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Power

US Corps Want $1B From Gov't For Battery Factory 394

Posted by timothy from the when-you-really-truly-need-some-free-tax-money dept.
tristanreid writes "The Wall Street Journal reports that a consortium of 14 US technology companies will ask the Federal Government for up to $1 billion for a plant to make advanced battery technology, as a part of the broad fiscal stimulus package that Pres. Elect Obama is planning. The story quotes a report by Ralph Brodd, which suggests that while existing battery technology was developed in the US, the lead in development is now held in Asia. From the WSJ story: 'More than four dozen advanced battery factories are being built in China but none, currently, in the US.'"
Education

Best Introduction To Programming For Bright 11-14-Year-Olds? 962

Posted by timothy from the don't-forget-cty-and-other-nerd-camps dept.
firthisaword writes "I will be teaching an enrichment programming course to 11-14 year old gifted children in the Spring. It is meant as an introduction to very basic programming paradigms (conditions, variables, loops, etc.), but the kids will invariably have a mix of experience in dealing with computers and programming. The question: Which programming language would be best for starting these kids off on? I am tempted by QBasic which I remember from my early days — it is straightforward and fast, if antiquated and barely supported under XP. Others have suggested Pascal which was conceived as an instructional pseudocode language. Does anyone have experience in that age range? Anything you would recommend? And as a P.S: Out of the innumerable little puzzles/programs/tasks that novice programmers get introduced to such as Fibonacci numbers, primes or binary calculators, which was the most fun and which one taught you the most?" A few years ago, a reader asked a similar but more general question, and several questions have focused on how to introduce kids to programming. Would you do anything different in teaching kids identified as academically advanced?
Image

Nmap Network Scanning Screenshot-sm 125

Posted by samzenpus from the read-all-about-it dept.
brothke writes "The 1962 song Wipe Out, with its energetic drum solo started, was the impetus for many people to take up playing the drums. Similarly, Nmap, the legendary network scanner, likely interested many in the art of hacking, and for some, started a career for security professionals and hackers. Nmap and its creator Fyodor need no introduction to anyone on Slashdot. With that, Nmap Network Scanning: The Official Nmap Project Guide to Network Discovery and Security Scanning, is a most useful guide to anyone interested in fully utilizing Nmap." Read on for the rest of Ben's review.
Software

Losing My Software Rights? 440

Posted by kdawson from the work-for-hire-but-not-for-you dept.
vintagepc writes "Having written a piece of software as part of my research employment, I now face (and will later face again, with other software I've developed), the issue of intellectual property rights. The legal department stated that if I was paid by the University to produce the software, the University would own all rights to it. This is supposedly black and white, not a gray area. However, I was hired as a research student, not directly by the University, and also via a research award (NSERC). Furthermore, it turns out that faculty members here, in fact, retain their intellectual rights to any software they write. At this point, I can still back out, since I have not explicitly agreed to the conditions, but this decision must be made soon. So, I turn to the Slashdot community to ask: Are they allowed to completely strip my rights to the software? If anyone has had any similar experiences, then what was the outcome? Additionally, is this a normal action, or do I have some maneuvering room?"
Software

Race and Racism In Video Games 371

Posted by Soulskill from the token-hobbit-among-orcs dept.
SlappingOysters writes "Racism in video games has been a key topic of discussion in the game industry this year, thanks in large part to the controversy surrounding the Resident Evil 5 launch trailer. In this article, GamePlayer speaks to developers, publishers, activists and journalists about the issue to get various perspectives and insights into how the video game industry is moving forward on the topic of racism. A related piece also has interviews with Sue Clark from the UK's Classification Board and Dr. Griseldis Kirsch, a lecturer in Contemporary Japanese Studies, about how racism in video games is viewed by the BBFC and Japan respectively."
Security

Submission + - Nmap 4.50 Released in its 10th Birthday (insecure.org)

Submitted by
buanzo
buanzo writes: "After nearly two years of work since the 4.00 release, Insecure.Org is pleased to announce the immediate, free availability of the Nmap Security Scanner version 4.50 from http://insecure.org/nmap/ . Nmap was first released in 1997, so this release celebrates our 10th anniversary! Major new features since 4.00 include the Zenmap cross-platform GUI, 2nd Generation OS Detection, the Nmap Scripting Engine, a rewritten host discovery system, performance optimization, advanced traceroute functionality, TCP and IP options support, and nearly 1,500 new version detection signatures. Dozens of other important changes — and future plans for Nmap — are listed in the release announcement. We recommend that all current Nmap users upgrade."
Networking

Submission + - NMap 10th anniversary and 4.50 release!

Submitted by JTD121
JTD121 writes: This is the 10th anniversary of Nmaps' release, and the release of 4.50 after quite some development.

"This is the first stable release since 4.20 (more than a year ago), and the first major release since 4.00 almost two years ago. Dozens of development releases led up to this. Major new features since 4.00 include the Zenmap cross-platform GUI, 2nd Generation OS Detection, the Nmap Scripting Engine, a rewritten host discovery system, performance optimization, advanced traceroute functionality, TCP and IP options support, and and nearly 1,500 new version detection signatures. More than 300 other improvements were made as well."
Security

Submission + - Nmap hits the Silver Screen (Again)

Submitted by
Devil's BSD
Devil's BSD writes: "Some of you probably remember a few years ago when Nmap was used in Matrix Revolutions to take down a power grid. Now, Nmap has hit the big screen again, this time in the Bourne Ultimatum. Although it probably flashed by too fast for most of us in the theater, it's clearly visible in the DVD releases. Video stills at http://insecure.org! Also, bash is clearly visible as the shell of choice here. Were they trying to make a subtle connection to the Bourne-Again Shell?"
User Journal

Journal Journal: The friends thing.

Journal by Pandora's Vox

got the friends/ foes thing figured out after what, 2 years?

anyway. ceci n'est pas un blog.

ceci l'est.

-Leigh

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HELP!!!! I'm being held prisoner in /usr/games/lib!

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