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Submission Summary: 0 pending, 70 declined, 30 accepted (100 total, 30.00% accepted)

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Medicine

Submission + - Beware the Perils of Caffeine Withdrawal (cnn.com)

Submitted by
palegray.net
palegray.net writes: "CNN is running an article on the notorious effects of caffeine withdrawal, a problem that seems to be affecting an increasing number of people. Citing numerous reasons why people might need to cut back on their caffeine intake (pregnancy, pre-surgery requirements, etc), the story notes a significant number of people who are simply unable to quit. I drink around eight cups of coffee a day, along with a soda or two, and I definitely suffer from nasty withdrawal symptoms without my fix."
Businesses

Submission + - How and How Not to Run a Successful Web Operation (classhelper.org)

Submitted by
palegray.net
palegray.net writes: "With everyone and their best friend intent on starting their own small business these days, people need to pay close attention to lessons learned from running web operations. Considerations like quality hosting, consistently high quality content, backups, and standards compliance all need to be paid attention to. Hopefully a few folks get the memo on these needs before littering up the Web with yet another useless get-rich-quick site."
The Military

Submission + - Military Story Vanishes From Slashdot's Index Page (slashdot.org) 2

Submitted by
palegray.net
palegray.net writes: "A story I'd been following for the better part of seven hours, dealing with the collision of a U.S. submarine with an amphibious vessel has disappeared from Slashdot's front page. Thinking this was merely a consequence of some preference setting on my part, I browsed the site in another (sans-cookie) browser. Same result; the story is still available via a direct link, but it's no longer part of the normal stream of stories showing up on the front page. I got the same result browsing from a different geographic location via SSH. What's going on? If there's a reasonable explanation, I'd love to hear it."
Programming

Submission + - The Top Ten Habits of Successful Programmers (classhelper.org) 1

Submitted by
palegray.net
palegray.net writes: "Out of the millions of programmers on the planet, how many are following good professional practices? From getting too comfortable with a single language or operating system, to failure to properly manage backups, developers everywhere are making simple mistakes that can have serious consequences for their employers and careers. Fortunately, positive changes aren't that hard to implement. While this isn't an exhaustive exploration into the problems that plague developers, it's a pretty solid foundation gleaned from a decade of experience."
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Inside the New Science of Neuroengineering (wired.com)

Submitted by
palegray.net
palegray.net writes: "Wired brings us a look into the world of neuroengineering, the science of hacking the brain to improve its function. Dr. Ed Boyden is the director of MIT's Neuroengineering and Neuromedia Lab, focusing on innovative methods of physically altering neuroanatomy for various purposes. As useful as discoveries in the field may be, the work certainly raises moral and ethical questions. From the article: "'If we surgically or electrically modify someone's personality... that raises many questions about personal identity, (of) who we are at our core,' says Dr. Debra Matthews of The Berman Institute of Bioethics. 'We place ourselves in the mind and therefore the brain. (Mood-altering surgery) feels like fundamentally modifying who a person is.'""
Social Networks

Submission + - Surgeons Use Twitter In The Operating Room (cnn.com)

Submitted by
palegray.net
palegray.net writes: "For the second known time, surgeons at Henry Ford Hospital have used Twitter to send updates in real-time regarding a surgery. From the CNN article: "Whether it's new and cool or merely yicky, observers say there's no question that more and more doctors — and patients — will be sharing the blow-by-blow of medical procedures on sites like Twitter and Facebook.""
Mozilla

Submission + - Mozilla Labs Launches Design Challenges (mozilla.com)

Submitted by
palegray.net
palegray.net writes: "Launched by Mozilla Labs, a series of design challenges will take ideas from students concerning the future of web browsers. The first challenge will focus on what the Web would look like if it permeated every part of our lives, from touch tables to walls. From the announcement: "To get started, you'll need to submit a mockup of your idea. This can be anything from a napkin drawing, to a wireframe, to a polished graphic or video. Through the Labs discussion forums, you'll be able to exchange and discuss ideas with fellow students. (To facilitate the free exchange of ideas, all content and contributions will be licensed under appropriate open source licenses.)" Sounds like something a few folks from a certain tech-oriented online community might be interested in."
Education

