Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Comment What about other cars? (Score 1) 140

by mikeru22 (#36555084) Attached to: Volkswagon Shows Off Self-Driving Auto-Pilot For Cars
looking a bit into the future...So when you decide to take a nap during a trip in your autonomous car you're still in danger of crashing because that weary-eyed or drunk driver that can't afford this technology is still likely to drift out of his lane. How do they plan to avoid this type of thing? Will the car automatically swerve out of the way or screech to a halt while you're sleeping in the back seat? Seems like the only way for this to work is to have networking between cars in close proximity be a required component of all/new vehicles.
Networking

First Ceiling Light Internet Systems Installed 179

Posted by timothy from the how-the-gov't-will-control-your-mind dept.
An anonymous reader writes "We last heard about LVX's LED ceiling light optical communication system in December, and now news has broken that the company recently implemented the technology at several city offices in St. Cloud, Minnesota. The LVX/ceiling light system is capable of transmitting data at about three megabits per second, which is about as fast as a residential DSL line. It works by placing light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in a standard-sized light fixture. This then transmits coded binary messages to the special modems attached to computers, which also respond via light waves."
Television

House Passes TV Commercial Volume Bill 408

Posted by Soulskill from the apply-directly-to-eardrum dept.
eldavojohn writes "About a year ago, legislation was introduced to control the volume of TV commercials. It passed the Senate in September and has now been passed in the House as well. This problem has dated back to the 1960s, but after the president signs the bill, broadcasters will be subject to regulations of the Advanced Television Systems Committee on what is 'too loud.' Of the last 25 quarterly reports from the FCC, this has been the number one consumer complaint in 21 of them. Within a year, you should start to notice a difference, with commercials no longer forcing you to turn down the TV volume during breaks in your regular programming."
The Internet

Verizon LTE Can Use the Monthly Data Allotment In 32 Minutes 273

Posted by timothy from the that-was-quick dept.
adeelarshad82 writes "Verizon's new 4G LTE network is so fast that you can use up your entire 5GB in as little as 32 minutes. The 2010-era speeds are soured by the 2005-era thinking on data plans. Verizon has priced LTE pretty much like 3G to encourage data sipping, not guzzling. As soon as you start using the latest high-bandwidth Internet services, your whole month's allotment can evaporate in no time. According to a test, the network's speed maxed out at 21Mbps, which means that it takes only 32 minutes to smoke up the 5GB monthly data cap on the plan. While the 21Mbps speed was hit on a low traffic network, Verizon estimates you'll be able to get around 8.5Mbps with a loaded network which still means that the cap can be exhausted in about an hour and a half."
Google

Google Loses Street View Suit, Forced To Pay $1 225

Posted by timothy from the token-victory dept.
Translation Error writes "Two and a half years ago, the Borings sued Google for invading their privacy by driving onto their private driveway and taking pictures of their house to display on Google Street View. Now, the case has finally come to a close with the judge ruling in favor of the Borings and awarding them the princely sum of $1. While the judge found the Borings to be in the right, she awarded them only nominal damages, as the fact that they had already made images of their home available on a real estate site and didn't bother to seal the lawsuit to minimize publicity indicated the Borings neither valued their privacy nor had it been affected in any great way by Google's actions."
Data Storage

SanDisk, Nikon and Sony Develop 500MB/sec 2TB Flash Card 98

Posted by CmdrTaco from the yes-have-some dept.
Lucas123 writes "SanDisk, Nikon and Sony are jointly developing a new Compact Flash card specification for the professional photography and video markets that boosts data transfer rates from 167MB/sec with today's 6.0 specification to 500MB/sec. The newly proposed specification would also offer up cards with a theoretical maximum capacity of 2TB, which would be conducive to recording high-definition video."
Encryption

SSL Certificates For Intranet Sites? 286

Posted by kdawson from the matter-of-trust dept.
wiedzmin writes "Anybody who has worked around anything dubbed an 'appliance' in the past few years knows that they come with a management Web interface, which is usually 'secure.' However, no company in their right (accounting) mind will spend $400/year per appliance to buy Verisign SSL certificates to secure Web interfaces on networks that may not even be open to the public Internet. So network administrators, and sometimes end users, are stuck clicking away at an annoying 'Continue to this website (not recommended)' message every time they connect, setting an unhealthy precedent when it comes to the actual security of SSL and the much-hyped MITM attacks. So the question I have for the Slashdot crowd is: do you have valid SSL certificates on your intranet sites, and if so what do you use? Any cost-neutral, or at least cost-conscious solutions out there that don't involve manually distributing your certificates and CRL to every workstation in the company? Thanks."
Cellphones

FCC To Allow Texting To 911 321

Posted by kdawson from the omg-srsly dept.
tekgoblin writes "The FCC is looking into allowing people to report incidents to 911 via SMS from their mobile phones. They are also considering mobile video to show the 911 service what is going on. The current 911 system handles around 230 million calls per year with most of the calls being from mobile phones. One situation influenced this move to allow texting to 911 was the Virginia Tech shooting. 'The technological limitations of 9-1-1 can have tragic, real-world consequences,' the release said. 'During the 2007 Virginia Tech campus shooting, students and witnesses desperately tried to send texts to 9-1-1 that local dispatchers never received. If these messages had gone through, first responders may have arrived on the scene faster with firsthand intelligence about the life-threatening situation that was unfolding.'"
Communications

Did an Apple Engineer Invent FB Messages In 2003? 128

Posted by timothy from the if-that-then-this dept.
theodp writes "Q. How many Facebook engineers does it take in 2010 to duplicate a lone Apple engineer's 2003 effort? A. 15! On Nov. 15th, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced Facebook Messages, which uses whatever method of communication is appropriate at the time — e.g., email, IM, SMS. A day later, ex-Apple software engineer Jens Alfke was granted a patent for his 2003 invention of a Method and apparatus for processing electronic messages, which — you guessed it — employs the most appropriate messaging method — e.g., email, IM, SMS — for the job. Citing Apple's lack of passion for social software, Alfke left Apple in 2008. After a layover at Google, Alfke landed at startup Rockmelt, whose still-in-beta 'social web browser' also sports a pretty nifty communications platform."

Slashdot Top Deals

FORTRAN is not a flower but a weed -- it is hardy, occasionally blooms, and grows in every computer. -- A.J. Perlis

Close