Back to newsletter listDate:
Fri, November 30, 2007 11:08:34 PMFrom:
slashdot@slashdot.org
Subject:
[Slashdot] Stories for 2007-12-01
======================================================================
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======================================================================
Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* Carnegie Mellon's Digital Library Exceeds 1.5 Million Books
* Leopard as the New Vista?
* New Nerve Gas Antidotes
* DJB Releases All Source to Public Domain
* Scientists Create Zombie Cockroaches
* Vista Branding Confusing Even To Microsoft
* Swiss DMCA Quietly Adopted
* Egyptian Blogger Silenced by YouTube, Yahoo!
* Game Journalist May Have Been Fired Over Negative Review
* New Way to ID Invisible Intruders on Wireless LANs
* NZ Teen Arrested as 'Spybot Mastermind'
* Is It Time for a 'Kinder, Gentler HTML'?
* Facebook Retreats on Online Tracking
* Media Research Exec Says Music Industry Is On Its Last Legs
* Google Confirms Intent To Bid for 700MHz Spectrum
* Spam Lawsuit's Last Laugh is at Hormel's Expense
* Government-Sponsored Cyberattacks on the Rise
* Google's Gdrive Raises Instant Privacy Concerns
* Oregon AG Seeks to Investigate RIAA Tactics
* AOL, Netflix and the End of Open Research
* Minor Leak Being Investigated Aboard the ISS
* Robot Hand Learns How To Learn From Babies
* How Best Buy Tried To Whip The Geek Squad Into Shape
* Futurama Returns!
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| Carnegie Mellon's Digital Library Exceeds 1.5 Million Books |
| from the might-just-be-enough-to-read dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday November 29, @20:30 (Education) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/29/2048204 |
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cashman73 writes "Most Slashdot readers are probably familiar with
[0]Google's book scanning project, a collaboration with several major
universities to digitize works of literature, art, and science. But
Google may have been beat to the punch this time -- about a decade ago,
[1]Carnegie Mellon University embarked on a project to scan books into
digital format, to be made available online. Today, according to new
reports, they [2]now have a collection of 1.5 million books, the
equivalent of a typical university library, available online."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/29/2048204
Links:
0. http://books.google.com/
1. http://www.cmu.edu/
2. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071127/ap_en_ot/digital_library;_ylt=ApRX78dBwELqXzq2_U2cbGUDW7oF
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| Leopard as the New Vista? |
| from the angry-apple-man-scares-me dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Thursday November 29, @22:12 (OS X) |
| http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/0142216 |
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ninja_assault_kitten writes "There's an interesting rant from Oliver Rist
up on the PC Magazine site. He compares the catastrophe that is Vista to
the recently released OS X Leopard. While clearly one is a lion and the
other a cub, [0]there do appear to be some frustrating similarities. From
the article: 'A month of using Leopard with the same software I had under
Tiger and the OS has dumped six times. That's six cold reboots for
Oliver. Apple isn't even honest enough to admit that Leopard is crashing:
The OS just grays out my desktop and pops up a dialog box telling me I've
got to reboot. Like the whole thing is my fault. I even snapped a picture
of it. After all, I HAD PLENTY OF CHANCES!'"
Discuss this story at:
http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/0142216
Links:
0. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2223921,00.asp
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| New Nerve Gas Antidotes |
| from the i've-never-had-the-nerve dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @00:23 (Biotech) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/0423205 |
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SoyChemist writes "Scientists from Korea and the Czech Republic have
discovered new drugs that can [0]counteract the chemical overload caused
by nerve gas. All of the experimental medications belong to a family of
chemicals called oximes. Those molecules reactivate the enzyme that is
damaged by the chemical weapons. Last year, [1]the FDA approved the first
combined atropine and oxime auto-injector for use by emergency personnel.
Israel has been providing them to their citizens since the first Gulf
War."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/0423205
Links:
0. http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/11/building-a-bett.html
1. http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2006/NEW01473.html
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| DJB Releases All Source to Public Domain |
| from the play-freebird dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @02:07 (Software) |
| http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/0430201 |
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[0]A Sage Developer writes "During a recent conference, [0]Sage Days 6,
Dan Bernstein (who has recently [1]come under attack for his licensing
policy) was among the invited speakers. During a panel discussion on the
future of open source mathematics software, Bernstein declared that
[2]all of his past and future code would be released to the public domain.
