Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - 'Frozen' songwriters next write about an awkward computer repairman (latimes.com)

Submitted by operator_error
operator_error writes: A new musical from the Academy Award-winning songwriters of "Frozen" will tell the story of a socially awkward computer repairman named Dan who becomes attracted to Lindsay, a t-shirt designer. But his overactive imagination keeps getting in the way of a potential relationship.

"Up Here" will delve into the overactive imagination of its 30-something protagonist, bringing to life the "circus of judgmental, neurotic, ever-changing characters that rule an ordinary man's mind."

Submission + - Gridlock In Action: Retailers Demand New Regulations To Protect Consumers (securityledger.com)

Submitted by chicksdaddy
chicksdaddy writes: How bad is the gridlock in Washington D.C.? So bad that the nation's retailers are calling for federal legislation on cyber security and data protection to protect consumer information — this even though they would bear the brunt of whatever legislation is passed.

The Security Ledger notes (https://securityledger.com/2014/11/retailers-demanding-federal-action-on-data-breach/) that groups representing many of the nation's retailers sent a letter to Congressional leaders last week urging them to pass federal data protection legislation that sets clear rules for businesses serving consumers. The letter, dated November 6, was addressed to the majority and minority party leaders of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives and signed by 44 state and national organizations representing retailers, including the National Retail Federation, the National Grocers Association, the National Restaurant Association and the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, among others.

“The recent spate of news stories about data security incidents raises concerns for all American consumers and for the businesses with which they frequently interact,” the letter reads. “A single federal law applying to all breached entities would ensure clear, concise and consistent notices to all affected consumers regardless of where they live or where the breach occurs.”

Retailers would likely bare the brunt of a new federal data protection law. The motivation for pushng for one anyway may be simplicity. Currently, there are 47 different state-based security breach notification laws, as well as laws in the District of Columbia and Guam. (http://www.ncsl.org/research/telecommunications-and-information-technology/security-breach-notification-laws.aspx) There is broad, bi-partisan agreement on the need for a data breach and consumer protection law. However, small differences of opinion on its scope and provisions, exacerbated by political gridlock in Congress since 2010 have combined to stay the federal government’s hand.

Submission + - President Obama Backs Regulation of Broadband as a Utility 1

Submitted by vivIsel
vivIsel writes: In a move that is sure to generate controversy, the President has announced his support for regulation of broadband connections, including cellular broadband, under Title 2 of the Telecommunications Act. Reclassification of broadband in this way would treat it as a utility, like landline telephones, subject providers to new regulations governing access, and would allow the FCC to easily impose net neutrality requirements.

Submission + - White House supports " Net Neutrality" in statement issued today. (whitehouse.gov)

Submitted by CapeDoryBob
CapeDoryBob writes: The White House came out for net neutrality today, and is making recommendations to the FCC. The White House is opposing: throttling, blocking, and charges for preferential access and proposes regulation of internet service providers "like phone companies".

Republicans and lobbyists are salivating at the potential for distorted ads and fees, respectively. .

Submission + - Military 'Near Misses' Rise Dramatically Between Russia And Nato

Submitted by HughPickens.com
HughPickens.com writes: Arthur Bright reports in the Christian Science Monitor that the European Leadership Network has chronicled some 40 incidents over the past eight months, saying that Russian forces seem to have been authorized to act in a much more aggressive way. "Russian armed forces and security agencies seem to have been authorized and encouraged to act in a much more aggressive way towards NATO countries, Sweden and Finland" in a way that "increases the risk of unintended escalation and the danger of losing control over events," ELN warns.

The report cites three incidents in particular as having "high probability of causing casualties or a direct military confrontation between Russia and Western states." The first occurred in March, when a passenger flight out of Copenhagen, Denmark, had a near miss with a Russian surveillance plane that did not transmit its position. The second was the capture of an Estonian border agent by Russian security in September. The report also summarizes a incident last month where Swedish naval patrols undertook a broad search for what was widely speculated to be a Russian submarine in the Stockholm archipelago. The New York Times writes that the report adds credence to former Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev's comments over the weekend, during the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, that the world seems "on the brink of a new cold war." Mr. Gorbachev warned that “Bloodshed in Europe and the Middle East against the backdrop of a breakdown in dialogue between the major powers is of enormous concern.”

The report has three main recommendations: The Russian leadership should urgently re-evaluate the costs and risks of continuing its more assertive military posture, and Western diplomacy should be aimed at persuading Russia to move in this direction; All sides should exercise military and political restraint.; All sides must improve military-to-military communication and transparency. "To perpetuate a volatile stand-off between a nuclear armed state and a nuclear armed alliance and its partners in the circumstances described in this paper is risky at best. It could prove catastrophic at worst."

Submission + - Scientists Discover a Virus That Changes the Brain to 'Makes Humans More Stupid' (ibtimes.co.uk) 1

Submitted by concertina226
concertina226 writes: Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Medical School and the University of Nebraska have discovered an algae virus that makes us more stupid by infecting our brains.

The researchers were conducting a completely unrelated study into throat microbes when they realised that DNA in the throats of healthy people matched the DNA of a chlorovirus virus known as ATCV-1.

ATCV-1 is a virus that infects the green algae found in freshwater lakes and ponds. It had previously been thought to be non-infectious to humans, but the scientists found that it actually affects cognitive functions in the brain by shortening attention span and causing a decrease in spatial awareness.

For the first time ever, the researchers proved that microorganisms have the ability to trigger delicate physiological changes to the human body, without launching a full-blown attack on the human immune system.

