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Comment Re:Funny.... (Score 4, Insightful) 174

by Duncan Blackthorne (#25691919) Attached to: China Hijacks Popular BitTorrent Sites

What would be really funny would be if some guys in China tried to do a DoS attack to TPB... and it would DoS the government's (in essence) servers.

Yeah, that would be really funny, how the Chinese government would come in the middle of the night, take them, their family, and likely anyone else that knew or cared about them, and drop them in a hole somewhere, never to be heard from again. Yeah, that's fucking hilarious.

Comment Re:Some possible problems, here? (Score 1) 410

by Duncan Blackthorne (#25672077) Attached to: Ballmer "Interested" In Open Source Browser Engine

There is a very easy way to fix this... the first time a user requests a web page, or maybe they click an icon on their desktop called "web browser" a little window pops up: "Would you like to download - Mozilla Firefox - Internet Explorer - Safari ... etc" problem solved.

Why not take it one step further and put the installers for all the above right in the OS install? If they really wanted to improve their (Microsoft's) image with the public, it'd go a long way towards that.

Comment Some possible problems, here? (Score 5, Interesting) 410

by Duncan Blackthorne (#25669815) Attached to: Ballmer "Interested" In Open Source Browser Engine
Hasn't IE been a fully integrated part of Windows since, what, all the way back to Windows 98? If they start using some open-source code for their browser, will the architecture of the OS still have IE as such an integral part, or will it become a separate application again? Also, is it really such a good thing to have Micro$oft active in the open-source community? Forgive me, but talk like this makes me a little nervous.
Security

Open-Source DRM Ready To Take On Big Guns 520

Posted by CmdrTaco from the when-good-code-goes-bad dept.
Barence writes "An open-source digital rights management (DRM) scheme says it's ready to supplant Apple and Microsoft as the world's leading copy protection solution. Marlin, which is backed by companies such as Sony and Samsung, has just announced a new partner program that aims to drive the DRM system into more consumer devices. 'It works in a way that doesn't hold consumers hostage,' Talal Shamoon told PC Pro. 'It allows you to protect and share content in the home, in a way that people own the content, not the devices.' When asked about the biggest problem of DRM — that customers hate it — he argued that 'the biggest problem with DRM is people have implemented it badly. Make DRM invisible and people will use it.'"
Mars

Mars Lander Instrument Waving In the Martian Wind 46

Posted by timothy from the more-proof-of-fraud dept.
Matt_dk writes "This series of images show Phoenix's telltale instrument waving in the Martian wind. Documenting the telltale's movement helps mission scientists and engineers determine what the wind is like on Mars. On the day these images were taken, one of the images seemed to be 'out-of-phase' with other images, possibly indicating a dust devil occurrence."
Transportation

Computer Error Caused Qantas Jet Mishap 389

Posted by kdawson from the gimme-back-my-stick dept.
highways sends word that preliminary investigations into a Qantas Airbus A330 mishap where 51 passengers were injured has concluded that it was due to the Air Data Inertial Reference System feeding incorrect information into the flight control system — not interference from passenger electronics, as Qantas had initially claimed. Quoting from the ABC report: "Authorities have blamed a faulty onboard computer system for last week's mid-flight incident on a Qantas flight to Perth. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said incorrect information from the faulty computer triggered a series of alarms and then prompted the Airbus A330's flight control computers to put the jet into a 197-meter nosedive ... The plane was cruising at 37,000 feet when a fault in the air data inertial reference system caused the autopilot to disconnect. But even with the autopilot off, the plane's flight control computers still command key controls in order to protect the jet from dangerous conditions, such as stalling, the ATSB said."
Medicine

Banjo Used In Brain Surgery 164

Posted by kdawson from the not-that-way-silly dept.
Ponca City, We love you writes "Legendary bluegrass musician Eddie Adcock has undergone brain surgery to treat a hand tremor, playing his banjo throughout to test the success of the procedure. Adcock suffers from essential tremor, a condition where there is a continuing deterioration in areas of the brain that control movement, causing a tremor that usually appears when the person tries to act or move. Deep brain stimulation can be used to treat the movement difficulties of both Parkinson's and essential tremor by sinking an electrode into the thalamus, a deep brain area that is part of the motor loop — a circuit that helps coordinate movement. Surgeons placed electrodes in Adcock's brain and fitted a pacemaker in his chest, which delivers a small current that shuts down the region of his brain causing the tremors. The most sensible thing to do was to tweak the system while Adcock was playing the banjo to optimize the effect for the thing that's most important to him."
Privacy

Maryland Police Put Activists' Names On Terror List 426

Posted by timothy from the bad-incentive-to-remain-peaceful dept.
aaandre writes with word of a Washington Post story which begins: "The Maryland State Police classified 53 nonviolent activists as terrorists and entered their names and personal information into state and federal databases that track terrorism suspects, the state police chief acknowledged yesterday. The police also entered the activists' names into the federal Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area database, which tracks suspected terrorists. One well-known antiwar activist from Baltimore, Max Obuszewski, was singled out in the intelligence logs released by the ACLU, which described a 'primary crime' of 'terrorism-anti-government' and a 'secondary crime' of 'terrorism-anti-war protesters.'" According to the article, "Both [former state police superintendent Thomas] Hutchins and [Maryland Police Superintendent Terrence] Sheridan said the activists' names were entered into the state police database as terrorists partly because the software offered limited options for classifying entries." Reader kcurtis adds "The State Police say they are purging the data, but this is one more example (on top of yesterday's news that datamining for terrorists is not feasible due to false positives) of just how badly the use of these lists can be abused."
Hardware Hacking

Web Server On a Business Card 169

Posted by kdawson from the at-your-service dept.
mollyhackit writes "We've seen tiny Web servers in the past, but rarely ones that are home-built. Here's a guide to building your own tiny web server with a footprint no larger than a business card. The design uses two major chips. One handles the SPI to MAC/PHY translation for the ethernet jack. The other chip is a PIC24F, which hosts a simple web server and reads files stored on a microSD card. All components run at a low 3.3 volts. Part of the compactness of the design comes from the PIC24F having programmable pins; only four jumper wires were needed. The single-sided SMD design is easy to manufacture at home. Part 1 covered many of the 24F's features and both posts have full code available."
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Small business WAP recommendations?

Submitted by Duncan Blackthorne
Duncan Blackthorne writes: The small company I work for has finally agreed to allow us to have a wireless access point on our network here, and I've been tasked with recommending one to purchase. From experience I know better than to buy any of the consumer-grade WAPs out there, but beyond those it becomes a rather pricey crap-shoot, and I was hoping that the knowledgeable readers of Slashdot could make some recommendations. It needs to support WPA2, preferably needs to have adjustable transmit power so we can limit signal leakage to surrounding buildings, and of course best bang-for-the-buck.
The Internet

Submission + - NY Legally Threatens Comcast Over Child Porn (reuters.com)

Submitted by
Duncan Blackthorne
Duncan Blackthorne writes: ""New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who has pressured Internet service providers to block access to child pornography, on Monday said his office would pursue legal action against Comcast Cable Communications LLC if it did not quickly agree to reforms."


I'm no big fan of Comcast, but I know blackmail when I see it."

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