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Submission Summary: 0 pending, 119 declined, 38 accepted (157 total, 24.20% accepted)

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Submission + - Windows 7 update installs stealth WAT 7

Submitted by unassimilatible
unassimilatible writes: A Windows 7 update released on 9/30, KB2158563, claims to "resolve issues caused by revised daylight saving time and time zone laws in several countries. This update enables your computer to automatically adjust the computer clock on the correct date in 2010." The part not mentioned by Microsoft is that KB2158563 is a Trojan, the stealth payload being a WAT (Windows Activation Technologies) update that sniffs out cracked versions of Windows 7, and declares them not genuine, complete with black screen. Looks like MS is up to its old tricks again.
Microsoft

Submission + - Gates bans family from using Apple products (dailymail.co.uk)

Submitted by unassimilatible
unassimilatible writes: In what is likely the first-ever reference to Vogue magazine on Slashdot, Melinda Gates tells the fashion monthly that her husband Bill has banned the use of Apple products in their Washington mansion. Mrs. Gates admits that she is jealous of her friends' iPhones. The Daily Mail also reports on the pettiness.
Privacy

Submission + - Stimulus Bill May Allow Packet Inspection by ISPs 2

Submitted by unassimilatible
unassimilatible writes: While it has been widely-reported that the nearly $1 trillion "stimulus" bill is chock-full of pork projects which have little or nothing to do with stimulating the economy, some even more insidious things appear to be hidden in it. First, we hear that there may be some Big Brother monitoring of health care. But even scarier is an amendment which made its way into the bill which would allow packet inspection by Internet Service Providers. The amendment was inserted by Hollywood's best friend and Net Neutrality foe, California Senator Diane Feinstein (D). From the amendment: "In establishing obligations under paragraph (8), the assistant secretary shall allow for reasonable network management practices such as deterring unlawful activity, including child pornography and copyright infringement."
Editorial

Submission + - Michael Meeks: "OO.o is a profoundly sick proj

Submitted by unassimilatible
unassimilatible writes: Michael Meeks, who works full time developing OpenOffice, writes in his blog that the project is "profoundly sick."

In a healthy project we would expect to see a large number of volunteer developers involved, in addition — we would expect to see a large number of peer companies contributing to the common code pool; we do not see this in OpenOffice.org. Indeed, quite the opposite we appear to have the lowest number of active developers on OO.o since records began: 24, this contrasts negatively with Linux's recent low of 160+. Even spun in the most positive way, OO.o is at best stagnating from a development perspective.

What does this say about the open source movement if only 24 developers are working on Microsoft Office's free alternative?

Sci-Fi

Submission + - Majel Roddenberry Dies

Submitted by unassimilatible
unassimilatible writes: If there was ever a sad day for nerds, it's today, as Majel Barrett-Rodenberry has passed away. The widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry is best remembered as the gorgeous Nurse Christine Chapel from the original series, the pesky and officious Lwaxana Troi from The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, and of course the ubiquitous voice of Star Trek computers in movies, TV, and animated films (who hasn't used her voice as a system sound on their PC?). Majel also attended Star Trek conventions yearly and was a producer of Andromeda. Fortunately, Majel just finished her voice over work for the computers in J.J. Abrams' latest Trek movie. I have to admit, this made me sad, just having caught up on the entire TNG and DS9 series on DVD.
The Military

Submission + - Pentagon Clears Flying-Car Project for Takeoff (wired.com)

Submitted by unassimilatible
unassimilatible writes: DARPA has announced a "Personal Air Vehicle Technology" project. It "will ultimately lead to a working prototype of a military-suitable flying car — a two- or four-passenger vehicle that can "drive on roads" one minute and take off like a helicopter the next. The hybrid machine would be perfect for "urban scouting," casualty evacuation and commando-delivery missions, the agency believes." Wired has the story and analysis.
Movies

Submission + - Hole in Adobe DRM allows free movie downloads

Submitted by unassimilatible
unassimilatible writes: Reuters is reporting that a flaw in Adobe's Flash video servers allows free viewing of movies in many, if not most cases, including Amazon's Video On Demand. By using a program called Replay Media Catcher, unencrypted streams of entire movies are cached while showing free previews, and downloaded in their entirety. Details are spelled out at tvadfree.com.

I just wish I had heard about this last week when I paid for several Amazon movies that would not play on my PCs after download due to the crappy DRM, despite wasted time on the phone with Amazon tech support.
Movies

Submission + - Sharing 2999 Songs, 199 Movies Legal in Germany

Submitted by unassimilatible
unassimilatible writes: Torrentfreak is reporting that German prosecutors will now only pursue larger-scale file sharers on the Internet, as they are tired of being the entertainment industry's profit collector.

