Psymin - Slashdot User

Submission + - IronKey launches encrypted USB key w/FF, TOR (gizmodo.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 27, 2007 @06:15PM

An anonymous reader writes: Gizmodo has a writeup on the new IronKey.. Self-destructing hardware encrypted and authenticated USB flash drive with onboard secure FF, high speed TOR network, password manager, online encrypted backup. Demo page here. Pretty sweet. $79 bones for a 1g, 149 for 4. Prolly the best way to stick it to AT&T/NSA, traffic 'shaping' ISPs, and other infringements on privacy by the man..

Submission + - No MPEG, WMA/V, DVD, Quicktime cripples Dell Linux

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 21, 2007 @02:56PM

An anonymous reader writes: In Dells latest blog they state: "At this time, we are not including any support for proprietary audio or video codecs that are not already distributed with Ubuntu 7.04. These include MPEG 1/2/3/4, WMA, WMV, DVD, Quicktime, etc. We are evaluating options for providing this support in the future"

Ubuntu better make it exceptionally easy for Dell customers to install these codecs or Dell's Linux could be a mitigated failure.

Submission + - Better communication with non-technical people?

Submitted by tinpan on Monday May 14, 2007 @01:19PM

tinpan writes: I've got a communication problem. When non-technical managers ask me to explain technical choices, they often make choices I recommend against and they later regret. I can tell that they do not understand their choice because of how they are explaining things to each other, but they usually refuse further explanation.

So it's time for some education. I want to get better at communicating technical subjects to non-technical people. More accurately, I want to get better at helping non-technical people make better technical decisions and I'm willing to accept it may include some understanding of "selling your idea."

What books, online courses and/or seminars do you recommend and why?

Submission + - IP Law Versus Moore's Law

Submitted by DebNY on Monday May 07, 2007 @01:11PM

DebNY writes: Larry Downes, a fellow at the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society, says that in the digital age, there's no such thing as intellectual property. "The very idea of intellectual property, which covers the laws of patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets, is a fiction. Intellectual creations — ideas, techniques, characters, stories, methods — are not tangibles like parcels of land or barrels of oil. But these products of the mind are very valuable, and to encourage us to spend our time creating them, the law pretends they are a form of property, with the same kinds of rights, responsibilities and protections as physical property."

This approach, says Downes, may have worked well at the dawn of capitalism, "but only because stealing information was difficult." Since the Industrial Revolution, however, "technology has made the spread of information faster and cheaper, leading to sometimes vicious struggles over who gets to benefit financially from the new value technology makes possible...The cause of nearly all of today's intellectual property conflicts is information technology — it's IP law vs. Moore's Law."

Unfortunately, Downes concludes, "As technology advances and the law stays rooted firmly in the past, expect more billion dollar lawsuits."

Submission + - Subliminal images do affect the brain

Submitted by Parallax Blue on Friday March 09, 2007 @06:31PM

Parallax Blue writes: The BBC is reporting on a new study by UK researchers in Current Biology that suggests subliminal messages may register in the brain if it has 'spare capacity'.

Participants in the study were asked to carry out an easy task and a hard task while being flashed with everyday objects in one eye and a strong flashing image in the other. The strong flashing image cancelled out the images of everyday objects in the other eye so that the participants were unaware of them. When the participants were carrying out an easy task, the brain scan detected activity in the primary visual cortex, indicating the subliminal images did register. However, when carrying out the hard task there was no activity, indicating the images did not register.

The implications for such uses as subliminal advertising is interesting, suggesting that subliminal messages in ads may work. However, further studies will have to be done to evaluate the precise impact of subliminal words and images.

Submission + - The end of the world as we know it

Submitted by

LordOfTheNoobs

on Thursday March 08, 2007 @04:51PM

LordOfTheNoobs writes: "A company by the name of Emotiv Systems is hard at work bringing a rather unique game controller to market. The controller acts as an interface between the machine and the mind, receiving input by way of a helmet filled with electronic sensors monitoring electrical activity in the brain. As undoubtedly interesting as this will be as a game controller, it is the idea of other technologies that could spring forth from this line of research in the future that may be most exciting. How long until thought-based communication hits the shelf? Until doors, lights and music respond to the mere thought? Ladies and gentlemen, prepare your tin-foil hats and get ready for the coming singularity.

