Amanda - Slashdot User

Cellphones Leapfrog Poor Infrastructure in Mali 102

Posted by Zonk on Saturday February 02, 2008 @05:32PM from the twenty-first-century-meets-the-seventeenth dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "CBC News has up an article by Peace Corps volunteer Heidi Vogt, a woman who served in the small village of Gono in Mali five years ago and remembers letters dictated and hand-carried by donkey cart or bicycle to the next town. Vogt recently returned to see the changes that cellphone communications have made in a village that still doesn't have electricity or decent drinking water. 'Gono's elders say the phones can keep them in touch with their village diaspora,' writes Vogt. 'Villagers depend on far-off relatives to send money in time of crisis — if someone is sick, if a house has caught fire, if there's been too little or too much rain and the harvest is poor. There's a new sense of connection to a larger world. In a village where most people can't read or write, they can now communicate directly with far-off relatives.'"

Mega-D Botnet Overtakes Storm, Accounts for 32% of Spam 115

Posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday February 02, 2008 @03:23PM from the yes-tell-me-more-about-how-my-junk-is-small dept.

Stony Stevenson writes "The new Mega-D Botnet has overtaken the notorious Storm worm botnet as the largest single source of the world's spam according to security vendor Marshal. This botnet currently accounts for 32 percent of all spam, 11 percent more than the Storm botnet which peaked at 21 percent in September 2007. It started about 4 months ago but has been steadily increasing since then. It is also using news headlines to trick victims into opening the spam, a technique synonymous with the Storm worm."

How One Clumsy Ship Caused A Major Net Outtage 264

Posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday February 02, 2008 @12:23PM from the just-redial-the-modem dept.

Ant writes "Here is an interesting world map of various Internet connections, showing how it took just one vessel to inflict the damage that brought down the internet for millions."

Sperm Made From Female Bone Marrow, Men Obsolete? 459

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Saturday February 02, 2008 @07:22AM from the what-some-women-have-been-saying-for-years dept.

Shaitan Apistos writes "British scientists have discovered a way to turn female bone marrow into sperm, allowing women to reproduce without the need of male companionship. All children born of this method would be female, due the lack Y chromosomes, and there is high chance of birth defects. Eggs also can be created from male bone marrow, but men looking to reproduce would still need to find a surrogate mother to handle the gestation period. I'd like to take a moment to welcome our new amazonian overlords and remind them that men are still very good at mowing lawns and fixing cars."

TiVO Patent Upheld, Dish May Have to Disable DVR 235

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Saturday February 02, 2008 @01:31AM from the warped-decisions dept.

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a ruling by a lower court that Dish Network DVRs infringe upon TiVO's patent on a 'multimedia time warping system'. According to some analysts, this could not only make Dish liable for damages, it could force them to shut down their DVR service, harming their customers. The patent in question has already been reexamined once and the ruling on appeal (PDF) was unanimous."

TSA Opens Blog — You Can Finally Complain 370

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday February 01, 2008 @09:17PM from the wretched-hive-of-scum-and-villainy dept.

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "The TSA has opened their own blog. According to Ars Technica, it's beginning to attract complaints from people who are sick of removing their shoes and having to forfeit their drinks. 'The blog's first post has 131 comments so far, almost all of which fall into one of two categories: TSA employees who got the internal memo about the blog launch and dropped by to post positive things, and citizens who are really mad about the liquids screening policy.'"

Comment Ah, lovely Newark (Score 1) 320

by supz on Friday September 16, 2005 @11:25AM (#13576276) Attached to: Missing Lab Mice Infected With Plague

It makes me feel all warm and tingly inside, that I go to school at NJIT, which is essentially across the street from where these mice were released. It's also great that their escape seems to coincide exactly with the beginning of the Fall semester.

The one thing that comforts me, is that the mice will either be shot in a gang related incident, or become drug addicts, before they are able to spread their tasty payload... This also gives me a good excuse to not go to class.

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