"Prosecutors in a German state have announced they will refuse to entertain the majority of file-sharing lawsuits in future. It appears that only commercial-scale copyright infringers will be pursued, with those sharing under 3000 music tracks and 200 movies dropping under the prosecution radar."

And the money quote: "It seems that the legal system in German has had enough of this 'abuse' of the criminal law system for 'civil' monetary gain."

If only an American politician would make this point. Why should taxpayers underwrite their government becoming enforcers for the entertainment industry? Then again, when you see how much politicians are being paid, I guess we know the answer.
Music

Submission + - Music Industry Study Says: "Embrace Piracy"

Submitted by unassimilatible
unassimilatible writes: According to the Financial Times, the music industry should embrace illegal file-sharing websites, according to a study of Radiohead's last album release that found huge numbers of people downloaded it illegally even though the band allowed fans to pay little or nothing for it.

The study by the MCPS-PRS Alliance, which represents music rights holders, and Big Champagne, an online media measurement company, found that legal downloads of In Rainbows were far exceeded by illegal torrent downloads of the album.

"The expectation among rights-holders is that, in order to create a success story, you must reduce the rate of piracy — we've found that is not the case," said Mr Garland, chief executive of Big Champagne, who highlighted the benefits that Radiohead received from the album's popularity, including strong ticket sales for its concerts this year.
Power

Submission + - Liquid Metal CPU Heatsink Outperforms Water 4

Submitted by unassimilatible
unassimilatible writes: Bios Magazine is reporting that the world's first commercially available liquid metal based CPU cooler is about to ship. Danamics, a Danish company, claims that its LM-10 outperforms standard air-cooled heatsinks and most watercooled systems with a mere 1W power draw.
 

The liquid metal is a key component in Danamics cooling systems. Liquid metal has two major advantages when cooling high power density heat sources: Firstly it has superior thermo physical properties that decrease temperature — and temperature non-uniformity — on die and across chips. Secondly, the electrical properties of the liquid metal enables efficient, reliable and ultra compact electromagnetic pumping without the use of moving parts, shafts, seals, etc.

Awesome technology, if it actually works and is affordable. The submitter requests that the moderators terminate all T-1000 jokes.

Censorship

Submission + - British Athletes Prohibited from Criticizing China

Submitted by unassimilatible
unassimilatible writes: The Daily Mail is reporting that UK Olympic athletes are being forced by the British Olympic Association to sign contracts promising not to criticize the Chinese government during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, surpassing New Zealand and Belgium in muzzling their athletes. From the article:

British Olympic chiefs are to force athletes to sign a contract promising not to speak out about China's appalling human rights record — or face being banned from travelling to Beijing.

The move — which raises the spectre of the order given to the England football team to give a Nazi salute in Berlin in 1938 — immediately provoked a storm of protest.

The controversial clause has been inserted into athletes' contracts for the first time and forbids them from making any political comment about countries staging the Olympic Games.

Yesterday the British Olympic Association (BOA) confirmed to The Mail on Sunday that any athlete who refuses to sign the agreements will not be allowed to travel to Beijing.
While I am tired of celebrities using their fame — which is completely unrelated to politics — to spout off about their opinions, it is troubling that the UK's Olympic bigwigs have decided to help the Chinese government stifle dissent. Where should the line be drawn between "shutup you daft celebrity, nobody asked you" and censorship? Regardless, Olympic athletes are again being used as political pawns, as in 1980. To make it even worse, this time the UK is on the wrong side of history.
Power

Submission + - California wants to control home thermostats

Submitted by unassimilatible
unassimilatible writes: We control the horizontal. We control the vertical. We control the temperature. Wait, what? The International Herald Tribune reports that Big Brother is rearing his head in Cal-if-or-nee-ah living rooms. Instead of expanding the energy grid, unelected bureaucrats at the California Energy Commission want to control Californians' thermostats. From the article: 'The conceit in the 1960s show "The Outer Limits" was that outside forces had taken control of your television set. Next year in California, state regulators are likely to have the emergency power to control individual thermostats, sending temperatures up or down through a radio-controlled device that will be required in new or substantially modified houses and buildings to manage electricity shortages.' So, are Slashdotters also libertarian about the government invading homes to control the temperature, or just P2P?
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Tron to be remade by Disney

Submitted by unassimilatible
unassimilatible writes: The Hollywood Reporter writes that Disney will remake the cult classic Tron, and has hired original Tron co-writer and director Steven Lisberger as producer and Joseph Kosinski as director.

The original, about a computer programmer thrust into a computer and forced to fight in games he helped create, is remembered for its sci-fi gladiator-style battles and groundbreaking special effects. It was the first movie to use computer-generated images instead of models and other optical effects in conjunction with live action. The arcade game based on the movie was so popular that it earned more than the movie.

The article also mentions that Kosinski will be remaking Logan's Run for Warner Brothers as well.

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