Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
The Internet

Submission + - Internet Tax Imminent?

Submitted by
jhigh
jhigh writes: "Proposals to tax the Internet are gaining steam as state legislators see a giant pot of money just waiting to be dipped into. "At the moment, states and municipalities are frequently barred by federal law from collecting both access and sales taxes. But they're hoping that their new lobbying effort, coordinated by groups including the National Governors Association, will pay off by permitting them to collect billions of dollars in new revenue by next year.""
Security

Submission + - Quantum cryptography keys set distance record (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "Quantum cryptography is one of those security breakthroughs that may hold the key to future networks. Researchers today said they have sent particles of light serving as "quantum keys over a record-setting 200-kilometer fiber-optic link. The experiment, using mostly standard components and transmitting at telecommunications frequencies, offers an approach for making practical inter-city terrestrial quantum communications networks as well as long-range wireless systems using communication satellites. Stanford University, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the NTT in Japan were involved in the test. http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1582 2"
Programming

Submission + - Simulated mouse-brain running at 1/10 speed

Submitted by
Waylon
Waylon writes: "IBM researchers have modeled a mouse's brain at 10 percent speed — and what can be done at 10 percent speed today can be done at 1000 percent in a couple cycles of Moore's Law. (Let me be the first to say that I, for one, welcome our Super-intelligent virtual mice overlords!) From the article: "We deployed the simulator on a 4096-processor BlueGene/L supercomputer with 256 MB per CPU. We were able to represent 8,000,000 neurons (80% excitatory) and 6,300 synapses per neuron in the 1 TB main memory of the system. Using a synthetic pattern of neuronal interconnections, at a 1 ms resolution and an average firing rate of 1 Hz, we were able to run 1s of model time in 10s of real time...""
United States

Submission + - Net Gambling Ban Lift propsed by Democrat

Submitted by
famousstamps.org
famousstamps.org writes: "Following last year's online gambling ban (and following poker fallout), which many considered to be absolutely absurd, people are finally rallying some support. Barney Frank is trying to introduce a bill to bypass this law: Rep. Barney Frank, a Democrat from Massachusetts and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, on Thursday introduced a bill that would replace the current broad prohibition with strict regulations, including criminal background checks and financial disclosure, imposed on companies that seek to offer legal Internet gambling. "The existing legislation is an inappropriate interference on the personal freedom of Americans and this interference should be undone," Frank said. His bill is called the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act (PDF). "
Space

Submission + - Stephen Hawking Goes ZeroG in NASA's Vomit Comet

Submitted by
NewsCloud
NewsCloud writes: "The trip Slashdot described last month is complete. MSNBC reports that Cosmologist Stephen Hawking has experienced zero gravity: "Zero Gravity co-founder and chief executive officer Peter Diamandis, signaled with his fingers that the world-famous physicist went weightless eight times." Before the flight, Hawking said, "I have been wheelchair-bound for almost four decades, and the chance to float free in zero-G will be wonderful,". The article describes special precautions were taken to ensure his well-being. I thought it might kill him but I'm inspired by his accomplishment."
Amiga

Submission + - Amiga Inc. Announces New Hardware

Submitted by
boarder8925
boarder8925 writes: "Ars Technica just recently posted an article announcing the return of Amiga hardware. "Amiga Inc. ...[has announced] a new line of PowerPC-based computers that will run Amiga OS. The first machine will be a 'consumer-level' system that will run at around $500, to be followed up with a more powerful system for $1,500.""
Businesses

Submission + - Carbon Credit Fraud

Submitted by
WED Fan
WED Fan writes: "As mentioned, the carbon credit industry is quickly falling into disrepute. The Financial Times conducted an investigation and found some very disturbing things.

Companies and individuals rushing to go green have been spending millions on "carbon credit" projects that yield few if any environmental benefits.
A Financial Times investigation has uncovered widespread failings in the new markets for greenhouse gases, suggesting some organisations are paying for emissions reductions that do not take place.


This is a shell game that will kill the environmental movement with the general public if the movement doesn't clean themselves up, quickly."
Networking

Submission + - High-Capacity Bandwidth Testing Software

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: I work for an ISP which specializes in high bandwidth (100+ megabit) fiber-based delivery solutions. As with any other ISP we sometimes have to perform troubleshooting with customers whom are reporting slow throughput. We currently have a home-grown bandwidth testing server in order to point-to-point test the throughput across our own network. Unfortunately (fortunately), customers have begun purchasing amounts of bandwidth that are capable of exceeding our testing capacity. Given a multi-gigabit network infrastructure and an on-net server with a gigabit Ethernet port, what software packages are available which can reliably test throughput approaching one gigabit? Cross-browser compatibility and 'click-here-to-test' usability should be considerations.
Portables

Submission + - Going Travelling, Any Suggestions?

