120779280
submission
way2trivial writes:
Bluetooth is so very convenient, it can help you and total strangers find your valuable electronics easily.
According to a story on outsideonline, thieves are using Bluetooth to scan for your electronics and facilitate smash and grab. Breakout the Faraday bags before you go hiking.
"Police told him it was likely they’d used a Bluetooth scanner to target his car and even located exactly where his devices were before breaking into it. "
56926533
submission
way2trivial writes:
Many science fiction stories (Daniel Keys Moran anyone?) include the idea of wireheads/the ability to apply electricity directly to the brain in order to produce a unbeatable high...
It's here... ever been jealous of a mouse?
Who could possibly resist, once it was implanted?
perfect substance abuse-- dial it up to eleven.....
"Researchers from the University of Illinois and University of Washington have developed a wireless implant that uses LEDs thinner than a human hair to produce light, stimulating their test subjects to create dopamine, "
43622651
submission
way2trivial writes:
a 'person' (corporate variety) suing because they have to buy channels in bundles that they don't want all of.
Cablevision is suing Viacom for
"broadcasters’ insistence that carriers buy an entire bundle of channels just to get the one or two networks people actually watch."
OW! My ribs! this hurts so bad! make it stop! I can't catch my breath!!!
They think it is unfair that "“Viacom effectively forces Cablevision’s customers to pay for and receive little-watched channels in order to get the channels they actually want."
Hmm, "Cablevision effectively forces their customers to pay for and recieve little-watched channels in order to get the channels they actually want" seems as apt...
43522273
submission
way2trivial writes:
This is cool, Bosch is using zeolite to reduce the energy consumption of some washing machines by having it generate heat at the end of the wash cycle, then takes the water back out for the next cycle by heating it.
Better living through chemistry indeed!
It makes me wonder that I never considered;
disposable handwarmers~
can I recycle them by overheating them dry??
42322123
submission
way2trivial writes:
"Locard's principle holds that the perpetrator of a crime will bring something into the crime scene and leave with something from it, and that both can be used as forensic evidence"
(quoth wikipedia)
Now a startup is installing a security system to spray hold up thieves with a combination of UV dyes and DNA to conclusively prove someone was present at the scene of a crime at some McDonalds in Australia..
"a system that sprays a “non-toxic solution with DNA Code” on would-be thieves on their way out the door of the fast-food outlets."
I find the claim that "With the installation of this high-technology security system, SelectaDNA says it will cut theft and burglaries significantly."
Why? because they'll nab someone who would have done it again? Personally I'm thinking hold-ups will still occur, this'll just help with the conviction, not prevention....
40891589
submission
way2trivial writes:
Apparently google docs will no longer be free for small employers either.. $50.00 per seat per year, same as enterprise clients had been paying apparently.
37331637
submission
way2trivial writes:
"That warning comes as Microsoft prepares to release an automatic security update for Windows on Oct. 9, 2012, that will make longer key lengths mandatory for all digital certificates that touch Windows systems."
" Internet Explorer won't be able to access any website secured using an RSA digital certificate with a key length of less than 1,024 bits"
"ActiveX controls might be blocked, users might not be able to install applications, and Outlook 2010 won't be able to encrypt or digitally sign emails, or communicate with an Exchange server for SSL/TLS communications."
15895102
submission
way2trivial writes:
Duke Nukem Forever is about to be announced
un-freaking-believable.
11473040
submission
way2trivial writes:
Your Government needs you- they'd like to ask what technology they should be advancing.
"In February 2010, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Economic Council released a "Request for Information" to collect input from the public regarding the grand challenges identified in the President's innovation strategy, other possible grand challenges, and the partners (e.g. companies, universities, non-profit organizations) that would need to collaboration to achieve these ambitious goals. The deadline for responses is Thursday, April 15th."
Give it to them boys!
