wronzki - Slashdot User

Submission + - Shredded secret police files being reassembled

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 09, 2007 @05:17PM

An anonymous reader writes: German researchers at the Frauenhofer Institute said Wednesday that they were launching an attempt to reassemble millions of shredded East German secret police files using complicated computerized algorithms. The files were shredded as the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and it became clear that the East German regime was finished. Panicking officials of the Stasi secret police attempted to destroy the vast volumes of material they had kept on everyone from their own citizens to foreign leaders.

Submission + - California to start review of voting machines

Submitted by on Wednesday May 09, 2007 @05:05PM

An anonymous reader writes: California Secretary of State Debra Bowen just announced details about the previously slashdotted "top-to-bottom review" of almost all voting and counting systems used in the state. The team features big names in e-voting security: David Wagner, Matt Bishop, Ed Felten, Matt Blaze, and Harri Hursti, among others. Vendors have time to submit their machines including documentation and source code until July 1st or face severe restrictions, including decertification, for the 2008 elections. Scheduled to start next week, the review will include a red-team attack and going through the source code.

Submission + - ATI to go opensource ?

Submitted by BESTouff on Wednesday May 09, 2007 @04:36PM

BESTouff writes: As seen on Chris Blizzard's blog: The ATI marketing guy on stage (Henri Richard) at the Red Hat Summit just committed to fixing the ATI problems with open source. To paraphrase "most people are worried about what they will lose...IP, etc...we're worried about what we can win." They know it's a problem and they are committed to fixing it.

Submission + - Chips on DVDs could prevent theft

Submitted by Kiralan on Wednesday May 09, 2007 @04:36PM

Kiralan writes: New technology designed to thwart DVD theft makes discs unplayable until they're activated at the cash register. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070509/ap_on_hi_te/te chbit_dvd_theft From the story: "A chip smaller than the head of a pin is placed onto a DVD along with a thin coating that blocks a DVD player from reading critical information on the disc. At the register, the chip is activated and sends an electrical pulse through the coating, turning it clear and making the disc playable." This appears to be a decent use of security technology, but what is the potential of this being the new DIVX?

Ceiling Height May Affect Problem-Solving Skills 279

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wednesday May 09, 2007 @04:02PM from the how-low-can-you-go dept.

An anonymous reader writes to mention that a recent University of Minnesota study suggests that ceiling height may affect problem-solving skills. "'When people are in a room with a high ceiling, they activate the idea of freedom. In a low-ceilinged room, they activate more constrained, confined concepts.' Either can be good. The concept of freedom promotes information processing that encourages greater variation in the kinds of thoughts one has, said Meyers-Levy, professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota. The concept of confinement promotes more detail-oriented processing."

Submission + - Customers Realize Benefits of Microsoft-Novell ?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 09, 2007 @02:10PM

An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft Corp. and Novell Inc. today announced that 12 new customers have signed up to take advantage of the companies' collaboration. These customers, from around the globe, are 1blu, Arsys, Fujitsu Services Oy, Gordon Food Service, Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., hi5 Networks Inc., Host Europe, Nationwide, PRISACOM SA, Reed Elsevier, Save Mart Supermarkets, and state of California, Department of Fish and Game.

Submission + - Virgin America asking for in-flight Linux Games ?

Submitted by Ageing Metalhead on Wednesday May 09, 2007 @12:14PM

Ageing Metalhead writes: Virgin America (http://www.virginamerica.com) is asking for the Open Source community to contribute to their in-flight entertainment offerings.

Seats will include 110v power, USB and RJ45 (Hopefully connected to some net connection on the other end) Open source video games (and an invitation for savvy linux game developers to participate in Red)"

Virgin softening the pain for all and not just First class, the main cabin has all the toys as well.

Submission + - Why Closed Source Software is good

Submitted by neax on Monday May 07, 2007 @06:45PM

neax writes: I am talking to a group of students regarding the differences between closed and open source software, and the different business models that they use. In particular, I am wanting more information regarding Closed Source software and the business models they use and why they are good, and was wondering it you have any interesting advice or links to assist me in providing the students with all the information....and stuff that is interesting/ funny to use as examples. I am primarily interested in looking for information around why closed source is a good and viable option, rather than from the perspective of why open source is good, because this argument has been rehashed numerous times (go easy on the flamebait please!)

