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Biotech

Submission + - Nicotine is the new wonder drug. (wired.com)

Submitted by Fantastic Lad
Fantastic Lad writes: Smoking may be bad for you, but Researchers and biotech companies are quietly developing pharmaceuticals that are decidedly good for brains, bowels, blood vessels and even immune systems — and they're inspired by tobacco's active ingredient: nicotine. Nicotine acts on the acetylcholine receptors in the brain, stimulating and regulating the release of a slew of brain chemicals, including seratonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. Now drugs derived from nicotine and the research on nicotine receptors are in clinical trials for everything from helping to heal wounds, to depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, Tourette Syndrome, ADHD, anger management and anxiety. Smoking will kill you, but also keep you in good health? Another story about nicotine warding off Parkison's disease here seems to agree. -Who knew?
Announcements

Submission + - Warcraft designs quest for 10-year-old with cancer

Submitted by
destinyland
destinyland writes: "Blizzard Entertainment is creating a new quest in World of Warcraft for a 10-year-old boy who's fighting brain cancer. The boy's father said the 7-hour visit was the first time he'd seen "contentment and peace" on his son's face — and the second time was when he read warm emails he'd received from Warcraft players online. The Make-a-Wish Foundation arranged the 7-hour meeting with the game's lead designer, who will implement the boy's quest in four weeks. (Players search for a dog modelled after the boy's own pet.) And an online fund was just established if you also want to make a contribution to the boy's medical quest."
Security

Submission + - The difference between script kiddies and hackers?

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "I know Wikipedia has definitions for both terms, but I want the Slashdot community's opinion: What is the difference between a so-called "script kiddie" and a bona fide "hacker?" It seems that if you crack wifi using readily available tools, you're a script kiddie. If you use the Metasploit framework, you're a script kiddie. At what skill level or accomplishment can one truly be called a hacker?"
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Jack-in-the-Box Sued Over An(g)us Beef Ads

Submitted by
theodp
theodp writes: "CKE Restaurants has filed a lawsuit to stop Jack-in-the-Box from running TV ads that suggest Carl's Jr. and Hardee's use cow anus to make Angus beef hamburgers. In one ad, executives laugh hysterically at the word Angus. In another, the Jack-in-the-Box mascot is asked to point to a diagram of a cow and show where Angus meat comes from. 'We talked about but stopped short of doing a spot on [McDonald's] Angus Pounder,' said the ads' director."
Microsoft

Submission + - Ballmer: Google and Yahoo aren't Netscape

Submitted by thefickler
thefickler writes: During a recent whirlwind visit to Australia, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer defended Microsoft's online strategy, saying that while there is some possibility that the Internet market could overheat, the current situation is very different to the dot.com bubble of the 1990s.

"I say that for a lot of reasons this is different to competing against Netscape ... the simplest one is that Google and Yahoo have real revenues. Netscape never did," he said.

With insight like that no wonder Ballmer's in the top job!
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft's ODF Add-in Found Lacking

Submitted by
Send Bug Reports Here
Send Bug Reports Here writes: "In all the fuss over open standards, with Microsoft touting its OOXML in favor of the ISO standard ODF, Microsoft eventually changed its tune to say that there's room in the market for both formats and created an add-in to import ODF files into Word. But just how "committed to interoperability" were they? Of the 12 major features that comprise what most people think of as standard Windows and Office integration, Microsoft's extension supports zero of them. You can't double click ODFs to open them, you can't select ODF via the "save as" dialog, and you have to save new documents as something else before you can convert them to an ODF. In fact, when you open an ODF, it automatically converts it to an OOXML DOCX file, and you have to use the ODF menu (not any of the save menus) to convert it back when you're done. Apparently, some see compatibility as a one-way street."
The Media

Submission + - Fans Driving CBS Execs Nuts

Submitted by LupeSpywalper
LupeSpywalper writes: Fans of the recently cancelled TV show Jericho have been organizing a powerful front against CBS. They demand nothing less than full retreat. The fan troops fight with weapons like online petitions, YouTube campaigns, message boards, wallet voting, ad campaigns and... nuts!
The scale of this fan uprising is fueled by sympathetic messages from the show's actors and increasing media attention.
Does CBS have the balls to cover up the nuts?
Censorship

Submission + - Electronic Frontier Foundation Sues Uri Geller

Submitted by reversible physicist
reversible physicist writes: The Electronic Frontier Foundation has sued spoon-bender Uri Geller for using "baseless copyright claims" to silence critics who question his paranormal powers. Brian Sapient posted on YouTube a 14-minute excerpt from the 1993 PBS NOVA program "Secrets of the Psychics," in which magician James Randi says Geller's spoon-bending feats were simple tricks. YouTube took down the video after Geller complained — his lawyers claim that 10 seconds of the video are owned by Geller. A shorter excerpt is still up on YouTube.
Sci-Fi

Submission + - SF Author Harlan Ellison sues Fantagraphics

Submitted by Dr. Strangefate
Dr. Strangefate writes: Renowned SF author Harlan Ellison has filed suit against comics publisher Fantagraphics, best known for publishing underground comics and The Comics Journal. Ellison alleges that Fantagraphics has misappropriated his name and defamed him. Fantagraphics is attempting to make this a first amendment issue. The irony is that Ellison has a long support of freedom of the press and anti-censorship issues and now seems to be engaging in (arguably) the same thing!
Businesses

Submission + - Work really can make you ill

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry1449.html A new report confirms what we all knew: going to work can make you sick. Poor understanding of computing ergonomics are responsible for millions of workers suffering bad desk health as a result of sick office syndrome, reckon monitor manufacturers ViewSonic.
Censorship

Submission + - EFF and Dvorak blame the digg revolt on lawyers

Submitted by
enharmonix
enharmonix writes: "Just a bit of an update on the recent digg revolt over AACS. Well, the New York Times has taken notice and written quite a decent article that actually acknowledges that the take down notices amount to censorship and documents instances of the infamous key appearing in purely expressive form (I was pleased to see the similarity to 2600 and deCSS was not lost on the Times either). More interesting though is that the EFF's Fred von Lohmann blames the digg revolt on lawyers. And in an opinion piece, John Dvorak expands on that theme."

Feed That Fire Alarm Is False, But Hey, Speaking Of Fires, You're Fired (techdirt.com)

From feed by techdirtfeed
It's always a good Friday when you find out the company you work for is going under. But what can make those days really great is the caring and sensitive manner in which the company lets you know. For instance, in 2003, a British company told its 2,400 employees that the company was shutting and they wouldn't get paid any more via text message. Today, a department store in England gave its 140 employees the news that they're going to be out of a job in two weeks by pulling the fire alarm to clear the store of shoppers and to gather staff in one location -- the point where they're supposed to meet up in case of fire. The administrators brought in to try and salvage the store's broke owners say "the most efficient and practical method of informing their colleagues of this business development was by using the fire alarm", and they wanted staff to find out from them before word was made public. Efficient and practical, indeed -- not to mention completely crass and obnoxious. Perhaps we can take some solace in the fact that these nice folks didn't actually burn the place down instead.

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