mdfst13 - Slashdot User

Submission + - How do I get back into IT after a five year absence?

Submitted by boredemt on Monday October 15, 2012 @02:08AM

boredemt writes: I know this kind of question is asked ad nauseum, but I can't think of a better place to ask. I used to work in IT. Mostly Windows administration and support. Typical corporate stuff. I was laid off in 2007 and, out of a need to pay the bills, I took my volunteer hobby (Emergency Medical Services) and started doing it full time. Fast forward five years and I'm sort of stuck in EMS. To add to it I was recently injured at work and it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to go back. I've been applying to some IT jobs but it seems that my hiatus from the field has made me a dinosaur. I actually had a hiring manager tell me that directly. So, Slashdotters, what's my best route back with an (extremely) limited budget?

Submission + - A Supercomputer on the Moon to Direct Deep Space Traffic 1

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens writes

on Sunday October 14, 2012 @11:11AM

Hugh Pickens writes writes: "NASA currently controls its deep space missions through a network of 13 giant antennas in California, Spain and Australia known as the Deep Space Network (DSN) but the network is obsolete and just not up to the job of transmitting the growing workload of extra-terrestrial data from deep space missions. That's why Ouliang Chang has proposed building a massive supercomputer in a deep dark crater on the side of the moon facing away from Earth and all of its electromagnetic chatter. Nuclear-powered, it would accept signals from space, store them, process them if needed and then relay the data back to Earth as time and bandwidth allows. The supercomputer would run in frigid regions near one of the moon’s poles where cold temperatures would make cooling the supercomputer easier, and would communicate with spaceships and earth using a system of inflatable, steerable antennas that would hang suspended over moon craters, giving the Deep Space Network a second focal point away from earth. As well as boosting humanity's space-borne communication abilities, Chang's presentation at a space conference (PDF) in Pasadena, California also suggests that the moon-based dishes could work in unison with those on Earth to perform very-long-baseline interferometry, which allows multiple telescopes to be combined to emulate one huge telescope. Best of all the project has the potential to excite the imagination of future spacegoers and get men back on the moon."

Submission + - Best Linux game for young kids 2

Submitted by pseudorand on Sunday October 14, 2012 @10:31AM

pseudorand writes: I have a 3 year old that I've so far kept away from TV and computers. I met a gamer who has a 1 year old that plays xbox (probably better than I do). I believe kids should experience the real world first, but computers will obviously be a basic job still for the foreseeable future and I'm afraid I'm letting my kid fall behind.

I'd like to responsibly introduce my son to computers so he can start developing hard-eye coordination, typing skills and learning UI concepts. What's the best (Linux, of course) game to get a kid started with? Shoot-em-up's are obviously out, but I'm more concerned with something that will help him understand how to interact with a mouse, keyboard and screen and hold his attention rather than something 'educational' because there's plenty of (probably more effective) ways to teach math, reading, etc. that don't involve a computer.

So far I've tried Tux Racer, which held his attention for 10 minutes or so. He doesn't quite get pressing multiple keys simultaneously yet.

Comment Re:Isn't California in debt? (Score 1) 191

by mdfst13 on Saturday October 13, 2012 @04:02PM (#41643643) Attached to: Tesla Motors Getting $10 Million From California For Model X Production

The only way protectionism causes higher prices is when your industry cannot match the demand.

Protectionism works by increasing the prices of foreign products to match or exceed prices of domestic products. If domestic prices were already as cheap as foreign prices, you wouldn't need protectionism. You would just compete.

Comment Re:Someone forgot to tell these guys (Score 2) 315

by mdfst13 on Wednesday October 10, 2012 @02:31PM (#41610541) Attached to: Half-Life of DNA is 521 Years, <em>Jurassic Park</em> Impossible After All

There is a big difference between finding 10,000 year old mammoth DNA under near perfect conditions (the bodies froze quickly because it was already freezing and stayed frozen until they were found) and hoping to find 65 million year old Tyrannosaurus rex DNA under bad conditions (the processes that preserve fossilized bones are bad for DNA--too much heat and pressure). As cold weather animals, mammoths are ideal candidates for something like this. The dinosaurs required much warmer climates.

