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GNU is Not Unix

Free Software To Save Us From Social Networks 249

Posted by kdawson from the wall-warts-unite dept.
Glyn Moody writes "Here's a problem for free software: most social networks are built using it, yet through their constant monitoring of users they do little to promote freedom. Eben Moglen, General Counsel of the Free Software Foundation for 13 years, and the legal brains behind several versions of the GNU GPL, thinks that the free software world needs to fix this with a major new hardware+software project. 'The most attractive hardware is the ultra-small, ARM-based, plug it into the wall, wall-wart server. [Such] an object can be sold to people at a very low one-time price, and brought home and plugged into an electrical outlet and plugged into a wall jack for the Ethernet, and you're done. It comes up, it gets configured through your Web browser on whatever machine you want to have in the apartment with it, and it goes and fetches all your social networking data from all the social networking applications, closing all your accounts. It backs itself up in an encrypted way to your friends' plugs, so that everybody is secure in the way that would be best for them, by having their friends holding the secure version of their data.' Could such a plan work, or is it simply too late to get people to give up their Facebook accounts for something that gives them more freedom?"

Comment Re:Python or Java (Score 1) 407

by Xamusk (#31480516) Attached to: Good Language Choice For School Programming Test?
You forgot the most important fact in you advantages list: with Python, lists are a built-in type. Which pretty much means you have built-in powerful sort, without the need for importing nothing, and some other useful methods. Also, it has built-in strings, with many built-in methods. That pretty much covers many of the problems writing competition software, and definitely will give an edge, since properly programming those algorithms take a lot of time.
Security

Security Industry Faces Attacks It Can't Stop 305

Posted by kdawson from the crying-out-for-paradigm-shift dept.
itwbennett writes "The takedown of the Mariposa botnet and so-called advanced persistent threat attacks, such as the one that compromised Google systems in early December, were hot topics at the RSA conference last week. What both Mariposa and the Google attacks illustrate, and what went largely unsaid at RSA, was that the security industry has failed to protect paying customers from some of today's most pernicious threats, writes Robert McMillan. Traditional security products are simply not much help, said Alex Stamos, a partner with Isec Partners, one of the companies investigating the APT attacks. 'All of the victims we've worked with had perfectly installed antivirus,' he said. 'They all had intrusion detection systems and several had Web proxies scan content.'"
Encryption

Ubisoft's New DRM Cracked In One Day 678

Posted by timothy from the next-time-gadget-next-time dept.
Colonel Korn writes "Ubisoft's recent announcement that upcoming games would require a constant internet connection in order to play has been discussed at length on Slashdot ('The Awful Anti-Pirate System That Will Probably Work'). Many were of the opinion that this new, more demanding DRM would have effectiveness to match its inconvenience, at least financially justifying its use. Others assumed that it would be immediately cracked, as is usually the case, leaving the inconvenience for paying customers and resulting in a superior product for pirates. As usual, the latter group was right. Though Ubisoft won't yet admit it, Skid-Row managed to crack the new DRM less than a day after it was first released."

Comment Re:Just imagine... (Score 1) 160

by Xamusk (#31325060) Attached to: Woman Live-Tweets Her Abortion

She clearly stated that she aborted her late pregnancy because it was dangerous to her, and that she already has a boy. This means she won't have any more.

So, the only thing that could happen is him asking her if he could have had a younger brother.

Anyway, he probably won't be as bitchy about abortion as some other people around these days.

Comment Re:Someone enlighten me (Score 5, Insightful) 263

by Xamusk (#31324986) Attached to: Newborns' Blood Used To Build Secret DNA Database
Probably, "anonymized" to them really means that only the person's name was erased. Yet, as most slashdotters know, there are other ways to track a person from other information. For example, the name may be gone, but if the hospital and birth date are yet in the database, it narrows down considerably the number of people being searched. And, as we all know, the db probably will be abused at some time.
Portables

iPad Will Beat Netbooks With "Magic" 1010

Posted by CmdrTaco from the gonna-need-more-planes dept.
entirely_fluffy writes "In a talk intended to woo investors, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook said the iPad will win over potential netbook buyers, but not because of specs or features. No, Cook said, the iPad's magical properties will seal the deal. 'The netbook is not an experience people are going to continue wanting to have,' Cook said, according to Macworld. 'When they play with the iPad and experience the magic of using it ... I have a hard time believing they're going to go for a netbook.'" Another thing that would help would be a camera and a $100 discount, but hey Magic is cool too, provided they have enough mana.
Image

Measuring the Speed of Light With Valentine's Day Chocolate Screenshot-sm 126

Posted by samzenpus from the speed-of-the-sound-of-loneliness dept.
Cytotoxic writes "What to do with all of those leftover Valentine's Day chocolates? — a common problem for the Slashdot crowd. The folks over at Wired magazine have an answer for you in a nice article showing how to measure the speed of light with a microwave and some chocolate. A simple yet surprisingly accurate method that can be used to introduce the scientific method to children and others in need of a scientific education."

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