Comment Here's a longer article from the University (Score 4, Informative) 21
University of Cincinnati article about frog foam and photsynthesis.
Wii Hardware Upgrade Won't Happen Soon 325
As high-definition graphics become more and more entrenched in this generation of game consoles, Nintendo has had to deal with constant speculation about a new version of the Wii that would increase its capabilities. Today, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime bluntly denied that a hardware revision was imminent, saying, "We are confident the Wii home entertainment console has a very long life in front of it." He added, "In terms of what the future holds, we've gone on record to say that the next step for Nintendo in home consoles will not be to simply make it HD, but to add more and more capability, and we'll do that when we've totally tapped out all of the experiences for the existing Wii. And we're nowhere near doing that yet."
Man Sues Neighbor For Not Turning Off His Wi-Fi
428
Scyth3 writes "A man is suing his neighbor for not turning off his cell phone or wireless router. He claims it affects his 'electromagnetic allergies,' and has resorted to being homeless. So, why doesn't he check into a hotel? Because hotels typically have wireless internet for free. I wonder if a tinfoil hat would help his cause?"
Aussie Regulator Comes Down On SMS Spam 76
An anonymous reader writes "The Australian Communications and Media Authority has commenced legal proceedings in the Federal Court against several local and international companies over allegedly unsolicited SMS spam. It's the first time the regulator has used its powers under the Spam Act to pursue an alleged SMS spammer through the Courts. Other companies have been fined or committed to an 'enforceable undertaking' to avoid this type of action (although these are not without issue). Another firm accused of SMS spam accused the regulator of being overzealous after it received a formal warning. The regulator appears to have instituted a crackdown on the premium mobile content industry in recent months, culminating in this latest action."
Comment Re:The first law we vette through this process... (Score 1) 238
I didn't want to bring up gun control per se, but rather in keeping with the spirit of TFA, I suggest that this:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
is pretty darn ambiguous, and had the founders run it through a test phase whereby people could have asked (as beta tester might have asked the developers), "umm, what does the first part of the sentence have to do with the second?" We could thereby have avoided having the Supremes try to decipher what the hell the authors were thinking.
The whole school of "Strict Constructionism," as it is commonly used, whereby the justices try to ascertain what the original intent of the authors was, might be rendered moot if we really could test drive a law and see how it works in practice.
But it would never work, as many of the philophers here point out, the Law of Unintended Consequences remains the law of the land.
Submission + - Don't overlook command line processing
An anonymous reader writes: Command-line processing is historically one of the most ignored areas in software development. Just about any relatively complicated software has dozens of available command-line options. The GNU tool gperf is a "perfect" hash function that, for a given set of user-provided strings, generates C/C++ code for a hash table, a hash function, and a lookup function. This article provides a reference for a good discussion on how to use gperf for effective command-line processing, and on command-line processing techniques in general.
Submission + - Spreading the word of God in Second Life (yahoo.com)
UnanimousCoward writes: "This article notes that Jesuits are contemplating spreading the word of God in the virtual world as they have done in the physical world. My first thought was, "yeah, right," especially on the heels of the gambling ban. My second thought was that before they were successful in the physical world, I would have also said, "yeah, right," so who knows?"
Submission + - 1st-degree felony, 5th-grade defendant
mikesd81 writes: "Philadelpha Daily Times has an article about a fifth grade student being charged with 1st-degree burglary charge. From the article: "Joseph Ramos is learning how tough on crime Bucks County can be.
Last Labor Day weekend, he and a buddy entered a neighborhood friend's unlocked townhouse when no one was there. Trading cards, a video game, a game controller, and $340 in cash were reported missing by the homeowner."
The homeowner just happened to be a high-ranking prosecutor in the Bucks County District Attorney's Office. Filing felony charges against a 10-year-old with no prior legal run-ins, is rare — and rarer still in a matter more typically settled among neighbors. Age isn't the only thorny issue in the prosecution of Joe Ramos. Despite the conflict of interest presented by Gambardella's position, the Bucks District Attorney's Office reviewed the charges and approved a warrant for Joe's arrest in October, juvenile court records show. It took three more months before Gibbons, citing that conflict, asked the state Attorney General's Office to assign an independent prosecutor."
The homeowner just happened to be a high-ranking prosecutor in the Bucks County District Attorney's Office. Filing felony charges against a 10-year-old with no prior legal run-ins, is rare — and rarer still in a matter more typically settled among neighbors. Age isn't the only thorny issue in the prosecution of Joe Ramos. Despite the conflict of interest presented by Gambardella's position, the Bucks District Attorney's Office reviewed the charges and approved a warrant for Joe's arrest in October, juvenile court records show. It took three more months before Gibbons, citing that conflict, asked the state Attorney General's Office to assign an independent prosecutor."
Submission + - John Backus, Fortan Developer Dies
An anonymous reader writes: The New York Times writes that man who led modern development of Fortran has died. From the article:
John W. Backus, who assembled and led the I.B.M. team that created Fortran, the first widely used programming language, which helped open the door to modern computing, died on Saturday at his home in Ashland, Ore. He was 82.
Submission + - Nintendo Wii Charge Station Shipping
Croakyvoice writes: Wii News have details of the first Charge
Station released for the Nintendo Wii along with a rechargeable battery included,
heres more details" It is used to charge special battery pack of Wii controller.
Match with special rechargeable battery pack used on Wii controller.
Power supplies from Wii console USB interface, no need other adapters.
It can hold a Wii controller, and charge for a special controller battery pack
It can charge 2 pieces of AA rechargeale battery, too."
Match with special rechargeable battery pack used on Wii controller.
Power supplies from Wii console USB interface, no need other adapters.
It can hold a Wii controller, and charge for a special controller battery pack
It can charge 2 pieces of AA rechargeale battery, too."
Submission + - Supreme Court Will Hear "Bong Hits 4 Jesus"
slimjim8094 writes: The Supreme Court has
agreed to hear the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case, covered previously on Slashdot here.
Interestingly enough:The case forces the court to reconsider the line between a student's right to free expression and a principal's authority to limit what is said and done at school.
The message seemed designed to provoke Principal Deborah Morse, and it succeeded in doing so. She tore it down and sent Frederick to the office. She planned to suspend him for five days, but when he invoked Thomas Jefferson and the First Amendment, she doubled the suspension to 10 days.
Several religious-rights groups filed briefs supporting the student's free-speech right in this case. Their lawyers worry that school officials might, for example, say it was inappropriate for a student to wear a T-shirt that praised Jesus Christ.
Submission + - ReactOS Revealed
reactosfanboy writes: DRM Hacker Alex Ionescu explains the internals of ReactOS in a recent talk. Ionescu indicates that ReactOS is nearly 100% binary and API compatible with the Windows 2003 kernel, and that they are aiming for full Vista compatibility. Ionescu attempted to demonstrate ReactOS but only managed to successfully install it after two BSoD's. This alone should make it clear that ReactOS is still not ready for prime time.
Submission + - Microsoft Tracks Down Mass Fake Web Pages
An anonymous reader writes: According to an article on New York Times, Microsoft researchers discovered tens of thousands of junk Web pages, created only to lure search-engine users to advertisements, are generated by a small group of shadowy operators. By following the money trail, Microsoft researchers were able to track that flows from big-name advertisers to search engine spammers. Many use Google blogspot.com to set up spam doorway pages. The report is available at Microsoft Strider Search Ranger project page.
