Phong - Slashdot User

Submission + - Over 500 Scientists Question Global Warming (earthtimes.org) 3

Submitted by

Forrest Kyle

on Wednesday September 12, 2007 @05:08PM

Forrest Kyle writes: "According to research conducted by the Hudson Institute, a right-leaning (according to Wikipedia) political think tank, over 500 scientists have published peer reviewed evidence that contradicts the current scientific "consensus" on anthropogenic global warming. According to the article, "the names were compiled by [Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Dennis] Avery and climate physicist S. Fred Singer [Professor emeritus of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia], the co-authors of the new book Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years, mainly from the peer-reviewed studies cited in their book." For an issue about which Al Gore claims there is no scientific debate, there seems to be a lot of scientific debate.

Author's Note of Disclosure: It is not my intention to stake a claim in the global warming debate. My position is to not immediately take a position without enough scientific facts, which I do not personally possess. As an environmentalist, I take the global warming issue very seriously, but as a thinking person, I am opposed to sensationalism, or claiming a debate is over during a debate. So in other words, don't flame me to death because this article is slanted against Gore's position. =)"

Submission + - Judge in SCO vs. Novell clears the decks

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 07, 2007 @09:07PM

An anonymous reader writes: The judge in the SCO vs. Novell case has issued a series of rulings in preparation for the beginning of the trial on the eleventh. He smacks down SCO pretty good. In particular, he denied their request for a jury trial. That means the trial will be completely carried out by the judge. It could be quite a short efficient trial followed by a loud clap of thunder. One issue is apportionment. That means the judge has to decide how much of the Microsoft/Sun licenses belongs to Novell. Any reasonable amount will immediately thrust SCO into bankruptcy. They won't get a choice of what kind of bankruptcy because there will be no hope that the company can be returned to profitibility. The trustee will walk in the door, take the keys from Darl and wind up the rest of this sorry mess as quickly as possible.

Link to ColonelZen's site

Submission + - NetApp hits Sun with patent-infringement lawsuit (computerworld.com)

Submitted by jcatcw on Wednesday September 05, 2007 @04:56PM

jcatcw writes: Computerworld reports: "Network Appliance Inc. today announced that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Sun Microsystems Inc. seeking unspecified compensatory damages and an injunction that would prohibit Sun from developing or distributing products based on its ZFS file system technology. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Lufkin, Texas, charges that the Sun ZFS technology infringes on seven NetApp patents pertaining to data processing systems and related software."

Submission + - Dell Ubuntu not for Consumers

Submitted by

jshriverWVU

on Saturday September 01, 2007 @03:38PM

jshriverWVU writes: "Dell doesn't sell Ubuntu n-series machines to consumers only businesses. Having a new job and going to school part time I thought I'd vote with my wallet and went online to order a Dell notebook with Ubuntu. After a while of declining a ton of extras (even windows software) I finally get to the order form. Then proceed to checkout only to be asked for a business ID or tax ID to make the purchase. Being an individual I found no way around this so I called Dell sales directly to see if I could order it that way. After 15 minutes on the phone I am told that I can't get the laptop as an individual and they are only sold to businesses. So without a business ID I couldn't get one. WTF?"

Submission + - GPL Violations On Windows Go Unnoticed?

Submitted by Scott_F on Wednesday August 29, 2007 @03:36PM

Scott_F writes: I recently reviewed several commercial, closed-source slideshow authoring packages for Windows and came across an alarming trend. Several of the packages I installed included GPL and LGPL software without any mention of the GPL, much less source code. For example, DVD Photo Slideshow (www.dvd-photo-slideshow.com) included mkisofs, cdrdao, dvdauthor, spumux, id3lib, lame, mpeg2enc and mplex (all of which are GPL or LGPL). What's worse is that the company tried to hide this by wrapping them all in DLL's! There are other violations in other packages as well. It seems that use of GPL software in commercial Windows applications is on the rise based on my testing of other software. My question is how much are GPL violations in the Windows world being pursued? Does the FSF or EFF follow-up on these if the platform is not GPL? How aware is the community of this trend?

Submission + - "Viacom hit me for infringing my own copyright (blogspot.com) 2

Submitted by

Chris Knight

on Wednesday August 29, 2007 @02:23PM

Chris Knight writes: "Long story short: I ran for school board where I live this past fall and created some TV commercials including this one with a "Star Wars" theme. A few months ago VH1 grabbed the commercial from YouTube and featured it in a segment of its show "Web Junk 2.0". Neither VH1 or its parent company Viacom told me they were doing this or asked my permission to use it, but I didn't mind it if they did. It was great to see the commercial was being enjoyed by a far wider audience than I'd expected. I was honored that they chose to use it and thought that Aries Spears's commentary about it was pretty hilarious, so I posted a clip of VH1's segment on YouTube so that I could put it on my blog. This morning I got an e-mail from YouTube saying that the video has been pulled because Viacom is claiming that I'm violating its copyright. Viacom used my video without permission on their commercial television show, and now says that I am infringing on THEIR copyright for showing the clip of the work that Viacom made in violation of my own copyright! Talk about chutzpah! Needless to say, I would like to fight this: not for any kind of monetary compensation, but just for the right to employ my own self-created material per Fair Use."

