Comment Re:Wait, wtf, NASA again?!? (Score 1) 911
Actually... they do work for people who pay them money. They have to get it somewhere....
Comment Re:Almost interesting (Score 1) 69
There are lot of factors here, most of which resolve around the weather. The FAA has given consent for this to happen between midnight and 4am for those dates. Outside of those hours will be too disruptive to air traffic.
Submission + - Symantec Admits its Networks Were Hacked (net-security.org)
Orome1 writes: After having first claimed that the source code leaked by Indian hacking group Dharmaraja was not stolen through a breach of its networks, but possibly by compromising the networks of a third party entity, Symantec backpedalled and announced that the code seems to have exfiltrated during a 2006 breach of its systems. Symantec spokesman Cris Paden has confirmed that unknown hackers have managed to get their hands on the source code to the following Symantec solutions: Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition, Norton Internet Security, Norton Utilities, Norton GoBack and pcAnywhere.
Submission + - Microsoft can remotely delete Windows 8 apps (itnews.com) 3
tripleevenfall writes: Microsoft will be able to throw a "kill switch" to disable or even remove an app from users' Windows 8 devices, the company revealed in documentation released earlier this week for its upcoming Windows Store.
"In cases where your security is at risk, or where we're required to do so for legal reasons, you may not be able to run apps or access content that you previously acquired or purchased a license for," said Microsoft in the Windows Store terms."If the Windows Store, an app, or any content is changed or discontinued, your data could be deleted or you may not be able to retrieve data you have stored," Microsoft said.
Both Apple and Google can flip such a switch for apps distributed by the iOS App Store and Android Market, respectively.
"In cases where your security is at risk, or where we're required to do so for legal reasons, you may not be able to run apps or access content that you previously acquired or purchased a license for," said Microsoft in the Windows Store terms."If the Windows Store, an app, or any content is changed or discontinued, your data could be deleted or you may not be able to retrieve data you have stored," Microsoft said.
Both Apple and Google can flip such a switch for apps distributed by the iOS App Store and Android Market, respectively.
Submission + - PIPA Co-Sponsor Drops Support for the Bill (facebook.com)
Tiek00n writes: Florida Senator Marco Rubio, one of the co-sponsors of PIPA, has dropped his support for the bill, and is encouraging co-sponsor Harry Reid to stop rushing the bill through congress. "As a senator from Florida, a state with a large presence of artists, creators and businesses connected to the creation of intellectual property, I have a strong interest in stopping online piracy that costs Florida jobs. However, we must do this while simultaneously promoting an open, dynamic Internet environment that is ripe for innovation and promotes new technologies." "Congress should listen and avoid rushing through a bill that could have many unintended consequences. Therefore, I have decided to withdraw my support for the Protect IP Act."
Journal Journal: The 'SOPA Blackout', and the 300 domains that have already gone 3
Today is SOPA Blackout Day (and
belatedly, PIPA too). In rough order of importance, Google, Boingboing,
Arstechnica, 4Chan, ThePirateBay, Identi.ca, Craig's List, Mozilla,
Wordpress and Wikipedia are drawing attention to the SOPA bill
by either blacking out their whole sites or displaying banners.
Wikipedia's blackout got the most press but their effort was a rather
Submission + - The weird world of Wi-Fi router names (chicagotribune.com) 1
An anonymous reader writes: Wanted to share an interesting article about someone that has made a hobby of blogging Wi-Fi router names. Had to share it on slashdot. No doubt others will begin sharing their own SSIDs.
Comment It's all about consolidation rather than closure (Score 1) 148
So consider a lab with 2 racks of equipment in it. It is considered a data center. A big part of this effort is to consolidate equipment like that into an actual data center environment (with proper cooling and power) and weed out what is not needed (there is a lot of it). Virtualizing servers where applicable is also going to help save power, which is what part of this initiative is aiming for.
Comment When necessary (Score 1) 601
For personal life, I have and use GPG, albeit rarely. Most people that I communicate with just don't get it.... Work on the other hand, nearly half of all of my communications are encrypted.
