Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - Is Adobe dropping all Linux support? (adobe.com)

Submitted by NetAlien
NetAlien writes: QUESTION: Is Adobe dropping all Linux support? Flash. Now Reader...

Preparing for US naturalization, one is immediately hindered by the US Government's use of Adobe's PDF XFA format — the form loads only to recommend that the user download Adobe Reader "for Windows, Mac or Linux". Attempting to download Reader, the first option is to select the OS — SURPRISE! Linux is absent. OK... so download a Windows version (I selected 7) and install with Wine. Sigh... that fails.

Another case for free and open formats...

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: What to do after digitizing VHS tapes? 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Now that I've spent close to a month digitizing a desk drawer's worth of VHS tapes, deinterlacing and postprocessing the originals to minimize years of tape decay, and compressing everything down to H.264, I've found myself with a hard drive full of loosely organized videos. They'll get picked up by my existing monthly backup, but I feel like I haven't gained much in the way of redundancy, as I thought I would. Instead of having tapes slowly degrade, I'm now open to losing entire movies at once, should both of my drives go bad. Does anyone maintain a library, and if so, what would they recommend? Is having them duplicated on two drives (one of which is spun down for all but one day of the month) a good-enough long term strategy? Should I look into additionally backing up to optical discs or flash drives, building out a better (RAIDed) backup machine, or even keeping the original tapes around despite them having been digitized?

Submission + - Comcast Tells Customers to Stop Using Tor Browser (deepdotweb.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Comcast agents have reportedly contacted customers who use Tor, a web browser that is designed to protect the user’s privacy while online, and said their service can get terminated if they don’t stop using Tor. According to Deep.Dot.Web, one of those calls included a Comcast customer service agent named Jeremy...

Submission + - Apple Outrages Users by "Automatically" Installing U2's Album on their Devices 3

Submitted by Zanadou
Zanadou writes: Apple may have succeeded at breaking two records at once with the free release of U2’s latest album, titled Songs of Innocence, via iTunes. But now, it looks like it’s also on track to become one of the worst music publicity stunts of all time.

Users who have opted to download new purchases to their iPhones automatically have found the new U2 album sitting on their phones. But even if iTunes users hadn’t chosen automatic downloads, Songs of Innocence will still be displayed as an “iTunes in the Cloud” purchase. That means it will still be shown as part of your music library, even if you delete all the tracks. The only way to make the U2 album go away is to go to your Mac or PC and hide all of your “iTunes in the Cloud” purchases, or to use iTunes to manually hide each track from your purchased items list.

Other reactions include rapper, Tyler, The Creator, saying that having the new U2 album automatically downloaded on his iPhone was 'like waking up with herpes', while Twitter user Mez pondered 'If Apple can forcefully download a U2 album onto everyone's phone, imagine what else they can do.. and see.'

Submission + - New Details About NSA's Exhaustive Search of Edward Snowden's Emails (vice.com) 4

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Vice News reports, "The NSA disclosed these new details about its investigation into Snowden in response to a FOIA lawsuit VICE News filed against the NSA earlier this year seeking copies of emails in which Snowden raised concerns about spy programs he believed were unconstitutional..... As part of this investigation, the Agency collected and searched all of Mr. Snowden's email available on NSA's classified and unclassified system. This included sent, received, and deleted email, both in his inboxes still on the networks and email obtained by restoring back-up tapes from Agency networks. Multiple members of the Associate Directorate for Security and Counterintelligence read all of the collected email. Additionally, given that organizational designators appear for each NSA sender and recipient for email transmitted on NSA's classified and unclassified systems, searches of Mr. Snowden's collected email also were done using the organizational designators for the offices most likely to have been recipients of any email written raising concerns about an NSA signals intelligence program. ... Those offices included the NSA's Office of General Counsel, the Office of the Comptroller, and the Signals Intelligence Directorate Office of Oversight and Compliance. Moreover, Sherman said, the NSA tasked the Office of General Counsel, the Office of Inspector General, and the Office of the Director of Compliance to "search for communications to or from Mr. Snowden in which he may have raised concerns about NSA programs." ..."The search did not identify any email written by Mr. Snowden in which he contacted Agency officials to raise concerns about NSA programs," ..."

Submission + - Despite Obama's Pledge to Curb It, NSA Mass Surveillance Wins Rubber Stamp (nationaljournal.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court approved the Justice Department's request for another 90-day extension of the National Security Agency's controversial mass surveillance program, exposed publicly last summer by Edward Snowden and authorized under Section 215 of the post-9/11 Patriot Act. The spying authority is next set to expire on Dec. 5.

The extension marks the third of its kind since President Obama pledged in January to reform how the NSA spies on Americans during a major policy speech delivered amid withering scrutiny of the nation's intelligence-gathering practices.

