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What If They Turned Off the Internet? 511

Posted by timothy from the very-funny-now-where-is-slashdot dept.
theodp writes "It's the not-too-distant future. They've turned off the Internet. After the riots have settled down and the withdrawal symptoms have faded, how would you cope? Cracked.com asked readers to Photoshop what life would be like in an Internet-addicted society learning to cope without it. Better hope it never happens, or be prepared for dry-erase message boards, carrier pigeon-powered Twitter, block-long lines to get into adult video shops, door-to-door Rickrolling, Lolcats on Broadway, and $199.99 CDs."

Comment Re:captain obvious (Score 1) 366

by NightWhistler (#29710523) Attached to: Warez Moving From BitTorrent to Conventional Hosting Services

Under US law you're probably right, but it's not the same everywhere.

For example, here in the Netherlands it's legal to download content like music and movies, but illegal to upload or distribute it. BREIN has been trying to come up with things like "purchase-replacing downloads", which are illegal according to them, but AFAIK it hasn't been proven in court.

Using bittorent means that you're also uploading while you download, making it illegal. Downloading from things like RapidShare is legal though, regardless of whether you pay money to do so.

Comment Re:Huh? (Score 3, Insightful) 500

by NightWhistler (#29039049) Attached to: Encryption? What Encryption?

The main difference would be that they can't actually prove that you have a second key, so it's a lot harder to convict you for refusing to give it.

The people mentioned in the original article were convicted because they refused to give their main encryption key. Since it was easily provable that they had encryption on their machines, it was enough to get them convicted.

It really depends what you're trying to protect yourself from: TrueCrypt or a similar solution may be enough to keep you from getting convicted in a trial, but it probably won't offer much protection from organizations willing to use torture, blackmail, etc. In a trial you need evidence, in the other case suspicion will do.

Comment Re:Good Fun (Score 1) 92

by NightWhistler (#28541237) Attached to: Sega Not Giving Up On Mature Wii Games

I have to second that, I absolutely lived the over-the-top B-movie atmosphere. The only thing missing were boobies ;)

I also picked up the House of the Dead II and III for the Wii, mostly for the extra gun... so I've been having a great time shooting zombies with the mrs... looking forward to what else Sega comes up with!

Comment Re:Close but... (Score 5, Informative) 341

by NightWhistler (#23666307) Attached to: Machine Prints 3D Copies Of Itself
From the pictures in the article it seems to mostly consist of small metal pipes, with pieces of plastic connecting them.... from what I gather it's only able to print the plastic connection parts, so I'm not sure how this counts as "self-replicating".

Also it has a big bunch of wires coming out the back, which I bet are not replicated either... so someone was jumping the gun a bit while writing this article :)

Still... this is some seriously cool technology... if the resulting plastic parts are strong / durable enough it could certainly have a huge impact... essentially being able to download physical objects from the internet...
Space

Submission + - Fermi Paradox Could Predict Humankind's Future

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Fermi paradox says that if extraterrestrial civilizations exist, at least one of them should have colonized the entire galaxy by now. But since there is no evidence of this, humankind must be the only intelligent life in the galaxy. The Space Review has an article on how the Fermi paradox can be applied to human civilization. It says that, like the extraterrestrials, humans have three choices: colonize the galaxy, remain on Earth, or become extinct.
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Regrowing lost body parts coming in the future

Submitted by
[TheBORG]
[TheBORG] writes: "There are two stories on Yahoo! News about regrowing lost body parts. One is about regrowing lost fingers & limbs and the other one is about regrowing teeth. The story about regrowing lost fingers and limbs talks about the experimental use of powdered pig bladder to regrow fingers and eventually lost limbs for soldiers and others in need from information that Pentagon-funded scientists hopefully learn from studying the salamander. The story about regrowing teeth talks about how Japanese scientists used primitive cells (not quite as early as stem cells) and injected them into a framework of collagen (the material that holds the body together). Once grown to a certain point, scientists implanted the growths into mice where the teeth developed normally."
Movies

