Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Privacy

Subliminal Messages Might Actually Work 172

Posted by kdawson from the buy-popcorn-now dept.
GrumpySimon writes "New research indicates that subliminal messages may actually work. In a paper titled Attentional Load Modulates Responses of Human Primary Visual Cortex to Invisible Stimuli, Bahrani et al. demonstrate that even though stimuli may not be available to consciousness, they are processed by the visual cortex. While I'm sure that marketing agencies all over the world are rubbing their hands in glee at this news, the authors report that there's no evidence that this can make people buy things against their will. So with any luck the use of subliminal messages in advertising will remain an urban legend."

Feed No Show: U.S. Bioterror Defenses (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed
The Centers for Disease Control can't show how the $5 billion given to public health departments after Sept. 11 has prepared the country for a bioterrorism attack or flu pandemic. By the Associated Press.


GNU is Not Unix

Political Leaning and Free Software 629

Posted by kdawson from the free-as-in-markets dept.
00_NOP writes "HateMyTory is the world's first political rating site and occasionally gets blasted or promoted by British bloggers on either side of the political spectrum. But here's something even more intriguing: when the right come visiting they hate the site but they are disproportionately likely to be users of free software, whether that is just Firefox on top of their Windows box, or all the way with some Linux distro. But when the left rally to the cause they are more likely than not to be proprietary software users, albeit with a big bias towards Apple. If Microsoft's defenders think free software is the road to socialism, why don't the left seem to agree? As a leftie, and a free software advocate, I find this pretty puzzling."
Education

Submission + - Is the exinction crisis real? Debate rages

Submitted by rhettb
rhettb writes: Two respected scientists say the extinction crisis is overblown in a paper published in Biotopica, launching a heated debate in conservation science circles. Their "rosy outlook" shows species extinction reaching 16-35% in tropical Africa and 21-24% in Indo-Malaya by 2030. Critics say their findings may "encourage complacency in the face of adversity" and undermine conservation efforts. The debate is largely based around computer models forecasting future forest cover.
PlayStation (Games)

Submission + - UK gamers charged more for inferior PS3

Submitted by
twofish
twofish writes: "According to the Daily Telegraph Sony has said today that the European version of PlayStation 3 will play fewer PlayStation 2 games when it launches on March 23 compared with models launched earlier in Japan and America. "The backwards compatibility is not going to be as good as the U.S. and Japan models," a Sony spokesman said. Like Microsoft, Sony seems to not have a working currency converter either and the PS3 will also be £100 more than the US version."
Security

Submission + - eBay hacker keeps busting through site's back door

Submitted by pacopico
pacopico writes: A hacker specializing in eBay cracks has once again managed to masquerade as a company official on the site's message boards, according to this story on The Register. A company spokesman denies that "Vladuz's" repeated assaults on eBay point to a larger problem with the site's security. Of course, eBay two days ago claimed to have found a way to block Vladuz altogether, only to see him pop up again. Is eBay Vladuz the online version of the Exxon Valdez?
Robotics

Submission + - Superbots Cooperate for Many Feats

Submitted by anthemaniac
anthemaniac writes: Wei-Min Shen at USC has taken a Lego approach to robots and tossed in some intelligence to create "superbots." While each autonomous module is no more talented than a Roomba or even the iDog, one piece can find another and self-assemble. Combined, they can form a wheel, climb a rope, or walk like a human. The videos show various combinations and feats.
Role Playing (Games)

Submission + - Blizzard Sues Bot Creator; Seeks Customer Info

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: After filing a prayer for relief to continue the selling of his WoWGlider, an automation bot for Blizzard's fanatical World of Warcraft, Michael Donnelly has again found himself in some deep water: Blizzard has retorted demanding WoWGlider be shut down, his URL, and financial compensation, but more interestingly they want all of WoWGlider's sales records. Presumably, Blizzard will cross-reference this with their current user database and ban anyone who bought the program. Furthermore, Blizzard claims that WoWGlider violates copyrights by accessing the game client's RAM space, a process which is also done by every anti-virus program. So why is there no Blizzard vs. Symantec?
Microsoft

Submission + - Why is Microsoft charging $4000 for DST patches?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: After a phone call to Microsoft, I was informed that even companies with extended patch support still have to pay $4000 for retired product DST patches. (Keep in mind when you sign up for the extended patch support license, you pay extra.) 1. How did MS figure that $4000 a client would cover the cost of the patch? Are they following the pricing schemes of the oil industry? What is the true cost of such things? 2. Why isn't MS getting more slack for charging this ridiculous amount of money? Is this price gouging? 3. Wouldn't it be in Microsoft's best interest to at least offer the Win2k workstation patch as a free download? Would it have been a chance to help improve the company's image? 4. Since Win2k machines still receive Windows Updates, why are they free yet the DST fix is not?
Google

Submission + - 71 New Search Keywords In Google & Still Count

Submitted by
Voelspriet
Voelspriet writes: "It's not perfect, but hey, it's new. Google accepts all kind of new search words, triggered by info boxes on Wikipedia, Amazon, CIA, Answers.com and some obscure sites. I compiled a list of 71 keywords that result in a direct answer on #1 in Google. (You don't have to open the source, you get the answer right away.) The syntax is keywords & trigger (country, artist or company). Let me know if you find more..

