abbamouse - Slashdot User

Submission + - UN offical says org. not taking over internet

Submitted by kaufmanmoore on Friday January 12, 2007 @08:27PM

kaufmanmoore writes: Hamadoun Toure, the new head of the UN's International Telecommunications Union says that he does not plan to take over governance of the internet and leave it up to groups like ICANN. In his statement he says that the ITU will instead focus on bridging the digital divide, internet security and standardize broadband communications. When asked about Chinese censorship Toure said that issue is beyond the mandate of the ITU. The full article is here

Submission + - Senate bill S.256 aims to restrict internet radio

Submitted by JAFSlashdotter on Friday January 12, 2007 @08:17PM

JAFSlashdotter writes: If you enjoy MP3 or OGG streams of internet radio, it's time to pay attention. This week US Senators Lamar Alexander, Joseph Biden, Dianne Feinstein, and Lindsey Graham in their collective wisdom have decided to reintroduce the "Platform Equality and Remedies for Rights Holders in Music (PERFORM) Act". This ARS Technica article explains that PERFORM would restrict our rights to make non-commercial recordings under the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992, and require satellite and internet broadcasters to use "technology to prevent music theft". That means goodbye to your favorite streaming audio formats, hello DRM. The EFF said pretty much the same when this bill last reared its ugly head in April of 2006. It's too soon to get the text of this year's version (S.256) online, but it likely to resemble last year's S.2644, which is available through Thomas. Last year's bill died in committee, but if at first you don't succeed...

Submission + - The New Age of Javascript Graphics

Submitted by

on Friday January 12, 2007 @07:46PM

An anonymous reader writes: whenpenguinsattack is running an interesting list containing javascript applications showing off the power of the new [canvas] element. This element can be found on the latest Firefox/Mozilla, Opera and Safari browsers. It comes as no surprise to me that IE is not able to run most of them. My favourites: Canvascape 3D and jsMSX Emulator, which exercise the javascript/canvas engines to the maximum. With the upcoming javascript JIT compiler in Mozilla 2.0 speeding up these applications 100-fold, is javascript to become the mainstream general use language, and browsers the mainstream application environments?

Submission + - Undersea cable repair via 19th century technology

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 12, 2007 @07:32PM

An anonymous reader writes: Workers are relying on 19th century technology to fix a very 21st century problem — disruption of the Internet traffic that tech-savvy Asia relies on. "No electronics involved," said John Walters, general manager of Global Marine, one of the firms engaged in the repairs. "It's an old and traditional technique. After arriving at the scene they survey the ocean bottom to assess whether the contour has changed, and the degree of sediment movement. Then the traditional tools are brought out. A rope with a grapnel on the end is played out, down into the depths, and towed over the sea floor until tension registers on a graph on the ship, indicating contact has been made with the cable. Today's fibre optic cables are just 21 millimetres in diameter. The grapnel is a metal tool about 18 by 24 inches (46 by 61 centimetres) which includes a cutter, like a fine razor blade, and a grabbing tool. As tension increases and the cable is slowly pulled up, it is cut, grabbed, and half of it is hoisted to the surface. Dropping the grapnel, dragging the sea bed and recovering the cable can take about 16 hours, Walters said. "It is a tried and tested method." Once the severed half of the cable is on board the boat, debris is cleared from the damaged end, it is tested, sealed and the end boiled off. Then it is attached to a buoy on the water surface while the process is repeated for the second half of the cable before both halves are spliced together and dropped back to the ocean floor. Even before the Boxing Day earthquake, Global Marine had faced a busy year, with about 20 repairs after damage from fishermen or anchors. All those ruptures were fixed using the old grapnel method, he said.

Journal Journal: "Scientists prepare to move Doomsday Clock forward"

Journal by flaming error on Friday January 12, 2007 @07:21PM

Reuters reports that the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists says conditions are closer to doomsday than the used to be:

When it was created by the magazine's staff in 1947, it was initially set at seven minutes to midnight and has moved 17 times since then.

Yahoo Mail Forcing Ads Through Adblock? 291

Posted by Cliff on Friday January 12, 2007 @06:34PM from the isn't-javascript-wonderful dept.

egNuKe asks: "Like some people here, I use Firefox and Adblock. I've blocked the ads that Yahoo puts in my inbox, however the next time I opened it, I've found other ads, and blocked them too. This happened for several times, until I figured out that Yahoo must have some script that checks if the ad is displayed and displays another one, if it hasn't. This is no big problem, I just needed to add several rules to Adblock to block the several ad sources they use. Here is the problem: when Adblock is running and effectively stopping Yahoo mail ads, Firefox would freeze (all open windows and tabs) for about 15 seconds. Then the page opens and there is no ads. The script must be on client side, since it's the browser that's freezing and not the network. Turning off Adblock solves the freezing problem. Is there a cure for this?" This is a touch-and-go issue as it basically boils down to the user's priority (not seeing ads) versus the services priority (displaying the ads it needs to allow the user to enjoy a free service). It was only a matter of time before someone thought to try and work around ad-blockers, and all this will eventually lead to is open warfare (competing Javascript or browser code in the browser) on your machine. Instead of working around the workaround, why not consider another service that doesn't inundate you with ads?

