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Sponsored by Intel

Vendor Intel 1

Submitted by Engineers at Intel
Like we said recently, we (Intel and OSTG) have regrouped and returned. Intel has listened to what you guys asked about, and has put together an excellent roster of engineers and IT experts to respond and discuss the technologies that matter to you -- and them. We're going to be starting things out with a focus on areas of Intel expertise such as Quad Core Performance, Virtualization and Data Center Efficiency. Eve
Sponsored by Intel

Vendor Intel

Submitted by Engineers at Intel
Like we said recently, we (Intel and OSTG) have regrouped and returned. Intel has listened to what you guys asked about, and has put together an excellent roster of engineers and IT experts to respond and discuss the technologies that matter to you -- and them. We're going to be starting things out with a focus on areas of Intel expertise such as Quad Core Performance, Virtualization and Data Center Efficiency. Every two weeks we'll have new engineers and IT experts lined up to correspond with the Slashdot community. This is a great way for the Slashdot community and Intel to learn from one another. It's good stuff -- and this Opinion Center will rock.

Thank you -- Slashdot and Intel

Simple Computation Using Dominos 131

Posted by CowboyNeal from the houses-of-cards dept.
An anonymous reader writes "When silicon fails to beat Moores law, maybe dominos can help. This guy has created a half adder in dominos as a proof of concept for domino computation. If he intends to make a full domino computer he's going to need an awful lot of dominos."
Windows

Submission + - How bad does Windows need to be for people to stop

Submitted by jellomizer
jellomizer writes: With still no seeming end to Windows Security problems, Current very bad reviews of poor performance on Vista, and all the other problems. Yet people still use it and most feel the effort to switch still isn't worth it. So how how much worse Windows will need to be to say get 40% of the current Windows users to switch to different OSs, Help fund development of their apps to more cross platform development models, Focus more on Web Application using open standards and less on platform particular add ins. It seems to me people will not switch off Windows unless it keeps on getting so much more worse then it is. So how bad does it need to be?
Microsoft

Submission + - Script Kiddie Foils Microsoft

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A forum user (going by the handle Computer User) over at keznews has successfully created a brute force keygen for Microsoft Windows Vista. Within hours, the news had spread like wildfire to all corners of the internet, garnering public reaction ranging from disbelief to praise. Computer User shortly thereafter posted a statement of regret for 'hacking' Microsoft's unhackable validation. Sarcasm or sincerity?
The Matrix

Submission + - New York Sightseeing, "Matrix" Style

Submitted by Chris Karel
Chris Karel writes: When Trinity "downloaded" the instructions for flying a chopper in The Matrix, did you immediately start thinking about all the things you'd learn that way if you could? If one of your dreams was to become an instant New Yorker, there's a new web site — TailoredTours.com — that delivers the city to you instantly. Of course, it's delivered to your email inbox, but it's a start. This article talks about that site and other new alternatives in the expanding realm of sightseeing in the Big Apple.

During the winter and early spring, most vacationers opt for warmer locales like Miami, Orlando and Las Vegas. So it may come as a surprise that still-chilly New York City was the fourth most popular spring travel destination in the country in 2004, according to actual hotel bookings at Travelweb.com.

With a vibrant cultural and social scene, it's easy to see why so many visitors would shun the sun for the mean streets of Manhattan. But unlike inexpensive Florida, New York can quickly max out the credit cards of even the most budget-conscious traveler. The average room cost in the city in 2006 was estimated at $268, up 7% from 2005, according to figures compiled by PKF Consulting based on a poll of 100 hotels. Though the cost of hotel rooms continues to climb, some new sightseeing options can help vacationers stick to a budget and still make the most of their trip.

Traditionally, visitors have had three options for touring New York City: Bus tours, guided tours and do-it-yourself sightseeing.

Bus tours cover a lot of ground in a short period of time and with almost no effort required. But they are expensive — Gray Line Bus Tours (www.grayline.com) is offering a "3-Day Super Saver Combo" for $104 per adult and $80 per child. That's $368 for a family of four. And sightseeing by bus means that you miss a lot of the big-city ambiance that makes New York more than just the home of the Empire State Building.

Visitors who want a more substantial experience can opt for a guided tour. Ranging in cost from free to over $200 per day, guided tours give you a deeper understanding of the city. The down side is that you are forced to adhere to someone else's schedule and pace. Also, finding tours is not always easy. Your best bet is to visit the web sites of places that interest you (for example, www.centralparknyc.org for Central Park tours). Also, Big Onion walking tours allows users to book guided tours online (www.bigonion.com, $10 per tour for full-time students).

