versiondub - Slashdot User

Philosophy and Computer Science Revisited 204

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday November 10, 2008 @05:03PM from the philosophy-goes-nicely-with-many-things dept.

Soren Kierkegaard writes "While reading the two-and-a-half-year-old Slashdot post on Does Philosophy have a role in Computer Science, it occurred to me that over these past few years Philosophy has a more prominent role in Computer Science then ever before. Cognitive Science and Computer Ethics are more established disciplines in universities, and the numbers of philosophy graduates double majoring in computer science and information systems are climbing. Is a merger of Philosophy, a discipline steeped in history and intelligent thought, and Computer Science, a discipline that looks to the future, the best of both worlds?"

Cell Phone For the Blind? 141

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday September 07, 2008 @10:22AM from the can-you-see-me-now? dept.

brigc writes "Here's one that's got me stumped. A friend of mine who is blind asked me for help tracking down a cell phone for him. He's interested in a flip phone with well-defined separations between the keys, and as much voice control as possible. Battery life is the only other thing he mentioned. Preferably something that would work on AT&T's network in the US. We spent part of the afternoon in a local AT&T store checking out all the flip phones they had and didn't find one he really loved. Anyone have any ideas?" There was a story some months back about a phone that would read to you by interpreting pictures from the built-in camera, but it doesn't have much information about usability. I'm sure it'd be handy to have some sort of text-to-speech option for common cell phone features like caller ID and text messaging, or even just reading menu names.

Nukes Not the Best Way To Stop Asteroids, Says Apollo Astronaut 367

Posted by timothy on Sunday July 27, 2008 @07:40PM from the thin-coating-of-flubber dept.

MajorTom writes "Right now, we are not tracking many of the asteroids that could destroy earth. But within the next decade, new telescopes will make that possible, and leave us with the tough decision of what to do about objects with an alarming chance of hitting our planet. Last year, NASA said that the best option is to nuke them. This week, Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart, explained that there are far better options, and he has started an organization to prove that they can work."

Submission + - Patent decisions at risk (nytimes.com)

Submitted by diGitalRchitect on Tuesday May 06, 2008 @11:07AM

diGitalRchitect writes: The New York Times is reporting on a legislative mistake that could undo several years worth of patent decisions. It appears that judges appointed since the year 2000 may not be constitutionally appointed.

The problem ... at least arguably invalidates every decision of the patent court decided by a three-judge panel that included at least one judge appointed after March 2000.

Flowers' Smell Not Traveling As Far 113

Posted by kdawson on Sunday April 13, 2008 @08:05AM from the bloom-is-off-the-rose dept.

Ant writes in to note a study indicating that, because of air pollution, the smell of flowers is not wafting as far as it once did. Pollutants from power plants and automobiles destroy flowers' aromas, the study suggests: "The scent molecules produced by flowers in a less polluted environment, such as in the 1800s, could travel for roughly 1,000 to 1,200 meters; but in today's polluted environment downwind of major cities, they may travel only 200 to 300 meters." The finding could help explain why some pollinators, particularly bees, are declining in certain parts of the world.

Instant Messaging For Introverts 311

Posted by kdawson on Monday April 07, 2008 @08:02AM from the jung-nailed-it-before-meyers-and-briggs dept.

adamengst tips an article up on TidBITS that explores the persistent reluctance of many nerds to embrace fully new communications media such as IM and Twitter. In this thoughtful article Joe Kissell explores, from the inside, the mind of the introvert and how this personality style often struggles with new "always-on" media. The result is a sometimes exasperated incomprehension on the part of the more extroverted. Well worth a read.

Can Architects Save Libraries from the Internet? 270

Posted by Zonk on Sunday March 02, 2008 @06:13PM from the it-would-be-kind-of-awesome-to-live-in-a-library dept.

theodp writes "Slate has an interesting photo essay exploring the question of how to build a public library in the age of Google, Wikipedia, and Kindle. The grand old reading rooms and stacks of past civic monuments are giving way to a new library-as-urban-hangout concept, as evidenced by Seattle's Starbucks-meets-mega-bookstore central library and Salt Lake City's shop-lined education mall. Without some dramatic changes, The Extinction Timeline predicts libraries will R.I.P. in 2019."

