to
provide [0]the ability to purchase games and songs that are in or related
to YouTube's hosted videos. For example, watching footage from Spore will
bring up a link to purchase the actual game through Amazon. The sales
revenue will be shared. In related news, Google has [1]launched a public
beta for their in-game advertising software based on Adsense. "Google is
initially targeting the sweet spot for its technology: games based in
Adobe's Flash platform and which run in a web browser with no download.
... [Christian Oestlien, senior product manager at Google] said that
Google's advertisers can use the software to insert ads into games or
videos for YouTube, making the ads more versatile. Developers of games
can use Flash software development kits to designate the points in a game
that make an 'ad request.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...08/1818216

Links:
0. http://uk.reuters.com/article/technology...edType=RSS&feedName=technology-media-telco-SP&pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
1. http://venturebeat.com/2008/10/07/google...web-games/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Fluorescent Protein Research Lands Scientists Nobel Prize |
| from the also-will-change-dinner-forever dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday October 08, @15:37 (Biotech) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...08/1911237 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Iddo Genuth writes "The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has
announced three recipients of the Nobel Prize in [1]Chemistry award for
2008: jointly given to Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie and Roger Y. Tsien
'for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP'
— a remarkable brightly glowing green fluorescent protein [2]first
observed in the beautiful jellyfish, Aequorea victoria, in 1962."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...08/1911237

Links:
0. http://www.thefutureofthings.com/
1. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemi...ates/2008/
2. http://thefutureofthings.com/pod/5515/20...istry.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Age of Conan Dev Talks Problems, Future Plans |
| from the polishing-is-an-endless-task dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday October 08, @15:56 (Role Playing|
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...08/1852210 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Jørgen Tharaldsen, Funcom's product director, recently spoke about
[0]some of the problems with Age of Conan and how they are planning to
make the game better. "I think it's okay to say that we simply didn't
deliver as good as we should have on all the launch features." He goes on
to talk about how they're working on improvements to the PvP system,
[1]tradeskills, and class balance. Tharaldsen also spoke with Strategy
Informer about the [2]development of the Xbox 360 version of the game,
which he said was "not our key priority as there are a massive amount of
PC gamers already playing the game, and we rightly have the focus on
them."

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...08/1852210

Links:
0. http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/10/0...-of-conan/
1. http://www.massively.com/2008/10/02/majo...-revealed/
2. http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/228...right-now/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Landing IT Work Overseas |
| from the mostly-aimed-at-americans dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday October 08, @16:20 (The Almighty B|
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...08/1951243 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]snydeq writes "US IT workers could find [1]considerable payoff and
invaluable experience by taking their IT skills overseas, InfoWorld
reports, as foreign, US, and global firms have increased the demand for a
wide range of tech talent across the globe, offering positions that
clearly move beyond the scut work of heads-down programming. Business
fluency, industry-specific skills, and knowledge of American markets is
fast becoming an invaluable asset foreign firms will pay a premium for,
according to the report, which offers insights into [2]finding IT work in
a range of cities and regions abroad."

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments....08/1951243

Links:
0. http://www.infoworld.com/
1. http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/10/0...eas_1.html
2. http://akamai.infoworld.com/offshore/index.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Watching Brain Cells In Action |
| from the as-if-mice-have-brains dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday October 08, @16:42 (Biotech) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...08/2028206 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Roland Piquepaille writes "A Stanford University team has developed a
microscope weighing only 1.1 grams. It is so small that it can be
[1]mounted to the head of a freely moving mouse to watch its brain cell
activity. According to what the lead researcher told New Scientist, 'A
lot of work has been done using brain slices, or anaesthetised animals —
even using animals that are awake but restrained. But so far it has been
impossible to image cellular-level activity in a freely moving mouse.'
Not any more. And as mice are the 'preferred' animals in medical labs,
this new kind of microscope could lead to new ways to study human
diseases."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...08/2028206

Links:
0. http://www.primidi.com/2008/10/08.html
1. http://technology.newscientist.com/artic...ction.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Mathematicians Deconstruct US News College Rankings |
| from the deep-springs-college dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday October 08, @17:00 (Education) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...08/2037225 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "US News makes a mint off its college rankings
every year, but do they really give meaningful information? A pair of
mathematicians argues that the data the magazine uses is all likely to be
at least somewhat relevant, but that the way the magazine weights the
different statistics is pretty arbitrary. After all, different people may
have different priorities. So they developed a [0]method to compute the
rankings based on any possible set of priorities. To do it, they had to
reverse-engineer some of US News's data. What they found was that some
colleges come out on top pretty much regardless of the prioritization,
but others move around quite a lot. And the top-ranked university can
vary tremendously. Penn State, which is #48 using US News's methodology,
could be the best university in the country, by other standards."

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...08/2037225

Links:
0. http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/...e_rankings


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Maryland Police Put Activists' Names On Terror List |
| from the bad-incentive-to-remain-peaceful dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday October 08, @17:46 (Privacy) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/08/2056245 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]aaandre writes with word of a Washington Post story which begins: "The
Maryland State Police [1]classified 53 nonviolent activists as terrorists
and entered their names and personal information into state and federal
databases that track terrorism suspects, the state police chief
acknowledged yesterday. The police also entered the activists' names into
the federal Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area
database, which tracks suspected terrorists. One well-known antiwar
activist from Baltimore, Max Obuszewski, was singled out in the
intelligence logs released by the ACLU, which described a 'primary crime'
of 'terrorism-anti-government' and a 'secondary crime' of
'terrorism-anti-war protesters.'" According to the article, "Both [former
state police superintendent Thomas] Hutchins and [Maryland Police
Superintendent Terrence] Sheridan said the activists' names were entered
into the state police database as terrorists partly because the software
offered limited options for classifying entries." Reader kcurtis adds
"The State Police say they are purging the data, but this is one more
example (on top of yesterday's news that [2]datamining for terrorists is
not feasible due to false positives) of just how badly the use of these
lists can be abused."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...08/2056245

Links:
0. mailto:aaandre@gmail.com
1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...03245.html
2. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/10...g-for.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Recovering Blurred Text Using Photoshop and JavaScript |
| from the careful-how-you-hide-stuff dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday October 08, @18:31 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/08/2132212 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "There's been a lot of talk about
[0]recovering blurred or pixelated text, but here's an [1]actual
implementation using nothing but Photoshop and a little JavaScript.
Includes a Hollywood-esque video showing the uncovered letters slowly
appearing."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/10/08/2132212

Links:
0. http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/07/1352242&tid=172
1. http://tlrobinson.net/blog/?p=52


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| David Axmark Resigns From Sun |
| from the take-this-job-and-shove-it dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday October 08, @19:35 (Sun Microsys|
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/08/2230221 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "From Kay Arno's blog we see that David
Axmark, MySQL's Co-Founder, [0]has resigned. This comes on top of the
maybe, maybe not, [1]resignation of Monty. We saw earlier this year that
Brian Aker the Director of Architecture has [2]forked the server to
create a web focused database from MySQL called [3]Drizzle. The MySQL
server has been "RC" now for a year with [4]hundreds of bugs still listed
as being active in the 5.1 version. What is going on with MySQL?"

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/10/08/2230221

Links:
0. http://blogs.mysql.com/kaj/2008/10/07/th...id-axmark/
1. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10033614-16.html
2. http://krow.livejournal.com/602409.html
3. http://launchpad.net/drizzle
4. http://bugs.mysql.com/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Odd Planet Confuses Scientists |
| from the that's-no-moon dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday October 08, @19:55 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...08/2241204 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]eldavojohn writes "While there's been a lot of [1]debate about what is
a planet, there is a recent discovery that [2]has scientists even more
confused. COROT (COnvection ROtation and planetary Transits) spotted an
object that appears to be the size of Jupiter yet is 21.6 times more
massive ... and orbits its star in a mere four days and six hours. Now,
the other piece of the puzzle is that the star it orbits is more massive
and only slightly larger than our Sun. But they can't describe this thing
orbiting it. So far they think it is more likely to be a 'failed star'
but have settled with 'member of a new-found family of very massive
planets that encircle stars more massive than the sun' to describe it
accurately."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...08/2241204

Links:
0. http://tinyurl.com/eldavojohnmusic
1. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s.../24/148245&tid=160
2. http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbey...lanet.html



Reply
#15
Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* Hydrogen-Producing Bacteria Could Provide Clean Energy
* Exchanging Pictures To Generate Passwords
* Australian Government Censorship 'Worse Than Iran'
* Study Debunks Gamer Stereotypes
* Bioshock 2 Trailer Released, Platform Information Revealed
* Australia Developing Massive Electric Vehicle Grid
* Researchers Find Problems With RFID Passport Cards
* Open Source Hardware, For Fun and For Profit
* 1000-mph Car Planned
* Amazon Beefs Up Its Cloud Ahead of MS Announcement
* In UK, Broadband Limits Confuse Nine In Ten Users
* Google Founders Buy Fighter Jet
* Nintendo Blocks Homebrew Installation
* Stellar Seismologists Record "Music" From Stars
* ICANN Releases Draft For New TLDs
* Bill Gates Founds New "Think Tank" Company
* Storing Qubits In Nuclei
* ACLU Creates Map of US "Constitution-Free Zone"
* $29M To Start US Satellite Protection Program
* Which Phone To Develop For?
* Amazon Kindle Endorsed By Oprah
* Hubble Repairs Hindered By Antiquated Computer Systems
* Packs of Robots Will Hunt Down Uncooperative Humans

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Hydrogen-Producing Bacteria Could Provide Clean Energy |
| from the for-my-motorhome-of-the-future dept. |
| posted by timothy on Thursday October 23, @20:05 (Power) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...23/2318208 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Iddo Genuth writes "Scientists at the Agricultural Research Service
(ARS) and North Carolina State University (NC State) have developed
cooperatively a new 'green' technology which could lead to clean
production of [1]hydrogen from nitrogen-fixing bacteria."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...23/2318208

Links:
0. http://www.thefutureofthings.com/
1. http://thefutureofthings.com/news/5617/h...nergy.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Exchanging Pictures To Generate Passwords |
| from the worth-a-thousand-words dept. |
| posted by timothy on Thursday October 23, @20:59 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/24/0034202 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Roland Piquepaille writes "Today, Ileana Buhan, a Romanian computer
scientist, is presenting her PhD Thesis at the University of Twente in
the Netherlands. She is using [1]biometrics to protect confidential
information when it is exchanged between two mobile devices. This is a
very innovative approach to security. Buhan's biometric application will
generate almost unbreakable passwords from photos taken by the connected
users. Here is how it works. 'To do this, two users need to save their
own photos on their PDAs. They then take photos of each other. The PDA
compares the two photos and generates a security code for making a safe
connection.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/10/24/0034202

Links:
0. http://www.primidi.com/2008/10/23.html
1. http://www.utwente.nl/nieuws/pers/en/con...44_en.doc/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Australian Government Censorship 'Worse Than Iran' |
| from the but-the-people-there-are-so-nice dept. |
| posted by timothy on Thursday October 23, @23:20 (Censorship) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/24/0224239 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "The Australian Government's plan to Censor
the Internet is producing problems for ISPs, with filters causing
[0]speeds to drop by up to 86% and falsely blocking 10% of safe sites.
The Government Minister in charge of the censorship plan, Conservative
Stephen Conroy, has been accused of bullying ISP employees critical of
his plan: 'If people equate freedom of speech with watching child
pornography, then [1]the Rudd Labor Government is going to disagree.'"
Read on for more, including an interesting approach to demonstrating the
inevitable collision of automated censorship with common sense.

This story continues at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/24/0224239

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...24/0224239

Links:
0. http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/tec...ntentSwap1
1. http://www.australianit.news.com.au/stor...06,00.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Study Debunks Gamer Stereotypes |
| from the five-more-minutes-ok-mom? dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday October 24, @00:01 (Games) |
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...24/0257252 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Ars Technica reports on a recent study by Ipsos MediaCT which
[0]evaluated gamers with respect to a large variety of social parameters.
Among their findings: "55 percent of gamers polled were married, 48
percent have kids, and new gamers — those who have started playing
videogames in the past two years — are 32 years old on average." Also,
"In terms of hard dollars, the average gaming household income ($79,000)
is notably higher than that of nongaming households ($54,000), but the
value of the gamer as a marketing target can be seen in a variety of
ways. 39 percent of gamers said that friends and family rely upon them to
stay up-to-date about the latest technology." The [1]press release for
the study is available at IGN.

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...24/0257252

Links:
0. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/200...k-guy.html
1. http://corp.ign.com/articles/920/920555p1.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Bioshock 2 Trailer Released, Platform Information Revealed |
| from the pretty-pictures dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday October 24, @02:09 (PC Games (Games|
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...24/0327242 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]arcticstoat writes "If you've played Bioshock, you'll know it can be a
tough choice deciding whether you're going to kill the cute (yet evil
looking) Little Sisters and extract their ADAM, or let them live. Your
choice even affects whether you're given one of three possible endings of
the game, and their story will now [1]continue to be told in the sequel.
2K Games has just [2]released a trailer for the new game, showing what
appears to be a grown up Little Sister, still clutching a toy, while the
city structure of Rapture springs up around her. No gameplay is shown,
but it does give a hint as to what the game will be about, and it looks
as though the game may take you onto dry land." Gamespot initially
confirmed the trailer's authenticity after it was leaked last week. A
representative from 2K Games also mentioned Bioshock 2 was "destined for
the [3]PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows PC platforms."

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...24/0327242

Links:
0. http://www.russell-crow.com/
1. http://www.custompc.co.uk/news/605076/vi...eased.html
2. http://www.2kgames.com/cultofrapture/home.html
3. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6199938.html?part=rss&tag=gs_news&subj=6199938


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Australia Developing Massive Electric Vehicle Grid |
| from the must-avert-mad-max-at-all-costs dept. |
| posted by timothy on Friday October 24, @02:18 (Transportation) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...24/0440204 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]blairerickson writes "A US firm Thursday unveiled [1]plans to build a
massive one-billion-dollar charging network to power electric cars in
Australia as it seeks cleaner and cheaper options to petrol. Better
Place, which has built plug-in stations for electric vehicles in Israel
and Denmark, has joined forces with Australian power company AGL and
finance group Macquarie Capital to create an Australian network. Under
the plan, the three cities will each have a network of between 200,000
and 250,000 charge stations by 2012 where drivers can plug in and power
up their electric cars. The points would probably be at homes and
businesses, car parks and shopping centres. In addition, 150 switch
stations will be built in each city and on major freeways, where electric
batteries can be automatically replaced in drive-in stations similar to a
car wash." I hope they're talking to the car companies about the
necessary standardization it would take to make this work, too.

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...24/0440204

Links:
0. mailto:blairerickson@yahoo.com
1. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5il6f...cd8vh5VANA


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Researchers Find Problems With RFID Passport Cards |
| from the clearly-unpossible dept. |
| posted by timothy on Friday October 24, @05:11 (Privacy) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/24/0428245 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at the University of Washington
have found that [0]RFID tags used in two new types of border-crossing
documents in the US are vulnerable to snooping and copying. The
information in these tags could be copied on to another, off-the-shelf
tag, which might be used to impersonate the legitimate holder of the
card." You can also read the [1]summary of the researchers' report.

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...24/0428245

Links:
0. http://goodgearguide.com.au/index.php/id;438521249
1. http://www.rsa.com/rsalabs/node.asp?id=3557


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Open Source Hardware, For Fun and For Profit |
| from the make-it-so dept. |
| posted by timothy on Friday October 24, @08:12 (Hardware Hacking)|
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...24/0343244 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]ptorrone writes "Lots of open source hardware articles making the
rounds this week, first up — [1]Wired has an excellent piece on the
Arduino project, an open source electronics prototyping platform, its
founders and business model (they have sold over 50,000 units). And next
up [2]MIT's Tech Review has a profile on a few open source hardware
businesses including NYC based Adafruit Industries best known for
projects like the open source synth ([3]x0x0b0x) and 'fun' projects like
the [4]Wave Bubble, the open source cell phone/wifi/GPS/RF jammer."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...24/0343244

Links:
0. mailto:pt@makezine.com
1. http://www.wired.com/techbiz/startups/ma...ntPage=all#
2. http://www.technologyreview.com/article/21495/
3. http://www.ladyada.net/make/x0xb0x/
4. http://www.ladyada.net/make/wavebubble/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 1000-mph Car Planned |
| from the zum-zum dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday October 24, @08:54 (Transportation) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...24/1244211 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Smivs notes a BBC report on a British team planning a [1]1000-mph
record-breaking car. The previous land-speed record broke the sound
barrier. The proposed vehicle will get from 0 to 1,050 mph in 40 seconds.
"RAF pilot Andy Green made history in 1997 when he drove the Thrust SSC
jet-powered vehicle at 763 mph (1,228 km/h). Now he intends to get behind
the wheel of a car that is capable of reaching 1,000 mph (1,610 km/h).
Known as Bloodhound, the new car will be powered by a rocket bolted to a
Typhoon-Eurofighter jet engine. The team-members have been working on the
concept for the past 18 months and expect to be ready to make their new
record attempt in 2011."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...24/1244211

Links:
0. http://www.smivsonline.co.uk/
1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7685049.stm


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Amazon Beefs Up Its Cloud Ahead of MS Announcement |
| from the hey-you-get-offa-my dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday October 24, @09:40 (The Internet) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...24/1322239 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Amazon has [0]announced several major improvements to its EC2 service for
cloud computing. The service is now in production (no longer beta); it
offers a service-level agreement; and Windows and SQL Server are
available in beta form. ZDNet points out that all this news is intended
to take some wind out of Microsoft's sails as [1]MS is expected to
introduce its own cloud services next week at its Professional Developers
Conference.

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...24/1322239

Links:
0. http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2008/10/big-day-for-ec2.html
1. http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1659


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| In UK, Broadband Limits Confuse Nine In Ten Users |
| from the ninety-percent-of-everything dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday October 24, @10:24 (The Internet) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...24/1346245 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Mark Jackson writes "ISPreview reports that 86% of [1]UK broadband
users don't understand the usage limits on their service, and nearly one
million have reached or exceeded their ISPs limit in the last year. This
is important because 56% of major providers are prepared to disconnect
those who 'abuse' the service. However, it also shows how damaging bad
marketing can be, with 6.2M people believing they have an 'unlimited'
service with no restrictions. The UK Advertising Standards Authority is
also blamed for making the problem worse by allowing providers to
describe their services as unlimited even if there is a usage cap, as
long as it is detailed in the small print. However, consumers are none
the wiser with over 10 million broadband customers never reading their
usage agreements and a further 1.8M not knowing whether they have read it
or not. Unsurprisingly 7.5M do not even know their download limit, which
is understandable when so few providers clarify it."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...24/1346245

Links:
0. http://www.ispreview.co.uk/
1. http://www.ispreview.co.uk/news/EkkuZyVuAkvTdljRtm.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Google Founders Buy Fighter Jet |
| from the filing-a-flight-plan-for-redmond dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday October 24, @11:11 (Toys) |
| http://entertainment.slashdot.org/articl...24/1449236|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Ponca City, We love you writes "The NY Times reports that H211 LLC, a
company controlled by Google's top executives, including billionaire
founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, appears to have added to its fleet a
[1]Dornier Alpha Jet, a light jet attack and advanced trainer aircraft
manufactured by Dornier of Germany and Dassault-Breguet of France. The
1982 Alpha-Jet seats two and was [2]originally used by European air
forces, but is now being sold relatively cheaply to civilians. The jet
has landing rights at Moffett Field, the NASA-operated airfield that is a
stone's throw from the Google campus. It is not clear who exactly flies
the fighter jet, although Google chief executive Eric Schmidt is an avid
pilot. If the top Googlers indeed own the fighter jet, they would be
following in the footsteps of Oracle chief executive [3]Larry Ellison,
who has owned several aircraft, including fighter jets."

Discuss this story at:
http://entertainment.slashdot.org/commen...24/1449236

Links:
0. http://poncacityweloveyou.com/
1. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/23...-founders/
2. http://www.mv-voice.com/news/show_story.php?id=951
3. http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/04/l...isons.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Nintendo Blocks Homebrew Installation |
| from the see-how-long-that-lasts dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday October 24, @11:55 (Nintendo) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...24/1454228 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]ElementC writes "Sometime yesterday Nintendo uploaded the latest Wii
system update. This update quietly patches a few bugs that allowed the
installation of both homebrew and warez apps. Currently installed apps
such as the Homebrew Channel and the video DVD library, DVDX, are
reportedly not affected. Those not installing this update are blocked out
of the Wii Shop channel and in the future may be blocked out of certain
games. Team Twiizers [1]cracked the last update within about eight hours.
They're already on the case. Readers familiar with the architecture of
the Wii will find the [2]list of currently discovered changes
interesting."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...24/1454228

Links:
0. mailto:takutanuva777@gmail.com
1. http://wiibrew.org/wiki/System_Menu_3.3
2. http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Wii_System_Updates


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Stellar Seismologists Record "Music" From Stars |
| from the play-here-comes-the-sun-for-me dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday October 24, @12:42 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...24/1633242 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

niktemadur writes "The BBC reports that a French team of [0]stellar
seismologists, using the [1]COROT Space Telescope, have [2]converted
stellar oscillations into sound patterns, a relatively new technique
that, according to Professor Eric Michel of the Paris Observatory, is
already giving researchers new insight into the inner workings of stars.
The subtly pulsating, haunting sounds are very similar to artist Aphex
Twin's minimalistic nineties album 'Selected Ambient Works, Vol. 2,' only
stripping away what little melody it had and leaving just the beat. These
and many more recordings from space can be accessed at the Jodrell Bank
Center for Astrophysics website, also known as [3]the Jodcast."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...24/1633242

Links:
0. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_seismology
1. http://smsc.cnes.fr/COROT/
2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7687286.stm
3. http://www.jodcast.net/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ICANN Releases Draft For New TLDs |
| from the dot-whatever dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday October 24, @13:28 (The Internet) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...24/1716233 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

NdJ writes "Looks like a whole new domain name battle ground is about to
open up. ICANN have just made available their [0]How to Apply for a New
Generic Top-Level Domain Draft Applicant Guidebook. It won't be cheap for
the individual but certainly achievable for many domain-name-pimps. 'The
Evaluation Fee is designed to make the new gTLD program self-funding
only. This was a recommendation of the Generic names Supporting
Organization. A detailed costing methodology — including historical
program development costs, and predictable and uncertain costs associated
with processing new gTLD applications through to delegation in the root
zone — estimates a per applicant fee of $US185,000. This is the estimated
cost per evaluation in the first application round.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...24/1716233

Links:
0. http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/an...t08-en.htm


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Bill Gates Founds New "Think Tank" Company |
| from the short-drive-from-the-house-on-the-lake dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday October 24, @14:13 (Microsoft) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/24/1749234 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Homncruse sends in news of [1]Bill Gates's new adventure, adding "I
was working just one or two floors under this new office when it was all
coming together. I even unknowingly shared an elevator with him at one
time on his way up to the office." The article notes that the name "bgC3"
derives from Bill Gates, catalyst, and the "third thing," neither
Microsoft or the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "Just months after his
Microsoft farewell, Bill Gates is quietly creating a new company —
complete with high-tech office space, a cryptic name and even its own
trademark. Public documents describe the new Gates entity — bgC3 LLC — as
a 'think tank.' It's housed within a Kirkland office that the Microsoft
co-founder established on his own after leaving his day-to-day executive
role at the company this summer... However, bgC3 will also oversee Gates'
personal pursuit of breakthrough ideas in science and technology. [An]
insider said the goal isn't necessarily to create new companies, although
ideas could be passed along to Microsoft, the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation — or others — as it makes sense..."

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/10/24/1749234

Links:
0. http://www.focuszonedevelopment.com/
1. http://www.kirklandviews.com/2008/10/23/...int/print/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Storing Qubits In Nuclei |
| from the now-you-see-it-now-you-still-see-it dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday October 24, @14:56 (Science) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...24/1829246 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]bednarz writes "Scientists have demonstrated what is being called the
'ultimate miniaturization of computer memory,' storing data for nearly
two seconds in the nucleus of an atom of phosphorus. The [1]hybrid
quantum memory technique is a key step in the development of quantum
computers, according to the National Science Foundation. An international
team of scientists demonstrated that quantum information stored in a
nucleus has a lifetime of about 1¾ seconds. 'This is significant because
before this technique was developed, the longest researchers could
preserve quantum information in silicon was a few tens of milliseconds.
Other researchers studying quantum computing recently calculated that if
a quantum system could store information for at least one second, error
correction techniques could then protect that data for an indefinite
period of time.'" Here's the [2]NSF press release with pictures of the
apparatus. They claim that this technique is promising because it "uses
silicon technology" seems a bit of a stretch — the silicon the
researchers employed was a painstakingly grown crystal of extremely high
purity.

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...24/1829246

Links:
0. http://moc.wwntazrandeba/
1. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/10...evice.html
2. http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?org=NSF&cntn_id=112538&preview=false


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ACLU Creates Map of US "Constitution-Free Zone" |
| from the stay-well-inland dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday October 24, @15:42 (Privacy) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/24/197215 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

trackpick points out a recent ACLU initiative to publicize a recent
[0]expansion of authority claimed by the Border Patrol to stop and search
individuals up to 100 miles from any US border. They have created a map
of what they call the [1]US Constitution-Free Zone. "Using data provided
by the US Census Bureau, the ACLU has determined that nearly 2/3 of the
entire US population (197.4 million people) live within 100 miles of the
US land and coastal borders. The government is assuming extraordinary
powers to stop and search individuals within this zone. This is not just
about the border: This 'Constitution-Free Zone' includes most of the
nation's largest metropolitan areas.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/10/24/197215

Links:
0. http://www.aclu.org/privacy/37293res20081022.html
1. http://www.aclu.org/privacy/spying/areyo...ezone.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| $29M To Start US Satellite Protection Program |
| from the space-race dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday October 24, @16:32 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...24/2030246 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]coondoggie sends in a Network World piece that begins "The Air Force
laid out $29 million in contracts this week to build [1]space-based
sensors that could detect threats or hazards and protect satellites in
orbit. Assurance Technologies and Lockheed Martin Space Systems will
split $20 million of the two-year contract that the Air Force says should
ultimately demonstrate a viable sensing capability, as well as
integration with other space systems to offer threat and hazard
detection, assessment and notification... The Air Force is looking to
protect satellites from ground based lasers or anti-satellite missiles
mostly."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...24/2030246

Links:
0. mailto:mcooney@nww.com
1. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/34399


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Which Phone To Develop For? |
| from the building-a-house-around-it dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday October 24, @17:16 (Programming) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...24/2052245 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Rob MacKenzie writes "I have to decide on a mobile phone to develop
for. We're building a house with some automation built in, and we want
the mobile phone to be able to control certain aspects of it, and
retrieve information on what's going on in the house. Our choices are the
usual suspects: Apple's IPhone, RIM's Blackberry, Nokia's line (Symbian),
any Android phone we can get in Canada, J2ME generic app, or a Web-based
UI we would interact with in the phone's browser. What would you choose
if you had to go with one? Which exact model? We will be buying a few to
develop for, so price is a bit of an issue."

