Submission + - Diaspora – Open Source Social Network (gizmag.com)
The Installer writes: In what is quickly shaping up as the David versus Goliath fight to watch, four students from NYU’s Courant Institute are looking to take on social networking behemoth Facebook with Disapora – a distributed, open source social network. They aim to address the privacy concerns that has put Facebook under fire by giving users complete control of their details and content and who they share it with. Through the use of a personal web server called a Diaspora “seed”, users will be able to securely share information, pictures, video and more.
To cut out the middleman, Diaspora will be a distributed network where separate computers connect to each other directly, instead of relying on a central hub to relay information. Since each computer — or “seed” — is owned and hosted by the user, they have total control over what information is shared and with whom. GPG encryption will also ensure that no matter what kind of content is being shared, it can be done so privately and securely. This is sure to appeal to Facebook users concerned about what Facebook does with the personal information stored on its servers.
And making the move to Disapora won’t mean saying goodbye to all your Facebook friends because it will aggregate content from all your existing social networking services including Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. The Diaspora team says their software will actually make those services better as it will allow users greater control over their data. For example, a user’s seed can be used to automatically generate a tweet from a caption and link when uploading an image to Flickr.
To cut out the middleman, Diaspora will be a distributed network where separate computers connect to each other directly, instead of relying on a central hub to relay information. Since each computer — or “seed” — is owned and hosted by the user, they have total control over what information is shared and with whom. GPG encryption will also ensure that no matter what kind of content is being shared, it can be done so privately and securely. This is sure to appeal to Facebook users concerned about what Facebook does with the personal information stored on its servers.
And making the move to Disapora won’t mean saying goodbye to all your Facebook friends because it will aggregate content from all your existing social networking services including Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. The Diaspora team says their software will actually make those services better as it will allow users greater control over their data. For example, a user’s seed can be used to automatically generate a tweet from a caption and link when uploading an image to Flickr.
Comment Squid (Score 1) 5
A squid proxy box would work as a whitelist proxy. You could integrate the proxy with his logon scripting.
Submission + - Diaspora: Distributed Social Networking (bbc.co.uk)
An anonymous reader writes: Four guys in New York City have raised funds to develop a distributed social networking platform, named Diaspora. The idea is you host your own data so you are not subject to the whims of corporations like Facebook. Here's hoping they build something that is actually useful.
Comment Hmmm.... (Score 1) 3
I'd do a marketing campaign (Flyers, ads, etc... but nothing crazy) highlighting the deceptive trade practice. If they are stating that you went out of business and are redirecting, that may even constitute some form of fraud for misrepresentation as they are basically pretending to be you and in pretending to be you, channel your business to them. You might have a legal case against them, so a letter with some strong verbiage from a lawyer may be enough to scare them...
Submission + - Ask Slashdot: How to Counter a Domain Squatter? 3
pspahn writes: Recently, our small business has decided to finally put the "our website sucks" reality to bed. We are working hard on getting a modern, polished, and effective web site up and running. Today, however, it came to my attention that one of our local competitors (who has a history of stealing our innovations) has registered a domain name identical to ours except for "the" at the beginning. When arriving at their squatted domain, it implies to the user that we have gone out of business and then redirects them to their website (which is equally as crappy as ours).
After some brief research, it appears that there are two "legal" paths to follow. Hiring a lawyer or going through Uniform Domain Name Resolution Policy. Both are somewhat cost prohibitive at this point, and it seems silly to have to fork over thousands of dollars to resolve something that has likely cost us plenty of business as it is. What alternative options do we have for resolving this? Can we send them a generic cease-and-desist? DMCA? Anonymous? Chinese flesh searchers? I'm hoping that we can employ some type of Barbara Streisand spin on this, as we have a long history of being an honest business that doesn't use these kind of deceptive practices to lure customers.
After some brief research, it appears that there are two "legal" paths to follow. Hiring a lawyer or going through Uniform Domain Name Resolution Policy. Both are somewhat cost prohibitive at this point, and it seems silly to have to fork over thousands of dollars to resolve something that has likely cost us plenty of business as it is. What alternative options do we have for resolving this? Can we send them a generic cease-and-desist? DMCA? Anonymous? Chinese flesh searchers? I'm hoping that we can employ some type of Barbara Streisand spin on this, as we have a long history of being an honest business that doesn't use these kind of deceptive practices to lure customers.
