Reverse Gear - Slashdot User

Submission + - the history of the notebook

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 04, 2007 @08:57PM

An anonymous reader writes: Heres a cool feature on the laptop computer and how it evolved into what we use today. You've probably read about most of it before, but it makes for a pleasant stroll down memory lane. http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks/review/200 7/03/05/The-History-of-Mobile-Computing/p1

Submission + - Proposed Internet Censorship Law in Israel

Submitted by

Shlomi Fish

on Saturday March 03, 2007 @05:04AM

Shlomi Fish writes: "Gal Mor reports on YnetNews.com on a new proposal for an Israeli Internet censorship law, which will require ISPs to implement censorship at the ISP level, and the surfers to identify themselves using bio-metric means and passwords to prevent minors from viewing sites with unsuitable content. Also see a discussion on the Israeli Linux mailing list.

This law is very bad and should better be stopped so please help spread the word."

Submission + - MSN Messenger banner ads distributing malware

Submitted by on Sunday February 18, 2007 @07:11PM

An anonymous reader writes: The malware commonly known as Winfixer aka Errorsafe is being distributed via MSN Messenger banner advertisements. This has been reported to secure@microsoft.com and they and the MSN ads team are investigating. Report here: http://msmvps.com/blogs/spywaresucks/archive/2007/ 02/18/591493.aspx

Submission + - Lakes found under Antarctic ice using space lasers

Submitted by

Reverse Gear

on Sunday February 18, 2007 @06:53PM

Reverse Gear writes: "There is a new study circling the media about these newly found big lakes found underneath the antarctic ice sheets that apparently empty and fills back up quite fast (study has been working in 3 years and has detected massive movements), from the article:

The scientists allay fears that global warming has created these pockets of water. They say these lakes lie some 2,300 feet below compressed snow and ice, too deep for environmental temperature to reach. However, it is necessary to understand what causes the phenomenon as it can facilitate an understanding of the impact of climate change on the ice sheet in Antarctica
NASA also has some information on the technique used to detect these lakes"

Submission + - Einstein's twin paradox resolved

Submitted by

slashthedot

on Sunday February 18, 2007 @08:59AM

slashthedot writes: "An Indian American scientist Subhash Kak from Louisiana State University has resolved the 100+ years old Einstein's twin paradox. "The fact that time slows down on moving objects has been documented and verified over the years through repeated experimentation. But, in the previous scenario, the paradox is that the earthbound twin is the one who would be considered to be in motion — in relation to the sibling — and therefore should be the one aging more slowly. Einstein and other scientists have attempted to resolve this problem before, but none of the formulas they presented proved satisfactory. Kak's findings were published online in the International Journal of Theoretical Science, and will appear in the upcoming print version of the publication."
"The implications of this resolution will be widespread, generally enhancing the scientific community's comprehension of relativity. It may eventually even have some impact on quantum communications and computers, potentially making it possible to design more efficient and reliable communication systems for space applications."
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-02/lsu -lpr021407.php"

Submission + - Barack Obama's New Site Exploited

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 11, 2007 @01:27AM

An anonymous reader writes: MyBarackObama.com, Barack Obama's social networking site allowing supporters to write blogs and organize events, is vulnerable to a cross site scripting attack. The hole would allow an attacker to gain access to a user's account if they visit a site containing malicious code. A description of the exploit is given along with sample code.

Submission + - Google Search goes AJAX!

Submitted by

Anonymous Coward

on Saturday February 10, 2007 @11:01PM

Anonymous Coward writes: "ReadWriteWeb reports that Google's main property, Google Search got AJAXified. This was Google's most conservative property, so this is a very interesting development and is signaling that Google may start implementing SearchMash innovations into its core product very soon. One more step towards semantic web..."

Submission + - Georgia Tech drops WebCT for Sakai

Submitted by

JoshJ

on Saturday February 10, 2007 @02:15PM

JoshJ writes: "The Georgia Institute of Technology's contract with WebCT expires in December 2007. Tech's Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning decided to move to Sakai, an opensource alternative. ""We had a committee that evaluated over the summer whether or not to go with Vista, and since we're already paying for WebCT we didn't want to go with another licensed, proprietary solution because they're all pretty much the same," Donna Llewyn (director of CETL) said. She continued, ""We no longer have to go to a vendor and be held over a barrel. We can hire programmers and make it work for us. It's definitely an advantage that we can make it fit what we need." The full story can be found here."

