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Digital

Submission + - Last Kodachrome Developing Machine Retired (nytimes.com)

Submitted by ebs16
ebs16 writes: Dwayne’s Photo in Kansas will be the last to process a roll of Kodachome film as the world carries on toward digital photography. Kodak stopped manufacturing the required chemicals last year, and Dwane's — the last remaining Kodachrome processor — has reached the end of its supply. Photographers worldwide have shipped in and dropped off negatives to be developed. The film was invented in 1935 and is revered by photographers for its unique color reproduction characteristics.

This article may require a New York Times account. BugMeNot access here.
Security

Submission + - Sophisticated New Android Trojan Discovered (securityweek.com) 1

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: Security researchers have discovered a new sophisticated Trojan that has emerged in China that is affecting Android devices which can compromise a significant amount of personal data on a user’s phone and send it to remote servers.

Researchers from Lookout Mobile which discovered the Trojan, say the mobile malware is “The most sophisticated Android malware we’ve seen to date, Geinimi is also the first Android malware in the wild that displays botnet-like capabilities. Once the malware is installed on a user’s phone, it has the potential to receive commands from a remote server that allow the owner of that server to control the phone.”

What makes the Trojan different than most “standard” mobile malware is that Geinimi is being “grafted” onto repackaged versions of legitimate applications, primarily games, and distributed in third-party Chinese Android app markets...
Software

Submission + - Another Healthcare Radiation Overdose Problem (nytimes.com)

Submitted by bezenek
bezenek writes: The New York Times has an article about a linear accelerator-driven pinpoint radiation device (this is not a radiation-source driven device, or Gamma Knife) which radiated four people because of incorrectly placed beam-blocking plates. No one has determined how the error occurred, but it may have been avoided by more careful operators or a more carefully engineered system. The company that makes the device had warned users about the possibility of the treatment data being garbled during transfer between multiple computing devices in the treatment pipeline.

I wonder if we will decide to require certification of software engineers the way we do with engineers who design bridges and electrical systems. It will not eliminate all problems like this, but at least we will have some control over who builds these lifesaving and sometimes life-taking devices.ex
Google

Submission + - Thrown off Adsense, and he's not sure why (duckworksmagazine.com)

Submitted by rhyder128k
rhyder128k writes: Dylan Winter, freelance writer, broadcaster and film maker, has built a business around making high quality, niche films on the subjects of sailing and trucking. He gives an outline of how much money he makes, who his customers are and how, by working with organizations such as Adsense, Yahoo and Amazon, he was able to turn his creative endeavors into an income. He was a walking, talking (and filming) example of how creatives, trained in traditional media production can profitably re-orientate themselves towards engagement with the Internet age.

However, things went wrong when he awoke one morning to discover that he had been thrown off Adsense. The moral: if you're thinking of building a business that relies on Adsense, bear in mind that they have a user contract that allows them to throw you off the service on a whim. Maybe the user experience would improve if Google had a bit more competition in this area?

Submission + - VOIP now technically illegal in China (people.com.cn)

Submitted by ironfrost
ironfrost writes: A recent ruling by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has declared that VOIP services are illegal, except for the ones operated by state-owned telecom operators China Telecom and China Unicom. According to the article, "the decision is expected to make Skype, UUCall and other similar services unavailable in China", and is widely seen as a way to protect the traditional telecom operators' profits. Here's a more in-depth story in Chinese (Google Translate version).
Games

Submission + - Thief steals Game Boy from coffin (gamepron.com)

Submitted by dotarray
dotarray writes: This time of year is a pretty emotional one, so spare a thought for the family of Bradley McCombs Jr, a 17 year old boy killed in a car accident on Christmas Day. Brad was an avid gamer, so family and friends tucked a few key items into his casket – including a Game Boy, a Game Boy Light and three games – so that he’d have something to pass the time with in the afterlife.

But they never made it to their destination, as a family friend brazenly stole the handhelds and gaming cartridges from the open casket.
Education

Submission + - Should Colleges Ban Classroom Laptop Use? 1

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: If you were a college prof, think you could successfully compete for the attention of a lecture hall of Mac-packing students? CS student Carolyn blogs that a debate has sprung up on her campus about whether it is acceptable to use a laptop in class. And her school is hardly alone when it comes to struggling with appropriate in-classroom laptop use (vendor/corporate trainers would no doubt commiserate). The problem, she says, is that the OCD Facebookers aren't just devaluing their own education — there's a certain distraction factor to worry about. 'Students,' she suggests, 'should also communicate with each other more and tell their classmates when their computer use bothers them. I'll admit it, when I'm trying to pay attention to the lecture, even someone's screensaver in the row ahead of me can be a major distraction.' Try using an iPhone in a movie theater to get a taste of the quit-being-an-a**hole candor that's typically missing in the classroom.

Comment Read your contract (Score 1) 545

by ebs16 (#33103258) Attached to: Verizon Changing Users Router Passwords
I have Verizon FIOS as well, and if the poster is referring to the modem/wifi router combo unit that comes with the service (and which has a default password of 'password1'), he in incorrect in believing that he owns the unit. The unit comes with FIOS service and is on loan from Verizon.

Further, they are changing the password to protect the owner from his own idiocy. I would have a problem with them keeping tabs on traffic or making changes to any other setting, but it looks like this change actually does benefit customers. The email notification email sent out with the password change made their intentions clear.

All in all, this seems to have been carried out properly.
Government

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Digitizing student gov. archives

Submitted by ebs16
ebs16 writes: I am a member of a student government at a university in New York. We have a print archive containing thousands of documents, mostly old legislation and meeting minutes dating back to the 1940's, that we'd like to digitize, archive, and post online for students to browse through. We're looking for a system that would allow us to search through the content of the documents while possibly retaining a copy of the document's original format (PDF?). I have a sheet feed scanner, lots of time on my hands, and a good amount of web development experience. We also have some money that could be allocated to the project. Are there any free, open source solutions for us? How about paid services? It would be great to hear from anyone who's done something like this.

Comment Re:Pickens may be losing it. (Score 1) 414

by ebs16 (#28629291) Attached to: Pickens Calls Off Massive Wind Farm In Texas
You must have been to one of his talks regarding alternative fuels for automobiles specifically. Part of the "Pickens Plan" involves replacing gasoline cars with electric vehicles and replacing diesel 18-wheelers with trucks powered by natural gas. Large trucks need more power than can currently be provided by electrical systems and natural gas has less of an impact on the environment than does diesel fuel.

Comment Re:Spend the money supporting the students' PCs (Score 1) 571

by ebs16 (#27376095) Attached to: RIP the Campus Computer Lab, 1960-2009
My university has hundreds of computers in labs spread across campus, at least 1 printer in every dorm community, several printers in one centralized computer lab, printers in about every academic building, FREE* Residential Network Consultants ("Geek Squads") in every dorm, a FREE* help desk for students, network techs for faculty, campus-wide 802.11g wifi, and a vpn -- all on a New York State public university budget.

Also, they require that users download software at the start of every semester that forces the latest Windows and AV updates before allowing the machine to connect to the network. Exceptions are made for iPods, XBOXes and the like...

It really isn't that big of a deal to maintain a nice set of tech services for students.

(*A technology fee of about $150 per semester is included in tuition. Completely worth it, in my opinion.)

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