Submission + - Technology solutions for entering doctor's notes? 3
SnapShot writes: My wife is a psychiatrist with her own office. I've set up a simple database for her to manage her patients and keep track of notes, but it hasn't been used yet since the process of getting her handwritten notes into the database is too cumbersome. She writes her notes into a custom form with various sections — treatment plan, mental status exam, medication management, etc. I've tried OCR of her handwritten notes but, since she writes in cursive with additional notes in the margin, uses various symbols such as arrows and circles around sections and the notes are filled with various medical shorthand, drug names, and other domain specific words, the OCR is nearly useless.
Currently, she scans the notes into her computer at the end of the day into b&w bitmap files (keeping the paper original as a backup) but this isn't a great solution since the files are large and unsearchable.
So the Ask Slashdot question, have you found any useful ways to get handwritten data into a database. Hopefully it's simple, works with her current forms, doesn't "auto-mangle" her words and doesn't require her to change her writing style. There are three options that I've started researching:
Currently, she scans the notes into her computer at the end of the day into b&w bitmap files (keeping the paper original as a backup) but this isn't a great solution since the files are large and unsearchable.
So the Ask Slashdot question, have you found any useful ways to get handwritten data into a database. Hopefully it's simple, works with her current forms, doesn't "auto-mangle" her words and doesn't require her to change her writing style. There are three options that I've started researching:
- LiveScribe. It requires a special paper but it appears that I can print her forms onto the paper as needed if I buy a color laser printer. It has the advantages that she'll still have a paper copy, but I'm not sure how well the custom forms will work and how forgiving the system is of mistakes.
- Wacom has a tablet with a built-in LCD screen. It's targeted towards graphic designers, but if there are handwriting recognition applications available and if it's responsive enough this could be a great solution.
- Get a light laptop and have her type directly as she's talking with the patients. She's worried that this will interfere with the conversation with the patient, but it has the advantage of getting the data directly into the database.
- OCR? Nothing I've tried seems to work, but I haven't tried everything...
Thanks in advance.
Submission + - Cannabidiol researchers discover the switch to tur (examiner.com)
SimonGirty writes: We discovered that cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychotropic compound from the plant Cannabis sativa, can inhibit the processes that allow breast cancer cells to grow and spread (metastasis). The study is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Early test results on animals are very positive. The doctors hope to begin testing cannabidiol on humans within 2-3 years.
Submission + - Authorize PayPal payments with you voice (poxpay.com)
Dinesh Gupta writes: PoxPay has launched a new service leveraging the newly released PayPal Adaptive APIs.
Transactions are authorized using voice biometric algorithms by calling your enrolled phone and prompt you to say a series of digits. If the voice pattern on file matches the spoken digits, the transaction is authorized. The recipient can be a phone number or a PayPal email. What's cool is that there is no need for a password or pin.
Transactions are authorized using voice biometric algorithms by calling your enrolled phone and prompt you to say a series of digits. If the voice pattern on file matches the spoken digits, the transaction is authorized. The recipient can be a phone number or a PayPal email. What's cool is that there is no need for a password or pin.
Submission + - World's Tech Co's: Don't Blame Canada on Copyright (michaelgeist.ca)
An anonymous reader writes: The Computer & Communications Industry Association, which includes
a who's who of the tech world including Microsoft, Google, T-Mobile,
Fujitsu, AMD, eBay, Intuit, Oracle, and Yahoo, have issued a strong defense
of current Canadian copyright law, arguing that the U.S. is wrong to
place Canada on the annual Special 301 list. The submission
argues that the U.S. should not criticize Canada for not implementing
anti-circumvention rules and warns against using the Special 301
process to "remake the world in the image of the DMCA."
