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Submission + - Epic Hacker Spoof of Dr. Seuss (kickstarter.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Hacker Dojo has outdone themselves with their latest fundraising video. It is a epic minute of hilariousness, staring the internet famous Katy Levinson.

Comment Re:So that's why the UW mail system went down (Score 1) 473

by ampmouse (#33530616) Attached to: New Email Worm Squirming Through Windows Users' Inboxes

Hey, at least you aren't at that other state university. The one that uses microsoft hosted outlook. If you want an unreliable, insecure, windows only email solution with the same privacy implications as hosted Gmail, Try Outlook Live!

Oh, and just to clarify, this is not an option offered by the university, this is the only option.
Patents

Submission + - Did The USPTO Let Amazon Patent Facebook?

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: After shelling out a reported $90MM to buy PlanetAll in 1998, Amazon.com shuttered the site in 2000, explaining that 'it seemed really superfluous to have it running beside Friends and Favorites.' But years later in a 2008 patent filing, Amazon described the acquired PlanetAll technology to the USPTO in very Facebook-like terms. And on Tuesday, the USPTO issued U.S. Patent No. 7,739,139 to Amazon for its invention, the Social Networking System, which Amazon describes thusly: 'A networked computer system provides various services for assisting users in locating, and establishing contact relationships with, other users. For example, in one embodiment, users can identify other users based on their affiliations with particular schools or other organizations. The system also provides a mechanism for a user to selectively establish contact relationships or connections with other users, and to grant permissions for such other users to view personal information of the user. The system may also include features for enabling users to identify contacts of their respective contacts. In addition, the system may automatically notify users of personal information updates made by their respective contacts.' So, should Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg worry about Amazon opening a can of patent whup-ass?
Communications

Ham Radio Still Growing In the iStuff Age 368

Posted by kdawson from the dah-dah-dit-dit-dit dept.
vhfer writes "From NPR comes this story about old-school communications in the age of Twitter: 'Only a few years ago, blogs listed ham radio alongside 35 mm film and VHS tape as technologies slated to disappear. They were wrong. Nearly 700,000 Americans have ham radio licenses — up 60 percent from 1981, a generation ago. And the number is growing.' The article goes on to say that while there's plenty of 60-plus year old hams, there's also a growing contingent of teens. I just met a 14-year-old, licensed in 2009. Getting rid of the Morse Code requirement sure helped in that regard. So does the fact that the test questions (and the answers) are freely available, legally, on the Internet. Study, take the test, hang the license certificate on the wall. Your geek cred gets an immediate boost. And who knows? Maybe the next time there's a Haiti-earthquake-sized disaster, you'll be one of the thousands of ham volunteers who provided the only communications in/out of Haiti for weeks following the quake, not to mention all of the tactical comms the country had for nearly a month."
Communications

Mississippi Makes Caller ID Spoofing Illegal 258

Posted by timothy from the so-be-sure-to-stop-in-late-june dept.
marklyon writes "HB 872, recently signed into law by Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, makes Caller ID spoofing illegal. The law covers alterations to the caller's name, telephone number, or name and telephone number that is shown to a recipient of a call or otherwise presented to the network. The law applies to PSTN, wireless and VoIP calls. Penalties for each violation can be up to $1,000 and one year in jail. Blocking of caller identification information is still permitted."
Education

Submission + - The Campus Computer Lab, RIP 1960-2009

Submitted by
theodp
theodp writes: "When every student has a laptop, why run computer labs? That's a question schools have been asking themselves as computer ownership rates among incoming freshmen routinely top 90%. After only four freshmen showed up at the University of Virginia in 2007 without a computer of their own, the school decided that it's no longer worth the expense of running campus computer labs. Student computer labs have been a staple on campus since the '60s. So what are the benefits that will be missed as other schools follow UVa's lead?"
NASA

Submission + - What Internships are still Accepting Applications? 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: As a procrastinating college student who's always reading Slashdot and XKCD, and not focusing on summer internships, it seems I've missed the deadline on most of the summer internship opportunities again this year. So far I've discovered that Google Summer Of Code and NASA Ames Robotics Academy are still accepting applications. Does anyone know of any other internship programs for a Undergraduate Computer Engineering student that are still accepting applications?

Comment Re:Letter writing (Score 5, Funny) 613

by ampmouse (#26779983) Attached to: My handwriting ...
No, nerds are into obscure, introverted, intellectual activities. So this "Haoie" meets two of the three requirements. Now you, Anonymous Coward, don't even seem to know what a nerd is. Please hand in your nerd card before leaving.

Comment Re:Two, but gunning for 1 (Score 1) 504

Sorry, doesn't work that way. All of the landlines I have seen go dead (0v across the line) when service is canceled. So based on my experience, both Verizon and Qwest is in violation of FCC rules throughout several west coast states.
It's funny. Laugh.

Geohashing Meets an Angry Rancher With Firearms 800

Posted by Soulskill from the viral-marketing-for-xkcd-fps dept.
katicli writes "Geohashing, an obscure xkcd pastime which involves going to random coordinates generated by md5 hashing, the date, and the opening status of the stock market, appears to have just gotten far more interesting. The official wiki reports a warning for other geohashers intending to go to the spot designated for June 14th in the San Francisco area, as several avid fans of xkcd were met by an angry rancher and firearms."

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