cribb - Slashdot User

How To Verify CD-R Data Retention Over Time? 303

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday November 06, 2008 @12:29PM from the saving-boobies-for-future-generations dept.

Peter (Professor) Fo writes "I've recently had two CD-Rs reported to me as faulty which are just 3 years old. This is worrying — I suspect the failure rate for this batch could be 10%. When researching CD longevity there is old and unreliable information; pious 'how to cosset your discs so they last 100 years' blurb; and endless discussions of what sort of dye to use, don't use cheap media, burn slower (or don't), but not much by way of hard facts besides there's a lot of data loss going on. Does anyone know of a generic utility (win or *nix would suit me) that can map sector readability/error rates of CDs? I'd like to measure decay over time in my environment with my media and my other variables; and I expect others would too."

Comment Ok, seriously... enough with the Sept. 11 crap (Score 5, Insightful) 409

by Kabuthunk on Friday August 08, 2008 @12:03AM (#24515859) Attached to: Large Hadron Collider Goes Live September 10th

Yes, I'll probably get modded troll or something for this, but it needs saying.

There's many comments in here about "oh, what about Sept. 11... couldn't they pick a better day?" and the like.

NEWS FLASH: The rest of the world does NOT come to a screeching halt every Sept. 11th. All points of business are NOT put on hold on that one day of the year. The rest of the world has moved on, if they even stopped to begin with. GET OVER IT!

LHC isn't even located in the USA for christ sakes.

Yes, the Sept. 11 events were sad, but seriously... stop criticizing all events taking place somewhere on earth on or around that date.

Submission + - Why is Firehose so hostile? 15

Submitted by

NewYorkCountryLawyer

on Friday May 23, 2008 @10:18PM

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "Can anyone explain to me why Slashdot's Firehose is made to be so unfriendly? It's a great idea, but in practice it's infuriating. If you see a submitted article, and click on one of the links, you can't go back to the story. You have to start all over again. If you set the filters to what you're interested in, you have to re-set them all over again. Even if you just RTFA you are punished by losing your settings. Why shouldn't Slashdot encourage people to participate in the Firehose. For a busy person, it's almost impossible to be involved. And this bizarre lack of 'stickiness' makes everything take 10 times as much times as it needs to."

Submission + - Who thinks Firehose software is working right? 6

Submitted by

NewYorkCountryLawyer

on Wednesday May 07, 2008 @10:42AM

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "I find the Firehose software to be infuriating. It seems to have no 'stickiness' but constantly reverts to other views and searches than what I was looking at. I'm about ready to give up on it unless they tell me they recognize it's dumb and are doing something to make it work right. Am I the only one who feels this way?"

Submission + - Facebook Widget Installs Zango Spyware (net-security.org)

Submitted by BaCa on Friday January 04, 2008 @08:32AM

BaCa writes: A malicious Facebook Widget actively spreading on the social networking site ultimately prompts users to install the infamous "Zango" adware/spyware. The tremendous success and lightning fast expansion of Facebook empowered the social networking giant with an impressive user base. Needless to say, in a digital world where web traffic equals money, such a user base attracts spammers, virus/spyware seeders, and other ethic-less online marketers like honey would attract flies.

Submission + - Atheists not allowed to adopt children (time.com) 4

Submitted by

gollum123

on Friday January 04, 2008 @01:47AM

gollum123 writes: "From Time, After six years of childless marriage, John and Cynthia Burke of Newark decided to adopt a baby boy through a state agency ( http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,877155,00.html ) . John Burke, an atheist, and his wife, a pantheist, left the line for religious affiliation blank on the forms. Superior Court Judge William Camarata raised the religious issue. Inestimable Privilege. In an extraordinary decision, Judge Camarata denied the Burkes' right to the child because of their lack of belief in a Supreme Being. Despite the Burkes' "high moral and ethical standards," he said, the New Jersey state constitution declares that "no person shall be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshiping Almighty God in a manner agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience." Despite Eleanor Katherine's tender years, he continued, "the child should have the freedom to worship as she sees fit, and not be influenced by prospective parents who do not believe in a Supreme Being." Two weeks ago, aided by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Burkes appealed directly to the New Jersey Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case. If they fail in their appeal, Eleanor Katherine may have to leave the only family she has ever known and await adoption by another couple whose religious convictions satisfy the State of New Jersey."

Submission + - Spirit Rover 4 Years Old

Submitted by Brandee07 on Friday January 04, 2008 @12:49AM

Brandee07 writes: Designed for a 90 day mission, the Spirit Mars Rover is starting its 4th year of exploration. Opportunity will turn four on Jan 25. From the article: "We never thought we'd still be driving these robots all over Mars," said Mark Lemmon, a planetary scientist at Texas A&M University and member of the rover science team. "We joked about driving Opportunity into Victoria Crater, but now we're there, and we're looking at doing even more science. Each day they still work is an amazing one."

