Green Light - Slashdot User

Submission + - Firefox releases update to fix critical exploit

Submitted by

MGOB

on Friday February 23, 2007 @12:06PM

MGOB writes: "Mozilla published releases 1.5.0.10/2.0.0.2 this morning to fix a critical security flaw in the Firefox web browser. The problem lies in how Firefox handles writes to the 'location.hostname' DOM property. The vulnerability allows malicious websites to manipulate authentication cookies for third-party sites. A demo/check of the issue can be found here."

Submission + - Google Apps vs. spear-wielding chimps

Submitted by

netbuzz

on Friday February 23, 2007 @12:05PM

netbuzz writes: "You can't escape either one on the news (including Slashdot) today, so ponder the imponderable: Which is more impressive? Google Apps or the spear-wielding chimps? ... And, please, no wagering.

http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1178 4"

Submission + - The Business Movie Oscars

Submitted by

vbelyavsky

on Friday February 23, 2007 @12:03PM

vbelyavsky writes: "With the Oscars coming up this weekend, it's important to remember that stories of emerging businesses and entrepreneurs (http://www.inc.com/magazine/20070201/life-diversi ons.html?slashdot) offer a plethora of drama(Risk! Sacrifice! Heartbreak! Triumph!) but these movies are rarely recognized. Inc asked business owners to nominate their favorites and has put together a list of a half dozen movies that best reflect the entrepreneurial experience."

Submission + - Samsung increases speeds of GDDR4 memory by 66%

Submitted by

Vinit

on Friday February 23, 2007 @12:03PM

Vinit writes: "Samsung Electronics has increased the speed of world's fastest memory — the GDDR4 memory by two-third. The firm has increased the data transfer speed to 4Gb/s (2.0GHz) from current 2.4Gb/s. With the speed up by 66 percent, you'll get excellent performance from your system while playing games, animation or editing a video. The high-end applications requires good speed because they move huge volumes of video simultaneously; so as your memory speed increases, you get better performance. The new 4Gb/s graphics memory, offered in a 512Mb density, has a 32-bit data bus configuration. GDDR4 uses JEDEC-approved standards for signal noise reduction to help attain the highest possible speed. "Our new GDDR4 memory will add even more zip in video applications, making gaming, computer-aided design and video editing a lot faster than ever before," said Mueez Deen, marketing director, graphics memory, Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. "This will enable ultra-smooth movements in animation, making games incredibly realistic, resulting in a truly immersive experience," he added. The memory is ready for customer sampling this month. http://www.pclaunches.com/other_stuff/samsung_incr eases_speeds_of_gddr4_memory_by_66_percent.php"

ICANN May Act Against RegisterFly 63

Posted by Zonk on Friday February 23, 2007 @12:03PM from the hold-it-together- dept.

1sockchuck writes "ICANN says it will terminate RegisterFly's accreditation as a domain registrar if the company can't fix its problems within 15 days. The edict comes with RegisterFly in chaos and current management blaming a departed executive for its woes. The situation is complicated by the fact that RegisterFly sold some of its domains through a reseller agreement with eNom, and others using its own accreditation."

Submission + - Indonesia to plug Volcano with Cement Balls

Submitted by

Anonymous from UCI

on Friday February 23, 2007 @12:01PM

Anonymous from UCI writes: "CNN.com — "A team of geologists and engineers hope the plan, believed to have never been tried before, will reduce the amount of mud flowing from the geyser at a gas exploration site on Java island by up to 70 percent. The mud is now surging out at a rate equivalent to about a million oil drums a day." "Engineers will release five of the chained cement balls, each weighing up to 250 kilograms (550 pounds), and monitor the effect before gradually releasing more balls into the hole,..." http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/02/23/indone sia.volcano.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories"

Submission + - The Making of "300"

Submitted by

JR

on Friday February 23, 2007 @11:55AM

JR writes: "A step-by-step look at how the makers of the film "300" brought the Frank Miller graphic novel to life http://www.fhmonline.com/articles-3866.asp?cnl_id= 3&stn_id=12&idx_id=3866"

Submission + - Neo-Geo, MSX Games Coming To Virtual Console

Submitted by

oberondarksoul

on Friday February 23, 2007 @11:51AM

oberondarksoul writes: "According to this page on Nintendo of Japan's website, games from SNK's famously-expensive Neo-Geo and the (relatively unheard of, outside of Japan) MSX are to be available on the Wii's Virtual Console. The page doesn't say when to expect them, or even to expect releases outside of Japan, but they join the PC Engine (TurboGraphx 16) as third party consoles to appear on the service. Now all we need is for Sega to release Dreamcast games through it..."

