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Idle

Submission + - Water-Powered Jetpack Finally Goes On Sale (popsci.com)

Submitted by NeverVotedBush
NeverVotedBush writes: The JetLev jetpack consists of a lightweight fiberglass backpack connected to a hose that sucks up water. By separating the engine and its fuel from the backpack, Li was able to drastically reduce the backpack's weight and therefore the amount of thrust needed to get airborne. The device's thrust-to-weight ratio is three times better than that of a fighter jet, according to New Scientist. The jetpack produces 430 pounds of thrust, letting its pilot fly forward at 22 mph and reach heights up to 30 feet. $99,500.00

Submission + - Reviving the Old Slashdot Theme?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: As someone who generally appreciates positive, progressive change, I am seldom at odds with fresh and novel designs. With that said, the recent layout changes here on Slashdot have considerably diminished my viewing experience. I've got 20/20 vision, but the light gray, seamless comment text in the RSS feed is a real strain to read. The new fixed sidebar is also working to my detriment because I am using a lower-resolution monitor, and the lack of an abbreviated rating for second-and-third tier comments is a hindrance. Now, I'm a realistic person and I realize that this new design is most likely here to stay, but I have reached the point of desperation where I am willing to pursue an end-user solution. I do not have any backups of the old CSS files and neither does Archive.org or Google, but I am sure that they must still exist somewhere. Has anyone else out there already developed a userscript or any other workaround that enables continued use of the recently replaced theme?

Submission + - Man Gouges Eyes After 1 Hour Reading Slashdot v3 (slashdot.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: After merely one hour of reading articles and comments from the new SLASHDOT v3 interface a man from Unkerville, MD has gouged out his eyes. He is quoted as saying "I would have liked to have kept them, but the pain was unbearable. Additionally, by removing my eyes I have prevented myself from any further viewing of the site which I'm certain would have resulted in either insanity or a shooting spree." Thank god for rusty spoons.
Linux

Submission + - Amazon Unable to get License for Linux Development 3

Submitted by ritcereal
ritcereal writes: I recently asked Amazon's Kindle Feedback why they did not support Linux while supporting every other major Operating System. Here's the answer I got:
"At this time, the Linux OS is not supported for Kindle applications or Kindle content. The reason it is unavailable is because we haven't gotten the rights from Linux to do so, we have to work with them in order to get the program up and running, and so far they haven't allowed us to do so. We are always working hard to expand our reading options, and appreciate your feedback."
Apparently Amazon is incapable of obtaining the rights from Linux to make an application? I'm calling bullshit on this, what do you think?
Censorship

Submission + - World of Starcraft Mod Gets C&D from Blizzard (pixelatedgeek.com)

Submitted by eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: If you've been following the team who created World of Starcraft (an amazing mod of Starcraft to be more like World of Warcraft), their youtube video of what they've done so far has already resulted in a cease and desist from Activision/Blizzard. Evidently when you are given tools to make custom mods to games you should be careful about making something too good. The author of the mod is hopeful that it's just a trademark problem with the name of his mod but few details are out.
Science

Submission + - The LHC Grid can't model the Grid (nature.com)

Submitted by gbrumfiel
gbrumfiel writes: Nature News has just published a story that tracks data from the Large Hadron Collider across the machine's computing Grid. As I mention in an accompanying blog post, one odd fact is about the Grid is that the people running it don't have very good models of it. They've tried, but the whole system (roughly 200,000 processing cores in 34 countries) is just too complex. Fortunately, the Grid seems to work pretty well regardless.

Submission + - Simple and Smart Mouse : Microsoft Touch Mouse (microsofttouchmouse.com) 1

Submitted by laoban84
laoban84 writes: The Touch Mouse's multi-touch technology puts you in control with graceful slips and slides across the surface of the mouse, rather than clunky points and clicks. Touch Mouse transforms the way you work with Windows, so you can flick to quickly scroll and pan, navigate, and manipulate content.

Submission + - PC Virus Turns 25 (cio.com) 1

Submitted by Batblue
Batblue writes: Happy anniversary Basit and Amjad! Twenty-five years ago this month, the Alvi brothers of Lahore, Pakistan, gave the world the Brain Virus, the first bit of malware capable of infecting a DOS-based PC. Back in those relatively innocent times, the brothers actually embedded their real names and business address in the code and later told Time magazine they had written the virus to protect their medical software from piracy.

