dr_strang - Slashdot User

Submission + - Torrentspy.com disables searching for U.S. IPs

Submitted by dr_strang on Monday August 27, 2007 @09:22AM

dr_strang writes: Torrent indexing site Torrentspy.com appears to have disabled torrent searches for IPs that originate in the United States. Instead of a results page, users are directed to this page, which states:
Torrentspy Acts to Protect Privacy
Sorry, but because you are located in the USA you cannot use the search features of the Torrentspy.com website.Torrentspy's decision to stop accepting US visitors was NOT compelled by any Court but rather an uncertain legal climate in the US regarding user privacy and an apparent tension between US and European Union privacy laws.

Submission + - Best small business Anti-Virus package for WinTel?

Submitted by dr_strang on Tuesday July 03, 2007 @11:24AM

dr_strang writes: In these times of surreptitious payola and suspect 'page ranking', it's hard to find truly unbiased reviews for software. As the sysadmin for my company, I am looking to replace the notoriously clunky and resource-intensive Network Associates package and find a truly lightweight, effective and easy to manage anti-virus suite for our smallish (under 100 devices) network, including XP Pro machines and 2003 servers. I haven't been able to find very many reviews that address the largest concern I have, which is the biggest problem I have with Network Associates: resource hogging. If you have insights to share or know of review sites that are fair and informative, I'd love to hear it.

Journal Journal: Biased Science

Journal by drcoppersmith on Tuesday January 09, 2007 @09:45AM

While I hate seeing articles like this one, where the veracity of scientific claims are brought into question, it's something that the public needs to know.

Submission + - Web 2.0 Access Control

Submitted by

nywanna

on Tuesday January 09, 2007 @09:23AM

nywanna writes: "Access control for most developers is nothing more than an after thought, but should it be? As developers we have no problem adopting third party solutions to most of what we develop (data storage, parsing, etc), but access control just happens to be one of those things that finds its way into the tail end of our projects. Rick Morrison begins a three part series of "best practices" for outsourcing the access control problems which should simplify application development and maintenance."

Submission + - Censorship in Brazil

Submitted by

FungosBauux

on Tuesday January 09, 2007 @08:31AM

FungosBauux writes: "From this article: "Telecommunications companies in Brazil began blocking access to YouTube on Monday after a Brazilian model sued to get the popular video sharing service to remove footage of her having sex from its website." What services we from Brazil can use to continue accessing YouTube? There is any tool or YouTube proxy that can give back our freedom?"

Submission + - Zoo puts humans on display

Submitted by

MollyB

on Tuesday January 09, 2007 @07:07AM

MollyB writes: "A story appeared on Yahoo announcing that "An Australian zoo has put a group of humans on display to raise awareness about primate conservation — with the proviso that they don't get up to any monkey business."
On the face of it, this seems ridiculous, but perhaps some slashdotters would like to volunteer, if they could afford the air fare (and didn't live there already).
Also, from the article, "Audiences can vote for their favorite "ape" via mobile phone text messages, in the style of reality television shows, and at the end of the month, a "super human" will be selected to represent the zoo." This smacks of publicity-stunt, in spite of the 'scientific' nature of the exhibit."

Submission + - EMI abandons CD DRM

Submitted by jOmill on Tuesday January 09, 2007 @07:01AM

jOmill writes: EMI Netherlands has announced that it will no longer infect its CD's with DRM because it isn't worth the cost. According to Reuters the company is still reviewing it.
Are the big media beginning to see the light?

Submission + - The 2007 malware map

Submitted by

Bill Andad

on Tuesday January 09, 2007 @06:35AM

Bill Andad writes: "http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry1225.html Dynamic code obfuscation techniques and the continued commercialization of the malware development industry will dominate the 2007 malware map according to a newly published report from a leading threat research center. js/wonka signatures could become redundant as cutting edge code obfuscation kits flood the online black market."

Submission + - Google patent search opens

Submitted by Rob on Tuesday January 09, 2007 @06:31AM

Rob writes: The Guardian's website reports on Google's new patent search which contains seven million US patents dating from 1790 to mid-2006. Although the information was previously available online by the US patent office, Google claims to offer a better search facility for the information. The Guardian article is entertaining, describing patents filed, among others, by Michael Jackson (angled shoes allowing the wearer to "stand" at a lean angle of 45 degrees) and Jamie Lee Curtis (nappies with inetgrated baby wipes).

Submission + - Programmers to blame for hard-to-use software ?

Submitted by phorest on Tuesday January 02, 2007 @11:07PM

phorest writes: While it is all too easy to simply blame developer's for all software usability issues, the author of the book's description in this article seems to point at the user's inability to understand the process of computing in general.

There is plenty wrong with some software but reading the help files should demystify most of this phenomena. Do you believe the author when he says, "One of his peeves is when a text-editing program like Microsoft Word asks users if they want to save their work before they close their document."

