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Tue, December 23, 2008 11:35:03 PMFrom:
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Subject:
[Slashdot] Stories for 2008-12-24
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Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* As Christmas Bonus, Google Hands Out "Dogfood"
* Not All Cores Are Created Equal
* Psystar Claims Apple Forgot To Copyright Mac OS
* Inside the Active Volcano On Montserrat
* The RIAA's Rocky Road Ahead
* Perfect MITM Attacks With No-Check SSL Certs
* Citrix To Bring Millions of Windows Apps To iPhone
* Space Is Just a Little Bit Closer Than Expected
* Microsoft Extends XP To May 2009 For OEMs
* Shuttleworth Proposes Overhaul of Desktop Notifications
* Repair Crews Reach Vicinity of Damaged Cables In Mediterranean
* Your Favorite Tech / Eng. / CS Books?
* Doubts Multiply About the "Long Tail"
* Roku Box Adds HD, Grows Beyond Netflix
* Crackpot Scandal In Mathematics
* Karl Rove's IT Guru Dies In Small P*** Crash
* How To Create More Jobs
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| As Christmas Bonus, Google Hands Out "Dogfood" |
| from the meaty-bits-with-gravy dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday December 22, @19:49 (Google) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/22/2232242 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]theodp writes "You know times are tough when the [1]best place to work
in America replaces holiday bonuses with a request for unpaid labor.
Blaming the economic crisis, Google management has [2]canceled the
traditional cash holiday bonus ?€? reportedly as much as $20K-$30K per
Googler ?€? and substituted an unlocked Google Android cell phone, retail
price $400. An accompanying email calls for employees to celebrate the
'chance for us to once again [3]dogfood a product and make it even
better!'" Update: 12/23 01:09 GMT by [4]KD : A reader pointed out that
comments to the article note a couple of inaccuracies: the Android phone
being offered is an unlocked dev model, which goes for $400; and the
reporter may have confused holiday bonuses with performance bonuses. The
former have traditionally been in the range of $1,000, according to two
comments.
Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/12/22/2232242
Links:
0. mailto:theodp@aol.com
1. http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fortune/0801/gallery.bestcos_top50.fortune/index.html
2. http://valleywag.gawker.com/5115653/google-hands-out-dogfood-as-christmas-bonus
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_one's_own_dog_food
4. http://slashdot.org/~kdawson/
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| Not All Cores Are Created Equal |
| from the working-out-the-kinks dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday December 22, @20:56 (Intel) |
| http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/22/2325221 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]joabj writes "Virginia Tech researchers have found that the
performance of programs running on multicore processors [1]can vary from
server to server, and even from core to core. Factors such as which core
handles interrupts, or which cache holds the needed data can change from
run to run. Such resources tend to be allocated arbitrarily now. As a
result, program execution times can vary up to 10 percent. The good news
is that the VT researchers are working on a library that will recognize
inefficient behavior and rearrange things in a more timely fashion." Here
is the paper, [2]Asymmetric Interactions in Symmetric Multicore Systems:
Analysis, Enhancements and Evaluation (PDF).
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/12/22/2325221
Links:
0. http://www.joabj.com/
1. http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/47765-1.html
2. http://synergy.cs.vt.edu/pubs/papers/scogland-sc2008-symmer.pdf
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Psystar Claims Apple Forgot To Copyright Mac OS |
| from the that-would-be-an-oopsie dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday December 22, @23:13 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/22/2333234 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Preedit writes "Mac cloner Psystar is claiming in new court papers that
Apple's copyright suit against it should be dismissed, because Apple has
[0]never filed for copyright protection on Mac OS X 10.5 with the US
Copyright Office. Infoweek is reporting that the claim, if it holds up,
could open the door for third-parties to enter the Mac market without
fear of legal action from Apple. In its latest set of allegations,
Psystar is also accusing Apple of bricking Macs that don't run on genuine
Apple hardware." We've been following the Psystar-Apple imbroglio
[1]since the [2]beginning.
