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Windows

Submission + - Dutch parliament questions windows pre-install

Submitted by spatialguy
spatialguy writes: Dutch members of parliament are questioning the minister of economic affairs of the pre-install of windows on all commercially available personal computers. The Socialist party says this is bad for the free choice of consumers and that other OSes have a economical disadvantage. They stipulate it is hard to get a cash refund when people do not want to use the pre-installed OS. Microsoft reacted with a statement that there is a procedure to get a cash refund. The member of parliament Arde Gerkens states that a better option would be if Windows is available as a separate option. People buying computers in non-specialized shops, like supermarkets, will have a very difficult time to obtain a refund in the case the do not use the pre-installed OS. The article is in a dutch: http://www.nu.nl/news/1299808/52/SP_stelt_kamervragen_over_meeleveren_Windows.html
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Low budget open source VGA compatible video card (mveas.com) 1

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Seeing how the Open Graphics Project is only making slow progress, a new card is being developed by a few students to get a fast, simple and above all cheap video card out the door. Started just two months ago, they're already nearing completion of the circuit board. It sports a reasonably sized reprogrammable FPGA which should kickstart development of a full-fledged open source video card in the future, and the design currently only costs about a hundred euro.
Movies

Submission + - Will Cameron's Avatar spark a 3D revolution? (sffmedia.com)

Submitted by bowman9991
bowman9991 writes: This one's looking better and better! 3D technology/film details about Cameron's new $US200 million 3D SF epic Avatar. Asks the question whether 3D will now become mainstream and if Avatar is just the movie to do it. Extensive Cameron quotes and Avatar links.
Robotics

Submission + - The Top 10 real life Star Trek inventions (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "In the past few months a number of technologies and products that invoke the Star Trek name have been rolled out. MIT was the latest with a tractor beam-like device, but all manner of other new stuff from Star Trek funeral products to healthcare items are also out there. We've gathered up some of the more recent products so you can have a quick look-see. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/21418"
Security

Submission + - Bullets Bounce Off New Nanotube Material

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "Engineers at the Centre for Advanced Materials Technology at the University of Sydney have found a way to use the elasticity of carbon nanotubes to make a material that will not only stop bullets penetrating material but actually rebound their force. Most bullet-proof jackets are currently made of multiple layers of Kevlar, Twaron or Dyneema fibres which stop bullets by absorbing and dispersing the impact energy to successive layers to prevent the bullet from penetrating. However, the dissipating forces can still cause non-penetrating injuries known as blunt force trauma that can damage critical organs. The investigation showed that nanotubes with larger radii can withstand higher bullet speeds (pdf) and estimates that body armor made from six layers of 100 micrometer nanotube yarns could bounce off a bullet with a muzzle energy of 320 Joules. "The dynamic properties of the materials we have found means that a bullet can be repelled with minimum or no damage to the wearer of a bullet proof vest.""
NASA

Submission + - NASA Faces International Space Station Crisis

Submitted by cybrpnk2
cybrpnk2 writes: NASA is currently (if you'll pardon the pun) faced with a major crisis on the STS-120 flight to the International Space Station. At ISS, one new solar array has metal shavings from an unknown source jamming up the 10-foot diameter rotary gear that enables solar tracking. Meanwhile, a seperate older solar array that was partially re-extended in a new location has ripped and lacks the structural integrity for solar tracking either. An upcoming emergency spacewalk will have an astronaut at the end of a shaky boom applying a metal brace to the fully charged ripped array which he dares not touch directly at risk of electrocution to him or destruction to it. Failure threatens a scheduling trainwreck on upcoming flights to deliver power-hungry European and Japanese laboratory modules before President Bush's mandated 2010 Shuttle retirement.
Announcements

Submission + - Switch back and forth to DST has lasting effects (slate.com)

Submitted by ShiningSomething
ShiningSomething writes: German scientists have found that our circadian rhythm becomes divorced from natural cues when switching to Daylight Saving Time

Drawing from a database of 55,000 Central European subjects who submitted daily sleep records, they showed that the normal correlation between dawn and the sleep cycle becomes disrupted during the transition to daylight-saving time.
The article links to the and speculates on potential consequences.
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - The Top Ten Most Evil Computers of All Time

