PaulK - Slashdot User

Scientists Expose Weak DNA in HIV 196

Posted by CowboyNeal on Saturday February 17, 2007 @11:43AM from the go-for-the-throat dept.

Ace905 writes "The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases announced Thursday that they had discovered a very promising 'weak spot' in the HIV virus. The HIV virus, a progenitor to full blown AIDS has eluded all attempts at a vaccine since it was discovered sometime in the 1970's. The major problem with developing a vaccine initially was isolating the virus. Conventional viruses are often defeated with existing drugs, or after being tested against new compounds. HIV has been unique, and staggering in it's ability to resist all attempts at treatment by mutating its own genetic code. HIV is able to resist, with great effectiveness, any drug or combination drug-therapy that is used against it."

Bionic Eye Could Restore Vision 167

Posted by Zonk on Friday February 16, 2007 @07:15PM from the we-have-the-technology dept.

MattSparkes writes "A new bionic eye could restore vision to the profoundly blind. A prototype was tested on six patients and 'within a few weeks all could detect light, identify objects and even perceive motion again. For one patient, this was the first time he had seen anything in half a century.' The user wears a pair of glasses that contain a miniature camera and that wirelessly transmits video to a cellphone-sized computer in the wearer's pocket. This computer processes the image information and wirelessly transmits it to a tiny electronic receiver implanted in the wearer's head."

Submission + - Remote-control copter to rescue Everest climbers

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 15, 2007 @06:45PM

An anonymous reader writes: An unpiloted helicopter that will function as an air ambulance on the highest mountain in the world is being developed in New Zealand. Once a stranded climber has been located, the Alpine Wasp communicates with them using an 8.5-metre extendable "proboscis" with a camera and a small speaker attached to its end. The proboscis also has a Kevlar loop on the end capable of supporting any injured person.

Submission + - Microsoft RDS Timeout

Submitted by

AT-Tom

on Thursday February 15, 2007 @06:35PM

AT-Tom writes: "I'm making use of Microsoft's Remote Data Services (RDS), which is a deprecated technology. Nonetheless, I have legacy software that hasn't evolved to something newer yet (such as .Net and Web Services), and — for the moment, at least — I still have to live with one foot in the RDS past. My problem is that I'm encountering a 30-second timeout in some link of the RDS component chain. There is an RDS.RemoteDataSpace.InternetTimeout property that I should be able to control, but it either isn't *really* implemented, or the timeout is occurring elsewhere. When retrieving data over RDS, I use the RDSServer.DataFactory.Query method. This method requires a connection string, which uses ODBC token=value pairs (e.g., "DATA SOURCE=xxx;UID=yyy;PWD=zzz"). Research has revealed several possible timeout tokens that could be incorporated into the connection string, depending on the flavor of ODBC being used (such as "Internet Timeout", "Connection Timeout", etc.). However, none of these has yielded an extension of the 30-second timeout I'm getting. I've also tried modifying various settings in IIS which appeared to have promise. But, alas, no joy. I'm aware that many of these timeout settings I've mentioned are specified in milliseconds, so I'm not blundering by mis-specifying in the wrong units. Just wanted to head off any suggestions on that tack. I have opened a support case with MSDN. Though Microsoft is reluctant to help support deprecated technology, they claim they are trying to find somebody who knows anything about RDS. Either they are paying me lip service, or they can find no RDS expert that remains in their knowledge pool (or nobody will admit to knowing anything about RDS)."

Submission + - Malicious Websites Can Subvert Personal Routers

Submitted by Apro+im on Thursday February 15, 2007 @06:25PM

Apro+im writes: PCWorld is reporting: "If you haven't changed the default password on your home router, do so now. That's what researchers at Symantec and Indiana University are saying, after publishing the results of tests that show how attackers could take over your home router using malicious JavaScript code."

