MrGordy - Slashdot User

Submission + - AT&T calls telecommuters back to cubicle life (networkworld.com)

Submitted by

bednarz

on Tuesday November 20, 2007 @01:08AM

bednarz writes: "AT&T is requiring thousands of employees who work from their homes to return to traditional AT&T office environments, sources say. "It is a serious effort to reel in the telework people," says the Telework Coalition's Chuck Wilsker, who has heard that as many as 10,000 or 12,000 fulltime teleworkers may be affected. One AT&T employee says rumors have been circulating since AT&T's merger with SBC that the new upper management is not supportive of teleworking: "We'd heard rumors to that effect, and all of a sudden we got marching orders to go back to an office.""

Submission + - Users can edit Google Maps locations, wiki-style (computerworld.com.au)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 19, 2007 @08:03PM

An anonymous reader writes: For those who have gotten lost, delayed or just plain frustrated on a trip due to a mistaken marker on Google Maps, the company has unveiled a potential solution. Google on Monday announced that registered Google users in the US and Australia can move incorrect markers for their homes or businesses to the correct locations. Google did note that access to some listings, such as hospitals, government buildings or businesses whose listings have been claimed through Google's Local Business Center, will be restricted. In addition, some edits, such as moving a place marker more than 200 yards (or 200 meters in some countries) from its original location requires a moderator's approval before they show up on the map, according to Google. To prevent users from deliberately moving a marker to the wrong address, there will be a "Show Original" link that will direct users to the original marker. If the new one is in the wrong place, users can fix it.

Submission + - Is it Time to Start Ignoring Microsoft? (earthweb.com) 3

Submitted by

jammag

on Sunday November 18, 2007 @10:21PM

jammag writes: "It's time for GNU/Linux advocates to quit casting Microsoft as the Great Satan, opines Bruce Byfield, a leading GNU/Linux pundit. "Things were different ten years ago...Back then, the community was fragile," he writes. But now, FOSS thrives in data centers everywhere. However, "over the years, we've developed a culture of hate, where bashing Microsoft proves our membership in the club. We've come to count on this opposition as a central part of our identity." Give it up, Byfield writes: "If you value FOSS, there are aspects you should be promoting — not the taunts more suitable to a high school locker room.""

Submission + - FBI Doesn't Tell Courts About Bogus Evidence

Submitted by dprovine on Sunday November 18, 2007 @07:54PM

dprovine writes: According to a joint investigation by series of articles in The Washington Post and 60 Minutes, a forensic test used by the FBI for decades is known to be invalid. The National Academy of Science issued a report in 2004 that FBI investigators had given "problematic" testimony to juries. The FBI later stopped using "bullet lead analysis", but sent a letter to law enforcement officials saying that they still fully supported the science behind it. Hundreds of criminal defendants — some already convicted in part on the testimony of FBI experts — were not informed about the problems with the evidence used against them in court. Does anyone at the Justice Department even care about what effect this will have on how the public in general (and juries in particular) regards the trustworthiness of FBI testimony?

Submission + - Vote to Eliminate Leap Seconds 6

Submitted by Mortimer.CA on Sunday November 18, 2007 @04:31PM

Mortimer.CA writes: As mentionted on Slahdot previously, there is a proposal to remove leap seconds from UTC (nee 'Greenwich' time). It wil be put to a vote to ITU member states, and if 70% agree, the leap second will be eliminated by 2013. There is some debate as to whether this change is a good or bad idea. One philosophical point opponents make is that the 'official' time on Earth should match the time of the sun and heavens. People with appliances that blink '12:00' can probably ignore this issue.

Submission + - Hushmail giving 'The Man' your private PGP keys 1

Submitted by

teknopurge

on Friday November 16, 2007 @01:26PM

teknopurge writes: "Apparently Hushmail has been providing information to law enforcement behind the backs of their clients. Billed as secure email because of their use of PGP, Hushmail has been turning over private keys of users to the authorities on request. Yet another reason to use private hosting."

Submission + - The last DC power grid shutdown in NYC (nytimes.com)

Submitted by cell-block-9 on Friday November 16, 2007 @11:00AM

cell-block-9 writes: Today the section of the old Edison DC power grid will be shutdown in Manhattan. I guess Tesla finally won the argument.

