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Comment For me, OpenDNS is faster (Score 1) 275

by abhikhurana (#30355556) Attached to: How Does the New Google DNS Perform? (and Why?)

For me, like the tester, OpenDNS (17-18ms) performed better than Google (25ms). My ISP (O2 in UK - 22ms) was somewhere in between OpenDNS and Google.

For those who want to test it themselves, you can do so quite easily under linux. The Command to use is dig
e.g.

dig @server slashdot.org

Do it a few time to see how fast your DNS server actually is.
Image

Scientists Say a Dirty Child Is a Healthy Child 331

Posted by samzenpus from the snack-is-going-to-be-on-the-floor-today dept.
Researchers from the School of Medicine at the University of California have shown that the more germs a child is exposed to, the better their immune system in later life. Their study found that keeping a child's skin too clean impaired the skin's ability to heal itself. From the article: "'These germs are actually good for us,' said Professor Richard Gallo, who led the research. Common bacterial species, known as staphylococci, which can cause inflammation when under the skin, are 'good bacteria' when on the surface, where they can reduce inflammation."
Google

Submission + - Releasing the Chromium OS open source project (blogspot.com)

Submitted by Kelson
Kelson writes: Google has released the source to what will eventually become Chrome OS, and will begin developing it as an open source project like Chromium. The OS differs from the usual computing model by (1) making all apps web apps (2) sandboxing everything and (3) removing anything unnecessary, to focus on speed.

Submission + - Reach out to an unhappy customer, get fired. (dustincurtis.com)

Submitted by thatseattleguy
thatseattleguy writes: It started with a blog post complaining about the poor user interface design of American Airlines website (including a suggested redesign). The poster didn't expect a response, but received a nice and detailed email from a UI guy there, explaining why it was often tricky to good design at large companies, due to all of the different interests — but says that good stuff is coming, even if it may take some time.

So, how did AA respond when they learned of this? It fired the guy.

http://techdirt.com/articles/20091106/0337536829.shtml

Submission + - How to build your own "Minority Report" surface... (universeii.com)

Submitted by Lexx Greatrex
Lexx Greatrex writes: It took Microsoft ten years and millions of dollars to build their touch screen surface.

A group of innovative young designers from the Umeå Institute of Design in Sweden show us how to do it ourselves... in a few days on a shoestring budget...
Biotech

Submission + - Scientists say Chemicals Turning Boys into Girls

Submitted by pickens
pickens writes: Denmark has unveiled official research showing that two-year-old children are at risk from a bewildering array of gender-bending chemicals in such everyday items as waterproof clothes, rubber boots, bed linen, food, sunscreen lotion and moisturizing cream with a picture emerging of ubiquitous chemical contamination driving down sperm counts and feminizing male children all over the developed world. Research at Rotterdam's Erasmus University found that boys whose mothers were exposed to PCBs and dioxins were more likely to play with dolls and tea sets and dress up in female clothes. "The amounts that two-year-olds absorb from the [preservative] parabens propylparaben and butylparaben can constitute a risk for oestrogen-like disruptions of the endocrine system," says the report. "This contribution originates predominantly from cosmetic products such as oil-based creams, moisturizing creams, lotions and sunscreen." The contamination may also offer a clue to a mysterious shift in the sex of babies. Normally 106 boys are born for every 100 girls: it is thought to be nature's way of making up for the fact that men were more likely to be killed hunting or in conflict. But the proportion of females is rising, so much so that some 250,000 babies who statistically should have been boys have ended up as girls in Japan and the United States alone. "Both the public and wildlife are inadequately protected from harm, as regulation is based on looking at exposure to each substance in isolation, and yet it is now proven beyond doubt that hormone disrupting chemicals can act together to cause effects even when each by itself would not," says Gwynne Lyons, director of Chem Trust.
Idle

Visit the Site of the World's Worst Industrial Disaster

Posted by samzenpus from the look-at-all-that-tragedy dept.
25 years ago a methyl isocyanate gas leak from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, India killed at least 3,787 with some putting the death toll as high as 10,000. Luckily the Indian government has realized that a place this special shouldn't be off limits to tourists so they'd like you to gather the kids and come on down for a visit. The doors have been locked since the disaster out of concerns over contamination and just common decency, but that is about to change for one week only. The man with the worst job title in the history of job titles, gas tragedy minister Babulal Gaur said, "The government hopes that allowing people to visit the site would satisfy their curiosity and remove misconceptions that things at the plant have been kept under wraps. I have visited the site numerous times and handled the waste on several occasions. There's nothing to worry about."

