Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - The mission to regenerate Doctor Who in color (wired.co.uk)

Submitted by Lanxon
Lanxon writes: In 1967, the BBC set about junking its Doctor Who archive: a moment sci-fi fans wish they could travel back in time to prevent. There are 108 vintage episodes missing, but since 1978 a number have been rediscovered as 16mm black-and-white films. The BBC shot many of these series in color, but made monochrome copies for countries such as Australia, where many TV companies were still broadcasting in greyscale. The reels had sat in archives since. Now, the Doctor Who Restoration Team, an independent group contracted by the BBC, is using a new technique to regenerate The Doctor in color.
Microsoft

Submission + - What does Windows 7 track, exactly? (windowsteamblog.com) 1

Submitted by techmuse
techmuse writes: A posting on the Windows Team Blog states that "In the last month, Windows 7 users have used Jump Lists 339,129,958 times!" How does Microsoft know this? Microsoft gathers telemetry for some products, especially those in development. Does it also gather it for products on the market? What exactly does it track? Are most users aware of this (beyond a screen that says "Help make Windows better"?)
Wikipedia

Submission + - Wikipedia meets $16M budget goal (networkworld.com) 1

Submitted by netbuzz
netbuzz writes: Thanks to some 630,000 individual contributions that averaged $22 apiece, Wikipedia has reached its fundraising goal of $16 million, founder Jimmy Wales announced over the weekend. Writes Wales: “ this year is a little more incredible than most because this year we celebrate Wikipedia's tenth anniversary. It's so important that we kick the year off just like this: by fully funding the Wikimedia Foundation's budget to support Wikipedia and all the sister projects as we head into the next decade of our work together.” The online encyclopedia now boasts of being the Internet's fifth largest site, which renews questioning by some as to whether it can afford over the long haul to stand by its policy of refusing advertising.
Programming

Submission + - Does Typing Speed Matter?

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: 'I can't take slow typists seriously as programmers,' wrote Coding Horror's Jeff Atwood last fall. 'When was the last time you saw a hunt-and-peck pianist?' Atwood's rant prompted John Cook to investigate just how important it is to be able to type quickly. 'Learning to type well is a good investment for those who are physically able to do so,' concludes Cook, 'but it's not that important. Once you reach moderate proficiency, improving your speed will not improve your productivity much. If a novelist writing 1000 words per day were able to type infinitely fast, he or she could save maybe an hour per day.' At 150 WPM, notes Cook, the world's fastest typist was still only 10x faster than Stephen Hawking.
Government

Submission + - UN Supports WikiLeaks' Right To Publish (eweekeurope.co.uk) 6

Submitted by geek4
geek4 writes: A UN statement argues the human right to publish in the public interest, but restraint should be exercised
Following a bad few weeks for WikiLeaks, Santa seems to have arrived early to deliver a surprise gift in the form of backing from the United Nations.

In a joint statement by two UN officials, member states have been reminded of their duty to observe citizen rights to access information held by national authorities.

The rebuke from Frank LaRue, the UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and Catalina Botero Marino, the inter-American commission on human rights special rapporteur for freedom of expression, will upset the right wing faction in the US government and provide support for WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange as court proceedings are ranged against him.
Google

Submission + - Google Discontinues On2 Flix Engine Video Encoder (on2.com)

Submitted by trawg
trawg writes: Google have recently discontinued sales of the Flix Engine, the last remnants of the purchase of On2 that they were selling directly to users. On2, developers of the VP8 video codec that formed the basis of their new WebM video format, was bought by Google early in 2010. The Flix Engine was a comprehensive API for Windows and Linux that allowed integration of On2 encoders directly into any software product. While you can still buy some On2 products from another company, it's not clear what effect this will have on Google's ultimate video strategy.
Censorship

Submission + - UK Banks Attempt to Censor Academic Publication (lightbluetouchpaper.org)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Representatives of the UK banking industry have sent a take-down notice (PDF link) to Cambridge University, demanding that they censor a student's webpage as well as his masters thesis. The banks' objection is that the information contained in the report might be used to exploit a vulnerability Chip and PIN system, used throughout Europe and Canada for credit and debit card payments. The system was revealed to be fundamentally flawed earlier this year, as it allowed criminals to use a stolen card with any PIN. Cambridge University has resisted the demands and has sent a response to the bankers explaining why they will keep the page online.
Privacy

Submission + - Woman arrested at ABIA after refusing enhanced pat (kvue.com) 1

Submitted by masterwit
masterwit writes: In the wake of recent articles involving the arguable privacy issues and constitutional rights violations involved with the new technology employed by the TSA , back scanners...this happened:
The article states: "One of the first people in line after that shutdown never made it through. She was arrested and banned from the airport.
Claire Hirschkind, 56, who says she is a rape victim and who has a pacemaker-type device implanted in her chest, says her constitutional rights were violated. She says she never broke any laws. But the Transportation Security Administration disagrees."
It will be interesting to see the fallout from this unfortunate situation.

Submission + - Tracking you using your public transit farecard (boston.com)

Submitted by Karger
Karger writes: Back when they started introducing electronic fare cards for public transportation, some privacy advocates expressed concern about big brother tracking you through them (Richard Stallman encourages people to swap them around to defeat tracking). Most of us probably thought they were being paranoid. Here's a case where that's just what happened. Arguably in a good cause this time, but obviously the same technique can be used for evil.

Submission + - Ghost towns in China (dailymail.co.uk)

Submitted by Krokz
Krokz writes: These amazing satellite images show sprawling cities built in remote parts of China that have been left completely abandoned, sometimes years after their construction.
The photographs have emerged as a Chinese government think tank warns that the country's real estate bubble is getting worse, with property prices in major cities overvalued by as much as 70 per cent.

Another report from IndiaExpress with interviews with lonely people. http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Chinas-ghost-towns/713677/
And amazing AlJazeera report on this topic on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h7V3Twb-Qk

Slashdot Top Deals

"Take that, you hostile sons-of-bitches!" -- James Coburn, in the finale of _The_President's_Analyst_

Close