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Data Storage

What NAS To Buy? 621

Posted by CmdrTaco from the to-busy-to-build-your-own dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Currently, I'm running an old 4u Linux server for my private backup and storage needs. I could add new drives, but it's just way too bulky (and only IDE). For the sake of size and power efficiency I think about replacing it with a NAS solution, but cannot decide which one to get. The only requirements I have are capacity (>1.5TB) and RAID5. Samba/FTP/USB is enough. Since manufacturers always claim their system to be the best, I'd like to hear some suggestions from you Slashdot readers."

Apple Laptop Upgrades Costing 200% More Than Dells 935

Posted by CmdrTaco from the pay-the-apple-tax dept.
An anonymous reader writes "C|net is highlighting the astonishing cost of Apple laptop hardware upgrades, compared to Dell — in some instances, Apple is charging 200% more for upgraded components, such as memory and hard disks. Either there's a serious difference in the quality of components being used, or Apple is quite literally ripping off those who aren't able to upgrade hardware themselves."
Patents

Tech Giants Pooling Cash To Buy Patents 109

Posted by timothy from the oh-wsj-you-tease dept.
theodp writes with a link to a Reuters report, based on a WSJ story, that "Verizon, Google, Cisco, and HP are among the companies that have joined a secretive group called the Allied Security Trust. Each of the companies will reportedly put $5 million in escrow to allow AST to snap up intellectual property on their behalf before it falls into the hands of parties that could use it against them. Patents will be resold after AST member companies have granted themselves a nonexclusive license to the underlying technology. According to AST CEO Brian Hinman, a former VP of IP and Licensing at IBM, the arrangement will keep member companies out of antitrust trouble." (The WSJ's story itself is more detailed, but it's subscriber-only.)
Networking

Beating Comcast's Sandvine On Linux With Iptables 361

Posted by timothy from the and-then-I'd-be-all-like-pow-and-reconfigure-iptables dept.
HiroDeckard writes "Multiple sites reported a while ago that Comcast was using Sandvine to do TCP packet resets to throttle BitTorrent connections of their users. This practice may be a thing of the past as it's been found a simple rule in the Linux firewall, iptables, can simply just block their reset packets, returning your BitTorrent back to normal speeds and allowing you to once again connect to all your seeds and peer. If blocking the TCP packet resets becomes a common practice, on and off of Linux, it'll be interesting to see the next move in the cat-and-mouse game between customers and service providers, and who controls that bandwidth."
The Internet

Your Online Profile Actually Tells a Lot About You 272

Posted by timothy from the explains-my-dating-life dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Despite all the media reports that your Facebook profile is giving the wrong impression, a psychological study shows people really can understand your personality from your online profile. Turns out you're not giving the wrong impression with your profile; you're giving the right impression to the wrong people. You can actually learn more about someone's Agreeableness from their online profile than from a first date."
Windows

Fresh Air For Windows? 645

Posted by timothy from the reinvention dept.
jmcbain writes "The NY Times has an opinion piece on how the next Windows could be designed (even through Microsoft has already laid plans for Windows 7). The author suggests 'A monolithic operating system like Windows perpetuates an obsolete design. We don't need to load up our machines with bloated layers we won't use.' He also brings up the example of Apple breaking ties with its legacy OS when OS X was built. Can Windows move forward with a completely new, fast, and secure OS and still keep legacy application support?"
Businesses

Dead At 92, Business Computing Pioneer David Caminer 142

Posted by timothy from the 92-and-holding dept.
Brooklyn Bob points out this fascinating obituary of David Caminer, the first systems analyst. "The tea company he worked for developed their own hardware and software — in 1951! Quoting New Scientist: 'In today's terms it would be like hearing that Pizza Hut had developed a new generation of microprocessor, or McDonald's had invented the Internet.'"
Communications

Cell Phones Tracking Nightlife Activity 121

Posted by timothy from the ignores-all-cb-radio-based-night-life dept.
Roland Piquepaille writes "A Columbia University computer science professor has co-founded a New York-based company named Sense Networks to sell tracking software to other companies. It is also distributing a free version of this software, named Citysense, which shows on your cell phone where the wild things are happening in your own town. Citysense 'uses advanced machine learning techniques to number crunch vast amounts of data emanating from thousands of cell-phones, GPS-equipped cabs and other data devices to paint live pictures of where people are gathering.' Citysense is available today in San Francisco, before being soon deployed in Chicago and five other U.S. cities."
The Internet

Don't Let Your Boss Catch You Reading This 368

Posted by Zonk from the you're-all-here-doing-research-not-a-problem dept.
Stony Stevenson writes "iTnews is running a piece on the culture of cyberslacking in the business arena. Studies worldwide suggest employees spend about a fifth of their work shifts engaging in personal activities. Most of that 'wasted time' is, of course, spent online. From the article: 'A recent survey by online compensation firm Salary.com showed about six out of 10 employees in the United States acknowledged wasting time at work. About 34 percent listed personal Internet use as the leading time-wasting activity in the workplace. Employees said they did so because they were bored, worked too many hours, were underpaid or were unchallenged at work. Firms all over the world are concerned about potentially harmful effects of surfing they deem to be inappropriate may have on their company's image.'"
Security

Submission + - Evolution: for kick-ass datamining at your desktop (linux.com)

Submitted by
Joe Barr
Joe Barr writes: "H. D. Moore raved about Paterva Evolution in his talk at Black Hat/Defcon recently, so I checked it out. He was right. This cross-platform Java app is only in its second beta, but it is extremely powerful already, and designed for the easy addition of new transforms (type of mining). One example is the inclusion of WikiEdit in the latest beta. My review is live here on Linux.com."
Businesses

Submission + - Nokia announces new phones

Submitted by
traveller604
traveller604 writes: "After months of speculation Nokia has finally announced new high end smartphones. Among them is the successor to the no doubt most advanced cellphone in the world right now, the N95. The successor, N95 8gb is Nokia's answer to the criticism that the original model has received. It comes with a larger screen and many upgraded components. Other announcements were the new ngage platform called Ovi (a door in Finnish) and music orientated phones N81, 5610 and 5310. What wasn't announced (but flashed discretely) at Nokia GoPlay event in London was the Nokia's iPhone lookalike."

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