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

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Power

Submission + - Could the US phase out nuclear power? (csmonitor.com)

Submitted by
mdsolar
mdsolar writes: "In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, [German Chancellor] Merkel announced that her country would close all of its 17 existing reactors by 2022. Other nations, including Japan, Italy, and Switzerland, have announced plans to pare back nuclear power, but none have gone as far as Germany, the world’s fourth-largest economy. Merkel vows to replace nuclear power with alternatives that do not increase greenhouse gases or shackle the economic growth.

Could the US do the same? An increasing number of reports suggest it is not beyond the realm of possibility, and Germany could provide a road map."

Submission + - Ask Slashdot:How to I not get other people's email

Submitted by vrimj
vrimj writes: vrimj writes "I have a common enough first name lastname combination that I sometimes get other peoples email at my firstname.lastname@gmail.com account.

It isn't a big deal if it is a person, I let them know, they fix it.

The big problem I am having is with companies and websites. These emails are often no reply which means I can't send back a quick note.

I got someone's credit card bills for three months before I realized there was nothing for it but calling the company (I tried a couple of emails first).

Recently got a notice about someone's kid signing up for a website. I don't have any but to hit the response and tell them that I first have to say I am that kids parent or guardian. I didn't know where to go from there.

Today I get an invoice from a cable company, it is for a different state. I can't reply. I go to the online support, they tell me my only choice is to call the sales office. I gave in for the bank but I am not talking to someone else's cable company.

Is there any way to make emails to an improperly formatted gmail address bounce or do something else obvious? Is there a technical solution I am overlooking.

I doesn't happen that often but it is an increasing PITA with no reply email addresses. I hate just setting up a filter because that cuts off these other people who made a typo or had someone not enter something correctly, but it is looking like the best choice.

It isn't spam, but it isn't my meat."
AMD

Submission + - AMD bringing back FX performance chips (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Recently AMD seems to have been focusing on its Fusion line and APUs that offer a lot of performance on a low power budget and price. At the same time Intel is offering up high-end Sandy Bridge Core processors and talking about Tri-Gate 3D transistors. But AMD has just been waiting for E3 to come around to announce it hasn’t forgotten about the high-end, performance-hungry end users out there--the FX brand is making a comeback. If you are after a gaming rig with AMD parts then the FX label is what you need to look for. The first FX product will be called "Scorpius" and combines an unlocked 8-core processor, 6000 series Radeon HD graphics card, and AMD 9-series chipset.
Idle

Submission + - Bank of America Foreclosed on by Homeowner (digtriad.com) 1

Submitted by DWMorse
DWMorse writes:

Have you heard the one about a homeowner foreclosing on a bank? Well, it has happened in Florida and involves a North Carolina based bank. Instead of Bank of America foreclosing on some Florida homeowner, the homeowners had sheriff's deputies foreclose on the bank. It started five months ago when Bank of America filed foreclosure papers on the home of a couple, who didn't owe a dime on their home. The couple said they paid cash for the house. The case went to court and the homeowners were able to prove they didn't owe Bank of America anything on the house. In fact, it was proven that the couple never even had a mortgage bill to pay. A Collier County Judge agreed and after the hearing, Bank of America was ordered, by the court to pay the legal fees of the homeowners', Maurenn Nyergers and her husband. The Judge said the bank wrongfully tried to foreclose on the Nyergers' house. So, how did it end with bank being foreclosed on? After more than 5 months of the judge's ruling, the bank still hadn't paid the legal fees, and the homeowner's attorney did exactly what the bank tried to do to the homeowners. He seized the bank's assets. "They've ignored our calls, ignored our letters, legally this is the next step to get my clients compensated, " attorney Todd Allen told CBS. Sheriff's deputies, movers, and the Nyergers' attorney went to the bank and foreclosed on it. The attorney gave instructions to to remove desks, computers, copiers, filing cabinets and any cash in the teller's drawers. After about an hour of being locked out of the bank, the bank manager handed the attorney a check for the legal fees. "As a foreclosure defense attorney this is sweet justice" says Allen.
Japan

Submission + - Doctor Describes TEPCO Workers' Health (ieee.org)

Submitted by
mdsolar
mdsolar writes: "It was three weeks into the Fukushima Dai-1 nuclear plant crisis before press reports surfaced on the hardships Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) workers were enduring, both inside the plant and during rest periods.

At the plant, the workers were contending with melted nuclear fuel rods, hydrogen explosions, dangerously high levels of radiation, and radioactive water leaks. And these crucial, front-line workers were living in make-shift arrangements and were operating on little food and sleep. They worked literally day and night to bring some sort of stability to the crippled reactors.