Submission + - Linux distro to vampire XP install? 10

Submitted by johnpagenola
johnpagenola writes: Many people cannot upgrade Windows XP because of driver issues with old peripherals. Would it be possible for a Linux install to reuse the XP drivers sort of like Wine reuses the programs? I am envisioning a Linux install that would scan an XP install, store drivers and programs on a flash drive, wipe the hard disk and then install Linux, reusing the drivers and programs. Is this idea ridiculous?

Submission + - Hewlett-Packard pleads guilty to Bribery (usatoday.com)

Submitted by Charliemopps
Charliemopps writes: Hewlett-Packard and three subsidiaries pleaded guilty Thursday to paying bribes to foreign officials in Russia, Mexico and Poland and agreed to pay $108 million in criminal and regulatory penalties. For over 10 years Hewlett-Packard kept 2 sets of books to track slush-funds they used to bribe government officials for favorable contracts.

Submission + - SpaceX and Boeing Battle For US Manned Spaceflight Contracts (bloomberg.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: $3 billion in funding is on the line as private space companies duke it out for contracts to end U.S. reliance on Russian rockets for manned spaceflight. The two biggest contenders are SpaceX and Boeing, described as "the exciting choice" and "the safe choice," respectively. "NASA is charting a new direction 45 years after sending humans to the Moon, looking to private industry for missions near Earth, such as commuting to and from the space station. Commercial operators would develop space tourism while the space agency focuses on distant trips to Mars or asteroids." It's possible the contracts would be split, giving some tasks to each company. It's also possible that the much smaller Sierra Nevada Corp. could grab a bit of government funding as well for launches using its unique winged-shuttle design.

Submission + - When Scientists Give Up (npr.org)

Submitted by ferespo
ferespo writes: Ian Glomski thought he was going to make a difference in the fight to protect people from deadly anthrax germs. He had done everything right — attended one top university, landed an assistant professorship at another.
But Glomski ran head-on into an unpleasant reality: These days, the scramble for money to conduct research has become stultifying.

So, he's giving up on science.

Comment Comcast: Least popular company in the U.S. (Score 2) 230

From the Wikipedia entry for Comcast:

"In April 2014, Comcast was awarded the 2014 "Worst Company in America" award; an annual contest by the consumer affairs blog The Consumerist that runs a series of reader polls to determine the least popular company in America."

More from the same Wikipedia article:

In 2004 and 2007, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) survey found that Comcast had the worst customer satisfaction rating of any company or government agency in the country, including the Internal Revenue Service.

Comment Good advice. But the subject is abuse by Comcast. (Score 1) 230

Yes, use the NoScript add-on for Firefox.

But the subject is about Comcast abuse. Here is just one example, from Comcast's "Automatic Payment Terms & Conditions", retrieved a few minutes ago:

"6. COMCAST SHALL BEAR NO LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY LOSSES OF ANY KIND THAT YOU MAY INCUR AS A RESULT OF A PAYMENT MADE ON ITEMS INCORRECTLY BILLED..."

Most people don't have time to read legal language. Many would not understand it fully. It is overly broad. And, in my experience, Comcast often tries to over-bill.

My opinion? Chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts (The page jumps around if you move the mouse over the menu.), and Tom Karinshak, Senior Vice President of Customer Experience at Comcast (See the bottom of the page.), should be removed from office.

Another example: The Login page has a link at the bottom left, Contact Us. As of Tuesday, September 9, 2014, 4:18 am Pacific Time, it is a dead link.

Submission + - Researchers Closer to Industrial Graphene Production Due to $10 Bet (sciencerecorder.com)

Submitted by AaronW
AaronW writes: After trying and failing to convince Nina Kovtyukhona to test her technique of separating layers of graphite and boron nitride to instead try graphene, Thomas E. Mallouk made a bet with Nina that her technique method would work. If it worked, Nina would owe him $10. If it didn't, he would owe her $100. Thomas is now $10 richer and we are now a step closer to industrial scale graphene production.

Submission + - Is there any scenario where violating net neutrality acceptable? 1

Submitted by rcht148
rcht148 writes: Ever since I heard about T-Mobile's 'Music Freedom' announcement, I have been asking myself this question. If you're unaware of it, T-Mobile recently announced that music streaming from some services (Pandora, iHeartRadio, iTunes Radio, Rhapsody, Slacker, Spotify and some others) will NOT be counted against the customers 4G LTE data cap. I love T-Mobile for the much needed shake-up to the wireless industry that they provided and thanks to them my wireless bill has gone down by almost 40%. In lay man terms this promo sounds great because you get more for your data (Your 2GB 4G LTE plan now means 2GB 4G LTE + music streaming from some providers*). I can't seem to accept this as an engineer. It violates the definition of net neutrality. So, I've been asking myself the broader question, in what scenario does a net neutrality violation become acceptable? If you're a net neutrality supporter do you find this service acceptable?

Slashdot Top Deals

"When the going gets tough, the tough get empirical." -- Jon Carroll

Close