This includes [3]qmail, primegen, and a number of other projects. Given
the headache that incompatibility between GPLv3 and GPLv2 is causing
developers, will we see more of this?"
Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/0430201
Links:
0. http://sagemath.org/
1. http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/06/0131227&tid=172
2. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3147768955127254412&hl=en
3. http://cr.yp.to/qmail/dist.html
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| Scientists Create Zombie Cockroaches |
| from the almost-as-good-as-'them' dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @04:16 (Biotech) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/0431246 |
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[0]Reservoir Hill writes "Zombie insects might sound [1]like a B-movie
plot device (quicktime video) but to the emerald cockroach wasp (Ampulex
compressa ), they're a tried and tested way to provide food for their
hungry larvae. The wasp relies on cockroaches for its grisly life cycle
but unlike many venomous predators, which paralyze their victims before
eating them, the wasp's sting leaves the cockroach able to walk, but
[2]unable to initiate its own movement. Researchers have discovered that
the wasps sting the cockroaches once to subdue them, then administer
another, more precise sting right into their victim's brain. The venom
works to block a neurotransmitter called [3]octopamine with a similar
action to dopamine, which is involved in preparations to execute complex
behaviors such as walking. Then the wasp grabs the cockroach's antenna
and leads it back to the nest 'like a dog on a leash', says one
researcher. The team found that they could restore spontaneous walking
behavior in stung cockroaches by giving them a compound that reactivates
octopamine receptors in the insects' central nervous system. Researchers
were also able to create their own zombies by injecting unstung
cockroaches with a compound that blocks the receptors producing a similar
effect to that of the venom."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/0431246
Links:
0. http://reservoirhill.org/
1. http://www.bgu.ac.il/life/Faculty/Libersat/movies/Wasp_movie_short.mpg
2. http://www.nature.com/news/2007/071129/full/news.2007.312.html
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopamine
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Vista Branding Confusing Even To Microsoft |
| from the definition-of-capable dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @06:30 (Microsoft) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/0443256 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Trotti Laganna writes "Lawyers are now arguing [0]a case brought against
Microsoft over Vista's marketing. The software giant is being dinged for
allegedly not telling the truth when it put the 'Vista capable' logo on
PCs that would only be capable of running Vista Home Basic. Case in point
- even the software giant's marketing director Mark Croft was confused by
the pre-launch campaign in the United States. Croft's explanation was
that "'capable'...has an interpretation for many that, in the context of
this program, a PC would be able to run any version of the Windows
operating system". After a 10-minute break to talk to Microsoft's
lawyers, Croft admitted he had made 'an error', and retracted his
previous statement, saying that, by 'capable', Microsoft meant 'able to
run a version of Vista'."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/0443256
Links:
0. http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/business/0,39044229,62035012,00.htm
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Swiss DMCA Quietly Adopted |
| from the nothing-like-sleath-governing dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @07:34 (Government) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/0452206 |
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roady writes "We have seen a lot of talk over the years about [0]the
Canadian DMCA. But few know about the Swiss version recently adopted by
law makers ... not even the Swiss people. The government and media have
been very quiet, probably to avoid a referendum. Indeed, Switzerland is a
direct democracy and if 50,000 citizens sign a referendum, the whole
country will have a chance to vote against the new copyright law. In this
version of the DMCA, sharing a file on P2P networks [1]will land you one
year in jail, even though the law mandates a levy on blank media. The
[2]history of the law is available online."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/0452206
Links:
0. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/29/1523217&tid=266
1. http://www.boingboing.net/2007/11/28/swiss-dmca-coming-do.html
2. http://www.ige.ch/E/jurinfo/j103.shtm
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Egyptian Blogger Silenced by YouTube, Yahoo! |
| from the citizen-journalists-need-credentials-now dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @08:14 (Censorship) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/0448207 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "An Egyptian human rights activist has been
muzzled after [0]YouTube and Yahoo! shut down his accounts. Award-winning
blogger Wael Abbas regularly writes and posts video about police
brutality, torture and sexual harassment in Egypt. One of the videos ?€? of
an Egyptian bus driver being brutalized by an officer ?€? was used as
evidence to convict two members of the police force. That's a rare
occurrence in a country where human-rights groups say torture is rampant.
