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The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Bank error not in your favor, lose $400.

Submitted by
Loconut1389
Loconut1389 writes: "A few days ago, I deposited $400 cash in an atm. Long ago, I remember my mother saying not to put cash in an ATM, but have been doing so ever since I 'grew up' without problem- until now. This morning I looked at my online banking to see if a check had gone through only to see that they 'corrected' my deposit to $40 instead of $400. I have to wait until things open to speak with a human and work towards fixing this, but even if they immediately take me at my word and correct the 'correction'- the larger question remains: is it safe to deposit cash? I've been a customer at this particular bank for 6 years with no incidents like this- which should be in my favor, but I ask Slashdot, do you deposit cash? Have you had a problem like this? What problems did you have getting the bank to trust you?"
Programming

Submission + - Which programming language should a noob learn?

Submitted by
howhardcanitbetocrea
howhardcanitbetocrea writes: "I have been programming for a few years. Web-wise I moved from ASP/VBscript/Access to PHP/mySQL (which I quite enjoy using) a while back.

I have developed a browser based PHP/mySQL application to manage Australian volunteer bushfire brigades. Other Brigades eye it enviously but in its current form it would be too hard to share and expect them to be able to use it effortlessly. So I would like to turn into a standalone Windows executable to give to other brigades.

The app would have a database to store member records and also handle real-time incident management by assigning members from the db to trucks etc. Keep in mind that as bushfire brigades we don't have incidents every day so we don't need "professional" (=expensive) software.

I am considering learning C++ to do this but is it best language to change to? The options as I understand it are either C/C++ or Visual Basic...or are their other languages that /.ers recommend.

I notice there are a bunch of free/open source compilers. Are there any favourites out there?

The one reason I can see going for C++ is it is easier to spell :o) But I am sure people have their own opinions. Let's hear them."
Input Devices

Submission + - DIY mid-air pointing device

Submitted by
Werner Heuser
Werner Heuser writes: "From Linuxdevices: "Three researchers at Microsoft Research have created an innovative handheld pointing device that works in mid-air. "Soap", which resembles a bar of soap, is based on hardware found in a common wireless optical mouse, and is relatively easy to make, according to its inventors. Imagine numerous situations in which one might wish to control an appliance while standing or walking, for example, when giving a slide presentation or interacting with a wall-sized display...". There is a YouTube video showing the Soap in action and detailed instructions to make your own Soap."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft's Yellow Road to Cairo

Submitted by DECS
DECS writes: In 1991, Microsoft introduced a vision for the future named Cairo. It ended up disrupting development and marginalizing competition throughout the next decade, battling IBM's OS/2, to Novell's NDS, to NeXT's object-oriented development frameworks without ever actually appearing as a product. The tactic worked so well that Microsoft repeated it in the following decade as Longhorn. Here's how it happened, and why Microsoft won't be able to repeat the same tactics again. Microsoft's Yellow Road to Cairo
Education

Submission + - Evolution under fire in Russian schools

Submitted by sdriver
sdriver writes: If you thought it was only the US giving Darwin a hard time, Russia has its own problems starting with evolution. A student has "sued the St. Petersburg city education committee, claiming the 10th-grade biology textbook used at the Cervantes Gymnasium was offensive to believers and that teachers should offer an alternative to Darwin's famous theory." The court held hearings today.
Sci-Fi

Submission + - New Animated Star Trek In The Works

Submitted by Philias
Philias writes: A new web-based Star Trek Animated Series may be in the works. CBS are considering a pitch by veteran Trek producer Dave Rossi for a 'Clone Wars' style animated series for StarTrek.com. Like Clone Wars the episodes would be just a few minutes long. Unlike the old animated Trek show from the 70s, this one would be with a whole new crew set in a new time period. The setting is to be a war-torn post-9/11-like Trek universe 150 years after the time of Picard. Details and artwork at TrekMovie.com
Businesses

Submission + - "Logic bomb" backfires on hacker

Submitted by
Jay
Jay writes: "From Reuters, A former UBS PaineWebber employee was sentenced to eight years in prison on Wednesday for planting a computer "logic bomb" on company networks and betting its stock would go down. The investment scheme backfired when UBS stock remained stable after the computer attack and Roger Duronio lost more than $23,000."
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - YouTube Whistleblower barely scratched surface

