I put this under Wireless Networking because /. seems incapable of auto-synthesizing more diverse and more appropriate Journal Topic selections....

http://iphone.tmcnet.com/news/2009/07/01/4253766.htm

I won't add any self-aggrandizing commentary/editorial to this. The entire article speakes for itself. Exerpts:

"How it Works Rapp says that the whole premise behind COPsync was to build an officer safety notification system. He says that in doing the research to accomplish that, his team discovered a need to work with lots of other technology vendors. Unfortunately, he says, most law enforcement systems in this space are very, very proprietary.

"They don't play well together and it causes issues amongst law enforcement agencies, so from day one we took a position that we will always remain neutral. We said, 'let's build for the mobile environment; let's actually provide it to the guys that are riding around in the patrol car.' And that meant we had to be hardware agnostic, vendor agnostic, and to be honest with you I could almost venture to say that we are technology agnostic. What I mean by that is, we built our technology from the foundation up to work with any possible system that is out there.""

"Furthermore, as soon as that audible tone and visual alert happen in the squad on the scene, the system automatically transmits an officer safety alert to all COPsync-equipped patrol cars within a 50 mile radius regardless of their jurisdiction."

http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/06/11/end-of-the-road-for-microsoft-money

"On Microsoft's own Money site, the company explains that, "[w]ith banks, brokerage firms and Web sites now providing a range of options for managing personal finances, the consumer need for Microsoft Money Plus has changed. After suspending annual updates of Money Plus in 2008, Microsoft is announcing today that we will no longer offer Microsoft Money Plus for purchase after June 30, 2009."

The Redmond company warns that "[a]ll purchased Money Plus products must be activated prior to Jan. 31, 2011." Once activated, the program will work as usual. However, after the cut-off date for online services, users will be left with reduced functionality and the inability to upgrade their version of Money or move it to a new machine, virtual or otherwise."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090610/ap_on_re_us/us_taser_dare

When you dare something to happen, be careful. The outcome depends... well, in her case... Depends...

" A dashboard camera in the deputy's car shows the 4-foot-11 Winkfein refusing to sign her speeding ticket, getting out of her white pickup truck and cursing at the deputy constable.

Bieze then pushes her to get her away from traffic.

"You're gonna shove a 72-year-old woman," Winkfein says angrily, standing inches from the deputy.

"If you don't step back, you're going to get Tased," Bieze says.

"Go ahead, Tase me," Winkfein says. "I dare you."

The video shows Bieze using the Taser and Winkfein hitting the ground and moaning in pain.

"Put your hands behind your back or you're going to be Tased again," Bieze yells, and then hits her with another jolt."

Other than "friending" you, i don't know how to inform you that i gave + moderation to your comment

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1259127&cid=28232053

about the summary. If i wrote this comment, then /. wierd system would negate my scoring. Probably someone'll take it away JUST because i modded you up. I had 5 points, but loath using them because i feel, "What's the point when /. allows predators to take them away without outting nor requiring moderators to JUSTIFY their moderation, positive or negative."

But, as of ~1333 PST i gave you one point. Didn't want to reattempt and seem excessive, but wanted to get the ball rolling for you.

Justification: TOO MANY SUBMISSIONS HAVE SLANTED/JINGOISTIC/ANTAGONISTIC/WANNABE-JOURNALIST opinions about a story, or are thinly-veiled attempts to incite readers to jump on a story.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2009/06/opera_10_beta_looks_good.html?sc=fb&cc=fp

I'll let the article stand without my comments.

Interesting, thought, that the Journal Topic has internet explorer, KDE, Mozilla, GUI, Enlightenment, AOL, Yahoo! and others, but not "Opera".... nor other browsers that are well-regarded software...

Hmmm...

Now, maybe closure can begin...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8087303.stm

""We confirm the recovery from the water of debris and bodies from the Air France plane," Col Amaral said at a news conference in the northern city of Recife.

He later added that two male bodies had been found, as well as objects linked to passengers known to be on the flight, including a suitcase with a plane ticket and a backpack with a computer inside.

"It was confirmed with Air France that the ticket number corresponds to a passenger on the flight," Col Amaral said.

A blue seat was also found, and Air France is checking the serial number to see whether it came from the flight.

The remains were picked up some 800km (500 miles) north-east of the islands of Fernando de Noronha, off Brazil's northern coast.

They were not far from where the last signal from the plane was received. "

http://www.caligari.com/News/news_200905/LetterFromTheFounder.html

Many people who use/d Truespace will read about the demise of the company.

"Dear Caligari customer,

You may have heard that Microsoft Corporation, reacting to difficult business conditions, has been evaluating many of the products it produces and making the difficult decision to reduce investment in certain areas.

It is with regret that I have to tell you that trueSpace is one of the products affected. As a consequence, you will see reduction or elimination of services offered for trueSpace. For example, there will be no phone or email support offered for trueSpace by Microsoft, and our web site may also be affected. While the dates are not absolutely fixed, some services and contacts may come to an end as early as Friday May 22nd 2009, while others will continue as long as possible with no firm cutoff date available yet."

