epcraig - Slashdot User

Submission + - Ownder of filesoup.com Arrested (filesoup.com)

Submitted by

ConcernedCitizen-1138

on Thursday August 06, 2009 @05:51PM

ConcernedCitizen-1138 writes: ""Arrested, now on bail... guilty until I prove I'm innocent" reads the forum topic. It reads like another Orwellian Nightmare (TM), with the "suspect" arrested under "Section 109 Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988", and held without a phonecall. Halfway down there's a bonus lifted from a "members only" site that monitors F.A.C.T..

Justice is blind ... and unjust."

Submission + - Lab tech looking modernize record keeping 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06, 2009 @04:56PM

An anonymous reader writes: Hi, I'm a simple lab technician working in a plastics lab and I want to learn how to develop a database. Currently our record keeping system involves lots of paper and wasted time. I don't think it would be a very complicated as far as databases go. For example retains (samples) of manufactured goods are stored in boxes. Each box has a number. The items in the box have two properties, a specification code and lot code. Lots are unique, specs are not. I want the ability to search for a lot and get a record which will tell me its spec and what box it's in or search for a spec and see all available lots and their box locations.

I have limited programming skills but natural ability (I took a few courses in university and I did well despite being a slack ass procrastinator and a boozer) and willingness to learn however I'm not looking for overkill (coding is something I would do for its great utility, not for pleasure). I want the quickest route to a solution that meets my needs. I'd prefer free/open source solution so if I'm able to make something worth while I can present it to my employer as something that won't cost them for software. All of our computers are mostly controlled by IT and are not going to be running anything but windows.

I think the easiest way to sidestep IT would be to use the web browser as the front end. That way I could host it myself initially to demonstrate. Am I in way over my head here or are there tools available to put something like this within reach of someone like myself? Where should I start

Thank you for your time.

Regards,

AC

Submission + - Finnish man prosecuted for discussing CSS (out-law.com)

Submitted by Repossessed on Thursday August 06, 2009 @04:52PM

Repossessed writes: From Out-Law.com

A Finnish man has asked the European Court of Human Rights to defend his right to discuss encryption systems used by the entertainment industry. He says that Finland's implementation of the EU's Copyright Directive restricts his right to free speech.

The original court dismissed the case, since European law requires the DRM to be effective, but a Finnish high court reversed the ruling. An application to appeal before Finland's supreme court was also denied.

Submission + - Moblin 2.0 keeps getting better

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06, 2009 @04:21PM

An anonymous reader writes: Moblin is proving itself to be a welcomed "third addition" into the operating system cadre, being comprised today of Windows, regular Linux and now Moblin Linux. Its GNOME-derived GUI has taken on a feel of its own, one which separates itself sufficiently from the traditional GUIs out there to be in a class all by itself. One of Intel's goals for Moblin was to create this new user-focused experience, one built around a powerful graphics presence. It's working.

Submission + - Weather Watcher no longer freeware

Submitted by TheSHAD0W on Thursday August 06, 2009 @04:01PM

TheSHAD0W writes: As of version 6.1.01, Weather Watcher Live by Singer's Creations is no longer freeware. Downloaders are prompted to pay $19.95 for a year's subscription. A 30-day trialware version is also available.

Submission + - Comcast turns on DNS wildcard "help"

Submitted by on Thursday August 06, 2009 @03:54PM

An anonymous reader writes: I'm a comcast customer, and I recently mistyped a url for a well known site and I got redirected. This reminds me of Verisign's shenanigans a few years back.

Submission + - Scientists Identify Itch-Specific Neurons

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens

on Thursday August 06, 2009 @03:45PM

Hugh Pickens writes: "A ticklish problem in neuroscience has been that although historically many scientists have regarded itching as just a less intense version of pain and decades searching for itch-specific nerve cells have been unfruitful. Now Nature reports that neuroscientist Zhou-Feng Chen and his colleagues at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri have found the first behavioral evidence that there are separate circuits of nerve cells to convey itchiness and pain and their studies suggest that itch and pain signals are transmitted along different pathways in the spinal cord. "Most people accept that there are specific, highly specialized neurons for sensations like taste," says Chen. "But for pain and itch this is much more controversial." Two years ago, Chen's group discovered that a cell-surface protein called the gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) is important for sensing itchiness but not pain in mice. When Chen and his colleagues destroyed GRPR-bearing neurons by means of a cell toxin, the mice reacted to painful stimuli just like normal mice, licking themselves and flinching or jumping in response to heat, highly irritant chemicals and mechanical pressure. But when the researchers injected the animals with chemicals that normally cause scratching, such as histamine, they barely responded and the greater the number of GRPR-expressing neurons destroyed, the more subdued was the scratching response. "This is the first behavioral evidence that there are itch-specific neurons," says Chen. "People have been looking for these for many years." Although the present research only scratches the surface, the discovery highlights a new target for therapy and opens the field for specific treatments for itch that don't affect pain."

