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Government

Submission + - Can XML save the US Credit Markets? (wsj.com)

Submitted by sixoh1
sixoh1 writes: The Wall Street Journal Opinion pages have a very interesting tidbit today about the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) — can XML be used to improve transparency in the jumbled financial markets and help fix the mortgage market mess by making all of the information searchable? The director of Edgar Online thinks so: 'Philip Moyer, who runs the Edgar Online service that distributes SEC data, studied more than 500 mortgage-backed securities priced between 2006 and mid-2008. He found there were only 600 relevant data points needed to assess the risk of a mortgage, which is many fewer than the tens of thousands of factors used to report on stocks. "This crisis has proven that lack of transparency ultimately destroys a market," Mr. Moyers said.'
The Military

Submission + - US Military unlikely to intercept NK missile. (foxnews.com)

Submitted by rock56501
rock56501 writes: US Defense Secretary Gates had an interview with Fox News [Fox News] today in regards to the upcoming suspected North Korean missile test. When asked whether there's anything the United States can do about this, he flatly responds 'No.' When asked whether the US may attempt to shoot down the missile, he simply responds 'I think if we had an aberrant missile, one that was headed for Hawaii, that looked like it was headed for Hawaii or something like that, we might consider it.'
Windows

Submission + - Windows 7 Touchscreen Details Emerging

Submitted by nandemoari
nandemoari writes: Microsoft has revealed more about Windows 7 and its support for touch screen technology. The system sounds impressive, however, reports suggest it appears to have a high error rate. In an early version of the system, Microsoft found some problems. For example, both the zoom and rotate functions worked less than 75% of the time, often because the computer confused the two. To rectify this, engineers redesigned the system so that it only looks out for gestures specifically relevant to the program being used. This made a significant improvement: the zoom gesture was now recognized 90% of the time. The problem is that even a 90% success rate may be too low. If you can imagine how frustrating it would be if one in ten keystrokes or mouse movements didn't do what you were intended, you can see why touch screen technology will need to be even more reliable if it's to truly improve the user experience.
Privacy

Submission + - iiNet plays a risky game (smh.com.au)

Submitted by taucross
taucross writes: Australian ISP iiNet are making a very bold move. They are asking the court to accept that essentially, BitTorrent can not be used to distribute pirated content because a packet does not represent a substantial portion of the infringing material. They are also hedging their bets purely on the strength of the movie studios "forensic" evidence. This ruling will go straight to the heart of Australia's copyright law. At last, an ISP willing to stand up for its customers! Let's hope we have a technically-informed judge.
Television

Submission + - SPAM: Mythbusters Shatter Windows in Small Town

Submitted by Thelasko
Thelasko writes: In an effort to knock Buster's socks off, the Mythbusters accidentally created an explosion so large it shattered windows in a small town over a mile from the blast site. The Mythbusters had the broken windows replaced the very same day.

The Esparto, California fire chief says that several firefighters were on hand for the blast, but he didn't notify residents because, "Mythbusters is supposed to be a really popular show. Everybody would have been out there. We would have had to cancel it because it would have been too dangerous."
Link to Original Source
The Internet

Submission + - BT Shows First Fibre Optic Broadband Rollout Plans (ispreview.co.uk)

Submitted by
MJackson
MJackson writes: "BT has revealed new details about the roll-out of its £1.5bn programme to deploy super fast fibre optic broadband to as many as 10 million UK homes (40%) by 2012. Scotland will become one of the first places to benefit from next generation broadband services, with more than 34,000 homes and businesses in Edinburgh and Glasgow receiving speeds of up to 40Mbps and potentially 60Mbps from early next year (2010). Overall BT Openreach, which is responsible for ensuring that all rival operators have equality of access to BT's local network, aims to deploy Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) based next generation broadband services next summer (2010) to 500,000 homes and businesses in the UK."
Media

Submission + - Plexiglas-like DVD to hold 1TB of data (computerworld.com)

Submitted by jcatcw
jcatcw writes: Lucas Mearian has a story about a company that plans to demonstrate a new DVD-format at the January CES conference. The .6mm thick disc stores 500GB of data by writing 5GB of data on each of 100 layers within a polymer material similar to Plexyglas. The Israel-based company, Mempile Inc., said its TeraDisc DVDs will offer 1TB of storage for consumers in the next few years, but it's also targeting corporate data archive needs with the new technology that write bits at the molecular level on the florescent-colored polymer. The company plans to sell its first product, a 700GB disc for $30.
Government

Submission + - Army Buys Macs to beef up security

Submitted by agent_blue
agent_blue writes: The Army is integrating macs into their IT network to thwart hack attempts. the Mac platform, they argue Mac are more secure because there are less attacks against macs than there is against windows based systems. Story Here
Government

Submission + - Over 400 Scientists Dispute ManMade Global Warming

Submitted by
bagboy
bagboy writes: "A U.S. Senate Report claims over 400 prominent scientists around the world disputed the "consensus" of man-made global warming. Many of these scientists also claim numerous colleagues "share their views but are afraid to speak out for fear of retribution". The U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works site has additional information."
Security

Submission + - Kaspersky quarantines Windows Explorer (zdnet.com)

Submitted by mike.rimov
mike.rimov writes: Ziff Davis is reporting that Kapersky AntiVirus has been mistakenly categorizing Windows Explorer as malicious code and quarantining it. (Of course, some of us at Slashdot might agree with the decision)

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