Comment Runbox (Score 1) 2
http://www.runbox.com/
https://secure.runbox.com/
Not US based (they are Norway based) but I have been using them for past 7 years and haven't had any issues.
Comment Re:Don't buy any servers. Use the cloud. (Score 1) 600
I did exactly this when building out my recent company. Google mail service is fairly good, but hosted exchange is far better in terms of operating like a normal company with blackberries, etc. We outsource our web serving also. We basically have a fileserver and a pair of ADS boxes for inside services, and a redundant Internet connection.
Why can't you just use a Google apps connector to Blackberry enterprise server and save yourself some money (Assuming you only care about using blackberries for contact and calendar sync, because you can access email anyways). If it is a small company, you may just use Google Sync for Blackberry. Can't see the need for Exchange in either case
Comment Re:It's not hidden (Score 1) 315
The most significant benefit of UK being part of EU but not Euro is that its bank can act independently of the European Central Bank (ECB) and it can devalue its currency when it so needs. So yes, UK did print extra money, which was used to buy Gilts, thus pumping extra money in the economy, but since UK is not part of Euro zone, there is nothing in the Maastricht treaty that prevents UK from doing so (similarly for Switzerland, Sweden etc.)
Of course in the long run, the government has to buy back the gilts from the BOE so it is a zero sum game. However, I think the biggest blunder of the EU was Euro, thereby depriving states like Greece any control on their currency and thus landing in situations where they need to be bailed out by other countries.
Comment I thought reading was about developing imagination (Score 3, Interesting) 149
Call me old fashioned but one of the reasons I have always enjoyed reading traditional books is because the author only drops the hints at what the world in the book looks like but I actually paint the complete picture. This is the same reason why most movies based on books don't do well, because it is extremely difficult to compete with what we imagined that world to be in the detail and besides the imaginary world is individual to each reader. No two worlds probably look the same.
Unfortunately, the more we get into the interactive books which try to replace the written word with pictures (or even the ones which try to augment it), the more would we be limiting our imagination and seeing it from someone else's eyes, which almost certainly would result in less "different" people in the world. Most of us on slashdot are evolutionists and we do appreciate that it is this difference which results in our species evolving. Hell, it could be that Da Vinci etc. probably started looking at flying because they had heard or read fairy tales where humans flew, which then one day was realised by incremental advance in science. So in some ways, we would be limiting our potential by relying more on the visual medium rather than imagining the world.
Submission + - Court: RapidShare doesn't need to filter uploads (arstechnica.com)
suraj.sun writes: Yesterday RapidShare announced ( http://rapidshare.com/news.html ) that it triumphed in its appeal over copyright holders who demanded that the service take more steps to control online infringement. Because RapidShare does not make uploaded files publicly available (those who upload them can control access), the court found that it could not be held liable for distribution and that running filename filters on all uploads would produce too many false positives.
In addition, the appeals court took aim at several filtering schemes. Blocking all files of a certain type (such as RAR files) was deemed inappropriate, since a file type has no bearing on the legality of an upload. Scanning by IP address was also tossed, because numerous people can use a single IP address. File name filtering tells you nothing about the contents of a file, so that was tossed. Even content scanning was problematic, as the court noted that this would just lead to encrypted files. Besides, even if you could know that a file was copyrighted, it could still be a legal "private backup" not distributed to anyone else.
ARS Technica: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/05/court-rapidshare-doesnt-need-to-filter-uploads.ars
In addition, the appeals court took aim at several filtering schemes. Blocking all files of a certain type (such as RAR files) was deemed inappropriate, since a file type has no bearing on the legality of an upload. Scanning by IP address was also tossed, because numerous people can use a single IP address. File name filtering tells you nothing about the contents of a file, so that was tossed. Even content scanning was problematic, as the court noted that this would just lead to encrypted files. Besides, even if you could know that a file was copyrighted, it could still be a legal "private backup" not distributed to anyone else.
ARS Technica: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/05/court-rapidshare-doesnt-need-to-filter-uploads.ars
Submission + - Shadows in the Cloud (nytimes.com)
abhikhurana writes: Turning the tables on a China-based computer espionage gang, Canadian and United States computer security researchers have monitored a spying operation for the past eight months, observing while the intruders pilfered classified and restricted documents from the highest levels of the Indian Defense Ministry.
In this report, the researchers, based at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, provide a detailed account of how a spy operation it called the Shadow Network systematically hacked into personal computers in government offices on several continents.
The Toronto spy hunters not only learned what kinds of material had been stolen, but were able to see some of the documents, including classified assessments about security in several Indian states, and confidential embassy documents about India's relationships in West Africa, Russia and the Middle East. The intruders breached the systems of independent analysts, taking reports on several Indian missile systems. They also obtained a year's worth of the Dalai Lama's personal e-mail messages.
The intruders even stole documents related to the travel of NATO forces in Afghanistan, illustrating that even though the Indian government was the primary target of the attacks, one gap in computer security can leave many nations exposed.
In this report, the researchers, based at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, provide a detailed account of how a spy operation it called the Shadow Network systematically hacked into personal computers in government offices on several continents.
The Toronto spy hunters not only learned what kinds of material had been stolen, but were able to see some of the documents, including classified assessments about security in several Indian states, and confidential embassy documents about India's relationships in West Africa, Russia and the Middle East. The intruders breached the systems of independent analysts, taking reports on several Indian missile systems. They also obtained a year's worth of the Dalai Lama's personal e-mail messages.
The intruders even stole documents related to the travel of NATO forces in Afghanistan, illustrating that even though the Indian government was the primary target of the attacks, one gap in computer security can leave many nations exposed.
IT Crowd (UK) Coming Back For Season 4 165
sammyF70 writes "Every geek's favourite non-sci-fi show (the original UK one, not the abysmally bad German and US remakes) is coming back for a fourth season! According to the IMDB's message board, it should be on the air 'Juneish.' While you wait, you can check out what kind of vintage hardware will be on the show this time, and remember: if you illegally download movies, you will face the consequences!"
Comment Mobile platform plans (Score 3, Interesting) 310
What are Canonical's plans for mobile platforms? With Maemo, another Debian based distro, now available for smartphones, would Canonical also get involved with either that or maybe develop a completely new Distro?
With the desktop Linux market being extremely small and server markets being dominated by Red Hat and Novell, mobiles probably are the sweet spot for Canonical, with its strong focus on usability. Additionally, the lack of standardisation means that users are more willing to experiement with interfaces. So what is the relative priority of Mobile, Netbook, Desktop and Server platform in Canonical's roadmap?
Comment Re:He hates mobile phones?! (Score 1) 308
I second that. It has been my favourite "phone" so far. It was only when I started using it, I realised that I didn't want a phone afterall. What I really wanted was a mobile computer, with a brilliant browser and a decent email client, and the ability to make and receive phone calls. I had read many complaints on maemo.org but personally I never noticed any of those problems. From my perspective, it does what I need it do very well (e.g. listening to spotify and transmitting it to my card radio via the builtin fm transmitter, accessing my home computer using VNC, using pandora over vpn). So yes, it works for me brilliantly.
Comment For me, OpenDNS is faster (Score 1) 275
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.
Scientists Say a Dirty Child Is a Healthy Child 331
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."
Submission + - Releasing the Chromium OS open source project (blogspot.com)
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)
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
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)
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...
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...
Submission + - Scientists say Chemicals Turning Boys into Girls
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.
