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

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
The Courts

Tesla Motors Sued By Car Dealers 510

Posted by Soulskill from the not-playing-by-industry-rules dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Car dealers in New York and Massachusetts have filed a lawsuit that seeks to block Tesla from selling its pricey electric vehicles in those states. The dealers say they are defending state franchise laws, which require manufacturers to sell cars through dealers they do not own. Robert O'Koniewski of the Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association says, 'Those dealers are investing millions of dollars in their franchises to make sure they comply with their franchise agreements with the manufacturers. Tesla is choosing to ignore the law and then is choosing to play outside that system.'"
Businesses

Submission + - "excitement" over Surface launch was faked (theatlanticwire.com)

Submitted by whoever57
whoever57 writes: A report in The Atlantic wire quotes Geekwire in a description of lines "around the building" but,
"a significant portion of those in line are somehow affiliated with Microsoft, either as employees, vendors, or contractors."

The same article describes a "press only" Surface tablet event at which the "clapping and hollering" came from a group of people who had badges that were different to the press badges.
Space

Submission + - Our Weather Satellites are Dying 1

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "The NY Times reports that some experts say it is almost certain that the US will soon face a year or more without crucial weather satellites that provide invaluable data for predicting storm tracks because the existing polar satellites are nearing or beyond their life expectancies, and the launching of the next replacement, known as JPSS-1, has slipped until early 2017. Polar satellites provide 84 percent of the data used in the main American computer model tracking the course of Hurricane Sandy, which at first was expected to amble away harmlessly, but now appears poised to strike the mid-Atlantic states. The mismanagement of the $13 billion program to build the next generation weather satellites was recently described as a “national embarrassment” by a top official of the Commerce Department. A launch mishap or early on-orbit failure of JPSS 1 could lead to a data gap of more than 5 years. The second JPSS satellite — JPSS 2 — is not scheduled for launch until 2022. “There is no more critical strategic issue for our weather satellite programs than the risk of gaps in satellite coverage,” writes Jane Lubchenco, the under secretary responsible for the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency. “This dysfunctional program that had become a national embarrassment due to chronic management problems.” As a aside, I know from personal experience that this isn't the first time NOAA has been in this situation. "In 1992 NOAA's GOES weather satellites were at the end of their useful lives and could have failed at any time," writes Hugh Pickens, a project manager for AlliedSignal at that time. "So NOAA made an agreement with the government of Germany to borrow a Meteosat Weather Satellite as a backup and drift it over from Europe to provide weather coverage for the US's Eastern seaboard in the event of an early GOES failure.""
Media

Bruce Willis Considering Legal Action Against Apple Over iTunes Collection 570

Posted by samzenpus from the yippie-ka-yay dept.
First time accepted submitter oobayly writes "It appears that Bruce 'Die Hard' Willis isn't too impressed that he can't include his iTunes collection in his estate when he dies. According to the article: 'Bruce Willis, the Hollywood actor, is said to be considering legal action against Apple so he can leave his iTunes music collection to his three daughters.' Such a high profile individual complaining about the ability to own your digital music can only be a good thing, right?"

Comment Re:More about Obama lies (Score 1) 244

by RatPh!nk (#40930041) Attached to: Telco Company Claims Freedom of Speech Includes Misleading Ads

Is there a hospital in the United States that turns away a patient. No, it is against the law.

They are required under EMTALA to provide "emergency" care. Outside a few oncological emergencies there are very few cancer related things that will get you treated in the emergency room. You will not get chemotherapy, likely, if you don't have insurance unless you can convince the hospital to give you some charity care.
Patents

Submission + - Apple v. Samsung: Why the Future of Ideas Is at Stake (mashable.com)

Submitted by SkinnyGuy
SkinnyGuy writes: Apple and Samsungâ(TM)s multi-billion legal battle over curves, colors and button placement is easily one of the most compelling and important patent cases in recent history. It could decide the future of Samsungâ(TM)s mobile business â" in the U.S., at least.
Science