Submission + - Mineral Oil Submerged Computer

Submitted by

WilliamGeorge

on Monday May 07, 2007 @06:44PM

WilliamGeorge writes: "In their off-time, some of the folks over at Puget Custom Computers did a fun modding project — a mineral-oil cooled computer, in a small fish tank. Surprisingly functional and also reasonably good looking, this could be a great DIY project for those in the modding community. The charts showing temperature build-up in the cooling solution are interesting, and the linked time-lapse video on YouTube is definitely worth watching."

Submission + - The Entrepreneur and Standards

Submitted by wronzki on Monday May 07, 2007 @06:22PM

wronzki writes: In a letter to EE Times, Ken Krechmer links to his award-winning IEC paper, "The Entrepreneur and Standards"(PDF). "Maintaining a balance between private gain and public good is exactly what a standard (and most other societal systems) should do. Moving too far out of balance is usually a mistake for society." His paper describes the evolving balance between authorities (governments) and entrepreneurs (business) in standardization over the last 10,000 years.

Submission + - Your kids will kill us all, with CO2 emissions

Submitted by

Powdered Milkman

on Monday May 07, 2007 @06:14PM

Powdered Milkman writes: "According to the Optimum Population Trust, a green think tank, large families are killing the planet. The article says 'The effect on the planet of having one child less is an order of magnitude greater than all these other things we might do, such as switching off lights.' and that as a general guideline most families should limit themselves to 2 kids.

Can this type of report ever receive the consideration it deserves? Or is it more environmental conviction than any person is willing to muster?"

Submission + - Top 17 Search Innovations Outside Of Google

Submitted by

VelvetsFan

on Monday May 07, 2007 @06:01PM

VelvetsFan writes: "There are an abundance of new search engines, each pioneering some innovation in search technology. Read/WriteWeb has a list of the top 17 search innovations that will prove disruptive in the future. These innovations are classified into four types: Query Pre-processing; Information Sources; Algorithm Improvement; Results Visualization and Post-processing. While some of these innovations are present in various Google properties, they are either missing or available only in limited form in the main search page.

The article posits: it is very likely that in the future, the simple "search box" on the Google front page will hide a variety of specialized search engines behind it. On the other hand, trying to cram in an increasing number of these sophisticated features has the potential to make the overall architecture for Google (or any mainstream web search engine) very complex and difficult to change, so the trade-offs will present an increasingly difficult challenge."

Submission + - Averting Data Center Disasters with the EPO Button

Submitted by

1sockchuck

on Monday May 07, 2007 @05:35PM

1sockchuck writes: "Most data centers have an Emergency Power Off (EPO) button that will shut off power to the entire data center floor. Designed for fire prevention, the EPO (often a red button) has also triggered many accidental outages when vendors or cleaning crews have pressed it by accident. On April 15, the EPO figured in an apparent act of sabotage that crashed the data center that controls California's electrical grid. A disgruntled sysadmin was later charged in the incident. At the recent Data Center World conference, a session focused on ways to configure and manage the EPO button to reduce the risk of an accident or sabotage. "People can get killed and lives ruined by data center failures today," said data center designer Richard Sawyer. "The EPO represents a single point of failure. Make it accessible, but don't make it easy.""

Submission + - South Korea developing robot code of ethics

Submitted by thefickler on Monday May 07, 2007 @04:59PM

thefickler writes: A 12-member task force, consisting of top lawyers, doctors and scientists, has been set up by the South Korean Commerce Ministry to develop a code of ethics for robots by the end of the year, according to TECH.BLORGE.com.

"We expect the day will soon come when intellectual robots can act upon their own decisions. So we are presenting this as an ethical guideline on the role and ability of robots," said South Korea's Commerce Ministry.

Submission + - Myspace eliminates "Gay" option

Submitted by

ishboo

on Monday May 07, 2007 @04:58PM

ishboo writes: "Just recently myspace abolished the option to select "Gay" as a sexual preference in your profile while still leaving bi and lesbian. This comes form chairman of News Corps. (Myspace's parent company) Rupert Murdoch who made this choice based on "Personal Family Values" who has a history of being accused of being homophobic. http://rawstory.com/news/2007/MySpace_deletes_abil ity_of_users_to_0503.html"

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