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Volkswagen Creates Sewage-Powered Beetle 83

Posted by samzenpus from the 35-miles-per-burrito dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "The Telegraph reports that Volkswagen is giving new meaning to the term 'Dung Beetle' with a prototype able to cover 10,000 miles annually on the waste from 70 households. The Bio-Bug was launched by Wessex Water, which is generating methane from human waste at a sewage treatment works near Bristol. 'Our site has been producing biogas for many years, which we use to generate electricity to power the site and export to the National Grid,' says one company official. 'We decided to power a vehicle on the gas, offering a sustainable alternative to using fossil fuels which we so heavily rely on in the UK.' The Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association says the launch of the Bio-Bug proves that biomethane from sewage sludge can be used as fuel. 'This is a very exciting and forward-thinking project demonstrating the myriad benefits of anaerobic digestion (releasing energy from waste). Biomethane cars could be just as important as electric cars.'"
Security

A Flood of Stable Linux Kernels Released 105

Posted by timothy from the five-is-better-than-one dept.
Julie188 writes "Greg Kroah-Hartman has released five new stable Linux kernels, correcting minor errors of their predecessors and including improvements which are unlikely to generate new errors. As so often with kernel versions in the stable series, it remains undisclosed if the new versions contain changes which fix security vulnerabilities, although the number of changes and some of the descriptions of those changes certainly suggest that all the new versions contain security fixes."
Communications

Skype Releases Open SDK 108

Posted by timothy from the build-it-they-will-come dept.
An anonymous reader writes "SkypeKit gives Linux developers access to core functionality, allowing Linux developers to add video, calling, and instant messaging features to desktop applications. The SDK also comes with the freshly royalty-free SILK codec for high-end audio. Skype is hoping that the inclusion of SILK will popularize the codec, extending its reach. Currently, the SkypeKit beta is only available for Linux on an invite-only basis, with Windows and Mac versions planned in coming weeks. The SDK does not cover Android or Mac, an odd choice considering the announcement of SkypeKit championed itself for extending the functionality of Skype to multiple platforms and devices. Including smartphones in the SDK seems like an obvious move." Ars Technica has a rundown, too.
Education

Gulf Oil Spill Disaster — Spawn of the Living Dead 228

Posted by timothy from the less-on-your-plate dept.
grrlscientist writes "A recently published study, intended to provide data to commercial fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico so they maximize their catch of Yellowfin Tuna, Thunnus albacares, whilst avoiding bycatch of critically endangered Atlantic (Northern) Bluefin Tuna, Thunnus thynnus, suggests that the Deepwater Horizon oil leak may devastate the endangered Atlantic bluefin population, causing it to completely collapse or possibly go extinct."
Censorship

Google Stops Ads For "Cougar" Sites 319

Posted by samzenpus from the here's-to-you-mrs-robinson dept.
teh31337one writes "Google is refusing to advertise CougarLife, a dating site for mature women looking for younger men. However, they continue to accept sites for mature men seeking young women. According to the New York Times, CougarLife.com had been paying Google $100,000 a month since October. The Mountain View company has now cancelled the contract, saying that the dating site is 'nonfamily safe.'"

Comment Re:What about OS updates ? (Score 1) 360

by evilpenguin (#31769078) Attached to: Ubuntu Claims 12 Million Users — Before Lucid

I have 4 real and dozens of virtual machines all running one flavor or another of Linux, with Ubuntu being the most common (I also have 3 CentOS boxes of various versions, one current Fedora box, one Mandriva, one SuSE, one Gentoo, one Debian). The real boxes all run or another Ubuntu version, one LTS server, and three desktop alternate installs (2 laptops with whole disk encryption and one "server" with a 5TB software RAID-5 array).

These are all behind one static IP address.

So, am I one user? 4 users? Does CentOS count as RedHat? It deliberately maintains the same versions of all software as RHEL.

There is no methodology that will give you an accurate count.

When I update all the requests will appear to be from one machine. Okay, so store a cookie or something. But what about a VM you snapshot and rollback (as I often do; these VMs are used for testing). I think you just have to pick a methodology and apply it consistently. Document it thoroughly. And then the consumers of the number can make their own judgment of the quality.

Just remember: Every poll you have ever seen was the result of talking to someone who doesn't just hang up on or walk away from the pollster. Now what do you think of those numbers? ;)

Comment Re:Sadly (Score 0) 360

by evilpenguin (#31768888) Attached to: Ubuntu Claims 12 Million Users — Before Lucid

And attackers can attack it. You can't crack the root password if it doesn't have one and it can't login, which, to me, is the whole point of the approach. I think it is avery GOOD thing. It closes an avenue of attack and improves accountability. It is a *smart* thing and I for one hope they never move back.

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