bloody_liberal - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Beware, the robot is teleoperated (Score 2, Interesting) 93

by bloody_liberal on Sunday September 07, 2008 @06:19PM (#24914095) Attached to: The Open Source Humanoid Robot and Its Many Uses

The robot is being teleoperated in those videos.

Certainly that's the case. I think the intention of this project is to create a platform for future research.

By making it open-source (and hopefully affordable), it has better chances of being accepted as a standard benchmark for the next generation of embodied AI (which, as its name implies, isn't here yet). Think about it as the physics engine, not the game itself...

Having said that, let's embark on the more interesting discussion of what are the prospects of a robot successfully roaming around our homes. I claim that cleaning is achievable with present-day technology, but more lively interaction with us (humans) around is still far away...

Your thoughts, AC?

Submission + - Stopping Suitcase Nukes with Cellphones

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens

on Monday February 11, 2008 @11:43PM

Hugh Pickens writes: "Tiny solid-state radiation sensors could be added at little cost to future cellphones so that a network of millions of cell phones blanketing the nation could detect even light residues of radioactive material say researchers at Purdue University who are working to develop a system to help prevent terrorist attacks with a suitcase nuclear weapon or radiological dirty bomb. "It's impossible to completely shield a weapon's radioactive material without making the device too heavy to transport," said one researcher. The system could be trained to ignore known radiation sources, such as hospitals and cell phones already contain global positioning locators, so the network of phones would serve as a tracking system. "The likely targets of a potential terrorist attack would be big cities with concentrated populations, and a system like this would make it very difficult for someone to go undetected with a radiological dirty bomb in such an area," said Andrew Longman, developer of the system. "The more people are walking around with cell phones and PDAs, the easier it would be to detect and catch the perpetrator.""

Submission + - Military contractor censors anti-war candidate (huffingtonpost.com) 1

Submitted by James in Chicago on Tuesday October 23, 2007 @12:00PM

James in Chicago writes: NBC as subsidiary of General Electric, is hosting a debate at Drexel University October 30th. They have set arbitrary funding requirements such that they exclude Senator Mike Gravel from the debates. Whether or not you agree with Gravel's politics he has been the most outspoken candidate concerning the war and the military-industrial-complex. GE on the other hand has over 2 billion dollars worth outstanding military contracts. When military contractors such as GE get to decide which political candidates are heard what does that mean for this Democracy?

Submission + - UK government will not enforce US software patents

Submitted by VJ42 on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @06:32AM

VJ42 writes: I recently signed a online petition on software patents, but instead of dismissing it the UK government sent me a reply confirming it's position against software patents.

The Government remains committed to its policy that no patents should exist for inventions which make advances lying solely in the field of software. Although certain jurisdictions, such as the US, allow more liberal patenting of software-based inventions, these patents cannot be enforced in the UK.
They also remain committed to implementing the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property which means that

The Government will implement those recommendations for which it is responsible, and will therefore continue to exclude patents from areas where they may hinder innovation: including patents which are too broad, speculative, or obvious, or where the advance they make lies in an excluded area such as software.
After all the bad press they've had, this is a welcome bit of good news for us techies.

Submission + - Supreme Court Refuses 200 Year Porn Sentence

Submitted by

Class Act Dynamo

on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @03:14AM

Class Act Dynamo writes: "The United States Supreme Court today refused to hear the appeal of a high school teacher who was sentenced to over 200 years in prison for possessing thousands of child pornography images in Arizona. The justices declined without comment to hear the case. His attorneys argued that the sentence (10 years per image for the 20 images presumably leading to indictment) was disproportionate to the crime. I put this under Your Rights Online even though those rights really don't include possessing child pornography. However, what do Slashdotters think? Was the punishment appropriate for the crime? Think of the children!..but not in the way that this teacher apparently was."

Submission + - Citibank: training users to be less secure

Submitted by Llamedos on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @02:29AM

Llamedos writes: Citibank has redesigned their credit card website (Citicards.com) so that the login page is not an SSL encrypted page. Instead, they expect users to simply accept a little lock GIF file they put up themselves, and their assurance that the form is submitted via SSL. According to Citibank, "Your security is important to us. While the new Citicards.com has an "http" address and no lock icon displays in your browser, your personal information is still protected." Citibank's security page While other sites are moving to more security and more ways for the user to protect himself (e.g., Bank of America's SiteKey program), Citibank is tearing away at protections and trying to train users not to care about security.

Submission + - free wireless user's laptop seized

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26, 2007 @06:10PM

An anonymous reader writes: "ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A police officer seized the laptop computer of a man using the Palmer Library's wireless Internet connection outside the building after the library had closed." http://ap.alaskajournal.com/stories/state/ak/20070 224/151748280.shtml

Mind boggling.

