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

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Medicine

Pope To Resign Citing Advanced Age 542

Posted by samzenpus from the time-for-golf dept.
Hugh Pickens writes writes "BBC reports that Pope Benedict XVI is to resign at the end of this month in an unexpected development, saying he is too old to continue at the age of 85. In a statement, the pontiff said: 'After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.' Resignations from the papacy are not unknown, but this is the first in the modern era, which has been marked by pontiffs dying while in office."
Media

Disney Switching To Netflix For Exclusive Film Distribution 124

Posted by Soulskill from the future-is-finally-getting-here dept.
An anonymous reader writes "When Disney films leave the theater and head for TV, they currently go through the Starz channel first. That's going to change in 2016. Disney has signed a deal to give Netflix the first crack at its animated and live-action films. Even if you're not a fan of either company, this is a bit of a big deal; Disney is ditching a traditional pay-TV service in favor of online streaming. (It also includes properties from the recent Lucasfilm deal.) The article wisely points out that pay-TV in general isn't in danger until the live sports situation changes, but this is a big step away from the status quo."

Submission + - Coming Next: TSA Taser Bracelets? (thenewsmakersoftoday.com)

Submitted by CaVp
CaVp writes: From the article: "The TSA’s security policies are getting more and more bizarre, from testing people’s drinks for explosives to ordering all travelers to freeze on command, but could a frightening policy that was seriously explored by the DHS be resurrected – forcing people to wear taser bracelets that would deliver an electric shock if they got out of line?" Fox coverage here.

Imagine a nutjob with a radio transmitter tuned to the bracelet radio frequency... instant bacon!...
Mars

Submission + - Take a HD peek at Mars: 360 panorama view from Curiosity pics

Submitted by CaVp
CaVp writes: While we wait for a picnic tour to Mars, we could get by with an awesome panorama view of the crater where the Curiosity rover rests for now (courtesy of LA Times):

A 360-degree panorama of Mars has hit the Web, giving you a look from the surface of our neighboring red planet. The panorama, which you can check out here, gives an incredibly detailed look at Mars. Andrew Bodrov, a user on the site, put together the panorama, but he doesn't give too many details about it in the post other than that the photos came from Curiosity's second day on Mars.

I thought the best quality pictures were due much later than this.. the view is amazing!

Submission + - Playbook security broken (jims-empire.com)

Submitted by CaVp
CaVp writes: RIM's tablet Playbook has been cracked: Three hackers known as xpvqs, neuralic and Chris Wade- showed in a video how they got a PlayBook to access Hulu... Way to go for QNX security.
Space

Submission + - Europeans report contact with Russia's stranded Ma (msn.com)

Submitted by mknewman
mknewman writes: The European Space Agency reported Wednesday that a ground station in Australia has re-established contact with Russia's Phobos-Grunt probe, two weeks after a mysterious post-launch glitch.

On Tuesday, the Interfax news agency quoted Russia's deputy space chief, Vitaly Davydov, as saying that "chances to accomplish the mission are very slim." Then ESA said its tracking station in Perth, Australia, made contact with the probe late Tuesday (20:25 GMT, or 3:25 p.m. ET).

"ESA teams are working closely with engineers in Russia to determine how best to maintain communication with the spacecraft," the agency reported on its website Wednesday.

Submission + - Printing your own restricted gun parts: legal? (thingiverse.com)

Submitted by CaVp
CaVp writes: For all of you gun and 3D printing lovers, Thingiverse (3d digital design projects heaven) has a project for printing the lower receiver for the AR-15, the only part of this gun that requires some paperwork to buy; according to the article:

The Lower Receiver is the frame that holds together all the other pieces of the firearm. In the States, all the other pieces can be purchased without a permit — over the counter or through the post. The Lower Receiver is the only part which requires a background check or any other kind of paperwork before purchase.

Submission + - Hackers break SSL encryption (theregister.co.uk) 1

Submitted by CaVp
CaVp writes: The Register has it: Researchers have discovered a serious weakness in virtually all websites protected by the secure sockets layer protocol that allows attackers to silently decrypt data that's passing between a webserver and an end-user browser.
The Internet

Submission + - What happens when mom unplugs teens for 6 months? (yahoo.com)

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes: Susan Maushart lived out every parent's fantasy: She unplugged her teenagers. For six months, she took away the Internet, TV, iPods, cell phones and video games. The result of what she grandly calls "The Experiment" was more OMG than LOL — and nothing less than an immersion in RL (real life).

As Maushart explains in a book released in the U.S. this week called "The Winter of Our Disconnect", she and her kids rediscovered small pleasures — like board games, books, lazy Sundays, old photos, family meals and listening to music together instead of everyone plugging into their own iPods.

Maushart wrote that her kids "awoke slowly from the state of cognitus interruptus that had characterized many of their waking hours to become more focused logical thinkers." Maushart decided to unplug the family because the kids — ages 14, 15 and 18 when she started The Experiment — didn't just "use media," as she put it. They "inhabited" media. "They don't remember a time before e-mail, or instant messaging, or Google," she wrote

Yahoo News: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_fea_parenting_teens_unplugged

Slashdot Top Deals

Any circuit design must contain at least one part which is obsolete, two parts which are unobtainable, and three parts which are still under development.

Close