sd1248 - Slashdot User

Comment Re:What about *BSD? (Score 1) 178

by sd1248 on Sunday February 10, 2013 @08:36PM (#42854391) Attached to: Linux Foundation's Secure Boot Pre-Bootloader Released

It won't boot until you press a key to continue. Many Linux machines don't have any facility for that, either because they are a tablet with no physical keyboard or because they are a headless server with no-one around to operate them locally.

I can see there will be a market for a USB device that emulates a keyboard and sends a keypress at a predetermined delay after power on. It shouldn't cost much to make and can be easily installed in servers that are required to reboot after a power outage.

Comment Re:Goof. (Score 1) 385

by sd1248 on Tuesday January 08, 2013 @06:23PM (#42524939) Attached to: Adobe's Strange Software Giveaway: Goof, Or Clever Marketing?

So why didn't they put this statement on the download page? They seem to be creating enough uncertainty to ensure businesses don't use the "free" version while leaving the door open to home users to obtain the software for free.

Submission + - Julian Assange arrested in London (sky.com)

Submitted by The Dodger on Tuesday December 07, 2010 @06:25AM

The Dodger writes: The UK's Sky News is reporting that Julian Assange has been arrested and is expected to appear before the City of Westminster magistrates court within the next few hours.

Nuclear Energy Now More Expensive Than Solar 635

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday July 29, 2010 @05:25AM from the sunlight-is-free dept.

js_sebastian writes "According to an article on the New York Times, a historical cross-over has occurred because of the declining costs of solar vs. the increasing costs of nuclear energy: solar, hardly the cheapest of renewable technologies, is now cheaper than nuclear, at around 16 cents per kilowatt hour. Furthermore, the NY Times reports that financial markets will not finance the construction of nuclear power plants unless the risk of default (which is historically as high as 50 percent for the nuclear industry) is externalized to someone else through federal loan guarantees or ratepayer funding. The bottom line seems to be that nuclear is simply not competitive, and the push from the US government to subsidize it seems to be forcing the wrong choice on the market."

Iron Alloy Could Create Earthquake-Proof Buildings 107

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday March 25, 2010 @01:37AM from the shake-all-you-want dept.

separsons writes "Researchers at Japan's Tohoku University designed a new shape memory metal alloy. The super elastic iron alloy can endure serious stretching and still return to its original shape. The scientists say that once optimized, the material could be used in everything from braces to medical stents to earthquake-proof buildings!"

High Fructose Corn Syrup Causes Bigger Weight Gain In Rats 542

Posted by timothy on Wednesday March 24, 2010 @05:30PM from the subsidies-cause-fatter-corn-farmers dept.

krou writes "In an experiment conducted by a Princeton University team, 'Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.' Long-term consumption also 'led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides.' Psychology professor Bart Hoebel commented that 'When rats are drinking high-fructose corn syrup at levels well below those in soda pop, they're becoming obese — every single one, across the board. Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don't see this; they don't all gain extra weight.'"

Aussie Attorney General Says Gamers Are Scarier Than Biker Gangs 409

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday February 16, 2010 @02:31PM from the well-perhaps-in-some-senses dept.

Sasayaki writes "South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson claims, in an interview with Good Game, that gamers were more of a threat to his family than biker gangs. This is the man who has been the biggest opponent to Australia receiving an R18+ rating for video games and who has the power to veto any such law introducing it."

Dinosaur Feather Color Discovered 219

Posted by timothy on Wednesday January 27, 2010 @05:28PM from the horsefeathers-still-a-mystery dept.

anzha writes "Do you remember being a kid and told we'd never know what colors the dinosaurs were? For at least some, that's no longer true. Scientists working in the UK and China have closely examined the fossils of multiple theropods and actually found the colors and patterns that were present in the fossilized proto-feathers. So far, the answer is orange, black and white in banded and other patterns. The work also thoroughly thrashes the idea that fossils might not be feathers, but collagen fibers instead. If this holds up, Birds Are Dinosaurs. Period. And colorful!"

