ScottKin - Slashdot User

Submission + - Top 5 Reasons Why Safari Will Fail on Windows (cooltechzone.com)

Submitted by

tannerJOY

on Wednesday June 20, 2007 @03:24AM

tannerJOY writes: "Now that Apple's Safari is available for Windows in Beta, CoolTechZone.com lists five reasons why it won't be successful. Here are a few of them: "It's pretty obvious that killing Internet Explorer isn't a child's play. If Firefox and Opera are having such a difficult time beating Internet Explorer, what makes Apple so hopeful? We must also not forget that Internet Explorer is bundled with Windows, and that means a lot of mainstream users already have an application to work with. If Firefox weren't able to create enough viral market adoption for the mainstream audience, Apple would have to be delusional to expect people to use a browser from a company they don't even know makes a browser."

Submission + - Free Lawyers for RIAA victims

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20, 2007 @03:20AM

An anonymous reader writes: I was wondering if the community could actually fund lawyers for every single one of the victims of RIAA law suits? How much would it cost? I thought it would be nice if they always had a fight on their hands.

Submission + - Are Firefox Extensions Ready to Be Exploited? (madpenguin.org)

Submitted by

techie

on Wednesday June 20, 2007 @03:17AM

techie writes: "Even if Firefox is a relatively secure browser, the extensions could really make it insecure, and the unfortunate thing is that we may not even know it. The author writes, "What is even worse is my fear that we could be setting a poor example should the security of rouge repositories become a problem. We might be able to spot trouble before it becomes an issue, but what about those who learn from us? It's something to consider, both with regard to trusting blind links to xpi files that are used to install Firefox extensions as well as the bounty of repositories that are just waiting to be added instantly with no thought. Remember, this may not be a problem today, but this certainly is not an invitation for sloppy behavior, regardless."

Submission + - ZendFramework: state of the project

Submitted by on Wednesday June 20, 2007 @03:16AM

An anonymous reader writes: After struggling for weeks with tutorials that don't have source code, articles that are out of date, and examples that are just plain wrong, I have to ask
<?php
$ZendFramework = IsItVaporWare() ? 'VaporWare' : 'UsefullYoungPadawanGiveThemMoreTime' ;
?>
What do you guys think?

Submission + - Sun explosion: emission from gas at 1M degrees (blogspot.com)

Submitted by

Wrik

on Wednesday June 20, 2007 @02:40AM

Wrik writes: "A gorgeous picture (90 degrees rotation, North is to the left) shows a red hot filament lifting off from the Sun's surface. At it's peak, this growing structure measures approximately 75 thousand miles."

Submission + - Source of Ancient Egypt's Gold Discovered? (livescience.com)

Submitted by TheProspector on Wednesday June 20, 2007 @02:05AM

TheProspector writes: Archaeologists at Chicago's Oriental Institute have discovered what seems to be an ancient gold-processing and panning camp along the Nile River. It is thought to have been operated by the Kushites, and to have been the source of ancient Egypt's gold.

Submission + - How Not to Hire Americans H-1B Video Shocker

Submitted by

theodp

on Wednesday June 20, 2007 @01:53AM

theodp writes: "A YouTube video of a law firm's how-not-to-hire-Americans advice is providing explosive material for H-1B critics. 'Our goal is clearly not to find a qualified U.S. worker ... our objective is to get this person a green card,' a lawyer from Cohen & Grigsby tells the audience. Among the law firm's satisfied customers is Pitt's Katz Graduate School of Business, who relies on the firm to grease the wheels for H-1B seeking MBA grads and prospective employers via the Katzport Program, which Pitt fully subsidizes to the tune of $4,000+ per student. Not too surprisingly, the firm's Hot Topics in Immigration Law videos have vanished from YouTube."

Submission + - ISP that does not police their users? What to do?

