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Security

Secure Services on Virtual Machines? 61

Posted by Cliff from the depends-on-how-secure-your-VM-is dept.
Matt2000 asks: "With the growing number of package updates that cross my inbox for my redhat systems, and with the vast majority being buffer overflows, or overflows of some kind doesn't it strike anyone that there must be a better way? Instead of spending time auditing every piece of software for mechanically preventable bugs, why isn't there a common, audited virtual machine that people can build net facing services on? I would guess that sshd, httpd, and sendmail would be good candidates to start, as they are the most common and the most exploited. And please don't freak out performance junkies, if you run a website that serves 70,000 people a second and need to run native apache, then do so. Just accept that it will be less secure."
Data Storage

Specialized, Open Source Databases? 34

Posted by Cliff from the preventing-the-reinvention-of-the-wheel dept.
PyTHON71 asks: "I've been asked the head of the Wichita State University Anthropology department to help fix his growing biological anthropology collection database. It's currently in Access (insert boo's and hisses), but he is willing to have it developed in a reliable open source format. Now, there are a lot of university departments out there that need to have specialized work done on a small budget. They can't rely on just any developer, because the developer has to know biological anthropology (in this case) as well as MySQL, etc. And since it's not in the Hacker Code to duplicate work that's already been done, I was wondering what specialized database projects are out there & available for general use (not the data, just the structure)."
Education

Ethical Dilemmas Related to Technology 885

Posted by michael from the stop-dave...-will-you-stop-dave dept.
Anonymous Coward writes "I have a relative who will be teaching a college class on the topic of ethical dilemmas brought about by new technology. Unfortunately, he doesn't keep up with technology news, so he's not sure what the most relevant dilemmas are. For example, 'If robots came alive, would we be justified in killing them?' is one that might come up if nothing more relevant were suggested. (OK, it might not be that bad, but you get the idea. He was using Netscape 4.76 on system 9 until last week.) So, what are the most relevant ethical dilemmas brought up by technology? Note that I am looking for ethical dilemmas, e.g. 'Is Activity X moral?' rather than legal dilemmas like 'Is the DMCA constitutional?' Now is your chance to guide the young minds of the future toward stuff that matters."
News

Advice for a Dad-To-Be? 381

Posted by Cliff from the ah-fatherhood dept.
chrysrobyn asks: "Huzzah! After a few years of trying, my wife is pregnant (due 5 November). I've read about fellow Slashdot readers who are some new and experienced parents. I've certainly read about lots of people getting engaged and married. I'd like to ask for advice on the matter from people in my demographic. What do you wish you had known before child #1 was born? I'm not asking 'how does a geek raise a child?' or 'how do I overclock the activity sets?', but I don't personally know many two income families who are in this position. We sometimes work long hours, and that will either come to an end or we'll put in lots of effort to work around that. What do I do? What do I expect? Are there any products to stay away from? I'm going to be a dad!" Congratulations, on your new family member, chrysrobyn!
Hardware

System Performace Tweaking? 72

Posted by Cliff from the squeezing-out-every-last-bogoMIP dept.
A not-so Anonymous Coward asks: "After being on a rather slow PC for some time now, I have finally made the jump to a 1GHz+ PC. Being fairly new at having a rather fast PC, I am not very sure where to go for system performance tweaking. A few friends pointed me to Monroe World and TweakXP. Both are pretty good sites, however I find that my system still doesn't perform as well as it should when running a benchmarking test like 3dMark 2003. My score is just under 2000. I know people who have slower systems than mine and get a score around 5000. So I am turning to the Slashdot community to ask: Where do you go to find out the latest and greatest hardware and system tweaks? Do you have your own tweaks, and if you do would you mind sharing your secret tweaking tips?"
Handhelds

Complex Language Support for PDA's? 168

Posted by Cliff from the support-for-your-pictograms dept.
Jasin Natael asks: "What PDA's/Smartphones, etc. support complex languages in addition to more 'standard' languages? I'm a student of Japanese and am looking for a new PDA or smartphone that operates in English, but supports complex character sets. Input is a plus, but it's really needed for Contacts, Notes, Websites, and incoming E-Mail at a minimum. Would it be easy to add support to a Linux PDA (Zaurus) or Pocket PC for this? What about right-to-left languages, like Hebrew and Arabic?"
Links

Most Usable Bookmark Managers? 88

Posted by Cliff from the one-set-of-bookmarks-for-multiple-browsers dept.
stewartj asks: "I finally got sick of manually updating my large bookmarks collection between the computers I use at work and home. I've got a permanent connection at home and a personal webserver running, so I thought I'd install a bookmark manager. Searches on SourceForge and Freshmeat have brought up too many options to consider, so I thought I'd ask Slashdot readers if they have any recommendations for a good web-based bookmark manager? Is there a better solution to making my bookmarks available everywhere (but still keeping them secure)?"
Hardware