Submission + - File Deleting Software a Hoax

Submitted by

teamhasnoi

on Sunday February 25, 2007 @07:02PM

teamhasnoi writes: "In a followup to yesterday's story the developer of Display Eater has responded to the poor publicity, admitting that the app does not delete files. Quote: "It was my hope that if people thought this happened, they would not try to pirate the program. I could stop wasting time writing copy protection routines to be broken over and over. It turned out to be a mistake." He has now made the application free by posting a registration code, and plans to open-source it."

Submission + - VMware attacks Microsoft?

Submitted by on Sunday February 25, 2007 @06:52PM

An anonymous reader writes: On Monday VMWare will release a white paper detailing its concerns with license changes on Microsoft software that may limit the ability to move virtual-machine software around data centers to automate the management of computing work. This was reported by Steve Lohr of the New York Times in an article published on February 24, 2007. Two choice quotes: "Microsoft is looking for any way it can to gain the upper hand," said Diane Greene, the president of VMware. ... "This seems to be a far more subtle, informed and polished form of competitive aggression than we've seen from Microsoft in the past," said Andrew I. Gavil, a law professor at Howard University. "And Microsoft has no obligation to facilitate a competitor."

Submission + - Surveillance Cameras Get Smarter

Submitted by

atanas

on Sunday February 25, 2007 @06:18PM

atanas writes: "A security camera is under development which will decide PREEMPTIVELY if you have criminal or otherwise untoward intentions. "Researchers and security companies are developing cameras that not only watch the world but also interpret what they see. Soon, some cameras may be able to find unattended bags at airports, guess your height or analyze the way you walk to see if you are hiding something." http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SMART_SURVE ILLANCE?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT"

Journal Journal: Microsoft's Real Plan?

Journal by TemporalBeing on Sunday February 25, 2007 @06:09PM

What's Microsoft's real plan? With the advent of .Net, the Microsoft/Novell deal, the splitting of Microsoft into three major groups internally, and the impossibility of Windows being developed the same way that Vista was for the the generation of Windows it becomes quite possible that Windows as we know it - with an NT Kernel and all - is no longer the future of Windows. Just how might Microsoft surive? Check out my full blog describing

Tor Open To Attack 109

Posted by kdawson on Sunday February 25, 2007 @04:58PM from the peeling-the-onion dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A group of researchers have written a paper that lays out an attack against Tor (PDF) in enough detail to cause Roger Dingledine a fair amount of heartburn. The essential avenue of attack is that Tor doesn't verify claims of uptime or bandwidth, allowing an attacker to advertise more than it need deliver, and thus draw traffic. If the attacker controls the entry and exit node and has decent clocks, then the attacker can link these together and trace someone through the network."

Submission + - Using free wireless at library described as theft

Submitted by

dallas

on Saturday February 24, 2007 @10:01PM

dallas writes: "http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/8667098p-8559 268c.html

Using free wireless at library described as theft
PALMER: Man was tapping into library connection after hours.

By ANDREW WELLNER
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: February 24, 2007)
WASILLA — Brian Tanner was sitting in his Acura Integra recently outside the Palmer Library playing online games when a Palmer police pulled up behind him.

The officer asked him what he was doing.

Tanner, 21, was using the library's wireless Internet connection. He was told that his activity constituted theft of services and was told to leave. The next day, Sunday, police spotted him there again.

"It was kind of like, 'Well gee whiz, come on,' " police Lt. Tom Remaley said.

The police officer confiscated Tanner's laptop in order to inspect what he may have been downloading, Remaley said. Remaley on Friday said he hasn't looked inside the computer yet; he's putting together a search warrant application.

Alaska state troopers had chased Tanner off a few times at other locations, Remaley said.

Tanner said that was true. He has a device on his keychain that sniffs out wireless networks. When he found one, he would park in his neighborhood and use his $800 Dell laptop to hop on the Web. But worried neighbors summoned the troopers, who told him to park in a public place.

"I went to the public library because I go there during the day," Tanner said.

Though the library was closed, its wireless was up and running, he said.

Tanner said he was upset that he hasn't gotten his computer back yet. The police have told him he won't until the case is concluded, he said.

Jeanne Novosad, the library system manager, said the wireless connection is normally shut off when the library is closed. But the library was waiting on a technician to install a timer and the connection was left on after hours for several days, she said.

Remaley said the investigating officer is talking with the District Attorney's Office to determine whether criminal charges are warranted.

Remaley said few of these cases that he's seen have resulted in criminal prosecution.

But, "in this particular case you know he's feeding off something that we know the city of Palmer pays for and there are requirements to use it," Remaley said.

Either way, Tanner's Internet usage has been curtailed. He's got a home computer, but his parents don't let him on the Web after 9 p.m. He's been using computers at the library during the day.

He's a moderator on an online gaming site, conquerclub.com, where he plays a game similar to the board game Risk.

"It's pretty addicting," he said.

Contact Daily News reporter Andrew Wellner at 352-6710 or awellner@adn.com

Copyright © 2007 The Anchorage Daily News (www.adn.com)"

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