wahaa - Slashdot User

Submission + - Real users have no clue how to use Windows 8 (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 17, 2012 @02:07PM

An anonymous reader writes: Lockergnome founder Chris Pirillo did an eye opening experiment back in March by sitting his Dad down in front of a machine running Windows 8 and asking him to use it. The end result was a very confused man.

Seven months on and Pirillo has decided to do a follow-up experiment, only this time he took Windows 8 on the streets and asked a random selection of people to try and use it. Again, the end result was one of confusion, questions as to why it was so complex, and of course, everyone was looking for the Start Menu and Taskbar.

Submission + - For About $20, Cardboard Bicycle Could 'Change The World,' Inventor Says (npr.org) 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15, 2012 @04:51PM

An anonymous reader writes: "... inventor has come up with a way to make a bicycle almost entirely out of cardboard — and so inexpensively that he thinks retailers would only need to charge about $20 for one."

Submission + - Will EU Regulations Effectively Ban High-End Video Cards? (nordichardware.com)

Submitted by arun84h on Monday October 15, 2012 @03:52PM

arun84h writes: A new energy law, which will apply in the European Union, has the power to limit sale of discrete components deemed "energy inefficient". GPU maker AMD is worried this will affect future technology as it becomes available, as well as some current offerings. From TFA:

"According to data NordicHardware has seen from a high level employee at AMD, current graphics cards are unable to meet with these requirements. This includes "GPUs like Cape Verde and Tahiti", that is used in the HD 7700 and HD 7900 series, and can't meet with the new guidelines, the same goes for the older "Caicos" that is used in the HD 6500/6600 and HD 7500/7600 series. Also "Oland" is mentioned, which is a future performance circuit from AMD, that according to rumors will be used in the future HD 8800 series. What worries AMD the most is how this will affect future graphics cards since the changes in Lot 3 will go into effect soon. The changes will of course affect Nvidia as much as it will AMD."

Is this the beginning of the end for high-end GPU sales in the EU?

Submission + - Steve Wozniak calls Apple arrogant over iPhone 5 design (edibleapple.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 12, 2012 @04:57PM

An anonymous reader writes: One of the things you gotta love about Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, aside from his boyish goofiness and adoration for a good prank, is that he has no qualms about telling it like it is and trashing Apple when he thinks they’ve gone askew.

In a recent interview, Woz went so far as to call Apple arrogant with respect to its iPhone 5 design — not because of its Maps snafu, but because he's peeved that Apple chose to make the iPhone 5 screen longer and not wider.

Submission + - Yet another call for abolishing patents, this one from the Fed (theatlantic.com) 1

Submitted by WOOFYGOOFY on Friday September 28, 2012 @03:41AM

WOOFYGOOFY writes: The most recent call for curtailing patents comes not just from an unexpected source, the St. Louis Fed, but also in its most basic form- total abolition of ALL patents.

Via the Atlantic Monthly,

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/09/the-case-for-abolishing-patents-yes-all-of-them/262913/

a new working paper from two members of the St. Louis Federal Reserve, Michele Boldrin and David Levine:

http://research.stlouisfed.org/wp/2012/2012-035.pdf

in which they argue that while a weak patent system may mildly increase innovation with limited side-effects, such a system can never be contained and will inevitably lead a stifling patent system such as that presently found in the U.S.

They argue: "...strong patent systems retard innovation with many negative side-effects. and ..political demand for stronger patent protection comes from old and stagnant industries and firms, not from new and innovative ones. Hence the best solution is to abolish patents entirely through strong constitutional measures and to find other legislative instruments, less open to lobbying and rent-seeking".

They acknowledge that some industries could suffer under a such a system, they single out pharma, and suggest that other legislative measures be found to foster innovation whenever there is clear evidence that laissez-faire under-supplies it.

Submission + - Panama May Soon Pass World's Worst Copyright Law (paritynews.com)

Submitted by hypnosec on Thursday September 27, 2012 @10:33AM

hypnosec writes: Panama government is probably just one step away from passing one of the worst copyright laws ever passed and enforced in the history. The Bill no. 510 [PDF], if passed, will empower the Panamanian copyright office to pursue filesharers directly without the intervention of the government and levy fines of up to $100,000 USD each. Worse even, the money recovered will not be going to the rights holders but, will be distributed to officials of the copyright office in form of bonuses. Beyond the fine, those who have been found guilty may also end up facing civil actions.

