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Comment Re:IDE (Score 1) 405

by daliman (#25285703) Attached to: Mono 2.0 and .NET On Linux

Well I use Slackware

Ah, well, there's your problem right there ;)

More seriously, I've recently come into a workplace with a bunch of Slackware 10.2 servers and no remaining sysadmins. I'm used to Debian, so the lack of package management capabilities seems to leave me with a hideously manual process to update any available security updates for the installed packages. What's the correct procedure for this on Slack?

Software

Software Spots Spin In Political Speeches 438

Posted by samzenpus from the liars-and-filthy-liars dept.
T.S. Ackerman writes "According to an article in NewScientist Tech, there is now software that can identify the amount of spin in a politician or candidate's speech. From the article, 'Blink and you would have missed it. The expression of disgust on former US president Bill Clinton's face during his speech to the Democratic National Convention as he says "Obama" lasts for just a fraction of a second. But to Paul Ekman it was glaringly obvious. "Given that he probably feels jilted that his wife Hillary didn't get the nomination, I would have to say that the entire speech was actually given very gracefully," says Ekman, who has studied people's facial expressions and how they relate to what they are thinking for over 40 years.' The article goes on to analyze the amount of spin in each of the candidates running for president, and the results are that Obama spins the most."
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Congress Considers Orphaned Works Act (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes: "Congress is considering an orphaned works act that would limit the penalties for infringement in cases where the author could no longer be identified. The idea is that one could declare their intent to use the work with the Copyright Office and if the copyright holder didn't care to respond, they would only be able to get 'reasonable compensation' instead of excessive statutory penalties. Of course, there's still the question of whether this can pass before election time."
Privacy

Submission + - We spied on 36,000 customers using the internet (dailymail.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: We spied on 36,000 customers using the internet, admits BT BT tested secret "spyware" on tens of thousands of its broadband customers without their knowledge, it admitted yesterday. It carried out covert trials of a system which monitors every internet page a user visits. Companies can exploit such data to target users with tailored online advertisements. An investigation into the affair has been started by the Information Commissioner, the personal data watchdog. Privacy campaigners reacted with horror, accusing BT of illegal interception on a huge scale. Yesterday, the company was forced to admit that it had monitored the web browsing habits of 36,000 customers. The scandal came to light only after some customers stumbled across tell-tale signs of spying. At first, they were wrongly told a software virus was to blame. Executives insisted they had not broken the law and said no "personally identifiable information" had been shared or divulged. BT said it randomly chose 36,000 broadband users for a "small-scale technical trial" in 2006 and 2007. The monitoring system, developed by U.S. software company Phorm, accesses information from a computer. It then scans every website a customer visits, silently checking for keywords and building up a unique picture of their interests. If a user searches online to buy a holiday or expensive TV, for example, or looks for internet dating services or advice on weight loss, the Phorm system will add all the information to their file. One BT customer who spotted unexplained problems with his computer was told repeatedly by BT helpdesk staff that a virus was to blame.
The Internet

Submission + - Why the Internet Can't Remain Free (cio.com) 3

Submitted by
rabblerouzer
rabblerouzer writes: "We're headed for a major Internet traffic jam in just 2 years. In a new video on Net neutrality (roughly 4 minutes long), Gary Beach at CIO offers stats about the reasons why (largely blaming YouTube) and a plea for a solution/compromise between Internet pipe owners like AT&T and Verizon and bandwidth hogs. The bottom line: You use the bandwidth, you pay."
Government

Submission + - Church of Scientology violates Federal Law (rapidshare.com) 5

Submitted by
FreedomToThink
FreedomToThink writes: "This is a very long story I'm sure the editors will have fun with, but I couldn't see how to cut it down at all.

On the eve of the Ides of March protest, from the source of the recent 'Anonymous' submitted CCHR leak on wikileaks, comes this message

"Dear $cientology,You attempt injunctions.I respond.Shall we continue the game? Much Love, DEEP CLAM"

Included was yet another PDF this time including yet more emails leaked from a Church of Scientology front group.

Vote Rigging?

