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Software

Usability Testing Hardy Heron With a Girlfriend 846

Posted by kdawson from the sleeping-on-the-couch-tonight dept.
toomin writes "Reviews of the latest Ubuntu version, 8.04 Hardy Heron, are everywhere, but most of them are undertaken by geeks familiar with Linux. This guy sits his girlfriend down at a brand-new Ubuntu installation and asks her to perform some basic tasks. Some of them are surprisingly easy, others frustrate and annoy. There are lots of little usability tweaks he stumbles upon just by seeing the desktop experience from the point of view of the mainstream user."

Open Source 'Sage' Takes Aim at High End Math Software 360

Posted by CmdrTaco from the that'll-take-awhile dept.
coondoggie writes "A new open source mathematics program is looking to push aside commercial software commonly used in mathematics education, in large government laboratories and in math-intensive research. The program's backers say the software, called Sage, can do anything from mapping a 12-dimensional object to calculating rainfall patterns under global warming."
Handhelds

Man Claims iPod Set His Pants Aflame 270

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the lighter-and-gasoline-in-his-pocket-had-nothing-to-do-with-it dept.
alphadogg writes to mention that an Atlanta man is claiming an iPod Nano actually caught fire in his pants creating flames that lasted 15 seconds and reached up as far as his chest. Apple hasn't responded to the claims yet other than sending him a packet to return the iPod.
Space

Meteorite Causes Illness in Peru 357

Posted by Zonk from the i've-read-a-book-about-this dept.
eldavojohn writes "A meteorite struck in Peru on Saturday leaving cinders, rock & water boiling out of the ground. Villagers nearby reported headaches & vomiting and attributed it to the event. From the article, 'Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said. Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 100-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) and 20-foot-deep (six-meter-deep) crater, said local official Marco Limache.' It's not yet clear whether this is from the meteorite, gas trapped underground that was released or a chemical reaction between the two."
Links

Submission + - Common Census map update (commoncensus.org)

Submitted by
Gil
Gil writes: "The Common Census project's map was recently updated. The project surveys users about where they live and what cities and neighborhoods they identify with in order to create a map of the US drawn up into spheres of influence. It's nerdy enough to warrant a look at the map. This was the first time the map has been updated in nearly a year."
Science

Neutrino Experiment Restores Standard Model Symmetry 83

Posted by kdawson from the eightfold-way dept.
perturbed1 writes "A Fermilab press release announced that MiniBooNE's latest results have salvaged the Standard Model of particle physics. The experiment ruled out the simple neutrino oscillation interpretation of the 1990s LSND experiment. Neutrinos have a tiny amount of mass, required by their oscillations, as observed in solar, atmospheric, and reactor neutrino experiments. Combining this mass with the LSND experiment's results required the presence of a fourth but 'sterile' neutrino, breaking the 3-fold symmetry of particle families in the standard model." Nice to see some good news out of Fermilab after the CERN debacle.
Robotics

Satellites Mating Via Robotic Arm 91

Posted by Zonk from the that's-one-way-to-do-it dept.
Roland Piquepaille writes "The launch of the Orbital Express mission, with its two satellites ASTRO and NextSat, the first one servicing the other, was widely covered a month ago. But what is happening in space now? In 'Robotic satellite servicer rehearsal underway in orbit,' Spaceflight Now reports about the progress done. A week ago, the two satellites were able to link to each other to operate the first transfer of hydrazine fuel from ASTRO's propellant tanks into NextSat. This weekend, ASTRO's ten-foot-long robotic arm is going to be used to move objects to NextSat. But what does it mean for international satellite operators when they need help with their space birds? Will they use a system designed for U.S.'s DARPA? "

Summer of Code Student Application Deadline Looms 33

Posted by Zonk from the pencils-down-class dept.
chrisd writes "Hi everyone, just wanted to do one last shake of the old tree...the Summer of Code student application deadline is coming up on the 26th. We've got some great applications but I'd love to see more. We're accepting 800 students this year into the program and we have 131 open source organizations who'd love to see you apply. Anyone can talk about open source but you could be coding some with some of the best developmers out there. Apply today." Just a note: the 26th is an extension of the previous deadline. If you thought you wouldn't have time, you now have until next Monday. Get crackin'.
Microsoft

Submission + - Windows Vista WGA Still Plagued By Problems

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: IWeek blogger Alex Wolfe writes that Vista is Still Plagued By Windows Genuine Advantage "False Postive" Problems. Along with his own experience (a support person hung up on him), he cites numerous cases on Microsoft's own forums where users have be forced to reactivate their copies of Vista and told there's a problem with their license.

