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Python

Submission + - Usability, the Soul of Python (jonathanscorner.com)

Submitted by JonathansCorner.com
JonathansCorner.com writes: Much of Python's success may stem from how it offers usability to programmers, and Usability, the Soul of Python: An Introduction to the Python Programming Language Through the Eyes of Usability opens up the usability that powers Python and contributes to the kind of solution that a Pythonista would call "Pythonic".

Submission + - HFCS Rat Study Does Not Say What You Think It Says (soursaltybittersweet.com)

Submitted by Funkymoses
Funkymoses writes: There was a recent hubbub about a Princeton study that purported to show that rats fed high fructose corn syrup gained more weight than rats provided a similar diet that substituted table sugar. That study turns out to be riddled with errors in scientific method. The only statistically significant finding was a group of rats provided 12-hour access to HFCS along with regular chow got fatter than a group of rats given only chow. Rats given 12-hour access to sucrose actually gained more weight than rats given 24-hour access to HFCS in a study that claims "there was no overall difference in total caloric intake (sugar plus chow) among the sucrose group and two HFCS groups." There was no 24 hour sucrose group. Meanwhile, females given access to 12 hours of HFCS actually lost weight compared to chow-only and 12-hour sucrose groups.

Even longtime critics of the food industry like Marion Nestle find the study unconvincing; the findings are misleading and has been fraudulently presented by the media. It does not show anything approximating what it has been purported to show.
Security

Submission + - Detecting critical Apple vulnerability with Nmap (cqure.net) 1

Submitted by iago-vL
iago-vL writes: Patrik Karlsson, an Nmap developer, released a script today to detect a vulnerability in the Apple Filing Protocol (afp), CVS-2010-0533. This vulnerability is trivial to exploit and allows users to view files outside of public shares. He describes this vulnerability, which he discovered inadvertently while working on the Nmap Scripting Engine (NSE), as "strikingly similar to the famous Windows SMB filesharing vulnerability from 1995." Instructions on how to detect vulnerable systems using Nmap can be found in the post linked above.
Medicine

Submission + - Obamacare Puts Calories On Menus - Will It Help? (singularityhub.com) 1

Submitted by kkleiner
kkleiner writes: The recent US healthcare reform bill has a lot on its plate. Then, again, so do Americans. One of the provisions of the bill will give the FDA one year to develop standards by which all chain restaurants with 20 or more locations will be required to post calorie counts on their menus. More than 200,000 establishments will be effected, with the hope that this will help reduce rates of obesity in the US. Will it really help?
Programming

Submission + - HTML 5: Less Than It's Cracked Up To Be (computerworld.com)

Submitted by CWmike
CWmike writes: Supporting the idea that Adobe is not and should not be worried about HTML 5, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols writes that while HTML 5 has lofty goals of replacing Java, Flash and Google Gears, in practice, things aren't going to change that much from today's Web, with its reliance on proprietary media formats and methods. He writes that HTML 5 is years away from becoming a real standard. Indeed, Dave Story, Adobe's vice president of developer tools, has pointed out that 'the HTML 5 time-line states that it will be at least a decade before the evolving HTML 5/CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) 3 efforts are finalized, and it remains to be seen what parts will be implemented consistently across all browsers. In the meantime, the Flash platform will continue to deliver a ubiquitous, consistent platform that enables ever richer, more engaging user experiences.'

Submission + - French President Rips Off WhiteHouse.gov (elysee.fr)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: French president Nicolas Sarkozy launched a new version of his official site today. Surprisingly, the site is strikingly similar to the Obama Administration's website. WhiteHouse.gov made the news last October when it switched from a proprietary CMS to the Open Source Drupal. Reportedly developed in France for $135,000 (french, Google translation here), the new site does not appear to have chosen the same Open Source base. Will the White House do anything to enforce its rights on the site design?

Submission + - EU Commissioner wants Europe to filter internet (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Censorship infrastructure proposed: The European commissioner for home affairs, Cecilia Malmstrom, is proposing a directive to block websites that show images of child abuse.
The Internet

Submission + - The internet mile high club (phantomdev.com)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: I recently traveled on a chartered flight that had inflight wifi. Being the nerd that I am, I quickly probed the network and took screen shots of my findings. I wrote up my experience so that others can see how it went and what to expect.
Transportation

Submission + - Students Build 2,487 MPG Hypermiling Supercar (inhabitat.com) 2

Submitted by MikeChino
MikeChino writes: Students at Laval University recently took home the gold in Shell’s annual Eco-Marathon with a hypermiling supervehicle able to hit 2,487MPG! The team's combustion engine-powered vehicle took home the grand prize in the Prototype category (along with $5,000) but it was far from the only impressive entry — the Purdue University Solar Racing Team clocked in at 4,548 MPG with their Pulsar solar vehicle, and the Cicero North Syracuse High School achieved 780.9 mpg in the fuel cell-powered Clean Green Machine.
Privacy

Submission + - Facebook To Allow Third Party Access to User Data (eweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by judgecorp
judgecorp writes: The new privacy settings on Facebook could open a new can of worms, since they allow third party access to some user data by "select companies" without requesting permission. Privacy groups are outraged, and the move follows comments last year when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said people no longer expected privacy.
Linux Business

SoftMaker Office 2010 For Linux Nearing Release 110

Posted by timothy from the put-your-words-in-a-row dept.
martin-k writes "SoftMaker Office is a Microsoft-compatible office suite that competes with OpenOffice.org. Its creator, German software publisher SoftMaker, is nearing completion of the latest release, SoftMaker Office 2010 for Linux. This new release offers document tabs, high-quality filters for the Microsoft Office 2007 file formats DOCX and XLSX, and presentation-quality charts in the spreadsheet. It also brings integration into KDE and Gnome, using the system's colors and fonts. A release candidate is available as a free download."
Graphics

Nvidia Drops Support For Its Open Source Driver 412

Posted by timothy from the let-them-eat-text dept.
An anonymous reader writes "While Nvidia is not open-source friendly (despite public outcries over the years), they have traditionally supported the xf86-video-nv driver to provide basic mode setting support and other basic functionality. However, with the 'Fermi' and future products, even that open source support will cease to exist. Nvidia has announced they are dropping this open source support for future GPUs and really ending it altogether. Nvidia's recommendation is to just use the generic X.Org VESA driver to navigate their way to nvidia.com so that they can install the proprietary driver. Fortunately there is the Nouveau project that provides a 2D and 3D video driver for Nvidia's hardware, but Nvidia fails to acknowledge it nor support their efforts in any form." David Gerard points out that Nouveau is going into Linux 2.6.33.

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