Comment Re:i'd rather they spend the money on a new spaces (Score 2) 236
With less than 1/2 of one percent of the annual federal budget, this isn't going to happen any time soon. Maybe if we can stand down the war machine for a while....
Anyway, Constellation was looking like a viable option. Unfortunately, it was way over budget. With the scrapping of Constellation, I think we're going to see some commercial partnerships forming where the launch vehicles will be owned and possibly operated by the contractor.
Comment I am a Phoenix... (Score 1) 557
...and it is what it is. I spent 10 years in the military and knocked out my first two years of school at 6 different universities between deployments. I got out and got a decent job, and established myself. At some point, I decided I should finish my degree. After talking to a number of local universities and the local B&M University of Phoenix, I chose Phoenix. And I chose them for a single reason. They accepted more credits than anyone else and offered the shortest path to completion.
Had I not been established in my field, I probably would have been pretty dissatisfied with the curriculum. However, since I was familiar with most of it, it was easy to stay ahead. And had my GI Bill not paid for it, I may be a little bitter about the experience, but since it cost me next to nothing, I can't knock it.
Like most universities, there were some great instructors and many of the genuinely cared. There There were some bad ones. It's the luck of the draw. That said, I felt like a number when dealing with anyone in administration or counseling.
Now that my undergrad is out of the way, I am pursuing my masters at a more reputable University.
Preserving Virtual Worlds 122
The Opposable Thumbs blog has an interview with Jerome McDonough of the University of Illinois, who is involved with the Preserving Virtual Worlds project. The goal of the project is to recognize video games as cultural artifacts and to make sure they're accessible by future generations. Here McDonough talks about some of the technical difficulties in doing so:
"Take, for example, Star Raiders on the Atari 2600. If you're going to preserve this, you've got a couple of problems. The first is that it is on a cartridge that is designed to work on a particular system that is no longer manufactured. And as long as you've got a hardware dependency there, you're really not going to be able to preserve this material very long. What we have been looking at is how feasible is it for things that fundamentally all have some level of hardware dependency there — even Doom has dependencies on DLLs with an operating system, and on particular chipsets and architectures for playing. How do you take that and turn it into something that isn't as dependent on a particular physical piece of hardware. And to do that, you need information about that platform. You need technical specifications that allow you to basically reproduce a virtualization that may enable you to run the software in its original form in the future. So what we're trying to do is preserve not only the games, but preserve the knowledge that you would need to create a virtualization platform to play the game."
Best Places To Work In IT 2010 205
CWmike writes "These top-rated IT workplaces combine choice benefits with hot technologies and on-target training. Computerworld's 17th annual report highlights the employers firing on all cylinders. The Employer Scorecard ranks IT firms based on best benefits, retention, training, diversity, and career development. Also read what IT staffs have to say about job satisfaction. How's your workplace, IT folk?" Read below for a quick look at the top 10 IT workplaces according to this survey.
What To Do With Old USB Keys, Low-Capacity Hard Drives? 546
MessedRocker writes "I have at least a few USB flash drives around that I haven't needed since I got my 16GB flash drive, a 40GB external hard drive which I haven't needed since I upgraded to 500GB, and a couple of SATA hard drives I have pulled out of laptops which are either as large or smaller than the one I have in my laptop now. Furthermore, I don't really know anyone who needs any hard drives or flash drives. What should I do with my small, obsolete storage devices?"
EA Unveils Two New Battlefield Games 54
Electronic Arts announced at New York Comic Con that the Battlefield series would be getting two more titles. Battlefield 1943 will be focused on multiplayer, and it's due out for download this summer. It will be available through the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live, and there will be a PC version as well. A website has been launched for the game, and it contains a trailer. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is scheduled for winter, and it will be available for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 also. Details for Bad Company 2 are sparse, though one exec said, "... it takes everything that players liked in the original and ups the ante — more vehicles, more destruction and more team play."