The root of the problem seems to stem from routers allowing GET requests to have side-effects, allowing attackers to change settings and then perform man-in-the middle attacks. Though the story and the linked paper (PDF) claim that routers with changed passwords are immune, a quick experiment shows that routers which use HTTP Authentication can be compromised the same way, if the user has logged into their router earlier in the browser session. Also, though the article says this is a Javascript exploit, it can actually be executed by any tag which allows the inclusion of a "src" element from another domain (e.g., "img").

Submission + - Flawed stem cell data withdrawn

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 15, 2007 @06:22PM

An anonymous reader writes: It is one of the best-known stem cell papers in the past five years, describing adult cells that seemed to hold the same promise as embryonic stem cells. That would sidestep the tricky ethical issues for many. Now, following a New Scientist investigation, some of the data contained within the papers is being questioned. Nice to see some proper nosey journalism.

Blackberry Owners Chained to Work 210

Posted by Zonk on Thursday February 15, 2007 @06:03PM from the jacob-marley-in-a-suit dept.

seriouslywtf writes "New survey data suggests that Americans are split over whether Blackberrys are chaining them to work. While people who own Blackberries feel 'more productive', those with Blackberrys are more likely to work longer hours and feel like they have less personal time than those without. A Director of Marketing Strategies who owns a Blackberry pointed out that many employees feel obligated by employers who have handed out the devices. 'While being always on in a social context is a natural for young people, many of those in the 25-54 age group with families and corporate jobs are struggling with work-life blending. There is a need for the mainstream workplace culture to offer ways to counterbalance.'" Is the constantly connected, often mobile nature of the modern workplace a good thing, or not?

Submission + - Getting Google's Attention is the American Dream

Submitted by KeepingOnEye on Thursday February 15, 2007 @05:48PM

KeepingOnEye writes: It's the American Dream, and I had share it. Kid does something that takes some guts, and Google pays attention. From his blog CanGoogleHearMe.com: "On February 11th, 2007 I'm getting on a plane to fly to Mountain View, California, headquarters of Google, Inc. Once there, I'm going to try to pitch an idea; catch is, I don't have an appointment, they don't know I'm coming, and I'm literally going to be showing up at their door and hoping they give me a meeting.

And if they don't give me one? Then I'm going to sit in their lobby like a spoiled child in hopes that they'll change their mind. :) Every once in a while you have to give an idea a shot, or you spend your entire life passing up ideas that seem just beyond your reach."

Best part? After three days, they talked to him! Gave him a meeting — he's down in Cali. right putting together stuff for a second presentation. Makes you wonder how it'll turn out, but more power to him, in my opinion. Makes reality TV look inconsequential.

Submission + - Linux-based iPhone killer to ship in March

Submitted by on Thursday February 15, 2007 @05:43PM

An anonymous reader writes: FIC has announced an on-sale date for its Neo1973, expected to be the first low-cost, high-volume phone with a user-modifiable Linux-based operating system. Like Apple's iPhone, the Neo1973 is a GPS-enabled mobile phone with a high-resolution screen, but no hardware keypad. Unlike the iPhone, it'll cost $350 instead of $700, and have an open rather than closed Unix OS.

Submission + - Free Linux Course for Beginners

Submitted by

Stefan Waidele

on Thursday February 15, 2007 @05:36PM

Stefan Waidele writes: "Free Linux Course for Beginners
===============================
Feb, 22nd, 2007

LinuxBasics.org, The community that helps people to run Linux, offers
their third free Linux class, An Introduction to Linux Basics.

This course is designed to give a foundation of understanding of Linux
to a beginner who wants to know a little more about the system. More
advanced Linux users will find an opportunity to dig deeper into some
areas they always wanted to know more about or discover gaps in their
knowledge that they didn't know existed.

The study guide used will be LBook, an edited version of Introduction to
Linux: A Hands on Guide by Machtelt Garrels which is distributed under
the GNU FDL. You will need to join the LBo-course mailing list in order
to participate in the course
(http://linuxbasics.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/l bo-course/).

The class is set to begin on Febuary 22nd. You can also join after that
starting date.

