juanfe - Slashdot User

Submission + - AT&T Engineer describing NSA syping architectu 1

Submitted by juanfe on Wednesday November 07, 2007 @12:49PM

juanfe writes: The Washington Post is reporting on the whistleblowing by a former AT&T network engineer who describes how and where AT&T's facilitation of NSA wiretapping was set up. This has been discussed on Slashdot before, but it's a particularly well-explained description for the lay person of why a fiber splitter allowing NSA to sift in all of AT&T's US backhaul traffic (including UUNet, Sprint and GlobalCrossing) is a bad thing.

Submission + - Microsoft Tables

Submitted by juanfe on Thursday May 31, 2007 @10:03AM

juanfe writes: Microsoft unveiled it's new Microsoft Table yesterday — a multitouch surface with wireless doodads that they're first selling to Starwood hotel chains and a number of retailers.

Submission + - A Brief Introduction To TRWS Theory

Submitted by

occu77

on Tuesday January 09, 2007 @10:45AM

occu77 writes: "TRWS: TGS and TSS — The various real and virtual elements of TGS and TSS are based upon the doctrine of Game Theory which relates that gaming can be, and in some cases should be, training for various Real World Capabilities. Therefore TGS and TSS are components of the Transferable Real World Skills Game Theory doctrine. TRWS (and the various components which comprise the Doctrine) is a Virtual Training and Gaming Protocol designed to allow the development, practice, and transmission of Real World Skills into a Training Scenario or Gaming Environment. Likewise the practice of Gaming and Virtual skills in a realistic manner within a virtual or artificial environment is designed to allow Training and Gaming Scenarios an opportunity to develop into Real World skills which can then be employed within a Real World Environment. The effectiveness of the protocols is not dependent upon the type of scenario, general environment, particular game, or virtual training opportunity undertaken, but is rather dependent upon the degree and nature of the realism of the practice. TRWS Game Theory demands a level of realism and practice which makes it practical to assume that any reasonably intelligent and trainable person employing the protocols can in fact perfect current skill sets or even develop entirely new skill sets within the game environment which can then be realistically employed within a Real World Environment. TRWS"

Submission + - WSJ: Apple signs with Cingular

Submitted by

fistfullast33l

on Tuesday January 09, 2007 @10:20AM

fistfullast33l writes: "Last night a blog post on Business 2.0's new blog pointed to a Wall Street Journal article (paid subscription required) reporting that Apple has apparently signed up with Cingular to provide the service for a new iPhone. If the WSJ story is true, more details should be given in today's Macworld Expo keynote by Steve Jobs. What's more interesting are the points that the blogger makes. From the article: "The first is that Verizon (VZ) Wireless and Sprint (S) are left out in the cold by this move, since Cingular uses GSM, a standard that's incompatible with Verizon and Sprint's CDMA technology. Verizon has the Chocolate and Sprint sells the Fusic music phone, but neither has proven to be an iPod substitute yet.""

Submission + - Dell's secret Linux fling

Submitted by Slagged on Tuesday January 09, 2007 @10:05AM

Slagged writes: The Register has an article on Linux based Dell systems being sold in China.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/09/dell_linux _china/

Dell's love affair with Linux is a clandestine affair these days, conducted in secret, away from disapproving eyes. But now the pair have been spotted in China.

Journal Journal: Biased Science

Journal by drcoppersmith on Tuesday January 09, 2007 @09:45AM

While I hate seeing articles like this one, where the veracity of scientific claims are brought into question, it's something that the public needs to know.

Submission + - World's First Virtual Banking Licenses

Submitted by

Anonymous Coward

on Tuesday January 09, 2007 @09:31AM

Anonymous Coward writes: "http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?relea se_id=200858

MindArk PE AB, creators of Entropia Universe — the original virtual universe with a real cash economy, today announced the auction of five virtual banking licenses which will integrate real world banking systems into the virtual world. These two-year exclusive licenses will be available through the public auction within Entropia Universe and will be open for bids beginning mid January 2007."

