Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - Google Will Start Ranking 'Mobile-Friendly' Sites Even Higher In May

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Google today announced it is rolling out an update to mobile search results in May that “increases the effect” of its mobile-friendly ranking signal. The goal is to “help our users find even more pages that are relevant and mobile-friendly,” though the company didn’t share exactly how much of an impact it expects the change to have.

Submission + - Genetically Modified Mosquitoes To Be Tested in Florida (thelatestnews.com)

Submitted by cokomoko
cokomoko writes: As a consequence of the Zika virus threat, a British-based biotechnology company is to begin tests on a genetically modified Aedes aegypti mosquito, designed to try to stop transmission of the disease. Although trials have been carried out on a small scale, a large trial will be conducted in the U.S. (in Florida at an isolated peninsula north of Key West). The need for a trial is important, because it is unknown if the full-blown plan will work unless a scaled-up pilot is run.

Submission + - Most Vehicles Will Allow OTA Software Updates Within Six Years (computerworld.com)

Submitted by Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: By 2022, using a thumb drive or taking your vehicle to the location you bought it for a software update will seem as strange as it would be for a smartphone or laptop today. By 2022, there will be 203 million vehicles on the road that can receive software over-the-air (SOTA) upgrades; among those vehicles, at least 22 million will also be able to get firmware upgrades, according to a new report by ABI Research. Today, there are about 253 million cars and trucks on the road, according to IHS Automotive. The main reasons automakers are moving quickly to enable OTA upgrades: recall costs, autonomous driving and security risks based on software complexities, according to Susan Beardslee, a senior analyst at ABI Research. "It is a welcome transformation, as OTA is the only way to accomplish secure management of all of a connected car's software in a seamless, comprehensive, and fully integrated manner," Beardslee said.

Comment LifeStraw (Score 2) 89

by da_foz (#50331363) Attached to: 'Drinkable Book' Pages Clean Dirty Drinking Water

How is this any different from the LifeStraw?

Having the filter in a piece of paper seems less practical and more prone to error i.e. water spilling over the side. You also require multiple containers. A dirty container from which to pour the water, and a clean container for storage.

Note: I am in no way affiliated with LifeStraw and have never used the product.
Security

Submission + - FTC Fines RockYou $250,000 For Storing User Data In Plain Text

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Do you remember the RockYou fiasco? You probably don’t as it happened in late 2009. Let me refresh your memory: social game developer RockYou suffered a serious SQL injection flaw on its flagship website. Worse, the company was storing user details in plain text. As a result, tens of millions of login details, including those belonging to minors, were stolen and published online. Now, RockYou has finally settled with the Federal Trade Commission.
EU

Submission + - RealNetworks crushes Dutch webmaster for hyperlink (pcadvisor.co.uk)

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes: RealNetworks has sued the owner of a website in The Netherlands for displaying a hyperlink to a competing freeware package. As the company seeks compensation for its claimed losses, the 26-year-old man is borrowing money from family to survive.

The case started in 2010 when RealNetworks demanded that the computers belonging to Hilbrand Edskes and his family be confiscated. A Dutch judge granted this in an ex-parte ruling, based on an alleged violation of copyright law and trademark law. The company claims that Edskes was hosting the infringing software. The move to secretly obtain the order was meant to ensure that evidence wasn’t deleted.

Edskes has a website, Codecpack.nl, that links to a wide variety of freeware programs. One of these is "Real Alternative", a competitor of the mediaplayer RealPlayer from RealNetworks.

However, Edskes wasn’t hosting the software, but just redirected to other sites for the actual download. The complaint turned out to be based on a hyperlink to the software. To date there have been two court sessions, and in December Edskes will have to testify under oath.

PC Advisor: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/tech-industry/3299285/realnetworks-crushes-dutch-webmaster-for-hyperlink/

Comment Re:What Is It Worth? (Score 1) 405

by da_foz (#37128224) Attached to: Canada To Adopt On-Line Voting?
Depends on your definition of broken. The last couple of elections voter turnout has averaged in the low 60s. If such a system could boost voter participation by 10+% then I'd say it is definitely worth investigating. Part of the analysis should be which groups in society are underrepresented at the polls (who turns out the least) and ensure that it is these groups who are more likely to make use of online voting.

Comment Re:Murky: could be good or bad (Score 1) 142

by da_foz (#37082348) Attached to: Canadian Judge Rules Domain Names Are Property

This brings up some interesting points: if you have a property interest in a domain, then what do you pay the yearly fee for?

Is it not similar for patents and/or trademarks? Don't you have to pay a fee to maintain your status?

I was just discussing this with a (Canadian) IP lawyer and his take on it was he would consider a domain (intangible) property similar to patents, trade-marks and copyrights.
Image

Scientists Say a Dirty Child Is a Healthy Child 331

Posted by samzenpus from the snack-is-going-to-be-on-the-floor-today dept.
Researchers from the School of Medicine at the University of California have shown that the more germs a child is exposed to, the better their immune system in later life. Their study found that keeping a child's skin too clean impaired the skin's ability to heal itself. From the article: "'These germs are actually good for us,' said Professor Richard Gallo, who led the research. Common bacterial species, known as staphylococci, which can cause inflammation when under the skin, are 'good bacteria' when on the surface, where they can reduce inflammation."
The Internet

CRTC Issues Net Neutrality Rules 184

Posted by samzenpus from the play-fair-eh dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The CRTC today introduced a new framework to guide Internet service providers in their use of Internet traffic management practices. ISPs will be required to inform retail customers at least 30 days, and wholesale customers at least 60 days, before an Internet traffic management practice takes effect. At that time, ISPs will need to describe how the practice will affect their customers' service. The Commission encourages ISPs to make investments to increase network capacity as much as possible. However, the Commission realizes that ISPs may need other measures to manage the traffic on their networks at certain times. Technical means to manage traffic, such as traffic shaping, should only be employed as a last resort."
Security

Submission + - Wal-mart Hacked in 2006, Details in Wired

Submitted by plover
plover writes: Kim Zetter of Wired documents an extensive hack of Wal-Mart that took place in 2005-2006. She goes into great detail about the investigation and what the investigators found, including that the hackers made copies of their point-of-sale source code, and that they ran l0phtCrack on a Wal-Mart server.

Wal-Mart uncovered the breach in November 2006, after a fortuitous server crash led administrators to a password-cracking tool that had been surreptitiously installed on one of its servers. Wal-Mart’s initial probe traced the intrusion to a compromised VPN account, and from there to a computer in Minsk, Belarus.

Wal-mart has long since fixed the flaws that allowed the compromise, and confirmed that no customer data was lost in the hack.

Slashdot Top Deals

Solutions are obvious if one only has the optical power to observe them over the horizon. -- K.A. Arsdall

Close