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Submission + - A day in the life of QuakeNet (vimeo.com)

Submitted by Zarjazz
Zarjazz writes: QuakeNet, the largest internet relay chat (IRC) Network in the world, has produced a very nice video of chat activity over a 24hour snapshot. How many of the users are really open proxies is left up to the opinions of the readers.

Submission + - Artificial Black Holes Made with Metamaterials

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: While our direct knowledge of black holes in the universe is limited to what we can observe from thousands or millions of light years away, a team of Chinese physicists has proposed a simple way to design an artificial electromagnetic (EM) black hole in the laboratory. In the Journal of Applied Physics, Huanyang Chen at Soochow University and colleagues have presented a design of an artificial EM black hole designed using five types of composite isotropic materials, layered so that their transverse magnetic modes capture EM waves to which the object is subjected. The artificial EM black hole does not let EM waves escape, analogous to a black hole trapping light. In this case, the trapped EM waves are in the microwave region of the spectrum.
Security

Submission + - IRC Botnets: Dying...But Not Dead (threatpost.com)

Submitted by chicksdaddy
chicksdaddy writes: Once the most common form of malicious computer network, botnets that use the IRC (Internet Relay Chat) protocol are going the way of the Brontosaurus, according to a report from Internet security monitoring firm Team Cymru, Threatpost reports. Under fire from better monitoring of IRC command and control (C&C) traffic and replaced by harder to block HTTP-based botnets, the number of active IRC botnets is dwindling, even as the number of active botnet Command and Control servers is doubling every 18 months, Cymru said.

Submission + - U.S. Marshals saved 35,000 full body scans (gizmodo.com)

Submitted by PatPending
PatPending writes: A Gizmodo investigation has revealed 100 of the photographs saved by the Gen 2 millimeter wave scanner from Brijot Imaging Systems, Inc., obtained by a FOIA request after it was recently revealed that U.S. Marshals operating the machine in the Orlando, Florida courthouse had improperly-perhaps illegally-saved [35,000] images [low resolution] of the scans of public servants and private citizens.
Science

Submission + - Yes Virginia, Pterosaurs Can Fly (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Scientists had begun to doubt that pterosaurs (aka pterodactyls), the giant winged reptiles from the age of the dinosaurs, could fly. But a new study puts them back in the air. Unlike birds, which take off using only their puny hind legs, pterosaurs took off with all four of their limbs. With the added force of their much more powerful forelimbs, even giants like the thousand-pound Quetzalcoatlus could leave the ground. (Check out the cool video)

Submission + - Graphene Can be Made With Table Sugar (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: There’s no doubt that the discovery of graphene is one sweet breakthrough. The remarkable material offers everything from faster, cooler electronics and cheaper lithium-ion batteries to faster DNA sequencing and single-atom transistors. Researchers at Rice University have made graphene even sweeter by developing a way to make pristine sheets of the one-atom-thick form of carbon from plain table sugar and other carbon-based substances. In another plus, the one-step process takes place at temperatures low enough to make the wonder material easy to manufacture.

Submission + - Capacitive touchscreen usable with a stylus (diginfo.tv)

Submitted by dk3nn3dy
dk3nn3dy writes: Hitachi Displays have developed a capacitive touchscreen which converts input from a non-conductive object into electrostatic capacitance. This enables it to be used in a diverse range of ways, such as multi-touch using several fingers, with a plastic pen for finer input, and in cold places while wearing gloves. The display is currently under development for release in the second half of 2011.

Comment Re:Too close to the subject... (Score 1) 396

by bgibby9 (#33273332) Attached to: How Can I Make Testing Software More Stimulating?

The system I have seen work very well in the past is to create a culture of accountability, where as part of finding the bug, if nobody owns up to making a mistake, the SVN logs are traced to find the originator of the bug and it filed as part of the bug report. It sounds vindictive, but it is more a learning exercise to find out the weaknesses in our development process. What this does however is give someone a great incentive to test every case before committing, since their mistakes will be known to the whole team soon. Nobody tests better than the original dev, when his pride is on the line.

Definitely seen a lot of this around the traps but the biggest problem with this is (not that this isn't effective) most companies that rely upon this type of accountability rarely ever flip that around and start giving accolades or acknowledgements when the devs are working well.

If the company handles both the positive and the negative I believe a well balanced dev environment could exist. Unfortunately giving praise is rarely something a dev gets!

Comment Re:Too close to the subject... (Score 2, Insightful) 396

by bgibby9 (#33271584) Attached to: How Can I Make Testing Software More Stimulating?
I think my point is that, devs that do unit testing are contributing to the testing overall which is sweet, but come on, who ever makes unit tests that are 'decent' enough to ensure that the testing is done correctly?

IMHO testing should be done by people who CARE about testing. Devs who do shitty unit testing contribute to the facade that the testing is done and working properly but in reality a shitty unit test could mask other problems.

At that point you're creating more problems than you are solving!

Comment Re:Wrong (Score 1) 1268

by bgibby9 (#33260450) Attached to: US Students Struggle With Understanding of the 'Equal' Sign
'It would be a shame if they weren't still exposing children to programming in school.'

I totally agree. Having the experience of entering a program from a book and being happy in the output was the primary reason I became a programmer. It is a shame that my kids are not being exposed to this at school.

Fortunately I am doing it for them myself :)

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