j0brien - Slashdot User

Verizon Sued After Tech Punches Customer In Face 493

Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday August 18, 2009 @12:28PM from the can-you-hit-me-now dept.

suraj.sun writes "A Verizon customer filed a lawsuit after the tech the company sent out got a little punchy. Instead of fixing the customer's problem, the tech allegedly hit him in the face. The New York Post says the tech attacked the customer after he asked to see some ID before allowing access to the apartment. From the article, '"You want to know my name? Here's my name," Benjamin snarled, slapping his ID card into Isakson's face, according to Isakson's account of the December 2008 confrontation. "The guy essentially snapped. He cold-cocked me, hit me two or three solid shots to the head while my hands were down," said Isakson, a limo driver. He said the pounding bloodied his face and broke his glasses. But things got uglier, Isakson said, when Benjamin squeezed him around the neck and pressed him up against the wall. "He's prepared to kill me," Isakson said. "That's all I could think of." The customer broke free and ran away. The Verizon tech then chased the customer until he was subdued by a neighbor who was an off-duty cop.'"

Novel Algae Fuel-Farming Method Gets Big Backing 176

Posted by timothy on Thursday July 16, 2009 @05:30PM from the alcohol-project-leads-to-endowment dept.

Al writes "Dow Chemical has given its backing to a Florida startup called Algenol Biofuels that hopes to produce commercial quantities of ethanol directly from algae without the need for fresh water or agricultural lands. Dozens of companies are trying to produce biofuels from algae, mostly by growing and harvesting the microorganisms to extract their oil. Algenol has chosen instead to genetically enhance certain strains of blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, to convert as much carbon dioxide as possible into ethanol using a process that doesn't require harvesting to collect the fuel. Algenol's bioreactors are troughs covered by a dome of semitransparent film and filled with salt water that has been pumped in straight from the ocean. The photosynthetic algae growing inside are exposed to sunlight and fed a stream of carbon dioxide from Dow's chemical production units. The goal is to produce 100,000 gallons of ethanol annually."

ScummVM 0.13.0 Delivers New Adventure Games 69

Posted by Soulskill on Friday March 06, 2009 @07:16AM from the ever-expanding-selection dept.

KingofGnG writes "The classics, by definition, never go out of fashion, let alone if they are the graphic adventures of past decades. The preferred tool of true adventurers is ScummVM, software that works as an interpreter between data files of such adventures and modern operating systems. 6 months after the release of version 0.12.0, developers have now delivered a new main release of the virtual machine, which includes novelties both for the interface and supported games."

Submission + - Auto Warehousing Co. switches to Apple (computerworld.com) 1

Submitted by

LostInFlorida

on Friday July 20, 2007 @10:13AM

LostInFlorida writes: "AWC is the largest full-service auto processing company in North America, with 23 sites in the U.S. and Canada. Their clients include Ford, GM, Honda, etc. They have switched their ENTIRE enterprise over to Apple desktops."

Submission + - Plug-In Hybrid Cars to hit Toronto by 2008

Submitted by Adambomb on Friday May 25, 2007 @01:56PM

Adambomb writes: A recent story on CTV has brought to light a municipal partnership between the City of Toronto and Hymotion (an Ontario based company recently acquired by A123 Systems Inc. of Watertown, MA) to help ease fuel usage in the metropolis. The pilot project is expected to hit the roads with as many as 200 vehicles with a new Plug-In conversion to allow hybrid cars to be charged directly instead of relying primarily on engine power. CTV quotes Hymotion President Ricardo Bazzarella stating that the cars will be able to travel 100km of city driving with just 2.4 litres of gasoline (about 2/3rds of a gallon).

Submission + - GPL meeting software

Submitted by

Anonymous Coward

on Wednesday April 18, 2007 @03:38AM

Anonymous Coward writes: "Hi, Im currently looking for GPL type software for running a few small web meeting system — whiteboard/PPT/Voice Chat and possibilty video. So far I have dimdim [www.dimdim.com) installed and have been enjoying testing its features, however it is in early alpha stage. I haven't had much luck finding any other type of OSS Web conferencing solutions. Does anyone have some recommendations or possible products to check out? Don't get me wrong, DimDim is quite a cool application, but still in alpha. And most of the people connecting are non tecnical.. half the time is spent trying to figure out if its a problem on their end, or just alpha bugs"

Submission + - Setting up a internet gateway similiar to a hotel

Submitted by Scoldog on Wednesday April 18, 2007 @03:27AM

Scoldog writes: Hello everyone.

