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Comment Re:Which one is the detector? (Score 1) 410

by delirium28 (#31485754) Attached to: How To Guarantee Malware Detection

For that matter, it isn't possible for you or I to know if we are real biological beings or if we're some simulation in some gigantic computer somewhere. Indeed, even our perception of the nature of space and time could be nothing more than the result of a bunch of 14-dimensional beings saying "gee, what would life be like if there were only three dimensions of space - what if we go ahead and create a 3D world and stick a bunch of AIs in it?"

Seems like you've been reading Descartes or watching eXistenZ or The Thirteenth Floor.

Comment Useless if you're no in the US (Score 1) 542

by delirium28 (#29813995) Attached to: The Kindle Killer Arrives

Up here in the great white north we are still left out in the cold wrt eBook readers. Even the Kindle isn't shipping here yet (assuming I would want one, which I don't because of their damn kill switch). So I have an impromptu "Ask Slashdot" question. Does anyone know of a decent eBook reader that isn't DRM crippled that can display PDFs? And I'm looking for real owners, not responses from people who have read a spec on a website somewhere.
Privacy

Submission + - Canada Privacy Commish Rules Facebook Violates Law

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Privacy Commissioner of Canada has ruled that Facebook is violating Canadian law. A summary of the decision notes that key areas of violation include third-party applications, account deactivation, and the use of the personal information of non-users. The Privacy Commissioner may go to Canadian court to enforce the finding if Facebook refuses to implement suggested changes.
Social Networks

Submission + - Facebook in violation of Canadian Privacy Law (canada.com)

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Canada's privacy watchdog says Internet phenomenon Facebook breaches the law by keeping users' personal information indefinitely — even after members close their accounts. Jennifer Stoddart says the popular social networking site should hang on to the data only for as long as truly necessary. In a report today, Stoddart urges Facebook to remedy the problem, one of several serious privacy gaps she discovered."
Privacy

Spyware In BlackBerry Updates For Users in the UAE 116

Posted by timothy from the this-could-happen-in-$yourcountry-too dept.
mulaz writes with this excerpt from The Register: "An update pushed out to BlackBerry users on the Etisalat network in the United Arab Emirates appears to contain remotely-triggered spyware that allows the interception of messages and emails, as well as crippling battery life. Sent out as a WAP Push message, the update installs a Java file that one curious customer decided to take a closer look at, only to discover an application intended to intercept both email and text messages, sending a copy to an Etisalat server without the user being aware of anything beyond a slightly excessive battery drain."
Medicine

Beware the Perils of Caffeine Withdrawal 700

Posted by timothy from the to-make-a-grown-man-cry dept.
palegray.net writes "CNN is running an article on the notorious effects of caffeine withdrawal, a problem that seems to be affecting an increasing number of people. Citing numerous reasons why people might need to cut back on their caffeine intake (pregnancy, pre-surgery requirements, etc), the story notes a significant number of people who are simply unable to quit. I drink around eight cups of coffee a day, along with a soda or two, and I definitely suffer from nasty withdrawal symptoms without my fix."
Television

Comcast Apologizes For Super Bowl Porn Glitch 526

Posted by kdawson from the pay-per-view-malfunction dept.
DrinkDr.Pepper writes "Just after the last touchdown by the Cardinals, with 3 minutes to go in the game, approximately 30 seconds of pornographic material was shown, seen by an unknown number of Comcast customers in Tucson, Arizona who were watching the game in standard definition. Comcast has apologized (they used the word 'mortified') and is issuing a $10 credit to any customer who claims to have been impacted. Various news accounts suggest that the incident was a malicious act, but no one knows how it was done or by whom."
Security

Reliable, Free Anti-Virus Software? 586

Posted by timothy from the when's-it-positively-gotta-be-windows dept.
oahazmatt writes "Some time ago my wife was having severe issues on her laptop. (A Dell Inspiron, if that helps.) I eventually found the cause to be McAfee, which took about an hour to remove fully. I installed AVG on her system to replace McAfee, but we have since found that AVG is causing problems with her laptop's connection to our wireless network. She's not thrilled about a wired connection as the router is on the other end of the house. We're looking for some good, open-source or free personal editions of anti-virus software. So, who on Slashdot trusts what?" When school required a Windows laptop, I used Clam AV, and the machine seemed to do as well as most classmates'. What have you found that works?
Hardware

The Joy of the Flash Drive 332

Posted by Zonk from the little-quiet-different dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A post to the C|Net site covers the numerous benefits of flash drives, such as speed, temperature, and battery consumption. The perk author Michael Kanellos is most fond of? The distinct lack of noise. 'The notebook I'm testing--a Dell Latitude D830 with a 64GB flash hard drive from Samsung--hasn't emitted a sound in three days. Flash drives, which store data in NAND flash memory, don't require motors or spinning platters. Thus, there are no whirring mechanical noises. Compare that with my T42 ThinkPad. It sounds like a guinea pig got trapped inside, particularly during the start-up phase. Vzoooot. Cronk, cronk, cronk. Zip, zip. (Pause.) Gurlagurlagurla...zweeee. '"
Power

Yet Another Perpetual Motion Device 563

Posted by CmdrTaco from the fun-never-ends dept.
The Star reports on this inventor breaking all the laws of physics as far as free energy goes. It even provoked interest from "esteemed Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Markus Zahn". I would like to know how this seemingly backyard enthusiast's experimental set up has not been tried a million times over the years. It seems so simple and too good to be true. The article has links to a multi-part video demo of the device accelerating an electric motor under load for free!
Patents

Ford Claims Ownership Of Your Pictures 739

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the like-a-child-shouting-MINE dept.
Mike Rogers writes "In a move that can only be described as 'Copyright Insanity', Ford Motor Company now claims that they hold the rights to any image of a Ford vehicle, even if it's a picture you took of your own car. The Black Mustang Club wanted to put together a calendar featuring member's cars and print it through CafePress, but an attorney from Ford nixed the project, stating that the calendar pics and 'anything with one of (member's) cars in it infringes on Ford's trademarks which include the use of images of their vehicles.' Does Ford have the right to prevent you from printing images of a car you own?"

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