[Messages like this: "After running vista for a few weeks, I rebooted this morning to find that my purchased copy of vista is no longer genuine."]
Based on the volume of problems, Wolfe characterized Microsoft's downplaying of false-positives last month as "spin control." Right now, the only "technical" solution when you run into this is to type "slui 4" into the command line and then go through phone activation. Have you had a problem with WGA? Do you agree with Wolfe that WGA should be shut off until Microsoft can resolve the 'false positives' problem? More importantly, do you think this could seriously undermine adoption of Vista?
Security

Scientists Make Quantum Encryption Breakthrough 156

Posted by samzenpus from the completely-secure-for-at-least-a-few-days dept.
Madas writes "Scientists working in Cambridge have managed to make quantum encryption completely secure (registration required) by putting decoy pulses in the key transmission stream. According to the story this paves the way for safe, encrypted high-speed data links. Could this allow completely private transmission of data away from snooping eyes and ears? Or will it mean film studios can stop movies from being copied when traveling on the internet?"
United States

Submission + - Best Money Management Software?

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: I want to start managine my personal finances on my computer. What's the best software program to use? I hear good things about Quicken and Microsoft Money, but are any of those open source financial programs any good? (JCash, GNUcash, Grisbi, etc.)
The Internet

The Need For A Tagging Standard 200

Posted by Hemos from the tagging-joy dept.
John Carmichael writes "Tags are everywhere now. Not just blogs, but famous news sites, corporate press bulletins, forums, and even Slashdot. That's why it's such a shame that they're rendered almost entirely useless by the lack of a tagging standard with which tags from various sites and tag aggregators like Technorati and Del.icio.us can compare and relate tags to one another. Depending on where you go and who you ask, tags are implemented differently, and even defined in their own unique way. Even more importantly, tags were meant to be universal and compatible: a medium of sharing and conveying info across the blogosphere — the very embodiment of a semantic web. Unfortunately, they're not. Far from it, tags create more discord and confusion than they do minimize it. I have to say, it would be nice to just learn one way of tagging content and using it everywhere.""
Science

Arctic Ice May Melt By 2040 474

Posted by kdawson from the what-about-Santa? dept.
Dekortage writes in with a new study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research suggesting that the North Pole may be clear of ice in summer as soon as 2040, decades earlier than previously thought. From the article: "'As the ice retreats, the ocean transports more heat to the Arctic and the open water absorbs more sunlight, further accelerating the rate of warming and leading to the loss of more ice,' Holland said in the statement. 'This is a positive feedback loop with dramatic implications for the entire Arctic.'"
Security

Microsoft Issues Zero-Day Attack Alert For Word 483

Posted by kdawson from the incoming dept.
0xbl00d writes "Eweek.com is reporting a new Microsoft Word zero-day attack underway. Microsoft issued a security advisory to acknowledge the unpatched flaw, which affects Microsoft Word 2000, Microsoft Word 2002, Microsoft Office Word 2003, Microsoft Word Viewer 2003, Microsoft Word 2004 for Mac and Microsoft Word 2004 v. X for Mac. The Microsoft Works 2004, 2005 and 2006 suites are also affected because they include Microsoft Word. Simply opening a word document will launch the exploit. There are no pre-patch workarounds or anti-virus signatures available. Microsoft suggests that users 'not open or save Word files,' even from trusted sources."

Cleaning Electronics with Sugar 121

Posted by CowboyNeal from the sticky-situations dept.
legoburner writes "Instructables.com has an article on removing logos from your PDAs or Cell Phones using sugar. Basically, the sugar crystals are strong enough to remove the logo (sticker), but are too soft to scratch the casing leaving it unscathed. The article has many pictures of the process as well as a thorough walkthrough. Let the rebranding of all your electronics begin!"

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