Comment Re:I'm old school (Score 1) 266
I place a piece of paper over my screen and rub it with charcoal.
Comment Re:Well, if you pay people 100k a year to do it... (Score 1) 345
Yup, non-story really - Facebook manage to screen all of their photos and images (admittedly its not pre-screening), and they do it on a much lower payscale than this bloke assumes.
Yes, if only YouTube would get on board with the exploitation of impoverished people (like what Face book does in its screening program). The world would be a better place.
Comment Re:This argument goes not support youtube (Score 4, Insightful) 345
So your argument here, is that poisoning and killing people is the same as copyright infringement?
Submission + - Cloud Content Management Doesn't Save Cash: Analyst (slashdot.org)
Nerval's Lobster writes: "According to a Gartner analyst, businesses' biggest concern with cloud-content management should be reconciling it with their on-premises systems, not using it as a way to save money. We talk about it on SlashCloud."
Submission + - Security Firm releases 42+ best practices for secure mobile development (viaforensics.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Security Firm, viaForensics, has released a write-up detailing 42+ best practices for developing a secure mobile application. The write-up is meant to serve as a guide for application developers who hold their clients security / safety in the utmost regard. Here is a quote from the release notice:
"At viaForensics we spend a lot of time attacking mobile apps. Hacking. Breaking encryption, finding flaws, pen testing and looking for sensitive data stored insecurely. We do it for the right reasons – to help companies make their apps more secure."
"At viaForensics we spend a lot of time attacking mobile apps. Hacking. Breaking encryption, finding flaws, pen testing and looking for sensitive data stored insecurely. We do it for the right reasons – to help companies make their apps more secure."
Submission + - GoDaddy: DMCA Overreactor Extraordinaire (plagiarismtoday.com)
TheNextCorner writes: "A recent Slashdot story, about a photographer threatened with lawsuits because he was sending DMCA take down notices, got more attention to the policies of GoDaddy.
GoDaddy takes down the full account of the infringing website, which could have the effect that other websites are taken down. see story here.
The lesson should be: Don't take images of the Internet which you don't have the copyright for!"
GoDaddy takes down the full account of the infringing website, which could have the effect that other websites are taken down. see story here.
The lesson should be: Don't take images of the Internet which you don't have the copyright for!"
Submission + - Amanda Palmer raises $1M from fans for her album (blogspot.com) 1
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "The music industry will never be the same. Singer Amanda Palmer (@amandapalmer on Twitter), has just raised over $1,000,000 directly from her fans, through Twitter and other social media, to mix, promote, and distribute her new album. Armed only with a Kickstarter page, social media accounts, and a lot of friends, she has just liberated a lot of musicians from the tyranny of having to 'sign' with a big studio. I predict music business historians will be writing about this day for years to come. The "big 4" record companies just got a lot smaller."
Submission + - Artificial heart makers hoping to expand technology towards permanent implants (patexia.com) 1
ericjones12398 writes: "Italian doctors at Rome’s Bambino Gesu hospital saved the life of a 16-month-old boy this week by implanting the world’s smallest heart to keep him alive until a permanent donor could be found. The baby suffered from dilated myocardiopathy, a heart muscle disease in which fibers of the heart are enlarged and eventually stop the heart’s ability to pump blood effectively. The device, which had previously only been used in animals, weighs only 11 grams (adult devices typically weigh 900) and pumps blood at 1.5 liters per minute.
Italian surgeons called the feat a “milestone,” and hope that it represents a significant stepping-stone in the eventual goal of developing a permanent implant for heart transplant patients.
The first-ever artificial heart to be implanted in a human being was the Jarvik 7, in 1982 in patient Barney Clark, who lived 112 days after his surgery. The prototype for the Jarvik 7 was conceived as early as 1949 at the Yale School of Medicine, utilizing an Erector Set, and successfully kept a dog’s heart beating for 90 minutes. Other animals to receive various improvements to this model included a calf and a bull, until the National Institutes of Health started an Artificial Heart Program in 1964, with the goal of human transplantation. Although Robert Jarvik, then of the University of Utah, was the project manager for the prototyping and design of the Jarvik 7, its engineering, development and refinement needed the efforts of over 200 physicians, engineers, students and faculty."
Italian surgeons called the feat a “milestone,” and hope that it represents a significant stepping-stone in the eventual goal of developing a permanent implant for heart transplant patients.
The first-ever artificial heart to be implanted in a human being was the Jarvik 7, in 1982 in patient Barney Clark, who lived 112 days after his surgery. The prototype for the Jarvik 7 was conceived as early as 1949 at the Yale School of Medicine, utilizing an Erector Set, and successfully kept a dog’s heart beating for 90 minutes. Other animals to receive various improvements to this model included a calf and a bull, until the National Institutes of Health started an Artificial Heart Program in 1964, with the goal of human transplantation. Although Robert Jarvik, then of the University of Utah, was the project manager for the prototyping and design of the Jarvik 7, its engineering, development and refinement needed the efforts of over 200 physicians, engineers, students and faculty."