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/12/22/2333234
Links:
0. http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/mac/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212501673
1. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/26/2148250&tid=123
2. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/15/1739202&tid=123
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Inside the Active Volcano On Montserrat |
| from the magma-sponge dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 23, @01:27 (Earth) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/23/0019235 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Roland Piquepaille writes "An international team of researchers has
begun collecting imaging data on the Soufriere Hills Volcano in
Montserrat, which has been erupting regularly since 1995. They're using
the [1]equivalent of a CAT scan to understand its internal structure and
how and when it erupts. The experiment is dubbed SEA-CALIPSO and 'will
use air guns and a string of sensors off the back of a research ship
combined with sensors on land to try to image the magma chamber.' Early
results are surprising. Quoting one of the leading scientists: 'The
interesting thing is that much more magma is erupting than appears
represented by the subsiding bowl. ... The magma volume in Montserrat
eruptions is much larger than anyone would estimate from the surface
deformation, because of the elastic storage of magma in what is
effectively a huge magma sponge.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/12/23/0019235
Links:
0. http://www.primidi.com/2008/12/21.html
1. http://live.psu.edu/story/36501
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The RIAA's Rocky Road Ahead |
| from the bring-checkbook dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 23, @04:47 (Music) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/23/0150233 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
The RIAA's new plan to enlist ISPs in its war on file sharing, once it
announced it was [0]calling a halt to new consumer lawsuits, is running
into rough sledding. Wired reports on the [1]continuing legal murkiness
of the RIAA's interpretation of copyright law. And one small ISP in
Louisiana asks the recording organization, "You want me to police your
intellectual property? [2]What's your billing address?"
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/12/23/0150233
Links:
0. http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/19/131227&tid=123
1. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/12/analysis-riaa-s.html
2. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10127841-93.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Perfect MITM Attacks With No-Check SSL Certs |
| from the stuck-in-the-middle-with-you dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 23, @08:07 (Security) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/23/0046258 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]StartCom writes "In a [1]previous article I reported about
Man-In-The-Middle attacks and spotlighted an [2]example showing that they
really happen. MITM attacks just got easier. In the attack described
previously, untrusted certificates from an unknown issuer were used. Want
to [3]make the attack perfect with no error and a fully trusted
certificate? No problem, just head over to one of Comodo's resellers.
Screenshots and disclosure provided at the link."
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/12/23/0046258
Links:
0. https://blog.startcom.org/
1. https://blog.startcom.org/?p=125
2. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=460374
3. https://blog.startcom.org/?p=145
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Citrix To Bring Millions of Windows Apps To iPhone |
| from the your-chocolate-got-in-my-melted-cheese dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday December 23, @08:56 (Cellphones) |
| http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/23/1320217 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Anonymous writes "Citrix is putting out word that it's [0]developing an
iPhone receiver that could make 'millions' of Windows applications work
on Apple's handset. (Something Citrix is calling '[1]Project Braeburn.')
Aside from [2]Flash and a few other apps, is anyone pining for
Windows-based apps on the iPhone? (Exchange on the iPhone seems to be
successful, but so does Apple's App store, which has done pretty well
without Windows.)"
Discuss this story at:
http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/12/23/1320217
Links:
0. http://community.citrix.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=51937665
1. http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/gusp/2008/11/13/Welcome+to+Project+Braeburn!
2. http://www.crn.com/software/212501671
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Space Is Just a Little Bit Closer Than Expected |
| from the winter-shrinkage dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday December 23, @09:53 (Earth) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/23/1350236 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
SpuriousLogic points out a BBC story which begins "The upper reaches of
Earth's atmosphere are much lower than expected, a US Air Force satellite
has found. Currently, the ionosphere ?€? a layer of charged particles that
envelopes the p***t ?€? is at an altitude of about [0] 420km, some 200km
lower than expected. The behaviour of the ionosphere is important because
disturbances in its structure can upset satellite communications and
radar."
Discuss this story at:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/12/23/1350236
Links:
0. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7794834.stm
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Extends XP To May 2009 For OEMs |
| from the that-pesky-reality-again dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday December 23, @10:50 (Windows) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/23/1443206 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]beuges writes "Microsoft has announced over the weekend that it would
allow computer manufacturers to receive copies of XP [1]until the end of
May 2009, shortly before Windows 7 is expected to hit the market. This
should allow users to skip Vista entirely and move straight to 7, which
has been receiving cautiously favorable reviews of pre-release and leaked
alphas."
Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/12/23/1443206
Links:
0. http://www.dhiren.za.net/
1. http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iArticleId=4772201
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Shuttleworth Proposes Overhaul of Desktop Notifications |
| from the activated-but-not-in-use dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday December 23, @11:47 (GUI) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/23/166245 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Thelasko writes "Mark Shuttleworth is considering a controversial
[0]overhaul to the way Ubuntu manages notifications." I'm not thrilled
with all of the changes proposed, which would mostly value simplicity
over confusion at the expense of flexibility and permanence. But anything
that would make more people read over and specifically approve the
wording of error messages and other notifications is a good thing.
Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/12/23/166245
Links:
0. http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/253
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Repair Crews Reach Vicinity of Damaged Cables In Mediterranean |
| from the now-we-need-a-plucky-diver dept. |
| posted by timothy on Tuesday December 23, @12:40 (The Internet) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/23/1717204 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
GWMAW writes "A [0]robotic submarine searched beneath the Mediterranean
on Sunday for damaged communications cables, two days after Web and
telephone access was [1]knocked out for much of the Middle East.
Telecommunication providers from Cairo to Dubai continued Sunday to
scramble to reroute voice and data traffic through potentially costly
detours in Asia and North America after the lines running under the
Mediterranean Sea were damaged Friday." According to the article, "Once
found, the cable ends will be pulled to the surface and repaired on deck
?€? a process that could take several days."
Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/12/23/1717204
Links:
0. http://ibtimes.com/articles/20081221/internet-service-still-spotty-in-parts-of-mideast.htm
1. http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/19/1932219&tid=215
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Your Favorite Tech / Eng. / CS Books? |
| from the art-of-computer-programming dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 23, @13:35 (Books) |
| http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/23/184257 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]chris_eineke writes "I like to read and to collect good books related
to computer science. I'm talking about stuff like the classic textbooks ([1]Introduction
to Algorithms 2nd ed., [2]Tanenbaum's Operating Systems series) and
practitioners' books ([3]The Practice of Programming, [4]Code Complete)
and all-around excellent books ([5]Structure and Interpretation of
Computer Programs, [6]Practical Common Lisp). What's your
stocking-stuffer book this Christmas? What books have been sitting on
your shelves that you think are the best ones of their kind? Which ones
do you think are -1 Overrated? (All links are referral-free.)"
Discuss this story at:
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/12/23/184257
Links:
0. mailto:slashdot@chriseineke.com
1. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw_0_5?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=introduction+to+algorithms&x=0&y=0&sprefix=Intro
2. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Tanenbaum&x=0&y=0
3. http://www.amazon.com/Practice-Programming-Addison-Wesley-Professional-Computing/dp/020161586X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230050741&sr=8-1
4. http://www.amazon.com/Code-Complete-Practical-Handbook-Construction/dp/0735619670/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230050768&sr=1-1
5. http://www.amazon.com/Structure-Interpretation-Computer-Programs-Engineering/dp/0262011530/ref=sr_1_1_s9_rk?ie=UTF8&s=books&s9r=8a5850a41a9c975a011b7c708d8b1904&itemPosition=1&qid=1230050803&sr=1-1
6. http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Common-Lisp-Peter-Seibel/dp/1590592395/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230050827&sr=1-1
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Doubts Multiply About the "Long Tail" |
| from the to-him-who-hath-shall-be-given dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 23, @14:31 (The Internet) |
| http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/23/1745248 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]fruey sends in a New Scientist analysis of the many [1]second thoughts
about the Long Tail theory. It summarizes four studies that show, in
different markets, that the tail is both flatter and thinner than
[2]originally supposed, and that blockbusters are not going away in those
markets ?€? they are getting bigger. It's theorized that widely used
collaborative filtering software is magnifying the winners' share of the
various pies, and peer influence is a large contributor to consumer
behavior.
Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/12/23/1745248
Links:
0. http://www.letourdespromos.com/
1. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026873.300-online-shopping-and-the-harry-potter-effect.html?full=true
2. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Roku Box Adds HD, Grows Beyond Netflix |
| from the watch-anything-anywhere dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 23, @15:29 (Television) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/23/1823236 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
DeviceGuru writes "Roku has announced [0]two free updates to its
Internet-enabled [1]Netflix movie-streaming set-top box. The initial
update adds advanced compression capable of streaming HD video over
average consumer broadband connections, while the second (expected during
the first quarter of 2009) will add A/V streaming from sources other than
Netflix (e.g. YouTube, Hulu, Comedy Central, MSNBC, etc.). Roku faces
growing competition from other providers of Internet-based
video-on-demand STBs, such as [2]Blockbuster's STB, [3]Syabas's Popcorn
Hour (aka NMT), AppleTV, and others. Roku hasn't said anything specific,
but perhaps it'll partner with [4]Boxee, which already provides a popular
[5]AppleTV hack."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/12/23/1823236
Links:
0. http://www.deviceguru.com/free-updates-to-enhance-rokus-netflix-player/
1. http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/31/211223&tid=129
2. http://www.deviceguru.com/new-blockbuster-vod-box-runs-linux/
3. http://www.popcornhour.com/
4. http://boxee.tv/
5. http://www.boxee.tv/atvhacks
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Crackpot Scandal In Mathematics |
| from the kooks-we-have-always-with-us dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 23, @16:26 (Math) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/23/1831225 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]ocean_soul writes "It is well known among scientists that the
[1]impact factor of a scientific journal is not always a good indicator
of the quality of the papers in the journal. An [2]extreme example of
this was recently uncovered in mathematics. The scandal is about one El
Naschie, editor in chief of the 'scientific' journal [3]Chaos, Solitons
and Fractals, published by Elsevier. This is one of the highest impact
factor journals in mathematics, but the quality of the papers in it is
extremely poor. The journal has also published 322 papers with El Naschie
as (co-)author, five of them in the latest issue. Like many crackpots, El
Nashie has a kind of cult around him, with [4]another journal devoted to
[5]praising his greatness. There was also a [6]discussion about the
Wikipedia entry for El Naschie, which was supposedly written by one of
his followers. When it was [7]deleted by Wikipedia, they even threatened
legal actions (which never materialized)."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/12/23/1831225
Links:
0. http://eb.ca.autatsluhrev.saibot/
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_factor
2. http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2008/11/the_case_of_m_s_el_naschie.html
3. http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaleditorialboard.cws_home/967/editorialboard#editorialboard
4. http://www.ijnsns.com/conf.html
5. http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2008/11/the_kind_of_email_i_dont_need.html#c019806
6. http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2008/11/the_kind_of_email_i_dont_need.html#c019886
7. http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2008/11/the_kind_of_email_i_dont_need.html#c019820
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Karl Rove's IT Guru Dies In Small P*** Crash |
| from the discuss-among-yourselves dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 23, @17:36 (Republicans) |
| http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/23/2128209 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
A dozen readers have submitted the story of the death in a p*** crash of
Mike Connell, Karl Rove's IT adviser, the man who set up and ran the
[0]gwb43.com mail server, and an important figure in GOP tech circles
since 1997. The closest thing to straight reporting to be found in a
mainstream media outlet is a piece from KDKA in Pittsburgh giving a
[1]detailed backgrounder on Connell's work for Rove, two generations of
the Bush family, and many GOP congressmen and committees. CBSNews.com is
now [2]mirroring the KDKA reporting. Almost all the early media coverage
comes from the left and some of it is frankly conspiratorial. Among the
milder pieces (although it could not be called balanced) is this
[3]interview with Mark Crispin Miller, NYU professor and author of two
books about the 2004 election in Ohio. Connell was compelled to testify
on the day before the US election in a lawsuit involving Ohio election
irregularities in 2004. Connell, an experienced pilot, died on Sunday
when his p*** crashed two miles short of the runway of Akron-Canton
Airport in Ohio.
Discuss this story at:
nla_internal_4071299.jpg 0. http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/08/2022244&tid=266
1. http://kdka.com/politics/republican.it.guru.2.893852.html
2. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/23/national/main4684431.shtml
3. http://www.democracynow.org/2008/12/22/print
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| How To Create More Jobs |
| from the getting-out-of-the-way dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 23, @18:24 (Businesses) |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/23/2217250 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
TechDirt is spotlighting a call by Michael S. Malone, a columnist for
ABCNews.com, for [0]letting Silicon Valley create jobs once more. Malone
argues that Sarbanes-Oxley and other attempts at accounting reform have
done little to prevent fraud, but in fact have managed to kill off an
entrepreneurship-venture capital-IPO cycle, centered in Silicon Valley,
that has taken 30 years to nourish. Here's [1]TechDirt: "...it's time to
roll back SarbOx and other accounting rules that have acted more for
theatrical purposes rather than any legitimate reason. Basically, all
they've done is create new reporting requirements that do little to
nothing to either prevent fraud or clarify a company's actual financial
position (its intended purpose). I'm all for radical transparency in
financial info, but that's not what has been done. Instead, we've made it
burdensome to actually grow a company ?€? and that doesn't help create
jobs. It helps kill them."
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/12/23/2217250
Links:
0. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122990472028925207.html
1. http://techdirt.com/articles/20081222/1647513199.shtml
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