Submission + - Google Auto-Suggests Social Security Number
Dotnaught writes: "In a story about Google's recent security lapse with its anti-phishing blacklist, InformationWeek reports some odd behavior from the Google Toolbar. "Entering two keywords related to Social Security numbers — call them 'x' and 'y' so as not to compound the problem — into the Google Toolbar will produce a keyword search suggestion in the form 'x y John Doe.' Selecting the suggested search terms and name, as might be expected, generates a search results page with the named person's Social Security number. A spokesperson for Google said the company's engineers didn't have an immediate explanation for the auto-generated suggestion, that it was probably an aberration and that the suggestion would likely be removed.""
Submission + - Battery Breakthrough?
Up2eyeballz writes:
Technology Review reports: "A Texas company says it can make a new ultracapacitor power system to replace the electrochemical batteries in everything from cars to laptops." From the article:
The company boldly claims that its system, a kind of battery-ultracapacitor hybrid based on barium-titanate powders, will dramatically outperform the best lithium-ion batteries on the market in terms of energy density, price, charge time, and safety. Pound for pound, it will also pack 10 times the punch of lead-acid batteries at half the cost and without the need for toxic materials or chemicals, according to the company.
With a claim like this... Have at it people.
Technology Review reports: "A Texas company says it can make a new ultracapacitor power system to replace the electrochemical batteries in everything from cars to laptops." From the article:
The company boldly claims that its system, a kind of battery-ultracapacitor hybrid based on barium-titanate powders, will dramatically outperform the best lithium-ion batteries on the market in terms of energy density, price, charge time, and safety. Pound for pound, it will also pack 10 times the punch of lead-acid batteries at half the cost and without the need for toxic materials or chemicals, according to the company.
With a claim like this... Have at it people.
Submission + - Vista has "high impact issues" - Microsoft
EggsAndSausage writes: "Microsoft has admitted — in a roundabout way — that Vista has "high impact issues". It has put out a call for technical testers to participate in testing of Service Pack 1, due out later this year, which will address "regressions from Windows Vista and Windows XP, security, deployment blockers and other high impact issues."
It's hard to know whether to be reassured that Service Pack 1 is coming, and thus that there's now a sensible timeframe for considering deployment of Vista within businesses, OR to be alarmed that Microsoft is unleashing an OS on the world with "high impact issues" remaining in it.
In other news there's a battle raging over the top 10 reasons to get / not to get Vista. (And a rebuttal.)"
It's hard to know whether to be reassured that Service Pack 1 is coming, and thus that there's now a sensible timeframe for considering deployment of Vista within businesses, OR to be alarmed that Microsoft is unleashing an OS on the world with "high impact issues" remaining in it.
In other news there's a battle raging over the top 10 reasons to get / not to get Vista. (And a rebuttal.)"
Submission + - EV1Servers is no more
symbolset writes: "Netcraft is reporting that EV1Servers is no more. EV1Servers was Founded in January 2000 as Rackshack by Robert Marsh a.k.a. "headsurfer", as a branch of his Houston ISP — Everyone's Internet. EV1Servers was a pioneer in dedicated servers. The company was among the fastest growing web hosts from 2002-2004.
Marsh left the company in May when it was acquired by private equity firm GI Partners, to be merged with The Planet, a parallel acquisition, making The Planet the sixth largest web host and third largest SSL host on the Internet."
Marsh left the company in May when it was acquired by private equity firm GI Partners, to be merged with The Planet, a parallel acquisition, making The Planet the sixth largest web host and third largest SSL host on the Internet."
Submission + - Google's FUSE Port Brings NTFS Support to OS X
sciurus0 writes: "In his session at Macworld on OS X filesytems, Google's Amit Singh announced that he has ported Linux's FUSE module to OS X. The port is called MacFUSE and is available in source form and as a precompiled kernel extension with associated tools. Many FUSE filesystems such as sshfs and ntfs-3g are reported to work."
Submission + - Google Removes Yahoo! Maps and Mapquest Maps
fed0up writes: "The "Do no evil" company removes Yahoo! maps and Mapquest maps from address search result.
http://techcrunch.blogspot.com/2007/01/google-stop s-showing-yahoo-maps-in-one.html
Test link:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=GGGL%2C GGGL%3A2006-23%2CGGGL%3Aen&q=1600+Pennsylvania+ave %2C+washington+dc&btnG=Search"
Submission + - powerful, quiet and energy conservative
eneville writes: "It seems that all the advances in home computer hardware incur expensive use of power, the more MHz the more power it drains for top of the range equipment. Do any of the slashdot readers have any advice for purchasing a replacement computer that is reasonably fast, reasonably quiet and does not hurt the environment? The key point here is for lower power use whilst maintaining reasonable performance. Scaled up a little, this should also be good practice for business to implement, when I take a walk around a server room, or a data center I wonder just how much waste electricity is spent."
Vendor Affordable, energy-saving business PC products
HP recently announced a variety of affordable, energy-efficient desk-based products and environmentally friendly features for business customers. "Available now, the new HP Compaq dx2250 Desktop PC is a reliable, full-featured business computer with energy-efficient processors to help lower a customer's total cost of ownership. HP also plans to offer 80 per cent efficient power supplies on select desktop business PCs. Th
Submission + - Using a water tower to store energy
An anonymous reader writes: It seems to me that the greatest challenge for many alternative energy sources like solar, is continuity.
Although fancy maglev flywheels are promising, nothing commercial is out yet.
Does anybody know why a low-tech solution like pumping water into a tower, during the day, and letting it come down while turning a turbine at night is not a good straightforward solution?
Does anybody know why a low-tech solution like pumping water into a tower, during the day, and letting it come down while turning a turbine at night is not a good straightforward solution?
Submission + - The Power of the Hack
narramissic writes: "In the world of business software, vendors routinely offer tools to help developers customize applications. Not so in the consumer space, where TiVo and Xbox are notable exceptions. This article offers and interesting look at what companies have to gain — and lose — by embracing the hacker community."
Submission + - R.I.P. Robert Anton Wilson
mindwar23 writes: Science-fiction author and mental provocateur Robert Anton Wilson has died: "Robert Anton Wilson Defies Medical Experts and leaves his body @4:50 AM on binary date 01/11." Wilson is best known for co-writing the Illuminatus! Trilogy and for founding Discorianism. Fnord.
Submission + - EU You'll Save Money Switching to FOSS
An anonymous reader writes: EU Commission Study Finds You'll Save Money Switching to FOSS, Groklaw reports...
Submission + - Digital photo frames finally ready for prime-time
Jean Kovlos writes: "I bought 4 digital photo frames for Christmas gifts — they are great but you need one with integrated memory. My brother said there are too many issues with the wireless ones, so stick to the simple ones with many flash media ports and integrated memory.
See TWICE story on new products for CES:
http://www.twice.com/article/CA6405272.html"
Submission + - A Cheaper iPhone?
mattnyc99 writes: Now that it's been a full 48 hours since the iPhone announcement, some of the "wow" factor is transitioning into the cold reality of how expensive the thing is. The result? A ton of chatter about cheaper alternatives (or at least Apple's coming competition), from the open-sourced Moko to Samsung's secret weapon to an LG model that the masses are claiming Steve Jobs ripped off. Would you settle for anything less than the iPhone cometh?