Submitted by Spookington Bones
Spookington Bones writes: CNET.co.uk has a fantastic article up about the top ten evil computers, including HAL "Just what are you doing Dave?" 9000, Skynet, Portal, Modok and Nomad. "Ah, computers. They make our lives so easy... but we should fear them, for they may yet turn on us. We've collected together ten of the most ee-vil computers to not only achieve sentience, but decide that those pesky, squishy hu-mans just have to go."
Role Playing (Games)

Submission + - Is 2007/2008 another golden age for RPGs? 2

Submitted by
Anthony Boyd
Anthony Boyd writes: "First there was the foul-mouthed review, "Mask of the Betrayer — so good even the Codex likes it!" Then those same cynics at the RPG Codex almost immediately began gushing about The Witcher, a RPG based upon the novels by Andrzej Sapkowski. Couple that with upcoming role-playing games such as The Broken Hourglass (a throwback to Baldur's Gate style of gameplay) and The Age of Decadence, and we may be in a RPG renaissance. All of these games offer what has been lacking in recent years — choice and consequence. The storyline(s) branch out, and how you play your role actually matters. In addition, the games don't appear to be dumbed-down for mass audiences. They involve difficult battles and engaging intellectual dilemmas. Are these games flukes? Are they less than they seem? Or are they, as one reviewer put it, "a wake-up call for mainstream RPGs?""
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Demands Patent for Saying 'Goodbye' 7

Submitted by
theodp
theodp writes: "Demonstrating its commitment to high-quality U.S. patents, Microsoft has submitted a just-published patent application to the USPTO for Automatic Goodbye Messages. By automatically sending messages like 'Have a great afternoon!', 'Sorry, I have got to go!', 'Have a terrific day!', 'Ciao, Harry!', or even a simple 'Bye!' at the end of an IM session, Microsoft explains, one avoids insulting a converser with whom a conversation is ended. Hopefully the USPTO will give this one the quick buh-bye it deserves."
Security

Submission + - Apocalypse Soon? Naval Group to Discuss Extinction 2

Submitted by Maria Williams
Maria Williams writes: Wired says Should the U.S. military be thinking more about asteroid shields, lifeshield bunkers and antimatter weapon shields? Oh, and an alien shield.

If these defensive systems/catastrophic scenarios are something you feel the Navy should be pondering, visit the Lifeboat Foundation's plea for donations. Lifeboat Foundation is dedicated "to helping humanity survive existential risks." The Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group contacted the foundation because it wants its future leaders to have the "opportunity to gain insights into the activities of the Lifeboat Foundation and have discussion about different programs you have to help 'safeguard humanity'."
Security

Submission + - Mail Security: File Parsing Vulnerabilities (hyperphp.com)

Submitted by
devkhadka
devkhadka writes: "Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in Symantec Mail Security for Exchange, which can be exploited by malicious people to cause a DoS (Denial of Service) and compromise a vulnerable system.The vulnerabilities are caused due to various errors within certain third-party file viewers and can be exploited to cause buffer overflows when a specially crafted file is checked. Successful exploitation allows execution of arbitrary code. And are exploited to cause buffer overflows by tricking a user into viewing a specially crafted file. The following file viewers are affected: * mifsr.dll * awsr.dll * kpagrdr.dll * exesr.dll * rtfsr.dll * mwsr.dll * exesr.dll * wp6sr.dll * lasr.dll"
Spam

Submission + - CAPTCHA broken - thanks to a virtual stripper (bbc.co.uk) 3

Submitted by
Dynamoo
Dynamoo writes: "A few months ago there was some speculation that spammers had managed to break the security CAPTCHA for many webmail systems and were using them to spread viruses and junk email. The problem was that no-one could actually demonstrate a mechanism to defeat the security code.

However, an novel approach has been documented by the BBC, suggesting that a virtual stripper application may be partly to blame. The woman in the application progressively undresses if the user types in the correct CAPTCHA code.. a code that is actually being generated by the Yahoo! mail security check. The application itself is a trojan, dubbed TROJ_CAPTCHAR.A by Trend."
Handhelds

Submission + - iPhone Contains Secret Keylogger (tuaw.com)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Not quite a keylogger, but still disturbing. It's been discovered that a file on the iPhone automatically stores new words that are typed on the phone for its auto correction feature. So far, so good, but unfortunately it also appears to store passwords in plain text within the file. With all the methods of accessing the iPhone filesystem, this is bad news for people who lose their iPhones or sell them without a full wipe.

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