Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
It's funny. Laugh.

XKCD Invited To New Yorker "Cartoon-Off" 231

Posted by kdawson from the no-raptors dept.
UnknowingFool writes "Farley Katz, who draws for New Yorker magazine, ran into xkcd.com's Randall Munroe in a grocery store. He challenged Munroe to a cartoon-off — each cartoonist to produce drawings about the Internet as envisioned by the elderly, String Theory, 1999, and one's favorite animal eating one's favorite food. In the ensuing short interview, Munroe describes XKCD as 'a webcomic about stick figures who do math, play with staple guns, mess around on the Internet, and have lots of sex. It's about three-fourths autobiographical.'"

Comment Re:Phone? (Score 2, Interesting) 701

by IndieKid (#23184734) Attached to: Best Way To Avoid Keyloggers On Public Terminals?
I work for a contractor who does work for the Ministry of Defence and some of our buildings require SC/DV clearance. Taking a phone in any of those would be a disciplinary offence, and may even get the person fired.

The risk to my company of losing it's List-X status (and hence 40% of our work) if there's a breach is too high to be flexible in this regard.
AMD

AMD To Shed 10% of Its Workforce 276

Posted by kdawson from the hitting-the-streets dept.
stress_life writes "Recent rumors about AMD firing 5% of its workforce proved to be understated. AMD just announced that the company is going to deliver pink slips to 1600-1700 workers, or around 10% of its employees. AMD needs revenue of $2 billion per quarter, but Q1'08 is expected to come in around $1.5 billion. These firings have to be complete by Q3'08, the quarter by which Hector Ruiz promised to be profitable." We most recently discussed AMD's struggles in February.
The Courts

EU Encouraging Standardized DRM, Licensing 153

Posted by Soulskill from the reply-hazy-try-again dept.
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "The European Commission is trying to encourage a standard licensing and DRM scheme for all of Europe, as well as 'cooperation procedures' and 'codes of conduct' for ISPs, copyright holders, and customers. No legislation has been proposed yet, but the 'cooperation procedures' sound like a push for an EU version of the DMCA Takedown Notices, which are already routinely sent to people outside the US. While simplified licensing might be nice, it's interesting that they don't appear to understand the inherent tension between standardization, interoperability and DRM — break once, copy everywhere."
Media

HD Monitor Causes DRM Issues with Netflix 540

Posted by Soulskill from the new-years-low-resolution dept.
Jeremiah Cornelius points us to Davis Freeberg's blog, where he discusses his "nightmare scenario" of losing access to his DRM-protected purchases by upgrading his PC monitor. "When I called them they confirmed my worst fears. In order to access the Watch Now service, I had to give Microsoft's DRM sniffing program access to all of the files on my hard drive. If the software found any non-Netflix video files, it would revoke my rights to the content and invalidate the DRM. This means that I would lose all the movies that I've purchased from Amazon's Unbox, just to troubleshoot the issue. Because my computer allows me to send an unrestricted HDTV feed to my monitor, Hollywood has decided to revoke my ability to stream 480 resolution video files from Netflix. In order to fix my problem, Netflix recommended that I downgrade to a lower res VGA setup."
Microsoft

MS To Push Silverlight Via Redesigned Microsoft.com 710

Posted by kdawson from the bye-bye-html dept.
Marilyn M. writes "It looks like Microsoft is getting desperate about the dismal rates of Silverlight adoption by consumers and developers since its release earlier this year. According to NeoSmart Technologies, Microsoft is preparing a fully Silverlight-powered redesign of their website, doing away with most HTML pages entirely. With over 60 million unique users visiting Microsoft.com a month, Microsoft's last-ditch effort might be what it takes to breathe some life back into Silverlight. The article notes: 'At the moment, very few non-Microsoft-owned sites are using Silverlight at all; let alone for the entire UI.'"
The Internet

Journal Journal: First look at FireFox 3 UI Changes

Journal by Toreo asesino
The proposed new icons for FireFox 3 have been released for a sneak peek over at Alex Faaborg's blog. A key new feature in FireFox 3 is how it will blend natively into each environment, thus there are four sets of icons effectively; one for Vista, XP, OSX, and Linux.
Wireless Networking

Wi-Fi Piggybacking Widespread 459

Posted by CowboyNeal from the five-finger-discounts dept.
BaCa sent in this article about stealing network access that opens, "Sophos has revealed new research into the use of other people's Wi-Fi networks to piggyback onto the internet without payment. The research shows that 54 percent of computer users have admitted breaking the law, by using someone else's wireless internet access without permission." Of course, online polls being what they are, the results are hardly a plank for a full investigation, but a good share of the answerers did 'fess up to it as well.
Encryption

Encrypted Torrents Growing Fast In the UK 432

Posted by kdawson from the deeply-inspect-all-you-want dept.
angryphase writes "The British Phonographic Institute (the UK's RIAA) has noticed a significant increase in the amount of encrypted torrents — from 4% of torrent traffic a year ago to 40% today. Whether it follows a trend for hiding suspicious activities or an increased awareness of personal privacy is up for (weak) debate. Either way, this change of attitude is catching the eye of ISPs, music industry officials, and enforcement agencies. Matt Phillips, spokesman for the UK record industry trade association explains, 'Our internet investigations team, internet service providers and the police are well aware of encryption technology: it's been around for a long time and is commonplace in other areas of internet crime. It should come as no surprise that if people think they can hide illegal activity they will attempt to.'"
Handhelds

Submission + - Opera Mini 4 Released (operamini.com)

Submitted by spxZA
spxZA writes: Opera Mini 4 was released today. All users of earlier versions including Beta's are forced to upgrade.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Demands Patent for Saying 'Goodbye' 7

Submitted by
theodp
theodp writes: "Demonstrating its commitment to high-quality U.S. patents, Microsoft has submitted a just-published patent application to the USPTO for Automatic Goodbye Messages. By automatically sending messages like 'Have a great afternoon!', 'Sorry, I have got to go!', 'Have a terrific day!', 'Ciao, Harry!', or even a simple 'Bye!' at the end of an IM session, Microsoft explains, one avoids insulting a converser with whom a conversation is ended. Hopefully the USPTO will give this one the quick buh-bye it deserves."

Slashdot Top Deals

Kleeneness is next to Godelness.

Close