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Wireless Networking

Submission + - Apple iPhone gets VoIP tryout (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "The British are bringing VoIP to your iPhone. In a demonstration at this year's DEMOfall07, British VoIP provider Truphone showed conventioneers how to use the iPhone's built-in Wi-Fi capability to make calls over Truphone's VoIP network. Truphone representatives demonstrated how a call can be initiated from a handset and then routed to Truphone's server via Wi-Fi. In addition to its demonstration of iPhone over VoIP, Truphone demonstrated an application that allows people to call each other through the social networking site Facebook. Essentially, the application would let Facebook users embed a "call me" button into their Facebook profiles that would let friends call them without revealing their actual number over the Internet. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/092807-iphone-gets-voip-tryout.html"
Biotech

Submission + - Birds 'See' Earth's Magnetic Field (nationalgeographic.com)

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "Research has been done on figuring out how natural compasses work in birds and possibly other animals. From the article, 'Heyers and his colleagues injected migratory garden warblers with a special dye that can be traced as it travels along nerve fibers. The team put one type of tracer dye into the eyes and another in a region of the brain called Cluster N, which is most active when birds orient themselves. When the birds got their bearings, both tracers traveled to and met in the thalamus, a region in the middle of the brain responsible for vision. "That shows there is direct linkage between the eye and Cluster N," Heyers said. The finding strongly supports the hypothesis that migratory birds use their visual system to navigate using the magnetic field. "The magnetic field or magnetic direction may be perceived as a dark or light spot which lies upon the normal visual field of the bird," Heyers said, "and which, of course, changes when the bird turns its head."'"
Space

Submission + - Powerful Blast Confuses Astronomers (physorg.com)

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "Astronomers are still speculating as to what could have caused an abnormally strong five millisecond burst to be detected six years ago when it completely saturated the recording equipment. From the article, 'The burst was so bright that at the time it was first recorded it was dismissed as man-made radio interference. It put out a huge amount of power (10exp33 Joules), equivalent to a large (2000MW) power station running for two billion billion years.'"
Security

Submission + - Satellite images used to monitor Burmese junta

Submitted by BurmesePython
BurmesePython writes: Human rights groups are using high-resolution satellites images to reveal the activities of Burma's junta as it gets tough with pro-democracy protesters. Apparently "it should be easy to spot groups of monks because of their distinctive maroon robes". Like previous efforts to use satellites to monitor the humanitarian crisis in Darfur [slashdot.org], the hope is it will prod the UN and other international actors into putting pressure on the Burmese rulers.
Operating Systems

Submission + - Final word on Linux improvements to OpenBSD's ar5k

Submitted by An anonymous reader
An anonymous reader writes: Given heavy prior coverage, Slashdotters may enjoy reading the SFLC's three papers: one that analyzes the history of Linux's ath5k code (derived from OpenBSD's ar5k), one that gives advice for GPL/ISC license collaboration, and one that talks about the legal issue of copyrightable originality. These papers should put to rest the acrimony and arguing about the OpenBSD-ar5k-derived ath5k driver in Linux. A patch has also been submitted that makes sure all the copyright holders are credited. The story has been covered on Linux Watch, ZD Net, Groklaw, LWN, and the OpenBSD Journal.
The Internet

Submission + - The .name Domain: Haven for Cyber-criminals (wired.com)

Submitted by
Billosaur
Billosaur writes: "In the war on cyber-crime, the bad guys have a new ally: the registrar running the .name domain. According to a Wired report, Global Name Registry (GNR), the registrar contracted by ICANN to run the .name domain, is charging money to do Whois lookups, frustrating security researchers who are attempting to trace zombie networks back to their source. ICANN normally requires registrars to make Whois data publicly available, but GNR's contract allows the to create tiered data, so that a public search reveals very little data and to find out who actually owns a .name domain requires a fee. Security researchers are balking at the fees, claiming it hampers their efforts if they have to pay to get at what should be publicly available data."
Microsoft

Submission + - The Microsoft OOXML Contradictions Revealed

Submitted by
Andy Updegrove
Andy Updegrove writes: "Someone was kind enough to send me the package of materials distributed by ISO/IEC JTC 1 earlier today to its members.The package contains each of the responses filed during the ISO Fast Track Contradictions period for Ecma 376, the specification based upon Microsoft's OOXML formats, as well as the responses prepared by Ecma to those responses. Earlier, Microsoft had downplayed reports by myself and others that the great majority of the responses were negative, suggesting that most or many were either neutral, or in fact "laudatory." In fact, the actual responses demonstrate that 14 of 20 responses — more than 2/3s — were clearly negative, two indicated divisions of opinion among the members of the national bodies submitting them, three were inconclusive or neutral, and one offered no objections.What happens next? The transmittal note from JTC1 indicates that after internal consultation, next steps will be communicated to the National Bodies "in the very near future." But given the degree of opposition and concern expressed by a significant percentage of those national bodies entitled to vote up or down on adoption, it's fair to say that Microsoft has its work cut out for it, if it wants to see OOXML achieve the same degree of international standards status as ODF. http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/articl e.php?story=2007022819130536"

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