YouTube said the decision to remove Abbas' videos had nothing to do with
the Egyptian government, but was rather an internal decision."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/0448207
Links:
0. http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/2007/11/youtube_suspends_egyptian_blog.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Game Journalist May Have Been Fired Over Negative Review |
| from the that-was-not-a-move-you-should-have-made dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @08:36 (The Media) |
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/1317259 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
It started as [0]a rumour post on Kotaku and [1]a Penny Arcade comic
strip: reviewer Jeff Gerstmann was fired from the gaming news site
Gamespot for giving the co-op action title Kane and Lynch a low score,
and snarking on the game in the review. The catch? The firing was
dictated by games publisher Eidos, who didn't appreciate the veteran
reviewer's tone in the piece. Their ad campaign (spread across the
entirety of the Gamespot site) may have been used as a bargaining tool of
some kind. Joystiq has [2]a lengthy, detailed summary of this event and
its implications, which is no longer technically a rumour. Gerstmann
confirmed to the blog that he has been let go from the C|Net-affiliated
site, but as of right now can't talk about the details. "The
ramifications of the story, if true, are huge. Readers should fairly
expect there to be an inviolable firewall between advertising and
editorial in journalism, and game journalism (yes, that includes "just
reviews") is no different. While our industry has had its fair share of
accusations of impropriety, nothing so far has been proven beyond a
shadow of a doubt. Giving a publisher the power to fire a senior editor
is a line no outlet should be willing to cross." Update: 11/30 17:40 GMT
by [3]Z : The Joystiq story continues to be updated, and Tycho has put up
[4]what the PA guys heard about the tale in text. Joystiq also has [5]an
additional post about the story, with a brief (noncommittal) response
from Gamespot.
Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/1317259
Links:
0. http://kotaku.com/gaming/rumor/gamespot-editor-fired-over-kane--lynch-review-328244.php
1. http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/11/29
2. http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/30/rumor-gamespots-editorial-director-fired-over-kane-and-lynch-rev/
3. http://slashdot.org/~Zonk/
4. http://www.penny-arcade.com/2007/11/30/
5. http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/30/gamespot-issues-short-comment-on-gerstmann-firing/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| New Way to ID Invisible Intruders on Wireless LANs |
| from the you-have-laboured-to-produce-a-biologic dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @08:45 (Wireless Networking|
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/1325228 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Bergkamp10 writes "Australia's University of Technology in Queensland has
created a groundbreaking new system that can [0]detect invisible
intruders on wireless LANs. Wireless networks have been almost impossible
to thoroughly secure as they possess no clearly defined boundaries,
instead they are defined by the quality and strength of the receiving
antenna. QUT Information Security Institute researcher Dr Jason Smith has
invented a new system to detect eavesdropping on unencrypted networks or
active hijackings of computer sessions when a legitimate user who is
logged onto the network leaves the connection. Smith has created a series
of monitoring techniques that when used together can detect both
attackers and configuration mistakes in network devices."
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/1325228
Links:
0. http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1359088162;fp;16;fpid;1
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NZ Teen Arrested as 'Spybot Mastermind' |
| from the i-was-nowhere-near-this-hard-working-as-a-teen dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @09:21 (Security) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/1334240 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Josh Fink writes "The Guardian has an interesting piece on 'Akill', a
teenager from New Zealand who was [1]the ringleader of a hacking ring.
The economic impact of the ring may have totaled ??9.7m. 'The teenager was
the "head of an international spybot ring that has infiltrated computers
around the world with their malicious software', Martin Kleintjes told
New Zealand national radio ... The FBI estimates that more than 1m
computers have been infected, and puts the combined economic losses at
more than $20m (??9.7m).' Eight people have been charged, pleaded guilty
or have been convicted since June. The FBI really has been putting a
[2]crackdown on botnets / spyware recently."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/1334240
Links:
0. mailto:josh@joshfink.net
1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2219706,00.html
2. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/29/1936220&tid=172
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Is It Time for a 'Kinder, Gentler HTML'? |
| from the because-the-current-one-is-pointy dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @10:01 (The Internet) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/1415235 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
jg21 writes "[0]Via the Web 2.0 Journal, a worthy link to Yahoo!
