Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - Patriot Act Idea Rises in France, and Is Ridiculed (nytimes.com)

PolygamousRanchKid writes: After shootings last week at a satirical newspaper and a kosher market in Paris, France finds itself grappling anew with a question the United States is still confronting: how to fight terrorism while protecting civil liberties. The answer is acute in a country that is sharply critical of American counterterrorism policies, which many see as a fearful overreaction to 9/11.

Valérie Pécresse, a minister under former President Nicolas Sarkozy, said France needed its own version of the USA Patriot Act, which gave the United States more authority to collect intelligence and pointed America’s surveillance apparatus at its citizens. Politicians and civil rights advocates on both sides of the Atlantic bristled at that suggestion, and at a string of arrests in which French officials used a new antiterrorism law to crack down on what previously would have been considered free speech.

Dominique de Villepin, the former French prime minister, warned against the urge for “exceptional” measures. “The spiral of suspicion created in the United States by the Patriot Act and the enduring legitimization of torture or illegal detention has today caused that country to lose its moral compass,” he wrote in Le Monde, the French newspaper.

Submission + - What Can Tony Fadell Actually Do For Google Glass? (dice.com)

Nerval's Lobster writes: Google Glass is no longer a part of the Google X research lab that birthed the project, according to The Wall Street Journal; instead, it’s now part of a standalone unit overseen by Tony Fadell, the CEO of Google subsidiary Nest. Given Fadell’s rising profile in the technology world, it seems unlikely that he’d inherit the Glass project just to kill it, which would make him look bad; it seems more likely that he’ll try to revamp the technology, much in the same way that he overhauled smoke detectors into sleek, Web-connected devices with aesthetic appeal. But what can Fadell actually do to "save" Glass? He could slash the absurdly high price of $1,500 for starters, and perhaps give it a design revamp, but what other actions can he take beyond that?

Submission + - Lost Beagle2 probe found 'intact' on Mars (bbc.co.uk)

Stolga writes: The missing Mars robot Beagle2 has been found on the surface of the Red Planet, apparently intact.

High-resolution images taken from orbit have identified its landing location, and it looks to be in one piece.

The UK-led probe tried to make a soft touchdown on the dusty world on Christmas Day, 2003, using parachutes and airbags — but no radio contact was ever made with the probe.

Many scientists assumed it had been destroyed in a high-velocity impact.

Submission + - Kiss my GLASS GOODBYE: Google SCRAPS hated digi-goggs (theregister.co.uk)

PolygamousRanchKid writes: Google is killing off its Glass Explorer program – but the web goliath insists this isn't the end for cofounder Sergey Brin's controversial sci-fi specs.

In a post to the official Glass Google+ account on Wednesday, the Chocolate Factory said it will quit selling the current version of its spy-goggles to individuals on January 19, although it reportedly will still be available to developers and companies if they ask nicely.

The move comes following months of rumors that Google was close to mothballing its Glass efforts, after the tech failed to inspire a thriving developer ecosystem.

When reporters polled 16 early Glass app makers in November, nine said they had given up on the platform, either due to lack of customers or because of the device's own limitations.

And if developer enthusiasm toward Glass has cooled, public perception of the gadgets has seldom wavered far from a mix of ridicule and revulsion. Wearers have been hassled in bars, in movie theaters, and in their own cars, which surely must have left them pondering the wisdom of the $1,500 they spent to become Glass Explorers.

Comment Re:I didn't think they called them that these days (Score 1) 164

waterproof cables connectors

Of course they have waterproof cable connectors . . . because the things are liquid cooled! Do you think that liquid cooled computers were only for games?

If you get a chance to visit the IBM lab in Böblingen in Germany, they have some mainframes with plexiglass casings. The first thing that customer executives ask when they seem them, are, "Is that all that there is in them . . . !"

The next question is about the liquid tubes inside them. And then you need to tell the executives that the Internet is a "series of tubes . . . "

Although, I'd rather eat my own scrotum than program on one of these things.

Comment Re:Love how he had all these great ideas (Score 3, Insightful) 417

It's as if it's all just political posturing or something...

There will only be political posturing for the next two years. The Republicans won the battle for Congress, but they are fucked. They have no options. Obama has dictatorial powers now, and is exercising them

If Congress passes any laws that Obama doesn't like, he will simply veto them.

Even if Congress musters the required majority to override the veto, Obama can simply use his Executive Discretion to not enforce the law. This is the tool that he has used to stop illegal immigrant deportations. Hell, Obama could even declare carjacking legal, simply by saying that the department of justice will no longer enforce the law against it

The only thing that Congress could do, would be to blocking spending bills . . . which would shutdown the government . . . and would be political suicide for the Republicans.

So all you'll see out of Washington for the next two years will be political posturing . . .

Comment "Acorns, and Blackberries, and Minnows, oh my!" (Score 0, Troll) 174

Spoken with a Surrender Dorothy!" voice . . .

Acorns and Blackberries and Minnows just happen to be the three things that were removed from British Royalty member Prince George Michael's rectum after he fell asleep at the wheel of his SUV in London, ripped to his tits on drugs.

A bloke at the pub down the street told me that his sister works in a hospital, so he must know.

They also excavated a few hamsters and gerbils in duck tape

Coincidence? I think not!.

Once again, it's one rule for the Royal Family, and another for the rest of us!

Comment We need a funny list of them! (Score 1) 1

I'm modding this up, just for the simple reason that I appreciate Slashdotters' humor. There is already a list of "The Lessor Known Programming Languages": http://esolangs.org/wiki/Lesse...

I'm sure that if Slashdotters get inspired, they will come up with a brilliant list of "Lesser Known Scripting Languages!"

I await your creativity!

Submission + - Exploring Some Lesser-Known Scripting Languages (dice.com) 1

Nerval's Lobster writes: Scripting languages are used in everything from games and Web pages to operating-system shells and general applications, as well as standalone scripts. While many of these scripting languages are common and open to modification, there are some interesting, open-source ones that are worth a look, even if they don't have the substantial audience of some of the popular ones. Wren, Candle, Fancy, Pikt, and PPL all show what a single developer can do if they set out with enough motivation to create open-source scripting languages. The results often prove surprisingly powerful.

Slashdot Top Deals

I've noticed several design suggestions in your code.

Working...