Comment Re: Properly Served? (Score 1) 70

by versiondub on Saturday March 01, 2008 @12:38AM (#22608044) Attached to: Wikileaks Gets Domain Back, Injunction Dissolved

You grossly overestimate the US court system's ability to take the things you list into consideration when the plaintiff cites some actual legal precedent and sends lawyers to court (and the defense does not, for in this case obvious reasons). the US legal system is built on adversarial mediation; hence the court is biased towards a form of mediation in which both parties are represented. It's not the judge's job to consider the moral/legal implications of a particular judgement, it's the job of the respective plaintiff/defendant's legal representative(s). The judge here is not guilty of any sort of negligence it's the precedent that he must obey. If it is anyone's job to ensure that censorship like this does not happen again. This responsibility lies on the shoulders of those concerned citizens (you, me, slashdot, and wider nerd-dom) who must translate their political will into votes for those presidential candidates and congresspersons who will work towards the repeal of the sort of predatory and fascistic legal policies implemented during the reign of George II.

Ask the Air Force Cyber Command General About War in Cyberspace 315

Posted by Roblimo on Friday February 29, 2008 @02:44PM from the play-the-ultimate-MMORPG dept.

We ran an article about the new Air Force Cyber Command and its recruiting efforts on February 13, 2008. Now Major General William Lord, who is in charge of this effort, has agreed to answer Slashdot users' questions. If you're thinking about joining up -- or just curious -- this is a golden opportunity to learn how our military is changing its command structure and recruiting efforts to deal with "cyberspace as a warfighting domain." Usual Slashdot interview rules apply.

Best Presidential Candidate, Republicans 1481

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday February 04, 2008 @10:27AM from the since-you-can't-build-robo-reagan dept.

A few days ago we posted a story for you to discuss the best presidential candidates for Super Tuesday, but I figured it would be an interesting idea to try that again, but split the discussion into 2 halves. This is the Republican half — please only discuss the Republican candidates in this story. Huckabee, McCain, and Romney only.

Edward Tufte Weighs In on Apple's iPhone 170

Posted by Zonk on Thursday January 24, 2008 @05:00PM from the word-from-on-high dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Via Daring Fireball, a post from design guru Edward Tufte's site discusses his views on the interface used by the Apple iPhone. The post includes a video presentation by Tufte on the subject of video resolution on the phone. His argument is primarily that while the iPhone does a lot of things very well, Apple hasn't quite realized the platform's full potential by making screen real estate all it could be. "

Internet Group Declares War on Scientology 891

Posted by Zonk on Thursday January 24, 2008 @11:03AM from the so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-fish dept.

Darkman, Walkin Dude writes "An internet group calling itself Anonymous has declared war on the Church of Scientology, in the form of an ominous posting to the YouTube site. 'In the statement, the group explained their goal as safeguarding the right to freedom of speech. "A spokesperson said that the group's goals include bringing an end to the financial exploitation of Church members and protecting the right to free speech, a right which they claim was consistently violated by the Church of Scientology in pursuit of its opponents." The press release also claimed that the Church of Scientology misused copyright and trademark law in order to remove criticism from websites including Digg and YouTube. The statement goes on to assert that the attacks from the group "will continue until the Church of Scientology reacts, at which point they will change strategy".' It should be noted that Slashdot users have had interactions with Scientology in the past as well."

Dvorak Slams OLPC As 'Naive Fiasco' 740

Posted by Zonk on Sunday December 09, 2007 @04:19PM from the snark-snark-snark dept.

theodp writes "PC Magazine's John C. Dvorak has a unique take on the cute One Laptop per Child XO-1, deeming the OLPC project a naive fiasco waiting to unfold that sends an insulting 'let them eat cake' message to the world's poor. When it comes down to a choice of providing African kids living in absolute poverty with access to Slashdot or a $200 truckload of rice, Dvorak votes for the latter. Buy ten OLPCs if it assuages your guilt, says Dvorak, but 'I'll donate my money to hunger relief.'"

Open Source 'Sage' Takes Aim at High End Math Software 360

Posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday December 08, 2007 @10:15AM from the that'll-take-awhile dept.

coondoggie writes "A new open source mathematics program is looking to push aside commercial software commonly used in mathematics education, in large government laboratories and in math-intensive research. The program's backers say the software, called Sage, can do anything from mapping a 12-dimensional object to calculating rainfall patterns under global warming."

Submission + - US DOJ Defends RIAA's $9250-per-file verdict (blogspot.com)

Submitted by

NewYorkCountryLawyer

on Tuesday December 04, 2007 @03:31PM

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "In what has been dubbed "the Bush administration's most blatant support of the commercial music industry yet", the United States Department of Justice has intervened in the Capitol v. Thomas case, on the side of the RIAA and against Ms. Thomas, filing a brief (pdf) which defends the constitutionality of the $9250-per-song-file jury verdict. The Government justified the award by arguing that the damages awarded "were not 'so severe and oppressive as to be wholly disproportioned to the offense or obviously unreasonable'", and that "it is impossible to calculate the damages caused by a single infringement, particularly for infringement that occurs over the internet"."

Slashdot Top Deals