Submission + - Picodore 64 -- A Tiny Commodore Laptop

Submitted by

Hans Scharler

on Friday January 12, 2007 @06:33PM

Hans Scharler writes: "Growing up in the 80's has made me nostalgic about certain things. If I find another person from that era, we can talk about the Snorks, Rubik's cubes, and of course Commodore computers. I found on HACK A DAY and Petscii a story about a tiny Commodore 64 laptop made from a DTV gaming system, a PSONE screen, a keyboard from a Jornada PDA, and an Atari joystick. The hacks that impressed me were the keyboard integration and the SD slot. The palmtop Commodore looks impressive with a "pico-sized" case made of wood that looks like aluminum, all complete with a "C64 Inside" sticker. If I owned this Commodore, it would be on my coffee table to start up many reminiscent conversations with my friends while we listen to the Cutting Crew and play Pac-Man."

Feed CES: Winners and Losers (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed on Friday January 12, 2007 @06:12PM

What was the show's best gadget and the best game? Did you know that some of the 100-inch TVs are glued together from smaller screens? Wired News blows the lid off the show's best and worst. The Wired News staff reports from Las Vegas.

The Mixed Outlook for iPhone Gaming 99

Posted by Zonk on Friday January 12, 2007 @05:56PM from the a-lot-of-talk-little-content dept.

With everyone talking about Apple's big announcement, it's unsurprising that commentators are discussing the possibilities of gaming on the iPhone. The DS and the PSP are both on N'Gai Croal's list of who is afraid of the iPhone, and with good reason. Touchscreen gaming on a high-resolution screen? Sounds like fun. TIME's lengthy run-down on the iPhone even mentions the possibilities of games on the small screen. Just the same, it's not all roses: Kotaku talks about the developer unfriendly nature of the platform, and how that could throw up barriers to the first game on the handheld.

Submission + - Clones, Zombies, Freaks

Submitted by

John H. Doe

on Friday January 12, 2007 @05:33PM

John H. Doe writes: "Article on Daily Mail talking about "farmyard freaks," like pigs who have been created like zombies so as not to mind cramped, boring conditions (genetically lobotomized, it would seem). The possibility exists so that, and I quote, "it might become technically possible to produce "animal vegetables" — beasts which are "highly prolific and oblivious to their physical and mental status"." Is this playing God? Or just a natural progression in the technology?"

Submission + - The Snoop Next Door Is Posting to YouTube

Submitted by

Carl Bialik from WSJ

on Friday January 12, 2007 @05:19PM

Carl Bialik from WSJ writes: "Your most trivial missteps are increasingly ripe for exposure online, reports the Wall Street Journal, thanks to cheap cameras and entrepreneurs hoping to profit from websites devoted to the exposure. From the article: 'The most trivial missteps by ordinary folks are increasingly ripe for exposure as well. There is a proliferation of new sites dedicated to condemning offenses ranging from bad parking (Caughtya.org) and leering (HollaBackNYC.com) to littering (LitterButt.com) and general bad behavior (RudePeople.com). One site documents locations where people have failed to pick up after their dogs. Capturing newspaper-stealing neighbors on video is also an emerging genre. Helping drive the exposés are a crop of entrepreneurs who hope to sell advertising and subscriptions.' But other factors are at work, including a return to shame as a check on social behavior, says an MIT professor."

AMD Aims At New Standard for Motherboards 156

Posted by Zonk on Friday January 12, 2007 @04:43PM from the little-quite-different dept.

alexwcovington writes "CBC reports that AMD is launching DTX, a new motherboard layout about the size of micro-ATX. Their goal is to provide a small, energy efficient board that's compatible with as much hardware as possible. In the DTX, they're hoping to produce a new standard for desktops, and somewhat reverse the decline in consumer interest. From the article: 'Most desktops still have motherboards that operate using a standard laid out in 1995 by Intel called ATX, which stands for Advanced Technology Extended. ATX was designed to allow everything from memory cards to mouse ports to have a standardized spot alongside the central processing unit on a typical desktop motherboard. While there have been other standards since, ATX remains the most common standard for desktops, though its design is not suited for smaller, more energy-efficient desktops, AMD said.' Ars Technica has further details on the board."

Submission + - Insects Infestation v1.0 modification/mod released

Submitted by

Ant

on Friday January 12, 2007 @04:33PM

Ant writes: "Insects Infestation (II) modification/mod v1.0 for Half-Life 2 has been released to the public. Its concept combines diverse combat capabilities and strategy oriented gaming. In fact, it does not only allow you to shoot anybody at anytime but it emphasizes on team play tactics. Obviously based on the insects point of view, II will offer its players to choose among three different insect specie (Ants, Termites, and Alliances). Each of these will have its own set of unique weapons, powers, behaviour and abilities. To add a little interest, species will be available in two main starting classes: Soldiers or Builders. Classes will eventually evolve into six distinct classes as you play, again to give even more diversity to the game..."

Submission + - Google Partners With High-Tech Telescope to Map Un

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 12, 2007 @03:52PM

An anonymous reader writes: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/01/07 0110-google-space.html

Submission + - All-time Best Arcade Games You've Never Played

Submitted by TomSlick on Friday January 12, 2007 @03:06PM

TomSlick writes: Harold, posting at Fanpop, found himself dissatisfied with the same old "Best Video Games" lists, and decided to put together a true list of all time greatest arcade games. His inclusion of Heavy Barrel, Gyruss, and Xybots, makes this one of the greatest lists ever published. As he says, "These are the games that, had I room, I would purchase and rebuild for a home arcade, as I wouldn't get tired of playing any of them."

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