Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - Slashdot BETA Discussion (slashdot.org) 60

mugnyte writes: With Slashdot's recent restyled "BETA" slowly rolled to most users, there's been a lot of griping about the changes. This is nothing new, as past style changes have had similar effects. However, this pass there are significant usability changes: A narrower read pane, limited moderation filtering, and several color/size/font adjustments. BETA implies not yet complete, so taking that cue — please list your specific, detailed opinoins, one per comment, and let's use the best part of slashdot (the moderation system) to raise the attention to these. Change can be jarring, but let's focus on the true usability differences with the new style.

Comment I work for a public high school. Grades 6-12. (Score 1) 231

Our Media Center has 33 desktops with internet connections. Those + the large Anime/Manga (this is limited to 9-12 graders) sections are by far the most utilized. It's also where you come to get issued a netbook (if you're eligible) or a graphing calculator or a required-for-a-class novel. Outside of these things it's used for testing, and tutoring (including after school).

Teachers have access to a BD/DVD and even, yes, VHS video section as well as borrowing blu-ray players, getting things laminated, and the ability to schedule the computer use (along with our 5 other labs).

The building I worked at previously was a "community school" which meant people could come in off the street to use it like a public library, those people were mostly interested in the computers for job searches or whatnot.

Submission + - Court Says Craigslist Sperm Donor Must Pay Child Support

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: David Stout reports at Time Magazine that what began with a Craigslist ad from a lesbian couple calling for a sperm donor in rural Topeka, Kansas ended in court on Wednesday with a judge ordering the sperm donor to pay child support. The Kansas Department for Children and Families filed the case in October 2012 seeking to have William Marotta declared the father of a child born to Jennifer Schreiner in 2009 so he can be held responsible for about $6,000 in public assistance the state provided, as well as future child support. "In this case, quite simply, the parties failed to perform to statutory requirement of the Kansas Parentage Act in not enlisting a licensed physician at some point in the artificial insemination process, and the parties' self-designation of (Marotta) as a sperm donor is insufficient to relieve (Marotta) of parental right and responsibilities to the child," wrote Judge Mattivi. Marotta opposed that action, saying he had contacted Schreiner and her partner at the time, Angela Bauer, in response to an ad they placed on Craigslist seeking a sperm donor and signed a contract waiving his parental rights and responsibilities. "We stand by that contract," says Defense attorney Swinnen adding that the Kansas statute doesn't specifically require the artificial insemination be carried out by a physician. "The insinuation is offensive, and we are responding vigorously to that. We stand by our story. There was no personal relationship whatsoever between my client and the mother, or the partner of the mother, or the child. Anything the state insinuates is vilifying my client, and I will address it."

Submission + - North Korea Claim To Have Landed A Man On The Sun (eteknix.com) 3

An anonymous reader writes: The state news agency of North Korea has confirmed that they have become the first, and we suspect the only country in the world to ever land a man on the sun. True to their word given that early last year they said they'll perform the first solar landing.

Their astronaut, Hung Il Gong, left in his specially designed rocket ship at three AM on his solo trip to our nearest star, The Sun. He arrived on the sun just four hours later where he collected sun spot samples to bring back to his supreme leader as a gift, and then boarded his ship to make the four hour journey home for a heroes welcome.

"We are very delighted to announce a successful mission to put a man on the sun. North Korea has beaten every other country in the world to the sun. Hung Il Gong is a hero and deserves a hero's welcome when he returns home later this evening." said a North Korean central news anchor during a live broadcast.

Submission + - The final confessions of a Silk Road kingpin (dailydot.com)

An anonymous reader writes: The Daily Dot has an extensive interview with Steven Sadler, aka Nod, one of the most popular cocaine and heroin dealers on the Silk Road—and one of the informants who brought down Silk Road owner Dread Pirate Roberts.

"The conditions of the bond were clear: Sadler wasn't allowed leave the state of Washington. He was also strictly forbidden from dealing or using drugs.

"Hold on,” he cut in at one point. “I have to buy some cocaine, can I call you back?"

Five minutes later, he was back on the line, as chatty as ever.

At the time, there was no clear direction forward. Maybe he'd go to Las Vegas on a wild bender. Maybe he'd try to start his drug empire over in Los Angeles. Maybe he’d visit old friends in his hometown who didn't know about his criminal enterprise.

Sadler talked through each potential scenario, as if working through them in his mind, looking for possibilities and pitfalls. In roughly 10 hours of phone calls over the course of several weeks, Sadler told me almost everything.

Then he dropped off the grid."

Submission + - US Supreme Court: Patent Holders Must Prove Infringment (itworld.com)

jfruh writes: The Supreme Court issued a ruling that might help marginally curb patent madness. Ruling on a case between Medtronic and Mirowski Family Ventures, the court rules that the burden of proof in patent infringement cases is always on the patent holder. This is true even in the specific case at hand, in which Medtronic sought a declaratory judgement that it was not violating the Mirowski patents.

