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Moon

Submission + - 2 moons 1

Submitted by
tazsl
tazsl writes: "Two Moons !!! Remembering Carl Sagan and his . . . . "billion and billion of stars in our Universe" On August 27, 2007 two Moons will rise in the midnight sky, and the whole World will be waiting for this once in many a lifetime spectacular event. Starting in August, the planet Mars will be the brightest object in the night sky. It will look as large as a full Moon to the naked eye. This will culminate on August 27th, when Mars comes within 34.65 million miles of Earth. So, be sure to watch the sky on August 27th from midnight to 12:30AM. It will look like the Earth has two Moons. The next time Mars comes this much close will be in the year 2287. Share this with everyone you know as no one living now will ever see it again."
Operating Systems

Submission + - Sabayon Linux 3.4 official release (sabayonlinux.org)

Submitted by pajamabama
pajamabama writes: http://www.sabayonlinux.org/tag/altro/news/00019/s abayon-linux-34-officially-released.html SabayonLinux, a Gentoo-based distro has announced the official 3.4 release. This release claims to be "Gaming oriented, featuring: Savage 2, FlightGear, DangerDeep, Warsow, Nexuiz, Torcs, Battle of Wesnoth, Second Life,and the latest NVIDIA (100.14.11) and AMD (8.38.6) GPU drivers." For some time now Sabayon has been the official Beryl distro and as such, the new version also has the new Compiz-Fusion (the first step in the remerge of Beryl and Compiz) preinstalled. Also noteworthy about this release are X.Org 7.3, KDE 3.5.7, and a trimmed down, less bloated set of packages. Although it's derived from the latest Gentoo releases, unlike Gentoo, it is delivered in binary form on a live DVD. Being a true 'Gentoo' system, there is full access to the whole Gentoo portage tree, as well as a Sabayon overlay.
The Internet

Submission + - Man called 'nerd' torched web taunter's trailer (msn.com)

Submitted by
mytrip
mytrip writes: "Petty Officer Russell Tavares traveled 1,300 miles to torch rival's trailer

Russell Tavares, 27, was sentenced to seven years for the 2005 arson of John Anderson's mobile home after a squabble on the Internet.

ELM MOTT, Texas — A Navy man who got mad when someone mocked him as a "nerd" over the Internet climbed into his car and drove 1,300 miles from Virginia to Texas to teach the other guy a lesson.

As he made his way toward Texas, Fire Controlman 2nd Class Petty Officer Russell Tavares posted photos online showing the welcome signs at several states' borders, as if to prove to his Internet friends that he meant business.

When he finally arrived, Tavares burned the guy's trailer down.

I always considered 'nerd' to be a compliment."
Media (Apple)

Give iPod Thieves an Unchargeable Brick 338

Posted by Zonk from the this-ones-for-the-guy-that-stole-mine dept.
Svippy writes "Apple has patented a technology for new generations of iPods that would detect when a user tries to operate the iPod on an unauthorised machine ... and will refuse to charge. Indefinitely. From the article: 'Every portable gadget with a rechargeable battery has a charging circuit that recognises when the external mains charger has been plugged in. It then manages the transfer of current to the battery. Apple's patent suggests that by attaching a "guardian circuit" to the charging circuit, it would be possible to block the charging process. When a device is plugged into an unauthorised computer, software would compare a security code in the device to a code buried in the software in the computer. Apple already employs a similar technology to "pair" iPods to iTunes running on a specific Mac or PC. If the codes do not match, then the guardian circuit could be triggered to prevent any further charging.'"
Portables

Submission + - Linux Laptop Suggestion 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Following on from this story, can anyone recommend a legitimate off the shelf laptop in the UK that comes pre-installed with Linux, ideally Ubuntu or maybe CentOS. I'm a developer and trying to avoid a Mac because it bores me having to enter that magic key combination to get a hash character. With a non-Mac UK keyboard it's just one key press, bliss. Also it would be nice to have a two button track pad or a two button mouse from straight out of the box. Alternatively I'd also like to avoid having to buy a bundled copy of Microsoft Vista. Unfortunately Dell doesn't ship Linux on its laptop range in the UK. Otherwise any naked hardware suggestions known to be 100% compatible?
Announcements

Submission + - Pope: Creation vs. evolution clash an 'absurdity' (msn.com)

