creature124 - Slashdot User

Submission + - Demoniod p2p Site Returns From The Dead (theinquirer.net)

Submitted by Kaneda2112 on Monday October 01, 2007 @08:31AM

Kaneda2112 writes: Demonoid is up and running after shutting itself down following a threat the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) to club it to death in the courts. This morning the site was up, but broken, apparently while it made repairs. It is still being hosted by a Canadian ISP, but is blocking all Canadian traffic to avoid trouble with the CRIA.

Submission + - See How AMD Cheats Investors & Buyers (techarp.com)

Submitted by

crazyeyes

on Monday September 24, 2007 @12:35PM

crazyeyes writes: "Here is a must-read for AMD and Intel fans alike. Flame-bait material for sure. Watch how AMD manipulates the benchmark data of the new Barcelona quad-core processor to fool buyers and investors. Read and laugh or weep. Quote from article -

The data was presented in the form of easy-to-understand charts. That's great for everyone, particularly investors who may not understand the technical information and data. However, those who look closely will see that the charts have been skewed to present a far more optimistic view of the processor than the data really suggests.

The most common (and easiest) way to skew data is to make the Y-axis start at a higher number. This has the effect of making any difference appear much larger than it really is. Let's take a look at the AMD charts for example.
"

Submission + - Google Apps Discriminates against "Stupid" (leeth.org)

Submitted by GGCRabidGopher on Monday September 24, 2007 @12:07PM

GGCRabidGopher writes: Apparently when registering a new domain with Google Apps for your domain you cannot register a domain with the word Stupid in it. While any other offensive word or phrase seems to be OK, it rejects any domain containing the word "Stupid". When contacted Google simple replied with a link to Google Apps Support for their answer. Apparently domains with the word Nazi are OK, just not the word stupid.

Submission + - Journalist Test Drives The Pain Ray Gun (dailymail.co.uk)

Submitted by Fantastic Lad on Wednesday September 19, 2007 @03:24PM

Fantastic Lad writes: This machine has the ability to inflict limitless, unbearable pain. When turned on, Raytheon's 'Silent Guardian' emits an invisible, focused beam of radiation — similar to the microwaves in a domestic cooker — that are tuned to a precise frequency to stimulate human nerve endings. It can throw a wave of agony nearly half a mile. Because the beam penetrates skin only to a depth of 1/64th of an inch, it cannot, says Raytheon, cause visible, permanent injury. The demo model looks like a small speaker. (Image) With practical application is just around the corner, I wonder if anybody at that trade show was selling Faraday body suits. . ?

Submission + - Cellhut won't take back fraudulent iPhone (consumerist.com) 1

Submitted by Count Scrofula on Monday September 17, 2007 @02:32AM

Count Scrofula writes: On Friday, Sept 7, I received a 4 Gb iPhone in the mail from Cellhut.com that had been ordered using my stolen credit card number. Despite canceling the card and blocking payment, Cellhut refuses to accept return of the iPhone. The kicker? They are trying to charge me $660.

Submission + - Microsoft's 'Clippy' is also a security hole...

Submitted by

david.emery

on Wednesday September 12, 2007 @12:09PM

david.emery writes: "According to an article in extremetech, there's an (ActiveX, of course) vulnerability in Windows 2k 'Clippy': http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2182388,00.asp

Well, this just confirms what we always thought. Not only is "Clippy" annoying, he's actively evil :-)"

Submission + - High gas prices lower obesity. (reuters.com) 1

Submitted by klaasb on Wednesday September 12, 2007 @04:25AM

klaasb writes: Higher U.S. gasoline prices may slim more than just wallets, according to a new study from Washington University in St. Louis.
Entitled "A Silver Lining? The Connection between Gas Prices and Obesity," the study found that an additional $1 per gallon in real gasoline prices would reduce U.S. obesity by 15 percent after five years.

Submission + - Getting hired with a criminal record.

Submitted by 24601 on Wednesday September 12, 2007 @01:34AM

24601 writes: Hello fellow Slashdot nerds. This is a very hard question to ask, but I figured you guys would probably have the best advice. I am finding myself in my young, soon to be post college career with a brand new criminal record. To make matter's worse, it's for a sex crime (was mislead by someone about their age. Nothing violent or involving children). Yes I will have to register, be on probation for quite a while, and currently reside in a certain very conservative state in the south famous for a certain cartoon mouse. I completely accept the stupidity of what I have done and very much want to grow and move on past it. I'm a graphical artist by trade, but with a lot of web design experience as well. Also have a good deal of IT experience, was thinking of getting a certification in something. What I want to know, however, is how hard is it to get a job in the tech industry with this kind of Scarlet Letter? I have every intention of being upfront and honest about my past with any potential employer, and making every effort to communicate my regret for my past, the fact that I'm not a threat to anyone, and my desire to prove myself. Are more technical employers willing to look past such things and give you a chance? Is there any advice people can give me on properly presenting this issue, and finding understanding employers? thanks!

