SecretSauce - Slashdot User

Dying Man Shares Unseen Challenger Video 266

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday February 02, 2010 @12:27PM from the new-perspective-on-an-old-tragedy dept.

longacre writes "An amateur video of the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger explosion has been made public for the first time. The Florida man who filmed it from his front yard on his new Betamax camcorder turned the tape over to an educational organization a week before he died this past December. The Space Exploration Archive has since published the video into the public domain in time for the 24th anniversary of the catastrophe. Despite being shot from about 70 miles from Cape Canaveral, the shuttle and the explosion can be seen quite clearly. It is unclear why he never shared the footage with NASA or the media. NASA officials say they were not aware of the video, but are interested in examining it now that it has been made available."

Best Mouse For Programming? 569

Posted by timothy on Thursday July 09, 2009 @05:14PM from the keep-it-away-from-cigarettes-and-drugs dept.

LosManos writes "Which is the best programming mouse? Mandatory musts are wireless, and that it doesn't clog up like old mechanical mice. Present personal preferences are for: lots of buttons, since if I have moved my hand away from the keyboard I can at least do something more than move the pointer; sturdy feeling; not too light, so it doesn't move around by me accidentally looking at it." What would you recommend?

The Science of the Lightsaber 197

Posted by samzenpus on Monday November 17, 2008 @12:08PM from the the-force dept.

Smartcowboy writes "Chances are that you have seen a lightsaber at one time or another, whether on the evening news or down at the local cantina. Therefore you know that a lightsaber is an amazing and versatile device that is able to cut through nearly anything in a matter of milliseconds. Have you ever wondered how these remarkable weapons work? Where does the energy come from, and how are they able to contain that energy in a rod-like column of glowing power? In this article, you will have a chance to look inside a lightsaber and discover the source of its incredible characteristics." I was sure the blade was made from the focused hate and disappointment of the last three movies.

Journal Journal: Golf pro suing Florida company over Wikipedia article 16

Journal by rfc1394 on Thursday March 01, 2007 @07:47PM

As noted in this article in Linux Insider , Fuzzy Zoeller is suing a Florida Company because apparently an article containing allegedly libelous information about the golf professional was posted to Wikipedia from an IP address assigned to their company. Zoeller, under a John Doe pseudonym (which was discovered by the Miami Herald), was suing t

Blizzard Exposes Detailed WoW Character Data 233

Posted by Zonk on Thursday March 01, 2007 @07:28PM from the seatec-astronomy dept.

Gavin Scott writes "Blizzard has introduced a new web site called the Armory which lets you get information on any World of Warcraft character, extracted from their live databases, in near real-time. This exposes a great deal of information that was not previously obtainable including profession choices, skill levels for all skills, and the character's complete talent specification and all faction reputation data, along with all gear currently equipped. The complete roster of any guild or arena team is also available. Some players are upset about this, such as arena PvP teams who now have all their gear and talent choices exposed to the world, or players with non-standard or less-popular talent choices who fear they will have difficulty getting into pickup groups now that people can instantly find out everything about them. Are these complaints fair? Blizzard claims to own all the data and the characters, but at what point does this data represent personal choices and information about their players which would be covered by their own privacy policy? In a virtual society, should people be able to present a view of themselves that differs from (virtual) reality, or should all details be exposed?"

Comment Sigh...PKI REPLACEMENT? (Score 1) 49

by SecretSauce on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @08:34PM (#18090292) Attached to: Digital Credentials Offer Enhanced Privacy

Is PKI that broken that we already need a replacement? Seems to do the job for me...

Copyright Study Group Seeks Comments 45

Posted by Hemos on Monday April 03, 2006 @11:00AM from the single-copyright-group-likes-walks-on-beach-romantic-ip-discussion dept.

jeh0bu writes "The Section 108 Study Group, a group of copyright experts, has been meeting to discuss Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law. It is focusing on preservation of websites and access to digital copies of library materials. Representatives of Internet Archive, including Brewster Kahle, went to the group's public roundtable sessions in March. Google did not register to attend the roundtable sessions even though the findings of the Section 108 Study Group may impact Google's Library Project. The Section 108 Study Group seeks written comments through April 17, 2006, according to this Federal Register notice."