Submission + - Flame Malware Could Take Years to Analyze (theregister.co.uk)
benfrog writes: "The super-powerful Flame malware may have been in circulation (primarily in Iran and Isreal) for two years now, however it just made the news Monday following a series of annoucements from prominent antivirus firms. According to El Reg, there is "general consensus that Flame is the most elaborate malware threat ever uncovered, and that it was almost certainly developed by a state-sponsored team." Is is not currently detected by any antivirus software and while it is vaguely related to Stuxnet and Duqu, it is much more complicated. Perhaps more notably, the motivations behind its creation and the targets of its infection are much less clear."
Submission + - Kroes: I will end net neutrality waiting game (zdnet.co.uk)
An anonymous reader writes: Europeans are a step closer to seeing new net neutrality rules put in place, after the release of an EU regulators' report on how often ISPs and operators throttle their services.
On Tuesday, digital agenda commissioner Neelie Kroes said the release of the report from by the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) means she will make recommendations to the EU on preserving net neutrality, which aims to make sure ISPs do not unfairly restrict customers from accessing the service or application or their choice.
"BEREC has today provided the data I was waiting for. For most Europeans, their internet access works well most of the time. But these findings show the need for more regulatory certainty and that there are enough problems to warrant strong and targeted action to safeguard consumers," Kroes said in a statement.
"Given that BEREC's findings highlight a problem of effective consumer choice, I will prepare recommendations to generate more real choices and end the net neutrality waiting game in Europe," she added.
A spokesman for Kroes told ZDNet UK on Tuesday that the recommendations will be put in front of the European Commission before the end of 2012, or very early in 2013.
Kroes has pushed for EU member states to hold off from introducing their own individual net neutrality laws, saying that legislating on an ad-hoc country-by-country basis would "slow down the creation of a Single Digital Market". She has asked them to wait until Breec published its report, which was commissioned more than a year ago.
In its report, BEREC reported that between 20 percent and 50 percent of people in the EU are tied into broadband or mobile broadband contracts that allow the operators to limit access to services like VoIP or file-sharing. In the UK, most of the major broadband providers, such as Virgin Media and BT, use throttling on some of their packages in order to manage traffic volumes....
Read more...
On Tuesday, digital agenda commissioner Neelie Kroes said the release of the report from by the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) means she will make recommendations to the EU on preserving net neutrality, which aims to make sure ISPs do not unfairly restrict customers from accessing the service or application or their choice.
"BEREC has today provided the data I was waiting for. For most Europeans, their internet access works well most of the time. But these findings show the need for more regulatory certainty and that there are enough problems to warrant strong and targeted action to safeguard consumers," Kroes said in a statement.
"Given that BEREC's findings highlight a problem of effective consumer choice, I will prepare recommendations to generate more real choices and end the net neutrality waiting game in Europe," she added.
A spokesman for Kroes told ZDNet UK on Tuesday that the recommendations will be put in front of the European Commission before the end of 2012, or very early in 2013.
Kroes has pushed for EU member states to hold off from introducing their own individual net neutrality laws, saying that legislating on an ad-hoc country-by-country basis would "slow down the creation of a Single Digital Market". She has asked them to wait until Breec published its report, which was commissioned more than a year ago.
In its report, BEREC reported that between 20 percent and 50 percent of people in the EU are tied into broadband or mobile broadband contracts that allow the operators to limit access to services like VoIP or file-sharing. In the UK, most of the major broadband providers, such as Virgin Media and BT, use throttling on some of their packages in order to manage traffic volumes....
Read more...
Submission + - Florida judge rules flashing headlights is legal (orlandosentinel.com)
schwit1 writes: No good deed goes unpunished, as they say. A man who tried to warn others of a speed trap by flashing his vehicle's headlights at motorists was ticketed by police. But a Florida judge ruled this week that flashing headlights is free speech protected by the First Amendment, according to an article in the Orlando Sentinel.
Ryan Kintner was ticketed last year for warning motorists of a speed trap waiting for them down the road. The Lake Mary, Fla., resident was at home when he noticed a police officer with a radar gun near his house, and decided to help out unsuspecting motorists by parking farther up the street from the officer and flashing his lights at oncoming traffic to warn drivers. The police officer instead ticketed Kintner, citing a law that prohibits the flashing of aftermarket emergency lights.
However, Kintner fought the ticket, and brought a lawsuit against the Seminole County Sheriff's office to stop them from using this law to "silence" motorists. He argued that the officers are misapplying that law, which is intended to prevent motorists from installing aftermarket emergency lights and impersonating emergency vehicles.
A judge sort of agreed with him last year and granted a partial ruling in Kintner's favor stating that Florida law does not prohibit motorists from using their lights from communicating with other motorists, reported an earlier Orlando Sentinel article.
This latest decision that signaling with headlights is Constitutionally protected free speech should protect movie plots and road Samaritans going forward. It should also put an end to Florida police writing tickets based on the emergency-vehicle lights law. Police hiding in speed traps will either need to get stealthier or find another way to avoid being outed.
