iamnotaclown - Slashdot User

Submission + - FBI Admits Abuse of Patriot Act to Obtain Info

Submitted by SydShamino on Friday March 09, 2007 @02:50PM

SydShamino writes: CNN, the Associated Press and others are reporting that an independent audit of the FBI revealed "serious misuse" of power to acquire private information granted in the Patriot Act. FBI Director Robert Mueller has accepted responsibility for problems and says they are being corrected, but Congress has already called for hearings. There's no word yet on criminal charges against anyone in the FBI who might have broken the law.

Submission + - Dean Kamen's Latest : Mechanical Arm

Submitted by brian.gunderson on Friday March 09, 2007 @02:32PM

brian.gunderson writes: The latest from inventor Dean Kamen, a replacement arm for the 20,000 soldiers who have lost at least one arm in Iraq and Afghanistan. The arm was able to perform such delicate tasks as actually pick up a pen and write.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/02/15/08OPenti nsights_1.html

Samba Success in the Enterprise? 149

Posted by Cliff on Friday March 09, 2007 @02:30PM from the asking-for-your-experiences dept.

gunnk asks: "We've deployed a Samba server here to replace some aging Novell Netware boxes. It works great: fast, secure, stable. However, we have one VIP that feels that Samba is 'amateur' software and that we should be buying Windows servers. I've been searching with little success for large Samba deployments in Enterprise environments. Anyone out there care to share stories of places that are happily running large Samba installations for their file servers? Or not so happy, for that matter — better to be informed!"

Submission + - UK's Conservative Party Pro OSS

Submitted by

Paul Giannaros

on Friday March 09, 2007 @02:02PM

Paul Giannaros writes: "The UK's Conservative Party website top story states that 'an incoming Conservative government would create a level playing field for open source software in the UK', following the Conservative Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne's speech on recasting the political settlement for the digital age.
He talks about the importance of the 'equality of information' that the Internet has provided, social networks and their use in society, and open source, saying 'it is estimated that the Government could save at least 5% [£600m] of its annual IT bill if more open source software was used as part of a more effective procurement strategy'. He also briefly discusses 'the lack of open standards in government IT'."

Submission + - Congressman: colleges are nests of piracy

Submitted by Prescott on Friday March 09, 2007 @01:42PM

Prescott writes: Hollywood's congressman, Rep. Howard Berman of California, has announced that his subcomittee will be accelerating its hearings on piracy at American colleges. More troubling, he is getting ready to go after what he is calling the 'hypocrisy' of American colleges and Universities. 'Unfortunately, many schools have turned a blind eye to piracy,' Berman said. 'I don't doubt that there are legitimate issues that universities must grapple with, including privacy and cost concerns. However, when a university such as Purdue tells the AP that it rarely even notifies students accused by the RIAA because it is too much trouble to track down alleged offenders — such inaction is unacceptable.'

Virtualization Is Not All Roses 214

Posted by CmdrTaco on Friday March 09, 2007 @01:39PM from the watch-out-for-those-thorns dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Vendors and magazines are all over virtualization like a rash, like it is the Saviour for IT-kind. Not always, writes analyst Andi Mann in Computerworld." I've found that when it works, it's really cool, but it does add a layer of complexity that wasn't there before. Then again, having a disk image be a 'machine' is amazingly useful sometimes.

Submission + - Factory soot leads to increased pacific storms.

Submitted by Cryolithic on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @01:58PM

Cryolithic writes: From the Vancouver Sun

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html ?id=e28e0f63-8add-4f03-aa2e-f64a8499bad5&k=5988

Soot from the factories of Asia is changing weather across the Pacific Ocean and causing storms like the December howler that clobbered Vancouver's Stanley Park, a new study says.

"The intensified Pacific storm track is climatically significant," and is the first time climate scientists have been able to measure the effect of "aerosols" — minute airborne particles — on climate, the team writes.

Submission + - Favorite Force Poll

Submitted by Miphnik on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @01:41PM

Miphnik writes: Favorite Force?

Strong

Weak

Electromagnetic

Gravity

Light Side

Dark Side

Brute

Submission + - Windows 2.0 era talk by Bill Gates with 640k

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @01:21PM

An anonymous reader writes: Back in 1989, Bill Gates came to talk to the students of the University of Waterloo on the early days of Microsoft, and the future of computing. It's an interesting blast to the past, as he touches on topics such as the VGA graphics, OS/2 and software piracy, as well as the now infamous 640K of memory. Lost for nearly two decades, the tape of the talk recently surfaced and is now available in a number of audio formats from the University of Waterloo Computer Science Club.

Submission + - FAA May Ditch Vista For Linux

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @01:04PM

An anonymous reader writes: In what could be the start of a government wave away from Microsoft, last week's news that the U.S. Department of Transportation is putting a halt on upgrades to Windows Vista, Office 2007, and Internet Explorer 7 is followed today by word that the Federal Aviation Administration may ditch Vista and Office in favor of Google's new online business applications running on Linux-based hardware. FAA chief information officer David Bowen told InformationWeek he's taking a close look at the Premier Edition of Google Apps as he mulls replacements for the agency's Windows XP-based desktop computers. Bowen cited several reasons why he finds Google Apps attractive. "From a security and management standpoint that would have some advantages," he said. Do you think that Vista's cost could finally put a crimp in what's been an automatic upgrade cycle to Microsoft and spur Linux adoption? Is this the start of some kind of anti-Vista groundswell?

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