Submission + - Rodriguez slaughters Open XML

Submitted by

Elektroschock

on Saturday August 25, 2007 @02:42PM

Elektroschock writes: "Stephane Rodriguez, a reengineering specialist who became popular for his article on MS-Office 2007 binary data, slaughters Microsoft's new Open XML format. With small case studies he demonstrates the disadvantages for third party developers. His conclusion: It is 'defective by design'. Next week members of the International Standard Organisation are likely to approve the format as a second official ISO standard for office documents. However, most nations submitted comments. Rodriguez claims to be "not affiliated to any pro-MS or anti-MS party/org/ass"."

Submission + - Did Microsoft Buy Netcraft? (linuxjournal.com)

Submitted by

jeevesbond

on Saturday August 25, 2007 @01:57AM

jeevesbond writes: "Linux Journal has a story noting the discrepancies between the Web server surveys from Netcraft and Security Space.

While Netcraft says Apache represents 51% market share and rapidly shrinking, Security Space puts Apache at 74% and growing! Netcraft says Microsoft IIS has 34% market share and is rapidly growing, Security Space pegs Microsoft IIS at 20% market share, as it continues to shrink.
"

Submission + - Implementing OOXML: One Developer's Nightmare (arstdesign.com)

Submitted by

Just Some Nobody

on Friday August 24, 2007 @05:55PM

Just Some Nobody writes: "While Microsoft likes to play up just how well-documented the 6,000+ page OOXML specification is, the independent developers implementing it don't have things so easy. Stéphane Rodriguez, one of the top non-Microsoft experts on the binary Excel file format, has been documenting the difficulties in working with the new OOXML format for Excel. It seems that one of the biggest difficulties is that Excel-produced documents don't even conform to Microsoft's own OOXML standard, ECMA 376."

Submission + - There is no HD DVD, Only DVD in BOTH Formats (betanews.com)

Submitted by

cybrthng

on Thursday August 23, 2007 @06:09PM

cybrthng writes: "In a single statement Collins made in the now famous "We're not at war with Bluray" article there was one nugget everyone failed to grasp and I quote: "Foremost is compatibility. All new movie titles from Universal and soon Warner will be combination (or twin-format) discs — HD DVD on one side and standard DVD on the other. This means that HD DVD discs will also play on older DVD players, which is crucial for portability.". No Distinction between HD-DVD or DVD means a single SKU with both movies and complete market domination over night. (Well, after re-tooling of fabs). Not only that but its one heck of a segway to allow people to adopt HD-DVD players at their own pace without risk of obsolescence."

Submission + - Fungi Make Biodiesel at Room Temperature

Submitted by SoyChemist on Monday August 20, 2007 @02:28PM

SoyChemist writes: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology have used pellets made from the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae to produce biodiesel at room temperature. Usually, biodiesel is made by brewing vegetable oil with methanol and lye at high temperatures. That wastes a lot of energy, and thus partially defeats the point of making an alternative fuel. The researchers in Hyderabad mixed sunflower oil with methanol and trickled it through a glass column filled with fungus pellets. A lipase enzyme in the fungus converted the brew into biodiesel with a yield as high as 85 percent. Considering that the U.S. Department of Energy and BP are have pumped tons of money into synthetic biology for making alternative fuels, it is amazing to see what an apparently underfunded lab can do with natural organisms.

Submission + - DreamWorks Animation, Paramount choose HD DVD (reuters.com)

Submitted by on Monday August 20, 2007 @01:05PM

An anonymous reader writes: LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — Viacom Inc's Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc said on Monday they will release their DVD titles exclusively on HD DVD, the high-definition digital movie format whose sales have lagged those of rival Blu-Ray so far this year.

Paramount, which distributes DreamWorks Animation's DVDs, settled on HD DVD after determining that the format offers better quality and lower-cost players and lower manufacturing costs, the studios said in a statement.

Submission + - Your cell phone number is no longer unlisted (wisebread.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 14, 2007 @12:52AM

An anonymous reader writes: According to the Seattle Times, a locally-owned company named Intelius is putting together a cell phone directory that is supposed to be accurate. It costs $15 to search for an individual's cell phone number. That's right — for $15, your cell number can be given out to anyone. You might not have heard of Intelius before, but they are one of those companies that touts their services in background checks. You may have seen ads or received spam emails warning you to do a background check on your date? That's Intelius. They also purchased a small company that does a lot of background check work for employers.

Submission + - "Dead Zones" on iPhone Touchscreens

Submitted by

idiocracy

on Saturday August 11, 2007 @02:04PM

idiocracy writes: " A portion of the touch-sensitive screen had become permanently unresponsive with more trouble ahead the touch-sensitive film in its design had a tendency to degrade after three to six months."

Submission + - Perfect crystals grown by cancelling out gravity (newscientisttech.com)

Submitted by

willatnewscientist

on Saturday August 11, 2007 @10:56AM

willatnewscientist writes: "Researchers in the Netherlands and Japan have found a way to grow perfect crystals in 'zero gravity' here on Earth. By exploiting the way a powerful magnet influences diamagnetic materials they have been able to grow protien crystals without the defects normally introduced as a result of gravity (The same trick has been used to levitate a frog before). Normally, such crystals are grown in space, aboard the International Space Station, for example."

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