Architect and JSON inventor [1]Douglas Crockford's latest ideas to fix
HTML. He's categorically not a fan of [2]HTML 5, which is still just an
Editor's Draft and not endorsed by W3C yet. Crock puts forward ten ideas
that in his view would provide extensibility without complexity, adding
that the simplification of HTML he is proposing would reduce the cost of
training of web developers and incorporates the best practices of AJAX
development. From the article: 'The problems with HTML will not be solved
by making it bigger and more complicated. I think instead we should
generalize what it does well, while excising features that are
problematic. HTML can be made into a general application delivery format
without disrupting its original role as a document format.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/1415235
Links:
0. http://web2journal.com/read/468365_p.htm
1. http://www.crockford.com/html/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Facebook Retreats on Online Tracking |
| from the bit-of-anonymity-with-your-breakfast dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @10:43 (Social Networks) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/1422255 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Nrbelex writes "Facebook is [1]reining in some aspects of a
controversial new advertising program, after users became extremely upset
and threatened various 'protests' over [2]possible privacy infringement
issues. 'Late yesterday the company made an important change, saying that
it would not send messages about users' Internet activities without
getting explicit approval each time ... Facebook executives say the
people who are complaining are a marginal minority. With time, Facebook
says, users will accept Beacon, which Facebook views as an extension of
the type of book and movie recommendations that members routinely
volunteer on their profile pages.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/1422255
Links:
0. http://www.flickr.com/photos/nrbelex/
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/technology/30face.html?ex=1354165200&en=f448f8a210da7bdf&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
2. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/25/1534239&tid=267
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Media Research Exec Says Music Industry Is On Its Last Legs |
| from the internet-killed-the-video-star dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @11:25 (The Almighty Buck) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/1520203 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Ponca City, We Love You writes "For years, the major record labels
have fought a pitched battle against the MP3 format. Although major
labels like EMI and the Universal Music Group have embraced MP3s in
recent months, a story from the Mercury News says early returns from
[1]those moves indicate they've had little impact on the industry's
fortunes ?€? for better or for worse. 'These are ailing businesses on their
last legs,' said Eric Garland, chief executive of BigChampagne, a market
research company focused on digital media. The question of copy
protection on song downloads 'matters a whole lot less to them than it
once did.' The industry has a bigger problem. Consumers used to buy CDs
for $10 or $15 a pop. Increasingly, they're buying songs at about $1
apiece instead. So, even if transactions continue to increase, the
industry is seeing far less money each time consumers buy and it's having
a difficult time making up the difference."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/1520203
Links:
0. http://poncacityweloveyou.com/
1. http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_7490437?source=rss_emailed&nclick_check=1
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Google Confirms Intent To Bid for 700MHz Spectrum |
| from the now-maybe-we-move-to-one-standard-yes dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @12:01 (Cellphones) |
| http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/1543255 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]narramissic writes "Today Google put an end to the 'will they or won't
they' debate with the announcement that the company intends to [1]join in
the bidding for 700MHz wireless spectrum in late January. 'We believe
it's important to put our money where our principles are,' Eric Schmidt,
Google's chairman and CEO, said in a statement. 'Consumers deserve more
competition and innovation than they have in today's wireless world. No
matter which bidder ultimately prevails, the real winners of this auction
are American consumers who likely will see more choices than ever before
in how they access the Internet.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/1543255
Links:
0. http://www.itworld.com/
1. http://wireless.itworld.com/4279/071130google700mhz/page_1.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Spam Lawsuit's Last Laugh is at Hormel's Expense |
| from the junk-email-junk-email-eggs-and-junk-email dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @12:43 (Spam) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/1659248 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Brian Cartmell writes "An article at the Minneapolis ?€? StarTribune
site covers a significant setback for the Hormel food company, in a case
that's being closely watched by security companies across the country.
