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Portables (Apple)

Submission + - iPod Touch screen problems - defect or design? 2

Submitted by The Blue Meanie
The Blue Meanie writes: As reported by a friend of mine, and confirmed with a thread or two elsewhere, people are noticing that a number of the new iPod Touch screens are producing really BAD video, especially in darker areas. Is this just a case of Apple picking a lousy screen for this model, or is this a manufacturing defect? They obviously didn't use the screen from the iPhone — are Touch users destined to suffer with sub-par video?
Businesses

Submission + - Comparison of Working at the 3 Big Software Giants

Submitted by
castironwok
castironwok writes: "Finally, everything you've ever wanted to know about being an employee at Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo. Tastyresearch describes his (or her) past few years interning and working at the three companies. Things I didn't know from before: Bill Gates wears old shoes, Google's internal security watches you like a hawk, the office styles of each company, and how to fill your suitcase with Google T-shirts. He calls the few select companies the 'prestigious internship circle', noting "once you have worked at one, it's a lot easier to get into another". But what *I* really want to know now, is who has a more equal male-female ratio?"
Networking

Submission + - Charter pulls a Verisign

Submitted by _peter
_peter writes: As of sometime today, Charter internet customers, at least in the St. Louis area, got their own version of SiteFinder. I just finished talking to their tech support for about an hour, and have verified that it is intentional, and the only way to ``opt-out'' is to let them set a cookie in your browser. Obviously this doesn't work for connections that aren't browser-based. When I asked to be transferred to account services to cancel, the very nice representative begged for a day to look into the issue. Perhaps any other Charter customers might want to check to see if they've received this feature as well.
Spam

Submission + - Is there any reason to report spammers to ISP's?

Submitted by marko_ramius
marko_ramius writes: For years I've been a good netizen and reported spam that I get to the appropriate contacts at ISP's. In the entire time that I've done this I've gotten (maybe) 5 or 6 responses from those ISP's informing me that they have taken action against the spammer.

In recent years, however, I haven't gotten any responses.

Are the ISP's so overwhelmed with abuse reports to respond to ANYBODY that reports spam? Do they even bother acting on the reports?

Is there any real reason to report spammers?
Google

Submission + - Turns Out Google Really Does Listen

Submitted by
SamThomp
SamThomp writes: "There's a perfect Google underdog story going on right now. It goes like this: A college student named Aaron Stanton has an idea he thinks Google will love. He tries to get in touch via phone, e-mail, and their web forms with no luck. Then, spurred by his father nearly dying of an embolism near Christmas, he takes a chance and flies to Mountain View, CA without an appointment, intending to sit in their lobby "like a spoiled child" until he gets a chance to meet with someone. He's been there about three days, now.

Here's where it gets interesting. He creates a website called CanGoogleHearMe.com, and uses Google Video to document his journey in hopes that it might be seen by someone at Google and they'll show pity. At first he's turned away (links to Google Video) at the door and doesn't get a chance to talk to anyone. Then, apparently someone in Google does notice the website and it spreads — word of mouth — inside of Google like wildfire; 600 people visit the site in two hours from inside of Google's headquarters at Mountain View.

Then, late last night — three days into his trip — the guy gets an e-mail with the subject line, "We can hear you :)" that says they're willing to listen to him. No meeting for sure yet, but a step in the right direction.

It's like "actual" reality TV. :) If you're looking for an interesting story to pay attention to for the week, it'll be interesting to see how this turns out. So far, Google seems to be living up to their image of being a large company that's open to ideas. As far as I'm concerned, best of luck to them both."
Encryption

Submission + - TSA can't figure out security certificates

Submitted by
markgo2k
markgo2k writes: "The Washington Post reports that TSA has taken a new website live that people who are wrongly on the famous "no-fly" list can protest their status. Unbelievably, the website uses a self-signed certificate (and some have reported that you can submit forms insecurely as well). Perhaps contractor (Desyne Web Services, Inc. www.desyne.com) nor whoever was managing them ever actually tested the site or figured that flashing red certificate error warnings were something that might not be okay on a site that asks for name, address, height, weight, date of birth, hair color, eye color, passport number, birth certificate, drivers license number, military id number..."
Puzzle Games (Games)

Submission + - Can we find a man with just a photo and a name?

Submitted by
MikeJ
MikeJ writes: "Mind Candy, the makers of Perplex City, are testing the power of the Internet by asking that very question; they have recruited one of Earth's 6 billion residents — a man named Satoshi — to participate in this experiment.

It has been suggested that we are each only five to seven people away from any target in the world. Someone, somewhere, knows Satoshi — so we must track these people, and thus Satoshi, down using word-of-mouth communication. People from over 80 countries are already participating in the hunt, with more joining every day. Can you help find Satoshi?"
Businesses

Submission + - What bad customer service have you gotten?

Submitted by Ninjaesque One
Ninjaesque One writes: In response to an AC comment in a previous Ask Slashdot story, I must ask you of the heights of the prodigious hilltops of Stupidity, New Hampshire. Does it involve work? Nepotism? Bureaucratic Doom Ninjas?

Surprisingly, this story is not a dupe. Customer service ratings site, no reports of flagrant violations of the rules of company, law, and sometimes attempts at physics.
Biotech

Submission + - A 'nano' cancer monitor implant

Submitted by
Roland Piquepaille
Roland Piquepaille writes: "It is very difficult for doctors to measure the evolution of tumors and if chemotherapy is actually working on cancer patients. This is why MIT researchers have developed a minuscule device that can be implanted directly into a tumor and containing nanoparticles designed to test for different substances associated with tumor growth. As the implant can stay inside the patient for a long time, it will help doctors to see if a treatment is working. This could avoid repetitive MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) exams. But the implant has to go through extensive preclinical testing before being approved. Read more for additional details and several images showing how these nanoparticles will be used."
Announcements

Submission + - Locate the Viditotus WEB CAM and Win an 80G IPOD

Submitted by
Ben
Ben writes: "Viditotus.com offers an edutainment type contest in which contestants attempt to pinpoint the location of a live interactive camera operating at an undisclosed location. The winner is determined by the first entry to locate the longitude and latitude of the building that the camera is mounted to. The contest is free and open to U.S. legal residents 13 years old and up. This week, the first twenty contestants to identify the U.S. State in which the contest camera is located will receive a Viditotus t-shirt, if they send the correct answer to t-shirts@viditotus.com. Make sure to include an appropriate shipping address! The contest is unique in that contestants make observations in real-time while attempting to locate the camera. Weather observations such as clouds and precipitation type combined with national weather satellite images are very helpful in locating the camera. Once the search using such resources is narrowed down significantly, the longitude and latitude of the building to which the camera is mounted is determined by matching camera scenery to the hi-resolution satellite imagery views provided in Google Maps. Contestants will no doubt find the contest fun and somewhat addictive. Contest details are posted at http://www.viditotus.com./ Visit the Viditotus homepage often to compile observations and narrow your search."
Privacy

Submission + - Monitoring your identity?

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: In light of the constant flow of security breaches and lost data (Like our friends at Boeing: http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/17/221 4219 and UCLA: http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/12/133 2233) what are you doing to monitor your identity? I've pretty much given up on "protecting" it at this point; it's far easier to assume that someone out there has information of yours that you don't want them to have.

Credit monitoring is the easy one. What do you do to monitor the opening of money-laundering bank account in your name? How about arrest records?

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It's a naive, domestic operating system without any breeding, but I think you'll be amused by its presumption.

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