Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Earth

Submission + - Round robin not power efficient

Submitted by Via_Patrino
Via_Patrino writes: While having to distribute load between several servers, round robin, or any other technique which balances load equally, is usually the most common approach because of its simplicity. But a recent study shows that trying to accumulate load on some servers can improve energy efficiency because the other servers will be mostly unused during off-peak periods and then able to make better use of power saving methods. Specially where load involves lots of concurrent power-consuming TCP connections which was the study case when a new load balancing algorithm resulted in an overall 30% power savings.
Google

Submission + - Google's shareholders vote against human rights (computerworld.com.au)

Submitted by yo_cruyff
yo_cruyff writes: Google's shareholders on advice from their board have voted down two proposals on Thursday that would have compelled the search giant to change its human rights policies, with the issue dominating the company's annual shareholder meeting. Several US-based technology companies have been criticized for their activities in China, with Google coming under fire for operating a version of its search engine that complies with China's censorship rules. Google argues that it's better for it to have a presence in the country and to offer people some information, rather than for it to not be active in China at all. However, shareholders and rights groups including Amnesty International and the office of the Comptroller of New York City continue to push Google to improve its policies in countries known for human rights abuses and limits on freedom of speech, and offered several methods for the entity that is Google to consider in order to make those improvements. Sergey Brin, cofounder and president of technology for Google, abstained from voting on either of the proposals. "I agreed with the spirit of these proposals," Brin said. But he said he didn't fully support them as they were written, and so did not want to vote for them.
Windows

Submission + - Stealthy Windows update raises serious concerns

Submitted by UniversalVM
UniversalVM writes: What is the single biggest issue that bothers open source advocates about proprietary software? It is probably the ability of the vendor to pull stunts like this. Windows has stealthily updated components of the operating system using its update service. The update will not be flagged even if you have set up your update to notify you and only execute if permitted.
The weak explanation seems to be a great exercise in circular logic "Had we failed to update the service automatically, users would not have been able to successfully check for updates and, in turn, users would not have had updates installed automatically or received expected notifications." News.com is reporting that all of the updated files on both XP and Vista appears to be in windows update itself. This is information that was independently uncovered by users and still not released by Microsoft.
More interestingly could this be construed as a hacking of Windows users' systems? Does the EULA specify that Microsoft has the right to silently break into my machine, change components of the operating system and ignore any settings that explicitly prohibit this sort of behavior? Seems like a good argument could be made for Microsoft breaking into a system without the users' permission.
Space

Submission + - Impassable Northwesth Passage is open (esa.int)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The area covered by sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk to its lowest level this week, opening up the Northwest Passage — a long-sought short cut between Europe and Asia that has been historically impassable. Leif Toudal Pedersen from the Danish National Space Centre said: "We have seen the ice-covered area drop to just around 3 million sq km which is about 1 million sq km less than the previous minima of 2005 and 2006. There has been a reduction of the ice cover over the last 10 years of about 100 000 sq km per year on average, so a drop of 1 million sq km in just one year is extreme.
Businesses

Submission + - CMMI for Dummies (blazingangles.net)

Submitted by
ocwo92
ocwo92 writes: "When I first started to work on CMMI, all I had was the mandatory introduction course. This article summarizes the things I'd have liked to know from the beginning. If you're new to CMMI, this is definitely a place to start."
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Magnetic fields related to Alzheimer's disease

Submitted by Via_Patrino
Via_Patrino writes: A study on California pacients show people exposed to magnetic fields (MF) are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease (AD). 'Elevated occupational MF exposure was associated with an increased risk of AD'. The study focused on low frequency magnetic fields, like the ones of transmission lines, CRT monitors and TV tubes, but high frequency fields of cell phones and wireless devices have a similar nature and could have the same effects.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Cuts Vista Price to $66 in China (itworld.com)

Submitted by
narramissic
narramissic writes: "Microsoft this week cut the retail price of Windows Vista Home Basic in China by 67% — from 1,521 renminbi to 499 renminbi ($65.80). This is a steep discount compared to what users in the U.S. and elsewhere are charged for the software. The reason for the price reduction? Battling piracy, of course. The new pricing 'narrows the price gap between original versions of Microsoft's software and pirated copies,' making it that much easier for consumers to do the right thing."
Sony

Submission + - Sony BMG claims copyright on fair-use media (youtube.com)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Thy searching Youtube for scenes from the recent concert in Orlando where Beyonce fell on her face off the stairs in front of the entire audience, some of whom had cameras and recorded it... it seems that Beyonce + Sony BMG have gone on a copyright spree takedown claim on what clearly are fair-use clips. They even took down a 13-second clip that was posted an year ago, which contained a similar fall of Beyonce: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL34UDPmeDU

Yet they clearly left untouched and online other full-length videoclips of Beyonce.

Also, try searching for "beyonce fall" or "beyonce falls" (WITH the quotes), Youtube returns slightly different results for each search.

55 second clip of the fall, still online, not sure for how long though. The close encounter with the floor is right at the start, lol:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh0xrf4RU1Q

Here are a few other Beyonce fall scenes taken down by Sony BMG with false copyright claims on what is clearly fair use: (links taken from the youtube search results, might not be worth mentioning if the story is published, as they are dead/killed by youtube at the moment)

39 seconds-clip of fall taken down:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT8zGLAXrhA

13 seconds-clip of fall taken down (different from the year old one mentioned above)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iMXR44yDK0

51 seconds clip of the fall, taken down by Sony:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeYnQHx7RXQ

1 min 12 sec clip of the fall, taken down:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYHswb_fRcQ

2 minute-clip of fall taken down:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKJpbmnefVs

2 min 13 sec clip of the fall, taken down by sony:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfDGQzUn15E

2 min 5 sec clip of the fall, taken down:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=himR-qo2voA
Space

Submission + - Houston, We Have a Drinking Problem (hughpickens.com)

Submitted by
Pcol
Pcol writes: "Aviation Week reports that astronauts were allowed to fly on at least two occasions after flight surgeons and other astronauts warned they were so intoxicated that they posed a flight-safety risk. A review panel, convened in the wake of the Lisa Nowak arrest to review astronaut medical and psychological screening, also reported "heavy use of alcohol" by astronauts before launch, within the standard 12-hour "bottle to throttle" rule applied to NASA flight crew members. Dr. Jonathan Clark, a former NASA flight surgeon, says it's a tradition for crew members to gather for a barbecue on the eve of a shuttle launch, and these gatherings sometimes include alcohol and a toast but that the greater problem is that preparation before a flight can leave astronauts sleep-deprived and overworked. Meanwhile at Frenchie's Italian Restaurant, a popular astronaut hangout in Houston, owner Frankie Camera disputed the reports. "The Mercury astronauts may have been a little more wild (than later ones) but I did banquets for them and never really saw any of them drink so much they were out of control or drunk.""

Slashdot Top Deals

"I've seen it. It's rubbish." -- Marvin the Paranoid Android

Close