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Media

Submission + - Goodbye, freshmeat, we're going to miss you (devx.com)

Submitted by Roblimo
Roblimo writes: Geek.net, the parent company of SourceForge.net, Slashdot.org, ThinkGeek.com, Geek.com, freshmeat.net, and ohloh.net, has told employees that it will be closing freshmeat.net and ohloh.net. This information has not yet been released to the public, but we've heard it from more than one Geek.net employee. The company also reportedly laid off 25% of its staff this week. After the story was posted at devx.com, a Geek.net Vice President emailed this response to its author: 'If you're asking whether or not the sites are for sale, the answer is no. However, we are looking to create better ways for our community to interact with the information on these sites, likely through SourceForge.'
Robotics

Submission + - Bionic-Eyed Man Wants To Stream Eye Video Online (ieee.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: According to this IEEE article (http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/biomedical/bionics/061110-eyeborg-bionic-eye), Canadian filmmaker Rob Spence, who calls himself Eyeborg because he replaced his false right eye with a bionic one (http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/06/2344220), is showing off his latest prototype. The new bionic eye contains a battery-powered, wireless video camera that can transmit low-res feed to a nearby receiver. Now Spence plans to share his 'vision' online, literally. According to the IEEE article, "soon people will be able to log on to his video feed and view the world through his right eye."

Submission + - Microsoft explains mystery Firefox extension 1

Submitted by Ricky
Ricky writes: Microsoft has fixed the distribution scope of a toolbar update that, without the user's knowledge, installed an add-on in Internet Explorer and an extension in Firefox called Search Helper Extension. Microsoft told us that the new update is actually the same as the old one; the only difference is the distribution settings. In other words, the update will no longer be distributed to toolbars that it shouldn't be added to. End users won't see the tweak, Microsoft told Ars, and also offered an explanation on what the mystery add-on actually does.

Ars Technica

Submission + - High school forces all students to buy Mac Laptops (salemnews.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A new program at Beverly High will equip every student with a new laptop computer to prepare kids for a high-tech future. But there's a catch. The money for the $900 Apple MacBooks will come out of parents' pockets. "You're kidding me," parent Jenn Parisella said when she found out she'd have to buy her sophomore daughter, Sky, a new computer. "She has a laptop. Why would I buy her another laptop?" Sky has a Dell. Come September 2011, every student will need an Apple. They'll bring it to class and use it for homework. Superintendent James Hayes sees the technology as an essential move to prepare kids for the future. The School Committee approved the move last year, and Hayes said he's getting the news out now so families can prepare. "We have one platform," Hayes said. "And that's going to be the Mac."
Firefox

Submission + - Today's MS Windows update modifies Firefox

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Today's Windows updates from Microsoft include a surprising component... a "Search Helper Extension" that is automatically and silently installed into the user's Firefox application. I have no information yet on what this does or how Microsoft felt authorized to do it, nor have I yet seen any press coverage. Sure seems like it deserves some inquiry though. Here's a link to a forum discussion.
Science

Submission + - The Iranian Scientist & the YouTube Videos (discovermagazine.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A weird story of international intrigue just got weirder. Last year, Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri disappeared during his pilgrimage to Mecca. The U.S. quietly made it known that Amiri had defected, bringing info about Iran's nuclear program with him. But this week two contradictory YouTube videos popped up to thicken the plot. in the first vid, a man identifying himself as Amiri claimed that he had been kidnapped by the CIA and Saudi intelligence forces, had been tortured, and was currently being held against his will in Tucson. Then, yesterday, another video popped up which also featured a purported Amiri, but this time he claimed to be living a happy and peaceful live in the United States. Are either of these men really Amiri? If so, was Amiri reading from a script written by government propagandists in either or both vids? So many questions.
Security

Submission + - Microsoft Leaves Office XP Users Patchless (computerworld.com)

Submitted by CWmike
CWmike writes: For the second time in less than a year, Microsoft said it would not patch a vulnerability in an older product because creating a fix was 'infeasible.' The omission leaves users running Office XP vulnerable to attack unless they take additional steps on their own. Office XP, which debuted in March 2001, remains on Microsoft's list of supported suites — users will continue to receive security updates through mid-July 2011. But on Tuesday, Microsoft said a COM (component object model) validation vulnerability in the aged suite couldn't be patched. The decision was explained in one of the 10 updates Microsoft issued yesterday that patched a record-tying 34 vulnerabilities. 'The architecture to properly support the fixes to correct validation does not exist on Microsoft Office XP, making it infeasible to build the fixes for Microsoft Office XP products to eliminate the vulnerability,' said Microsoft in the MS10-036 security bulletin. Instead of an actual patch, Microsoft urged Office XP users to download and run an automated tool from its 'Fit it' library. The tool, said Microsoft, "provides similar protections against the vulnerability" as the patch offered to people running Office 2003 and Office 2007. 'Microsoft built a shim to protect Office XP,' said Richie Lai, Qualys' director of vulnerability research. 'It's a workaround, but Microsoft's not fixing the vulnerable code.'
Earth