Now, almost three months since the earthquake and tsunami struck on 11 March, living conditions have improved somewhat. But many workers now face the risk of chronic stress-related illnesses, as well as depression from overwork, said a doctor who has examined a number of TEPCO workers."

Submission + - Skype protocol has been reverse engineered (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Skype has been in the news a lot recently, mainly due to rumors of it being acquired a few months before a planned IPO. We thought Facebook and Google may pounce on the company for as much as $4 billion, but then Microsoft turned up, put $8.5 billion on the table, and walked away with their very expensive prize.

Now Microsoft own the most popular VoIP service out there, and surely plans to make it an integral part of their operations and products going forward. At the same time, one researcher has decided he wants to make Skype open source by reverse engineering the protocol the service uses.

In fact, he claims to have already achieved that reverse engineering feat on a new skype-open-source blog. The source code has been posted for versions 1.x/3.x/4.x of Skype as well as details of the rc4 layer arithmetic encoding the service uses.

While his intention may be to recreate Skype as an open source platform, it is doubtful he will get very far without facing an army of Microsoft lawyers. Skype is not an open platform, and Microsoft will want to keep it that way. Posting reverse engineered code online is not going to go down well in Redmond and this is surely a blog that will disappear shortly.

Submission + - 3 million relying on Lottery to fund retirment (investoo.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Shocking statistics revealed by the National Association of Pension Funds has revealed that approximately three million British people are relying on a lottery win to fund their retirement.
Google

Submission + - Google adds Nvidia 3D Vision support to YouTube (thinq.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: YouTube is getting support for Nvidia's 3D Vision. "What YouTube is doing," Millington explained, "is they're enabling a 3D Vision viewing option. So, when you go to watch the video, you can click on that option and if you have 3D Vision you'll be able to launch these videos in full stereoscopic 3D, which is a much better, much more rich and immersive 3D experience."
Security

Submission + - The Rise of Corporate 'Whaling' (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
snydeq
snydeq writes: "'Whaling' — a new form of spear-phishing attack aimed at landing insider information from senior executives — is on the rise, according to a report from InfoWorld. The attacks, which target prominent individuals inside a corporation with personalized phishing techniques to gain access to key networks, are proving increasingly effective thanks in large part to social networks. Worse, there is little for IT to do to prevent sensitive data from leaking via such attacks. 'Whaling attacks are harder to detect than phishing expeditions. There's no obvious signature to detect as in phishing, such as seeing hundreds of copies of a phishing email enter your server. Whaling attacks are also hard to defend against because they often play on executives' feelings and sense of self-importance.' The report offers five best practices for protecting corporate whales from getting harpooned."

Comment Re:Privacy (Score 1) 180

by natehoy (#32268236) Attached to: Google Wave Now Open To All

Well, for one, Buzz was the one they shoved down your throat and you had to opt out of, and was a bit of a privacy debacle.

Wave was the one that you not only had to go looking for, but you had to request an invite which took weeks to arrive (or you had to know someone who had a free invite they could give you).

So "opting out" of Wave is technically not possible. You have to go looking for it.

Buzz was largely considered "Wave Lite" by many of us who used Wave before Buzz came out. It's a bit more social network and a bit less collaboration, though there is significant overlap in the functions of the two.

Comment Re:Really? (Score 1) 283

by Mashdar (#32268216) Attached to: NASA Finds Cause of Voyager 2 Glitch

Let me guess: cosmic ray. Is it really that hard? What else causes a single bit-flip error in space?

When you have a probe billions of miles from Earth, with no hope of ever physically retrieving it, and something weird happens, I don't think the first thing you do is start making assumptions.

Conversely, when you have a probe billions of miles from Earth, with no hope of ever physically retrieving it, and something weird happens at a low level in an onboard system once in forty-three years, the only thing you can do is make assumptions. If it happens again, you can talk about it being symptomatic, but there is still probably nothing to do.

Comment Re:Boohoo (Score 1) 49

by natehoy (#32268110) Attached to: Waitress Fired For Complaining About Tip On Facebook

Tipping in restaurants is traditional in America to the point where waitstaff actually make a significant portion (even the majority) of their income from the tips. The minimum wage for waitstaff who get tips in the US is set significantly lower than the minimum wage for the rest of the working population.

Leaving a very tiny tip (a penny is more traditional than a dollar) shows that you didn't forget about the tip, but you put some thought into choosing an amount that really expressed your feelings on the quality of the service.

Slashdot Top Deals

Everybody likes a kidder, but nobody lends him money. -- Arthur Miller

Close