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments....24/2052245

Links:
0. mailto:rmackenzie@dccnet.com


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Amazon Kindle Endorsed By Oprah |
| from the you-could-pay-to-read-slashdot dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday October 24, @18:08 (Books) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...24/2127208 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Oprah Winfrey [0]enthused about the Amazon Kindle on her show today —
it's her "new favorite thing" — and had Jeff Bezos on to announce a
$50-off offer good till Nov. 1. A plug on Oprah is ordinarily a sign that
a product has crossed over into the mainstream. But her show's
[1]audience has been slipping lately, and it's unclear how many
cash-strapped citizens will be willing to part with $309 (after the
special offer) for a new techno-gadget, for which they then have to shell
out more money for DRM-encrusted content.

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...24/2127208

Links:
0. http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/10/k...oprah.html
1. http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2008/...ly-di.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Hubble Repairs Hindered By Antiquated Computer Systems |
| from the you-should-see-the-sputnik-abacus dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday October 24, @19:00 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s.../24/221241 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Andrew Moseman writes "Part of the trouble NASA is encountering while
[1]fixing the Hubble Space Telescope comes from the fact that it's been
up there for nearly two decades, and therefore carries [2]computer
systems long outdated here on Earth. 'One of the main computers that the
Goddard team has been struggling with during the repair attempts [3]runs
on an Intel 486 chip, the height of 1989 technology.' Many of NASA's
long-running missions rely on antiquated systems — the Voyager probes
each have about 32k of memory — but the scientists say they can manage."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?.../24/221241

Links:
0. http://popularmechanics.com/
1. http://www.space.com/news/081023-hubble-...pdate.html
2. http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/...88705.html
3. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/16/hubble_back_up/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Packs of Robots Will Hunt Down Uncooperative Humans |
| from the you've-been-warned dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday October 24, @19:58 (Robotics) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...24/2245238 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Ostracus writes "The latest [0]request from the Pentagon jars the senses.
At least, it did mine. They are looking for contractors to 'develop a
software/hardware suite that would enable a multi-robot team, together
with a human operator, to [1]search for and detect a non-cooperative
human subject. The main research task will involve determining the
movements of the robot team through the environment to maximize the
opportunity to find the subject ... Typical robots for this type of
activity are expected to weigh less than 100 Kg and the team would have
three to five robots.'" To be fair, they plan to use the Multi-Robot
Pursuit System for less nefarious-sounding purposes as well. They note
that the robots would "have potential [2]commercialization within search
and rescue, fire fighting, reconnaissance, and automated biological,
chemical and radiation sensing with mobile platforms."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...24/2245238

Links:
0. http://www.dodsbir.net/SITIS/display_top...mark=34565
1. http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shorts...P=ILC-hmts&nsref=specrt13_head_Pack%20hunting%20robots
2. http://www.infowars.com/?p=5507

Reply
#16
Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* Magnetic Portals Connect Sun and Earth
* Motorola Moving to Android, Windows Mobile for Smartphones
* Australia's ISPs Speak Out Against Filtering
* Inside the New Xbox Experience
* HP Opens Up TouchSmart To Third-Party Developers
* October Indie Game Round-Up
* Private Firm Plots Robotic Lunar Exploration
* Why Netbooks Will Soon Cost $99
* Google May Scrap Yahoo Deal
* Low-Income Users Latch On To iPhone
* German Foreign Ministry Migrates Desktops To OSS
* Stealing Data With Obfuscated Code
* Fallout 3 Launches Amidst Controversy
* Doom9 Researchers Break BD+
* Major Advances In Knot Theory
* More Sony Batteries Recalled
* Space Litter To Hit Earth Tomorrow
* How To Supplement Election Coverage?

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Magnetic Portals Connect Sun and Earth |
| from the no-cake-jokes-allowed dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday October 31, @20:17 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...31/2252255 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

MaxwellEdison writes "Scientists have discovered evidence of [0]magnetic
portals connecting the Earth and the Sun every 8 minutes. 'Several
speakers at the Workshop have outlined how FTEs form: On the dayside of
Earth (the side closest to the sun), Earth's magnetic field presses
against the sun's magnetic field. Approximately every eight minutes, the
two fields briefly merge or "reconnect," forming a portal through which
particles can flow. The portal takes the form of a magnetic cylinder
about as wide as Earth. The European Space Agency's fleet of four
[1]Cluster spacecraft and NASA's five [2]THEMIS probes have flown through
and surrounded these cylinders, measuring their dimensions and sensing
the particles that shoot through."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...31/2252255

Links:
0. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/30oct_ftes.htm
1. http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/in...?fareaid=8
2. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/themis...index.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Motorola Moving to Android, Windows Mobile for Smartphones |
| from the changing-horses dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday October 31, @22:14 (Operating Syste|
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...31/2320258 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

nerdyH writes "Motorola will [0]ditch its MotoMAGX Linux stack and UIQ
Symbian stack in favor of Google's Android Linux/Java stack and
[1]Windows Mobile 6.5 and 7, it announced today. The news comes after
five years selling millions of Linux phones in Asia, and after a year
during which many of Motorola's top US phones used the homegrown Linux
stack. Motorola's current Linux phones in the US include the [2]RAZR2 v8,
[3]E8, [4]EM30, [5]U9, [6]ZN4, and [7]ZN5." This also comes alongside
news that Motorola's financial hardships are causing them to [8]cut 3,000
jobs. It also puts into perspective their recent plans to [9]hire
hundreds of Android developers.

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...31/2320258

Links:
0. http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS8856689287.html
1. http://www.windowsfordevices.com/news/NS5197242650.html
2. http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS8917567693.html
3. http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS3220229576.html
4. http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS6745873567.html
5. http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS8711151732.html
6. http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS3087955289.html
7. http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS3615635041.html
8. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122536662439883949.html
9. http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p.../04/139226&tid=269


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Australia's ISPs Speak Out Against Filtering |
| from the is-it-possible-to-import-an-isp dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday November 01, @00:13 (Censorship) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/01/0248221 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

daria42 writes "The leaders of three of Australia's largest internet
service providers — Telstra Media's Justin Milne, iiNet's Michael Malone
and Internode's Simon Hackett — have, in video interviews with
ZDNet.com.au over the past few months, [0]detailed technical, legal and
ethical reasons why ISP-level filtering won't work. Critics of the policy
also say that users will have [1]no way to know what's being filtered."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...01/0248221

Links:
0. http://www.zdnet.com.au/insight/communic...158,00.htm
1. http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.ph...;16;fpid;0


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Inside the New Xbox Experience |
| from the more-and-better dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday November 01, @01:25 (XBox (Games)|
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...01/0523208 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Eurogamer has an [0]in-depth look at the new Xbox Experience, which is
coming on November 19th. They discuss the new interface and features, and
their reaction is generally positive, citing graphical improvements,
smooth file management, and better chat functionality. "The Guide is also
your access point to the new Party system, where you can gather eight of
your friends together in a voice-chat channel and move the group between
games. You don't even have to be doing the same thing: you can just chat
along regardless. And because it's a service layer, it automatically
works with all your existing games. Gears of War treats it like it's
always been there. Instead of inviting a player, you invite the group;
instead of ending a session and having to reassemble for another, you
stay together. You can open it up to friends or set it to be invite-only,
and while it's one of NXE's quieter additions, it's also its most
authoritative statement: this is Microsoft saying, 'We figured we might
need to do something like this, so we made sure we could.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...01/0523208

Links:
0. http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=277017


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| HP Opens Up TouchSmart To Third-Party Developers |
| from the have-at-it dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday November 01, @02:15 (HP) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...01/0448218 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

TheTieGuy writes "HP recently released their [0]TouchSmart Application
Development Guidelines to third party developers, allowing anyone to
[1]port and create touch-friendly applications that integrate and run
within the TouchSmart Software suite on their popular [2]TouchSmart PC.
As part of the release, HP has gotten behind Capable Networks'
[3]Touchsmart Community website and forum to distribute the guidelines to
developers while providing an environment for TouchSmart developers to
interact. Also on the site is a download hub that allows TouchSmart
developers to upload and share their creations with TouchSmart owners in
a central location. To kick off the new development initiative, the
TouchSmart Community is running a promotion that will send one developer
(travel expenses paid) to demo their software in the HP booth at the
[4]2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, along with a free
TouchSmart PC, HP MediaSmart Server, and a month of promotion in the
community."

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments....01/0448218

Links:
0. http://www.touchsmartcommunity.com/downloads
1. http://www.touchsmartcommunity.com/blog/...evelopers/
2. http://www.hp.com/touchsmart
3. http://www.touchsmartcommunity.com/
4. http://www.cesweb.org/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| October Indie Game Round-Up |
| from the diverse-field-of-choices dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday November 01, @03:40 (PC Games (Ga|
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid.../01/061230 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]cyrus_zuo points out [1]the October edition of the Indie Game Round-up,
where four reviewers give their opinions on ten recent independently
produced games. This month, their top choice was Multiwinia, a casual,
abstract take on multiplayer RTS. The second installment of the Strong
Bad series also scored high, as did a side-scrolling platformer called
Archibald's Adventures. "The levels are short and sweet, the graphics are
cartoon-y and clear and the challenges fit in wonderfully with the
paradigm of a young hero attached to a skateboard. The puzzles are all
timing and creative thinking and can really be taken on by anyone of any
skill level. Also, since levels can tackled in any order (you have large
chunks available at a time), you can jump around if you get stuck."

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si.../01/061230

Links:
0. http://www.gametunnel.com/
1. http://www.gametunnel.com/articles.php?id=715


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Private Firm Plots Robotic Lunar Exploration |
| from the hope-they-have-a-big-enough-movie-studio dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday November 01, @05:16 (Moon) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...01/0344230 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

DeviceGuru writes "[0]Astrobotic Technology has unveiled plans for a
[1]series of robotic expeditions to the Moon. The lunar rovers will
explore high-interest areas of the Moon's surface and beam the data back
to the Earth. The plan is to accumulate an extensive library of lunar
data and [2]sell it to governments and private corporations (PDF), much
as [3]Navteq's data forms the backbone of most terrestrial GPS services.
Astrobotic's first goal is to win Google's $30 million [4]Lunar X Prize,
with a May, 2010 trip to the Apollo 11 landing site at Mare
Tranquillitatis."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...01/0344230

Links:
0. http://astrobotictechnology.com/
1. http://www.space.com/news/081030-astrobo...ation.html
2. http://astrobotictechnology.com/wp-conte...ensing.pdf
3. http://www.navteq.com/about/index.html
4. http://www.google.com/educators/xprize.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Why Netbooks Will Soon Cost $99 |
| from the act-now-while-supplies-last dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday November 01, @08:18 (Portables) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?.../01/056247 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]CWmike sends along a ComputerWorld piece which predicts that "netbooks
like the Asus Eee PC, the Dell Mini 9 and the HP 2133 Mini-Note [1]will
soon cost as little as $99. The catch? You'll need to commit to a
two-year mobile broadband contract. The low cost will come courtesy of a
subsidy identical to the one you already get with your cell phone. It's
likely that HP is working with AT&T (they're reported to be talking),
which announced a major strategic shift a couple of weeks ago that should
result in AT&T stores [2]selling nonphone gadgets that can take advantage
of mobile broadband, including netbooks. What's more interesting is that
low income and cheapskate buyers are [1]starting to use iPhones as
replacements or substitutes for netbook, notebook and even desktop PCs.
The author's take: A very large number of people are increasingly looking
to buy a single device — or, at least, subscribe to a single wireless
account — for all their computing and communications needs, and at the
lowest possible price."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl.../01/056247

Links:
0. http://www.computerworld.com/
1. http://www.computerworld.com/action/arti...ticleBasic&articleId=9118758
2. http://www.computerworld.com/action/arti...ticleBasic&articleId=9117430


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Google May Scrap Yahoo Deal |
| from the packing-up-their-toys dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday November 01, @09:17 (Yahoo!) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...01/1211257 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

JagsLive points out a Reuters story which suggests that Google may
[0]walk away from its deal with Yahoo instead of accepting possible
antitrust limitations from the government. The ongoing [1]investigation
of the deal by the Department of Justice has caused new concerns to be
raised over whether the two companies have adequately addressed issues
such as [2]privacy and competition. From Reuters: "'Are they more serious
about walking away? Yes. Have they decided? I'm not sure,' one source
told Reuters on Friday. 'Yahoo wants the deal, and they're willing to
have Google sign anything at the Justice Department to have them do it.'
... Part of the impetus of Google's walking away could be Yahoo's talks
with Time Warner Inc about buying the content and advertising operations
of its AOL unit. Google initially struck the deal with Yahoo as a way to
fend off Microsoft Corp's unsolicited bid. Yahoo and AOL are conducting
due diligence to see what a combined company would look like."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...01/1211257

Links:
0. http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNe...6920081031
1. http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/02/123204&tid=103
2. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,10000...499,00.htm


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Low-Income Users Latch On To iPhone |
| from the for-sufficiently-high-values-of-low dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday November 01, @10:19 (Cellphones) |
| http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...01/1338225 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]narramissic writes "The iPhone crowd is still dominated by affluent
males between the ages of 18 and 35, but in a series of surveys ending in
August, ComScore found that [1]iPhone purchases grew fastest among people
with annual household incomes between $25,000 and $50,000. The growth
rate in this group was 48 percent, compared with just 16 percent among
people with incomes above $100,000. And the down economy isn't going to
turn this trend around, says ComScore Mobile analyst Jen Wu. 'I don't see
there's going to be much of a slowdown, just because wireless devices are
so much more of a necessity than they used to be,' Wu said." In other
iPhone news, an anonymous reader points out a NYTimes story about the
rise in [2]car-related applications and uses for the iPhone, which points
out that programmers are just beginning to "appreciate just what can be
done with an iPhone and other advanced cellphones that know where they
are and just how quickly they are going someplace else." Another iPhone
story mentions that "Opera's engineers have developed a version of Opera
Mini that can run on an Apple iPhone, but Apple won't let the company
release it because it [3]competes with Apple's own Safari browser."

Discuss this story at:
http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...01/1338225

Links:
0. http://www.itworld.com/
1. http://www.itworld.com/personal-tech/570...tch-iphone
2. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/30/automo...phone.html
3. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/27...verywhere/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| German Foreign Ministry Migrates Desktops To OSS |
| from the saving-some-geld dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday November 01, @11:20 (Linux Busine|
| http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...01/1440213 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

ruphus13 writes "Here's another example of 'German Engineering' — The
Foreign Ministry in Germany is [0]migrating all of its 11,000 desktops to
GNU/Linux and other open source applications. According to the article,
'this has drastically reduced maintenance costs in comparison with other
ministries. "The Foreign Ministry is running desktops in many far away
and some very difficult locations. Yet we spend only one thousand euro
per desktop per year. That is far lower than other ministries, that on
average spend more than 3000 euro per desktop per year ... Open Source
desktops are far cheaper to maintain than proprietary desktop
configurations," says Rolf Schuster, a diplomat at the German Embassy in
Madrid and the former head of IT at the Foreign Ministry ... "The
embassies in Japan and Korea have completely switched over, the embassy
in Madrid has been exclusively using GNU/Linux since October last year",
Schuster added, calling the migration a success.' The Guardian has
[1]additional coverage of the move."

Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...01/1440213

Links:
0. http://www.osor.eu/news/de-foreign-minis...the-lowest
1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2003/...eobserver1


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Stealing Data With Obfuscated Code |
| from the malware-arms-race dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday November 01, @12:22 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/01/1542221 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Weblver1 writes "A recent report by web security firm Finjan shows how
easily data can be accessed on PCs by malware which circumvents existing
defenses. With the use of obfuscated code, antivirus software and static
Web filters [1]could not identify the scrambled attack code as a threat.
The report walks through a real-life scenario of the infection process
step-by-step, and tracks what happens to the stolen data. This
demonstrates how stealing sensitive data has become unbearably easy —
especially, given the abundance of easy-to-use DIY crimeware toolkits.
Finjan's report is [2]available here (PDF, registration required).
Shortly after this report, Security firm RSA has released their findings
of a huge amount of stolen 'virtual wallets' in [3]one of the largest
discoveries of stolen data from computers compromised by the Sinowal
trojan. While the trojan can be traced back to 2006, it managed to become
more productive over time with frequent variants. Given the scale, ease
of use, and hiding techniques making infections extremely difficult to
find, no wonder today's crimeware achieves such 'impressive' results."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/11/01/1542221

Links:
0. mailto:Weblvr1@gmail.com
1. http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/846
2. http://www.finjan.com/Content.aspx?id=1367
3. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/31/...jan_heist/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Fallout 3 Launches Amidst Controversy |
| from the or-fallout-one-might-say dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday November 01, @13:23 (Role Playing|
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...01/1653217 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Earlier this week, Bethesda released Fallout 3 after a long campaign of
defending and protecting the game's reputation from claims that it
contained inappropriate content. Ads for the game in Washington DC's
subway system were pulled after they [0]upset some touchy travelers over
the depiction of post-apocalyptic Washington landmarks. Shortly before
the game's release, [1]early trailers were removed as well. Earlier this
year, the game was [2]banned in Australia for its in-game use of
morphine, causing the drug's name to be changed to Med-X. On the issue of
sensitive content, Bethesda's Emil Pagliarulo wrote in Edge Magazine
about the design decision to [3]disallow the killing of children in the
game. Gamasutra ran an [4]opinion piece on the same subject, and the
Washington Post discusses [5]the role of Washington DC in Fallout 3. On
the DRM front, the game does come with SecuROM, but Bethesda says it's
[6]only used for a disc check. Reviews for the game have been
[7]overwhelmingly positive so far, despite reports of bugs with the
[8]save system and [9]occasional lock-ups.

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...01/1653217

Links:
0. http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/55590
1. http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/55594
2. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/09/1831230&tid=153
3. http://www.edge-online.com/blogs/emil-pa...rites-edge
4. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_in...tory=20908
5. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttec...v=rss_blog
6. http://bethblog.com/index.php/2008/10/30...isc-check/
7. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_in...tory=20862
8. http://www.gameplayer.com.au/gp_document...spx?Page=1
9. http://xboxevolved.e-mpire.com/article/F.../4991.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Doom9 Researchers Break BD+ |
| from the blue-hooray dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Saturday November 01, @14:27 (Encryption) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/01/1728222 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "BD+, the Blu-ray copy protection system that
was [0]supposed to last 10 years, [1]has now been solidly broken by a
group of doom9 researchers. Earlier, BD+ had been [2]broken by the
commercial company SlySoft." Someone from SlySoft posts a hint early in
the thread, but then backs off for fear of getting fired. The break is
announced on page 15.

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/11/01/1728222

Links:
0. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...09/2333207&tid=188
1. http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=140571
2. http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/21/1241234&tid=188


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Major Advances In Knot Theory |
| from the if-it's-not-theory-then-it-must-be-practice dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Saturday November 01, @15:31 (Math) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...01/1752257 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader sends us to Science News, which is running a survey
of recent strides in finding an answer to the age-old question: [0]How
many ways are there to tie your shoelaces? "Mathematicians have been
puzzling over that question for a century or two, and the main thing
they've discovered is that the question is really, really hard. In the
last decade, though, they've developed some powerful new tools inspired
by physics that have pried a few answers from the universe's clutches.
Even more exciting is that the new tools seem to be the tip of a much
larger theory that mathematicians are just beginning to uncover. That
larger mathematical theory, if it exists, may help crack some of the
hardest mathematical questions there are, questions about the
mathematical structure of the three- and four-dimensional space where we
live. ... Revealing the full... superstructure may be the work of a
generation."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...01/1752257

Links:
0. http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/...not_theory


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| More Sony Batteries Recalled |
| from the i-seem-to-recall dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Saturday November 01, @16:36 (Sony) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...01/1946222 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Scott Hagerman passes along news of [1]yet another recall of Sony
laptop batteries. The batteries in question, manufactured in the same
timeframe as those involved in the [2]massive 2006 recall, are in laptops
sold by HP, Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo, and Acer. Neither Apple nor Sony
itself used these batteries in their laptops. This time 100,000 batteries
are involved — 65,000 of them sold outside of the US — vs. the 10 million
recalled in 2006. The Consumer Product Safety Commission fielded 19
reports of batteries overheating and/or catching fire.

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...01/1946222

Links:
0. mailto:turtlepower13@gmail.com
1. http://www.informationweek.com/news/hard...=211800559
2. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?.../29/150209&tid=233


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Space Litter To Hit Earth Tomorrow |
| from the leave-only-memories-take-only-footprints dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Saturday November 01, @17:39 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...01/2010247 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

A refrigerator-sized tank of toxic ammonia, tossed from the international
space station last year, is expected to [0]hit earth tomorrow afternoon
or evening. The 1,400-pound object was [1]deliberately jettisoned — by
hand — from the ISS's robot arm in July 2007. Since the time of re-entry
is uncertain, so is the location. "NASA expects up to 15 pieces of the
tank to survive the searing hot temperatures of re-entry, ranging in size
from about 1.4 ounces (40 grams) to nearly 40 pounds (17.5 kilograms).
... [T]he largest pieces could slam into the Earth's surface at about 100
mph (161 kph). ...'If anybody found a piece of anything on the ground
Monday morning, I would hope they wouldn't get too close to it,' [a NASA
spokesman] said."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...01/2010247

Links:
0. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27479972/
1. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19910584/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| How To Supplement Election Coverage? |
| from the news-junkie-overload dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Saturday November 01, @19:40 (The Internet) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...01/2141228 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader asks "What information sources and social networking
sites will you be using to supplement the election coverage on TV next
Tuesday? I am ready with a big HDTV with Comcast, a Mac mini, and and an
Xbox 360. I also have two laptops (one good for websites and one for
streaming video), an old-school Blackberry, a 'regular' cell phone, a
Nokia N810, a Squeezebox, and finally Sirius Satellite Radio. Which
websites should I watch for live county results? I already know about the
[0]Twitter Vote Report for tracking and reporting voting issues and I
already watch 'CNN Reporters' on Friendfeed for the national flair. What
other Twitter accounts should I follow? Which urgent ones should I send
to my phones? Which YouTube accounts or keywords I should subscribe to in
Miro? What are the most popular sites for posting 'on-scene' videos —
iReport, Flickr, something else? I know most local Fox affiliates are
great about streaming, but is there a page that lists all of the streams,
in case I need to quickly focus on one city or area? Basically, how would
you configure all those gadgets?" This reader might find some guidance in
what to focus on, when, in a video produced by reader (and data modeler)
[1]Bruce Nash that lays out a [2]predicted timeline for when the media
will call each state, depending on when the polls close and how tight
each race is expected to be.

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...01/2141228

Links:
0. http://twittervotereport.com/
1. http://www.the-numbers.com/thecrunch
2. http://www.the-numbers.com/thecrunch/?p=42



Copyright 1997-2008 SourceForge, Inc.. All rights reserved.


Reply
#17
In this issue:
* How To Find a Mobile Games Publisher?
* Massive Martian Glaciers Found
* Oblong's g-speak Brings "Minority Report" Interface To Life
* Hacks Allowing Disabled Gamers To Play Guitar Hero
* Silverlight On the Way To Linux
* AP Suspends DoD Over Altered US Army Photo
* Obama's Mobile Phone Records Compromised, Shared
* Torvalds's Former Company Transmeta Acquired and Gone
* E=mc^2 Verified In Quantum Chromodynamic Calculation
* Lori Drew Cyber-Bullying Trial Begins
* A Web App For Real-Time Collaborative Writing
* RICO Class Action Against RIAA In Missouri
* How To Help Our Public Schools With Technology?
* Final Judgment — SCO Loses, Owes $3,506,526
* US Officials Flunk Test On Civic Knowledge
* Worm Attack Prompts DoD To Ban Use of External Media
* Setting Up a Home Dev/Testing Environment?
* Microsoft Blames Add-Ons For Browser Woes
* DARPA's IBM-Led Neural Network Project Seeks To Imitate Brain
* After Columbine, Eric Holder Advocated Internet "Restrictions"
* Chinese Hacking of American Military Networks On the Rise

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| How To Find a Mobile Games Publisher? |
| from the take-me-away-from-all-this dept. |
| posted by timothy on Thursday November 20, @19:45 (Cellphones) |
| http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/20/2352220 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

n01 writes "In the last few months of my spare time, I've been
implementing an abstract strategy board game (that I invented) along with
a decent AI. The game resembles [0]TwixT in that it is also a connection
game, and could be played without the need for a cellphone or computer.
The implementation on the Java 2 Mobile Edition platform will soon be
finished, with only some minor usability and sound issues to fix. While I
enjoyed working on the game (actually more than on my day job as a
programmer) I would still like to earn some money from selling the game,
so I can work more on such projects in the future. What experiences have
Slashdot readers had with selling their applications/games for mobile
phones? With which publisher will I have the broadest audience and
achieve the highest earnings? Would you try to publish the game both as a
mobile game and a traditional board game?"

Discuss this story at:
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...20/2352220

Links:
0. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twixt


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Massive Martian Glaciers Found |
| from the could-be-a-trick dept. |
| posted by timothy on Thursday November 20, @21:56 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...21/0021229 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Kozar_The_Malignant writes "Scientific American is reporting that 'data
from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter point to [0]vast glaciers buried
beneath thin layers of crustal debris.' Data from the surface-penetrating
radar on MRO revealed that two well-known mid-latitude features are
composed of solid water ice. One is about three times the size of the
City of Los Angeles. This certainly makes the idea of establishing a
station on Mars far more plausible."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...21/0021229

Links:
0. http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=red-...rt-massive


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Oblong's g-speak Brings "Minority Report" Interface To Life |
| from the staged-mock-up-or-real-time-control? dept. |
| posted by timothy on Friday November 21, @00:50 (GUI) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...21/0215233 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]tracheopterix writes "[1]Oblong Industries, a startup based in LA has
unveiled g-speak, an operational version of the notable interface from
[2]Minority Report. One of Oblong's founders served as science and
technology adviser for the film; the interface was an extension of his
doctoral work at the MIT Media Lab. Oblong calls g-speak a 'spatial
operating environment' and adds that 'the SOE's combination of gestural
i/o, recombinant networking, and real-world pixels brings the first major
step in computer interface since 1984.'" The video shown on Oblong's
front page is an impressive demo.

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...21/0215233

Links:
0. mailto:jamie.mail@gmail.com
1. http://oblong.com/
2. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181689/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Hacks Allowing Disabled Gamers To Play Guitar Hero |
| from the getting-out-of-hand dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday November 21, @04:01 (Hardware Hacki|
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...21/0514228 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]angrymilkman writes "Here are two interesting new approaches where
researchers modified the popular Guitar Hero game so it can be played by
gamers with disabilities. Air Guitar Hero modifies the Guitar Hero
controller so [1]someone without limbs can play it by using electrodes
attached to the user's residual arm. [2]Blind Hero is a mod for Frets on
Fire that uses a haptic glove that can [3]turn visual feedback into
haptic feedback, allowing blind gamers to play Guitar Hero songs." There
have been a variety of Guitar Hero hacks in the past, including a
[4]custom drum pad for playing the guitar part, using the plastic guitar
as a [5]real instrument, and [6]rocking out with your bike, but it's nice
to see some more serious modifications showing up.

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...21/0514228

Links:
0. mailto:efolmer@unr.edu
1. http://spectrum.ieee.org/nov08/6994
2. http://kotaku.com/5092565/frets-on-fire-for-the-blind
3. http://www.eelke.com/games/blindhero.html
4. http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1890957
5. http://www.hackszine.com/blog/archive/20..._a_re.html
6.