Submission + - Portugal says file, music and movie copying vie p2p is legal (exameinformatica.sapo.pt)

Submitted by mynameiskhan on Wednesday September 26, 2012 @05:37PM

mynameiskhan writes: There seems to be at least one government that thinks p2p is fine. Throw the url on to translate.google.com and there is more to this. Of course, the trade association of the entertainment industry in Portugal says the government is twisting the law and does not want to end up send 2 million letters to the violators.

Submission + - Apple's Lightning connector hides Authentication chip inside (appleinsider.com) 1

Submitted by exomondo on Tuesday September 25, 2012 @09:21PM

exomondo writes: Apple's new Lightning connector — introduced at the iPhone 5 launch — may be 80% smaller than its 30-pin predecessor, it may also boast reversibility but it includes within it an Authentication chip effectively preventing any unlicensed accessories. This allows Apple to completely control the market for all cable and dock accessories that make use of the new Lightning interface.

Submission + - Megaupload To Return To The Internet (torrentfreak.com)

Submitted by

Techmeology

on Tuesday September 25, 2012 @08:16PM

Techmeology writes: "Kim Dotcom is working on a new incarnation of Megaupload, and has announced that the code for it is "90% done". Although the criminal case against the original site is still ongoing, Dotcom has secured support from investors. The new services is touted to be better than the original, with applications ranging beyond filesharing."

Submission + - Malicious phpMyAdmin Served From SourceForge Mirror (net-security.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 25, 2012 @05:31PM

An anonymous reader writes: A malicious version of the open source Web-based MySQL database administration tool phpMyAdmin has been discovered on one of the official mirror sites of SourceForge, the popular online code repository for free and open source software.

The file — phpMyAdmin-3.5.2.2-all-languages.zip — was modified to include a backdoor that allowed attackers to remotely execute PHP code on the server running the malicious version of phpMyAdmin.

Submission + - Apple wants another $707 million from Samsung (computerworld.com.au) 1

Submitted by

angry tapir

on Sunday September 23, 2012 @07:58PM

angry tapir writes: "A California jury may have awarded Apple more than US$1 billion in damages in late August when it triumphed over Samsung in a hard-fought case over smartphone and tablet patents, but the iPhone maker is coming back for more: late last week it asked for additional damages of $707 million. The request includes an enhanced award of $535 million for willful violation of Apple's designs and patents, as well as about $172 million in supplemental damages based on the fact that the original damages were calculated on Samsung's sales through June 30."

Submission + - Lumia is last chance for Nokia in smartphones war (cosimple.com)

Submitted by

Cosimple

on Sunday September 23, 2012 @03:28AM

Cosimple writes: "Microsoft and Nokia has hoped that the Lumia phones will be the only chance in industry war, but users and analysts has not much impressed by the phones."

Submission + - The Linux-Proof Processor that Nobody Wants (perens.com) 1

Submitted by

Bruce Perens

on Saturday September 15, 2012 @07:52PM

Bruce Perens writes: "Clover Trail, Intel's newly announced "Linux proof" processor, is already a dead end for other technical and business reasons."

Submission + - Mathematician Claims Proof of Connection between Prime Numbers (nature.com)

Submitted by cekerr on Tuesday September 11, 2012 @11:51PM

cekerr writes: A Japanese mathematician claims to have the proof for the ABC conjecture, a statement about the relationship between prime numbers that has been called the most important unsolved problem in number theory.

Mathematician Shinichi Mochizuki of Kyoto University in Japan has released a 500-page proof of the abc conjecture, which proposes a relationship between whole numbers — a 'Diophantine' problem.

The abc conjecture, proposed independently by David Masser and Joseph Oesterle in 1985, might not be as familiar to the wider world as Fermat’s Last Theorem, but in some ways it is more significant. “The abc conjecture, if proved true, at one stroke solves many famous Diophantine problems, including Fermat's Last Theorem,” says Dorian Goldfeld, a mathematician at Columbia University in New York. “If Mochizuki’s proof is correct, it will be one of the most astounding achievements of mathematics of the twenty-first century.”

The proof is contained over four papers produced by Mochizuki: INTER-UNIVERSAL TEICHMULLER THEORY I-IV

Submission + - US President intending to implement CISPA by executive order (techdirt.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 11, 2012 @11:10PM

An anonymous reader writes: A draft of a new executive order is circulating among insiders that will attempt to implement CISPA without congressional approval. Jason Miller of Federal News Radio claims to have seen it and according to him, it contains most of the provisions of the Lieberman/Collins Cybersecurity Act that failed in the U.S. Senate. The provisions appear to put pressure on companies to "share" information with the government.

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