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Comment Re:Even worse... (Score 1) 420

You either didn't follow the link in the blurb, or you're referring to some of the existing systems - in which case I agree w/ you. The way they did it was a setup step, where you selected 8 likes and 8 dislikes. Then when you need to authenticate, it shuffles those 16 items, and you select whether you like or dislike each item - no spelling required.

Comment Re:Meh (Score 1) 466

Tough luck? Hardly. I bought $600 of parts on newegg, put everything together, and now I have an upgradable machine without a built in monitor that rivals a $2200 iMac, and I am running OS X. I have no complaints.
Security

Submission + - Backdoors, Anyone?

Anonymous Westley writes: Watched WarGames for the nth time recently, and got to the scene where Jim and Malvin (the "hackers") tell David (Broderick) about backdoors. Which got me thinking: Do people still do this? What about OSS? Is there anyone who has written a backdoor recently, in an OSS or other project? Have you ever found one (in code or on a live application) left by someone else?
Operating Systems

Submission + - Linux vs. Windows System Calls Graphed

cgrayson writes: "On Richard Stiennon's blog on ZDNet, a post titled Why Windows is less secure than Linux shows an interesting graphical comparison between system calls on Linux and Windows.

In its long evolution, Windows has grown so complicated that it is harder to secure. Well these images make the point very well. Both images are a complete map of the system calls that occur when a web server serves up a single page of html with a single picture.
"
Music

Submission + - Ogg Vorbis gaining industry support

An anonymous reader writes: While Ogg Vorbis format has not seen much popularity in music sales and portable players, it is not an unsupported format in the industry. Toy manufacturers (e.g. speaking dolls), voice warning systems and reactive audio devices exploit Ogg Vorbis for its good quality at small bitrates. As a sign of this, VLSI Solution Oy has just announced VS1000, the first 16 bits DSP device for playing Ogg Vorbis on low power and high volume products. Earlier Ogg Vorbis chips use 32 bits for decoding which consumes more energy than a 16 bit device does. This enables high volume manufacturing of small Ogg Vorbis devices. A list of Ogg Vorbis chips can be found from the Xiph wiki page.
Biotech

Journal Journal: Cancer Cured? 2

Here's the deal. Researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada found a cheap and easy to produce drug that kills almost all cancers. The drug is dichloroacetate, and since it is already used to treat metabolic disorders, we know it should be no problem to use it for other purposes.
Handhelds

Submission + - Nokia developing diamond-like gadget casing

space_pingu writes: In the future, all gadgets could be coated with tough, diamond-like material. A patent from Nokia — featured in the latest patent round-up from New Scientist — describes a way of infusing plastic cases with a material, structurally similar to diamond, made from coal. Not only is it more scratch and grime-resistant, but it's also cheap and biodegradable. Apparently it also shines like a metal. Nice.
It's funny.  Laugh.

Submission + - Nigerian Kitten Spam

Chris Dolley writes: "I thought you might like this. It's the kitten version of the Nigerian spam letter.

"I am Fluffy, the favourite kitten of the late president of Nigeria. As you know my late master was very very rich man and he left me all his tuna..."

The rest is here: http://chrisdolley.livejournal.com/65951.html

Chris

Resonance (Baen, 2005)
Shift (Baen, 2007)"
Supercomputing

Submission + - The most intense source of light on Earth

coldcell writes: In the Oxfordshire countryside, a giant Synchrotron called 'The Diamond' is about to become the most intense source of light on Earth.

From the article: "It looks like a million dollars, though it is worth a lot more. It dazzles, shining more brightly than anything else on the planet. And it is surrounded by the ultimate in boffin bling... The facility has become a world leader, helping to study the resistance-defying properties of superconductors, revealing how catalysts become "poisoned" so they stop making chemicals, providing clues on how to tackle pollution, unveiling some of the metalworking secrets of the ancients, unravelling the stretchy properties of polymers and shedding light on how viruses defend themselves against dehydration."
Toys

Submission + - Agere Systems' BluOnyx rocks open-source insides

An anonymous reader writes: The Agere Systems BluOnyx Personal Server was announced a month ago but ThoughtFix, an Internet Tablet blogger, had an interview with Agere at CES in which drills he the engineers over the use scenarios and hackability of the device. Apparently the whole pocket sized device is open-source (Linux and VxWorks) and can serve media to multiple clients over multiple platforms at once over Bluetooth, WiFi, USB, and SDIO. We'll have to keep an eye on this.
Businesses

Submission + - RFP Site for the Tech Industry

AdkTrek writes: I've recently started my own software company. 99% of my work comes through word of mouth but I was thinking of ways to bring in even more work and take it to the next level.So I figured I would try to find some sites that let companies post RFPs and maybe respond to a couple. The thing is I couldn't find many and the ones I did find were not tech related. Does anyone out there know of good RFP posting websites related to the tech industry? The only thing I found remotely close was Elance.com but that seems more offshore focused and not as legit as I would like.
Books

Submission + - Author of Illuminatus! has died.

OmnipotentEntity writes: "Robert Anton Wilson, or RAW as he was known, a coauthor of the Illuminatus! trilogy (which was the basis of quite a bit of hacker humor) has passed beyond this mortal plane. Some last words posted onto his blog are "Please pardon my levity, I don't see how to take death seriously. It seems absurd." Have fun on your fnord, and dream of Eris good buddy. You'll be missed."

Feed Futuristic Fridge Mimics Tree (wired.com)

The Tree House Fridge looks like a Wile E. Coyote prop -- a multi-chambered whatnot box rather than a big, cold rectangle. Separate branches hold meat, cheese, produce and other stuff -- cool! In Gadget Lab.


Television

Submission + - USB HDTV Tuner Stick for Windows & Linux

Mike writes: "A fairly comprehensive review of the Hauppage WinTV-HVT-950 USB HDTV tuner. Included in the review are specific instructions to install the unit in Linux, with Ubuntu's Edgy Eft. This portable device allows you to watch FREE over the air HDTV broadcasts on your desktop or laptop"
Microsoft

Submission + - Vista Beta Users Get First Taste of DRM

darkonc writes: "Some people testing Microsoft's Windows Vista got an unexpected holiday surprise: their TVs stopped working.... Microsoft blames this on the fact that they only licensed the MPEG2 CODED for RC1 until the end of 2006 (Beta users were told that the software was good until April), but even people with third party decoders can't access their content (both live and stored). This is how "Trusted Computing" is supposed to work. If somebody in Redmond (or elsewhere) decides that you can't use certain content, nothing that you try to do should allow you access — Owning the content, or obtaining the rights by some other path, is no defense.

5 million people downloaded RC1, and some have access to Vista Final or RC2 (100K copies downloaded). The rest will have to wait until the end of January to access their suddenly banned content."

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