Submitted by
RobertinXinyang
RobertinXinyang writes: "The Pope has spoken out on both the issue of creation v. evolution and on the issue of the environment. Of course, many slashdot readers are such bigots that thtt will have to watch that their jerking knees do not hit their, foaming with ignorant hate, mouths when the pope is even mentioned; however, the facts are that a lot of people do listed to him. If the number of people who listen to him were taken as a sole concern, his comments are relevant.
"Pope Benedict XVI said the debate raging in some countries — particularly the United States and his native Germany — between creationism and evolution was an "absurdity," saying that evolution can coexist with faith... This clash is an absurdity because on one hand there is much scientific proof in favor of evolution, which appears as a reality that we must see and which enriches our understanding of life and being as such... Benedict also said the human race must listen to "the voice of the Earth" or risk destroying its very existence... We all see that today man can destroy the foundation of his existence, his Earth... We cannot simply do what we want with this Earth of ours, with what has been entrusted to us," said the pope."
Microsoft

Submission + - WGA used to bust conterfiet operation (msdn.com)

Submitted by neil.orourke
neil.orourke writes: The WGA team at Microsoft are quite happy with the results of a conterfiet bust in China. From the article: "The bust by the Chinese Public Security Bureau (PSB) in cooperation with the FBI and help from Microsoft and others was of a syndicate, headquartered in China's Southern Guangdong province that is estimated to have sold more than $2 billion in counterfeit Microsoft software in 27 countries."
Programming

Submission + - Moving away from VB6 to something better 1

Submitted by greendevil
greendevil writes: I'm a software developer currently still developing in VB6 (ignoring all the sniggers from you hard core folk). I've been looking to move away from it to something strongly typed and not managed. I've played with the .NET's C#, but to be honest, the whole idea of managed code doesn't make sense to me as a freelancer. Great for teams and all, but for the individual?? Not so sure. My problem is I don't know what is available out there that does not use managed code, and has c/c++ style. I find the syntax of C++/java/C# far better than VB or delphi. What do you folk think regarding the use of managed code languages? What would you consider as the better language all round to use in a business environment?
Windows

Submission + - Acer Boss rants against Windows Vista

Submitted by Nice2Cats
Nice2Cats writes: Acer-Co-Boss Gianfranco Lanci is disappointed and angry about Windows Vista and is letting everybody know it. In fact, he claims the whole PC industry is disappointed. The head of the fourth largest PC maker is unhappy about the stability of the operating system and notes that Acer's business customers are asking for XP instead. The original interview is in German, and his quotes are spreading through the German media.
Microsoft

Next Generation Zune Coming for Holiday Season 208

Posted by Zonk from the just-what-we-all-wanted dept.
thefickler writes "Microsoft has confirmed the existence and coming launch of the long rumored Zune 2.0 or 2nd generation Zune, and it appears that Microsoft will expand the Zune family with new styles, sizes, and price points. 'Future Zune products will feature podcasting support and expanded video support. The Zune will also move into other geographic markets when Microsoft feels it has an appealing product to offer those demographics. Perhaps most importantly of all, the representative mentioned that Microsoft will build on the wireless support. Maybe we'll finally have the freedom of synching our digital audio players via wi-fi. The rep didn't mention anything specific about Microsoft's rumored answer to the iPod Shuffle. But interesting rumors from sources considered "reliable" point to a very innovative product.'"
The Internet

Submission + - Where to go with big ideas 2

Submitted by
rockwood
rockwood writes: "Looking for hope, I've decided to come to Slashdot; as the client base seem to be diverse enough to provide pro and cons in regards to "selling and idea/concept".
I have been researching and working on a concept that for all purposes the business model I put together for it not only compliments the current internet trends, but also fills a huge gap. A gap so large that I cannot understand why it has not been implemented before (something similar to what the first person who made the phonebook most likely felt like) "This idea is so obvious that everyone would use it, but why hasn't anyone done it before"
My dilemma is that with literally no additional funds to put toward a lawyer, patent/copyrights etc.. I'm fearful of mentioning it to anyone.
I've been sending correspondence to both Google and to News Corp; though proceeding cautiously as I'm afraid of someone stealing the idea; which would produce revenue on a global scale, internet users, mobile and pda, everyone would use it.

So my question — what resources are readily available to help someone in my situation protect themselves and also profit from this? I'd love to implement the idea and watch it grow, though my estimate bandwidth for usage would run 25k to 50k monthly (remember I can't even afford the lawyer at this point). But I'm also open to selling the idea outright — though I'd only be open to an offer that was of a substantial amount.
I've considered contacting my local S.C.O.R.E, though previous dealings with them didn't seem to provide the information and guidance I was hoping for — and again, I'm fearful that if they here something they like they could do it themselves. I know most of you might say "NDA", but I feel that isn't worth the paper it is on, a mere call and a tipoff to a friend 2000 miles away would be something I'd never be able to prove.

Just to bring things into light, I'm estimating initial investment of 4 to 10 million dollars with a return of approximately 5 to 15 million a month! — With that type of return investment you can see why I am leery of mentioning anything to anyone.

Suggestions?"

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