Submission + - EU abandons plans to convert UK to metric

Submitted by SeeSchloss on Tuesday September 11, 2007 @05:24PM

SeeSchloss writes: After years of trying to get Britain to switch to the metric system the EU has finally decided to give up the fight. Conversion was initially a precondition for UK's membership of the European Union, in 1973, and the deadline had been regularly extended since then. Should we add back the UK to the list of the three countries in the world which do not use the metric system (Myanmar, Liberia and the United States)? It looks like the more a country waits before switching to the metric system, the more difficult it is, most countries did it while their litteracy rate was low and avoided most of the problems the UK or the US would be facing now. Do you think it is realistic to expect the UK or the US to switch to the metric system now? Do you think such a conversion is even useful outside of technical fields (I hope we all agree that it is needed in space research, for example)?

Submission + - Burning Salt Water - Your next source of Hydrogen (yahoo.com)

Submitted by EskimoJoe on Tuesday September 11, 2007 @03:08PM

EskimoJoe writes: An Erie cancer researcher has found a way to burn salt water, a novel invention that is being touted by one chemist as the "most remarkable" water science discovery in a century. John Kanzius happened upon the discovery accidentally when he tried to desalinate seawater with a radio-frequency generator he developed to treat cancer. He discovered that as long as the salt water was exposed to the radio frequencies, it would burn. AP article at Yahoo.

Submission + - Canadian Bureaucrats Don't "Think Different

Submitted by owlgorithm on Tuesday September 11, 2007 @02:36PM

owlgorithm writes: Apple's new store in Montreal has three parking meters in front, and in their ever-conscious attempt to improve design, they offered to reimburse the city for the parking meters and their revenue if they would remove them. Answer: No, because "We've never done it before, so we can't."

Submission + - Software Assistance for the Blind

Submitted by Yort on Tuesday September 11, 2007 @01:15PM

Yort writes: This last weekend, I met a woman who was blind. She had just moved to the area, and wanted to get a job, but her computer (Win95/98) and assistance software (JAWS 3.x) were too old to be used nowadays with the sort of out-of-home work she would be looking for. The new version of JAWS is over $1000, and would require a new computer. Are there any alternatives, open source or otherwise, that would allow her to get up and running for several hundred dollars instead of several thousand?

Submission + - PCWorld refuse hardware repair due to Linux. 10

Submitted by

Tikka

on Tuesday September 11, 2007 @11:43AM

Tikka writes: "Today I visit PC World (London, UK) because my 5 months old laptop has developed a manufacturing fault, the hinge to the display has started to crack the plastic casing.
Anyone in the know, will know that this is due to the joint inside and this means that ultimately the screen will separate from the keyboard in time.

Repair was refused, because I have Gentoo Linux on my laptop — Replacing the Windows Vista that was pre-installed.

PC World have said that this has void my warranty and there is nothing they will do for me, I spoke to a manager who said that he has been told to refuse any repairs if the operating system has been changed.

I feel this has really gone against my statutory rights and will do everything I can to fight it, I will review comments for your advice."

Submission + - Smaller and more lightweight software is better?

Submitted by on Friday September 07, 2007 @01:20AM

An anonymous reader writes: I prefer software that takes as little hardrive space and RAM as possible. I can't stand bloated software like iTunes, as compared to Foobar or classic Winamp; or Windows Media Player, as compared to VLC or Media Player Classic. What are some of your favorite applications which are virtually bloat-free?

Submission + - Wikipedia blocks Overstock.com from editing 1

Submitted by thefickler on Thursday September 06, 2007 @04:21PM

thefickler writes: Known for having a media director that obsessively stalks critics, Overstock.com's IP address range has now been banned from editing on Wikipedia. Longtime Wikipedia staffer, David Gerard, posted this on the Administrators' Noticeboard Tuesday afternoon: "I've just blocked 65.116.112.0/21, which is an IP range (a) owned by Overstock.com (b) widely used by them for spamming, COI editing and attempted intimidation of administrators dealing with them. I strongly suggest against unblocking this range under any circumstances"

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