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Comment Re:Worthless article (Score 1) 239

by physicsnick (#24039069) Attached to: Solar Power From Home Curtains
The first sentence in TFA is:

Imagine every time you closed your curtains, you were capturing enough solar energy to power your laptop.

I don't think they realize how little power a laptop uses. Can we get in "number of laptops" the power usage of a refrigerator or water heater?
Security

Submission + - Mac, BSD prone to decade old attacks 7

Submitted by BSDer
BSDer writes: An Israeli security researcher published a paper few hours ago, detailing attacks against Mac, OpenBSD and other BSD-style operating systems. The attacks, says Amit Klein from Trusteer enable DNS cache poisoning, IP level traffic analysis, host detection, O/S fingerprinting and in some cases even TCP blind data injection. The irony is that OpenBSD boasted their protection mechanism against those exact attacks when a similar attack against the BIND DNS server was disclosed by the same researcher mid 2007. It seems now that OpenBSD may need to revisit their code and their statements. According to the researcher, another affected party, Apple, refused to commit to any fix timelines. It would be interesting to see their reaction now that this paper is public.
Enlightenment

Submission + - Film Pirates for a Better Tomorrow

Submitted by hydrarchist
hydrarchist writes: The League of Noble Peers has just released a follow-up to their documentary, Steal This Film (about piracy conflicts and culture in Sweden.) Unsurprisingly, the new documentary is called "Steal This Film 2, The Dissolving Fortress" , and tells a tale inserting wherein p2p users join a historical thread disturbing power through communications shifts throughout the ages, starting with the printing press. They're also looking for contributions, financial and in-kind, to their media effort. It is also available on the The Pirate Bay where it currently has nearly 3,500 seeds!
Google

Submission + - Google Products You Forgot All About

Submitted by
Googling Yourself
Googling Yourself writes: "Lifehacker has an interesting blog post on the "Top 10 Google Products You Forgot All About" that includes stalwarts like Google Trends and Google Alerts and a few others that may not be quite so familiar like Google Personals, Google's WYSIWYG web site creation tool, and Flight Simulator for Google Earth. How many of the ten do you use regularly and what other Google products do you use that everybody else has forgotten all about?"
Education

Submission + - One-Laptop-Per-Child application development

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: This OLPC (One-Laptop-Per-Child) tutorial teaches you how to develop Python activities for the XO laptop. It covers the ins and outs of Sugar (the XO user interface, or UI) and the details behind activity development. You will also learn about Python programming, Sugar application program interfaces (APIs) for Python, and platform emulation with QEMU. Learn OLPC application development and help the worlds children.
Microsoft

Submission + - Office 2003SP3: Old file formats, now unavailable! 3

Submitted by
time961
time961 writes: "In Service Pack 3 for Office 2003, Microsoft has disabled support for many older file formats, so if you have old Word, Excel, 1-2-3, Quattro, or Corel Draw documents, watch out! They did this because the old formats are "less secure", which actually makes some sense, but only if you got the files from some untrustworthy source.

Naturally, they did this by default, and then documented a mind-bogglingly complex workaround (KB 938810) rather than providing a user interface for adjusting it, or even a set of awkward "Do you really want to do this?" dialog boxes to click through. And, of course, because these are, after all, old file formats, many users will encounter the problem only months or years after the software change, while groping around in dusty and now-inaccessible archives.

One of the better aspects of Office is its extensive compatibility mechanisms for old file formats. At least the support isn't completely gone—it's just really hard to use. Security is important, but there are better ways to fulfill this goal.

This was also covered by the Windows Secrets newsletter, although I can't find a story URL for it."
Wii

Submission + - Nintendo Wii Fully Hacked at 24C3, runs Homebrew (wiinintendo.net)

Submitted by
cHALiTO
cHALiTO writes: "From the site:
The guys over at 24C3 just demoed a Wii hack that is set to provide native Wii homebrew in the near future (not running in GC mode, and with full access to all the Wii hardware!)
They were able to find encryption and decryption keys by doing full memory dumps at runtime over a custom serial interface. Using these keys, they were able to create a Wii 'game' that ran their own code (their demo happened to show live sensor/Wiimote information, amongst a few other things).
Read here and watch video here."
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - The Linux Driver Project - Again

Submitted by jon_anderson_ca
jon_anderson_ca writes: TINAD (This Is Not A Dupe)... back in January, Greg Kroah-Hartman offered to write GPL device drivers for manufacturers who would release specifications to him. Apparently the response was a little overwhelming, but now Novell is sponsoring him to work full-time on driver development.

There are a hundred developers and an undisclosed number of companies in the queue... are we about to see a Linux driver renaissance?
Novell

Submission + - Novell Make Linux Driver Project a Reality

Submitted by
apokryphos
apokryphos writes: "Novell have relaunched the Linux Driver Project by dedicating well-known kernel developer Greg KH to work on the project full-time. Greg KH writes:

"My employer, Novell, has modified my position to now allow me to work full time on this project. Namely getting more new Linux kernel drivers written, for free, for any company that so desires. And to help manage all of the developers and project managers who want to help out...They really care about helping make Linux support as many devices as possible, with fully open-source drivers.""
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft To Extend Windows XP Deadline For OEMs (crn.com)

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Microsoft is extending the deadline for sales of new direct OEM PCs with Windows XP installed from January 31, 2008 to June 30, 2008, according to a report from CRN. The move comes after months of vehement complaints from Microsoft's largest partners who are sick of dealing with the steady resistance in the industry to Windows Vista."
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - Bioshock DRM Causes Massive Outcry (pcgamer.com)

Submitted by
Dr Kool, PhD
Dr Kool, PhD writes: "The PC DVD version of Bioshock is loaded with DRM like no other game ever released, and the outcry has reached critical mass. PC Gamer editors are reporting that they are not able to install and activate the game more than twice, even when previous copies are uninstalled. Thousands of complaints from frustrated buyers have flooded 2K Games' official Bioshock forum. The game uses a new version of the rootkit SecuROM to do its dirty deeds."
Power

Submission + - Navy to continue funding of Polywell fusion (talk-polywell.org)

Submitted by
BCGlorfindel
BCGlorfindel writes: "On the 21st of August the Navy signed the release of the remainder of Dr. Bussard's funding for research into his Polywell device. Details emerging via an email to Tom Ligon here. Tom Ligon worked on the project with Bussard a few years before the funding was cut. Many will remember the google talk he gave shortly after analyzing their last test results before they had to shut down. I've been following this for awhile now, this should be great news for everyone. If Bussard reproduces the results of his last test it'd top the expectations from the $12B ITER project."
XBox (Games)

Submission + - Bioshock reviews are rapturous

Submitted by RamblinLonghorn
RamblinLonghorn writes: The reviews for Bioshock are pouring in. With a metacritic score of 97%, the gaming press is united in their praise of the game. Gamasutra summarizes the finer points of the game and lists some of the reviewer's complaints.

Take Two Interactive Software stock, already reeling from the GTA IV delays, gained nearly 10% on Tuesday. Is Bioshock's critical praise and success a turning point for the embattled Take Two? How strong will Bioshock sell compared to other AAA titles set for release soon?

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