Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:Really? (Score 1) 104

Is that it? Really? Throwing a string of vulgarities together does not a troll make. Try again. The vulgarities could work if you could redo that post as a Haiku. Can you handle a haiku? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku). Or a Jeopardy post! This act entails taking a dick up the ass and allowing the person ramming your butt to ejaculate in your arse. What is an anal creampie? Honestly, it's like you're new at trolling or don't understand the concept of trolling as an art.

Submission + - MS handing NSA access to encrypted chat & email (guardian.co.uk)

kaptink writes: Microsoft helped the NSA to circumvent its encryption to address concerns that the agency would be unable to intercept web chats on the new Outlook.com portal. The agency already had pre-encryption stage access to email on Outlook.com, including Hotmail. The company worked with the FBI this year to allow the NSA easier access via Prism to its cloud storage service SkyDrive, which now has more than 250 million users worldwide. Microsoft also worked with the FBI's Data Intercept Unit to "understand" potential issues with a feature in Outlook.com that allows users to create email aliases. Skype, which was bought by Microsoft in October 2011, worked with intelligence agencies last year to allow Prism to collect video of conversations as well as audio. Material collected through Prism is routinely shared with the FBI and CIA, with one NSA document describing the program as a "team sport".

Submission + - The Steve Jobs video that sealed Apple's fate in the DOJ case (tuaw.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Apple yesterday came up on the losing end of a decision from US District Judge Denise Cote who ruled that Apple did, in fact, collude to artificially raise the price of e-books.

In looking over the decision, I found it interesting that statements made by Steve Jobs were construed as compelling evidence in the eyes of Cote.

The damning video, which was shot by Kara Swisher on her Flipcam, shows Mossberg curiously asking Jobs why someone would buy an e-book for $14.99 from Apple when they can get it for $9.99 from Amazon.

"The prices will be the same," Jobs explained, before adding that "publishers are actually withholding" books from Amazon because they aren't happy with the terms of their contract.

Submission + - Nanoparticle Drug Patches Will Deliver Cancer Treatment Without Needles (vice.com)

Daniel_Stuckey writes: Atif Sayed and Zakareya Hussein, both with backgrounds in electronics and nanotechnology, are developing Nanject, a "pharmaceutical nano patch" that can "be applied to the skin and will deliver specific amounts of target drugs where necessary." The two are crowd-funding the project on Microryza.

Two years ago Sayed was doing research into swarm robotics and artificial immune systems, and found inspiration in biological species—specifically, birds. "I was always obsessed with artificial intelligence and wanted to automate a lot of things which are kind of repetitive (like people working in factories, McDonalds, etc.)," wrote Sayed in an email. "At the same time, I was fascinated with nanorobotics or nanobots and wanted to do more research into this. Having people in my own family and friends who passed away due to cancer, I wanted to use nanobots to tackle and destroy cancer cells with little or no pain."

From there he came up with the idea of a nano patch. In place of needles and syringes, he would use magnetic nanoparticles that are small enough to pass through a hair follicle. He then wrote his thesis on "the synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles for its use in bio-medicine and targeted drug delivery." Sayed said he is now "at the point of realizing and connecting the tiny dots into one single product—Nanject."

Submission + - Math and Science Popular with College Students Until They Realize They're Hard

HonorPoncaCityDotCom writes: Khadeeja Safdar reports in the WSJ that researchers who surveyed 655 incoming college students found that while math and science majors drew the most interest initially, not many students finished with degrees in those subjects. Students who dropped out didn’t do so because they discovered an unexpected amount of the work and because they were dissatisfied with their grades. “Students knew science was hard to begin with, but for a lot of them it turned out to be much worse than what they expected,” says Todd R. Stinebrickner, one of the paper’s authors. “What they didn’t expect is that even if they work hard, they still won’t do well.” The authors add that the substantial overoptimism about completing a degree in science can be attributed largely to students beginning school with misperceptions about their ability to perform well academically in science. "“If more science graduates are desired, the findings suggest the importance of policies at younger ages that lead students to enter college better prepared (PDF) to study science."

Submission + - $250k Human Powered Helicopter prize has been won after 33 years

daltec writes: While many aerospace engineers thought it could not be done, the AHS Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter competition has been won, after 33 years of trying. Canada's AeroVelo has claimed the $250,000 prize, having successfully met the contest requirements for an aircraft using only human power to fly for at least 60 seconds, reach an altitude of at least 3 meters (9.8 feet) and remain hovering over a 10 by 10 meter (32.8 by 32.8 foot) area.

"Atlas," AeroVelo's winning design, is said to be larger than any operational helicopter ever constructed, based on its overall width of 58 meters (190 feet), even though it weighs only 52 kilograms (115 pounds). It has four 20.4 meter (67 foot) diameter rotors that are powered by the pilot pedaling a Cervelo carbon-fiber bicycle. The Atlas project was begun in January 2012 and made its first flight in August 2012.

AeroVelo is one of three teams recently flying as part of the AHS competition. The others are the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland with its Gamera II helicopter, and California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California with its Upturn II aircraft.

There is a video of the winning flight here. Congratulations to AeroVelo on this landmark achievement!

Submission + - Searchable IRS Database Exposes Applicant SSNs (threatpost.com)

Gunkerty Jeb writes: The Social Security Numbers of tens of thousands of Americans ended up in a searchable public database that provides access to the tax filing applications of tax-exempt Section 527 political organizations on the Internal Revenue Service’s website. None of the application forms in question explicitly or directly ask for Social Security Numbers. However, applicants often attach other tax forms to their Section 527 applications that do include Social Security Numbers in an apparent attempt to more concretely prove the legitimacy and accuracy of the information they are providing as part of their 527 filings. They attach these other documents despite the fact that there is no need to do so and, furthermore, the IRS urges applicants not to do so. The IRS has since taken the forms offline, but finds itself in something of a catch-22, because they are not legally allowed to alter federal documents and they are legally bound to publish public filings for tax-exempt status.

Comment Re:Damn colonials (Score 1) 330

I disagree with most of what you're saying as factually inaccurate. That said, I'm not British, I'm American. Lend Lease was no favor, escorting cargo we were selling to the British, we had a draft so you can can the enlist on your own free will crap. Japan barely had any involvement against Britain and it was limited to Asia Pacific region, no Japan was much busier with us and the Russians. I actually have studied history, obviously more thoroughly than yourself. You can't even present a logical and factual argument without resorting to name calling and assumptions, so your academic credentials are suspect at best.

Comment Re:Damn colonials (Score 1) 330

Your view is common among those who did not study history. By the time the US entered WWII, the tide had already turned against Germany. The US may have helped wrap up the end of the war against Germany a little faster but they did not in fact save Britain. Germany lost WWII for quite a number of different reasons, opening the eastern front against Russia, development of radar, loss of morale, cracking of their secret codes, bad plans by the allies working anyway and the list goes on.

Comment Webcrawler (Score 1) 277

When I was in high school we got a brand new computer lab (the first in the city to be connected to the internet) and I was in the very first computer course at my school that included instruction for using the internet. Our teacher introduced us to the web by having us type the URL for WebCrawler and then taught us how to search the internet. That was in the fall of '94 when I was in grade 9. So for nostalgic reasons alone, I'm going with WebCrawler.

Slashdot Top Deals

"Hey Ivan, check your six." -- Sidewinder missile jacket patch, showing a Sidewinder driving up the tail of a Russian Su-27

Working...