Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
The Internet

Submission + - Internet Agency Turns Down '.xxx' Domain

Submitted by OneThought
OneThought writes: The Internet's key oversight agency voted Friday not to give adult Web sites their own ".xxx" domain, the third time it has rejected the idea. Many in the adult-entertainment industry and religious groups alike had criticized the plan. The Canadian government also warned this week that it could put the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers in the tricky business of content regulation, having to decide which sites are pornographic and which are not.
Announcements

Submission + - Chinese Cell Phone Makers Make U.S. Push

Submitted by HSraindown
HSraindown writes: Two Chinese cell phone makers are looking to crack the U.S. market both stressing fashion to make their statement but pursuing divergent strategies to make their mark. Alcatel Mobile Phone and Haier Group, well-established wireless brands abroad, showed off their wares here for the first time at this week's cellular industry gathering, CTIA Wireless 2007.
United States

Submission + - Land rush for H-1B visas expected Monday

Submitted by jcatcw
jcatcw writes: The U.S. government will begin accepting H-1B visa applications Monday and probably end doing so on Tuesday. Immigration attorneys believe that the federally mandated cap of 65,000 H-1B visas could be reached in a day or two. An additional 20,000 visas are available for advanced-degree graduates of U.S. universities, and that quota will take longer to fill. There is currently a push in Congress to raise the cap to 180,000. That measure would remove all limits for those with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering or math from U.S. universities.
Portables

OLPC Manufacturer to Sell $200 Laptop On Open Market 214

Posted by Zonk from the now-we're-getting-somewhere dept.
srinravi writes "ArsTechnica reports that Quanta, the company manufacturing the XO laptops, has plans to begin selling low-cost budget mobile computers for $200 later this year. 'According to Quanta president Michael Wang, the company plans to leverage the underlying technologies associated with OLPC's XO laptop to produce laptop computers that are significantly less expensive than conventional laptops.' While OLPC plans to sell the laptops in bulk to governments, which will then distribute the hardware to school children, the XO computer itself is not for sale on the open market. These XO-like commercial devices are still something of an unknown, but it has been announced they'll be using Open Source software."
Microsoft

Windows Vulnerability in Animated Cursor Handling 338

Posted by Zonk from the mind-those-hilarious-icons dept.
MoreDruid writes "Secunia reports a vulnerability in Windows Animated Cursor Handling. According to the linked article, the rating is "extremely critical". Microsoft has put up their own advisory on the subject, confirming this is a vulnerability that affects Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista. The exploit has already been used in the wild. From the Secunia page: The vulnerability is caused due to an unspecified error in the handling of animated cursors and can e.g. be exploited by tricking a user into visiting a malicious website using Internet Explorer or opening a malicious e-mail message. Successful exploitation allows execution of arbitrary code."
The Internet

ICANN Rejects .XXX Top Level Domain, Again 134

Posted by Zonk from the third-time-is-the-charm dept.
eldavojohn writes "After yet another contentious vote on the .xxx concept, ICANN has finally rejected the pornography TLD. The debate has gone on for quite some time, and the 9-5 decision was the third time a decision was reached on the subject. This is the second time the body has ruled against the idea, and is likely the last time we'll see it come up for vote any time soon. One member abstained from voting. From the article: 'Many of the board members said they were concerned about the possibility that ICANN could find itself in the content regulation business if the domain name was approved. Others criticized that, saying ICANN should not block new domains over fears like that, noting that local, state and national laws could be used to decide what is pornographic and what is not. Other board members said they believed that opposition to the domain by the adult industry, including Web masters, content providers and others, was proof that the issue was divisive and that .xxx was not a welcome domain.'"
Linux Business

Submission + - Dell gives the go-ahead for Linux

Submitted by
LingNoi
LingNoi writes: "A report by the BBC states that Computer giant Dell will begin to sell PCs preinstalled with open source Linux operating systems".

Dell has not yet decided which GNU/Linux distribution to go with citing that "Driver Support is Key" on their Ideastorm update page and Direct2Dell blog..

Many of you posted comments to our Direct2Dell blog, indicating that you were less concerned about a specific distribution than you are about support at the kernel level and open driver support.
"
Security

Submission + - Peak oil is a looming threat to security - GAO

Submitted by
Engineer-Poet
Engineer-Poet writes: "Prompted by pressure from the Hon. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) and Tom Udall (D-NM), today the GAO released a ground-breaking report on peak oil. While it is arguably weakened by references to Richard Duncan's "Olduvai Gorge" theory and other fringe concepts, it deflates a number of widely-held misconceptions about ethanol, fuel cells, and a host of other things. Among the salient points:
  • US oil production peaked decades ago. Technology may slow the decline, but it is going nowhere but down.
  • Most of the major oil-producing nations in the world have either peaked, or appear to be peaking. (The list of "has-peakeds" includes Mexico, whose mammoth Cantarell field's production is dropping on the order of 20% per year.)
  • Most of the remaining oil in the world lies in politically unstable nations (think Venezuela and Iraq).
This is very much worth reading, not only for the graphs but also for the mind-opening discussions such as the difference between conventional oil, non-conventional oil and non-oil (page 7)."
Software

Submission + - OpenOffice 2.2 Released

Submitted by
xsspd2004
xsspd2004 writes: "http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS3561829136.html

The OpenOffice.org Community on March 29 announced the release of a major upgrade to OpenOffice: version 2.2. The group claims that with upgrades to its word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, and database software, the free office suite provides a real alternative to Microsoft's recently-released Office 2007 product."
Wireless Networking

Using the Terahertz Spectrum for Wireless Communication 134

Posted by CowboyNeal from the kicking-it-up-a-notch dept.
holy_calamity writes "A first step to allowing wireless data transfer over a currently unused part of the electromagnetic spectrum is reported in New Scientist. Terahertz radiation exists between radio and infrared. A new filter created at the University of Utah can filter out particular frequencies, a prerequisite for using it for data. The abstract of the paper in the journal Nature is freely available."

Slashdot Top Deals

Living on Earth may be expensive, but it includes an annual free trip around the Sun.

Close