Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Electronic Frontier Foundation

Submission + - Google Surrenders in the "Nymwars" (eff.org)

Submitted by derGoldstein
derGoldstein writes: According to the EFF blog: "Proponents of pseudonymity scored a major victory today, when Google executive Vic Gundotra revealed at the Web 2.0 Summit that social networking service Google+ will begin supporting pseudonyms and other types of identity."
Facebook

Submission + - Facebook malicious link protection already broken (blackhatacademy.org)

Submitted by mepholic
mepholic writes: To be honest, this vulnerability is not anything that is actually new. Facebook was informed about it months ago (July 31, 2011 to be exact.) They really just started using WebSense to brush this vulnerability under the rug and make their users feel a bit more safe. Blackhat Academy released a Proof of Concept exploit on October 4th, the day after Facebook enlisted WebSense for link protection.

Submission + - Netherlands introduce mandatory alcohol lock on ca (volkskrant.nl)

Submitted by
vikingpower
vikingpower writes: "Although the link is, alas, in Dutch, the news is pretty much that: news. From December this year on, drivers caught with more than 1,3 parts per thousand alcohol in their blood get a mandatory alcohol lock on their vehicle. The lock will ask them to breathe into it several times per ride, and will block the vehicle's operations if and when measuring more than 0,2 parts per thousand alcohol. The measure is to be inflicted on top of judicial measures ( hefty fines )."
Iphone

Submission + - Iphone 4 Case Made 100% from Trash! (miniwiz.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Who said that Eco-Design product could be not good looking?

MINIWIZ is a Taiwanese firm that is a globally recognized innovator dedicated to eco-solutions through practicing the 3Rs – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

Their new product is an Iphone Case Made 100% from Trash! Yes Trash!

Basically, they use a new type of materials called POLLIBER, a post-consumer thermoplastic and semi-carbonized waste fiber composite.

Their Iphone Case is called Re-Case! RE-case’s design was inspired by the Japanese INR, a carrying case for identity seals used in the Edo Period which also served as a worry stone. Instead of a seal, RE-case holds an RFID (radio frequency ID, such as those for office security or public transit) or wave-able credit card between itself and the user’s iPhone. The graduated design improves grip and texture while retaining the aesthetic qualities of the INR.

http://www.miniwiz.com/products/materials/re-case

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: How do I start actually getting thin 1

Submitted by zaydana
zaydana writes: I always have 10 or 20 projects that I want to work on, and never manage to finish any of them because another more interesting problem comes along. I'm sure this is a problem that is rather frequent amongst the Slashdot crowd, so I'd love to hear from similar people what steps they've taken to help themselves get things done?

Submission + - Kindle disassembled (blogkindle.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Kindle motherboard cut open — reveals ARM Cortex-A8 CPU, 128Mb of RAM (half that of Kindle 3) and supporting hardware

Submission + - The Bright Moonlight That Inspired Mary Shelley to (themarysue.com)

Submitted by Cito
Cito writes: "Mary Shelley having writers block claims she was inspired by the moonlight to write Frankenstein.
Some have disputed her story about how she struggled for days to come with the story, saying that this was just a romanticized tale to hook her audience, but astronomers are now saying that she was probably not making it up.”

Astronomers from Texas State University conducted tests at the villa where she stayed that night: http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/0928/Frankenstein-moon-Astronomers-vindicate-Mary-Shelley-s-account
Chrome

Submission + - Web Browser Grand Prix 7: Firefox 7, Chrome 14, Op (tomshardware.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Firefox 7 was released a couple days ago, and now the latest Web browser perfromance numbers are in. This article is the same series that ran benchmarks on Mac OS X Lion last month. This time around the new Mozilla release is going against Chrome 14 and Opera 11.51 in 40+ different tests on Windows 7. Testing comes from every category of Web browsing perfromance I can think of: startup time, page load time, JS, CSS, DOM, HTML5, Flash, hardware acceleration, WebGL, Java, Silverlight, reliable page loads, memory usage/management, and standards confromance. The article also has a little feature on the Futuremark Peacekeeper browser benchmark. An open beta of the next revision has just been made public. This new version adds HTML5, video codecs, and WebGL tests to the benchmark. It's also designed to run on any browser/OS/device combination — e.g. Windows desktop, iPad, Droid 2, MacBook, Linux flavors, etc. Another great read, a must for Web browser fanatics!
Cloud

