JimBoBz - Slashdot User

Submission + - Investigating the scum of the internet (domaindetectives.net) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 01, 2008 @11:04PM

An anonymous reader writes: While investigating a domain that is being squatted, I came across this site that has well researched reports about the biggest typo/domain squatters, fake registrars, and domain kiters. In one report they investigate Unasi, a typo-squatter who owns "2.5-5% of all domain names in existence, with not a single domain being used for a legitimate website." They follow the convoluted trail left by the scum of the Internet, showing the extent of their operations and tracking down the real people behind the scams. If you have ever done a domain lookup and found moments later the domain name was taken (like I have), these people are likely to blame. Perhaps calling attention to their operations will add to the mounting pressure for ICANN (allowing fake registrars), Google (supporting parking with AdSense), and/or the government (not prosecuting the interference with interstate commerce and registering trademarked names in bad faith) to do something about these sleazy practices.

Submission + - Smokind ban reminds Germans Nazi times (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Alex Spelling on Tuesday January 01, 2008 @10:58PM

Alex Spelling writes: Smoking ban is in the effect Jan 2, 2008 in all German and French bars and restaraunts. German citizens strongly resist smoking restriction as an invsion into their privacy and remnants of Nazi powers. German restaurants and pubs have also strongly resisted the bans, not only because of the potential loss of income but partly because of an earlier crackdown on smoking initiated by Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime.

Submission + - Personal Space Invaders

Submitted by

theodp

on Tuesday January 01, 2008 @04:21PM

theodp writes: "Over at Slate, William Saletan offers his list of the top science-and-tech privacy threats of 2007: 1. Surveillance cameras. 2. The war on smoking. 3. The war on junk food. 4. The war on salt. 5. Pedestrian cell-phone use. 6. Naked body scanners. 7. Phone-surveillance ads. 8. Human chip implants. 9. Mind-reading. 10. Manipulating sexual orientation. So what other up-and-coming threats should he have included?"

Submission + - Things that video games could do without

Submitted by

Mike99TA

on Tuesday January 01, 2008 @03:57PM

Mike99TA writes: "The Penny-Arcade Forums have a current discussion going on about What Video Games Could Do Without. Most of the issues brought up are tactics that have been used by video game companies over and over for years, usually to pad a game with extra playtime, make it look like the game has extra (useless) features, force something to be challenging by making it more frustrating, or a cop-out to make a "convenient" scenario for the protagonist (indestructable boxes in every hallway to provide cover?). From the Thread:

"The bulk of spells in RPG's need to go away as well. Final Fantasy games suffer from this the most. There's a ton of spells to learn, but very few have practical application. The frequent and crucial spells are revive, heal, elemental damage, and that's it. Everything else is not necessary to the game, nor does is give you a 'different' way to overcome challenges in the game.""

Submission + - 50% growth in solar production in 2007 to 3.8 GW (earthpolicy.org)

Submitted by

mdsolar

on Tuesday January 01, 2008 @11:18AM

mdsolar writes: "Solar cell production experienced 50% growth worldwide producing 3.8 GW of cells in 2007. In the US, installation of solar power grew by 83% in 2007 over 2006 but the US fell to fifth place in solar cell production as Taiwan pulled into fourth place after Japan, China and Germany. The US holds a large lead in thin film solar production. Expanding polysilicon supplies are expected to bring the cost of solar panels to $2/Watt by 2010. The cost of production for thin film panels is expected to be below $1/Watt by 2010; competitive with coal power."

Submission + - The NSA vs rigged Crypto AG encryption machines? (ohmynews.com)

Submitted by AHuxley on Tuesday January 01, 2008 @06:12AM

AHuxley writes: Did the NSA really use its super computers to read ultra sensitive messages intercepted from around the world?
Or did they get inside Crypto AG, a Swiss company that sold encryption machines to more than 100 countries?
Where algorithms swapped out for the NSA in the 1970's during the transition from mechanical to electronic machines?
How did Iran react when they found encrypted diplomatic messages in the press?

Submission + - TCP/IP 25 years old today!

Submitted by on Tuesday January 01, 2008 @01:39AM

An anonymous reader writes: Today is the 25th anniversary of the TCP/IP protocol suite.

Submission + - OLPC CTO Quits to Commercialize OLPC Technology

Submitted by

theodp

on Monday December 31, 2007 @11:09PM

theodp writes: "The One Laptop Per Child project suffered a blow Monday, with CTO Mary Lou Jepsen quitting the nonprofit to start a for-profit company to commercialize technology she invented with OLPC (the first of Jepsen's pending OLPC patents was published by the USPTO on Dec. 13). The OLPC project halted consumer sales of the cheap laptop at the end of November."

