pdragon04 - Slashdot User

SpaceX Aims To Put Man On Mars In 10-20 Years 271

Posted by samzenpus on Monday April 25, 2011 @08:02AM from the mars-needs-astronauts dept.

An anonymous reader writes "SpaceX hopes to put an astronaut on Mars within 10 to 20 years. From the article: '"We'll probably put a first man in space in about three years," Elon Musk told the Wall Street Journal Saturday. "We're going all the way to Mars, I think... best case 10 years, worst case 15 to 20 years."'"

OpenOffice.org To Be Given Back To the Community 219

Posted by Soulskill on Friday April 15, 2011 @03:47PM from the that's-what-it's-all-about dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Oracle has stated they will give back the OpenOffice.org productivity suite to the community. Edward Screven, Oracle's Chief Corporate Architect, said the company intends upon 'working immediately with community members to further the continued success of Open Office.' Because there was a 'breadth of interest in free personal productivity applications,' the company believes the OpenOffice.org project would be 'best managed by an organization focused on serving that broad constituency on a non-commercial basis.'"

Ask Slashdot: Huge Digital Media Libraries 361

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday March 21, 2011 @10:43AM from the need-more-tbs dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Like many slashdotters, I have several TB of digital media: music, books, movies, tv shows, games, comics, you name it. I've put it all in a few HDs, but handling it all has proven to be less than optimal. I'm covered when it comes to music, since [pretty much any music player/library manager] allows me to quickly find songs by interpreter, album, genre... For everything else, all I have is a series of hierarchical folder structures, but hierarchies have limitations. I can find Blade Runner easily, but what if I wanted all of Scott Ridley's films? Where is 'Good Omens', in the Terry Pratchett folder or in Neil Gaiman's? Furthermore, in a collection with hundreds of similar items, it would help to have some extra clues such as covers (for comic books) or synopsis for TV shows' episodes. Do you have any software to help you handle digital media libraries? Specialized software (say, something that only work for comics, something else for movies), or generic media libraries? Opensource alternatives are preferred, but commercial software is fine as well."

Drizzle Hits General Availability 146

Posted by timothy on Thursday March 17, 2011 @04:43PM from the general-availability-turns-up-face-in-wonder dept.

snydeq writes "MySQL fork Drizzle has been released for general availability, giving companies a viable alternative to Oracle-owned MySQL, InfoWorld reports. 'Organizations that have been seeking a less-expensive alternative to Oracle's brand of MySQL — or a variant devoid of feature bloat — now have an option that Drizzle's creators deem ready to package in Linux distributions.'"

Anonymous Goes After GodHatesFags.com 744

Posted by timothy on Friday February 18, 2011 @07:59PM from the will-change-the-church's-facebook-relationship-status dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Anonymous is now recognised as a serious force to be taken seriously, but its activities aren't confined to mass global protests, as the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, is discovering, according to p2pnet. Says the Examiner, 'Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church is infamous for their "Love Crusades," obnoxious displays of insensitivity and homophobia at the funerals of fallen American soldiers. The controversial if monotone message of the "Love Crusade" seems to be to blame everything that is wrong in the world on homosexuality. The crusades are part of a hate-based mission started in Kansas by the WBC and Fred Phelps.' In an open letter on AnonNews, 'We, the collective super-consciousness known as ANONYMOUS – the Voice of Free Speech & the Advocate of the People – have long heard you issue your venomous statements of hatred, and we have witnessed your flagrant and absurd displays of inimitable bigotry and intolerant fanaticism,' says Anonymous, stating 'Should you ignore this warning, you will meet with the vicious retaliatory arm of ANONYMOUS.'"

Comment Re:What did I miss? (Score 3, Informative) 185

by pdragon04 on Thursday February 03, 2011 @10:51AM (#35090114) Attached to: Internet Groups To Stream Live IPv4/6 Announcement

You missed a token ceremony of them handing out the last IPv4 pools to the RIRs. That's it. It was like a cheesy award ceremony

Submission + - Wikileaks Nominated for 2011 Nobel Peace Prize 3

Submitted by mvar on Wednesday February 02, 2011 @10:47AM

mvar writes: Whistle-blower site WikiLeaks has been nominated for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize by a Norwegian politician who cited its role in freedom of speech, news agency NTB reported Wednesday. "WikiLeaks is one of this century's most important contributors to freedom of speech and transparency," parliamentarian Snorre Valen said in his nomination. Valen cited WikiLeaks role in disclosing the assests of Tunisia's former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his nearest family, contributing to the protests that forced them into exile.

