Comment No worries (Score 1) 352
I haven't had a TV with rabbit ears since I was a kid.
Nowadays, I've got IPTV, which beats the pants off cable and doesn't require a converter box either.
Comment Because adobe doesn't care about you. (Score 2, Insightful) 963
Adobe cares about the folks buying expensive site and server licenses. Those guys don't really care about you because there aren't enough of ya to have much impact on their website's success, so why should adobe invest in your platform, besides the bare minimum quality implementation as a hedge in case desktop linux becomes more important some day. There's no economic incentive.
Shrinky Dinks As a Threat To National Security 257
InflammatoryHeadlineGuy writes "What do Shrinky Dinks, credit cards and paperclips have in common? They can all be used to duplicate the keys to Medeco 'high-security' locks that protect the White House, the Pentagon, embassies, and many other sensitive locations. The attack was demonstrated at Defcon by Marc Weber Tobias and involves getting a picture of the key, then printing it out and cutting plastic to match — both credit cards and Shrinky Dinks plastic are recommended. The paperclip then pushes aside a slider deep in the keyway, while the plastic cut-out lifts the pins. They were able to open an example lock in about six seconds. The only solution seems to be to ensure that your security systems are layered, so that attackers are stopped by other means even if they manage to duplicate your keys."
IOC Admits Internet Censorship Deal With China 380
Dave writes "BEIJING (Reuters) — Some International Olympic Committee officials cut a deal to let China block sensitive websites despite promises of unrestricted access, a senior IOC official admitted on Wednesday.
Persistent pollution fears and China's concerns about security in Tibet also remained problems for organizers nine days before the Games begin.
China had committed to providing media with the same freedom to report on the Games as they enjoyed at previous Olympics, but journalists have this week complained of finding access to sites deemed sensitive to its communist leadership blocked.
'I regret that it now appears BOCOG has announced that there will be limitations on website access during Games time,' IOC press chief Kevan Gosper said, referring to Beijing's Olympic organizers.
'I also now understand that some IOC officials negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked on the basis they were not considered Games related,' he said." But yet somehow the mainstream media will ignore this because the Olympics are patriotic or something.
Submission + - The GIMP used to solve homicide
b1ng0 writes: The acclaimed show "Forensic Files" on TruTV is airing an episode tonight that features The GIMP and how it was used in a homicide case. Has The GIMP gone mainstream now that it's been featured on TV?
"Coming up July 18 at 9 p.m. Eastern/Pacific Time, we have another episode that might inspire some investigators. "About Face" tells the story of a Jane Doe skeleton and the steps detectives took to identify her. They had a skull and photos of missing women, and wondered if there was a way to do a comparison without paying a high-tech lab thousands of dollars for photo or video superimposition.
A dedicated team at the University of North Carolina's Wilmington campus did some trial and error experimenting. They took photos of the skull tilted at the same angles as the women's heads in the missing persons photos, and compared them using a free program available online called The GNU Image Manipulation Program or "GIMP" for short.
(Check out the GIMP here: www.gimp.org)
I won't tell you how it turned out, but I will say bones can be used to identify someone — long after they're gone."
Submission + - Can Instant-on Linux Turn Off Windows? (channelinsider.com)
buzzardsbay writes: "Motherboard manufacturer Asustek Computer is ready to throw down the gauntlet when it comes to the instant-on PC. Frustrated with the boot times associated with today's operating systems, Asus is now embedding a Linux environment called Slashtop, that incorporates Firefox and Skype into its motherboards. The idea here is that in less than 10 seconds, a user can turn on the PC and be surfing the Web, checking e-mail or even making VOIP calls — simple tasks that are currently all but impossible with today's operating systems."
Submission + - More efficient IT?
mooreBS writes: I'm currently employed as the CAD administrator at one of the few surviving machine tool manufacturers in the US. Recently I was told that the company wants me to take on even more responsibility and won't compensate me for doing so. I balked because I'm already putting in fifty hours a week and I'm underpaid. When I voiced my objection I was told that I simply need to be more efficient. I was at a loss for words.
How do you increase efficiency as an IT worker? Most of my job involves tracking down arcane bugs in the software we use, reporting them to the developers, and finding a workaround until a patch is issued. I'm also responsible for installing software, documenting and maintaining the system, as well as testing new releases of software. My company is on a lean kick right now which is all right for assembly lines, but I'm not sure how to apply lean principles to IT. Any suggestions?
How do you increase efficiency as an IT worker? Most of my job involves tracking down arcane bugs in the software we use, reporting them to the developers, and finding a workaround until a patch is issued. I'm also responsible for installing software, documenting and maintaining the system, as well as testing new releases of software. My company is on a lean kick right now which is all right for assembly lines, but I'm not sure how to apply lean principles to IT. Any suggestions?
Submission + - OCZ's Core Series SSD vs WD VelociRaptor (hothardware.com)
MojoKid writes: "Solid State Disks (SSDs) are all the rage as of late, as pricing continues a
downward trend. In addition, performance has continued to improve with SSDs as
the technology matures. Recently, announcements from major OEMs like Samsung
have promised fairly impressive offerings with read/write performance that would
rival most standard spinning disks and of course sub-1ms access times that
literally no standard rotational media can come close to. HotHardware took
a look at a fast, relatively cheap SSD, the OCZ Core Series 64GB, that retails
for around $200 and
put it up against the lightning fast WD
VelociRaptor to see what it was made of. The results are interesting to be
sure."
