Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Education

Submission + - Electrical shock treatment still used on students! (motherjones.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: This is sick considering it's 2007 and happening in the US. 'The Judge Rotenberg Education Center, a private radical behavior-modification school based in Canton, Mass. The school is run by a rogue behaviorist who uses discredited "punishment" techniques — electroshock — on children as young as nine to change their personalities.' reports Mother Jones in a chilling feature.
Space

Submission + - French Threat to ID Secret US Satellites (beskerming.com)

Submitted by
SkiifGeek
SkiifGeek writes: "Space.com has reported that the French have identified numerous objects in orbit that do not appear in the ephemeris data reported by the US Space Surveillance Network. Since the US has claimed that if it doesn't appear in the ephemeris data, then it doesn't exist, and the French claim that at least some of the objects have solar arrays, it seems that the French have found secret US satellites.

While the French don't plan to release the information publicly, they are planning to use it as leverage to get the US to suppress reporting of sensitive French satellites in their published ephemeris.

The Graves surveillance radar (the French system) and a comparable German system may form the basis of a pan-European Space Surveillance network — another system that the Europeans don't want to rely on the US for."
Television

No More TV Listings For MythTV Users 346

Posted by kdawson from the elephino-what's-on dept.
Ryan Brown writes "As of September 1, the free XML TV guide service at zap2it labs has shut its doors due to misuse issues, as well as internal business issues. Now that Linux users, and most PVR users for that matter, are nearing the end of their last fetched TV guide, what free alternatives exist that can replace this much-needed service?"
Announcements

Submission + - Northwest Passage Now Open

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Guardian is reporting that the Northwest Passage is now navigable due to arctic sea ice melting much faster than previously. This will only continue to get worse next year as the additional open water absorbs more heat and delays the refreezing of the water this winter.
Anime

Submission + - UK gets its own dedicated anime channel (wikipedia.org)

Submitted by The_Rift
The_Rift writes: From this Monday at 21:00 BST Animecentral will officially start broadcasting free and unencrypted to the UK (and a significant part of Northern Europe) from the Astra 2 satellites used by Sky. The initial line-up is chock-full of quality titles like Bleach, Full Metal Alchemist and Planetes with other classics such as Cowboy Bebop and witch Hunter Robin lined up for later. Broadcasts will be every evening 7 days a week from then on Sky channel 199.
It's funny. Laugh.

Police Busted When Tracking Device Found On Car 367

Posted by kdawson from the george-orwell-meets-the-keystone-kops dept.
uh oh notes a story from Down Under where a police investigation came to a screeching halt as a man being investigated by the police found tracking devices in two of his cars, ripped them out, and listed them on an auction site. "Ralph Williams, of Cromwell, said he found the devices last week in his daughter's car, which he uses, and in his flatmate's car after the cars were seized by police and taken away for investigation."
Windows

Submission + - Samba 4 has reached Alpha Stage (samba.org)

Submitted by DaMattster
DaMattster writes: Samba4 alpha1 is the culmination of 4.5 years of development under our belt since Tridge first proposed a new Virtual File System (VFS) layer for Samba3 (a project which eventually lead to our Active Directory efforts), and 1.5 years since we first released a Technology Preview. We wish to allow users, managers and developers to see how we have progressed, and to invite feedback and support.
Music

Submission + - Creative Commons Already Out of Touch?

Submitted by PostThis
PostThis writes: This article (which Magnatune's and Creative Commons' Board of Directors member John Buckman seems to agree with) explains that Creative Commons (CC) music is not all that suitable for videographers. Apparently, only about 5% of CC compositions (the ones licensed only under the "By" attribution clause) can be 'synched' with video without imposing license alterations to the actual video footage or its publishing rights on web sites (even if the video is non-commercial or also published under the CC "By" license). Are CC licenses bound for some changes in the future just to keep up with the YouTube times, or it will prove as inflexible and complex to change as copyright law has become?
Communications

New Bill to Clarify Cellphone Contracts 177

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the immediately-suspect-for-caring-about-the-common-man dept.
theorem4 writes to tell us that US Senators today unveiled legislation designed to empower cell phone customers across the nation by providing more protections and guaranteed options. "The Cell Phone Consumer Empowerment Act of 2007 will require wireless service providers to share simple, clear information on their services and charges with customers before they enter into long-term contracts; a thirty-day window in which to exit a contract without early termination fees; and greater flexibility to exit contracts with services that don't meet their needs."
Patents

Supreme Court Weakens Patents 331

Posted by CmdrTaco from the any-lawyers-on-the-plane dept.
ajakk writes "The U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion, overturned the decades old test for determine whether a patent is obvious. The Court ruled that the Court had looked at obviousness in a "narrow, rigid manner." This should allow patents to be more easily invalidated because they are obvious."
United States

Submission + - Mercury for Everyone! (The Shiny Stuff)

Submitted by
phyrebyrd
phyrebyrd writes: "How much money does it take to screw in a compact fluorescent light bulb? About US$4.28 for the bulb and labour — unless you break the bulb. Then you, like Brandy Bridges of Ellsworth, Maine, could be looking at a cost of about US$2,004.28, which doesn't include the costs of frayed nerves and risks to health."

Feed Has The DVR Resulted In More Reality TV Programming? (techdirt.com)

From feed by techdirtfeed
Economist Austan Goolsbee had a column in the NY Times last week looking at the economic rationale for why reality TV programming has become so popular these days. It goes well beyond the simple answer that it's cheap to produce. As Goolsbee notes, if that were the case, it would have caught on much earlier. Instead, the argument is that with the rise of satellite and cable TV adding many more options for people's viewing time (and you could argue plenty of other entertainment options as well), the pool from which network TV operators can expect to get viewers is shrinking, forcing them to search out cheaper programming.

However, a separate NY Times article may offer another potential reason (whether on purpose or not). It looks at a new study of what programs people record on DVRs and finds that people are less likely to record "timely" programs on their DVRs, preferring to watch them live. This includes the obvious things like news and sports -- but also reality TV programming. That's because who gets kicked off American Idol is likely to be talked about the next morning at work, and people want to make sure they've seen the latest so they can talk about it. That creates fewer incentives to record the program and watch it later. So, whether or not TV programming execs recognize it, reality TV programming may actually get more people watching, rather than skipping, commercials.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft wins AT&T patent battle

Submitted by
Hanners1979
Hanners1979 writes: "BBC News reports on the verdict of a long-running case in the US Supreme Court about the reach of US patent law, where Microsoft admitted to breaching an AT&T-held patent in the US, while refusing to accept liability for any breaches occuring outside of the country. The court upheld Microsoft's take on the case, which could well have intriguing ramifications both for patent law and any future cases against Microsoft themselves."
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Part three of 1979 Douglas Adams interview

Submitted by
Ben Coppin
Ben Coppin writes: "Darker Matter issue three has just gone live with the third and final part of the exclusive interview with Douglas Adams from 1979. In this part we find out that Douglas Adams only really liked two of the original episodes of the radio series of the Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and why he thought he was totally washed up at the age of 24.

http://www.darkermatter.com/issue3/douglas_adams.p hp"
The Internet

Internet2 and National LambdaRail To Merge 44

Posted by kdawson from the fattest-pipes dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Ars Technica has the story on the rapproachment of the two main US providers of high-speed networks to academic and research institutions: Internet2 and National LambdaRail have agreed to merge. And they're moving quickly, after tussling over the details of such an agreement for more than a year. The two groups have decided to put final merger documents before their respective boards by April 20, with merger completion to take place by June 29."

Slashdot Top Deals

I've noticed several design suggestions in your code.

Close