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Silverlight On the Way To Linux |
| from the howl-at-the-moonlight dept. |
| posted by timothy on Friday November 21, @06:39 (Graphics) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...21/0343245 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Afforess writes "For the past two years Microsoft and Novell have been
working on the 'Moonlight' project. It is a runtime library for websites
that run [0]Silverlight. It should allow PCs running Linux to view sites
that use Siverlight. Betanews reports 'In the next stage of what has
turned out to be a more successful project than even its creators
envisioned, the public beta of Moonlight — a runtime library for Linux
supporting sites that expect Silverlight — [1] is expected within days.'
Moonlight 2.0 is already in the works."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...21/0343245

Links:
0. http://www.silverlight.net/
1. http://www.betanews.com/article/Novell_a...1227124377


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| AP Suspends DoD Over Altered US Army Photo |
| from the one-big-no-no dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday November 21, @08:14 (The Military) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/21/133234 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

djupedal notes a story up at the BBC about the [0]Associated Press's
suspension of the use of Department of Defense photos after a photo of
General Ann Dunwoody was found to have been altered ([1]before and after
comparison). "The Pentagon has become embroiled in a row after the US
Army released a photo of a general to the media which was found to have
been digitally altered. Ann Dunwoody was shown in front of the US flag
but it later emerged that this background had been added. The Associated
Press news agency subsequently suspended the use of US Department of
Defense photos. 'For us, there's a zero-tolerance policy of adding or
subtracting actual content from an image,' said Santiago Lyon, AP's
director of photography."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid.../21/133234

Links:
0. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7738342.stm
1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/po...html/1.stm


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Obama's Mobile Phone Records Compromised, Shared |
| from the quis-custodiet-ipsos-custodes dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday November 21, @08:59 (Privacy) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/21/1321200 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Tiger4 writes "Verizon has confirmed that some of its employees have
[0]accessed and perhaps shared calling records of President Elect Barack
Obama (coverage at [1]CNN, [2]Reuters, [3]AP). Verizon says the people
involved have all been put on leave with pay as the investigation
proceeds. Some of the employees may have accessed the information for
legitimate purposes, but others may have been curiosity seekers and may
have even shared the information around. The account was 'only' a phone,
not a BlackBerry or similar device, and Verizon believes it was just
calling records, not voicemail or email that was compromised. The
articles do not mention the similarity to the warrantless wiretapping or
hospital records compromises of recent months. But that immediately
sprang to mind for me."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...21/1321200

Links:
0. http://news.google.com/?ncl=1272753354&hl=en&topic=h
1. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/21/o...index.html
2. http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandida...9520081121
3. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/arti...wD94J3K8O0


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Torvalds's Former Company Transmeta Acquired and Gone |
| from the here's-to-you-mister-robinson dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday November 21, @09:45 (Transmeta) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...21/1421204 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]desmondhaynes sends along a posting from the TechWatch blog detailing
the [1]sale of Transmeta (most recently [2]discussed here). Linus moved
ten time-zones west, from Finland to Santa Clara, CA, to join Transmeta
in March 1997, before this community existed. Here is our discussion of
the [3]announcement of the Crusoe processor from 2000. Our [4]earliest
discussion of Transmeta was the 13th Slashdot story. "Transmeta, once a
sparkling startup that set out to beat Intel and AMD in mobile computing,
announced that it will be acquired by Novafora. The company's most famous
employee, Linux inventor Linus Torvalds, kept the buzz and rumor mill
about the company throughout its stealth phase alive and guaranteed a
flashy technology announcement in early 2000. Almost nine years later
Transmeta's journey is over." Update: 11/21 16:25 GMT by [5]KD : It's not
the 13th Slashdot story, only the 13th currently in the database. We lost
the first 4 months at one point.

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...21/1421204

Links:
0. http://techwatch.reviewk.com/
1. http://techwatch.reviewk.com/2008/11/lin...-and-gone/
2. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/25/2042208&tid=161
3. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/01/19/1050205&tid=161
4. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=98/01/03/122800&tid=99
5. http://slashdot.org/~kdawson/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| E=mc^2 Verified In Quantum Chromodynamic Calculation |
| from the tee-shirts-were-right-all-along dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday November 21, @10:31 (Supercomputing) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s.../21/153210 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

chirishnique and other readers sent in a story in AFP about a [0]heroic
supercomputer computation that has verified Einstein's most famous
equation at the level of subatomic particles for the first time. "A
brainpower consortium led by Laurent Lellouch of France's Centre for
Theoretical Physics, using some of the world's mightiest supercomputers,
have set down the calculations for estimating the mass of protons and
neutrons, the particles at the nucleus of atoms. ... [T]he mass of gluons
is zero and the mass of quarks is only five per cent. Where, therefore,
is the missing 95 per cent? The answer, according to the study published
in the US journal Science on Thursday, comes from the energy from the
movements and interactions of quarks and gluons. ... [E]nergy and mass
are equivalent, as Einstein proposed in his Special Theory of Relativity
in 1905." Update: 11/21 15:50 GMT by [1]KD : New Scientist has a
[2]slightly more technical look at the accomplishment.

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?.../21/153210

Links:
0. http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology...94126.html
1. http://slashdot.org/~kdawson/
2. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16...tions.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Lori Drew Cyber-Bullying Trial Begins |
| from the trying-to-outlaw-acting-like-a-jerk dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday November 21, @11:17 (The Courts) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...21/1539219 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "The cyber-bullying trial of Lori Drew opened
yesterday. She was [0]indicted for conspiring to access and accessing
MySpace illegally in order to '[1]further a tortious act, namely,
intentional infliction of emotional distress' (PDF of the indictment).
The BBC has [2]background on the case, the NYTimes covers the [3]opening
statements, and Wired has [4]today's testimony."

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...21/1539219

Links:
0. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/16/0443232&tid=123
1. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/files/m...ctment.pdf
2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7738982.stm
3. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/us/20m...technology
4. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/11...pla-2.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| A Web App For Real-Time Collaborative Writing |
| from the write-on dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday November 21, @12:05 (Networking) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...21/1626208 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]adamengst writes in with good news for anyone who needs to collaborate
remotely on a writing or editing project — coding too. It's especially
good news for those using Windows and Linux. Mac users have had
SubEthaEdit for a few years now. With [1]EtherPad, two or more people can
edit a document and see all the edits simultaneously. EtherPad's main
differences from SubEthaEdit: it's a Web application that de facto
supports many platforms without the need for a central Mac OS X host; and
it's free. Here is a [2]comparison of EtherPad and SubEthaEdit.

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...21/1626208

Links:
0. http://www.tidbits.com/adam/
1. http://etherpad.com/
2. http://db.tidbits.com/article/9869


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| RICO Class Action Against RIAA In Missouri |
| from the take-'em-down-dano dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday November 21, @12:49 (The Courts) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...21/1644213 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In [1]Atlantic Recording v. Raleigh, an
RIAA case pending in St. Louis, Missouri, the defendant has [2]asserted
detailed counterclaims against the RIAA for federal RICO violations,
fraud, violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, prima facie tort,
trespass, and conspiracy. The claims focus on the RIAA's 'driftnet'
tactic of suing innocent people, and of demanding extortionate
settlements. The RICO 'predicate acts' alleged in the [3]42-page pleading
(PDF) are extortion, mail fraud, and wire fraud. The proposed class
includes all people residing in the US 'who were falsely accused ... of
downloading copyrighted sound recordings owned by the counterclaim
Defendants and making them available for distribution or mass
distribution over a P2P network and who incurred costs and damages
including legal fees in defense of such false claims' or 'whose computers
used in interstate commerce and/or communication were accessed ...
without permission or authority.' This is the second class action of
which we are aware against the RIAA and the Big 4 recording companies,
the first being [4]the Oregon class action brought by Tanya Andersen,
which is presently in the discovery phase."

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...21/1644213

Links:
0. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/
1. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspo..._v_Raleigh
2. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspo...erted.html
3. http://beckermanlegal.com/pdf/?file=/Law...claims.pdf
4. http://www.p2pnet.net/story/15833


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| How To Help Our Public Schools With Technology? |
| from the freedom-programmers dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday November 21, @13:32 (Education) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/21/178219 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]armorer writes "I'm a programmer engaged to an inner-city public
school teacher. I've been thinking for a long time now about what I can
do to help close the technology gap, and I finally did something (very
small) about it. I convinced my company to give me a few old computers
they were replacing, refurbished them, installed Edubuntu on them, and
donated them to her classroom. I also took some vacation time to go in,
install everything, and give a lesson on computers to the kids. It was a
great experience, but now I know first-hand how little technology these
schools have. I only helped one classroom. The school needs more. (Really
the whole district needs more!) And while I want to help them, I don't
really know how. With Thanksgiving a week away and more holidays
approaching, I suspect I'm not the only one thinking about this sort of
thing. I know it's a hard problem, so I'm not looking for any silver
bullets. What do Slashdot readers do? What should I be doing so that I'm
more effective? How do you find resources and time to give back?"

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid.../21/178219

Links:
0. mailto:chainmail@gmail.com


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Final Judgment — SCO Loses, Owes $3,506,526 |
| from the seems-charitable-to-sco dept. |
| posted by timothy on Friday November 21, @14:15 (The Courts) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...21/1849215 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Xenographic writes "SCO has finally lost to Novell, now that Judge
Kimball has entered [1]final judgment against SCO. Of course, this is SCO
we're talking about. There's still the litigation in bankruptcy court,
which allowed this case to resume so that they could figure out just how
much SCO owes, which is $3,506,526, if I calculated the interest
properly, $625,486.90 of which will go into a constructive trust. And
then there's the possibility that SCO could seek to have the judgment
overturned in the appeals courts, or even the Supreme Court when that
fails. Of course, they need money to do that and they don't really have
much of that any more. Remember how Enderle, O'Gara and company told us
that SCO was sure to win? I wonder how many people have emailed them to
say, 'I told you so.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...21/1849215

Links:
0. http://www.cyberarmy.net/
1. http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story...0195227418


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| US Officials Flunk Test On Civic Knowledge |
| from the you-are-what-you-elect dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Friday November 21, @15:06 (Politics) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...21/1458214 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

A test on civic knowledge given to elected officials proved that [0]they
are slightly less knowledgeable than the uninformed people who voted them
into office. Elected officials scored a 44 percent while ordinary
citizens managed an amazing 49 percent on the 33 questions compiled by
the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. "It is disturbing enough that the
general public failed ISI's civic literacy test, but when you consider
the even more dismal scores of elected officials, you have to be
concerned," said Josiah Bunting, chairman of the National Civic Literacy
Board at ISI. The three branches of government aren't the Nina, the
Pinta, and the Santa Maria?

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...21/1458214

Links:
0. http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20081120/tod...2056d.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Worm Attack Prompts DoD To Ban Use of External Media |
| from the sehr-klug dept. |
| posted by timothy on Friday November 21, @15:12 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/21/201240 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "[0]The Pentagon has suffered from a cyber
attack so alarming that it has taken the unprecedented step of [1]banning
the use of external hardware devices, such as flash drives and DVDs [...]
The attack came in the form of a global [2]virus or worm that is
spreading rapidly throughout a number of military networks."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/11/21/201240

Links:
0. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/11/...ed-attack/
1. http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/11/ar...usb-d.html
2. http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/11/mi...sb-ba.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Setting Up a Home Dev/Testing Environment? |
| from the just-live-at-work dept. |
| posted by timothy on Friday November 21, @15:31 (Databases) |
| http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/21/2014250 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "I'm a Project Manager (hold the remarks) who
recently decided that I want/need to get my dev skills more up-to-date,
as more projects are looking for their PM's to be hands-on with the
development. Looking around my house, I have quite the collection of
older (read: real old — it's been a while) PCs — it's pretty much a PC
graveyard. Nothing that would really help me set up a nice dev
infrastructure for developing web/database apps. So, my question is as
follows: Should I buy a number of cheaper PC's, or should I buy one
monster machine and leverage (pick your favorite) virtual machine
technology?"

Discuss this story at:
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...21/2014250


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Blames Add-Ons For Browser Woes |
| from the sounds-semi-reasonable dept. |
| posted by timothy on Friday November 21, @15:58 (Internet Explore|
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...21/2036222 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

darthcamaro writes "Running IE and been hacked? Don't blame Microsoft —
at least that's what their security types are [0]now arguing. 'One of the
things we've seen in the last two years is that attackers aren't even
going after the browser itself anymore,' Eric Lawrence, Security Program
Manager on Microsoft's Internet Explorer team, said. 'The browser is
becoming a harder target and there are many more browsers. So attackers
are targeting add-ons.' This kinda makes sense since whether you're
running IE, Firefox, Safari or Chrome you could still be at risk if there
is a vulnerability in Flash, PDF, QuickTime or another popular add-on. Or
does it?"

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...21/2036222

Links:
0. http://blog.internetnews.com/skerner/200...blame.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DARPA's IBM-Led Neural Network Project Seeks To Imitate Brain |
| from the cats-are-smarter-than-people dept. |
| posted by timothy on Friday November 21, @16:49 (Supercomputing) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...21/2137244 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "According to an article in the BBC, IBM will
lead an [0]ambitious DARPA-funded project in 'cognitive computing.'
According to Dharmendra Modha, the lead scientist on the project, '[t]he
key idea of cognitive computing is to engineer mind-like intelligent
machines by reverse engineering the structure, dynamics, function and
behaviour of the brain.' The article continues, 'IBM will join five US
universities in an ambitious effort to integrate what is known from real
biological systems with the results of supercomputer simulations of
neurons. The team will then aim to produce for the first time an
electronic system that behaves as the simulations do. The longer-term
goal is to create a system with the level of complexity of a cat's
brain.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...21/2137244

Links:
0. http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetoo...4.stm?ad=1


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| After Columbine, Eric Holder Advocated Internet "Restrictions" |
| from the but-that-was-then-and-this-is-now dept. |
| posted by timothy on Friday November 21, @17:34 (Censorship) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/21/2224235 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

ErikTheRed writes "In an [0]audio clip [1]discovered by NewsBusters,
then-Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder advocated federal censorship of
the Internet. This was in the aftermath of the Columbine High School
shootings. From the clip: 'The court has really struck down every
government effort to try to regulate it. We tried with regard to
pornography. It is gonna be a difficult thing, but it seems to me that if
we can come up with reasonable restrictions, reasonable regulations in
how people interact on the Internet, that is something that the Supreme
Court and the courts ought to favorably look at.'" Holder is reported to
be Barack Obama's [2]choice for Attorney General of the United States.

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...21/2224235

Links:
0. http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/video.aspx?v=e4qGQukUVr
1. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kerry-picke...speech-web
2. http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2...y-general/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Chinese Hacking of American Military Networks On the Rise |
| from the secure-the-international-tubes dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday November 21, @18:23 (Government) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...21/2319241 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Anti-Globalism writes with this excerpt from the Guardian: "China is
stealing sensitive information from American computer networks and
[1]stepping up its online espionage, according to a US congressional
panel. Beijing's investment in rocket technology is also accelerating the
militarization of outer space and lifting it into the 'commanding
heights' of modern warfare, the advisory group claims. ... A summary of
the study, released in advance, alleges that networks and databases used
by the US government and American defense contractors are regularly
targeted by Chinese hackers. 'China is stealing vast amounts of sensitive
information from US computer networks,' says Larry Wortzel, chairman of
the commission set up by Congress in 2000 to investigate US-China
issues." The full study addresses these issues and others [2]relating to
the US-China relationship (PDF).

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...21/2319241

Links:
0. http://www.corrupt.org/
1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov...rity-obama
2. http://www.uscc.gov/annual_report/2008/a...ull_08.pdf



Copyright 1997-2008 SourceForge, Inc.. All rights reserved.


======================================================================



Reply
#18
Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* The Best Burglar Alarm In History
* RIAA May Be Violating a Court Order In California
* 64-Bit Java For Linux
* Injectable Artificial Bone Developed
* Torture in Games
* In Japan, a Billboard That Watches You
* God of War 3 Gameplay Unveiled
* Adventure Game Interfaces and Puzzle Theory
* Barack Obama Is One Step Closer To Being President
* Experts Say To Switch Browsers In Light of IE Vulnerability
* Intel Quad-Core Price and Performance Showdown
* Realtek's Wireless Driver Drives Thoughts of an Apple Netbook
* O'Reilly Interview Digs Into the Tech of Storm Chasing
* Nepomuk Brings Semantic Web To the Desktop, Instead
* Microsoft Knew About Xbox 360 Damaging Discs
* Canadian Nuke Bunker To Be Converted Into Data Fortress
* MySpace Verdict a Danger To Depressed Kids
* 100 Years Ago, No Free Broadband Pneumatic Tubes
* Court Nixes National Security Letter Gag Provision
* Convergent Evolution Upends Honeyeaters' Taxonomy
* Computer Models and the Global Economic Crash
* SoHo NAS With Good Network Throughput?
* CAN-SPAM Act Turns 5 Today — What Went Wrong?

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Best Burglar Alarm In History |
| from the suck-it-Edison dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Monday December 15, @19:07 (Science) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...15/1734224 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Sportsqs writes "When Nikola Tesla [0]got creative with transformers and
driver circuits at the turn of the 20th century he probably had no idea
that others would have so much fun with his concepts over a hundred years
later. One such guy is an Australian named Peter who runs a website
called TeslaDownUnder, which showcases all his wacky Tesla ways, or
rather [1]electrickery, as Peter calls it." Very cool stuff, I wish I
would have had something like this to protect my comic books from my
little brother when I was a kid.

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...15/1734224

Links:
0. http://www.magheap.com/article/45903/The...story.aspx
1. http://tesladownunder.com/tesla_coil_sparks.htm#Pool


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| RIAA May Be Violating a Court Order In California |
| from the play-nice-now dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday December 15, @19:48 (The Courts) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...16/0015248 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In one of its 'ex parte' cases seeking
the names and addresses of 'John Does,' this one targeting students at
the University of Southern California, the RIAA obtained an order
granting discovery — but with a wrinkle. [1]The judge's order (PDF)
specified that the information obtained could not be used for any purpose
[2]other than obtaining injunctions against the students. Apparently the
RIAA lawyers have ignored, or failed to understand, that limitation, as
an LA lawyer has reported that the RIAA is busy [3]calling up the USC
students and their families and demanding monetary settlements."

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...16/0015248

Links:
0. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/
1. http://beckermanlegal.com/pdf/?file=/Law...veOnly.pdf
2. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspo...2160815508
3. http://laist.com/2008/12/15/record_compa...sue_us.php


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 64-Bit Java For Linux |
| from the tipping-point dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday December 15, @21:48 (Java) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...16/0037200 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

LWATCDR writes "First we got [0]64-bit Flash; then the beginnings of
[1]64-bit Wine; now Sun is providing a [2]64-bit Java plugin. For most
people there is nothing to hold you back from running 64-bit Linux."

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments....16/0037200

Links:
0. http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid.../17/168212&tid=215
1. http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...14/2217258&tid=125
2. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NjkyOQ


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Injectable Artificial Bone Developed |
| from the no-op dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday December 15, @23:50 (Medicine) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...16/0150212 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes in with the news that British scientists have
invented artificial [0]"injectable bone" that flows like toothpaste and
hardens in the body. This new regenerative medicine technology provides a
scaffold for the formation of blood vessels and bone tissue, then
biodegrades. The injectable bone can also deliver stem cells directly to
the site of bone repair, the researchers say. "Not only does the
technique reduce the need for dangerous surgery, it also avoids damaging
neighboring areas, said [the inventor]. The technology's superiority over
existing alternatives is the novel hardening process and strength of the
bond... Older products heat up as they harden, killing surrounding cells,
whereas 'injectable bone' hardens at body temperature — without
generating heat — making a very porous, biodegradable structure."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...16/0150212

Links:
0. http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/2422/...-developed


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Torture in Games |
| from the ok-torture's-bad-but-killing's-fine-right dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Tuesday December 16, @01:32 (Games) |
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...16/0610204 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Recent comments from Richard Bartle, one of the developers for the first
Multi-User Dungeon (MUD), stirred up discussion about [0]whether virtual
torture is acceptable as part of modern games. Bartle was referring to a
quest in the latest World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King,
in which players are instructed to extract information from an NPC. He
[1]drew criticism for his view from a variety of sources, but Wired is
now running a piece provocatively titled, "[2]Why We Need More Torture in
Games." The author makes the case that the failure of most media to
properly portray how horrible torture actually is (for example, on the TV
show 24), and the increased focus on real-world topics like Guantanamo
Bay, Abu Ghraib and waterboarding, could make games the perfect venue for
demonstrating the "devastating repercussions" of torture.

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...16/0610204

Links:
0. http://www.youhaventlived.com/qblog/2008...1108A.html
1. http://www.youhaventlived.com/qblog/2008...1108A.html
2. http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworld...tiers_1215


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| In Japan, a Billboard That Watches You |
| from the don't-look-now dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 16, @02:34 (Privacy) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/16/0220209 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "At a Tokyo railway station above a flat-panel
display hawking DVDs and books sits a small camera hooked up to some
image processing software. When trials begin in January the camera will
[0]scan travelers to see how many of them are taking note of the panel,
in part of a technology test being run by NTT Communications. It doesn't
seek to identify individuals, but it will attempt to figure out how many
of the people standing in front of an advertisement are actually looking
at it. A second camera, which wasn't fitted at the station but will be
when tests begin next month, will take care of estimating how many people
are in front of the ad, whether they are looking at it or not."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...16/0220209

Links:
0. http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/article/...ng_back?fp=&fpid=&pf=1


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| God of War 3 Gameplay Unveiled |
| from the there-can-be-only-5-or-so dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Tuesday December 16, @03:41 (Games) |
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid.../16/075231 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Over the weekend, Sony used Spike's Video Game Awards to release new
information and [0]a trailer for God of War 3, the [1]final installment
of the God of War series that is planned for sometime in 2009. The press
release [2]described a new game engine which brings "significant strides
in giving players the realistic feel of actually being on the
battlegrounds. With texture resolutions being quadrupled since God of War
2, God of War 3 will feature fluid, life-like characters, as well as
dynamic lighting effects, a robust weapon system, and world-changing
scenarios that will truly bring unmistakable realism to Kratos' fateful
quest. Players will have a chance to join battles on a grand scale with
[3]many more enemies on-screen and be able to interact with levels like
never before." Gamecyte notes that the news [4]contradicts early rumors
that the game might be an MMO.

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si.../16/075231

Links:
0. http://kotaku.com/5109840/spike-vgas-god...ii-trailer
1. http://www.psu.com/God-of-War-III-the-ep...765-p0.php
2. http://kotaku.com/5109985/god-of-war-3-w...resolution
3. http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/12/1...i-trailer/
4. http://www.gamecyte.com/god-of-war-iii-m...its-no-mmo


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Adventure Game Interfaces and Puzzle Theory |
| from the use-square-peg-on-round-hole dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Tuesday December 16, @05:19 (Classic Games|
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...16/0252236 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]MarkN writes "It seems like whenever broad topics of game design are
discussed on Slashdot, a few people bring up examples of Adventure Games,
possibly owing to the age and interests of our members. I'd be interested
to hear the community's thoughts on a piece I wrote on Adventure Games,
talking about the evolution they underwent in terms of interfaces, and
[1]how the choice of interface affects some aspects of the puzzles and
design. My basic premise is that an Adventure Game is an exercise in
abstract puzzle solving — you could represent the same game with a parser
or a point and click interface and still have the same underlying puzzle
structure, and required player actions. What the interface does affect is
how the player specifies those actions. Point and click games typically
have a bare handful of verbs compared to parser games, where the player
is forced to describe the desired interaction much more precisely in a
way that doesn't lend itself to brute force fiddling. It's a point
[2]Yahtzee has made in the past; he went so far as to design a [3]modern
graphic adventure game with a parser input to demonstrate its potential."
Read on for the rest of MarkN's comments.

This story continues at:
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...16/0252236

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...16/0252236

Links:
0. mailto:caveatlusor@gmail.com
1. http://www.strangehorizons.com/2008/2008...er-a.shtml
2. http://www.adventuregamers.com/article/id,522
3. http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/notes/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Barack Obama Is One Step Closer To Being President |
| from the donkey-faithful-one-hundred-percent dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 16, @08:04 (United States) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...16/0350219 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

At 3:00 Eastern time on Monday Dec. 15, 538 electors in state capitols
across the US [0]cast the votes that actually elected Barack Obama the
44th President. Obama received, unofficially, 365 electoral votes (with
270 needed to win). The exact total will not be official — or Obama
officially elected — until Congress certifies the count of electoral
votes in a joint session on Jan. 6, 2009. The Electoral College was
established in its present form in 1804 by the Twelfth Amendment to the
US Constitution. Electors are not required to vote for the candidate who
won their state — in fact, [1]24 states make it a criminal offense to
vote otherwise, but no "faithless elector" has ever been charged with a
crime. "On 158 occasions, electors have cast their votes for President or
Vice President in a manner different from that prescribed by the
legislature of the state they represented. Of those, 71 votes were
changed because the original candidate died before the elector was able
to cast a vote. Two votes were not cast at all when electors chose to
abstain from casting their electoral vote for any candidate. The
remaining 85 were changed by the elector's personal interest, or perhaps
by accident. Usually, the faithless electors act alone. An exception was
in 1836 when 23 Virginia electors changed their vote together. ... To
date, faithless electors have never changed the otherwise expected
outcome of the election."

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...16/0350219

Links:
0. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/arti...QD953FPDO0
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faithless_elector


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Experts Say To Switch Browsers In Light of IE Vulnerability |
| from the here's-my-number-if-the-place-burns-down dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday December 16, @08:52 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/16/1319217 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

It appears that the [0]exploit in IE briefly mentioned a few days ago is
causing a serious reaction: [1]SteveAU writes "Microsoft has begun
flooding media outlets with information [2]advising users to switch to an
alternate browser while a serious security flaw is being patched. The
flaw, which affects all versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer, is
manifested via malware and [3]has infected over 6,000 sites thus far.
Microsoft states: 'The vulnerability exists as an [4]invalid pointer
reference in the data-binding function of Internet Explorer. When data
binding is enabled (which is the default state), it is possible under
certain conditions for an object to be released without updating the
array length, leaving the potential to access the deleted object's memory
space. This can cause Internet Explorer to exit unexpectedly, in a state
that is exploitable.'" According to the BBC report, though, Microsoft
itself is only asking that users be "vigilant while it investigated and
prepared an emergency patch"; it's outside experts who say to dump IE (at
least for now).

Update: 12/16 21:11 GMT by [5]KD : Microsoft will issue an [6]emergency
critical update for IE tomorrow.