Police Called Over 11-Year-Old's Science Project 687

Posted by samzenpus on Saturday January 16, 2010 @05:37PM from the duck-and-cover dept.

garg0yle writes "Police in San Diego were called to investigate an 11-year-old's science project, consisting of 'a motion detector made out of an empty Gatorade bottle and some electronics,' after the vice-principal came to the conclusion that it was a bomb. Charges aren't being laid against the youth, but it's being recommended that he and his family 'get counseling.' Apparently, the student violated school policies — I'm assuming these are policies against having any kind of independent thought?"

Net Users In Belarus May Soon Have To Register 89

Posted by timothy on Monday January 04, 2010 @03:59AM from the not-just-register-their-displeasure dept.

Cwix writes "A new law proposed in Belarus would require all net users and online publications to register with the state: 'Belarus' authoritarian leader is promising to toughen regulation of the Internet and its users in an apparent effort to exert control over the last fully free medium in the former Soviet state. He told journalists that a new Internet bill, proposed Tuesday, would require the registration and identification of all online publications and of each Web user, including visitors to Internet cafes. Web service providers would have to report this information to police, courts, and special services.'"

Dad Delivers Baby Using Wiki 249

Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday December 15, 2009 @05:29PM from the 9cm-edited dept.

sonamchauhan writes "A Londoner helped his wife deliver their baby by Googling 'how to deliver a baby' on his mobile phone. From the article: 'Today proud Mr Smith said: "The midwife had checked Emma earlier in the day but contractions started up again at about 8pm so we called the midwife to come back. But then everything happened so quickly I realized Emma was going to give birth. I wasn't sure what I was going to do so I just looked up the instructions on the internet using my BlackBerry."'"

Mozilla Thunderbird 3 Released 272

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 08, 2009 @06:48PM from the hot-bits dept.

supersloshy writes Today Mozilla released Thunderbird 3. Many new features are available, including Tabs and enhanced search features, a message archive for emails you don't want to delete but still want to keep, Firefox 3's improved Add-ons Manager, Personas support, and many other improvements. Download here."

Submission + - Australia's CSIRO could earn wi-fi billions (abc.net.au)

Submitted by Jacques Chester on Thursday April 02, 2009 @08:57AM

Jacques Chester writes: The Australian government's research body, the CSIRO, has won a settlement with HP over wifi-related patents it lodged in 1996. The settlement is part of the CSIRO's lawsuit against a group of companies it claims are infringing: Intel, Dell, Toshiba, Asus, Netgear, D-Link, Belkin, SMC, Accton, 3-Com, Buffalo, Microsoft and Nintendo. This could mean that billions of dollars in royalties will soon be getting paid to one of the world's best scientific research organisations, potentially funding more research in astronomy, biology, physics, medicine and many other basic science and development projects. For once it looks like the 'little guy' is getting what's due. Let's just hope that the Australian government doesn't pinch the royalties come budget time.

Submission + - CSIRO Wins Landmark Wi-Fi Settlement

Submitted by suolumark on Thursday April 02, 2009 @07:24AM

suolumark writes: The CSIRO has won what could be a landmark settlement from Hewlett Packard over the use of patented wireless technology. The settlement ended HP's involvement in a four-year lawsuit brought by the CSIRO on a group of technology companies, in which the organisation was seeking royalties for wi-fi technology that is used extensively on laptops and computers worldwide.

CSIRO spokesman Luw Morgan earlier said legal action was continuing against 13 companies: Intel, Dell, Toshiba, Asus, Netgear, D-Link, Belkin, SMC, Accton, 3-Com, Buffalo, Microsoft and Nintendo.

Submission + - FreeMind refactored (sourceforge.net)

Submitted by SF:ryan_wesley on Wednesday January 14, 2009 @05:09AM

SF:ryan_wesley writes: The initial refactoring of the FreeMind code is complete. A diagram of the new high level design can be seen here: http://freeplane.wiki.sourceforge.net/work+packages With a quality report here: http://freeplane.sourceforge.net/stan/freeplane/ The latest code can be downloaded from SVN: https://freeplane.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/freeplane/ Suggestions, ideas and comments are welcome.

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