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Biotech

Submission + - Alagea as hydrocarbon sink and bio-fuel source.

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Several start up companies include one from MIT are looking at using algae both natural and engineered as source of bio-fuel. Since algae grows quickly and absorbs green house gases. From the article "Soybeans can give you 50 to 60 gallons of oil an acre compared to 75 to 125 gallons for canola, but algae is almost limitless because it grows so fast, so potentially you could get 10,000 gallons per acre."
Security

Submission + - Swiss Bank p0wn3d on 23c3, Berlin

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: A few hours ago on the 23c3 in Berlin a speech covering the hacking of a Swiss banks debit Card was held. The card seems to use the PIN only for writing a transmission log onto its memory but not for authentication. Authentification is done by checking a RSA-signature on the smartcard. However, the RSA-key has a length of only 320 bit. Knowing this key it is possible to create arbitrary valid cards. The speaker surprisingly wore a shirt with two large prime numbers, just in case.
Links:
Summary of the talk
Postfinance
23c3
Movies

Submission + - piracy more common than legal video downloads

Submitted by segphault
segphault writes: Research group NPD has reports that in its recent study, illegal peer-to-peer digital video downloads are outpacing legal alternatives five to one. The study also reveals that nine in ten legally downloaded videos come from Apple, and that 60 percent of the video content illegally downloaded from P2P services is pornographic. Ars Technica has an in-depth look at why piracy is still more common. Ars attributes the slow adoption of legal download services to poor quality, high prices, and invasive DRM. The article also speculates that adoption of legal download services could be pushed into the mainstream by set-top-boxes that offer integrated video download and rental services. Will Apple's iTV and Microsoft's Xbox Live Video service transform the digital video market?
Networking

Submission + - AllofMP3.com Responds to RIAA Lawsuit

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: AllofMP3.com, the defiant Russian music store, appears unimpressed with the RIAA's $1.65 lawsuit. According to Slyck.com, AllofMP3 has released a statement which seems to indicate they may not even bother showing up for trial...
IBM

Submission + - IBM Takes Step Toward Light Powered Chips

Submitted by wndmltudtkd
wndmltudtkd writes: IBM says its researchers have built a device capable of slowing down the flow of light ,opening the door towards faster computing chips in the future. The researchers said last week that the advancements could one day allow normal computer chips to use light signals instead of electrical signals to send data. The transition would enable microchips to process more data in less time, the researchers said.
United States

Submission + - Electronics Help Amazon Post Record-Setting

Submitted by wndmltudtkd
wndmltudtkd writes: The Web retailer Amazon.com's 2006 holiday season peaked with more than four million orders placed on Dec. 11, the company said Tuesday. That broke last year's single-day record of more than 3.6 million orders, set on Dec. 12 In its 12th holiday season, Amazon.com said that it again had its "best ever" sales and that it shipped more than 99 percent of orders in time to meet deadlines worldwide. As many as 3.4 million units went out in a single day.
Networking

Submission + - How do slashdotters manage email on their laptops?

Submitted by
dotancohen
dotancohen writes: "I'll soon be getting a new Dell laptop that'll be running Fedora Core 5 or 6. I need to access the email stored on my home box from the laptop, and also to read new email sent to me while I'm not home (and the home box is shut down). If I run an IMAP server at home, then I can't read the mail when the home box is down. But if I pull from the POP3 server (and leave the mail on the server) then I won't be able to sort and file the mail while on the go. Is there anyway to sync the mail accounts between two linux boxen, assuming that I'm using the same mail client? I currently use Kmail, but I might switch to Eudora in April/March when it becomes available for Linux.

Thanks in advance."
Wireless Networking

Submission + - etiquette for stealing wireless

Submitted by
nathandbos
nathandbos writes: "How rude is it to use a neighbor's open wireless access point without permission? I'm staying at my in-laws over the holidays and they don't have a reliable broadband connection. So I've been using an open connection that presumably belongs to one of the neighbors, although I don't know which one. It could be one of seven houses in the vicinity, and I really don't feel like knocking on all of their doors to ask a question most of them wouldn't understand. I don't know any way to figure out who they are electronically.

So I'm just wondering, how much of a social affront is this? I'll propose a bad-neighbor scale that runs from:

1= turning around in neighbor's driveway after 11PM

6= failing to pick up dog poo on their lawn

10= running off with spouse

Where on this scale is using an open wireless connection?"
Puzzle Games (Games)

Submission + - Cheater Checkmated.

Submitted by HockeyPuck
HockeyPuck writes: An Indian chessplayer was recently banned from competing in chess tournaments for 10 years for using a bluetooth enabled hat to communicate with accomplices outside who were using a chess program to determine his moves.
Media (Apple)

Submission + - iTunes Visits Skyrocket 413% On Christmas Day

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Hitwise today announced that the market share of visits to the iTunes website was up 413 percent on Christmas Day 2006 (December 25, 2006) versus Christmas Day 2005 as new iPod owners flocked to the web to download iTunes. The market share of visits to Zune.net showed an increase of 1,030 percent on December 25, 2006 versus the previous Monday (December 18, 2006). However, this strong initial performance was overshadowed by the iPod.
Education

Submission + - Intelligent Design trying to rally its base

Submitted by fiorenza
fiorenza writes: John Timmer presents a fascinating summary — from the point of view of a scientist — of a talk given by the Discovery Institute's Michael Behe at the University of Kansas. The article looks at how Intelligent Design propoents are trying to keep momentum going in the wake of several high profile defeats. From the article, "the case for ID that they advance is striking. Based on Behe's talk, they've given up trying to dissociate themselves from their own creationist history: they openly embrace many creationist arguments and happily identify their designer as divine. In doing so, they appear to have given up on any attempt to address a scientific audience."
Programming

Submission + - Build Ajax into your Web apps with Rails

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Ruby on Rails provides an excellent platform for building Web applications. Discover how to use the built-in Asynchronous JavaScript(TM) + XML (Ajax) features of the platform to give your application the Web 2.0 rich user interface experience. Even if you don't envision yourself shipping a Rails application, I recommend that you download one of the Instant Rails or Locomotive applications and try it out.
User Journal

Journal Journal: A tale of two Cable Modems

Journal by dzimmerm

A Tale of Two Cable Modems

I get a call from my Daughter. Her and her Hubby had just moved to a far west suburb of the urban area that I live in. They formerly had WOW! internet access via a cable modem. When they moved they went to Time Warner Roadrunner cable modem service.
Media (Apple)

Submission + - Top ten Apple rumors of all time

Submitted by sosumi
sosumi writes: CNET have taken a look back at thirty years of Apple rumors. The top ten list includes the "Secret OSX Build" and the "Apple To Buy Nintendo" speculation. The list seems to have it all. Other entries are the Apple iPhone ("just an elaborate hoax dreamed up by Steve Jobs to keep journalists busy") and Mac OS for IBM PCs ("so counter-productive and financially damaging for Apple that we doubt the company has ever seriously considered it"). From the article: "What do you get when you cross a notoriously tight-lipped computer company with rabidly fanatical users? A whole lot of gossip, speculation and hearsay, that's what. Thirty years of Apple Computer has seen the company rise, fall and rise again like a kind of technological Jesus Christ — there's been plenty to talk about."

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