Submission + - Meetings make you dumber

Submitted by Maximum Prophet on Friday February 23, 2007 @11:47AM

Maximum Prophet writes: Robert Heinlein said that the committee was the only life form in the universe with three or more bellies and no brain. Well, here's some proof:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17279961/
So, is slashdot a group subject to this kind of groupthink, or are the participants isolated enough that the effect is minimized? Discuss...

Submission + - Powdered sized RFIDs

Submitted by

WeAreTrackingYou

on Friday February 23, 2007 @11:42AM

WeAreTrackingYou writes: "According to this AP Story scientist at Hitachi have built RFID tags that are the size of powder crystal i.e. 0.002 inches by 0.002. However the only problem is that these RFID tags need a external antenna. Next time you go to Mega Lo Mart you might get sprinkled with this pixie dust er powder-sized RFID tags so that they can serve (track) you better."

The Next-Gen Consoles and Power Consumption 85

Posted by Zonk on Friday February 23, 2007 @11:41AM from the whirring-living-room-friends dept.

Ant writes "This HardCOREware review reports that the current video game console war takes an interesting twist as the power consumption levels of each of the three new consoles (Nintendo Wii, Sony Playstation 3 (PS3), and Microsoft Xbox 360) were explored. Video game playback, DVD playback, and other console functions were tested. One of the most interesting stats were the console idle power usage: 'Wii - 1.3 watts, Wii (Connect 24 On) - 9.6 watts, Xbox 360 - 2.5 watts, PlayStation 3 - 1.9 watts. Nothing significant here; you're looking at spending about $0.20 USD a month to keep the PS3 plugged in, which isn't much. The Wii requires 10 Watts to run Connect24 (which will connect to Nintendo's online service and notify you of system updates) racking up a cost of about $1 a month which is nothing too significant, but still about 5X more than if it were just turned off. Turn Connect24 off, and it's back down to normal.'"

Submission + - Power Consumption On Next Gen Consoles

Submitted by

fistfullast33l

on Friday February 23, 2007 @11:33AM

fistfullast33l writes: "(Via IGN) Hardcoreware.net has a feature up comparing power consumption in the newest consoles and also a newer custom built PC. The reviewer covers everything from in-game use to idle use and movie playback (excluding the Wii, of course). The result? Surprise, surprise, the Wii is generally the most power friendly, consuming only 17W (not a typo) on average during gameplay, compared to 193W for the PS3 and 185W for the Xbox 360. The PS3 is considerably power hungry when powered on and idle(at the XMB), consuming 173W compared to 13.5W for the Wii. The Wii ends up using 5X more power in standby with Connect24 on than when it's off, but as the article points out, it's only about $1 a month compared to $0.20 a month."

Consumer Revolt Spurred Via the Internet 309

Posted by Zonk on Friday February 23, 2007 @11:31AM from the power-to-the-pocketbook dept.

sas-dot writes "UK's newspaper Independent outlines the brewing consumer revolt being fomented on the web. 'Consumer militancy' is becoming ever more common, as individuals join forces on the internet to fight back against the state and big business. Businesses from banks to soccer clubs have been the target of these groups, in each case facing the fury of consumers who feel they have been wronged. For example, 'A mass revolt has left the high street banks facing thousands of claims from customers seeking to claw back some of the £4.75bn levied annually on charges for overdrafts and bounced cheques. More than one million forms demanding refunds have been downloaded from a number of consumer websites. The banks are settling out of court, often paying £1,000 a time.' Are these kinds of organized 'advocate mobs' going to be the future of internet activism?"

Submission + - Best Open Source Automated Testing Tools?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 23, 2007 @11:30AM

An anonymous reader writes: As a software test engineer, I've found that one of the most common client questions involves automated testing. They typically want to know how much of your testing is going to be automated (so that they can presumably get their money's worth out of you and the hardware they bought for you). It's often difficult to tell the customer that there are certain applications for which automated testing (not at the unit level) has only limited appropriateness, and they never want to pay for testing tools. I've visited opensourcetesting.org to try getting an idea of some of the best tools for testing web applications, and gotten some good ideas. Anyone have any favorite OSS load/integration testing automated tools that are easily configurable and usable by a test team with reasonably good (but not expert) Linux skills?

Submission + - Massachusetts Data Protection Bills

Submitted by

Larry Greenemeier

on Friday February 23, 2007 @11:27AM

Larry Greenemeier writes: "Companies doing business in the Bay State may soon face stiff penalties for wayward security practices as Massachusetts is now considering legislation that would place these companies on the hook to pay for any costs associated with a data breach of their IT systems."

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