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Comment Monthly donations are way better (Score 1) 596

by okoskimi (#30552146) Attached to: In 2009, I've donated (or will donate) to charity ...

UNICEF (and many other worthy causes) has a program for monthly donations. It may lack the warm fuzzy feeling of impulse donations, but it saves you (and them) a lot of time, adds up to much more money for the charity in the long term, allows the charity to predict their income better, and you can plan for it in your own budget. http://www.unicefusa.org/donate/monthly-giving/ for the US folks, http://www.supportunicef.org/ and click "Donate Now" for the rest of you.

(Feel free to reply and suggest other worthy causes that accept monthly donations)

How much to give? How about the same that a home internet connection costs where you live. Appropriate for Slashdot, eh?

Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with UNICEF other than having a monthly donation set up.

Comment You would have to name everybody (Score 2) 198

by okoskimi (#30183786) Attached to: Major Electronics Firms Support Ending Use of "Conflict Minerals"

If you read the articles (yes, I know... this is Slashdot) you will realize it is not a problem with companies, but with computers and cell phones in general requiring the conflict materials. For some reason, the summary included a few random names and left out others, e.g. Apple most certainly belongs in the list as it produces both computers and cell phones.

What you can do, is name the companies who do try to behave responsibly and control where their raw materials come from. Quoting one of the referenced articles: "Cell phone manufacturers like Samsung, Motorola, Apple and Nokia have long had official policies against the use of conflict minerals in their products."
Portables

Submission + - XO Laptops Perform Quantum Key Distribution (lwn.net)

Submitted by
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes: "At the National University of Singapore, two XO Laptops were hooked together to do some entanglement based quantum key distribution over a free space channel. It took some tinkering, and they had to write some custom software for the XO, but it worked. The only bad news is that you can't really do this at home without a rather complex, USB-accessible device to do the entangling — you can't do many quantum operations in software just yet."
Java

Submission + - UIDL: User Interface Description Language (uidl.net)

Submitted by
Dominic Cioccarelli
Dominic Cioccarelli writes: "UIDL aims to create a scriptable, JavaScript based language for expressing complex user interfaces. The main features of a UIDL page are the ability to create complex user interfaces (using Swing based widgets) and to communicate asynchronously with server based objects (using the JSON-RPC protocol). While this may sound similar to AJAX, the implementation is much cleaner thanks to the ability to natively instantiate complex UI components within the browser and the ability to transparently present server based objects via their JavaScript proxies."
Programming

Submission + - Build an Indestructible Web-Hosted Brain

Submitted by LinucksGirl
LinucksGirl writes: The problem with distributed computing is that everyone with the technology to reverse-engineer your crypto chip can listen to your broadcast and know exactly what you're trying to break. Build a robust distributed computing application that is opaque to observers — even those who have access to the source code — by attaching a simple neuron implementation to HTTP transport code.
Biotech

Submission + - UK Media fall for crazy chilld locating claims (badscience.net)

Submitted by
Padraig
Padraig writes: "Madeleine McCann is a young British girl who was abducted several months ago, and her story has produced mass media hysteria. They've hit an all time low today. Both the Observer and the Mirror, huge UK newspapers, are reporting that an ex policeman called Danie Krugel has found DNA traces of her on a beach. What they don't tell you is that in fact, Krugel has a magic box which works on a "secret energy source" using "quantum physics" to pinpoint the location of a missing person anywhere in the world on a map simply by using a sample of their DNA. This has got to be the most inaccurate story of the year. Playing on people's hopes like that is just wrong."
Communications

Submission + - Scientists deliver God helmet (sciam.com)

Submitted by
prostoalex
prostoalex writes: "Scientific American is reporting on scientific work done to map the euphoric religious feelings with the areas of the brain responsible for producing those experiences. As a result, it's now quite possible to experience proximity to God (or Universe for those in the audience who stick to atheism) via a special helmet: "In a series of studies conducted over the past several decades, Persinger and his team have trained their device on the temporal lobes of hundreds of people. In doing so, the researchers induced in most of them the experience of a sensed presence — a feeling that someone (or a spirit) is in the room when no one, in fact, is — or of a profound state of cosmic bliss that reveals a universal truth. During the three-minute bursts of stimulation, the affected subjects translated this perception of the divine into their own cultural and religious language — terming it God, Buddha, a benevolent presence or the wonder of the universe.""
Communications

Submission + - Mobile phone makers agree on universal cable std. (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
Kaz911
Kaz911 writes: "Mobile phone manufactures agree on universal cable standard!

According to Press Release from OMTP — the Open Mobile Terminal Platform — have agreed to use Micro USB as the future cable standard for charging and connection to computers and other devices.

Micro USB is NOT mini USB — the connector on many phones today.

Among the participants in OMTP are Operators like Vodaphone and T-Mobile — and sponsors are Nokia and Ericsson among others. The work has spearheaded by Nokias Markku Verkama.

According to the press release Markku says — "The OMTP's work to bring consensus for what is such a simple yet significant recommendation will have wide reaching benefit. With the reduction of cables needed for mobile data connectivity, we can further enhance user experiences in our devices while reducing the burden to the environment."

So welcome to the new bright future — many phones and gadgets — ONE CHARGER! (and after a while — a few gadgets and even more chargers...)"
Television

Submission + - SchedulesDirect hits goal, available in Ubuntu

Submitted by Monchanger
Monchanger writes: After less than a month of service, Schedules Direct has announced a successful launch and the dropping of its annual subscription fee to $20. Initial subscriber accounts have been extended to 9 months. In addition, the updated version of MythTV which includes use of SchedulesDirect is now available on the Ubuntu multiverse repository. I upgraded my system last night with nary a hiccup (you should still back up your database just in case)
Sony

Submission + - Sony PS3s to be destroyed? (tech.co.uk)

Submitted by
Suppostrophe
Suppostrophe writes: "According to Tech.co.uk... The Sony PlayStation 3 's IBM-built Cell processor infringes a 1991 hardware patent and all existing units should be impounded and destroyed. That's according to a complaint filed against Sony which alleges that the PS3 Cell processor infringes US patent number 5,056,000. If the complaint is upheld, Sony could amazingly be forced to destroy all its Cell processors and to redesign the PlayStation 3 from the ground up. Read more..."
Music

Submission + - Would you buy this CD or download it? (youtube.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Paul Potts won the British TV show "Britain has Talent" with this opera song. His CD "One Chance" was released about two weeks ago. A real Cinderella story: a mobile phone salesman; not very good looking, blows the world away with sheer talent. YouTube has more than 5000 comments from stunned viewers. For the first time in 10 years I went to a music shop to buy a CD — because of the awesome talent and modest attitude of the artist. RIAA take note: I don't mind paying for quality. My question to Slashdotters: will you buy this CD or just download?
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Man Goes Through Vasectomy to Get iPhone (gizmodo.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Weird, weird, weird! A Gizmodo reader called Mr. Johnson (yes, apparently it's his name) underwent a vasectomy to get an Apple iPhone, following wife's orders after a roadtrip with his kids to Boise, Colorado. But fear not, dear readers-with-your-manly-parts-still-intact, because his amazing tale of heroic Apple fandom doesn't include any Bobbit-style genital violence. Keep reading to know why and the — strange — happy finish.

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