Custom Metal Computer Cases? 49

Posted by Cliff from the when-of-the-shelf-just-doesn't-work dept.
Sarreq Teryx asks: "I'm looking to buy a new case for my system, to fit in a particular space (20¼" tall x 11" wide), I've found plenty that fit the height (I personally like the Lian-Li PC-6089A out of that bunch), but all the cases I've seen are either the too-too narrow 7½" to 8¼" wide consumer tower cases (that Lian-Li included), or the super wide 13" to 20" wide server cases (which tend to be on the unbearably ugly side), both of which are the wrong width.Does anyone happen to know if any PC case company makes cases that are ~20" tall x ~10¾" wide, or of any company makes custom cases from the plate metal up? I've never done any metal working, so if I were to make one myself, it'd end up being made of wood, and I don't particularly like that idea."
Programming

Dealing with Development House Disasters? 59

Posted by Cliff from the planning-for-the-worst dept.
Skinnytie asks: "I was recently asked by the CEO of the company for which I work to find a resource from which to better understand what to do in the event of a disaster. 'I'm on it, Sir' was my response, and I ran back to my desk and started writing contingency plans and trying to imagine what to do if a meteorite strikes our co-lo facility. I quickly came te realize that there is far more that *could* happen (the CTO gets hit by bus, or the in-house server room gets abducted by aliens...you get the point) than I am even prepared to write plans for. I thought I'd hit the Slashdot audience up for some ideas/horror stories regarding avoiding, dealing with and getting past whatever disasters that have occurred at your development houses. Have at you!"
Wireless Networking

Wireless VOIP? 27

Posted by Cliff from the microphones-cast-of-thy-wires! dept.
zambuka asks: "Recently I was asked about pricing and availability of wireless microphones. What is needed are 15 wireless microphones, appropriate base units and the ability to record the signal from each microphone on a separate track. A session will last about 2 hours and the results need to be recorded to a CD. I have priced this at about $25000AUS probably less with bulk rates for the mikes and transmitters but still a big cost and not particularly portable for the base and recording units. The question I have regards alternatives. I have thought about using MiniDisc recorders, Nomad and Muvo. These are a much cheaper alternative and will suffice but require a major effort to transfer everything back to a PC and burn to a CD. I was also looking at wireless networks: 802.11a/b and Bluetooth and thought about how much cheaper and more suited to my needs this technology seems to be. Can these wireless systems cope with the constant throughput I need for this? And, is it possible (preferably with off the shelf components) to set up a wireless VOIP or similar network capable of dealing with this quantity of audio and recording the signals separately. Links to the tech would be welcome. Anyone living in Canberra who would like to take a shot at setting something like this up can feel free to contact me."
Programming

Eleventy What? 157

Posted by Cliff from the pronouncing-hexidecimal dept.
TheFr00n asks: "I recently managed to teach my ten year old son the hexadecimal number system, but he shot me back a question that has me stumped. How does one pronounce hex, after the first iteration? In decimal, we have nice words like 'fifty' and 'sixteen'. Is there an official way of pronouncing a hexadecimal number like CF9? 'See hundred and effty-nine'? (which is totally wrong anyway because a hundred is 64 in hexidecimal) Any thoughts?"
It's funny. Laugh.

Possessed Technology? 107

Posted by Cliff from the gremlins-in-your-gadgets dept.
gordlea asks: "Has anyone ever had a gadget that has acted in a seemingly possessed manner, or that seemed to have a personality of it's own? We once owned a Panasonic fax/phone/answering machine. This thing was crazy, it would randomly call up people who had called our place recently and play back messages other people had left for us. Occasionally it would even record our conversations and play them back to people who called when we weren't around! So do you have any good anecdotes along similar lines? I'm looking forward to hearing them!"
It's funny. Laugh.

Does My Bike Induce Electricity? 72

Posted by Cliff from the hidden-dangers-of-electrical-fields dept.
An anonymous reader asks: "I have a steel frame road bicycle and recently began riding on a path that parallels high-tension power lines for several miles. My question is: Does my bike induce an electric current by passing through the electric fields from the power lines? I normally ride the section at about 18 miles per hour, estimate the distance to the lines at about 75-100 feet, and think they're 200KV lines."
It's funny. Laugh.

Human Eyes as Digital Cameras? 45

Posted by Cliff from the right-out-of-a-cyberpunk-novel dept.
Mad Dog Kenrod asks: "A recent ad campaign for a digital camera had the slogan (something like) 'imagine being able to take a picture from your head and show it to people' - it was basically showcasing how small the camera was. This got me thinking: most people simply want to 'snap what they see'. Given that the human eye already has a very workable lens, and a retina which (I assume) is similar in technology to a digital camera, how feasible would it be to 'tap into' the optic nerve (not the brain, because by then the 'image' is probably something else entirely) and turn the signals from all those rods and cones into pixels?"
It's funny. Laugh.

Physical Hard-Disk Data Arrangements and Drive Failures? 46

Posted by Cliff from the theoretical-weight-of-information dept.
Tadau asks: "Knowing not much of the low-level and molecular aspects of a hard drive platter, I'm wondering if it is possible to cause a weight change/imbalance on a hard drive platter by say writing solid 1's to approximately 1/2 of a side of the platter? If there is a weight change, then could that attribute to drive vibrations by an ever-so-slightly unbalanced platter, which may result in an eventual drive failure?"

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