skeptobot - Slashdot User

Comment In Soviet Russia LCD screens YOU (Score 1, Interesting) 69

by skeptobot on Sunday October 14, 2007 @02:11PM (#20974877) Attached to: Sharp's Tiny LCD Doubles As Scanner

If you were to put these touchscreens as the primary UI on vending machines, ticket machines, ATMs and the like, you could harvest hundreds of thousands of fingerprints without anybody realizing it. I bet that we'll see more and more companies trying to con people into "use your fingerprint to make calls, pay for your shopping, access your ATM" type of deals. I also bet that these screens will wind up in cellphones as a "standard" feature. You'll be told that you can switch scanning off and use it only as a touchscreen if you like, but who knows whether the scanning function is on or off and whether the phone is sending your biometric data places without your consent or not. This tech is a definite threat to privacy.

Submission + - Satellite images used to monitor Burmese junta

Submitted by BurmesePython on Friday September 28, 2007 @12:54PM

BurmesePython writes: Human rights groups are using high-resolution satellites images to reveal the activities of Burma's junta as it gets tough with pro-democracy protesters. Apparently "it should be easy to spot groups of monks because of their distinctive maroon robes". Like previous efforts to use satellites to monitor the humanitarian crisis in Darfur [slashdot.org], the hope is it will prod the UN and other international actors into putting pressure on the Burmese rulers.

Submission + - 'Floating Bridge' Property of Water Found (physorg.com)

Submitted by

eldavojohn

on Friday September 28, 2007 @10:05AM

eldavojohn writes: "When exposed to high voltage, water does some interesting things. From the article, ' When exposed to a high-voltage electric field, water in two beakers climbs out of the beakers and crosses empty space to meet, forming the water bridge. The liquid bridge, hovering in space, appears to the human eye to defy gravity. Upon investigating the phenomenon, the scientists found that water was being transported from one beaker to another, usually from the anode beaker to the cathode beaker. The cylindrical water bridge, with a diameter of 1-3 mm, could remain intact when the beakers were pulled apart at a distance of up to 25 mm.'"

Submission + - EU thinktank urges full Windows unbundling

Submitted by leffeman on Sunday September 23, 2007 @04:42PM

leffeman writes: An influential Brussels think tank is urging the European Commission to ban the bundling of operating systems with desktop and laptop computers. The Globalisation Institute's submission to the Commission says that bundling 'is not in the public interest' and that the dominance of Windows has 'slowed technical improvements and prevented new alternatives entering from the marketplace.' It says the Microsoft tax is a burden on EU businesses: the price of operating systems would be lower in a competitive market. This is the first time a major free-market think tank has published in favour of taking action against Microsoft's monopoly power.

Submission + - Everything you've read about Vista DRM is lies (zdnet.com) 2

Submitted by

Technical Writing Geek

on Monday September 17, 2007 @05:46PM

Technical Writing Geek writes: "Self-described "professional paranoid" Peter Gutmann of the University of Auckland has become the most widely quoted source of information on DRM and content protection in Windows Vista. The trouble is, Gutmann's work is riddled with factual errors, distortions, contradictions, and outright untruths, and his conclusions are equally wrong.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=299"

Submission + - Microsoft loses anti-trust appeal

Submitted by

Kugrian

on Monday September 17, 2007 @05:55AM

Kugrian writes: "Microsoft has lost its appeal against a record 497m euro (£343m; $690m) fine imposed by the European Commission in a long-running competition dispute. The European Court of First Instance upheld the ruling that Microsoft had abused its dominant market position."

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