From: "Mike Kaplan" <mkaplan@tampabay.rr.com>
To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;>
Subject: Fw: RE-ELECT FRANK HIBBARD, MAYOR OF CLEARWATER
Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2008 11:53:07 -0400

See below. Everyone in Clearwater MUST vote. Every vote will be needed to be
sure Hibbard gets re-elected. The alternative is Rita Garvey who is an SP.

— Original Message —
From: Shelly <mailto:shelly.bauer@Earthlink.net> Bauer
To: Shelly Bauer <mailto:shelly.bauer@earthlink.net>
Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2008 8:09 AM
Subject: RE-ELECT FRANK HIBBARD, MAYOR OF CLEARWATER

DO YOUR PART
RE-ELECT FRANK HIBBARD
MAYOR OF CLEARWATER
VOTE!!!
JANUARY 29TH
TAKE NOTHING FOR GRANTED!

Lunch with your preferred Presidential candidates for a high price?

ONE SEAT LEFT

I have arranged a private one-hour luncheon with Ron Paul on 11/28 in St.
Pete when he will be in town for the CNN/YouTube Republican debate.

This luncheon is reserved for $1000+ donors to Ron Paul's presidential
campaign. 19 people so far have paid and confirmed and will have the honor
and pleasure of having lunch and communicating with Ron Paul directly.


From the head of the "Non Proffit" CCHR Bruce Wiseman

Go the the HELP committee website. The link is here.
http://help.senate.gov/About.html
Here you will see the names of the Committee members on the left hand
side
of the page. Please go to the individual websites of the Republican =
members
(this will take just a bit of leg work on your part by putting their =
name
into Google) and calling their office or sending a fax to them (email is =
the
least effective) stating your opposition to S. 1375 The Mother's Act.


Currently, the law prohibits political campaign activity by charities and churches by defining a 501(c)(3) organization as one "which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office."

An OCMB (Operation Clambake Message Board)regular adds :

I downloaded myself a copy and started looking through them. I found an interesting one on pages 47-48.
http://rapidshare.com/files/99292051/CCHRLeak3.pdf.html

Karin Pouw of OSA of CofS writes a message.
It's forwarded by Michael Genung. He's the guy who runs ACSR, Association for Citizens Sociel Reform. http://www.citizensforsocialreform.org/ ["CSR Background and Philosopy: CSR was founded in 2001 by a group of Scientologists and other like-minded individuals concerned with the escalating social ills in society. CSR's purpose is to work with in the field of public policy to bring about more effective and humane solutions to these social ills of illiteracy, criminality substance abuse and general decay of character."]

Then it's forwarded by Doyle Mills, of LEAF fame (Letters to the Editor Attack Force).
Then it's forwarded by Mary C. (possibly one of two Mary C's I'm thinking of, but unsure).
Then it's forwarded by Mike Kaplan, another person who runs an email list and forwards CCHR type stuff to CofS members.

If that ain't stringing a line from the CofS to CCHR and the CofS front group ("grassroots") movements, then I don't know what is!


Apologies in advance as the Enturbulation servers will not be up to a slashdotting so the Coral Cache link is here Enturbulation Discussion (already cached for you)

ANYONE CAN REPORT TAX FRAUD DIRECTLY TO THE IRS : http://www.irs.gov/compliance/enforcement/article/0,,id=106778,00.html It does require that you print out and mail in an actual hardcopy, but it does not require you to identify yourself.

Just a casual user passing on a message from the Enturbulation forum, this is already out there, there's no reason to attack the messenger."
Microsoft

Counter-Claims On Flaws In OOXML Meeting 96

Posted by kdawson from the what-went-on-behind-closed-doors dept.
ericatcw writes "Critics have charged that last week's ISO Ballot Resolution Meeting (BRM) to decide the fate of changes to Office Open XML standards proposal was too perfunctory and deviated from accepted ISO practices, possibly in an attempt to smooth the passage of the Microsoft format. This week, the ISO 'convener' of the BRM disputed those charges, saying that voting to dispose of 900 changes to the spec at once and allowing 'O' Observer countries to vote were the correct moves. ISO released a statement backing him up. Also, Patrick Durusau, editor of the competing OpenDocument Format specification and a late convert to OOXML's passage, also said that claims the process was flawed were overstated."
Mozilla