Submission + - IOC nails 8-year-old for copyright violation (p2pnet.net)
An anonymous reader writes: The Olympics committee is imposing ridiculous restrictions on who can do what in reporting, and commenting on, the games currently being staged in Vancouver, Canada. Now the ever-vigilant IOC has jumped on eight-year-old Jabber J. She clipped 10 seconds of a ski run featuring biathlon competitor Megan Tandy, one of her favourites and had the temerity to post it on YouTube so other people could share her pleasure. The IOC ordered the video taken down. “As a Canadian I believe we need to be vigilant to the censorship of the IOC and other governing bodies”, says her dad, Rob, in a p2pnet Reader’s Write, going on, "Our children should learn to recognize these infringements and we as parents sometimes need to show them that this is wrong. ‘O Canada we stand on guard for thee‘. There is a reason why we as Canadians take this oath as we award our athletes for their excellence and their service to themselves and their country. Today one of my daughters’ YouTube videos was censored by the IOC. I invite you to check out this over-the-top censorship at the Virtual Whistler blog." You'll also find it here.
Submission + - Thin Client Solution for School
plobby writes: We are putting together the budget for next year and would like to start working on replacing some of the computer labs, add a lab, and then replace teacher computers. We are working on 10 year old celerons right now with 256mb of ram running XP. I was interested in thin clients but it has to be a windows solution. My question is what is what kind of server hardware would be needed to run a lab of 30 computers? What about 60? Also do you see a benefit to going to a thin client solution rather than a desktop? I was seeing us able to save a lot in hardware cost, not sure on software yet.
Submission + - Jason Levine Is an Ass 1
An anonymous reader writes: Jason Levine claims his "company" is Northeast Health. Jason Levine lies just like he lies about other things. http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2010/02/03/honor_system/
Submission + - Theft of Services Claim with Honor System Paywall 3
Jason Levine writes: Towards the end of the day yesterday, I received an e-mail from someone claiming that my company's employees had been stealing his services. I always take claims like this seriously, so I read on. Apparently, his website is called the North Country Gazette. It appears to be a "news" site, but structured like a blog. Each article contains the text: "Free access to The North Country Gazette is limited to one visit, one article, no exceptions. After your free trial, a subscription is needed and without same, your access will be denied. To sign up, see subscription ad on this page. If you have questions, contact us at news@northcountrygazette.org"
The e-mail claimed theft of services because an employee visited two articles without paying. I thought it might be a scam (the threatening tone of the e-mail didn't help) so I visited the site to make sure it was legit. Soon after my one article view, I received a second e-mail calling me "obstinate", telling me to "do your job instead of surfing the internet" and threatening legal action if we visited his site again.
The thing is, though, he doesn't seem to have any kind of paywall in place. No mechanism to detect if a user has viewed an article and stop them from viewing more like other paywalls I've encountered. Just a system to detect when his honor system isn't honored. How seriously should I take his threats? Can someone really sue over theft of services due to three page views (four if you count me accessing his home page)? Can some small text on a website (which doesn't even contain a "pay here" link) really bind you into paying for a subscription? I will definitely be informing my company's legal counsel, but I was wondering if anyone on Slashdot has heard of anything like this?
The e-mail claimed theft of services because an employee visited two articles without paying. I thought it might be a scam (the threatening tone of the e-mail didn't help) so I visited the site to make sure it was legit. Soon after my one article view, I received a second e-mail calling me "obstinate", telling me to "do your job instead of surfing the internet" and threatening legal action if we visited his site again.
The thing is, though, he doesn't seem to have any kind of paywall in place. No mechanism to detect if a user has viewed an article and stop them from viewing more like other paywalls I've encountered. Just a system to detect when his honor system isn't honored. How seriously should I take his threats? Can someone really sue over theft of services due to three page views (four if you count me accessing his home page)? Can some small text on a website (which doesn't even contain a "pay here" link) really bind you into paying for a subscription? I will definitely be informing my company's legal counsel, but I was wondering if anyone on Slashdot has heard of anything like this?
Submission + - FTP Automation
maddog writes: I'm looking for a good tool to use for automating file transfers and was wondering what other people are using, good and bad. We currently use a series of scripts, with no standard and "duct tape" them together with a semi automated scheduler. As we grow I need somthing that I can set it and forget it, not have to worry about writing scripts or learning/training a new language, and handle SSH, SSL, pgp/gpg encryption, etc. I have experience with NDM and it was very reliable but you needed NDM on both ends of the transfer, I work in the service industry and we don't have the luxury of forcing our standard so we have to be creative at times. Any help Slashdot can provide would be greatly appreciated.
