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Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Why do we still believe in Evolution? 1

Submitted by ta5tyfr3z
ta5tyfr3z writes: In a similar vein as a previous Slashdot article, why do we still believe in evolution? or, at least, why do we act as if evolution is incontrovertible and there are no divergent theories within the greater theory of evolution? Does questioning evolution make you anti-science? After all, if we're simply just a series of chemical reactions then applying the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics would mean that we would eventually all evolve into lower lifeforms. And observationally — note, we can't observe evolution on a mass scale in our lifetime -, most mutations (beyond changes in color or size) in large lifeforms seen in nature result in less functioning life forms.

Submission + - Microsoft: you need better AV than Security Essentials (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by nk497
nk497 writes: Microsoft has admitted Windows users should install antivirus above and beyond its own Security Essentials, describing its protection as merely a "baseline" that will "always be on the bottom" of antivirus software rankings.

Microsoft Security Essentials has previously flunked antivirus tests, but that's not why Microsoft is telling users to install third-party antivirus. Instead, the company said it's now focusing on identifying emerging threats, and passing that data to third-party antivirus firms to help them do better. "We’re providing all of that data and information to our partners so they can do at least as well as we are," said Holly Stewart, senior program manager of the Microsoft Malware Protection Center. "The natural progression is that we will always be on the bottom of these tests. And honestly, if we are doing our job correctly, that’s what will happen."

Comment Re:Chrome sucks anyways... (Score 1) 173

by Jeremy Visser (#38619238) Attached to: Google Punishing Chrome Results For 60 Days

Yep, that's the one.

The main problem is that it's currently impossible to send binary data via XHR in Chrome without it getting eaten. What appears to happen is that everything gets "encoded" in UTF-8, which obviously is going to be a dog's breakfast. Even when using a BlobBuilder I just could *not* prevent things getting eaten when passing to xhr.send().

Firefox has a xhr.sendAsBinary() method that "just works". Nothing more needs to be said. Use xhr.sendAsBinary() instead of xhr.send() and all your problems are gone overnight. Oh, except for the fact that sendAsBinary() is non-standard and not supported in Chrome.

I ended up choosing the latter of two workarounds: using FileReader.readAsDataURL() (which encodes into base64) and unpacking the data: URL on the remote end, or using a FormData() object and using FormData.append() to place my File inside there.
Cellphones

NTSB Recommends Cell Phone Ban For Drivers 938

Posted by Soulskill from the text-your-disapproval-from-behind-the-wheel dept.
ducomputergeek writes "According to this AP report, the National Transportation Safety Board says 'States should ban all driver use of cell phones and other portable electronic devices, except in emergencies.' 'The recommendation, unanimously agreed to by the five-member board, applies to both hands-free and hand-held phones and significantly exceeds any existing state laws restricting texting and cellphone use behind the wheel.' So what about all the cars today that come with built-in computers, navigation, internet capabilities, and cell phones?"
The Courts

Red Cross Debates If Virtual Killing Violates International Humanitarian Law 516

Posted by samzenpus from the waking-up-in-crazy-town dept.
Ron2K writes in with a story about a Red Cross committee that is debating if people playing war video games should be subject to the same humanitarian laws as people in a real war. Seriously. "With 62 billion kills in Call of Duty: Black Ops alone, a committee of the Red Cross is debating whether the International Humanitarian Law is applicable to online gamers, and if they are violating it. From the committee's site: 'While the Movement works vigorously to promote international humanitarian law worldwide, there is also an audience of approximately 600 million gamers who may be virtually violating International Humanitarian Law. Exactly how video games influence individuals is a hotly debated topic, but for the first time, Movement partners discussed our role and responsibility to take action against violations of this law in video games.' While it's questionable if gamers themselves can be prosecuted for not obeying the Geneva convention, the Red Cross committee's actions seem to be aimed more at game developers — as first person shooters become more realistic, do game developers have an obligation to include humanitarian elements?"
Image

Phelps Clan Tweets Intent To Picket Jobs Funeral Via iPhone Screenshot-sm 699

Posted by samzenpus from the god-hates-turtlenecks dept.
It comes as no surprise that Margie Phelps of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church has already declared the church's intention to picket Steve Jobs's funeral. What is interesting, is that she did so using an iPhone. The 142 characters of wrath read: "Westboro will picket his funeral.He[sic] had a huge platform; gave God no glory & taught sin. MT @AP: Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has died at 56."
Portables

Solar Powered Laptops 120

Posted by Soulskill from the it's-not-easy-being-green dept.
smitty777 writes "Greentech is running a story on a solar powered laptop concept. The device was created by industrial designer Andrea Ponti, and includes a solar panel on the outside of the case as well as one below the keyboard. The idea seems to be taking shape; Samsung has a design they've been developing as well."

Comment Re:He raises a valid concern and offers a solution (Score 1) 384

Where did you get a 300 MHz Droid?

Yeah, I have a Motorola Milestone (GSM version of the same device) and it is also 550 MHz. My battery is about 30-40% when I plug it in at night, and if an app decides to misbehave, the phone is sometimes flat even before I get home from work.
Security

WordPress Hacked, Attackers Get Root Access 168

Posted by samzenpus from the protect-ya-neck dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A hacker has gained access to WordPress.com servers and site source code was exposed including passwords/API keys for Twitter and Facebook accounts. From the official blog post: 'Automattic had a low-level (root) break-in to several of our servers, and potentially anything on those servers could have been revealed. We presume our source code was exposed and copied. While much of our code is Open Source, there are sensitive bits of our and our partner's code. Beyond that, however, it appears information disclosed was limited.'"
Image

Book Review: Drupal 6 Theming Cookbook Screenshot-sm 21

Posted by samzenpus from the read-all-about-it dept.
Trevor James writes "Piling up on my tech bookshelf are a bunch of excellent titles on the Drupal content management system. Earl & Lynette Miles Drupal's Building Blocks is the book on how to use the CCK, Views and Panels modules. It's part of Addison Wesley's Developer's Library and is the definitive guide to the 'trifecta' of Drupal modules. There's a lot of theory and concepts explained in granular detail here as well as recipe style tutorials — soak it up. It's an excellent resource." Read on for the rest of Trevor's review.

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