Submission + - Cloud-Powered Facial Recognition Is Terrifying (theatlantic.com)

Submitted by oker
oker writes: From the article: "Researchers at Carnegie Mellon were able to not only match unidentified profile photos from a dating website (...) with positively identified Facebook photos, but also match pedestrians on a North American college campus with their online identities. (...) we predicted the interests and Social Security numbers of some of the participants (...) the goal of Experiment 3 was to show that it is possible to start from an anonymous face in the street, and end up with very sensitive information about that person, in a process of data 'accretion.' ". Do we really enter "Minority Report"-like world?
Robotics

Submission + - Boston Dynamics Unveils AlphaDog Quadruped Robot (ieee.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Boston Dynamics, the company that created the BigDog quadruped robot, has unveiled a new, bigger system called AlphaDog [http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/military-robots/boston-dynamics-alphadog-prototype-on-video]. AlphaDog, a DARPA-sponsored project, can carry a payload of 400 pounds for up to 20 miles without having to refuel, and it's also much quieter than BigDog. The robot is designed to assist humans in carrying heavy equipment over rough terrain, and Boston Dynamics' schedule has the first walk-out of AlphaDog taking place sometime in 2012, when U.S. Marines will begin to put the robot to the test for real.
Firefox

Submission + - Firefox 8.0 Beta (mozilla.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The latest Mozilla Firefox Beta is now available for testing on Windows, Mac, Linux and Android. This beta adds features and user interface elements that make browsing easier and tools that help developers build more secure and innovative Web experiences.
Hardware

Submission + - Evil Floppy Drives (silent.org.pl)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A Polish hardware hacker with (apparently) nothing better to do has figured out a way to hoot up 2 floppy drives to a controller and make them play the Imperial March theme using alternating frequencies.

Submission + - (Video) Ottawa resident says space oddity was fall (dmpcs.com)

Submitted by
removaly
removaly writes: "The satellite, which is believed to have fallen into the Pacific Ocean just after 1 a.m. Saturday morning, broke up as it re-entered earth’s atmosphere and there have been reports debris was spotted in such diverse locations as Alberta, Hawaii and Italy."
GNOME

Submission + - GTK+ 3.2 Released With HTML5 And Wayland Backends (webupd8.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: GTK+ 3.2 has been released with two eagerly expected features: experimental support for Wayland and HTML5 "Broadway" backends. The HTML5 "Broadway" backend allows rendering GTK applications in HTML5-capable browsers. That means that you can run Gedit, GIMP and other applications in a web browser (both local and remotely).
Android

Submission + - Phone operator sues brothers for releasing app (gazette-ariegeoise.fr)

Submitted by KingofSpades
KingofSpades writes: French brothers Michael and Sébastien M., unable to watch television on their new cell phone — despite paying the corresponding "unlimited TV" phone plan — wrote an app to automate changes of user parameters, including user agent, in order of accessing the TV feed of their cell operator, SFR. They released a free app and a donate version (1.99 euros) of the app (likely named "G.Player TV"). They have been sued by operator SFR in the court of the sunny region of Ariège (France). Their lawyer stated that "that there is no evidence that non-subscribers have been able to use the app. Therefore there it did not provide a free access to a paying service".

Both have been convicted and must pay a 800 euros fine (suspended) and 192 euros to operator SFR.

Slashdot Top Deals

"And remember: Evil will always prevail, because Good is dumb." -- Spaceballs

Close