Submission + - Shark Sex is So Vicious that Researchers Avoid Discussing It

Submitted by derekmead
derekmead writes: How violent, really, is shark sex? It’s so rough that to many shark scientists, it’s taboo. Researchers fear that talking about it, writes Juliet Eilperin in Demon Fish: Travels through the Hidden World of Sharks, would only “reinforce the popular perception that these creatures are brutish and unrelenting." With barbed penetration, near drowning, uterine cannibalism and copious amounts of biting, shark sex isn't exactly romantic. And, sure, some killjoy scientists think all this bloody sex will reinforce negative stereotypes about sharks. Don’t judge, though; for sharks it’s been a proven technique for 150 million years. If shark researchers really want to change our perception of the shark and make them more relatable, maybe they should play up the hot nights of the great white and not stop until all the world knows how the mako makes love.
Android

Submission + - Google cracks down on spam and intrusive ads in Android apps (networkworld.com)

Submitted by JG0LD
JG0LD writes: Android apps that constantly advertise via the system notifications bar and others that provide what Google deems a "poor user experience" through intrusive or misleading marketing will be banned from the Play store, the company announced this week in an email to developers.
Twitter

Submission + - How much risk will be involved with data from Twitter's Political Index? (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: Twitter today launched a new tool that leverages its estimated 400 million daily Tweets to gauge public opinion on the candidates for the 2012 presidential election.

Progress in political polling is long overdue, and with Twitter providing a constant, international conversation for web users to join or leave at their own will, there may not be a better time than now to make that change.

However, there are some concerns. One of the interesting points made in Twitter's description of its new tool is where it claims to be "illustrating instances when unprompted, natural conversation deviates from responses to specific survey questions." That assumes conversation on Twitter is natural. If parody accounts, Twitter trolls, and spam bots have taught us anything (and they usually don't), it's that Twitter conversation can be manipulated just as easily as it can be used naturally.

How will Twitter distinguish between positive Tweets coming from voters or news outlets and those from spam bots designed to drive the conversation surrounding a candidate one way or the other? How easy could it be for an organization with a vested interest in positive poll numbers for one candidate to craft an army of Twitter bots designed to drive Barack Obama's positive numbers down, or vice versa? How many people reading the data, which is sure to make its way to TV news as election coverage increases in the coming months, will be aware that Tweets can be manipulated?
Education

Teaching Natural Sciences To Social Science Students? 265

Posted by timothy from the use-lots-of-food-and-rent-analogies dept.
An anonymous reader writes "As a calculus professor for a small undergraduate institution, I normally lecture students who are majoring in the natural (or 'hard') sciences, such as mathematics, physics, and computer science. In fact, I have done so for almost thirteen years. However, for the first time this fall semester, we have a shortage of professors on our hands. As a result of this, I have been asked to teach a general education statistics class. Such classes are a major requirement for the large psychology student body we have here. I have never lectured social science students in any mathematics-related classes. My question to the Slashdot community is as follows: What are your experiences with teaching natural science classes to social science students? How is the experience the same or different in comparison to natural science students who may be more adept to the nuances of mathematics and other similar fields?"
Politics

Scientists Say People Aren't Smart Enough For Democracy To Flourish 1276

Posted by samzenpus from the you-voted-for-who? dept.
cold fjord writes "The inability of the incompetent to recognize their own limitations is a story that has been covered before on Slashdot. But, what happens when you apply that finding to politics? From the article: 'The democratic process relies on the assumption that citizens can recognize the best political candidate, or best policy idea. But a growing body of research has revealed an unfortunate aspect of the human psyche that would seem to disprove this notion, and imply instead that democratic elections produce mediocre leadership and policies. The research shows that incompetent people are inherently unable to judge the competence of other people, or the quality of those people's ideas. If people lack expertise on tax reform, it is very difficult for them to identify the candidates who are actual experts. They simply lack the mental tools needed to make meaningful judgments...democracies rarely or never elect the best leaders. Their advantage over dictatorships or other forms of government is merely that they "effectively prevent lower-than-average candidates from becoming leaders."'"
Android

Why 2012 Will Be the Year of the Android Tablet 584

Posted by Soulskill from the we-all-scream-for-ice-cream dept.
lseltzer writes "The iPad has dominated the high-end tablet market so far, but that is about to change. At CES in Las Vegas in a couple weeks you will see tablets running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) everywhere and at prices that will make an iPad a lot harder to justify. The competition from the OEM model in the Android markets will massively shift market share away from Apple, just as it has done in the smart phone market."

Slashdot Top Deals

Arithmetic is being able to count up to twenty without taking off your shoes. -- Mickey Mouse

Close