Finally, there's the bane of most budget travelers' existence — digging through guidebooks and web sites to compose a personalized itinerary. While this is a relatively cheap option — around $15 for a decent guidebook — the cost in lost sleep and pre-trip stress is immeasurable. A 2002 Gallup poll of 1000 Americans found that 56% of respondents pack either the night before or the day of a vacation. On average, these respondents went to bed two hours later on the night before their trip as a result. Thirty-six percent said that they have to work harder or stay at work later in the days leading up to a vacation. Vacationers preoccupied with packing, making travel arrangements and finishing up work hardly have time to sleep, let alone take on the task of planning their own sightseeing itineraries.

Fortunately, families visiting New York City won't have to. Over the past few years, some alternatives have emerged that incorporate the best features of the traditional tour modes — seeing the big sites, getting up close & personal with the city, and offering personalized sightseeing — while introducing some innovative new benefits. Because these three options are all self-guided, you retain complete flexibility and independence. And all three use restaurant and activity recommendations to give you an immersive experience.

Published in 2004, City Walks: New York (Chronicle Books, $14.95), by Martha Fay, is a deck of cards that provide "50 Adventures on Foot." Each card is a self-guided walking tour with a detail map on one side and a description of the tour route on the other. The deck comes with a foldout overview map that shows the location of each tour within New York City. The City Walks series includes other cities as well, like Washington, D.C., London and San Francisco.

While the City Walks series is innovative, its tours are not interest-specific. On the other hand Frommer's New York City Day by Day (Wiley Publishing, $12.99), released in 2006, offers "22 Smart Ways to See the City," in sections like "Best Neighborhood Walks" and "Best Special Interest Tours." A traditional guidebook with tour itineraries tacked on, Day by Day includes star-rated listings of just about everything in New York City, from day trips to dining. The book also comes with a foldout map in a pouch glued to the back cover. Like City Walks, the Day by Day series is available for other cities, like Rome, Paris and London.

Launched in November 2006, TailoredTours.com lets you browse and buy self-guided tours online for $3 each. Delivered as PDF (Portable Document Format) email attachments, the tours, which include a route map and two or three pages of point-of-interest descriptions and photos, can be printed out or uploaded to a PDA. Like the Day by Day book, the site's tours are interest-specific. But TailoredTours.com offers a greater level of personalization: There are currently 30 tours available in 14 different categories, including family-friendly, shopping, nightlife, scavenger hunts, and movie location tours.

Their compact size makes these tours more user-friendly than the Day by Day book, and delivery in an electronic format affords Tailored Tours a few other advantages. For example, Tailored Tours are updated periodically to ensure that they provide users with the most current information. Also, each tour includes live web links for select sights, so you can check hours of operation and admission fees for museums, or make reservations at a recommended restaurant, before you print out the tour.

Tailored Tours also serve as a ready-made travelogue of your New York experience, so the family can remember exactly where they went and what they saw for years after they return home.

A trip to New York can be a daunting financial challenge for families. But with these new sightseeing options, you can see the real New York and still have plenty of money left for souvenirs.
Security

Submission + - Sex and Security

Submitted by
Bitt Faulk
Bitt Faulk writes: "Deborah Palfrey was arrested in October for running a prostitution service. She has since put up a web site asking for legal donations. In it, she says that she is considering selling her phone logs in order to help pay for her legal fees, and has put up an expurgated one-page sample. Ignoring the fact that implying that the phone logs contain something interesting also implies that she is guilty, the log was poorly expurgated. Opening the file in a PDF editor allows anyone to remove the scratch-outs that the log was expurgated with. What does security mean when it's improperly understood?"
United States

Submission + - BBC Reported WTC7 Collapse 20 Min Before It Fell

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Courtesy an article posted at PrisonPlanet.com

"Early this week an independent researcher, reviewing video archives of the BBC's 9/11 coverage, divulged the discovery of an earth shaking incongruence. BBC reporters announced the collapse of the 47 story Salomon Brothers Building 23 minutes BEFORE the actual sudden collapse. This building, also known as WTC 7, is clearly visible, standing tall, as a reporter gestures to the live view through the window behind her."
Encryption

Secure Private Key Storage for UNIX? 95

Posted by Cliff from the kernel-level-key-ring dept.
An anonymous reader asks: "Microsoft Windows, from 2000 forward (except ME) offers secure certificate and private storage at the OS level in what is called a protected store. Offline, it's encrypted by a combination of the user's password and a session key stored on the filesystem. When the OS is running, the private keys stored are available to the logged in user, optionally encrypted with another password. The keys are stored in protected memory, so no applications can access them without going through the Microsoft CAPI calls. This code also is FIPS 140-1 level 1 (the best one can get for software cryptography modules) compliant." Does any other OS provide this kind of feature at the OS-level? If so, who? If not, why?

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