Submission + - Watchdog Report Says N.S.A. Program Is Illegal and Should End (nytimes.com)

schwit1 writes: An independent federal privacy watchdog has concluded that the National Security Agency’s program to collect bulk phone call records has provided only “minimal” benefits in counterterrorism efforts, is illegal and should be shut down.

The findings are laid out in a 238-page report, scheduled for release by Thursday, that represent the first major public statement by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which Congress made an independent agency in 2007 and only recently became fully operational.

Defenders of the program have argued that Congress acquiesced to that secret interpretation of the law by twice extending its expiration without changes. But the report rejects that idea as “both unsupported by legal precedent and unacceptable as a matter of democratic accountability.”

The report also scrutinizes in detail a handful of investigations in which the program was used, finding “no instance in which the program directly contributed to the discovery of a previously unknown terrorist plot or the disruption of a terrorist attack.”

Submission + - Google Patent: Self-Driving Cars Chauffeur Shopping 'Whales'

theodp writes: Probably not the most fortuitous timing, but the USPTO has granted Google its wish for a patent on Transportation-Aware Physical Advertising Conversions, a system that arranges for free or discounted transportation to an advertiser's business location that will be more or less convenient based upon how profitable a customer is deemed. It's reminiscent of the free personal chauffeured limousine rides long enjoyed by Las Vegas casino 'whales', but at scale and using cars that may not have drivers. A server, Google explains, 'arranges the selected transportation option, for example, by dispatching a vehicle or providing instructions for using public transportation.' So, it seems a Larry or Sergey type might expect to be taken gratis to the Tesla dealership via a private autonomous car or even helicopter, while others may get a discount on a SF Muni bus ride to Safeway. Google also describes how advertisers will be able to use a customer's profile 'to exclude a customer from being considered for an offer based on exclusion criteria identified by a business,' such as age, job title, purchasing history, clothing size, or other 'desirable' characteristics.

Submission + - Why Whistleblowers Cannot Get a Fair Trial (wsj.com)

phantomfive writes: "Seven whistleblowers have been prosecuted under the Obama administration," writes Jesselyn Radack, a lawyer who advised two of them. She explains why they can't get a fair trial. In the Thomas Drake case, the administration retroactively marked documents as classified, saying, "he knew they should have been classified." In the Bradley Manning case, the jury wasn't allowed to see what information was leaked. The defendants, all who have been charged with espionage, have limited access to court documents. Most of these problems happen because the law was written to deal with traitorous spies, not whistleblowers.

Submission + - Why I did it: Former Hacker Mitchell Frost Explains (csoonline.com)

itwbennett writes: In 2006, Mitchell Frost, then a 19-year-old college student at the University of Akron, used the school's computer network to control the botnets he had created. Authorities say between August 2006 and March 2007, Frost launched a series of denial of service attacks against several conservative web sites, including Billoreilly.com, Anncoulter.com and Rudy Giuliani's campaign site, Joinrudy2008.com. Frost's dorm room at the university was raided in March 2007. What followed, according to Frost, was a long, complicated legal battle that ultimately lead to him spending over two years behind bars and owing thousands of dollars in legal and restitution fees for his crimes. Frost was sentenced in 2010, released from prison in 2012 and is now serving probation. In an interview with CSO Magazine, Frost, sounding very much like a man who doesn't think he did anything wrong, talks about his experience, his motivation, and his punishment.

Submission + - Warren Buffett Offers $1 Billion for the Perfect March Madness Bracket

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Rob Wile reports that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and Dan Gilbert's Quicken Loans are partnering to award anyone who fills out a perfect 2014 Men's NCAA Tournament bracket with $1 billion. The prize will be paid out in 40 annual installments of $25 million. If there's more than one winner they'll have to share or the winner or winners can also take or split up an immediate $500 million lump sum payment. "We've seen a lot of contests offering a million dollars for putting together a good bracket, which got us thinking, what is the perfect bracket worth?" says Jay Farner, President and Chief Marketing Officer of Quicken Loans. "We decided a billion dollars seems right for such an impressive feat." You might consider the odds of filling out a perfect March Madness bracket to be small and you would be right. According to DePaul math professor Jay Bergen. the odds are 1 in 128 billion. (Some outlets are quoting 1 in 9.2 quintillion, but that assumes that all 63 games are 50-50 toss-ups, which they're not. For example, Number 1 seeds just about always advance to the second round.) If everyone in the United States filled out a bracket, Chris Chase calculated, we'd get a $1 billion winner every 400 years. "So Buffett and Quicken Loans are "offering" $1 billion for the perfect bracket the way I'm now (officially) "offering" $1 billion to anybody who, in the next week, guesses the names of every sitting member of the House of Representatives in 2020 says Derek Thompson.

Slashdot Top Deals

The use of money is all the advantage there is to having money. -- B. Franklin

Working...