djcatnip - Slashdot User

Submission + - How the Open Source Movement Is Changing Education

Submitted by

ftblguy

on Monday March 05, 2007 @03:10PM

ftblguy writes: "MIT's Open CourseWare program provides a great example of how the open source movement is rapidly changing education. The Online Education Database also lists Project Gutenberg, Wikipedia, Linux, Firefox, and Google as some of the other open source in education success stories. Open source and open access resources have changed how colleges, organizations, instructors, and prospective students use software, operating systems and online documents for educational purposes. And, in most cases, each success story also has served as a springboard to create more open source projects."

Submission + - Movie Firms Working on Digital Film System

Submitted by aniyo~ on Monday March 05, 2007 @02:53PM

aniyo~ writes: Tired of being turned away at the theater box office when a movie's sold out? Unhappy there's no art-house theater in your neighborhood to cater to your hoity-toity theatrical tastes?Those days could be ending, say representatives of Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Entertainment and a company called Digital Cinema Implementation Partners.

Submission + - Carmakers Adding High-Tech Perks

Submitted by Good on Monday March 05, 2007 @02:48PM

Good writes: When friends check out Aaron Priest's new Acura TL sedan, the oohs and aahs start on the inside. Forget the powerful 3.5-liter, 286-horsepower engine; they're more enthralled with the car's rearview video camera and the in-dash voice-command system. "The technology is what gets people the most," said Priest, a 23-year-old lab technician at The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego. "They don't really care anymore about what's under the hood. It's all about what's in the car now."

Submission + - WordPress download site cracked

Submitted by JavaRob on Monday March 05, 2007 @02:45PM

JavaRob writes: From the WordPress development blog: "If you downloaded WordPress 2.1.1 within the past 3-4 days, your files may include a security exploit that was added by a cracker, and you should upgrade all of your files to 2.1.2 immediately."

Fortunately, they got a tipoff, but it's not clear how long the altered download (the cracker altered a couple of files to add in remote execution capabilities) would have stayed up otherwise.

Note: the cracker did not sneak in code by posing as an OSS developer (the common FUD scare scenario...); they just managed to crack one of the site's servers, and altered the download directly.

Apparently, WordPress has taken steps to ensure it doesn't happen again. Personally, I'm wondering about ways browsers and/or operating systems might be improved to automate checksum validation for downloaded executables.

Submission + - Adobe Creative Suite 3 ships 27 March

Submitted by primalamn on Monday March 05, 2007 @02:14PM

primalamn writes: Adobe will launch Adobe Creative Suite 3 at a special event in New York on 27 March, the company confirmed this morning. http://www.macworld.co.uk/procreative/news/index.c fm?newsid=17399

Submission + - Via Carbon Free Processor

Submitted by st_johnny on Monday March 05, 2007 @02:13PM

st_johnny writes: "[The]chips use less than a sixth the energy of an Intel Pentium, and less than a quarter the energy an AMD Athlon uses. In addition to efficiency, VIA has started a program called "carbon-free computing", where they offset the carbon that will be produced by the manufacturing and lifetime energy use of their CPU's. They do these offsets by building renewable power generation in developing countries, restoring forest and wetlands, and doing energy conservation." http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/006239.html http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/processors/c7-d http://www.via.com.tw/en/initiatives/cleancomputin g/carbon-free_computing.jsp

Submission + - New RFID technology could end lost data tapes

Submitted by jcatcw on Monday March 05, 2007 @02:11PM

jcatcw writes: RFID tags used with a GPS tracking systems will be able to remotely locate tape cartridges, no matter where they are — stationary or in transit. The new system from Imation will embed RFID chips in standard tape-cartridge labels. They can either be scanned individually with a handheld device or by placing cases, with up to 20 tapes, on a scanning pad. Imation's DataGuard rf Tape Tracking System will be sold as a kit that contains scanning devices, tracking management software, and a newly designed tape cartridge carrying case that fits most tape cartridge formats, including LTO, DLT, 3590, 34x0, 9x40, 3592, and T10000.

