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Hardware Hacking

Submission + - How To Install an Internal 3G Card in the Asus Eee (gizmodo.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: If you thought the Asus Eee PC was cool, wait until you see it gaining 3G communications powers: 'Hardware hacking genius and electromagician JKK has published a video tutorial showing how to add an internal 3G HSDPA card to the Asus Eee PC, allowing you to connect at high speeds to the Internet from anywhere in the world with 3G cellphone coverage. We talked with JKK and according to him "the hack is doable by any amateur with a solder iron.' And the amazing thing is that you can do this for $291, according to the article. After solving its OS license problems, it looks like this amazing little machine just got even better.
Security

Submission + - Domains May Disappear After Search 1

Submitted by
Ponca City, We Love You
Ponca City, We Love You writes: "A perfect domain name pops into your mind, a quick check at your registrar reveals that the domain is available, you put off the registration a few minutes and when you come back to register the domain, it's taken by someone else. How much time has elapsed between the search and the attempted registration — in one case, less than 90 seconds. Daily Domainer has an interesting story alleging that there may be a leak that allows domain tasters to intercept, analyze and register your domain ideas in minutes. "Every time you do a whois search with any service, you run a risk of losing your domain," says one industry insider. ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC ) has not been able to find hard evidence of Domain Name Front Running but they have issued an advisory (pdf) for people to come forward with hard evidence it is happening. Here is how domain name research theft crimes can occur and some tips to avoiding being a victim."
Operating Systems

Submission + - My own private grid

Submitted by giorgist
giorgist writes: I have a lot of computers at work, and they sit idle for most of the time. Is it possible to muster them all together and get them cracking on some problem of our own choosing ? We have a cluster doing computations and time on it is limited. Maybe I can setup another were I can run packets on idle computers. People from work can join in and take "packets" home and run them on their computers at home while they work. G
Operating Systems

Submission + - Kernel Developers and Users Duke Out Over Flaws (madpenguin.org)

Submitted by
toubbbs
toubbbs writes: "According to an article on MadPenguin.org, kernel developers and Linux users are duking it out against each other for lack of flaw patches. Users are blaming users, while developers criticize users for not being able to find answers on their own. The article continues, "Where do you believe the kernel developers of tomorrow will come from? And will they be as out of touch with the masses of new users just looking for answers as today's developers have been accused of being? It's likely and the coming divide between developers and users — GPL'ed mindset and "make it work" groups is getting wider. I will refrain from placing blame here, since it's counterproductive. But with that said, it sure would be grand to see distro and kernel developers looking at the ocean of forum posts with simple to change bugs, which generally speaking, go largely unacknowledged."
Books

Submission + - Robert Jordan passed away (dragonmount.com)

Submitted by
Imabug
Imabug writes: "Just saw news of Robert Jordan's (author of the Wheel of Time series) passing coming through my feedreader. An excerpt of the posting on the Dragonmount website (which seems to be down at the moment)

It is with great sadness that I tell you that the Dragon is gone. RJ left us today at 2:45 PM. He fought a valiant fight against this most horrid disease. In the end, he left peacefully and in no pain. In the years he had fought this, he taught me much about living and about facing death. He never waivered in his faith, nor questioned our God's timing. I could not possibly be more proud of anyone. I am eternally grateful for the time that I had with him on this earth and look forward to our reunion, though as I told him this afternoon, not yet. I love you bubba. Our beloved Harriet was at his side through the entire fight and to the end. The last words from his mouth were to tell her that he loved her. Thank each and everyone of you for your prayers and support through this ordeal. He knew you were there. Harriet reminded him today that she was very proud of the many lives he had touched through his work. We've all felt the love that you've been sending my brother/cousin. Please keep it coming as our Harriet could use the support.
Original posting"
The Courts

Submission + - Has RIAA Abandoned "Making Available" Clai

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "The RIAA's standard complaint (pdf) was thrown out last month by a federal judge in California as so much "conclusory" "boilerplate" "speculation" in Interscope v. Rodriguez. Interestingly, the RIAA's amended complaint (pdf), filed six (6) days later, abandoned altogether the RIAA's "making available" argument, which it first formulated in defending the dismissal motion in Elektra v. Barker. This raises a number of questions, including (a) whether the RIAA is going to stick to this new form of complaint in future cases, (b) whether it is going to get into a different kind of trouble for some of its new allegations, such as its contention that the investigator "detected an individual" (contradicting the testimony of the RIAA's own expert witness) and the allegation that the defendant should be held liable because he or she is "the individual responsible for that IP address at that date and time", a phrase which would appear to be meaningless in a copyright infringement context, and (c) what tack defendants' lawyers should take (this was one lawyer's suggestion)."
AMD

