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Submission + - Limiting the teaching of the scientific process in Ohio (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by frdmfghtr
frdmfghtr writes: Over at Ars Technica, there's a story about a bill in the Ohio legislature that wants to downplay the teaching of the scientific process. From the article:
"Specifically prohibiting a discussion of the scientific process is a recipe for educational chaos. To begin with, it leaves the knowledge the kids will still receive—the things we have learned through science—completely unmoored from any indication of how that knowledge was generated or whether it's likely to be reliable. The scientific process is also useful in that it can help people understand the world around them and the information they're bombarded with; it can also help people assess the reliability of various sources of information."

Comment Re:I'm open to it (Score 1) 826

by stoborrobots (#47755147) Attached to: Choose Your Side On the Linux Divide

Monolithic?

Postgresql runs a database server. That's it. Postgresql doesn't include a mailserver just because it needs to send alerts.

Apache runs an HTTP server. That's it. Apache doesn't include DNS and OCSP servers just because sites hosted on it will need name resolution and certificates.

OpenOffice, I'll give you that one. It combines multiple applications into one for historical reasons. I don't like it, but I don't use it so I don't have a dog in that fight.

Monolithic (in the sense used here) implies the combination of multiple essentially independent functions into a single application. Just because Apache and Postgresql are big applications doesn't make them monolithic.

Submission + - UPS: We've Been Hacked (time.com)

Submitted by paysonwelch
paysonwelch writes: The United Parcel Service announced Wednesday that customersâ(TM) credit and debit card information at 51 franchises in 24 states may have been compromised. There are 4,470 franchised center locations throughout the U.S., according to UPS.

The malware began to infiltrate the system as early as January 20, but the majority of the attacks began after March 26. UPS says the threat was eliminated as of August 11 and that customers can shop safely at all locations.

Submission + - An Ad-Free Internet Would Cost Everyone £140-a-Year (ibtimes.co.uk) 2

Submitted by DavidGilbert99
DavidGilbert99 writes: Research suggests that if we wanted to live in a world without pop-up ads for penis enlargement tablets, then it would cost everyone $230 per year. So how many people would be willing to stump up this kind of cash? Just 2% of the population apparently...

Submission + - GAO finds inadequate planning and oversight caused HealthCare.gov cost blowout (gao.gov)

Submitted by stoborrobots
stoborrobots writes: The Government Accountability Office has investigated the cost blowouts associated with how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) handled the Healthcare.gov project. It has released a 60-page report entitled Healthcare.gov: Ineffective Planning and Oversight Practices Underscore the Need for Improved Contract Management, with a 5 page summary. The key takeaway messages are:
  • CMS undertook the development of Healthcare.gov and its related systems without effective planning or oversight practices...
  • [The task] was a complex effort with compressed time frames. To be expedient, CMS issued task orders ... when key technical requirements were unknown...
  • CMS identified major performance issues ... but took only limited steps to hold the contractor accountable.
  • CMS awarded a new contract to another firm [and the new contract's cost has doubled] due to changes such as new requirements and other enhancements...

Larry Seltzer has more over at ZDNet.

Comment Re:Er, what? (Score 1) 191

by stoborrobots (#47660395) Attached to: Reversible Type-C USB Connector Ready For Production

I can see them doing this, rather than the much simpler solution of having two ports: a Micro-B port for charging only, and a C port for data/charging.

Compliant with all regulations, simpler for the consumer (no adapter required), minimal outlay (one extra trace on the PCB, one extra component costing fractions of a cent), no questions about cables.

Comment Re:Who has the market share? (Score 1) 336

by stoborrobots (#47611925) Attached to: Windows XP Falls Below 25% Market Share, Windows 8 Drops Slightly

I would be curious to see how Azure is impacting Windows Server market share

As this is slashdot, the appropriate response would be to turn to Netcraft to confirm it...

http://news.netcraft.com/archi...

Which was from February, and should be read in the context of the February Web Server Survey:

http://news.netcraft.com/archi...

Submission + - Russian criminals steal 1.2 billion passwords (cnn.com)

Submitted by mpicpp
mpicpp writes: Russian criminals have stolen 1.2 billion Internet user names and passwords, amassing what could be the largest collection of stolen digital credentials in history, a respected security firm said Tuesday.

The news was first reported by The New York Times, which cited research from Milwaukee-based Hold Security. The firm didn't reveal the identities of the targeted websites, citing nondisclosure agreements and a desire to prevent existing vulnerabilities from being more widely exploited.

Hold Security founder Alex Holden told CNNMoney that the trove includes credentials gathered from over 420,000 websites — both smaller sites as well as "household names." The criminals didn't breach any major email providers, he said.

Holden said the gang makes its money by sending out spam for bogus products like weight-loss pills, and had apparently amassed its collection of digital credentials for that relatively innocuous purpose.

"It's really not that impactful to the individuals, and that's why they were under the radar for so long," Holden said. "They've ignored financial information almost completely."

Comment Re:Simple Answers to Simple Questions (Score 1) 246

by stoborrobots (#47610579) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: IT Personnel As Ostriches?

Indeed.

Or the fragment might be part of a statement like "following the issues with the Enron case, we've put in some additional measures to prevent any irregularities in the pension fund" or even "Did you see that episode of the IT Crowd where the new boss was asking the IT department for help deleting the files which showed the irregularities in the pension fund? What a classic..."

Submission + - iOS global usage falls behind Android for the first time

Submitted by mrspoonsi
mrspoonsi writes: For the first time, overall usage of iOS as an operating system has fallen behind its main competitor from over in Mountain View. While it’s well known that the majority market share in terms of install base has long been held by Android, this is one figure in which iOS has been top dog for quite some time. But at least according to research from Net Applications, that’s no longer the case. More people now use Android, too. For the longest time, Apple CEO Tim Cook would mock Android — Android tablets in particular — by saying no one uses them. Last year he said, "I don't know what these other tablets are doing. They must be in warehouses, or on store shelves, or maybe in somebody's bottom drawer!" But, he can't make fun of Android any more. Web traffic to Android is higher than iOS for the first time in history. This shows that Android users are getting more engaged with their devices, using them more and more.

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