Diebold to Withdraw from E-Voting? 329

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday March 05, 2007 @02:03PM from the lots-of-polishing-to-do dept.

ICA writes "It appears after years of criticism, Diebold may be ready to withdraw from electronic voting entirely. The company is concerned that this relatively small and marginally profitable unit is hurting the company's overall image."

Submission + - Microsoft Wanted To Drop Mac Office To Hurt Apple

Submitted by Overly Critical Guy on Monday March 05, 2007 @01:53PM

Overly Critical Guy writes: More documents in the Iowa antitrust case have come out. This time, it's revealed that Microsoft considers Mac users its "guinea pigs" for new Office features, and they once considered dropping Mac Office entirely, "as doing so will do a great deal of harm to Apple immediately." This case has become a treasure trove of internal memos describing Microsoft's internal business practices of the last ten years.

Submission + - FAA, DOT Ban Vista Upgrades

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 05, 2007 @01:53PM

An anonymous reader writes: Two goverment agencies is putting a hold on upgrades to Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system, Internet Explorer 7, and Office 2007." DOT and the FAA have similar bans in effect. DOT is exploring other options, including Novell's SUSE Linux and, for a subset of users, Apple's Macintosh hardware and software.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jh tml?articleID=197700911

Submission + - Tech Firms Go Green As E-Waste Mounts

Submitted by yogaflame on Monday March 05, 2007 @01:17PM

yogaflame writes: This is where computers go to die a green death Inside Hewlett-Packard Co.'s cavernous recycling plant in the Sacramento suburbs, truckloads of obsolete PCs, servers and printers collected from consumers and businesses nationwide are cracked open by goggled workers who pull out batteries, circuit boards and other potentially hazardous components.

Journal Journal: Slashdot is a lobbyist

Journal by mdsolar on Wednesday January 17, 2007 @03:14PM

I've come across this site http://www.grassrootsfreedom.com/ which hopes to stop the lobbying reform, which is part of the first 100 hours package the democrats are passing, from applying to normal political organizing. Basically, you'd have to report to the government if you asked people to contact their representatives. So, on issues like net neutrality, or GPL'd software or intelectual property slashdot might be considered a lobbyist. The Nat

Submission + - Evidence that MS violated 2002 judgement surfaces

Submitted by whoever57 on Wednesday January 17, 2007 @02:33PM

whoever57 writes: In the Comes Vs. Microsoft case, the plaintiffs believe they have found evidence that Microsoft has failed to fully disclose APIs to competitors. If true, this would mean that Microsoft has violated the 2002 judgement. Once again, Groklaw has the scoop. This information has become avaialble since the plaintiffs have obtained an order allowing them to disclose Microsoft's alleged mis-behavior to the DOJ ("appropriate enforcement and compliance authorities").

Submission + - RIAA and SWAT jointly raid DJ's studio

Submitted by NetDanzr on Wednesday January 17, 2007 @02:10PM

NetDanzr writes: Last night, SWAT, Atlanta police and the RIAA jointly raided the studio of DJ Drama, a radio personality and mixtape artist. Tyree Simons, also known as DJ Drama, was selling his mixtapes over the Internet, which caught the attention of the RIAA and the Atlanta police. Even though an RIAA representative claimed massive copyright infringement, footage from the raid shows that only DJ Drama's mixtape CDs were found and confiscated. Altogether, over 50,000 CDs, studio equipment and a car were impounded, and two people were arrested.

New Rocket Engine Successfully Tested 162

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wednesday January 17, 2007 @02:06PM from the flatulence-you-can-get-behind dept.

inetsee writes "XCOR Aerospace announced that their new methane-oxygen rocket engine has been tested successfully. This is reported to be the first successful test of an engine using the combination of methane and oxygen as fuel. The fuel has higher specific impulse than kerosene and oxygen, but until now has been thought to have too much 'technology risk'."

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