Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Android

Submission + - HTC unlocks bootloader for all of its devices (htcdev.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: HTCDEV annouced today "HTC is committed to listening to users and delivering customer satisfaction. We plan on releasing the updates that will allow you to unlock your bootloader in the coming months." However they do note this, "It is our responsibility to caution you that not all claims resulting or caused by or from the unlocking of the bootloader may be covered under warranty" and this "We strongly suggest that you do not unlock the bootloader unless you are confident that you understand the risks involved." This looks like a new year gift to some.

Submission + - FDA backtracks on antibiotic-resistant bacteria (nrdc.org)

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "The FDA recognized, 35 years ago, that feeding animals low-doses of certain antibiotics used in human medicine — namely, penicillin and tetracyclines — could promote antibiotic-resistant bacteria capable of infecting people who eat meat, and proposed to withdraw approval for the use of those antibiotics in animal feed. Instead of acting upon the proposal, the FDA has now withdrawn it. Although admitting that it continues to have “concerns” about the safety of the use of antibiotics in animal feed, the FDA says that it will just continue to rely on "voluntary self-policing" by the industry, the same "method" which hasn’t worked out too well during the past 35 years, as antibiotic use in livestock and antibiotic resistance have continued to rise throughout the entire period."

Submission + - New attacks on GSM mobiles demonstrated (h-online.com)

Submitted by aeturnus
aeturnus writes: A new attack on the GSM mobile communications protocol has been demonstrated by Karsten Nohl and Luca Melette of Security Research Labs, based off their previously published attacks around vulnerabilities in the GSM A5/1 encryption protocol. This new attack, which Nohl indicates already in use by criminals, allows an attacker to simulate a GSM mobile and use it to make calls and send text messages. Nohl also discussed protective measures users should take against these attacks, and others in use by intelligence communities around the world.

Submission + - Shrinks spring stealth copyright for cognitive imp (nejm.org) 1

Submitted by nbauman
nbauman writes: What year is it? What day? What city are we in? Subract 7 from 100. Those are standard questions from the 30-question Mini-Mental State Examination to screen for cognitive impairment.

The Mini-Mental was published in 1975 and widely distributed freely in textbooks, pocket guides, and web sites, and memorized by medical students. Then in 2000 the authors asserted their copyright and started demanding a license of $1.23 per test. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini%E2%80%93mental_state_examination#cite_note-powsner-13 Test kits go for $150 or so, depending on the kit. Some psychologists compare this to stealth patenting — make a test freely available, wait for it to get widely adopted, start charging for it. Psychologists already have copies, but if they use them without a license, they could pay huge damages.

So in March 2011 a Harvard professor developed a new, open access screening tool, the Sweet 16, similar to the Mini-Mental and designed to replace it. Too similar. The authors of the Mini-Mental demanded that the Sweet 16 be removed from the Internet, and it was.

The authors of a New England Journal of Medicine article http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1110652 recommend that screening tools be distributed under copyleft licenses.
Piracy

Submission + - How to deal with blog thieves? 3

Submitted by mminella
mminella writes: It was recently brought to my attention that some of my blog posts are being copied by other people's blogs. Letter for letter, even linking to the images on my server. What does the community recommend as a way to address this? I know there are things I could do with the image with regards to redirects, but beyond that. Any course of action recommendations? Thanks!

Comment Re:bushfires (Score 1) 198

by ben_kelley (#38196320) Attached to: Black Friday, for me, means ...
"You know honey, I'm not sure our bushfire defences are really up to scratch this year. Just to be safe, I should go out and get a more powerful water pump, and maybe an automated rooftop sprinkler system ... probably better upgrade the controller, which means another spool of cat6 to hook it all up. Anyway, back soon."

Comment Torchwood (Score 1) 126

by ben_kelley (#38163558) Attached to: Electronic Contact Lens Displays Pixels On the Eye

I don't see why they are bothering with rabbits. Torchwood had model that worked with human eyes years ago!

In addition to being able to display text to the wearer wirelessly, the contact lenses also double as a camera, so that they transmit what the wearer is seeing back to a laptop.

Documented here.

Comment Re:Answers Explained (Score 1) 543

by ben_kelley (#38079838) Attached to: RAM in my most-used personal computer:

256+ to 512MB: My main computer is an iPad 2, iPhone 4/4S, or a mid-range android phone

Either that, or you are one of the people who calls me up to ask me why Norton 360 is running so slow on your main computer, and maybe it's time to replace your current main computer with a real computer.

Slashdot Top Deals

"Experience has proved that some people indeed know everything." -- Russell Baker

Close