I work in the IT Dept for a large car dealership in Australia with many branches. One of the branches has decided they want an ADSL line installed so that customers can surf the net while their cars are being serviced. I don't mind the idea but I want to be able to monitor the traffic and filter what people are accessing. From what I have seen, a PC with some sort of monitoring software acting as a gateway would be the way to go rather than forking out for commercial gateway hardware

There are a few requirements that I need:

1. I can't see the need for people having to acknowledge they want internet access as we won't be charging for it (Like a hotel getting people to say 'yes' before accessing internet from their rooms). Does anyone disagree with this and would you recommend?

2. I am a Windows Administrator but I don't like the idea of using a Windows box as a gateway (I have dealt with too many malware infested PC's in the past, just imagining hordes of random people plugging their laptops into a common Windows PC is enough to freak me out!) I am currently playing around with Ubuntu and Fedora in my own time, is there an easy way of setting up a gateway using either of these distributions (preferably Ubuntu)?

3. They are looking at adding wireless access for the customers (instead of plugging in to the wall jacks they have already installed). Is there a solution that can handle stuff like stopping after hours access on the access point (stopping people from hanging around outside leeching net time)

4. I would also like to setup a banned list of words, websites and ports so people are only able to go to 'appropriate' websites and get their email.

5. Being able to dial in and monitor off site plus make changes to the settings would be great as well.

What problems have you come across doing this? Do you recommend a software solution (using a PC as a gateway) or is it not worth it and I should recommend a commercial gateway instead?

Thanks for your help

Submission + - A crime for Americans to internet date foreigners

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 06, 2007 @03:28AM

An anonymous reader writes: US Judge Affirms IMBRA: Americans Must Have Criminal Checks Before Contacting Foreigners on Internet. It offical its a crime for Americans to communicate with foreigners on dating websites without criminal background check. The law called International Marriage Broker Regulation Act (IMBRA) was passed in 2005 and was uphelded in court European Connections v. Alberto Gonzales, 1:06-CV-0426-CC Judge Clarence Cooper dismissed the lawsuit by European Connections. wired

Submission + - Biodiesel from Algae

Submitted by warmbowski on Wednesday April 04, 2007 @02:03AM

warmbowski writes: Why should we look into large scale production of biodiesel from algae? It produces more oil per acre than food crops. It doesn't need to take up arable land. It can use municipal waste streams as nutrients. It can potentially replace petrodiesel. Who wants to be an algae farmer? (A diagram of the farm) FTA ... 'However, if the feedstock were to be algae, owing to its very high yield of oil per acre of cultivation, it has been found that about 10 million acres of land would need to be used for biodiesel cultivation in the US in order to produce biodiesel to replace all the petrodiesel used currently in that country. This is just 1% of the total land used today for farming and grazing together in the US (about 1 billion acres). Clearly, algae are a superior alternative as a feedstock for large-scale biodiesel production.'

Submission + - NY police still impounding Kinberg's Bicycle

Submitted by goombah99 on Monday March 26, 2007 @11:13AM

goombah99 writes: Joshua Kinberg appeared in a previous slashdot article way back in 2004 because he was 'using a Wireless Internet-enabled bicycle outfitted with a custom-designed printing device, the "Bikes Against Bush" bicycle can print text messages sent from web users directly onto the streets of Manhattan in water-soluble chalk'. He was arrested before the Republican National Convention in 2004. His apparatus was returned a year later but the NY times is reporting the police are still holding onto his bike.

Submission + - How to Build a Solar-Powered Wii

Submitted by

RD

on Thursday March 22, 2007 @04:32PM

RD writes: "Can solar power run your video game consle? Tom's Hardware Guide built a mobile station for the Wii, complete with an HD monitor, that runs in part from a solar panel on the top of the cart. The solar panel doesn't provide all the energy needed for the station (it's attached to a deep cycle battery), but it does eliminate the need to plug the console into an outlet and also enables the station to recharge in the sunlight and provide around 8 hours of continuous play. Here's the article and video on how it was built."

Submission + - The Science of a Very Beautiful Sunrise or Sunset

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 22, 2007 @02:44PM

An anonymous reader writes: In his excellent paper " The Colors of Twilight and Sunset ," Stephen F. Corfidi, a Lead Forecaster with the NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center, explains why "some parts of the world enjoy more beautiful sunsets than others, and why do they favor certain months? What are the ingredients for truly memorable sunrises and sunsets?" (Hint: Lots of clean air.)

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