Submission + - Aussie Web shop offers discount to Firefox users 6

Submitted by Stony Stevenson
Stony Stevenson writes: An Australian PC retailer has come up with a novel way of supporting the 'alternative' software movement. Tekfix Computing Solutions is offering a 5 percent discount on products purchased online if customers are using Firefox rather than Internet Explorer. The firm has the backing of Google and the Mozilla Foundation to switch internet users to the open source browser. The move follows a similar effort by Google, which introduced paid referrals into its AdSense system, allowing any AdSense publisher to earn money from referring users to Firefox provided it contains the Google Toolbar.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft apologizes to rival and to users (msdn.com) 1

Submitted by
Geoffrey.landis
Geoffrey.landis writes: "Microsoft apologized to rival software vendor Corel Corp. for saying that Corel's file format posed a security risk, and issued a set of tools to unblock file types that had been blocked by default in the December Office 2003 service pack.

In David Leblanc's web log, LeBlanc says "We did a poor job of describing the default format changes," and goes on to explain "We stated that it was the file formats that were insecure, but this is actually not correct. A file format isn't insecure — it's the code that reads the format that's more or less secure." As noted by Richard Thurston "it is the parsing code that Office 2003 uses to open and save the file types that is less secure."

Larry Seltzer at pcmag.com also blog the story."
Microsoft

Submission + - Gates reveals majority of PCs ship without Vista 6

Submitted by Stony Stevenson
Stony Stevenson writes: Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system is proving far less popular with new PC buyers than Windows XP did during XP's first year on the market, if statements by company chairman Bill Gates at this week's Consumer Electronics Show are any measure. Gates boasted that Microsoft has sold more than 100 million copies of Windows Vista since the OS launched last January. Based on Gates' statement, Windows Vista was aboard just 39% of the PC's that shipped in 2007. And Vista, in terms of units shipped, only marginally outperformed first year sales of Windows XP according to Gates' numbers. Assuming Gates is using consistent measurements across time — and any failure to do so would raise questions about Microsoft's reporting tactics — first year Vista unit sales have exceeded first year XP unit sales by little more than 10%.
Republicans

Submission + - Conservative Website Blames "Liberal" Deve 2

Submitted by Kizzle
Kizzle writes: RedState.com, a conservative political website, is asking for donations because they want to upgrade their software. Why? FTA:

When we started RedState in May of 2004, we used a website program called Scoop — the same program a lot of similar sites on the left used. But, as the number of visitors to our site grew, Scoop kept crashing on us...If we'd been a liberal website, we would have been able to fix the problem quickly and relatively cheaply. The online left loves Scoop. Unfortunately, there weren't really any conservative Scoop developers out there to help us. We kept crashing and were out of money. We had to close down or take drastic action.
Censorship

Submission + - Conservapedia

Submitted by
Petra_von_Kant
Petra_von_Kant writes: "According to the Sydney Morning Herald via The Guardian News & Media, conservatives have set up a "christian and US-centric" version of Wikipedia. One of the complaints from the founders of the Conservapedia, was that "...... many Wikipedia articles often use British spelling instead of American English ....".

Bizarre ......."
Music

Submission + - Copyright Royalty Board Terminates Internet Radio

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: News of the new Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) rates retroactive to January 1st 2006 have leaked out today. The new rates amount to well over the total revenues of all internet radio stations. If the new rates are allowed to stand, every United States based webcaster will immediately owe more in back licensing fees to SoundExchange than the combined total of all revenues they have ever received. More details are on Kurt Hanson's website here: http://www.kurthanson.com/archive/news/030207/inde x.shtml
Security

Submission + - Will secure streams be the finite solution to DRM?

Submitted by Spiff76
Spiff76 writes: The Secustream Technologies company was one of the head news on Norwegian national TV yesterday (2007-03-02). They state that it will take months to crack their secure streaming technology, and cracking it will only reveals a few seconds of content from a specific stream. The key idea is to use lots of lots of smaller locks rather than using one big lock. More or less all DRM systems yet have been defeated and has been very cumbersome for the user. In this perspective this technology claim to use a brand new approach. Will they succeed? All software used in a non trusted computing setting is crackable. Why won't this be feasible with this technology? They have even hired DVD-Jon to try to find security holes in their technology. http://www.secustream.com/?page=technology

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