Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Security

Submission + - Researcher says Sears downloads spyware (networkworld.com)

Submitted by BobB-NW
BobB-NW writes: Sears and Kmart customers who sign up for a new marketing program may be giving up more private information than they'd bargained for, a prominent anti-spyware researcher claims. According to Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Ben Edelman, [cq] Sears Holdings' My SHC Community program falls short of U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) standards by failing to notify users exactly what happens when they download the company's marketing software.
Social Networks

Submission + - Mysterious Recruiting Puzzle Solved (socialmode.com)

Submitted by
ikkebr
ikkebr writes: "A group of anonymous collaborative developers has solved the mysterious puzzle posted on Craiglist. Information about how the puzzle was solved and how hundreds of developers worked together in a short period of time to solve the puzzle can be found here!"
Government

Submission + - Libraries on Canadian DMCA: Don't restrict rights (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by thirty-seven
thirty-seven writes: The Canadian Library Association is speaking up in the ongoing debate on copyright reform in Canada. They urge the federal government to keep the rights of consumers in mind when drafting new copyright laws. The CBC article mentions how rigid copyright laws could outlaw the timeshifting of TV shows or backing up a music CD for private use.

The CLA's press release has a list of concerns, including not making Crown copyright more restrictive, specifically naming the American DMCA as something to avoid, and saying:

New copyright legislation must be carefully crafted so that it punishes copyright-infringing behaviour but does not ban devices that might be used to circumvent technological prevention measures.
Robotics

Submission + - Mapping a submarine volcano with a robot

Submitted by
Roland Piquepaille
Roland Piquepaille writes: "Researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have recently used their robotic underwater vehicle called ABE (short for Autonomous Benthic Explorer) to 'paint' stunning images of a submarine volcano submerged about a mile deep in the Pacific Ocean, and located about 290 nautical miles northeast of New Zealand. As said the lead researcher, 'This is the first time anywhere in the world that a submarine arc volcano has been mapped and surveyed for hydrothermal venting at such incredibly detailed scale.' Beautiful... But read more for additional details and pictures."
United States

Submission + - Minority climate change opponents not so minor?

Submitted by Sedennial
Sedennial writes: Over 400 prominent scientists from more than two dozen countries recently voiced significant objections to major aspects of the so-called "consensus" on man-made global warming. These scientists, many of whom are current and former participants in the UN IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), criticized the climate claims made by the UN IPCC and former Vice President Al Gore.

Minority Climate Change Report
Government

Submission + - Norway mandates government use of ODF and PDF

Submitted by siDDis
siDDis writes: Earlier this year Slashdot mentioned that Norway moves towards mandatory use of ODF and PDF. Now it's confirmed that the Norwegian government has mandated the use of open document formats from January 1st, 2009.

There are three formats that have been mandated for all documentation between authorities, users and partners. HTML for all public information on the Web, PDF for all documents where layout needs to be preserved and ODF for all documents that the recipient is supposed to be able to edit. Documents may also be published in other formats, but they must always be available in either ODF or PDF.
Space

Submission + - Earth and moon are the same age

Submitted by
sm62704
sm62704 writes: "A New Scientist story says that new research suggests that the moon is 30 million years younger than previously thought, and that the Mars sized object slamming into the earth was that last event in the earth's formation.

The revised timing of the impact implies the terrestrial planets, such as the Earth and Mars, took longer to build up from the collision of smaller 'planetesimals' than previously thought. "The age of the Moon is also the age of Earth because the Moon-forming giant impact was the last major event in Earth's formation," says Touboul.

Alan Brandon, a scientist at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, US, agrees. "It may mean that Earth and Mars took at least 50 million years, and possibly hundreds of millions of years, to reach their final mass," he comments.

The researchers also found that the composition of the Moon appears identical to that of the Earth's rocky mantle, "such that a major portion of the Moon must have been from proto-Earth", Brandon told New Scientist.
"
Transportation

Submission + - EPA Stops States from Cutting Auto Emissions (nytimes.com) 1

Submitted by ahecht
ahecht writes: In response to the energy bill signed into law by President Bush on Wednesday, the EPA has denied California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and 13 other states from setting their own stricter emissions requirements. While the Bush bill requires auto makers to meet 35mpg by 2020, the new California law would have required 43mpg for cars (and 27mpg for trucks and SUVs) by 2016. California has long been a leader in driving the automobile industry to improve mileage and emissions, and this was the first time they were refused permission to impose their own pollution rules. The decision, according to industry analysts cited in the article, appears to be a reward to the auto industry for dropping opposition to Bush's new energy bill.
Social Networks

Submission + - What's this about Web 2.0 anyway? (foamers.net)

Submitted by
Dave Collado
Dave Collado writes: "This is the second installment in a two-part discussion designed to introduce you to our new Web 2.0 family of templates. In part one " Intro to Web 2.0 website templates" we introduced you to Web 2.0 templates and discussed how the new look is so synonymous to the Web 2.0 feel. In the second part of this article, we'll help you arrive at a conceptual understanding of Web 2.0. You'll also learn about 4 of the most popular Web 2.0 applications as we examined the useful, the hype and the disenchanted.

So, what's it all about? Authentically, Web 2.0 is a phrase given by O'Reilly Media, referring to the professed notion of second generation of Web based societies and hosted services such as folksonomies and social-networks which aim to allow interaction and sharing between like-minded groups of users across the web. Or at least that's the theory. However, is this actually new technology? What was wrong with our old web, and how does this really work?