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/12/16/1319217

Links:
0. http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/10/206216&tid=172
1. mailto:ohkie@hotmail.com
2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7784908.stm
3. http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Hacker...t-IE-Flaw/
4. http://computerworld.com/action/article....ticleBasic&articleId=9123338
5. http://slashdot.org/~kdawson/
6. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/securit...8-dec.mspx


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Intel Quad-Core Price and Performance Showdown |
| from the horses-for-courses dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday December 16, @09:11 (Intel) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...16/1349257 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]ThinSkin writes "The folks over at ExtremeTech have had enough time on
their hands to [1]benchmark Intel's entire quad-core lineup to determine
which has the best performance for the dollar. While prices range from
$183 to $1399, the real bargain is with Intel's latest Core i7
architecture which outpaced many other more expensive processors. For
comparison's sake, Intel's fastest dual-core CPU was thrown into the mix
and was, at times, not even competitive, which suggests that we're
beginning to see more and more multi-threaded applications take advantage
of four cores."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...16/1349257

Links:
0. http://www.extremetech.com/
1. http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,28...852,00.asp


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Realtek's Wireless Driver Drives Thoughts of an Apple Netbook |
| from the can't-get-there-from-here-in-cupertino dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday December 16, @09:47 (Portables (Appl|
| http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?si.../16/141209 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Slatterz writes "With Macworld 2009 mere weeks away, one rumour that
seemingly won't die is the idea of a Mac OS X Netbook PC. Asking a
company to provide OS X drivers for their netbooks has, up until now,
been met with silence, and probably a little quaking on the vendor side
as they wait for the heavy footsteps of Apple's army of lawyers. It
seems, however, that Realtek, who provide the WiFi chip found in the MSI
Wind U100, are [0]dipping their toes into the legally iffy world of the
Hackintosh. Forum users at MSIWind.Net asked politely for drivers, and
after a lot of patience, [1]Beta drivers were provided."

Discuss this story at:
http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?s.../16/141209

Links:
0. http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/13117...ntosh.aspx
1. http://forums.msiwind.net/mac/great-news...6-160.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| O'Reilly Interview Digs Into the Tech of Storm Chasing |
| from the started-with-just-a-bicycle-and-some-crayons dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday December 16, @10:34 (Earth) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/16/156231 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]blackbearnh writes "If you've watched the Discovery Channel series
'Storm Chasers,' you'll be familiar with Dr. Joshua Wurman and his
Doppler on Wheels radar, which he uses to study tornadoes up close and
personal every spring. O'Reilly Media spent some time last week speaking
to Dr. Wurman about what it takes, technologically, [1]to operate a
weather radar in 100-mile-per-hour winds in the middle of a lightning
storm. They also talked about the value of this kind of research to both
tornado and hurricane research, and how having a film crew around during
missions affects the science."

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid.../16/156231

Links:
0. http://www.oreilly.com/
1. http://broadcast.oreilly.com/2008/12/eng...cepts.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Nepomuk Brings Semantic Web To the Desktop, Instead |
| from the semantic-researchers-play-better-tag dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday December 16, @11:20 (GUI) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...16/1546219 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "Technology Review has a story looking at
[0]Nepomuk — the semantic tool that is [1]bundled with the latest version
of KDE. It seems that some Semantic Web researchers [2]believe the tool
will prove a breakthrough for semantic technology. By encouraging people
to add semantic meta-data to the information stored on their machines
they hope it could succeed where other semantic tools have failed."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...16/1546219

Links:
0. http://nepomuk.semanticdesktop.org/xwiki...iew/Main1/
1. http://nepomuk.kde.org/
2. http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/21840/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Knew About Xbox 360 Damaging Discs |
| from the dribbling-it-like-a-ball-may-also-cause-problems dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday December 16, @12:09 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/16/1644242 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Kelly writes "An [1]unsealed document in a Washington lawsuit filed
last week at Seattle, Microsoft was well aware that the [2]Xbox 360 was
prone to damaging game discs even before the console was introduced in
November 2005. Microsoft had three solutions for solving the issue, but
all three solutions were rejected due to technical concerns or on the
basis of cost. Microsoft settled on a cost-free fourth solution: a
warning was added to Xbox 360 manual, which essentially placed the blame
on users instead of the hardware." The scratching-disks problem was
[3]mentioned a few years back, too. I wonder whether more people would
prefer a slight discount on the price of a console to the ability to
reorient it while a disk was playing inside.

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...16/1644242

Links:
0. http://stupidstuff.org/
1. http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/micro...n_xbox.pdf
2. http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/micro...156941.asp
3. http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...02/1038202&tid=211


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Canadian Nuke Bunker To Be Converted Into Data Fortress |
| from the canada-has-nukes? dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday December 16, @13:02 (Data Storage) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...16/1743250 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]miller60 writes "A hosting firm has purchased a nuke-resistant bunker
in Novia Scotia, and [1]plans to convert it into a data fortress for
financial firms. Bastionhost hopes to attract European financial firms
wary of housing sensitive data in the US due to the USA Patriot Act. The
facility is one of a series of [2]'Diefenbunkers' built during the tenure
of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker to keep the Canadian government
running in the event of a nuclear attack. While not all of these
underground data bunker projects work out, a similar nuke-proof bunker in
Stockholm, Sweden was recently converted into a [3]stylish high-tech data
lair for an ISP."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...16/1743250

Links:
0. http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/
1. http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archi...ta-bunker/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diefenbunker
3. http://royal.pingdom.com/2008/11/14/the-...d-villain/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| MySpace Verdict a Danger To Depressed Kids |
| from the don't-need-no-more-reasons dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 16, @13:50 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/16/1818247 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Slashdot regular Bennett Haselton summarizes his essay this way: "Debate
over the Lori Drew verdict has focused overwhelmingly on whether the
ruling was technically correct, but there is another serious issue: the
perverse incentives that this ruling creates for victims of online
harassment." Read on for his essay.

This story continues at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/16/1818247

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...16/1818247


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 100 Years Ago, No Free Broadband Pneumatic Tubes |
| from the when-brooklyn-was-a-considerable-city dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 16, @14:38 (The Internet) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...16/1920201 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]TheSync writes "The Division of Labour blog spotlights a report
written 100 years ago by a commission appointed by the Postmaster
General, that came to the conclusion: 'That it is [1]not feasible and
desirable at the present time for the Government to purchase, to install,
or to operate pneumatic tubes.' Here is a scan of the [2]original NYTimes
article. If only we had gotten the free government Intertubes in 1908!"

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...16/1920201

Links:
0. http://www.t11s.com/
1. http://divisionoflabour.com/archives/005405.php
2. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=980CE5DC113EE233A25755C1A9649D946997D6CF


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Court Nixes National Security Letter Gag Provision |
| from the speak-we-will dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 16, @15:28 (Censorship) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/16/1944252 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

2phar sends news that on Monday a federal appeals court [0]ruled
unconstitutional the gag provision of the Patriot Act's National Security
Letters. Until the ruling, recipients of NSLs were legally forbidden from
speaking out. "The appeals court invalidated parts of the statute that
wrongly placed the burden on NSL recipients to initiate judicial review
of gag orders, holding that the government has the burden to go to court
and justify silencing NSL recipients. The appeals court also invalidated
parts of the statute that narrowly limited judicial review of the gag
orders — provisions that required the courts to treat the government's
claims about the need for secrecy as conclusive and required the courts
to defer entirely to the executive branch." Update: 12/16 22:26 GMT by
[1]KD : Julian Sanchez, Washington Editor for Ars Technica, sent this
cautionary note: "Both the item on yesterday's National Security Letter
ruling and the RawStory article to which it links are somewhat
misleading. It remains the case that ISPs served with an NSL are
forbidden from speaking out; the difference is that under the ruling it
will be somewhat easier for the ISPs to challenge that gag order, and the
government will have to do a little bit more to persuade a court to
maintain the gag when it is challenged. But despite what the ACLU's press
releases imply, this is really not a 'victory' for them, or at least only
a very minor one. Relative to the decision the government was appealing,
it would make at least as much sense to call it a victory for the
government. The lower court had struck down the NSL provisions of the
PATRIOT Act entirely. This ruling left both the NSL statute and the gag
order in place, but made oversight slightly stricter. If you look back at
the hearings from this summer, you'll see that most of the new ruling
involves the court making all the minor adjustments that the government
had urged them to make, and which the ACLU had urged them to reject as
inadequate."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...16/1944252

Links:
0. http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Court_side..._1216.html
1. http://slashdot.org/~kdawson/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Convergent Evolution Upends Honeyeaters' Taxonomy |
| from the whole-new-family dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 16, @16:17 (Biotech) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...16/2011239 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]grrlscientist writes in with a beautiful piece of science, beautifully
explicated. The poignant bit is that the birds in question are all
extinct. "Every once in awhile, I will read a scientific paper that
astonishes and delights me so much that I can hardly wait to tell you all
about it. Such is the situation with a newly published paper about the
Hawai'ian Honeyeaters. In short, due to the remarkable power of
convergent evolution, [1]Hawai'ian Honeyeaters have thoroughly deceived
taxonomists and ornithologists as to their true origin and identity for
more than 200 years."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...16/2011239

Links:
0. http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/
1. http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/20..._a_hon.php


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Computer Models and the Global Economic Crash |
| from the not-able-rightly-to-comprehend dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 16, @17:03 (The Almighty Bu|
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...16/2048235 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Anti-Globalism passes along a review in Ars of some recent speculation
on the [1]role of interconnected computer models in the global economic
crash. "If Ritholtz, Taleb, Mandelbrot, and the rest of the computer
modeling and financial engineering naysayers are correct about the big
picture, then we really are arguably in the midst a bona fide computer
crash. Not an individual computer crash, of course, but a computer crash
in the sense of Sun Microsystems' erstwhile marketing slogan, 'the
network is the computer.' That is, we have all of these machines in
different sectors of the economy, and we've networked all of them
together either directly (via an actual network) or indirectly (by using
the collective 'output' of machines in one sector as input for the
machines in another sector), and like any other computer system the whole
thing hums along nicely... up until the point when it doesn't."

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...16/2048235

Links:
0. http://www.corrupt.org/
1. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/200...crash.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| SoHo NAS With Good Network Throughput? |
| from the small-office-home-office dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 16, @17:55 (Networking) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...16/2250232 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "I work at a small business where we need to
move around large datasets regularly (move onto test machine, test, move
onto NAS for storage, move back to test machine, lather-rinse-repeat).
The network is mostly OS X and Linux with one Windows machine (for
compatibility testing). The size of our datasets is typically in the
multiple GB, so network speed is as important as storage size. I'm
looking for a preferably off-the shelf solution that can handle a
significant portion of a GigE; maxing out at 6MB is useless. I've been
looking at SoHo NAS's that support RAID such as [0]Drobo, [1]NetGear
(formerly Infrant), and BuffaloTech (who unfortunately doesn't even list
whether they support OS X). They all claim they come with a GigE
interface, but what sort of network throughput can they really sustain?
Most of the numbers I can find on the websites only talk about drive
throughput, not network, so I'm hoping some of you with real-world
experience can shed some light here."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...16/2250232

Links:
0. http://www.drobo.com/
1. http://www.readynas.com/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| CAN-SPAM Act Turns 5 Today — What Went Wrong? |
| from the calling-mister-hormel dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 16, @18:52 (Spam) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/16/2349242 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

alphadogg writes "Five years ago, the US tech industry, politicians, and
Internet users were wringing their hands over the escalating problem of
spam. This prompted Congress to pass a landmark anti-spam bill known as
the CAN-SPAM Act in December 2003. Fast forward five years. The number of
spam messages sent over the Internet every day has grown more than
10-fold, topping 164 billion worldwide in August 2008. Almost 97% of all
e-mails are spam, costing US ISPs and corporations an estimated $42
billion a year. [0]What went wrong here?"

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/12/16/2349242

Links:
0. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/10...-spam.html



Reply
#19
In this issue:
* Windows Home Directory Encryption?
* Australia's Vast, Scattershot Censorship Blacklist Revealed
* Mass Effect 2 Announced For Early 2010
* Building Your Own Solar Panel In the Garage
* Tribes 1 Returns In-Browser At GDC Next Week
* Breach Exposes 19,000 Active US, UK Credit Cards
* TomTom Sues Microsoft For Patent Infringement
* If We Have Free Will, Then So Do Electrons
* Kentucky Officials "Changed Votes At Voting Machines"
* 17 Million People Stopped Buying CDs In 2008
* Phenom IIs, Core I7-920 Win Out In Value Analysis
* Red Hat Claims Patent On SOAP Over CGI
* Texas Legislature Considers Open Document Formats
* From an Unrelated Career To IT/Programming?
* Apple and AT&T Sued, Again, Over 3G
* Tai Chi Scooter Promises Fun and Falls
* Taxpayers Fund AIG Lawsuit Against US
* Robot Fish To Hunt Down Pollution
* A Look at Excessive Portable Storage
* Fermilab Discovers Untheorized Particle
* Piracy Case Could Change Canadian Web Landscape
* Internet Could Act As Ecological Early Warning System
* Obama Administration Promises "Thorough Review" of USTR Policies
* Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch Provokes Bomb Scare
* FSF Files Amicus Brief In RIAA Case
* Oracle's Take On Red Hat Linux

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Windows Home Directory Encryption? |
| from the we-see-you-anonymous-reader dept. |
| posted by timothy on Thursday March 19, @22:48 (Data Storage) |
| http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/20/0159230 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "Home directory encryption has been available
on Linux for a while now, and it is definitely a smart, useful feature as
it is not usually necessary to encrypt the entire drive, just the private
documents and software profiles in the home directory. Windows is getting
better about keeping everything that needs to be private in the user's
home folder. Is there a similar solution for Windows to securely, and
preferably transparently, encrypt the home directory only? (Preferably
open source so that the code is available for peer review)."

Discuss this story at:
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...20/0159230


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Australia's Vast, Scattershot Censorship Blacklist Revealed |
| from the please-don't-click-here dept. |
| posted by timothy on Thursday March 19, @22:59 (Censorship) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/19/2321259 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]mask.of.sanity writes "Australia's [1]secretive Internet filter
blacklist held by its communications watchdog has been leaked, revealing
the government has understated the amount of banned Web pages by more
than 1000. Multiple [2]legitimate businesses and Web sites have been
banned including two bus companies, online poker sites, multiple
Wikipedia entries, Google and Yahoo group pages, a dental surgery and a
tour operator. Andrew Twaits, CEO of [3]Betfair, a billion-dollar
business blocked by the blacklist, was [4]furious the government has
potentially annexed tens of millions of dollars in revenue after the
Betfair.com gambling site was blacklisted. The blacklists were reportedly
leaked by a Web filter operator to wikileaks which has [5]published the
full list of banned URLs. Outraged privacy advocates say the government
has effectively lied about the amount of URLs included in the blacklists,
totaling more than 2300, and the type of content which it would ban.
[6]The leak follows a series of attacks on the watchdog in which irate
users successfully lobbied for web sites to be banned, only to be
threatened with an $11,000 fine for publishing the link contained in the
PR response. It was also revealed the [7]watchdog can ban Web sites at a
whim, with no accountability."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...19/2321259

Links:
0. mailto:imNOTgettingFINEDforTHIS@fuckCONROY.gov
1. http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/...aked?fp=16&fpid=1
2. http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/...ed_by_acma
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betfair
4. http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/...acma?fp=16&fpid=1
5. http://www.wikileaks.com/wiki/Australian...ch_19_2009
6. http://www.techworld.com.au/blog/broadba...ttleground
7. http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/...crat?fp=39&fpid=27794


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Mass Effect 2 Announced For Early 2010 |
| from the allegedly-no-holds-barred dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 20, @00:12 (Games) |
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...20/0322255 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Bioware has confirmed rumors that [0]development for the sequel to Mass
Effect is well under way, and they're planning on a release in early
2010. They mentioned PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game, but [1]no
information was given about a possible PS3 version. CVG has a write-up of
what [2]we know about Mass Effect 2 so far. Quoting: "In the shooting
department the developer's official announcement promises 'intensified
combat' and 'expanded weapon options.' We're hoping some of the work goes
on improving the game's shooting mechanics, which were solid enough but
could certainly do with some polishing to meet 2010 standards —
especially in the cover system department. As for 'expanded weapon
options,' we can only assume this refers to the in-depth gun tweaking and
customisation options available in Mass Effect 1."

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...20/0322255

Links:
0. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/mass-e...-announced
1. http://www.videogamer.com//news/ea_no_in...ime_2.html
2. http://www.computerandvideogames.com/art...?id=211099


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Building Your Own Solar Panel In the Garage |
| from the prices-have-edge-cases-too dept. |
| posted by timothy on Friday March 20, @02:07 (Power) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...20/0220227 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]jeroen8 writes "A Dutch guy was able to [1]build his own solar panel
in his garage using materials that were a third as expensive as the mass
produced solar panels currently available on the European market. He
bought his solar cells on eBay and used them to create his own panel. His
output price is only 1.20 Euro per Watt Peak (Wp). This makes you wonder
if we are paying too much for mass-produced solar panels, which should,
in theory, be a lot less expensive than something you create in your
garage."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...20/0220227

Links:
0. http://www.olino.org/us/
1. http://www.olino.org/us/articles/2009/03...olar-panel


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Tribes 1 Returns In-Browser At GDC Next Week |
| from the a-fad-has-begun dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 20, @03:34 (First Person Shoo|
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...20/0330220 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "GarageGames purchased the IP rights to the
entire Starsiege Tribes universe, and next week at GDC they'll be showing
off their updated version of [0] Tribes 1 running in a browser, using all
the original artwork. Afterwards, it will be available to play standalone
or via the [1]Instant Action website. While you wait, you can play Fallen
Empire Legions in your browser, which is based on the Tribes 2 engine.
Their blog entry about the [2] Tribes 1 preview at GDC has further
details."

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...20/0330220

Links:
0. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_in...tory=22828
1. http://www.instantaction.com/
2. http://blog.instantaction.com/2009/03/li...m-gdc.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Breach Exposes 19,000 Active US, UK Credit Cards |
| from the need-two-part-authentication dept. |
| posted by timothy on Friday March 20, @05:12 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/20/0845232 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

pnorth writes "A defunct payment gateway has [0]exposed as many as 19,000
credit card numbers of US and UK consumers in a major worldwide breach.
The data, held in Google cache, includes credit card numbers, CVVs,
expiry dates, names and addresses. The credit card numbers are for
accounts held with Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Solo, Switch,
Delta and Maestro/Cirrus. Within the address bars of the cached pages are
URLs of e-commerce sites that have become victims of the breach. They
include clothing, science, health, sports and photo imaging stores. The
cause appears to be a [1]known issue with the Google search engine, in
which the pages of defunct web sites containing sensitive directories
remain cached and available to anyone."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/03/20/0845232

Links:
0. http://www.itnews.com.au/News/99250,auss...mbers.aspx
1. http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/24/136207&tid=172


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| TomTom Sues Microsoft For Patent Infringement |
| from the gentlemen-do-not-consult-each-other's-patents dept. |
| posted by timothy on Friday March 20, @08:08 (Patents) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/20/0215215 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]CWmike writes "GPS device maker [1]TomTom has shot back at Microsoft
with a claim of patent infringement, after the software giant [2]raised
concerns in the Linux community with a recent lawsuit against TomTom. In
a suit filed earlier this week, TomTom alleges that Microsoft infringes
on four patents in mapping software Microsoft Streets and Trips. TomTom
is asking for triple damages for willful infringement, since it says it
had notified Microsoft about its alleged infringement. Microsoft said it
was reviewing TomTom's filing and that it remains committed to a
licensing solution and has been for more than a year."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...20/0215215

Links:
0. http://www.computerworld.com/
1. http://www.computerworld.com/action/arti...ticleBasic&articleId=9130099
2. http://www.computerworld.com/action/arti...ticleBasic&articleId=9128730


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| If We Have Free Will, Then So Do Electrons |
| from the hard-to-pin-down dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday March 20, @08:48 (Math) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...20/1229233 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

snahgle writes "Mathematicians John Conway (inventor of the Game of Life)
and Simon Kochen of Princeton University have proven that if human
experimenters demonstrate 'free will' in choosing what measurements to
take on a particle, then the axioms of quantum mechanics require that
[0]the free will property be available to the particles measured, or to
the universe as a whole. Conway is giving [1]a series of lectures on the
'Free Will Theorem' and its ramifications over the next month at
Princeton. A followup [2]article strengthening the theory (PDF) was
published last month in Notices of the AMS." Update: 03/19 14:20 GMT by
[3]KD : jamie points out that we [4]discussed this theorem last year,
before the paper had been published.

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...20/1229233

Links:
0. http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0604079
1. http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archi...ouncements
2. http://www.ams.org/notices/200902/rtx090200226p.pdf
3. http://slashdot.org/~kdawson/
4. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s.../16/189248&tid=228


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Kentucky Officials "Changed Votes At Voting Machines" |
| from the smoking-gun dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday March 20, @09:29 (The Courts) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...20/1322210 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

The indispensible jamie found a report out of Kentucky of exactly the
kind of shenanigans that voting-transparency advocates have been warning
about: a circuit court judge, a county clerk, and election officials are
among eight people [0]indicted for gaming elections in 2002, 2004, and
2006. As described in [1]the indictment (PDF), the election officials
divvied up money intended to buy votes and then changed votes on the
county's (popular, unverifiable) ES&S touch-screen voting systems,
affecting the outcome of elections at the local, state, and federal
levels.

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...20/1322210

Links:
0. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7001
1. http://media.kentucky.com/smedia/2009/03...ate.79.pdf


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 17 Million People Stopped Buying CDs In 2008 |
| from the off-a-cliff dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday March 20, @10:09 (Music) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/20/1342220 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Houston 2600 sends along an Ars Technica writeup on the continuing
downward trend in the traditional music business: NPD's annual survey
found that [1]17 million CD customers dropped out last year. Among the
good news is that streaming services such as Pandora are growing fast.
"While overall music sales were up 10 percent in 2008, the year saw a
drop not only in CD sales, but also in the number of customers actually
purchasing music. But according to a new report, the act of listening to
music is actually on the rise. ... NPD's annual Digital Music Study found
that there were 17 million fewer CD customers in 2008 than in past years.
CD sales have been dropping for quite some time, and while 1.5 billion
songs were sold digitally last year, the number of Internet users paying
for digital music only increased by 8 million in 2008."

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/03/20/1342220

Links:
0. http://www.hou2600.org/
1. http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/0...y-help.ars


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Phenom IIs, Core I7-920 Win Out In Value Analysis |
| from the computes-per-buck dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday March 20, @10:49 (AMD) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...20/1410244 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "We've all seen processor benchmarks, but how
do today's enthusiast CPUs look when you account for performance per
dollar? Using a smorgasbord of charts, scatter plots, and performance
tests, The Tech Report attempted to single out the [0]highest-value
offerings out of 16 popular Intel and AMD processors. The results might
surprise you: AMD's 45nm Phenom IIs (both triple- and quad-core) prove to
be strikingly competitive with Intel's Core 2 Quads. And, on the high
end, Intel's $266 Core i7-920 turns out to be a compelling step up
despite the higher costs of Core i7 platforms in general."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...20/1410244

Links:
0. http://techreport.com/articles.x/16570


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Red Hat Claims Patent On SOAP Over CGI |
| from the wash-your-mouth-out dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday March 20, @11:29 (Patents) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/20/1420223 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]WMGarrison writes "[1]US Patent 7453593 claims command-line processing
by a web server of SOAP requests, resulting in XML responses, from and to
a remote client. The HTTP Common Gateway Interface (CGI) operates
precisely as described in Claim 1. If you POST a SOAP document and return
an XHTML response or a SOAP document, this infringes Claim 2, since both
XHTML and SOAP are XML languages. This patent thus claims to own the
processing of SOAP documents by CGI programs."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...20/1420223

Links:
0. http://www.digitalmajority.org/
1. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7453593.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Texas Legislature Considers Open Document Formats |
| from the rising-tide dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday March 20, @12:07 (Software) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...20/1457243 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader notes that a legislator in Texas has introduced a
bill to [0]require open document formats in all state government
business. The bill is carefully worded such that only ODF could pass its
test as "open." The story is covered by the Fort Worth Star Telegram,
which is [1]careful to be even-handed, giving Microsoft's spokesman equal
time. A ZDNet blogger notes that the bill, introduced by a Democrat in a
state whose politics is dominated by Republicans, faces chances that
"...fall [2]somewhere east of slim and west of none."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...20/1457243

Links:
0. http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R...00481I.htm
1. http://www.star-telegram.com/metro_news/...66591.html
2. http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=3745


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| From an Unrelated Career To IT/Programming? |
| from the long-jump dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Friday March 20, @12:47 (Programming) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...20/1518248 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "I hate my career of the past few years. For a
long time I've wondered what I'd do after I broke even and could get into
something new, and I keep coming back to computers. I'd like to get into
software, since I always enjoyed coding. I have some background with C++
so I'm not starting entirely from scratch. My problem is my degrees and
past employment have no practical application to the field. Where should
I start? I have friends in both IT and software development who might be
able to pull some strings and get me an interview or two for entry-level
positions, but what can I do to make myself hireable in a short period of
time? Is it possible to pick up enough of what I'd need within a couple
months? If so, what and how?"

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments....20/1518248


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Apple and AT&T Sued, Again, Over 3G |
| from the overly-litigious dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 20, @13:32 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/20/1555220 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Macworld is reporting that Apple and AT&T are being sued, again, for the
[0]lack of delivery on their 3G network. This follows a long line of
other lawsuits in San Jose, San Diego, Alabama, Florida, Texas, and New
York "The lawsuit charges the companies with Negligence, Breach of
Express Warranty, Breach of Implied Warranty of Merchantability, Unjust
Enrichment, Negligent Misrepresentation, Violation of the New Jersey
Consumer Fraud Act and Other Similar State Statutes, and Breach of
Contract. Dickerson is seeking to force Apple and AT&T to correct its
labeling and advertising, as well as to recover compensatory, statutory
and punitive damages."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...20/1555220

Links:
0. http://www.macworld.com/article/139520/2...c=rss_main


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Tai Chi Scooter Promises Fun and Falls |
| from the thinning-the-herd dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 20, @14:02 (Transportatio|
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...20/1719228 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

In a bold move for natural selection, a mechanical engineer at Purdue
University has created a [0]new take on the Segway. Removing pesky
confusing handlebars, the new "Tai Chi Scooter" has an optical encoder
that monitors the angular displacement of the electric motor, requiring
you to manipulate your center of balance to drive the scooter.
Unfortunately you will not be able to purchase this and begin breaking
your own limbs anytime soon as the creator says he has no plans to market
the scooter. Someone buy the rights to this and mass produce it quickly
so we can thin the herd.

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...20/1719228

Links:
0. http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/03/students-build.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Taxpayers Fund AIG Lawsuit Against US |
| from the should-have-let-them-die-when-we-had-the-chance dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 20, @14:24 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/20/1621248 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

AIG, now infamous for their executive bonuses, has decided that the $200
billion they received from the government is not nearly enough and is
[0]suing the government for the return of $306 million in tax payments.
"AIG is effectively suing its majority owner, the government, which has
an 80 percent stake and has poured nearly $200 billion into the insurer
in a bid to avert its collapse and avoid troubling the global financial
markets. The company is in effect asking for even more money, in the form
of tax refunds. The suit also suggests that AIG. is spending taxpayer
money to pursue its case, something it is legally entitled to do. Its
initial claim was denied by the Internal Revenue Service last year."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...20/1621248

Links:
0. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/busine....html?_r=1


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Robot Fish To Hunt Down Pollution |
| from the uncanny-trench dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Friday March 20, @15:02 (Robotics) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...20/1419251 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "According to the Financial Times, scientists
are building [0]a shoal of robot fish to be let loose in the port [of
Gijon, Spain] to check on the quality of the water. The fish are equipped
with tiny chemical sensors capable of detecting pollutants in the water.
These let them home in on the sources of hazardous pollutants, such as
leaks from vessels or undersea pipelines. Modeled on carp and costing
about £20,000 ($29,000) each to make, the fish are to be lifelike in
appearance and swimming behavior so they will not alarm their fellow
marine inhabitants."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...20/1419251

Links:
0. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4166d8d4-14b6-...fd2ac.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| A Look at Excessive Portable Storage |
| from the makes-my-keys-really-hard-to-carry-around dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 20, @15:15 (Data Storage)|
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...20/1718245 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Tom's Hardware has an interesting look at [0]portable storage devices
that fall a little outside of the normal bell curve. The reviewed items
include Buffalo's all-flash portable storage drive, Chaintech's flash SSD
w/ an additional USB port, and LaCie's state-of-the-art RAID drive based
on two 2.5" drives. LaCie's drive seemed to come out on top for usability
and performance with the main downside being the $600 pricetag and lack
of adequate backup software, but all had interesting advantages.

