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The Internet

Internet Could Act As Ecological Early Warning System 63

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the keep-your-crowd-source-off-of-mine dept.
Wired is reporting that ecologists think the internet could act as an early ecological warning system based on data mining human interactions. While much of this work has been based on systems like Google Flu Trends, the system will remain largely theoretical for the near future. "The six billion people on Earth are changing the biosphere so quickly that traditional ecological methods can't keep up. Humans, though, are acute observers of their environments and bodies, so scientists are combing through the text and numbers on the Internet in hopes of extracting otherwise unavailable or expensive information. It's more crowd mining than crowd sourcing."

Comment Re:Why ... ? (Score 1) 93

by crawdaddy (#26979241) Attached to: <em>Quake Live</em> Public Beta Launches To High Demand
Here are some quick marketing-style bullet points about the latest version of Flash Player (including the 3D API): http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/ I wasn't able to find any details on the implementation of Quake Live, but I wouldn't be totally shocked if the Flash Cross-Compiler (compiles C/C++ into Flash) is involved. I'm expecting someone to blow my mind with that somehow.
Security

Submission + - How can you safely confirm breach without details?

Submitted by crawdaddy
crawdaddy writes: A friend suspects some of his employees (that access the network using remote desktop connections over a VPN) may be up to no good, due to certain suspicious activities. The business has an Active Directory domain setup on a Windows Server box, as well as several desktops. What are some things I can look for that might indicate whether or not further investigation (ie. professional forensic analysis) is warranted? What tools are recommended for accomplishing those tasks without compromising the courtroom validity of the data? Would it be better/safer, in terms of preserving the data, to install stealth monitoring software to track the users' movements and simply analyze that, instead?
Patents

Submission + - Patent violating? (pcwintech.com) 2

Submitted by
smc1979
smc1979 writes: "I need some info and don't know where to turn. My program simple port forwarding is a free program I made. It basically is a browser that automates port forwarding for your router. Its only been out about 6 or 7 months and is growing with routers (171 routers so far). Then last night I get an email from portforward.com saying I am violating their provisional patent quote "Our provisional patent covers the system of creating port forwards in a router with software, much the same way that you do. In short, our provisional patent covers our PFConfig application, which is nearly identical in functionality to your Simple Port Forwarding application." Then they say instead of taking me to court they will pay me 6k for the source code to the program, my router screen capture program, all the guides and screen shots I have done and sign a non compete with them and agree not to do anything with port forwarding including helping people on my website! Which I said no to. Do they really have a leg to stand on with this? just because I have a free app and they charge $30 for theirs? I need advice of what I can and should do. anything would be great. Will my hard work in the program be stopped or can I keep on working? sorry for my spelling, I'm running on 2 hours of sleep."
Businesses

Submission + - USPS Business Etiquette, or lack of

Submitted by ShadowHywind
ShadowHywind writes: Within the last week, every time I go out to get my mail, I have to let it "air" out for a few hours before i can bring it in due to a heavy smoke smell to it. Today, I saw my mail career with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth while he delivered my mail. I have called and complained about the smell, but nothing has been done yet. The USPS has no rules for smoking while in a delivery truck,(so its ok to smoke inside of a government car/truck, but not a building?) where do you draw the line? Have slashdotters come across this issue before? I am not trying to bash those who smoke, but what happened to business etiquette?
Government

Submission + - Stand out in aerial photos of inauguration crowd 3

Submitted by crawdaddy
crawdaddy writes: On January 20, I'll be attending Barack Obama's inaugural ceremony with a group of family and friends. I thought it'd be interesting if we did something that would allow us and others to easily spot the group in aerial photos of the crowd. The main problem with the ideas I've had, so far, is that they either seem too small-scale or fall under the purview of the list of banned items. The list includes you standard list of weapons and booze, along with sticks or poles, hand tools, such as "Leatherman", packages, backpacks, large bags, suitcases, thermoses, coolers, strollers, umbrellas, laser pointers, signs, and posters. Any slashdotters out there have a good idea? Perhaps a clever modification of a hat? Also, keep in mind that the final bullet point on the list of banned items is "other items that may pose a threat to the security of the event as determined by and at the discretion of the security screeners," so the more innocuous and easily explained to a tired security examiner, the better. Bonus points if the suggested idea might increase our chances of being the focus of a photo.

Comment Re:My younger DND players have trouble (Score 1) 622

by crawdaddy (#24380137) Attached to: Have Modern Gamers Lost the Patience For Puzzles?
It's a bit late in the thread to be relevant to other people, but this link may shed some light on dealing with your younger players: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7406521 I've been tutoring a few students for the past year and noticed that several of them had this "You either got it or you don't" mentality. For some, it can be difficult to convince them otherwise. But I find that the best way to get them to be willing to challenge themselves is EXACTLY what you've been doing: lead them into it gradually. It makes sense when you realize that there are two issues here: their concept of intelligence and the lowered self-esteem that comes naturally from years of thinking "I don't got it."

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I tell them to turn to the study of mathematics, for it is only there that they might escape the lusts of the flesh. -- Thomas Mann, "The Magic Mountain"

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