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Comment Communications of the ACM (Score 5, Informative) 125

by sticks_us (#38502712) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Geek-Centric Magazines Still Published On Paper?

Join the ACM.

This still comes on paper every month (plus a digital edition):

http://cacm.acm.org/

The articles cover a wide range of topics, including:

- Computing and society
- Legal issues
- New trends in computing
- Programming language geekery

Some of it may be too "niche" or "hardcore" (depending on your interests) but there's usually something for everybody in every issue. No, it won't be quite as task-specific as some of the mags out there (i.e., Not many articles with titles like "Turn up the Volume with LVM: twenty ways to crank up your hard drive!!") but excellent, nonetheless.

YMMV of course.
Apple

Submission + - Apple camera patent allows disabling features (engadget.com)

Submitted by sticks_us
sticks_us writes: By pairing an infrared sensor with the camera already on board, portable devices could receive data from transmitters placed, well, wherever. Beyond simply blasting out text and opening links like a glorified QR code, transmitters could disable certain features, such as the camera, to prevent recording at movie theaters and music venues. If completely shutting off the cam seems a bit heavy-handed, watermarks can also be applied to photos identifying businesses or copyrighted content...

Comment Re:HTML (Score 1) 26

by sticks_us (#36221734) Attached to: Book Review: Professional Mobile Web Development

Your post was 100% accurate, but also very depressing.

I guess we're due to go through another era of device proliferation until, in 30 years, some genius kid comes up with the idea of a way to "mark up" plain text, allowing one to navigate documents using "hypertext."
Security

Submission + - Sony Music Greece falls to hackers (sophos.com)

Submitted by xsee
xsee writes: Hackers: 6, Sony: 0. It appears an attacker has performed a SQL injection attack against SonyMusic.gr. The latest attack has exposed usernames, real names, email addresses and more. Is Sony's network being used as the world's largest public penetration test?
Android

Submission + - Rooted devices blocked from Android Movie Market (tekgoblin.com) 2

Submitted by
tekgoblin
tekgoblin writes: "Google has released the Android Movie Market to Android tablets with Honeycomb 3.1 and in a few weeks for users with Froyo and Gingerbread. However Google has stipulated that the Android Movie Market will only be available to Android devices which are not rooted. So if you have a rooted Android device, don't expect to download anything from the Android Movie Market any time soon (or at least until a workaround is found)."

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Being an Electrical Engineer? 3

Submitted by sandman83
sandman83 writes: I will be going back to a local college this Fall to prepare myself for the Electrical Engineering program at Idaho State University. I am planning on concentrating on motherboard design and trace layout for my junior and senior years, and the University uses the Cadence Allegro software for their PCb and IC design classes.

My question is. What should any future student expect and experience through an EE program, and how best should those students prepare themselves before and during? And what are your experiences with PCB design, and the importance of math during the design phase, and how fun can it be once someone gets used to the complex software? Also, if anyone can recommend any additional classes that I, or any prospective student might want to take outside of the regular course work, and explain the benefits of taking that course; for example, additional computer programming classes.

Oh, what is the best way to prepare for Calculus?
Apple

Submission + - iTunes upgrade forces users to buy new OSX (guardian.co.uk) 1

Submitted by
NoAkai
NoAkai writes: "The Guardian writes this about newer iDevices not being supported on older versions of OSX: "[...]I connected the shuffle to our computer, but a message came up saying the iPod "cannot be used because it requires iTunes version 10.0 or later". So I downloaded iTunes 10, but then another message popped up: "Open Failed This package type requires Mac OS X 10.5." It was the same story with the iPhone 4.""

Submission + - What to do with old tech books? 2

Submitted by evil_aaronm
evil_aaronm writes: Over the years, starting in the late 80's, I've collected a lot of technical books. Now, aside from one or two timeless classics, the vast majority of them are gathering dust. I'm sure I'm not the only one in this predicament, but how do I get rid of these gems? Giving them away, selling them, I don't care, really.
Sony

Submission + - Dark Movies (& Another Reason to hate Sony) (boston.com) 2

Submitted by Orbity
Orbity writes: I had often wondered about movies in the theater seeming dark with the coming of all-digital projections. Turns out there is a reason — it's too hard to take the 3D lens off for 2D movies, resulting in up to an 85% reduction in transmitted light. As a bonus, you can blame Sony for this too: "Opening the projector alone involves security clearances and Internet passwords, “and if you don’t do it right, the machine will shut down on you.’’ I wouldn't want to try changing the lens either!
Power

Submission + - Swiss to end use of nuclear power (reuters.com)

Submitted by
mdsolar
mdsolar writes: "Energy minister Doris Leuthard is set to propose Switzerland gradually exits nuclear power, two Swiss newspapers reported on Sunday, citing sources close to the government.

The multi-party Swiss government was expected to make an announcement on nuclear policy on Wednesday and may recommend an exit.

Switzerland's five nuclear reactors generate about 40 percent of the country's electricity."
Education

Submission + - Prof Questions Sink-or-Swim Intro to CS Courses 2

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: 'After having taught introductory programming (CS 1) for the past six years,' writes GVSU's Zack Kurmas, 'and having watched many students struggle through this course and the subsequent course (CS 2), I have come to the conclusion that it is absurd to expect students who don't have any prior programming experience to be well prepared to study Computer Science after a single 15-week course (i.e., CS 1). I believe that expecting a student to learn to program well enough to study Computer Science in a single 15-week course is almost as absurd as expecting a student with no instrumental musical experience to be ready to join the university orchestra after 15 weeks.' Kurmas' frustrations are not unlike those voiced by Physics prof Dr. Yung Tae Kim, who argues the up-or-out, one-size-fits-all rigid pace approach to learning set by teachers and administrators is as absurd as telling a toddler, 'You have ten weeks to walk, and if you can't, you get an F and you're not allowed to try to walk anymore.'

Submission + - MPAA forced to fight for fair use? (nytimes.com)

Submitted by V-similitude
V-similitude writes: In fighting to be able to use this tattoo under fair use doctrine, could the movie industry accidentally set a precedent here that could then undermine their case against fair use elsewhere?

Comment Re:You can never rule out risks completely (Score 5, Interesting) 436

by sticks_us (#36104298) Attached to: Alabama Nuclear Reactor Gets 'F' Grade

I tend to agree in many ways. It's not entirely an engineering problem.

The real risks come as a result of our system, which is squarely rooted in human greed and fallibility. We're risk-takers by nature, and the risk/reward equation is skewed toward danger.

For example:

If I'm a CEO and build a reactor, cutting costs by attenuating the safety systems specified by the engineers (e.g. using cheap materials for failsafes, or not installing them at all), my profit goes up. I saved a lot of money during construction, didn't I!

However, if something goes wrong and my poorly implemented safety mechanisms fail, my personal risk is actually quite low. I probably won't notice an impact on my earnings, I certainly won't go to jail, and once the media is done feeding on the corpse of my disaster, it's back to "business as usual."

This is a far cry from the careful designs of the engineer, and the scenario gets played out all the time, in various disciplines (see also: BP oil spill, mortgage-backed securities, etc).

Maybe the solution is to let the engineers control the nuclear industry, soup-to-nuts, and send the MBA's packing?

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It's a naive, domestic operating system without any breeding, but I think you'll be amused by its presumption.

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