Submission + - BulRay, HD-DVD encrytion defeated

Submitted by Linuxploitation
Linuxploitation writes: As reported at The Register: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/14/aacs_hack/ A lone hacker has unlocked the master key preventing the copying of high-definition DVDs in a development that is sure to get the entertainment industry's knickers wrapped tighter than a magnet's coil. What's more, the individual was able to defeat the technology with no cracking tools or reverse engineering, despite the millions of dollars and many years engineers put into developing the AACS (Advanced Access Content System) for locking down high-definition video.
Programming

Submission + - The Next Big Programming Language

Submitted by
narramissic
narramissic writes: "In a recent ITworld article, Sean McGrath muses on the future of software development, speculating that the next programming language may not be 'so much a language as a language for creating languages.' From the article:

... Outbreaks of this sort of thinking can be seen in the programming community, typically under the moniker of Domain Special Languages or DSLs. Programming languages are again starting to sprout DSL capabilities. Ruby and Fortress — of the two languages already mentioned — are examples.

I think the time is right for this sort of thinking to become mainstream. The industry is at the point where the irrational exuberance surrounding using XML as a DSL for programming languages has passed (thank goodness!). Something needs to take its place which is significantly — not just incrementally better. I think a DSL-enabling programming language will fit the bill.
"
Programming

Submission + - Heavy criticism of "Linux Driver Development F

Submitted by
Stephan A. Rickauer
Stephan A. Rickauer writes: "The newly announced "Free Linux Kernel Driver Development FAQ" initiated by Linux Kernel Developer Greg Kroah-Hartman, working for Novell, has provoked more negative reactions from prominent Free Software projects, e.g. OpenBSD. Project leader Theo de Raadt writes to Greg: "It is a fucking farce. You are trying to make sure that maintainers of code — ie. any random joe who wants to improve the code in the future — has LESS ACCESS to docs later on because someone signed an NDA to write it in the first place. You are making a very big mistake." Though the short term goal of getting Linux drivers more easily seems to be understandable in the first place, signing NDA's will hurt all Free Software projects in the long run. This short-sighted strategy will lead to the situation where companies are even less motivated to reveal free programming documentation. They will point with fingers to NDA'ed GPL code, which needs to be reverse engineered agin. Theo summarizes: "It is people like you who are closed."."
The Internet

Submission + - The Pirate Bay launches 'Oscartorrents'

Submitted by gloom
gloom writes: After turning legal threats into entertainment and trying to create a new pirate state, what do you do next? You go for the gold of course. The Pirate Bay has launched oscartorrents.com — an easy-to-use torrent-site for finding good versions of this years Oscar nominees.

In their own words: "You haven't beaten us, so why not join us? Think of a new business model that doesn't involve overpriced pieces of plastic and skanky cinemas hawking cheap carbohydrates while relying on $6/hr projectionists who can't keep a film in focus — not to mention insulting your audiences by (to pick a few examples) surveilling us with nightvision glasses, searching bags, 30 minutes of commercials and bombarding us with ridiculous anti-piracy propaganda. Take a look at yourselves. Is it really any wonder we're winning?"

No lack of cohones in Sweden, that's for sure.
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Linux user with no advantages?

Submitted by
Epeeist
Epeeist writes: "Are you a Linux user feeling left out by the Windows Genuine Advantage programme? If so then this is for you! Install the software on your Linux machine and can experience a feature that until now remained the exclusive domain of proprietary software.

Once you have paid the licence fee your computer (which worked fine before) will continue working normally. Sign up now and the producers of the program promise not to launch unfounded lawsuits against you, slander you or require you to pay for software you won't use on every new computer you buy!"
Data Storage

Flash Memory HDD for Notebooks Launched 277

Posted by Zonk from the now-put-them-in-ipods-please dept.
ukhackster writes "Traditional magnetic hard drive platters could be on the way out, thanks to SanDisk's launch today of a hard drive based on flash memory chips. The device can store 32GB of data and is meant for notebooks . SanDisk claims that using flash chips means faster access and better reliability, so less danger of a serious system crash wiping out all your valuable data if you drop your laptop. The downside, though, is price. At an extra $600 dollars, are price-conscious consumers going to be interested?"

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