Age structure (country)
Airports (country)
Area (country)
Birth rate (country)
Capital (country)
Climate (country)
Coastline (country)
Constitution (country)
Currency (country)
Dependent areas (country)
Diplomatic representation from the US (country)
Economy (country)
Employees (company)
Environment — current issues (country)
Environment — international agreements (country)
Ethnic groups (country)
Executive branch (company)
Exports (country)
Flag description (country)
Founded (company)
Genre (artist)
Geographic coordinates (country)
Geography — note (country)
Government (country)
Head of state (country)
Headquarters (company)
heliport (country)
HIV/AIDS — deaths (country)
Illicit Drugs (country)
Imports (country)
Independence (country)
Industries (country)
Inflation rate (country)
International organization participation (country)
Internet TLD (country)
Internet users (country)
Judicial branch (country)
Key People (company)
Label (artist)
Labor force (country)
Land use (country)
Language (country)
Legal system(country)
Legislative branch(country)
Literacy (country)
Map Reference (country)
Maritime claims (country)
Military Branches (country)
Music: (artist) — old one.
National hazards (country)
National holiday (country)
Nationality (country)
Natural resources (country)
Population below poverty line (country)
Political parties and leaders (country)
Political pressure groups and leaders (country)
Prime Minister (country)
Products (company)
Public Debt (country)
Radios (country)
Railways (country)
Religion (country)
Revenue (country)
Slogan (company)
Televisions (country)
Time Zone (country)
Terrain (country)
Trading Partners (country)
Unemployment rate (country)"
Businesses

Meetings Make You Dumber 207

Posted by Zonk from the not-cumulatively-thank-everything dept.
Maximum Prophet writes "Robert Heinlein once said that the committee was the only life form in the universe with three or more bellies and no brain. MSNBC reports that his statement may have some statistical truth to it. Researchers are finding that meetings are actually bad places to be creative. You're not actually 'dumber' when you're in the meeting, just more likely to lose your creative edge. Studies have now shown that, as collaborative primates, the more often a possibility is mentioned the more likely the group is to go along with it. Individuals placed by themselves were more likely to come up with imaginative alternatives to products, for example."
Networking

Submission + - Verizon DSL

Submitted by
jerseyjim
jerseyjim writes: "I'm baffled by Verizon's DSL and wonder if any Slashdotters have any suggestions. Verizon's DSL service has been intermitted for the last six months. Connects fine for a week or so and then it can't connect sometimes for days. I'm guessing Verizon has my computer polling for a dynamic IP address and I'm also guessing that it times out on my side when it doesn't get a response from Verizon. I'm also guessing it must be a wide spread problem because the recording at Verizon tech support tells you to reboot the computer and modem after waiting 15 seconds if you have connection problems. The Verizon tech has me checking wires, line filters, and resetting the default setting on the modem. I really don't think this is the problem since I'm speaking to the tech on the DSL line and early this morning spontaneously it reconnected without resetting anything and besides I've went through those steps countless times with other techs. Two weeks ago Verizon was sending a tech to my house. No one arrived. No phone call either. A follow up call by me said the problem was fixed at their end. Anyone have any insight into this?"
Communications

Submission + - Father of the remote control: gone, not forgotten!

Submitted by
chrisgreencouk
chrisgreencouk writes: "Dr. Robert Adler, the man credited with co-creating the remote control, died this week leaving behind a legacy of invention and innovation. His Space Command ultrasonic TV remote control was launched by Zenith back in 1956 and it changed life in the living room for many people. http://www.itpro.co.uk/blogs/editorial-blogs/maggi e-holland/13015/the-father-of-the-remote-control-g one-but-not-forgotten.thtml"
The Courts

Politicians Wising up on Game Legislation? 66

Posted by Zonk from the we-can-only-hope dept.
Blackjack writes "Ars Technica looks at recent failures to pass laws regulating the sales of violent video games. They ask whether politicians are finally wising up to First Amendment issues and the costs associated with lawsuits resulting from the laws. Recent attempts to pass video game legislation in Mississippi, Utah, and Indiana have either failed or been put on indefinite hold. 'Now, state lawmakers are more cognizant of the constitutionality issues at stake. The judicial landscape is littered with the charred husks of laws passed by Illinois, Washington, Michigan, California, Louisiana, and others. All of them tried in some way or another to regulate the sale of violent video games to children, and all of them were struck down on First Amendment grounds.'"
Programming

Submission + - Use Perl grep tool for custom LDAP search

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Many organizations implement some form of LDAP service for storing enterprise directory information. Existing search options allow for a range of lookups based on where certain data is stored in the directory. This article allows you to combine the power of regular expressions with the grep tool to create your own custom LDAP search capability. In the spirit of successful search engines, such as Google, we'll change the search format from a LDAP-style query string to simple and powerful keyword matching and results display.

Slashdot Top Deals

"The most important thing in a man is not what he knows, but what he is." -- Narciso Yepes

Close