Seattle-based Spam Arrest has gone up against the creator of the food
substance in court, fighting for the right to use the word spam in its
company name. The US Trademark Trial and Appeal board [1]has sided with
the spam fighters, agreeing that consumers of the Spam product would
never confuse the food with junk email. 'Derek Newman, Spam Arrest's
attorney, said the decision opens the door for many other anti-spam
software companies ... "Spam Arrest fought this battle for the whole
software industry," Newman said.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/1659248
Links:
0. http://www.spamarrest.com/
1. http://www.startribune.com/535/story/1579720.html
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| Government-Sponsored Cyberattacks on the Rise |
| from the less-of-a-pr-disaster-too dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @13:23 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/1750229 |
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[0]jbrodkin writes "A new McAfee report finds that 120 countries, notably
the United States and China, are regularly [1]launching Web-based
espionage campaigns. Government-sponsored cyber attacks against enemy
countries are becoming more common, targeting critical systems including
electricity, air traffic control, financial markets and government
computer networks. This year, [2]Russia allegedly attacked Estonian
government news and bank servers, while China was accused of [3]hacking
into the Pentagon. A McAfee researcher says this trend will accelerate,
noting 'it's easier to attack government X's database than it is to nuke
their troops.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/1750229
Links:
0. mailto:jbrodkin@nww.com
1. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/112907-government-cyberattacks.html
2. http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/17/1248215&tid=172
3. http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/03/2319226&tid=172
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Google's Gdrive Raises Instant Privacy Concerns |
| from the yes-encryption-encryption-is-good dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @14:01 (Google) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/189212 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "The rumor mill is already raging over the
potential functionality and capacity for Google's online storage service
[0]we talked about earlier this week (the company says 'it makes sense'
to put all its Web apps under the same umbrella). But [1]Internet rights
advocates are now crying foul over liability issues, a probable lack of
encryption and an cash-cow model that could scan all your personal data
for advertising keywords. From the article: "'Google would be wise to
offer users an option to encrypt your information,' says Nimrod
Kozlovski, a professor of Internet law at Tel Aviv University. 'It really
needs to have really detailed explanations of what the legal expectations
are for storing your info.'""
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/189212
Links:
0. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/27/1313259&tid=217
1. http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4234444.html
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| Oregon AG Seeks to Investigate RIAA Tactics |
| from the investigating-the-mafiaa dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @14:41 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/1910202 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Turning the tables on the RIAA's attempt
to [1]subpoena information from the University of Oregon, that state's
Attorney General [2]has now filed additional papers to conduct immediate
discovery into the RIAA's 'data mining' techniques. These techniques
include the use of unlicensed investigators, the turning over of
subpoenaed information to collection agencies, and the obtaining of
personal information from computers. The AG [3]pointed out (pdf) that
'Because Plaintiffs [4]routinely obtain ex parte discovery in their John
Doe infringement suits ... their factual assertions supporting their good
cause argument are never challenged by an adverse party and their
investigative methods remain free of scrutiny. They often settle their
cases quickly before defendants obtain legal representation and begin to
conduct discovery.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/1910202
Links:
0. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/
1. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/02/1317240&tid=123
2. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2007/11/oregon-attorney-general-files-reply.html
3. http://www.ilrweb.com/viewILRPDF.asp?filename=arista_does1-17_071128ReplyMemorandum
4. http://p2pnet.net/story/14164
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| AOL, Netflix and the End of Open Research |
| from the keeping-things-on-the-up-and-up dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @15:21 (Privacy) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/1913222 |
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An anonymous reader writes "In 2006, [0]heads rolled at AOL after the
company released anonymized logs of user searches. With last week's
announcement that researchers had been able to learn the [1]identities of
users in the scrubbed Netflix dataset, could the days of companies
sharing data with academic researchers be numbered? Shortly after the AOL
incident, Google's Eric Schmidt called the data release 'a terrible
thing,' and assured the public that [2]'this kind of thing could not
happen at Google.' Will any high tech company ever take this kind of
chance again? If not, how [3]will this impact research and and the
development of future technologies that could have come from the study of
real data?"
