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The Internet

Bufferbloat: Dark Buffers In the Internet 124

Posted by timothy from the perfect-for-dark-fiber dept.
Expanding on earlier work from Jim Gettys of Bell Labs with a new article in the ACM Queue, CowboyRobot writes that Gettys "makes the case that the Internet is in danger of collapse due to 'bufferbloat,' 'the existence of excessively large and frequently full buffers inside the network.' Part of the blame is due to overbuffering; in an effort to protect ourselves we make things worse. But the problem runs deeper than that. Gettys' solution is AQM (active queue management) which is not deployed as widely as it should be. 'We are flying on an Internet airplane in which we are constantly swapping the wings, the engines, and the fuselage, with most of the cockpit instruments removed but only a few new instruments reinstalled. It crashed before; will it crash again?'"
Data Storage

Ask Slashdot: Best Way To Destroy Hard Drives? 1016

Posted by samzenpus from the burn-it-with-fire dept.
First time accepted submitter THE_WELL_HUNG_OYSTER writes "I have 10-15 old hard drives I want to trash, some IDE and some SATA. Even if I still had IDE hardware, I don't want to wait several weeks to run DBAN on all of them. I could use a degausser, but they are prohibitively expensive. I could send them to a data destruction firm, but can they be trusted? What's the fastest, cheapest DIY solution?"
Movies

Space Invaders: The Movie 244

Posted by timothy from the they-want-our-unobtanium dept.
rainmouse writes "Hollywood, clearly after witnessing the staggering success and endless critical acclaim of other computer game adaptations with their typically engrossing story line and deep, believable character development, have now apparently picked up the rights to make a film based upon Space Invaders. 'The classic 1980s arcade game from Taito and Midway, which is ranked as the top arcade game of all time by Guinness World Records, is heading to the big screen courtesy of producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Odd Lot Entertainment's Gigi Pritzker.'" Please help out by providing appropriate plot-lines and character sketches below.
Google

Google Launches Search By Image 109

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i-see-what-you-did-there dept.
kai_hiwatari writes "At the Inside Search event being held at San Francisco, Google has announced a new addition to its search features — Search by Image. The Search by Image feature is something like Google's image search application for mobile devices — Google Goggles — but for the desktop."
Cellphones

New Projects Use Phone Data To Track Big Cities' Mass Transit Use 75

Posted by timothy from the carry-on-citizens dept.
An anonymous reader points out a New York Times article about a traffic analysis program that "'works by taking note of which cellphone tower a phone is communicating with. It then looks for disruptions in service followed by significant changes in location. If a phone located near Times Square suddenly loses service and reconnects at Prince Street and Broadway 15 minutes later, then it has almost certainly traveled there using the N or R trains.' In another interesting twist, the article briefly notes, 'The system will also include an experiment that uses phones' microphones to sense when riders are on buses.'" The article also mentions a similar project to track buses and trains in Los Angeles.
Linux

Linus Renames 2.6.40 Kernel To Linux 3.0, Announces Release Candidate 378

Posted by timothy from the thanks-linus dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Linus just released the first -rc of the next kernel series, but rather than continuing development as the Linux 2.6.40 kernel, he has renamed it to be the Linux 3.0 kernel." And he's tacked on a second dot and another zero (3.0.0), at least for now, because many scripts expect and rely on a three-part kernel version.
Education

Scientists Take Charles Darwin On the Road 170

Posted by Soulskill from the zombie-darwin-needs-brains dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "A team of evolutionary scientists recently traveled to the heart of America, visiting rural schools and communities in Nebraska, Montana, and Virginia to share their excitement about science on the birthday of Charles Darwin, and were overwhelmed with the graciousness, enthusiasm and sincerity of the teachers, school administration and particularly the students that hosted them. 'Over the course of our visits, the questions we received from students were thoughtful and founded in sheer curiosity about the science we presented,' writes MacClain. 'Indeed, the questions were the most exciting part of our collective visits.' Another purpose of the trip was to introduce people to the diverse types of research scientists do, open students' minds to the possibilities of careers in science, and offer an alternative to stereotypes of science and scientists in general. Some criticize the Darwin Day Road Show for being nothing more than a 'Darwinist ministry,' others for it not being more explicit in its discussion of evolution and Darwin, but with this year's success, there will be a Darwin Day Road Show 2012 and the National Center for Science Education is planning to hit all 50 states by 2015. MacClain says the team has found a middle ground that allows scientists to stop communicating at and start communicating with the public. 'It reminds us all that interactions between science and society need not be contentious. At its heart, science is about questions, and we all naturally ask them.'"

Comment If "Splice" is an indication of the quality ... (Score 1) 334

by wintermute1974 (#36200576) Attached to: <em>Neuromancer</em> Movie Deal Moving Forward

If "Splice" is an indication of the type of movie treatment we can expect for Neuromancer, then we should all be very very afraid.

Apparently, movie ratings are currently suffering from score inflation. I see lots of healthy B-grade scores hovering with an average of 7/10 for Splice.

Based solely on this thread, I just watched Splice. It wasn't worth it. I am sure there are worse movies on earth, but this one has nothing redeeming to it. It's a 1/10 at best. The only thing that impressed me about it is that someone bothered to finish and release it to the public.

Comment Re:It's a fail - almost certainly (Score 1) 334

by wintermute1974 (#36200272) Attached to: <em>Neuromancer</em> Movie Deal Moving Forward

Max Headroom (the TV show on ABC in America) proves that cyberpunk can be done well on the screen. There's no reason why Neuromancer is necessarily doomed.
Personally, I'd be delighted if it was a huge flop for general audiences but a huge hit for those plugged into the book.

Then again, I'm a huge fan. I disliked the BBC radio play for Neuromancer because even if the same things happened that were in the book, they happened for different reasons in the play. That alone ruined it for me, and the BBC was attempting a faithful copy.

Comment Re:Not an Easy Book to Read (Score 1) 334

by wintermute1974 (#36200246) Attached to: <em>Neuromancer</em> Movie Deal Moving Forward

Agreed. Neuromancer really rewards the reader on the third reading. Then you know the lingo, you know the pacing, you know the plot, and you can enjoy it all.

I used to learn new languages by buying the local translation of Neuromancer. Since I already knew the text inside out and backwards in English, I could focus on the words and structures of the foreign language that I was learning. Of course, you end up speaking like Case or Molly. That may not work to your advantage.

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