Submission + - Phil Zimmermann's New App Protects SmartPhones from Prying Ears 1

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens writes

on Tuesday October 09, 2012 @02:41PM

Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Neal Ungerleider writes that cryptography pioneer and Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) creator Phil Zimmermann has launched a new startup that provides industrial strength encryption for Android and iOS where users will have access to encrypted phone calls, emails, VoIP videoconferencing, SMS text messages, and MMS multimedia messages. Text and multimedia messages are wiped from a phone's registry after a pre-determined amount of time, and communications within the network are allegedly completely secure. An “Off-Shore” company with employees from many countries, Silent Circle's target market include troops serving abroad, foreign businesspeople in countries known for surveillance of electronic communications, government employees, human rights activists, and foreign activists. For encryption tools, which are frequently used by dissidents living under repressive regimes and others with legitimate reasons to avoid government surveillance, the consequences of failed encryption can be deadly. "Everyone has a solution [for security] inside your building and inside your network, but the big concern of the large multinational companies coming to us is when the employees are coming home from work, they're on their iPhone, Android, or iPad emailing and texting," says Zimmermann. "They're in a hotel in the Middle East. They're not using secure email. They're using Gmail to send PDFs." Another high-profile encryption tool, Cryptocat, was at the center of controversy earlier this year after charges that that Cryptocat had far too many structural flaws for safe use in a repressive environment."

Submission + - Facebook tests Want button to hoard user data, save its stock price (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle on Tuesday October 09, 2012 @01:57PM

colinneagle writes: Facebook is currently testing "want" and "collect" buttons on roughly a third of users, but will eventually roll out the new ecommerce-focused tools to 100% of U.S. users.

The company is working with Victoria's Secret, Pottery Barn, Michael Kors, Wayfair, Neiman Marcus, Fab.com and Smith Optics.

The difference between "liking" and "wanting" would be like discovering the holy grail of datamining. Inside Facebook said that although the "Want" button is different than the Want plugin that developer Tom Waddington noticed in June, the company may eventually offer it as a plugin.

Unsurprisingly, Facebook wants to keep people on the site as opposed to leaving to visit Pinterest. Collections will offer retailers a Pinterest-like option to engage buyers, offer users a way to collect images, while also collecting even more data about users. For example, Facebook asks, "Why are you collecting this?" Regardless of a user's answer, the wants and collects will surely be used to deliver targeted ads. Eventually, the Collections feature could help Facebook generate more revenue.

Submission + - Free program makes computer graphics more realistic (cornell.edu)

Submitted by wazlaf on Tuesday October 09, 2012 @01:35PM

wazlaf writes: Computer-generated images can be a little more realistic — and a lot cheaper to make — with an open-source rendering program created by Cornell graduate student Wenzel Jakob. A major new version of Mitsuba was just released. "What really is new is that Mitsuba implements a group of rendering algorithms that traditionally have been horribly complicated," Jakob said. Together with improvements developed at Cornell University, these can simulate the complex behavior of light traveling through glossy materials such as brushed metal or glass.

Submission + - Too old to retrain? 1

Submitted by Talcyon on Friday October 05, 2012 @07:56AM

Talcyon writes: I'm a 40 year old dev, and it's become apparent that my .NET skillset is woefully out of date after 5 years of doing various bits of support. I tried the "Management" thing last year but that was a failure as I'm just not a people person, and a full-on development project this year has turned into a disaster area. I'm mainly a VB.NET person with skills from the .NET 2.0 era. Is that it? Do I give up a career in technology now? Or turn around and bury myself in a support role, sorting out issues with other peoples/companies software?
I've been lurking around Slashdot for many years now, and this question occasionally comes up, but it pays to get the opinions of others...
Do I retrain and get back up to speed or am I too old?

Submission + - Boeing proposes using gas clouds to bring down orbital debris (gizmag.com) 1

Submitted by cylonlover on Friday October 05, 2012 @04:59AM

cylonlover writes: Boeing has filed a patent for a method of disposing of dead satellites and other debris orbiting the earth by hitting them with a puff of gas. The method, which is still at the conceptual stage, is designed to slow down satellites, forcing them to re-enter the atmosphere without sending up more space junk that itself will need disposing of. The idea is to send a small satellite into orbit containing a gas generator. This generator can be a tank of cryogenic gas, such as xenon or krypton, or a device designed to vaporize a heavy metal or some relatively heavy elements like fluorine, chlorine, bromine, or iodine. This gas would be released as a cloud in the same orbit as the debris, but traveling in the opposite direction.