Submission + - Sapphire x1300XT - Crossfire On The Cheap (fastsilicon.com)

Submitted by mrneutron2003
mrneutron2003 writes: With last year's release of the x1950XT, ATI decided to let the technology trickle down through their whole x1000 series. The x1300XT with x1600 pro's RV530 core is one of those improved versions for the budget conscious consumer. Because of the watered down versions of the 2000 and 8000 series cards already flooding the market in mass variety, the 1000 series cards from ATI are becoming incredibly cheap. This combined with the convenience of an extra PCI-E slot next to that first video card in most budget systems of last year, the thought of adding another card becomes hard to pass up. Because the x1300XT supports cable less CrossFire and does not require supplemental power, it is prime suspect for a cheap boost in performance. We will be looking at the performance of cable less CrossFire and two Sapphire x1300XT PCI-E versions. We will be testing to see if the video cards are ready for an extended life or if their destiny lies in the living room HTPC. http://www.fastsilicon.com/graphics-card-reviews/sapphire-x1300xt-crossfire-on-the-cheap.html
Security

Submission + - Geeks triumph over Defcon mole,offline and online (statcounter.com)

Submitted by destinyland
destinyland writes: An undercover reporter at Defcon was identified, lured into an auditorium, and publicly called out. If you're "exposing" geeks talking about illegal activities at a security convention, it would work better if they didn't know you were there. Dateline's Michelle Madigan claims she was exposing federal agents in attendance at the conference. But the funny aftermath may be a milestone for the mainstream media. In a matchup against a handful of geeks armed with YouTube — they lost.
GNU is Not Unix

Submission + - iD and Valve violating GPL

Submitted by frooge
frooge writes: With the recent release of iD's catalog on Steam, it appears DOSBox is being used to run the old DOS games for greater compatibility. According to a post on the Halflife2.net forums, however, this distribution does not contain a copy of the GPL license that DOSBox is distributed under, which violates the license. According to the DOSBox developers, they were not notified that it was being used for this release.
Businesses

Submission + - Next-Gen Car Batteries Promise Longer Life (wired.com)

Submitted by hzero
hzero writes: Firefly has replaced the lead plates found inside conventional batteries with a lead-impregnated foam made from carbon graphite ?- one of the few materials that can withstand the highly corrosive sulfuric acid inside batteries. The foam increases the surface area of lead inside the battery, delivering more power and slashing the recharge time, says Firefly CEO Ed Williams.
Equally important, Firefly's approach eliminates the crystals that can build up inside lead-acid batteries. Over time, those crystals reduce the amount of electricity a battery can hold, one of the major reasons electric and hybrid automakers have favored lithium-ion or nickel batteries, even though lead acid is less expensive.
"Our batteries will come back to their full capacity for years," says Williams
Operating Systems

Submission + - Linux Vs OS X for the Common Man (informationweek.com)

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "So, like a lot of people have noticed, the Vista price tag is a little steep. Failing Windows for whatever reason, what is better: Linux or OS X? Now, I'm sure there are flaws in the presentations here and they are lengthy but I think this article does a good job of expressing to an average user these alternatives to Windows. The conclusion on Linux: "Linux gives you freedom on many levels: the freedom to tinker, the freedom to work without arbitrary constraints on your system setup, and the freedom to make decisions about nearly every aspect of your system. That freedom does come at a cost, though — the cost of a certain degree of effort. I haven't yet dealt with a single Linux install that didn't require me to edit some configuration file somewhere. That said, the amount of effort required to get the Linux system you want (or need) has gone down enormously with time." The conclusion on Mac: "If you believe that open source is a moral choice — and many people do — then buying Apple is making a deal with the devil. Apple is arguably the most proprietary hardware / software company in the industry, despite Mac OS X's origins in BSD Unix, and the products' compliance with many industry standards. But if you're willing to live with lock-in, Apple is a great choice for computing. Installation isn't a problem — Apple does it for you. Networking is easy. Productivity is a dream. The Mac offers a broad variety of entertainment options. It's a secure platform. It interoperates well with Windows. It's highly stable, and offers solid backup choices for the data losses that are inevitable on any computing platform.""
Businesses

Submission + - DSL Half Duplex... Why is upload more expensive?

Submitted by
Saevio
Saevio writes: "I have a question I would like answered: Why do all ISP's charge more for Upload than Download bandwidth. SDSL is outrageously more expensive than ADSL. Since the majority of residential lines are Half Duplex why would it matter? It makes no sense to me."

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