treak007 - Slashdot User

Submission + - Man dies trying to use laptop while driving

Submitted by

Scoopy

on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @01:43PM

Scoopy writes: "The Sacramento Bee reports that a 28-year-old Chico, CA man was killed Monday after he lost control of his car while working on his laptop computer while driving, according to the California Highway Patrol.

"We have reason to believe he was operating his laptop because it was still on and plugged into the cigarette lighter," said CHP Cmdr. Scott Silsbee."

Submission + - Internet 'smelly-vision' by 2015

Submitted by antdah on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @01:39PM

antdah writes: Korean researchers believe the internet will be able to deliver fragrances by 2015. http://www.macworld.co.uk/digitallifestyle/news/in dex.cfm?newsid=17343

Submission + - Delete Blacklisted Cookies

Submitted by

MacMags

on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @01:38PM

MacMags writes: "The Mac OS X anti-spyware program MacScan adds a new feature in 2.3 allowing users to delete blacklisted cookies. Rather than trashing all the cookies in the browser MacScan uses a blacklist of known tracking cookies to allow the users to selectively delete. The blacklist is updated just as the spyware list is. Users are encouraged to submit any known tracking cookies for all types of sites including adult for review and possible inclusion."

Submission + - Virtualisation VMWare vs Parallels vs KVM

Submitted by on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @01:35PM

An anonymous reader writes: Hey, I am a developer and am about to move to a Linux (Ubuntu for now) Machine, even though I develop in Windows XP. So I would like to get everyone's opinion or thoughts on which is better and why out of Parallels for Linux and VMWare and KVM. My main concerns are speed and data integrity... I would like to have share virtual hard drives so multiple machines can use the same data. I would like Speed as I will be developing inside of these virutal machines... Any help would be appreciated. Regards C

Submission + - Less power needed for wireless sensors

Submitted by

Roland Piquepaille

on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @01:33PM

Roland Piquepaille writes: "In recent years, wireless sensor networks have been deployed in inaccessible and unwired places, for example to monitor wildlife activity in wilderness parks. But all the sensor units are battery powered. So it's crucial to use as less power as possible to operate these sensor networks, or 'sensornets.' Now, Californian researchers have implemented a new communication protocol for wireless sensor networks which is ten times more energy-efficient than existing protocols. In current sensornets, each individual unit needs to be active at least 30 minutes everyday while this new protocol requires less than two minutes of activity per day. Here you'll find more details about how this new communication protocol works."

Submission + - An update to the Black Hat controversy story

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @01:31PM

An anonymous reader writes: Here's an update to the Black Hat RFID controversy that's on top the site right now. The talk has been cancelled as a result of the legal threat by HID. Black Hat conference organizers had to rip up conference material, a la Cisco/Lynn in 2005.

New Controversy over Black Hat Presentation 144

Posted by Zonk on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @01:07PM from the black-hat-on-a-white-field dept.

uniquebydegrees writes "InfoWorld is reporting about a new controversy swirling around a planned presentation at Black Hat Federal in Washington D.C. this week. Security researcher Chris Paget of IOActive will demo an RFID hacking tool that can crack HID brand door access cards. HID Corp., which makes the cards, is miffed and is accusing IOActive of patent infringement over the presentation, recalling the legal wrangling over Michael Lynn's presentation of a Cisco IOS hole at Black Hat in 2005. Black Hat's Jeff Moss says they're standing by their speaker. A news conference is scheduled for tomorrow AM." Update: 02/27 20:10 GMT by Z :InfoWorldMike wrote with a link to story saying that the presentation has been pulled from the slate for Black Hat, as a result of this pressure.

China Treats Internet Addiction Very Seriously 249

Posted by Zonk on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @12:35PM from the glad-i-don't-live-in-china dept.

eldavojohn writes "China has taken new extremes in preventing internet addiction in youths and is even offering boot camps to parents who want their child weaned from the electric teat. The article notes that 'no country has gone quite as far as China in embracing the theory that heavy Internet use should be defined as a mental disorder and mounting a public crusade against Internet addiction.' The article mentions the story of Sun Jiting who 'spends his days locked behind metal bars in this military-run installation, put there by his parents. The 17-year-old high school student is not allowed to communicate with friends back home, and his only companions are psychologists, nurses and other patients. Each morning at 6:30, he is jolted awake by a soldier in fatigues shouting, "This is for your own good!"' Sun found himself spending 15 hours or straight on the internet. Thanks to his parents' intervention and the treatment, he now has life mapped out until he's 84. "

British Government Comes Out Against 'Pure' Software Patents 91

Posted by Zonk on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @11:59AM from the keeping-software-out-from-under-lock-and-key dept.

uglyduckling writes "The British Government has issued a response to a recent petition calling for 'the Prime Minister to make software patents clearly unenforcible'. The answer is reassuring but perhaps doesn't go far enough, and gives no specific promises to bring into line a patent office that grants software patents (according to the petition) 'against the letter and the spirit of the law'. The Gowers Review that it references gives detailed insight into the current British position on this debate, most interestingly recommending a policy of 'not extending patent rights beyond their present limits within the areas of software, business methods and genes.'"