Submission + - The future of Open Source Java

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 10, 2007 @11:51AM

An anonymous reader writes: Thanks largely to the open sourcing of the JDK, 2007 promises to be the most exciting year in Java programming. With the developer community in the driver's seat, expect to see Java programming propelled forward, backward, and sideways, probably all at once. This article takes a look at what's ahead for Java in Open Source and predicts what is coming for the Java platform.

Submission + - MIT scientists reach fiber-optic breakthrough

Submitted by kcurtis on Saturday February 10, 2007 @02:37AM

kcurtis writes: The AP (via boston.com) has a story about how MIT scientists have detailed a breakthrough in optics that could lead to cheaper, more efficient optic communications. From the story: "Like polarizing sunglasses that block light waves oriented in different directions, the MIT researchers created a clever device that splits the light beams as they pass through a circuit. The device then rotates one of the polarized beams, before both beams are rejoined on their way out of the circuit, retaining the signals' strength. But it's not just that device that the researchers are touting. They're also trumpeting the innovative method they devised to integrate the optical circuitry with electronic circuitry on the same silicon chip."

Submission + - China Creates Massive Online ID Database

Submitted by schwaang on Saturday February 10, 2007 @02:30AM

schwaang writes: While the US continues to hash out concerns over the Real ID Act, which aims to create a national ID by standardizing state driver's licenses, China Digital Times points out a story from Xinhua Daily News describing China's massive online ID database, which they sell will help prevent fraud. From the article:

Anyone can now send a text message or visit the country's population information center's website, to check if the name and the ID number of a person's identity card match. If they do match the ID cardholder's picture also appears, said the Ministry, adding that no other information is available to ensure a citizen's privacy is protected.

Completed at the end of 2006, China's population information database, the world's largest, contains personal information on 1.3 billion citizens.

Giving public accessing to the database is also designed to correct mistakes if an individual discovers that their name, number and picture don't match.

Submission + - Why you should be concerned about Net Neutrality

Submitted by

gizmateer

on Friday February 09, 2007 @10:46PM

gizmateer writes: "Net Neutrality is being argued heavily in congress, trade journals and all over the Internet. So, "What is Net Neutrality, and why should I care?"

For some, Net Neutrality could mean that companies providing internet connectivity will treat every packet flowing through their lines the same, no matter what the content, be it game data, bittorrent, streaming video, VOIP, forum posts, or standard browsing. For others, Net Neutrality means that packets will be given equal access on the network, no matter who the provider is (for example, the ISP won't block Yahoo but will block Google).

The writer of this article is against Net Neutrality in the first form but all for it in the second case. Personally, I'd go the opposite way."

Submission + - MS takes a page from the open-source playboook

Submitted by

linumax

on Friday February 09, 2007 @10:38PM

linumax writes: "Officelabs is a new internal start-up that is attempting to use some of the methodologies of open-source software development to invigorate the company and generate excitement about new Microsoft products. Specifically, the people behind officelabs want to adopt the release early, release often approach that has worked well for open-source projects such as Linux and Firefox. The move echoes the announcements of Office Live and Windows Live, which both attempt to release lots of software on the web as often as possible."

Submission + - Windows Vista vs. Windows XP vs. Ubuntu Linux

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09, 2007 @10:35PM

An anonymous reader writes: There's a new OS in town, but can it compare to our comfy slippers, or even the diamond in the rough? MS Windows XP Professional is still a very viable OS, and apparently, outperforms or maintains pace with Vista in almost every test we have run with current hardware in place. Vista has the advantage of utilizing the performance a newer setup offers, XP is falling behind in that it is not as efficient with multiple processors or large amounts of memory. Other then the new hardware advantages, does Vista bring that much over XP? http://www.viperlair.com/articles/editorials/vista /versus/

Submission + - Vista followup already?

Submitted by DesertBlade on Friday February 09, 2007 @09:38PM

DesertBlade writes: Looks like Microsoft is planning it's next version of windows. Okay that is not suprising, BUT it is may be released by the end of 2009! Could Vista truly be the next Windows ME?

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