Submission + - Another oil spill in the Gulf underway

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: It's being reported that there is another oil spill happening in the Gulf at this time. examiner.com reports,

The leaks at the Ocean Saratoga site have been leaking since Hurricane Ivan which caused an undersea mudslide nearly six years ago destroying the rig. Taylor Energy have been working since that time to stop the leaks. A ten-mile oil strip was discovered today near the Saratoga site. ... The Ocean Saratoga well was once operated by BP

more here

Alabama's Press Register reports that this 10km long oil slick is now visible from satellite images. This seems to indicate it may be leaking more than the 14 gallons of oil per day reported by the Examiner.

Movies

Submission + - Video games going Back to the Future (skunkpost.com)

Submitted by crimeandpunishment
crimeandpunishment writes: They were huge box office hits in the 80's and 90's, but will "Back to the Future" and "Jurassic Park" be blockbuster video games in 2010? Telltale Games is betting they will. The company is creating episodic titles based on the trilogies. The games will be for XBox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii....along with PC's and Mac's. They're due out this winter.
Games

Submission + - Why Proper 3D Games Are Still Three Years Away (thinq.co.uk)

Submitted by Stoobalou
Stoobalou writes: While hardware manufacturers are touting stereoscopic 3D as the latest must-have check-box for gamers, games developers are seemingly indifferent to the 3D revolution at the moment. In fact, EA's CEO John Riccitiello reckons that it's going to be a good three years before 3D becomes a standard gaming feature.

In a revealing interview, Riccitiello explained that there's a big difference between converting a game to run in 3D mode, and properly developing it to take full advantage of the extra dimension.
Games

Submission + - PBS to air Video Games Live performance on July 31 (thekartel.com)

Submitted by almehdaaol
almehdaaol writes: The immensely popular videogame concert show series, Video Games Live will be receiving national attention next month as PBS plans to air a 90-minute Video Games Live performance on July 31st. The airing will also coincide with the CD and DVD/Blu-Ray release of the concert with 3 hours of extra content via PBS.

Submission + - Boltzmann equation solved, the new way

Submitted by xt
xt writes: The Boltzmann equation is old news. What's news is that the 140 year old equation has been solved, using mathematical techniques from the fields of partial differential equations and harmonic analysis, some as new as five years old. This solution provides a new understanding of the effects due to grazing collisions, when neighboring molecules just glance off one another rather than collide head on. We may not understand the theory, but we'll sure love the applications!

Submission + - Is Dell sabotaging their low-end business PCs?

Submitted by anomaly0617
anomaly0617 writes: I'm a network consultant. Frequently my customers are small businesses without an IT department, and they come to our company when they need to buy computers. Unless they are doing something high-end on a workstation, we recommend Dell Optiplex workstations with at least 4gb of RAM. The Optiplex comes in two flavors — the 3xx family and the 7xx family. Again, unless they need a high end workstation, I go with the 3xx family, because it costs less and has a lot of the same specs as the 7xx family. The problem is, Dell's website and sales staff prevents us from buying a 3xx series workstation with anything other than a 32-bit operating system. Since 32-bit operating systems can only address 4gb of RAM memory, this puts me in a pickle. If I do what I should do and recommend they go to a 64-bit operating system, I'm locked into the 7xx series workstation, which costs the customer more. If I save them a little money now and go with the 3xx series workstation, I can't buy Windows 7 64-bit with it, and I sabotage the customer down the road when they need more memory. The Optiplex 3xx series obviously supports a 64-bit OS (I've even loaded one with a 64-bit OS to make sure), so I see this as little more than a tactic on Dell's part to vacuum more cash from their customers. So I guess I'm wondering: have others run into this problem? Is this happening with other major manufacturers like IBM/Lenovo and HP/Compaq?
Google

Submission + - Google: Evil as long as it aligns with the agenda (wnd.com)

Submitted by ChristTrekker
ChristTrekker writes: Apparently, Google doesn't mind being a little bit evil, as long as it fits a certain political alignment.

In the wake of the revelations about Obama's Social Security number and the questions raised by the report, that Google was suppressing access to information about the report, linking to completely unrelated stories when consumers would search for the issue on the site's news tab.

Now a similar search of the web portion of the site brought up several warnings. For a reference to the report at hunsbergers.net, another at cleanclock.com, and a third at ccweldingco.com – all just on the first page – Google warned "This site may harm your computer."

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