Submitted by marcusbjol on Wednesday June 20, 2007 @12:59AM

marcusbjol writes: I am having a problem with an ISP that is in another country; one of their users attacks my public IP address daily between 10-20 times for the past week. I lodge a complaint and a copy of this log with the ISP, and I get a response of: "Our Customers have full root access to their servers. Unfortunately we are not able to do something against such activities." As my net connection is end-user cablemodem (roadrunner) I assume this a scripted attack to attack large segments of the net (Logwatch segment follows). I find it pretty easy to stop the attack (just drop all the packets from that IP) with an OpenWRT router, but what is a responsible netizen to do?

################### Logwatch 7.3.2 (12/20/06) ####################
Processing Initiated: Mon Jun 18 03:01:05 2007
Date Range Processed: yesterday
( 2007-Jun-17 )
Period is day.
Detail Level of Output: 5
Type of Output: unformatted
Logfiles for Host: *****
################################################## ################

— pam_unix Begin —

sshd:
Authentication Failures:
unknown (kilo038.server4you.de): 9 Time(s)
sshd (kilo038.server4you.de): 1 Time(s)
Invalid Users:
Unknown Account: 9 Time(s)

— pam_unix End —

— SSHD Begin —

Illegal users from:
85.25.10.75 (kilo038.server4you.de): 9 times
admin/keyboard-interactive/pam: 4 times
irc/keyboard-interactive/pam: 1 time
mysql/keyboard-interactive/pam: 1 time
oracle/keyboard-interactive/pam: 1 time
postgres/keyboard-interactive/pam: 1 time
zope/keyboard-interactive/pam: 1 time

Error in PAM authentication:
Authentication failure for illegal user admin from kilo038.server4you.de : 4 Time(s)
Authentication failure for illegal user irc from kilo038.server4you.de : 1 Time(s)
Authentication failure for illegal user mysql from kilo038.server4you.de : 1 Time(s)
Authentication failure for illegal user oracle from kilo038.server4you.de : 1 Time(s)
Authentication failure for illegal user postgres from kilo038.server4you.de : 1 Time(s)
Authentication failure for illegal user zope from kilo038.server4you.de : 1 Time(s)
Authentication failure for sshd from kilo038.server4you.de : 1 Time(s)

— SSHD End —

###################### Logwatch End #########################

Submission + - Autonomous Vehicles Coming to Car Lot Near You! (sfgate.com)

Submitted by saldate on Tuesday June 19, 2007 @10:31PM

saldate writes: I was surprised that this was overlooked by Slashdot posters, I found it to be pretty cool and somewhat inspiring. The DARPA Urban Challenge (think of it as DARPA Grand Challenge v2.0) is pushing autonomous automotive travel to the next stage of development, the urban zone. Obviously, the initial target of the project is aimed at military application, but simultaneously paves the way for commercial use. Have a look at the video and any of the articles below:

Video:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/ a/2007/06/15/BUROBOCARTEST15.DTL&o=0

Articles:
http://origin.mercurynews.com/news/ci_6147098?ncli ck_check=1
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/06/how_stanford s_r.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/15/technology/15rob ot.html?_r=1&em&ex=1182052800&en=5ff9a120cd2b0a2d& ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6191180.html
http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/15/stanfords-junio r-volkswagen-passes-first-darpa-test/
http://news.com.com/2300-11394_3-6191150-1.html

Submission + - On (Mis)Trusting Google Desktop (cio.com)

Submitted by

rabblerouzer

on Tuesday June 19, 2007 @09:43PM

rabblerouzer writes: "Highly usable software, such as Google Desktop, can seem revolutionary, but the web-meets-desktop search capabilities are seductively porous and raise huge privacy concerns, says Hugh Thompson [see previous Slashdot submission for more of Thompson's "research"]. Documented flaws demonstrate how attackers can use the tool to access private information on the user's desktop. Worse yet, consider that Google Desktop keeps a sizable index and cache of historical data that by default is unencrypted: It retains previous versions of files, web-based email communications, browsing history, etc. and is largely invulnerable to overwriting and other deletion tools."