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A previously featured story ( YouTube Used for Whistleblowing) outlined the efforts of a former Lockheed Martin engineer to bring attention to security flaws in the refurbished fleet of Coast Guard patrol boats. Interestingly, it turns out the scandal is of a much larger scale: "[The] Coast Guard did not inform Congress that it was warned two years ago by its chief engineer that a proposed National Security Cutter, meant to be the flagship of its fleet, had "significant flaws" in its structural design and should not be started until the problems were addressed." It is disappointing that more engineers did not attempt to publicize this massive defrauding of US taxpayers before it was too late.
Mars

New Mars Discoveries 109

Posted by samzenpus from the the-land-beneath-the-land dept.
sighted writes "The fleet of five active spacecraft examining Mars (in addition to the recently-missing Mars Global Surveyor) have been working overtime. On the heels of last week's finding of possible flows of liquid water, the ESA has announced that an entire hidden landscape exists just beneath the surface of the Red Planet, and NASA has released some really amazing images of layered topography that will yield many clues to the history of this strange world."

Skype's Free Phone Call Plan Will Soon Have Annual Fee 171

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the all-good-things-must-end dept.
The New York Times is reporting that Skype has said it would begin charging $30 a year for unlimited calls to landline and mobile phones within the United States and Canada. From the article: "As a promotion, Skype began allowing its users to place free domestic 'SkypeOut' calls from their computers to traditional and mobile phones last May. At the time, the company said the promotion would extend only through year's end. The company is offering a half-price subscription to those who sign up before Jan. 31. Calls from one computer to another have been and will continue to be free."
Power

Submission + - Hybrid is Smart.

Submitted by
adaminnj
adaminnj writes: "Lithium Technology Corporation recently announced that it has converted a Daimler Chrysler "Smart ForFour" into a demonstration plug-in vehicle in London. The battery system is the result of collaboration with Zytek, one of the world's leading suppliers of expertise in automotive control systems and powertrain management. The vehicle has a fuel economy of over 84 mpg and an all-electric range of 20 miles.

The battery can be charged by either the internal combustion engine (ICE) and regenerative braking or by plugging into a electric outlet.

The vehicle utilizes a hybrid power train based on a 68 hp, 1.5 liter, 3-cylinder turbo charged diesel engine coupled with two high-efficiency permanent-magnet electric motors.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/12/84_mpg_plu gin_h.php"
Space

Submission + - Approaching Solar Storm forces ISS to take cover

Submitted by
vichyschwa
vichyschwa writes: "A Coronal Mass Ejection resulting from an X3 Solar Flare earlier today is forcing the ISS and Shuttle astronauts to take cover and may result in communication disruptions. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/061213_solar _storm.html

From the Article:
"We're looking for very strong, severe geomagnetic storming" to begin probably around mid-day Thursday, Joe Kunches, Lead Forecaster at the NOAA Space Environment Center, told SPACE.com this afternoon.

Last week, the same sunspot generated what astronomers described as a rarely imaged solar tsunami. The activity began with an X-9 flare Dec. 5.

According to Spaceweather.com, "satellites may experience some glitches and reboots, but astronauts are in no danger." However, the astronauts were ordered to a protective area of the space station as a precaution."
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Wireless Interference Solutions?

Submitted by
Anonymous
Anonymous writes: "Ok so if anyone can provide ideas or information to help me out. I'm on the fringe of a wireless connection at my college campus. Since August it's been working fine, but ever since Thanksgiving it's been constantly down or getting interrupted while online. I had the service provider check it out, and with frequency detectors they discovered "massive amounts of interference from all directions" in my dorm. The University (supposedly) checked it out and reports no problems at all with interference in the room. Yet i've noticed during certain times anything wireless in my room goes dead, wireless internet connection, wireless gaming controllers, to name a few. I've noticed a slight connection than whenever I run my microwave the connection dies, and I've seen the Digg aritcles on wiimotes being affected by Christmas Trees, but there seems to be something else going on here, that turned my dorm into a wifi death trap for nearly a week straight, and now is constantly causing disruptions. Any ideas on causes/fixes and or how to further investiage/trace the interference?"

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