Comment Re:Ow. Was not aware... (Score 1) 284
Perhaps the gibberish is created by a program he wrote?
Given the design of his OS, it may be unintentionally dumping crap into his online comments.
Submission + - How litigation only spurred on P2P file sharing (itnews.com.au)
littlekorea writes: The growth in peer-to-peer file sharing surged in response to efforts by the content industry to litigate over the past decade, according to a new study by a researcher at Melbourne's Monash University. Dr Rebecca Giblin explains why 'physical world' assumptions don't apply to the online world.
Journal Journal: Comment Families (Threads)
As my colleagues are working to improve the comment system, I'm thinking about it. I had an idea today, and I'd love to hear what anybody reading my journal thinks about it:
Would it be useful to have a control that would either expand or collapse all of a comments ancestors, descendants, or siblings?
So, what do you think?
Submission + - Facebook Settles With FTC To Make New Privacy Chan (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Facebook has reached an agreement with the FTC to make all future changes to privacy settings opt-in, presumably including new features with their own privacy controls. The Wall Street Journal wrote that the social network was nearing a settlement on the issue and now its Marketplace editor Dennis K. Berman says that settlement is for new privacy controls to be opt in. The agreement could limit Facebook’s ability to drive adoption of new features, as they won’t be able to immediately go viral. Users rarely visit their privacy settings, so Facebook will need to devise a way to get them to do so.
Submission + - Mexican Cartel Beheads Bloggers (chron.com)
sanzibar writes: The Zeta's killed and beheaded an Internet blogger Wednesday in Nuevo Laredo, the fourth slaying in the city involving people associated with social media sites since early September.
"This happened to me for not understanding that I shouldn't report on the social networks," advised a note left before dawn with the man's body at a key intersection in the city's wealthier neighborhood.
The victim, identified on social networking sites only by his nickname — Rascatripas or Belly Scratcher — reportedly helped moderate a site called En Vivo that posted news of shootouts and other activities of the Zetas, the narcotics and extortion gang that all but controls the city....
"This happened to me for not understanding that I shouldn't report on the social networks," advised a note left before dawn with the man's body at a key intersection in the city's wealthier neighborhood.
The victim, identified on social networking sites only by his nickname — Rascatripas or Belly Scratcher — reportedly helped moderate a site called En Vivo that posted news of shootouts and other activities of the Zetas, the narcotics and extortion gang that all but controls the city....
Submission + - Physical input devices for developers? 1
paysonwelch writes: "Dear Slashdot, All I want for Christmas is.. Just joking. I am a developer and entrepreneur and I am considering developing a very graphically rich and custom interface for my latest application which does charting and analysis of large data sets. The application would feature lots of gauges, knobs and levers. As I was thinking about this I said to myself, why not hook up physical knobs and levers to my computer to control my application instead of designing them in 2D bitmaps? This could potentially save screen space and provide tactile feedback, and a new way of interacting digitally with one's application and data. So my question is whether or not anyone out there has advice for building a custom solution, perhaps starting with a mixing board, or if there are any pre-fab kits / controllers for achieving this?"
Submission + - What's keeping you on Windows? (slashdot.org) 11
tearmeapart writes: "It may be time again for another discussion/flamewar on the reasons why a lot of us are (still) using Microsoft. The last big discussion on Slashdot was close to 10 years ago, and a lot has changed since then:
- Windows XP and 7 have proven to be stable (and memories of Windows ME are mostly gone)
- There are many more distributions for Linux, esepecially commercial options
- Distributions like Ubuntu and CentOS have made GNU/Linux more friendly
- Options for word processing, spreadsheets, etc. have grown
- Apple and their products have changed considerably. However, their philosophy has not seemed to changed.
- Microsoft Silverlight came and is on the way out.
- Wine and solutions like Transgaming have matured.
However, many things have not changed, like the Microsoft FUD war, the BSDs' installation UI, and the sky is the limit for Linux (except when it comes to the year of the Linux desktop).
So... why are a lot of us still using Windows? What would it take for us to switch?"
Submission + - The Universe is Ending (lego.com)
CmdrStone writes: The Universe is Ending in the eyes of Lego. Cheap pun I know.
"We are very sad to announce that LEGO Universe will be closing on Janurary 31, 2012. This was a very difficult decision to make, but unfortunately LEGO Universe has not been able to attract the number of members needed to keep the game open. "
Bummer. I enjoyed playing this game with my kids. Open sourcing the game would be nice.
