Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Space

Submission + - Die-hard Pluto Fans Have New Cause Fro Despair (astronomyreport.com)

Submitted by HaHaHa7129
HaHaHa7129 writes: AstronomyReport.com tells us that new data shows that the dwarf planet Eris is 27 percent more massive than Pluto, thereby strengthening the decree last year that there are eight planets in the solar system and a growing list of dwarf planets. The new results, obtained with Hubble Space Telescope and Keck Observatory data, indicate that the density of the material making up Eris is about two grams per cubic centimeter. This means that Eris very likely is made up of ice and rock, and thus is very similar in composition to Pluto. Past results from the Hubble Space Telescope had already allowed planetary scientists to determine that its diameter is 2,400 kilometers, also larger than Pluto's.
Businesses

Submission + - Opalescent plastic could be both pretty and handy

Submitted by AnotherDaveB
AnotherDaveB writes: A group of researchers from the University of Southampton, in England, and the German Plastics Institute in Darmstadt, led by Jeremy Baumberg, have discovered how to create a plastic with th Opal's iridescent properties. Their invention could be used to make a sparkling substitute for paint, banknotes that are hard to counterfeit and chemical sensors that can act as visible sell-by dates.
Security

Submission + - Music-eating worm feeds on MP3s, Courtesy RIAA? (theinquirer.net)

Submitted by
Tech.Luver
Tech.Luver writes: "theinquirer reports, " A WIGGLY WORM that deletes any mp3 files it gets its, um, hands on has been detected. The worm's not that smart or dangerous, unless you leave the virtual barn door open, in which case you could find your digital music collection decimated. ""
Software

Submission + - BitTorrent 6.0 beta closed source, Windows only

Submitted by makomk
makomk writes: The BitTorrent (Mainline) 6.0 beta has been released, and it's a rebranded version of uTorrent. Unfortunately, it's also closed source and Windows-only. (Apparently, BitTorrent Inc always planned that the next version of Mainline would be closed-source, even before they decided to base it on uTorrent.) It also comes with a mysterious content delivery system called BitTorrent DNA, which appears to consist of a single invisible background task, dna.exe.

Does the original, open source BitTorrent client have a future, or is it time for its users to switch to one of the many other BitTorrent clients?
Businesses

Submission + - An Ebay Sale is a Sale

Submitted by syousef
syousef writes: An Ebay Sale is a Sale says an Australian New South Wales State Judge in a case where a man tried to reneg on the Ebay sale of a 1946 World War II Wirraway aircraft. The seller tried to reneg because he'd received an offer $100,000 greater than the Ebay sale price elsewhere. The buyer who had bid the reserve price of $150,000 at the last minute took him to court. "It follows that, in my view, a binding contract was formed between the plaintiff and the defendent and that it should be specifically enforced," Justice Rein said in his decision. All dollar figures are in AUD.
Microsoft

Submission + - Black Hat: Microsoft seeks help on virtualisation

Submitted by Kurtz'sKompund
Kurtz'sKompund writes: Microsoft has for the first time laid out the underpinnings of the security capabilities it has built into its forthcoming Windows Server Virtualisation technology, in hopes that researchers will help vet the software, which is expected to ship next year. http://www.computerworlduk.com/technology/servers- data-centre/infrastructure-management/news/index.c fm?newsid=4371
Technology (Apple)

Submission + - iPhone + eBooks: the Revolution (Finally) Begins? (wordpress.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The iPhone is often cited as a game-changer in the mobile arena. Yet the device's sharp display, user interface and form factor may herald the first effective moves in an activity that has long resisted the digital revolution — book reading. Despite years of efforts by proponents of ebooks, the lack of a killer reader device has hindered the transition for all but early adopters and other adventurers. The iPhone (and its progeny, especially those which evolve a larger screen) may finally smash open the gates. This video demonstrates the iPhone's potential to really start the revolution.
Windows

Submission + - Windows XP Service Pack 3

Submitted by
epsi
epsi writes: "Windows XP SP 3 probably in 2008 — MS had a Roadmap in his recent Partner-Mag — and there was mentioned that a Service Pack 3 for Windows XP will be available in 2008..propably not the end of XP now? ;)"
Quickies

Submission + - New FingerprintingTechnique to Reveal Race and Sex (telegraph.co.uk) 1

Submitted by
Tech.Luver
Tech.Luver writes: "Telegraph reports, " A new fingerprinting technique that can identify the race and sex, and possibly the diet of suspects has been developed. Scientists have shown that using a gelatine-based gel and high-tech chemical analysis can provide significant clues to a person?s identity even if police do not hold existing fingerprint records. ""
Privacy

Submission + - Ruling by Secret US Court Allegedly Reduces Spying

Submitted by conspirator57
conspirator57 writes: TFA http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la- na-spying2aug02,0,5813563.story?coll=la-home-cente r states that the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (a court that no citizen can establish standing to appear before) has ruled against Executive requests for so-called "basket warrants" as violating the 4th amendment to the Constitution, namely that such warrants do not meet the clearly expressed criteria in the second half of the amendment. To accomplish this they must have looked startlingly like British general warrants which were the original motivation for the 4th amendment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrant_(law) for more.

TFA is very sympathetic to the Executive branch, going on to depict ways in which we're all less safe because of this ruling. Personally, I feel safer with more rulings like this one. Just wish the process were a bit more transparent.

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
Windows

Submission + - WPA bug in Vista, is that a security problem? (microsoft.com) 1

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Many people, such as me-said-the-idiot, or maybe all, cannot connect to a WPA protected WiFi network with Vista. So many will have to use an unsecured network configuration in order to go online. Practically all new PC laptops sold now are bundled with Vista, so this could well become the biggest and easiest to exploit security leak.. Many posts on MS forum http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx? PostID=481371&SiteID=17 but apparently it still isn't considered a problem by MS.."
Biotech

Submission + - Chernobyl Mushrooms Feeding on Radiation

Submitted by cowtamer
cowtamer writes: According to a National Geographic Article certain fungi can use ionizing radiation to perform "radiosynthesis" using the pigment melanin (the same one in our skin that protects us from UV radiation). It is speculated that this might be useful on long space voyages where energy from the Sun is not readily available.
Media (Apple)

Journal Journal: Jobs Against Copy Protection 3

Journal by GMontag

During a smoke break I saw a blurb on CNN that Steve Jobs is calling for music companies to remove copy protection from their songs.

Isn't Steve Jobs running Apple Computer, the company that sues people over making computers the same color as theirs?

Slashdot Top Deals

"Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser." -- Vince Lombardi, football coach

Close