Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Transportation

Former TSA Administrator Speaks 196

Posted by Soulskill from the sees-the-writing-on-the-wall dept.
phantomfive writes "Former TSA head Kip Hawley talks about how the agency is broken and how it can be fixed: 'The crux of the problem, as I learned in my years at the helm, is our wrongheaded approach to risk. In attempting to eliminate all risk from flying, we have made air travel an unending nightmare for U.S. passengers and visitors from overseas, while at the same time creating a security system that is brittle where it needs to be supple. ... the TSA's mission is to prevent a catastrophic attack on the transportation system, not to ensure that every single passenger can avoid harm while traveling. Much of the friction in the system today results from rules that are direct responses to how we were attacked on 9/11. But it's simply no longer the case that killing a few people on board a plane could lead to a hijacking. ...The public wants the airport experience to be predictable, hassle-free and airtight and for it to keep us 100% safe. But 100% safety is unattainable. Embracing a bit of risk could reduce the hassle of today's airport experience while making us safer at the same time."
Piracy

Swiss Gov't: Downloading Movies and Music Will Stay Legal 463

Posted by timothy from the wish-that-sanity-was-contagious dept.
wasimkadak writes "One in three people in Switzerland download unauthorized music, movies and games from the Internet, and — since last year — the government has been wondering what to do about it. This week their response was published, and it was crystal clear. Not only will downloading for personal use stay completely legal, but the copyright holders won't suffer because of it, since people eventually spend the money saved on entertainment products."
The Internet

Italian Court Rules Web Editors Not Responsible For Comments 72

Posted by samzenpus from the not-my-responsibility dept.
itwbennett writes "Internet freedom got a boost Wednesday when Italy's highest court ruled that the editors of online publications can't be held legally responsible for defamatory comments posted by their readers. The judges said online publications could not be treated in the same way as traditional print media and could not be expected to exercise preventative editorial control over readers' comments."
Media

Creating a Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Bootable Flash Drive 206

Posted by timothy from the no-you-probably-can't-put-it-on-your-netbook dept.
WankerWeasel writes "With the release of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion this month, Apple will no longer offer a bootable installer DVD and is making 10.7 Lion available only through the App Store. This guide provides quick instructions on how to use the OS X 10.7 Lion installer to create a bootable flash drive (instructions for making a bootable DVD are also included on the blog)."
Graphics

Upscaling Retro 8-Bit Pixel Art To Vector Graphics 325

Posted by timothy from the awesomeness-defined dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Two researchers — Johannes Kopf from Microsoft, and Dani Lischinski from The Hebrew University — have successfully created an algorithm that depixelizes and upscales low-resolution 8-bit 'pixel art' into lush vector graphics. The algorithm identifies pixel-level details (original paper — PDF) to accurately shade the new image — but more importantly, the algorithm can create smooth, curved contour lines from only-connected-on-the-diagonal single pixels. At long last, we might be able to play Super Mario Bros. on a big screen without stretching our beloved plumber's pixels to breaking point. You really must look at the sample images." Scroll down in the paper to see how their technique stacks up against some others, including Adobe's Live Trace.
NASA

Submission + - Monday marks final launch of NASA's Endeavor

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The final launch of the space shuttle Endeavor has settled to take place next Monday after engineers battled to resolve an electrical problem that plagued the original launch dates. The last launch of the space shuttle Endeavour, originally scheduled for April 29, is being pushed back for the 2nd time to May 16, official said today.
Network

Submission + - A neural network afflicted by schizophrenia (wordpress.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: By making it forget less quickly a neural network is afflicted with schizophrenic symptoms supporting the hyperlearning hypothesis. Can information overflow in our modern society cause schizophrenia?
KDE

Submission + - SimplyMEPIS 11.0 Released, Looks Good (ostatic.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: SimplyMEPIS 11.0 ships with KDE 4.5.3, Linux 2.6.36-1, X.Org X Server 1.7.7, GCC 4.4.5. Firefox 4.0.1, LibreOffice 3.3.2, GIMP 2.6.10, Frozen Bubble 2.2.0, and VLC 1.1.3 are some of the applications included. It also comes with utilities such as luckybackup and Sweeper. And in Susan Linton's test drive it runs real smooth.

Slashdot Top Deals

E = MC ** 2 +- 3db

Close