LoLobey - Slashdot User

Submission + - NFL: National Football Luddites? 1

Submitted by theodp on Monday December 19, 2011 @04:00PM

theodp writes: The National Football League has been brainstorming with tech and communications companies on how to bring the NFL into the 21st century. Major-league sports are famously technophobic — the NFL outlaws computers and PDAs on the sidelines, in the locker room and in press-box coaching booths within 90 minutes of kickoff. But that may be about to change, which the WSJ's Matthew Futterman speculates could mean: 'Coaches selecting plays from tablet computers. Quarterbacks and defensive captains wired to every player on the field and calling plays without a huddle. Digital video on the sidelines so coaches can review plays instantly. Officials carrying hand-held screens for replays. Computer chips embedded in the ball and in the shoulder pads (or mouth guards) that track every move players make and measure their speed, the impact of their hits, even their rate of fatigue.' Part of the impetus for the changes is the chance for a windfall — the NFL's sponsorship deals with Motorola and IBM will expire after this season, and the NFL will be seeking more technology (and presumably cash) from its next technology partner(s). Hey, there are worse ways that Microsoft could spend its advertising bucks!

Comment Re:Well it's obvious (Score 1) 220

by LoLobey on Wednesday November 16, 2011 @12:34PM (#38074486) Attached to: MIT Creates Chip to Model Synapses

No no, it will be a requirement that it work with legacy systems.

Submission + - Anatomy of a boondoggle: the Airborne Laser (thebulletin.org)

Submitted by __aaqpaq9254 on Friday November 11, 2011 @12:42PM

__aaqpaq9254 writes: A distressing article on the boondoggle that was the Airborne Laser (ABL). Over 8 years behind and $4 billion dollars over budget, this article describes "A classic defense boondoggle, the ABL is also a frightening example of how committed military officials, scientists, and defense contractors can persuade Congress to keep a defense program alive against, seemingly, all reason."

Comment Yea, Right, Passwords (Score 1) 205

by LoLobey on Friday November 11, 2011 @12:37PM (#38025464) Attached to: DARPA Wants To Get Rid of Password Protection

Anyone who thinks this initiative is about getting rid of passwords is naive. They want to be able to indentify users when they don't have their log in info.

Submission + - A Network Appliance Built for the Battlefield (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey on Friday November 11, 2011 @09:20AM

wiredmikey writes: Juniper Networks and GE are helping the U.S. Military deploy ruggedized networking appliances to their defense vehicles that can hold up in harsh conditions make typical products almost useless.

The first product from the partnership is the RTR8GE, an appliance built for war that can act as a firewall and IPS/IDS appliance, while enabling secure IPv4/IPv6 connectivity for military vehicles, aircraft, and operating bases. It has eight Gigabit Ethernet ports integrated in a SWaP-optimized enclosure designed to deal with the environmental situations that can render other equipment mangled beyond repair.

Comment Re:And nothing about rape in it? (Score 1) 341

by LoLobey on Tuesday November 08, 2011 @06:01PM (#37991510) Attached to: Scott Adams Proposes a Fourth Branch of Government

oooo and look, I provided a valid argument in between there. (not an argument so much as evidence to the contrary). You're point about the sock puppet incident is valid however, although I think it was naivete on Scott's part as opposed to anything particularly nefarious. bocyomd

Comment Re:Scott Adams proposes 'Ministry of Truth' (Score 1) 341

by LoLobey on Tuesday November 08, 2011 @04:40PM (#37989886) Attached to: Scott Adams Proposes a Fourth Branch of Government

I'm sure he would agree with you, thus his proposal.

Comment Re:And nothing about rape in it? (Score 2) 341

by LoLobey on Tuesday November 08, 2011 @04:36PM (#37989792) Attached to: Scott Adams Proposes a Fourth Branch of Government

You're an idiot. In no frame of reference does Scott ever allude to such a thing. I'm sure you're referring to the backlash from his Pegs and Holes article where various parties chose to misconstrue what he said in pursuit of they're own agenda. You're just another jerk trying to use an ad hominem attack instead of presenting a valid argument.

Comment Re:Jesus Christ (Score 1) 341

by LoLobey on Tuesday November 08, 2011 @03:59PM (#37989274) Attached to: Scott Adams Proposes a Fourth Branch of Government

Yea! And his comment "The last thing I want to see is an opinion survey of people who are just as ignorant as I am." from the article proves how intelligent he thinks he is. /s

Submission + - Airdrop Irrigation System Wins James Dyson Award (jamesdysonaward.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 08, 2011 @01:50PM

An anonymous reader writes: The innovative Airdrop Irrigation System is capable of transforming drought-stricken areas into fertile farmland, and it just took home the top prize in this year's James Dyson Awards. The device harvests tiny amounts of moisture from even the driest climate and then pushes the moisture through a network of piping that funnels it directly to the roots of crops.

Submission + - Adams Proposes a Fourth Branch of Government (wsj.com)

Submitted by LoLobey on Tuesday November 08, 2011 @12:06PM

LoLobey writes: Scott Adams is proposing a fourth branch of government in the WSJ: "Perhaps what we need is a fourth branch of government, smallish and economical, operating independently, with a mission to build and maintain a friendly user interface for citizens to manage their government."
It's a humorous article with some interesting ideas including internet access as a constitutional right and a constitutional ban on all election contributions for any candidate that polls above 10%. He's primarily proposing a method of getting verifiably accurate information on various issues to aid voters in making decisions, but despairs on his own blog about reader's comments on the article.

Submission + - Image Analysis and Verification to Track Pictures (gizmag.com) 1

Submitted by kodiaktau on Tuesday November 08, 2011 @12:01PM

kodiaktau writes: Landon Cox, a Computer Scientist, and students at Duke University are working in conjunction researchers at Microsoft and Technicolor Research to design and develop image analysis tools to identify changes to pictures and videos.

The technology called YouProve, compares original images to create a trust certificate that can be compared against derivative images and produce a heat-map of changes between the original and derivative images. This can be of particular importance when reviewing large amounts of crowd-sourced content to see if image tampering has occurred. The intent is to deploy this technology on smartphones, particularly Android, and . The ACM recieved Cox's presentation earlier this month in the Embedded Networked Sensor Systems meetings. A video demo of the technology can be found at this link.

Submission + - Voyager 2 Has Accepted The Commands! (messagetoeagle.com)

Submitted by laejoh on Tuesday November 08, 2011 @10:24AM

laejoh writes: NASA's Deep Space Network personnel sent commands to the Voyager 2 spacecraft Nov. 4 to switch to the backup set of thrusters that controls the roll of the spacecraft. Confirmation was received today november the 7th that the spacecraft accepted the commands.

Comment Pffft... (Score 1) 904

by LoLobey on Monday October 17, 2011 @12:54PM (#37740960) Attached to: What Happens When the Average Lifespan is 150 Years?

150 years- still only a sparrow fart in a windstorm.

Submission + - Openoffice.org to be given back to community (h-online.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 15, 2011 @02:52PM

An anonymous reader writes: Oracle has stated that the will give back the open source productivity suit to the community. Edward Screven, Oracle's Chief Corporate Architect, said the company intends "working immediately with community members to further the continued success of Open Office."
He said that because there was a "breadth of interest in free personal productivity applications", that the company believed the OpenOffice.org project would be "best managed by an organisation focused on serving that broad constituency on a non-commercial basis".

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