9629842
submission
way2trivial writes:
From the NY times http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/using-lasers-to-zap-mosquitoes/
seriously, "intellectual ventures" wants to build virtual laser fences to surround places like malaria ridden hospitals.
they can apparently identify mosquitos vs. other species (even by sex) rather well
as a hotelie, I find the fact that they kept there demonstration supply in the bathroom appalling
(housekeeping said they had WHAT in the tub?)
but there is a real nice slomo video (26 mb) of one getting sliced available here
http://intellectualventureslab.com/wp-content/videos/Mosquito_Shootdown_Sequence
(how long has it been since slashdot took down a video server anyway?)
bring on the overlord or shark jokes..
9397488
submission
way2trivial writes:
According to 4chan's Twitter account and status update blog, they have been "explicitly blocked" by the Verizon wireless network.
someone with editing skills will have to make it slashdot ready, I lack the skills to do it in time.
8974028
submission
way2trivial writes:
According to the Wisconsin department of corrections, D&D is not to be allowed within cells because it
"promotes fantasy role playing, competitive hostility, violence, addictive escape behaviors, and possible gambling,"
Yikes.. the policy has since been further expanded to block all fantasy games- I wonder if that includes fap races?
4654511
submission
way2trivial writes:
Dear Ask Slashdot:
I'm reading an article at the consumerist http://consumerist.com/5260257/credit-card-processors-launch-a-new-strategy-to-defeat-theft that says credit card processors are trying to come up with ways to protect card data from theft- largely by securing it into smaller little chunks...
I am a credit card accepting merchant, and know from my interactions with credit card proccessor salesman and technical support that I have a better than average understanding of the means by which credit card transactions move around. After reading that piece I researched a little more more and verified what I thought I knew.
For primers see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_card_numbers and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography
The question I've been unable to answer for myself is- why not make every individual transaction a secure chunk?? Public key cryptography should enable the possibility of ALL the individual account data to be unreadable from the point of leaving my terminal until it hits the issuing bank. If my credit card terminal contained for each of the the six digit issuer identification numbers (IIN) a public key- why not wrap up the entire rest of the transaction in a public cypher-- send it to my processor- who sends that encrypted packet to the issuing bank, who decodes and sends back an approval with a re-encrypted proof of same... the only thing my processor needs to get paid and pay me is my merchant #, the 6 digit bank that I sent it to, and the dollar amount I ultimately expect to be paid on-- when the reply comes back- my processor knows if it was approved. Any individual interception en route or stored by individual merchants electronically is useless.
The only potential flaw I can think of on my own- is that perhaps as all the original clear messages are of fixed length and format- it may prove easier to decode than a usual message. I don't know enough about the depths of public key methods to know if that simplifies breaking the private keys- but even if so a very long key may solve that.
Can anyone shoot a well reasoned hole through my solution?
1166151
submission
way2trivial writes:
unanimous opinion-- no dissents-- said the law was too broad and included 1st amendment & protected speech...
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=virginia+state+supreme+court
1144681
submission
way2trivial writes:
I run a small 4 story business- I'm going to decorate the exterior of building for Halloween-- and I've decided on a spider them-- big inflatable spiders..
I'm going to use manilla rope for the spokes, and some not 'cheap' garland for the web around the spokes.. I've poked around, I'm looking for a formula to compute the length of a spiderweb
(a decreasing coil) Any math folks wanna give me a hand?
First and foremost- I'm looking for someone to give me some math I can use to compute the amount of 'festooning' I need for a web that will be roughly 300ft long, and 50 ft high...
Second, I'm asking if anyone has any experience building such a thing so very large-- the rope I'm using is plain manilla 3/8's, ther festooning I've found has an apparent width of about 4"- and I'm wanting people to see this thing from the street-- about 80-100 feet away.. I'm sticking 5 constantly inflating 8' spiders on it...
I'm doing this early, so I can do it right..--- anyone have feedback?
PS-- Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau have made my personal research really painful through their use of arachnid terminology, now so pervasive throughout the internet-- I realize it wasn't personal~ but my god-- anyone doing arachnology must really suffer...