Submission + - Why Ubuntu Is Failing the Trade-Off (opensourcenerd.com)

Submitted by fsufitch
fsufitch writes: Kevin Maney wrote his new book "Trade-Off: Why Some Things Catch On, and Others Don't", and came to NYU-Poly to lecture the engineering students there of the basics of his book. His theory of the trade-off between convenience and fidelity of a product or idea casts a light on the open source movement, and what kind of innovation Ubuntu in particular needs in order to be known and be popular.

Submission + - OpenMoko inc announces Wikipedia WikiReader (thewikireader.com)

Submitted by ChristW
ChristW writes: OpenMoko inc, of FreeRunner fame, proudly presents its new product: The WikiReader. It's a small form factor device that needs no internet connection to show Wikipedia articles. The articles are stored on an internal, removable uSD card. Needs 2 AAA batteries to run. The company claims that it can run up to a year on one set of batteries.

Comment Re:I like Bank of America's approach (Score 1) 140

by Ironica (#29581063) Attached to: Cyber Gangs Raise Profile of Commerical Online Bank Security

ATMs have been in place since when? The 70s? But ATMs only give you money. They don't let you pay anything.

You are misinformed. US ATMs accept cash and check deposits, allow transfers between accounts, and sell stamps. Some may even let you pay bills or order cashier's checks.

If you just require banks to come up with tighter security, what will happen? People will see that they have to jump through even more hoops when doing online banking and they will ask why, which the banks will gladly blame on the new directive (whether it's from the EU or the US government...), and shift the blame of the hassle on government and the "nanny state" that tries to patronize us and protect us from reality and yaddayadda. Nobody will explain that these "hardships" are there to protect your money from being stolen.

Which is still a better outcome than that they DON'T tighten security so that they don't have to do any of that pesky explaining.

The market *won't* motivate banks to do it on their own, not for a very, very long time... because people don't actually understand the risks, so they don't see a value in protecting themselves against them. It's that tricky "perfect information" component of Adam Smith's triad.
The Internet

Submission + - BKO: Boot Linux from HTTP (kernel.org)

Submitted by
rvalles
rvalles writes: "BKO provides a way to boot Linux with a minimal client-side requirements. All that's needed is an Internet connection and a minimal (less than 64KB) client-side tool which can be installed on usb drives, cdrom or floppy disks. It downloads the next stage via HTTP and brings up the whole system from the Internet.

It currently offers a few LiveCDs, distribution installers, and some tools like memtest86."

Submission + - Dell debuts Ubuntu Moblin Remix on Mini 10 (dell.com)

Submitted by
dcherryholmes
dcherryholmes writes: "Today Dell made available The Ubuntu Moblin Remix on the Dell Mini 10. The release of the Ubuntu Moblin Remix is good news for those of us who liked the speed and UI of Moblin, but found the size of the repos and, perhaps, the rpm package management to be less desirable."
Google

Submission + - Bank sues Google for identity of Gmail user (theregister.co.uk) 1

Submitted by
Warlord88
Warlord88 writes: "A US bank is suing Google for the identity of a Gmail user after a bank employee accidentally sent the user a file that included the names, addresses, tax IDs, and loan info for more than 1,300 of the bank's customers.

After a failed attempt to recall the email, the employee sent a second note to that wrong address, requesting that the confidential email be deleted before it was opened. There was no response, so the bank contacted Google to determine what could be done to ensure that the confidential info remained confidential. According to the court papers, Google would not provide information on the account unless it received a subpoena or "other appropriate legal process." So the bank sued.

In recent weeks, Google has also received court orders to reveal the identities of those behind stories published in an online newspapers based in the Turks and Caicos Islands and of a blogger who castigated a model on a blog entitled "Skanks in NYC." ®"

Submission + - Motorola Launches Android Phone (recombu.com) 1

Submitted by
andylim
andylim writes: "Yesterday Motorola launched its first Android phone, the Dext, which focusses on consolidating information via widgets. Recombu.com spoke to Motorola's director of international marketing, Tom Satchwell, who stated that the Dext is the "best and most efficient way of communicating out there... this phone rocks". When asked about Motorola's recent difficulties and lack of presence in the market Satchwell added that "Motorola's period of consolidation is done.. it's no longer about creating one hero phone and it's critical for the Dext and subsequent Motorola handsets to do well.""

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