Ryan Kintner was ticketed last year for warning motorists of a speed trap waiting for them down the road. The Lake Mary, Fla., resident was at home when he noticed a police officer with a radar gun near his house, and decided to help out unsuspecting motorists by parking farther up the street from the officer and flashing his lights at oncoming traffic to warn drivers. The police officer instead ticketed Kintner, citing a law that prohibits the flashing of aftermarket emergency lights.
However, Kintner fought the ticket, and brought a lawsuit against the Seminole County Sheriff's office to stop them from using this law to "silence" motorists. He argued that the officers are misapplying that law, which is intended to prevent motorists from installing aftermarket emergency lights and impersonating emergency vehicles.
A judge sort of agreed with him last year and granted a partial ruling in Kintner's favor stating that Florida law does not prohibit motorists from using their lights from communicating with other motorists, reported an earlier Orlando Sentinel article.
This latest decision that signaling with headlights is Constitutionally protected free speech should protect movie plots and road Samaritans going forward. It should also put an end to Florida police writing tickets based on the emergency-vehicle lights law. Police hiding in speed traps will either need to get stealthier or find another way to avoid being outed.
Submission + - Statisticians Investigate Political Bias on Wikipedia
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "The Global Economic Intersection reports on a project to statistically measure political bias on Wikipedia. The team first identified 1,000 political phrases based on the number of times these phrases appeared in the text of the 2005 Congressional Record and applied statistical methods to identify the phrases that separated Democratic representatives from Republican representatives, under the model that each group speaks to its respective constituents with a distinct set of coded language. Then the team identified 111,000 Wikipedia articles that include “republican” or “democrat” as keywords and analyzed them to determine whether a given Wikipedia article used phrases favored more by Republican members or by Democratic members of Congress. The results may surprise you. "The average old political article in Wikipedia leans Democratic" but gradually, Wikipedia’s articles have lost the disproportionate use of Democratic phrases and moved to nearly equivalent use of words from both parties (PDF), akin to an NPOV [neutral point of view] on average. Interestingly some articles like civil rights tend to have a Democrat slant, while others like trade tend to have a Republican slant while at the same time many seemingly controversial topics such as foreign policy, war and peace, and abortion have no net slant. "Most articles arrive with a slant, and most articles change only mildly from their initial slant. The overall slant changes due to the entry of articles with opposite slants, leading toward neutrality for many topics, not necessarily within specific articles.""
Submission + - Can Windows 8 Succeed in a Cloud-Based World? (slashdot.org)
Nerval's Lobster writes: "To say that Microsoft has a lot riding on Windows 8 is a bit of an understatement. The upcoming OS needs to prove that Windows can stay relevant in a world where desktop-based programs are increasingly giving way to cloud apps, and mobile devices are eclipsing PCs as the center of people's computing lives. Can Windows 8 succeed in that mission?"
The real answer will have to wait, but in the meantime I've laid out some potential success-for-failure factors over at SlashCloud."
The real answer will have to wait, but in the meantime I've laid out some potential success-for-failure factors over at SlashCloud."
Submission + - Remote Electronic Audio SurvalienceShots Fired, Pinpointed and Argued Over (nytimes.com)
groovethefish writes: "NYT article highlights the use of electronic listening devices installed on utility poles, buildings, and other structures, then centrally monitered for gunshots. The company SureSpotter claims it helps reduce time wasted by police searching for the source of gun fire in their patrol areas, but the privacy implications are just hitting the courts. If they are monitoring 24/7 and also pickup conversations along with gunshots, can that be used against the people who are recorded? The company line from the article
— "James G. Beldock, a vice president at ShotSpotter, said that the system was not intended to record anything except gunshots and that cases like New Bedford’s were extremely rare. “There are people who perceive that these sensors are triggered by conversations, but that is just patently not true,” he said. “They don’t turn on unless they hear a gunshot.”
Seems like audio filters would only alert the monitoring center upon gunshots, but wouldn't it have to listen nonstop in order to find the sounds to trigger the alarm?"
— "James G. Beldock, a vice president at ShotSpotter, said that the system was not intended to record anything except gunshots and that cases like New Bedford’s were extremely rare. “There are people who perceive that these sensors are triggered by conversations, but that is just patently not true,” he said. “They don’t turn on unless they hear a gunshot.”
Seems like audio filters would only alert the monitoring center upon gunshots, but wouldn't it have to listen nonstop in order to find the sounds to trigger the alarm?"
Submission + - Chief Scientist at NASA supports new energy source (nasa.gov) 2
dickweis writes: What if we could stop burning fossil fuels and still have all the energy we need at less cost? Dennis Bushnell, Chief Scientist at NASA Langley, reveals that NASA has been studying low-energy nuclear reactions (LENR) as a propulsion source for several years. "we now have over two decades of hundreds of experiments worldwide indicating heat and transmutations with minimal radiation and low energy input. By any rational measure, this evidence indicates something real is occurring. [snip] 1% of the nickel mined on the planet each year could produce the world's energy requirements at the order of 25% the cost of coal." A 2-min video briefly describes a new LENR theory that is different from cold fusion and does not violate known physics. Is it time to start taking this stuff more seriously?
