BigVig209 - Slashdot User

Submission + - Illinois Lottery website fails but not due to volume (chicagobusiness.com)

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BigVig209

on Friday March 30, 2012 @06:05PM

BigVig209 writes: "Crain's Chicago Business is reporting the Illinois Lottery website went down on the eve of the largest lottery drawing in U.S. history. They claim it was not because of volume, but because of "some technical glitch." I'm playing, too, but that sounds really suspicious."

Submission + - Discover discontinues Secure Online Acct Numbers (discovercard.com)

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BigVig209

on Tuesday August 30, 2011 @08:40PM

BigVig209 writes: "This really doesn't seem like a good idea.

"Secure Online Account Number Discontinuation

Since Secure Online Account Numbers launched over a decade ago, we’ve continued to add layers of fraud detection and prevention, authentication and ID verification to protect your account information.

We have made the decision to discontinue Secure Online Account Numbers as of Sept. 8, 2011 because the above comprehensive security measures help protect your card from unauthorized use online, offline, anytime, anywhere. ""

Submission + - Baidu trying to get rid of Android (google.com)

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BigVig209

on Tuesday April 19, 2011 @11:16AM

BigVig209 writes: "(With paraphrasing and bad translation) Baidu seems to be using Google's own strategy to take on the leader in Web search, Google, which developed the Android system for smartphones.... But the concept is also similar to another Google project, Chrome OS, which aims to evolve the web browser operating system. (link is to Google translation of Le Monde article)"

Submission + - Disney purchases Wideload Games (chicagobusiness.com)

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BigVig209

on Wednesday September 09, 2009 @02:28PM

BigVig209 writes: "This just in from Enterprise City, Crain's Chicago Business small enterprise blog:

"Disney Interactive Studios on Tuesday said it agreed to acquire video game developer Wideload Games Inc. for undisclosed terms. The CEO of Chicago-based Wideload Games, Alexander Seropian, will join the company as vice-president of creative, a new position."

Seropian was a co-founder of Bungie and one of the original developers of Halo."

Submission + - Next Open Source Movement in Higher Education (insidehighered.com)

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BigVig209

on Monday July 06, 2009 @06:27PM

BigVig209 writes: "While the open source movement has taken off in course management systems, with Moodle and Sakai as alternatives to the dominant Blackboard, the administrative side of the house has been almost entirely corporate. While some colleges use home-grown systems, the norm has been to use any of a number of vendors for systems that allow colleges to manage and report on budgets, billing and many other functions crucial to running a college. These administrative software systems cost millions of dollars to install and manage, and any malfunctions can be hugely frustrating to institutions. Last week, in a move that could lead to a shake-up of the industry, Colorado State University and San Joaquin Delta College both went live with the first large-scale installations of full financial systems produced by the Kuali Foundation, a consortium of colleges that have pooled resources to create open source systems that could compete with corporate offerings."

Submission + - Russian hackers target the for profit and politics

Submitted by

BigVig209

on Friday December 26, 2008 @11:21AM

BigVig209 writes: "The Chicago Tribune has an article (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-russia-hackers_for_webdec26,0,5245524.story) about why younger Russian programmers are committing crimes online instead of getting lower paying, non-illicit jobs:

"Not long ago, the simple, anonymous thrill of exposing chinks in American software was enough of a payoff for a Russian hacker.

Today it's cash. And almost all the targets are in the United States and Europe, where Russia's notorious hackers pilfer online bank accounts, swipe social security numbers, steal credit card data and peek at e-mail log-ins and passwords as part of what some estimate to be a $100 billion-a-year global cyber-crime business.""

Submission + - Open Source Mobile Medical Care in Africa

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BigVig209

on Thursday September 18, 2008 @03:15PM

BigVig209 writes: "Found on the Agitator marketing blog: The UN Foundation and the Vodaphone Foundation have partnered to develop and introduce software that enables health workers in sub-Saharan Africa to collect and utilize medical information in real-time in the field. In the next year the technology will spread into 22 African countries in support of programs ranging from immunization campaigns to disaster relief.

The open source application is called EpiSurveyor and was developed by nonprofit DataDyne.org, and the program is called mHealth, or mobile health. According to the UN Foundation release:"EpiSurveyor allows health workers in urban as well as rural areas to easily collect, manage and share clean and timely program monitoring data," said Dr. Balcha Girma Masresha, medical officer in the Immunization Program in the African Region of the WHO. "The introduction of this technology is enabling health workers to better understand and identify the strengths and shortcomings of their programs, so that they can actively work toward continuous improvement."

Submission + - $50 computers spark learning (chicagotribune.com)

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BigVig209

on Monday April 14, 2008 @03:45PM

BigVig209 writes: "The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Innovations for Learning Inc., a non-profit in Chicago, has developed a hand-held gaming device, the Teachermate, to teach basic math and reading to elementary students and has found a way to drive the cost down to $50 per unit. The price also includes a set of headphones. The program is being rolled out to 500 Chicago public schools over the next two years. This is a cool idea that has been bouncing around among educators for a long time, but this is the first time I have heard about someone actually creating the device and the software and doing it in a way that is cost effective."

Submission + - Inventor Sues OLTC Gains Victory in Nigerian Crt (philanthropy.com)

Submitted by

BigVig209

on Monday March 17, 2008 @01:51PM

BigVig209 writes: "One Laptop Per Child, a charity that provides inexpensive computers to children in developing countries, has been sued by a company whose founder argues that the nonprofit group stole his designs for a Nigerian keyboard, reports [link=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/17/BUN6VJKB8.DTL&hw=nonprofit&sn=001&sc=796]the Associated Press[/link]."

Submission + - Shareholder revolt may force sale of Take-Two

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BigVig209

on Tuesday March 20, 2007 @05:07PM

BigVig209 writes: "The New York Times reports a shareholder uprising might force Take-Two to sell the company.

From the article: Take-Two Interactive Software, the video game publisher whose marketplace impact has been overshadowed by its corporate upheaval, said yesterday that it was weighing options including a possible sale of the company, prompting a surge in its stock price."

Submission + - Ray of the future?

Submitted by

BigVig209

on Tuesday December 19, 2006 @06:35PM

BigVig209 writes: "http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=334&type=expe rt&pid=1 Article in PC Perspective by Daniel Pohl, who has apparently made real-time, in-game ray tracing possible, and who, by doing so, has probably revolutionized the next generation of PC games."

Submission + - Former Gizmondo CEO fraud trial gets messier

Submitted by

BigVig209

on Friday November 03, 2006 @08:12PM

BigVig209 writes: "As reported by the Chicago Tribune, http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/la-ex-ferra ri3nov11,1,2636464.story?coll=chi-news-hed, Bo Stefan Eriksson's theft and embezzlement trial ended in deadlock today forcing the judge to declare a mistrial. This is a follow-up to the Oct. 4 slashdot article, Gizmondo's Spectacular Explosion, http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/04/ 1732202."

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