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Toys

Submission + - The Top 15 USB geek gadgets (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "From humping dogs to running hamsters and gyrating Elvis' and desktop missile launchers, is there anything more fun that a truly geeky gadget? Well of course there is but after having witnessed the Dancing Elvis Phone at a recent trade show, Layer 8 wanted to see how geeky we could get. That naturally lead to the USB world where there's no end to the geeky things you can link to your PC. Here's the Top 15 I thought were the most amusing. Please feel free to let me know your favorites. 1. The Typing Speedometer Mouse Oh why not. This little mouse character sits on an exercise bike and well, the aster you type the faster the little rodent pedals and your typing speed is displayed on the LCD readout. A good time can be had by all. http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1588 6"
Portables (Apple)

Submission + - Apple updates MacBook PRO

Submitted by mousehouse
mousehouse writes: The floating rumour about updated MacBook laptops that started a few weeks ago has proven true. Apple just updated it's MacBook Pro line with (yet again) faster Core2Dua CPU's, nVidia graphics. Some will be happy to see that the 17 inch version provides optional HD-compatible 1920x1200 display size. I for one long back to the G3/G4 times when you would be the speed king for a least a year with you new 'book!
Security

Submission + - Hackers becoming ever more secretive (itpro.co.uk)

Submitted by Simplicity
Simplicity writes: Hackers are coming up with ever more secretive and complicated attacks in order to bypass traditional signature-based anti-malware applications, according to the latest Web Security Trends report from IT security company Finjan. The report found that criminal gangs are now keeping track of IP addresses of victims visiting target websites — exposing users to malicious code only once. This code vanishes the second time the user visits the website. Finjan said the hackers use these methods to hide malcode from web crawlers, URL filters and reputation engines.
Businesses

Submission + - No-Vacation Nation

Submitted by tired
tired writes: The Christian Science Montior reports that 'Almost 1 in 4 Americans have no paid vacation and no paid holidays, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. In a new report, "No-Vacation Nation," the group notes that the US remains the only advanced country that does not guarantee workers a paid vacation. By law, Europeans have the right to at least 20 days of paid time off per year. Some countries guarantee 25 or 30 days.'
Education

Submission + - Play Line Rider, Learn Physics (selu.edu)

Submitted by dupe.duperson
dupe.duperson writes: Just for fun, I did a little analysis of the physics in Line Rider. Of course it is not real, of course it is a great game. I tried to write this in a tutorial style to help students with physics.
Programming

Submission + - good messaging protocol for app collaboration

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "We are working on setting up my own "new and improved" collaborative code editor. It would allow two coders to work together, with one observing code changes made by the other (using some simple diff text change tracking). We want it to work from behind any firewall, wireless router and other barrier, so it should probably run with a central server (theoretically we can have server running on one of the clients, it has static ip, but this is not scalable).

So far we set it up on top of Yahoo IM protocol, but we are having problems with it, it often logs us out. Maybe it has to do with their suppression of spam bots, or maybe they just suck. Maye they do not like us sending messages every 3 seconds.

So question is, what messaging infrastructure could we switch to, that would be easy to setup, reliable, and have no restrictions on bandwidth, frequency of messages, etc? Security is not an issue for us, just as long as we can get it all to work."
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - New Credit Card- Defends Against ID Theft (akacard.com)

Submitted by
techna
techna writes: "There's a new credit card out that actually prevents ID theft by allowing you to make your own name and address up and attaching it to the credit card. The bank knows the false name and address so it's still connected to you but the connection is- literally- in the vault. The card can also be used in person so it's being called a "dual use" card. More info at akacard.com There's not much out there that actually prevents identity theft and these guys are going out on a limb to try and do so. It's a new start up company but the card is supplied by MasterCard so it's accepted probably anywhere Visa is."
Toys

Submission + - Rubik's cube solved in just 26 moves

Submitted by thefickler
thefickler writes: Researchers from Northeastern University in the US have managed to prove that the Rubik's cube can be solved in just 26 moves.

Computer science professor Gene Cooperman and graduate student Dan Kunkle were able to accomplish this new record through two primary techniques.They used 7 terabytes of distributed disk as an extension to RAM, in order to hold some large tables and developed a new, "faster faster" way of computing moves, and even whole groups of moves, by using mathematical group theory.

Encrypt and Sign Gmail messages with FireGPG 206

Posted by CmdrTaco from the can-you-spot-the-secret-message-in-this-dept-line dept.
Linux.com (Same owners as Slashdot) has a story up about FireGPG and says "Gmail may be an excellent Web-based email application, but there is no easy way to use it with privacy tools like GnuPG. The FireGPG extension for Firefox is designed to solve this problem. It integrates nicely into Gmail's interface and allows you...
Encrypt and sign Gmail messages with FireGPG
Linux Business

Submission + - Bank switches 12000 desktops to Linux (tectonic.co.za)

Submitted by
rpc1980
rpc1980 writes: "Following recent reports of a South African bank eyeing out Linux, Novell South Africa today issued a statement in which it said it had reached an agreement with First National Bank of South Africa to standardise the bank's 12 000 desktops in its 680 retail branches on Novell's Linux product."
Technology (Apple)

Submission + - How Apple Preps Kids As Future Mac Users

Submitted by techie
techie writes: OSWeekly.com writer Brandon Watts talks about Apple's influence on kids and how it's getting them ready to use the Mac platform when they grow up. He writes, "As someone who's taught at a summer camp before, I can truly say that this is a fantastic way to engage kids in technology. The fact of the matter is that OS X is perfect for young and creative minds, and in realizing this, Apple has organized a fantastic educational program. Whether these kids have used a Mac before or not, they're going to be sold on them (along with their parents) after the camp experience.
Privacy

Submission + - Google Maps Street View NOT invasion of privacy (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
airshowfan
airshowfan writes: "Applicable laws say that Google Maps Street View is NOT a violation of privacy. The most relevant law here is probably the one used by Jennifer Aniston to sue a paparazzo! It says that an invasion of privacy only occurs when someone looks into your window while using "enhancing devices" (telephoto lenses, binoculars, etc) and sees/takes a picture that is more detailed than what a passerby could see from the street with the naked eye. So as long as Google's images are not as sharp as what you could see as you walk past, Google should be ok. This article explains these issues of how private your home really is, and goes into issues of surveillance and sousveillance, of how much privacy one can expect while in a public place, and of how the information age is all about organizing the crumbs of information you leave behind. It is no longer reasonable to expect that your information trail cannot be easily organized, interpreted, and broadcast to the world."
United States

Putin Threatens US Missile Bases In Europe 997

Posted by kdawson from the reagan-won-this-didn't-he dept.
Melugo writes to let us know that Russian president Vladimir Putin has warned that US plans to build a missile defense system in Eastern Europe would force Moscow to target its weapons against Europe. This reader notes: "It feels like the Cold War all over again." "'If the American nuclear potential grows in European territory, we have to give ourselves new targets in Europe,' Putin said... 'It is up to our military to define these targets, in addition to defining the choice between ballistic and cruise missiles.'"

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