More about Truespace/Caligary:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueSpace

(Why the hell isn't there an Apple journal topic? Anyway....)

http://www.crn.com/mobile/217400407;jsessionid=ZARQAGQKGZN3SQSNDLPSKHSCJUNN2JVN

"The university posted to its Web site that all new students need to own an Apple iPhone or iPod Touch--not to mention a wireless-enabled laptop with Microsoft Office installed--to support course material. No ifs, ands or buts about it: You come to Mizzou for J-school, you need Apple devices, the university seems to be saying.

"Effective with the fall 2009 semester, incoming freshmen journalism and pre-journalism students are required to have a Web-enabled audio-video player," read a posting to the journalism school's Web site that included a Frequently Asked Questions section. "This requirement is best met by purchasing the Apple iPod Touch, which has all the features the Missouri School of Journalism intends to implement to achieve its academic objectives and those of its students. There are alternatives to the iPod Touch, but none that we consider equally capable." "

Sounds to me that someone could be getting a bonus or kickback... Is this something the current administration would take a dim view toward?

Canon is Canon, so, i personally consider this Trek movie as an alternate universe event, similar to Trek's "Mirror, Mirror", and Deep Space Nine's "In a Mirror, Darkly"....

This morning while taking public transit to work, I heard a report about high school students who were provided cell phones equipped with GPS and other software to track their movements and calculate their carbon footprint. For some of those students who have family automobiles as an option to drive a quarter of a mile, it became clear what they were going to do or at least think about the implications of their decisions.

From the URL's page:

"Tracking Carbon through Your Cell Phone
  latitude 37.77074, longitude -122.4463
A group of high school students in San Francisco are using high-tech GPS cell phones to track their daily carbon footprint - and to gauge their daily environmental risk. The GPS tracks the students' trips and shows them how much carbon they use and are exposed to each week. As cell phones become more powerful, organizers hope to spread this movement virally."

More at:

http://www.kqed.org/quest/radio/tracking-carbon-through-your-cell-phone

(The time is now 0804 PST)

Re:The "secret" is Moderators? i'll tell you about (Score:0, Offtopic)
by davidsyes (765062) on Friday February 20, @01:33PM (#26935073) Homepage Journal
moderators.

To get a story posted here, i've wondered whom i'd have to rim or suck to just ONCE not be fucked over by having a well-worn moderator ALWAYS have his/her submission 12 to 15 hours AFTER MINE get posted, and his is basically a paraphrasing of the parent website.

It's almost becoming a personal point of shame that i even grouse about it, but it sure would be nice if thunder from on high rocked and lightning shocked those who perpetuate cronyism here. One way to put an end to it is to force them to get out of their heads they're NOT going to be getting CNN or BBC or CNET positions by virtue of having a hard-on-raging, ego-as-big-as-Hoover-Dam, 3,442 published submissions. The way to do it is to make sure that when multiple people submit the same story suggestion within a few hours of each other (ESPECIALLY if the never-published person scoops the frat-rat), the scooped gets listed, but below the one scooping. It could enhance the sense of community many of us may mistakenly presume to be here. Most of us end up just shouting at a writing wall, and a handful of moderators (some good, some retaliatory) ultimately have the last laugh.

Slashdot needs:

-- a multi-submitter recognition system
-- a histogrm of scoring, not "most recent score"
-- a troll-/flambait-/off-topic-/ outing scheme to prevent hit-and-run whackos having anonymity
-- better meta-association of comments that often get shoved around out of relation/context to their initial parent
-- a term limit on standing-moderator status
-----------

That is just PART of my issue with slash allowing bully-ass moderators to not be called out on the carpet.

Reference:

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/20/1630229

http://slashdot.org/~davidsyes/journal/224101

Over at Digg:

http://digg.com/microsoft/Topsecret_Microsoft_prototype_phone_stolen

It seems there is word or rumour going round the Microsoft has lost or misplaced or allowed to be misappropriated a very sensitive phone. I don't know what to believe, but if it turns out to be true, what would you think of Microsoft, the NSA, and the alleged MS/NSA relationship?

Moreover, what does this say about the discretion or decisions of MS's executives who pass on to a subordinate a product of presumed high importance just before a new product launch announcement? One would think that for a product or device so potentially critical to an MS "innovation" they'd at least have some sort of sensor or anti-theft device if it is an active/working device. If it's only a mockup, then the joke/embarrassment will be on the pickpocket or pickpocket's sponsors.

I most CERTAINLY think ... NOT! Here is an interesting article:

http://reformedmusings.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/will-windows-7-kill-linux/

Another article that might be interesting is:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/23/windows-7-beta-in-depth-impressions?icid=sphere_blogsmith_inpage_downloadsquad

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,480886,00.html

"You read so much about how amazing it is to work for Google and for the first two years it was," wrote Scott, who worked for the company in London. "Before I left it just was a place full of quiet moans, talented people being undermined and a structure that created hostility and politics."

President Obama will get to keep his Blackberry, thanks to new encryption developed especially for him.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/1392359,w-obama-blackberry-security-012209.article

"Luckily for the new president, a super encryption package has been created just for him. The added security will allow Obama to keep his BlackBerry for the duration of his presidency."