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Slashdot.org

Unexpected Slashdot Downtime 219

Posted by CmdrTaco from the zomg-what-a-night dept.
Netcraft confirmed it ... Slashdot was dying for several hours (along with SourceForge, which shares a corporate overlord and router). Some planned downtime from our provider apparently didn't come back up quite as planned. Sorry for the inconvenience. On the upside, we're moving to a new network and hardware soon, so the site should be much faster and more stable rsn.
Books

Journal Journal: Tapestry 5 - Building Web Applications

Journal by ebolaZaireRules

Tapestry 5
Building Web Applications
by Alexander Kolesnikov

All new programming tools, methodologies and frameworks have a 'learning curve'. Some are easier to pick up than others, and some are more effective than others. One thing that they all share, however, is that getting started is the biggest hurdle of all.

If you would like to set the bar as low as possible to begin with, this book (and Tapestry 5) are for you.
Government

Submission + - Your Identity is Safe with Us (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by TitusC3v5
TitusC3v5 writes: According to the BBC, the Next Generation Identification database is ready to see a $1bn contract award as of next month. As always, the administration assures us that "innocent people would have nothing to fear from the database. FBI assistant director Thomas E Bush told the BBC the targets would be what he called the 'bad guys' — terrorist and criminal suspects."
Mozilla

Submission + - Student given detention for using Firefox 3

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Several sites are reporting that a student has been given detention for using "Firefox.exe" to do his classwork. No, really. The student was in class, working on an assignment that necessitated using a browser. The teacher instructed him to stop using Firefox and to do his classwork, to which the student responded that he was doing his classwork using a "better" browser (it is unclear whether the computer was the student's own computer or not). The clueless teacher (who called the rogue program "Firefox.exe") ordered him to detention.
Censorship

Journal Journal: Uses Firefox instead of IE, gets detention

Journal by INT 21h

The school bureaucrats strike again: Two hours detention for using a different browser to do an assignment than expected (somehow I doubt using Opera/Safari/Konqueror/Galeon/etc. instead would have led to any other result.)

http://www.uploadgeek.com/uploads456/0/1197784327416.png

"Foxfire". Better name than iceweasel anyhow.
The Internet

Submission + - Rogers ISP Web Messages Anger Google

Submitted by Jumphard
Jumphard writes: Toronto based ISP, Rogers, potentially overstepped the boundaries [TheStar.com] of what an ISP can and cannot do. They recently tested out new "technology" that inserts Rogers messages into HTML pages served from other websites to inform users of their monthly bandwidth usage. This has changed the look and feel of Google Inc.'s webpage for Rogers subscribers, and Google hasn't taken the offense lightly. Google and other critics say it is the start of a slippery slope of ISPs botching net-neutrality and controlling the web as they see fit. Is this a simple case of a harmless new feature being taken the wrong way, or is Rogers on it's way to becoming the new People's Republic of China?
Patents

Submission + - Dell announces touchscreen and is immediately sued (informationweek.com)

Submitted by goombah99
goombah99 writes: Dell computer announced their foray into consumer touchscreen tablets using multitouch technology. And they are immediately sued in Texas by a company who's 1995 and 1997 patents cover "Portable computer with touch screen and computing system employing same". The claims seem to cover any touchscreen laptop or computing device. The Latitude XT's base price is $2,499, it has a 12.1-inch LED-backlit screen, a 1.06-gigahertz Intel Core 2 Solo processor, 1GB of memory, and a 40GB hard drive with Vista or XP. Battery life is said to be 5 hours and it weighs 3.5 pounds. The screen rotates from notebook with integral keyboard to tablet mode.
PlayStation (Games)

Submission + - PS3/X360 Orange Box Comparo: EA's fault?

Submitted by
fistfullast33l
fistfullast33l writes: "1Up's Gamevideos.com has posted a side by side comparison of the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Half Life Orange Box. The video shows that the PS3 definitely has some issues with slowdown, as previously discussed here on Slashdot. The biggest issues seem to occur during the jetski scene in the original HL2. However, upon closer review you can see that the largest lag (which really turns the game into a slideshow) actually occurs while the game is quicksaving, something the 360 does not actually do. This occurs right around 1:47 in the video. Is this the hardware's fault, or EA's fault for poorly implementing the Quick Save on the PS3? Not having played the game I couldn't say if the quicksave was controlled by the user, but it certainly makes you suspect whether the slowdown is actually a coding or hardware issue and rather a game design problem. Couldn't they have just scheduled the quicksave a little later?"
KDE