Submission + - Ripping MP3s Illegal, Grounds for Lawsuit (washingtonpost.com) 1

Submitted by MP3 Bandito on Wednesday January 02, 2008 @10:04AM

MP3 Bandito writes: You, too, could be sued for thousands of dollars by the major record companies — even if you've never once illegally downloaded music or if you own the medium you ripped. That's because at least one lawyer for the Recording Industry Association of America, the Big Four record companies' lobbying arm and primary legal weapon, considers the copying of songs from your own CDs to your own computer, for your own personal use, to be just as illegal as posting them online for all to share, according to a federal lawsuit filed in Arizona.

Submission + - Are e-mail failure notices legally required? 5

Submitted by on Wednesday January 02, 2008 @03:50AM

An anonymous reader writes: One of our vendors claims not to have received a series of e-mails, because the address to which the messages were sent was deactivated months ago. We received no failure notice for any message; in fact, even today when choosing any random string of letters for the username, no e-mail sent to the vendor's domain produces a failure notice in response. Is the vendor legally obligated to provide notice of failure to deliver e-mail messages sent to its domain? If no such notice is provided, can we support an argument that our messages have indeed been "received" by the vendor?

Submission + - Running MS Office 2003 on Linux with Wine 0.9.52 (blogspot.com)

Submitted by

twickline

on Tuesday January 01, 2008 @11:03PM

twickline writes: "This is a Office 2003 on Linux with Wine 0.9.52, Guide with lots of nice screenshots and tips. The long standing error"Microsoft Office (Word or Excell) has not been installed for the current user. Please run setup to install the application" has now been properly fixed as of Wine 0.9.52 in addition to many other fixes and enhancements. If you currently use Office 2003 on Linux via Wine this should be considered as a major upgrade."

Submission + - Most Popular Linux Wishes for 2008 (linuxloop.com)

Submitted by

Anonymous Coward

on Tuesday January 01, 2008 @11:55AM

Anonymous Coward writes: "Linux Loop asked readers to submit their wishes for Linux in 2008. The resulting list of the most popular wishes included a more consistant look and feel, getting rid of the terminal and all editing of configuration files, and more. Even though crazy, never in a million years suggestions were invited, most people asked for very realistic changes, showing how mature Linux is."

Submission + - Domains May Disappear After Search 1

Submitted by

Ponca City, We Love You

on Thursday December 27, 2007 @07:47PM

Ponca City, We Love You writes: "A perfect domain name pops into your mind, a quick check at your registrar reveals that the domain is available, you put off the registration a few minutes and when you come back to register the domain, it's taken by someone else. How much time has elapsed between the search and the attempted registration — in one case, less than 90 seconds. Daily Domainer has an interesting story alleging that there may be a leak that allows domain tasters to intercept, analyze and register your domain ideas in minutes. "Every time you do a whois search with any service, you run a risk of losing your domain," says one industry insider. ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC ) has not been able to find hard evidence of Domain Name Front Running but they have issued an advisory (pdf) for people to come forward with hard evidence it is happening. Here is how domain name research theft crimes can occur and some tips to avoiding being a victim."

Submission + - Cosmic explosion detonates in empty space (newscientist.com)

Submitted by mlimber on Wednesday December 19, 2007 @04:13PM

mlimber writes: According to an article in NewScientist, "Astronomers are puzzling over a powerful cosmic explosion that seems to have detonated in a region of empty space, far away from any nearby galaxy." The leading theory is that the explosion was a star exploding in the gas trail that is yanked out of a galaxy when it passes or begins merging with another. Said the lead author of the study, "Even if the galaxies have stopped forming stars, in the tidal tails you can trigger new episodes of star formation [not to mention detonation]," and indeed the authors have identified two candidate galaxies that give weight to their theory.

Submission + - ATM fraud aka skimming on the rise (heise-security.co.uk)

Submitted by

juct

on Monday December 17, 2007 @06:23AM

juct writes: "While everybody is talking about phishing and online fraud, the rate of ATM fraud raises silently. With nearly undetectable skimming devives, additional touchpads and cameras, fraudsters copy your card data, catch your PIN and loot your account. Look at the pictures, to see, if you spotted them."

Submission + - Google reinvents Wikipedia (blogspot.com) 1

Submitted by teslatug on Friday December 14, 2007 @12:30AM

teslatug writes: Google appears to be reinventing Wikipedia with their new product that they call knol (not yet publicly available). In an attempt to gather human knowledge, Google will accept articles from users who will be credited with the article by name. If they want, they can allow ads to appear alongside the content and they will be getting a share of the profits if that's the case. Other users will be allowed to rate, edit or comment on the articles. The content does not have to be exclusive to Google but no mention is made on any license for it. Is this a better model for free information gathering?

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