Comment ElasticSearch, Logstash, Kibana (ELK Stack) (Score 2) 147

by operator_error (#48339819) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Choosing a Data Warehouse Server System?

The ELK Stack might be an option. In my field, (many) web servers can stream all their logs off-site in Real-Time using Logstash Forwarder (or instead they might use rysnc, or rsyslog, or...). A central server, in the secure private intranet perhaps reads and indexes this log data, (that's ElasticSearch, which is sort of like a personal Google for your logs, any logs of any kind, or other Big Data). Kibana is a user-friendly Angular.js application and presentation layer. If you're familiar with NewRelic for server monitoring, you can save views just like when using that tool.

http://jakege.blogspot.nl/2014...

Okay, maybe this is sort of like 'when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail', but this suggestion is the extent of my background in this area. Although I have had an itch to scratch, and so far, this is my best open-source result.

There's a ton of citations you should search for yourself, but I'll provide one I found that might start to help. Using this tool, it is fairly easy to parse out the myriad of hacker efforts at attacking the servers for example; even when you're the NY Times.

Submission + - CNN Anchors Caught On Camera Using Microsoft Surface As An iPad Stand (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: Since the release of its Surface Pro 3 tablet, Microsoft has pushed their new slate hard. It's as if the company wanted it to overwrite that part of our memory that recalls the Surface RT and it's monumental losses. This past August, we saw the company make a big move by deploying a boatload of Surface Pro tablets to every team in the NFL, gratis. All season so far, coaches and even players have made use of them to plan their next course-of-action, and for the most part, they seemed to be well-received. Unlike some of the products Microsoft tries to get us to adopt, the Surface Pro 3 really is a solid tablet / convertible. Unfortunately, at least where the CNN political team is concerned, Microsoft hasn't one over a few anchors, like they have in NFL, when they were supplied with brand-new Surface Pros. In recent shots captured and tweeted about, a Surface Pro 3 can be seen acting as an "iPad stand" and quite an expensive one. As humorous as this is, it might not seem that interesting if it were just one correspondent who pulled that stunt. Let's be honest, some people just like their iPads. That wasn't the case, though. There were at least two commentators using an iPad on the same set, despite having the Surface right in front of them and seemingly hiding it behind Microsoft's darling Windows 8 slate.

Submission + - EFF Hints at Lawsuit Against Verizon For Its Stealth Cookies (dslreports.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A few weeks ago I noted how security researchers had discovered that Verizon has been injecting a unique new "stealth cookie" identifier into all user traffic that tracks user online behavior, even if the consumer opts out. Using a unique Identifier Header, or UIDH, Verizon's ham-fisted system broadcasts your identity all across the web — and remains intact and open to third-party abuse — even if you opt-out of Verizon's behavioral ad programs.

Now the Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed a complaint with the FCC and has strongly indicated that they're considering legal action against Verizon for violating consumer privacy laws

Submission + - Enzymes make electricity from jet fuel without ignition (scienceblog.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: University of Utah engineers say they've developed the first room-temperature fuel cell that uses enzymes to help jet fuel produce electricity without needing to ignite the fuel. These new fuel cells can be used to power portable electronics, off-grid power and sensors. A study of the new cells appears online today in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Catalysis. "The major advance in this research is the ability to use Jet Propellant-8 directly in a fuel cell without having to remove sulfur impurities or operate at very high temperature," says the study's senior author. "This work shows that JP-8 and probably others can be used as fuels for low-temperature fuel cells with the right catalysts."

Comment The Golden Gate Bridge (Score 2) 594

by operator_error (#48292781) Attached to: Space Tourism Isn't Worth Dying For

How many people died in the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge?

Eleven, although until February 17, 1937, there had been only one fatality, setting a new all-time record in a field where one man killed for every million dollars spent had been the norm. On February 17, ten more men lost their lives when a section of scaffold carrying twelve men fell through the safety net.

http://goldengatebridge.org/re...

In other Googling I found an average of 120 people commit suicide annually on that bridge.

Should the bridge go away now?

Now that's one way to look at the question of whether or not a space tourism endeavor is worthwhile. Personally I think the environmental impact, vs. For Who and For What Purpose is a major issue. To me those are just incredibly wealthy people looking for fun ways to spend their money. This isn't like trans-Atlantic air travel in the 20th Century, which actually had a clearly demonstrable economic and societal purpose.

On the other hand, I can well believe nothing would have stopped those gentlemen under similar conditions from trying again. This is what they did as a career for-life, and economically speaking, they had a good employer and seeming economic benefit to do what they did.

Full disclosure: I am only a software guy. I try to do backups, but am only so-so there.

Comment Re:Was pretty obvious (Score 3, Interesting) 284

by operator_error (#48260763) Attached to: Skilled Foreign Workers Treated as Indentured Servants

The LA Times has recently covered how Electronics For Imaging (EFI) clearly underpaid Indian immigrant laborers. $1.21 an hour in Silicon Valley, 122 hours in a week, and no overtime. Thank goodness EFI got caught!

http://www.latimes.com/busines...

Still, I don't think the non-IT general public knows an industry called IT *labor* even exists. Except for the Obama-care website snafu that is. (Maybe in Oregon, the folks there know about Oracle Corp. by now) Millions of iPhones are begging for greater robotic assemblies, because those gizmos don't build themselves, and it'll happen.

Slashdot Top Deals

"May your future be limited only by your dreams." -- Christa McAuliffe

Close