Submission + - KDE 4 uses 40% less memory despite 3D eye-candy

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Pro-Linux reports that KDE 4, scheduled to be released in January 2008, consumes almost 40% less memory than KDE 3.5, despite the fact that version 4 of the Free and Open Source desktop system includes a composited window manager and a revamped menu and applet interface. KDE developer Will Stephenson showcased KDE 4's 3D eye-candy on a 256Mb laptop with 1Ghz CPU and run-of-the-mill integrated graphics, pointing out that mini-optimizations haven't even yet been started. Will this combination of resource efficiency and consumer appeal make KDE 4 the leader in the booming Linux-based ultra mobile laptop and energy efficient desktop markets?
Censorship

The Register Exposes More Wikipedia Abuse 524

Posted by Zonk from the it's-the-internet-how-could-there-not-be-drama dept.
cyofee writes "The Register has up another article exposing abuse of Wikipedia's policies and processes. It tells a tale of a man, Gary Weiss, controlling the Wikipedia article about himself and his enemies (one of Wikipedia's biggest taboos) all under the blessing of the Wikipedia Cabal. A man who attempted to expose the affair on Wikipedia, along with his his entire IP range (some 1000 homes), was permanently blocked. This comes only days after the affair of the Secret Mailing list."
Censorship

Submission + - The Register exposes more Wikipedia abuse

Submitted by cyofee
cyofee writes: The Register writes another great article exposing the abuse Wikipedia's policies and processes. It tells a tale of a man, Gary Weiss, controlling the Wikipedia article about himself and his enemies, one of the most important things Wikipedia prohibits, all under the blessing of the Wikipedia Cabal, among them the ex-spy-turned-wikipedian Linda Mack, better known as SlimVirgin. A man who attempted to expose the affair on Wikipedia was not only immideately blocked but also had his entire IP range (which covers more then 1000 homes) permanently blocked. This comes only days after the affair of the Secret Mailing list
Security

Submission + - Installing a game patch, CCP removes c:\boot.ini 1

Submitted by
egnop
egnop writes: "So there are about 300k subscribers that play the EVE-online game, at 5 december they had a large patch/upgrade for the game, imagine installing it, reboot your computer and it says, boot.ini missing can't start :-/ From their website: http://www.eve-online.com/ Posted — 2007.12.06 06:19:00 — [1] Please do not reboot your computer without reading this information and determining if your system might be affected. If you upgraded from the Classic client to the Premium client, using the content upgrade, then please read on. Check the root directory of your hard drive and see if you have a boot.ini file, if so then you are not affected. The file is normally hidden so you need to click Tools : Folder Options : View and select "Show hidden files and folders" and uncheck "Hide protected operating system files" to be able to see it. You can also check for the presence of this file by clicking Start : Control Panel : System : Advanced : Startup and Recovery : Settings (third button down). Windows will alert you if the boot.ini file is missing. ... Now that is like sending out a virus to your paying customers, firing the QA departement and going bankrupped?"
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Old Boys Network:: Is it at work on SLASHDOT? 2

Submitted by
raptorialis
raptorialis writes: "I posted an article entitled "British Hacker Cell invents worlds first totally secure laptop computer", which is a sensational story by anybody's standards only to be upended later by a similar, but much less positive story by Bruce Steneier, entitled "IT: Security in Ten Years". I have seen similar patterns, which look to me like Slashdot are taking peoples ideas and attributing them to other people. Also, i see hundreds of interesting articles on Slashdot, but the ones that make centre stage seem to come from a small monopoly of people — such as Zonk, CmdrTaco and ScuttleMonkey. Lets start being a bit more liberal with the centre stage Slashdot — and please publish my article on the worlds first totally secure laptop — because it will save industry billions every year. www.innovationwarfare.com."
Security

Submission + - Vista tougher than XP on piracy (efluxmedia.com)

Submitted by
Josh Fink
Josh Fink writes: "The folks over at efluxmedia have an intersting, if one sided piece on how Vista's piracy rates are half that of XP. From the article: "Microsoft announced yesterday that piracy rates for Windows Vista are half those of XP and this proves that the giant software maker really created its toughest operating system up to date....Additionally, Microsoft announced on Monday that it plans to offer an update for WGA that will run the piracy check regularly, without the computer users initiating the process." I do not believe that Vista is 'tougher' I just believe that it has not been accepted yet by the IT/user world yet. As for WGA being updated and running without consent, I think Microsoft might be called out in the world of privacy, just like how it was when WGA was released."

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