"We are very sad to announce that LEGO Universe will be closing on Janurary 31, 2012. This was a very difficult decision to make, but unfortunately LEGO Universe has not been able to attract the number of members needed to keep the game open. "
Bummer. I enjoyed playing this game with my kids. Open sourcing the game would be nice.
Submission + - First National Test of Emergency Alert System Fail (businessinsider.com) 2
An anonymous reader writes: The first full-scale test of the National Emergency Alert System failed on Tuesday at 2 PM. Some radio and television networks did not air any alert, while the performance of others was inconsistent.
"Some DirectTV customers reported hearing Lady Gaga's “Paparazzi” play during the test. Some Comcast subscribers saw their cable boxes turn to QVC before the alert, while Time Warner Cable customers in New York did not see any alert at all."
Surprised there hasn't been more about this.
"Some DirectTV customers reported hearing Lady Gaga's “Paparazzi” play during the test. Some Comcast subscribers saw their cable boxes turn to QVC before the alert, while Time Warner Cable customers in New York did not see any alert at all."
Surprised there hasn't been more about this.
Submission + - Android And The GPL: Lawyer Continues Crusade (itworld.com) 1
jfruhlinger writes: "Edward Naughton has been insisting for months that Android violates the GPL because Google created a new set of Linux kernel headers that it hasn't released the source code for, despite the fact that it incorporates open source code. While numerous commentators, including those who helped write the kernel headers, claimed this code isn't copyrightable, Naughton in persisting in his crusade, saying that the questions need to be resolved in court for the good of the open source movement."
Submission + - How Cell Phone Money Laundering Works (net-security.org)
Orome1 writes: In Russia, most cell phone SIM cards are prepaid. One of the major Russian operators offers a legal service that allows anyone to transfer the prepaid amount of money from a SIM card to a bank account, a credit card, another cell phone number (via a text message) or to express money transfer service Unistream. This particular service is heavily misused by cyber crooks who use it to launder money collected through ransomware campaigns, mobile malware and SMS scam campaigns. Kaspersky Lab's Denis Maslennikov takes us though the steps of each of these types of scams and shares insights into the shady economy that has sprung up due to cyber criminals' need to get their hand on the collected money without leaving a direct trail.
Comment Re:stupid (Score 1) 518
Except that if you're skeptical of the government on this one, then a picture of a corpse won't help your skepticism one little bit, or at least it shouldn't.
That is true, however they had better have taken pictures and put them in the archives. If they are going to lie, we should at least ensure that their lies are recorded and available to historians. A FOIA request to verify that there are photos, and they look legit, is appropriate.
Comment Re:If only they had broken it up! (Score 1) 289
Then only one company (at most) would have had Balmer as a CEO....
- a Microsoft shareholder
PS: and none of the mini-microsofts would have paid 8 BILLION for F'ing Skype!
It is comforting to know that even microsoft shareholders can see Microsoft is paying a lot of money to fuck Skype.
Submission + - Alabama Nuclear Reactor Gets "F" Grade (cbsnews.com)
GatorSnake writes: The US Federal government issued a rare red finding against an Alabama nuclear power plant after an emergency cooling system failure. Does this further erode the argument that Fukushima was just an isolated incident in the "modern" nuclear power age?
Submission + - Google Engineers Deny Hack Exploited Chrome (computerworld.com)
CWmike writes: "Several Google security engineers have countered claims that a French security company, Vupen, found a vulnerability in Chrome that could let attackers hijack Windows PCs running the company's browser. Instead, those engineers said the bug Vupen exploited to hack Chrome was in Adobe's Flash, which Google has bundled with the browser for over a year. Google's official position, however, has not changed since Vupen said it had sidestepped not only the browser's built-in 'sandbox' but also by evading Windows 7's integrated anti-exploit technologies. But others who work for Google were certain that at least one of the flaws Vupen exploited was in Flash's code, not Chrome's. 'As usual, security journalists don't bother to fact check,' said Tavis Ormandy, a Google security engineer, in a tweet earlier Wednesday. 'Vupen misunderstood how sandboxing worked in Chrome, and only had a Flash bug.' Chris Evans, a Google security engineer and Chrome team lead, tweeted, 'It's a legit pwn, but if it requires Flash, it's not a Chrome pwn.'"
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