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/1913222
Links:
0. http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/15/1912208&tid=120
1. http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/27/1334244&tid=172
2. http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=191901983
3. http://www.cnet.com/8301-13739_1-9826608-46.html
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| Minor Leak Being Investigated Aboard the ISS |
| from the wasn't-aware-there-was-such-a-thing-as-a-minor-leak-in-s|
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @16:00 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/2026229 |
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[0]Josh Fink writes "Space.com is reporting that the International Space
Station [1]has a minor atmosphere leak. 'An inspection of a vestibule
bridging the station's new Harmony connecting module and NASA's Destiny
laboratory indicated a slight air leak of about three pounds (1.3
kilograms) per day ..A close-up inspection of the vestibule seal by the
station's three-astronaut Expedition 16 crew using an ultrasonic leak
detector found no trace of a leak on Wednesday, [NASA spokesperson
Lynette Madison] said. Studies of the station's overall internal pressure
also found no signs of decay, she added.' While this is yet another
technical issue with the ISS, when will this end? I am all for the space
program, but [2]there have been [3]some major issues lately."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/2026229
Links:
0. mailto:josh@joshfink.net
1. http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/071128-expedition16-possible-leak.html
2. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/16/0142251&tid=160
3. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/02/166224&tid=236
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| Robot Hand Learns How To Learn From Babies |
| from the everything-i-need-to-know-i-learned-in-the-comments dept|
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @16:43 (Robotics) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/2032224 |
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jcasman writes "Wired's got a piece on [0]building a better robotic hand
at Stanford. The new robot is called Stair 1.0, and scientists are hoping
to take a cue from human children for how to teach a robot to learn.
'When a computer fails at a task, it spouts an error message. Babies, on
the other hand, just try again a different way, exploring the world by
grabbing new objects -- shoving them into their mouths if possible -- to
acquire additional data. This built-in drive to explore teaches us how to
use our brains and bodies. Now a number of hand-focused roboticists are
building machines with the same childlike motivation to explore, fail,
and learn through their hands.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/2032224
Links:
0. http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/15-12/mf_robothand
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| How Best Buy Tried To Whip The Geek Squad Into Shape |
| from the deeply-shocked-by-the-lack-of-subtlety dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @17:30 (Businesses) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/2056256 |
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The Consumerist site is featuring a follow-up to their [0]Geek Squad porn
collectors story, a feature we discussed back in July. According to
Consumerist, Best Buy set up their own [1]rigorous internal investigation
to catch the culprits soon after these revelations became public. At that
point, of course, employee morale went out the window. Draconian
interrogation methods were apparently used, and innocent employees lost
their jobs. "There were three Geek Squad members fired from my store
including myself. The first two were fired for burning a non-copyrighted
CD for another employee on a non company issued blank CD-R. I admitted in
my interrogation that I was aware of this, and that I stopped these
events after that occurrence. I was fired for being aware of this non
copyrighted CD being copied. To quote, I did not provide the proper
example of leadership. Keep in my mind I removed over 100 illegal tools
and pirated discs upon my arrival as supervisor, as well as some remnants
of an internal porn scandal."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/2056256
Links:
0. http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/06/1916207&tid=187
1. http://consumerist.com/consumer/insiders/leaks-how-geek-squad-investigated-its-own-porn-thieves-328654.php
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| Futurama Returns! |
| from the teach-me-to-love-you-squishy-poet-from-beyond-the-stars |
| posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, @18:33 (Sci-Fi) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/30/213248 |
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[0]Random BedHead Ed writes "[1]Good news everyone! After a five year
vanishing act the sci-fi spoof [2]Futurama returned this week with a
direct-to-DVD feature. Wired has an article about its return, including
the story of the show's origins, a behind the scenes gallery, interviews
with creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, and some interesting
trivia. For example, did you know the ship has an overbite like a
Simpson's character? Or that the show's title is taken from [3]an
exhibition at the 1939 Worlds Fair?." We just [4]talked about this a bit
the other day, too, in reference to a great interview on TVSquad.
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/11/30/213248
Links:
0. http://www.edholden.com/
1. http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/magazine/15-12/ff_futurama?currentPage=all
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurama
3. http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/magazine/15-12/ff_futurama_original
4. https://slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=viewid=396093
Copyright 1997-2006 OSTG. All rights reserved.
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