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Media

Submission + - Popular HD DVD Disc Hits a Snag

An anonymous reader writes: Following weeks of headlines touting strong sales for Blu-ray discs, rival next-gen format HD DVD looked like it had its own success story in the making with this week's HD DVD release of the cult hit 'Children of Men.' The disc recieved a stellar review at High-Def Digest, and went on to out-sell the most popular Blu-ray discs on Amazon. But now comes word of apparent incompatibility issues with the Xbox 360 HD DVD player, with some (but not all) consumers reporting that even multiple returns of the disc are unplayable on the format's leading playback device.
Intel

Submission + - Intel Users Have Lower IQs Than AMD

An anonymous reader writes: In a recent survey conducted by Moritech RAD, a study of over 5,000 computer users concluded that people who use Intel powered computers have a lower IQ than their AMD counterparts. The study took place over a six month period and involved computer users with Intel and AMD powered computers of various specifications. The test subjects were asked to complete a series of written and hands on tests covering basic computer skills up to more advanced tasks. The survey found that over 69% of people with Intel powered computers had greater learning difficulties and found computer related tasks more difficult compared with 31% of AMD. http://www.maxitmag.com/loose-wires/articles/intel -users-less-intelligent-than-amd.html
Censorship

Submission + - YouTube bans makers of the Blashphemy Challenge

Da_Weasel writes: If you followed the YouTube censorship and deletion of of Nick Gisburne's account after he posted quotations from the Quran, here's another slap in the face to freedom of expression. The Rational Response Squad, of Blasphemy Challenge fame, has had their account suspended by YouTube. No explanation yet why the account was suspended.
The Internet

Submission + - Citizendium aims to replace Wikipedia

cupidio writes: Ars Technica is running a feature on Citizendium, the new wiki-based encyclopedia started by Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger. One interesting revelation is that Sanger started work on the project only after talking with John Seigenthaler, victim of a famous Wikipedia hoax that accused him of murder. "When Seigenthaler called, I was already resigned to the necessity of making a competitor to Wikipedia," Sanger says. "The effect of Seigenthaler's call was to make me feel to some extent personally responsible for the injustice that Wikipedia was causing, which made my motivation only stronger. When after six to nine months I saw that Wikipedia wasn't going to make any significant changes, it became clear that it was on me to organize a better alternative, if I could." Can Citizendium get bigger than Wikipedia?
Education

Submission + - Substitute teacher gets 40 years for porn popups

alphamugwump writes: Substitute teacher Julie Amero faces up to 40 years in prison for exposing kids to porn using a classroom computer.
From the Arstechnica article:

Amero was substituting for a middle-school English class and asked the regular teacher permission to use the computer to e-mail her husband. The teacher granted her permission, and asked her not to log him out of the computer. Amero, the self-professed techno-noob, then left the room to use the restroom, and upon her return says that she found several students gathered around the machine looking at a web site. A series of unfortunate events occurred from this point on, resulting in a slew of pornographic pop-ups appearing on the screen. The onslaught continued despite Amero's attempts to close the windows.

According to The Register

When the students told their parents what had happened, they told the administration, who vowed that Julie would never work in the classroom again. But they went further. The 40-year-old substitute teacher was arrested, indicted, tried and here is the kicker on January 5, 2007, she was convicted of four counts of risk of injury to a minor, or impairing the morals of a child (Conn. Gen. Stat. 53-21). Indeed, she was originally charged with exposing 10 children in the seventh grade class to the materials on the internet, but six of the charges were dropped.

I guess "Ambush Porn" really is dangerous.
Security

Submission + - Embarrassing Solaris 0-day vulnerability

philos writes: "According to SANS ISC, there's a vulnerability in Solaris 10 and 11 telnet that allows anyone to remotely connect as any account, including root, without authentication. Remote access can be gained with nothing more than a telnet client. More information and a Snort signature can be found at riosec.com. Worse, this is almost identical to a bug in AIX and Linux rlogin from way back in 1994."
Slashback

Submission + - Followup: Free Linux Kernel Driver Development Q&a

schwaang writes: The recent announcement by Linux Kernel Developer Greg Kroah-Hartman that "the Linux kernel community is offering all companies free Linux driver development" seems to have stirred up some interest as well as some questions (see the Slashdot discussion about the announcement here).

Greg K-H addresses some of the Slashdotters' questions and maybe even raises a few more in a new Free Linux Driver Development FAQ on his blog. An excerpt:

Q: Are companies really going to do this?
A: Yes, already we have received a number of serious queries from companies about producing Linux drivers for their devices. More information will be available later when details are firmed up.

Feed Intel Details Teraflops Chip (wired.com)

A new computer chip developed by Intel promises to perform calculations as quickly an entire data center, while consuming as much energy as a light bulb. By the Associated Press.


Software

Submission + - Do current Copyright laws still allow for backups?

Ka D'Argo writes: I had a conversation with a associate of mine about making backups of software or music cd's. This person says under the new laws with DRM, copyright and fair use, you as a consumer are no longer allowed to copy in anyway such things. I say, as it's been for god knows how long, you are still able to make a backup of something you legally own. Common sense even says, it's yours to do with as you please if you legally own it (aside from distributing copies for example). So what's the deal? Under current laws that may or may not have been updated lately, can a consumer make a backup copy of a piece of software or music cd?
Businesses

Submission + - are unfinished products becoming the norm?

Paul writes: Long ago when digital synthesizers first became commonly available, I recall a reviewer lamenting how he was getting more and more products to test whose software was unfinished and buggy and would require updates and fixes (this, before the internet allowed easy downloads, would have meant a journey to a specialist repair centre). The review also commented how this common problem with computer software (he wrote even before windows 95 was out) was spreading, and asked if it was going to become the norm.

These days it seems ubiquitous, with PDAs, digital cameras, PVRs and all manner of complex goods needing after-market firmware fixes often simply to make them have the features promised in the adverts, let alone add enhancements.

Are we seeing this spread beyond computers and computer-based products; jokes apart, will we be booting our cars up and installing flash updates every week to prevent comoputer viruses getting into the control systems?

Can slashdot readers comment on any recent purchases where they've been badly let down by missing features, or are still waiting for promised updates even whilst a new model is now on the shelves? How can we make the manufacturers take better responsibility?

Apart from reading every review possible before making a purchase, what strategy do slashdot readers have, or propose, for not being caught out? With software, people say "never buy v1.0", but this is not possible with say a digicam.

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