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Hardware: The Great Zero Challenge Remains Unaccepted Posted by timothy on Saturday September 06, @03:21PM from the no-fair-guessing-porn-names- dept.  An anonymous reader writes "Not even data recovery companies will accept The Great Zero Challenge and only four months remain! We've all heard how easily data can be recovered from hard drives. We're told to make multiple overwrites with random data, to degauss drives and even physically destroy them just to be extra safe. Let's get the word out. The challenge is almost over! It's put up or shut up time. Can you recover the data?" [+] it, security, storage, lamechallenge, lamestchallenge(tagging beta) Read More... 78 comments hardware.slashdot.org Hardware: The Google Navy Posted by timothy on Saturday September 06, @02:15PM from the but-it's-on-the-internet dept.  theodp writes "Is Google preparing to launch its own Navy? In its just-published application for a patent on the Water-Based Data Center, Google envisions a world where 'computing centers are located on a ship or ships, which are then anchored in a water body from which energy from natural motion of the water may be captured, and turned into electricity and/or pumping power for cooling pumps to carry heat away from computers in the data center.' And you thought The Onion was joking when it reported on Google's Fleet of Naval Warships!" [+] google, power, storage, earth, offshore(tagging beta) Read More... 99 comments hardware.slashdot.org Games: Examining a Game Character's Physical Presence 7 of 11 comments Politics: Sarah Palin's Stance On Technology Issues Posted by Soulskill on Saturday September 06, @01:18PM from the wait,-alaska-has-electricity? dept.  Revolution Radio writes "BetaNews has a short description of what we might expect from Governor Palin regarding technology issues. She demonstrated her familiarity with the internet by initiating an online education program for state workers, using the web for government transparency, and a supporting the general concept of 'long-distance distribution of services' (similar to net neutrality?)."We've previously discussed Senator Joe Biden's tech voting record and compared the technology platforms of Obama and McCain. In addition to the above story about Palin, Betanews also has analyses of Obama, McCain, and Biden regarding tech policy. [+] palin, usa, government, politics, republicans(tagging beta) Read More... 389 comments politics.slashdot.org Your Rights Online: A Setback for ISP Web Tracking Posted by Soulskill on Saturday September 06, @12:17PM from the so-sorry-about-your-luck dept.  angelheaded tips a Wired story about the resignation of Bob Dykes, CEO of net eavesdropping firm NebuAd. NebuAd has encountered financial troubles lately as the privacy controversy surrounding the company's tracking methods has driven communications companies away. Over in the UK, Phorm responded to the NebuAd news by affirming that it is making progress with its advertising methods. From The Register:"In response to the outcry over our revealing its two secret trials, BT said in April it would re-engineer the planned deployment so traffic to and from customers who do not want their web use profiled for marketing purposes would not come into contact with the Phorm system. The original blueprint meant that a opt-out cookie would tell the technology to simply ignore refuseniks' browsing as it passed through. It's thought the change has proved tricky. Phorm did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the alleged technical problems, but [BT's chief press officer Adam Liversage] said: 'We have been working on some things with Phorm.'" [+] internet, privacy, bigbrother(tagging beta) Read More... 20 comments yro.slashdot.org Hardware: Dell To Sell Its Computer Factories Posted by Soulskill on Saturday September 06, @11:17AM from the dude-you're-getting-a-new-business-model dept.  Anti-Globalism sends us to a Wall Street Journal for a report that Dell plans to sell its factories in an effort to revamp its production model. Quoting:"Dell's plants are still regarded as efficient at churning out desktop PCs. But within the industry, company-owned factories aren't considered the least expensive way to produce laptops, which have been the main driver of growth lately and are complex and labor-intensive to assemble. Rivals such as Hewlett-Packard Co. years ago shifted to contract manufacturers -- companies that provide production services to others -- to build their portable computers. H-P builds "less than half" of its PCs in facilities it owns, wrote Tony Prophet, H-P's senior vice president for PC supply chain, in an e-mail. Contract manufacturers can generally produce computers more cheaply because their entire operations are narrowly focused on finding efficiencies in manufacturing, as opposed to large firms like Dell, which must also balance marketing and other considerations." [+] business, dell, hardware, news, outsourcing(tagging beta) Read More... 170 comments hardware.slashdot.org Developers: Development, Privacy, and Standards for Chrome Posted by Soulskill on Saturday September 06, @10:15AM from the chrome-chrome-chrome-chrome-chrome dept.  