Submission + - Teachers Need An Open Source Education (earthweb.com)

Submitted by
palegray.net
palegray.net writes: "Teachers are sorely in need of an education in what open source software is, what it isn't, and how it can benefit their students. A recent news story at the Reg discussed the case of a Texas teacher who accused those distributing Linux to students of committing criminal acts. A HeliOS blog entry exposes a "higher education" culture of apathy, lies, and fear of open source software. Things have got to improve, and that improvement needs to start with misguided teachers getting their facts straight."
Businesses

Submission + - Why the SEC is Probing Steve Jobs (cnn.com)

Submitted by
palegray.net
palegray.net writes: "Serious concerns over Steve Jobs' health have prompted an SEC investigation into whether the leader might have misled investors. Considered by many to be a critical part of Apple's image, the tech industry leader's recent medical leave has sparked fierce debate over Apple's future. From the CNN article: "Hypothetically, if a CEO were to mislead a board about his medical condition and the board then, relying upon the CEO's information, released a misleading account of the CEO's health status, the CEO would be committing securities fraud while the board would not be.""
Government

Submission + - Obama Sides With Bush in Spy Case (wired.com)

Submitted by
palegray.net
palegray.net writes: "President Obama has publicly sided with the Bush administration on the question of whether the President should be allowed to establish warrantless wiretapping programs designed to monitor U.S. citizens. The President has asked a federal judge to stay a ruling that would allow key evidence into the domestic spying case against the government. From the article: "Thursday's filing by the Obama administration marked the first time it officially lodged a court document in the lawsuit asking the courts to rule on the constitutionality of the Bush administration's warrantless-eavesdropping program.""
Security

Submission + - Credit Card Processor Admits to Large Data Breach (wired.com)

Submitted by
palegray.net
palegray.net writes: "Heartland Payment Services, a credit card processor that handles transactions for over 250,000 businesses, has admitted to being breached in what they are calling a "highly sophisticated attack." The company first suspected the breach last October, but hadn't confirmed it until January 20 of this year. From the article: "Heartland discovered malware on its system that allowed thieves to sniff unencrypted card data as transactions were being authorized in Heartland's system. The thieves captured card account numbers and expiration dates and, in 20 percent of cases, the customer's name as well." The company has set up a website in an attempt to address the breach publicly. Perhaps they should consider changing their marketing slogan..."
The Military

Submission + - NSA Targeted Journalists, Snooped on All US Comms (wired.com)

Submitted by
palegray.net
palegray.net writes: "According to a whistleblower at the NSA, they routinely targeted journalists and monitored enormous amounts of domestic traffic during the warrantless wiretapping program. From the article: "Tice said the NSA analyzed metadata to determine which communication would be collected. Offering a hypothetical example, he said if the agency determined that terrorists communicate in brief, two-minute phone calls, the NSA might program its systems to record all such calls, invading the privacy of anyone prone to telephonic succinctness." Pretty nasty stuff."
Social Networks

Submission + - Gaza Conflict Moves to Virtual Worlds (foxnews.com)

Submitted by
palegray.net
palegray.net writes: "The ongoing conflict between pro-Hamas and pro-Israeli forces is moving to virtual worlds. With members in the tens of thousands, groups on sites like Facebook, Twitter and players in Second Life are becoming prominent voices in political and military conflicts. From the article: 'On Facebook, the pro-Hamas group "Stop Genocide in Palestine" has more than 117,500 members. On the other side, "I Support the Israel Defense Forces in Preventing Terror Attacks from Gaza" has more than 65,000 members.'"
Earth

Submission + - New Insights In The Evolution Of Intelligence (sciam.com)

Submitted by
palegray.net
palegray.net writes: "According to a new article published in Scientific American, the nature of and evolutionary development of animal intelligence is significantly more complicated than many have assumed. In opposition to the widely held view that intelligence is largely linear in nature, in many cases intelligent traits have developed along independent paths. From the article: "Over the past 30 years, however, research in comparative neuroanatomy clearly has shown that complex brains--and sophisticated cognition--have evolved from simpler brains multiple times independently in separate lineages ...""

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