Comment Re:wrong picture? (Score 1) 248
Yes, because a picture of a Christmas tree is such a commonly used category photo on slashdot....
Sending Secret Messages Via Google's SearchWiki 160
We discussed the advent of Google's SearchWiki when it was introduced a few days back. Now Lauren Weinstein offers a thought experiment in transmitting coded messages using SearchWiki, with a working example encoded into the results of this Google search.
Comment Why Pasadena? (Score 1) 65
BSG is filmed here in Vancouver, why Pasadena???
Have the auction here, in the city that proudly loves and supports the series (and so many other series beloved by slashdot readers...).
Think of the environmental footprint and cost of shipping everything to California first. Just to have to ship that Viper back when I put in the winning bid.
Boston University Working On LED Wireless Networks 179
Madas writes "This article on Absolute Gadget details how researchers at Boston University's College of Engineering are working on devloping wireless networks that use LED lights instead of normal radio waves. This research apparently has other uses in the automobile industry. Apparently the LEDs could warn you if the driver in front has put the brakes on so could avoid hitting the car in front. Personally, I'd use the vision balls that are in my thought box."
Submission + - China Builds a Zero Carbon Green City (blogspot.com)
gormanw writes: "Just outside Shanghai, there is an island about the size of Manhattan. China is going to build its first ever "green city," complete with no gasoline/diesel powered vehicles, 100% renewable energy, green roofs, and recycling everything.
The city is called Dongtan and it should house about 5,000 people by the end of 2010, with estimates of 500,000 by 2050. The goal is to build a livable city that is energy efficient, non-polluting, and protects the wildlife in the area."
Vatican Says Alien Life Plausible 775
An anonymous reader writes "According to BBC, the director of the Vatican Observatory stated in an article titled 'Aliens Are My Brother' that intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space. 'The search for forms of extraterrestrial life does not contradict belief in God. — Just as there are multiple forms of life on earth, so there could exist intelligent beings in outer space created by God.' Mind that this is not the same director who said that evolution is more than a mere theory — that was Father Coyne. I myself agree. There might be intelligent beings created by God in outer space even if there are none here on earth."
AT&T Denies Resetting P2P Connections 112
betaville points out comments AT&T filed with the FCC in which they denied throttling traffic by resetting P2P file-sharing connections. Earlier this week, a study published by the Vuze team found AT&T to have the 25th highest (13th highest if extra Comcast networks are excluded) median reset rate among the sampled networks. In the past, AT&T has defended Comcast's throttling practices, and said it wants to monitor its network traffic for IP violations.
"AT&T vice president of Internet and network systems research Charles Kalmanek, in a letter addressed to Vuze CEO Gilles BianRosa, said that peer-to-peer resets can arise from numerous local network events, including outages, attacks, reconfigurations or overall trends in Internet usage. 'AT&T does not use "false reset messages" to manage its network,' Kalmanek said in the letter. Kalmanek noted that Vuze's analysis said the test 'cannot conclude definitively that any particular network operator is engaging in artificial or false [reset] packet behavior.'"
Taliban Demands Downtime on Afghanistan Cellphone Networks 659
faster_manic writes "The Taliban has demanded that cellphone network providers in Afghanistan cease service between the hours of 5pm and 7am each night of the week, as they believe American troops are able to track down Taliban members using their cellphones."
Hi, I Want To Meet (17.6% of) You! 372
Frequent Slashdot contributor Bennett Haselton wants to make online dating better. Here's how he wants to do it.
"Suppose you're an entrepreneur who wants to break into the online personals
business, but you face impossible odds because everybody wants to go where
everybody else already is (basically, either Match.com or Yahoo Personals).
Here is a suggestion that would give you an edge. In a nutshell:
Each member lists the criteria for people that they are looking for. Then
when people contact them, they choose whether or not to respond. After the
system
has been keeping track of who contacts you and who you respond to, the site
lists your profile
in other people's search results along with your criteria-specific response
rate: "Lisa has responded to 56% of people who contacted her who meet her
criteria." Read on for the rest of his thoughts.