Continuing our coverage of Google Chrome, snydeq points out an Infoworld story about looking at the new browser from a developer's perspective, and another about how WebKit should be the focus of development efforts, rather than the browsers that use it. TGdaily notes that Chrome's search box will fetch all types of data, and can be made to display banking information with little effort. ABC and coderrr have slightly more paranoid articles questioning Google's commitment to privacy. NetworkWorld suggests that Chrome's unique process model (explained here) will require the development of new measurement standards. [+] chrome, google, internet, chromethischromethat(tagging beta) Read More... 84 comments developers.slashdot.org Games: Carmack Talks Quake Live 14 of 25 comments News: FAA's Aging Flight-Plan System Having Problems Posted by Soulskill on Saturday September 06, @09:13AM from the avoiding-the-word-'crash' dept. Eddytor takes us to eWeek for a look at the FAA's air-traffic control system, which, after 20 years of continuous operation, is in desperate need of an overhaul. Recent crashes have caused major delays, but the system's scope and importance make it difficult to test upgrades and improvements."Many technologies are used in air traffic control systems. Primary and secondary radar are used to enhance a controller's 'situational awareness' within his assigned airspace; all types of aircraft send back primary echoes of varying sizes to controllers' screens as radar energy is bounced off their skins. Transponder-equipped aircraft reply to secondary radar interrogations by giving an ID (Mode A), an altitude (Mode C) and/or a unique callsign (Mode S). Certain types of weather also may register on a radar screen." [+] government, technology(tagging beta) Read More... 113 comments news.slashdot.org Science: Comet-Chasing Spacecraft Encounters Rare Asteroid Posted by Soulskill on Saturday September 06, @08:13AM from the needle-in-a-hay dept.  Riding with Robots writes "Yesterday the robotic spacecraft Rosetta, on its way to a distant encounter with Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, flew by the asteroid 'Steins,' which is roughly 4.6 kilometers wide. Steins is one of the relatively rare E-type asteroids. The mission team live-blogged throughout the day, and a press conference with the first pictures will be available soon."Rosetta's flyby took it to within 800 kilometers of Steins while both objects were roughly 360 million kilometers from Earth. According to Rosetta's fact sheet (PDF), the craft will next swing by Earth in 2009 and take a look at another asteroid in 2010 on its way to the rendezvous with the comet in 2014. [+] rosetta, science, space(tagging beta) Read More... 32 comments science.slashdot.org Ask Slashdot: Which Vendors Do You Trust For PC Parts? Posted by Soulskill on Saturday September 06, @05:06AM from the cheaper-is-usually-sketchier dept.  CaryTheSane writes "After six years, it's finally time for my old Pentium 4 to retire to web browsing duties, and I want a new gaming PC. I'd like to build my own this time, and I've scoped out most of the parts I want for a moderately high-end system. Which online vendors have you used before that you trust for parts? I've dealt with NewEgg, and I like them, but I live in Tennessee, a state in which they have a presence. Unfortunately, this means they have to hit me up for 9.5% sales tax. That really eats into my system build budget, so I'm looking for alternatives. I'd like to use the fewest number of vendors (preferably only one), so that all the parts arrive at the same time and I don't have one part's 30-day return policy run out while I'm waiting for parts from another vendor to show up. So, which reliable and economical parts vendors do you recommend?"Conversely, are there any you'd recommend avoiding? [+] newegg, hardware, amazon, internet(tagging beta) Read More... 385 comments ask.slashdot.org Technology: Mozilla Releases Firefox 3.1 Alpha 2 Posted by Soulskill on Saturday September 06, @02:03AM from the keeping-up-with-the-googses dept.  daria42 writes with news that Mozilla has released the second alpha build for Firefox 3.1, codenamed "Shiretoko." The new build includes "support for the HTML 5 <video> element" and the ability to "drag and drop tabs between browser windows." ComputerWorld is running a related story about benchmarks shown by Mozilla's Brendan Eich which indicate that Firefox 3.1 will run Javascript faster than Chrome. [+] firefox, internet, mozilla, software(tagging beta) Read More... 290 comments tech.slashdot.org Games: Dead Space To Launch Early, Banned in Three Countries 53 of 72 comments Your Rights Online: Canadian DMCA Proposal About To Die Posted by Soulskill on Friday September 05, @11:59PM from the aboot-time dept. An anonymous reader writes "Like the previous Bill C-60 before it, the proposed Bill C-61 that would bring DMCA-like laws to Canada is poised to die on the order table, never to receive a vote, as the current minority government falls. An election call is expected in days. Everybody expects that some form of these laws will be back yet again (third time's a charm?). There are too many interests pushing for change to let it go. But here's a chance for Canadians to influence politicians about it in an election campaign, and hopefully strike a better balance. And for those of you in the rest of the world who are laboring under a DMCA-like copyright law, let's hear your stories about why such laws are a good or bad idea, and if bad, how you would amend the law to make it tolerable. With the polls probably on Oct. 14th, Canadians will be looking for a few good ideas." [+] canada, government, yro(tagging beta) Read More... 138 comments yro.slashdot.org Games: A History of the Xbox Red Ring of Death Fiasco Posted by Soulskill on Friday September 05, @09:55PM from the defective-by-what,-now? dept.  