Who knows what they were really thinking, but by all accounts the Brain Virus was relatively harmless. Twenty-five years later, most malware is anything but benign and cyber criminals pull off exploits the Alvi brothers never envisioned.
Wikipedia

Submission + - The 10 biggest hoaxes in Wikipedia's first decade (networkworld.com)

Submitted by jbrodkin
jbrodkin writes: Wikipedia will celebrate its 10th birthday on Saturday, with founder Jimmy Wales having built the site from nothing to one of the most influential destinations on the Internet. Wikipedia's goal may be to compile the sum total of all human knowledge, but it's also, perhaps, the best tool in existence for perpetuating Internet hoaxes. Top hoaxes include a student who fooled the entire world's media with a fake obituary quote, Rush Limbaugh spouting inaccurate facts lifted from Wikipedia, the incorrect declaration of Sinbad's death, Stephen Colbert's African elephant prank, Hitler posters on the bedroom wall of a teenage Tony Blair, and several fake historical figures invented out of thin air. Wales has taken steps to head off vandalism including preventing unregistered editors from creating new pages and temporarily protecting controversial articles, but Wikipedia's very nature makes it susceptible to the hoaxes described in this story.
Australia

Submission + - Vodafone dealer-logins given to organised crime? (abc.net.au) 1

Submitted by
beaverdownunder
beaverdownunder writes: ""Vodafone has confirmed it believes its secure customer database has been breached by an employee or dealer who has shared the access password, revealing the personal details of millions of customers...According to Fairfax newspapers, criminal groups are paying for the private information of some customers including home addresses and credit card details.""
Idle

Submission + - Weaponized model aircraft, shots down balloons (suasnews.com) 1

Submitted by garymortimer
garymortimer writes: The model flying discipline of First Person View continues to court controversy. Before Christmas we had a flight over New York city and the Statue of Liberty. Now a weaponized model aircraft shooting at flying targets.
Government

Submission + - US Government Strategy To Prevent Leaks, Is Leaked 1

Submitted by Jake
Jake writes: The US government's 11-page document on how to get various US government agencies to prevent future leaks has been leaked. It doesn't get any more ironic than that. After the various leaks made by WikiLeaks, the US government understandably wants to limit the number of potential leaks, but their strategy apparently isn't implemented yet. It's clear that the Obama administration is telling federal agencies to take aggressive steps to prevent further leaks. According to the document, these steps include figuring out which employees might be most inclined to leak classified documents, by using psychiatrists and sociologists to assess their trustworthiness. The memo also suggests that agencies require all their employees to report any contacts with members of the news media they may have.

Submission + - Inertial sensor enabled football (kokes.net)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Hello, Long time reader, infrequent submitter... I would like to submit a football enabled with inertial sensors and Bluetooth! The Nerf football contains a 3 axis gyro, a 3 axis accelerometer and a 3 axis compass, all which help accurately describe the motion of the ball when kicked, thrown or carried. The Bluetooth module transmits the sensor data to a PC for analysis. In addition to the transmitted data, the football is equipped with 32 bi-color LEDs to indicate the speed of the football spiral; Green for slow, orange for mid-range, and Red for super star spiral speed. You can see/play with the football at the current CES show in Las Vegas at the InvenSense booth South 2 — MP25370.
The Media

Submission + - Some Wikileaks Contributions to Public Discourse 3

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "EFF reports that regardless of the heated debate over the propriety of Wikileaks actions, some of the cables have contributed significantly to public and political conversations around the world. The Guardian reported on a cable describing an incident in Afghanistan in which employees of DynCorp, a US military contractor, hired a "dancing boy," an underaged boy dressed as women, who dance for gatherings of men and is then prostituted — an incident that contributed important information to the debate over the use of private military contractors. A cable released by Wikileaks showed that Pfizer allegedly sought to blackmail a Nigerian regulator to stop a lawsuit against drug trials on children. A Wikileaks revelation that the United States used bullying tactics to attempt to push Spain into adopting copyright laws even more stringent than those in the US came just in time to save Spain from the kind of misguided copyright laws that cripple innovation and facilitate online censorship. An article by the New York Times analyzed cables released which indicated the US is having difficulties in fulfilling Obama's promise to close the Guantánamo Bay detention camp and is now considering incentives in return for accepting detainees, including a one-on-one meeting with Obama or assistance obtaining IMF assistance. "These examples make clear that Wikileaks has brought much-needed light to government operations and private actions," writes Rainey Reitman, "which, while veiled in secrecy, profoundly affect the lives of people around the world and can play an important role in a democracy that chooses its leaders.""

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