Plans For .xxx Domain For p0rn Scrapped 361

Posted by Hemos on Monday April 03, 2006 @10:25AM from the back-to-surfing-google-images dept.

William Robinson writes "ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has once again scrapped the plan for a new internet "domain" .xxx for pornography. Supporters of the .xxx address suffix argued that it would have helped to protect children and others from accidental exposure to internet pornography, particularly if stronger filters were used to screen out explicit material from other internet domains. Pressure from conservative Christian groups in the US, which has a veto over the internet addressing system, led the organisation last year to put off introducing a new ".xxx" domain for pornography on the internet. That drew international complaints that the US exercised too much power over the internet and added to a European-backed movement to shift control of the online medium to an international group."

Election Commission Takes a Light Touch With Net Regs 102

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Saturday March 25, 2006 @08:08AM from the shuffling-paperwork dept.

CNet is reporting that the Federal Election Commission released a 96-page volume of internet regulations last Friday. From the article: "The rules [PDF] say that paid Web advertising, including banner ads and sponsored links on search engines, will be regulated like political advertising in other types of media. They also say bloggers can enjoy the freedoms of traditional news organizations when endorsing a candidate or engaging in political speech.

Movie Theaters Aim for Live 3D Sports 150

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Saturday March 25, 2006 @05:28AM from the maybe-try-movies-that-don't-suck dept.

teutonic_leech writes "ZDNet has an article claiming that movie theater operators plan to be screening live 3D sports events by 2007 in a bid to lure sports fans away from their home theater systems and bolster sagging mid-week ticket sales." From the article: "Other chains are looking to much-improved digital three-dimensional projection for an experience theatergoers can't get at home. But while the projection has greatly advanced from the early 3D days, special glasses must still be worn to achieve the full effect."

Judge May Force Google to Submit to Feds 418

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday March 14, 2006 @07:01PM from the lubricious-embankment dept.

illeism writes "News.com is reporting that a California judge may force Google to give the feds at least some of the information it wanted. The feds may get some of Google's index of sites but none of the user search terms. From the article, the judge said he was 'reluctant to give the Justice Department everything it wanted because of the "perception by the public that this is subject to government scrutiny" when they type search terms into Google.com.'"

Seven-Ounce Linux 'Wrist PC' 250

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday March 14, 2006 @06:14PM from the sweet-now-can-I-get-it-implanted dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A European research and development firm has announced a seven-ounce, wrist-worn wearable computer with a 2.2 x 2.8-inch color touchscreen. Eurotech's WWPC (wrist-worn PC) runs Linux or Windows, offers a wealth of standard PC interfaces (WLAN, Bluetooth, IrDA, USB, SD-card, etc), and has patented technology that puts the device to sleep when the user drops their arm. It can detect motionless user states, and serve as a location-transmitting beacon, thanks to a built-in GPS receiver and 'dead reckoning' technology. The company also claims six hours of battery life under 'fully operational' conditions."

Supercomputer Performs Simulation of Virus 230

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday March 14, 2006 @05:32PM from the tomatoes-can-sleep-better-at-night dept.

moller writes to tell us Red Herring is reporting that researchers from the University of California at Irvine and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have announced that they created a computer simulation of a virus. From the article: "Using one of the world's fastest computers at the U.S. National Center for Supercomputing Applications, located at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the researchers ran a computer program devised to reverse engineer the dynamics of all atoms making up the virus particle and a tiny drop of water containing it." Nature also has an interesting write up on the research surrounding this project.

Should You Pre-Compile Binaries or Roll Your Own? 301

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday March 14, 2006 @05:11PM from the home-rolled-happiness dept.

Jane Walker writes "The completion of pre-compiled packages and maximizing machine performance are two powerful incentives for Windows admins to use Linux and compile an OSS package." TechTarget has an article taking a look at some of the "why" behind rolling your own. What preferences have other Slashdot users developed, and why?

Linux Servers Break out of HPC into Enterprise 66

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday March 14, 2006 @04:46PM from the rooting-for-the-underpenguin dept.

Jane Walker writes "Watch out, IBM, Dell and HP. Linux server vendors that have carved out a space in high-performance computing markets are taking their tailor-made servers into new enterprise markets, providing a welcome change for businesses that want to save money and get customized products."

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