VentureBeat has a lengthy story about the situation surrounding the Xbox 360's "Red Ring of Death." It starts with the developmental phases for the 360, looks at the marketing decisions that drove Microsoft to aim for a release ahead of the PS3, and talks with sources and engineers within Microsoft about what could have been done to prevent the problems. Quoting:"Leading up to the launch in the fall of 2005, the number of defective units would soon grow to tens of thousands. Any other consumer electronics company would likely have postponed a launch with such low yields. But Microsoft had more money in the bank than anyone else. The decision this time would fall to Bach and Moore. The costs of launching with low yields -- where you take big losses on every product sold -- could bankrupt other companies. But Microsoft could afford to do so. Microsoft did delay the launch date from October until November. But some inside the company still believed returns would be out of control." [+] games, microsoft, xbox, inaccurate(tagging beta) Read More... 187 comments games.slashdot.org Games: Classic Shooters Heretic and Hexen Released Under GPL 54 of 65 comments Technology: CIA, FBI Push Social Networking for Spies Posted by Soulskill on Friday September 05, @07:52PM from the because-spies-love-to-share dept.  node7 writes "The FBI, NSA, and CIA are jointly supporting a newly created 'MySpace' for the intelligence community. Named 'A-Space,' the site will contain highly classified material, so naturally, it won't be available to the public. From CNN: '[Michael Wertheimer, assistant deputy director of national intelligence for analysis] demonstrated the program to CNN to show how analysts will use it to collaborate. "One perfect example is if Osama bin Laden comes out with a new video. How is that video obtained? Where are the very sensitive secret sources we may have to put into a context that's not apparent to the rest of the world?" Wertheimer said. "In the past, whoever captured that video or captured information about the video kept it in-house. It's highly classified because it has so very short a shelf life. That information is considered critical to our understanding."'" [+] government, social, usa, spyspace(tagging beta) Read More... 128 comments tech.slashdot.org Science: NASA To Explore "Secret Layer" of the Sun Posted by Soulskill on Friday September 05, @07:03PM from the don't-forget-your-metaphasic-shields dept. SpaceAdmiral brings news that NASA will be launching a telescope next April, called Solar Ultraviolet Magnetograph Investigation (SUMI), which will examine what is called the "transition region" between the Sun's corona and the chromosphere. Scientists have studied characteristics of the Sun around this region before, but never within it. NASA notes:"It is a place in the sun's atmosphere, about 5000 km above the stellar surface, where magnetic fields overwhelm the pressure of matter and seize control of the sun's gases. It's where solar flares explode, where coronal mass ejections begin their journey to Earth, where the solar wind is mysteriously accelerated to a million mph. It is, in short, the birthplace of space weather." [+] nasa, space, setthecontrolsfortheheartofthesun(tagging beta) Read More... 70 comments science.slashdot.org IT: Researchers Build Malicious Facebook App Posted by CmdrTaco on Friday September 05, @06:18PM from the and-the-crowd-goes-wild dept. narramissic writes "Back in January, a team of researchers uploaded a malicious program to Facebook to demonstrate the possible dangers of social networking applications. Called 'Photo of the Day,' the app serves up a new National Geographic photo daily, but every time it's clicked it sends a 600 K-byte HTTP request for images to a victim's Web site. Photo of the Day is still listed on Facebook, with its authorship attributed to Andreas Makridakis, one of the researchers. The application has 514 active users now, with several comments praising it. The study was published by the Foundation for Research and Technology in Heraklion, Greece, and the Institute for Infocomm Research in Singapore." [+] facebook, it, security(tagging beta) Read More... 108 comments it.slashdot.org News: 5 Years of RIAA Filesharing Lawsuits Posted by CmdrTaco on Friday September 05, @05:37PM from the at-least-we-have-lots-of-stories dept.  NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "David Kravets of Wired.com, who provided in-person gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Capitol v. Thomas trial last year, takes stock of the RIAA's 5-year-old litigation campaign, concluding it is 'at a crossroads', and noting that 'billions of copies of copyrighted songs are now changing hands each year on file sharing services. All the while, some of the most fundamental legal questions surrounding the legality of file sharing have gone unanswered. Even the future of the RIAA's only jury trial victory — against Minnesota mother Jammie Thomas — is in doubt. Some are wondering if the campaign has shaped up as an utter failure.'" [+] court, yesithas, riaa, mafiaa(tagging beta) Read More... 139 comments news.slashdot.org < Yesterday's News > //#fad6\{position:absolute; top: 0; right: 0; z-index: 10000; border-left: 1em solid #fff; border-bottom: 1em solid #fff;\}#slashboxes \{ clear: none; margin-top: 320px;\} #indexhead \{padding-right: 110px;\}#art1,#art2, #slink1, #slink1 .comments,#slink2, #slink2 .comments \{margin-right: 110px \}#slink1 .comments, #slink2 .comments \{ _margin-right: 110px \!important; \}')} //]]> Search I know it all. I just can't remember it all at once. All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest © 1997-2008 SourceForge, Inc. home awards contribute story older articles sourceforge, inc. advertise about terms of service privacy faq rss pageTracker._trackPageview();  |
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