Submission + - Web 2.0 Access Control

Submitted by

nywanna

on Tuesday January 09, 2007 @09:23AM

nywanna writes: "Access control for most developers is nothing more than an after thought, but should it be? As developers we have no problem adopting third party solutions to most of what we develop (data storage, parsing, etc), but access control just happens to be one of those things that finds its way into the tail end of our projects. Rick Morrison begins a three part series of "best practices" for outsourcing the access control problems which should simplify application development and maintenance."

Submission + - Shall we contact tech support?

Submitted by

AXIGEN Team

on Tuesday January 09, 2007 @09:07AM

AXIGEN Team writes: "Do we need technical support? And if we do, when exactly do we need it and which is the most appropriate support channel? The article describes the situations one might run into, the available choices when it comes to getting technical assistance and a few tips for improving communication in such situations.

http://www.axigen.com/articles/shall-we-contact-te ch-support_13.html"

Developers As Pawns and One-Night Stands 268

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 09, 2007 @09:04AM from the Microsoft-sweet-talk dept.

jcatcw writes "At the Comes vs. Microsoft antitrust case, last Friday's testimony included evidence that James Plamondon, a Microsoft technical evangelist, in a 1996 speech referred to independent software developers as 'pawns' and compared wooing them to trying to win over a one-night stand. Last week's proceedings also included testimony by Ronald Alepin, a former CTO at Fujitsu Software Corp. and currently an adviser to the law firm Morrison Foerster LLP. He said that Lotus 1-2-3 was killed, in part, by Microsoft encouraging Lotus's programmers to use the Windows API even though Microsoft's own developers found it too complicated to use." The plaintiffs have created a site that includes transcripts of testimony presented in the case.

Submission + - Censorship in Brazil

Submitted by

FungosBauux

on Tuesday January 09, 2007 @08:31AM

FungosBauux writes: "From this article: "Telecommunications companies in Brazil began blocking access to YouTube on Monday after a Brazilian model sued to get the popular video sharing service to remove footage of her having sex from its website." What services we from Brazil can use to continue accessing YouTube? There is any tool or YouTube proxy that can give back our freedom?"

Submission + - NASA to use Metric System on Moon Mission

Submitted by JustOK on Tuesday January 09, 2007 @08:31AM

JustOK writes: With the first mission scheduled for 2020, NASA plans, among other things, to use "metric units for all operations on the lunar surface"
"NASA's lunar plan also encourages participation by other nations, as well as non-governmental organizations and commercial groups." NASA has nearly 60 space and Earth science projects currently, with about half having some type of international cooperation. North and South lunar poles are being looked at as locations for moon bases. Lunar stays of up to 180 days are being planned.
The project will see "A string of robot spacecraft will shoot for the Moon within the next two years, departing from Japan, China, India, as well as the United States."
According to a report via Yahoo! by Space.com staff, NASA has had informal discussions on using Internet protocols for lunar communications.

Submission + - ASP.Net Industry Standard Defect Metrics...

Submitted by

Adoniz

on Tuesday January 09, 2007 @06:57AM

Adoniz writes: "I am interested in finding out how well ASP.Net compares with other languages for productivity and quality. Does somebody have a pointer as to how much does ASP.Net score in Industry Standard metrics such as No. of Defects/LOC etc. I am pretty sure that many of us believe that this particular metric is heavily dependent upon the organization processes and procedures, but still I would like to know what is the global historical metric that ASP.Net scores on this front."

Submission + - The 2007 malware map

Submitted by

Bill Andad

on Tuesday January 09, 2007 @06:35AM

Bill Andad writes: "http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry1225.html Dynamic code obfuscation techniques and the continued commercialization of the malware development industry will dominate the 2007 malware map according to a newly published report from a leading threat research center. js/wonka signatures could become redundant as cutting edge code obfuscation kits flood the online black market."

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