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...20/1718245

Links:
0. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-...or=RSS-182


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Fermilab Discovers Untheorized Particle |
| from the surprise-particles dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 20, @16:02 (Science) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...20/1753247 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]alevy writes to mention that scientists at Fermilab have [1]detected a
new, completely untheorized particle. Seems like Fermi has been a hotbed
of activity lately with the discovery of a new single top quark and
[2]narrowing the gap twice on the Higgs Boson particle. "The Y(4140)
particle is the newest member of a family of particles of similar unusual
characteristics observed in the last several years by experimenters at
Fermilab's Tevatron as well as at KEK and the SLAC lab, which operates at
Stanford through a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy. 'We
congratulate CDF on the first evidence for a new unexpected Y state that
decays to J/psi and phi,' said Japanese physicist Masanori Yamauchi, a
KEK spokesperson. 'This state may be related to the Y(3940) state
discovered by Belle and might be another example of an exotic hadron
containing charm quarks. We will try to confirm this state in our own
Belle data.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...20/1753247

Links:
0. mailto:alex.levy1@gmail.com
1. http://www.universetoday.com/2009/03/18/...e-physics/
2. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s.../13/156216&tid=14


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Piracy Case Could Change Canadian Web Landscape |
| from the embrace-file-sharing-already dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 20, @16:49 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/20/1814203 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]meatheadmike writes to tell us that a recent Canadian court case
brought against the Canadian Recording Industry Association by isoHunt
Web Technologies, Inc, could [1]drastically change the web landscape in
Canada. "The question before the British Columbia Supreme Court is if a
site such as isoHunt allows people to find a pirated copy of movies such
as Watchmen or The Dark Knight, is it breaching Canadian copyright law?
'It's a huge can of worms," said David Fewer, acting director of the
Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic at the University of
Ottawa. 'I am surprised that this litigation has gone under the radar as
much as it has. I do think this is the most important copyright
litigation going on right now.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...20/1814203

Links:
0. http://mikeskov.com/
1. http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainmen...story.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Internet Could Act As Ecological Early Warning System |
| from the keep-your-crowd-source-off-of-mine dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 20, @17:30 (The Internet)|
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...20/2049228 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Wired is reporting that ecologists think the internet could act as an
[0]early ecological warning system based on data mining human
interactions. While much of this work has been based on systems like
Google Flu Trends, the system will remain largely theoretical for the
near future. "The six billion people on Earth are changing the biosphere
so quickly that traditional ecological methods can't keep up. Humans,
though, are acute observers of their environments and bodies, so
scientists are combing through the text and numbers on the Internet in
hopes of extracting otherwise unavailable or expensive information. It's
more crowd mining than crowd sourcing."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...20/2049228

Links:
0. http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/...ining.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Obama Administration Promises "Thorough Review" of USTR Policies |
| from the transparency-just-another-buzzword-so-far dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 20, @18:18 (Government) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...20/2055211 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

After all of the uproar surrounding some of the Obama administration's
recent decisions, trade officials have promised a [0]thorough review of
the USTR policies regarding transparency. In an effort to ensure that the
review includes all possible angles, the USTR is urging groups to make
other proposals as well. "KEI is very impressed with the USTR decision to
undertake a review of USTR transparency efforts. They are taking this
much further than simply reviewing policies on the Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA), or recent controversies over the secrecy surrounding the
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations. The review
offers the possibility of more transformative changes, including
pro-active measures to enhance transparency, covering all aspects of USTR
operations, including multilateral, plurilateral, regional, bilateral and
unilateral trade policies and negotiations. We are also grateful that
USTR is offering to have a continuing dialogue on this issues. KEI will
offer additional suggestions on transparency to USTR, and we encourage
others to do so also."

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...20/2055211

Links:
0. http://www.keionline.org/blogs/2009/03/2...nsparency/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch Provokes Bomb Scare |
| from the how-does-it-um-how-does-it-work dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Friday March 20, @18:38 (It's funny. Laug|
| http://entertainment.slashdot.org/articl.../20/142234 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Bomb disposal teams were called in and a nearby pub evacuated after water
company engineers mistook [0]a Monty Python film prop for a hand grenade.
After nearly an hour of examination by bomb experts, they counted to
three. No more. No less. Three was the number they counted, and the
number they counted was three. Four they did not count, nor two, except
to proceed to three. Five was right out. Once the number three had been
reached, being the third number, they declared that the grenade was
actually a copy of the "Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch" used in the film
Monty Python And The Holy Grail. A police spokeswoman confirmed that the
device was a toy and that it had been no danger to the public.

Discuss this story at:
http://entertainment.slashdot.org/commen.../20/142234

Links:
0. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopi...enade.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| FSF Files Amicus Brief In RIAA Case |
| from the can't-believe-the-riaa-still-thinks-this-is-a-wise-cours|
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 20, @19:04 (The Courts) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...20/2129208 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The Free Software Foundation has
[1]requested permission to file an amicus curiae brief in an RIAA case,
[2]SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum, defending the defendant's
Due Process defense to the RIAA's claim for statutory damages. In [3]the
brief [PDF], FSF cites some of the leading authorities for the defense,
including the 2003 decision of the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd
Circuit in Parker v. Time Warner, which held that excessive statutory
damages are subject to the same due process test applicable to punitive
damage awards by juries. Additionally, the brief cites three district
court decisions, including [4]UMG v. Lindor, and two law review articles
— all of which deal specifically with Copyright Act statutory damages
applicable to infringement of an MP3 file — to like effect."

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...20/2129208

Links:
0. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/
1. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspo...4750289579
2. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspo..._Tenenbaum
3. http://beckermanlegal.com/pdf/?file=/Law...sBrief.pdf
4. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspo...to_09.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Oracle's Take On Red Hat Linux |
| from the more-of-a-flavor-than-a-distro dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday March 20, @19:56 (Oracle) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...20/2243203 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

darthcamaro writes "For nearly three years, Oracle has had its own
version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, claiming the two versions are
essentially the same thing. But are they really? As it turns out, there
are [0]a few things on which Oracle and Red Hat do not see eye-to-eye,
including file systems and virtualization. The article quotes Wim
Coekaerts, Oracle's director of Linux engineering, saying, 'A lot of
people think Oracle is [1]doing Enterprise Linux as just basically a rip
off of Red Hat but that's not what this is about. ... This is about a
support program, and wanting to offer quality Linux OS support to
customers that need it. The Linux distribution part is there just to make
sure people can get a freely available Linux operating system that is
fully supported.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments....20/2243203

Links:
0. http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/art...+Linux.htm
1. http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...27/1120216&tid=249

Reply
#20
Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* USB-Based NIC Torrents While Your PC Sleeps
* Konami Cuts and Runs From Iraq War Game
* Twitter Considered Harmful To Swine-Flu Panic
* Europe Funds Secure Operating System Research
* Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 Confirmed For the PS3, 360
* Developing World Is a Profit Sink For Web Companies
* The Frontier of the MMO Genre
* Why Digital Medical Records Are No Panacea
* Second Swedish ISP Starts Scrubbing IP Addresses
* A No-Touching 3D Computer Interface
* EFF Sues Apple Over BluWiki Legal Threats
* Competition Seeks Best Approaches To Detecting Plagiarism
* Crowd-Source Translation Software For Free Content?
* Google To Remove "Inappropriate" Books From Digital Library
* Cablevision To Offer 101 Mbps Down, No Caps
* Town Fights Cricket Plague With Led Zeppelin
* Oracle Buy Renews Call To Spin Off OpenOffice.org
* Phorm "Edited and Approved" UK Government Advice
* Senator Arlen Specter Becomes a Democrat
* A $99 Graphics Card Might Be All You Need
* Tokyo Scientists Create Mobile Slime
* Should the US Go Offensive In Cyberwarfare?
* Apple May Bring a Non-iPhone To Verizon Wireless
* OIN Posts Details of Microsoft's Anti-Tom Tom Patents
* Miro Asks Users To "Adopt" Lines of Source

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| USB-Based NIC Torrents While Your PC Sleeps |
| from the talking-in-your-sleep dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday April 27, @21:47 (Networking) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...27/2310234 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]jangel sends us to WindowsForDevices.com for news on a prototype
device created by researchers from Microsoft and UC San Diego. It's a
[1]USB-based NIC that includes its own ARM processor and flash storage,
and can download files or torrent while a host PC is sleeping. As a
result, its inventors say, the "Somniloquy" device slashes power usage by
up to 50x. The device requires a few tweaks on the host OS side save
state before sleeping. The prototype works with a Vista host but the
hardware comprising the NIC is based on a Linux stack. Here is the
[2]research paper (PDF).

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...27/2310234

Links:
0. http://www.windowsfordevices.com/
1. http://www.windowsfordevices.com/news/NS7625324099.html
2. http://mesl.ucsd.edu/yuvraj/research/doc...garwal.pdf


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Konami Cuts and Runs From Iraq War Game |
| from the surge-of-protest-is-working dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Monday April 27, @23:45 (The Military) |
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...27/2317203 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Less than a month after [0]the announcement of Six Days in Fallujah , a
video game based upon a real-life battle between US Marines and Iraqi
insurgents in 2004, Konami has decided that it is too controversial, and
[1]abandoned plans to publish the game. The developer, Atomic Games, has
not commented on Konami's decision other than to say an announcement will
be made soon. Konami told a Japanese newspaper, "After seeing the
reaction to the video game in the United States and hearing opinions sent
through phone calls and e-mail, we decided several days ago not to sell
it." While the game did receive a great deal of criticism, [2]others were
optimistic, including several outspoken veterans of the Iraq war. One of
the major complaints was that in researching the battle, Atomic Games
reportedly [3]interviewed several insurgents. This prompted speculation
that the insurgents were compensated for their help, though Atomic later
[4]denied that was the case. Konami's decision also may have been
influenced by the fact that they seemed to represent it as entertainment,
whereas Atomic's president, Peter Tamte, was more [5]hesitant to describe
it as "fun." He said, "The words I would use to describe the game — first
of all, it's compelling. And another word I use — insight."

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...27/2317203

Links:
0. http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...07/0455231&tid=265
1. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6208618.html
2. http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...12/0552207&tid=265
3. http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/04/14/i...-developer
4. http://kotaku.com/5229698/the-fate-of-si...n-fallujah
5. http://www.joystiq.com/2009/04/13/joysti...-fallujah/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Twitter Considered Harmful To Swine-Flu Panic |
| from the you-have-the-flu-swine dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday April 28, @02:36 (Social Networks) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/28/000200 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]judgecorp writes "Twitter is being criticized for [1]spreading panic
about swine flu. This is not just knee-jerk Luddism 2.0: it's argued that
Twitter's structure encourages ill-informed repetition, with little room
for context, while older Web media use their power for good — for
instance Google's [2]Flu Trends page (which we [3]discussed last winter),
and the introduction of a Google [4]swine flu map." On a related note,
reader [5]NewtonsLaw suggests that it might be a good idea,
epidemiologically speaking, to [6]catch the flu now vs. later.

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid.../28/000200

Links:
0. http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/
1. http://neteffect.foreignpolicy.com/posts..._misinform
2. http://www.google.org/flutrends/
3. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/11/232225&tid=158
4. http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=p&msa=0&msid=106484775090296685271.0004681a37b713f6b5950&ll=32.639375,-110.390625&spn=15.738151,25.488281&z=5
5. mailto:dontspam@yahoo.com
6. http://aardvark.co.nz/daily/2009/0428.shtml


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Europe Funds Secure Operating System Research |
| from the software-heal-thyself dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday April 28, @05:28 (Operating Systems)|
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...27/2324216 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]narramissic writes "A Dutch university has received a $3.3 million
grant from the European Research Council to fund 5 more years of work on
a Unix-type operating system, called [1]Minix, that aims to be more
reliable and secure than either Linux or Windows. The latest grant will
enable the three researchers and two programmers on the project to
further their research into a making Minix [2]capable of fixing itself
when a bug is detected, said Andrew S. Tanenbaum, a computer science
professor at Vrije Universiteit. 'It irritates me to no end when software
doesn't work,' Tanenbaum said. 'Having to reboot your computer is just a
pain. The question is, can you make a system that actually works very
well?'"

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...27/2324216

Links:
0. http://www.itworld.com/
1. http://www.minix3.org/
2. http://www.itworld.com/operating-systems...m-research


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 Confirmed For the PS3, 360 |
| from the hey-why-not dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Tuesday April 28, @07:34 (PlayStation (Gam|
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...28/0931243 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]RyuuzakiTetsuya writes "According to Kotaku, [1] Marvel vs. Capcom 2
is making its way to the PS3 and the Xbox 360. It's based on the
Dreamcast code, and it includes Online play and widescreen support. A
demo will be available Thursday on the Playstation Network, and the full
game will retail for $15 on each of the respective online services. A
[2]gameplay trailer is available as well."

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...28/0931243

Links:
0. http://.taiki..at..cox.net./
1. http://kotaku.com/5230220/marvel-vs-capc...emo-coming
2. http://kotaku.com/5230275/marvel-vs-capcom-2-in-play


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Developing World Is a Profit Sink For Web Companies |
| from the international-paradox dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday April 28, @08:17 (The Internet) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...28/0014237 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

The NYTimes is running a piece on the dilemma faced by Web entrepreneurs,
particularly in social media companies: the [0]developing world is
spiking traffic but not contributing much to revenues. The basic
disconnect when Web 2.0 business models meet Africa, Latin America, and
the Middle East is that countries there are not good prospects for the
advertisers who pay the bills. "Call it the International Paradox. Web
companies that rely on advertising are enjoying some of their most
vibrant growth in developing countries. But those are also the same
places where it can be the most expensive to operate, since Web companies
often need more servers to make content available to parts of the world
with limited bandwidth. And in those countries, online display
advertising is least likely to translate into results. ... Last year,
Veoh, a video-sharing site operated from San Diego, decided to block its
service from users in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe,
citing the dim prospects of making money and the high cost of delivering
video there. 'I believe in free, open communications,' Dmitry Shapiro,
the company's chief executive, said. 'But these people are so hungry for
this content. They sit and they watch and watch and watch. The problem is
they are eating up bandwidth, and it's very difficult to derive revenue
from it.' ... Perhaps no company is more in the grip of the international
paradox than YouTube, which [an analyst] recently estimated could lose
$470 million in 2009, in part because of the high cost of delivering
billions of videos each month."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...28/0014237

Links:
0. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/techno...lobal.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Frontier of the MMO Genre |
| from the they-don't-even-have-regular-socks dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Tuesday April 28, @08:35 (Games) |
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...28/0948213 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Eurogamer is running a feature about what they call "frontier" MMOs,
games that are on the fringe of a market flooded with attempts to
replicate the success of Everquest and World of Warcraft. Many publishers
already have more MMO projects than they know what to do with, and often
[0]leave the more unusual and unique games out in the cold, preferring to
stick with familiar IP or a tried-and-true approach. "Like any gold-rush,
the MMO market also attracts a different kind of adventurer: the
fearless, inexperienced, determined and solitary dreamer, making a go of
it on nothing but their own resources and pluck. The online distribution
and direct revenue streams — be they subscriptions or micro-transactions
— make it theoretically possible to make a mint in MMOs without any help
from the gaming establishment at all." They take a brief look at several
such games currently in development, including Earthrise, Gatheryn, and
Global Agenda.

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...28/0948213

Links:
0. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/mmos-w...er-article


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Why Digital Medical Records Are No Panacea |
| from the stop-shaking-the-bandwagon-you dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday April 28, @09:06 (Medicine) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...28/1229225 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]theodp writes "As GE, Google, Intel, IBM, Microsoft and others pile
into the business of computerized medical files in a stimulus-fueled
frenzy, BusinessWeek reminds us that [1]electronic health records have a
dubious history. Under the federal stimulus program, hospitals can get
several million dollars apiece for tech purchases over the next five
years, and individual doctors can receive up to $44,000. There's also a
stick: The feds will cut Medicare reimbursement for hospitals and
practices that don't go electronic by 2015. But does the high cost and
questionable quality of products currently on the market explain why
barely 1 in 50 hospitals have a comprehensive electronic records system,
and why only 17% of physicians use any type of electronic records? Joe
Bugajski's chilling [2]The Data Model That Nearly Killed Me suggests that
may be the case."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...28/1229225

Links:
0. mailto:theodp@aol.com
1. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/con...606214.htm
2. http://www.syleum.com/2009/03/17/healthcare-data-model/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Second Swedish ISP Starts Scrubbing IP Addresses |
| from the you-may-borrow-the-hashed-list-though dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday April 28, @09:29 (Privacy) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/28/1254249 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Marzubus writes "Tele2, a popular Swedish ISP, has [1]started to
remove IP addresses from its logs. This is the second ISP in Sweden to
adopt this new privacy protection strategy." We discussed not long ago
when [2]another ISP, Bahnhof, started doing the same. Perhaps this is the
corporate equivalent of [3]joining the Pirate Party.

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...28/1254249

Links:
0. mailto:marzubus@gmail.com
1. http://www.thelocal.se/19114/20090428/
2. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/17/1549239&tid=123
3. http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...17/2041208&tid=219


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| A No-Touching 3D Computer Interface |
| from the in-development dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday April 28, @09:45 (Input Devices) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...28/1245214 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Justin Schunick points out a [1]video demonstration of a 3D input
system which senses the user's hand position, but without requiring the
user to touch a controller or wear a trackable position indicator. From
the provided description: "Utilizing the theory of electrostatics, we
have designed a low-cost human-computer interface device that has the
ability to track the position of a user's hand in three dimensions.
Physical contact is not required and the user does not need to hold a
controller or attach markers to their body. To control the device, the
user simply waves their hand above it in the air."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...28/1245214

Links:
0. mailto:jschunick@gmail.com
1.


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| EFF Sues Apple Over BluWiki Legal Threats |
| from the fight-fight-fight dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday April 28, @10:33 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/28/141259 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Hugh Pickens writes "The Electronic Frontier Foundation has [1]filed
suit against Apple to defend the First Amendment rights of BluWiki, a
noncommercial, public Internet 'wiki' site operated by OdioWorks. Last
year, BluWiki users began a discussion about making some Apple iPods and
iPhones interoperate with software other than Apple's iTunes. [2]Apple
lawyers demanded removal of the content (pdf) sending a letter to
OdioWorks, alleging that the discussions constituted copyright
infringement and a violation of the DMCA's prohibition on circumventing
copy protection measures. Fearing legal action by Apple, OdioWorks took
down the discussions from the BluWiki site but has now [3]filed a lawsuit
to vindicate its right to restore those discussions (pdf) and seeking a
declaratory judgment that the discussions do not violate any of the
DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions, and do not infringe any copyrights
owned by Apple. 'I take the free speech rights of BluWiki users
seriously,' said Sam Odio, owner of OdioWorks. 'Companies like Apple
should not be able to censor online discussions by making baseless legal
threats against services like BluWiki that host the discussions.'"
[4]Random BedHead Ed adds ZDNet quotes EFF's [5]Fred von Lohmann, who
says that this is an issue of censorship. 'Wikis and other community
sites are home to many vibrant discussions among hobbyists and tinkerers.
It's legal to engage in reverse engineering in order to create a
competing product, it's legal to talk about reverse engineering, and it's
legal for a public wiki to host those discussions.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/04/28/141259

Links:
0. http://hughpickens.com/
1. http://www.eff.org/cases/odioworks-v-apple
2. http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/odio_v...it%20A.pdf
3. http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/odio_v...plaint.pdf
4. http://www.edholden.com/
5. http://government.zdnet.com/?p=4705


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Competition Seeks Best Approaches To Detecting Plagiarism |
| from the upsetting-the-market-in-online-term-papers dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday April 28, @11:20 (Education) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...28/1449221 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]marpot writes "Does your school/university check your homeworks/theses
for plagiarism? Nowadays, probably Yes, but are they doing it properly?
Little is known about plagiarism detection accuracy, which is why we
conduct a [1]competition on plagiarism detection, sponsored by Yahoo! We
have set up a corpus of artificial plagiarism which contains plagiarism
with varying degrees of obfuscation, and translation plagiarism from
Spanish or German source documents. A random plagiarist was employed who
attempts to obfuscate his plagiarism with random sequences of text
operations, e.g., shuffling, deleting, inserting, or replacing a word.
Translated plagiarism is created using machine translation."

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments....28/1449221

Links:
0. http://www.webis.de/
1. http://www.webis.de/pan-09/competition.php


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Crowd-Source Translation Software For Free Content? |
| from the just-transcode-to-esperanto dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday April 28, @12:07 (Social Networks) |
| http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/28/154209 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]yahyamf writes "I have a lot of free educational content in the form
of audio lectures and text, which I'd like to translate into as many
languages as possible. I would also want to transcribe the audio and
create audiobooks from the text. There are already several volunteers
willing to contribute, but I need some web based software to manage all
the work. [1]Facebook is already doing something like this, but it is
only for their content. I've also looked at [2]Damned Lies, which is part
of the Gnome project, but it doesn't seem to handle audio. Are there any
other open source translation projects out there that I can customize and
build upon?"

Discuss this story at:
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/04/28/154209

Links:
0. mailto:mfyahya@gmail.com
1. http://www.facebook.com/apps/application...4329892722
2. http://l10n.gnome.org/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Google To Remove "Inappropriate" Books From Digital Library |
| from the limited-resources dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday April 28, @12:49 (Books) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/28/1613214 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Miracle Jones writes "In [1]an interview with Professor (and former
Microsoft employee) James Grimmelmann at the New York Law School, who is
both setting up an online clearinghouse to discuss the Google book
settlement and drafting an amicus brief to inform the court about the
antitrust factors surrounding "orphan books," he revealed that Google
will be able to moderate the content of its book scans in the same way
that they moderate their YouTube videos, leaving out works that Google
deems "inappropriate" from the 7 million library books it has scanned.
The Fiction Circus has called for a two-year long rights auction that
will ensure that these "inappropriate" titles do not get left behind in
the digital era, and that other people who are willing to host and
display these books will be able to do so. There is only one week left
for authors and publishers to "opt out" of the settlement class and
retain their rights or raise objections, and [1]Brewster Kahle's Internet
Archive has been stopped from jumping on board Google's settlement as a
party defendant and receiving the same legal protections that Google will
get. A group of authors, including Philip K. Dick's estate, [2]has tried
to delay the settlement for four more months until they get their minds
around the issue." In related news, Google is [3]seeking a 60-day
extension to the period in which it's attempting to contact authors to
inform them of their right to opt-out of the terms of the settlement.

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...28/1613214

Links:
0. mailto:ticktickticktick@g%5B%5Dl.com%5B'mai'ingap%5D
1. http://www.fictioncircus.com/news.php?id=356&mode=one
2. http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/...c=topstory
3. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10228345-93.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Cablevision To Offer 101 Mbps Down, No Caps |
| from the like-a-drug dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday April 28, @13:38 (Networking) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...28/1628233 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]nandemoari alerts us to news over at DSLReports that Cablevision will
be offering subscribers [1]101-Mbps download service, a new US record.
That's fast enough to download an HD movie in less than 10 minutes. The
package, known as "Ultra," will launch on May 11 and will cost $99.95 a
month. Upload speed is 15 Mbps and there are no monthly limits.
Cablevision is also doubling the speed of its Wi-Fi service, which is
available free to subscribers using hotspots across the Northeast.
"...the company will be launching a new 'Ultra' tier on May 11. The new
tier features speeds of 101Mbps downstream and 15Mbps upstream for $99.95
a month. That's an unprecedented amount of speed at an unprecedented
price, suggesting that Cablevision just took the gloves off in their
fight against Verizon FiOS. ... Cablevision spokesman Jim Maiella
confirmed for me that the $99.95 price is unbundled, and the new tier
does not come with any kind of a usage cap or overage fees."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...28/1628233

Links:
0. http://www.infopackets.com/
1. http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/cable...ocomment=1


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Town Fights Cricket Plague With Led Zeppelin |
| from the certain-mariah-carey-notes-make-dolphins-abduct-and-eat-|
| posted by samzenpus on Tuesday April 28, @14:11 (Music) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...28/1633208 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

The residents of Tuscarora, Nevada are getting ready to fight the annual
invasion of mormon crickets with [0]the power of Rock-N-Roll. Trial and
error has shown that the crickets don't think much of Led Zeppelin or the
Rolling Stones. The residents circle the town with boomboxes at regular
intervals to drive off the millions of crickets. "It is part of our
arsenal. You'll wake up and there'll be one sitting on your forehead,
looking at you." says Laura Moore, an unemployed college professor and
one of the town's 13 residents. The crickets devastate crops, cause
slicks on the highway and evidently love rap.

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...28/1633208

Links:
0. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124052112850249691.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Oracle Buy Renews Call To Spin Off OpenOffice.org |
| from the now-to-tempt-all-liberty-procured dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday April 28, @14:28 (Software) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...28/1639201 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]ericatcw writes "Some OpenOffice.org insiders say Oracle's purchase of
Sun is [1]reinvigorating the long-stymied push to spin off the
open-source project into a 100% independent foundation. Freeing itself
from Sun's (and soon to be Oracle's) orbit will attract more developers
and more vendor support, [2]two perennial problems due to Sun's tight
grip on the project, say supporters, who wonder which foundation model
might work best: Mozilla, Apache or Linux. Others prefer to take their
chances under Larry Ellison, saying Oracle's take-no-prisoners salesforce
and grudge against Microsoft could benefit OpenOffice.org. [3]Version 3.0
of the Microsoft Office competitor has garnered 50 million downloads in
the last six months."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...28/1639201

Links:
0. mailto:eric_lai@computerworld.com
1. http://www.computerworld.com/action/arti...ticleBasic&articleId=9132204
2. http://www.computerworld.com/action/arti...ticleBasic&articleId=9037499
3. http://blogs.computerworld.com/review_of...oft_office


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Phorm "Edited and Approved" UK Government Advice |
| from the odd-bedfellow dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday April 28, @15:17 (Privacy) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/28/1759254 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Barence was one of several readers to send in word that the UK Home
Office [1]checked whether its interpretation of the law suited Phorm,
before issuing advice on the legality of the controversial advertising
service. The Home Office and Phorm entered a dialogue about the company's
services back in August 2007, at Phorm's request. In an email sent to
Phorm in January 2008, a Home Office official writes: 'I should be
grateful if you would review the attached document, and let me know what
you think.' After Phorm made deletions and amendments to the document,
the Home Office sent another email to the company stating: 'If we agree
this, and this becomes our position do you think your clients and their
prospective partners will be comforted.' From the BBC: "Baroness Sue
Miller, Liberal Democrat spokeswoman on Home Affairs, told BBC News: 'My
jaw dropped when I saw the Freedom of Information exchanges. ... Anything
the Home Office now says about Phorm is completely tainted.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...28/1759254

Links:
0. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/
1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8021661.stm


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Senator Arlen Specter Becomes a Democrat |
| from the crossing-the-aisle dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday April 28, @15:52 (Democrats) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...28/1917216 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Akido37 was one of many readers letting us know that [0]US Sen. Arlen
Specter has changed parties to become a Democrat. This gives the
Democrats 59 seats in the Senate, and 60 if and when Al Franken gets
seated from Minnesota. However, Specter said in his announcement that he
[1]will not be an automatic 60th vote for breaking Republican
filibusters. While the senator's move seems to have surprised many
Republicans, [2]it is understandable to moderate Republican Sen. Olympia
Snowe of Maine, who said, "You haven't certainly heard warm encouraging
words of how they [Republicans] view moderates. Either you are with us or
against us." Specter noted that in his home state of Pennsylvania,
200,000 formerly Republican voters switched party allegiance last year.