Then he goes on to say that programmers don't think like the user although in the next paragraph he says that it is bad to design software on the whims of the users! How can you square those two statements?

"To illustrate his point, he notes that computer programmers tend to prefer manual transmissions. But not even 15 percent of the cars sold in the United States last year had that feature."

I drive a car with a manual transmission, do you?

Submission + - what makes a good emergency boot image?

Submitted by

MellowTigger

on Tuesday January 02, 2007 @10:40PM

MellowTigger writes: "Suppose I start with a blank 2GB USB drive that I want to make into an emergency boot disk for a system with multiple drives and multiple operating systems. I want the ability to boot to the USB drive, repartition other drives, reformat partitions for various operating systems, and maybe even download iso files from the web and burn them to cd for later installation. I need programs that can operate successfully on half-Terabyte hard drives and quarter-Terabyte partitions. Essentially, I want an all-purpose emergency "key" for helping to reformat my pc from scratch. What should I put on the USB drive, and where do I find that software?"

Submission + - Researchers create selfish BitTorrent client

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 02, 2007 @10:21PM

An anonymous reader writes: Researchers from the computer science department at the University of Washington have released BitTyrant, a new BitTorrent client that is designed to improve download performance via strategic selection of peers and upload rates. Their results call into question the effectiveness of BitTorrent's tit-for-tat reciprocation strategy which was designed to discourage selfish users. BitTyrant clients are available for Windows, OS X, and Linux.

Submission + - Cheaper drugs 'breakthrough' patent work-around

Submitted by

Heir Of The Mess

on Tuesday January 02, 2007 @09:43PM

Heir Of The Mess writes: "In this article Professor Shaunak, of Imperial College, said that he and Professor Brocchini, from the London School of Pharmacy, could alter the molecular structure of an existing drug and turn it technically into a new medicine which would no longer be under a 20-year patent to a multinational drug company.

Sunial Shaunak and his colleague Steve Brocchini claim that their "ethical pharmaceutical" model could enable millions in poor countries to be cured of infectious diseases as well as slashing the NHS drugs bill. Here it says the process will be started in India on a clinical trial basis and will be sponsored by the Indian government. The cost of producing a new drug according to multinational companies is around $800 million. However Shaunak said that the total cost of development of their drug would be just a few million pounds. He added that the patent of the drug would be held by the Imperial College who will employ top patent lawyers to make sure that no one will block its development.

More articles can be found here."

Submission + - Why Saucers?

Submitted by

on Tuesday January 02, 2007 @09:33PM

An anonymous reader writes: I have a question for engineers. With CNN and MSNBC covering the UFO sighting at an airport, and all other UFO sighting's, a thought popped into my head (We would have to assume that these UFO sightings are real). Can any engineers justify why a saucer shape seems to be the common choice for space travel? Of course I am only looking for theories.

Submission + - Patriot boasts: worlds fastest memory module

Submitted by

secretsather

on Tuesday January 02, 2007 @08:10PM

secretsather writes: "Ever since the introduction of DDR2 PC memory in 2003, manufacturers have been pushing the line in a race to have the quickest memory available; Patriot Memory has done just that, and plans to unveil the worlds fastest memory module in 2007.

Patriot was able to achieve a record breaking DDR2 memory module with a speed of 1302MHz. Known as Extreme Performance PCS-10100, this module was designed to take full advantage of the new Intel Quad Core processor, and will leave PC gamers with a smile, boasting superior compatibility with NVIDIA's NForce 680i platforms.

The PC-10100 translates to a near 81GB transfer rate; which is proving increasingly more useful with the additional size of today's media and gaming files.

"Patriot is committed to pushing the envelope when it comes to offering the fastest and highest quality memory solutions to the market," stated Paul Jones, Patriot CEO. "The introduction of our PC2-10100 series will hopefully show that we are dedicated to becoming the memory company of choice for the gaming and enthusiast community."

Patriot added that they will demonstrate and display their record breaking memory at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show in January, and also noted the inclusion of the worlds fastest USB Flash Drive, the X-porter XT version2.

The Xporter XT V.2, with a 266x transfer rate, spikes at speeds of 39MB per second, making it the worlds fastest with it's predecessor, the award winning X-porter XT, now taking the back seat. Version 2 comes with a lifetime warranty, and will be available in 1GB to 16GB.

"Consumers are managing very large multi-media files which drive demand for larger capacities for USB flash drives. Most of these drives, however; have very slow read and write speeds which can be very frustrating for users when they attempt to transfer their files," commented Les Henry, Director of Engineering. "Patriot's X-Porter XT provides the best solution for those seeking to carry large amounts of data and the ability to transfer them at an extremely fast rate."

While Kingston remains arguably the most popular memory manufacturer, Patriot is setting the standard for high speed, next generation modules, and is gaining ground quickly.

http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2007/01/02/pa triot-boasts-the-worlds-fastest-memory-module-and- flash-drive/"

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