Reverse Hacker Awarded $4.3 Million 171

Posted by Zonk on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @10:48AM from the now-i-want-to-be-a-reverse-hacker dept.

jcatcw writes "Shawn Carpenter was awarded a $4.3 million award — more than twice the amount he sought and money he thinks he'll never see. Carpenter worked for Sandia National Labs as an intrusion detection analyst. He anayzed. He detected. He reported. He was fired — in Janurary 2005 after sharing his results with the FBI and the U.S. Army. Computerworld asked him what he hoped to achieve in that investigation. Answer: 'In late May of 2004, one of my investigations turned up a large cache of stolen sensitive documents hidden on a server in South Korea. In addition to U.S. military information, there were hundreds of pages of detailed schematics and project information marked 'Lockheed Martin Proprietary Information — Export Controlled' that were associated with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. ... It was a case of putting the interests of the corporation over those of the country.' Ira Winkler, author of Spies Among Us , said the verdict was 'incredibly justified. Frankly, I think people [at Sandia] should go to jail' for ignoring some of the security issues that Carpenter was trying to highlight with his investigation."

AMD A Ripe Target For Buyout? 108

Posted by Zonk on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @09:57AM from the change-of-pace dept.

SpiceMonkey writes "AMD stock was up 6.74% on Monday on rumors that AMD is a prime buyout target. After their purchase of ATI, they've been pressed to maintain their aggressive policy of chip production increases. As a result, the AMD message board on Yahoo! is full of speculation on who has their eyes on the company. Many folks there think that IBM is the right buyer for the company. There's no firm word that AMD is even being considered for purchase, but it's certainly and interesting prospect."

IBM Refuses To Certify Oracle Linux 124

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @07:43AM from the doesn't-look-red-to-me dept.

Andrew writes "IBM has thrown a spanner in the Oracle Linux works by refusing to certify that IBM's software portfolio will run and be supported on Oracle Unbreakable Linux. If IBM applications turn out to be incompatible with Oracle Linux, then it will be up to Oracle to resolve any issues. This conservative stance of IBM's is unlikely to help Oracle sell Linux subscriptions to businesses that use any of IBM's large software portfolio."

Ramanujian's Deathbed Problem Cracked 205

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @12:03AM from the mock-theta-soup dept.

Jake's Mom sends word of the serendipitous solution to a decades-old mathematical mystery. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin have unraveled a major number theory puzzle left at the death of one of the twentieth century's greatest mathematicians, Srinivasa Ramanujan. From the press release: "Mathematicians have finally laid to rest the legendary mystery surrounding an elusive group of numerical expressions known as the 'mock theta functions.' Number theorists have struggled to understand the functions ever since... Ramanujan first alluded to them in a letter written [to G. H. Hardy] on his deathbed, in 1920. Now, using mathematical techniques that emerged well after Ramanujan's death, two number theorists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have pieced together an explanatory framework that for the first time illustrates what mock theta functions are, and exactly how to derive them."

Apple's iTunes DRM Dilemma 282

Posted by kdawson on Monday February 26, 2007 @09:47PM from the how-FairPlay-works dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Understanding how Apple's FairPlay DRM works helps to answer a lot of questions: why it hasn't been replaced with an open, interoperable DRM that anyone can use, why Apple isn't broadly licensing FairPlay, and why the company hasn't jumped to add DRM-free content from indie artists to iTunes."

T-Mobile Bans Others' Apps On Their Phones 349

Posted by kdawson on Monday February 26, 2007 @08:35PM from the get-less dept.

cshamis writes "T-Mobile has recently changed their policies and now tell their customers with appropriate data plans and with Java-Micro-App-capable T-Mobile phones: no third-party network applications. You can, of course, still use their incredibly clunky and crippled built-in WAP browsers, but GoogleMaps and OperaMini are left high and dry. Would anyone care to speculate if this move is likely to retain or repel customers?"

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