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...28/1917216

Links:
0. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/...rties.html
1. http://www.politicspa.com/Specter%20Switches.htm
2. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21798.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| A $99 Graphics Card Might Be All You Need |
| from the market-beater dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday April 28, @16:03 (AMD) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...28/1823234 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Vigile writes "With the release of AMD's latest budget graphics card,
[0]the Radeon HD 4770, the GPU giant is bringing a lot of technology to
the table. The card sports the world's first 40nm GPU (beating out CPUs
to a new process technology for the first time), GDDR5 memory, and 640
stream processors, all for under $100. What is even more interesting is
that as PC gaming has evolved it appears that a $99 graphics card is all
you really need to play the latest PC titles — as long as you are
comfortable with a resolution of 1920x1200 or below. Since so few PC
gamers have screens larger than that, could the world of high-end PC
graphics simply go away?"

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...28/1823234

Links:
0. http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=700


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Tokyo Scientists Create Mobile Slime |
| from the godzilla's-newest-foe dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Tuesday April 28, @16:42 (Science) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...28/1645238 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Sockatume writes "Shingo Maeda and colleagues at Waseda University have
[0]created a polymer gel that walks under its own chemical power. The
team exploited the oscillating Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction to create
periodic changes in the size of the polymer, and built a tensed structure
that would amplify those small movements into a horrifically potent gait.
The current version only walks across a notched surface, but the team are
working on a terrible new form that will cross smooth surfaces like a
snail. The team say they intend to apply it in the self-assembly of small
structures. Suddenly, I can't stop screaming."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...28/1645238

Links:
0. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16...MP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Should the US Go Offensive In Cyberwarfare? |
| from the mutually-assured-mayhem dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday April 28, @16:50 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/28/205203 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

The NYTimes has a piece analyzing the policy discussions in the US around
the question of what should be [0]the proper stance towards offensive
cyberwarfare. This is a question that the Bush administration wrestled
with, before deciding that the outgoing president didn't have the
political capital left to grapple with it. The article notes two
instances in which President Bush approved the use of offensive
cyberattacks; but these were exceptions, and the formation of a general
policy was left to the Obama administration. "Senior Pentagon and
military officials also express deep concern that the laws and
understanding of armed conflict have not kept current with the challenges
of offensive cyberwarfare. Over the decades, a number of limits on action
have been accepted — if not always practiced. One is the prohibition
against assassinating government leaders. Another is avoiding attacks
aimed at civilians. Yet in the cyberworld, where the most vulnerable
targets are civilian, there are no such rules or understandings. If a
military base is attacked, would it be a proportional, legitimate
response to bring down the attacker's power grid if that would also shut
down its hospital systems, its air traffic control system, or its banking
system?"

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/04/28/205203

Links:
0. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/us/28cyber.html?_r=1&ref=global-home&pagewanted=print


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Apple May Bring a Non-iPhone To Verizon Wireless |
| from the media-pad dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday April 28, @17:40 (Handhelds) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...28/2029216 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]The Narrative Fallacy writes "According to BusinessWeek, [1]Verizon
Wireless is in talks with Apple to distribute two new iPhone-like devices
that are not iPhones. (Apple has created prototypes.) AT&T's contract
with Apple, which has not been made public, is believed to cover all
models of the iPhone, but only the iPhone. So if Apple builds something
that isn't an iPhone — and perhaps doesn't even make cellular calls —
they won't be violating their exclusivity contract with AT&T, which runs
through at least 2010. One device is a smaller, less expensive calling
device described by a person who has seen it as an 'iPhone lite.' The
other is a media pad, said to be smaller than a Kindle but with a bigger
screen, that would let users listen to music, view photos, watch
high-definition videos, and [2]make calls over a Wi-Fi connection. (And
read books?) Apple could use the prospect of an iPhone-esque device as
leverage to prevent Verizon Wireless from introducing the Palm Pre, or at
least to delay its introduction on Verizon's network. 'The media pad
category might go to Verizon,' said one person who has seen the device.
'We are talking about a device where people will say, "Damn, why didn't
we do this?" Apple is probably going to define the damn category.'"
Reader stevegee58 writes with word that Verizon may be playing both ends
against the middle. Marketwatch reports that [3]Microsoft and Verizon are
in talks to develop a touch-screen mobile phone that would run on Windows
Mobile.

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...28/2029216

Links:
0. http://narrativefallacy.com/
1. http://www.businessweek.com/technology/c...B+analysis
2. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2346071,00.asp
3. http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Mi...4C9CB8B%7D


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| OIN Posts Details of Microsoft's Anti-Tom Tom Patents |
| from the does-this-filesystem-make-me-look-fat dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday April 28, @18:30 (Patents) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/28/215254 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

number6x writes "LinuxDevices.com is reporting that the Open Invention
Network has [0]posted the details of three of the eight patents used by
Microsoft in the Tom Tom suit (which [1]Tom Tom settled last month),
asking the community for prior art. These patents cover aspects of the
FAT file system. You can find them on [2]Post-Issue.org — see numbers
5579517, 5758352, and 6256642. OIN CEO Keith Bergelt believes that these
three patents are of tenuous validity and will probably not survive a
review. Bergelt believes that there's a good chance that the USPTO may
well invalidate them before the end of the year.

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/04/28/215254

Links:
0. http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS9914086320.html
1. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/30/1853219&tid=109
2. http://www.post-issue.org/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Miro Asks Users To "Adopt" Lines of Source |
| from the pray-you-don't-get-refactored dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday April 28, @19:20 (Software) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...28/2158203 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

soDean writes "The FOSS video player / downloader Miro is asking its
users to support development by [0]'adopting' a line of source code for
$4 a month. Each adopted line of code comes personalized with a little
avatar character that will grow older over the year. PCF, which makes
Miro, says they think [1]the project is the first of its kind and they
believe it's a chance to 'to have a truly bottom up funding base.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...28/2158203

Links:
0. https://www.getmiro.com/adopt/
1. http://www.getmiro.com/blog/2009/04/adop...miro-code/



Reply
#21
Slashdot Daily Headline Mailer

The Grid, Our Cars, and the Net
from the one-idea-to-link-them-all dept.
posted by kdawson on Saturday May 09, @20:32 (Power)
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...09/2035243

MPAA Says Teachers Should Camcord For Fair Use
from the bend-over-backwards-and-insert-here dept.
posted by kdawson on Saturday May 09, @22:53 (Education)
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...09/2020223

Trademarks Considered Harmful To Open Source
from the say-pretty-please dept.
posted by kdawson on Sunday May 10, @01:13 (Linux Business)
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid.../09/213258

PlayStation-Based Mobile Handset a Possibility
from the since-the-psp-is-way-too-big dept.
posted by Soulskill on Sunday May 10, @02:41 (Handhelds)
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...10/0449258

Time For Voice-Mail To Throw In the Towel
from the surging-unemployment-among-voice-actors dept.
posted by kdawson on Sunday May 10, @04:38 (Communications)
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...09/2049240

In France, Fired For Writing To MP Against 3 Strikes
from the nous-sommes-desolees dept.
posted by kdawson on Sunday May 10, @08:03 (Censorship)
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/09/229217

A Look Back At the World's First Netbook
from the paperweight-before-its-time dept.
posted by Soulskill on Sunday May 10, @09:19 (Portables)
http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?si...10/1141248

New Pattern Found In Prime Numbers
from the benford-and-sons dept.
posted by Soulskill on Sunday May 10, @10:34 (Math)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...10/1322207

DoJ Budget Request Details Advanced Surveillance, Biometrics
from the you-can-trust-us dept.
posted by Soulskill on Sunday May 10, @11:50 (Privacy)
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/10/1444259

Warrantless GPS Tracking Is Legal, Says WI Court
from the it's-one-o'clock,-do-you-know-where-your-citizens-are dept.
posted by Soulskill on Sunday May 10, @13:05 (Transportation)
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...10/1549252

Cone of Silence 2.0
from the would-you-believe-you-will-no-longer-be-able-to-hear-me dept.
posted by kdawson on Sunday May 10, @14:22 (Privacy)
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/10/1755250

Open Source Textbooks For California
from the byzantine-doesn't-begin-to-describe dept.
posted by kdawson on Sunday May 10, @15:36 (Education)
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...10/1815215

RIAA Filed 62 New Cases In April Alone
from the what-part-of-stop-do-you-not-understand dept.
posted by kdawson on Sunday May 10, @16:51 (The Courts)
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...10/1932247

Mobile Wi-Fi Hot Spot
from the boy-in-a-bubble dept.
posted by kdawson on Sunday May 10, @18:09 (Wireless Networking)
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...10/2015227

Reply
#22

Slashdot Daily Headline Mailer

Dean Kamen Awarded Patent For Robot Competition Rules
from the what-about-battlebots dept.
posted by samzenpus on Wednesday May 13, @20:16 (Patents)
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/13/2220203

Texas Makes Zombie Fire Ants
from the what-could-go-wrong dept.
posted by samzenpus on Wednesday May 13, @22:20 (Biotech)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...13/2233257

An Australian Space Agency At Last?
from the up-and-down-under dept.
posted by samzenpus on Thursday May 14, @00:48 (Space)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...13/2310254

Java Program Uses Neural Networks To Monitor Games
from the automating-the-automation dept.
posted by Soulskill on Thursday May 14, @02:13 (Java)
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...14/0447244

Gates Foundation Funds "Altruistic Vaccine"
from the needles-with-a-heart dept.
posted by samzenpus on Thursday May 14, @03:46 (Medicine)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...14/0318207

Video Game Adaptation In the Works For A Song of Fire and Ice
from the goons-everywhere-rejoice dept.
posted by Soulskill on Thursday May 14, @05:52 (Books)
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid.../14/050259

Cory Doctorow Says DIY Licensing Will Solve Piracy
from the well-that-was-easy dept.
posted by samzenpus on Thursday May 14, @07:58 (The Internet)
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...14/0320234

Flash Drive Roundup
from the how-can-they-be-smaller-and-bigger dept.
posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday May 14, @08:44 (Data Storage)
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...14/1236234

The Hidden Secrets of Online Quizzes
from the i-thought-it-just-cluttered-my-facebook dept.
posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday May 14, @09:32 (Privacy)
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/14/1243206

Remote Kill Flags Surface In Kindle
from the because-they-can dept.
posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday May 14, @10:14 (Media)
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/14/1356253

The More Popular the Browser, the Slower It Is
from the software-always-gets-slower dept.
posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday May 14, @10:58 (The Internet)
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...14/1410200

Successful Launch of ESA's Herschel and Planck
from the round-and-round-they-go dept.
posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday May 14, @11:43 (Space)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...14/1432249

Gamepark Releases the GP2X Wiz
from the for-the-obscurantists dept.
posted by timothy on Thursday May 14, @13:05 (Portables (Games))
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid.../14/174208

NY Bill Proposes Fat Tax On Games, DVDs, Junk Food
from the this-government-is-delicious-really-delicious dept.
posted by timothy on Thursday May 14, @13:57 (Government)
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...14/1739258

Confirmed Gmail / Google App Outage
from the were-you-there-when-it-happened dept.
posted by timothy on Thursday May 14, @14:40 (The Internet)
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...14/1822200

Study Shows Cocaine And Other Drugs In Spanish Air
from the can-you-smell-the-party dept.
posted by samzenpus on Thursday May 14, @14:41 (Science)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...14/1556244

AMD Breaks 1GHz GPU Barrier With Radeon HD 4890
from the sheer-necessity dept.
posted by timothy on Thursday May 14, @15:06 (Graphics)
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...14/1838208

Court Orders Breathalyzer Code Opened, Reveals Mess
from the take-a-sober-look-at-this dept.
posted by timothy on Thursday May 14, @15:33 (The Courts)
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/14/1758234

MySQL Founder Starts Open Database Alliance, Plans Refactoring
from the database-shakeup dept.
posted by timothy on Thursday May 14, @16:16 (Databases)
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...14/1921243

Guatemalan Twitter User Arrested For "Inciting Panic"
from the rebroadcast-as-necessary dept.
posted by timothy on Thursday May 14, @16:38 (Social Networks)
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...14/2017246

What Can I Do About Book Pirates?
from the see-how-you-feel-after-writing-a-book dept.
posted by timothy on Thursday May 14, @17:07 (Books)
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/14/2037236

Daydreaming Is Really Complex Problem-Solving
from the how-about-daydreaming-about-girls dept.
posted by timothy on Thursday May 14, @17:30 (Medicine)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...14/2123235

Apple Hires Former OLPC Security Director
from the yes-but-get-the-screen-tech-too dept.
posted by timothy on Thursday May 14, @18:01 (Security)
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...14/2124236

GPS Accuracy Could Start Dropping In 2010
from the how-to-blackmail-for-tax-dollars dept.
posted by timothy on Thursday May 14, @18:50 (Earth)
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...14/2223226

Phoenix BIOSOS?
from the which-layer-does-what dept.
posted by timothy on Thursday May 14, @19:47 (Operating Systems)
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...14/2254252



Reply
#23
Slashdot.org lets "anonymous" post Smile

the discussions over there can be quite lively Tongue


Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* Hackers Claim $10K Prize For StrongWebmail Breakin
* German Interior Ministers Seek Ban On Violent Games
* How Software Engineering Differs From Computer Science
* Human Laughter Up To 16 Million Years Old
* New Display Keeps an Eye On the Viewer
* Scribblenauts Impresses Critics
* The Pirates Will Always Win, Says UK ISP
* Ballmer Threatens To Pull Out of the US
* Court Case Against VeriSign, .Com Monopoly Revived
* The Perils of DRM — When Content Providers Die
* New Denial-of-Service Attacks Threaten Wireless Data Networks
* Hacker Jeff Moss Sworn Into Homeland Security Advisory Council
* Solution For College's Bad Network Policy?
* Is Arizona's Internet Voting System Safe Enough?
* Vicariously Tour the National Ignition Facility
* 9th Circuit Says Feds' Security Checks at JPL Go Too Far
* China's First Mars Probe Ready To Launch

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Hackers Claim $10K Prize For StrongWebmail Breakin |
| from the worth-their-while dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday June 05, @21:54 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/05/2349206 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

alphadogg writes "Telesign, a provider of voice-based authentication
software, challenged hackers to break into its StrongWebmail.com Web site
late last week. The prize: $10,000. On Thursday, a group of security
researchers claimed to have won the contest, which [0]challenged hackers
to break into the Web mail account of StrongWebmail CEO Darren Berkovitz
and report back details from his June 26 calendar entry. The hackers, led
by Secure Science Chief Scientist Lance James and security researchers
Aviv Raff and Mike Bailey, provided details from Berkovitz's calendar to
IDG News Service. In an interview, Berkovitz confirmed those details were
from his account. However, Berkovitz could not confirm that the hackers
had actually won the prize. He said he would need to check to confirm
that the hackers had abided by the contest rules, adding, 'if someone did
it, we'll kind of put our heads down.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/06/05/2349206

Links:
0. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/06...e-for.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| German Interior Ministers Seek Ban On Violent Games |
| from the ach-mein-gamin dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Friday June 05, @23:59 (Government) |
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...06/0154229 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

GamePolitics reports that "Germany's 16 Interior Ministers have banded
together to ask the Bundestag (Germany's equivalent of Parliament) to
[0]ban the production and distribution of violent video games. Moreover,
the ministers hope to see this accomplished before Germany's new
elections take place on September 27th." Violent games became a national
issue in Germany [1]earlier this year after Far Cry 2 was scapegoated for
a shooting. Germany-based game developer Crytek could be forced to move
or outsource if the ban goes through. Spiegel Online has the [2]original
story ([3]Google translation).

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...06/0154229

Links:
0. http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/06/05/g...lent-games
1. http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...23/2041219&tid=10
2. http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschlan...00,00.html
3. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sl=de&tl=en&u=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,628800,00.html&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| How Software Engineering Differs From Computer Science |
| from the read-comprehend-debug dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday June 06, @02:05 (Programming) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...06/0210229 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]cconnell sends in a piece he wrote for Dr. Dobb's which "argues that
software development will [1]never be a fully formal, rigorous discipline,
and the reason is that software engineering involves humans as central to
the process." Quoting: "Software maintainability, for example, is the
ability of people to understand, find, and repair defects in a software
system. The maintainability of software may be influenced by some formal
notions of computer science — perhaps the cyclomatic complexity of the
software's control graph. But maintainability crucially involves humans,
and their ability to grasp the meaning and intention of source code. The
question of whether a particular software system is highly maintainable
cannot be answered just by mechanically examining the software. The same
is true for safety. Researchers have used some formal methods to learn
about a software system's impact on people's health and property. But no
discussion of software safety is complete without appeal to the human
component of the system under examination."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...06/0210229

Links:
0. http://www.chc-3.com/
1. http://www.ddj.com/architect/217701907


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Human Laughter Up To 16 Million Years Old |
| from the a-pierolapithecus-catalaunicus-walks-into-a-bar dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Saturday June 06, @03:45 (It's funny. Lau|
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s.../05/172247 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "Published today in the journal Current
Biology, a new study shows that [0]laughter is not a unique human trait,
but a behavior shared by all great apes. Tickle a baby chimpanzee and it
will giggle just like a human infant. This is because laughter evolved
millions of years ago in one of our common ancestors, say scientists."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?.../05/172247

Links:
0. http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/2794/...-years-old


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| New Display Keeps an Eye On the Viewer |
| from the apparently-it-watches-the-watchers dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday June 06, @05:11 (Displays) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...06/0259239 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Al writes "Researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic
Microsystems (IPMS) [1]have developed an OLED display that doubles as a
camera. The idea is to use it in lightweight heads-up displays that track
users' eye movements, affording some form of gaze-control. The
researchers will demonstrate a prototype at the Society for Information
Display conference in San Antonio this week. The current version has a
simple monochromatic display: it is 1.25 centimeters on each side, with a
resolution of 320 by 240 pixels. The team at Fraunhofer IPMS has also
partnered with Novaled, an OLED company that manufactures high-quality
white diodes, and plans to make color prototypes using the technology."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...06/0259239

Links:
0. http://www.technologyreview.com/
1. http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/22754/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Scribblenauts Impresses Critics |
| from the right-tool-for-the-job dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday June 06, @07:04 (Puzzle Games (Ga|
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...06/0710236 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Despite of all the announcements for popular, big-budget game franchises
at this year's E3, one of the most talked-about titles is a puzzle game
for the Nintendo DS called Scribblenauts. In a [0]hands-on preview,
Joystiq described it thus: "The premise of the game is simple — you play
as Maxwell, who must solve various puzzles to obtain Starites spread
across 220 different levels. To execute the aforementioned solving, you
write words to create objects in the world that your cartoonish hero can
interact with. It's a simple concept that's bolstered by one astounding
accomplishment from developer 5th Cell: Anything you can think of is in
this game. (Yes, that. Yes, that too.)" They even presented it with a
test of 10 words they [1]wouldn't expect it to know or be able to
represent, including lutefisk, stanchion, air, and internet, and the game
passed with flying colors. The game will also allow players to [2]edit
and share levels. A [3]trailer is available on the Scribblenauts website,
and [4]actual gameplay footage is posted at Nintendorks.

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...06/0710236

Links:
0. http://www.joystiq.com/2009/06/05/hands-...bblenauts/
1. http://www.joystiq.com/2009/06/05/scribb...ng-colors/
2. http://kotaku.com/5265732/scribblenauts-...bit-of-lbp
3. http://www.scribblenauts.com/trailers.html
4. http://www.nintendorks.com/index.php?itemid=324


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Pirates Will Always Win, Says UK ISP |
| from the except-in-pittsburgh dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday June 06, @08:16 (The Internet) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...06/0544202 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

TheEvilOverlord writes "The head of UK ISP TalkTalk, Charles Dunstone,
has made the comment ahead of the communications minister's Digital
Britain report that [0]illegal downloading cannot be stopped. He said 'If
you try speed humps or disconnections for peer-to-peer, people will
simply either disguise their traffic or share the content another way. It
is a game of Tom and Jerry and you will never catch the mouse. The mouse
always wins in this battle and we need to be careful that politicians do
not get talked into putting legislation in place that, in the end, ends
up looking stupid.' Instead he advocates allowing users 'to get content
easily and cheaply.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...06/0544202

Links:
0. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/...ts-pirates


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Ballmer Threatens To Pull Out of the US |
| from the tax-schmax dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday June 06, @09:18 (Microsoft) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...06/1153217 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]theodp writes "Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is [1]threatening to move
Microsoft employees offshore if Congress enacts President Obama's plans
to [2]curb tax avoidance by US corporations. 'It makes US jobs more
expensive,' complained billionaire Ballmer. 'We're better off taking lots
of people and moving them out of the US as opposed to keeping them inside
the US.' According to 2006 reports, Microsoft transferred $16 billion in
assets to secretive Dublin subsidiaries to shave billions off its US tax
bill. 'Corporate tax is part of the overall advantage of doing business
in Ireland,' [3]acknowledged Ballmer in 2005. 'It would be disingenuous
to say otherwise.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...06/1153217

Links:
0. mailto:theodp@aol.com
1. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aAKluP7yIwJY
2. http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...04/2031252&tid=103
3. http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news...single5503


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Court Case Against VeriSign, .Com Monopoly Revived |
| from the do-not-pass-go dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday June 06, @10:21 (The Internet) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...06/1328201 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

netczar writes "According to a post by John Levine on CircleID, as well
as other sources, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has
[0]reversed a lower court decision which threw out an antitrust lawsuit
[1]several years ago by the Coalition for ICANN Transparency (CFIT)
against VeriSign. Levine writes: 'Back in 2005 an organization called the
Coalition for ICANN Transparency burst upon the scene at the Vancouver
ICANN meeting, and filed an anti-trust suit against VeriSign for their
monopoly control of the .COM registry and of the market in expiring .COM
domains. They [2]didn't do very well in the trial court, which granted
Verisign's motion to dismiss the case. But yesterday the Ninth Circuit
reversed the trial court and put the suit back on track.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...06/1328201

Links:
0. http://www.circleid.com/posts/20090605_a..._verisign/
1. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/30/1736259&tid=95
2. http://domainnamewire.com/2009/06/05/ver...ould-fall/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Perils of DRM — When Content Providers Die |
| from the involuntary-renting dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday June 06, @11:22 (Media) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/06/1426235 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "If you purchase music or movies online,
[0]what happens if the vendor goes out of business? Will you have trouble
accessing your content? The question came up recently after HDGiants —
provider of high-quality audio and video downloads — filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection. A consumer says his content became locked inside
his PC. Walmart customers suffered a similar fate last year when the
[1]retailer shut down its DRM servers (a [2]decision they reversed after
many complaints). And if Vudu dies? Your content may be locked in a
proprietary box forever. Time to start buying discs again?"

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...06/1426235

Links:
0. http://www.cepro.com/article/what_happen..._business/
1. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/27/1521238&tid=141
2. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/10/1215209&tid=141


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| New Denial-of-Service Attacks Threaten Wireless Data Networks |
| from the filling-the-ether dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday June 06, @12:27 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/06/157243 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

alphadogg writes "Forget spam, viruses, worms, malware and phishing.
These threats are apparently old school when compared to [0]a new class
of denial-of-service (DOS) attacks that threaten wireless data networks.
The threats were outlined in a talk in NYC Thursday by Krishan Sabnani,
vice president of networking research at Bell Labs, at the Cyber
Infrastructure Protection Conference at City College of New York. Sabnani
said they are the result of inherent weaknesses in Mobile IP, a protocol
that uses tunneling and complex network triangulation to allow mobile
devices to move freely from one network to another. 'We need to
especially monitor the mobile networks — with limited bandwidth and
terminal battery — for DOS attacks,' Sabnani said, adding that the newest
DOS attacks on wireless networks involve repeatedly establishing and
releasing connections. These attacks are easy to launch and hard to
detect, he said."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/06/06/157243

Links:
0. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/06...reats.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Hacker Jeff Moss Sworn Into Homeland Security Advisory Council |
| from the different-kind-of-expertise dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday June 06, @13:31 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/06/1549237 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Wolfgang Kandek writes "Hacker Jeff Moss, founder of computer security
conferences DEFCON and Black Hat, has been [1]sworn in as one of the new
members of the Homeland Security Advisory Council ([2]HSAC) of the DHS.
Moss, who goes by the handle 'the Dark Tangent' says he was surprised to
be asked to join the council and that he was nominated to [3]bring an
'outside perspective' to its meetings. He said, 'I know there is a
new-found emphasis on cybersecurity, and they're looking to diversify the
members and to have alternative viewpoints. I think they needed a
skeptical outsider's view because that has been missing.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/06/06/1549237

Links:
0. mailto:wkandek@qualys.com
1. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10258634-83.html
2. http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1244227862914.shtm
3. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/06...y-council/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Solution For College's Bad Network Policy? |
| from the must-be-monoculture-compatible dept. |
| posted by timothy on Saturday June 06, @14:33 (Education) |
| http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/06/1749232 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]DAMN MY LIFE writes "I'm going to Central Michigan University in the
fall. Upon examination of their poorly organized [1]network [2]usage
[3]policies, I'm worried that using their internet service will expose my
web browsing habits, emails, and most importantly, passwords. Another
concern I have is the '[4]Client Security Agent' that students are
required to install and leave on their systems to use the network.
Through this application, the IT department scans everyone's computer for
what they claim are network security purposes. Of course, scanning a
person's hard drive can turn up all kinds of things that are personal. Do
all colleges have such extreme measures in place? Is there any way that I
can avoid this? There are no wireless broadband providers available in
the area, I already checked."

Discuss this story at:
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...06/1749232

Links:
0. mailto:damnmylife@tempemail.com
1. https://cm1rr.cmich.edu/registration/acceptableuse.htm
2. http://www.it.cmich.edu/it/policies_computing.asp
3. http://oit.cmich.edu/it/policies_home.asp
4. https://cm1rr.cmich.edu/remediation/CSAstart.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Is Arizona's Internet Voting System Safe Enough? |
| from the bear-alternatives'-problems-in-mind dept. |
| posted by timothy on Saturday June 06, @15:38 (Government) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/06/193239 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]JMcCloy writes "[1]Kevin Poulsen, senior editor at Wired News, asks
readers '[2]Is internet voting safe?' and has a poll at the end of the
article. So far, 32% responding actually think that internet voting is
worth it, risks and all. It is scary how easily people can be persuaded
to trust a system that is so vulnerable." The system described, used in
Arizona in last year's election process, isn't just checking a box and
clicking a button, but Poulsen lays out some scenarios by which it could
be subverted.