Submission + - Electric cars could be a threat to the environment (bbc.co.uk) 3

Submitted by another random user on Friday October 05, 2012 @03:18AM

another random user writes: Electric cars might pollute much more than petrol or diesel-powered cars, according to new research. The Norwegian University of Science and Technology study found greenhouse gas emissions rose dramatically if coal was used to produce the electricity. Electric car factories also emitted more toxic waste than conventional car factories, their report in the Journal of Industrial Energy said.

"The global warming potential from electric vehicle production is about twice that of conventional vehicles."

In addition, producing batteries and electric motors requires a lot of toxic minerals such as nickel, copper and aluminium. Hence, the acidification impact is much greater than that of conventional car production.

In regions where fossil fuels are the main sources of power, electric cars offer no benefits and may even cause more harm, the report said.

"It is counterproductive to promote electric vehicles in regions where electricity is primarily produced from lignite, coal or even heavy oil combustion."

Submission + - Got questions for FDA on medical device security? Send 'em in! (secure-medicine.org) 1

Submitted by

chicksdaddy

on Thursday October 04, 2012 @10:07PM

chicksdaddy writes: "I will be moderating a federal panel that will brief the NIST ISPAB (Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board) on the recently published GAO report on medical device security.
Do you have a burning question about the security of medical devices (including implantable medical devices)? If so, please send them along or post as comments. Thanks!"

Submission + - US Television Network CW Embeds Smartphone in Magazine Ads (g4tv.com)

Submitted by Revotron on Thursday October 04, 2012 @05:28PM

Revotron writes: Readers of Entertainment Weekly might be shocked to find their magazine is a good bit heavier than normal this week. US-based broadcaster CW placed an ad in Entertainment Weekly which uses a fully-functional 3G Android smartphone, a T-Mobile SIM card, and a specialized app to display short video advertisements along with the CW Twitter feed. Writers at Mashable were willing to geek out with a Swiss Army knife and a video camera to give us all the gory details as they tore it down piece-by-piece to discover the inner workings of CW's new ad.

Submission + - The website for B&N's new Nook Media sub already belongs to someone else (the-digital-reader.com)

Submitted by Nate the greatest on Thursday October 04, 2012 @02:22PM

Nate the greatest writes: Do you remember when Netflix decided to spin off the DVD service as Qwikster, only they forgot to check the related Twitter account first? B&N didn't quite goof that badly today, but they came close. It turns out NookMedia.com is registered to a Swedish software developer, and so is the Twitter handle. Mattias Hallqvist could not be reached for comment so we don't know yet of he likes being the new face of B&N ebook efforts.

Submission + - We Don't Need More Highways

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens writes

on Thursday October 04, 2012 @11:40AM

Hugh Pickens writes writes: "When it comes to infrastructure, politicians usually prefer shiny new projects over humdrum repairs. A brand-new highway is exciting: There’s a ribbon-cutting, and there’s less need to clog up existing lanes with orange cones and repair crews. So it’s not surprising that 57 percent of all state highway funding goes toward new construction, often stretching out to the suburbs, even though new roads represent just 1.3 percent of the overall system. Now Brad Plumer writes in the Washington Post that many transportation reformers think this is a wrong-headed approach and that we should focus our dollars on fixing and upgrading existing infrastructure rather than continuing to build sprawling new roads). UCLA economist Matthew Kahn and the University of Minnesota’s David Levinson made a more detailed case for a “fix-it first” strategy. They noted that, at the moment, federal highway spending doesn’t get subjected to strict cost-benefit analysis, and governments often build new roads when they arguably shouldn’t (PDF). And that’s to say nothing of data suggesting that poor road conditions are a “significant factor” in one-third of all fatal crashes, and cause extra wear and tear on cars. "When a highway gets clogged, states find it more palatable to simply build new lanes rather than, say, put in place congestion fees — even though research has found that widening highways does little to alleviate traffic jams," concludes Plumer. "There’s a strong policy case that we could stand to build fewer new highways out to the suburbs, at least for the time being.""

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