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Cloud

Ask Slashdot: What Will IT Look Like In 10 Years? 444

Posted by Soulskill from the reply-cloudy-ask-again dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The IT industry is a lot different than it was 10 years ago; it underwent a huge boom in terms of labor and services required to keep up with the times. Now, we are entering a consolidation phase. The cloud makes it easier for companies to host e-mail, so now instead of organizations having their own Exchange guy, they will outsource it to the cloud. Instead of having a bunch of network engineers, they will deploy wireless and no longer need cabling or current levels of network engineering services. What do you think the long-term consequences of this will be? What skills do you think will be useful in 10 years? Is IT going to put its own out of work, like we did with the post office and libraries?"
Politics

Submission + - UK to switch off £235m child database (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by wdef
wdef writes: The UK's controversial ContactPoint database is actually being switched off! It's rare that we hear anything this sensible from government about an expensive, privacy-destroying, 'think of the children' solution: (quote)The government argued the system was disproportionate to the problem, so is looking at developing other solutions.(unquote). Perhaps the UK coalition government really is winding back Big Brother, as they had promised to do? Does seem unlikely.
Security

Doom-Like Video Surveillance For Ports In Development 56

Posted by Soulskill from the hurt-me-plenty dept.
oranghutan writes "A research and development group down under is working to develop an advanced video surveillance system for ports around the world that uses video superimposed onto a 3D map. With 16-megapixel high-definition cameras on a distributed (cabled) network and a proprietary system written in a variety of languages (C++, Python, SQL, etc.), the group from NICTA is aiming to allow security teams at the Port of Brisbane — which is 110km long — to monitor shipping movements, cargo and people. By scrolling along a 3D map, the security teams can click on a location and then get a real-time video feed superimposed onto the map. Authorities from around the world with the right permissions can then access the same system. The main difference from regular surveillance systems is the ability to switch views without having to know camera numbers/locations and the one screen view."

What Free IDE Do You Use? 1055

Posted by kdawson from the ides-of-may dept.
postermmxvicom writes "I program only occasionally and mostly for personal interest. I went to update my favorite free IDE, Dev C++, yesterday and noticed that it had not been updated since 2005! I went looking for other free IDEs and came across Code::Blocks and Visual Studio Express. I work from a Windows machine, use C++, and make mostly console apps; but have written a few Windows apps and D3D or OpenGL apps. I wanted to know what free IDEs you use and recommend. What do you like about them? What features do they lack? What about them irritate you (and what do you do to work around these annoyances)? For instance, when I used Visual C++ 6.0 in college, there was an error in getline that had to be fixed, and the code indenting in DevC++ needed to be tweaked to suit my liking."
Social Networks

Social Networking Behavioral Agreements At Work? 326

Posted by kdawson from the in-case-they-need-another-reason-to-fire-you dept.
r0nc0 writes "My company (a Fortune 15 company) has recently required everyone that accesses the company portal to accept or decline an 'agreement' that governs the use of social networking. It basically states that any discussion of the company or any of the work that you do, whether at the office or at home, must be governed by their rules of social networking. Naturally these rules are that you never say anything bad or negative about the company, nor do you say anything bad or negative about anything. It's presented like a EULA, but if you decline more than 3 times your manager is notified. Naturally I declined it each time until my manager complained to me about all the email he was getting about me not accepting the agreement, so I went ahead and accepted, knowing that anybody who cares would just post anonymously anyway. This is the first time I've run into a forced agreement about social networking, and the agreement is so broad that it can't possibly be enforced. I've tried pointing out that agreements like that only drive people away and aren't necessary anyway, but I might as well talk to a brick wall. Has anyone else out there run into social networking behavioral agreements like this?"
Microsoft

Microsoft Raises $3.8B in Bond Sale 437

Posted by kdawson from the name-is-bond-cheap-bond dept.
pfleming writes "Microsoft quietly, or not so quietly, raised some cheap cash in bond sales yesterday. For a company that already has a huge cash war chest and doesn't carry debt, what is the incentive to sell nearly $4 billion in bonds? From the article: 'Microsoft is sitting on $25 billion in cash, so the company doesn't need the bond proceeds "unless they have something big in mind," says Reena Aggarwal, professor of finance at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.'"
User Journal

Journal Journal: Case Study: Brazilian Hotmail users mark as spam wrongly

Journal by madleo

ABSTRACT

This simple case study serves to prove that brazilian Hotmail users are marking messages as SPAM when they just want to remove a message.

IDENTIFICATION OF THE PROBLEM

This problem was identified after we started receiving messages from the Hotmail Junk Mail Reporting program. We noticed that our paid subscribers were taking and accepting job alert email as unsolicited (junk), when they actually pay to receive this kind of message.

Feed Air Force turns 'pain gun' on AP reporter (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

We're all quite familiar with the Air Force's so-called 'pain gun' by now -- the millimeter wave weapon that gives targets an unbearable, full-body burning sensation and that may or may not have been recommended for testing on Americans by branch secretary Wynn -- but can you ever really 'know' a crowd control device without seeing it in action? Thankfully the military doesn't think so, which is why the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program held what must have been a fun-filled media day this past January, highlighted by the screams and flight response of AP reporter and curiously-willing guinea pig Elliot Minor. In the video after the break, you'll see Minor react to a brief encounter with the pain gun, and although he doesn't cry and wet himself like some might expect our colleagues in the MSM to do, he does admit that the weapon is "quite effective." Apparently there are some more vids of the Air Force's new toy bringing the pain on the linked site, but the military must be spending a lot more money on hurting people than web hosting, because the first clip hadn't even loaded by the time we finished this post.

[Via Danger Room]

Continue reading Air Force turns 'pain gun' on AP reporter

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Feed LAPD's blinding new flashlights too light to beat suspects (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

It's kind of sad when one of the main features being touted by the LAPD about its new flashlights is their inability to provide suspects with a good beating, but after that very public 2004 incident in which a motorist took 11 blows from a heavy 'torch,' we guess the new model's light weight is indeed an important selling point. The 10,000 Pelican 7060's that officers will soon begin carrying -- specifically designed for the department of Rodney King fame -- sport two separate power switches, a no-slip 'grenade grip,' cooling fins on the shaft, and 130 lumen LEDs that are said to be capable of momentarily blinding a non-compliant individual. Sounds like good news for criminals and the falsely-accused, but not so great for the cop in the direct path of a raging meth-head; in those situations, we'd take the cold hard steel of our four D battery MagLite over a wimpy Pelican any day of the week.

[Via The New Zealand Herald]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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