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid.../06/193239

Links:
0. http://www.ncvoter.net/
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Poulsen
2. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/06/cfp-evote/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Vicariously Tour the National Ignition Facility |
| from the semi-disturbing-place-name dept. |
| posted by timothy on Saturday June 06, @16:44 (Power) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...06/2030208 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Dave Bullock writes "The National Ignition Facility (NIF) has been
[1]discussed [2]several [3]times over the years on Slashdot and just
recently [4]fired all of its 192 lasers. LLNL scientists predict NIF will
attain ignition (controlled nuclear explosion) in 2010. For now, [5]take
a look at the photos I shot of NIF for Wired.com when I toured it earlier
this year."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...06/2030208

Links:
0. http://eecue.com/
1. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...28/2210229&tid=14
2. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...23/2215208&tid=126
3. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...23/2232253&tid=232
4. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?.../11/029239&tid=232
5. http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries...allery_nif


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 9th Circuit Says Feds' Security Checks at JPL Go Too Far |
| from the and-you-thought-that-documents-were-sensitive dept. |
| posted by timothy on Saturday June 06, @17:54 (Privacy) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/06/2147233 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]coondoggie writes with an excerpt from Network World which explains
that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals "this week ruled against the
federal government and in favor of employees at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in their case which centers around background investigations
known as Homeland Security Presidential Directive #12 (Nelson et al. vs
NASA). The finding reaffirms the JPL employees claims' that [1]the checks
threaten their constitutional rights. The stink stems from HSPD #12 which
is in part aimed at gathering information to develop a common
identification standard that ensures that people are who they say they
are, so government facilities and sensitive information stored in
networks remains protected." At issue in particular: an employee's not
agreeing to "an open ended background investigation, conducted by unknown
investigators, in order to receive an identification badge that was
compliant with HSPD#12" was grounds for dismissal.

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...06/2147233

Links:
0. http://networkworld.com/
1. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/42468


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| China's First Mars Probe Ready To Launch |
| from the kazakhstan-facility-of-space-object-tossing-very-nice de|
| posted by timothy on Saturday June 06, @19:01 (Mars) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s.../06/221243 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

henrypijames writes "At the [0]Shanghai Aerospace Exhibition last week,
China's first Mars probe [1]Yinghuo-1 was the [2]main attraction. The
newly completed probe will soon be sent to Moscow for some further
testing, before a joint launch with Russia's own probe [3]Phobos-Grunt
from [4]Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan this October."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?.../06/221243

Links:
0. http://www.shairshow.com/en/home.asp
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yinghuo-1
2. http://news.xinhuanet.com/video/2009-05/...454448.htm
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobos-Grunt
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baikonur_Cosmodrome




Reply
#24
fascinating, as usual:

Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* Does Bing Have Google Running Scared?
* Better Tools For Disabled Geeks?
* Family's Christmas Photos Hawk Groceries In Prague
* A Visual Expedition Inside the Linux File Systems
* ESRB Eyeballing Ratings For iPhone Games
* Administration Wants To Scale Back Real ID Law
* The Science of Folding@home
* Mono Squeezed Into Debian Default Installation
* CIA Officers Are Warming To Intellipedia
* Fifteen Classic PC Design Mistakes
* Real Nanotechnology Getting Closer, Says Drexler
* "Burning Walls" May Stop Black Hole Formation
* The "Hidden" Cost Of Privacy
* NVIDIA Launches Five New Mobile GPUs
* Drupal 6: Ultimate Community Site Guide
* Broke Counties Turn Failing Roads To Gravel
* Ubisoft CEO Says Next Gen Consoles Closer Than We Think
* Introducing the Warpship
* Herschel Space Telescope Opens For the First Time
* Canada Telecoms Launch Mobile Payment Service
* Virgin-Universal Deal Offers Unlimited Music, Goes After File Sharers
* Jet Stream Kites Could Power New York City
* The Next Ad You Click May Be a Virus

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Does Bing Have Google Running Scared? |
| from the or-perhaps-maraschino dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Sunday June 14, @20:22 (Microsoft) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...14/2040209 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

suraj.sun alerts us to an anonymous-source story up at the NY Post, not
what we would normally consider a leading source of tech news, claiming
that [0]Microsoft's introduction of Bing has alarmed Google.
"...co-founder Sergey Brin is so rattled by the launch of Microsoft's
rival search engine that he has assembled a team of top engineers to work
on urgent upgrades to his Web service, The Post has learned. Brin,
according to sources..., is himself leading the team of search-engine
specialists in an effort to determine how Bing's crucial search algorithm
differs from that used by [Google]. 'New search engines have come and
gone in the past 10 years, but Bing seems to be of particular interest to
Sergey,' said one insider, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The
move by Brin is unusual, as it is rare these days for the Google founders
to have such hands-on involvement in day-to-day operations at the
company, the source added." CNet's [1]coverage of the rumor begins with
the NY Post and adds in Search Engine Land's speculation on what the
world of search would look like if [2]Yahoo exited the field.

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...14/2040209

Links:
0. http://www.nypost.com/seven/06142009/bus...174235.htm
1. http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10264417-75.html
2. http://searchengineland.com/bartz-contin...arch-20705


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Better Tools For Disabled Geeks? |
| from the all-in-the-wrist dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Sunday June 14, @22:37 (Input Devices) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...14/2143205 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]layabout writes "We've seen tremendous advances in user interfaces
over the past few years. Unfortunately, those UIs and supporting
infrastructure exclude the disabled. In the same timeframe there has been
virtually no advance in accessibility capabilities. It's the same old
sticky keys, unicorn stick, speech recognition, text-to-speech that
kind-of, sort-of, works except when you need to work with with real
applications. Depending on whose numbers you use, anywhere from 60,000 to
100,000 keyboard users are injured every year — some temporarily, some
permanently. In time, almost 100% of keyboard users will have trouble
typing and using many if not all mobile computing devices. My question to
Slashdot: Given that some form of disability is almost inevitable, what's
keeping you from volunteering and working with geeks who are already
disabled? By spending time now building the interfaces and tools that
will enable them to use computers more easily, you will also be ensuring
your own ability to use them in the future." Follow the link for more
background on this reader's query.

This story continues at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...14/2143205

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...14/2143205

Links:
0. mailto:ynotlayabout@gmail.com


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Family's Christmas Photos Hawk Groceries In Prague |
| from the smiling-happy-faces dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday June 15, @01:46 (The Internet) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/14/193227 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Hugh Pickens writes "The Telegraph reports that Jeff and Danielle
Smith sent a photo of themselves with their two young children to family
and friends as a Christmas card, and posted the image on her blog and a
few social networking websites. Then, last month, a friend of the family
was vacationing in the Czech Republic when he spotted a full size
[1]poster of the Missouri family's smiling faces in the window of a local
supermarket in Prague, advertising a grocery delivery service. The friend
snapped a few pictures and sent them to the Smiths, who were
flabbergasted. Mario Bertuccio, who owns the Grazie store in Prague,
admitted that he had found the photo online but thought it was
computer-generated and promised to remove it, and 'We'll be happy to
write an e-mail with our apology,' he says. Meanwhile Mrs. Smith has
[2]received 180,000 visitors and over 500 comments on her blog since she
posted the story. She says she is glad the photo wasn't used in an
unseemly manner. 'Interesting. Bizarre. Flattering, I suppose,' writes
Mrs. Smith. 'But quite creepy.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid.../14/193227

Links:
0. http://hughpickens.com/
1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopi...rague.html
2. http://www.extraordinarymommy.com/blog/a...n-picture/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| A Visual Expedition Inside the Linux File Systems |
| from the data-porn dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday June 15, @04:54 (Operating Systems) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/15/015207 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]RazvanM writes "This is an attempt to visualize the relationships
among the Linux File Systems through the lens of the external symbols
their kernel modules use. We [1]took an initial look a few months back
but this time the scope is much broader. This analysis was done on
[2]1377 kernel modules from 2.6.0 to 2.6.29, but there is also a [3]small
dip into the BSD world. The [4]most thorough analysis was done on
[5]Daniel Phillips's tree, which contains the latest two disk-based file
systems for Linux: [6]tux3 and [7]btrfs. The main techniques used to
established relationships among file systems are [8]hierarchical
clustering and [9]phylogenetic trees. Also presented are a set of
[10]rankings based on various properties related to the evolution of the
external symbols from one release to another, and complete [11]timelines
of the kernel releases for Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD. In all
there are 78 figures and 10 animations."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid.../15/015207

Links:
0. http://razvan.musaloiu.com/
1. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...11/2035211&tid=198
2. http://cs.jhu.edu/~razvanm/fs-expedition/building.html
3. http://cs.jhu.edu/~razvanm/fs-expedition/bsd.html
4. http://cs.jhu.edu/~razvanm/fs-expedition/tux3.html
5. http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/gi...x-tux3.git
6. http://tux3.org/
7. http://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Main_Page
8. http://cs.jhu.edu/~razvanm/fs-expedition...tml#hclust
9. http://cs.jhu.edu/~razvanm/fs-expedition/tux3.html#pars
10. http://cs.jhu.edu/~razvanm/fs-expedition...l#rankings
11. http://cs.jhu.edu/~razvanm/fs-expedition/timelines.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ESRB Eyeballing Ratings For iPhone Games |
| from the why-not-go-for-flash-games-too-while-you're-at-it dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Monday June 15, @06:37 (Cellphones) |
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...15/0248208 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Kotaku reports that the ESRB is thinking about expanding their game
ratings to [0]include games sold on the App Store. They realize that
[1]evaluating every single game is not feasible, but they may still be
underestimating the amount of work they'd be taking on, and it could
negatively affect some developers. Quoting: "'ESRB has seen increases in
rating submissions each year since its founding and has always been able
to keep pace,' the ESRB's Eliot Mizrachi told us. 'We have rated more
than 70 mobile games to date and will undoubtedly rate more in the future
as the market grows.' Seventy? Over the past, what, four or five years?
It's a piddling number when you think of the hundreds of games available
through the App Store. Further, many of them are mobile adjuncts to
console releases, a different sort of beast from iPhone games. Not all of
those need or deserve a rating; but if Apple brings in the ESRB to rate
games, with the idea that it'll help parents control what their kids buy
for their iPods, then unrated games are likely to be blocked by such
filters. The incentive would definitely be there to get a game rated. And
what of the cost? Getting a game rated isn't a free service; the ESRB
levies a fee that covers the cost of looking through the code and rating
the game."

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...15/0248208

Links:
0. http://kotaku.com/5289370/esrb-on-iphone...andle-this
1. http://kotaku.com/5281765/should-apple-i...a-says-yes


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Administration Wants To Scale Back Real ID Law |
| from the square-root-of-minus-identity dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday June 15, @08:02 (Privacy) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/15/0134220 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

The Washington Post is running a story on the Obama Administration's
attempt to get a [0]scaled-back version of Bush's Real ID program passed
and implemented. We've been discussing the Real ID program from its
[1]earliest days up through the [2]states' resistance to its "unfunded
mandate." "Yielding to a rebellion by states that refused to pay for it,
the Obama administration is moving to scale back a federal law passed
after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that was designed to tighten
security requirements for driver's licenses... Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano wants to repeal and replace the controversial,
$4 billion domestic security initiative known as Real ID... The new
proposal, called Pass ID, would be cheaper, less rigorous, and partly
funded by federal grants, according to draft legislation that
Napolitano's Senate allies plan to introduce as early as tomorrow. ...the
Bush administration struggled to implement the 2005 [Real ID] law,
delaying the program repeatedly as states called it an unfunded mandate
and privacy advocates warned it would create a de facto national ID."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...15/0134220

Links:
0. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...36_pf.html
1. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/05/11/0119205&tid=158
2. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/06/1912250&tid=158


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Science of Folding@home |
| from the i-prefer-napping@hope dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 15, @08:49 (Medicine) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...15/1240252 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]mr_sifter writes "As previously discussed, computers running
Folding@home now contribute over 1 petaflop of processing power to
research into protein folding, making Folding@home the most successful
example yet of a distributed computing app. It's also at the forefront of
GPGPU computing, with both Nvidia and ATI keen to push how well their
graphics chips perform when folding. So the technology is great, but
[1]what about the science? This feature looks at how the Folding project
was developed, how it's helping researchers and the thorny question of
how long it might be until the software running on your PC or PS3
actually produces real world results."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...15/1240252

Links:
0. http://www.thewiredjester.co.uk/
1. http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphic...t-matter/1


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Mono Squeezed Into Debian Default Installation |
| from the gonna-need-a-better-girdle dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 15, @09:29 (Debian) |
| http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...15/1251228 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]pallmall1 writes "OS News reports that Debian developer Josselin
Mouette got Tomboy accepted as a dependency for gnome in the next release
of Debian (codenamed Squeeze). While that may seem like nothing big
(except for the 50 MByte size of the Tomboy package), Tomboy requires
Mono — meaning that [1]Mono will now be installed by default. Apparently,
Debian doesn't have the same concerns over using specifications patented
by Microsoft and licensed under [2]undisclosed terms that Red Hat [3]does.
Perhaps Debian doesn't believe that Microsoft might do something [4]like
Rambus did."

Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...15/1251228

Links:
0. mailto:pallmall@mail.com
1. http://www.osnews.com/story/21660/Mono_P...p_Install_
2. http://www.itwire.com/content/view/25215/1090/1/0/
3. http://blog.internetnews.com/skerner/200...-mono.html
4. http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/05...rust_case/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| CIA Officers Are Warming To Intellipedia |
| from the i'm-warming-a-turkey-sandwich dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 15, @10:13 (Government) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...15/1334203 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Hugh Pickens writes "The [1]CIA is adopting Web 2.0 tools like
collaborative wikis but not without a struggle in an agency with an
ingrained culture of secrecy. 'We're still kind of in this early adoptive
stage,' says Sean Dennehy, a CIA analyst and self-described 'evangelist'
for [2]Intellipedia, the US intelligence community's version of the
popular user-curated online encyclopedia Wikipedia adding that 'trying to
implement these tools in the intelligence community is basically like
telling people that their parents raised them wrong. It is a huge
cultural change.' Dennehy says Intellipedia, which runs on secure
government intranets and is used by 16 US intelligence agencies, was
started as a pilot project in 2005 and now has approximately 100,000 user
accounts and gets about 4,000 edits a day. 'Some people have (supported
it) but there's still a lot of other folks kind of sitting on the fence.'
Dennehy says wikis are 'a challenge to our culture because we grew up in
this kind of "need to know" culture and now we need a balance between
"need to know" and "need to share."' A desire to compartamentalize
information is another problem. 'Inevitably, every person, the first
question we were asked is "How do I lock down a page?" or "How do I lock
down a page so that just my five colleagues can access that?"' The
[3]growth of Intellipedia has so far largely been fueled by early
adopters and enthusiasts says Chris Rasmussen, a social-software
knowledge manager and trainer at the National Geospatial Intelligence
Agency. 'We are struggling to take it to the next level.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...15/1334203

Links:
0. http://hughpickens.com/
1. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/art...TWvBiOia4w
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellipedia
3. http://www.gcn.com/Articles/2009/02/18/I...pedia.aspx


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Fifteen Classic PC Design Mistakes |
| from the i've-made-seven-so-far-today dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 15, @10:45 (Hardware) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?.../15/147251 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Harry writes "Once upon a time, it wasn't a given that PC owners
should be able to format their own floppy disks. Or that ports should be
standard, not proprietary. Or that it was a lousy idea to hardwire a PC's
AC adapter, or to put the power supply in the printer so that a printer
failure rendered the PC unusable, too. Over at Technologizer, Benj
Edwards has taken a look at some of the [1]worst design decisions from
personal computing's early years — including ones involving famous flops
such as the PCJr, obscure failures such as Mattel's Aquarius, and
machines that succeeded despite flaws, like the first Mac. In most
instances — but not all — their bad decisions taught the rest of the
industry not to make the same errors again."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl.../15/147251

Links:
0. mailto:harry@technologizer.com
1. http://technologizer.com/2009/06/14/fift...-mistakes/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Real Nanotechnology Getting Closer, Says Drexler |
| from the so-is-fusion-i-hear dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 15, @11:30 (Sun Microsystems) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/15/1341210 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]destinyland writes "Sun Microsystems has helped fund a [1]198-page
nanotechnology roadmap — but [2]how close are we to real nanotechnology?
A science writer asked four nano pioneers, including K. Eric Dexler
("progress is accelerating") and Ralph Merkle ("the exponential trends
continue to be exponential") Though we don't have Star Trek replicators
yet, the article lists some surprising recent nano developments
(artificial tissue, nanoparticle sheets, ultrathin diamond nanorods). And
the roadmap's scientists are envisioning targeted cancer therapies,
super-efficient solar cells, high-density computer memory chips and even
responsive "smart" materials.""

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/06/15/1341210

Links:
0. http://www.destinyland.org/
1. http://e-drexler.com/d/07/00/1204TechnologyRoadmap.html
2. http://www.hplusmagazine.com/articles/na...technology


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| "Burning Walls" May Stop Black Hole Formation |
| from the sounds-like-my-chili dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 15, @12:12 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s.../15/155242 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]KentuckyFC writes "Black holes are thought to form when a star greater
than 4 times the mass of the Sun explodes in a supernova and then
collapses. The force of this collapse is so great that no known force can
stop it. In less massive stars, the collapse cannot overcome so-called
neutron degeneracy, the force that stops neutrons from being squashed
together. Now a Russian physicist says another effect may be involved. He
points out that quantum chromodynamics predicts that when neutrons are
squashed together, matter undergoes a phase transition into "subhadronic"
matter. This is very different from ordinary matter. In subhadronic form,
space is essentially empty. So the phase change creates a sudden
reduction in pressure, forcing any ordinary matter in the star to implode
into this new vacuum. The result is a massive increase in temperature of
this matter that creates a "burning wall" within the supernova. And it is
this [1]burning wall that stops the formation of a black hole, not just
the degeneracy pressure of neutrons. This should lead to much greater
energies inside a supernova than had been thought possible until now. And
that's important because it could explain the formation of [2]high energy
gamma ray bursts that have long puzzled astrophysicists."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?.../15/155242

Links:
0. http://arxivblog.technologyreview.com/
1. http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/23677/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_ray_burst


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The "Hidden" Cost Of Privacy |
| from the if-you-can't-handle-it-get-out-of-the-business dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday June 15, @12:57 (Privacy) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/15/1459225 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Schneier points out an article from a while back in Forbes about the
[0]"hidden" cost of privacy and how expensive it can be to comply with
all the various overlapping privacy laws that don't necessarily improve
anyone's privacy. "What this all means is that protecting individual
privacy remains an externality for many companies, and that basic market
dynamics won't work to solve the problem. Because the efficient market
solution won't work, we're left with inefficient regulatory solutions. So
now the question becomes: how do we make regulation as efficient as
possible?"

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...15/1459225

Links:
0. http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/20..._cost.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA Launches Five New Mobile GPUs |
| from the too-many-options dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday June 15, @13:40 (Graphics) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...15/1522236 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Engadget is reporting that NVIDIA has released [0]five new mobile GPUs to
fill some imagined gap in the 200M series lineup. These new chips
supposedly double the performance and halve the power consumption of the
older chips, but still no word on why they think we need eight different
GPU options. "The cards are SLI, HybridPower, CUDA, Windows 7 and DirectX
10.1 compatible, and all support PhysX other than the low-end G210M. Of
course, with integrated graphics like the 9400M starting to obviate
discrete graphics in the mid range -- even including Apple's latest
low-end 15-inch MacBook Pro -- we're not sure what we'll do with eight
different GPU options, but we suppose NVIDIA's yet-to-be-announced price
sheet for these cards will make it all clear in time."

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...15/1522236

Links:
0. http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/nvidi...gaps-in-i/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Drupal 6: Ultimate Community Site Guide |
| from the read-all-about-it dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Monday June 15, @14:22 (The Internet) |
| http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...15/1331252 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Michael J. Ross writes "Among the more popular and better-regarded
content management systems (CMSs), [1]Drupal is distinguished partly by
its building-block approach, in which a website 's functionality is built
up in pieces, each of which is a module (either core or contributed). The
opposite approach — using far fewer but more encompassing modules — is
generally preferred by non-developers who do not relish integrating a
sizable collection of modules or trying to modify the underlying code.
Nonetheless, anyone who wishes to build a Drupal-based social website,
can learn how to do so in a new e-book titled Drupal 6: Ultimate
Community Site Guide." Read below for the rest of Michael's review.

This story continues at:
http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...15/1331252

Discuss this story at:
http://books.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...15/1331252

Links:
0. http://www.ross.ws/
1. http://drupal.org/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Broke Counties Turn Failing Roads To Gravel |
| from the let-civilization-collapse-initiative dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Monday June 15, @14:38 (Transportation) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...15/1641219 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

To save money, more than 20 Michigan counties have decided to turn
[0]deteriorating paved roads back to gravel. Montcalm County estimates
that repaving a road costs more than $100,000 a mile. Grinding the same
mile of road up and turning it into gravel costs $10,000. At least 50
miles of road have been reverted to gravel in Michigan the past three
years. I can't wait until we revert back to whale oil lighting and can
finally be rid of this electricity fad.

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...15/1641219

Links:
0. http://www.wwmt.com/articles/roads-13635...nties.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Ubisoft CEO Says Next Gen Consoles Closer Than We Think |
| from the better-faster-stronger dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday June 15, @15:07 (Games) |
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...15/1654225 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot tells CNBC that he
believes the [0]next generation of video game systems isn't as far away
as the public has been led to believe. Guillemot noted that public demand
for the best machine possible, as well as coming competition from
companies such as [1]OnLive could spur Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo to
roll out new systems sooner than they want. That's not good news for
publishers, though, as he says games in the next generation will likely
cost $60 million to create."

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...15/1654225

Links:
0. http://www.cnbc.com/id/31331241
1. http://games.slashdot.org/story/09/03/24...oud-Gaming


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Introducing the Warpship |
| from the fastest-ship-in-the-west dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday June 15, @15:51 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...15/1658255 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]astroengine writes "Dr. Richard Obousy, a guy who has put [1]modern
science into the warp drive, has designed [2]his very own warpship. Now,
for the first time, he's shared it with the world. It might not be the
sleek Starship Enterprise, but its structure has been [3]optimized to
harness local 'dark energy,' generating a warp bubble so
faster-than-light velocities are possible." Now, the only question is:
will the ship achieve faster-than-light travel...or will the company hit
those speeds once it has enough money from investors?

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...15/1658255

Links:
0. http://www.astroengine.com/
1. http://www.richardobousyconsulting.com/warp_drive.html
2. http://dsc.discovery.com/space/slideshows/warpship/
3. http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/07/28...ngine.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Herschel Space Telescope Opens For the First Time |
| from the hey-big-guy-open-your-eyes dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday June 15, @16:30 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s.../15/188206 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]davecl writes "The Herschel space telescope, the largest ever launched
into space, has [1]opened its instrument cover allowing its three
instruments to observe for the first time. BBC news has the main
coverage, while there is more coverage on the [2]SPIRE instrument team
website, and on the [3]mission blog. I'm part of the SPIRE instrument
team and the excitement as we move towards our first observations is
building fast. The PACS and SPIRE instruments will see first light in the
next few days."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?.../15/188206

Links:
0. http://davecl.wordpress.com/
1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8099105.stm
2. http://herschel.cf.ac.uk/news/134
3. http://herschelmission.wordpress.com/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Canada Telecoms Launch Mobile Payment Service |
| from the can-i-request-money-all-day dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday June 15, @17:12 (Cellphones) |
| http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?si...15/1928251 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]GregDz11 writes to inform us that Canada's three main wireless
companies will be launching a service that allows customers to [1]send,
request, and receive money via their mobile phones. "The service, called
Zoompass, will be managed by Enstream, a joint venture the three carriers
first established in 2005, when it was called Wireless Payment Services,
to investigate the potential of mobile commerce. [...] Money can be drawn
from an account the user sets up or from their credit card. Each
withdrawal will cost 50 cents from the account, or 3.5 per cent of the
transaction if from a credit card. (As a result, sending dollar amounts
under $15 are actually cheaper to do using a credit card.)"

Discuss this story at:
http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?s...15/1928251

Links:
0. mailto:gregdiaz11@gmail.com
1. http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/...allet.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Virgin-Universal Deal Offers Unlimited Music, Goes After File Share|
| from the something-for-something dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday June 15, @18:03 (Music) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/15/1940201 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

suraj.sun writes "The UK's Virgin Media could start [0]suspending
persistent file sharers on a temporary basis, using information provided
to it by Universal Music. The ISP announced on Monday that it would,
before Christmas, launch an all-you-can-eat music download service for
its users, based on a monthly subscription fee. The tracks will all be
DRM-free. 'In parallel, the two companies will be working together to
protect Universal Music's intellectual property and drive a material
reduction in the unauthorized distribution of its repertoire across
Virgin Media's network,' a statement read. 'This will involve
implementing a range of different strategies to educate file sharers
about online piracy and to raise awareness of legal alternatives. They
include, as a last resort for persistent offenders, a temporary
suspension of internet access.' DTecNet has already been working with UK
content companies for some time to do [1]much the same thing, and is also
working with RIAA in the United States."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...15/1940201

Links:
0. http://pressoffice.virginmedia.com/phoen...l?c=205406&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1298879&highlight=
1. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10256481-93.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Jet Stream Kites Could Power New York City |
| from the kites-and-keys dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday June 15, @18:46 (Power) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?...15/2035209 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Damien1972 writes to tell us that researchers from the Carnegie
Institution and California State University claim that a [0]fleet of
kites could harvest enough energy to run New York and other major cities,
especially if they are affected by polar jet streams. "Using 28 years of
data from the National Center for Environmental Prediction and the
Department of Energy, Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution's
Department of Global Ecology and Cristina Archer of California State
University, Chico compiled the first global survey of wind energy
available at high altitudes in the atmosphere. They found that the
regions best suited for harvesting this energy align with population
centers in the eastern U.S. and East Asia, although they note that
'fluctuating wind strength still presents a challenge for exploiting this
energy source on a large scale.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl...15/2035209

Links:
0. http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0615-wind.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Next Ad You Click May Be a Virus |
| from the simple-solution-suggests-itself dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday June 15, @19:33 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/15/2056219 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Jay notes a Wall Street Journal report about [1]ad networks
unintentionally selling empty space to malware loaders (the link is to a
syndicating site that doesn't require a subscription to view). The
submitter comments: "The labeling of the fake ad sellers as hackers is
pretty bogus; there's no hacking involved. Simply sign up for one of
these networks, create your fake site, put up another company's creative,
and you're good to go." The incidents being reported go back a few
months, but the pattern of this criminal activity seems to be coming
clear only recently."EWeek.com, a technology news site owned by Ziff
Davis Enterprise, in February displayed an ad on its homepage
masquerading as a promotion for LaCoste, the shirt maker. The retailer
hadn't placed the ad — a hacker had, to direct users to a Web site where
harmful programs would be downloaded to their computers, says Stephen
Wellman, director of community and content for Ziff Davis."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/06/15/2056219

Links:
0. http://www.warriorsoflegend.com/
1. http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=446406&Page=0


Reply
#25
Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* Apple Finally Patches Java Vulnerability
* Climate Change Bill Includes IP Protections
* Kilometer-High Waves Flow In Saturn's Rings
* Auto Warranty Robocall Scammers Busted
* Defining an Interactive Physical MMO For the iPhone
* SCO Springs a Prospective Buyer
* AT&T, Verizon Moving Into Gaming
* Bing Gets Porn Domain To Filter Explicit Content
* Hackers Find Remote iPhone Crack
* Sun Kills Rock CPU, Says NYT Report
* Erlang's Creator Speaks About Its History and Prospects
* Opera 10.0 Released, With Integrated Web Server Functionality
* China's Green Dam, No Longer Compulsory, May Have Lifted Code
* Fertility Clinic Bows To Pressure, Nixes Eye- and Hair-Color Screening
* NASA To Trigger Massive Explosion On the Moon In Search of Ice
* Ideal, and Actual, IT Performance Metrics?
* A Black Day For Internet Freedom In Germany
* Buckyballs Polymerized Into Buckywires
* Passengers Cheat Flu Scan With Fever Reducers
* Windows 7 Licensing a "Disaster" For XP Shops
* Palm Pre Does Not Get US Tethering Either
* Revived Microbe May Hold Clues For ET Lifeforms
* Researchers Build a Browser-Based Darknet
* HTML 5 Takes Aim At Flash and Silverlight
* Statistical Suspicions In Iran's Election

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Apple Finally Patches Java Vulnerability |
| from the gentlemen-restart-your-sandboxes dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday June 15, @20:23 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/15/2352200 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

macs4all writes "[0]Apple has finally addressed the Java vulnerability
that nearly everyone else patched months ago. Available now for OS X
[1]10.4 and [2]10.5, and through Apple's Software Update service, this
update patches a flaw in the Java Virtual Machine that could potentially
allow a malicious Java applet to execute arbitrary code on the machine.
Apple had previously advised users to turn off Java temporarily in their
Web browsers."