Submission + - How do geckos decide when to grip

Submitted by

LucidBeast

on Thursday August 06, 2009 @06:05AM

LucidBeast writes: "Geckos have amazing ability to grip to a surface without adhesive. A paper (pdf) by Anthony Russell of the University of Calgary in Canada and Timothy Higham of Clemson University in South Carolina explains that geckos perception of the body orientation determines whether to grip or not to grip. Interesting overview of the study can be read in Guardian."

Submission + - How do I detect if I am part of a botnet

Submitted by ashraya on Thursday August 06, 2009 @05:43AM

ashraya writes: My father (Not too computer literate) has a desktop and a laptop both running windows in his network back in Hyderabad, India. I set up a Linksys router for him to use with his broadband service. For some reason, he reset the config on the Linksys, and connected it up without Wireless security, and also with the default admin password for some time. As you would expect, both the windows computers got 'slow', and the desktop stopped connecting to internet completely for some reason. As I logged in remotely to 'fix' things — I noticed on the linksys log that the laptop was making seemingly random connections to high numbered ports on various IPs. I did a nslookup on the IPs to see that they were all either in Canada or US, with comcast and other ISP addresses.

Is that a sign that the computers were in a botnet? Are the other hosts part of the botnet too?

I have since rebuilt the windows hosts, and this connections are not happening now. I have also secured the Linksys.

Submission + - Graphic Artists Condemn UK Ban on Erotic Comics

Submitted by mdwh2 on Saturday March 28, 2009 @12:43PM

mdwh2 writes: Graphic artists, publishers and MPs have condemned the UK's Coroners and Justice Bill, which will criminalise possession of sexual depictions that appear to show someone under 18 (the age of consent is 16 in the UK), as well as adults where the "predominant impression conveyed" is of someone under 18, and even if they are merely drawn as being present whilst sexual activity took place between adults. The definitions could include Lost Girls, Watchmen, and South Park. The Comic Book Alliance has launched a Petition against the law.

Journal Journal: And who wants to force you to buy insurance? 6

Journal by iminplaya on Saturday March 28, 2009 @10:53AM

Who else? Hillary's golden goose. And this is another payment to her for dropping the nomination attempt. Makes me think she's actually the acting president. And why do they want it? For the benefit of the market, of course. It's certainly not for any of ours. I suppose the Wall Street guys are drooling over this. More free government money, only this time it comes straight from

New Gadget Blocks 'Spam' Phone Calls 274

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 22, 2008 @09:24AM from the this-doesn't-sound-right dept.

Smivs writes "The BBC report on a new gizmo that can block/filter spam phone calls. The system basically intercepts all calls. If it recognizes them as a friend or a member of the user's family — numbers on the so-called star list created by the user — it lets them through as normal. If the caller's number is on a zap list — numbers of telemarketers or other nuisance callers — the device answers it, and all future calls from that number, with an automated message which means the phone does not ring at all. If the system doesn't recognize the caller's number, or the caller withholds their number, it asks them who they are, puts them on hold and then rings the user's phone. The user has the option of taking the call, having the system take a message, or they can reject the call and add the number to the 'zap' list. Users can add callers to their 'star' list by pressing the star button on their phone at any point during a call." So wait, they can't spam me twice? If I press a button? And if they actually show their phone number on my caller ID? What about the auto insurance scammers that hit me 10x/week?

Indian Moon Mission Launched 305

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 22, 2008 @08:46AM from the to-the-moon-alice dept.

hackerdownunder writes "India's maiden lunar mission (Chandrayaan-1) got off to a flying start today. Describing the launch as 'perfect and precise,' the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), G Madhavan Nair, said that it would be 14 days before the satellite would enter into lunar orbit. Chandrayaan carries eleven payloads: five designed and developed in India, three from the European Space Agency, one from Bulgaria and two from NASA."

Damning Report On Sequoia E-Voting Machine Security 200

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday October 21, 2008 @06:15PM from the worse-than-you-thought dept.

TechDirt notes the publication of the New Jersey voting machine study, the attempted suppression of which we have been discussing for a while now. The paper that the Princeton and Lehigh University researchers are releasing, as permitted by the Court, is "the same as the Court's redacted version, but with a few introductory paragraphs about the court case, Gusciora v. Corzine." What's new is the release of a 90-minute evidentiary video — the researchers have asked the court for permission to release a shorter version that hits the high points, as the high-res video is about 1 GB in size. See TechDirt's article for the report's executive summary listing eight ways the AVC Advantage 9.00 voting machine can be subverted.

MUDs Turn 30 Years Old 238

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday October 21, 2008 @04:20PM from the still-waiting-on-mod-10 dept.

Massively points out that today marks the 30th anniversary of the first Multi-User Dungeon (MUD) going live at Essex University in the UK. The game, referred to as MUD1, was created by Roy Trubshaw. Richard Bartle, a man who also worked on the game as a student at Essex, has a post discussing the milestone and talking about how MUDs relate to modern MMOs. What MUDs did you play?

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