Submission + - Mandriva Rejects Microsoft Deals Too

Submitted by

jdcampo

on Tuesday June 19, 2007 @09:39PM

jdcampo writes: "http://corp.mandriva.com/webteam/2007/06/19/we-wil l-not-go-to-canossa/"

Submission + - Isaac Newton's papers calculating the apocalypse (usatoday.com)

Submitted by

the terminal of geoff goodfellow

on Tuesday June 19, 2007 @08:52PM

the terminal of geoff goodfellow writes: "The Associated Press has a story out today on the three-century-old manuscripts by Isaac Newton calculating the exact date of the apocalypse, detailing the precise dimensions of the ancient temple in Jerusalem and interpreting passages of the Bible. The Newton Papers just went on display for the first time in public at the Jewish National and University Library in Israel and lay bare the little-known religious intensity of a man many consider history's greatest scientist. The fully digitized manuscripts and printed works can be viewed here, including the Apocalypse, that reached the conclusion that the world would end no earlier than 2060."

Submission + - Producing Supermassive Contrails at 35,000-ft Plus

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19, 2007 @08:37PM

An anonymous reader writes: Producing Supermassive Contrails at 35,000 Feet — Plus

Isn't this picture of a Boeing 747-206B (KLM Flight 9165) jet flying at 35,000 feet a beauty? It was taken by photographer and pilot Josef P. Willems on 21 May 2002 from 36,000 feet. But why are the contrails "supermassive"? In a very interesting comment EridanMan, a member at Digg.com, writes in part the "aircraft, in this case, is just a massive catalyst..where a 'typical' contrail is composed of simply the H20 created in the cumbustors, a super-saturated-contrail contains that plus tons of ambient H20 in the air that is simply 'waiting' for any excuse to become solid. Hence, ALL air which contacts the aircraft, forms a cloud, not simply the air that runs through the combustors....The result are these super thick, long-lived contrails, which some, ignorant of the basic laws of chemistry and physics, mistakenly believe to be somehow nefarious."

But what about the "Plus" in the title? For the answer look at this beautiful and even more incredible photo, shot over Alaska, USA, by USAF Staff Sgt. Kevin L. Bishop on 1 August 1989, of contrails created by four fighter jets — specifically USAF F-15 Eagle fighters intercepting Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 jet fighters (the photo's via has additional pictures and the fascinating story). It appears these fighter jets are flying well over 35,000 feet, possibly closer to 50,000 feet above Earth.

Vortices, says EridanMan while observing that the Boeing 747 contrails also show lift-induced vortexes, "are truly beautiful (and dangerous) artifacts of simple fluid dynamics. Pilots...Just think about this picture [Boeing 747-206B, KLM Flight 9165] next time you hear 'caution, wake turbulence...' and give it the respect it deserves;)"

Submission + - Break a Security Product Beta and Win Prizes

Submitted by Ivan_Simic on Tuesday June 19, 2007 @08:17PM

Ivan_Simic writes: Slashdot reported last year on a BitDefender contest and this year they're doing it again by inviting the public to test BitDefender Total Security 2008. Among the prizes to be awarded to the most thorough beta testers will be three gaming consoles including a Sony Playstation 3, a Microsoft Xbox360 and a Nintendo Wii. Other prizes include a Nokia N90 device, 30 PC games (either World of Warcraft or Command & Conquer 3), as well as free licenses for BitDefender's 2008 consumer product line. Are you up for the challenge?

Submission + - ANSI receiving spam letters pro MS's Open XML

Submitted by omz on Tuesday June 19, 2007 @08:11PM

omz writes: this site reports that ANSI is publishing on a day to day basis all the comments received on the proposed OOXML specification. All the messages looks like this. But some submitters identifies the source of the spam: "Even though this is a form letter from Microsoft I thought I would add this personal touch..." Rob Weir's advice about "support form letters": [i]f you want to provide input into this process [...d]on't send in a form letter. It hurts your cause more than helps it, since it makes it look like you couldn't get real support if you tried.

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