Submission + - Ubisoft Steals 'No-CD Crack' to Fix Rainbox 6: Veg (torrentfreak.com)
Ariastis writes: UbiSoft has long been against No-CD patches. Referring to them on their forums would get you warned or banned. But now, they have just officially released a patch for Rainbox 6: Vegas 2 which, when opened in a HEX editor, can easily be identified as coming from the RELOADED scene group, not from UbiSoft programmers. Picture of hex analysis here. See? Piracy ain't that bad, saves you from having to code fixes from your own games! (Watch the drama on the Ubi Forums, before it gets scrubbed clean)
Submission + - Ministry of Defence loses 100+ USB memory sticks (bbc.co.uk)
craigavonite writes: "More than 100 USB memory sticks, some containing secret information, have been lost or stolen from the Ministry of Defence since 2004, it has emerged. The department also admitted that more than 650 laptops had been stolen over the past four years — nearly double the figure previously claimed. The Liberal Democrats condemned the latest security breaches as evidence of "shocking incompetence". But the MoD insisted its policies were "generally fit for purpose". Previously the MoD had confirmed that 347 laptops were stolen between 2004 and 2007. The Mod said it has no idea on when, where and how the memory sticks were lost. Defence Secretary Des Browne issued revised figures after "anomalies in the reporting process" were discovered. The official total is now 658 laptops stolen, with another 89 lost. Just 32 have been recovered."
Really inspires confidence doesn't it? You can read the full article over on BBC News
Really inspires confidence doesn't it? You can read the full article over on BBC News
Submission + - Dutch courts OKs publishing how to hack NXP chip (itnews.com.au)
schliz writes: A Dutch university planning to publish details on how to hack a chip made by NXP which is used in millions of electronic passes for entering buildings and public transport systems including London's won a court ruling on Friday on the grounds of free speech.
The Push For Quotas For Women In Science 896
mlimber writes "The NYTimes has a story about how Congress has quietly begun to press for an equal number of women in the hard sciences and engineering under Title IX, which is best known for mandating numerical equality for boys' and girls' sports for institutions that accept federal funding. The problem is, the article says, it is not merely that women face discrimination from male colleagues, though that is often true, or that they are discouraged from pursuing these fields. Rather, women with aptitude in these areas often simply have other interests and so pursue their education and careers in other fields like law, education, or biology. Opponents of this plan, including many women in scientific fields, say implementing sex-based quotas will actually be detrimental because it will communicate that the women can't compete on even terms with men and will be 'devastating' to the quality of science 'if every male-dominated field has to be calibrated to women's level of interest.'"
SCO's Lawsuit Gets Even Crazier 179
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "With SCO in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and there being little to read other than status reports and the boring financial details of how the company is wasting its last few dollars, one could be excused for thinking the SCO lawsuits had lost their zip. But things just got a bit more interesting. Jonathan Lee Riches has asked the court to take over. Yes, the man also known as inmate #40948-018 is now bringing his legal experience to the table, having previously filed pro se lawsuits against such entities as Michael Vick, Michael Jordan, Mickey Mantle, the Lincoln Memorial, the Thirteen Tribes of Israel, 'Various Buddhist Monks,' Mein Kampf, Denny's, George W. Bush, the Soviet Gulag Archipelago, Bellevue Hospital, Iran's Evin Prison, Auschwitz, and Plato. In his hand-written pro se motion (PDF), he asks to intervene as Plaintiff pursuant to FRCP 24(a)(2). As best anyone can read the motion, it appears that he offered Novell some 'royalty payments' and they refused them, so he wants to protect his UnixWare rights. He also claims to have proof of SCO's claims, but he wants take over part of the case via FRCP 24 because SCO isn't competent, and allegedly he could do a better job. To be fair, between him and Darl, it's something of a toss-up."
Firefox Breaks 8 Million, Gets Into Guinness 199
Punkster812 writes "Mozilla has gotten the results back from the Guinness World Records and the official number that will be set as the record is 8,002,530 downloads. The day started out a little rough for them, with server troubles during the initial launch, but once they got everything going, they were able to transfer 62,419,734 MB in 24 hours.
You can get more information, including a breakdown of how many downloads each country did from around the world, by visiting spreadfirefox.com.
Congratulations, Mozilla, on the new record."
Intel Says to Prepare For "Thousands of Cores" 638
Impy the Impiuos Imp writes to tell us that in a recent statement Intel has revealed their plans for the future and it goes well beyond the traditional processor model. Suggesting developers start thinking about tens, hundreds, or even thousand or cores, it seems Intel is pushing for a massive evolution in the way processing is handled. "Now, however, Intel is increasingly 'discussing how to scale performance to core counts that we aren't yet shipping...Dozens, hundreds, and even thousands of cores are not unusual design points around which the conversations meander,' [Anwar Ghuloum, a principal engineer with Intel's Microprocessor Technology Lab] said. He says that the more radical programming path to tap into many processing cores 'presents the "opportunity" for a major refactoring of their code base, including changes in languages, libraries, and engineering methodologies and conventions they've adhered to for (often) most of the their software's existence.'"