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/06/15/2352200

Links:
0. http://db.tidbits.com/article/10352
1. http://support.apple.com/downloads/Java_..._Release_9
2. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3581


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Climate Change Bill Includes IP Protections |
| from the quick-let's-patent-carbon-sequestration dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday June 15, @22:04 (Earth) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...15/2237201 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

moogsynth writes "Buried in section 329 of the [0]Foreign Relations
Authorization Act (H.R. 2410), voted in recently, are measures to oppose
any global climate change treaty that weakens the IP rights in the green
tech of American companies. [1]Peter Zura's patent blog notes that 'the
vote comes in anticipation of the upcoming negotiations in December as
part of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. ... Previously,
there was [2]sufficient chatter in international circles on compulsory
licenses, IP seizures, and the outright abolition of patents on
low-carbon technology, that Congress felt it necessary to clarify the
US's IP position up front.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...15/2237201

Links:
0. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:h2410:
1. http://271patent.blogspot.com/2009/06/co...s-for.html
2. http://cleanip.com.au/2009/04/20/the-deb...eating-up/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Kilometer-High Waves Flow In Saturn's Rings |
| from the surfing-the-A-ring dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday June 15, @23:07 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...16/0251224 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader sends along a Cosmos Magazine piece on the discovery
by NASA's Cassini probe of [0]vertical structures in Saturn's rings, 150
times as high as the rings are thick. The structures were seen because a
once-every-15-years orientation of the rings caused vertical features to
cast visible shadows. "NASA's Cassini probe has uncovered for the first
time towering vertical structures in Saturn's otherwise flat rings that
are attributable to the gravitational effects of a small moon. 'We
thought that this vertical structure was pretty neat when we first saw it
in our simulations,' said John Weiss, the paper's lead author at the
Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations in the U.S. city of
Boulder, Colorado. 'But it's a million times cooler to have your theory
supported by such gorgeous images. It makes you suspect you might be
doing something right,' added teammate and co-author Carolyn Porco."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...16/0251224

Links:
0. http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/2813/...urns-rings


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Auto Warranty Robocall Scammers Busted |
| from the cell-phones-911-and-do-not-call dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday June 15, @23:45 (Communications) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/15/232211 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

ectotherm writes "The nice people behind the recorded phone messages
stating 'By now you should have received your written note regarding your
vehicle warranty expiring...' — the ones who instantly hang up when you
ask for the name of the company — [0]have been busted. Fox News did a
little background digging on the four people charged." Don't know about
you, but I received three or four postcards in the mail from these
scammers, as well as uncountable robocalls. The FTC says they cleared
$10M since 2007.

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid.../15/232211

Links:
0. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526357,00.html?mrp


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Defining an Interactive Physical MMO For the iPhone |
| from the enhanced-reality dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Tuesday June 16, @01:08 (Cellphones) |
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...16/0313257 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

already-living-in-a-virtual-world writes "On his blog, mispeled writes
about a new type of game he'd like to see for the iPhone. It's
interesting stuff: '... the integration of a true gaming platform with
the capabilities of a phone is unique, at least for the quality of the
gaming experience offered. For all intents and purposes, the iPhone is a
new system. And [0]new systems demand that new gameplay mechanics be
explored. For a long time I've been a fan of the MMORPG genre, and the
iPhone offers several MMO-type games, especially those in the facebook,
social-networking style. However, what I've yet to see is a game that
takes advantage of the iPhone's location services, the GPS-like
capability of the phone. Tons of applications use it, but no games, as
far as I've seen. Why not? Motion sensing is all the rage on the consoles
— the Wii popularized it, but now Microsoft and Sony are jumping on the
bandwagon. But the iPhone, because it's portable, offers something more.
And I want those offerings taken advantage of. I want to play an MMO that
knows where I am and links my physical location to a virtual location. I
want to create a game that gives the planet Earth a virtual overlay,
interactable via a mobile (read: the iPhone) interface.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...16/0313257

Links:
0. http://mispeled.wordpress.com/2009/06/15...locations/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| SCO Springs a Prospective Buyer |
| from the from-what-dark-orifice dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday June 16, @02:34 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/15/2317205 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

clemenstimpler sends a link to Groklaw, which has been following the
proceedings dealing with the conversion of SCO's bankruptcy to Chapter 7
(i.e., liquidating the company). [0]SCO has announced a prospective buyer.
"...SCO has suggested it has a buyer. That doesn't mean it will avoid
Chapter 7 of course, nor does it mean that the bankruptcy court will OK
the suggested sale. But it likely does mean more delay, which is what
this is likely all about. SCO very much wants to wait until the appeals
court rules in SCO v. Novell. ... Hearing set for July 16 with backup for
July 27. SCO has already moved to make it July 27. combo hearing on
convert and sale. Frankly, it would not totally amaze me if the three
entities that filed motions to convert were to appeal this. If not, SCO
got its desired delay."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...15/2317205

Links:
0. http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story...5122117389


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| AT&T, Verizon Moving Into Gaming |
| from the stop-wiretapping-my-railgun dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Tuesday June 16, @03:54 (Communications) |
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid...16/0336243 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Verizon announced today that they are working on a service to [0]deliver
games through their broadband service for a monthly fee. The service will
begin this summer in New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Along
similar lines, IndustryGamers reports that AT&T is "investing millions in
gaming." In addition to revamping the games section of their website,
they are also working on an IPTV service and trying to [1]find a way to
unify the gaming experience across mobile platforms, computers, and
consoles. "[AT&T's Executive Director of Gaming, Glenn Broderick, said,]
'What we're doing is trying to incentivize [gaming companies] to take
some risks by tethering mobile games to console or PC experiences.' ...
He continued, 'We're putting a ton of money into back-end systems for
both mobile and the broadband site... We're making serious investments in
the games space because it's now seen as a huge strategic initiative for
AT&T. And before it just wasn't; it wasn't on the executive agenda.'
Broderick also is optimistic that cloud-based gaming services like OnLive
that provide games on demand will take off in the next 5-10 years, and he
sees AT&T and its network as a big player in that."

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si...16/0336243

Links:
0. http://www.joystiq.com/2009/06/15/verizo...-starting/
1. http://www.industrygamers.com/news/inter...in-gaming/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Bing Gets Porn Domain To Filter Explicit Content |
| from the still-no-sex-in-india dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday June 16, @05:26 (Microsoft) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/15/2245215 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

sopssa writes "Bing has set up a [0]separate domain just for porn images
and videos. '[The] general manager of Microsoft Bing said in a blog post
that potentially explicit images and video content now will be coming
from one separate domain — explicit.bing.net. 'This is invisible to the
end customer, but allows for filtering of that content by domain which
makes it much easier for customers at all levels to block this content
regardless of what the SafeSearch settings might be.' When Bing was first
launched, there was some online chatter about explicit images popping up
when videos were 'previewed' in the search results. This means the
thumbnails and videos are served from that domain, allowing easy filter
of them in corporate and school networks. Users still normally use
www.bing.com. Instead of heavily filtering the results, this is quite a
good move."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...15/2245215

Links:
0. http://www.computerworld.com/action/arti...ticleBasic&articleId=9134395


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Hackers Find Remote iPhone Crack |
| from the jailbreaking-via-mortar dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday June 16, @08:13 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/16/0017221 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Al writes "Two researchers have found a way to [1]run unauthorized
code on an iPhone remotely. This is different than '[2]jailbreaking,'
which requires physical access to the device. Normally applications have
to be signed cryptographically by Apple in order to run. But Charles
Miller of Independent Security Evaluators and Vincenzo Iozzo from the
University of Milan found more than one instance in which Apple failed to
prevent unauthorized data from executing. This means that a program can
be loaded into memory as a non-executable block of data, after which the
attacker can essentially flip a programmatic switch and make the data
executable. The trick is significant, say Miller and Iozzo, because it
provides a way to do something on a device after making use of a remote
exploit. Details will be presented next month at the Black Hat Conference
in Las Vegas." The attack was developed on version 2.0 of the iPhone
software, and the researchers don't know if it will work when 3.0 is
released.

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/06/16/0017221

Links:
0. http://www.technologyreview.com/
1. http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/22782/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jailbreak_(iPhone)


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Sun Kills Rock CPU, Says NYT Report |
| from the what-we-meant-was dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday June 16, @09:05 (Sun Microsystems) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.p...16/1244240 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

BBCWatcher writes "Despite Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's [0]recent statement
that his company will continue Sun's hardware business, it won't be with
Sun processors (and associated engineering jobs). The New York Times
reports that [1]Sun has canceled its long-delayed Rock processor, the
next generation SPARC CPU. Instead, the Times says Sun/Oracle will have
to rely on Fujitsu for SPARCs (and Intel otherwise). Unfortunately
Fujitsu [2]is decreasing its R&D budget and is unprofitable at present.
Sun's cancellation of Rock comes just after Intel [3]announced yet
another delay for Tukwila, the next generation Itanium, now pushed to
2010. HP is the sole major Itanium vendor. Primary beneficiaries of this
CPU turmoil: IBM and Intel's Nehalem X86 CPU business."

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments....16/1244240

Links:
0. http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news...e-business
1. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/15...p-project/
2. http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/IR/fina...df/all.pdf
3. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13556_3-10246293-61.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Erlang's Creator Speaks About Its History and Prospects |
| from the still-coy-on-the-meaning dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday June 16, @09:28 (Programming) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...16/1313257 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Seal writes "[0]Erlang, originally created at Ericsson in 1986, is a
functional programming language which was released as open source around
10 years ago and flourished ever since. In this Q&A, Erlang creator Joe
Armstrong talks about its [1]beginnings as a control program for a
telephone exchange, its flexibility and its modern day usage in open
source programs. 'In the Erlang world we have over twenty years of
experience with designing and implementing parallel algorithms. What we
lose in sequential processing speed we win back in parallel performance
and fault-tolerance,' Armstrong said. He also mentions how multi-core
processors pushed the development of Erlang and the advantages of hot
swapping."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...16/1313257

Links:
0. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erlang_(pro..._language)
1. http://www.cio.com.au/article/307418/-z_...ges_erlang


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Opera 10.0 Released, With Integrated Web Server Functionality |
| from the two-way-street dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday June 16, @09:49 (The Internet) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...16/1324225 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]sherl0k writes "[1]Opera 10.0, dubbed Opera Unite, has been released.
Built into the Web browser is a full-fledged Web server, complete with
nifty little gadgets such as a 'fridge' that people can post notes onto,
a chat room, a widget to stream your music library anywhere, and a
built-in file-sharing mechanism. It also scores 100/100 on the [2]Acid3
test." Readers [3]fudreporter and TLS point to [4]The Register's report
on the new release and a [5] 5-minute video demo, respectively. Update:
06/16 15:18 GMT by [6]T: Roar Lauritzsen of Opera Software writes to
point out that "release" isn't quite the right word here; though you can
download it, version 10.0 is still in beta, and the version with Unite is
a labs (experimental) release.

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...16/1324225

Links:
0. http://edgeemu.net/
1. http://unite.opera.com/
2. http://acid3.acidtests.org/
3. http://www.fudreport.com/
4. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/16/opera_unite/
5. http://www.netbooknews.com/311/replace-y...ra-united/
6. http://www.monkey.org/~timothy/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| China's Green Dam, No Longer Compulsory, May Have Lifted Code |
| from the when-the-levee-breaks dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday June 16, @10:39 (Censorship) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/16/1422235 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]LionMage writes "Much has been made previously of how China's Green
Dam software [1]must be installed on all new PCs in China, and of more
recent revelations that [2]the software may create exploitable security
vulnerabilities or even [3]provide the Chinese government with a
ready-made botnet to use for potentially nefarious purposes. (One of
those prior articles even discusses how Green Dam incorporates blacklists
from CyberSitter.) Now the BBC is reporting that Solid Oak's CyberSitter
software may have had [4]more than just a compiled blacklist lifted from
it. Solid Oak is claiming that [5]actual pieces of their code [6]somehow
ended up in Green Dam. From PC Magazine's article: 'Solid Oak Software,
the developer of CyberSitter, claims that the look and feel of the GUI
used by Green Dam mimics the style of CyberSitter. But more damning,
chief executive Brian Milburn said, was the fact that the Green Dam code
uses DLLs identified with the CyberSitter name, and even makes calls back
to Solid Oak's servers for updates.'" Relatedly, reader Spurious Logic
writes that Green Dam [7]won't be mandatory after all, according to an
unnamed official with China's Ministry of Industry and Information
Technology.

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...16/1422235

Links:
0. http://lionmage.livejournal.com/
1. http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/06/08/0...Censorware
2. http://it.slashdot.org/story/09/06/11/13...rs-At-Risk
3. http://it.slashdot.org/story/09/06/11/19...otnet-Army
4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8101978.stm
5. http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/224416...m-block-pc
6. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2348705,00.asp
7. http://www.crn.com/software/217900033;js...SCJUNN2JVN


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Fertility Clinic Bows To Pressure, Nixes Eye- and Hair-Color Screen|
| from the gets-pretty-creepy-doesn't-it? dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday June 16, @11:24 (Biotech) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s.../16/158207 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]destinyland writes "A fertility service in L.A. and New York screens
embryos for breast cancer, cystic fibrosis, and 70 other diseases — and
lets couples pick the sex of their babies. But when their
pre-implantation diagnostic services began including the baby's eye and
hair color, even the Pope objected — and the [1]Great Designer Baby
Controversy began. '[W]e cannot escape the fact that science is moving
forward,' the fertility service explained — before capitulating to
pressure to eliminate the eye and hair color screenings."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?.../16/158207

Links:
0. http://www.destinyland.org/
1. http://www.hplusmagazine.com/articles/bi...E2%80%9909


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NASA To Trigger Massive Explosion On the Moon In Search of Ice |
| from the smashing-darling-smashing dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday June 16, @12:13 (Moon) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...16/1556254 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Hugh Pickens writes "NASA is preparing to launch the Lunar Crater
Observation and Sensing Satellite, which will fly a Centaur rocket
booster into the moon, [1]triggering a six-mile-high explosion that
scientists hope will confirm whether water is frozen in the perpetual
darkness of craters near the moon's south pole. If the spacecraft
launches on schedule at 12:51 p.m. Wednesday, it will hit the moon in the
early morning hours of October 8 after an [2]86-day Lunar Gravity-Assist,
Lunar Return Orbit that will allow the spacecraft time to complete its
two-month commissioning phase and conduct nearly a month of science data
collection of polar crater measurements before colliding with the moon
just 10 minutes behind the Centaur." (Continues, below.)

This story continues at:
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...16/1556254

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...16/1556254

Links:
0. http://hughpickens.com/
1. http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_12590357
2. http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/targeting.htm


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Ideal, and Actual, IT Performance Metrics? |
| from the spin-the-dial-shake-the-8-ball dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday June 16, @13:00 (Businesses) |
| http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/16/1630230 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "Recently it was revealed that our company
measures IT performance by the time it takes to close trouble tickets. I
consider IT's primary goal to be as transparent to the user as possible,
thus this metric was rather troubling to me. Shouldn't we be focused on
reducing calls, rather than simply closing them quickly? My question is:
How is your IT performance measured, and how do you think it should be
measured?"

Discuss this story at:
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...16/1630230


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| A Black Day For Internet Freedom In Germany |
| from the sun-going-down dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday June 16, @13:50 (Censorship) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/16/1657255 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Several readers including [0]erlehmann and [1]tmk wrote to inform us
about the [2]dawning of Internet censorship in Germany under the usual
guise of protecting the children. "This week, the two big political
parties ruling Germany in a coalition held the final talks on their
proposed Internet censorship scheme. DNS queries for sites on a list will
be given fake answers that lead to a page with a stop sign. The list
itself is maintained by the German federal police (Bundeskriminalamt). A
protest movement has formed over the course of the last several months,
and over 130K citizens have signed a petition protesting the law. Despite
this, and despite criticism from all sides, the two parties sped up the
process for the law to be signed on Thursday, June 18, 2009."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=...16/1657255

Links:
0. http://dieweltistgarnichtso.net/
1. http://notes.computernotizen.de/
2. http://netzpolitik.org/2009/the-dawning-...n-germany/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Buckyballs Polymerized Into Buckywires |
| from the buck-for-your-thoughts dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday June 16, @14:36 (Science) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...16/1719257 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]KentuckyFC writes "Scientists have found a way to join [1]buckyballs
together so that they form buckywires. The wires form when buckyballs are
dissolved in an aromatic hydrocarbon called 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene. The
solvent [2]links the balls together to make wires shaped like a string of
pearls, which then precipitate out. This relatively simple procedure
opens the door to industrial-scale manufacture. Buckywires ought to be
efficient light harvesters because of their great surface area and the
way they can conduct photon-liberated electrons. But perhaps the area of
greatest interest is drug delivery. The researchers suggest that
buckywires ought to be safer than carbon nanotubes because the production
method is entirely metal-free. This contrasts with the production of
nanotubes, which are formed in a reaction catalyzed by metallic
nanoparticles."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...16/1719257

Links:
0. http://arxivblog.technologyreview.com/
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fullerene
2. http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/23682/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Passengers Cheat Flu Scan With Fever Reducers |
| from the take-two-aspirin-and-infect-me-in-the-morning dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Tuesday June 16, @14:36 (Medicine) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...16/1629200 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Nguyen Van Chau, head of Ho Chi Minh City's Health Department, has
revealed that many sick passengers who flew to Ho Chi Minh City [0]used
fever reducers to fool temperature scanners at the airport. The
government has confirmed 26 people infected with H1N1 flu, 23 of whom
came by air after traveling in the United States or Australia. State
media reports that the discovery of these scanner cheaters led to the
detection of several infected cases later.

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...16/1629200

Links:
0. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090615/od_n...UE5iISH9EA


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Windows 7 Licensing a "Disaster" For XP Shops |
| from the punished-for-cautious-waiting dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday June 16, @15:22 (Windows) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...16/1756229 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]snydeq writes "Enterprise licensing for Windows 7 could cause [1]major
headaches and add more cost to the Windows 7 migration effort, InfoWorld
reports. Under the proposed license, businesses that purchase PCs with
Windows 7 pre-installed within six months of the [2]Oct. 23 launch date
will be able to downgrade those systems to XP, and later upgrade back to
Windows 7 when ready to migrate users. PCs bought after April 22, 2010,
however, can only be downgraded to Vista — no help for XP-based
organizations, which would be wise to wait 12 to 18 months before
adopting Windows 7, so that they can test hardware and software
compatibility and ensure their vendors' Windows 7 support meets their
needs. XP shops that chose not to install Vista will have to either rush
their migration process or spend extra to enroll in Microsoft's Software
Assurance program, which allows them to install any OS version — for
about $90 per year per PC."

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...16/1756229

Links:
0. http://www.infoworld.com/
1. http://www.infoworld.com/d/windows/micro...-users-639
2. http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/05/01/...?art_pos=3


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Palm Pre Does Not Get US Tethering Either |
| from the cutting-the-cord dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday June 16, @16:11 (Cellphones) |
| http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?si...16/1928236 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

fermion writes "The Register is reporting that [0]Palm has sent a note to
the Pre Dev Wiki asking it to [1]stop discussing tethering. Palm is
worried that its US carrier partner, Sprint, is none too eager to have
users tether the game-changing tetherable smart phone. While the
communication was informal, not legal, the development forum is evidently
eager to avoid any possibility of lawsuits, so has rapidly agreed.
Perhaps, like the iPhone, the Pre is going have a [2]vigorous underground.
What is interesting is that the Pre, like the iPhone (allegedly), can be
tethered outside of the US; but even those customers are being denied
apparently lawful information to satisfy the US exclusive agents."

Discuss this story at:
http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?s...16/1928236

Links:
0. http://predev.wikidot.com/tethering
1. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/15/pre_tethering/
2. http://www.palmprehacks.net/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Revived Microbe May Hold Clues For ET Lifeforms |
| from the calling-agent-smilla dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday June 16, @16:58 (Biotech) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...16/1935236 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

krou writes "Science Daily is reporting that a microbe, Herminiimonas
glaciei, buried some 3 km under glacial ice in Greenland, and believed to
have been frozen for some 120,000 years, has [0]been brought back to life
([1]abstract). The microbe, some ten to fifty times smaller than E. coli,
was brought back over several months by slowly incubating it at gradually
increasing temperatures. After 11.5 months, the microbe began to
replicate. Scientists believe that it could help us understand how life
may exist on other planets. Dr. Jennifer Loveland-Curtze, who headed up
the team of scientists from Pennsylvania State University, said: 'These
extremely cold environments are the best analogues of possible
extraterrestrial habitats. ... [S]tudying these bacteria can provide
insights into how cells can survive and even grow under extremely harsh
conditions, such as temperatures down to -56C, little oxygen, low
nutrients, high pressure and limited space.' She also added that it
'isn't a pathogen and is not harmful to humans, but it can pass through a
0.2 micron filter, which is the filter pore size commonly used in
sterilization of fluids in laboratories and hospitals. If there are other
ultra-small bacteria that are pathogens, then they could be present in
solutions presumed to be sterile. In a clear solution very tiny cells
might grow but not create the density sufficient to make the solution
cloudy.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...16/1935236

Links:
0. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200...201734.htm
1. http://ijs.sgmjournals.org/cgi/content/a.../59/6/1272


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Researchers Build a Browser-Based Darknet |
| from the easy-come-easy-go dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday June 16, @17:48 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/16/205232 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

ancientribe writes "At Black Hat USA next month, researchers will
demonstrate a way to [0]use modern browsers to more easily build darknets
— underground private Internet communities where users can share content
and ideas securely and anonymously. HP's Billy Hoffman and Matt Wood have
created Veiled, a proof-of-concept darknet that only requires
participants have an HTML 5-based browser to join. No special software or
configuration is necessary, unlike with darknets such as Tor. Veiled is
basically a 'zero footprint' network, in which groups can rapidly form
and disappear without a trace. The researchers admit darknets are
attractive to bad guys, too, but they say they think these more easily
set-up and dismantled nets will be more popular for mainstream (and
legit) users." In somewhat related news, reader cheesethegreat informs us
that [1]version 0.7.5 of FreeNet has hit the tubes.

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/06/16/205232

Links:
0. http://www.darkreading.com/security/encr...=217801293
1. http://freenetproject.org/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| HTML 5 Takes Aim At Flash and Silverlight |
| from the crowding-out-the-proprietary dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday June 16, @18:37 (Programming) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=...16/2030204 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]snydeq writes "While Adobe, Microsoft, and Sun duke it out with
proprietary technologies for implementing multimedia on the Web, [1]HTML
5 has the potential to eat these vendors' lunches, offering Web
experiences based on an industry standard. In fact, one expressed goal of
the standard is to move the Web away from proprietary technologies such
as Flash, Silverlight, and JavaFX. 'It would be a terrible step backward
if humanity's major development platform [the Web] was controlled by a
single vendor the way that previous platforms such as Windows have been,'
says HTML 5 co-editor Ian Hickson, a Google employee. But whether HTML 5
and its Canvas technology will displace proprietary plug-ins 'really
depends on what developers do,' says Firefox technical lead Vlad
Vukicevic. It also depends on Microsoft, the only company involved in the
HTML 5 effort that is both a browser developer and an RIA tool developer.
'That's a big elephant in the room for them because you can imagine the
Silverlight team [whose] whole existence is to add [this] functionality
in. [But] if Internet Explorer puts it already in there, why do we have
Silverlight?' asks Mozilla's Dion Almaer." The RIA guys are quoted as
saying they're not worried, because HTML 5 + CSS 3 is 10 years out. Are
they just whistling in the dark?

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid...16/2030204

Links:
0. http://www.infoworld.com/
1. http://www.infoworld.com/print/79291


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Statistical Suspicions In Iran's Election |
| from the funny-smell dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday June 16, @19:24 (Math) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...16/2137203 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]hoytak writes "An expert in electoral fraud, professor [1]Walter
Melbane, has released a [2]detailed analysis (PDF) of available data in
Iran's controversial election ([3]summary here). While he did not find
significant indications of fraud, he does note that all the deviations
from the predicted model are in Ahmadinejad's favor: 'In general,
combining the 2005 and 2009 data conveys the impression that a
substantial core of the 2009 results reflected natural political
process... [These] stand in contrast to the unusual pattern in which all
of the notable discrepancies between the support Ahmadinejad actually
received and the support the model predicts are always negative. This
pattern needs to be explained before one can have confidence that natural
election processes were not supplemented with artificial manipulations.'"
In related news, [4]EsonLinji notes reports in the [5]Seattle PI and
[6]other [7]sources that the US State Department has asked Twitter to
delay system maintenance to prevent cutting off Iranians who have been
relying on the service during the post-election crisis. And if you would
like to help ease the communication crunch, reader RCulpepper tips a blog
post detailing [8]how to set up a proxy server for users with Iranian IP
addresses.

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?...16/2137203

Links:
0. http://www.washington.edu/~hoytak/
1. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~wmebane/
2. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~wmebane/n...un2009.pdf
3. http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/th...lysis.html
4. http://blog.phlebasconsidered.net/
5. http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/arc...blog_last3
6. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtec...quest.html
7. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/arti...AD98RVV7G0
8. http://blog.austinheap.com/2009/06/15/ho...-citizens/


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