Submission + - Why would your email appear in search listings? (gwebs.com)

Submitted by

dorkboysayswhat

on Monday December 31, 2007 @01:32PM

dorkboysayswhat writes: "A Chinese lawyer found an email he sent listed in Baidu search results, so he sued the search giant and the email hosting company that was indexed. As the trial continues, the defendants accuse each other of being the more technically deficient, and we look at how to protect yourself against all the contingencies — part of a continuing series."

Submission + - Lifesaving hospital hygiene checklist banned (nytimes.com) 2

Submitted by on Monday December 31, 2007 @01:18PM

An anonymous reader writes: From the article:
Johns Hopkins University published a simple five-step checklist designed to prevent certain hospital infections. It reminds doctors to make sure, for example, that before putting large intravenous lines into patients, they actually wash their hands and don a sterile gown and gloves.

The results were stunning. Within three months, the rate of bloodstream infections from these I.V. lines fell by two-thirds. The average I.C.U. cut its infection rate from 4 percent to zero. Over 18 months, the program saved more than 1,500 lives and nearly $200 million.

Yet this past month, the Office for Human Research Protections shut the program down.

Submission + - Mandatory internet filters to protect children (abc.net.au) 5

Submitted by CaptainDefragged on Monday December 31, 2007 @03:09AM

CaptainDefragged writes: Just announced on the Australian ABC News site Senator Conroy says it will be mandatory for all internet service providers to provide clean feeds, or ISP filtering, to houses and schools that are free of pornography and inappropriate material. ... Senator Conroy says anyone wanting uncensored access to the internet will have to opt out of the service, and will work with the industry to ensure the filters do not affect the speed of the internet.

Submission + - Free use of codecs petition (sourceforge.net)

Submitted by

Justin Breithaupt

on Monday December 31, 2007 @02:44AM

Justin Breithaupt writes: "Some people say they don't think that this will work but we can't know unless we try.

Free use of codecs petition. http://sourceforge.net/forum/message.php?msg_id=4691436

Instructions. Read this petition, Click the link above, and add the following as a reply to this topic.

Name:

Country:

State/Location:

Then please foward this message on. Then Click Here and digg it. We The People believe that anyone should have the right to play any Digital Media in the form of Music, Videos, or other content on any device in any format that we wish such as but not limited to DVD format using the libdvd codec, MP3 files with the lame codec, and Microsoft formated content using the win32 codecs.

Just because a company comes out with new proprietary codec to govern what devices can play their music, video, and other content does not mean that We The People should be restricted from viewing, listening to, or by other senses accessing the digital media or information we may have purchased or produced legally.

No entity should have the right to restrict how people should be able to access the data / media that they purchase.

We The People have certain inalienable rights. Being able to access our media with non-commercial software is a freedom that has been taken away from us by Micro$oft and other companies and devisions of the US Government such as the RIAA. The Government does not have the right to suppress freedom of speech or self expression in any way. By limiting the way that documented media or data can be accessed you are taking away the freedom of listening to free speech, the freedom of watching broadcasts, and of reading certain materials.

Please restore our rights and freedoms."

Submission + - Individual Privacy Under Threat in Europe and U.S. (iht.com) 1

Submitted by

Mike

on Monday December 31, 2007 @02:21AM

Mike writes: "Individual privacy is under greater threat than ever before in both the United States and across the European Union, the international rights group Privacy International has said in a report. "The general trend is that privacy is being extinguished in country after country," said Simon Davies, director of Privacy International. "Even those countries where we expected ongoing strong privacy protection, like Germany and Canada, are sinking into the mire." And things are getting worse, not better, the report concludes."

Journal SPAM: Digital Astrophotography - Review

Journal by stoolpigeon on Sunday December 30, 2007 @04:39PM

In the 80's there were a series of commercials for Reeses Peanut Butter Cups that revolved around the theme of accidental meetings between chocolate and peanut butter. The individuals would realize that the two tastes that they loved separately were even better together. Two great loves for many card carrying geeks are digital photography and astronomy. "

Submission + - Is Adobe spying on CS3 users? (uneasysilence.com) 2

Submitted by henrypijames on Saturday December 29, 2007 @12:19PM

henrypijames writes: For months, users of Adobe Creative Suite 3 have been wondering why some of the applications regularly connect to 192.168.112.2o7.net which looks a lot like a private IP address but is actually a public domain address belonging to the web analytics company Omniture. Now allegations of user spying are getting louder, prompting Adobe Photoshop product manager John Nack to respond, though many remain unsatisfied with his explanation.

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