Submission + - Cable Speed in Germany now up to 30MBit/s

Submitted by

micropitt

on Friday November 16, 2007 @10:40AM

micropitt writes: "Another Cable Company in Germany (http://www.kabeldeutschland.de) now is offering higher down — and upload speeds. 30MBit/s down and 2MBit/s up for 39.90 Euro which is basically the same what I pay here in the US for 3MBit/s down and 260kb/s up. The question is, why is this kind of speed not here in the US possible? Even DSL in Europe is faster then here. What we are missing? The original article is in german: http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/99098"

Submission + - Sun to set up datacentre in coal mine 1

Submitted by Kurtz'sKompund on Friday November 16, 2007 @05:29AM

Kurtz'sKompund writes: Sun and a consortium of other businesses are going to lower Blackbox self-contained computing facilities into a Japanese coal mine to set up an underground data centre using up to 50 percent less power than a ground-level data centre. http://www.techworld.com/green-it/news/index.cfm?newsID=10667

Submission + - British nukes were protected by bike locks (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by mattaw on Friday November 16, 2007 @05:23AM

mattaw writes: From an article in the BBC's Newsnight program: Until 1998 the RAF nuclear bomb was protected by a bike lock.

After the Americans implemented coded arming systems their was an attempt to get these fitted to the British systems however this was rejected by the Navy with the following statement:

"It would be invidious to suggest... that Senior Service officers may, in difficult circumstances, act in defiance of their clear orders".

That's alright then.

Submission + - High-Tech Hobbies For Geeks 3

Submitted by MotorMachineMercenar on Monday November 12, 2007 @02:39PM

MotorMachineMercenar writes: I'm a thirty-something geek who works in finance, plays computer games and wastes time on the internet — ie. I spend pretty much all my time in front of a screen. Lately I've started looking for a hobby, something outside the slouching-in-front-of-the-computer realm, and hopefully something to do with my hands with concrete stuff. I'm not talking about the gym, martial arts, photography or books (do that already), but something novel, high-tech and creative. The potential to actually make new discoveries applicable in the real world would be a huge benefit. The most appealing choice I've found thus far is BEAM robotics, although I'm quite skeptical of the potential for new discoveries. So perhaps a robosoccer challenge would be a better option. Amateur rocketry sounds like fun, but I'd like to keep traveling without being subjected to a "routine" cavity search.

Submission + - MD To Tax Computer Services (baltimoresun.com) 2

Submitted by Mr. C on Friday November 09, 2007 @04:38PM

Mr. C writes: The Maryland Senate added an ammendment to the tax code during a special session which imposes a 6% Service tax on all computer related services and activities effective Jan 1. The Budget and Taxation Committee scrapped the expansion to real property management services and tanning, massage, physical fitness, sauna, or steam bath facilities or services that would have generated an estimated $60 million. They replaced those services with computer services, landscaping and arcades, which will generate an estimated $300 million. The bill is facing some flak in the Senate but it's going largely unnoticed by the public since the new industries that are targeted were given no warning about the language which was inserted Wednesday. amendment (pdf)

Bookmark SPAM: Web based project management and knowledge sharing

by ilovegrandmah on Wednesday October 24, 2007 @12:08AM

Link to Original Source

Identity Thieves Not Big On Technology 94

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday October 23, 2007 @08:05PM from the not-much-hacking-involved dept.

alphadogg sends us to Network World, as is his wont, for a summary of a new study of identity theft based on the outcomes of more than 500 Secret Service cases from 2000 to 2006. Here is the study report (PDF). The AP has coverage emphasizing other slants on the findings. Among the surprises: just 51% of convicted ID thieves were sent to prison. Only 20% of the cases involved use of the Internet, and such cases may be on the decline. More perpetrators used good old-fashioned dumpster diving and stealing stuff out of mailboxes.

Submission + - Dilbert Author Uses Prediction Site for Book Sales

Submitted by

Anonymous Coward

on Tuesday October 23, 2007 @05:19PM

Anonymous Coward writes: "Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, used a prediction site called Predictify to forecast sales of his new book, a according to a press release issued today. Of course, he won't know whether the collective prediction is accurate until actual sales data comes in, but Adams claims that the data "tells me which group of people are the most optimistic about the book's potential. That's valuable in a variety of ways." Lots of sites have tried to use the wisdom-of-crowds idea to predict real-world events, but few, if any, have had commercial success. It will be interesting to see if this model works."

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