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Government

Submission + - FBI whistleblower: Feds spy too much on us

coondoggie writes: The U.S. federal government conducts way too much domestic spying on citizens, by too many federal agencies and targeting people based on their religion and political activity Famous FBI-whistleblower-turned-ACLU-attorney, Mike German, says. “We've documented intelligence activities targeting or obstructing First Amendment-protected activity in 33 states and DC,” he says. He says that citizens need to be aware of the enormous cost of all of this surveillance and realize that “ there's no evidence any of it actually make us safer. We've sacrificed our privacy for no security benefit.” In fact, citizens can’t get a full handle on how much money is being spent on domestic survellience, as budget information has been labeled classified for one of the big programs, the National Intelligence Program

Submission + - HP to Buy Palm for $1.2 Billion (cnn.com)

ackatack writes: HP has just announced that it plans to buy Palm for $1.2 billion or $5.70 per share. The article alludes to the fact that HP is interested in WebOS for its tablet offerings.

Submission + - Comcast Closer to Eradicating Net Neutrality (sfgate.com)

ackatack writes: Earlier today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the FCC doesn't have the authority to require ISPs to provide their users with equal access to websites.

Comment Been There, Done That (Score 1) 6

I worked for a very short time last year in a small company's warehouse. The time clock for this warehouse could be operated by either a fingerprint or an employee number and code combination. We didn't have to provide a print for every single finger, just the one we wanted to use for clocking. It didn't seem like a big deal to me because my girlfriend works for a large consulting firm and the crazy amount of biometric data their clients use made a single fingerprint look like a joke.

Canada

Submission + - World's Tech Co's: Don't Blame Canada on Copyright (michaelgeist.ca)

An anonymous reader writes: The Computer & Communications Industry Association, which includes a who's who of the tech world including Microsoft, Google, T-Mobile, Fujitsu, AMD, eBay, Intuit, Oracle, and Yahoo, have issued a strong defense of current Canadian copyright law, arguing that the U.S. is wrong to place Canada on the annual Special 301 list. The submission argues that the U.S. should not criticize Canada for not implementing anti-circumvention rules and warns against using the Special 301 process to "remake the world in the image of the DMCA."

Submission + - How much geek cred do ./s really have? (jetpunk.com) 1

Crazy Taco writes: The "Computer Nerds Acronym" quiz gives you four minutes to define twenty computer related acronyms. I would be willing to wager that a higher percentage of /.s will be able to get a perfect score than the general population, but that most won't have the breadth of experience to get them all.

http://www.jetpunk.com/quizzes/computer-nerd-acronyms-quiz.php

Software

Submission + - End of the line for Purgos. (softulz.net)

timtim885 writes: Ryan Ackerman, developer of open source project Purgos http://softulz.net/ has decided to stop development of the project. Purgos is a system management software for Windows written in C++ that relies heavily on WMI. The software makes it relatively easy to send tasks such as editing a registry key, installing software or even performing an inventory across multiple computers at once. The system has served system administrators and IT people alike for years. We can only hope that the community will pickup the project and continue development. I, for one, hope that the project will continue to be developed and released as free as in beer and free as in freedom. Do you have any experience with Purgos or any system alike? Please share!

Also, if you are interested in the project, please contact Ryan at Ryan@softulz.net

Science

Submission + - RIP Bill Gordon, Designer of the Arecibo Telescope (sfgate.com)

ackatack writes: Bill Gordon, the designer of the Arecibo photogenic radio telescope, passed away at the age of 92. His initial concept of the observatory, which has made many important discoveries even as recently as 2008, changed dramatically from focusing on the Earth's ionosphere to planetary science and radio astronomy. The scientific community has benefitted many times over from his work and may continue to do so.
Science

Submission + - Wanted: Experts in biological image analysis! (nsf.gov)

An anonymous reader writes: A recently announced program at the NSF highlights the needs for enhanced analytical tools and approaches to managing the looming “exaflood” of image-based data in biological sciences. The program seeks contributions from all manner of biology researchers, computer scientists, artists, mathematicians, and others with pertinent expertise. Anyone eligible to receive NSF funding can apply for participation in the program. Such applications would usually be submitted through a University or College sponsored programs office. Additional details are here: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503473&org=BIO&from=home
Power

Submission + - GE Hitachi Plans to Turn Nuclear Waste into Fuel (inhabitat.com)

MikeChino writes: President Obama’s recent announcement that the U.S. government will offer $8 billion in federal loan guarantees for the first new nuclear plant in the country in 30 years upset clean energy advocates for a number of reasons. One of the biggest problems: all that radioactive waste. Now GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, one of the world’s biggest suppliers of nuclear reactors, claims that it can safely turn nuclear waste into fuel. Goodbye, Yucca Mountain.
Portables

Submission + - SPAM: Type of Phone used

Thelasko writes: After the article on the new iPhone I am curious what kind of phones Slashdotters use. Since there are so many phones out there we will stick with major brands. The options are:

Apple
LG
Motorola
Nokia
Palm
RIM (Crackberry)
Sony Ericsson
OpenMoko (Neo1973)
CowboyNeal

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