The original article links to some images of the device in use."

Submission + - Open DRM Letter to Steve Jobs - defectivebydesign.

Submitted by nunya_bizns on Wednesday March 07, 2007 @01:52PM

nunya_bizns writes: Defective by Design has an open letter to Steve Jobs asking him to back his pledge on DRM by April 1. http://www.defectivebydesign.org/actions/open_lett er/steve_jobs

Submission + - RFID Passports Cloned Without Opening the Package

Submitted by

Jeremy

on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @04:01PM

Jeremy writes: "Using some simple deduction, a security consultant discovered how to clone a passport as it's being mailed to its recipient, without ever opening the package. These are the kinds of things that people need to understand are possible now that our governments are trying to use wireless technology (inherantly insecure) for security."

Submission + - F-22 Raptor Gets Zapped by International Date Line

Submitted by

Anonymous Coward

on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @01:12PM

Anonymous Coward writes: "Lockheed's F-22 Raptor is the most advanced fighter in the world with its stealth capabilities, advanced radar, state of the art weapons systems and ultra-efficient turbofans.

But while the simulated war games were a somewhat easy feat for the Raptor, something more mundane was able to cripple six aircraft on a 12 to 15 hours flight from Hawaii to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. The U.S. Air Force's mighty Raptor was felled by the International Date Line (IDL).

When the group of Raptors crossed over the IDL, multiple computer systems crashed on the planes. Everything from fuel subsystems, to navigation and partial communications were completely taken offline. Numerous attempts were made to "reboot" the systems to no avail.

http://www.dailytech.com/Lockheeds+F22+Raptor+Gets +Zapped+by+International+Date+Line/article6225.htm "

Submission + - Big Radio Settles Payola Charges

Submitted by

vivaoporto

on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @12:08PM

vivaoporto writes: "As seen on Forbes, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times, the four broadcast conglomerates (Clear Channel Communications, CBS Radio, Entercom Communications and Citadel Broadcasting), which together own more than 1,500 stations, have agreed to pay hefty fines and to provide air time for local artists and independent record labels. as a settlement with the FCC. The radio chains, which didn't admit wrongdoing, are to pay a collective $12.5 million in fines and dedicate a total of 8,400 half-hour segments to independent music over the next three years. (Indie labels, for purposes of the settlement, are those not owned or controlled by one of the nation's four dominant music labels — Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and EMI Group)"

Submission + - Scientists Break Speed of Light

Submitted by PreacherTom on Monday March 05, 2007 @06:25PM

PreacherTom writes: Scientists at the NEC Research Institute in Princeton, NJ are reporting that they have broken the speed of light. For the experiment, the researchers manipulated a vapor of laser-irradiated atoms, causing a pulse that shoots about 300 times faster than it would take the pulse to go the same distance in a vacuum, to the point where the pulse seemed to exit the chamber before even entering it. Apparently, Uncle Albert is still resting comfortably: relativity only states that an object with mass cannot travel faster than light. Still, the results are sufficient to merit publication in the prestigious journal, Nature.

Submission + - Who to thank for the Daylight Savings Time Change

Submitted by steverar on Monday March 05, 2007 @02:38PM

steverar writes: If you're in IT and having "fun" making sure everything's (OS, phone system, patient monitors, Blackberries, etc. ) updated/patched for the new Daylight Saving Time change coming March 11th, please thank Rep. Ed Markey. He sponsored and attached the amendment to the Energy Act of 2005. Read about him here http://markey.house.gov/index.php?option=com_conte nt&task=view&id=2624&Itemid=141

Submission + - US copying laptop hard disks+password upon entry

Submitted by

Flo

on Monday March 05, 2007 @12:25PM

Flo writes: "According to Fefe, a German blogger, U.S. officials copy hard disks of laptops upon entry. They even insist on the disclosure of passwords so they can decrypt files. Allegedly they even take people into coercive detention to retrieve the passwords. Fefe's sources are one member of the (German) Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) and one employee of SAP. He also claims to have received confirmation for this from "two other large companies"."

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