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward (feel free to mock)
Anonymous Coward (feel free to mock) writes: "I'm in a bit of a sticky situation; I'm going travelling soon and I'm still in school. Unfortunately, this means that I'm going to be missing quite a bit of the school year. My teachers have been understanding and have suggested that I simply check on their individual websites for the class lectures and assignments. Now, currently I do own a laptop but it's simply to bulky to travel around with for any amount of time — especially to places that it can be easily stolen. I was reviewing the idea of getting a PDA, such as a blackberry, but I don't know if that's the best piece of technology that's out there. I need something that has some type of word processing program, the capability to download photos or even just store photos from a digital camera and hopefully, if possible, some way to connect to the internet. Any suggestions? Or am I just kidding myself and should start preparing myself for carrying coins for Internet Cafes?"
Sony

Submission + - Sony Updates PSP, PS3 Firmware, adds rumble?

Submitted by
Guppy06
Guppy06 writes: "Sony released new firmware for both the PSP and the PlayStation 3 today. The releases focuses on support for PlayStation games downloaded from the PlayStation Store, allowing the PS3 to play these games directly without having to transfer them to the PSP, as well as apparently allowing save data for these games to be transferred between the two. Most interesting, though, is that PS3 owners "can now use the vibration function of accessories that are for use with Playstation and Playstation 2 format software." With no USB or Bluetooth accessories for the original PlayStation (at least), this seems to suggest that new hardware is on the horizon for the PS3, but whether it's a new controller or a new adapter to connect PS2 and PS controllers hasn't been announced."
Power

Submission + - The Hoax of Hydrogen and its true cost

Submitted by Tangential
Tangential writes: An article on Adamant by Russell Seitz discusses the incredibly high cost of Hydrogen.
From the article:
H is for Hydrogen — the cleanest fuel there is . As long as it is made out of water. Which it is — right ? Dream on- hydrogen produced from H2O is a rare and precious commodity , costing a quarter its weight in silver because of the high price of American electrical power — most of which comes from coal. But don't count on cashing in the contents of your bathtub just yet . Though the hydrogen in a pound of water is worth $22 on paper, pure hydrogen produced by water electrolysis can't compete with the ordinary stuff, made from natural gas — it sells for $6.00 a kilo liquefied . The two processes costs don't cross until electrical power gets _almost _ too cheap to meter — under thee tenths of a cent per kilowatt hour.
Microsoft

Submission + - 30% Of Businesses Won't Ever Upgrade To Vista

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: According to a new survey from InformationWeek, 30% of business surveyed said they had no plans to upgrade their systems to Windows Vista — not ever. On the plus side for Microsoft, one quarter of the 612 survey respondents said they were already using the new OS, 13% said they would do so in the next 12 months, and 27% said their companies would adopt Vista more than a year from now. "While security enhancements remain the primary reason for companies to adopt Windows Vista, concerns about compatibility and cost are still out there," reported survey author Lisa Smith. Does this indicate that Microsoft's hype about unprecented sales of Vista is way out of whack with what people are actually planning, and that application compatibility is the big stumbling block?
Censorship

Submission + - No 'violent' games in VA shooter's dorm

Submitted by
Jabbrwokk
Jabbrwokk writes: "The FBI's search warrant shows that there was no evidence of video games in VA Tech killer Seung Hi's dorm room.
The article contains a list of what the FBI did recover, all what you'd expect to find in a college dorm room (although booze, drugs and porn don't appear on the list).
The computer taken from the dorm may be found after further investigation to contain games on the hard drive, but so far there is no evidence that Seung Hi played violent video games, nor that there is any connection between violent video games and Seung Hi's shooting spree, despite attempts by the usual suspects to blame games for the actions of seriously disturbed individuals."
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - FDA considering diluting chocolate

Submitted by shewfig
shewfig writes: The FDA is considering a redefinition of "chocolate" to allow substitution of vegetable oil ($0.70/lb) instead of cocoa butter ($2.30/lb) and whey protein instead of dry whole milk. There are already standard terms to differentiate these products from chocolate, such as "chocolatey" and "chocolate-flavored". The change, requested by industry group the Chocolate Manufacturers of America (CMA) http://www.chocolateusa.org/About-Us/ , will allow inferior products to masquerade as the real thing. Leading the resistance is high-end chocolate maker Guittard, from their website http://dontmesswithourchocolate.guittard.com/ with significant grass-roots support from the "Candyblog" — http://www.typetive.com/candyblog/

Deadline for consumer comments is April 25, so action is needed now.

FDA website on proposed change, oddly enough missing the exact proposed changes: http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/07p0085/0 7p-0085.htm

Slashdot Top Deals

Is your job running? You'd better go catch it!

Close