Technology infrastructure Granted, many of the technology components of "Web 2.0" have existed since the early days of the Web, however today we've put it all into practice; social networking, blogging, discussion groups and the like is become a hugely powerful medium and people are just starting to grasp how effective that can be. Moreover there is one major substance, which happens to be the foundation of this concept, and that is "interaction." Interaction or networking simply means that you and I can download and upload various data in hope of enhancing our knowledge.

The online encyclopedia Wikipedia is a perfect example of a very large group of people in mutual cooperation who all share a common interest. Likewise the photo sharing services Flickr adopted by Yahoo in mid 2005 provides its users with an opportunity to express and share their creativity with like-minded individuals the world over. And besides these we mustn't forget our plentiful virtual social communities.

Social networking websites Leading the virtual social experience is, of course, MySpace followed by Facebook which boasts over thirty million active members as the fastest growing social networking website thus far. Facebook is totally free you simply create a profile, give them your email, make up a password, log in and start meeting people. Facebook lets you keep in touch with your friends, schoolmates and or relatives whom you may not otherwise see everyday. Basically users log on and connect with friends by writing a few lines about what they're doing right now or later.

Likewise it's an opportunity make mutual friends with one of your friend's friends or join a group to discuss your views with those who share a similar interests. Most social networking websites feature a number of various ways for users to interact, such as chat, messaging, email, video, voice chat, file sharing, blogging, discussion groups, and this might sound a little clingy, even satellite tracking. Whether you are struggling with diabetes, trying to conceive, drowning in debt or fearful about the future? There's a community for all of these and anything else that may go bump in your head.

From a designer's perspective Facebook is the winner with its clean feel and streamline good looks, which corresponds with our Web 2.0 perception of style earlier mentioned (i.e. central layout, better allocation of text and brighter color surfaces readily attributed to Web 2.0 templates) as opposed to MySpace's inexplicably gauche feel, making Facebook more accessible to people of all ages.

Security awareness The biggest risk here is privacy and not in the way one might think but from what I like to call "over sharing", some people simply share way more than they need to, too much information, they simply post things about themselves that they would never want to shout out from a street corner. While Facebook, unlike MySpace, does have the ability to limit the availability of your profile to only your friends and other people on your networks, it is still up to the user if he should decide to want to censor himself. Granted it isn't easy for a whole generation of show-offs to remain in secret.

Not that there's anything wrong with the whole idea of interacting and sharing in itself but, the reality is that most of these social-networking sites suffer from a lack of real community. Online communities are not communities in the real sense — they are a slightly more sinuous interpretation of the former. MySpace for example is a complete disgrace and nothing more than a narcissist reservoir where the socializing on offer is not only poor in quality but also impetuous and vain not to insinuate that Facebook is any better or anything, not by a long shot. Notwithstanding, in the real world people know that they will be held accountable for their behavior, in other words while we still have the freedom to exercise our first amendment rights we must do so with respect towards others and in the spirit of up-building our fellow neighbor and not just me, only me, always me and me, me, me, me.

Having said that, Web 2.0 is truly about bonding with the world today through a common base — the Internet — as well as offering genuine solutions. And everyday, online communities, large and small, do just that. Ladies and gentlemen, there's hope and there's reason for hope."
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - WAR Beta hits 500,000 sign-ups (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
Heartless Gamer
Heartless Gamer writes: "The Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR) beta sign-up counter reached the half-million mark today and with the talk lately of "beta invites as an advertisement" I wanted to make sure one of 2008's most anticipated titles doesn't get left out of the mix."
Editorial

Submission + - An inconvenient study?

Submitted by lego_boy_aus
lego_boy_aus writes:
Climate scientists at the University of Rochester, the University of Alabama, and the University of Virginia report that observed patterns of temperature changes ('fingerprints' ) over the last thirty years are not in accord with what greenhouse models predict and can better be explained by natural factors, such as solar variability...

The report is published in the December 2007 issue of the International Journal of Climatology of the Royal Meteorological Society...

Lead author David Douglass said: "The observed pattern of warming, comparing surface and atmospheric temperature trends, does not show the characteristic fingerprint associated with greenhouse warming. The inescapable conclusion is that the human contribution is not significant and that observed increases in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases make only a negligible contribution to climate warming."

Co-author John Christy said: "Satellite data and independent balloon data agree that atmospheric warming trends do not exceed those of the surface. Greenhouse models, on the other hand, demand that atmospheric trend values be 2-3 times greater. We have good reason, therefore, to believe that current climate models greatly overestimate the effects of greenhouse gases. Satellite observations suggest that GH models ignore negative feedbacks, produced by clouds and by water vapor, that diminish the warming effects of carbon dioxide."

Particularly in view of the current Bali talks, this would have to be an "incovenient study".

The Abstract for this is available on the website.
The Internet

Submission + - Web-Application shows air-traffic over Zurich (radar.zhaw.ch)

Submitted by fingol
fingol writes: As a diploma project, some students from the school of engineering in Winterthur, Switzerland created a web-application based on Google-Maps, to display all the air traffic over Zurich, Switzerland. Sadly, the project-page is only in German, but the web-application can be switched to English. And if you really want to know whats going on in the air over Zurich, check out this radio-stream. I think its rather interesting to see whats going on in the air.

Slashdot Top Deals

"A car is just a big purse on wheels." -- Johanna Reynolds

Close