For more information, visit http://www.linuxbasics.org/course/start.

About LinuxBasics.org
=====================
Feb, 15th 2007

LinuxBasic.org (short: LBo) is a community project with the goal to help
people to install and run the Linux^(TM) operating system. It was founded in
May 2004 and is growing ever since.

LBo offers a free Linux Course for beginners, which runs about 6 months
as well as tutorials and links to sites that offer information needed to
install and use Linux. They also run a friendly mailing-list for
Questions that arise when people start using Linux. An IRC-channel
completes the list of things you can find at LinuxBasics.org.

As a community, LBo offers the possibility to get involved. There are
many ways to contribute: You can answer questions on the mailing-list,
you can write a complete tutorial or just a step-by-step documentation
on how you completed a specific task using linux."

Submission + - Are eInk displays the future?

Submitted by on Thursday February 15, 2007 @05:33PM

An anonymous reader writes: This week a company called Polymer Vision, which used to be part of Philips, unveiled a fully functional and soon to be commercially available eInk display. What makes this display special, though, is its ability to be rolled up so that you can store it in a smaller package than current large screen handheld devices. The problem, however, with eInk displays is that they can only display greyscale at the moment and they don't support video either. This begs the question, will consumers be put off by non-colour screens that don't play video or will the extra battery life, small form factor and easy-to-read functionality prove too tempting an offer?

Submission + - Telstra to Apple - "Stick to your knitting"

Submitted by

curmi

on Thursday February 15, 2007 @05:30PM

curmi writes: "The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Telstra, Australia's biggest telecommunications company and previously hot favourite to add the iPhone to their network, has told Apple "Stick to your knitting" with regards entering the mobile phone business. Telstra's operations chief says of the iPhone "I think people overreacted to it — there was not a lot of tremendously new stuff" and suggests that other mobile phone manufacturers will have similar functionality soon anyway. With Telstra having the only EDGE network in the country, will this delay access to the iPhone in Australia as Apple updates the hardware for 3G networks?"

Submission + - Drive-By Pharming Attack Could Hit Home Networks

Submitted by Rob on Thursday February 15, 2007 @05:28PM

Rob writes: CBRonline.com is reporting that security researchers at Symantec and Indiana University have figured out a way to compromise home networks using a single line of JavaScript in a web page. The attack, which they have called "drive-by pharming", would enable attackers to convincingly pretend to be any web site on the internet, making it fairly trivial to repeatedly phish for sensitive information, install malware on users' machines, or steal email.

Why Computer RPGs Waste Your Time 476

Posted by Zonk on Thursday February 15, 2007 @05:26PM from the argh-my-life-she-has-been-wasted dept.

spidweb writes "RPGVault has an editorial about two particularly noxious qualities of computer role-playing games. Spiderweb Software's Jeff Vogel goes off on a tear, discussing how you work forever to earn the right to do anything exciting, and must 'prove yourself' by expending tons of your time. From the article: 'So now, thinking about playing an RPG just makes me tired. I'm tired of starting a new game and being a loser. I'm tired of running the same errands to prove myself. The next time I enter my fantasy world, I want it to not assume that I'm a jackass.'" I think Oblivion handled this well, scaling the world as you went and giving you really interesting things to do from the get-go. What other games dodge this bullet? Do you see this timesink as an inevitable part of the RPG genre?

1 Million OLPCs Already On Order 158

Posted by Zonk on Thursday February 15, 2007 @05:22PM from the lots-of-happy-kids dept.

alphadogg writes "Quanta Computer has confirmed orders for 1 million notebook PCs for the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. The article goes into some background on the project, and lays out the enthusiastic adoption that the project is seeing overseas. The company estimates they'll ship somewhere between 5 and 10 Million units this year, with 7 countries already signed up to receive units. The machines currently cost $130, but with that kind of volume the original goal of $100 a machine may be viable. Even with the low cost, Quanta expects to make a small profit on each machine, making charity work that much easier."

Slashdot Top Deals