Submission + - Comcast-NBC merger approved by FCC 1

Submitted by

AndyAndyAndyAndy

on Tuesday January 18, 2011 @04:35PM

AndyAndyAndyAndy writes: "It seems that the FCC has approved the proposed merger between Comcast and NBC, effectively kicking apart hopes for protection against "pipes and their water" frameworks. Pres. Obama's 2008 goal also goes ignored: "I strongly favor diversity of ownership of outlets and protection against the excessive concentration of power in the hands of any one corporation, interest or small group." The Dept. of Justice is also onboard, leaving little hope that this will be stopped."

Smartphones For Text SSH Use Re-Revisited 359

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday January 06, 2011 @10:33AM from the serious-business dept.

Kainaw writes "This was asked in 2005 and 2008. I think it should be revisited yet again... With iPhone, Android, and Windows smartphones running around, which (if any) of them are well-suited to Unix/Linux server administration on the run? SSH is a must. A good screen resolution. A physical keyboard won't block the screen with a virtual keyboard. Many physical keyboards omit the numeric keys now, making the typing of numbers rather difficult. Nearly every smartphone has WiFi capability now. Some will do an X display through SSH tunnelling. So, pushing through all the bells and whistles that have nothing to do with effective server administration, what is left?"

Comment Re:MSE vs. AdAware (Score 1) 175

by pdragon04 on Monday December 20, 2010 @02:06PM (#34617946) Attached to: Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 Released

Adaware has become a bloated mess that I've avoided for several years now. That and its horrid detection rating at anything besides advertising cookies. Bloatware seems to be the trend in all anti-malware software the longer it's out. I'm impressed with MSE so far, and it is my current software of choice for my residential customers. Time will tell if it goes the same way as all the others.

Comment Re:Sad (Score 1) 311

by pdragon04 on Friday December 17, 2010 @12:19PM (#34588474) Attached to: Yahoo! To Close Delicious

If it doesn't do what you need to do, don't pay and move along.

Comment Re:Sad (Score 1) 311

by pdragon04 on Friday December 17, 2010 @11:46AM (#34587962) Attached to: Yahoo! To Close Delicious

Just signed up for pinboard myself. Was up to $8.12 and in the short time I signed up went up another 2 cents when I went back to look again. They've got a heavy traffic notice on their site as well. So looks like one company's failure may be this company's boon! Seems like they did everything Delicious did for me before and little more. Thanks for the suggestion!

The Year In Robot News 38

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday December 16, 2010 @03:38AM from the everything-that's-fit-to-print dept.

itwbennett writes "Who loves robots? You may love them more or less after seeing what 2010 gave us, robot-wise. It's not the rise of the machines yet, but that teddy bear creeped us out."

Xbox Modding Trial Dismissed 179

Posted by Soulskill on Friday December 03, 2010 @01:28AM from the game-over dept.

It seems the harsh words from District Court Judge Philip Gutierrez on Wednesday had their intended effect; prosecutors in Matthew Crippen's Xbox modding case have now dismissed the indictment. Quoting Wired: "Witness No. 1, Tony Rosario, was an undercover agent with the Entertainment Software Association. He told jurors Wednesday that he paid Crippen $60 in 2008 to modify an Xbox, and secretly videotaped the operation. Rosario had responded to Crippen’s advertisement on the internet and met Crippen at his Anaheim house. All of that had been laid out in pretrial motions. But during his testimony, Rosario also said Crippen inserted a pirated video game into the console to verify that the hack worked. That was a new detail that helped the government meet an obligation imposed by the judge that very morning, when Gutierrez ruled that the government had to prove Crippen knew he was breaking the law by modding Xboxes. But nowhere in Rosario’s reports or sworn declarations was it mentioned that Crippen put a pirated game into the console. ... [Prosecutor Allen Chiu] conceded he never forwarded that information to the defense."

US May Disable All Car Phones, Says Trans. Secretary 1065

Posted by timothy on Thursday November 18, 2010 @05:33PM from the oh-gee-big-brother-that'd-be-swell dept.

gambit3 writes "The US government may require cars to include scrambling tech that would disable mobile-phone use by drivers, and perhaps passengers. 'I think it will be done,' US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said on Wednesday morning. 'I think the technology is there and I think you're going to see the technology become adaptable in automobiles to disable these cell phones.' LaHood is on a self-described 'rampage' against distracted driving, and if making it impossible to use a mobile phone while in a car can save lives, he's all for it."

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